TranscriptCIP Meeting (Public Test Livestream)

great whenever you guys are ready to start thank you yes yes uh to this third meeting of the CIP that's the capital Improvement program meeting and this is for financial year 23 2023. if we could just kick it off as usual with a round robin uh where everyone can introduce themselves that'd be great maybe Michelle would like to share Michelle rullo David Lewis Drive Joe Tom 1180 Drive Paul first Chesley Hill Road

thank you um so typically at this point in the process the third meeting is a pretty short meeting because at this point we've already reviewed the department the department replacement schedules uh provided by the department heads and the town manager we've reviewed the 10-year plan from the manager we've also reviewed the application requests for projects and for Reserves

and then of course we have also reviewed the applications themselves right sorry I mentioned that and um we've met with the department heads to get any outstanding questions that we may have been answered so that was the last meeting we met with both the fire chief and the Public Works director and uh they did a I have to say I thought they did a great very thorough job of explaining their applications I thought both of them did it was very helpful and we met over at the fire station so then we at since this last meeting we

went off on our own and we individually scored each of the applications in accordance with the criteria in the policy and then we set our scores over to Michelle who was kind enough to correlate them for us and put them into rankings so that's where we are this evening um tonight we're going to look at those rankings and see if they're in line with what our general expectation was see if they they make sense to us and then we'll decide if we're ready to make a recommendation to the selectment um and then finally I thought we'd also talk a little bit about the Advanced memo uh I know last year we did I put together a short conveyance memo for the selectman and I think there might be some value there because that memo can carry on from the selectment to the budget committee and to others to give them some context with regard to um really why we feel the scores landed as they did and any outstanding things

we think are important to share so [Music] um I thought we might take a few just a few minutes and look at the the notes uh Michelle had included in her um her score sheet a section for notes and I looked over those briefly and I saw that I think everyone included a few notes for each application and so I thought it might be worth talking about briefly you know which notes we feel kind of rise to the top and might be important to share in that conveyance memo so that's pretty much all I've got here at the outset um I wonder if we could start by asking Michelle if she'd be willing to present the rankings for us yeah do you want the scores too or just where everything landed

so the first one was the stream Crossing for 498 and close behind was the exhaust removal at 493. Quint rehab was third at 485. fourth was a public works truck fifth one was assessing at 4 54. Chief's car for a sixth one at 443

fire department generator 7th at 433 Public Works Reserve 8 and 4 30 and then 10 off this generator at night that 409. [Music] Okay so the stream Crossing application and order again stream Crossing exhaust removal Quint rehab Public Works truck assessing fire department Chief's car fire department generator Public Works Reserve town office generator

um um I had a chance to look briefly at the individual scores from everybody that everyone submitted and um you know it looked like there was some variance with regard to for example what people selected first or second or third but um it seemed to me to come out generally in a fairly reasonable way um of course green Crossing I think it gets elevated because of course it gets those extra points related to the Grant and so every year that helps to elevate it and um I guess that's rightfully so and especially in this case where you have a situation where currently we have coverts and at some point those cohorts are going to need to be replaced and I'm assuming that when they do need to be replaced that that's an in-stream job and that we would have to get I don't know exactly what the permit process would be in the Army Corps probably probably an Army Corps permit they will be involved yeah and so when

that happens at some point in the future when those coverts have to be replaced they are probably going to be required required that that Crossing have a natural bottom and that if you have box covered regular than than regular culprits I am assuming so it is a little bit of payment now we're paying me later um I'm not sure if they would you know let's say in 10 years we don't do this and 10 years down the road that issue has to be addressed pops up because we're having major washouts or for whatever reasons or those cohorts get underlined and fail then um you know we would probably have to go the whole the whole distance and put in a box forward at that time I'm assuming so I know for me that was kind of a I mean I don't know when others thought but uh yeah I'll just throw it out there stream Crossing

for the first time I tried to rank kind of agnostic of maybe what I thought you know where things should land yeah yeah you predicted it did kind of work out um you know where where I thought things might have fall but tried to keep my thoughts away from that and I do think just looking at my scores um certainly the having the grant funding um as well as addressing state law and regulation those two components um you know weighted heavily to feel well you know where to place my overall ranking which did first okay yeah that's that's great thank you yeah so Joe

quite a bit of different Slants here on what might be Harper related and what might be reserved and so I didn't take that into account why I graded sure right well which ones would we do offer and which ones would we do raising the funds and um that was just quickly trying to tally it up here because I didn't have a chance ahead of time and it actually looked like a pretty good deal for the town at this point when we go and recommend that you know we can utilize Aqua funds for a number of the projects and put um you know some of the some of the thing about Opera is that you can't combine it with funds we've already raised for a project or are gonna raise for a project so you you have to you have to it has to be a lack of a better one because uh a brand new project that's going to be a one-time deal and we're going to raise all the money this time around that's that's where it offers for so

