 The first thing I'd like to do is introduce Liz Higgins, Liz, you stand up. She is the new Gloria, and she's already moving quickly to put her own stamp on this job. So I appreciate you joining us, and now I know you're not going to remember all of this, but why don't we start with just introducing you and your precinct. Jeanine Russell, precinct four. Mary Margaret Franklin on precinct five. Steve DeCorsi, precinct two. Darryl Harmer, precinct twelve. Helen Jones, fourteen. John Wallach, seven. Grant Dubian, seventeen. Dean Carbon, twenty. Dave McKenna, twenty-one. Dick Cranning, fifteen. Thomas Gack, about eleven. Okay, so anybody who didn't say anything, they're absent. Mark them down. Okay. Thank you. Now, as you probably are aware, our email area has become more complex because of the warrant article that was passed, and I guess it's just the trend that things are coming in. So Liz made up a new contact list that has both your personal emails and your town email addresses. So the first thing is I'm going to hand this around. Please look at your contact information, make sure it's accurate, and then Liz will update it and send it around to everybody so everybody's on board with this. And if it looks fine, just check it. And then Liz, call anybody who wasn't checked and just touch bases with them so we can have a final list. On emails. Now, for many years you might have noticed that when I send out an email list to the whole finance committee, down the bottom it said something to the effect. On the CC it was ATOS-D at the town. So I have my own personal email address at the town, but all I use it for was storage of emails. So I think what I'm going to do at least, you know, you've got a couple of choices that Adam put you that sent to you. I think what I'm going to do at least for the meantime is going to continue to use my personal email with CC, the town email. So anytime we are emailing back and forth, either as a group or individuals of its town business, you need to make sure that your, this email is stored on the town, on your town email list. So you either go in and use the town email, your town email, or if you continue to use your own personal, you've got to put a CC town email address and that way the contact is saved on that. So, you know, maybe as people get more used to it, different. That's how I'm starting. I might change as we get further, as we get further into it. Any questions? And the woman is Sue. Sue Dislick. Sue Dislick. So if you have any questions, you know, please give her a call on it. All emails from me should go to my town email address. So I'm not going to question the one. Just so I don't miss anything from anybody. Okay, so anyway, that's the parameters. It's a bit of a new world. Okay. Now, I'm going to, a little miscommunication. But we have three people who showed up for a warrant article that I now schedule for next week. But since they're already here, I don't see any particular reason not to go through it. So, I think this is article 37. So if everybody could go to article 37. Okay, this is appropriation for public art. Now, you remember when East Arlington was being done, we made an appropriation, picking a number. I think it was 15,000 to hire a consultant to help get the process rolling for public art. Last year though, we voted no action on an appropriation of actually creating it, basically taking the position that while we're happy to get it started, the actual work has to be done through private funders. So that's what we did now. Now, Adam, do you want to give a brief summary or however you guys want to do it on this article? I'll say a few things and then maybe you can talk a little bit about your plans going forward. So to build on what Al just said, so I think it was two fiscal years ago, the committee appropriated $15,000. We hired a public art consultant, Cessna Miller, with that money. And then also, as Al said, we came back and asked for additional funding to actually implement the public art project. And I'm sorry, just to be repeating you, but the committee said, you know, why don't we see what we can do with grants in private fund raising? Cessna Lee, working with Arlington Public Art, the attendees we have here tonight, raised that money via private fund raising and grants and implemented the public art project that we saw in East Arlington earlier this year, the East Arlington, the storefronts and the building facades. It was temporary, as you've seen since it peeled off and gone away. And the group has now come back and I've supported it, put it as part of my budget, asking for an additional or a new $15,000 to once again contract with a consultant to do a further planning process for further public art work in Arlington. So if it's all right with you, maybe they can talk a little bit about the project. Sure, Bob, who's ever going to say if we want to go to the front seat, give what you're planning to do. Fine. So we are hoping to work with another public art consultant for some efforts along the bike path. We have a number of projects on the bike path that we are hoping will connect Arlington Center with the Capital Square area and that will support our work toward the cultural district designation through the Mass Cultural Council. So that in itself won't bring any money with it. The cultural district designation will allow us as a town to apply for much bigger fundraising, much bigger grants that are out there like the Adams Grant through Mass Cultural Council and other things like that. So projects along the bike path are one idea and we're hoping to think of some other ways as we move forward. Did you guys want to say anything else? Just to say, just to mention that not only was the East Arlington Stories project a project that was done by Leslie Miller, but also there was the It's Your Move project in Spy Pawn, which was a day of interactive play and community art making. Also the Fox Festival, which was, which engaged the community and lots of children in creating Fox masks from Paper Mache and involved employing another professional artist who has adapted that. And then being, you know, enhancing the Feast of the East, kind of making it more lively and colorful with music and Fox masks. So all of those projects Leslie Miller did over the last year of working with East Arlington. The bike path is something that we already have underway in terms of we've already talked to a number of artists about some ideas and we also have a cultural council grant to move forward on a small portion of it. But in order to keep Cecily engaged, we need to be able to pay her as well. And I'm sure being a creative and community-minded person that she is, that there may be other ideas that come up too for enlivening our streetcape because of the number of connections that she has to with artists and some of those ideas we spoke to and saw possibilities for other settings. Okay, so basically this is following a similar manner. All the 15,000 you're requesting here is for consultants to help organize. And then you'll raise money through grants and private donations. Exactly. Okay. All our questions from the committee. Dick, have you, have you got any money now? Have you any money now? We have so many. How much? I think the last, looking at it was about 6,000. 10? Six. No, 6,000. Okay, is that left over from the 15? Or is that other money? No, no, no, that's not, no. It was something to do with the fundraising. Oh, your fundraising? Okay. And also what Cecily raised in grants. Yeah, Cecily likes grants. She raised the equivalent of what she was given in valuing grants to implement things. Okay. Tom? So is it fair to say every time we move to a different section of the town, we have to get a consultant? This is a professional job. This is a lot of coordination. It's a ton of work. I don't think it's a job for volunteers. I don't have the expertise. So is it fair to say you might be back here for now, for two years, and I'll have to put more money for a consultant for an elevator? Uh, it's possible. Dane. So let me, it might be more of a commentary question, but let me attack what he said in a different way. Is, um, rather than, at least for a financial committee, having to figure it out on an annual basis, and then decide that this is becoming frustrating and whatnot, I think it would be easier if we understood what the longer term goal is here. So he's in Australia with the first phase, then this is your second phase, and is there a third for the fifth, or is there a third, or is it done, or how do you, you know, how does it get visualized as a, as a larger effort? I think that's sort of the question out there. Right. Well, it's, it's a work in progress. I think, you know, since Arlington Public Art started about, in about 2010 with a group of people that wanted to see more public art, more public engagement kinds of art projects going on in Arlington. We had no money at all to work with, and it was a group of volunteers. I mean, you know, we did fundraising projects. The chair for where you sit was the first one. It's been a successful one over the years. And so, um, you know, through that time, we've worked very hard to educate the public and bring people along and get more public engagement as we moved along, so it's gotten bigger, and we've gotten a lot of positive feedback from what we're doing in the town. It's hard to say. We're, we're, I think, you know, getting in the cultural district designation might start to help us, and I as well as Cecil, we're both on the cultural commission. And so, we're working together, Stephanie here is with me on the cultural commission, and that's something that we're all talking about, too. So it's kind of a work in progress. It's not clear if we will come back, but it is clear that if you want something well done, somebody needs to be hired to organize it. That's what we're, that's what we're all about here. The cultural commission is working on a cultural plan also with some professional consultants. Um, then, and in, in, in doing that, we don't know what the outcome of the plan will be yet, but by June we will know, but part of the goal is, is to set long-term goals and the mechanisms in which to carry out those goals and to consolidate the arts organization and our arts agenda. So we are, we are working on that, but all of this has come out of, you know, numerous public meetings over several years, and it's just gained more and more momentum. And so I would say, you know, our public art in town, along with arts and culture activities, the increase of arts and culture activities is a long-term goal overall, and we will come up with probably a sustainable way of doing that. Can I say, can I say one more thing? So, but even if you said you don't know what the next phase would be, right, you would have to have somewhat of an idea on what portion of the town would, I don't say qualify, but would be suitable for a public arts project, right? I