TranscriptNovember 9, 2020 ~ CIP Meeting

Okay. Go ahead. Okay, everyone. Uh, welcome to the first FY21 CIP committee meeting. And, uh, thank you all for coming. Why don't we just start here for the record uh by doing a roundroin and everyone introducing themselves. I'll go first. I'm Paul first. I was the past

chair of the committee. Um and uh I live on on Chesley Hill Road here in Durham. Who would like to go next? I can go. I'm Brian Pike. I live on Patriot Way. David Lewis Drive and I was on the committee last year. and uh this is Joe Tom. Uh I was on the committee last year and um over on 11 to drive.

All right. Very good. So, we're only missing Curtis. We're missing one committee member. We're going to go ahead and start. Hopefully, he'll join us in progress. Um, so I think another order of business here. I think we should probably do the pledge. So, why don't we just go ahead and just, you know, dispense of any, you know, things up front we need to so we can move forward with business.

of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. All right. So, um, I did send out a just a, you know, a brief straw agenda to try

to help, um, keep us, you know, moving forward and keep us moving in the right direction this evening. I don't know if everyone received that. I didn't send it out until probably around 3:00 or 3:30 this evening. Yep, I did see it.

Okay, wonderful. Yeah. Um, and certainly if there's anything I miss here, uh, don't hesitate to chime in. So, we want to make sure we cover all the bases that we need to this evening. Um, first of all, I'd like to kick things off just by reminding us why we're here and what CIP, the capital

improvement program is, what it's about, and also remind anyone who may be in our viewing audience. So CIP is the process that we use to rank and prioritize annual capital expenditures based on the comp plan and also a formalized set of evaluation criteria that are set forth in the CIP policy that were approved by the selectmen about a year and a half ago. Um some of the benefits you know some of the reasons why we do it is it helps us

to focus on achieving our goals uh while at the same time you know discouraging uh what are some what can be more uncoordinated approaches. So it gets us focused on our goals. It also helps us save over time which helps to reduce debt and costs related to financial borrow borrowing. It can also be used as a tool to help us stabilize the tax rate um by carefully vetting expenditures and distributing them over time. It helps our departments, the administration of our departments because um it encourage encourages them to really carefully analyze and forecast their future needs. They have to start early rather than with the budget committee they're already starting in uh really in September. So um

participation. So you know gives uh gives the citizens a say early on in in what is really some important decision- making. So that's really CIP in a nutshell. And um with that, I'd like to move on to the next item unless there's anything you know anyone else would like to add, which is the election of officers.

term here and um you know, thank you all for for uh for entrusting me with that job. And we have uh it's important for us each each year at the first meeting to elect new officers. That's how municipal committee work uh is set up. So um I'm

I'm going to open the floor to a motion for a chairperson for this coming year. more discussion first discussion. Hello. Can you guys hear? Yeah. All right. All right. Second motion. Yeah, I'll Paul first as the uh chair of uh this year's committee.

Okay. So, I believe we had a um uh so a motion by Joe and we had a second by Michelle. Is that correct? That's correct. Okay. Thank you. Uh do we have any discussion? favor? I Okay. I think what we we're supposed to do technically is we're supposed to call the roll. I think I'm probably supposed to call the ro roll

since we're on Zoom. Um Joe, that would be an I for me for Paul. Okay, Michelle. Hi. And Brian, I very good. And I abstain. Let the record show I abstain. All right. So the next item in the election of officers is the vice chair. Do we have a a motion from the floor for

vice chair? year. I would make a motion for Joe to continue. I'll second that. All right. So, we have a motion by Michelle for Joe Tom as vice chair and we have a second by Brian. Do we have any discussion? I'll call the role. So, let's see. I'll start off. I'll start us off. Paul votes, uh, in favor. Michelle?

Yep. I vote in favor of Joe. Okay. Very good. And Brian? Yes. I vote yes. Okay. Joe, I I'm good. Thank you. Okay. Is that in favor or an abstension? Oh, I I'll abstain. Thank you. Okay. All right. Very good. All right. Okay. Good. Well, I'm glad we we got the formalities out of the way. Um now, let's get down to business. Um, I thought maybe we could start off by asking Ruth just for a just, you know, a brief summary of uh what happened at the

referendum or, you know, slashtown meeting. So, you know, as you guys all know, it's been a very unusual year. Um, really tough year for municipalities and uh gosh, thanks thanks to Ruth and the staff uh and this elect for for making

this work. I know firsthand how difficult it was to get to a uh to get a budget passed this last year. So, thank you, Ruth. You're welcome. And Ruth, could you just summarize for us what was funded at town meeting or the referendum?