um so it was interesting going through it when I went through it and then I went back to it again about four or five times foreign um you know all of them are very important for the town and I think it's a good breakup of how this all lands in the end for what I can tell yeah yeah I think so I I I I think it's actually going to be a pretty a good I'll say good deal for the time in regards to how to allocate the funders appropriately for the different projects

stream Crossing one ranking one in my actually it was four I ended up with the exhaust removal of the Quint rehab and the truck almost the exact same scores that's about what I got too I didn't have a one either but yeah I mean I think it's still important and with the the funds available I think it's that's kind of what puts it to the top of the list for me but I didn't have it every time

um okay yeah so I mean I look at these rankings they make sense to me um I it was you know walking out of that meeting last week I really felt like gosh this is going to be really tough because all of these are really compelling projects and I'm not sure where they're going to land but then when I really got down to it certainly things like the exhaust removal ranked High also when I reflected on that visit you know to the uh to the base to the fire station and um and saw the current system how the ventilation currently operates you know and the fact of course that you know it exchanges all the air which isn't certainly isn't great from an Energy Efficiency perspective you lose all your heat you know when you open those doors but I think for me the bigger point was you know I just kind of felt that space and that's space it was not cavernous like mini fire department base center it's a fairly

small space and and I kind of looked at the walls and it seemed to me like you could almost kind of see a little you know you a little bit of kind of a tinge of you know diesel of smoke on the walls they didn't look like you know they didn't look freshly painted anymore I guess that's the point they didn't look freshly painted anymore given the number of vehicles in those bays and the small space and the fact that [Music] we really need to do all we can to support these townspeople who serve on the fire department in my opinion because um you know this is a huge commitment and um we rely on them and we you know we

need to make sure where do we ever everything we can to of course ensure their safety but towns is going to a kind of a higher and higher level of professional Department and uh that's also very expensive and so that's why I really think we need to support what we've got I think you know we have a department that seems to work really well and and um it makes sense for us to invest in that so uh anyway um I was a little disappointed that reserves didn't rent higher but they didn't rank higher on my list either and I struggled with this but one of the places I landed was well you know we're in this tough situation we have been for the last two years where we haven't had a clear Reserve balance and so you know are we going to be moving forward through the budget committee and the selectman you know are we going to be able to defend a large request I don't know if we can this year until we get some of these other things

uh correct that need to be corrected with regard to the reserve accounts so um anyway that's where I see him I think it's kind of what it's unfortunate because that they're not higher I think especially for public works it needs to be higher because there's there is a need there those trucks are coming up but um but this is where we are

comments I guess I'm just wondering why that isn't sort of a given it's just something that's done why does it is that enormous right word yeah because I I think there should always be some savings going on yeah obviously I mean there's always going to be things that we need to pay for yeah and I don't know the history of the town and where we've been and where we're headed well I think I think the challenge is often that um you know these these schedules they

represent um what the department heads feel that they need and those things are generally real needs [Music] um however the town has limited and it still has limited resources and so and we have to think about that balance with regard to the tax rate

each year and so um generally most towns our size don't just put a specific you know number don't just like fully fund the reserves each year they they uh bottom or they don't automatically fund the reserves each year they don't automatically follow they do it like we're doing at least that's been my experience because there's just uh more need than there are

resources generally in a small community so uh but maybe we'll go further that direction and then of course the other challenge for us specifically is we haven't had really had significant reserves in the past so we bought it everything so we're still paying uh Bond payments you know where we have a significant um uh debt that we're servicing and my recollection is that we're somewhere around at least the last year I thought we were somewhere close to a million I believe in bond payments yeah so you know it's very hard to save while you're making large loan payments so that's kind of the decision we're in so we kind of have to thread that needle a little bit um now that said my hope would be that this reserve request still makes it onto the warrant because I think it's really important so

um but you know it's also kind of like when you're rating reserves versus projects they're very different things right well that's where I struggled yeah seemed to equate I like I wonder almost whether we should think about like you know handling them separately well and I guess I could do in relation to this because if you look at that Public Works Reserve in order to pay for you know the new plow truck five years from now funding the reserve this year is kind of needed yeah um so I feel like there's a little bit of a bit of a disconnect and if we're if would it be appropriate for that cloud truck five years from now to be a request that then if the town approves of it then the reserve is a given because we've said that that's which I mean would entirely change the budgeting process but at the same time it kind of because otherwise if we don't fund that this year then I mean Calvin's whole schedule is then

going to be thrown off so don't don't require once we approve it don't request it every year just put it in the budget right basically and the fire department is kind of the same way you know you go this doesn't mean the long-term assets and it's not I mean you've got to plan a ways out like going through this each year expected like oh well the reserve didn't get funded and so you know potentially you're the purchase of that vehicle is going to be another year down the road assuming that you know the reserve gets on the next year uh yeah but at the same time if we don't I think it's important for us to at a bare minimum review those Reserve requests because um you know we want to make sure that for example the supporting documentation is there for what's being requested and that it seems reasonable right I mean it's important to part of this process is also answering questions and queuing up these

