 This program is brought to you by Cable Franchise V's and generous donations from viewers like you Okay Good evening This is a meeting allowed to be virtual by order of Governor Baker's March 12 order suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law I'm going to call the council to order and then I'm going to ask Allison to do that for the school committee and I'm going to ask Austin to do that for the Library trustees then I will actually check to make sure that all of the people who are here from the council or the council Can hear us and we can hear them and Allison and Austin will do the same With their selective groups as well and then I will want to make sure because we have various other people who are our Lead people for the schools lead people for the library and for the town who are also on them We want to make sure that they can be heard and we hear them Okay, so given that we have a quorum of the Amherstown Council present. I'm calling the meeting to order 532 Allison you want to go Yeah, seeing a presence of a quorum of the Amherstown School Committee I'm calling the Amherstown School Committee meeting to order at 532 p.m. And Austin There's a quorum of the Jones Library Board of Trustees calling the meeting to order at 532 Excellent. Okay, so let me start on the list of counselors Um Shalini Balm Alyssa Brewer present Pat D'Angelo's present here Riesma is here Hanneke present Dorothy Pan is working right. I'm sorry. Yeah, great Evan Ross George Ryan present Kathy Shane present Steve Schreiber is going to be late unless he's shown up early Okay, Andy Steinberg President and Sarah Schwartz present Thank you. Okay. You want to go ahead Allison? I'm going to go through alphabetical order or at least try and Peter Demling present Ben Harrington, you didn't see him so we'll move on McDonald present Kerry Spitzer And Heather Lord Lord present And Austin Alex LeFave Bob Pam present Chris Hoffman Chris you're gonna unmute Okay Tammy Ely present Lee Edwards Hey Lee and Austin Sarage present Okay, and then also I just want to check and make sure that Doug Slaughter and you hear us we'd like to know we can hear you so please unmute Yes, I can hear you fine. Thank you. Thank you and Paul Bachmann you can hardly hear you Paul Mike Morris Okay, and Sharon Sherry And Athena you're with us I'm here Hannah you're with us. Yes And Welcoming back to the town of Amherst. We have the other Sean. Where is he? Hello, everybody. There you go. Sean. Thank you. Thank you Okay, we're going to this meeting is a special meeting. There's no public comment There will be a many opportunities for the public to comment at other in other meetings of the whole council of the school committee of the Library trustees as well as district meetings as well as other special hearings we have But this is the first opportunity for the council to get a glimpse of the new reality of our finances And I just want to say upfront that a lot of time has been spent getting to the estimates. You'll see tonight But I want people to be totally clear. These are estimates We are still in an evolving situation and whatever you hear tonight May not be the final word. It is just what we know For the time being that I'm going to ask Paul to take over Thank you, so if everybody could mute themselves that'd be great Thank you for being here and I brought my microphone down so people could actually hear me as Lynn said, this is unprecedented Uncertain No one expected to be here. It creates a certain amount of anxiety for folks and at a time like this We need our strongest team going forward. And so we're really pleased that We have two new partners in a way Sean McGonagall is the new finance director for the town and Doug Slaughter brings his town experience to the schools So I think those two leaders on our financial end are really going to make a big difference as we Ply our way through this section But since I have your attention, I do want to call out that and recognize Sonya Aldridge's work for the town of the past over the past several years well 30 I won't say how many over 30 years Sonya and I know you didn't want me to say this but So she has been more than just the Accountant and comptroller and interim finance director. She has worked through the intricacies of the numbers that you will see tonight She has been a core team a core member of our team that we has been managing the pandemic as we meet every day And we've now throttled it back a little bit to about four days a week And she has made everything that we've been able to do possible on the financial front She's a no drama manager as you all have experienced She's a creative thinker boat the firm grasp of the nuts and bolts She has carried such a heavy load for such a long time I'm really pleased that Sean is here to help carry that load So I want to just start with a giant. Thank you to Sonya and just so you know, she ain't going nowhere She's not allowed to Although she did suggest well, we can start the the slideshow we'll talk. I'll tell you what she had suggested when we start the slideshow Sean So I don't I don't have Sonya on my screen, but I should Do you see me now? Yeah So, um, we're gonna present a slideshow to a slide deck to you today And so one of the things we were looking at this this morning and Sonya was saying You know, it'd be easier if you and I just climbed up on top of that roof and jumped Because that's how our numbers were looking so we can go to the next next slide So what we want to talk about tonight is we want to tell you what we know We want to tell you what we don't know We want to talk about the variables that are in play and we want to talk about what what are the next steps What what how we're going to move forward? We will be talking about f y 20 we'll also address f y 21 and Um and open it up for discussion to sort of get guidance from You policy makers you are the elected officials of the town You're the most important people in terms of where we're headed in terms of the town. So next slide So we'll start with what we know next slide so On april 23rd, this group got together and agreed to these three things you agreed to Have me submit a one month budget for to begin f y 21 You agreed to have a f y 21 budget on a adjusted schedule that allows it to begin on August 1 instead of july 1 and you agreed on a schedule For everyone to follow both for the school and library to submit their budgets to the town manager and for the town manager to submit budgets to The town council So next slide Some of the things that we do know is that The tax due dates have been extended which means that our revenue has been delayed We know that our third quarter revenues are on track and we're going to get into a little bit of detail on each of these We know that our fourth quarter projected revenues are somewhat reduced and that we have had unanticipated expenditures And I just want to mention that as we move into the third quarter We talk about third quarter revenues the third quarter report That outlines exactly where we are where we are is available on the town's website under the accountants page So next slide So some of the things that we've done already and we've talked about this last time So I'm going to go very quickly through these fourth quarter real estate and personal property bills which were originally due on may 1st or now due june 1st Motor vehicle excise which were originally due On march 10th or later are now due june 1st and water and suit utility bills Which were originally due on march 10th or later are now down due on june 1st next slide and that the The time to apply for Exemptions or tax deferrals has been extended to june 1st Interest in other penalties for late payment have been waived and we will not be Terminating anybody's water or sewer services because of failure to pay Next slide So sunny's going to talk a little bit about where we are in terms of third quarter revenues third quarter to us Is the period from january 1st to march 31st of 2020? So those are pretty solid. Those are solid numbers because we know exactly what has happened So sunny you want to talk about that? I'm sure So this slide just shows the percentages For this year versus last year and they're pretty close As paul said the detail is on the accounting website And it's also on the packet for the finance committee tomorrow, which we'll be going through that if you want more information on these The general fund is slightly down 0.5 um the enterprise funds are are In comparison to what we had last year they were trending down because consumption was was for water and sewer Had gone down as well. So we were in the process of compensating for that when covid happens so As you can see that they did go down a little more with covid here next slide They can tell you transportation is also down This year and it was last year there's been different reasons for that Um partially a staffing for the parking enforcement officers. Um, there was some Um construction going on at certain meters and then there was equipment malfunctions over the last couple of years So parking meters has been trying to catch Parking revenues has been trying to catch up and covid's not helping us And for the landfill, it's just a timing most of that comes in at the beginning of the year when everybody's buying their permits Fourth quarter revenues, these are just projections like paul mentioned. Um, these are our best guesses of where we're going from here Um, general fund, we assume we're we're projecting we're going to take in 99% of budget Last year we collected 104% so there will be a small revenue deficit But we're we're hoping and we're pretty confident that we're going to be able to cover that with returned appropriations this year Enterprise funds. I don't have actual percentages here. Like I said, we um, we're going to be looking into those more this week And paul, I think this slide has your name on it In my name on it. So I don't Know the next slide so just a note on we we put we typically um budget very conservatively on our revenues and so Being at 99% is we're usually over Compensating for that. So we usually bring in 104% of revenues just because we we project conservatively And so that's why we're at 99% which is about a 5% difference in terms of our revenues for the end of f y 20 which is So it's 99% sounds good, but it's actually about a 5% drop from where we thought we would be otherwise So so in in addition to f y 20 we have some unanticipated Expenses as you can imagine there's been