 It is seven o'clock and we'll call the meeting to order the first item on the agenda is the minutes from April 2nd 2024 Is there a motion move to approve the minutes of April the second? Before was any necessary correction. Is there a second page one? It's three Hearing no modifications all those in favor say aye. I was opposed nay the eyes have it Public comment, this is a point where anybody in the public can speak on any issue. They wish to is there anybody here who would like to Do so seeing nobody Eric is there anybody online? Next on the agenda temporary event permit maple tree place music series Justin come on up Justin I've said your name, but if you can say your name officially and Give us your presentation. Sure. My name is Justin Kelly and the property manager for maple tree place so we purchased property a few months ago and One of the things that we're really interested in trying to do is just trying to reintegrate the property with the community We thought a great way to do that was to revitalize the summer concert series So they ran for about nine years were very well attended One of the things that tenants and customers have asked me every day that have been on property Are we bringing back the concerts? So that's what we've applied to be able to do We have booked Six acts over the course of eight weeks. It'll still run on Thursdays. It'll still run kind of the same spot that 68 30 period They're predominantly tribute bands We do have one local band that we were able to tie into the event And we just think it's a great way for us to be able to try and get the community back into maple tree place And really try and make it more of a destination the input from staff question Yeah, the staff review this it's with your materials Couple notes, but nothing on staff objected to a police and fire had some notes it triggers Need to hire fire staff for the estimated attendance level and certainly monitor that and see how the attendance goes if we need to modify Yeah, I talked with Tim two two days ago And we were just discussing for the first event will go kind of a little overboard make sure everything is There because again, we're just not sure it's been a few years five years since the last show See how it kind of goes and then from there will adjust in pivot for shows that go consecutively after that You know, we've got a parking plan in place. We will Have porta potties out, you know, kind of all the same elements that were there previously will be in place So we feel like the event should be able to be well managed and be safe for Questions from the board My one question is and this was just a It's about the parking actually in the application. It says there's 1900 plus spots. Is that really the number the total number of parking stalls in maple tree places like 1924 give or take It's 65 acres. Yeah. Yeah. No, I just I'm trying to like The site map that we included I don't know if that was But it yeah, it goes all the way around the big box. Yeah, okay. Yeah, so it's including like Dicks and all of that. Yeah, so all park all parking will be available and we have the little road signage to be able to direct folks That's really the only signage we have will be public direction If there are no other questions or input we'll be looking for a motion Move to approve a temporary event permit for the maple tree place music series for the 2024 season. Is there a second Second, is there further discussion on the motion? All those in favor say aye. Hi. All those opposed any of the eyes We're happy to be back super excited to hope is everybody will have an opportunity to come to at least one of the shows throughout the summer Really excited to be a part of the community Great night. I'll sign this and get it. Yeah. Yeah, that's why so gives me a chance to come over and you're all So wait, you're not staying for the wastewater public hearing Maybe we don't want him So we are actually as rare as an eclipse we are ahead of schedule and Wondering if we should do something off of the manager's report because the next item is a public hearing that should start at 715 Through my written report we filled our planning technician position Greatest into our team here We've received a small grant $1,000 grants from the Department of Historic Preservation for an ADA assessment the Old Brick Church Actually I didn't have much in the manager's report We had some other businesses First piece was our final Liquor licenses for renewal that expired for 29 the town clerk Sarah Mason passed them on to me the other day They're unboxed enterprises a second-class license Sandry convenience store second-class license The Vista Wilson hotel, which is the Marriott on Hurricane Lane first and third class an outdoor consumption permit Staff has no concerns. There's no violations with these suggest a motion to renew the licenses for the next approval year Questions from the board Yeah, I think it's something we got a filibuster first. No, we can we can we can make the time So then what is there a motion? But is it both liquor and tobacco license the just like the licenses that Were listed by the telemanager. Is there a second? Further discussion All those in favor say aye The eyes have I have a couple of other item other business items. Are you set? Yep? the Town fair is going to be on May 4th. It's the same day as green up day and We have a select board table that we can man a woman and man Any anything? so the I Just wanted to throw that out the Table needs folks to be there from 9 until 1 p.m. On May 4th Not looking for a commitment now, but if you could make a note to get back to me if Otherwise I can I would otherwise do it myself from 9 until 1 but I think people might get sick of me So Maybe even deviate up divide it up a little bit. Yeah Yeah, I'll take whatever or you can pick up trash Behind the table and answer questions Okay, and then the another item the Chittin and solid waste district budget was Passed by its board It will go into effect if Just a simple majority of towns vote for it But there's a statutory requirement that it be Voted on by a select board or city council within a certain number of days after it gets passed and the date that we have to Decide on it or is May 12th? the interesting thing about this is that there's Actually, no legal requirement that we Vote yes or no or if