 Welcome everybody to the Arlington finance committee officially opening the meeting as a preliminary matter This is Alan Tosti chair of the finance committee Permit me to confirm that all members and persons Participated on the agenda and present are here members. I'll go through the agenda one more time Grant Gibbe and here Shane Bondale here John Ellis John Ellis Carolyn white Carolyn She's muted Here sorry, I wasn't near the screen Mary Margaret Frankelmont Mary Margaret you're mute Am I here you're here Arif Padaria I'm here Jonathan Wauwak. Yeah, Charlie Foskett. Yeah, Ryan Beck Peter Howard Chewing progress here Darrell Harmer here John Dice here Alan Jones here any record here Bill Keller Bill Bill say here Sorry, I'm here. I had on you. I apologize. Okay. No problem Al Tosti. I'm here George Kosher here Christine Desher here being Carmen here Dave McKenna Yeah, our executive secretary Liz Diggins here, okay Anticipated speakers Kathleen Bodie here Michael Mason here Adam Chapelway here Introduction to remote meeting good evening You have this open meeting of the finance committee is being conducted remotely Consistent with Governor Baker's executive order of March 12 2020 due to the current state of the emergency at the Commonwealth Due to the outbreak of COVID-19 virus in order to mitigate the transmission of the COVID-19 virus We have been advised and directed by the Commonwealth to suspend public gatherings And as such the governor's order suspends the requirement of the open meeting law to have all meetings in a public accessible physical location Further all members of public bodies are allowed and encouraged to remote participate remotely The order which you have find posted with the agenda materials for this meeting Allows public bodies to meet entirely remotely so long as reasonable public access is afforded So the public can follow along with the double erations of this meeting Ensuring public access does not ensure public participation unless such public participation is required by law This meeting will not feature public comment For this meeting of the finance committee is convening via zoom as posted on the town website Identifying how the public may join Please note that this meeting is being recorded and that some attendees are participating by video conference Recordingly, please be aware that other folks may be able to see you and take care not to screen share your computer Anything that you broadcast may be captured by the recording Meeting materials all supporting materials that are provided members of this body are available on the town's website Unless otherwise noted The public is encouraged to follow along using the posted agenda unless I note otherwise Ground rules we are now turning to the first item of the agenda, which by chance is the only item on the agenda Before do so, please permit me to cover some ground rules for effective and clear conduct of our business To ensure accurate meeting minutes I will introduce each speaker speaker on the agenda After they conclude their remarks, I will call for questions or comments Please raise your hand or push the clap button to be recognized if you want to add to add to an issue under discussion Please push the thumbs up button When these are finished, I will call for a motion and second it Further discussion will then be allowed followed by roll call, which is legally required So any can you do what you did last time and tell me who's the next on the list? Yes, I can do that. Okay Um Further remember to mute your phone or computer when you are not speaking Please remember to speak clearly and in a way that helps generate accurate minutes For any response, please wait until the chair yields the floor to you and state your name before speaking If members wish to engage in a Colloquially with other members, please do so through the chair taking care to identify yourself Okay, so with that the primary focus is on the Appendix E Which you all should have I sent it out on Friday Excuse me, uh Good, sorry, uh, this will be an appendix right in the finance committee report Uh, which we hope to get out tomorrow Uh, go just to give you an overview of Going into of the long-range planning committee meeting in may I guess I Put forth the thought that we need to start making some cuts now Even if we don't know what the cuts are going to be down the road We need to start doing some of those cuts now So I recommended to the uh long-range planning committee that we start with 10 of the increase uh so Everybody and plus some cuts in the warrant articles and elsewhere So the long-range planning committee agreed with that The manager has uh moved on with his cuts, which you see an appendix e The school department uh superintendent has put forth her cuts, uh, which I'll explain in a minute Um, the warrant articles, uh, I'll go into in more detail when I get there and then some use of reserves Uh, this total changes Um of about 3,200,000 um Now we put this together with a 15 an estimated 15 percent reduction in local aid from the governor's january proposal um, and that Thus with the 15 percent reduction all these we have a uh balanced budget going forward uh Going on the basis that we don't know what the final cuts are going to be um, and this is uh Based on the manager's best estimate or guess uh from his, uh Conversations, I would say with state leaders. Um, but at this point it's it's a best estimate so, uh It it will put off the deficit until fiscal 2024 Um, which was what we had projected from the overrides and from our last We're moving towards But the deficits are too too big. So we're going to have to do be doing We might have to be doing some more down the road, but at least this is a start uh, so with that, um The manager can go through his reductions, which about it to about On 20 of his total increase. So, uh adam could you Go through your area Yes, thank you. Well, and uh, good evening members of the committee Uh, do you do you want me to talk at all more Contextually or or framework or just hit those positions and then and then take it from there Um, if you'd like to add some things to the general framework, that'd be fine and then hit the these positions Okay, thank you. So I I think just to add a little bit about State aid, which is really the biggest variable In what we're facing. Um I think you've probably all read some or all of the reports that have been out there of what the state has been facing Uh, there's talk of the state next year in FY 21 facing a revenue deficit anywhere between 20 and 25 percent Of their annual revenue. Uh, they don't really know exactly what's going to happen yet And they don't seem poised to adopt a budget Frankly anytime soon, uh, they might even adopt one 12th state budgets Over the course of the summer in july and august and I think the main reason That they're doing that is with two main reasons one. They don't know what their revenues really are going to be And two there's significant hope That there will be some type of federal bailout for states To help with state revenue losses and until they know that I think they're very hesitant to make cuts before they really know whether or not there's going to be federal assistance And there's two possibilities for federal assistance One with the existing cares act. There was uh 500 million dollars earmarked for cities and towns However, that 500 million dollars has to be used for direct covid 19 related expenses Currently in arlington's case Our allotment is far more than we can frankly envision spending on covid responses. So there is a chance Through advocacy that the federal government will change what those funds can be used for And that could be a source of funds that we use for potential