some expenses for Covering shifts at police and fire particularly When staff have been had to be quarantined or off-duty or something like that We've upped these hours for our people in our health department. We've added firefighters to make sure that we had coverage at all times And we have purchased a lot of PPE which we all know about as personal protective equipment cleaning cleaning materials Clean supplies disinfectant things like that. We continue to purchase PPE We provide it to as many departments as require it. We want to make sure that our employees are protected and safe And just like the schools and library. We've also Invested pretty heavily into technology so our staff can work remotely that includes software licenses and hardware solutions so people can be able to work from home effectively And then we had some costs that went into Working with our partners to have options available for the The people who are experiencing homelessness in town. So in case when we were Setting up the Hampshire college shelter. There were fixed costs that we had to be Had to take on because that shelter had to be up and ready to run when we did the testing Fortunately, we didn't have to Utilize that shelter because everyone tested negative which is really terrific. But there were still some sunk costs in setting that up So you know the next slide so basically This just summarized what we just told you and what the basic message for fy 20 is that we're not going to need Any money from f to balance the budget in fy 20. We think we'll get through it Um, and if we you know, we're monitoring it on a day-to-day basis if we need to take additional actions We will do that. But right now we think we're solid through fy 20 and we'll end the year in the in the black Um, next slide So this is the section what we really want to focus on is it's what we don't know So next slide So we tried there's so many things that we don't know that we tried to sort of Narrow it down to the basic the most important things That would concern you and the main members of the public We don't know what the state is doing on on local aid We don't know what is going to happen with our economy driven revenue, which is hotel motel meals tax parking revenue Things like that and we don't know how long this event is going to to occur and how long it will impact our budget Those those are the three major unknowns that we're grappling with and and honestly your guess is as good as ours We're going to make some guesses and informed guesses based on all the information we have But we'll look to the council ultimately in the finance committee of the council to say you're on we're on track or not So you go to the next slide So one of the things we want to tell you is where we get our money So you so you have a context on why we care about these things because we are a revenue driven operation We start with our revenues every time you've heard a budget presentation We talk about our revenues and where the money comes from so Sonya is going to talk about our revenue sources So we have the four revenue sources that we have here and property taxes are largest at 66% and it's the most stable state aid at 20% Or at least it has been put that way And then local receipts at 9% So and then the other which would be free cash ambulance receipts the cpa debt support and other miscellaneous resources that we use for budget um next slide The largest portion of revenue Is property tax? It's the most stable. We will collect this It's taxes. Everybody has to pay their taxes. There might be a timing lag However, it will get credited for the year that the tax is for so all the tax will be credited in 21 Next slide These are yours. Yes. So the next so the big one of the big unknowns is what's going the state is going to do and We still don't know what the state is going to do. They figured it figured out how to meet Virtually, which is a good thing But the definitely the FY 21 budget process has been delayed The when they did the budget hearing they came out with a 14.1 percent decline in And revenues for the state Which is pretty significant in terms of the budget. That's a 4.5 4 to 5 billion dollars out of a 31 billion dollar budget for the state I mentioned they have a substantial rainy day fund of 3.5 billion And that's a good news story And they also have received funds from the federal cares project and one of the thing that's out there is that You know, the federal government is looking at an additional Action to provide additional revenues to local states to local governments and states So we're hopeful that they will pass that next slide So when they looked at again, no clear answers for 2021 When they look at this recession, uh, and they how long it's going to last The the revenue streams for the state are just collapsing across the board capital games income tax sales tax gaming and lottery revenues All the local option taxes are all That flow into the state All these things are just collapsing under the state. So their revenue base other than in even income tax is dropping but They have their own steady source. So they're going to be Struggling as they try to meet their budget demands next slide And as we talked about last time when this happened in 2008 during the the great recession as it was called which will be Maybe the not so great recession when it's put in comparison to this event There were significant cuts in unrestricted governmental assistance also called aga by more than 20 percent And but the state compensated by that by providing additional revenue sources to cities and towns Of offering local option meals In higher lodging excise taxes for us to compensate So the big question as I mentioned is where where is the federal government going to step in Are they going to step in and there's a that's the big debate Um at the state house, I mean at the us capital Um, and we're fortunate to have you know, we you know People in our state delegation who are who are able to sort of influence this and move it forward So next next slide Okay, so yeah, go ahead um, so this is our local receipts and um these reductions that are on here these are all based on um The budget projection that we had almost balanced before so this is being reduced from there and this is based on Hoping that we're back up and running by january of 2021 So it's pretty much halfway through the year Um, we're we're looking at probably a 75 reduction of hotel motel and meals taxes Because those kind of catch up in arrears um recreation revenues are are going to be 100 percent um reduction cherry hill and The camps depending That's mostly that mostly starts in july Or this early summer month. So that's where most of that revenue comes in so if we don't open up soon then We'll lose most of all of that Licenses and permits. It's just based on construction stopping people aren't going to put out additions or do new kitchens and stuff in a down economy Interest on investments that will go down The reason I didn't have it go down more is because we do have some investments in cds that will come do next Come do after july one. So we'll have that revenue. Otherwise, that would have come down more And miscellaneous income includes um is mainly College Amherst college and new mass revenues which are based on Previous years performance for ambulance So that's going to go down for fiscal year 21 obviously because this year Those revenues are going down next slide And then other revenues that are impacted for fiscal year 21 are going to be all the enterprise fund revenues transportation fund parking meters and ticket revenues a lot of that's going going to depend on when we start charging for that again Ambulance receipts are down with the university closed. So we're less run. So we're counting we can't count on Much relief from there and the water and sewer fund It depends on college again depends on college and university because they're the biggest consumers of water and sewer in the town So as we start to look at this we don't look at just f y 20 f y 21 We also look at we need to look forward to f y 22 and f y 23 so And that's how we want to be very judicious with how we address our reserves that we have but So I went as as the policy makers we need to be looking down the road and again This is just the first glance at some of these things. I'm sure the finance committee will be digging in much more deeply into all of these things We have We have no idea how long this will last It it you know and how quickly the economy will be back up and running so much of it depends on What the university and the college has decided we're on a call with the university representatives today Um asking when are they going to decide? They don't know They thought june would be the earliest that there would be a decision as to what what it would look like when they come back Hampshire college has said that they will reopen as long as they're permitted to by the state But that's just five or six hundred students and you know, it's really all about the university and the decisions that they make When they when they if they go virtual for this fall semester or longer than that that has a gigantic impact on our on our budget and all of our revenue sources So next slide So we wanted to identify some of the variables that We we don't know about but we wanted to say what are the biggest things that move that make a big difference And these are the ones that matter most that we've identified and you may have others that come up, but Go to the next slide So we did a little grid and sort of made some um Things that we identified previously. So state aid is the first box Economy driven revenue, which is local receipts is the second box and how long this goes on is the third box And then we made some estimates that you'll see a little bit later Saying that suppose state aid goes down 15 percent Suppose the economy driven revenue is down for 12 months You know or more uh or loss so you can pick a different date time there And how long will we be at this before and so how how judicious do we have to be with our reserves? And other people may check different boxes But these are the boxes that we check for this scenario and and we will have be able to go through this as we talk about it With everybody else's combined wisdom is decide where we want to be So the next slide Okay, so um this slide shows Where we were pre-covid where our budget was almost Balance we were within three hundred thousand dollars to balance the budget and things