requests for the subsequent meetings you know the budget committee meetings and the selectment so I you know I really don't think I I think it's important that the reserves be part of the process but I know I don't know if we should think about ranking them separately or not I mean there may be a I mean

you only do have one uh you know kind of uh well you have multiple sources of funds but in terms of reserve of course it's just it's pretty much just taxation and um it has you know we have to we have to redress it somehow so in some ways if you could be in a situation some years where you know it's just really compelling and it is important to write it it is important that you know you say that this is number one because we've got this big purchase it's coming up next year or the year after I think you could look at it too both ways yeah I think it's hard when you're looking at items where you feel like you need them now and then to your point yeah this is five years down the road and I mean I'm a saver at heart so I'd love to put money in reserves and have it planned out but it's so hard when you see these items that you feel like okay we need these today yeah

need yeah I think that's true I think about a little bit you know because we you know it's like it's like voting every year on whether you're gonna pay your mortgage or not right you've got a commitment to a public works if I'm going to commit to a commitment to a fire department

fire department requests are additions to that but the reserves and say the Quint for instance which I'd almost consider another kind of Reserve type thing something you that's the the cost of doing business in the fire department um you know the reserve for the public works and the queen it's just something you have to do the rest of them are for the most part in the Assassin is something you have although that's not a regular item that

a huge ticket item I'll say [Music] but it's just something that has to be done on a regular basis do you just put it in the budget and set that aside every year and not have it come to this committee because you just set what the budget is and just go there and just have that preserved for those particular items because I mean every year I'm gonna have a public works truck come up every X number of years right well there's always this question of whether you can push it out a little further well I get that but but if you level load the budget then everybody's tax base stays the same otherwise it's

fluctuate continuously fluctuating and everybody gets all unnerved about it so you know you've got to do these things um you know you got to save for a car you got to save for for certain things um if and yeah I I don't know so that's the ideal that I think we need to move in that more in that direction but I think it is also important that we reflect on where we are yeah with regard to for example those uh Bond payments that million dollars of bond payments annually that we're making so maybe we can't get there all the way yeah yeah no I agree yeah

wondering whether because I know we talked about um you know at some point in the spring kind of regrouping to revisit this process for next year recognizing that we we have limitations this year just given Reserve accounts and and all that and wondering if maybe the process and what gets reviewed and how whether that would be part of the conversation I don't know or sure you know yeah but yeah um I guess my suggestion this year might be that we point this out in the conveyance memo with regard to the reserve and um that we point that out that it didn't really uh that there is that conundrum with regard to projects versus Reserves

and that um you know we also need to make sure we know we know what's being maintained in reserve um which certainly in my mind speaks to having reserves in a separate account and I guess the other reason I think that's important is because if you just have those funds if you're just keeping track of those funds on paper and it's all maintained in the quantity native fund it also makes it very difficult for you to get an undead an accurate undesignated phone balance over time which is uh really important in the town so um anyway I think you know both of those things are worth mentioning with regard to those reserves and then the other thing just a reminder again so you know reserves are things for future years and project money is money that's going to be spent in that in that upcoming fiscal year in that upcoming upcoming year so maybe we address it in the conveyancement does that make sense to

you guys okay [Music] maybe reevaluating some of these criteria Joe did you oh scoring seems you do the categories need to assess categories on a future date categories at a future date um yeah I mean it's one of those things where you can't really check all the boxes from Public Works it wasn't quite fit well I mean I think that gets back to the point of when we're doing a reserve request these categories don't quite fit

what it is that does it have all these categories absolutely but it's it's an indirect way um you know it's kind of hard because you're I'll think about one vehicle or one project yeah I mean thinking about a group of projects at some point in the future I know folks would say well does it directly produce in common does it indirectly produce income you know Iran is a one no it doesn't directly do that or indirectly do that but somebody might say well no it absolutely does because we clear the roads and we do will stop and everybody can get to work and you're gonna be able to get and go and everything you know I mean so you can argue with the other way pretty easily right right but but when you look at the project you myopically just by itself it's like well no it doesn't

um but if you threw something in there and then you have to go back to the all the other categories a lot of it didn't directly on a lot of my sheets didn't directly affect incoming account and I think I kind of purposefully did that to make it all an even level field you know um but it just some categories and I've said this before that somehow some I mean this is a great tool to utilize at this point but we we may want to break out the like you say the projects from so we may rather we may want to have a few really simple but different criteria for reserve for the reserves right I think I think I think that's a good idea to describe it yeah a simple way to do the reserves you know

you know even if they have to go to a town meeting every year like we're doing um to do that to say all right well these are really important we apply a truck in two years we need a a fire truck work and not a lot of truck work and uh in five years let's say that you've got to just section that out as a separate entity

