 Six oh two we have more than a forum. So I will call a meeting to order and First on the agenda tonight since we have no minutes to review our is public comment If anyone has any public comment, this is the time to do so on any issue Eric you see anybody and waiting in line No, but I will see anyone in the in the child was just make a public comment this time Terry. Okay So we'll go on into the budget review or a few minutes ahead of time, which is good because we have a lot to do tonight And the first item on the agenda are the clerk town clerk and elections Part of it. So Sarah Mason will be joining us Hopefully momentarily Gordon here. I noticed on the budget presentation the second agenda item is the Cemetery Commission and I just wanted to advise the board that I Have been doing some work in the town cemeteries for setting cornerstones and doing some small excavation Conflict of interest. I don't believe so. I think it's pretty minimal In the budget concern, but I wanted to bring it to the board's attention just so that I'm honoring our our system and thoughts on if the board's comfortable with me sitting in on that or not Good. Thank you. I don't have any problem with you sitting in on it. I don't see anybody else who does have either so that's fine But thank you for the heads up So we'll go on then to as Sarah is with us and we can go on to The operating budget for the town clerk and for elections Sarah Hi, everybody. Can you hear me Eric? We okay? All right, thank you everybody for having me again. I'm Sarah mason the town clerk for anyone that might be listening and can't see in here This is my first budget presentation. So I hope to be brief because you have a lot But a little bit thorough. So we know what's ahead I do have some notes. So if I'm looking down, that's why Normally the clerk's budget is pretty straightforward and steady year to year Um, of course this year has been anything but steady normal or straightforward Well, some things remain consistent. There are a few things that have made this budget projection a little trickier than usual For starters, we're still dealing with untangling a little bit of the clerk in the treasurer office split Those things continue to unfold for us Um, just change my view here You mean It's been some small things, you know items that were booked before to one department are now split between two or perhaps even three or more departments going forward You might notice those on some of the line items. Um, like office supplies going from 4 000 down to two that really is just sort of splitting one Office into two different departments So again a minor change there Some of the major changes that would be more evident were under the categories of town clerk salary town clerk staff salary And the benefits that are associated with that Surely could speak a little more to those items if that's necessary The increased side would be noticing an increase on the managers And finance and treasurers Budget, so mine actually is down as opposed to up there Minor changes as you're looking down the summary sheet mileage and training and conferences Deb had budgeted those a little bit higher in fy 21 So that I could attend as many, you know clerks classes and Conferences as I could which we do pretty much anyone that comes up. We go to The annual conference is usually a biggie as well as there's a week-long institute in new hamster called nemsi Which is new england most municipal clerks Of course everything this year has been canceled all together. So Those things were canceled, which means no driving Also meant not paying for any sort of classes for the most part this year FY 22 was probably still going to be might be a little questionable depending on, you know, we where we're at in the world and if people are gathering and getting together and A lot of these things have moved to online. So that might be the way that That pans out for the future let's see other, you know, minor changes to mention dog licensing was Not a total loss this last year, you know, we came out About where we normally do about a hundred short of our normal Projection at 545 dogs right now, which is about a hundred short of our usual 650 Which is not too bad considering that that is exactly when The office closed was when those things come due around march or april and Was certainly not on most people's radar to be the first thing that they were taking care of Waving the late fees from last year was Huge and a real key to people actually doing it as the year went along When they got around to it when they remembered whether it was june or, you know, august, they did do it once You know, they sort of got around to to following through on those The downside of that is really all the things that we've been doing by mail because people aren't really able to come in, you know We're kind of eating that in our postage Budget a little bit and I'll touch on that a little bit more Later, so those were some of the minor changes that you may have noticed on some of these spreadsheets major changes were Due to covet having to halt the passport processing completely back in march of 2020 the year we're in now That's a big revenue loss for the office You know, normally we are a very busy office. We do a lot of passports for the community engine and county and and beyond And again, of course, that was just not anything that was going to be able to happen and Probably won't happen for a while. You know, I certainly am not going to be bringing people into the office for the foreseeable future And this is sort of bringing into light whether it is worth having a an employee who is almost solely tasked with that job if you look at the The pay and the benefits that go along With that so something that I may be revisiting in the future Revenue uptick the good news land record recording fees continue to be a major income source for us In f y 20 the total for the year was 190 thousand dollars The big increase there is the per page fee in 2019 went from $10 per page to 15. So we're now really seeing the effects and the benefits now that we've been through a Almost a full year cycle on that Hopefully that will continue the real estate market in willis din is is still just really strong refinancing market is Fast and furious Mortgages are very long at this point 30 pages isn't uncommon. So What used to be be bringing in 300 dollars at 10 per page is now infinitely more And that has been a huge benefit to to all towns. So That's good news for the office. You know what passports is is, you know losing we've gained in our land record recording Let's see on the election side of things it's been a little tough to sort of Put a number on some of the things that are normally consistent And that would be postage that one would go through during an election season Um The amount of absentee early or mail-in ballots. Um, again was pretty consistent. It was kind of a small crowd that used to Um, utilize that feature uh going forward. We're probably going to have A lot more and that will be something to be determined, you know, even for this march a little loan In the coming years if we're going to to mail ballots to all people it will certainly be an expense that's going to Determine what my postage budget will be there and even ballot printing, you know, normally we estimate Based on all of our past If we choose to you know, send more out that also means printing and paying for more of those So again, those are a couple things that have been hard to sort of nail down just given the the times that we're in And some of the philosophical and logistical questions about how we're going to go forward in the future um with elections um I don't have any major capital projects to speak um to you know, nothing Nothing like the fire department and some of the other departments that have big items that are always coming down the pike for them The vault is always in the back of people's minds that you know, we had a an investment in that last year Which will hold us for a while, but that's just certainly in the back of My mind sometimes when I see it filling up Staffing changes Looking to return What was made a full-time position back to the previous part-time status that it was at before and also looking at a possible share with Some other departments and trying to utilize You know a person in a position a little bit differently between um a few of the offices here um in this building So that is my That's my overview Thank you, sir Questions from members of the board I'll try to be quick. Uh, surely um With the uh town treasurer being pulled out of what used to be the clerk and the treasurers Where do we find the town treasurers treasurers? Ex uh cost now That'll be in finance when we get to finding them. Okay. All right. I figured I just haven't I haven't found it yet, obviously Keep keep turning keep turning the pages It's in there somewhere um, then the only other question and I'm not disagreeing but this is a this um, this is a budget for 2022 which doesn't start till the summer and then goes for a full year I guess my question is is it Really realistic that we won't expect any passport revenue coming in in in that one year period um, I I'm I maybe I'm being overly optimistic Uh regarding COVID but um Yeah, no, I agree. Jeff. I don't know, you know, erick and I've sort of been talking a little about when is it realistic that we will open the doors um Passports certainly probably will have to change by appointment only. I mean before And erick you were here for a little bit. I mean it it can be very very busy It's people in lines. It's people at the door. It's families. It's children. It's seniors So it's certainly going to have to be re-looked at and the I have to recertify and stay current every year And the state department was nice enough in the packet that they sent to say You know, you're doing some right now. You're doing some as of february of 2021 or you are not sure yet And since I can't say yes to february of 2021. I'm sort of in this holding pattern So it is it's a huge question. You know, well, I feel good about um having a lot of people in here come july 1st maybe um Again, it was very hard to sort of um fill those those holes in when you know is surely erick and I did some talking about that It's it's going to be a tricky one And a lot of it does depend on on the public and how many people we want, you know streaming through here on any given day And again, some of that can be um Can be negated by switching to appointment only which is what all other agents in the area do We're the only ones that just sort of take a free for all Okay But it's possible Better to get more money in than less for sure. So sure. Yeah better better to be happily surprised then Yeah, right true. Yeah. Yeah, we tried to err on the side of caution on some of those Items that's a little tricky to to predict be a lot of our Work does depend on the public and then coming in here. So It's been tricky to to sort of decide if and when we'll be back to anything that looks like normal But we've been doing really well as far as rolling with the kovat punches Researchers are happy the public is relatively happy We've learned to do a lot remotely and scanning and mailing and like I said The the only negative is that we're eating a little more in postage because every single thing somebody wants We have to pay for and that's that besides that things have been going pretty well I'm sure it's how much it's my time. Oh, we're getting there Okay, yep anybody else anything Sarah I just have a question based fundamentally in ignorance. I'm looking at the um, and this is Just out of curiosity more than anything. So it'll be super quick, but the the elections um Looking at the postage for that and it looks like am I reading it right and I'm on My computer says it's page 131. I don't know if that's The Um, I don't know. I just have a couple printouts of Shirley's budget for me. What where what are you getting at? I'm looking at the actual cost for postage for FY 2020 and It's 1646 dollars. Is that I'm gonna look at the right thing You are Okay, um, and then so for fiscal year For next this coming fiscal year. It would be 1900 No What's that then That's for 2021 the current year we're in right now. Okay. All right And then going so they'll yeah, and there won't be much going on in FY 22 They'll be done in general until October. I'm sorry. No October November, but that puts us into FY 23 So really all we have going on will be town meeting Yeah I read today that the governor is perhaps going to put in the uh budget for next year or for the Adjusted budget for 2021 monies for postage for towns to send out Ballast everyone so we'll see whether that's true or not Well, I was I was uh I was slightly concerned by that this year, but it turned out so well that I I don't have any concerns anymore Good. Thank you. Any answer sarah If not, thank you very much sarah. I want to appreciate Thank you everybody. Yep. Thanks. Thanks sarah. Yep. Have a good night too So next is a cemetery commission and jack price is going to Be on the line for that Yep, um jack. I'm going to get you connected right now And as we move to cemetery is the only thing to look at in cemetery, um in the public works Line item It's in buildings and uh, it's in buildings and grounds and in public works, right? But we do have a one pager that came in the packet That explains what the request is and now I've got that on the screen. There is right there. Oh, okay. Great. Thank you You know I said i'm not going to get my packet because i've already got everything this And turns out I was wrong I had a couple minor updates, but i'll uh Is this helpful for the board? I'm i'm doing a screen share. It's different for me to I don't see the same view you're seeing but my my attempts to pull up the Mainly the summaries and the capital sheets as we go here for uh putting on the screen I have it in front of me as well. Okay. I'm just looking for Because we're good Eric, could you scroll down on the screen just a little bit perfect perfect? Yeah, okay, and so it's the 36 Uh thousand that's the total budget. Okay. That's the total expense, right? But we will we're looking for 279 To come out of the right support. Okay Let's see Jack, I think you're connected. Can you hear me? I can hear you. Can you hear me? Yep? I can hear you Can you see if you wanted to try to share your video? You could do that as well But I I can hear you good on on my end. Okay. Just hit start video. Yep Okay, welcome jack Thank you. There you are Good So the floor is yours All right, I'll take um Yeah, what you see before you is the uh proposed budget for 2022 that Shirley and I worked out a couple weeks ago And as an overview, I thought I just the four cemeteries listed here uh, just sort of a Thought on what is Going to be done in that year And we like Sarah said we have no major capital projects planned which I'm sure is fine with everybody um having said that If I can just quickly review, uh, the four cemeteries, uh, I think I'll try to pick out the salient parts of these for dear view at some point, uh, dear view Uh, we'll have filled up its first section their four quadrants and uh A new a new quadrant will need to be opened up for Sale lots but not anytime soon. I by my calculation. We've got about 120 lots that Haven't been sold yet there. Uh, I'd say about two-thirds of them have been Uh, but at the rate of selling lots over in dear view at About let's say 10 a year We're still 10 years out from that, but it's not too early to start thinking about a capitalization project, uh, to Do the engineering go the roads and extend the water and fencing instead of that Accommodate that when the time comes, uh, that again is something that's so far out that we probably don't need to talk about it anymore tonight um More cemetery two years ago. We actually replaced Two of the four sides of the cemetery Uh, two of the four uh sides of fencing on the cemetery with very nice new, uh wire Fencing it's very attractive from the roadside the other two sides are, uh You know, they they're deteriorated but mostly rusty and it's sort of an aesthetic thing than anything So, uh, that can be put on the back burner. Uh, it's not urgent Uh, it'd be nice to complete that but in these fiscal restraint times we put that on the shelf uh, nothing going on on Chittenden cemetery, we don't need a fence there at the moment um East cemetery is the big one that's always got a lot of uh, uh a lot