state aid cuts The other avenue is that there could be another stimulus bill with direct aid to states and potentially local governments So there's a lot more shoes to drop. I'm probably mixing metaphors there, but But that that's the landscape as I see it state really doesn't know what its revenue is It doesn't know whether or not it's going to get any help It isn't going to adopt a budget necessarily anytime soon From what I hear from legislative leaders, I I've heard things ranging from Chapter 70 won't be cut at all To expect a 25% state aid cut Uh in everything in between So we we looked at um, we looked at really anything and everything we could hear coming out of the state And decided collectively myself the deputy town manager the finance team Working with the long the revenue working group in the long range planning committee that it was reasonable at this point To assume a 15 cut in state aid across the board Whether it's that actual number if it's the same percentage cut for chapter 70 and unrestricted general government aid remains to be seen But we felt like that was a safe Estimate talking with a number of neighboring communities. It's in the ballpark of what Many of our neighboring communities are looking at some have projected a little bit less of a cut some a little bit more of a cut So we are we are matching up with what other communities are doing in that regard Um, I guess I'd also like to mention. There's there's talk about one 12th budgets It's what the state might be doing and the governor has taken action To allow was to adopt one 12th budgets without town meeting action And I I've been an advocate for adopting a 12 year budget that we very 12 12 year 12 month budget That we very well might have to come back and fix in the fall when When we learn more But I'm advocating for that because I think it would be very very hard Specifically for the school department to build an operating budget on a one 12th budget One 12th budget only allows you to really roll forward On a month by month basis your prior year's budget So as the school department's trying to staff up now For next school year going forward on a one 12th budget I really think would be crippling for them and I don't think that's what This town is is looking for in terms of stability or what the the override was put together for in terms of stability so If ultimately we have to do a one 12th budget we will but I don't think Given the where we are in the long-range plan the amount of reserves we have How we're able to maintain the override staying in fiscal 24 with what we're presenting to you tonight I think the path we're on at least for now is Responsible and potentially even in some areas Conservative and leaves his room to fix things when we know more in the fall So with all that said When we were talking about reducing our increase by 10% Myself the deputy town manager talking with the fincom chair We all agreed that adding any new positions in the town budget given what we're facing Wouldn't necessarily be prudent or responsible at this point Because we could very well be in a position where we would be hiring people that we would soon after need to lay off So we reduced our increase by greater than that 10% That al was talking about We actually eliminated every new position that was Proposed in the f y 21 budget If we were going with that 10 reduction in our increase we would have only reduced our Budget by just about a hundred thousand dollars instead. We proposed About 260 thousand dollars So, um, you see them in front of you, but I'll I'll mention them quickly We had proposed a new police officer that would have served as a second school resource officer I think we'd still like to do that someday But given that we're not really even sure what school will look like in september I don't think we are we're really losing a level of service by not being able to add that right now We had proposed two positions for public works a permit engineer and a systems innovation analyst Both of those are positions that I very much would have liked to have dpw have access to but Again, given the circumstances. We're facing No need to add them and then have to lose them very quickly thereafter We had added Hours to the child the children's librarian at the fox library But rather than removing those hours the library director Suggested we remove a now vacant part-time library clerk position as an alternative and I'm fine with that recommendation if she'd rather use Her same allotment in a different direction. I'm fine with that So that's why that position has been proposed to be eliminated in this budget And then finally we had proposed a part-time public records clerk To work out of the town manager's office and again for the same reasons we're eliminating that from our proposal so that is my my best attempt so far at A context of where we are and the proposed changes that we're recommending for you tonight Hey, uh, why don't we stop there? Are there any questions or comments on? Either the manager's overview or the manager's specific reductions I have a question john okay, john in the in the current situation with the essentially no one in the schools and remote teaching and that sort of thing I certainly don't want to shortchange the schools in any way, but can there be any reductions in? in the funding for the schools because of the situation Okay, john, let me hold that for a minute and just stay with the town manager We'll go on to the schools the superintendent in a minute. Okay. Okay anything any questions for the manager? Yeah, steen. I have a question So adam you touched on um, how you formulated your expectation of state aid But the other variable number in the budget is local receipts which accounts for about Um, I think close to 10 million dollars in the current budget plan Where I guess it's two-fold. Where are we? How have we been performing on local receipts since march one? And how is that factored into the current budget plan for 21? so local receipts, um I don't want to say surprisingly, but I'm glad to report that local receipts have been fairly steady since march one Uh, as of I believe the end of the first quarter. We had already surpassed Our annual budget in collections for local receipts. So we were doing very well in terms of local receipts Building permits seem to be flowing just uh, just as freely as normal We haven't yet seen any impact in motor vehicle excise The only real material impact we've seen is to hotel motel and meals tax for obvious reasons So for this fiscal year, local receipts aren't in good shape Going forward on an annual basis over the past Probably seven or eight years now We have collected more in local receipts than we budgeted by a pretty significant amount Some years as much as two million dollars more than we budgeted some years closer to a million So what we're proposing in f y 21 and beyond in this long-range plan Is instead of assuming that local receipts will go up by just a hundred thousand dollars a year We're proposing to flatline that with no proposed increases And given that we've been collecting for so many years More than we've been budgeting and we do that to be conservative in our budget estimates We feel that just flatlining that number for the next several years Will still keep us in a conservative position in what we'll actually collect in local receipts Okay, quick. So second question. Um Is the current year budget in balance It's the it's a it's a Is the current year budget in balance if you include our finance committee reserve fund? Yes Well in the the federal money for the cope with 19 that yes. Yeah, so the town side budget's about okay That's it. I think you answered the other questions. Thanks adam