were looking pretty sunny Then covet came along and we did the three we did three different projections. We did what if we um come back We're back online within the first quarter. That's the bad And then what happens if we come back online january of 2021 halfway through the year That would be the worst and the worst isn't The worst and then the worst is not coming back on until 2022 So if anyone does the math on this and I won't mention any names It's not going to balance to the to the numbers on the next page because this is just the revenue side of things When you adjust revenues if you look on here, you can see that property tax is straight right across the board For the bad worse and worse But 21 was a little higher and that's because we had a projection of 600 000 for new growth and that's not going to happen But we are pretty firm on 450 which is what's in the three projections um local receipts a lot of the local receipts change in that first um The first example and It's straight across the board. There's only a few that Get worse as you go along. So um state aid is Is based on level funding based on fiscal year 20 um State aid on the coven was the governor's budget So we had to go back to what it was for 20 and make that straight across the board um other sources Is like I said before ambulance if we use free cash, it would go here right now this is what we're using for ambulance receipts and indirect costs coming in from the enterprise funds and cpa funding for the debt Those are the sources that are other funding right now. So if you go to the next slide This tells you what the shortfall will be So if you change anything in taxes or some of the revenues if you change the expenses are driven on that like The unappropriated expenses like the overlay The provision for abatements and exemptions that's based on the tax levy. So if the tax levy changes, that's going to change too So that's why those numbers are not going to balance if you're doing the math on that And then the little grade below where it stayed at it's just telling you that state aid goes down 10 percent You can add 1.5 million to those numbers 15 percent is 2.2 million and so on Does that make sense to everybody so that you know I'm showing things with my mouse. I can't the the first Row is with shortfall from initial guidance. And so That shows what we will from what we had projected to be our budget What the shortfall will be and then we can monitor what happens at the state And we can say if they do eight percent reduction to us or 10 percent or 15 We know exactly what that number is going to be and that's going to come into play a little bit later In terms of how we make our recommendation to you So you can go to the next slide So this this is sort of the headline is that we are projecting a range of Deficits of 3.6 million to 7.7 million It's a very broad range because there are so many unknowns And we contemplated just narrowing it But that's the reality is it could be much worse than where we are it could be better than where we are We just don't know And so that's that's where we are in terms of what to expect Next next slide So one of our things is not We other thing other variable we want to identify where the expenditures Because that's one of the ways other than increasing revenue you can you can adjust your expenditures So the things that we have talked about In terms of what are the variables that there are going to be variables that increase our budget So anything that has to do with covet 19 is going to increase our budget If we have to buy equipment plexiglass hand wash stations If we want or if we're seeking to open our libraries or our Schools or our public buildings, we're going to be making Adjustments to all these buildings there will be costs involved. So there that's a thing that will drive drive the numbers up If we are looking at services and programs Maybe there's some that go down some that can go up And then one of the other things is that we'll obviously be looking at any kind of operational efficiencies or reorganizations that can Save us money Another potential variable and Mike or Sean or dud can speak to this Is regional school assessment and how that plays into this One of the things that we have been doing as a as a good practice as a best practice actually has been Putting money into our op-ed account, which is other post-employment benefits, which is health insurance on a regular basis That's a high value important thing to do to maintain our our Our good bond rating But it might be one of those things that we have to give up or reduce this fiscal year as we try to balance our budget And weigh whether it's more important to put money into that account versus maintaining a certain type of program And then the other big item for us is our contribution to capital We have worked so hard to get our contribution to capital Up to 10 and I think that that's unlikely to be able to be to happen this year So we will Be putting off things that need to be done. We will be delaying things But there will be a certain amount of capital that we still have to do But we really don't know so we Might have some things that we want to present for the beginning of july 1 but hold on most of the things Until later in the fiscal year when we have a better sense of what is going to happen with the economy Okay, next slide So now we want to transition into where where we're going how we're moving forward Go to the next slide so We've made some assumptions and these are assumptions as of may 11th and you know, they may change may 12th That's the way the nature of this beast has been We said suppose state aid is reduced at about the same rate as the State's revenues have been reduced say it's 15 percent suppose the revenue begins in january of 2021 and And we are able to we would need 6.6 million dollars reductions from our original planned budgets So one of the things that we will talk about with the finance committee is that What as we say, how do we fill that 6.6 million dollar gap we say well suppose we level fund Not level service, but level fund the three major departments budgets library schools and regional schools and the town for budgets, I guess and And say you get the exact same appropriation that you had For this fiscal year, there's no no uptick at all and it's you you just deal with that And now that means that there are contracted things that are going to go up. There's some things that will go up some expenses will go down But we would depend on each of those entities to make a decision about how to manage their funds Suppose we reduce our contribution to opeb and that could save several hundred thousand dollars Suppose we reduce our commitment to capital for f y 21 again a major source of Way to plug that hole and then one of the things that we would look at is For any reduction in state aid we would look to utilize Our our reserves to fill that gap And so there's a reason for doing that in that because we don't think the state is going to Make a decision on state aid anytime soon So one of the reasons for Tying state aid to our reserves is that we can move forward with our operating budgets right now Which is what we want to do because there's a certain urgency to getting our one-month budget approved and then our Fy 21 budget approved for a lot of labor Decision labor labor reasons and other things so tying our use of reserves to our state aid Sort of pulls that out of the mix and then we can work with everything else So you go to the next slide Sean and i'm sure you're all having a million questions about this because it's very complicated And we looked at lots of different ways of presenting the information because they're all cross cutting and things so So the things that are on the table for the calendar. We just want to run through the calendar Are the one-month budget the f y 21 budget the regional school budget the capital improvement program so you can go to the next slide So this is where we are. This is a chart that you have all seen before I just want to point out that we're at may 11th tomorrow the finance committee of the town council meets And they will begin discussing our budget guidelines that the council would like to provide to the town manager when I create the next budget And then that hopefully if there is a Decision on that that will go to the town council on may 18th Which is monday a week from tonight and the council will will discuss that again To decide if that's the those are the guide guidelines they want to provide to the town manager You go to the next slide And then these are the dates for when when things are due with the idea being that the one-month budget Will be approved in june for the month of july and that the remaining Fy 21 budget will be approved by the council by the end of july july 20th is what we have on this calendar Next slide So we're nearing the end So I just want to note that there's we're in a good position compared to a lot of other communities. We have a lot of things going for us We have a strong Bank of reserves in our possession We have good working relations really excellent working relationships between the school's library and the town high level of communication and Knowledge of our operation. So we all know how everything works. So there is a disposition in that you see happening in other communities And so that's a real benefit to us. So we can have really frank discussions about where everybody stands on things We have you the policy makers who are very engaged And the fact that you're all here for this important meeting is just really a testament to your commitment to the town And one of the things that we know we are going to have to do is we're going to need to be adaptive We're going to be need to be Responsive to the situation because we really don't know what's what this what this pandemic is going to throw at us next We feel it's really important as we talk about f y 20 and f y 21 that we're also talking about f y 22 And once we get f y 21 wrapped up, we will be turning right around to start talking about f y 22 because typically in October we would be coming back to this group and talking to you about the projections for f y 22 So these are all part of a continuing dialogue that we're going to be having with you and through you to the public So one of our challenges here is What I've been calling this year I had it under a different idea was to call it a bias for action that this isn't a time to be active We want to bring our