What capital projects were funded? The capital project. So, the the truck passed uh so this public works truck. The public works Yep. truck passed. There weren't any um capital funding questions on the ballot. Uh we took those off. The the board did. Um and then boy, I think it was I think it was just the truck.

Uhhuh. Okay. Yeah. So, um, my sense was and and Ruth, you know, you can talk about this a little more if you like, but I think that, uh, the, you know, the board felt they weren't quite ready to move forward with recommendations last year for probably a number of reasons. Um, so I believe one of them was is they didn't feel that they had quite all the material together that they needed. Um, Ruth, you know, can you speak more to that?

Yeah. So, um, I I think that they are looking towards having a conversation where they all talk about where they want to head. So, I think that the the direction that the board would like to the town to go in hasn't really been kind of set yet. Um, I know that in the next probably month we'll sit down in a in a meeting um and talk about things uh

a lot of things having to do with the fire department, but some having to do with administration um as far as you know what what what we're going to what funding is going to look like in the next 5 to 10 years and what kind of projects they want to support and what kind of projects they don't want to support. Okay. So, let me ask this. Now,

of course, you know, here we are today in terms of timing um on schedule to move forward with CIP and there is this other conversation uh as you say that will take place here in the coming months. Ruth, have the selectman reviewed all the replacement schedules and applications? Yes. Yes. And approved moving them forward to the committee at this point or where does that stand? The approval of schedules and applications.

Yes. So we we talked about it in a select board meeting. Um there were a couple of things that they they took and they moved it out uh five years. One of them was the the Quint um and the other thing was um doing some renovation work on the modular over the the fire station. And I think those are two of the the topics that are going to be front and center in the discussion about where the town's going to head. Um the town the board's planning on putting out an RFP uh for a report on fire services.

So the fire apparatus actually. So, um, the one that you guys had looked at last year with the the funding, um, request, um, the board's going to put out an RFP for the same similar thing and see see what we get. Okay. So, now a question on the Quint. You say the board has move it moved it out five years. Is that reflected in the schedule you gave us?

Yes. So, what year is that now? I think it's 2026. 2026. Okay. Well, we can go over we can look at that a little bit later. Okay. So, you know, the board has looked at the applications. They've looked at the uh schedules and they've given us the go-ahhead to meet.

Yes. Okay. All right. Um All right. Very good. Any any questions from the committee? requests capital requests then at out output of the SLman's meeting? No. So, the the requests that you have this year are pretty slim. Um there's

uh financial requests uh for saving for a firet truck in the future. Um and then there's a financial request for a plow truck uh in 2022. And then um a request for a truck in 2021. and then some small financial request for some funds to uh put towards a

reconfiguration renovation of the town hall. Something that, you know, might assist with uh some space issues that we're having. Those are requests that are coming or ones that I already received. You should have received them all. the the fire ones you just got today. Chief had sent them to the wrong email address and so I got them this weekend.

Okay. I I'll have to go look at the other ones. I I guess I didn't I missed them, but And air packs, too. Sorry. Yeah, I saw the air pack. Um and I saw the truck. I didn't see this the Quint. No. So the so the Yeah, there's no request for that yet.

Yeah, there's no request for that. Okay. All right. I think frankly that the board pushed it out to have the discussion about whether or not we would replace it. Okay. All right. So, I'm just move missing a few here. I'll have to go I'll look for them here.

It should be in the original um email that I sent. Okay. Thank you, Ruth. of those you mentioned that the ones from the fire chief, fire and rescue chief, um, you just sent to us a couple days ago. Now, has the board reviewed those applications and that replacement schedule and also moved that one forward to us?

The that was discussed at the time that we discussed it with the board. chief did not have the actual forms ready at the time, but the the the idea and the basis of the forms were sent forward. Okay. I I just want to make sure this year that we're on the same page with the selectman. Maybe what I'll do is just send an email to Kevin just to make sure reach out to Kevin just to make sure you know that we're on the same page in terms of moving ahead. Um because I I feel like last year there was a bit of a disconnect there and um I I I want to

make sure we're on the same page this year. Okay. So, sounds good. Okay. Very good. Um All right. Excellent. So, just a little bit here briefly about process. So tonight, I was thinking that we'd look at the materials that, you know, staff Ruth has kindly sent to us and that were put together by staff just to make sure we have everything we need to get going

and um that question. Sure. So, can you just clarify? So from what we reviewed last year because we had several items last year and Ruth are you saying that only one of them the truck that they actually moved forward with is that correct?