Okay, any other questions or comments on the manager? I have a question uh That's jaylene fokris Oh, okay. Hi jaylene Quick question for adam. Um, I realize we can't know exactly what will happen with the schools if students will be in Person or not. Can you just quickly address whether the the school resource officer? I believe was for the middle school and it was a second officer Uh, if the students are in person, how does how will the how will the auditson get along without the second officer? It has happened if that hasn't been discussed then that's an answer but um, I'm wondering if you could just quickly give us an idea of like What the plan is to have the lack of that position when it seemed like something that was needed So I think so being honest. We haven't in detail discussed that with chief larity Uh, I would imagine what will happen is that officer white will continue to do Multi effort, you know being in the high school and in other schools And then I I think the other thing we have to talk through with chief larity is Given our new circumstances and I say that in the broadest means possible Maybe maybe she chooses to reassign another officer as a second sRO I don't I don't want to commit her to that tonight But I think I think those are the things we'll need to look at as we go forward if if once we get into the new Po, you know new covet normal You know, does she decide that She wants to dedicate an officer as a second sRO those are things we can we can look at as we go forward Okay, thank you Of course any other questions Okay, uh, dr. Bode could you uh go into your um proposed reductions Yes, um, thank you and good evening everyone We were I would like to give a loops. I would like to give a little context also Um for where this list comes from Uh, if you recall we had a five-year plan that we developed with the school committee And looking at what we anticipated with enrollment growth and other needs of the district Uh, what that would look like The first year of that was was this year. We did not actually Have all the requests. It was it was a fairly large list. I have to admit Some of that was moved into this list that you see right here But I will tell you that the the the what was on the table for the administrative team to look at very closely Was something about two and a half times this amount in terms of what uh, was it what was? uh Determined to be needs of the district for enrollment growth and the support of students that um Are struggling with learning So it took quite a bit of discussion to call the list to what we have right here. So this is a very thoughtful list um, and You know in anticipation of the the situation we find ourselves in with the state We We have taken a look at this and and have identified a number of um a number of positions that will just defer again Uh till the next fiscal year if that's possible I will I will honestly tell you though that we probably are going to have to Adjust this a little bit and the reason why is that um One of the items that we had identified were reserve teachers these teachers have been put in the budget the last um I think the last decade actually And they're put in there because we sometimes don't know what the enrollment is going to be Uh until we get into the summer and that's exactly what's starting to happen as well We're finding that we're probably going to need another um teacher At one school for certain two very likely and three possibly so But what I will tell you is that whatever the percentage that that is uh determined this evening The items that would be deducted from The school budget for next year our positions that would not be filled would be on this list Uh, I can go through what we have identified at this point in the uh the first category which is all district We've identified assistant principals. We have been over the last year Trying to um have a halftime assistant principal in our buildings as enrollment has grown uh the Pretty much in many in many districts when you start getting to uh, uh Building sizes about 450 You're at that point you're starting to look at having an assistant principal in the building just because of all the work that's involved the supervision the um Evaluation system the meetings and so forth So we were able to partially do that The what was in this was um an assistant principal Two two additional ones and we have reduced that by one It's possible that in further discussions that will be more than that We also have um Sixth grade class that is moving into the seventh which is larger than the seventh grade and we had proposed having a half Learning community so that those of you that have had children go through the middle school know that they We call them clusters where you have four of the core teachers having a group of students anywhere that entire group is somewhere between uh 100 and 120 students It'll be at the upper end of that that range if we do not have this position um And as what we're seeing in the middle school is the beginning Of these larger classes of 500 that are now starting to Be moving to Gibbs Gibbs next year will probably be about 500 and the classes after that are over that So um going down the list here. Um, we're we're looking um at additional Teachers and support staff level we have we don't usually identify with those positions exactly are It's based on the schedule. So what happens in the high school is students choose which courses that they want to take and We take a look at the what those requests are they don't necessarily always get that what they want because uh the schedule it the number of uh teachers available to have the all of the elective courses ever Or I should say more have multiple sections of some elective courses are not available, but Right now we believe that those that at least two of those positions will probably be in the English department And the science department and physical education We also given the number of students Going on here and see As I said, we had the reserve positions and we're going to have to go back and modify this as if we need additional teachers Which it looks like we will um The district has only had one physical therapist in As even as the whole as the population has grown over these years And then the case load for that person has increased but rather than um Choosing to get another physical therapist There isn't a new specialty which is physical Which is a an assistant And we are looking to hire a physical therapy assistant in the district for the case loads But we have to defer that a year. We will Another position is the bcba, which is a behavior specialist We currently have two in the district who are Are pulled in many directions all the time and this was one of the Request uh for next year Um And that was actually a strong request by teachers Some of these other positions really Or other materials that are in this list are things that we we must have so they really were not Something that we were going to be able to Um to reduce So If we need another teacher we'll go up and we'll have to reduce some of the other positions in this so it's it's uh It's a challenge with our growing enrollment. I know that this summer Well since um, we started Registrations, we have an additional 50 students. This is not kindergarten. This is just across the district that have enrolled I think that it's been fairly quiet over the last couple months just probably due to the pandemic Uh, so it's hard to predict honestly what will happen over the summer But usually we have an uptick In kindergarten, but also across the whole district But on the other hand, um, we agree With the reality that the state is facing and the town is facing and as a district we