um with regard to the conveyance memo we already covered some of the comments about the street Crossing you know like why that wearing tie I would think that would be good to include include conveyancement yeah yeah I think the stream Crossing is kind of a no-brainer with the amount of money the states throwing into it one of the projects stayed and then its bounds that was the problem we had last time around is the cost of the project increased

circumstances circumstances that's what it came down to okay so getting back to the conveyance memo are there other notes here that we want to include other points that we want to emphasize just looking through the notes Here

self-explanatory um do we want to say anything about kind of a share plan with drugs or is that do you guys feel like that's kind of outside of our our own house well the fire department and the Public Works trucks pickups so you know the sharing of pickups so you know do we wanted we want to offer some kind of support in One Direction or the other with regard to um some Chief congresses public works well not really a verse more like is there a way what's the most efficient way to like kind of share and pass down these drugs so we can get the most efficient use out of them and uh of the fleet so for example I think I heard someone mentioned that may have been Jerry this idea that um uh it really kind of makes sense to have uh a Chief's truck which then after you know what do I know six or seven years of Duty it's a reassigned to public works because it won't get that many miles as the chief's truck it won't get

nearly the level the intensity of use that it would get us in public works truck so after six or seven years this truck is still going to be in really good shape and we're ready to have its Second Life as a public struggle so I thought that was a great idea

so yeah okay yeah [Music] more iteration to do that yeah exactly exactly what ideas are called yes so we need yeah yeah yeah exactly earlier than later can't wait for that Evolution to go through um well that's kind of the challenge is yeah we did go ahead and buy a cheese vehicle now and then six or seven years would go to public works exactly right yeah that would be the part of the point there is yeah it does need to need to get done um sooner than later

Calvin's truck is up next year yeah I know that's right and it's pretty beat as it is I don't know so it's kind of like we really need to at least add one in the mix well that's that's why this time around if that truck was available to become the chief's truck temporarily is not temporarily no goal and then swap it up

Kevin's tripping yeah it's unfortunate that it's kind of like it's back it's just huge right now or it doesn't which is unfortunate does he come out with that truck does he plow intersections and stuff with that truck okay and keep in mind that both of those trucks are used for very different reasons oh yeah yeah absolutely thank you he wants to haul more people and he wants to set it up a specific way right yeah yeah because he talked about that right which you know probably wouldn't be appropriate for Calvin to be using it set up the way the Jeep wants it no no uh yeah that's another cost yeah you have to figure into that so you say you don't think it would work to pass it down or to yeah you you could but it's more than what Calvin would need for for a truck because because the Jeep would want to like a crew cab right so we can haul the guys and you know a Surface body there's some service body the camera doesn't need

that for his every day that's right that's the other thing too is that yeah the needs are outside yeah standardizing wouldn't help no there so I mean I mean if you you know I you know that Public Works truck had scored pretty high for me just because you know I know that that truck the Public Works pickup and you know this time around I think I had a third or something like that well that's a plow truck that's that's not yeah yeah sorry not Calvin's but not cows exactly it's the one time yes so the one time though scored high for me and it's because I see a lot of community benefit from that truck because it's in service every day you know it's out there every day putting in culvert's uh you know

uh whatever the job is you know um doing on a ditch job it's out there you know carrying guys and equipment and the flaggers Combs all that stuff culverts so it scored high for me I do have some concern about the fact that on

the where did it end up here it ended up pretty low didn't it was right okay fourth yeah yeah okay well you know but they're out there yeah yeah it's kind of hard because for the fire and rescue equipment you know there is this public safety aspect that's related to a situation that is a mediated it might be an accident um or something like that immediate need where is whereas road maintenance it's more like preventive uh safety it's more like preventive safety but it's every day and all the time you know and very very critical

pretty close so getting back to our notes Here um let me give that some thought with regard to how to frame the pickups I think it is important that we say something with regard to the need there that we you know Clearly say that we see the need there for both of these vehicles for the public works truck and the chief struck well but they didn't but they didn't rank as high I'm that's just that simple yeah but it still isn't there you know there are a lot of needs this year that's the bottom line