there is it would be if the other towns vote for it then it would be Past we don't have a select board meeting between now in May 12th except for the one Tomorrow by a 30 to sign the warning for the new town meeting Thursday, right? You just lost your core but you can but you can come in tomorrow And then the the other issue though is that I don't know if this is an issue, but the other fact involved is that our town representative on the board actually voted against the budget and so As a you know Frankly as a matter of practicality that it sounds like that budget is going to get passed by the other municipalities anyway And we don't have a meeting scheduled But on the other hand, we are supposed to sign and we are supposed to evaluate the budget on behalf of our voters and our representative Decline to support So it would require a special meeting Select board meeting where we you know have our standard solid waste presentation Here from our representative and then make a decision And I know we haven't really had enough meetings this year So Anyway, but I wanted to bring that to people's attention Yeah, they're they're trying to require as a board or council that would Position against the budget to identify the specific line items that were not supported by that by that body More work for Jean I would But I would very much like to hear why our representative didn't vote for it. There's an email that Eric I'd ask if you could forward it. I Saw it yesterday or today It's it seems you know to summarize it seems like a lot of the A lot of the opposition in our our member was More philosophical or the taxes are already going up everywhere else kind of thing I don't want to oversimplify it and Disrespect it, but that there were no line. I guess there were a couple of items that were specifically called out, but Anyway, but you'll see Can we make a decision then whether or not we mean We feel we need to have a special meeting and a vote after we see that Email that makes sense. That's what people want No, no rule, but we have to do something right. Yeah, well No, but We probably should if So the deadlines made 12 we had originally had this plan for May 7th, and they inform me I'm just looking to reschedule with them. They told me the 45-day window ran out me 12 So that would be before the next schedule meeting but The select board decided it didn't it wanted to have the presentation after the fact It wouldn't have an opportunity to weigh in with a yes or no, but the budget would Move on depending on how the other Member municipalities voted on it. So depending if you want a yes or no vote before that period runs out It's your discretion if you want to want to have that presentation So we could review the material that Was pertinent and then let Ted know if anybody really feels they wouldn't need to call the question that we have a meeting Is that what we're saying? Otherwise, we just let it expire without our input Yes, yeah, and you could have them come later in May and just kind of give an update and walk through the budget All in waste that's like way more exciting than wastewater We're running Didn't seem to be I didn't read it that way, but read it and let you know make up Decide for yourself. What are the reasons work? I really need another budget to look at. Yeah If if we did have a special meeting I'm wondering if we could do it like that six and try to be out by 645 or something like that Do it on the May 7th that we had planned and just yeah in and out Yeah, yeah, so Yeah, let me know I mean I would say Not that I'm worried about content of emails or anything, but the emails that get forwarded are obviously going to be public records Just we just weigh in on whether we feel we need a meeting that Sure. Yes, but you can put your reasons if you want But just go to ten So that sounds like we're gonna Examine it and get back to me I'll send our Representatives email out and I'll also I'll find the materials that the districts prepared I have a meeting with the general manager tomorrow anyway And I can figure out where those are share those packages with the board to review the That does bring us to 715 so we Emily good evening to open the meeting officially so Pursuant to 24 VSA chapter 59 section 4 the town of Willis and sewer allocation ordinance The Willis and select board is considering the adoption of amendments to the sewer allocation ordinance referred to as Attachment a an existing ordinance pertaining to the allocation of public sewerage Upon adoption this attachment will designate the portion of the uncommitted reserve capacity It will be available for use during the next fiscal year, which starts July 1 2024 Public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday April 16 2024 at 715 back at McGuire meeting room Is where we are now and the public hearing is now Commenced So this is the attachment a to the sewer allocation ordinance It basically sets up how much sewer the public works department can sell during fiscal year 2025 Which will begin on July 1st the select board had a detailed introduction to this at the informational session in March What summarized in the public hearing warning is The amount of allocation that will be available for different uses in fiscal year 2025 So 10,000 gpd gallons per day for new commercial industrial 23,500 for new residential 1500 for residential additions 7,250 for affordable housing No gallons for planned public facilities 1500 for pollution abatement 10,000 for specific development and 77,700 reserve, which is what the engineer recommends. We have a total allocation Available at the tri-town plant that's dedicated towards Williston 7% is set aside by a reserve and then factoring in how much has been sold and how much is still being held How much the town can sell in the upcoming fiscal year? Looking at a 20 year I do note that these numbers are the same as at FY 2024 with two reductions So we're dropping the amount that's in the new residential and commercial new excuse me the new commercial and industrial category As well as the new residential category. So last year There were more gpd available to be sold this year. They'll be slightly less That's based on our best estimate of what might come in and it really fluctuates What comes in year to year especially in those new construction categories? Yeah, with that if you