 Okay, so it's 730, we have a quorum and I would like to call the meeting to order and I would like to start by repeating the governor's script that this open meeting in the Arlington Finance Committee is being conducted remotely consistent with the governor's order of March 12 2020 due to the current state of emergency due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus. To dedicate the transmission of the virus we've been advised and directed to suspend public gatherings and as such the governor's order suspends the requirement of the open meeting law. All meetings in a publicly accessible physical location further all members of public bodies are allowed and encouraged to participate remotely. The order which you can find posted with agenda materials for this meeting allows public bodies to meet entirely remotely so long as reasonable public access is afforded. The public can follow along with the deliberations of the meeting. Ensuring public access does not ensure public participation unless such participation is required by law. This meeting will feature public comment only in writing by by email to Tara Bradley t Bradley at town that are on to that may that us. This meeting is convening by video conference via the zoom app as opposed as posted on the town's website identifying how the public may join and comment. Please note the meetings being recorded. So, some, some members are participating by video conference and 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. All materials that have been provided members of this body are available on the town's website less otherwise noted. The public is encouraged to follow along using the posted agenda unless the chair notes otherwise. The chair will introduce each speaker on the agenda after they conclude their remarks the chair will invite members to provide any comments questions or motions please hold until you are recognized and your name is called. Please remember to mute your phone or your computer when you are not speaking and please remember to speak clearly, and in a way that helps generate accurate minutes for any response please wait until the chair use the floor to you and state your name before speaking. If members wish to engage in co over people other members please do so through the chair taking care to identify yourself. I hope this is the last time I have to say this but due to the size of my laptop screen I may not be able to see all at once somebody has raised their hand and I haven't noticed I had here by request that Tara Bradley or any court. Please bring this to my attention. Finally, each vote will be conducted by roll call permit me to confirm that all the members and persons. Okay, I'm going to get it on the agenda are here at the meeting. And I will begin a roll call please answer that you are present grand gibbian. Here. Shane Blundell. There. John Ellis. He'll be absent. emails. Okay. Makaya Healy. Yes, here. Ryan Beck. Area. Here. Sophie Migliazo here. Shailene Crawford here. Darrell Harmer here. Any record here. Alan Jones. Here. Here. Bill Keller here. Al Tosti here. Wanda Nesimento here. Christine Deschler. Here. Here. And David McKenna. Here. Here and Brian Beck is joining right now. I have it. I got it. Thank you. Okay. Good. All right. Let me make a couple of comments about tonight's meeting. I think it's going to be a short meeting. We have a few items on the agenda. And I was, I was seriously considering postponing these items and not having a meeting tonight, but our next couple of meetings are so crowded that. I figured that this was the safest path. And, and furthermore. You know, this is a little off the beaten path here, but watching the. The terrible and tragic war that's unfolding Ukraine. And I've been there several times. It's really very disheartening. It's really very disheartening. And their suffering is. There are many other people in various places in the world, which is equally disheartening. But, you know, it makes us realize how fortunate we are to live where we do. And participate in institutions. Like this humble finance committee. So. We will. Not review any minutes tonight because they weren't ready in time to give members a chance to. Peruse them in advance. With respect to the last meeting. The finance committee supported the war and article on blue bikes. And although I didn't speak on the article. I was opposed. And I find myself in a position where potentially. I'd be defending something. Which. With which I totally disagree. And in which, in my opinion, opinion flies in the face of my. My opinion. In my opinion, my opinion flies in the face of my admonitions, the town meeting about our upcoming fiscal crisis. And the need for a large override. So therefore. Since Annie La Courte spoke on the issue. And. And also put it in favor of favor of it. Annie, I'm going to ask that you both prepare. For write up on this article for the finance committee report. And also be prepared to speak on it. Supporting it at the town meeting should the need arise. Can you do that? I can do that. Thank you. Tonight we're going to hear from Sandy pooler and Julie wayman on some proposed changes to the town budgets. You saw the emails on that. Also. We have not yet received the draft warrant for the special town meeting, which I was hoping that we would get. Before tonight's meeting. So I think we'll also ask finance director pooler to advise us of the financial articles that we can expect in the warrant. We have discussed one, which is the disposition of some of the reserve funds. Balances. And, but there may be others. So perhaps he can advise us. On this tonight. And so we can also plan. When we have to deal with that warrant. With respect to the changes in the budget. I'm going to ask one to not cemento to move reconsideration of the health and human services budget. In order to address the issues being raised by Sandy and Julie. In addition, I'm going to ask George closer. To move reconsideration of the DPW budget because there's a related issue there. I'd just like to remind everyone that. Reconsideration, according to our. Probably not. We don't have a motion to apply that. We don't have a motion to do that. I'll just ask the president. To approve the rules of Robert's rules of waters requires, or a two thirds vote of the committee. But by. Moving reconsideration. And voting for reconsideration. It does not necessarily mean that it doesn't mean that the changes are voted. We will still have a motion and vote on whether or not to accept that motion for a change. After. I'll be able to give a brief update on a snow and ice budget. It'll be nice if we can get. Sandy pooler. To do that since he's probably got more recent numbers than I have. And we're also going to dress tonight. The warrant articles with no, with no changes. In, in other words, we have hearings for. Board's and committees that. Have asked. For changes in their budget or who have a substantial. Expending limit like, for example, the water bodies fund. But. A number of the other boards and committees. Normally get. Nominal amount every year to. You know, run the parades or do the various things that they do. So we'll try to address all of those budgets tonight. So they, we have them behind us. So I suspect is, is Sandy here yet? Let's see. Julie. Oh, sorry. Yes, yes. I just wondered if you ever got. Feedback and maybe my memory is poor on whether the finance committee could just transfer that money from the reserve fund. To the reserve fund. To the reserve fund. To the reserve fund. To the reserve fund directly into the override stabilization fund. Thank you. Yes. I don't know if your memory is poor or my memories poor. I thought I might have mentioned that last week, but maybe I didn't. I did get feedback. And it turns out that. Number one. To put money in or out of the fund requires a two thirds vote of town meeting. And even if that was not a requirement or