Chiefs vehicle on the Public Works truck are two separate subjects yep it's just the huge vehicle against what might be coming up in the future might be the discussion comment that needs to be picked up pretty clear as to what the one time of what it's going to be used for

public works truck is you know they have a truck now that they're gonna I'll say retire but then I utilize a little bit you know that's I think we talked about that a little added expense to keep that going against the question is you know how far are you keep that going before you let it go it doesn't need to be replaced right yeah yeah exactly now and you know use a older truck and how you know is that a truck that needs to be replaced or not later or are you all set with what you have and that's just kind of an added extra because you're gonna quote unquote just Sunset it

and really Sunset not come back and look for it later maybe the point is quote that Clarity is needed yeah that if um the old truck is to be retained yeah that at some point in the future it doesn't become a request for you Trump that's correct yeah yeah I think that's important because people will not like

that very much you know if that became a new truck or a new need um but yeah I need to be I'll say more Justified than just you know it's it's not worth getting rid of but will I keep using it it's a I think it'll probably scare a

few folks um in that capacity or we should be again back to the pickup truck plan for the town how's that that's that's kind of what we have to the town needs to figure out put in the right corner so that you get the hand down appropriately you know again it's not easy but it does I think it's a smart idea I think it's a doable idea and it just needs to be put in place and laid out on paper to say okay I'm gonna do this on year one and this one year five this one year 10 and this is how we get the progression and we've got the savings out of it because they were special I think the viability and [Music] different proposals for a plan need to be further vetted yeah because I think Jerry also had a really good point which is okay you make all this investment for example in this Chiefs truck you get the utility body right and you get the crew cab and I see recall there were some other features I can't recall exactly

what they were that he was looking for there but you know probably a few other bells and whistles that make it um make it set up for the kind of service the chief needs so then if you turn it over to public works and then the chief gets a new vehicle you're paying for all that stuff again right that's the loss so for example that utility body is really expensive right no I do so or utility cabinet is something called a utility service money thank you thank you yeah that service body is really expensive so you know that needs I think some and the best in my mind kind of the best place for that is with the manager and the department heads um hopefully they can uh take a harder look at this in the months ahead and come up with some come up with some options so yeah I mean we're just not quite there yet no no I agree I think that's where it belongs to yeah the whole overall plan I think

yeah one point I just want to remind you of because I think I heard it when we were at the fire station is that that's in regards to the chief's tribe I think he negotiated when coming on as Chief as part of that of coming on well yeah I mean there is a savings I mean obviously savings is it there's a there's a trade-off because then you're not paying his stipend right I think is what you're talking about no I think yeah that's to take the job be negotiated taking the job as part of getting the charts they're going to have to use his own so he negotiated yeah I don't know why you know that yeah okay I think he that was part of that negotiation and of course that's not something so we negotiating that's fine yeah right so yeah yeah I just throw that throw that out yeah yeah it's important to say yeah well it is because it's really clear to me that that was the case before when we were talking

about it what was that it was not clear that that was the case in the original higher end process impression that I got right there it was his wedding yeah whether he was explicitly like saying within two years we're gonna get a vehicle or is that at some point we want to get a vehicle so we don't have to use your own I don't know whether it was that's a different department or yeah I mean I say it's a different problem yeah I I guess that wasn't clear that that was what love the commitment to the of the town was to that position you know what the time yeah if that's true then that's a different discussion on what we do with this request yeah well it's a good point it's a totally different discussion Point that's not actually necessary CIP reception well I just I don't know the process but with I mean is there like an official job offer extended time in which case I would lay out I don't I don't know I wasn't here there

so I just thought that's what I heard him say there's so many used to clarify that yeah clearer I don't think he's going to be too awfully upset I think because he was gonna he was willing to take even a public works truck as long as he didn't use his own so that way I get that but but there's two vehicles yeah it is a couple different ways to approach it I mean I think writing it's a different discussion than I can perform yeah I think so too well I mean it's it's on here it's a reasonable request as it is yeah and yeah and then the rest of it how it works I don't know how I'm stagger trucks in general you know utility trucks in general whether it be fire or or Public Works that that works a different discussion let me ask this question did we find the chief's request reasonable yeah I think I I think it's as it's presented it's completely reasonable and I I think it's a it's a it's a it's a good way to go

um could that truck be repurposed eventually I think so might not be an exact fit but it it would you know it you know could become something as a runner truck for the public works later yes retired right right but and I think that I think the chief makes a really good request that he does put his vehicle In Harm's Way continuously I mean I I approached the scene yesterday at Newark and swamp again where somebody apparently may be going the wrong way down the wrong side of the road um that you know there are personal vehicles out there stopping traffic before the rigs get there about the chief's car being one of them I'm not sure if he was actually there I think he was so his was probably one of the vehicles there you know it is that's the first vehicle sitting at the top of the hill he came up but you know he's coming in at 40 50 miles an hour normally do or faster and it's his vehicle that's sitting there

blocking him and anyone else down below from getting hit it's that simple of a problem you know if his truck gets hit and it gets disabled then what does he use to get to the next fire that's a really good you know great thing that could happen with a public truck but I would say well public truck just got hit his truck's the backup right

that just got together and not to mention you probably have an unhappy insurance company you have an unhappy Chief yes yeah and I would think that it might not end well you know yes well it doesn't always happen I mean he's going to just end up the way he ends up on the policy page for right I mean that's just the way it is and everybody's going to feel bad about it but that's just gonna unfortunately be the end of it right um because most interest there's a lot of volunteers that do the same thing