Community back But it doesn't have to look at this in the same way or form that it has been in the past and I think You know businesses are adapting Industries are adapting and government needs to adapt as well and we will look at everything with fresh eyes to decide Maybe you know, this is a new way of doing things and maybe it's better than the way we used to do everything We don't have to go back to way. We've always done it. But maybe there maybe there's a new normal that we I don't like new normal, but that's where we're where we might be So can you go to the next slide? So we are not Really into this very far, you know, we've only been at it for a few months And it seems like an eternity especially for those of us who've been working it every day But I think that you know as the governor begins to speak about Reopening the economy under certain guidelines that we I anticipate that he'll be saying something on may 18th about this He's made some announcements on some things already The big Conundrum they have to fix is what to do about child care and taking care of children So people can return to work. That is a giant challenge for people And for the governor and for the government to address in terms of what are the rules for that so And that impacts everybody impacts our our operations and impacts everybody So we're at the beginning of the end we hope or what is at the end of the beginning is where we really are. So Next slide So Welcome Sean To this new Reality and it's not what you really had bargained for when we've started talking along these ways, but we're really glad that you're here You know Sean as you all know is is a it's a big picture creative thinker and I think with Doug and on the school side and Sharon and Mike and Sonia I think you should feel comfortable with our our management team as we start to go through this But it can only get better through dialogue and through conversations with you So right now we sort of open it up for any kinds of questions or comments that you may have and You know, I just tell you these are these are numbers that we Felt were important to put out there to start this conversation. So with that kind of president Thank you. So let me first of all start by saying Thanks to all of you that have contributed to Putting this together. Um, I want to thank Andy Steinberg who comes to with us to us with experience of having been around during 2008 And he has really helped by asking all of the tough questions And when we thought we had them all answered he'd asked some more Um, I want to particularly however recognize Sonia And all of the work that Sonia has done on our behalf Over these many years for those of us that are new to the council We got to know Sonia better those some of us knew her before And she has been just a stalwart in helping us all understand how the budget works How the different pieces go together when I want a straight answer I go to Sonia And Sonia, we're glad you're not leaving us And since we know you were one of the people that wrote a letter of recommendation for Sean We can't even be upset that he's come in to actually be the finance director. So Sonia, thank you for all these many many years that you've served the town of Amherst and we're glad you're not leaving So with that, I also want to recognize and just point out that Mindy Dom who will be joining us next week as part of our meeting Is in the audience tonight because she wanted to hear this presentation and understand From the perspective of the town where we are And Mindy and her colleague Joe Cumberford have been working with us extremely closely from day one Asking what do we need and making sure that they were filing bills and supporting bills That continue to get what we needed to continue to move forward as a government So with that, I'm going to open it up for questions and we'll start with First hand I have is Austin Thank you. Thank you Paul. Thanks for the presentation and thank you to Sonia for the work in putting it together Um, I know the answer this question is going to be it's too early to tell There's going to be a lot of that answer. But my question is At what point do you think about personnel issues personnel reductions In the town the schools and in the library or how do you think about that? So we Am I frozen? Okay We are a personnel driven organization most of our salaries and benefits Most of our budget salaries and benefits So anything that we want to do of any size impacts our personnel We have not announced layoffs or furloughs Other communities have As we I think we will work from our operations to determine what we need in terms of operations And then go from our operations to where what kind of personnel we need to support that but I think we don't start straight with personnel We are not hiring people at this point unless absolutely necessary It's not a hiring freeze, but it's a it's a frost. I would get you know, we're looking at everything Pretty seriously if anybody needs needs to be hired That has to come through me for the town side Thank you both All right, Kathy I want to thank you for All the work that went into this and I don't know what I thank you for the sobering scenarios you give us or not, but I for one am really glad to start to see some numbers put on it So as as you mentioned finance will be meeting tomorrow And what I'm hoping is we could get a little closer to where you Created a possible way of approaching it Which would be to cut capital down to the bare minimum and when I was looking at What we had been planning on capital. There's as much as three million or three plus million in cash that was set so You know, so are we saying Spend three million less than we were planning on it, you know put some kind of number on it An op-ed was supposed to be 500 000. Are we saying cut it in half cut it to zero? So that gets me to how much we would have to draw on reserves and if I just do Back of the envelope. I start to get reserves If we go anywhere near those numbers reserves would The draw on reserves to get to the 6.6 million and savings would be about the same as your guesstimate of state aid cuts So it's kind of a nice match So I just tomorrow I think it would be good to get to some of that granular And then the other thing I was wondering Is in terms of guidance when we um go beyond just if we said flat budget keep it to last year's operating budgets If we know health insurance is going up Are we going to provide any additional like places to look? Um A lot of large corporations not I wish more The top paid people have taken a voluntary cut and pay for a certain amount of time to ease the frontline staff postponed any planned step increases indefinitely But any kinds of guidance on ways to live within A flat budget so Austin let off with personnel cuts. I mean clearly those are always there, but So I had those two general questions on more specific specificity tomorrow And then the last was you talked about more expenses in the last few months But by june, I would think you'll have some where have there been Some savings not savings. We would want to have had but we're using less gas and driving cars around as staff Is utility cost down is overtime down if the draw on emt Racing back and forth to the hospital is down So I don't know when we'll have a hold on those numbers, but is there a little bit of A buffer there on some potential savings on what we thought we were going to be spending this year So those are three buckets of questions So I'm freezing up. I hope you can hear me because I heard everything you said Kathy I can hear you. Okay And so you may want to jump in here So in terms of We have a lot of tools in our toolbox and we haven't discarded any tools So all the things that you mentioned are in the toolbox and we will look at those and Look at them and see how they can all be put together to make to meet our goals. So So there we're not I'm not saying on anything in particular And I know people's minds go to certain areas Automatically and it's because it's people driven. That's that's what the most important thing And if we were to talk about those things, I'd certainly be talking to our employees first to make sure they're they understood the gravity of the situation In terms of you know How the specificity of the numbers we we went back and forth about how Detailed to be today for this meeting and we thought that it was more important for To talk about the big picture and to understand that the magnitude of the situation It's at the finance committee that we can talk more in detail about how all those numbers sort of Work together And you know and obviously we've gone through our own little scenarios and son You can go into those tomorrow with you know, exactly how we think we can get there and what things we would be Dealing with and how it would look there is a path Um, it's not an easy path, but it certainly is a path to maintain our core services And be able to deliver what I think the people of Amherst expect and are used to But it will take some pretty serious introspection from our management leaders to look at our operations to say do we really need this is are we going to survive with this and how are we going to build in all of our collective bargaining and contracted employees and Um Contracts that we have already signed that we've agreed to or do we go back to you know? There's lots of things we can go back to the bargaining table start these conversations There's so many things that we can start to talk about But our mission for this is to is to show you tomorrow Here's how it could look and you can say we don't like it. Here's where we want you to refocus your energy Thank you. I wasn't expecting more tonight, but I was just thinking that we have to pivot and then No, thanks add to that Oh, son. Yeah, I'm sorry. Please go ahead. Um, I just want to point out that there's really two things are balancing here There's the overall budget picture of how much money there is um That covers everything op-ed capital There's the big picture and then within that we're saying level funded Operating budgets with the four entities. So they're going to get a number and that's the number they're going to work with and they have to um, everyone has to work together To figure out how they're going to balance any increases in pay for colas that are already voted or Health insurance, that's all part of that. So there's like two separate pieces to it So everyone's got their portion that they're working on Okay. Thank you, Sonia