mean, because if I think about the number of, um, residential streets in the town, you could drive a banana plant, but I can't imagine playing a public arts project in the middle of a residential street, right? So in some ways, you could be limited, right? I mean, outside of them tell me if I'm wrong, but really outside of Mass Ave, Broadway, the bike path, there may be some pockets here or there. Are there really any large-scale places? Could be some of the parks, could be the bike way, could be, you know, open spaces generally, and buildings, you know, commercially, side murals on sides of buildings such as we had in East Arlington, but you're right, I mean, I'd say the bulk of it would have been along Mass Ave, certainly not on either property or residential streets. So Mass Ave, Broadway, bike path, parks, open spaces? Mass Ave, Broadway, bike path, park, open spaces? Oh, yes. Do you already cover East Arlington, theoretically, or the bike path? Yeah, so I think, perhaps, there's been a length of sitting here, but Andrea, Stephanie and Lori and others have asked me, I think every year for the past five years, to include either car time or even floor time town position to focus on the park. And though I'm very supportive of the efforts that have been put forth over the years, I've always said no. That with all the government needs being balanced and operating budget, that I didn't think couple of times full-time position was appropriate, but that in this approach, the Finance Committee, me, the Finance Committee or the town meeting, ultimately, could say yes, yes, but not anymore at some point without having to lay off or eliminate a position. So I think that is a little bit of why you've taken this approach, because you've thought a more set or structured approach would be better, but this is a way to still get some things done in the absence of that approach. Now the one comment and then a question for you to research, I'll be curious, is I know the JC's, I think it was back in the 70s, raised money for the Uncle Sam statue. That's a big work, a brunt, so that had to be expensive, but I think they did it back in the 70s as their major project. Junior JC's, it was a young group, but I'd be interested if there's records any place, where did they get most of their money? Because I have a feeling it didn't come in five and ten dollar amounts, somebody had to contribute a lot of money. And I wonder the same thing about the, oh, this is embarrassing, Dowan, the Dowan works, the flagpole, the Indian, the major works in Arlington Center, I don't know how they were funded. I would have to think that, somebody with substantial funds came up. Robin's family. Yeah, they did. They said, you know, commission science Dowan for a wonderful piece of information. Okay, so that came from the family? Yeah. Okay, just curious. And those were different times, different places, in different worlds, where the Dowan, the Robin's family, wanted those things there, and they didn't need to ask, yeah. Okay, are there any other, Charlie? And we thought about taking this money, and the set of spending it upon doing a project on the bike path, trying to set up a permanent, independent group with a strong internal fundraising machine, so that you could continuously raise private funds and get some independent momentum. It would be great. But again, just paying the salaries, because I don't think that the volunteers, I mean, I think the volunteers have already maxed out their volunteer, yes. We do have a lot of people, but I don't think that we can run it without any permanent staff at all. I mean, I think the volunteers can certainly be part of it, and continue to be part of it. I'll tell you, use the money to hire somebody to get an organization going that raises its own money, that perpetuates itself. Right. Well, so to pay, I see what you're saying. I think that's something that could come out of the cultural plan that we're having. Okay, there are any other? Yeah, a couple of questions. First of all, as a resident of East Arlington, the project down there was very well received, and you did a great job on it. Just a question on that type of project, because Ellen mentioned the Uncle Sam statute. My understanding is you're looking at things that might be like seasonal or annual projects that may not... Temporary. Permanent. Mostly because of the fund raising involved. Because anything that's permanent is in the six figures. I mean, it's just the materials and the space and the time and the space and everything else involved. It's just very, very expensive. So, we are looking at temporary. I think a couple of reasons. First of all, it's exciting to see a thing common in the community about, you know, public art to take these days is not just statues. You know, you're looking downtown Boston and all the interesting things that come one season that are on the next. The big thing across the Greenway. But it brings so much tourism. It's so many people out to look at art and to respond to art in a different way than just going into a museum and, you know, looking at a thing on a wall. It's just great what's going on right now. So, we really wanted Arlington to be part of that. And also, so temporary pieces are exciting. And no one has to live with them forever. You know, you can have something turn over. And I don't think we're ready yet as a community to decide to spend six figures on a piece of public art. I don't think that's where we are right now. And just as you go forward in this process and closer to tell me, I mean, I think the idea that to have an upside consultant who actually is your grant writer, if there's more information that you can provide what type of return the grant writer provides on that because I think from the conversations I've had with you, the grant writer really is a key to this. But the accessibility of your upside consultant is a key to your grants. So I think to the extent that you can provide more information on that, that would be helpful. So one question for Adam on this. Is there any project at him in town, whether it's on the bike path or in a park, that could qualify for CPA funds that perhaps they could apply for? He is proud of that process. If it's in open space. Good question. I don't think CPA could pay for the art itself. I guess if there was an improvement or change or upgrade we were making to the bike path or a park and we wanted to incorporate. I don't think we could just take CPA money to commission whatever it could be. Okay, are there any other, Howard? I'd like to go back to basics for a second and give the manager and the committee the opportunity to just reiterate for the committee and the millions of viewers the value of public art and why the taxpayers should fund it. Just to review that. What's the value of public art and why should the taxpayers fund it? Come on. Okay. There is an economic benefit. Usually it does boost the local economy. It brings visitors. It makes the town more interesting for people to live in. But it also makes the town more interesting for visitors to visit and then they patronize the restaurants and they pop into the stores and things like that. So it tends to help on that regard. It also gives the community an opportunity to come out into the public, engage with each other, engage with a piece of art that has to do with their history or their identity. So it gives a sense of identity and community to the place. And it also can help express a sense of place of a certain town or a certain place in town. So you could have something in Robbins Farm Park which relates to that beautiful skyline or it could relate to the history of that park or something about that dog statue that disappeared or it could be anything that relates to that place that helps people to remember, to celebrate, to talk about, to ask questions about, to engage and then it brings the community together. Okay. Can we ask you the same question? I would say it's quality of life. People live here, they pay taxes for a number of services and I think more and more the residents of Arlington see as part of the broad picture of quality of life arts and culture. And I think making reasonable, you know, measured investments in arts and culture are our wisest answer of tax returns. Okay. There are any other questions? Okay. So I assume we could cancel. Yeah. I just had a quick question. You mentioned the cultural designation. How does that work? Is that like an application? Do you have a certain number of people come to your, see your stuff? Like what is that? Can we share? It is a designation from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and we have already applied for it. There is a managing partnership in place which includes several businesses and non-profit organizations and town entities as well. We have a partnership to run that. I think they made the application and the FCC has done a site visit and we are just waiting for their first. Okay. And when they hopefully approve that, you could apply for a greater grant. That's right. That's right. And I just want to reiterate that our previous consultant, Cecily Miller, brought in the equivalent of what she was paying for her job. So it was an incredible job of fundraising grants from the Mass Cultural Council, from New England Foundation for the Arts, from the Arlington Cultural Council and then somebody from the Friends of the Fox Library and also private donations. But that's the kind of thing that volunteers simply cannot do in that kind of way. So it's just been a really great experience to work with her and to see the kind of things that she did to create these projects that she did. It's a tremendous amount of talking to the people who live here and asking what do you value about your town? What do you like to see? What would be, you know, what's special about Arlington? That's the kind of public art is not just plopping down a statue someplace that somebody decided they liked, but it's responding to the community and that's what we're all about. That's what we really want to see here. Okay. Any other questions? Okay. So I'm assuming now we can cancel the 745 on Wednesday meeting. Yep. Okay. So once again, this is an request for $15,000 as a consultant, Arlington Center projects, and then you raise the actual money to do the work. Just a quick question. I probably asked you this before. Are the boxes in the center that are getting painted, is that part of your group? That is, yes. Okay. Because that's cool. Okay. Well, thank you very much for coming. We'll get back to you. Anybody wants to sort of shove around to the side now to be balanced or... When the finance committee comes into this room, does the machinery all of a sudden start making more noise? Yes. Okay. Mr. Manager, could you review the current status of the long-term plan? What's there and what's happened? Well, I am going to ask Sandy Poole and the deputy town manager to walk