of maintenance issues including Ground that is settled over the years, especially in the early Uh sections one and two were the oldest part of the cemetery and those are a lot of those grave sites and have either sunk in and need topsoil amendment or they need stones raised they've sunk down below the surface of the of the uh, the one Old headstones that are tipped over broken, you know Uh, and that's a lot of maintenance issue over there Uh so, uh, what you see there and and also we've got a weed problem, uh, this Instead of having grass growing in sections five and six, which is the farthest out towards the golf course we've got this wild fescue that's growing there which is uh an interesting and hard to uh Extract weed and we were going about it instead of herbicides We're trying to change the pH of the soil so that it's more conducive to perfect growing That will take years to do and i'm actually One of the guys with a spreader, uh as far as uh You know loan me one of his men, but we spread spread uh A couple times a year we spread uh you know 500 pounds of uh Lime down there to try to try to adjust the pH Once we get that right and we'll know that because the fescue will start dying off Then we're going to get some the The seed them i'm sorry did I say fescue the seed them is the weed and once the seed them dies off Then we can go back and over plant it with uh grass fescue So that's like and we've gotten professional advice on that golf course management people look over and said Here's what you've got to do is going to take a while to turn this around but we're We're going to work away at it So, uh All cemeteries need to be maintained by mowing and trimming and that's what the next item there is and by bruce horris calculation A month of of main of maintenance Grass cutting and trimming plus about four thousand dollars in there six months that that is Actually needed so that gives you 24,000 in the expense side of the of the spreadsheet plus another five thousand dollars for incidental maintenance of fencing and Repairs of stones and that kind of thing so Um looking at the actual budget the way it's laid out here. I'd like to talk about revenues first and The revenues that we make Uh are from sale of lots and for a resident in wilson Uh purchasing a lot cost uh five hundred dollars Uh if you're a non resident it's a thousand dollars and and a depending on which cemetery you're in Either a four by eight plot or lot Or a four by ten lot uh, the larger ones are in In deer view But at any rate, uh, we project That we'll sell ten lots in the coming year in in deer view and uh Deer view is the only you know cemetery where Lots are being sold as new lots Uh east is completely bought up. It's completely paid, you know owned by lot owners and so There are transactions that occur when people want to When they bought a family plot with several lots in it and suddenly they They'd like to cash out on those and put them on market for sale But that's that's a different issue Uh, that doesn't include us. So if we sell 10 lots that brings in uh five thousand dollars worth of revenue To give you an idea of the plot a lot sales uh in Who's that a night 2019 fiscal year 2019 to 20? Uh, we sold five lots in deer view and two Uh Two internment sites. I guess I that's the way I put it because they're not really lots but internment sites In in the memorial garden and also at $500 per This this last year We uh sold eight in deer view eight lots in deer view and two in the memorial garden so, uh That that I'm good, you know, it's a guess, uh, and we don't we're not sure how many we're we're selling We're guessing that with the code thing. We might actually have more plot sales A sinister reason uh in the coming year And also a lot of people who are I've got their relatives remain sitting on their Um Of their fireplace. They may finally decide to inter them. So Uh, it may see a flurry of activity, which is well exceeding The lot sales that I projected here on the other hand That that that's in a grim way good news Uh, because it shows up as a plus on the ledger sheet so, uh, I'll skip over cemetery reserves at the moment, although surely I since we did this work this up Uh, a couple weeks ago. You sent me a another Memo last week and I I don't want to get too far on the weeds here, but you said the auditor for questioning uh, the cemetery accounts and come up with some unused funds from different fiscal years that were sort of On the books, but you know, they're are those credits to us. Is that it so that we can Use that money if it's appropriately designated Yep Because there's $1,400 there Okay I didn't want to change this at a light date, but there are actually some cemetery reserves there we can draw on They'll actually sweeten our Our picture here a little bit so um, I'll I'll You know once later this week, I'll talk to you shortly about that and and let's see if I understand how those Those monies are assigned. These are from uh, projects in fiscal year 2003 fiscal year Oh five and fiscal year 12 So, uh, and it amounts to $1,400 not a huge amount of money, but in our small and pledged that is actually significant the asaltine fund the asaltine family lived here for years and Had great affection for the town and wanted to make a contribution of some sense Uh, typically at this time of year. They do make a gift. Uh, it's usually About $2,500 that check hasn't come yet. I don't know if it will Uh, but that that's also found money Uh, that that money is designated by the way, uh for capital improvements in east cemetery where their family plot is So it can't be used for maintenance Next item is cornerstone fees. This is a little bit Uh, it's just a paper entry because if you look to the left under expenses, you'll see the cornerstone expenses Are the same number. So you've got cornerstone fees and cornerstone expense And what happens there is when we sell a lot Uh for uh to a client Uh, there are two fees involved one is for the lot itself and one is for the Uh pricing of the cornerstones The cornerstones there are four of them and they delineate the lot or A set of lots known as a plot, but there are four of them Uh, and they cost At the quarry they cost With their with the family You know monogram on it they cost $160 for four grand up locks seems like actually a pretty good deal because they're really nicely made But anyway, uh, it's time we sell a lot people Have to buy, you know, also come across with another 160 dollars to make it totally of 660 for buying a lot uh, so Of that of that we break that out 160 dollars The family gives us a check for that. We give it to the town The town holds on to it deposits it And then when the quarry delivers the cornerstones Uh, they submit a bill to the town For 160 dollars for those four blocks. So it goes back out The town pays that and so it's a, you know, canceled Transaction there, but it's it needs to be included in the in and out box there Town support, of course, it's the largest, uh Uh contributor here, thank you And yet the total revenues, uh at 36,000 Um are balanced with the total expenses, of course Uh and looking at the expense column Uh main insider parents. We've already talked about that. That's a combination Six months at 4 000 for mowing Uh plus another 5 000 for just incident, you know, regular maintenance of of things Uh the interment memorial garden internment In the memorial garden, we we pay a contractor Uh $350 for the memorial garden to actually Prepare the internment site Uh and cover it up at the end of the Interment And Another expense that's involved with the memorial garden is lettering on the Granite pillars that define that part of the communal Uh cremations internment area Uh, by the way, we've got We're we're almost filled up. Well, maybe not quite But we're well filled up in the first, um, internment plot Mass internment plot that we've got four or five others on the way. So that's not even close to being an issue Um, there are no cornerstones in the memorial garden So that's uh, that doesn't come into play here so, uh the Cornerstone installment fee that you see is an expense there is actually for deer view because once people buy a plot in deer view or a lot in deer view they must have Those cornerstones placed As soon as possible and that's we pay somebody $150 To set four stones. So that's what you see It's a factor of the projected lot sale of 10 lots Times 150. So that's 1500 and then equipment operations and repairs, uh there there's uh We're actually we actually have some lawn tractors that are stored over there at the shed at at East cemetery and we're keeping them because We we occasionally need them and to just keep them. You can't just let a piece of equipment sit there and Rust so that's that's that's just sort of a An insurance plan on keeping those two tractors up and ready So the the rest of that statement on that page sort of breaks down, you know, what I've just told you but Yeah, I've talked to you long already I Thank you jack as Jack regarding the cemetery commission and their request Oh, sorry jack. I don't have a question for you. I mean Budget very straightforward good surely question for you Um, obviously this the cemetery is not a town Uh department, you know like public works or police or something What could could you briefly explain what it is? um the town uh the cemetery is um I want to say a special revenue fund and our financial statement reporting So they are a piece of the town in our, you know, I'll say audited financial statements Okay Is there anybody else who falls in that category? Um, I I just was opening the financial statements, Jeff. Um, Let's see. I'll get you to it other things that are considered special revenue funds are like The Records restoration fund. So I don't know if you noticed when sarah was talking about her last year actual She said like 190,000, but there's only like 168,000 showing up as revenue So $2 per page goes into this records restoration fund. So that's considered um a special revenue fund Um the reappraisal fund. So those are dollars we get from the state of ramon Those are special uh revenue funds the conservation fund falls in that category The host town fund our grand fund um And the cemetery fund part of the cemetery fund part of the cemetery fund That's an interesting one because part of it goes there jeff and part of the cemetery fund Lies in a permanent fund because they were gifts that were given and Perpetuity So that one sort of one fund in our g l but split in two different places in our financials, but all part of the bigger town Okay Very good. Thank you. You're welcome Here for the questions for jack If not, thank you ross jack, and we appreciate all of the hard work that the commission does I do it Yeah, yeah We'll move on then to Planet in zoning. I presume that's matt belanger who is going to be presenting Yep, and terry. We also have melinda scott this evening for the conservation capital projects. Um good. Yes We have a preference where you would like to uh to To speak first um Usually we do operating budget first and then uh capital but Whichever whatever whatever lee would like to do is fine. Okay. I'll get them both connected up here Matt melinda. I'll have you connect them momentarily Looks like we're all set eric Okay, great your budget up matt Thank you. Um So a couple of things about the um planning and conservation budgets for this fiscal year Um, the first is that when you're comparing to past years, you'll note that we've we've merged conservation and planning into one budget Which which makes year to year? Uh individual line items a little tougher to compare but is is going to help us out in terms of Reflecting really the way planning and zoning operates which is is as a unified office with a conservation planner Who will who will no longer have to split her time on her time sheets to build two different? town budgets for for one person Um, and we've also tried to merge Things like mileage and conferences and training So those numbers may initially look a little bit bigger But recall that they that they reflect a merger of the two budgets. Um, and we have achieved some slight reductions there um So taking aside, um that you're seeing that merger a couple of broad brush things about planning and conservation Um, we did adjust our projected Permit fee revenue downward ever so slightly uh for fy 22 Um, we're we're usually very conservative about this number anyway because it can can be pretty volatile depending on whether You know one or more large projects come in Uh in any given fiscal year or not But at this time You know all of the current development at our big projects has already been Permitted and we don't have a lot in the development review board pipeline. Um, that would be very large stuff So we we're seeing most of that Permit fee revenue coming from our normal traffic of um, you know residential and small commercial projects as opposed to, you know, another Large apartment building or or commercial building or something like that So we're we're being a little bit more conservative than normal but ever ever more conservative on revenue there Uh, a few highlights to services. Uh, this budget, you know reflects Our ongoing service that we provide to the community In planning and zoning certainly the way in which we provide that has shifted dramatically in the last year We staffed four volunteer boards plus any number of ad hoc committees and groups and had to shift all of that Much as you've had to shift to zoom That does create some ongoing Challenge for us in that we are regularly bringing new applicants or members of the public into the zoom world. Um, and Training them, you know setting up individual sessions one-on-ones with people to get them ready to attend and participate in those in those public meetings And you know, in addition to our regular committee flow, we had a fairly large public engagement piece happen this last fiscal year related to The possibility of changing the rules for open space in the residential part of town And we anticipate a lot more online interaction as the town Dives into the form-based code project for half corners You know currently we're scheduling our our big public input Phase of that project toward the end of march. So it'll happen in f y 21 There will be continued activity on the code project in f y 22 Um, and so, you know, we've we've kept funding um for planning studies and professional services At a fairly high level But what I what I could assure you is that the town's commitment in the form-based code project between f y 21 and 22 It's just a little bit over 48,500 dollars and and that's what we're going to spend It's just we're not entirely sure how much of that will be billed for Prior to the the close of f y 21 and how much we would need to spend going forward That that line item for planning studies also might cover a small grant match if we get a municipal planning grant related to Illustrating the new code that is under development for the historic village So those are sort of our larger items in the budget As I mentioned, we've merged a number of things with conservation With overall numbers a little bit reduced, you know, we're not we're not racking up a lot of mileage We we would anticipate eventually getting back to some level of needing to do some mileage reimbursement If in-person conferences and training Become available again And we've reduced but sort of tried to mostly maintain our line items for conference and training Anticipate eventually having another a icp certified planner in the office and and wanting to be able to Cover that as well as keep, um, you know various staff members connected with current affairs as it pertains to planning in vermont Um, I'll also mention the conservation and trails intern position. Uh, you see Used to be um in f y 21, uh a three thousand dollar line item We now have emerged line item for student interns at six thousand proposed for f y 22 It's very likely that what we're really looking at and and you may want to ask melinda for some clarification when she comes on Is that we're using that to support a seasonal employee in the summer? Because the tasks that we really see the need for are related to property management in the country parks And conservation areas as you might be aware during, uh, covid We've had really unprecedented levels of use of those areas and and that requires some additional maintenance and management And it's really getting to the