have any questions, let me know I'd like to hear from the public Do we feel that we have 72 hundred gallons of wastewater that's allocated for affordable housing will be sold? It's hard to say It would I think it would be rare right now for all of that to be sold in the upcoming fiscal year just looking at The projects that we have on the horizon. I don't know how many will be using those that affordable category So if any new projects come on in fiscal year 2025 I think it would be rare for them to purchase in this upcoming fiscal year Just because of that timeline to get a project design finance to a point where they're ready to buy allocation So if I was waging a bet, I probably would say all wouldn't be sold in FY 2025 But it's good to have that available because you don't want to stymie affordable housing Because of sewer just This is just because we have five more minutes to kill Like what just with your experience like how to be how do developers go through like what do they do first? Do they they they have piece of property and then they have to I don't have to get this Allocation they have to line up their financing. I mean do they do this first? Do they do this last? They purchase the sewer allocation towards the end. I think they factor in the cost and the timing of it More towards the beginning when they're developing a pro forma is this project kind of pencil out Usually they go through some level of a sketch plan review before they really determine. Okay I'm gonna do all my design and engineering and make sure can this project pencil out Once they have their final approvals and often large-scale projects need state permits in addition to local permits Then they're able to get their financing. So financial institutions want to see that guarantee Can you go start digging in the dirt tomorrow before they will you know finalize that funding for them? But that is a good question that I don't fully know 100% and I think even sometimes a developer gets a little bit surprised Oh, you might have to wait a couple more months to the next fiscal year because sewers already out already sold out for this year Some that has caught people by surprise Not recently but in the past And I think sometimes they might have they might buy their allocation over a couple years and then build all at once Right because they were waiting for the allocation I think sometimes it's more the opposite where they buy their allocation and then units come online more like a trickle So a good example would be The annex which purchased a good chunk of its sewer allocation, but it's gonna be The first four units might come online this year and they might still just be in a Model home stage not necessarily sold and it'll be years before they're using all of that allocation that they purchased Already Double-check with the prior share, but I don't think we need to actually continue that Hearing if nobody's here Okay, so is there a motion to close the public Unless there are other questions or comments or actually Eric. Is there anybody online? Okay, so is there a motion to adjourn move close the public hearing proposed amendments to the wastewater allocation ordinance Is there a second? All those in favor say aye. Hi. Well as opposed to the hearing is Brings us to the next agenda item Wastewater allocation ordinance I'm sure if I was reading the same line twice I knew that's what we had to do Okay, so that being said Is there further discussion on schedule a or is the board ready to act? I feel like we got a good explanation on our last meeting Explanation You know Yeah, and I think that'll probably be something that'll be part of the upcoming town plan Talking about the sewer service area map and you look at it's a giant area That's in the district, but then when you look at where there's gravity lines that people can connect to That's something that Planning staff working with public works. We could map out in GIS and show those dead zones where theoretically they're in the district But they're not Visibly able to connect and I think that's something that the new town plan is going to be looking at is how do we? refine our sewer service area or our sewer ordinance to better align with town plan goals We had Aldrich and Ellie at our Engineering firm that looks at water sewer for us I think a few years ago they look at our capacity and they know as you get increased flows You have to make sure your mains are the right size and your pump station So we have we have a report on that too. We could share Go over the board sometime to show where those Where those projects are targeted because that influences the water sewer capital plan as well Where the additional infrastructure based on flows and maybe there's a main that needs to be up sized or a force main so Those studies help influence the capital plan moving ahead too Just be interesting because that might Caused us to make you know adjustments to How easy it is to make changes to it The revised every year by the board It's an ordinance of mid-year if there was something that came up that could always be amended mid-year The last couple years that incurred specific development categories been utilized when there's some late in the year and Some looking to buy capacity that there's not enough and Approach the planning office with an opinion whether that would Meet that category and the select board makes that decision per occurs Yeah, Emily's point it will all factor in the town plan as well You'll be reviewing one of them next year and a half Want to motion? Sure move to adopt amendments to the wastewater allocation ordinance attachment a as presented. Is there a second second? for the discussion on the motion All those in favor say aye. All those opposed may the eyes have it Forget to mention They're looking for green up leaders as well Emily reminded me Yeah, so I'm the main coordinator for town fair on green up day And if you wanted to do a little bit of both the tabling and the green up route We are looking for town volunteers to have a designated route so you could pick a time and a place Anytime on green up day. It's like hey go meet Greta on Mountain View Road at you know 1030 And that could be a fun plug too because the select board members you're well known So Celebrity greening And for that that tabling we would set up your booth so whoever's