 And first of all, 1.1 reception of guests. Welcome, welcome. A lot of people here tonight. Thank you for coming. We have under 1.2 agenda reviewing revisions. Are there any revisions? OK. OK, would you like to do that first? We'll get, how about we put that on as a discussion item bill as the first item for discussion. We'll keep that as 3.1. And bump the rest of them down. Before we do that, any public comments or correspondence? Anyone wants to bring up the start of the meeting? Yeah, I don't think there's anything that we won't cover again under the Act 46 update here. Bill did walk through the different things to be voted on on Tuesday the 19th. And there's a handout for that if you didn't get it. So we can get you a copy of that handout. And I'll discuss this again. But just very generally, the lawsuit is up in the air. The legislature is up in the air. We don't know what might happen. But we are going to have our organizational meeting on the there is a court meeting on Friday. Something could possibly happen on Friday. Yep. Any other public comments or correspondence? Future meetings. Like I said, we have the organizational meeting on the 19th. This is at the U32 auditorium. Bill, just remind me, I think I have on my calendar. Not everyone is on these committees, but a transition board meeting on the 20th and an articles meeting on the 21st. Down below under 3.3 calendar planning, I think we'll also want to talk about town meeting day, pre-town meeting, and any budget information meetings if any we want to try to put together. Consent agenda, approve the minutes. We have three sets of minutes to approve. January 7th, January 28th, and January 29th. We're all of our special meetings, scrambling to put together a local rolling budget. I'm assuming everyone's had a chance to take a look at those. If not, you can take a few more minutes. And then I would entertain a motion to approve those as a group or if you have individual corrections you'd like to make, you can pull out any movement. Okay, is there a second? Any discussion? Those in favor of approving the three sets of minutes are signified by saying aye. Aye. As opposed, no. The ayes have it, the motion carries and those three sets of minutes are approved. Now we'll go into the discussion agenda. Bill has asked that we talk about contract negotiations. It's still in process. It's not officially ratified yet. So we'd like to have a motion to go into executive session to briefly talk about the status of contract negotiations. Go into executive associate discussed contract negotiations. In favor say aye. Aye. And the last members of the public to step outside will make this as quick as possible. We heard chocolate. Heard the word chocolate and said open the door. Yes, please. Can you talk to us about the town sewer easement, which is item 3.2? So any concerns, either of you, any concerns about when construction might take place or where it is on the school property or anything like that we need to be thinking about? Sounds like it's fairly close to the back of the school. We made it fairly clear last time that we would prefer it. I think it'd be a good idea to have whoever their representative would always find and see it. Here's where we have to interrupt and see. And it's good digging it won't take a minute. You've been digging out there recently? Not recently, but I'll say to you for caution. And we've had an attorney review it. Any concern about the sign up by this board and the timing of the sign up so that it's done before? When it's complete, I forgot the act. Bill, I guess in town meeting preparation, will either you or Laurie be available for pre-town meeting or town meeting since we have a budget presentation that we need to make? I can't do it. They put together the PowerPoint and then the chair would marry. So we can talk more about that about outreach. But it's his way to another meeting. We've made a little bit of a mess of this agenda, but I think we've covered contract negotiation. And just for clarity in the minutes, I think we could say that that was 3.1A. As contract negotiation, we went into executive session. It came out to action. 3.1B is town meeting preparation. Anything for further discussion for town meeting preparation? Knowing that Bill will be there or Laurie knowing that we're going to get a lot of questions, 46, about the budget itself. And we have yet to really do a lot of outreach, 46, which is problematic. And so Bill, as our superintendent, is only opening meeting as all these perpetrators are allowed to do. And then we will somehow be empowered to do that. It's like we've been hearing a lot about it for quite some time. I think there are people in that group that saw the other room that are prepared to talk about it. And I think the same thing probably is true. We'll be sure that Bill is pre-talling the town meeting at least to give him a thumbnail. And I think it's important. It'll be important for us, I believe, to talk about our budget in relation to that. My understanding is that we're not required to present a budget compare and present a Berlin budget. That's a good question. It's a related question. According to the sequence and the act and the sequence of implementation of the act, the new budget will replace Berlin's and all the other budgets. And therefore, we vote a local. Now, authority has spent it as one thing, presenting