point where that's not something We want to ramp up with an intern every summer, but rather just be able to Hire someone and say, you know, this is this is the job for the summer These are the tasks that need to be completed to keep these areas in line and It's it's really just become more of a work item than an educational experience for someone As our responsibilities have increased out there so With those things Melinda is going to talk about the capital budget The other thing that eric asked us to speak to the board about is Where we see things going in the next three to five years of sort of that midterm horizon I would say that um, we are getting to the point where there's a need for Some additional enforcement coverage on matters that at least touch on zoning Many of those matters that we experience also have implications either for the health officer Or things that are happening in the fire department's world related to the way that are commercial or multifamily Residential sites are being operated. So issues of um, you know, snow being put in the wrong place and blocking a fire hydrant or dealing with parking matters or Some of the landlord tenant type things that we end up encountering and so I think You know, this is a good time to just sort of mention that in in willistens relatively near term future The town would do well to consider enhancing its capacity to address those kinds of things Currently from the zoning perspective those fall to me. Um, they are Very time consuming they they they both take a lot of hours to work on and they also tend to be the kind of issues that Don't resolve quickly. Um, and you know, you you may be aware. We've we've had the health order related to one property in town We've spanned a couple years at this point Trying to find resolution of that situation. So that's really what I would identify as the more as the more long term task If we were able to build some capacity there potentially Share some capacity with other departments that are looking at taking on a more on the ground regulatory role We could make sure that we retain the planner capacity that we're going to need and Continue to need and build on Especially if we if we start, um, you know, analyzing projects against a more complicated Design code which we we certainly hope to develop in a way that's user friendly But you know, we're going to be looking at some architectural standards that are going to take some time and attention When we start administering those So I will stop there Before we switch to capital any questions regarding operating budget for matt Um, quickly matt, um, you mentioned that the um Revenue expected from permits you were going to decrease it slightly, but the revenue we have Shows it staying level whatever. It's not funded but level Level an estimated at 125. I just want to make sure that either I what I have is correct or Oh, so sorry Eric for making you chase this down I saw that too. Jeff and I wrote a note to follow up on that because I have the same numbers you do Okay, okay. It's not a big deal. I just want to make sure that And I realized when you Go go to the very beginning Eric. Maybe like page 10 or something. I think that's where your revenue might be Oh, yes. Thank you. You're welcome And and that if you expect the same revenue coming in last year is this year in a sense That is a decrease because of the cost of living You know aspect Yeah, that was uh, it was out of typo on my part here to the Um, you know Eric it it may be something that didn't come through in the draft But that maybe we communicated over email at some point And and I think all I had done was downward adjusted it by about $5,000 Okay That that may have been back after Maybe just after we'd gotten through q1 And we're trying to get a grip on that So that's what I'd recommend there Um But it's as I as I said, it's it's really a guess and and unfortunately that stuff can be um Quite variable just depending on what's in the pipeline Okay, man. Okay. Good. Thank you And then the other question that I had was um The compliance officer aspect do other towns do that? Have that capacity that uh function Uh, you know different places address it in different ways. Um Winooski has a somewhat um co-located code enforcement position that handled some sort of um A little bit of parking and a little bit of fire marshal and a little bit of p and z Other other communities um have taken on um, you know as you might be aware like south burlington You know taking on more of the fire marshal role In williston, we've talked about this, you know rental inspection program. That's that's sort of yet another thing and it is a little different Um, there was a recent article in uh vt digger um about The state of rental housing in vermont more broadly and one of the things that that article called out was that health officer in most vermont communities is a volunteer position You know and um that you know with that just comes a limitation on on capacity And you know, I think you know, we've we've had an incredibly generous with her time and active health officer For the last couple of years, which has been great But it's a really big ask of a volunteer to handle some of those things Yeah, so it can happen a number of different ways You can vest some z a power zoning administrator power or deputy zoning administrator power in Somebody other than than myself as the main zoning administrator. Um, they can they can you know be chartered to work with me And there's there's just there's a lot of um I would say there's a lot of wisdom in once you're putting somebody out into the field That you've got them kind of working in all of the different field enforcement worlds that that you would want them You know that that they might experience Even though some of the rules might come out of zoning and some might come out of some other town organs Okay Thank you. Thank you. I think a number of years ago We actually had a zoning administrator position in town as well as a director of planning position so we At that time when we had a resignation, I think we just Combined the two ends of the planning director's position. So it may be time to look at that again Good memory The great matter is getting in the center, but Yeah, I you know even burlington. I was asking one of the planners in burlington how they handle it and Everything goes out under the director of planning's signature apparently And and so he's vested with the z a power But but really it's mostly a former williston z a scott gustin Doing doing the legwork On the the drb staffing as well as a lot of the zoning and then he's got folks, you know, deputized under him as well So it can be shared Anything else on operating budget If not, we'll go to melinda then with the capital budget, I believe three different projects Hi Yeah, so so the first project is the allen brook nature trail boardwalk That has been on the capital budget for it was on last year And The town hired engineering ventures to complete Some engineered plans for the proposed boardwalk replacement. It's It's 195 foot long boardwalk that crosses the allen brook at the entrance of the nature trail by the community park And it is It was last um renovated it, I believe in 2010 and it it's in Kind of bad shape right now and it it really needs a complete overall overhaul What we're proposing to do is to Rebuild it with more durable decking material To make it last longer so that we don't have to Hopefully don't have to keep Revisiting it every 10 years. So we're proposing to use black locust lumber For the replacement This past year We had a trail building company timber and stone Sort of do some detailed scoping of the boardwalk construction We had originally budgeted $50,000 Which was in the capital budget last year But have had to increase that to $65,000 For the replacement So I think what's what's proposed is an additional $15,000 in fy 22 um, and then another $15,000 to fund the Some trail improvements right after the board right if you come off of the boardwalk and Go on to the nature trail The trail's in pretty bad shape. It's pretty badly eroded and In the spring it gets really muddy And it's just causing a lot of trail widening and erosion there. So we're proposing a solution there which would be to build either a stone staircase or um, You know just some kind of um stepping stones of some sort Which we think will cost an additional $15,000 that Does not have to be done in concert with the with the boardwalk, but could be done The following year But we we are recommending that it be done Just to stabilize the trail there Um So On to the Does anybody have any questions about that project? Yeah before we go on is there any questions we are in that? Sorry, I do Melinda and you know this happens to me a lot I'm a little bit lost on this one and and the reason why I'm lost is because I see that the The total is $30,000 Thousand but when I read the description I read amounts of anywhere between 50,000 and 80,000 and I'm just trying to understand why is it you know 30,000 is being budgeted Actually, maybe even just maybe just 15 for next fiscal year, but we believe the expense is is greater Does that make sense? Yeah, it does make sense. It's because there's Um Around there's $50,000 left from that was already in the capital budget and it's going to carry over It doesn't show up in here Um, is that correct Shirley? It's uh It's if you look at the current capital savings you see 47048 eric's pointing at it. That's the Okay Oh Okay, so That we can do in addition to another up to 30,000 over two fiscal years Correct. Okay All right. Good. Thank you. Sorry. I didn't pick up on that Sure Can I expand on your question chef since you know, we want to make sure we have all the issues So Melinda we had talked about you know, um, the the bridge really does need repair And if I take 47,000 plus the 15 that's really not going to be Quite enough if you separate those two projects just to finish the bridge or are you that comes to like 62,000 Because I know that bridge needs work next year. Um So so my question is just a list for up things for us to consider. Do we need to you know Put a couple more thousand in fy 22 Yeah, that that would be a consideration something to think about. Um Otherwise, I think I would probably have to borrow some money out of the operating budget to cover The remaining okay But as I was playing as you were talking I was playing with the numbers. I'm like, oh, that's something quick work. Okay. Yeah Anything else on that one? We can move on them to the next Um, okay, so this is a proposed capital improvement budget for the catamount community forest um to fund proposed improvements there Um, and these are all in the management plan Um, but the first thing we would like to do is to put up a trailhead kiosk With information for trail users about the catamount community forest And that is the $2,000 that you see in 2022 So we would like to do that next spring And then in 2023 there's $5,000 in planning and engineering and that would go towards the planning and engineering of a new access trail from the parking lot to The parcel on the south side of governor chit chiton road that is currently accessed via the mccullis driveway and while the mccullis are Have been very generous about allowing people to walk up their driveway to access that parcel We need a more permanent solution So So the access trail Would be built along an easement that was granted to the town with the community forest And then in 2024 There would be the actual construction of Let's see. Um, yeah, so that would that would be the construction of the access trail and the repair of Seven stream crossing structures That is it's in the license agreement that the town is responsible for upgrading seven trail bridges on the trail system There's also Money in here for parking future parking lot maintenance $12,000 That figure was arrived at through conversations with bruce. Um at the time the town was Considering acquisition of the parcel And I think that's a pretty Low priority item. I don't see any urgent need to Improve that parking lot But it's there And then finally The there's a note number five about sheep barn maintenance So on that on the town on parcel is a historic barn that that's part of the jails chitin in homestead and I'm currently investigating the degree to which The town would be responsible for maintaining that structure And and figuring out future costs of that Of that type of maintenance. So there's no Money in the capital budget at this time for that but that will be determined hopefully over the coming year So that's yeah, that's all I have for this project any questions Any questions true? Go ahead Just real quick melinda You mentioned that the um kiosk Would happen, uh I think you mentioned this spring And I assume by that you mean like late spring like after july 1st Because it's it's yeah because it's It's in 20 Oh, right. Yeah. Okay. So I always get confused 20 22 starts in july 1st. Okay. Yes. Absolutely. Yeah, right Okay. Yep. All right and the barn Um, I realized we're we're kicking this You know down the road appropriately so and and to figure out who's responsible for it and that type of thing I don't know. I guess I just have to ask the question. Is it is it a barn? We're saving the answer may be absolutely. Yes it may be absolutely. No, but um, we seem to get These historic barns Brennan would be another one Um, I don't I I don't have the right words to describe it But they are an issue Yes, right Okay, enough said. Thank you Anything else on this one? So, so finally, um This is the establishment of Uh, kind of a long-term trail maintenance fund similar to uh, what the town does with the with the parks with the community parks um As you know, um, we had a townwide trail assessment done last summer And um, it provided us a lot of information about what our Short medium and long term maintenance needs are for the trail system So this fund would address um continuing to Get to to get those improvements done over time And Yeah, so there's there several things that are listed on there as as potential um projects for the coming years um and it would be funded at $5,000 in fy 22 and then Would go up to $20,000 Every year thereafter um and that's Is it Questions on that and and it's not that i'm i'm looking to add um Add cost to any fiscal year budget but I can't help but notice how in fiscal year 20 22 You know the 5,000 then it jumps to 20,000 I would Is that because we don't have projects that are ready to go? um Not projects but maintenance that's ready to go Um, I we definitely do um, I think it's more it has to do with um, I mean correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it has to do with just trying to Conserve funding in this you know in this time when we don't have much money Okay, all right, so it's purely looking at number. Um, that's a number came from jeff. I I um I work with melinda to come up with this this concept that Started with a proposal of 5,000 There's certainly room for the port to to discuss this uh this allocation is what we go and and i'm not disagreeing I just am noticing what what could be viewed as a discrepancy if you will I don't know if that's the best word to use There's also the 14,000 in the current capital savings. So there we can use that for projects too. Yeah good Thank you again for that reminder Any further questions If not, I think that concludes our planning and zoning um presentation Anything else matt All set here. Thank you very much. Okay Thank you very much both of you and we'll continue on with our discussions and Going on to recreation and parks with Todd hoodwin Uh, Todd, I'll get you connected here Todd once you're connected you'll stop the unmute and share your video camera. Yeah, I'm good Oh there Todd There was a light on behind me that was a glow so I went to shut that off Looks like we're out of park right now Todd. Yeah, I was gonna say you definitely have the halloween look going All right So we're ready for an operating budget To begin with and then we'll go to cab. We'll get through with that Sure Starting with the operating revenue the day camp that numbers Has been just decreased And that's due to you know going to one camp one location and then also having schools that are part two is doing a camp in the summertime at um Allenbrook so You know just looking Yep, he froze I think we lost you Todd I'll put him back in a second here. Okay This is our this