signed up for that 9 a.m. On Saturday You can just roll right in and we'll have your table all set up Wilson observer will be there. They're bringing a photo booth truck thing Rotary Club REI The Old Brick Church trustees are going to be doing tours of the Old Brick Church Library storytime, and then there's a town band cost concert from 12 to 1 so nice lineup of events And we'll be very excited to have you guys there as our local celebrities Three days before the budget Thank you So we are we're now three minutes Exercise some discretion and Call the hearing For the budget Three or two minutes early and since it'll still be going on at 730. I think this and then not going to be caused So The Wilson select board will hold a public hearing on Tuesday April 16th at 730 p.m. In the Beckett and Guire meeting room of the town hall to receive comment on a draft revised fiscal year 2025 budget for a revote in May the select board is targeting an over $300,000 2% expense reduction from the budget that was not supported a town meeting on the town original town meeting day and Cutting an estimated property tax increase in half to two cents per one hundred dollars of assessed value The median assessed home three hundred thousand dollars This would be a sixty dollar increase for the tax year or five dollars a month So the public hearing is now called to order The chair will note there is no one in the room except for town staff Is there anybody online? All right, so Eric, I'm gonna I'm gonna ask you to Make a brief presentation about the budget and we'll go from there sure Yes, as the chair stated the draft budget the board's worked on the last couple of work sections Reflects a three hundred and ten thousand dollar reduction from the town meeting day budget That's about a two percent just over two percent reduction These reductions include a new HR director position Staff training equipment part-time and on-call staff wages Expanding library hours path paving and sidewalk replacement building maintenance and technology This revised draft budget includes adding an 18th sworn police officer position to enable a detective position To be filled and body cameras for all officers As you mentioned the tax rate increase Cut would be cut in half the two cents per one hundred dollars of value This is down from four cents that town meeting that was projected It's about twenty dollars per one hundred thousand dollars of property value The median a median home assessed at three hundred thousand dollars about sixty dollars for the tax year Represents a five point nine percent increase from fy 24 So the the rate estimate would be a point three three six two cents or three five six two cents up from point three three six two cents Reminder the tax rate is set by the select board usually in the late june The grand list needs to be finalized first and that factors into How about the rate is set here? To balance the budget the select board built in the use of additional 125 000 dollars of unassigned fund balances revenue Town policy calls for there to be between 10 and 20 percent of the operating budget In the unassigned fund balance The estimate the staff has looked at is at the end of FY 25 Projecting at 16 and a half percent ratio for that fund balance These funds have been utilized to reduce taxes and for capital equipment for for several years And of course there's a projection by staff local option tax is something that factors into this as well That we look at each year That is a high level overview of where the budget proposal is right now Are you here for the meeting for the hearing of talent the budget hearing? Um, did you want to ask questions or make a presentation? Okay, well Great Thanks, so uh questions for eric from the board or actually Shirley do you want to come up or do you want to wait until the there's an actual question? Okay No, no need to move for no reason Okay, uh questions from the board I just want to you know say that I've heard from a lot of people you know in town about the increases You know, especially the school taxes They a lot of people you know the reason to support our children to pass a huge increase in the school Property taxes is really is really giving the wrong reason the proper reasoning should be more Stop raising our taxes to stop making home ownership too expensive for our kids to Work and live here in this town Many of our young people are leaving you can't afford to live here You know, I have a tenant he's rented from me for 22 years. He's 72 years old He lives on social security. He must work a full-time job to support himself Last year I raised his rent and two increments from $700 a month including he To a thousand dollars a month I have to raise his rent again. He's going to become homeless He can't you know Everybody thinks you know, you know when you raise the property taxes You know the landlords just pass that generally on to their tenants, you know, it increases increases the rent Not just property taxes that go up. It's the rents that go up people that are at least can afford it I can't you know raise my taxes To raise his rent. I'm not gonna throw him out on the street He's been renting from me for 22 years. I also consider him a friend You know, I also support my elderly parents and a full-time caregiver and provide housing to them for no charge I believe the inclusionary zoning pass this year the town's growth center allows unlimited growth With no affordable housing The approximately $7,500 penalty does nothing to enhance developers to build Any more affordable housing But you know, it's what's happening is all these new growth coming in town is causing our schools to become more and more crowded It's causing us to have more services for police and fire We already need a new school. You know, we have temporary buildings Those that come into the all the people that are moving here to the town They're the one, you know, the impact fees are not covering Anywhere near we're seeing property tax increases They're getting worse and worse The impact fees are not covering any of that. I think the impact fees Should be covering the cost the actual cost that was costing us people that live in town To support these new houses We can't continue to keep You know putting homes in the town without You know property impact fees we need to relook at those Like, you