a budget to ask for an amount is another. But we have done that. We have done that. So we should be able to, and I think that shows good faith on part four. It doesn't mean that our budget either will be approved or that it will be meaningful in any way. If a larger budget, who's up for this? We have to explain all these things on town meeting today. You can send them to me. And it's, I think, is it Calis that kind of reversed course? They were gonna present an individual budget and then decided middle six just recently. So because they thought it would be more confusing to have a local budget and then have another vote if it happened. So difference of opinion in different towns, we wanted to present the local budget. We felt we had a statutory obligation to do it despite what A.O.E. was saying. Responsibility to, at least an opportunity to talk to the Berlin voters and say, here's what we're planning to do. Because for the most part, it's just all the local budgets getting rolled up into one if there is a consolidation. It's everybody believe, every other town believing it's going to go to a consolidated district and we'll have a special vote. Yep. In a healthier way, there would end up being another vote. That's right. Or, or, emerge on it and that needs to happen before the way. That's correct. Anything else around town meeting preparation? So I think we should, we talked a little bit at our last special meeting when we approved the budget, the local budget about doing a very simple communication strategy of picking out three or, and I'm trying to remember what those elements were, but I think it was that we asked for a level funded budget. Our increase in expenses over last year was less than 3%, and I'm trying to remember what the other, because as warned, it's still, it has the mandatory language that talks about spending for equalized people and that it's 4.41% higher than spending for the current year, which is. We still don't have the current equalized people. Those numbers may change. Input is the how, you know, the best way to message this budget out. In the last year, we did an explanation versus that complicated formula of the different factors that are involved in calculating budgets, you know, half of which we don't have control as we do. There was, we talked more than half by three quarters. The common level of appraisal is down in the town, so that accounts for some of it. State-wide education tax rate is set by the state. There's the yield, anything that we can control, and then there's the local budgets, you know, they made sure that was, that what we thought was a responsible level. This is in salaries and in comments. How did the mealing go? The last time around? Did we get it under a postcard? I'm trying to remember. What do you say? I think we. A postcard meal? That'll get to the people who don't have, that you're talking about. It'll get to either or. Yeah, and I think we will do immediate outreach. Your news to now is always helpful and reaches a lot of people who start to reach out immediately. So I can put together a communication tool and also use that for things like pho-tronic ways to get the word out. And you also post that on the website. Where do you have a sense of residents who don't have cars organizing and mailing? I don't think we get the stickers. What are the typical ways that we engage residents? So everything you've mentioned. Yep, the things we've mentioned. Just because I don't know. Although I think the U32 budget is a very, from what we've seen so far. And that's in the town report here. So the U32 budget and the defined tax rate won't be in, there's an estimate. Okay, so with U32 and Berlin's budgets as proposed. Okay. This one's better than the merch one. Anything else under town meeting preparation? On at 3.2 we covered the town sewer easement. 3.3 is calendar planning. Like we said, we've got three meetings happening next week. The organizational meeting, the transition board meeting and the articles committee meetings. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Transition board. So that's the board chair and the board secretary which is me and Vera. I think Bill also said there's a transition board meeting immediately after the organizational meeting. Right after that meeting, the transition to get us through Tuesday to VCSU, the Wednesday, the Tuesday one is definitely here in the auditorium. Tuesday organization. You know the resources page, any resources? The resources. Yeah, I don't see them on articles. So this is articles group that's been trying to iron out some articles that we would possibly put before. At this point it would be a recommendation rather than all the times. And it's really trying to send a message to the new unified board that this is what the towns want. They could still go a different way. It's essentially customized in the district. And at every turn when we're talking about coming up with different articles, we're told you can't modify this when you can't modify that one. It's in statute, state board is interpreted this way. So we've really struggled with that. Even if we vote on this, we're not saying we want it. Do you have a microphone that's for you, Pastor? It's for you. I just wanted to add that one of the other articles, as an example of what we're struggling with, one is about school closures. And the default articles say there