was supposed to be our first current situation that we're in we were that we think that will happen so Revenue a little bit and your average and that's that Under expenditures admin salaries decreased and that is because we're holding off hiring a program coordinator position Until january of 21 The day camp salaries increased To bring on a second assistant director and have two of them so that we're covering the hours of 730 to 530 which is a 10 hour day but covering everybody only eight hours And you know do that and the money that we got from that increase Came from the day camp expenses that you see that was decreased So we just kind of move money from one camp day camp area to another day camp area and I'll jump to that now the day camp expenses decreased as well Again because we've gone to that one camp one location and not will not be spending as much The benefits line item decreased a little bit because the program coordinator Building maintenance was added which is janitorial to the rec office Which hasn't hadn't been there in the past and you can see we started that this year actually With the 2055 that's in there right now And then community partnerships Have been moved out and that consisted of the town ban the um like your coys and The masonic temple masonic temple. Thank you. And so those three Have been moved and eric and and surely can better explain where they moved to but they didn't really fit into the recreation piece Because there were there were programs that we weren't actually running or overseeing type of thing Um, and then to the parks maintenance salaries and benefits decreased And that was the full-time buildings ground person that was just working out what that was going to look like That person there is still a full-time buildings grounds person Spend seven months in parks All of that was in our budget at one time So it's been just working that to be what the real numbers are It's decreased a little bit Utilities is a three-year average plus a little bit And we never know what weather and usage is going to be And professional services has been removed Which was a recreation Outdoor recreation needs assessment that was going to be done but after meeting With, um Eric and surely We moved that to be The analog Burke capital project, which I'll talk about later Um, so that's the the variances in the operating budget Anyone have questions regarding the operating budgets? I think the the things that Todd said have been removed once who the services Part of the budget Okay No, I do not have any questions Any person have any questions? Did I can't see on the screen? Oh Very none. Let's go to capital. I think you have four different proposals for capital Uh, yep the um There is the Parks pickup truck and that's that's on there But it just is we're not looking to purchase or a new truck at this time that just continues to increase each year and and give but we are looking at a A new mower We're not you're on the I can stay there. I'll I'll jump to the allen brook one Okay, we can do the equipment fund after time Okay, um allen brook community park has been on the docket for a while Um and actually, you know putting money into that um that This year, there's 20 000 dollars that we're looking to use and that is To do a revitalization plan for allen brook So instead of doing the outdoor needs recreation assessment, which is going to lead us to Doing the allen brook community park. We're jumping right to the allen brook community park and saying The current plan on the books is you know older than 10 years old It's time to say what should be in that park today and So the park revitalization plan would be looking at the needs the wants of the community What's appropriate to go into that park and then In turn this plan gives us something to put as you know, we've been putting a hundred thousand dollars a year into this and there's a Current capital savings of 265 and it was a little bit more than that a couple years ago when we relocated the path To the old plant, but it's time to say now Here's a new plan. Here's what uh, here's what the should be in the park and Here's how to spend that money and go for bonds or grants or other things to start building out that park Finney crossing in that whole area is growing up And more housing is is coming, you know cottonwood and everything else So it's really time for that park to To start growing with the community in that area um The And so so the revitalization plan is a 20 thousand dollars that we're looking to spend on doing that Questions on that Todd the only question I have Jeff here is um I don't know exactly how to ask it, but it's along the lines of Do you do do you envision there to be significant? Changes to what's been you know sort of Evolving over the years for that park Uh, yes in in the sense that um The park has a lot of ball fields And it's not and not really an Let's call a park a park and ball fields ball fields and it has lots of ball fields in its In the plan now and those ball fields can still Exist but in a different configuration and there needs to be more of a park Where people can go of all ages and enjoy just being in a park walking in a park The amenities of parks being basketball courts tennis courts pickleball courts Those types of things and there's probably better ways of Of laying things out to be done efficiently both You know Stormwater wise water wise electricity wise Solar up there all those different things. So it's it's looking at the today needs Going forward rather than 10 12 years ago needs and moving forward It's just kind of an interesting concept or comment about how those needs or our vision of what our needs are You know is changing and you know, of course, that's a good thing that you know I don't know what else to put in there. So you think $20,000 will be enough to complete that revitalization plan yeah We I Contacted a couple companies that do this type of work And they said it was better to have an amount Then keep it open ended and have them. So we're basically saying to the companies What can you offer us in the way of what we're looking for for $20,000 and we have a list of what we're looking for and the different companies will meet that and The companies did say that I was in the ballpark of the $20,000 Okay, good. And then I noticed Hans just put a comment in the chat box And it just causes me to think is Public input will be a part of this and also the concept of maybe even thinking a little bit outside the box of what is sort of a you know kind of the standard items you would put in a park versus maybe some I don't know what the right word is but some some new ideas yes One of the things that we had in in the rfp the draft rfp is public input And I didn't elaborate on all the things that could go into the park Because it's not for me to say it's for the community to say and that's what that needs assessment And revitalization plan is going to be Okay, great answer. Thank you Just To help me visualize this would be a development of the area north of what's there now like Yeah, so there's There's the the two multi-purpose fields And if you go to and then there's a path that runs alongside of those if you go to the east of those There's land there and then if you go to the north of those There is somewhat a land there and then it turns into Some wetland and conservation as well. Okay. All right Well, that's not where we're going to put our kickball stadium Thanks Is there any further questions on this one? No, good. I would just add the impact fees Would be used for this study and that's on the lab use of impact fees. Yeah. Okay. Oh, yeah Yeah, by the way, I'm going to push for a bicycle velodrome That's a joke. Don't worry Moving on to the next Uh, yeah parks improvements And the next one after this is parks replacement. This is the one where um a couple years ago Put this together and we're each year putting The same amount 10,000 this one. I think the other one was 20,000 put it in each amount so that we have Um a growing fund of parks improvements This year we were slated to do some parks improvements like a Parks, it's like a new picnic shelter at Brennan park, but with the covet situation We felt that we didn't want to encourage people to come out picnicking. So using that money was not a A wise thing, but we used it on other things that were more in line, but going forward We're we're looking at a Shelter storage building At allenbrook similar to what's at wilson central at wilson community park And the reason for that is we this past summer we had a lot more used to valenbrook from outside organizations that we don't usually Have come to us because other area other area rec departments or towns had their fields closed But with the schools closed they didn't have places to go So we found we find that and feel that if we're going to continue to Use those multi-purpose fields and rent them out. We need to have some type of a Shelter space for teams to go to in in case of bad weather and it also Gives us the storage like we have at the warming hut at the community park we're also looking at the possibility of pickleball courts and that's set at 25,000 and Rosino One of two things that we're looking at right now with that 25,000 would help us to resurface and replace one of the the tennis courts With four pickleball courts so that the existing court that there now would be four pickleball courts and a tennis court, but also if we can get some grant money and what and We could actually do three pickleball courts Next to the tennis courts have two tennis courts and three pickleball courts And again, both of those activities were very High Usage this past summer When people were allowed to get out and and and referee Questions regarding this proposal Seeing none, let's move on to the next The next one is the parks replacement the same thing Same concept as the improvements or we're looking to read this one is to replace things that are we currently have And and in doing that we're looking at the disc golf course, which was an eighth grade challenge project a number years ago that it just it's time for it to have some maintenance but of ours which We put like 10,000 and into that And that is for Tees and signs the current signs there now they say, you know whole number two 150 yards are peeling paint and Some are missing and so on and so forth plus the teas are such that They are very muddy and whatever else and people are moving teas around so we want to get it more of a permanent tea and permanent sign so that People the users of the disc golf course are not You know like a trail Going off of it and making a new tea area. That's that's We're destroying the The field and the teas that are already there it's also some park signs in the community park rosin all park and brendon park Just to have a more uniformed signage of those parks And then the other thing that we're currently looking at is some fencing around the parking lot at community park that's similar to what we did at brennan park To keep vehicles off from the fields and such and that's all for for the replacement That's all It's questions the the amounts have not changed And you know from what's been put in there 10 and 20 thousand each year And these are some of the suggested things and and like this year we had suggested things But we went off what's nice was The month we had the money to do things that needed to be done With the current you know situation And we were able to kind of back off and out We haven't gone to the back to the picnic pavilion at brennan Because we don't know what this summer is going to bring The pandemic we're not out of it yet So we're looking at doing things and again like the the teas And the signage People more more people were using that this summer than then they have in the past So it's very important that we spend the money where The people are having the need and using The amenities in the parks We further questions on this pretty good one Just one question comment. I like the way the replacement Fund for lack of better words Is so detailed and you've really kind of mapped it out I You know just want to recognize that Is it I assume it's inappropriate to use impact fees for For replacements Okay, good. All right Thank you for your comment Jeff and just know that the replacement is a work in progress because there's New things are added or Repaired they get updated and stuff like that the improvements one is just kind of a one and done We're finished it but then it may move to the replacement right situation Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I should do the same list for projects around the house And then the last thing that eric's pulled up here is the Parks tractor and mower and we're looking to replace zero-turn mower next Next summer And sure surely. Sorry. Where do we find this? number 65 Oh, yeah, okay if you're h65 Yeah, yeah, yes got it. Okay. Thank you. Yeah And there's two zero-turn motors and a tractor At the parks division uses and they're all on there and we're up to Replace a zero-turn mower and when we replace that zero-turn mower, it's the 72 inch. So it's a larger deck We're going to commit it to just field maintenance so that we don't have the crossover of In contamination of other things we found that there's a lot of um Crabgrass that we're having to we're going to have to deal with this spring Within our civilization plan and such and that's happened over the last couple years Okay Yeah How do I wish I had a 72 inch zero-turn mower for my lawn? And this one is the pickup truck Yeah, the pickup truck is not up for it until 27 20 27 and We're just continuing to we did update the the amount And we're continuing just to ask for $2,500 To replace that 20 27 Good any questions on on that I think that concludes done the recreation and parks presentation and the two budgets Any further questions before we move on? You're in on and thank you very much. Todd. We appreciate the information we'll move on to Buildings at grounds first and then to highway with Bruce horror First I mean you connected right now Hi there Bruce first So we're doing operation budget on Buildings and grounds first of all I mean you probably probably do the capital budget for both buildings and grounds and and highway After we do the operating budgets Works for me of buildings and grounds Excuse me. There's not a lot of changes in buildings and grounds You're not going to see a lot of changes through our whole budget Buildings and grounds probably the biggest thing Is actually a deduction where we took money out of the old school house expenses Just for the next year as one of the ways to Help save some money Going in the fiscal year 22 since we're not sure how things are going to be sugaring out for all of us due to this pandemic Which hopefully is over by fiscal year 2022, but We still have to be dealing with the consequences of it So there's really not a whole lot of changes in buildings and grounds and in the operating side Yeah, I'm sorry no, I'm sorry just going through my Where I mark things up and no no questions Okay, so Anyone else have any questions before we move on? Okay, go ahead highway highway general moving right down the list the Places where there are any significant changes on there are Though or I guess I should say ones that I have any real control over are You'll see 33 thousand dollars in street lights That number is most likely going to go up since we are going to be coming to the select board to accept About 2.09 miles of road in january or february that would be the city crossing and the hamlet projects And then you'll see a stormwater fees for roads has gone up and Not a large amount, but That is for the additional roads that we're taking over as well and we'll have to pay our share Which is what we do out of that budget so That's mostly in the just in the highway general and then in the road maintenance side once again We really worked hard on keeping this budget as level as we could Some of it was just shifting some money around So the the big numbers on here that are the big changes is the equipment rental 78 3 3 0 but that's money that We get 30 some odd thousand of that back anyway from private roads that we We more like a property property manager for than anything else The rest of that is based on the amount of storms. That's how we come up with that number on the average All those years. So that's a pretty good increase in that line item Retreatment one of my favorites