there's a lot of times I agree and I think the Chiefs kind of covered this as not necessarily his vehicle it could be the command vehicle so maybe it's not his continuously depending on what's going on you know he goes on education maybe he leaves the vehicle vehicle for what system cheat for somebody else I think that's definitely I think that's exactly yeah I think so too yeah and again that

wasn't necessarily uh yeah and clear but I believe that's the intention um and and yeah so I mean I think this is like overall good thing to go do um and whether it's in his contract or not I have no idea I don't think it was in this country I think that just sort of negotiate and just get Faith like yeah yeah yeah that's something kind of thing and to just sort of like you know thinking out loud and looking at them fired truck in the public works trucks that they use every day I I See Fire as the truck Maybe maybe lasting almost twice as long yes Public Works drive so why not just use it twice as long right you're right that's where you get the most efficiency yeah just use it twice you might be buying two different work stocks to the fires right right they're going to wash it yeah yeah exactly I think so I I think you know I think you're on to something yeah yeah which is basically there is no magic phone

it's reality right yeah I don't think I've been sad but you know I do the scanners are going in my house all the time so this past weekend during the uh the storm event is when I heard you know Calvin being called out personally to get them down here and here and here but that doesn't happen that often I mean you know Chiefs on scene at every incident that's

going on for the most part right you know him and the assistant chief are on scene at everything yeah I did also appreciate from him that what he was talking about was a very utilitarian vehicle um rather than a command vehicle right yeah and typically this command vehicles are SUVs and they're set up with a Command Center in the back that pulls out yeah to the tailgate right yeah that's a great area the scene command yes right and they're very expensive oh yeah um but that's not what he's looking for he's just looking for the utilitarian vehicle right right that will also pull trailer right it's basically it's a toolbox on Wheels exactly yeah right yeah it's another toolbox yeah yeah one of the squat packs on the back and they're confused or right more of the scene whatever the case may be yeah yeah I agree I think that's the exactly so do we feel that that project ranked about where it should

we have the Public Works vehicle and then we have assessing and then we have the chiefs vehicle and I just you know I want to look at that just because you know this is the time where if we felt that adjustments were in order it would get made in my right I have the chiefs car above the Public Works truck again it was not from an opinion but the way that the numbers just going into the rankings which obviously that's right but if you pull the public work truck just out of the mix because that's one of uh well actually that's not what it's not no I'm sorry no I can't confuse the Villager

alternative where I mean I guess the Chief's personal truck is an alternative as well it just doesn't seem as viable countless truck uh one time yeah I believe I believe it is let's check out yeah yeah I think so is is a flatbed down slap it down dually yeah yeah that's how I get it yeah I just yeah I could see that the

that yeah I can go either way I mean I I see the utility in both of them yeah you know again well you know the other part of this is is that this isn't a really a normal Year and that these Arbor funds are out there it is so some of these issues may get resolved regardless of their rank they are uh by the selectment yeah you know in their wisdom looking at their different options yeah like I said good morning good position to yeah and then it's kind of like assessing well you bumped the chief's cup vehicle above the assessing and I think you know it's that's kind of that's a challenge too I mean when you look at where we are with regard to our assessment that we're at 80 percent and that we can't fall below 70 percent and also that we may not be fully utilizing things like the homestead exception because of where we are with the 80 percent uh and that's you

know that's coming down the road it may be 2025 but that's only a few years away it's going to be a big cause we need to be saving for it a couple years every couple years out of getting the assessment done yeah yeah exactly what happens the next couple years right exactly so does it make sense do we have enough wiggle room there to bump it up I don't know I think that's kind of that's you know that's a tough one that's a tough one but you know everything you see this uh rebound is important to everything we do it's you know it's important and it's important to the whole town with regret to equity so

and set us off in the right way Opera yeah it's the select what's going to happen yeah it was definitely some so again not this committee is necessary yeah so I don't I don't hear it you're eager to make any changes to the ranking so I think we leave it where it is I would say just let me know where it is okay we just point this out that we feel his request is reasonable yeah but there's maybe compelling projects this year that's the challenge yeah yeah I mean I yeah I I would I would say that both the Chiefs vehicle and the Public Works truck would be candidates for Opera and that's going to be a decision that he's made outside of this committee and then depending on the rankings of the rest of them in regards to that is you know it keeps caught me Bubble Up on Top yeah yeah and the select men they do have the ability through the policy to you know picking and choosing isn't a uh isn't really uh you know an enviable

path or a path we want to promote but you know there can be times when when it's necessary and the selectman asked when we wrote the policy to be able to preserve that right in the town's got the final say with the vote yeah all the Apple plays exactly voted in so um you know it's a matter of bringing the best mix forward as you know what it comes down to the most appropriate mix based on the rating and ranking of these projects in general and then what how it how it really works out in the long-term plan that the stuff we come up with yeah