more in addition to the state law. And I have the. I'm here. I have the citation. Oh, well. Under the state under state law. The finance committee can only make transfers fund transfers, reserve fund transfers to departments, not to funds. So. We're, we're doubly barred from doing that, even though that would be a nice, simple solution. Okay. You're welcome. So just as a matter of record also, after we approved the increase in the revolving fund. Amount last week, I did send an. A memo to Mike Radamaker informing him that the. Finance committee voted for that. I just had that sheet of paper in front of me with. That information on it, but okay. So. Is Sandy here. So Sandy is not here yet, but Julie is in the waiting room. And she will be happy to join us when we are ready for her. Well, she can join us anytime. It's, it's an open meeting, you know. Oh, well, she, she wanted me to put her in the waiting room. Until we were ready for her. She's shy. Okay. Oh, here they both are. Here they both are. Okay, good. We're ready then. Good. Let's invite them in. So. I can put down our minutes here to Sandy and. You're here. So Sandy and Julie, just let me mention that you don't have to stand on ceremony and wait in the waiting room. You know, this is an open meeting. We were delighted to have you here from the very beginning. We don't normally say anything. That would be embarrassing or otherwise. Troubling, so. So I think I just mentioned to the, let me just describe to you the process here. Since we've already voted. And by the way, Julie, thank you for your memo and the backup information on these issues. Since we've already voted these. These funds, we need to move reconsideration of the budgets. So we'll first do that. And then, and then deal with the issues. So. Wanda, would you move reconsideration of the health and human services budget? I move that we reconsider the health and human services budget. Is there a second. Second. All right. So we have to take a vote and give me in. Yes. Shane Blundell. Yes. John L. John's not here. Okay. Yes. Brian Beck. Yes. Yes. Sophie. Yes. Jonathan Wallach. He's not here. Shailene Crawford. Yes. Daryl Harmer. Yes. Yes. Alan Jones. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. David McKenna. So. Anyone have an objection if we. Retroactive. Tinnitus. Retroactive. Retroactive. Retroactive. Retroactive. Retroactive. Retroactive. Retroactive. If I. Retroactive. Retroactive. George, if you just make that motion on the health and to reconsidering the health and human services budget. Okay, hearing that. I'm sorry, thank you. Any objections to reconsidering that? I mean, to reconsidering the budget. So I'm gonna assume that the roll call vote that we just talked will suffice for both of these. Save a little time, okay. Okay, so the changes in the health and human services budget are before us. So Julie or Sandy, who wants to come forward here? Julie? Yeah. Thank you. So I think Tara had passed along to all of you, the memo where I tried to outline all of the details, but I'll just walk through that quickly for you all. So I know that Christine Bonjarno had come before you all last week to talk about the budget. She had previously met with Annie. So thank you to Annie for noticing that the wage offset was down by $40,000. So that was, we had originally budgeted in the council on aging the executive office of elder affairs offset at 51,580. And that actually should have been 96,115,000. So we are coming to make that adjustment, but then being that we were going to come before all of you to make that change, we had made a couple of other changes that we had not had the opportunity to do so before we'd finalized this budget. So health and human services has had the ability to fill their administrative assistant position with an internal candidate. And so this position was originally a step four, five, and this person's going to come on at a step eight. So that was an increase of $6,993. We, I did also remove the medical reserve core offset being that we are already making the changes. I just removed that. And Jessica, her offset within ARPA just increased. So you didn't see any real change there, except we were just kind of cleaning it up. So we did remove the medical reserve core offset. So that was HHS. Now there were, you know, we get a number of requests from departments more than we can grant in a year, but there were a couple that we in talking with Adam did look to make an adjustment on. So within the DER, the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion budget, the select board has recently endorsed the request from the Police Civilian Advisory Board Committee to put together this civilian advisory board. And so part of what they believe their needs are going to be is possibly some technology, some programming help, and then also potentially some staffing help. So we did increase that line within the EI, we added that line and added $25,000 for fiscal 23. We did also add 15,000, so then within highway. Sorry, that's HHS. And then within highway under DPW, we added 15,000 to auto gas and oil. So while the DPW building is under construction, they do not have access to the fuel pump that they typically are able to use for their vehicles and to get a much better price on gas. They are needing to actually pay retail at local pumps. And that has already been a much higher increase, much higher expense than had been anticipated. So I was just looking at their spending now, they're already looking to spend beyond what we had budget for fiscal 22. So we were looking to add 15,000 to this line for fiscal 23 to help with some of those that we anticipated increase in costs, which we expect until the end of the DPW building. So that's just outlining the changes and I'm wondering if anyone has any questions. Before we go to questions, Julie, do you have this in a summary spreadsheet? So- Or else let's just take it a step at a time. Yeah, and I'm happy to share my screen if you want me to show you what would be most helpful because I've got- Well, I think we should, first of all parse the difference, the changes in the offset, okay? Then the proposed salary increase, which is a simple number, which is why, what was that, $6,700? $6,993, yep. And then the proposed, the next item would be the proposed increase in the expenses for the Police Civilian Advisory Board and then the proposed increase in the expenses for oil and gas and DPW. We wanna take one at a time, okay? Okay. So here we have the $96,115. So this is the Council on Aging Budget and this is what had originally been $51,050. Charly, we voted this budget as it reads now. Yes, I know. But what Julie wants to do is reverse that offset. And did you wanna reverse it to exactly $51,580? No, no, no. We're keeping it at the 96,115. This is the adjusted offset that you see on your screen. The 51,580, Charly, I'm sorry. That's how it shows in your manager's budget. Yes. And so this is the adjustment here. Yes. Okay, so you're accepting the adjusted offset but you're spending more money in the department. There was, yeah. Okay, but the total, let me just, what I'm interested in here is the total offset number. Dean, Carmen, you're the whiz with the calculator. What are you looking for? I'm looking for the difference between the 51,580. Wait, where's the 51,580? I have 44,535, right? That's the difference. Is that what you're gonna spend? No, Charly, I think that the council on aging budget is as we voted it. It's HHS and DEI that we need to look at. I think Julie was just confirming that they agree had it just happened. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. That's all right. That's correct. Yeah, that's correct. So let me just see what else. So the, I'm gonna see if I can follow up. Okay, but you're still saying, so let me just go back to this subject. So we voted the 96,115 which was a larger offset than was in the plan before, correct? That's correct. So the total bottom line impact on the town budget by that change is still $44,535. It may not be in that department, but that's the total impact of that change. Yes, yep. Okay. So what is the position change worth again? Was that six? $6,993. Okay. And then you were saying 25,000 even in the, and then 15,000. So the total is 46,993, right? So the, yep. So there had also been a decrease. I think you all had voted the IT budget previously, is that correct? It's not on the floor tonight. Not tonight. You had previously voted on it though, correct? Yes. So that, so there was a change there of a decrease of $1,000. So that's why we had still had a little bit of room within that movement that was beyond this difference tonight that you're looking at. So that's why we were making up that 40,000, but there was also room within our original change to the budget that also, that we are also using to make up this $40,000. Just as sort of an editorial comment, you know, the finance committee likes to think that it's keeping the budget, the expenses down as opposed to making room for more spending. No, certainly. No, I certainly appreciate that. And honest, these were, well, we get many, many requests throughout the year, obviously, but these couple of items were ones that we were really trying to be able to grant originally, but I certainly understand the goal of the finance committee. So what we, let me just make an explanatory comment to the finance committee and please correct me if I'm presenting this. But due to prior budget votes by the finance committee, there were reductions in the total bottom line of the budget of approximately 47,993. And so what the finance department is proposing tonight is to increase $46,993 in spending. Actually it wasn't, I said that wrong, it was $44,535. Was that, Al Tasti, do you remember if that was a $1,000 even or Al? Sorry, I just wanted to take these one step at a time and I was just gonna propose changes in the Council on Aging with these new changes. I just calculated the numbers. Okay, what was the reduction in the IT budget? 7,000. Hold on a second, 7,000. Okay, so this is, so the total bottom line budget up until tonight was reduced by 57,535 and the finance department is proposing to spend of that saving, so to speak, 46,993. Is that correct encapsulation? Yeah. Okay, so the first thing we should do is address the, so we need a motion to change the, that's the Council on Aging, that person that changed that budget by $6,993. Is there a motion? No, it's the Health and Human Services budget and I'll make that motion, Charlie. Okay, thank you. Okay, so the motion for the Health and Human Services budget is made by $6,993 by Annie LaCorte. Is there a second? Second. So it's moved and seconded. Any discussion? All right, you have your hand up, did you wanna say something more? Oh, I was just gonna go through the numbers that I just did the addition, that's all. Well, if you want to do that, go right ahead. Well, the bottom line looks like for that is $409,668, that's the revised number for the Council on Aging. No, the Council on Aging budget is not changing. The Council on Aging budget that we voted included the offset modification and is, like what we're looking at on the screen right now is what we voted and what, and it's in line with what, like this is the republished budget. So Julie, correct me if I'm wrong, but you're not asking for any change to the Council on Aging budget because what we did when we voted that budget was we took that offset number and increased it. It wasn't done on paper, but we did it as part of our vote. Am I making sense? Yes, Andy, correct. Basically, when we voted that budget increasing the offset, we improved the bottom line of the total budgets by $44,535. Yes, this is the only number. $6,093. Sorry, Al. How about the $6,993 increase? That's included. That's in health and human services. No, that's in the health and human services budget and we need to look at that budget to see how that works out. Let me put it this way. Before tonight, IT department, which has been mentioned here, and let's assume that no other budgets changed between the IT department and the Council on Aging modified offset. We have a lower total expense budget across the town budget of $57,535. I could say we were planning to give back to the taxpayer. Now, the finance department is proposing three changes. One is the position change in health and human services to increase because of the step function of the personnel being moved over there is an additional cost of $6,993. They're also proposing an expense of $25,000 for the Civil Advisory Board and then a $15,000 increase in the DPW department for increased fuel costs. So that all adds up to $46,993. And it's gonna, if I can use a vernacular term, it's gonna take a bite out of the $57,535. What Annie just moved was the first step, the $6,993 change in the health and human services personnel budget. Am I right, Annie? Yes, so we should go look at health and human services personnel if you can put that up, Chair. So here's the budget itself, would you like me to put the salary page? Yeah, I think we wanna look at the salary page because the change is all in the salary page. It's, so we'll, and then we can look at the master budget after if you'd like because that doesn't encapsulate the change as well. Let me just grab these. Okay, so here it is. So here you can see this was originally a vacancy. It was a step, it was a grade four, step four or five. It's now a step, it's now a step eight and that's a difference of 6,900, I'm sorry, 6,993 dollars. Okay, but let me just walk through what I think are the other changes here. So we've eliminated a part of the offset, the medical core offset that's going away. Yep. We've eliminated a position which was going to be vacant anyways or in care's position. And, but we have hired the public health nurse now and we've added an administrative assistant who's very experienced in the town Laura Munsey and she is going to cost us a little bit more money than was originally budgeted for that position here. So in total, you have adjusted this budget to reflect those changes in personnel, dropping off the medical core offset and then was there also a change to the ARPA offset? What we did was take Jessica Kerr and the amount that she was offset within medical reserve court folded it into ARPA, yes. Okay. What is folded it into ARPA mean? So it was 0.4 and now it's 0.61, now she's 0.61 through ARPA. She had been 0.41 as part of the medical reserve core and now we've taken that amount and added it to our, what was ARPA, the ARPA offset. So you've increased the ARPA offset? With Jessica, but as you said, Annie, we did also remove an ARPA funded position which was Ashley Jean. Okay. So Ashley Jean is gone, Kerr is still there but we've offset more of her salary with ARPA versus medical core. And we've hired Laura, which is a smart move by the way. And therefore we have an increase overall in personnel costs of about 6,900 something. Okay. And that's the change to this budget overall. You've got it. Okay. What is the change? What was the original total personnel budget in health and human services? I could probably tell you that. In other words, the line where it says appropriation total. 842-986. 