also agree with Sticking with the the the propositions In the override, which was we were going to push that out until 20 So that these are the positions we've identified at this point and and happy to answer any questions Okay, are there any, uh Charlie has his hand up now. Okay um I'm sorry charlie charlie. Thank you. Well So kathy, thank you very much that and I realize that These are certainly difficult times and you're making a big effort there I have two questions that are somewhat at a strategic level first of all Do you recall or can you tell us, um that the uh, October 19th, October 2019 and Estimated October 2021 Enrollment school levels. How do they compare to the mckibbin forecast back from that we did in 2015 I think it was Um I this will be off my memory, but I will tell you that we looked at the last time this Sometimes this year that the total numbers are actually pretty good and compare as comparing to mckibbin But there have been surprises Uh, and the surprises have been where the enrollment growth has been It's the opposite of of where Um, we would have thought so pierce Has been the biggest surprise of all for many many years. We've had Two grades throughout the school and now this is I think the This will be coming up on the third year the fourth year actually, uh, we have three classes for grade so, um if we We've looked at this very closely. This is a continuing trend. Will we be able to Have three classes at pierce and the answer is yes. We really Figured it out how it can happen But we really don't have a lot of space anywhere Right now In the schools, it's a it's a it's of a challenge and stratton also Stratton's predictions with mckibbin were to stay pretty steady at three Three classes per grade and the last couple years we've been at four And and that's one of the schools. I'm seeing it's staying for this coming year, which would mean an additional teacher Well, thank you. I have a follow-up questions to that Which is something that's been bothering me, um for the last month or so In that is, uh, you know, there's apparently great, um lack of clarity at at the Elementary and high school level as well as in some of the universities as to how students go back to full school in the fall and um, it seems to me that In order to achieve the social distancing or whatever it is that the governor and the cdc is recommending there will be a increased demand both for space And for human resources somehow. I mean, I don't know if it'll be increased or whatever But I'm just wondering has the school department developed a strategy to deal with those issues that is social distancing space In human resources comes the fall. That's only two months away It is two months away and there's still a lack of clarity as to exactly what will what we'll be facing We are in the process of developing three plans. One would be Going back to school as we would normally do But that still has to have a plan to it in terms of a lot of safety procedures in place um Having a totally remote environment And that also has issues with it as well It's would be be structured differently than we've been doing it this the spring which has Some planning that would have to go with it. I think the one that's very challenging when the one you're sort of alluding to Is one that's been proposed as sort of a hybrid and in in that kind of situation you would have half the school in part part of the time and half the school out of the building and There's different different ways you can look at it whether it's going to be Every other week I've heard proposals out in other communities are thinking about it being every two weeks. I've heard Half days and we actually have committees that are looking at these in terms of what would be The the best situation that I think the half days Probably is not as likely only because Of the all of the safety things we would have to put in place in terms of cleaning So we are looking at that. I I don't think we're going to have probably a decision or any guidance from The governor or the department of education much before sometime in july, but It does make a challenge to plan sort of simultaneous Pathways One thing I heard actually just today is we've been talking there's been talking about besides the social distancing in the building Is it going to be necessary to take the temperature of every of every child? There is some discussion that's out there right now In health circles as to whether that is necessarily it would be a necessity to do Because that's actually been one of the one of the challenging ideas is how you move You know hundreds of students into the buildings every day in any kind of Any kind of time frame that makes makes sense Even if you had half the building at the high school, we're talking about moving 750 students into the building With more limited access than we've had before too So it's that that part's the challenging but that would actually be a very important step forward It doesn't mean that there wouldn't be a lot of other protocols in terms of safety Some of it may have to be distancing And you know One of I think one of the other scenarios we have to be looking at here is that we might be able to start Or maybe start in a hybrid situation But how long will that last? We see what's happening in other countries right now south korea Where they they open the schools. They had a lot of protective gear In fact, I saw a picture of one of the classroom the other day with having lunch and they had these plexiglass Trifolds around every student But even with those kind of protections, they've had to close schools again So if we have to go to some different type of Where I was going with this mean if we have If we have to go to alternate Weeks or something in order to accommodate our students in the space Are we going to have to renegotiate? labor contracts and union contracts If we go on to some Let me call it unorthodox schedule The answer is yes But I will tell you that right now there's a we have a very strong collaborative relationship With the unions. We've been working together All through this to figure out what makes the most sense and how can we do it with the best interest of children You have to keep in mind that what we've asked teachers to do on literally no notice It's a completely change How they they teach teaching over Through a zoom or our google our google platform is very different and We're we're we're trying a lot of strategies right now. We have a couple of of study groups At the elementary and the secondary Maybe about 25 each of teachers who are Experimenting with synchronous right now and of course there's a lot of challenges with it one I was just talking one principle today about kindergarten next year What that would look like because right now when you get on to a A zoom or we actually just really say a google me because that's the platform we use You need another person with us even a small kindergarten class to be able to manage Of them being on there and their attention span is not that long So there's a lot of challenges here. And so how do we If we have to have a more of a remote, how do we move forward? We've had to call the curriculum these last couple months in order to only teach the essential learning standards for students to be able to move to the next school year But we certainly don't Want to that can't be the the the learning norm of next year And so we have a lot of work to think about how we're going to do this We're going to have committees working all summer on this Thank you Have a question John Deight Go ahead John Kathy What are you going to do if things Stay as they are or get worse and yeah, there has to be isolation of Distance separation A school could be