through. We'll both answer any questions. Well, since this is my first time addressing the committee about the long-range plan, I figured I'd create quite a buzz. So you all have the document in front of you. Told you not to hire one. It's too late, Alice, too late. And what this reflects are the numbers that we know past two significant events. One is the manager's budget coming out and two is the governor's FY18 budget proposal. So we made adjustments to the state aid numbers and I'll go into that in a little bit of detail in a second. And we have an exact match in the long-range plan for FY18 of what's in the manager's budget, which you've all received. And then we've made some tweaks to other things like state assessments and insurance and some of the warrant articles. So those are in the big picture, the big changes. Going forward, the other assumptions that are fundamental to this plan don't change such as the amount that school budgets are going to go up or town budgets go up every year. So going into the future, it's all the same set of assumptions. The specific numbers will change obviously as the base numbers change. So what is new and noteworthy about this? One is in state aid, we got a little bit less in state aid than we figured from the original long-range plan because the amount of Chapter 78 the town is receiving is not as high as it was originally estimated and they have allocated only $20 per student which is sort of low compared to what we've had in other years. That is somewhat counterbalanced by the fact that our state assessments were lower than we anticipated. So the net effect was a slight decrease in resources but not significant. You'll also notice on the fifth line down that the overlay reserve has jumped up to $600,000 that's because there's a warrant article that asks for the use of $400,000 for a revaluation and that would be paid for out of overlay so that's in and out and then it goes back to the usual $200,000 that we usually put in the plan. The other big component to the budget the school department number is the same as you've seen in the past. So that is consistent with what we've been saying all fall and with the original plans parameters. The Minuteman assessment is up fairly significantly from what we originally estimated. It's up 12% based on the numbers we've received from Minuteman. The town budget as I said reflects the manager's budget and is right now slightly under the 3.25% that was in the long range plan. The capital numbers do reflect what the capital planning committee has gone through. So there is a big jump in the number of offsets here. That's because when we sold bonds this last fall we received significant numbers of premiums. When somebody buys our bonds it's sort of a two-part deal. They bid on how much interest we have to pay on those bonds and they will also from time to time give us what's called a premium which is if you've ever taken out a mortgage and paid points on that mortgage to change your interest rate it's the same idea that they are basically paying cash in order to reflect a different interest rate and mostly what it does is when we put out these deals it gets the interest rates to be a nice even rate from year to year and a certain coupon rate out into the future. So we've got some fairly significant premiums on that which we are using to offset and go toward capital. That means that the capital plan will use less borrowing than FY 18 because we're paying cash for things so that helps us in the out years because we won't be carrying those capital costs. The insurance numbers are also down because as we rolled out to see who has enrolled which plans and the plan selection and so forth it turns out that our original assumptions were a little higher than what they ended up being. This is all subject to further confirmation in March once we have the final GIC rate so we will know really what our insurance rate is so that number will change but we don't know at this point whether it will go up or down. As I mentioned already the state assessments are down all the other numbers on this sheet up to the warrant articles are the same as they've been for the past couple of months and the warrant articles are up significantly mostly because of that $400,000 is considered a warrant article expense and that's where it's showing up for the reevaluation for the assessors. With this it means that we are this year taking out $370,000 from the Override Stabilization Fund so it marks the first year in the next few years a series of years where we'll start to draw down the stabilization fund so that by FY 2021 we will have completely drained the Override Stabilization Fund and that will be the time to do something else. So that in a nutshell is where we are. I think you're all fairly familiar with the long range plan so instead of going through every single line I figured give it an overview at that level but if you have specific questions about any of the lines or anything that went into putting this together I'd certainly be happy to answer any and all questions. Ask questions now but we attest later. The bulk of that is the MBTA assessment so the state give it a specific take at the way at the same time. They are significantly lower they there's a factor that each town has assigned it's to have a multiplier for their assessments and I think somebody in Braintree and Quincy years ago was very clever about getting that to be in their favor. Is it there? No. This is not fair in Arlington but that's a major political change that is frankly out of our hands. Charlie? Do we know why the MBTA assessment is up? We haven't because I think they based it on prior years population student population the last year the student population was down. Yeah so the primary factor is the communities that left the district are now being charged 125% foundation and not the actual assessment like we're being charged so the shifting of that cost being driven down for those member communities that left has been redistributed to the remaining nine communities that are in the district and that's the primary driver of why. I would just say to that too that we had the first capital assessment for the debt on planning for the new school there and so that will go on to the tax rate and be excluded but it will start to show up in people's tax bills for our employee so like $215,000 total that will be part of the tax mix. Jonathan? Just explain what's in the other What drove the $100,000 increase is that within that line there's $100,000 that is set aside it's not an expenditure but it's sort of a set aside in case there are court judgments that we have the ability to pay certain court judgments if necessary when we set the tax rate that aren't previously appropriated and every year there's $100,000 as a what if set aside and FY17 on the recap when we finally did set the tax rate we didn't have to make use of that there were no such judgments but part of this plan has always been to have that cushion in case something comes up that needs to be paid and there's not time to convene a town meeting or such before we set the tax rate so it's back in there and the remaining amount is the debt service we pay on the Sims problem How did the governor do on the UG? We did well he had made a promise to when he first was elected to try to match the increase in state revenues to what was allocated to the cities and towns in UGA or unrestricted general government aid in his first year he was able to do 75% of that increase and in subsequent years including in his proposed FY18 budget he was able to match it so the state increase overall was I think 3.9 or 3.8% and that's the amount that our UGA went up Okay, so did he fulfill his promise? He did fulfill his promise Okay, what's a good thing? That is a good thing and it's a significant source of our state aid it's good when we get that increase Now the Chapter 70 did the increase in Chapter 70 not take into account all of the country's school enrollment or did they just underfund Chapter 70 in the governor's budget? Well I've been looking into that I actually spent a lot of time in the last week trying to flow into the numbers I mean really what it comes down to is because we don't get any what's called foundation aid we only get the supplementary aid the $20 for students that we are not yet at the point that those enrollment increases have done enough to increase the foundation budget enough that when you take the difference between the cost of running the schools as calculated through that foundation and what Arlington's expected to contribute toward that which is measured by our wealth both in property and income the foundation budget isn't growing enough to get to the point that we will get more aid based on the gap between what we're expected to pay and what it costs to run the schools according to the police to the state so we're getting closer to that number but we're still not there yet so until we are at the point that our wealth isn't growing faster than the foundation budget is going up all we're going to get is the minimum aid of that $20 for students in order for us to get the amount that we had originally put in the plan as an estimate for what that enrollment would be we'd need to get something like $65 per student in the minimum aid I will be back to the Long Range Planning Committee at a future meeting to discuss as I ferret out all the intricacies of Chapter 70 which are made and how it is exactly applying to Arlington to make some suggestions about how we might think about rethinking how the Long Range Plan takes these things into consideration because we've made assumptions about enrollment increasing aid but the fact of the matter is that we're just not there yet it hasn't had enough of an impact to affect what we get from the state did Dr. Roger Hatcher he's retired I did have it all into his successor okay and we just have Charlie left yes um okay other other questions Charlie I think we can do a red in the advocate that there's a $825,000 shortfall or something like that in fiscal year 2017 have you had any discussions about that is that going to somehow creep into the municipal budget yes I've spoken to the superintendent about it and I I think there was and even I had it some initial confusion in the way it had been discussed publicly the shortfall is an $827,000 gap between what they think they need for FY18 and what they have for resources so there's actually no spending shortfall or revenue it's a budget connection on the the minute man I missed a little bit of your responding to Charlie's question but first of all what's happened to the enrollment in minute man as of October 1st the total enrollment and Arlington's enrollment do you have those numbers Arlington's enrollment we are 120 last year we are 121 overall enrollment has gone down okay and those are so the communities that left sending students DESC is saying the way it's currently