842-986 per sours. Per sours. That would be the number that is now 776-315. Yes. Okay. And then what was the original taxation total number on the far right-hand side on the bottom? It was originally 558-669 and it's now 565-662. Wait, Annie, what number are you reading? I'm reading from the original budget book and I'm reading the taxation total on the personnel page. Okay, not the total budget. Not the total taxation total, but the personnel total. So which number are you reading? So taxation total in the original budget book. 558-669, okay. That's after the offsets. Yeah, okay. So I think the biggest change here, Charlie, is to the offsets, okay? So that even though we've had a reduction in the pre-offset personnel number, that taxation total is higher because the offset is lower. Yeah, that offset is lower by about $30,000. Yeah, the number of that. Lower by the position. Yes. Lower by Ashley Jean's position. So we eliminated position. We reduced the offset that was covering that position. Yep. But we've hired a slightly more expensive administrative assistant and therefore the taxation total on salaries has gone up. Five, six, nine, nine, three. Yeah, the ARPA offset is minus 64, eight, 64, which in your original was Ashley Jean's total salary. She was three up from the bottom. Let me ask an naive question. So let's say there was $30,000 in offset that you took out. I don't know what the number is, but let's call it $30,000. Where did it go? In other words, money is being spent. So this, so I'm not sure. So this total, the only offset that I removed was also removed from the salary up here. Ashley Jean's position is gone. And so I removed that total also from ARPA as well. So we no longer have the expense nor do we have the offset. But we also removed the medical reserve core offset. Yep. But that was then added to that same amount that was a medical reserve core is now being offset by ARPA. So that's why the only increase down here is that Laura Muncie increase. Okay, got it. Have the number of permanent employees gone down in this department or up? Down. So when the money goes away, how many positions will go away? We've got, so right now in, there's two and a half positions that are funded through ARPA. So yeah, unless other, yep, two and a half positions. It's the health compliance officer, the public health nurse and the second public health nurse. Okay. If I can share my screen, I can put the before and after. That'd be great. Power charge up. Okay, is it okay if? Yes, please. As long as Terry has the problem there. Okay, can people see that? This is from the budget book and the second one is what I just grabbed from Julie's book. Thanks, Alan. So this number, the 776 315 is like 60,000 less than the original 834 186. But then the offsets are significantly lower. So the bottom line is a little bit higher. And it's actually, you can see three up from the bottom, Alan, on your top, on that top graph, you see the 64, 864. That had been Ashley Jean. And so that is gone. And so that's also what the offsets are reduced by. So originally you had 10 full-time equivalents and now you have nine, right? Yes. And in both cases, you had 2.5, let me call it, ARPA funded positions that will go away when the ARPA money goes away. Right. And actually, yes. That's on tape. That's being recorded. Remember that. Unless they find other funding, unless we've got another funding source, certainly, but ARPA dollars are not forever. Okay, thank you. Did you have anything else you wanted to say on that, Julie? Not on Health and Human Services. Does anyone else have any questions about the change in the salary levels in the Health and Human Services that were motivated by these various changes that Julie just described? When I say anyone else, I mean finance committee members. Al Tassi, did you have any question? Nope. Okay, so the amount of, the change amount of $6,993 has been moved and seconded after a motion for reconsideration in this department. Is there any other discussion? All right. So on the salary change, Grant Gibbian. Oh, yes. Chamberlain Dell. Yes. John Ellis, he's not on this. Hi, Healy. Yes. Brian Beck. Yes. Are you area? Yes. Sophie Migliazzo. Yes. Jonathan Wollickson here. Shailene Crawford. Yes. Darrell Harmer. Yes. Andy McCourt. Yes. Alan Jones. Yes. George Kosher. Yes. William Keller. Yes. Al Tassi. Yes. Wanda Nacimento. Yes. Dean Corman. Yes. And David McKenna. Yes. Thank you that unanimous vote on the change. The next subject is the proposed expense increase in the Civilian Advisory Board expenses, which shows up in Health and Human Services. Am I right there? It shows up in diverse city equity inclusion. Carly, could I interrupt for just a second? Julie, the links in the PDF that were attached to an email don't really go anywhere. So if you could send me the documents that you're showing on the screen, just to make sure I have the right numbers to go into the budget. I'd appreciate it for all of these, all of these changes. Thank you. Annie, I'm sorry. I didn't hear what you said. So the changes to the Department of Equity, the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Yeah, that's in the entire Health and Human Services. Right, but we voted in sections and so we voted Health and Human Services is one thing and we just fixed that. This is, okay, so you want to say it's expenses indeed. I agree with that. Okay, we need a motion. So I will make that motion for discussion purposes. $15,000. $25,000, just what the... I'm sorry, $25,000, I suppose. $25,000 increase in expenses for the DEI budget to be used by the Civilian Advisory Board potentially. Is there a second? Second. So it's moved and seconded. So, Julie, would you like to proceed with that? So this was something that Adam had known the committee was looking for some funding to establish this board. The select board had, has only just recently in the past couple of weeks, endorsed the committee's recommendation. So that's what you see before I did $25,000. They had initially been requesting some staffing. And so this was our support of the request for helping to establish the board, though falling short of adding, actually adding a staff person, but looking to provide some money to potentially help with some, I think, programmatic work and then potentially some staff support. So there is a warrant article on this Civilian Advisory Board in the warrant, correct? That's correct. And there's no appropriation in that warrant. Right. So I believe the, we had deliberated whether or not we needed to have a hearing with the Civilian Advisory Board proponents. But there was no money in the article. But now you're telling us that there's money in the article. I think the question was whether or not it was going to come up at town meeting as to whether or not there may be needing funding to be able to do this work. So it was also in anticipation of that conversation during town meeting. Okay. So any questions? Oh, I see hands up all over the place here. Let me start with Annie LaCorte. So I have two questions and perhaps they would both be answered by holding hearing with the proponents of the Citizens Advisory Board article. But my first question is, do we have some detailed estimate of what that $25,000 is going to be spent on? Like in other words, is it going to be justified line by line in terms of what they anticipate the costs of establishing this board are? And then of course the corollary to that is this $25,000 annually, is this an increase in the operating budget or is this $25,000 as a one-time amount of money to be spent to establish this board? And then my comment on that is that if it is money related to the establishment of the Citizens Advisory Committee, it should have been in the warrant article. And I don't know whether or not it is still possible to insert it into that article and treat that article as an appropriation, but that would have been the appropriate way to do this. Unless you're talking about creating a permanent increase in the operating budget, in which case we should be discussing that. Thank you, Annie. Anything else you want to say on that? No, I'm good. Okay. Altosy. Yeah, for the first time in a long time, I think I agree with Annie, but there's no appropriation language in that warrant article. Therefore we can't appropriate money because the citizens haven't been forewarned that there's money in this article. So that's, I think Annie's right, it should have been there. So the citizens not only know we're gonna, we might do this, but