a huge petri dish if it's It is not managed correctly. It seems like to me. So I'm wondering if you're thinking at all about the the worst possibility and and because The worst possibility is not unlikely in my opinion Um, we are the worst being possibility meaning the students were out of school for months at a time Right. Yeah That would be a pretty awful consequence That that we're definitely looking at that and and I think that the experience we've had this spring is going to Really help in terms of trying to figure out how We're going to manage this. How do you schedule a day? So that you can keep students' attentions keep them engaged You probably heard the expression flip classrooms. Are we trying to do more of that where students You know that the students do the work By themselves and then you use the opportunity you're um online with them to ask questions It's not the most ideal and and it works It doesn't work that badly at the high school or even the middle school level It starts falling off as you get down to the lower grades Uh, it's it's been a it's been a burden for parents because a lot of our our k through two students They need so much support from their parents Uh remotely to be able to manage it Managed at all and keep in mind some first graders aren't reading. So we're depending upon them to read these these Reading grids or these grids that we have for all their assignments I have to compliment our teachers. They've just done an enormously Great job in organizing all of this work for students and it's consistent across the elementary But it requires a lot of parental support And I think that that's going to be one of the big challenges of the fall is that As parents go back to work And maybe there's not child care and and how to how do they manage working at home with children? They're going to be more using remote learning more But that is exactly what we have to plan for is the worst possible situation and in so that we can keep advancing the curriculum and keep students engaged I think one of the One of the challenges we've seen is that particularly at the a secondary level is that students are Can do the work on their own and if they don't have questions They don't join the hangout. So that would have to shift next year because it it's it has its limitation in the amount of material content that you can teach in a period of time These challenges are enormous and In terms of how you plan effectively One of the things that we've all I've said to people and it's true and what just even happened today You start thinking of one situation and then there's questions and questions and questions that follow In terms of what you have to plan for But we've already started organizing for that and planning ahead good Thank you Okay, let me just make one observation Of adam chaplain had to go to the selectments meeting But we have his replacement A deputy town manager sandy poor has just joined us. So hi sandy Um, okay questions for the superintendent shaleen has her hand up Hello, I I absolutely hear dr. Bodie's statement that there are questions and questions and questions So I hesitate to add another question Maybe it's a statement slash Observation for the finance committee to just keep in mind and for the school committee to keep in mind As a parent of a middle schooler and a high schooler And a friend to many parents With kids from k through 12 I know we're talking about budget reductions right now, but the one thing that I can see as a need coming Coming rapidly toward us, especially if if students are If students are working from home, which even if we go back to school in person It seems very likely to me that we will need to continue the online component because we'll need to allow students to distance If they have any symptoms And so we've already started to establish a way for students to work from I'm just going to say work from home You know what I mean, um, so my question observation is um To urge this committee and the school committee and dr. Bodie to consider I know it's hard to find the money but to add what I see as a need is an addition of some sort of tech support So like if a third grade parent Knows their third graders supposed to be online, but they can't get online or they can't get access to the materials If there were one or two people standing by to assist Those parents that would be amazing. Well, this is not something the school has the school District has needed to provide before we have it and we have some tech support within the schools This is a different kind of tech support So I know we're not talking about additions to the budget But to me this seems like something additional that we would need to spend money on and I'm just putting it out there as an idea No, you're you're absolutely correct. Um, in fact, we've had two parent forms Secondary and elementary and in both in both forms particularly elementary This came up as you know, can't isn't there someone we can call And and and figure this out and it's it is a big issue for sure And actually one of the reasons one of the places I thought you might be going to was the whole issue of technology We can't share computers anymore in school And in fact, we're we know that we can't share any materials. We're gonna have We're gonna have art bags and They're we they're gonna have all of their own materials Pencils everything in their own bag Because we can't share them And it's like a little kind of details, you know, we're talking today about nurses desk You can't have share the pen with somebody, you know And this is a whole way of thinking and being that it's just been so foreign to how we've operated So it's gonna be it's gonna be definitely It's a huge challenge, but I I totally agree with you. And in fact, we talked about this And administratively that we need to really hire somebody But we want to just sort of wait and see and be and be cautious as we proceed in this But yes, yes, I see the same need Good questions for the superintendent, okay, I just have a couple of Dr. Bodie How's the status of your other Reserve funds then specifically talking about your revolving funds and your special revenue funds Can they provide you with some We way if you need it Um, I guess what I'm asking is what condition are they in? Um, well, they're in good condition. Mr. Mason's here and he can give you more specific numbers But one of the things that we were able to do through some savings this year some of that to savings in special education Transportation and some other some other things that We are able to some of the some of the positions that would normally come out paid from The reserve because their enterprise we've been able to Bring pay for some of that out of the current operating So they're they're in pretty good shape. Maybe I'll pull Mr. Mason in on that question But yes, and that's been something we've been thinking about is We need We need this cushion because there's going to be a lot of surprises and things we're going to get That Is going to be Necessary just to be able to function. We know that and so yes, they're in good shape. Um, mr. Mason. Mike Michael do you want to just talk a little bit about that yourself? Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't go too much into specifics, but I would concur and state that our Our our reserve our revolving funds are actually in great standing And we are actually taking steps this year with The current fiscal year with our current status Adjusting some expenditures to give us even more flexibility in out years in regards to Any changes in potential revenues? um, so an example of this is, you know We are intending to Probably vote, uh, they have some funds Moved into our special reserve funds for future years because we do not know how our circuit breaker revenue Uh will pan out. Um in the future years we're also looking at even prepayment of Of tuitions and that's even that doesn't necessarily mean that We're sitting to have funds that we're going to use from revolving funds but it actually gives us the flexibility to Dedicate some funds that we have this year and and create an asset so that we can have Our prepaid asset so that we can use in the future years and give us a if anything unexpected comes we have that flexibility in future budgets So hope that answers your questions. Yes, it does. Thank you Any other questions for the superintendent? Yeah, I have a question it's dean Dean So hi, so I guess I'm gonna Michael's question kind of confused me Um, so the ton appropriation for the school department is 76 million dollars Um, the overall school budget is at least when we had in february is 83 million dollars um I looked at the gap those seven million dollars of non-general fund revenues And then thought this is going to be tight for you guys Like this is going to be rough right because like When I looked at it, I thought to myself well, you budgeted 500 000 dollars of foreign exchange revenue when there's a travel ban um, you You budgeted there was another one that stuck out, you know, I mean athletic fees will be down But those might be there might be less expenses Um, you don't know from the state budget how much you're going to get in circuit circuit breaker reimbursement I know we have 2.3 million but that could be cut by the legislature And then you've got some grants. I think some federal grants and special ed and and things like that. So Is it I mean, maybe we're just talking about you're talking about something else, but That that's 7 million isn't really guaranteed Like you guys could find yourself in a in a tight situation pretty quickly Or no, you think it's fine. No, no, we that's We're trying to plan for that Mike. You might want to join in in this but no We know that certainly fortunately a number of years ago. We were able to You know, we we we don't spend circuit breaker in the year we get it It's a year out. So we can't have a plan but I've heard numbers that could this could just really sink in terms of what we had and so Whatever we're using that money for right now. We're going to have to figure out how we backfill it Oh, I don't think that we I don't think we think it's rosy But I think that we're we're also trying to plan Carefully for what we need to be able to do so the more money we can put in that special ed state Stabilization account this year. That's going to be that could be the The buffer against a real downturn in circuit breaker Mike, do you agree on that? Yes, I I do agree on that and as well as you know, I hope I didn't paint that it was rosy in terms of the the The decisions that we're making at the end of this fiscal year to to help us in the future And that doesn't mean that we're going to have enough in the future We just do not know based on the information. But what I can say is that we're We are making certain decisions to try to help those revolving funds to be able to withstand And to answer the some of the questions in terms of if you're looking at the budget Those those are revenue sources Doesn't necessarily mean that's the revenue we're going to collect in that particular year Some of that is revenue that we're collecting that as well as Eating into a balance that we've been able to build up and that's what we were doing Showing in this budget so foreign the foreign tuition has actually been going down in terms of How much we've been collecting? But we've been able to adjust some things to have some kind of Reserves in case of necessary needs And so that's what we intend to do As we look at our end of year spending and try to make these adjustments to help these balances So in case that there is any revenue shortfalls will have to be do as many cuts or you know Have any drastic changes in the services? Okay, is there any other questions? Okay We'll move on down to warrant articles and use of reserves. I'll handle that Dr. Bode and Mr. Mason, thank you very much For coming you're welcome to stay if you like But if you want to head out that I can understand that so well, thank you very much for your help. We really appreciate it Mike one one question. Can you get me though that those breakdown numbers soon? I need the other the six numbers that make up the reduced budget Yesterday, I will get that over to you. Thank you. Thank you Okay Okay, again. Thank you used to do it. That's fine. Thank you very much Let us are you voting on this soon or should we should we stick around or you're well I'm just going to go through the warrant articles and use of reserves and Then throw it open for discussion and we'll take a vote. So if you want to hang around, that's fine If you want to head out, we'll give you a call tomorrow All right. All right. Thank you very much Okay, thank you Okay, the uh The rest of it I the warrant articles Um, I felt that the warrant article should take some cuts Um, there's two parts here. If you look at those four articles Uh, one is I looked at anything above 25 000 dollars Um, I wasn't going to go down and start nickel and diming. You know the uh, some of these committees Uh, but I took any of the articles that were optional above 25 000 Arts and culture, uh, I I hit for 5000. I've talked about with them I forwarded your their email to you Uh on it because they're um, they're not going to be putting things out of town day. They're not paying for booths They're not doing a lot of physical things. They're doing a lot of virtual things And those generally tend to be less costly The water bodies, uh, you probably remember that, uh, all of the, uh Um, they had about 98 000 projected Roll over at the end of the next fiscal year and I think several of you have mentioned that so Uh, I I think they they could take a 10 000 dollar hitting their reserves and still do their job for next year We might have to do some accommodation a couple years down the road But right now they had plenty of reserves Uh, I'm not uh town day. I'm recommending because town day is canceled. So Don't need to spend that and the harry barber program as you're aware is for, uh senior citizens to come in and work in the town uh I've talked with the manager about this and he agreed it's not The climate that you want to bring a lot of senior citizens into the town halls to start working and and So I I think that should be put off until it's safe and, uh, uh, christine barnjono the head of human services agreed with that So, uh, those are the uh warrant articles Uh, there any questions on those? I have a question Okay, peter uh Did you talk to anybody in the water? bodies uh Committee cast group, whatever they call themselves Yes, I uh, I sent it to the contact there. I think she's a town. I can't remember her name Uh, but I sent that to her um And uh, she's basically I think said, you know, we'll get back to you if there's an issue No, and I haven't heard and I sent those over a week ago a week and a half Emily solovan I'm sorry. Is it emily solovan? Yes Yes, that's the name. Yeah Uh, so I did I contacted everybody Um that I was looking at Thank you Okay, um So all those uh, and then the use of reserves so all those reductions by the manager of the school and the warrant articles total about 750,000 uh We'll have to find out next fall if we're going to have to make more uh and You know theoretically if if everything comes up roses we could put some of it back We'll have there'll be a special town meeting Uh in the fall Uh on this but we don't want to go hiring a lot of people and doing a lot of