Yeah. So what ended up happening what most of you probably know is is u right about March everything shut down and we couldn't have town meeting. And so with a lot of thought and a lot of um consideration um we we did a lot of things to cut the tax rate or keep the tax rate the same this year. Um partially to keep the ballot shorter even as it was it was 22 questions. um but also uh to try and and alleviate any impact um you know because of the economic issues that people are are going to be facing this year and next year.

forgive me because yeah last year was kind of a blur. Yeah, I know. So uh um so that was the only thing that went through was the plow truck then I am thinking so let me go some other things on the ballot that I recognized along the way and forgive me because I was not at the meeting in January. Um

it's okay I'm um trying to find the ballot. Yeah. I forward again. Neither of the capital ones went on the ballot. And then uh the f the the plow truck went on the ballot. Neither of the reserve requests. No, neither of the reserve requests

went on the ballot. Okay. Go ahead. I'm sorry. What What else was there last year? There was the the fire truck. There were reserve requests. There was uh the assessing request. So the assessing request was not uh put through this year either partially because uh with the the whole COVID uh thing we're weren't sure what was going to happen with the market and so it might have affected our our valuation and also we weren't too sure um you know over the long run what the effect would be. So we're looking for that more further down the line maybe 2022 2023. So, uh, that will be coming

down the line, but, uh, the board and the assessor both felt that at this point there was just too much unknown to to put that on the ballot and go forward after everything that happened. Okay. Um, was there turnout here as

well? So, the turnout here, none of the fire stuff made it to the ballot. uh mostly because most of that had already been purchased before we got to the ballot. So uh legally the board can spend capital funds for the purpose that it was intended for. Durham traditionally has put those funds on a ballot question uh and had the town um approve or not different items. Um and

so Oh, thank you, Brian. Sure. Um Yeah. And and so, uh because most of the funds had already been spent, uh they they just they didn't put it on the the ballot because it it didn't make sense to Okay. Um what about the well and septic? They didn't put that on.

Nope. That got done too this year. The well, the septic. Um, they actually spent about I think it was $49,000 out of their capital fund this year on the well, the septic, and uh some other gear turn out here, I believe. Well, how I guess I'm wondering how that appropriation happened if it wasn't on the warrant. What money did they spend?

They spent capital money from the the fire department capital fund. So, I see. So, because uh the town voted to put those monies into a fire capital reserve for the purpose of capital expenses in the fire department. They don't need another warrant article to spend those funds.

Okay. Uh what about the utilities upgrade? Did that go did that get done? They didn't. Nope, they didn't do that. Okay. So, the electrical service isn't there either. Uh no, they didn't fix that. We got truck three back on the up on the agenda for this year. Um

well the the truck got put on the warrant this year and it passed. Oh, it did. Truck that was Yes, that was article four. Yeah. Thanks. Why do I have a Which truck am I replacing this Hang on. Sorry. It's a one- ton dump. It's a new truck. They're adding to the fleet.

Okay. All right. No, that's fine. Uh why is it he's it says a TW I got a capital request for a 2020 truck 3 replacement but the dates weren't changed from last year. I wonder if I sent the wrong one out. I didn't think so.

Okay. Well, that's all right. I mean to we can double check that later. Um okay. sorry, I'm just flipping through my book here. No, that's okay. The bridge account. What happened to the bridge? So, we didn't we didn't do any consolidation. We didn't we we really just kind of um did what we had to do for the operating fund and the the truck. And that were those were the only questions really on the ballot. Oh, and the solid waste, which was necessary as well.

Right. Right. Oh, that's fine. And you've already you already mentioned the re the uh mark adjustment which is probably a good thing to hold off on. Yeah, it just didn't make any sense to go forward. Okay, great. Thank you.

year and I think there are probably some questions with regard to um you know for the town of course our biggest stream of revenue is tax revenue but another large revenue stream is new vehicles and excise tax and for re-registrations you know you can pretty much always account count on the fact that eventually you're going to get paid but whether or not people go out and buy new vehicles is another question. So, I know that was a probably a question at the time.