that I always come in and ask $10,000 for every year Eric twisted my arm and we made it five thousand For this year once again You know trying to keep in mind the year we're getting ready going to certainly we could still use that 10,000 and I'll come back for it next year So hopefully maybe you know by that time things will be straight not better for everybody and we can come back and ask for that For 15 in that one year to make up for that Anyway, we're only asking for a $5,000 bump in that year in that one I'm in the landscaping $2,000 difference not a huge difference, but We just that's really not even to do so much with the ab although that's gonna Play into things that has to do with the fact that we're just taking down more and more hazard trees Excuse me I'm taking that more and more hazard hazard trees. So I've asked for a little bit more money there As I told you I think already we did get a grant Tree replacement in this round. So we're getting some help there So that's that's the highway public works budget Uh, and a nutshell with the major changes pointed out if there's any questions Questions for ruse There's two quick things. I hope um in your um transmittal letter you talk about gravel roads And I know that gravel roads And decisions to um Pave them um can be pretty controversial so And it sounds like we might be getting close to where there might be a recommendation to pave some of our gravel roads And in full disclosure, I live on a gravel road Yeah, but I don't think that's one of them Jeff Thanks try Well, no, no, no, no, it wasn't meant that way Yeah, yeah And what's so what's so funny about that is my wife and I have totally different opinions About what we should do Well, I think you point that's the case with a lot of people on gravel roads um the gravel road that Probably the closest To thinking about maybe needing to be paved is one we would probably want to work in conjunction with south rowington on a natural recode Okay, uh, it's just becoming busier all the time as a cut through In the minute we pave it We're probably looking at a traffic light Up at 2a and we're going to go because it's just going to make it that much more for people but Paving a gravel road Certainly, I would not recommend that we do it hill fashion way or we just go put asphalt over top of the gravel is there If we're going to go that route we're talking lots of money because You really should be digging that road down probably three or four feet rebuilding the sub base and then putting You know, but do it the right way Rather than the way we used to it which was gravel roads put some pavement on top of it and I got a paved road, so Absolutely agree Okay, and Then the next one would be um the next bullet down where we About um use of more liquid and salt Brine uh to for winter us Uh snow removal and I guess my question My question about that is is I assume there comes with that some equipment needs And in addition to you know purchasing what I the the brine solution itself So I just if you could quickly comment on that You're stealing some of my thunder from my three or five year projection I did did not boy you put it in the letter of transmittal Okay We did and and do have the ability to do a little bit of liquid application now with a tank we made up for in our one ton But it certainly is something that we're going to have to be looking at more in depth uh, you know Brine is a is a generic term We don't use brine ourselves right now. We use a product called ice begon or ice band It's the uh beer waste or molasses waste or whatever product along with magnesium chloride Which we actually like a little bit a little bit more expensive. Uh, I do think brine Um There's still some arguments out there about that. Uh brine is cheap to make It doesn't necessarily reduce the usage of your salt What's the other product does help us get a little bit lower temperatures out of the salt for the working temperature of the salt brine At least our experience with our fire hydrants when the state was really going through their brine test there a few years ago We replaced all our bonnet bolts on our hydrants along the wilson road Interesting, yeah But the jury's still out whether it's really, you know Coincidental, I don't know. It just yeah, we certainly did it So anyway, we are going to have to start looking at liquid And we'll talk a little bit more about that one of our operations in my three to five year that I was going to talk about Okay Yeah, my my my karmic mechanic tells me that the brine solution is playing havoc with my cars Yeah Okay, okay. Thank you. Yep. Any further questions or Bruce before we go on to um, I think we probably want to go on to your projection For the next number of years and then go to the capital budget Okay um Well, you know one of the things that I liked about when I came to wilson was the Good five-year capital plan that you guys already had in place and it will continue to keep using so that that helps us I'll sum with that already Uh Since we were talking about the liquid and and winter operations Salt Has become a real problem Not in getting it it doesn't seem to be a problem. That's not going wood, but um It's also becoming a real issue environmentally We already have one section of stream that we have high chlorides in that we've got to come up with a plan on how we're going to Help mitigate that Uh, but salt is being you know becoming very detrimental to our waterways So we've got to look at reducing that usage and we have been trying to do that in wilson with uh The use of electronics and you know dealing with temperate road temperature Um, you know only applying what needs to be applied But we're trying to do all the right things that way, but salt is something that in the next three or five years We're going to have to really be looking at uh different methods And I would go so far as to say we've got to get people used to driving on roads with snow on them again Because that you know everybody's everybody wants clear roads. We don't have a bare roads policy but we basically do that for the most part Even though our winter operations plan says, you know, not to even be plowing till there's two or three inches of snow We don't we don't get away with that very much anymore. So we've got to start looking at, you know, how we start Maybe transitioning back that way a little bit as far as trucks are concerned that's in uh, you know, it's always been uh About every 10 years we end up with another truck another person. Yeah We're taking about 0.60 miles of road a year on average average by routes eight miles So that's a you know, that's another person when we get to that point We don't want to wait till we get to the eight miles and then you know, then you'll get a truck We should be getting that truck in person around five or so. So we still have a few years before we have to think about doing it again As far as Sidewalk sidewalks a good one. Oh, I know we get lots of pressure every year about plowing sidewalks Uh, if we ever decide to do that Then that year that we decide to do that we're looking at another employee And uh, you know an expense of 130 to 140 thousand dollars from the piece of equipment. So you're looking at a 200 What 200 a quarter expense in that one year between the employee and uh machine just to get that up and running um something that You know, we're I think you're going to continue to get more and more pressure on and uh We're we're we're maxed out Sidewalk plowing now. We're not going to be able to take on very much more if any Without just maybe a little connector section here or there but uh so That's some place I see I could see that uh There might be more than five years, but I could actually see all public works being moved over to avenue way Out of the town hall annex We could fit in that building with some with some adaptions Move the lunch room to another spot turn that into some offices But I could see that happening and put all public works in one location Uh, which would free up town hall annex for uh expansion because either planning and planning and zoning or um Recreation I mean tide can't work by himself forever Uh, we could certainly use in public works Uh, and we had the position it just was lisa's position, which was an engineering technician And then she got promoted to the assistant public works director and we never refilled the uh Engineering technician, but we could certainly use that position probably in not too many years storm water Uh, christine's doing a heck of a job james did a heck of a job. We've been lucky Uh, but I can see that probably taken on another person in Five years anyway, uh, it's getting bigger all the time more and more rules and regulations to try to meet Kim administrative assistant Uh, one woman showed does a heck of a job for us, but she also works for recreation So, uh, there might be, you know a need for a person in that position, uh, within the next three to five years probably more like five years um The town's getting bigger all the time When we take on roads that means we're taking on water and sewer We have four people that do water and sewer for us. We're pretty lucky. That's pretty lean We do a good job, but we keep taking on more pump stations More miles of water and sewer line uh One of the ways we could save money there is maybe to look at, uh Doing a bond for meters. May all of our meters radio read so we don't have to send the guys out reading meters They could all be coming right into the computer We should free up some time there and you know, uh Probably I could probably account for a half a person a year Timewise that would free them up to do something else Um I think that's pretty much it for just a quick snapshot. I mean We we public works has the same problem everybody across the country has and then we don't have enough money and it's not a complaint We just don't have enough money to keep up with the infrastructure that we have Let alone the new infrastructure that we're going to be taking So that is a very real issue. We're quite lucky and Wilson that things are still fairly new and you think, you know 50 60 years old is fairly new. I might argue that with you on sunday You know We're pretty lucky that way, but we are starting to see things like metal culverts You know years ago plastic wasn't used. It was all galvanized and metal metal culverts And and they're failing and they're failing at a pretty good rate We're replacing a lot of them and we're replacing more trying to you know, replace them with plastic or something other than metal I hate to put metal back in the ground, but there are still times when you don't have a choice So that's another area where you know, the water lines we can keep Going along they're they're staying in good shape sewer lines are in good shape You know, they're starting to get to the end of their life cycle You know, they're in the ground a lot longer than that normally But these metal culverts that are failing we don't have any choice. We've got to go after and and fix them where we have hazards on the roads So that wasn't too long, but Thank you Bruce that was Things to look forward to for sure I'm not sure we can ask any Good questions right now that are us is all just a projection. So anybody has a burning question No Then let's move on to the The capital budget and you have about 12 or 13 things on the list Okay, are the buildings? Yes, that's fine. Okay. I'll I'll pull them up on the screen here. We have one up Yep, I'm going by the first page in the in the book here right number 28. I'll break church Number 28 in the book Yeah, I don't have page numbers. So but this is the first one I had but but uh There's nothing in this one for fiscal year 22, but it's still on there just so it doesn't go away. So Not a lot to talk about right now on that one Actually in in buildings in buildings all the All the capital improvement programs are all in out years Just like always we keep them in there so they don't disappear But there's nothing approved by the manager for In the building section and capitals for the next fiscal year 22 So unless there's a specific question, uh, there's not really a whole lot to talk about We don't usually spend a lot of time on ones that aren't in the next year, but Would it be a pleasure I'm good The next one I have is equipment Well, we can go there. That's fine here money brook culvert so we can do uh roads sidewalks and culverts money brook culvert We all know about It's actually going to be money book money brook bridge is moving along quite nicely We've got a lot of the permits out of the way Uh, let's see. We're starting to deal with right away. There's only one I think it's only one person and it happens to be on our side that we have to deal with a little temporary right away on for an easement So we already have the bond vote for that So that's the $900,000 you see there The next one is minor transportation unless there's a question on this one. No The next one's minor transportation improvements Which is Money where we've used to do all those type of items that are listed on this sheet The last things were the temporary speed humps Which was actually left in for the winter um It's talking to the manufacturer. It's about a 50 50 on people taking them out or leaving them in um I kind of decided that do I know what we're going to find out is leave them in And if they become an issue we can certainly go out there and get them out of the way but We plowed a plowed a little bit already and so far so good Keep an eye on So they're there for the winter. But anyway, that's where the that's what this capital fund is for those kind of Did we get any any feedback from residents? But when we put those in Honestly, don't remember that we did get a lot terry. We did do some speed The police did some of their speed cards out there Yep, honestly, we didn't see a lot of difference Um But that's because it wasn't a lot of speaking going on to start with But anyway, they're there and uh, I think the residents do like them You know, generally we didn't get any bad feedback either. So that's a good thing. That's good The next one is sidewalk Impact and that's from that bond that was back before like 2005 or whatever okay And that's just money out of impact fees to keep paying that that money back And I might jump in here for a second. Um, so so these impact fees can be used for this bond payment They're they're also from that the recreation impact fees So we looked at our impact fee balance and and allowed use is is paying off this Is paying this bond payment So we were able to increase that a little bit This year to help to help smooth some some future impact Shirley you you might want to mention some more about this. So When we get to debt later or now, um Either way, Tara, do you want to hold on this one for debt or or speak? Um, no, why don't you go ahead and do this one right now as long as we're on it? Um, so We we looked at the wreck impact fees actually Matt Play the key role in helping us look at the impact fees And there is an allocation about how we can use wreck impact fees for towards part improvements, and then we can use part of on for I'll say paths so This was the bond that we issued Back in 2006 Still have so we are using some of the wreck impact fees towards the payment of the debt for the paths So that was our justification. So we did increase this some to help offset the cost Cost in the overall budget to bring the expenses down a little bit For f y 22 You'll see when we get to debt we have some new debt coming online So this kind of smooths that impact a little bit by using a source of uh over our disposal for that's appropriate Yeah, surely just quick question. Do you know how much is left in that bonded amount? um in the sidewalk one 100 Don't take my word for a hundred and thirty two one hundred and twenty four something like that. Yeah Okay, pretty close to the amount that's uh, and you know, we have allocated here Yeah, so we yeah, so and we've been using that um for with grants for matching funds Okay, yep. All right, we can move on to the next I Think we're over to Well, we have a new sidewalk plow, um, but there's there's no allocation for that in uh No, there's no money or no money in that one. That's one we've had and we keep moving out Once again, it's just to keep the sheet in there And then we've got the equipment fund Okay, so um Here's the big ones Actually do have in So the first one is large highway truck rotational