things and then find out We've got to fire them like the manager said the use of reserves, uh I I thought the reserve country could take a 10 hit and this just reduces it back down to about a million five Um, and I think today we've used any so I think that's still in pretty good condition The long-term stabilization fund. I think could take a one year hiatus Um, it's about three and a half 3.6 million Almost 3.7 million In the long-term stabilization Now the increased use of funds the overlay surplus We have been putting about taking about 200 000 a year out of the overlay surplus Last year we took about two and a half million if you remember that we took two and a half million and put it in the uh Override stabilization fund. Well, there's about another two and a half million About two million available uh That they feel um could be taken but that's a little iffy so What I recommended to the uh long-term planning committee and to you Is that we take 200 000 a year over the next five years So that'll basically over the five-year plan that'll drain that surplus But yet on the other hand if there's a problem, you know, we could reduce that amount from 400 To 300 or whatever needs to be done. So those seem reasonable to me Uh to balance the budget Uh is the override stabilization fund of about two million and change Um, so that's what adds it up um If we have a 15 minute 15 cut in our local aid from the governor's numbers Uh, which the uh manager feels is is as reasonable a guess as we can do We've got a balanced budget at this point Um, and then as situation clarifies over the summer Uh, we can make some additional changes Uh, if need to be at the uh fall the fall of special is supposed to be focused on the uh Uh, the selection articles and the redevelopment vote articles the zoning Uh, but we'll throw an article in to to modify any budgets Uh, or or use of reserves if we need to Uh, so are there any questions on the uh Any of it, I guess I have a question john john um In this time of increased uncertainty I'm wondering if it's a wise idea to reduce the reserve fund Which is there specifically for addressing Issues that aren't anticipating Well, I uh, you know, we've built up the reserve fund to to quite a substantial amount of money I don't think we've any we it's about a million six This year Uh, we haven't used any. I mean primarily it was done to build up for snow and ice Uh, and of course we didn't have any snow and ice this year. Well, we had some Uh, but there was enough there. So I think a million Uh, million five fifty six seven twenty four Seems adequate to do that Any other questions? thoughts Oh with that. Does anybody want to make a motion? Time out. I had my hand up. Oh, I'm sorry. I guess my electronic hand didn't wave hard enough I uh, I have some sympathy with john's comments, especially, uh, I'm really concerned that the the altered schedules that the school department is Going to be forced into somehow or another. Um, it's going to have cost that It's going to increase. It's going to increase the demand on on The fiscal, you know, on their fiscal resources substantially Because they're going to somehow or another just think about this of half the students are online at home Half the students are in the in the classroom, but the classrooms are all in use, but they just have half of the number of students Somehow you need twice the number of teachers because you have to have people in the classrooms And you have to have teachers taking care of the students that are online So there's going to be some huge cost impact And and probably uh, that's going to have to come out of The reserve fund. I don't know how it gets taken care of but that's I I think we're going to see that problem in the fall I I'm not objecting to the your proposal right now, but I think we should be Very aware that there may be a an educational crisis as a result of these Dramatically adjusted schedules One one question. I didn't have it. I didn't remember to ask the superintendent Was how many parents are going to decide? to just go home school and You know who have the time obviously And and just bypass the school system all together. I I don't know But that'll be an interesting factor. I don't think they can legally do that out they still have to register with the school system and talk about their curriculum plans and um I I don't know is that necessarily reduces the burden on the school of remote learning Not sure myself But it would still You know, basically even though they have to register take the student out but um Yeah, all good points Well, does somebody want to make a motion? I move that we uh, accept these amendments to the 21 budget I second it Now is there any further discussion? Okay, I'm going to take a roll call vote now the vote to move uh, and has been seconded for the total changes of 3 million 246 216 uh grand gibbian I Shane bundell I John ellis I Carolyn white I Mary margaret franklomont I Uh a reef pedera pederia. Yes, uh, jonathan wallach. Hi Charlie fosk it. Hi Bring it back. It's not in uh, peter howard Peter Yes Uh, shaylee and pocress I Daryl harmer. Hi John diced. Hi ellen jones ellen I Okay any record? I bill keller I George kosher I pristine deshver. Yes Dean karman. Yes And jade mackenna Yes okay Well, that's uh That's our business for tonight I'd like to if you could hold on for another minute Uh, the plan for all this is alan and I will uh, primarily alan Uh, we'll we'll ship the finance committee report to out tomorrow Our plan is to uh, get it to the on the town website And send it out on the town meeting member email list And uh, so it's made available so people basically can print out their own copies Run your mask al I know I cough a lot. I think I'm okay. Your computer's gonna get sick I've got a special filter Um And the manager's office is willing to print up some hard copy in case people don't you know for some reason Don't have a printer. Don't have a Computer and they need some copies. So they'll just print them up themselves So we're not going out to to print so to speak and then we'll send it to all the other officials um I've asked the moderator. He'll send out a consent agenda. So I see the town meeting going through um The regular budget the capital budget Minuteman CPA and all other Uh as a consent agenda So hopefully with that Um, if we don't get bogged down too much in the police budget Uh, you know, we can get through and finish town meeting In an hour and a half The only two articles to select men have are the uh community development block grant And the revolving funds So we'll basically have all of the finance articles done Um, we're going to ask the town meeting members to send in questions starting wednesday I've still got to work this out. Um And so they can be asked and answered To all of the town meeting members Um, so we'll get as many questions answered way ahead of time or ahead of time Um, and so we'll have you know, less of those questions on the high school playing field Uh, the town meeting is scheduled for june 15th With a rain day of the 17th and the 22nd. We have to dissolve the meeting by the 22nd um Because we have a seven day referendum period uh In order for the town to start spending money So to be able to start spending on the joy first, we have to finish on the 22nd Hopefully we can finish on the 15th Um, everybody understands the sort of special conditions um We'll have no finance committee meeting before the town meeting Uh, I think that would be very difficult. All the other fields are being ripped up anyway Now, um, if we finish on the 15th uh We'll have a finance committee meeting on the 17th Now, uh, we'll do all the reserve fund transfers at that time Uh, and then we'll have