worded they are paying tuition which is the foundation plus 25% we're still paying the assessment so those communities collectively sent about 50 kids so those 50 kids were sent the communities were paying $27,000 a year last year now they're paying $17,000 and those funds are redistributed now there is a provision of the regional agreement that says you'll have to test this because it conflicts with state regulation even though the commissioner sent an agreement that says that non-member communities must pay the same as they for an operating assessment not this year's starting it really is not January, November, July 1 what percentage of the operating budget we respond to at minimum it's probably about 34% we were about 34-35% before yeah we usually were in that 33% we're not close to party I can double check but I don't think it's jumped up that much is there anything in this assessment from borrowing it's Sandy correct me if I'm wrong you're not prior borrowings the ASCO project they did is in the assessment number they did do a recent borrowing for the building project I don't believe you're accounting for that in the exempt debt service line but not in the assessment number okay so that's exempt debt now $750,000 authorized for the planning could that not fall also fall within the building project debt exclusion I'm not sure that I've seen that explicitly called out in the assessment chart because I mean it is part of the building project was the so it should be it should be exempted debt okay other other questions okay we'll see how this goes so our goal is to cut the budgets by $370,668 so I don't take any money out of the out of the fund we'll see how that works okay any other questions for the manager anything happening within the borders of the town of Orange how's our snow and ice budget doing before last night my expenditures today have been $656,000 a lot of salt $350,000 of that $650,000 again prior to last night's event was salt okay was the purchase of it yeah it had been some left we went to the last night okay so now we have new stuff yeah is sand and salt still the same price it's bumped up a little bit yeah so have you figured out where we're going to take the snow if we need to there's still year over year signing agreements with St. Camille's to store the vacant lot across from St. Camille's it's not a permanent solution it's a cost effective solution as compared to trucking it out of town but at some point I think we need to have a discussion about potentially thinking about buying that lot maybe using that as a field carving out some space near the DPW facility and the practice fields for the ice school and using a portion of that it's a lay down facility for snow and ice for degrees from other kinds of schools because it's it's triage over here have they gotten the building started from the junction yes concrete is in the ground steel should be on site in February and erected and they tell us that weather will make you concerned about it there for proper heating and they should have it they're still on schedule so have the building substantially complete and we can dig on time on budget on time possibly early and to date significantly under budget so okay any other questions Charlie yes Adam was he in the last year's town meeting before that there was an article passed about transferring the town's electricity service to another party has that been there was supposed to be a knockdown so it's in process so the town meeting approved it an aggregation plan but actually made out what the town would do if it had not got a board of selection that went to the division of energy resources that took a few months and then they signed off and now it's at the department of public utilities I had to go and thought of it a couple months back we expected that the next month or so they'll approve it and that is what would trigger us actually starting the aggregation so that's when that was updated Alan there's really no other update other than that we're now going to litigate at the housing appeals committee over the one and a half percent calculation there's been an initial we're still fighting we'll be fighting that for that's going to take another several months at least John just to follow up on Charlie's aggregation question does the pricing still look favorable I haven't asked them for updated pricing as we've gone through because that's another trigger point yeah I mean if the pricing is not favorable we won't go forward other questions this is your chance you might not be going back again the past rain we had did it flood down there the new area so the next it just so happened that after those heavy rains the next day the planning department was doing the annual homeless count as part of the regional effort to do a count of homeless persons in town and they went into that site and I had actually warned them that they should be very prepared for the very wet it's too bad we are sort of still at a severe drought that's probably hard to say Charlie so prior years no one has ever been counted which I frankly don't think was accurate this year they documented three I think the number was greater than that but it's a challenge to to find out a document that they are standing two of them were found and documented under the overpass like that and one person was found actually on their way into the Mugar property into a small encampment the encampment looks like multiple people live there but when they were there at about 9 o'clock they would so is there a departmental community doing something to mitigate the situation or can we just count so we for that the purposes of that event we are part of the summerville homeless coalition and we last year the quarter second voted to put together we call it a camping unsheltered task force which was actually still yet to pull together so we need to come up with a plan for what if anything we want to do to try that if you I go to first parish church and invariably once a month the homeless person shows up and we're trying to put together resources so we can sometimes drive them to where they need to go is there a list and I'm sure other churches hit the same issue is there a list of resources that a homeless somebody shows up at an institution that can be made available to them go to this address contact this phone number yeah okay I think that would be great if you could send that out to all the churches because that's invariably where some people go I'm sorry is that the same do you think is this okay if you took a cross reference why don't you send one list of contacts and get that out that would be very appreciated is this time of year the only time that that count is made or is it done throughout the year because in the summer for example I would guess if there was a count made there would be a lot more people yeah this is the national I have that same question so more people would be seeking shelters but I know Boston was it on the same night I picked across the nation yeah which is really cool yeah yeah while back at there was a you spoke to us about just about the number of vacant storefronts in the sense that if there had been any more dialogue with landlords or anything further in terms of efforts this is really more of a private issue than it is a county issue but in terms of you know if landlords being more proactive with a town maybe increasing the dialogue with them to try to fill spaces so a couple answers that they get to start front registry by law was approved by the AG last week so we're going to start rolling out we've had positive dialogues with a number of property owners and less positive than some of the other property owners I guess I really see it as there really is one property property owner in the center and if you drive through which one it is the vacant property is on the Broadway Plaza site and these two of the three have plans to go in cafe narrows going into the old CVS that they have a couple locations in the city I believe there's a pasta restaurant going in to where Majorina tree was and I'm not sure if there's a plan for that third vacancy in those storefronts those property owners are working to get people in there sweet chili that just got papered up that's being transferred to a company a new city that's just going to refurbish and rebrand it and open up what's happening but there is that one property owner that made the challenge I don't think that's the plan I would actually say that if that was the plan that might be a good thing but I'm not sure if that is the plan okay if I just go through a few other articles article 38 is the appropriation for zoning by law recodification now are you leading the charge or should we get somebody else in here so for more details definitely Jenny, Jane, Ray, Nora we can come in but I can talk about it I can definitely talk okay why don't you so the town's actually already kicked off the zoning recodification we really labored over if there was a better name for it but it really is recodification of the zoning by law it's updating the zoning by law and I think 1974 to both make it compliant with current state law also make it more usable for both town staff, residents contractors and to update language container than it uses make it more make it more logical as you go through it we kicked off that process we hired consultants right now we're paying for it out of to close out what would be the final phase of getting it adopted at a special town meeting this fall we need some additional funds to continue with the consultant but also we need funds whenever you change by-laws, zoning by-laws you have to advertise it in the local newspaper which when you change the whole zoning by-law is a lot of newspaper space and everybody has a cost associated with it and that's actually estimated to be $15,000 $15,000 $15,000 okay so is that the request? totally it's $40,000 it's $50,000 so there's a zoning recodification working group it's $55,000 so there's a zoning recodification working group that's overseeing this whole effort and actually just this past Saturday we had what we called an all awards meeting board of selection redevelopment boards on board of appeals board of health, conservation commission historic commission, historic districts commission conservation commission all came to provide feedback to the consultant and to the planning department all the zoning by-law as they start to work through and create a draft of an updated by-law you can't use any more community development park grant on this? okay so you're looking for a total appropriation of which $15,000 is just going to be for the advertising okay do people feel they want to have the planning department come in and present on this or are they comfortable if you have questions for the manager on this would you vote on it now? no okay so do you want to have okay Liz why don't you call the planning director or that be the appropriate? call