is It's exactly what it says. It's replacement of our larger trucks in our fleet That are used for snow plowing Yes, same amount every year to keep that fund built up and the current capital savings seems quite large But it's not too many more years. We're going to buy two in one year And that's why we keep them that fund Up there so we don't have a huge bump when that time comes And and we we currently have eight of these trucks We do okay And and uh With any luck, uh, maybe after tomorrow, we'll actually have eight people For the first time and you know, I mean we've had eight positions for a long time That would be the first time it's been filled probably in two years Oh, good luck with it. Well actually, that's another thing I Since in that up in that three years three to five year projection if I could just real quick go backwards um One of the big issues that I've got a plug for uh public works is Uh and and Eric knows this and Shirley knows it. I've talked to Eric about it before already but One of the things we really need to do is increase salaries For public works employees We're asking these people to live within 25 miles of Welliston And our starting salary is less than 40 000 a year $18 an hour doesn't get you a whole lot anymore Especially when we're competing with uh towns and other municipalities and chitin and cami that are paying 2021 and 22 to get started so Once again, that was just part of the three to five year thing I've done and mentioned it but I I wanted to make sure that I brought that up Yeah, and uh Bruce and I have as spoken about that and that's certainly you know as we look at all salary schedules In comparison with vlcd does an animal report. So certainly something we'll we'll keep looking at and updating the board on In terms of making sure we're we have a competitive uh market here Okay, sorry about that and I'm backwards there a little bit but anyway, that's the uh If there's no questions the next one's a large highway equipment replacement And that is just what it says it lists our equipment there for replacement And we're asking for 30 000 and the managers approved that for us And what we do is just look at what we have coming up the next couple years Even though that list goes out much more much farther than the next five years And so that we don't get flat there and you know have a year where we really have to pump a Much of money again That is what that one's about All right, wait pick up replacement just what it Excuse me just what it says um The one ton in 2021 we haven't replaced yet. We're still Looking at that a little bit and see what we really want to do So the other ones are Just what they are in 2022 we're supposed to replace the uh Actually, that's the truck that sits outside My office most of the time that we used to do the parking lots and the wreck paths and stuff with So why is why is this fiscal year, um, you know significantly higher than the the remaining fiscal years? Because of just what I just said I try not to do Jeff is uh Somewhere somewhere. I didn't look at the numbers right or something in that So I needed to make it needed to jump that up a little bit in this coming year to do the replacement that Sitting into the schedule. Okay. Let me ask the question differently then now that I get that sorry In 2023 onward, are we going to be putting enough in annually to cover the needs? Hopefully that's yeah Okay, all right, yeah until next Uh trans mower just what it is A couple years Money aside, so I'm gonna go to do that. We can have the funds available Okay Is not being funded About 5 000 embers I'm sorry that's on this one. Yeah, I was the next one. I was thinking about okay. Yeah, so this is one where we actually looked at it as well and You know once again trying to keep in mind that in the year that we're going into what might be So this is just to keep some money in there so we can keep doing The changes that are that have been suggested suggested To keep our intersections up to up to snuff Any questions on that one? I think there's one more This is not recommended to be funded. That's the winter parking ban system Yeah, that one is just what it says. I just talk I'll just talk about it real quick We know we see these in a lot of other towns now and municipalities It's you know light system that you can turn on to keep people from passing on the roads that might Excuse me. So just something that I thought we should be thinking about Yeah As we develop our downtown area It kind of it makes sense Any further questions? I think that covers the capitals budget for buildings in highway So thank you bruce and we'll go on to Well, thank you all for your support. Thank you bruce. Thanks. Thanks. Take care. Have a good night We'll move on to finance and treasure Terry Terry, we've got a few folks joining us from the town band Where you might consider having Looking at the outside services Yes, we want a chance to speak to their request here. So I have to stay on too late. Yeah, that would be good. So we have The town band and Let me find my Yeah, you got the wrong one Services now and We've got the president kathy. Sean. I'll I'll get her connected up Kathy, I'll I'll get you connected right now. Good. We do have a Yeah A letter from her as well. Yep. I'll get that one on the screen And kathy once you get connected you just have to There you are This is my husband too. My husband is bob and he's the Equipment manager and librarian We got your letter so why don't you just go over Your budget proposal for us Sure. So our budget hasn't really expanded at all since our last year. So it's We started out with a budget that was fairly similar to what it's been the last few years But in light of all the covet restrictions, obviously, it's been a very Sad year for the band So when we looked at The rest of our budget for 2021 we were able to cut out about $900 of this year's budget because we didn't perform and therefore didn't need to pay our Equipment manager and directors. They're on a rarium. So going into next year's budget We tried to think about what that would mean for the town and understanding that everybody's strapped for cash we tried to Cut out as much as we possibly could without impacting our program and since we didn't perform this year What's in our budget that we took out were the band shirts and the band hats and any new equipment because we were able To purchase that with last year's budget that we didn't use this year because we didn't perform so We basically cut out about 9.2 of our normal budget Knowing we'll need to put that back in next year, but we figured we could do it out it and hope for the best that we get to play this year and So the budget we have right now is basically in expecting a full performance schedule However, we also understand if covid limits that we're willing to give money back again next year But hopefully that won't happen, right? They're saying april. So We're hoping our season will be intact We hope so too. Yeah, it's been a tough year without any music. Yeah Any questions for kathy regarding the report? Thank you very much for all you folks do And you're right Yeah, we especially like to thank the the board as well because uh, you know, this means an awful lot to us And we really appreciate your support throughout the years Thanks again, appreciate that. Thank you Hi, thanks kathy Kathy Kirk was there somebody else that uh wanted to Be on right now Nope, just kathy. I knew we had a couple other folks from the the board on the town band joining by Just join the wall good So we can go back to finance and treasure We'll get that up on the screen for you shortly here you So while eric's scrolling away The board of listers we really there what there are no significant changes to that budget. Um So nothing unless you have a question there is really nothing much there to talk about Um, you know the office equipment, you know, the probably the biggest thing is the office equipment But we don't have any computer upgrades for this year. So that's why that is blank Um, so this goes back to jeff's earlier question. Where is the treasure? so, um, we combined as you can see the Um, what was called cash receipts and management right into finance because we really work together and You know, we're not splitting hairs about time How much time is the treasure doing the cash receding versus how much time is she able to spend helping me do some of the finance work? um and And to do that allocation. I'm not sure what value added benefit it was so, um We are now one group which consists of mary. Who's the treasure lind who does ap and payroll and myself under finance and hr um, so the We didn't really increase Um, the the the budget even though it looks like we certainly did. So if you take the f y 2021 approved budget um Of the 65,077 770 plus the 172 990 that actually is only 239,000 rounded up. So wow, we have a $56,000 budget increase, but it's really not So, um, most of that came from you heard sarah say, um from the clerk's budget, um Reallocating the dollars that were previously in the clerk now sitting completely in finance Some of it is out reallocating some of the expenses for finance which have always been, um Just charged to the town manager. We didn't have several of these line items in the budget So now we truly made a budget that reflects all of finance charges The same thing if you look at training in conferences Previously that was all charged the general manager. So So even though there is a $56,000 increase in this budget Most of it is just reallocations from other departments. For example building maintenance That's probably one of the bigger ones that was all sitting building maintenance for the town hall That was all previously sitting in the clerk and in the general manager So we just split that out to a third a third a third Bank fees, um again was Expense to the clerk's office Supply so we broke that out as a separate line item And you know other the the only true real expense Increase here is the audit fees. Um, then that's based on the RFP that from Sullivan and Powers, um, which includes um A fee if we need a single audit So we only need a single audit if we receive more than 750,000 in federal funds. So Kansas I've that's probably not really going to happen, but but it's in there just in case Um, so any questions about the finance budget? Okay Any questions from board? So surely sorry one one quick one I am on because bank fees sort took me a little bit for For I just didn't expect it. So I'm on that item and it talks about lockbox fees. Yep Yep, so we use a lockbox For our utility bills. So when those bills go out Jeff the Little stuff actually has a lockbox for people's united bank and bridal world So they do receive a lot of our checks through a lockbox process Okay, and then we get a file back and we load that file into The utility system to post those payments I I assumed a lockbox was like a Something you rented at a bank building and you put things in But Boy was I wrong. Yeah So the people's actually has been very generous and of course we do you know people have money over there But that's the only fee we pay to people's all other bank fees. They've waived So, you know, we've got a very good deal when it comes to people's in our fees Okay Okay, good. Thank you. You're welcome. Any further questions? Don't hear any Um, I don't think you have any capital expenses under that particular call I don't so I am going to jump next to services that tab. Yes So, um, although not big and you heard matt talking about it, but um, so our current health officer Cindy Thurston we did put um a slight increase gave her a raise because she certainly has um Worked a lot of time and probably that's not enough. But um, and we also Put her and she's actually paid through payroll. So that includes your payroll taxes And that was a recommendation of the league Because of the circumstances that she's out in usually escorted by our police They said for workman's comp purposes better to have her on payroll. So um, so that includes a like $150 increase and then the Um Payroll taxes associated with that um There so i'm gonna so there isn't really. I mean, I probably Um a number that will change that we don't know yet is um The i'm down to transportation because nothing else is really significantly changed But that's um green mountain transit and these are still Our estimates. Um, we're sometime this month. We should see those numbers finalized. So When we get to january and we have our list of changes for you, they'll probably be something in there for Green mountain transit, which also includes the the END service as well. That's all part of the same contract Through them And as Todd mentioned before We have the community partnerships and as we were working on our Todd's budget It's like he clearly does not manage these things. So that is the $1,800 for the masonic temple the That we read for the seniors programs And the town band and and I typically work with them on any expense reimbursement Um, and then the lake earcoy rick district again that usually comes to me or bruce and you know as long as that's Within the budget. I approve it and we make payment to them. So those things really kind of fall under finance more than Than Todd and parks and rick. So that's the rationale for moving those Questions on any of those other expenses No, good. Thank you. You are welcome. Okay. Now I'm going to jump over. Oh, actually, I'm sorry I'm gonna go in that Within that same tab. There's the open space preservation So I'll I'll start this off by saying I'm The audit is a lot more work than last year. I'm still working on it. They're asked great questions They'll probably be a long list of recommendations. So I'm I'm excited and looking forward to that But in that conversation came the the tax stabilization so and that To refresh your memory. So that is the additional Can I say discount that we give landowners and Williston So we have in our tax rate. If you remember, we have a tax rate just for the tax stabilization for current use land use And what what had been done for many many years and As we've just been booking in expense to property taxes and booking this I'm sorry booking revenue and this expense and there's no need to do that So our property tax revenue already includes that number and there's no reason to show an expense for tax stabilization It's not really an expense. It's just I mean I think the the theory was show what we are Show the cost of tax stabilization But when you do that, all you're doing is grossing up revenue and grossing and creating an expense No need to so basically that just came out of the budget. No need to do that anymore. So that's gone Was that the advice of our auditors? Yep. Okay It just interesting because it's been there for years. Yeah. Yeah, I'm telling you Jeff. I am I am I have learned so much from working with the auditors. I'm like I said, there's going to be a long management list I'm sure but they they just we've had great conversations and I think provided education to Eric and I Primarily me, but I'm just just a static to have all the input they've provided so far That also that that number shows up on our um Our tax bills if I remember correctly, it's a line item there that we are shown Okay, it is Eric the page you're looking at right now. Is that in our book? It is I think this is the one we didn't have a specific tab for its its home is in the outside services section at the Okay, let me see if my memory go into like the fifth page. Jeff and it's right there the last page Services. Yeah, that's true. There's only two pages there Hiding okay, I must have missed it We'll uh, we'll get that resolved Jeff. Yeah, no, no, no. It's in my book. I got it now. I just yeah, yeah I I as I said it was hiding Because once I go once I go in once I go into the cost breakdown. I don't expect to see Another summary type sheet and So it's my fault. That's why I said it was hiding Okay, good. Thank you You're welcome Okay, so I'm now going to jump over to the tab called capital expenses Okay, yes so, um As you've heard a few times, you know, we in order to put this budget together and Have um expenses come in less than the prior year Part of that was taking a really hard look at our capital projects this year and say, you know, what what what can we defer Without increasing any maintenance cost or cost of a capital project later So That's why you are seeing um, and I'm just going to talk about those first