shall be no school closures, I think for the first two years. And we're debating whether we want to modify that after the two years, it can be a vote of the entire district can close it. We want to modify that in any way to make it harder to close a particular town's school. Peter and I have had different opinions on this. A lot of different opinions around the table on this. Would you want to ever close a school over a town's objection? And one of the comments is a town could hold your hostage where they're down to just a couple of students and they still want to keep their school open. We as a whole have to pay for that. So I shouldn't be able to do it over there. Dare they demand sovereignty? I know. So it's a really tricky question for people come at it from a lot of different angles. That's a good question. The budget items cannot be changed, but originally you might please. So it's unclear that it has to be used for certain purpose. There's been so many amendments to this, it's worried. Whether it's fulfilled, it's... Also, it's related to the fire station. So we're in touch with the folks at the fire station, the prior two or after. So we've wandered from calendar planning into Act 46, I believe. So I think that that's the update that we know about what's gonna happen to Act 46. There's a lot that's gonna happen in the next couple of weeks. There's a status meeting on the court case on Friday. So something could come out of that. There's the legislature where the Senate could take up the House passage of a bill that extended the timeline for implementation for one year for this district. So they kind of parsed through the districts that are part of the lawsuit. And we were in the group that they said could have another year. I didn't specifically heard why they thought that was good for us and not good for other towns, but somebody made this decision. Six or eight of them. Yep. I have no idea what the Senate will do with it. I don't think anyone does. I think it's, I've heard different things. We'll see how that one plays out and how soon, but it's not gonna happen. There's a group of people who are very active in the State House from this district. I think they have Janet Ansel's ear, for sure. But I have heard others saying, we'll give them another year, but there's no way we're undoing this. They're merging in a year. They haven't given us much other than to say, give you a little more time to get ready for that. It's the law. What's the answer we got? I think it's there to stay. I went on. Yeah, right. Let's not forget that. I'm giving you the answer that we got. Okay, I'm sorry. That's all right. It's not what I believe. It's not that we'll want to stay. There's no place in law, especially if we're not police officers. That's one of the big... And it doesn't allow for that? It does not. Cannot. One budget. That's it. Oh, I see what you're saying. Yeah. Once it's consolidated, all physical property goes to the law. And that's been an issue for since 2015, suggested. I think the real difficulty in them going back in any way at this point is that a lot of towns said, oh, they had the incentives. They were afraid of what was going to happen to them. So they went ahead with it. So they've already done it. So they'll undo it for these towns that haven't gone along yet. These are doing their... Right, on that happy note. I'm sure. It doesn't sit in the law. I do think if you're going to talk to David Kelly, you should. There's a lot of different elements to that lawsuit. One of them is debt. Yeah, one of them is property transfer. They have 30-some towns represented, and they all have different facts on the ground. So that leaves us in a place where we're preparing for both situations, hopefully. Maybe merger is not happening. Maybe merger is happening in a year. Maybe merger is happening very, very soon. The plan for all those scenarios. And it leaves some... I just want to acknowledge again that it leaves the administration, the teachers. It leaves everybody in a bad place with this hanging over, this uncertainty hanging over them. And we certainly can appreciate that and to have a... We're proud that they can continue to focus on education while we're all running through this stuff. Anything else under the discussion agenda? So under 4.0, we have reports to the board. Sure, yep. Not to the local board. I know of a couple of people who I won't name, who may be interested in the merged board. And that's going to come around soon. That's one thing we did hear from Bill tonight that you may already be familiar with being in the town clerk's office, but that if this organizational meeting chooses as an April 2nd as the date, our annual meeting, that the petitions to be on the full board, that the merged board would be due on February 25th. Yeah. So I need to get that word out. You said we have the full board out for that petition. Yeah, the secretary of state's office, the town clerk's office has those petitions. So in other words, on the 19th... Pick the annual meeting, that's communicated to the two people. And I will have to do another petition? No, so you're running for the local board. Okay. You've already gotten your petition in, you are on the ballot, if I understand correctly. Okay. And so you and Vera will be on the ballot for the five positions. So after town meeting day, this board and the select board will need