the planning director and actually see if she can come in next Wednesday so see if you could move Rich Greco to 745 and ask the planning department if they could come in on this article at 815 okay so is there any questions on the manager for this okay so parking operating costs article 39 so this is and I'll plan to provide the detail but this is taking parking revenues that are going into that special fund that town meeting voted to create in October and you may recall in October I said you the state law adopting a stand-up allows us to pay for the acquisition and installation of the meters themselves without appropriation but the operation needs an appropriation so this article would be requesting an appropriation for the funds to pay for the credit card processing fees for the wireless connection fees for to offset some costs related to apartment control officers so this would be taking all parking money into that fund and then paying for the operating costs going to the parking budget we we're recommending that we try to account for all the new expenditures okay but under what budget would it be or are you wondering this would be an appropriation out of a special fund okay so the what in other words the spending would come under the article okay how much are you looking to now okay so this is the operation of the parking meters the parking budget under the treasurer has the control over the another parking fund well I have two so this is the first time that there's revenue meter revenue the parking budget before has had violation revenue but not so this is a new mechanism I think I'd like to eventually move down the road and see if we can create an enterprise fund for the operation but we're not okay but we only have one more one little box on the summary sheet of the finance report so you can only have one more Dean John Charlie so if I remember this correctly the revenue from the parking meters is going into this fund which we're talking about taking the money out for the maintenance is that correct so wouldn't we also need to do an appropriation to to disperse money from the fund back into the general fund or are you telling us that the parking meters are actually going to cost as much as they collect so there's an additional article that's not listed under the financial articles to create a parking benefit district that was newly enabled as part of the municipal organization act 2 so I see it as three parts keeping the general fund harmless with what revenue is currently going to the general fund that's mostly going to be the violation of permit revenue paying for the cost of the meters which would come in and out of this fund and then any balance going to the parking benefit district fund which will reinvest in the infrastructure probably consent to where the meters are so for that last part so the authorization allows for the creation of a parking benefit district meaning you can take meter revenue and reinvest it in the district where those meters are located in the infrastructure so any additional funds projected will be some maybe $30,000 to $50,000 after you've paid for operating everything buying it and selling it operating it you can fix sidewalks okay so the now the the parking budget I mean all the the funds go into the general fund so the parking budget was just an appropriation for the parking clerk and the assistant and I think maintenance of the of the the meters in the center and the lots so do you see all this being grouped into one area because right now we have three the law is funny that the law treats metering public ways differently than the law I'm not sure why but that's the way the law treats it so that's why I said I would like to we actually know if it's legal yet I'd love to just pull it all to one enterprise fund okay so would you think about an enterprise fund in the next annual town meeting next year this year ah John were you saying that the the year revenues expect you need a revenues to exceed operating costs I expect when we look at the combination of violations meter revenue um permits violations in revenues in total to exceed the total operating cost of just the meters not the lot not the lot and violation of revenues going into this special and revolving parking fund right now every new dollar we're collecting from the meters is going into this fund the violation revenue the violation revenue is still going into the general fund that's accounting for okay how about the fine the revenue from the two watt meters still also going into the general fund that's what it looks like okay do you see taking that and following it through this not this I think this specifically talks about public ways but this got you but if we were going to do something on an enterprise basis so how much are you looking to basically transfer from the special revolving fund and to be expended under this article our estimate is going to be a total of about $60,000 $60,000 $60,000 just for the credit card processing fees there's $6,000 for parking in a lease location and then there's some money for repair and maintenance of the machines themselves which hadn't previously budgeted half of the machines so the total is $78,000 now I assume that's what's the balance you have now today there's $21,000 okay so that's projected for next year and if we appropriate $78,000 from the fund and you only bring in $70,000 then you only spend $70,000 questions on this Alan? following up on that through the chair I guess just the parking meters of brand new and there are going to be a lot of questions like this I guess I would like to put an appendix into the finance committee report with some sort of summary of the ins and outs what we're just talking about here that would be possible I've got to answer a lot of questions I think my question is okay are there any other questions on this? you had a problem with the meters repair and so forth? no we we had a lot of confessions people particularly my wife she did the bookstore we struggled out of the gate with collections so we've now brought on and that's part of the costs actually incorporated in this figure an outside collection firm collection was happening when they weren't being collected they back up and they jam in the slot I think we've actually just this week the only other problem that the treasurer keeps finding people are putting Canadian quarters and that for some reason jams I don't think it was a solve to that other than getting out there I'm not sure why they're similar size okay are there any other questions Charlie? these machines send a message when they do not send a note okay okay any other questions Jane? it's not really a question of punches I think since this is a new program it's part of the larger town structure at this point I think we should probably take article 38 and article 26 which is the parking benefit district and ask the esteemed chair of the capital planning committee to sort of explain to us how this all comes together because Adam made a comment about first of all we're going to talk about the acquisition of parking which I thought the initial acquisition went through the capital budget so now we're talking about future acquisition going through the year and then Adam made a comment about excess revenue being reinvested into the area which would normally be a capital expenditure and so rather than not that I think there's anything wrong but rather than waiting among and then asking the question I feel like I should at least say it right now just so we have an understanding of how this is going to work okay and you think why don't I come back in a month with something like what Adam Jones described in terms of sort of a total report on all the ins and outs and what the plan actually looks like yeah I was just going to say there's staff and if you're close to Charlie and you'll come back here and then we'll ask Charlie always to get the budget and then we'll have to come back and that way if you're going to Charlie you can come back and raise some more and we can combine that yeah I think this to me who I think understands all this to a certain degree it gets confusing because you've got a budget a warrant article 10 to warrant articles to see how this is all going to fit together yeah and I think if it's shown that like a year from now there's only going to be one entity where all this is running through I think that'll make things a lot easier it could pay for the town clerk it could pay for the assistant it could pay for the repairs just everything's done through one budget, one enterprise fund one revolving fund whatever you're going to do so yeah if perhaps you could come back in a month with that any other questions on the parking operating I suppose are you thinking of an enterprise fund for all parking or just the center because that's another if you if this district is only going to be for the center you do collect fines in other parts of the town so where's that money going to go first right now it just goes into the general fund yeah that's a good question I know what's the purpose of an enterprise fund normally an enterprise fund is to make sure that users pay for such a cost so the way it works now the money's going to get to the town and be paid for the cost is there a specific benefit to having it in an enterprise fund I think in this case the benefit would be for simplicity of accounts to try to clear up some of the complexity okay so we might have to have you back for okay okay anybody else on the parking appropriation school budget gives school renovation this is status so as everyone knows the debt exclusion was passed last spring in regards to renovating the buildings to make it a town-wide sixth grade so an architect's been hired and has begun work for some time now and for the Gibbs project we decided to move forward as opposed to design bid we're taking the construction manager at risk or CM at risk where a contractor is brought on board during the design phase to work with the architect to work on constructability so we have Feingold Alexander architectural firm and Schaumit construction working on the project and when you do CM at risk instead of going out to bid and then there's just a number and they bill you for that number CM at risk gives you what's called a GMP that I always give a gross maximum guarantee maximum and you will get that number we'll ask town meeting to appropriate that number but it's open book pricing such that as part of through the job they don't spend the money we don't pay them for that so that's why it's the guarantee maximum price also the benefit that's hoped is that because the contractor is involved during the design phase that there'd be less change orders not no change orders but less change orders to reduce contingency and liability while you're constructing so they're designing now we expect to have a preliminary guarantee maximum price around the time of town meeting so we're also