it's gonna cost money. So that's my first point. And my second point is, the finance committee is one of the three main reporting bodies to the town meeting. And our total budget is only $12,000, including five end change for staffing. We meet pretty much two days a week for two to three months, and we get all this work done. I can't believe this committee was gonna have more than three issues to deal with in a year. So I think $25,000 is a ridiculous amount of money. I think what we should do is appropriate zero. The town manager and the select board can come up with some money out of their $30 million budget to support this committee in its first year, and then they can put together a budget and come back for an actual budget. And a third point is it's a little bit presumptuous for us to start putting money in a budget that town meeting has not even debated yet and not even made a decision. So I think we should pass on this to our vote zero. Thank you. Thank you, Al. Shaili? Yes, thank you. I was wondering if someone could shed some light for someone like myself who hasn't followed this through. Where did the select board come in in endorsing this? And was that the point where the $25,000 got proposed? How is it that's a warrant article with no financing attached to it? And yet we're hearing the select board endorse this. I just, I haven't been watching the select board meeting, so I'm not clear on how, like where, how did we get where we are? And whether the select board is somehow requesting the money, which I think goes along with what Al just said. How can we approve a budget when this committee hasn't even been sort of formed yet? I don't know if anyone can comment on that. Julie or Sandy? If I might, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. So I think this civilian review board is an idea that has a lot of support in town. It's taken a while for them to meet, decide what they wanted to do. They came forward with what I would say as a balanced set of recommendations so that the police department can continue to run itself and we can maintain our systems of discipline and accountability through the chief. Also, at the same time, I think there have been questions generally in our society about police accountability and that's how this civilian review board came about. When the warrant article went before the select board, as Alec directly said, it was there just for the establishment of the board based on the recommendations of this committee that was formed. There was nothing in there about money. And so it could not and be voted, no money could have been voted by the select board at that time because there just wasn't anything to do that. So then I think it was Adam's decision to recommend this $25,000 based on conversations that he had had with some of the committee members and with the police chief about a possible range of costs. It might be that they need to hire somebody on a part-time basis. It might be that they need to have software to keep account of incidents and the things that they want to look at. It might be that they need to put out a report. His estimate was $25,000. I don't think that that necessarily means that that would be an ongoing cost at that level. I think there's some startup costs there. And then I think a year from now or next fall when we're evaluating the needs of the committee, we would come back with a recommendation to finance committee in the town meeting for an amount that we think is an ongoing level that would be necessary. So with all due respect to, if I may, Al's suggestion that you appropriate nothing, I would instead ask you to give this committee the money to get started and make sure that next year when we come forward, there's amount of money in there that will really be necessary for ongoing expenses. I hope that answers your questions. Thank you, Sandy. That helps a lot. It helps me a lot to know that Adam is behind, that Adam is in favor of this because I respect Adam's opinion tremendously. And that I just wanted to say to the committee that I personally am in favor of supporting this civilian review board. Thank you. Thank you, Shailene. Dean Karman, you had your hand up. Yeah. It seems to me that we've sort of, how do I say it? So in, like one of the foundations of math is the order of operations. And it seems to me that we're sort of trying to say here that addition comes before multiplication, right? Historically what we do is committees and commissions or boards that want to be created go before town meeting and they have a vote. I mean, we have a rainbow commission that went before town meeting for its creation. And after it was created, they then the following year came back for an appropriation. With all due respect to the unelected town manager, what he's doing is he's essentially asking us to be a political. He's asking us to enforce a budget for a committee that hasn't been voted by town meeting. And we can say that it's received favorable feedback, which I guess is a kind way of saying town meetings opinion is irrelevant. And it's a rubber stamp, but I don't believe town meetings are rubber stamp. They're a duly elected legislative body of this town and they have a right to decide upfront whether a committee like this is going to exist. And then after they come into existence, they can come back and they can ask for money like everyone else does, you know? I mean, we seem to like for the first time in town history seem to be skipping the order of operations that we've, I mean, I could go through like five or six groups we had come into existence and we didn't give arts and culture a whole bunch of money before they existed. I mean, we've just kind of thrown caution out the window. So to me, it's like, hey, good luck to them with their article for the creation of the citizen advisory board. They get it passed and they come back next year and ask for an appropriation like everyone else always asks. Thanks. Thank you, Dean. Andy, second time. Yeah, it's very, very hard to get Alan, Dean and I all lined up, but we have managed to do it. I think- What is this, a comedy hour here? Sorry. You know, I very much support the creation of this committee, but the honest way to do this would have been to include an appropriation in the article and have the appropriation be part of what town reading was voting on. Since we can't do that at this point, then I fear that voting a budget for it, as Dean said, is putting the cart before the horse. But also, I'm not willing to vote on a lump sum of money without seeing a detail of what the plan is for spending that money. You know, I understand that we often vote a budget for consultants to do a project. Okay, but you're talking about some combination of startup money, maybe some personnel time and maybe some software, and I wanna know what that is. So, I just think it's either come back later with an actual detailed budget or let us vote the existence of this committee and figure out what the startup costs are and you know, the town manager can either fund that out of whatever is not used elsewhere in DEI or in Health and Human Services or the committee will have to wait until they've established an actual budget and have come to us for an appropriation for this to get funded. I mean, we have a special town meeting in the fall where this issue could be re-raised. I just can't vote for a blanket $25,000 for something that may not even get established. Thank you, Sandy. Thank you, thank you all for sharing your opinions there. I would just ask a couple of questions or maybe make a couple of suggestions. One is, and make one representation. Certainly if town meeting votes against establishing this committee, then it would be our position that we would not want this $25,000 to go forward and it certainly could be cut from the DEI budget. So I guess it's somewhat a matter of timing what comes first, the Warren article or the budget