two lines because you know, you've heard a lot of the All the people who have presented enough about the detailed projects I'm just going to talk about the two lines capital projects operating budget and capital equipment operating budget so, um Those are significantly decreased if you look at them from the prior year just because we try to manage the budget without increasing total expenses, so um, that that is the effect of that and then the host town funded, um Fund I'll say, um Eric and I I do a I keep track of the balance and do a forecast of that And so Eric and I really looked at that forecast and what we thought, um, you know, we're estimating what f y 22 Host town fees will be as well So we felt like that was a comfortable place that you know, the that host town fund will have some balance Remaining but that you know helps us if we have the rainy day situation But we certainly feel comfortable with the number that we've budgeted for capital equipment out of the host town fund Um So now I'm I'm going to talk about debt services, but I'm not going to talk about the old stuff Just the new stuff coming on so Thank you, Eric. So instead of looking at that page. We were just looking at Eric has just flipped over To the capital budget No on page 12 of the debt schedule So and don't let me forget to come back to my forecast My 3 to 5 year projection. I forgot that I was I talked about finance, but I won't forget overall Hold on Eric. I'm just going to get to that page in my book as well Actually, I can just be here. So, um, I'm really going to talk about Fy 22 But I I wanted to point out one thing that's not f y 22 if you look at Because I think it looks really odd But if you look at like the sidewalks and paths and if you look at the interest line and if you go out to 2026, you'll see there's a credit there and say, how can we have a credit of interest? Because in some of these older bonds, they have savings allocations. So It's there through the years, but the interest expense is more than the savings allocation, which is a credit back to us For you know income earned So but in the last years of the bond that that savings allocation credit is more than the actual interest expense So if you look at those first three Bonds and you look at the interest amount the last year is a negative amount for all of them And it really is because of the way the bonds were put together in the savings allocation in there So it's not wrong. It is right. It just looks unusual. Yes, it does Um, so now I'm going to go down to the section that's called authorized new debt and um And we try to you know, just like we did last year, we separated these between what's existing now What is authorized and been approved and then what is proposed? So the authorized new debt is the fire engine That application needs to go in pretty soon So that we can get into the february closing and those fire trucks are expected to be here and at the very end of march The last I heard was early april. So we need to have funds in hand to pay for those fire trucks um, and then the muddy brook covert is um The first payment so we'll we'll participate in the bond bank for may to get funds in july of 2021 with construction starting in the summer of 2021 so um, we'll look at may May close may closing and then interest with principal starting a year after the project is finished so november 2022 Will be the first interest payment And then for proposed new debt We're looking at the fire department. Um roof replacement, which erin will talk about next tuesday night But that's just you know, we're looking at a five-year note for that not bonding but a note and and we'll the plan is to reach out out to one of the Local banks that we we do a lot of business with because we tend to get better better rates from them, but um So that would be a five-year note through a bank for that roof replacement for the fire department And That is it unless you have other questions Surely i might Sorry yeah surely i might um I might know the the answer to this already but Especially with the bond bank. Why is it that the interest is estimated versus? um We don't know what that is and i i'm assuming that's because they haven't set the interest rate yet because of whatever mechanism They use to determine what interest rate they need to charge the t bills or So no it's um related to the fact that until that so they put this bond together and this bond is from you know Any municipality in the state when they put it together based on the needs? So then they put the the bond together and then it gets um I'm gonna say float it but they have different investors who take pieces of that bond until that happens to the close the bond They don't know what the rate is So it will be based on market rates and and um, what is happening at the time? So We just used our best estimate of like three percent not necessarily looking at history. I want to say oh, I Oh, what did I do for that? Um I think I went out and looked at um long-term um federal Note rates and you know used our best estimate But but in line with the last couple of bonds as well and and feeling like The rates Certainly the rates for february aren't going to go up very much and probably neither are the rates for the may may closing Um or july closing just be just because they're just they're they're not with the covid environment The rates will come back up very slowly as they try to you know The federal reserve tries to induce spending by keeping the rates lower so And then under the authorized new debt When there's a first payment in may 2021 which is part of fiscal year 2021 Um, are we having to make a payment in fiscal year 2021 or I thought I heard you say it wasn't until 2022 and I guess I Yeah Oh good Okay, sorry Okay, we're good then Any further questions on this chart If not, then um I think you still have something to do under general administration And a couple of things on the capital budget and then your projections Yep, I can um I can touch on the general administration And there's there's not a whole lot of variance here as the department had spoke to we we tried to maintain A level a level budget and in fine ways where we could kind of tighten up expenses Um Eric do you want me to talk about my finance three to five year plan before you jump into the general manager? Oh, yes, uh terry wants surely to to wrap that up. Yeah, that's fine Let me go to the other side. Um, so Eric has already started looking at this and and maybe this will happen this year But we definitely need budgeting software excel spreadsheets just are very cumbersome for everyone involved So having some budgeting software that we can um Use across the entity Will make the process much more efficient for all of us. So that is definitely high on that list um And the other thing that we started talking about and then it got so busy we put it off but Some kind of online time reporting software as well something that will speak to nem rick at the end of the day, but The difficulty with that is we have three very different payrolls for fire police and all other town employees But you know the the days of manual time sheets are long past and we need to update that and again improve that process So that is um a project on the list You don't see in the capital budget because I haven't had a chance to look at it yet to see if it's even Um, you know our capital budget limit is ten thousand dollars. Is that a ten thousand dollar item? I doubt it So it may just be an operating increase But I have I haven't looked at it enough to even factor anything into this budget and but that certainly is um a priority project And my third thing so be happy. I only have three compared to bruce's list of eight but um, so my my my third and probably the highest priority for me personally is the town and and and in eric's Assistant to the town manager. We will talk about this but um But the town is at the point of needing a At least part-time hr professional when I took this job. I said, I don't know hr I know pieces of it, but it's definitely not I'm not a professional and As the town continues to grow, you know, I was counting so we have 66 full-time employees and A number of permanent part-time employees and then we have seasonal employees. We have um substitutes and um Students who work at the library year round So, you know in the height of the summer, we have over 100 employees and the issues for hr Just keep getting more complex and more time consuming and I honestly cannot do The hr job and the finance job and do a good job at either of them I'm already facing that now. There's you know, no time to be proactive in anything I'm reactive to everything and it's just not a Nice place to be in this role or for the town that that You know that that hr could definitely use more more help And someone who is a lot more knowledgeable than I am I I get by and I ask questions and I you know Get done what needs to be to get done, but it is all sort of a reactive basis and nothing proactive So that's my last I wish the list item has that And thank you Really, you're doing a very good job too. I know there's there's a lot a lot on your plate So, you know, don't uh, don't sell yourself short here. You're doing a great job And you know, certainly for the board and and for the public or certainly evaluating That role and I'll get to that a moment with my general administration report Do you think? Do you think an hr position would be a full time or a part time? No, I think part time Good any further questions for surely Surely yet the uh hr professional actually makes makes sense to me. I don't like the thought of the cost of it, but it makes sense to me Getting to the software needs Software for the for finance software for time reporting. Have you looked at all into the cost of that? I have not yet actually the police department was really pushing it and and Eric shepherd, you know, who's just an it geek and he's heard me say that to him personally so he wouldn't be offended by that but um But um, he started looking at something and as I said, it was like then so many things were coming down the pike I just had to put the brakes on So we have not looked at that We have not looked at it I I didn't even ask him the cost of something that we were going to demo. So hopefully this spring We will come back to that and be able to look at and demo some software But it will would There is so much back and forth a manual time sheets for lin, you know asking questions I think it would you know help our productivity if it were something that were automated Including workflow as well. So the employee does the time sheet it goes to the Supervisor for approval and then that workflow comes through to lin and again We'd have integration with nem rick. So lin wouldn't be re keying What is coming through that software, but it would be integrated with nem rick and Automatically uploading. So that's the desire. Jeff Oh, okay My worries. We're going to be unpleasantly surprised at the cost Yes, yeah and then What is nem rick again? Nem rick is our I'll say our software of record. So the grand list The tax bills and the tax the general ledger payroll accounts payable everything. It's uh new england municipal Hmm, isn't that awful? I can't think of the word uh, the next words, but they they only Um Have this one piece of software that's specifically written for municipalities No, I would add jeff on the uh on the software piece. Um I'm actually going to look at some budget software and actually more of a demo and get an idea of a cost for it the town of fsx Colleague that works over there. Um, she let me know what they're they're starting to use this piece of software they're just going going with it and Kind of going through the budget process and the the preparation piece and just trying to think of more efficiencies and Where staff time could be utilized with having an online platform system versus the manual system Rick and I tried to explore these a couple years ago and there wasn't a lot in the market, but Whenever I'm looking at a piece of software, I want to evaluate the You know, what is it going to do in terms of efficiency and operations to make the investment worthwhile? Because most of these are an annual subscription fee So I want to understand and take a look internally with what that What that delta is going to be here before we before I'd recommend any any changes in the budget Yeah, okay. All right to add to that. I mean, there is one hurdle that's still in the way That is part of our project that Eric shepherd is working on is that we don't share Um Have shared drives with the whole town like I can't see anything for the fire department So that is part of a project that Eric shepherd is working on so we could eventually The only way the budget software will work 100 is if all the department has to see it and we need that shared Folder system and I'm not probably saying this well to do that But so that's another hurdle that has to be crossed before We could roll us out 100% Yeah, okay. Yeah, there are some cloud-based solutions to surely we get out. Yep. Well, we'll get into that in the future Anything else before we go on to finish up with Eric? Okay, all right for federal administration. Okay, as I mentioned, um, really not a lot of Large bearance is to point out here with our general overhead. A lot things are Pretty standard. We'll see some numbers just reflect our insurance allocation The billing maintenance where we're splitting that between the three departments in the town hall with finance and clerk and the manager um, the select board budget, um Pretty consistent with prior years If certainly select board has any anything I would like to adjust in that budget, um I think you would see the professional services line from last year. That was the manager's search process That's why that's the only expense there for for a few years. So select board consultant fee Uh technology, I bumped down the applications. Uh, just a little bit I think there might be a way to achieve some savings there but I'm also kind of looking at that line and evaluating these future software needs as well, but You know, I see as a way to the same in the short term as we think about the long term What we have ahead of us here And then for the the town manager's budget, I'll Start off made from the bottom here training conferences. I've decreased that a little bit just kind of across all departments I've Advised to look at those lines and think about travel and try to find a balance with professional development there um The manager's staff salary, so that's the the assistant manager the assistant to the manager position and since stepping into this role In early august. I I haven't some looked to fill that position yet partially Looking to find a way to save some additional salary dollars this budget year But also I think it's a it's an opportunity for me to look at that position moving forward and what role it best suits I came from being in that role for Just about three years and seeing that the different pieces of the job that are there, but Also trying to be mindful of my needs for for staff the manager's office, but But the human resources piece is a is a component. I've been talking to Shirley about too and thinking of that role if um That takes on additional human resources focused and then it's uh, it's finding that right person that has that human resources skill set Which can also complement some manager office some policy analysis type work and and maybe some communications as well So I I'd like to take a little time and just kind of evaluate the needs for that position. Um, I think I would look to potentially fill that later this spring and So it's kind of kind of on a whole a little bit for FY 21, but I've put it budget in full for 22 There's a a little bit more of that position Sarah alluded to with uh We're looking at a potential shared part-time role between um the clerk's finance and the manager's office And it would be about two or two or four hours a week in the manager's office to help with really some general administrative tasks I can I can pass on to that person to to carry the ball on so uh overall to decrease the manager's budget um primarily some salary variances and the manager's salaries Three quarters is funded through the general fund and kind of quarters funded through the enterprise funds So um, I'll just pause there if there's any questions Anything for her Hey, but I think I just found