Uh and paul alissa You have your hand up Well, yes, I do. Thank you. I had a couple of things and again, this is you know, don't answer tonight, right? It's just to be prepared for the next thing And so we've already touched on collective bargaining in a couple of different ways And one is and so in our next report to us at some point Please remind us where we were already in collective bargaining agreements Like when they were expiring if we were still working on any of them And then separately what level of communication you've had with them so far, right? So Obviously in a normal world You'd be talking to people in town hall and having lots of meetings and talking to us And you might say one is confidential and one isn't well You don't have most of your people in town hall And so are they just watching this and hearing it for the first time and I'm not asking you to answer that I'm just saying to be able to so us we can tell the public This is how we know that the employees were informed. This is when the employees are going to start talking about it You know separately kind of from the actual collective bargaining process Just so that we know based on everything you've told us so far that you're going to be including employees and What could we do differently? What might you know? What is our creativity and we know and we're counting on you to do that And we just want to be able to continually reinforce that with our community that we're going to be doing You're going to be doing that for us The other thing on a completely separate note Is as we move forward and we start talking about what things we won't do And so OPEB is actually pretty easy. Of course, I say that because I hate it But OPEB is pretty easy because it's like it affects our bond rating. It's a long-term project It's obviously something one can do differently in the short term A lot of other things aren't that simple of a trade-off. And so for example People have already talked about not taking the library grant Whereas I keep saying wait Well, you see the figures on how much the town share is going to be of repairs And you'll see that it's the same amount as the library grant That we'd have to pay for the library grant So don't be short-sighted on that and the reason I say that is because we need to be able to explain to people What does this million mean? You know, what does this 200 thousand dollars mean and what would it buy us instead? Because people the scale, you know is just it's pretty big We have a pretty big budget and for people to understand. Okay. Well, this is what it means for sidewalks This is what it means for road repairs and this is what it means for that building We were thinking of doing something with I just think that we're going to have to continually think about Stuff that's really obvious to you and maybe to some of the town counselors is not at all obvious to our community What if they give up this what they can buy for it? And is that worth it and that way we can get much better input from our community as we go through this Thank you. Any comment on that Paul or Sonia? No, I I think that those are all really good points and In terms of you know, you are the as the as the policymaker and elected officials You're the the ones we talk about these things first as we start to lay the grid work moving forward Okay, Allison Donald Please unmute My can you hear me? Thank you. Um, and and thank you Paul and Sonia for the presentation. You've made um, what we all know is a really complex and situation with a lot of uncertainty Your presentation makes it look Simple and easy to understand. So thank you for that. Um The my question is is really very very simple and sort of big picture you describe That your assumption assumes recovery begins January 2021 Could you describe a little bit what what that means what you mean by recovery begins or back back up and running? in terms of Yeah, parking schools UMass all of all of the things that sort of go into what you're assuming is back up and running sure so again, those are We we talk a lot about you know stated is one big thing and that's a separate conversation But then the other big variable for us is the economy driven revenue. What are that? What's that revenue? It's meals tax it's It's the hotel motel tax that we get it's the agreements we have with the university and the colleges and it's parking revenue quite honestly and So that requires a robust Downtown and robust business community throughout the town that's active There are people living in town who right now a lot of our population is is not in town and that's not unusual for the summer But in the summer we usually have a lot of people in town who are going to Weddings and sports camps and things like that. There's a lot of flow. That's all going to be gone this year this year So what that looks like is that the university and the colleges are in session The downtown businesses and the neighboring businesses are up and running and they have customers in it um We are talking about it with the bit in the chamber and other people in town about you know Will there be new rules about how you open businesses? Well, your pop it will your Occupancy at a restaurant be 50% of what it used to be and does that cut down on the the amount of? Meals that can be served You know, there's all those different variables and so we just sort of picked a date and the other thing that Um, you should be aware of is that there's a lag time from when they suppose the economy really opens up january 1 We don't really see that revenue. We don't get the first two months of that revenue We haven't really seen the The experience where there's about a two-month lag between meals tax getting into this to the town From when it when they were actually paid at the at the door basically Okay superintendent mars It's a bit quick. I just wanted to go back to um, austin sarah's question earlier. Um, so we are under an obligation Um, it's actually a state law around it that we need to notify staff by june 15 If their position if they won't be coming back because of budget situations. So You know, we'll be in those conversations the next couple weeks at school committee But we have to notify folks by june 15th. Otherwise, um, they're with us for the next fiscal year For for people in a bargaining unit, I should say which is the best majority of our staff Okay, Mike, please um in the future just raise your hand if you want to try over on the Raise your hand portion if you want to chime in on an answer and the same thing for Sharon sherry, okay? Sure. Thank you Dorothy you have your hand up Just a comment about the library Uh, given the fact that we're not sure how long this pandemic was going to live amongst us There has been some discussion that the plan for the library Would need to be greatly redone In terms of how people can do the things that people want to do in a library But within safer social distancing and this may this may apply to Certainly the plans for the schools and all of the projects that we have been talking about that are Past design may not suit Where we're going forward. So I'm curious to know if comments on that Okay Paul or um So we certainly are looking at what it looks like going through the future and we Are looking at any kind of contact with public to the public in terms of whether that's going to even be possible And what it would look like. There are no easy answers. Every community is having the same conversation I know uh, Mike and Sharon have also Talked to their colleagues and they're all thinking along the same lines of what's what's education going to look like What's a public library going to look like no one has an answer to that? but there's Because we don't know what the new reality is going to be if it's going to be that Everything has to be socially distanced or or what, you know, so Mike and Sharon. Do you want to weigh in on that? I don't see uh, Sharon Yeah, I mean I can Please Uh, so but so maybe I Misunderstood the question. I thought the question had to do with The building project and so regarding the designs for that There has been no change from the mblc in the construction grant program The only word we've heard is we are not allowed to submit a different design within this grant round Okay and Mike Yeah, so uh the town manager and I have been um in close communication with msba I think for projects that are in construction That that's certainly gotten complicated for folks and and there's a whole lot that and and fortunately unfortunately We're not in that place. Um, so at the current time, they are not adjusting the project I think the larger point around uh What will school design look like two years from now when we're you know, even a year from now We're actively in there. I think it's a really good question. I don't think we know the answer to that Uh, but I know the mb msba, uh, which is um As well as architects are actively thinking about what would it look like if if this lasts a few more years Hopefully by the time this building, uh fingers cross would be built, you know, five six years from now This would not be a factor, but I think it's it's making all of us. I think beyond education circles Just rethink, uh, what do spaces look like? What interactions do we want to look like? What flexibility could spaces have that they don't have they don't currently have so Uh, we're not as far along as the library. So we're not in that place, but I think for for everyone I think it's it's making us rethink, uh, spatial relationships and and how they get set up in building So, um, I can't get more specific than that based on where we are and what we know, but that'd be my response Okay Mandy joe you have your hand up Yes, thank you a couple of questions most of which I don't expect can be answered tonight But um, I thought I'd put them out there for maybe finance tomorrow Um, one is a follow-up on Kathy's I did the back of the envelope two and a level funding saves about 1.7 million The OPEV as she said was a half a million and then the cash capital is around three million That only adds up to about five and a half million Um, but your slide said 6.67 million dollar gap Without intending to use reserves to fill the state aid gaps, which aren't really that high in the presentation you made So I would want to be looking at an answer as to where that other Million in gap might be coming from um The others go to The unanticipated expenditures due to covet Where do we stand at this point on what we think