That was a huge concern and it really has not come to pass. We have so many new new registrations um and new vehicles on the road. It just the excise tax has come back. That's great. Yeah. So, um yeah, you know, we're we're

this is a a new program. We're trying to all get our ducks in a row and um go at this in a coordinated way. Um I think there have been some you know some some bumps for sure and uh you know some of those like certainly uh the epidemic

were unforeseen but um you know we try to move but I think we try to move forward this year and we just make sure we're we're on the same page moving forward on the same page with the selectman. We do what we can what we can to make sure of that. So, so Paul, what if again forgive me because uh we spent the first few months sick, but so I missed that meeting with the selectman. What was uh what was not in align with their thought process?

Um well, I think it was more of, you know, and I Ruth can speak better to this than I can. she can c certainly speak better to this than I can. But um but you know what I'm hearing and what I heard in for example the budget committee some of the budget committee meetings from uh from the board was that

they just you know they don't know what's ahead and um for this coming year in terms of revenue and therefore they want to keep the budget as just absolutely lean as possible. You know, it it's tough. These these are tough times. And the truck I know the uh that truck, what was it? Uh truck three, I believe.

Yeah. Um they had a they felt they could it was important to do it last year. One, because of the condition of the truck, but two, they had what they thought was a very favorable price that they didn't think they'd be able to beat this year. So that's my recollection of why they decided to move ahead with that and not you know some of the other very important items. And then for some of these things I think they just figured out another way to get the job done. Um once it became apparent that you know uh the resources were there and that um you know we weren't

going to be in too big of a hole with regard to revenue. So like for example the water the fire department water um so yeah anyway pretty you know pretty unusual year certainly for everyone. So so it really wasn't anything with the CIP results as much as what uh what the

uh what what the the the what the hand was dealt to us last year um last year. My recollection is I I remember some specific comments about the water project where they felt you know the septic there were a lot of comments about the septic and could it be done another way you know and and uh and all

of that. I don't remember comments regarding the other things although um I think they just felt overall that especially given where the tax rate is and where we are on bonds. Yeah. That they had to hold the line. Oh, and that's fine. I just just didn't know. you made it seem like something was uh disconnected between CI CIP results of how we ranked them versus what the selectman felt as though they were willing to go do. So they may have had a different ranking themselves, but

yeah, I mean we're I'll say a not nonpartisan type uh committee, right? We're just kind of ranking them according to what is given to us and the importance of them. um and and and in in in in what's presented. So, I was just I

was actually more focused on if if they had a different direction they wanted us or a different spin on what they wanted us to look at in regards to the projects or did what we presented last year in order. if it had been a good year, was that was the was that sufficient for them to make a good decision on? I guess

well you know yeah it's an interesting point and what I heard was that um they you know they would have I think liked to have seen we have a policy and this is the first year and they may have liked to have seen some more detail in uh the material that was you know presented to them the schedules For example, the schedules only went out 10 years, I believe. It's my recollection. And I think now they're going out. I noticed they're going out uh the full I forget how many years it is. I believe it's 20.

Yeah. 20 years. So, and I think there were some things there that they disagreed with and um you know, there wasn't I was now I personally was unaware of of their concerns regarding those items. um when we were moving forward with our process uh but I think there were some concerns there and you know instead we took the approach of look this is the first year we're going to take what we've got and we're going to move forward so um you know I think we could have been we could have worked more closely in that regard um and that's unfortunate but I think um basically you know we did what they wanted us to do which was to follow the policy so um you know I I think uh you know this year and that's why I mentioned you know I will reach out to the board make sure that we're all on the same page with regard to moving forward and the materials that we have here to evaluate um and um that's pretty much the best we

can do and then beyond that it sounds like you know from listening to Rue like there may be some other priorities uh with regard to the board in terms of things that they want to see happen And will those things align? How those things align with our time frame, the time frame of this committee? We don't know yet. So, you know, it certainly could be that um they change direction or they make a shift in their direction a couple months down the road,

but uh they of course they have the right to do that. So, and I think for us, you know, we just we have to move forward with our process, at least from my perspective, and move forward with our process. pretty much all we can do and um and we'll get on the same page. I mean, you know, there's still things that are um up in the air a little bit. So, um and of course, uh you know, I

don't know what the timeline is, for example, with regard to a town manager and some of the you know, the staffing changes that were approved to town meeting, you know, and and so there, you know, there could be there could be some things changing. I don't know. And of course, we don't know we don't know who that person will be um or when they're likely to be seated. Uh other than I'm assuming a search at some point here in the near future, they'll probably start a search.