you know weather range offer or other do we want to say anything about the fire department generator and the Fly Logan so of course you know here we are we're ranking by movement number two um and the uh jet current generator

isn't big enough to service the fly movement okay but the chief said at the last meeting they could add around they could get a yeah they could work with it for a few years didn't have to all be done right this year is important but I also think the health of the firefighters is probably more important uh yeah right you can still keep the place along with what you have yeah um many people it needs to be replaced but exhaust is I think I've done Health thing in general

out long-term care a whole lot of yards of health benefit of the exhaust system there is a health benefit to the fire department generator because that's you know a warning station right that's right exactly get warm and you know we just had a storm this weekend you know half of Oxford County's been out in Western Cumberland for you know four or five days so they they certainly share issues and hope about their farming station in the last couple days so I mean it's important as well yeah

conveyance letter yeah we should so can we talk about that is it our first year did it come out oh this has been coming up when we bought it right was that no well when we first started the committee I thought there was something that came out well or did we just the quit you know it's interesting because uh the quit was in some ways part of the Genesis of uh forming the committee because um there were a lot of people in town who were unhappy with the Quinn right A lot of people the town was very split over the Quinn and so [Music] um uh the question was asked well you know what are we doing to plan for Capital expenditures versus just saying let's

let the townspeople decide to put on the warrant right so um I you know the Quint has gone from being a 750 000 placeholder on a replacement schedule for an out year For an upcoming out year which probably which wasn't even sufficient to buy acquaint the real number was never I don't think put on there I mean a new quint's got to be like over a million dollars yeah yeah so um that it wasn't even sufficient and and that was on there we were kind of kicking that can down the road for a number of years well you know what about the quit and everybody's been kind of chewing on it and trying to figure out what are the different opportunities and we've had a few different Fire Chiefs um and a few different perspectives on the Quinn and then finally last year Kathy and um Chief Tripp got together

and she tripped I think made the suggestion of look why don't we just invest in the current point which is still in really good shape and see if we get another 10 years out of service out of it and that made a lot of sense something to a lot of people because um the coin does have you know as we learn at the last meeting it really does have a lot of utility especially in terms of safety of our fire department members yeah that was great to hear more about it yeah yeah and I like the idea of rehabbing yeah yeah yeah exactly yeah reinvesting into that it seems like a smart should we say just maybe we should put

you we want to point out that we support um that reinvestment application or something says some kind of positive words about that um versus purchasing a new coin right okay yeah um yep [Music] 10 years out of that truck it'd be good it would be good you'd almost have a travel and Museum and how many towns can you say that right probably a lot

know the assessing is I think is obvious it's pretty much obvious um did we are we saying anything about the exhaust remover did we cover that uh let's see here [Music] yeah maybe a few words about the exhaust Ed okay the title office generator is important that is private one that you could actually say that that directly affects um uh income into the town

having that up and running having the time operate having that that's definitely an important thing where it really comes in is that the power's off for five days oh yeah absolutely that's where it really comes maybe down and out yeah so I think kind

of implicit in the score I think is the question can the current generator with with some maintenance can we get you know can we reliably get some more likely well that's a good question just we thought that the last time they were supposed to kick on and it didn't yeah so where the past at work hopefully it will kick on the next time maybe we'll know this guy recently after you had the work done and we haven't lost power as well

yeah we made Friday might be a good test though is there a way to with that I mean I know the newer ones have automatic um you know maintenance uh yeah I mean is there a way to fire it up yeah right I mean I don't know where the I don't know if there's an emergency switch that you can I don't really know a lot whose responsibility is it that generator uh juice it works

on it okay yeah I mean when it went off last time he was the one that got everything going he made the emergency calls oh okay I see it doesn't matter like is it the contacts that he had or yeah just been taking care of it because he that was just a sign to him right it was news to me he was on it like bro yeah and I went down he called the service guy and that's awesome yeah yeah that's great I think it kind of came under emergency yeah services so um

in the long run yeah do those power line here move on and asked that one time since I've been here yeah know a couple hours before they got a backup and running we've been fortunate I think the last probably five six years with regard to

longer term outages but I think the longest one I can remember like recently I don't know seven eight years ago it's like five or six days it's pretty significant sure again I think the score also reflects the fact that we have a lot of competing priorities where I see the temple generator is

um it it's important and uh it's critically important for the operation of town at all and my hope is that we're able to keep this this one going for a few for a few more years if the power goes out and the generator doesn't start the worst thing that can happen is you have to close down home right right and you have to send people home and it's an inconvenience versus say I think we talked about this last time the fire department where um it is like an emergency warming Center and it's a is the key part of the town's