election of officers Um, as I announced last june, I am not a candidate for reelection as chair So what I'd like to handle it. I think this would be Easiest and fairest If you want to be considered for the chair or the vice chair Because obviously if you elect one of the vice chairs to become the chair That'll create a vacancy for the vice chairs If you want to be considered for chair or vice chair, let me know and I will put your name on a list Uh, if you want to nominate somebody for chair or vice chair, let me know I'll check with that person to make sure they want to Serve or be willing to serve. Uh, and then Uh, I'll put it on the list. So ahead of the 15th. I'll send it out. So you'll know who who Is on the list for election to chair and and who's on the list election for vice chair Uh, and and then we'll take a vote. It's a little different from the way we've usually done But I think it's the fair to make sure that You know, if we've got a couple different candidates for vice chair, you know, they both get a shot at it Uh, and the same for obviously for chair um Are there are there any questions on that or sort of what's happening over the next two weeks three weeks? Yes, I have a question. Okay, sure um, so In terms of town meeting members being able to ask questions The town election was postponed until June 6th Um, it will we have a will there be enough turnaround time for new town meeting members to get up to speed? It just seems like a very quick window to me um So i'm just putting it out there for us to think about like no it is um, and I think that uh um You know, they'll they'll have to get up to speed. Hopefully they've been trying to get up to speed right along But we're sort of caught between the You know june 22nd is the last day that we could have a town meeting and can't hold the Arrange to have the meeting on june 22nd when you're having it outside Uh, and so because it could rain. So we've got to have the so hopefully people can get up to speed Uh as quickly as possible and I would just suggest we do the I guess i'm asking you ellen to do what you can to Any certainly there will be some new town meeting members elected Any new town meeting members that we just communicate that that it is communicated to them That this is what you're getting up to speed on this is how you contact the finance committee, etc okay, I guess actually now that you've made that uh observation uh, maybe us the finance committee can play a role here because we have 21 people serving 21 different precincts And so i'm assuming that you will know Uh in your own precinct. Who's a new person? uh, when when ellen sends the uh uh finance committee to print tomorrow Oh, excuse me. Uh, he's also going to send it to all you guys So on june 6th, uh You know, it's probably one or two people. Well, maybe more Uh in your precinct who's going to be new you could reach out to them And say here's the finance committee report and you you could serve as a mentor Uh, if they uh, if they have questions and and reach out to them So, um, i'm always good at turning the these uh these things around back to the uh individual members So, uh, if you could do that, I think that would be great. I'd be happy to do that for precinct 11 Yeah, I'll I'll take care of that increasing 15 Okay, and I've also been told that there will be a budget revenue task force meeting scheduled which After the between the election and town meeting and That's usually a place where all of the stuff is summarized for the entire select board and school committee And I would encourage new town to be a all town meeting members to watch that or watch the replays on a cmi Because I think it'd be good capsuled Of the situation as far as I know that a date hasn't been set for that yet. Yeah A good suggestion. Usually it's on a monday Before the select ones meeting like at six o'clock. So in that case, it would be the Uh, six seven the eighth uh would probably be the case caron um, I have a logistics question So if when the town meeting happens Should we all be at a specific location a half an hour before it's supposed to start It's uh, no, uh, I think that uh Uh, there's not that I know of they're not going to be any surprises. We're not changing the votes Uh, it's you know, this is just Um, unfortunately because of the timing that that we mentioned Uh, and the fact that we have to get the town meeting done It's it's going to naturally sort of hopefully calm things down Most of the finance committee articles go through of the consent agenda anyway so and You know, hopefully there won't be a huge amount of discussion on things um The finance committee has every report has everything out there Including the changes we've made since march Uh, so I think we're being as transparent as we can uh on that um Any other questions Yeah, I have a question about what it's going to be like Uh at town meeting I was going to use the clickers and is there going to be a screen or any that kind of thing, you know I think Uh, and we're going to have another meeting with uh The town council and moderator and all those people To talk the details, but my guess is we won't use the clickers Because in order to have a clicker you've got to be able to see it up on a screen Right And having a screen outside is going to be really tough So I think we'll go back to raising hands Uh, and I don't think we'll do voice votes because they're just You know, especially outside knows tend to dominate Um, but of course all this is up to the moderator, but I I think we'll go for a show of hands Also, uh, it's a lot of money to spend for the rental or the clickers for for an hour and a half Or two hours, so It makes sense to go back to the old ways Um Carolyn Well because I'm responsible for it. So so we're all everyone on finance is comfortable with the fact that we didn't change any of the reclassifications And then I'm going to let um The human resources director know that Okay, is that That wasn't on the table. Okay, and uh dean Could you call kathy tomorrow and let her know that we approve the changes? Yes, okay, and uh I don't know if sandy's still here Doesn't look it. I'll call him tomorrow. I'm with the manager know all those changes now as far as uh uh Officers for next year, you know, I'm not going away for any uh new chair I'll be around So I can give as much help as as people will want or I can just go in the back row and Sit and keep my mouth shut. So uh, that that'll be up to That'll be not bloody likely You get to talk talk Actually, it is Make this observation The chairman really At least the way I've tried to do it is sort of less freedom as an individual than A sort of rank and file member And because you'll notice I never get up and speak on any other issues before town meeting Because I don't want people get throwing ticked off at me that they take it out on the on the finance committee So You become chair. You represent the finance committee That that's your prime focus. Um, so I'm looking forward to Speaking one Okay, any other questions or observations? No, okay. I want to thank you all You should be getting the full report in the next day or two Reach out to your precinct people And uh, you know, make sure That they've got a report and make sure they know that if they absolutely have to have a hard copy They can't print themselves to call the manager's office and he'll mail one out to your or you can go pick it up somehow I'm not sure how you do that actually, but maybe somebody could come out to the side door Okay, everybody, uh, thank you for all your good work. It's been a crazy uh crazy year And uh, I I'm glad to see everybody is still here and I hope everybody stays safe and uh, we'll see you on the 15th Okay, thank you