Dr. Process. So tonight we're reviewing the materials that Ruth has kindly sent to us and thank you Ruth for all your work. I think they look uh overall they look really good. So next after this at the end of the evening we'll be scheduling meetings with department heads to ask questions about uh their replacement schedules and requests. We'll get those meetings with department heads scheduled. Then finally, we'll probably all meet together, you know, make sure we have all our questions answered and then we'll go all go off and do our uh evaluating and our ranking according to the criteria and the policy. Is that pretty much uh what everyone else was thinking too in terms of process?

Yes, sounds good to me. So, do you want me to walk you guys through the the spreadsheet to start with? Yes, exactly. So, I am going to share hopefully. Oh, wait. What happened? Oh, there it is. We got it. Well, my problem is is I'm working on two screens. Um, and so I get confused. You'll have to bear with me.

Um, so this is not a a schedule that is actually in the um uh the policy. Um, I I do this mostly for my own purposes. So, it what it it shows me is it shows me all the different departments. So, it gives me an idea. You can see here where um the Quint was was moved out to 2026 along with uh renovation on the modular. So, that is so that it's not within the five-year span that we're we're really kind of working with right now. But this one

are Oh, okay. That's the first in line there. Yep. So, this does go out for the 10 years. The other thing that it does is it combines everything. Meaning, so here, uh you can see this is the funding. So, you know, the capital fund balance, uh where the funds are going to come from for any requests that are this year, um any funds that are added to it.

Um, meaning like the uh request for funds for the future, like the $100,000 for a fire truck further down. And then it consolidates the amounts that are raised in taxes. And it does this for each of the departments, public works, fire, and the administration. Um,

I've been I've been working with this. Uh, I don't know if it's 100% yet. Um and then down the bottom what you can tell so this is the amount that you would raise in taxes from the capital plan and then the this line shows you the existing debt that we have and where it goes over the years. So, it gives you an idea of how much funds are going to need to be um raised in taxes through

the capital for the capital plan, but also for the debt payments. So, that it kind of gives you an idea of what you're looking at. Uh and there's also a line in in the case that we need to bond something for additional debt. So, you could conceivably think, okay, somewhere down the line, 2024, I'm going to go up. 2024, we need to buy a fire truck. So,

$700,000, it's unlikely we'll be able to to uh uh save $700,000 by 2024. Um, but we can get fairly close. And so, you know, how do you get the additional $171,000 at that point? Do you do you bond the $171,000 and make it down here as additional debt or do you actually raise it in taxes?

So that's that's what this sheet is for. It's for the financing part so that I can see what you're talking as far as the bottom line on the tax rate. And then in the CIP there's a the five-year schedule. And this is what comes out of the CIP. And at first I found it a little confusing, but I think I think I've kind of got it. Um, but I kind of wanted to go through it with you guys because um I'm a little confused. So, it starts with public works and this year they're asking for a single axle dump truck. It's estimated to cost 95,000. We do have the 95,000 in in a reserve balance so we can pay for it with the capital uh fund and so that's what we would pay for it with and that would just be it the $95,000 the the air packs I had sent chief a couple of questions I had not received an answer by this meeting so he had talked about the possibility if his operating fund is is under this year of

asking the select board to use some of the oper operating funds to purchase some of the packs, but he's also talking that he wants $60,000. Um, and it seems to be a reserve request, but I'm not sure whether he plans on buying half of the packs in 2021 and half of the packs in 2022. And the other thing I wasn't sure about is I wasn't sure if he meant that he would need $60,000 each year um in addition to

whatever he can spend this year out of his uh his operating fund if the if the board agrees to it. So I had assumed and I'll have to find out whether this is true that uh that he would need $60,000 each year. So the 2022 and the 2021.