going to put an article identical to this for a special town meeting that will open up on the second night of town meeting I think what we will ultimately end up doing is asking for an appropriation for some portion of that guarantee at a special town meeting and then ask for a separate appropriation when we learn further numbers under the annual town meeting because that money won't be needed until after July 1st anyways that's all going to come into better clarity in the next month or so so this is going to be like some of our more recent school project decision making I think we're going to be pushing right up against town meeting to understand exactly when we'll need the figures and how much we'll need them Charlie, will capital budget be making a recommendation on this? I don't think so I think this has been voted by the town so it's statically okay I mean isn't there a committee working on this? yeah so the PTBC is working on it and the school administration also has involvement in the design so it's been authorized I think we would run it maybe a matter of practice okay when do you think you'll be able to do it before the finance committee with a proposal? I think I could probably have a better schedule proposal by early March I don't think I'm going to have a figure for the first tranche of an appropriation until some time later I see a blank space in the post warrant article okay so are any questions on this? yeah it was advertised today for the first time but I'll give it to you I think it was four four categories estimated 20 million so I think what you saw is so Cháme is the general contractor like we would have and then they go out and solicit subcontractor that's got to be there are some trades that are known as filed submitters that are put out by kind of traditional bidding the construction manager then assembles those based on those then puts that together to deliver the guarantee maximum price so that's what's going on so is Cháme building this? yes so they're working with the architect and they're also building it the idea is to have some input from the contractor early on so that you have constructability issues the architect might say I understand but it's unusual procedure they usually don't put Cháme working with the architect to get this package together they usually have to get it because it's like a double negative well there are three players there's the contractor the architect and we have an owner's project manager so under construction manager at risk the idea is to bring on your architect and you know, right from the beginning to start design you select a construction company and then have them talk as the architect is putting together his plans consult with the general contractor something we haven't done in the past with the other two no, it's the first time that I think Arlington has done this for school but it is the preferred construction method from the MSBA and it's how most school projects are done in the state now so how do we how do Cháme get the bid so the our OPM and the firms call NV5 they put out a quest for qualifications for CM firms or for construction manager firms and there were two respondents Cháme and I'm not recalling the other group but a subcommittee of the PTBC interviewed them and based on their submitted qualifications and their interviews selected Cháme for what it's worth I can't say this from my own experience but the multiple architects on the PTBC all said in their private sector experience construction management at risk is all they've ever worked with and had favorable opinions about it reducing unknown or unforeseen issues so is the permanent Cháme building committee or building committee involved with the selection process yes okay any other questions on that so obviously it would be another issue that we talked about later in March okay appropriation transfer revaluation of personal property article 41 of okay obviously this will be 400,000 yeah we that's how much we budgeted so every nine years every three years there is a revaluation process required by the Department of Revenue but then every nine years there's an even more thorough revaluation process required by the Department of Revenue where you literally have to try to go out every house even get into homes that have had significant renovations do a reassessment or a revaluation so Paul Tierney the director of the assessing office has solicited two quotes from firms that perform this kind of reval and the high end frankly was 400,000 so I think we could probably do it a little bit better for that, a bit better than that but we'll probably still ask for that appropriation or whatever is not utilized each time back to dinner so we always keep the whatever is left over from the revaluations and the revaluation or about $30,000 usually somewhere close to $50,000 that's not right to you we can look it up on this I should say this work doesn't have to be done until the close of FY19 but it's a very time intensive and long process so the board and the director of assessing our advising that we get an appropriation so that we can start and not have any risk of not the department of revenues so this will be for FY19 it has to be done by the end of FY19 it's a film reation but the actual it will impact the assessments for FY19 okay there are any questions on this now are people comfortable with article 41 and the explanation I mean we could have the assessor come in and go into more detail or you said we can go ahead and vote it tonight go try have the assessor come in oh okay we'll wait to hear some recommendations okay so uh okay so we'll wait for the whoever does the budgets on assessing could also wrap in article 41 with it now there's one article here and I just want to raise that with the FINCOM it's article 59 now I talked about this with the manager a little bit today and apparently there's quite a bit of pressure so fact sheet coming around now is a fact sheet on sanctuary town status so I want people to think about this it's not on the face of it a financial article but it's a broad policy article that I see the select but considering the threats of the current administration in Washington DC I'll we don't have to discuss this now but I'll just put my fear is that I don't think this is going to make a bit of a change in how the town of Arlington handles its current police strategies but it's going to put a giant target in Arlington then I would just assume Cambridge and Somerville and Boston take care of I'm sorry the president of the United States has threatened to withhold federal funds from any sanctuary city or town and we get about $6 million from the federal primarily in our community development block grant and other things I just want the finance committee to think about this before we whether they want to take a stand on this is before we go about painting a big red target on the town of Arlington that we think about it so that's my concern for you to discuss now but at some point in the future Dean on this of our federal funds what they are if I we get these federal funds meaning like is it an entitlement grant to be qualified what is it we have to do because I have chicken scratch in my basement I want my books from the federal sequester kicked in that I wrote a note that said we don't actually qualify for CPG anymore and so I remember a long discussion about that and so I think it would be helpful because I think one of the things that people are talking about this is like everyone said well don't worry I can't take away all this money that we're entitled to I don't remember being entitled to CPG I remember I think you told us out of actually we're not entitled to that anymore and that we have some handshake agreement with the prior administration to level funding but not cut it but we don't actually we don't have 50,000 residents we don't have poverty levels we don't have any of that stuff so I think it would be helpful if we have a list of all of our federal money so that people knew this is the money these are the grants, these are the education grants IDACBG and this is what the ones we firmly qualify for under federal law and these are the ones that we might be whatever CPG and if the grandfather are not or even we qualify at least we have a full understanding of what that true nature is that the town accountant pull that together? yes so that's it's in the VA133 and it's step by step it's almost all education money we are not really qualified as the title of the community but my understanding is what several decades ago a former select man with a clout from the National League of Cities had some legislative change made that grandfather is in as the title of the community so I don't think we're in jeopardy of not being in the title of the community now but I fully expected that as this debate went forward and we didn't have to have one of those as you mentioned ok so it'll be in the main audit or the federal ok so if anybody could go on the website, pull out the audit and you can see the range of federal grants that we get from there that should be soon I'm sorry? well it's not could you ask him if he could email that around? he has emailed it to me so I can just check it out ok I've been trying to get a very neutral position on the sanctuary town matter and I've certainly heard in questions or emails or feedback that's come to me a lot of misunderstanding about what sanctuary town status is or what the impact may be so I felt compelled to work with the police department of human services and the board of select men to put together what I'm hoping is a neutral fact sheet that at least dispels some of the misunderstandings and misconceptions so that's what this is publicly yet so I've been seated, will issue it we'll put it on the town website tomorrow send it out via the email list so that's what the sheet is that I just passed I didn't know if we'd talk about it today but if we did I'd bring in a chair so that I just wanted to make clear what that was ok John yes I'm looking at the last few bullets and what you're saying here is that we get about 600 million dollars a year and federal grant funding but none of that is for is related to immigration or public homeland security grant money and at the current time the legal opinion or a majority legal opinion is that it's only immigration or DHS funding which would be at risk or could be at risk? so it seems to be Council has looked at it E's red, I've red, Sandy's red a lot of coverage in the press statements by the Attorney General of California governing magazines put out information on it it does seem to be a pretty well agreed upon legal principle that the federal government cannot cut federal funding for non-compliance or actions not related to that federal funding so that seems to be pretty well agreed upon I think we also though all acknowledge that this is a new day and a lot of prior agreed upon principles will be tested