will be reimbursable under either FEMA? The national disaster declaration or the cares act given especially with the cares act how strict the um reimbursement formula and ability Is in terms of it had to be not just COVID spending but I think I've heard that it has to also be unbudgeted So things where you just shifted something within it might not be reimbursable So an answer to that or some idea of what we might be able to for those unanticipated expenditures Be able to cover through those two options would be great and then I know you skipped this tonight, but the enterprise funds um water sewer severe decreases um I don't know whether solid waste is Intended, you know expected to decrease but transportation um What does that look like on the expenditure side where it does that mean that the council's going to be facing Looking at severely increasing the water rates and sewer rates Um on the transportation fine side those normally fund things like the pvta The valley bike share what what are we looking at or what we expect to come in going to be able to fund? Some of that so thank you Yeah, so those are all um terrific questions. Um And we can get a little more in detail and into the you know substance of it tomorrow I think it's really the time to have that conversation In terms of FEMA reimbursement. I am not I think at the end of march I have not seen the april numbers yet. We had about a hundred thousand dollars and identified expenses that were Um Totally covet related anything that's attached to covet is processed through in terms of a bill with covet 19 on it So we can so we're tracking every dime that we spend um I am not projecting funds to be reimbursed by FEMA or MIMA. I'm hoping that they will But I just worry that uh in this You know, you've got every community in the in the in the country submitting the same types of things And whether FEMA is ever going to have enough money to to pay everybody back um I don't think it's wise to be spending money Counting thinking that it's going to be it's only going to cost us 25 percent. It's not where we are We're I'm assuming that whatever we spend we're paying for 100 percent if we get reimbursed by FEMA Great, we're going to go after every dime we can. I'm not going to count on that. Um So Did I get all of them or Sonya was there anything you want to add on those? I just wanted to say that with them theme with the COVID expenses We're pretty much going to be paying for that out of this fiscal year's operating budget and We won't get any FEMA money or or other money That's going to offset that for this year But like paul said if we do get reimbursed it will just go in as a Prior year refund. So it does come into our revenue stream later on Okay, the other question was regarding enterprise funds Yeah, so enterprise funds, you know, obviously parking parking and tickets are a big thing So that's that's really economy driven Uh, and we do we and that that's fun. They each of those funds has a bit of a reserve Interestingly, I think our revenues from the transfer station are up a lot of people are at home cleaning and Trying to get rid of things and doing yard work. And so um, that's a side benefit But it's a it's a challenge to keep that operation operational with proper social distancing for our and safety for our employees. It's really a big issue for us So it's it's a but for Water and sewer while our revenue our usage might be down somewhat You know, we do have reserves in those two accounts as as You know, we have lots of different sets of reserves There's not just one reserve that that the town has set up over time and that's a really smart thing to have done The other other question was really about the gap, but I think that's where the finance committee comes in Okay, um So shallony I don't know this is a question but more of a comment especially in the absence of an economic development director at this point, but Just the idea that how can we stay committed to thinking about creative ways to Enhance our revenues. For example, you know, we can maybe kickstart entrepreneurs by Making it making it easy for them to have pop up commercial spaces. Like how can we remove these barriers Another one that comes to mind is outdoor dining. For example, how do we remove the barriers for businesses to Have more outdoor dining spaces. How can we promote more local food growing through removing barriers and gardening and stuff? so I don't know if that's a comment or question, but is there a team or someone who's focusing on thinking about all these different ways that we can support The growth Sure. Yeah, so we have thought about that We have several of these things will require direct action by the council Because if they include public ways or zoning or things like that That would be we have some creative ideas that we're developing We have a call tomorrow actually about one of them that we want to preview with the bit in the chamber So I think we're thinking along those lines Um, you know, I'll be honest, you know, struggling with the idea of the economic development director position because it's a vacancy. It's a it's a high salary position and you know, I really am working hard to avoid layoffs and Hiring but I understand that the this might be the time when you really need someone. So, um That's just one. I haven't advertised for at this point in time and I'm struggling with it a little bit I'm gonna make sure that other people that haven't asked questions yet get a chance peter demling Um Yeah, my question is about capital planning for fi-21. So I saw that you still had jcpc making a recommendation on june 1st up there and um I mean, we haven't met since this all started and um, this is the you know, at-home list started And I'm just wondering since this the guiding principle is pretty clearly make that number as small as humanly possible Is and and the jcpc's Mission is to make a recommendation to you Um, is do you still feel like that's you know in the next few weeks a useful exercise for people to Be spending their time and energy on or or at this point is is it just so much of an exception year that That process doesn't make make The same amount of sense it usually does So previously we had been thinking that it If we were doing such few so few things on capital that we wouldn't need it But you know today we actually just had a conversation and it's good to have shot on board to say Maybe there is an opportunity here to engage jcpc as we have some Funds that we can allocate and how would these be these limited funds be allocated? There are going to be some additional expenses That are going to be requested by different bodies to accommodate the new reality So we anticipate that coming from uh, you know all three entities actually for entities and And how do you want to weigh how do you how should we weigh those things? So, you know again Sean and Sonya, and I haven't really had an explicit conversation But I think I would I'm thinking rethinking that whether jcpc actually has a pretty important role this year for the smaller For this even though it's a smaller amount I just want to weigh in because I'm sure of jcpc as peter knows and You know we reattentively and I wanted to talk to paul and sonia of after the 18th Will have gotten a better sense of what that allocation is looking like and calling a meeting of jcpc after in that week um to talk conceptually about how much money and what kinds of um Information we're going to need from the various sources on what is the absolute minimum and why do they need it? Okay Pat de angeles you have your hand up Yeah, this is not quite a question about the budget per se, but you talked in the beginning paul about the Homeless folks who were doing well and did not need to go to hampshire college But i'm wondering what's happened with our home homeless population now and what impact that might have on current expenditures Yeah So typically what happens at this time of year The shelter closes and people are experiencing homelessness are truly experiencing homelessness and They're on their own and the and the town hasn't done anything other than the sort of food offerings that have happened in the past We have had conversations about what it's what the town can do um and there are going to be some definite needs and Supports that folks experiencing homelessness are going to require and So We don't have good answers for these things. We're identifying the needs We've talked with different non-profit vendors people who provide the services To see if they can help us out. It's definitely something that we need to Seek funds for and to address So I don't that's not a great answer pat. I'm sorry, but it's just where we are I want to add to that. However, because just this past week uh paul and I met with um Mindy mindy dom and with um joe comerford uh because of constituent concerns they had heard as well And during that conversation we really emphasized the fact that Homelessness is not just a responsibility of amherst. It's a regional responsibility And that we need to have them work with others in the region to figure out how best we can coordinate greenfield Amherst and holy and um new and north hampton and that it's not we don't pay for the shelter With the town um the biggest problem for now With the whole homeless population for the town as you know is that they don't have the library to go to They don't have the senior center to go to they cannot go inside the Survival center. So a lot of the places they would normally go to on bad weather days or older days I've just not been available. But the issue is something that both uh joe and mindy are keeping an eye on And have agreed that they will talk to their counterparts in our region To see whether we can come up with a better regional solution than we have thus far Um, I some of these other I there I also want to go back to shallonies question And just say that um since the bid and the chamber were with us Last week at the council meeting, um, I've taken their uh presentation I've developed a chart many of you fight from here with my charts Um and started to look at what are the different things that they've asked What could the action be and who needs to be involved in terms of is it the town? Uh administration or is it a committee or a subcommittee of the council? And so forth and so I hope uh, and paul has been working with that on on that with me So we'll hope to be bringing that back to the council and with more concrete ways on how to move So, uh Lee edwards