or if in fact, the budget comes first and the Warren article second then the budget maybe is amended later. I'm just asking those questions. Second, I do think that there is a lot of community interest in establishing this board and I would hope that it would have some funds to be able to get work done now instead of waiting a year from now. I think these issues are very much in the forefront of a lot of people's minds and so anything that we could do to allow this committee to have the resources to move forward would be helpful. Third, I know there was some discussion among the finance committee about inviting the committee to come forward and present its ideas. I think that would be a good idea and would humbly suggest that that might be a way for you to get the answers to some of your questions. Thank you. Just to make an observation, Sandy, we can't invite a committee here that doesn't exist. Well, the committee does exist. There was a committee that was formed by town meeting to make recommendations on the formation of this citizen's advisory board. The board does not yet exist. That's the Warren article for the committee. That's right. The committee does exist. I'm referring to the board. Yes, that exists. So the committee has made recommendations about the structure of the committee. Sandy, that's enough. Thank you. Thank you, Charlie. Alan Jones. Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's sort of a parliamentary question. We have a separate article that's committees and commissions if this was next year, would a board fit into that article rather than in the DEI budget? We have to figure that out. I mean, I think. Okay. Well, the second question is that article was written, the entities included herein without limitation and or take any action there related here to. It's article 56. It's probably after that. If we decided to go ahead and if town meeting accepted the creation, would it be better to amend the vote on the committee and commission article to add something in there rather than in the DEI budget? Next year. Well, or this year, if in other words, let's say town meeting voted to create it and then we have a FinCon meeting at 7.30 and then we amend our vote on the committee and commission. Would that be parliamentary? Would that be an appropriate way to do it if we decided to do it then? Okay. I think it would be messy and I'll explain why in a couple of minutes. Okay. Thank you. Darrell. Yes. I just, I just want to go on record that, you know, as Annie was saying, I support the creation of the board but to fund it this way just seems completely backwards and I couldn't support doing it this way. If there's a way of doing it the right way then I could. Thank you, Darrell. Grant. I'd like to make a motion that we postpone this until we hear from the committee. I would second that. So there's a motion on the floor to postpone this budget item until I think we have to give it a date certain because we're at the end of, almost at the end of March and. Was the date that Tara mentioned then that they requested? What is, what's that date, Tara? Oh, I have not heard back from them yet. I will, I will follow up with that. I wonder if there's some confusion. Yeah. I'm following up. I would say that it has to be by the 28th of March. Amended the motion to the 28th of March. Is there a second? Second. Mr. Chairman. I think the schools are, you know. Dean, Dean, hang on one second. So I'll talk to you, you had your hand up. Can't hear you, Al. You're in mute. I'm just going to make the point that we have committees all over this town that operate and do very important things with virtually no money. The capital budget is a good example from 1980. 1986, we've appropriated $0 for it. They've had hearings. They created budget book and they did the work without any money versus not $25,000. You know, there is money that Annie mentioned from IT, from the police budget, from the manager's budget, from the select budget. They could get some money and staffing from there for the next year and get everything done and then come back with a real numbers next year. And I was going to make the motion for no action, but grant me to it. Well, it still can be made. It's possible. I mean, it's not, we haven't voted to postpone this article. I make a motion for no action. Thank you. Okay, so we have a motion to postpone and a motion for no action. Okay, any other comments or questions? Dean, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off before. No, no big deal. The school committee is in on March 28th. So if we hear them, and I think they don't come until 8.30 because of other things before them. So I will just... We have a very busy schedule between now and... I just want everyone to know. We have the school department. Okay. Any other... Great, Alan Jones. Again, just a clarification with this, and maybe this isn't the time to decide it, but would this be more appropriate in the committee and commission article than in the DEI budget, regardless of the number? That's a philosophical question, which you can't have when you don't know anything about the committee. Okay. Okay. Great, Givian. Yeah, I, again, just would like to give them maybe an opportunity, it's unorthodox, but at least to present some sort of budget about how the money's going to be spent. And then we can vote on that. But that was just my reason for postponing it, but I'm okay with moving ahead with whatever the committee wants to do. Darrell? So from Tara's earnest text, we've had this request out there since I was in March 11th, Tara. Yeah, I'll follow up with them. I'm wondering if... That's been out there for 10 days. So I don't know what the best way of encouraging them, we do vote on grants motion and what's the best way of actually getting them to... So, Tara, who did you reach out to? Wait, Annie, you're not recognized here. All right. Are you done, Darrell? Yes. Okay. I've lost any. Oh, there you are. Did you have your hand up, Annie? Well, I do now. Thank you. All right. Tara, who did you reach out to on the committee? I reached out to Susan Ryan-Volmer, Sanjay Newton, someone with the initials LBJ, whose name I can't see because of the way that the M name and mail system works, Jay Flattery, Jay Harvey, Clarissa Rowe, whose emails I was able to access from the town website who are on the study committee. I heard that from Susan-Volmer that she received the email, but I have not heard back on actually scheduling with them at this point. Okay, so she hasn't suggested a date? No, and I'll follow up now and I will be copying. Tara, wait, wait until after the meeting is over before you. Okay. Yeah, I think we've got a... Okay, so any other questions? No. All right, so I'd like to make a couple of comments here. I'm totally aligned with Annie and Al and Dean and others who... I think that there is no reason why this committee can't meet and figure out what its goals, its mission, his goals are, its mission will be and what steps it wants to take. We don't know who's gonna be on the committee. The committee that exists right on the board, I should say who's gonna be on the board. The group that exists right now is a study committee. It's not the computer, sorry, Police Civilian Advisory Board. So I think this is completely out of the proper sequence. Secondly, it's not the end of the world if this organization doesn't get an operating budget until they've actually thought about what they're gonna do and understand how they're gonna spend the money and what they needed for. And we don't have the slightest idea of that. And I think going before town meeting, even if we meet with this study committee and voting a budget for a board that does not exist is just the wrong thing for the finance committee to do. It's the wrong posture to have in front of town meeting. And I also think that they haven't responded to us. We're at the end of our period here. And