so I don't know that I think town council will get up at town meeting or before this body and say pretty confidently in this understanding of that I should say prior legal precedent or principle but I don't know that any of us unless there is further information between our town meeting are going to be able to confidently stand up and say that there will be no impact on federal funding in this town or there will be no attempt to that for sure I can't say that would be important okay any other questions Tom I guess I don't understand what's the reason we don't really know no one can really say that we're not going to get the six million or get the six million we don't know a lot what's going on because it's the new administration what is the urgency of doing this immediately what is the game by doing this immediately where we might have a chance of losing funds why can't this be done in a year from now six months now why is all of a sudden the manager is the one who's pushing this what is the benefit to this that we have a possibility of giving up six million dollars well I don't think the manager can really respond he's providing the neutral information I think, correct me if I'm wrong the driving force is coming from the board of select so I think those are the people you'd have to ask the question to do so the other opinion a little bit of nuance to add to that it started with residents reactions after the election in November the human rights commission then got involved and they actually put a group that proactively brought them out before the board of select and the board of select would agree with them I guess I'll say what I have heard from proponents is that with both issued and expected issue it's an immigration policy changes that it's important to let people who live in this town or may choose to live in this town know that we are welcoming and that even if our policies already match that making a public pronouncement of those policies is important to make sure that everybody feels welcome that is what the performance is okay so just not Charlie? yes Adam traditionally when we have these various complicated articles in front of the town council gives an opinion as to whether the article is actually illegal and you know when the south decided to cede I mean it was declared the federal government as illegal and are we saying now that we can sort of really decide to not follow the directions of the federal government and it's a legal article for the town to pass are we getting an opinion from town council I'm elated I'm not saying that we had it in the right term but I'm trying to understand exactly what the what this means so I think what Doug would say is that he would have legal reservations about passing a time lock that talked about regulating police powers or compliance with federal law I think he would in turn say that a resolution is nothing more than a statement and therefore would be acceptable so is this for a resolution or is this for a resolution I see so I think that would be the sense okay any other questions on it it's going to be an issue and I think people want to think about you know all sides and we can discuss it you know way to run okay are there any other questions for the manager I think we've gotten most of the yeah we have another resolution too I think those are most of the finance is there any other of the articles because we just got this now that you think that the select one would be handling but they would have a financial impact I don't I think I'll mention that the municipal modernization act you mentioned that a lot has set forth a new way to handle revolving funds so I know that's historically a board of select ones so the act says that now we need to have the purposes and sort of the blanket authorization for the revolving fund being contained in a bylaw and that each year we vote as it does now to authorize the amount that could be spent they then realize that people couldn't have bylaws passed and approved by the attorney general before an FY 18 started so they've given us an extension but what we'll do what we'll try to do is pass a new bylaw that has the purposes and intent of every revolving fund be voted on by town meeting and then take our normal traditional authorizing the revolving funds then when the attorney general approves that bylaw presumed in August or so we'll be operating under what's required and to vote authorizing the amount will stand but then next year we'll go forward with I guess it would be a slightly different vote but the text of it would all be in a bylaw that would be worth Now, okay so that'll be a select an article as it has been in the past I think it's also worth mentioning that there are four starting with article 22 22, 23 24 and 25 these are all related to expanding or offering new property tax exemptions to seniors veterans or disabled populations these stem from efforts coming out of the council on aging in response to concerns about tax pressures on our senior population so these would allow us to enhance or create tax work-off programs that could run parallel to the Harry Barber program for senior citizens and veterans create a voluntary donation fund that could then help to defray taxes paid by elderly or senior and disabled populations and then 25 would allow us to annually adjust the amount the income limits for which you can qualify for senior tax exemptions by the CPIs as opposed to having a static figure so we'll have more fleshed out proposals or what the other tax impacts would be about it again I think the finance committee would be interested in that I noticed that the article 20 email accounts for members of public bodies is that the same as last year? Yes. Okay, didn't we pass it last year? We did. Do you have any idea why it's... I didn't get it done until the day before the deadline for the war. No, I think the proponent chose to file it but I didn't I emailed him to let him know that we got it done shortly after I emailed the finance committee and the other law boards he was very appreciative of it but I don't know why he chose to not withdraw but I think that's why that's what that's why Okay, we'll go through these sort of one by one to see if there's others we want to hear. Are there any other questions for the manager? We need to make a bigger and better one. I wrote to John Cole that he's got money and somebody left over and this is a building account and as soon as Al gets a language for the plaque we'll replace it. Yeah, we'll definitely replace it. Okay, here's a question I need a picture of the plaque and I you know, that was three computers and I'm not sure I have it but does anybody have taken a picture of the plaque maybe when it was put in? Several of us here have been here for a bunch of years. What about those pictures though we used to have the group photos and they were usually long that long would it be in those pictures? This could be in annual reports maybe? You know what year it was going to be? Oh, let's see, he died in 1993? Something like that. So my guess is 1996 five? Let's hear when I started. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Perhaps since the sign is there I was thinking under the clock or something like that. Okay. Any other pictures? Any other questions for the manager? Okay. Okay. Okay. Thank you both for coming. We appreciate your time. So we could if you're interested in doing this take a vote on article 37 37 is similar to the vote we took two years ago authorizing $15,000 for our Easter Island to be for the center because it's all being redone on the world of the committee. Oh, you're really stable. I'll move for the appropriation, a recommendation of $15,000. Do I have a second? Discussion? Tom? So we don't know whether it's a cap. It could be sitting here five years from now giving $30,000. It could be so far into this Well, this is just for if we take a similar position what we have in the past is for $15,000 to do the consultant to help go out raise the money, but the actual works are raised privately or with grant money. What's the next piece of town that wants 15 to 20? What's the next one that wants 25 to 30 years? What we could do then is follow Dean's lead that I could put it in the comment that the finance committee anticipates or expects that the manager and the arts council will develop a long-term plan so we know it's going to be happening in the future. So after this one, if you're going to come back you're going to give us a claim? Yeah, I think if the committee feels that's an appropriate thing to do we could go in that direction, yes. So it's been very perched so they've got two months to come up with not a comprehensive plan but a general concept of what to want to do. Because I think the other you know, we've got a lot of small amounts like 15,000 stuff that I agree with Conn about coming back, but I also don't think you said in the fact that $15,000 when you start looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars of private funding to actually put part of these dollars, and I think you mentioned some temporary art that got put up so we spent really, we spent $15,000 for a piece of temporary art. Well, a couple of times. No. The chair one and then there's the photos on all of the buildings on many of the buildings and then there's the murals. Okay, Karen, could you speak up a little bit as old people can't hear you? There's the chair project which is an annual project and then there's the murals that are on the majority of the buildings there's the boxes that exist under number of places from East Arlington down to Spine Ponds and there was the box the project that it gives that they did so there's actually at least three projects out of it there's also the project belongs by Ponds I don't know if that's directly related or not, where they have art in that section between the ball fields and the boys and girls club and that has happened annually for the last few years as well. But so you did a better, I think you did a better job explaining it than they can be sure. But I guess that's my point though so we've got a couple months to just sort of say block what we did in East Arlington, this is what the actual money we raised projects we did we know we got this corridor and now we got two months to sort of get a general thought of what would be next so at least we're not going again and again and again because I feel like that's a I think we can at least get a better handle on it. We should be looking for a long term where this should be going personally I think putting art on it makes no sense because it's going to be vandalized much too quick. Charlie. I don't know if I expressed this to them before but I would support spending $50,000 or even $25,000 if they would create a sustainable organization that will raise the money for this purpose in the future for privacy. I'm concerned that going out to hiring a consultant to have another activity