Emergency Operations so that's you know that's where it ends up um but it doesn't surely doesn't change the fact that at some point here in the near future the issue is going to have to be addressed um Public Works do they do their own uh maintenance today like full-time mechanic but you have a mechanical yeah yeah you just said I mean curiosity of wondering I mean would like somebody in a town generator fall more under the public works purview I don't know I I

don't know how much the mechanic over there knows about the generator yeah I'm just saying I mean is it it's a propane engine engine so I mean it's a similar type of not necessarily from Electric electrical standpoint but just from like the from the engine now just to curiosity thinking about okay so like we got the ice storm and you're out for a period of time generate it doesn't start of course getting a generational connect at that point is going to be often impossible but yeah probably the Public Public Works full-time mechanic that they're probably easier to to get a hold of but keep in mind over at Public Works you got five guys over there breaking equipment

know if it's a winter storm I I bet you that mechanics working on something you not always but there's always a good chance that something has gone yeah you know you know where they need his help yeah not always and you know we I mean we can still do an emergency room as long as we can get up and running and then it runs after it doesn't start I mean right we'll we'll be okay I mean it

wouldn't be okay if they couldn't get it to Ron and we was in a prolonged power outage I think you guys are on the road I didn't think it was important in everything we've talked about but you have to first lose power and then it

doesn't work so when you think about just some of the other items and to keep in mind this was a latecomer and the reason why it was only coming to the list was because it didn't start right on the list if that had to happen yeah exactly you know you might want to think about getting a new generated me immediately yeah yeah you know I'll certainly I'll never forget my days as a planner with the town of New Gloucester and I'd be working on some like you know like uh ornaments for evasion and I'd have it like you know I would have been working for the last 40 minutes and forgotten to hit that save button and of course that's when the power would go yeah you know you'd have that and you'd have that drop right exactly right or or a tax payment going

on yeah at the same time then all of a sudden you're in the process of it and it's like okay did it hit the system or did it not yeah that kind of happened the other day it was just it was just a glitch someone they were on a transaction when they went they hit print

and it's not a big deal I mean that stuff happens but it's it's actually a matter of calling Trio to get it resolved right yeah so you know we get through it okay so I think at this point in the process we have uh pretty much covered the you know we've gone through the rankings it sounds like the committee feels that the rankings are reasonable how they came out and we've also gone through the notes and identified some of the notes that we think would be important to wrap into a conveyance memo and my plan is kind of like we did last year is to draft something uh after this meeting now I know kind of where we're at and to put it together to shoot it off to the committee okay and OCC uh Jerry on that

and just say look this is draft please do not respond to the group because of foaa but this is my plan to submit this you know if you have any concerns please contact me directly to let me know otherwise I will be going ahead and submitting this to Jerry with this course yeah does that sound reasonably okay so then I think the next

question is um the scores uh what we've done in the past and this is my recollection and Michelle maybe help me if if I'm not thinking about this correctly but my recollection is that in the past we've only sent the sheep with the rankings to the Selectmen together with a conveyance memo and then the individual Committee Member scores we have provided that to Jerry for the

file is that your recollection too okay yeah so that's just and um the those individual sheets for the individual committee members those are just intended as documentation for if a selectman wanted to see them or if a department had wanted to see you know have more detail on why for example their project didn't rank higher so and then for the selectment we keep a fairly simple we do the rankings um [Music] just want to see if it's is it just that one page that we do or is it more than that I was thinking we had two but I don't

yeah I think it's just the one probably amen yeah okay I I think that's probably all they need unless they have any questions yeah so and you also present to them right Paul don't you actually present that to them at a meeting uh I certainly can I don't know I think in the past I have I have some uh there have been years where I miss it right right um but I believe last year I did

um I try to make that conveyance memo pretty self-explanatory so that it carries yeah you know because it's really not just a selectment it's the budget committee it's you know the townspeople so the idea is to kind of uh

memorialize the what's behind in this course you know why things like you know landed where they landed so so and so that you know also so that the Selectmen can reference it later in this long budget process because um sometimes the same question is and asked over and over and over and so you know give someone a way to look back

missing is a recommend is the uh emotion a recommendation that the rankings be forwarded to the selected together with a conveyance memo or something like that okay I'll step in that motion so four zero cover there's been some discussion about trying to further refine the process which I think has been really good discussion we want to make sure we act on that and we do that at some point generally at this point though like I'm really cognizant of the fact that both uh Jerry and Joe are going to be very busy with regard to the budget process and all that so you know we'll look at doing that um yeah probably you know in the either in the fall or the late summer maybe yeah certainly have to tell you after yeah exactly yeah okay yeah very good yeah we

can look at some of this stuff see what breaking up the project versus the um yeah that's something you know maybe the slacker will have some input into ahead of time as to what they what they're thinking out loud um yeah yeah excellent excellent well it thank you Jerry so that's been a good it's been a good year this year I think yeah yeah yeah it's called what department heads as well because it would be a good job pulling it together everybody did a real good job very very thorough and very quick yeah better and better every year it does it does it does exactly yeah yeah exactly and it's been wonderful having Pete this year too thank you all right

great so uh do I have a motion sir Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everybody yeah