know, we see a commercial space in the town being appraised lower and lower Past few years So our grant list is lowering. That's going to also give us less property tax revenue We're already one of the highest tax states in the country We're now the third highest rate tax We're the third highest taxes in the whole country New Hampshire, which is right next to us is the 45th tax state in the country Do you Mike think that as a town we're egregiously Contributing to that we have the Second lowest town tax rate in the county I think I just think what we need to do is the way we're With the growth that's coming into this town, we cannot afford to continue 20% of school taxes Now we can't continue 10% but we don't control school taxes. We have nothing to do with school taxes, right? It's still involved. The impact fees affect that What we need to do is we need to The impact fee should be Should be paying for, you know, the increased services that we're having to pay Do you mind doing a brief overview of what impact fees we pay currently in town and what they're for? Yeah, the the impact fees there's a transportation impact fee a recreation impact fee and a Education impact fee and by statute it allows towns to levy those impact fees based on The impact of of new development new That comes into town Those have to be mainly used for capital investment and there's a proportionality formula that we have to look at as well So for operating costs there wouldn't be something that an impact fee would be able to be utilized for We're currently using them for things like Like our work on the alambrick park with recreation impact fees Those are controlled by the development by-law and ordinance So they're reflected with a with a study that to how to levy the fee it looks at The projects and kind of works with a formula of how to set those fees based on dwelling units primarily So the the the town amended the transportation impact fee about three years ago or so The recreation fee is up for discussion probably next year or so as well I was um Is this a question I've always had that I was noodling on trying to figure out And I haven't gotten all math done yet. I'm figuring out the I'm just really curious to to see um, if you add up the local option tax and the non homestead property taxes If you added all that up how much Of that would be of the total budget and then try to figure out how many of our services Are dedicated towards Business, it's not your commercial property. I just I'm it's uh It's not it It's not a black and white You know because you'd have to decide how much of your police force you would have if you didn't have tax corners Which would be complicated, right? But I'm just really interested because I think I think A lot of folks Wonder if the growth is pay is paying for itself, you know the services that we need to provide And I would like to convince myself that I know the answer to that question But so I so I'm going to keep working on that just just out of curiosity, but really when you add up the amount of Local option taxes and commercial property, it's it's a substantial part Yeah, the substantial part of of the revenue that we have But is it Enough to pay for 24 hour police and 24 hour fire. I would like to think that doing that Not only pays for itself, but allows Me as a resident to have those services available, right? Which we wouldn't have if we didn't have the commercial growth. We look at heinsberg You know, they don't have 24 hour on-call police fire Because they don't have commercial property to support it Um, it's something I don't have the answer to I'm curious about it It doesn't seem wildly out of whack, but I really till I do a math. I I can't say that with any authority, but Um, it is something I'd be interested in If it doesn't look like it's Balanced what kind of tools we might have to get there Um, and I just don't know that's definitely not a An area of my expertise to figure out how you would raise more revenue from commercial properties if that was If the services were not in balance with that number So I'd be curious of that in the future, especially if to my exploit the commercial properties Are losing value You got to come up though, you're gonna yell that Now you're done Besides I want everybody to hear that you thought my point was interesting just a thought is um You look at all the commercial properties that are actually senior housing So those are actually the places that are using a lot of the fire Services and they are residents. So how do you they're resident? Exactly. That's where I was going. Yeah. Yeah No gene to your point though. I mean I was just thinking the other day that The question of sustainability of the entire system is something that's been on my mind Um for a long time on the select board Because you know, we we do raise taxes not every year But more often than not they go up a little bit My concern is that you know Does that say that's a symptom of a larger systemic problem when we have to keep doing that or You know, it could there could be a lot of answers to that. It could also be that That the Growth of our town that our growth of our services is not kept up with the demands of the town And there's no judgment in that. It just might be a fact. I mean we could be catching up Yeah, we might be having to catch up. I mean we we had to hire Basically hire a fire department two years ago because the Culture in vermont has changed from when I was a kid and not enough people Volunteer to be firefighters And meanwhile we have a town that goes from 10,000 people at night to 20,000 people during the day Now we get a lot of benefit from that Now we do up until now. We've had the second lowest municipal property tax rate in the county But overall The question I keep having is like, you know, why Where is this ultimately going to go? And I think it's you know, it's not our job to say anything about the education system, but I think it's a probably a more Time sensitive question for education funding on on that issue I don't know. I mean I've been on this board for a long time and one of the things that I keep saying is that our healthcare costs go up without ever going down I'm not sure why that is. I'm not sure anybody really knows why that is but You know one of the so therefore one of the 50 percent of our of our budget is public