is just creating wind. I don't think that's what she was saying She was saying that that consultant was doing a lot of the planning and generating income the grant funding. Is it possible for them to sort of come up with at least put it on paper what they've done because it's challenges like they need more money than the $15,000 for the grant and then I'm guessing if they get approved for the cultural designation that they would have more money available to them and then maybe they can use that towards and make it more self-sustaining but they were a little disorganized so as they are every year So you're looking maybe for a report of what they've done in the past and their finances Yeah because if they have them they know about it Okay let me I can't remember who made the motion Okay Steve, does that sound like acceptable for this part of your motion a favorable action? Okay Any other discussion? I move that we tail it until we get the plan Why would we vote favorable action? Is that going to look for that information? Until they come back to us Okay so you want to come back? Yeah we're thinking if people are asking for the information they should give us the information and then the committee can decide to spend the money Okay Okay Mary Margaret and Carol Well I just think part of the issue was they're saying they're volunteers they need a professional art person who can evaluate and determine what the plan would be and raise the money I'm interested in providing the arts but they're volunteers and I totally understand that there's only so much they can do Carol I think we get annoyed with them every year because they're a bunch of artists who don't who have the same personalities they're not planners but I think by giving them the money without asking for a simple report that is a historical summary of what they've done in the past and what they hope to do going forward that they can hand out to us and come back and answer questions from it is a way to get them to be a little more organized rather than rewarding their disorganization Right I think people just have a notice that they've done a lot and they're not very good at articulating it Right Okay We could ask one of the work products out of this consultant to put that plan together because it was pretty clear they didn't understand what we were looking for So we may be asking them to do something that they don't know how to do So we get the consultant to do that Okay Why don't we do this is give them like three weeks to create a sketch of a plan I mean obviously there's only so much detail we can expect in a short period of time So why don't we table this I'll call them and explain what we're looking for and then we'll set them up to come back and go through it in more detail Is that reasonable Yep Okay They have on their website Yeah Well that could be part of it Okay so I'll give them a call and ask for that Okay let's just go through the warrant and we've gone through a lot of it Board of Committees I'm just going to go through these and if you desperately want to hear have a hearing on one of these you've got to speak up So four is Barks Assistant Moderator, Article 6 is Zoning Article 7 Zoning 8 is more zoning 9 is zoning 10 zoning 11 bylaw construction excavation 12 bylaw construction excavation 13 more bylaws on construction and demolition 14 construction and demolition 15 Pride Commission Okay 16 Certain delinquent municipal to be weaned on real estate tax account Why this is all highlighted I'm sorry Do we know why this is I don't know why it's yellow I have a guess It has to do with the inheritance of property as a Microsoft Is that why it's highlighted Yeah it didn't click off the yellow Well We can handle that 17 Regulation of plastic bags 18 Praisel of town properties 10 registered voters to see if the town voted to amend the bylaws require the town to determine the value of any real estate interest before disposing of it by using procedures custom accepted Charles Charles I guess it requires an appraisal before you can sell the land But they do that normally I would think so I mean it's assessed Maybe it has something to do with the veterans building You mean the one up in the Heights No Do you think so The DAB The DAB The DAB The DAB The one that they think is worth a million dollars The one that we want to put the money into the down Well Nothing Nothing I don't think it's even going on to bid Yeah it did It was me open last week Oh I don't know It was one bidder The minimum was I think the minimum was seven Okay Appointment Appointment of town treasurer Convert the office of town treasurer to an appointed That was a discussion several years ago We want to hear what the select deal with it If you want Article 20 I don't understand But it's there 21 voter surveillance study group Former group to study the use of surveillance technologies by town agencies to study the privacy civil liberties human rights I think the select could handle this Okay here's 22, 23 24, 25 Are they Some financial impact Yeah just like there is with the Harry Barber I think it's an expansion Okay So yes we should hear that Show Okay so 24 is a voluntary 22 2225 Yeah Okay so I think the general purpose is to provide some relief, tax relief for elderly people Okay then we got the parking benefit district And I think we'll have the manager come in and maybe discuss this also You know the whole parking Okay acceptance of legislation special education reserve fund That's the senate funding reserve fund within their budget Oh so it's not a to take because they don't have to go to town meeting and without further appropriation for unanticipated unbudgeted costs So this would be something that could roll over from year to year Yeah Well I mean it sounds like instead of having a stabilization fund where they have to go to the town and town meeting they would set aside money in this fund which could roll over from year to year Yeah but I understand it has to be a vote they're not quite sure it's a voter they're just selecting somebody to take it out of there but they can't take it out Okay Dick could you research that Well they're going to be in here Okay Okay Article 27 Okay so they'll do that with the schools local auction taxes that's our general thing endorsement the evolving funds and then we're into our normal budgets normal articles Okay now we need to set up hearings for what I call the biggies in March and so the CPA is already scheduled to come in on March 1st to give theirs so they're ahead of their schedule Dick the school committee March 20th Okay Liz you have that March 20th for the school department March 20th So that's a Monday I don't want anything scheduled after that So those last three nights are basically for us to finish up all the information So nothing scheduled after the schools Okay so March 20th for that March 1st for CPA Dick Sorry Steve could you Get met a man Okay get that going We did a capital plan on March 13th Uh Okay sure So March 13th Okay March 13th for the capital plan And The town manager Why don't we schedule him for March 15th So Liz Could you give the manager a call tomorrow and ask if he could come back on March 15th to wrap up a lot of this stuff Okay so that we just have So the 20th is done the 15th on the 13th is done Steve maybe if you could either get him on the 6th or the 8th Okay Okay and I think that's the last of the big hearings Okay that's great Uh That time Oh has everybody filled in or checked their uh the sheet? Where is the sheet? Well This is it over Okay so the three of you and then give it back Okay now Yeah John John Deist is handling that Yeah nobody applied Uh so nobody applied for that John Deist will handle that precinct for another year Uh Okay Will anybody have budgets prepared for next Monday Okay Uh People have some budgets for next Wednesday Well we're having a couple hearings but I I'd like to know if budgets if anybody has any budgets ready for Wednesday Okay uh Liz let's get together afterwards We'll see if we can fill up that time slot So uh I officially declare uh Monday's meeting is cancelled Uh Wednesday Uh we have the retirement board coming in and uh we'll try to fill it up with uh with other articles as much as we can Uh does anybody have a shot at having a budget for Wednesday Okay I would really really really like to have all of the budgets finished by the end of the month So Today's the Okay cause March a lot of the thing is all filled up with uh with these hearings that take the whole not virtually the whole night so Uh You know please have these ready if I can't get more if we can't get more hearings for next Wednesday you know and after Wednesday Uh then we have the next week Okay Wednesday is up in the air I'll sit down with Liz after the meeting and see if we can schedule that uh going for so Okay any other questions going forward? Did you have any transfers or some Somehow I seem to remember there was one Did we send I think we got a request from the town clerk for memories going Yeah you got 1005 Right for the town clerk Yeah Okay so yes That's the only transfer that I know of and if I don't know it it shouldn't have happened Okay is there any other questions? Okay so Monday's meeting is cancelled Wednesday uh we will hopefully have if I have enough if we can get enough people to come in for hearings and then uh but please you know work on your budgets uh understand what's happening uh and uh we've got a couple people out with uh uh various illnesses and injuries and operations so I guess the committee's getting a little older Any other uh Alan could you just remind everyone that there's some new people on participation in uh public participation in campaigns for town and offices? Oh good point just to remind everybody we're getting into election season so uh the finance committee authority which consists of the uh myself as chairman of the finance committee the uh town moderator and the chairman of trust fund commissioners uh has taken the policy over the last 30-40 years that finance committee members should not participate actively and publicly in uh in elections so you know if you want to go someplace and stuff envelopes or something like that or give less than 30 bucks or uh but nobody out holding signs uh nobody signing letters uh nobody signing uh you know just anything publicly that's all and the reason is that uh the appointing authority considers extremely important that the that people look at the finance committee as a non-partisan, non-political body as far as the election process uh and I think that's very important so please uh if you could take that into consideration in your actions uh and just not do anything publicly involved with local elections you want to get involved in state and federal you want to get involved in override or debt exclusion that's fine it's just not the local elections okay is there any other business okay yeah if you could give that to Liz okay media turn