for all we know, they may not have responded because they don't know who the board is either. So my sense is that this concept is ill-founded and we should not vote this $25,000. So with that, I think I will take the roll call on the last motion that is in front of us, which is for no action. And if the no action vote fails, then we'll vote on postponing it until we meet with the, if we can arrange a meeting, we'll meet with the study committee. Charlie, before, it's a shame, I just- Just shame. Just wanna make sure. So there are two motions, right? On the table, one is for no action. Yes. And this will be the- No second on the no action. Is there a second on the no action? Second. Second. No, it's seconded. Yes, Shane, go ahead. Thank you. So you're gonna, you're queuing up a roll call on the no action. And then you said, depending on how- If we vote no action, then the postponement is- Moot. Moot. No, the next, right. No, if we vote yes on no action, then the vote is no. Wait, I said if we, I mean, if we vote no action, the postponement is no. Okay. I got it, thank you. All right, so the vote is, the motion before us is for no action on this, in other words, vote no on this expense budget. Grant Gibbian? Vote no for no action. Wait a minute. Oh, yes. Let me rephrase this. Let me rephrase this. Right. No, yes on no action means that we're voting the budget down. A no on no action means that we are gonna consider the motion to postpone. Okay. So Grant Gibbian? No. Jane Blundell? No. Makaya Healy? No. Ryan Beck? Yes. Arif Padaria? Yes. Yes, no action. Sophie Migliazzo? Yes. Shailene Crawford? No. Daryl Harmer? No. Annie LaCourt? No. Alan Jones? Yes. George Schroeder? Yes. Bill Keller? Yes. Al Tosti? Yes. Wanda Nasi-Mento? No. Dean Carmen? Yes. David McKenna? Yes. Okay. So we have in favor of no action, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. In voting against no action, which would lead us to considering postponement, we have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. So we voted against this expense. So now we can go back to Julie. The next item is the $15,000 for the DPW department. Yes, that's right. Okay. So that amount is, well, why don't you explain it again? I know you gave, give us a, since we may have forgotten through all of this long discussion, if you can give us a minute. So as you all know, the DPW building is under construction. This has taken away the fuel pump that the DPW typically uses for the vehicles. The increase to their spending in this line, the auto gas and oil we're seeing now. So after us putting the budget together, it's already quite high. They are planning, they're going to be spending more than what we had budgeted for fiscal 22. It looks that way already. So this was an increase to this line to be able to account for what we anticipate will be increased costs in 23 and until the DPW building is complete. Thank you. So George Kosar, would you like to make a motion for the $15,000 additional in the DPW budget? Is this in the, which division is this? It's in highway. Okay. And I believe it's budget 52, 13, going from 170,000 to 185,000. I'd like to move that. Is there a second? If we need the new taxation total or not. I think it's a number. Is there a, is there a second? Second. So it's moved and seconded. Is there any discussion on this item? Okay. We'll go to a vote. Grant Givian. Yes. Shane Blundell. Yes. Makaya Healy. Yes. Brian Beck. Yes. Arif Padaria. Yes. Sophie Migliazo. Yes. Shailene Crawford. Yes. Darrell Harmer. Yes. Angela Court. Yes. Alan Jones. Yes. George Kosher. Yes. Bill Keller. Yes. Al Tosti. Yes. Juan de Nacimento. Yes. Dean Carmen. Yes. And David McKenna. Yes. That's unanimous for the $15,000 for the DPW. Thank you very much. So thank you, Julie and Sandy, for putting up with this rather lengthy discussion. And I'm sure you want to call it a night, but I'd like to ask for one more item since you're here. And recently we had a discussion about the snow and ice budget. Maybe you could just update the committee on the status of the snow and ice budget. I can do that. Julie, do you want to do it? So you're wondering where we stand for 22 or for 23, Charlie? For 22. So as of right now, Sandy and I were just looking at it the other day. They have encumbered the remainder of their 22 budget, but in fact, after we talked to Mike, they are going to be able to turn back to be able to liquidate some of those encumbrances. And so I think they believe Sandy correct me if I'm wrong, they'll be 20,000 under, I think, for the toward through the end of the fiscal year. Yeah, I think they're still trying to work out that final number, but yes, I think they will not spend their entire snow and ice budget in 22. It's supposed to be a wintery mix on Thursday night. So you may not be that lucky yet. Well, I'd rather you said that, Charlie, than you said, we're not going to have any more snow because that would guarantee that we would have more snow. Okay. Is there anything else that you want to bring up tonight, Julie or Sandy? I don't think so. I do want to say we appreciate the committee's sharing its understanding of town meeting and the process. I think we always learn something when we come here and we appreciate the time you've given us to discuss these issues. Well, thank you. You're very welcome. I'm sure the committee feels you're welcome as well. We appreciate your time too. I'll second what Sandy said. Thank you. Good night. Good night. Here we go. So the next item, oh, well, the next item is the, I was going to ask them to talk about the special town meeting, but they're gone. So I can only say that I believe there will be a special town meeting and I was hoping that we would have the warrant before now we don't have it. So hopefully we will have the warrant for the special town meeting before we write the finance committee report so that we can do all these things together, but we'll see. The last item then would be to discuss the warrant articles not requiring a hearing. That is mostly boards and committees that have not asked for a different, you know, increase in their budget and for whom we're not going to have a hearing. So Tara, do you have that summary sheet? Uh-oh, hard to read here. Yeah, that's better. Do you have to go down to where the dollars are? Yeah, okay. So, all right. Let's see here. Let's start with, well. This is all one article, okay? So we just, let me get the one. Are we voting on, are you all voting on things like the, sorry, what? It's the boards and commissions. Article 56. Okay, yes. So with 56, we have a tab for this. And so far. Okay, good. Yeah, it's basically what we want. Okay, yeah. So no one, two commissions asked for an increase or committees. And that was the Arlington Commission on Arts and Culture, which we already heard from. And then the Arlington Historic Commission, which is still being scheduled. Joanne Robinson said she was gonna be sending you a letter. I followed up with her. I still haven't heard back on that. Okay, so now the Water Bodies Commission is a separate article, right? Yes, so. Okay, so no, no, no, just say where you were. So if you could just select all those numbers from line three down, yes, okay. So the total amount is, is it 30? 91,000, no. Yeah, 91,175 dollars. Okay, so I would like to entertain a motion that the board commissions that are shown here in this spreadsheet that's on our SharePoint be approved for 91,175 dollars. So should I include what the Arlington Historical Commission had last year in case they don't actually do that? No, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, no. Okay, sorry. So for 91,175 dollars, with the exception of the Arlington Historical Commission, which we will come back to, actually, you know, Tara, your idea is not bad. What did they have last year? One sec. 2660. 2660. 