safety meaning firefighters Police officers and the administrative and capital expenses that go with them That means that there is and then the rest of the town is a lot of employees too Each of those employees gets and should get health insurance as part of their job Every time that goes up the money's got to come from somewhere and it comes from either our local options tax Or our property tax and so one of the reasons the property tax is going up is because health insurance premiums are going up every year And that's the kind of thing that I don't think there's nothing that the town can do about that We we changed our way of We went from one plan to another to save money and we did save money with this budget, right? Yeah, we saved by switching our plan. We saved about 130 thousand dollars. Yeah, so we're we're what we we meaning eric and and surely and The good good math people of the town Meaning you guys, um, you know, they keep a they watch out like a hawk And so they're doing everything they can but everything they can do is probably not enough Early on I remember saying this to um Susan lamb that the Budget person that You know We seem to the what the town has to spend money on in the early 2000s The rate of inflation for those costs was higher than the average rate of inflation for a family And at the time it was oil gasoline asphalt Road salt things like that the price of those was going up faster than the rate of inflation And again, so we had you know, we When it's not like we don't pay taxes to I do You know the so the taxpayers have to have to that comes from somewhere. It's got to come to the tax But it seems like there are so many factors that are beyond the town's control That there's no way that the town could actually do anything about you know, I've always been opposed to You know resolutions by town governments that don't really affect anything, you know Let's who's in favor of world peace all those I'm like, oh, I'm opposed to that But but you know, so You know, we could we could take symbolic action, but we couldn't take any real action But all of that is to say that I think that one of the goals that we should have in the next year or so Is some sort of overview of sustainability of Is the property tax rate Hopefully this one will go through Is that is that rate going to be basically level? Because the other systems in place the growth that's going to happen with the Zoning changes what which by the way that growth was always going to happen It's been that way for 25 more years But you know, that's going to be a different kind of growth now But is that going to basically fund itself or is that going to increase people's taxes? And you know, we don't know the answer to that yet But these are things that I want to keep an eye on and I want to start studying in some way So I hear what you're saying So and actually while while I while I've got the microphone Mike it sounded like you were you wanted more impact fees To pay for things but you were opposed to the Feed that's assigned when somebody doesn't put in enough affordable housing Because you thought that that fee cuts back on people wanting to build housing in the first place But if that's true wouldn't it also be true that the impact fee Being increased would also slow down housing growth Yeah, the impact fee for the affordable housing is a drop in the bucket. It's not going to amount to anything You know, as we have more growth more people are moving in they want services from where they came from You want a community center? You want a blue library? You know, we're gonna need a new school These are expensive things that are coming down Yeah, I get that but that my question is like if if you think impact fees should be raised And that won't affect And just impact fees in general is not just for affordable housing But impact impact fees across the board For everything if you think those should be raised to help with the budget issues Won't those also Put a damper on the growth that we would need for the impact fees to be charged against in the first place Well, would people that are coming in here by 800,000 dollar homes don't Are going to be affected by an impact fee? Well, that's not just it's not just the residential Um, but anyway, I just I'm okay What were you considering An impact fee for public safety Yeah, it's something we've talked about and we plan to study at a staff level In the over the summer months because that's a I feel that's a key tie into our capital needs as well on the public safety side And again, there's there's a matrix and analysis we need to do It's like the the communications tower project for example, we know there's a deficiency right now with some radio communication coverage We couldn't use a new public safety fee to entirely pay for that because we are it's already existing today But there's some analysis we could do there might be a proportion of that with Different components that can come from a public safety impact fee So it's it's something that the staff is planning to to look at and bring to the board here this year All against the volume for the player suppression system And the whole brick church they voted no for the bond for the parking lot enhancements You know, I just see you know, I just see you know, they're sending a message You know, I mean if we go We already know the cswd news site It's 25 under budget They're over budgeted, you know From 22 million it's gonna be another five million dollars Essentially, that's 25 percent, you know, I can see a Center we're talking 40 million dollars the time we get down to buying the land and we get down to Getting us something like that built. That's gonna be a hard sell to the town We can't do a $400,000 buyer suppression system church So I just said a couple but one The want to make it very clear that the community center is not something that's in this budget And so not something that that we're deciding on or voting on As part of this budget The other thing I did want to address though is when you were speaking about inclusionary zoning You mentioned that there is unmitigated growth and that people can kind of buy their way out of the affordable housing component I just want to make it clear that if folks choose to not Have affordable housing as part of their growth They do need to go through the traditional