an $1,800 savings I'm looking at the regular expenses for the select board and we have 1800 for the masonic haul Is And I don't know what that is. I've never seen that before That's something else, uh surely It's an agreement we have for um I'll pull it up, but I believe it's a separate item than the rental fee for the seniors. It's uh okay I'll I'll pull it up and talk to you more about it. Yeah. Yeah, that's good to say Yeah, I I think you're right. I think that was it uh in lieu of taxes That we were doing that Well, and that's what I was thinking But I don't actually we don't build them in lieu of taxes because I just got done doing that in lieu of tax Calculations for this year and that is not one of them and and looking historically. That's not Not, you know, I'm looking on the revenue side for the lieu of taxes and there's nothing there for the masonic So Eric, let's let's yeah look at that item a little bit more. Yeah I'm familiar with the agreement so we can okay, okay Okay, good. I'm on that page The only other thing I think uh for Eric was the The town hall file server replacement, which is not being funded. So That was the only thing I think left on For you Oh on the capital side. Yeah, that's just our standard Allocation for replacement. You also see the building security measures project in there That's nothing funded in 22, but that's Right So any other questions for Eric on his part of the budget No, if not, then we're up to the manager's reports Harry we um, we could we're also prepared to speak on revenue this evening if you'd like to Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I guess indeed that was on my list and I didn't see it Right go ahead We'll bend it up with going through all the expense and revenue budgets here to save the library and public safety for next week here for review Where when you pull that up I'll start yacking a lot of them were actually already discussed within people's Um Regular budgets Like sarah mentioned that she has no passport revenue and Jeff I did write that down as one of the items to go back and I think have Eric and sarah and I talk about again because even are obviously That sarah's decision, but it seems like even if it's by appointment we that That that Service might come back. So the question is do we want to continue to offer that service? to To residents of williston and we can't just you know, I talked to sarah about that too and said Hey, can we just offer it to residents of williston and no if you're a passport agent? You're a passport agent for whoever comes in So, um, so I just I wrote that down for something maybe that we will have an adjustment um You know suggest the adjustment to that when we get to the january a list of adjustments, but if we do that the offset So eric was just talking about that sort of part-time position that We we It's going back to the 20 hour week position in the clerk's office and we sort of split it because We have some of the time coming to finance So essentially that person could do a lot of receding and I can have mary's time to help with more accounting eric's time for a list of tasks and then clerk time So if we looked at the passport, we'd have to relook at that position to eric In terms of that allocation may look different than what we originally have in here right now, but So anyways, sara already mentioned that you know, she doesn't have any passport revenue But the recording legal documents has just taken a jump And so that's it has an increase of 75,000 The fire inspection revenue we're showing nothing right now But according to eric, they're still in on so the state captures all that revenue right now And we are trying to start a program So I guess there's still discussions going on between the fire department and state to see if we can pick up any of that Yeah, we'll have a report before the new year as I work with the fire chief on on looking at this program Um, let's see Other significant changes, um, I'm going I'm hopping over to the highway That storm water project revenue that's really um a charge to the storm water fund So the highway department does projects for the storm water utility. I didn't mean fun for the storm water utility to You know mitigate the flow Into especially the allen brook, but any stream. So they Have project software. They keep track of their by project the employees time and who worked on it So that's just a charge to the storm water utility and the revenue was coming back to the highway. So it's really offsetting Equipment use and labor in highway As well. So there are offsetting expenses to that And can I can I ask the um this the staff that we use to implement the um storm water Utility or public works staff Yes, they are. Okay. Yep Um, and then um, you know interest earned on investments, you know that 36 000 that I still have that on my list to continue to look at that That may be high believe it or not But but the cut is just because of covid rates have gone through the floor and you know, we don't we're not capturing much um interest but you know what when time allows um On the list of things to do is to work with mary and look at that our current investment policy we have right now um Change that first and then look at some alternative investments because the only investments we that the town's been using in many many years Is just CDs And there are some other options out there. That means we'd also need to you know work with our local bank to um Provide some other options, but I think we have some money That's longer term that we could do something else within make more money so that's on the horizon to look at our investment policy and and um See if we can capture more some more interest income not only in the general fund, but water sewer storm water as well And then um, I'm going to hop down to the education tax collection service fee So no, I'm going to just take an opportunity to say I'm so excited about our auditors, but um, so um In eric scroll back up to the property tax revenue line So I guess we don't have the budget there, but if you saw the budget our property tax revenue was always over our budget And you say why is that well, okay part of the reason is is when you look at the um Calculation of the payments that we owe to the state of vermont for the education tax and to the school district the state of vermont gives us or Reduces the payment we owe to them For an administration fee and that has been just wrapped up into property taxes So the auditors pointed that out and said you really should create a separate fee line because that's really something different It's not property tax revenue It's a fee that you're receiving Because we're doing the billing we're doing the collections and then we're doing the remitting Of that education tax to the school district or to the state So that revenue is really not new revenue. We're just putting it in the proper line It's not property tax revenue, but it's an admin fee that we are collecting From a reduction in the fee that we pay to the state so Those were the big items. I was going to point out unless you have other questions Sorry one quick one surely the host town fund Capital the 355,000. Yeah, is that what we anticipate bringing in under the host town? Or is that a portion of what we anticipate bringing in? That is um Give me a second jeff. I just sorry well, you know So I'm back to those auditors again So, you know, we get the host town fee. There's three sources of that revenue. So it's what castella provides us for the tonnage It's what we get a fee for the compost facility and a fee for the mirf So all of those go into so jeff i'm going to go back to a conversation at the beginning of this meeting That when you look at the audited financial statements towards the back of those There are the special revenue funds and we have special capital funds So the host town fund is one of those special capital funds. But what the auditors are really saying is Um, and I talked to eric about this today that we may make some changes to this budget for f y 22 with january That those host town fees are really a source of operating revenue for the town. They're general fund revenue We shouldn't we should actually bring them into the general fund. We should reflect them as general fund revenue And then we do this okay, um Allocation or transfer for To to equipment to capital projects using Not necessarily the host town fee. We may relate it to the host town fees we collect But really it's an allocation for capital so that the host town fee Should be part of the capital budget and we should show it as a revenue line So with that said so I talked some eric and I were talking maybe we'll show that In the january budget as a change in the way that's reflected But their point is 100 correct in those host town agreements. It doesn't say they're to be used for capital They are general revenue of the town so with that said give me a second and I have to remember where I put my host town analysis Surely if I recall um, we usually we book around 322 to 325,000 in the receipts Each year and then we draw from this kind of this balance. We have an unexpended a host town dollar So we we've crafted this revenue stream with that Anticipated receipts for the new fiscal year and then drawing down that uh that host town fund balance Right. We feel comfortable in that recommendation in this budget Okay Okay Because you know the hard the hard part here is it's so difficult to predict what the host town fee Or host town fees are going to bring in, you know, um, you're you know In Six months You're breaking up for a year passes. Who knows going to happen with some waste? Yeah, sorry My internet is bad. Sorry. You're better right now. It's it Yeah, it's a variable fund. And so it's you know, all depending on how solid waste management happens in vermont, which is Uh, they not based uh Is subject to various forces including the economy and you know Yes Any further questions on the revenue side? Nope Terry I had a One quick slide. I can I can pull up here. I'm staying late, but I try to Break down here Share this instead here. So Kind of kind of looking in our in our revenue overall. We're about 183 500 um reduction in this revenue you see broken out in your in your summary sheets you have a Tax revenue than all sources other than tax So the all sources other than tax revenue. That's our projected reduction in in 22 and You we've met just some big chunks of that number. Um, like the investment income that we project will will decrease over 70,000 Around 70,000 just yes. Yes at this point So then this budget um proposal also has an expense reduction of about 82 thousand dollars So you think of that the ceiling lowered as I actually use as a vehicle sometimes It's not remaining a hundred one five hundred dollars in the budget proposal. You see that's being offset by Looking at it as the potential means to raise additional property tax levy by by half cent to make that balance so Jeff you were you were looting this last week just thinking about okay The expenses are reducing but the revenue the revenue streams are changing. So this is how this budget Had that accomplished so the the select board the policy tools moving ahead are The use of the fund balance the revenue to be raised by taxes and then budget expense adjustments that creates revenue offset the lower expenses And I've talked with Shirley today about that fund balance update Be prepared for the first board meeting in january to look at where the fund balance stands after the FY 20 Books are closed here as the as the audit progresses So I mentioned that's kind of kind of big picture of the revenue stream Could could you send us this? Sure powerpoint screen Yes, like I tried to try to boil it down the best I could today. So I know that that's helpful for us some Financials simple things Yes, thank you a lot of moving parts So if we wanted to eliminate a one half cent increase would have to decrease The budget by a hundred thousand roughly Yeah, if you just went the expense route there could also be a blended route You know, I think it will really be informed it for the fund balance piece Um The use of fund balance in this budget was Overall decreased a bit because we decreased the capital use but I You'll see in the revenue proposal. It's pretty conservative about using that fund balance so Depending where we where we end up with the audit and the information surely will provide you in the January 5th The board may feel comfortable and then staff may feel comfortable recommending more fund balance to be used so that could be You could blend that to decrease the tax increase. Um, you could also If we may learn more about local option taxes Coming up as well to that's overall decreased about twenty five thousand dollars. So Yeah, to answer your question Terry, I see those as kind of the The policy tools and discussion for the board to have on on any tax increase here moving ahead Yep Hey, jeff just to go back and answer a question for you. I found my host town spreadsheet So just because you don't see these numbers, but I'll just tell you the f y 19 actual was 340 000 The actual was 343 000 So we're using a very conservative 320 000 when I sort of roll this balance to know that we are not overspending that fund Okay, okay, which which makes sense right And then any go ahead and and any we don't Allocate to the budget, but we bring in that's above the amount allocated to the budget That just sits in that fund and is available for the next year. Is that correct? Yep. No, okay Terry, that's all we have for our budget discussions this evening. Thank you. So We've done a great business tonight Minners of report. I think it's probably short Yep, just a couple quick items. I wanted to just mention this evening personnel side You know retirement this past friday Don terengu in the water department He was here over 10 years of service and he graciously stayed on an extra few months this year with covet with staffing, which is really really Nice of him and it really speaks his dedication to the to the water department I think the day before his last day. We had that water main break on Milliston roads. I was thinking about that friday when I As yeah, I'm thanking him for his service. Um And we've also hired a new police officer. Um I need to learn how to pronounce his last name properly, but neil up more girly. I think He's been hired. He's um, he's worked in vermont before and he's going to be coming back here from He west was his last um, we're gonna be joining us from so he's uh, he's here He's uh, he's quarantining and we expect to be sworn in on the 14th and that will put our police department back at a full force Officers we have a couple folks who are finishing up training in an academy coming up. So that's uh, proud report that news this evening And then I'll I'll mention um, something I've worked on I've I've hired um, retired chief Gary Taylor to do some work for us to evaluate dispatch In town you may recall our discussion on regional dispatch here about a month ago um I've tasked him with looking at our current dispatch systems and evaluating future options for dispatch Including regional dispatch to prepare a report And it looks like we can have this report prepared for um, January 5th for the select board To hear from gary as he as he conducts it The board had decided it wanted to discuss any potential capital allocation towards the ccpsa during this fy 22 budget process So the the hope is that this report An analysis will help the board get some more information about potential options moving forward And then you'll see in the sheet. I include in your packet about potential budget changes I didn't include that capital allocation in the budget proposal, but I have it as the first um Item for consideration which would be an additional 36 000 for the fy 22 budget. Um So that that's a project we've got going right now and will his um, his uh, analysis include financial analysis of the options Yeah, I'd also take a look at that along when technology just kind of yeah, okay Fully encompassing and he comes with experience as the police and fire chief at a um a dispatch center Supervisor and I'm a one board. So I'm interested to get his perspective here. Okay, good Very good That's uh, that's all I have from our report this evening Thank you Any other business that we need to talk about tonight? I See no hands raised will be adjourned until next week at seven o'clock Thank you Good night