you have not spoken yet. Yeah, um, I maybe I've been reading too much post apocalyptic fiction but And you touched on this a little bit when you talked about capital projects, but Is there any thinking COVID-19 may be the first of what may be a series of pandemic events and that There's maybe yet, you know, a need to think about How not to be quite so flat footed in the future as all of us have been In the face of this one. I mean as we go forward Yeah, yeah, I mean that's a great question. Lee, um You know, I've been thinking a whole lot about the fall. Um, and What's that going to look like and I think, you know, as I worry about, you know The weather turning people experiencing homelessness not having and more people experiencing that um Talk about food insecurity for people who don't have jobs and you know We've had this great surge of interest and effort by a lot of people both government and Non-profits and uh volunteers and donors But if this becomes a sustained event or something that has their second bump, you know, this fall or another How are we going to manage that and that's something that we have to keep thinking about this? I sort of feel like food insecurity is probably one of our highest level Issues that we're going to have to be really focused on in the fall Um, Darcy, jimon Darcy, please unmute I um, I thought some of those same thoughts lee And I just wanted to say that I'm I'm encouraged. Um that we're thinking about How we should not be thinking that we'll necessarily have the same assumptions For our expenditures in the new post-covid 19 era I hope that we can really focus on making the town resilient to both the continuation or recurrence of Something like COVID-19 and also just resilience around our general vulnerabilities around climate impacts and with what we've learned from COVID-19 And our new climate goals and climate plans that we're going to be coming up with for For buildings and transportation energy land use agriculture and All of those things that are coming down the line to try to help us be more resilient We really I feel like we really need to be thinking about shifting our priorities in general about our finances and Supporting some of those plans that can bring us local jobs and so on and that uh, I I can see where the fy 21 budget is you know going to be Definitely problematic, but as far as the fy 22 budget Think kept thinking about making some major shifts In the way we're thinking about um Our own resilience is a town To things like this happening Alex you have your hand up Yeah, I have I don't know if it's a question observation, but I'm thinking about as I do both the schools and the library um And I'm thinking about the magnitude of making these buildings ready in social distancing and the cost around what that's going to look like and So much that's unknown and we don't even know what that looks like at this point. It's all untested and so I'm Trying to figure out do we have some way of sort of? Like at some point we have to make some decisions and we have to come up with some estimates Based on the best information that we have and so I don't know if that's part of what finance committee is doing, but do we have some sort of roadmap or timeline around Expenses related to Coming back into the building. I mean, I don't even know. I don't even have to phrase the question because it's such an unknown massive question and you know, that's Because I'm in a library in a second grade classroom So I just think the absolute worst in terms of you know hands and mouths and what it looks like all the time around me so I guess I it would just For me, I guess it's helpful if if at the library we have some idea of like by this date You know, you you know what you know and you've got to come up with the estimate based on I mean, I know that that's what the budget is but they like Just the the extra cost around coven and coming back into the buildings I guess is separate and apart from an operating budget. So I'm just trying to wrap my brain around How do you even come up with that number or when? So so I'll answer by no mic has a lot to say on this because and sharing me as well because they've been doing a lot of thinking about that what the school looked like in the fall and You know for us, it's not it's our first cut from the town point of view is How do we make sure our employees are here and socially distance and safe? Are they able to do their jobs and be safe? And what what do we have to what we what's it look like for that to happen? And we can do that physical barriers We can do it temporarily by changing times that people are working things like that So there's different ways to do it But what we have to address in terms of town hall is really simple Relatively compared to what you know, Mike and Sharon have to deal with so I know Mike wanted to talk on this School Mike go ahead. Sure. So I'll just be brief because we'll we'll be talking about this at school community meetings from now Forever actually but starting starting this week But one of the things that we are doing we do have a health grant and we are Purchasing some materials this spring out of that grant not through appropriations to try out some things What we know is that we won't get guidance from Anybody in time for this fiscal process to play out So, you know, what I will be sharing with the school committee is some placeholder costs that we we made some assumptions much like the town made some assumptions and putting together this proposal Because we know it won't be school, you know school as normal You know, Quebec open today. We've seen some European Countries and other countries in Asia open up And so we're actively following and learning from them and we actually have some staff groups forming this week To start thinking about what that looks like, uh, you're exactly right There's the number of unknowns is greater than the number of knowns But there are some things that are even if we can't be specific and itemizing costs There are some things that we know we're going to have to do differently with entrance since exits Handwashing, right? There's some other ones that are big ticket items that we just it's impossible to predict So, you know the way we're thinking about it is trying to take some of our known costs Some of our unknowns working with our facilities department And taking a reasonable best guess I think the state has a large interest in schools opening and so We know that at some point they're going to give us guidance And what we also know is that guidance is going to change over time as we've seen even of the last two months Sorry, there's a long windage to answer but I think it's a really critical question because Once something I keep on saying and I think this is true for the libraries I don't want to speak for Sharon, but I'm guessing she would agree with me There's a public health issue that we have to deal with and then there's also a public confidence issue that we have to deal with Right, and they're not equally important But we have to get them both right if we're going to operate schools and libraries I'm sorry. I'm going to speak Sharon. If you disagree with me. I apologize Uh, we have to get them both right. So part of that is engaging the community part of that's getting best Best information from experts and authorities Part of that's you know getting some guidance and then always applying it to our local Environment so much like the Jones our buildings aren't designed with the most modern features in terms of when you walk in the building There's x right even the x isn't always where you want the x to be whatever the x is when you go into our buildings and our libraries Um, so it's an active conversation. It'll need to be an active conversation We'll need to have multiple opportunities for the community to weigh in uh with their comfort level and um It has huge implications for us and we have to get that right Again, both on the public health side as well as public confidence side. So I could talk forever on this. I'll stop but um It's something that uh, we're working on uh, literally all the time in every conversation Sharon Yeah, Mike, I never disagree with you I agree with everything you just said, um You know similar to paul's slide the what was it? Which quote was it church Hill? Um, this is just the beginning of I don't know the end of the beginning or something like that. Um, we I will be um I am presenting to the trustees budget figures for f y 21 that are including You know money for masks and plexiglass and bleach and wipes and things like that and you know The staff the staffing will be have to be staggered for probably for a very long time and and all of that. So um There's a lot of placeholder costs and the same thing with the schools You know, there's a a library group working statewide on um, the best way to re-enter and um You know the costs will come into play. So, you know, we just there's So much we don't know But we talk about it all the time um So, uh, let's see dorthy pam So this is a question for mike um Assuming that the public schools do open in the fall and i'll just Interject that holy oak community college has definitely decided that it is not opening for person to person classes We're totally remote. Do you foresee a lot of retirements from teachers? Actually the group that seemed to look worse to me recently was the 50 50 to 69 year old group But do you foresee retirements coming up? If some teachers might decide it's too dangerous for them to return to the public school That a good answer lenn Uh, please okay It's interesting, uh, we have not seen we were sort of waiting for that and we do have an early retirement program that we Are prone to use and this year we we did Make some offers I think the other factor that plays out in retirement for many people um Is financial and right now um financially lots of people are getting advice not to retire because um because of the impact on stock markets and Uh things that i'm not so good at knowing about so, uh, we are looking for that I i've heard people make some of those predictions We're not seeing any real change from what we anticipated two three months ago That may shift uh over the next few months, but um to date we have not seen much changing in that regard Okay, um, austin you had your hand up and you've taken it down probably because of lack of patience austin All right, i'm going to go on to kathy shane Yeah, I I had a question um because elissa brought up the large library