to... Who do they... Unless there's a right in candidate one of 20 signatures, something like that. Who would be 20 signatures on it? All in the same position. Oh. Correct. So they have to know. Why I was wondering, is anybody interested to try to help point that out? But so they could also be interested in the other? Sure. That's what I was asking. Okay, that's what you were asking. Got it. So yes, if you were interested in that. Okay. You wanted to go visit your people again and get 20 more signatures. I just did it. Could you sign this again? Yeah? Right. Vera does. She does. Vera's definitely does. All right. Nice to meet you, Nicole. Nicole's new to the board, but she's jumped right in. I'm good. You guys need people that have more history. Vera's got more history than any of us. Wow. Peter's got more history. And this history goes farther back. Who's got more history? Each of us. All of us. It's not the way it used to be. Can I ask who they, who do they appoint for the three vacancies if they're not free? Anybody who's interested. Anybody, like how do they determine? Where does that? If you just, like you. If anything, and you raise your hand, I hope you get a lift. Oh my God. It might be. If you make a phone call and somebody's going to tell you you need to actually write up something. This has been an answer. And I've got to make sure that I reach out to the select board and warn them that this is coming if they don't know already. Get it on their next meeting. Therefore, they're planning on keeping it on days to Thursday meetings. Yep. They realize that they should keep that Thursday meeting, but they won't necessarily have much money today. Okay, yeah. Yeah, yeah. That's what Bill said, yeah. Okay. I heard him say that also. That sounded like he thought there would still be one-on-one spending. He just didn't hear what he was talking about. Did he hear what he was talking about? Did he hear what he was talking about? No, in here. Oh. He said that. Okay. I think the organizational meeting could be a very long meeting, so it might be a very quick transitional board meeting after it would be my guess, and then maybe more business than I expected. But so then he also said in the particles meeting on Thursday. Yeah. But again, he also said that. SOS to Crystal. So reports to the board, 4.1 administration. Anything? Well, there was one in the carousel package. This is a big one. Oh, yes? Not the carousel, the bigger one. Yeah, I'm sorry. It was your first time. It's awesome. Okay. Page 40. Yep, page 40. So as usual, I'd like to... You got it, buddy. And if not, then through our nature trail, we also realize that we can get some facts out of a food service audit for regulation. Some of the more talked about art. I'll just say that I attended a really nice winter concert and the art show. And something you said at the beginning of that, I'm gonna put you on the spot a little bit. You said that this was the best school you'd ever worked in. And I was wondering what made you say that? Thanks for sharing that. It's really good to hear. Sure. A lot about having, but maybe it has been. Oh, that's definitely the goal. It's coming from, and there might be sources that you guys are... You think these were there? Did the kids ever able to integrate that with cooking? Taste the food, like cooking the food, I don't know. Well, we've done a lot of that most of the time with our own garden. We don't have anything on our action agenda. We do have approved board orders under 6.0. And I just wanna make sure in the call. So these are, I don't know if you've done this before, but these are the board orders. So these are all the expenses that we need to authorize. They send them out in advance so that we can. Once everybody has signed off on them, we need a motion to approve the 87... Is there a second? Any discussion? In favor of the motion, signified by saying aye. Oh, we did. Oh, so sorry, Laurie. Yep, let's go back to 4.2 finance and if there's anything you wanna point out to us there. Sorry about that. The only plan is I think it's setting aside money and capital fund on it and we have to do it. I would love it. So I think we just found a future agenda item. I would love to talk about it. The historical perspective, when I was on the board before we were talking about paving the park, the front was fine. Yeah, and I think there might be some... I think there might be some wetland issues with paving the parking lot, that's what I've heard. There would be drainage or runoff. You know, suddenly. Right around the mountain. Seriously. We'll put paving on there. Before we get off this, any other questions for Laurie about the... We have paving, any other future agenda items? Of course, we'll be talking about Act 46. Of course, we'll be talking about Town Meeting Day. Are there any school issues that we'll put aside since... I guess I'm just... Since 2005, things that were of utmost importance as a board member. I also was wondering about the discipline, not just the discipline program, but what was the other program Kelly was talking about? Yeah, and how is that working at our school? And what... Like, I don't know, do we have teachers participating in that, or... I just... Yeah. Maybe... Or is it enough to put on a future agenda item? Yeah, let's do that. Let's set it on the next agenda. We'll see. It wasn't, I will. No, it may have just been...