2660. Okay. Okay, make a little total at the bottom there, Tara. Okay. So if they decide to come in and want to ask for a little money, they can do that. But in the meantime, I'll have to hand a motion for 93,835 dollars for the board to approve the budget. So I'm gonna go ahead and make a little total. Okay. So I'm gonna hand a motion for 93,835 dollars for the boards and commissions in article 56 as listed here on the screen. So moved. Is there a second? Second. I moved and seconded. Any discussion by members of, oh, Alan Jones. Well, I was just looking at a note here for the recycling committee that says something about they want more time to study the budget. I didn't know whether if, you know, Tara knew anything about that. Let me check. I guess we'll. They came back. I guess we'll be coming back anyway. So. Yeah. Let me just double check, but they came back again later on. And I can get that specifically. Did. Okay. It is full over the note there. That sort of says they're not done yet. Yeah, but they have to come back with a number. I mean, we can't wait forever. Oh yeah. Sorry. That I. Yeah. Let's let me just get the actual email where they say that. Yeah. So, they came back on. Larry slot and it came back on February 28th and said that they're fine with continuing with the third 3000. They thought about it. And then they came back and said, no, we'll just keep the same. Sophie, you had your hand up. Yes. Thank you. I understand these are all repeat numbers, but for the new members on the committee, I don't have anything to give on that. I don't have anything to give on that. I don't have anything to give on that. That 25,000. I know in the discussion we just had. On. With Sandy and Julie, we were talking about wanting line items or wanting more details on the same number. So I'm wondering. Do you, does anybody here have something to give the new members? So we have some context. I don't have anything to give on that. There's Alan Jones. Do you have any recollection? Well, I know at one time they gave us a budget that we're just looking to see. In the budget book, if they broke that down at all, it would probably be something in the annual report. But they certainly wouldn't have gotten that much without presenting a budget. We can look at our records and find that. So Sophie, do you want to put a hold on that? No, I'll just research it myself. I just, I mean, if you, if you would, I'd be fine to, if you're very good for the committee, if you just went out and researched the contact issue to find out what they're spending on it. Yeah. You know, I contact the commission on a different issue. While that. I've never heard anything back. So. Not sure I'd be successful the second time around, but. Well, that might be a reason not to vote the money. Well, that's why I was, you know, when we do this sort of no increase. So let's keep going because there's no increase. I'm just wondering how, you know. I understand the question and it's a significant amount of money. It's not. It's not the recycling committee. So. Does anybody on the committee, has any committee talked with this disability commission recently? No, and I'm trying to remember what we, they did come to us for an increase at some point. And there was a very good reason for it, but for the life of me, I can't remember what it was. I think it had mostly to do with their ability to. Like. Manage. Outreach to the disability community and to. You know, possibly do some enforcement or some. You know, they were running their mission on a shoestring and, and I think we felt it was important to support the mission. So. We don't know if they're doing. Right. Well, true. We don't, unless we. I mean, maybe we change the rule to, we hold the hearing if it's more than $5,000. Well, um, Al Tassie. You're mute, Al. Got to keep remembering this. Sophie makes a very good point. I think we should vote. A. Through. I think we should vote. Because we've already voted the 35 for the arts and commission. Except for D. And I asked to get a breakdown of the budget within the next seven days. From the disability commission. Is that a motion? Yes. Is there a second. Second. So it's, can you make, can you make the, can you make the third. Um, Tara subtracting the 35,000 and subtracting the 25,000. Well, that should be easy. That's a 40. 25 and 35. 60,000, right? Right. So the 33,000. 33,000. 33,000, 835 is the amount. And are you including this? Historical commissions. Um, Okay. Okay. Any, Al Jones you still have your hand up for. For a reason. Okay. Okay, it's been moved and seconded any further discussion. Okay. So the total vote is for 33,000. 35. 835. 835 33,000 835. Yeah. I think that's a good point. Okay. All right. Thank you. Yes. Shane Blundell. Yes. Um, Mikaela Healy. Yes. Brian Beck. Yes. A reef that area. Yes. Sophie. Yes, Chae Lien. Yes. Darrell. Yes. Annie. Yes. Allen Jones. Yes. George Coaster. Yes. Bill Keller. Yes. Al Tosti. Yes. Wanda Nascimento. Yes. Dean Carman. Yes. And David McKenna. Yes. That vote is unanimous. The two the open issues there are basically it's item D right. Yes. I'm sorry. Yeah. Item D. Okay. So Sophie. Well actually why don't you send an email to the chairman chair of the commission and say that they're telling them their budget is in jeopardy if they don't come. I mean their appropriation is in jeopardy if they don't come back with a budget. Seven days. Okay. Okay. That's the last item on the agenda tonight. Is there anything else that anyone wants to bring up? Charlie, were there other things on the regular warrant articles that you were looking to include things that we needed recommendations for? Well, then if they're not scheduled tonight we're not going to discuss them so we can talk about that. Okay. Gotcha. Okay. Mr. Chairman, could you give us maybe a sense of future meetings? As far as the number? Right now I'm targeting that we end by March 30th. Charlie, have we voted all the sort of boilerplate articles yet? Stabilization fund and. Pardon me. Stabilization fund. No. No, we haven't. We'll do that at the end. We always do that at the end. Okay. We haven't got the school budget yet, you know, and we haven't done the insurance. So those things we need to get those big budgets. We have the water and the big issues right now water and sewer insurance school budget. Okay. Do you want to save a meeting in like the middle of April in case the House Ways and Means Committee does something weird? I think we can do that. That's a good idea. Maybe the 13th. When is Easter? The 18th. So the 13th is on Monday? No, it's a Wednesday. They usually come out on Wednesdays. I think we should do it on Monday. You don't think the budget will come out until Wednesday? Well, the House Ways and Means traditionally releases their budget on a Wednesday. But is it the Wednesday in the middle of April? Yeah. Yeah, that's the House Ways and Means Committee. They release it probably Wednesday, the 13th. And then the members have the next week to analyze it. And then the House votes on it the week after that. But we can't. But they're not going to do all that over the Easter period, are they? No, they'll study it. And then the full House will vote on on the 25th the last week. But that's too late for us. So we'd have to go with whatever the House Ways and Means Committee does. We've usually been pretty close. I don't think I've ever remember having to actually have a meeting after the House Ways and Means Committee votes. But we've always scheduled one. Okay. We'll schedule one then for the 13th on your recommendation now. With the fervent hope that we don't have. Someone usually offers an amendment for last minute tweaking by the chairs. That's true. And he's here tonight, too. So as long as he's going to be here for the rest of the next week or so, we know he's going to be here on the 28th. Absolutely. Okay. Anything else this evening? Motion to adjourn is in order. Thank you very much, everyone. Difficult difficult issues tonight, but nonetheless, we got through it.