growth management process and there is a cap on that amount of growth amount of Dwelling units that can be built per year within that traditional growth management. So there isn't there is Limitations to how much can be built within that if they're choosing to knock with it with affordable housing Just to In the next five years, right? But those those projects many of them have already gone through the growth management process and been buying um dwelling units for several years No, well There's a demographic study done by the school and there's there's There was nothing in the demographic study that says we're buying a new school and they had all of these on the on the list So I don't know if it's the same but my first year on the school board the budget went down um and Right after that There was talk of having to expand allenbrook because allenbrook had the temporary trailers Which by the way my girls were in in kindergarten and first and second grade and it was great Honestly, those were like some of the best rooms in that and they're nice. I've been in there But but at that right as we were about to uh finalize Coming up with uh, you know plans for new school or new whatever The demographic study came in and said hold your horses. Um, you're not going to need this and you know, all of our assumptions had been Wrong and based on you know, basically feel and not so much the numbers, but when the numbers came out, we didn't need it so I think the numbers are From what I remember from the gentleman presenting that that the numbers Are good based on the data you have but when The demographics of kids who haven't been born yet or are a little fuzzier in the project so So I wouldn't I wouldn't uh I wouldn't obsess over needing a whole new school. We have a couple of classroom problems, but we'll have to figure that out But anyways, the school will have to figure that out. I just want to be proactive on the wall. It's coming down You know, I thank you all for discussing it Listen Sure In general, um Let's see. There's some union contracts as well, but I'll say in generally employees pay, um 10 to 12 percent No But the the answer is no I know So we do have I would like to keep the meeting open for another seven minutes of meeting the public hearing open for another seven minutes. Um, so But I do think that we can move on Even within the public hearing and start talking about our um revised budget work session Um, so if we can turn our attention to that I think what I ask is you know General thoughts on the budget. Are there specific line items that are objectionable are there Is there anything else specific that's objectionable in the budget? And if there is then now would be the time because we've got a vote on this tonight I mean now meeting this meeting not the next 10 seconds I think we've been over the the budget and we have you know Taken things out and and made sure that you know, we are leaving our town with the highest level of possible service Um utilizing the the smallest percentage growth to get that service. Um So I I don't have any specific items to to discuss but I do Want to extend my gratitude to all of the staff and department heads at eric to surely to everyone who has spent the past Now seven eight months um Doing this budget we're working this budget. We're working it again responding to our our concerns And um, you all worked tirelessly on this and are very much appreciated and again, um to our department heads as well other comments appreciate the document that we got uh from Eric and uh surely and other staff that explains in detail What we talked about in the last month or so to come up with a revised budget and um Going through this page by page I can't see any reason to change what we're Have presenting tonight um No, I I agree. We've been through this through this a few times and things keep getting tighter I do um there was seems to be a little bit of confusion on our use of fund balance So if we could be kind of clear on the fact that we're using Quite a bit of the three million dollar fund balance At the uh someone who reached out to me thought we're only using a hundred thousand of the three million right because we added a hundred thousand Right, so with the whole original figure number and and why we couldn't take more given the where we need to have a Reserve would be um, I think would help clear up that confusion Otherwise I um I'd be a lot happier if the budget was a smaller percentage increase, but the expenses were only going up a smaller increase but I think this is the the The coveted inflationary lag. It's hard to explain to people that we Gave we had in order to keep staff We had to compensate in a way that would keep them here make it competitive But that was not this year's budget. So it's going to show us an increase in next year's budget but so it's it's It's complicated, but keeping our staff It's a it's a for public safety folks right now. It's very competitive And it's a lot cheaper for us to keep staff here than to keep retraining staff so And hiring and and hoping they stay and So I like I said, I'd be happier if it wasn't such a big increase on the expense side But I don't see that we have any choice. So I think we're I think it's going up in the right areas Lucky to have that it's important that we keep them Oh, it's much cheaper to keep them and then find Retrain someone else. I think it's We've got a great staff in the town. We're lucky to have it For public service and But for public safety as well agree with that um, I I'm in favor of What the staff and we have done? Um, you know, it cuts the tax increase by in half Um, it cuts spending by $310,000 which in a budget with the town of williston. That's no small number um, and again half half the budget is public safety and we've Cut the spending cut the tax increase in half, but we haven't cut any positions in public safety so that when people need fire ambulance or police they Are going to have to wait any longer than what they might have to otherwise because we have we have good departments. So I Yeah, there's a lot of a lot of pressures on this budget that again, we're beyond our control And I think it's as good as it's going to get so anyway, um So it is 758. So I think maybe we can we can risk it and uh chair would entertain a motion to close the public hearing So I'm going