project Is there any possibility that we could get help from our legislative representatives to get the granting authority To either postpone the award or give us longer than six months to make a decision because it's coming in As it's currently do in the first six months of what is likely to be The most uncertain and tightest budget we've got where we've had to make big capital requests So it's it's a question on if if they could say you have a year to decide Or we'll we'll wait and give the award later So I don't know what behind the scenes efforts have been and whether it might help to put pressure at the political level of How tough it is for municipality now that was my question Sharon it's up to you if you want to jump in on that Sure, I would I would actually love for either alex or austin to respond and if I don't know if Mindy I know She's on the phone. I don't know if she can she's on the phone and we're not going to bring her in on this time We can move to that question next week when she's actually with us as part of the discussion But alex or austin Well, I just say this is a there's a large question the town has to face now I'm not going to talk about what Mindy or joe might do and That is I guess I call it strategic investments. This is maybe about the library and not about the library and There's only so much that we can do to control what happens At the state level, but the town as a whole is going to have to think in tough times about Where are the most important investments are going to be? I mean, I think the worst thing the town could be would be just to draw back and stick its head in a hole And to say we can't do anything which I think would be a long-term disservice to the Town and actually a short-term disservice to people who live in the town now And that's going to play out across the town. So We we can have conversations with the mblc. We can ask the mblc through our legislative delegation to do what it's going to do But whatever the mblc does the town is going to have to develop a set of what are its strategic investment priorities going to be Of it, you know, this is not a bad time actually to be borrowing money and building things So I think that's the larger frame within which the conversation with the library should occur And we know that library usage Alex is going to say this library usage is going to go up the demand for the library is going to go up Is it always doesn't tough tough times? But I think the question is a broader one about the town's strategic investments Alex, did you want to add to that please? Um, no, probably not Okay um Alyssa you have your hand up This is perhaps something of a follow-up on what dorthy said Can you hear me? Yes, great And that is as you know, everyone is figuring this out right the town isn't alone But you know, nobody hasn't figured out yet. Luckily, you know, mike talked about other countries, etc But one of the things I want to make sure we get reported out to us at some point of course tonight is What the thinking is around accommodating current employees not people who have any intention of retiring Everyone's retirement accounts are in the toilet. Anyway, so no one can afford to retire So what about accommodating employees with underlying conditions when I mean normally well controlled conditions? There are plenty of town employees Just like there are town counselors including myself who might have one or more of the following conditions like asthma Diabetes high blood pressure heart condition immune disorders obesity all those things they do their jobs every day pre-covid no problem With covet even with social distancing. They're going to be people who are Rightfully frightened of going back to work. So that seems to add a whole nother layer to this You know, it's it's not just a matter of Of staggering people, you know, because they're all kind of in the same boat They're going to have to be additional accommodations beyond that And so I think as this unfolds if we could just share if the staff could just share some of the thinking with that Best practices elsewhere as we do that because we cannot put people in a position right of saying well If you can't go back in the classroom where the kids lick all the toys, then I guess we don't have a job for you so Any thoughts on that for many of our Superintendent at Paul Sharon yeah, so Yes, that's exactly the type of thing, you know that everybody's struggling with and there's 351 cities and towns are all having the same conversation Our HR director is on multiple lists serves where everyone's thinking through and it's not just classrooms It's people working at DPW. It's it's everybody so you know It's just it's a dastardly disease. It's insidious and You know, unless you're wearing PPE all the time It's you just have to be so super careful and until the science catches up and the testing catches up Or we get a vaccine We're just going to be in this Wacky area and trying to figure out how these things work and the way HR things and collective bargaining things all overlay everything It just creates an incredible level of complexity And I just again when I look at our town, I think so thankful that we have People who are leaders in a lot of our organizations who are on those boards Having the conversations at the state level you're saying what's this what's this look like? Because it's it's an active conversation Steve Schreiber you have your hand up and thanks for joining us. Yeah, thanks for having me Yes, I just want to make the case for actually the good timing of the library because one it's really hard to think of a more egalitarian You know structure than a public library. It's welcoming to everyone. So it's you know, it's um And I think that that's been really clear to everyone since the middle of march about how Unfortunately it was that the libraries had to close because it gave away We lost shelter. We lost access to the internet. We lost access to all kinds of resources So for me the fact that we're so high up on the list Now for a major renovation slash addition Is extraordinarily exciting So all of that said I did go to the I think it was early march Design presentation we're all crowded in the basement room And so there's a couple of thoughts about that like what were we thinking we were all crowded in this room when covid was in the You know, we didn't know but it was just you know, sort of an extraordinary that The things that we didn't know at that time But that also gets me thinking that because we didn't know what a library a renovated library or what a We didn't know what the Threats were at the time. So it's hard to see us moving forward with the design of the library as is without now considering what Pandemics and epidemics how that might change the thinking about that So I I'm not sure where I'm going with that but on one hand I think we should be gung-ho moving forward with the library. I also think that we really need to take a serious look about How would and now that we know what the threat of a pandemic like this is how would we redesign it Like what would spaces look like in a post pandemic era? So I hope you can do both of those move forward with the library, but then also take another look Andy Steinberg Yes, I waited until Lee close to the end of the meeting to just say something as chair of the finance committee We are meeting tomorrow as has been alluded to several times. We've got a lot on our plate to deal with and Asking additional questions about today's meeting coming to a firm understanding about sort of the greater details That committee members may feel that they need to have Thinking about the question of what is most essential in the one-month budget. We were very strategic in recommending to the council That we have a one-month budget and to the f by 21 budget with a little bit more time So there's a lot on our plate. I wanted to assure Members of the public who are still Listening that we will have a brief public comment period tomorrow. We did not have public comment Built into today's agenda, but it is built into the agenda for tomorrow if people Who are participating in this meeting from the three elected boards or Anyone else has questions that they would like to make Sure did at least considered They certainly can email them in and I want to thank everybody who's been involved in this process so far Yeah, I've been involved in town government in one capacity or another for 2025 years and a lot of it in budget sites with finance committee select board now on the council This is really unprecedented time. I don't think that I even in 2008 2009 It doesn't touch candle to what we're dealing with now and We need a group working together and I think we have a great group that is working together and thank you There any other questions from the council at this time? I just like to thank everybody for their time and their good questions. So I think we have a lot of work as Andy said And glad that he's here As someone said, I think One of the local businesses said We're not all in the same boat, but we're all in the same storm. So I think that's where we are I also want to mention the Doug Slaughter was on that Finance committee at the same time as Andy and so He comes in with a little bit of that Moment of saying, oh my heavens. Do we have to go here again? And yes, we do I want to thank all of you. This is the launch of a very very tough time for us We knew it was coming. We decided we were going to go ahead and we were going to go ahead and we were going to go ahead and We knew it was coming. We decided we'd throw a little cold water on everybody's thinking Just to get going. But the one thing I know is that Amherst will make it through We're a good town and We'll do it So, uh, I'm going to, uh, ask Austin to adjourn the Council. I mean your, uh, trustees Okay, is there a motion to adjourn from the trustees? Some move Okay, is there a second? Second Okay, all in favor say aye Aye All opposed. Okay, the trustees are adjourned Since since we don't have to actually have a vote I won't make you do a roll call. Um, so Alex You're okay with that Okay, uh, Allison I knew it was muted. Um, do I have a motion from the school committee? I move to adjourn Second Moved by Demling seconded by Lord roll call vote. Uh, mr. Demling Uh, aye Ms. Lord Lord, aye Ms. Spitzer Spitzer, aye And mcdonald, aye. We're adjourned Okay We do it a lot different in the council so the council meeting is adjourned and Thanks to all of you for joining us this evening. Thanks