to close the public hearing on the fiscal year 2025 and budget revoked. Is there a second? For the discussion All those in favor say aye. All those opposed nay. The ayes have it the public hearing is closed um Next agenda item we've kind of bled into from uh, uh, a couple of minutes ago, but the uh, FY 25 budget revoked work session If there are other comments to be made on that That would be great If there are not then that's great too. Is there um, we maybe talk for a second if it's okay About communicating this because it is three weeks until To the date so and and one of those is the school vacation week So we got to make sure that we don't waste any time. So I maybe maybe just explain a little bit. Eric What you're thinking? Sure. Yeah, I talked to sure to sure with Ted the other day I've scheduled a manager chats. I'll be getting that out this week. I'm going to be at the library I'm going to look at my calendar so I get Oh, here they are that I worked on Monday, April 22nd. I'll be in the library community room from 5 30 to 6 30 Saturday, April 27th. I'll be in the library community room from 11 30 to 12 30 Monday, April 29th. I'll be in this room from 4 30 to 5 30 Then Wednesday, May 1st. I'll be in the library community room from 11 30 to 12 30 Then the board has the opportunity to have that table at the town fair on May 4th A couple days before the vote as well I'll be working to get some information out in the observer and front porch forum our town email list I share the public hearing draft on those. I'll follow up In those venues How many people are on your email list, you know, I think we have about 3 000 or so. Yeah I have to check the open rate the open rate Use I use the library list and the rec list as well. I have a pretty good number of folks, but That's kind of my baseline, but certainly open for oh, I'm going to take what's up Williston next week too and do an overview of the budget for that So we'll have that on a video medium as well It's kind of the baseline certainly any input from the board is welcome of other ways to get this information out there If you would just disseminate the link to the what's up Williston to all of us and then through the town's social media platforms that way folks can easily Distribute that link Within other community forums on social media But I think that would be helpful for people to see Did you have a did you mention a One of your town manager hours or whatever In the task corners area All up here. Yeah, I've seen about that. I'll add something down there. Yeah And was I really appreciate to that you've your hours that you are available reflect that, you know Nighttime hours day Weekend hours so that you know, you can really get a cross-section of people Who maybe couldn't do it just on a your normal business hours. So we know that's above and beyond and you are Available lots to our community. So thank you Maybe have like a giveaway the giveaway was uh eclipse glasses For the next eclipse I got about 35 of them at my house You could have I'll donate them So we have already voted on the budget We will be voting that there's Put it on the warning on thursday Okay, but we are Providing to the select board for the thursday night Okay I will not be here Nor will I Do you support the numbers? I do on the record and say it loudly on my record. I support. Yeah, I I do And actually if there's a chance for me to Log in remotely, I would do that. Is that actually going to be an option for thursday or is that I can make it happen? I will be mid roller coaster Yeah, we either have you zoom in or even it may it may not happen. I I don't know There's no mystery to it. We're going to be visiting our daughter in school in new york and um I have no control over the scheduling So As it goes I'm okay with that. You know, I'm okay. It's like, what were we going? Okay So yeah, so we all Our straw poll. This is the right number. This is what we're asking staff to Put together on the warning and those of us who can be here on thursday will we have a forum to approve it with you guys? On the record for approval. Yes, agreed so Okay, the warning. Um, you know, it'll it'll look a lot like the town meeting warning one article and I'll input these numbers. I got a Town attorney looked at today and I It's from the draft that put together. So I'll I'll share that with the board probably tomorrow So you have it before the meeting but Anticipate it could be a fairly brief meeting on thursday You will you will have to elect a temporary chair to preside over the meeting because the chair vice chair will be That might be the time a time-consuming moment Who or the getting power You can have the power back if you want. I know I was I was pretty sure Terry 20 minutes Okay, so I think that exhausts that agenda item We're all in favor of the number that's going to be voted on on thursday and Line items have been changed tonight and That's that so We already did cover managers report. Yeah, I'll just add for process I believe early voting can start as early as next week. I'm just confirming that with the town attorney, but Child a little bit with sarah mason clerk about it and given that we're going to do the printed Ballots, I'll I'll confirm with her and we'll get that in our communication as well It's important to have all this information out there before the early voting starts as well. So won't feel I think it'll be helpful too just to communicate the ballot will look a little different to folks because we're doing the Hand count ballots rather than using a tabulator ballot Just so people aren't surprised and No question I see it that doesn't look like what they're used to kicking it old school. Yeah The show. Yeah, I could do a photo. Yeah, so I'm just yeah, this is this is a real ballot. This is what it looks like Anything else First thing I thought of How many creamy joints do we have? I think all we have is chef's corner Adams when they're open They don't have creamies though. They don't creamies. That's hard ice cream. I know Okay, so if that exhaust manager's report, uh, other business we've covered but is there any other other business? Um That said final thoughts on agenda items from this meeting. Are there any? I think we've interspersed them. Yeah, I think that's so that uh, that being said, uh Is there a motion to adjourn? We are adjourned