I'll interject there briefly. Yep. Go ahead. So if he does not plan to spend any money on airpacks in 21, but he plans to buy them all in 22, it would be a reserve request. If he plans to buy half of them this year and half of them next year, it would be a multi-year pro project. It would be a project request,

right? a two-year project request. So, actually, this would this would be 120,000 if that were the case with 60,000 this year and 60,000 uh well, 60,000 in 2021 and 60,000 in 2022. Can you clarify with him what he'd like to do? And maybe if this needs to be revised, if this application needs to be revised, um bring it back to us in advance of our meeting with him.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Um so the the the other thing that I was thinking about this afternoon as I was looking at this, so here's a perfect example. Here's the tandem axle dump truck with plow that they're talking about purchasing in 2022 to replace an older one. So, we're anticipating it'll cost about $200,000. There's $126,000 in reserve. And I anticipate that that's going to be able to go towards this. And then here's 73,000 that we would have to actually raise um in taxes in 2022 in order to purchase the truck, providing um you know we don't somehow make up some of the difference. But what the the board has instructed me not to take into account any of the operating funds in the public works department which um have been traditionally um fairly high but decreasing. Uh but those go into into the capital fund uh by town vote. And so but they since we can't really estimate um for sure how much that's going to be,

we've just taken that out completely. Um and then it goes down the line for assessing. And then the capital reserve requests down here, fire department. So here I did put the cap the air packs down here with the reserve balance. I guess this would have been $60,000. I do have to ask chief which direction that needs to go.

So So I'm I'm just reading his proposal here and um what I'm seeing. Sorry if I'm not on video. Um you are. You know, it looks like um it looks like he's going to approach the select board here in this proposal to ask for the extra air packs under a special um due to COVID and other circumstances. So, it looks like that might be why he split it out separately

that if he didn't get them in that other separate request, it looks like he's going to make that. Um yeah, I'm only surmising here, of course, but it looks like he spread it out in two buys so he could get maybe the 2022 uh um funded um under a separate um separate line item that the um selectman have outside of the CIP process.

Yeah, but the the the funds would have to be spent this year. So, I guess my question is, you know, if he does get the 10 new air packs, um, which he need to purchase this year in 2020 before the end of the year in order to utilize those funds.

Yeah. I don't know how many he would want to buy in 20 is that a replacement of 2021 or is that in addition to the 2021? And Oh, yeah. Yeah. He doesn't really go into it. I agree. I agree. He doesn't Yeah. I I don't part of it is I don't know how many he needs in total.

Yeah. Yeah. He didn't say that here. Yeah. So that is something that that I need to um I need to pin down him with. Yep. That's fine. Thank you. Um so does anybody have questions on any of the first two forms yet? Uh, I've got

just a minor thing to please keep in mind. Up at the top of the page where it says town of Durham capital request 2020, could we please put the budget year? If we could get them in the habit of using the budget year, I think that'll help keep us all straight.

Oh, you mean on chief's one? Yeah. Well, I don't know. Did everyone do that or just the chief? I don't know. I think that might have been me. Just the chief. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So, get them. Let's all use the same language.

Okay. Yeah. All the other ones have 2021. So, what are you guys seeing now on my on what am I sharing? It's just a spreadsheet on yours. The spreadsheet. Okay. A little confusing, but okay. No, no, I'm talking about the application.

No, no, no. I I understand that, but um Okay. I I wasn't sure what you guys were seeing because I have several things open. Okay. Y in the spreadsheet. We're still on combined schedule. Okay. All right. So, does anybody have any questions on the combined schedule for now? Any changes you see that I need to make? Any questions about uh where the numbers came from or I mean, obviously, we can ask more questions later, too, but

through the request. I, like I said, I I'm I found the email with all the other requests, so I'll go and read them. Yep. And just, you know, you feel free to to email me questions. Yep. I'm good for now. All right. So, we'll go on.

This is the same thing as last year. This is the bond schedule updated uh through 2029. Okay. Could you click on the bond schedule, please, so we can see it? Do I not have it? Uh, it we can't see it yet. No. Oh. All right, I'll try and figure out how to work this

out of the screen froze. Yeah. No, that work. There we go. Oh, that's working. Yeah, you got it now. Got to work this out. Technology is fun when it works, but you know, I know. So, um, so this is the bond schedule. Uh, you can see all the bonds that we're paying on right now, and you can see where it it starts to drop off. 2024 we we drop one off. 2025 we drop another one off. Uh and then by 2030 we've paid all of our bonds off. So we won't have any more bond fees in 2030.

um FY20. What was the total debt payment or the total bond payments for this last for this budget year? I'm trying to get some sense of whether we're seeing a jump, whether there's going to be more pressure on the budget due to the bomb payments this year than there was last.

Well, so this coming year is a high water mark, isn't it? Yes. So, this year was the high water mark. Um, and this year, uh, there was a a substantial increase in the payment, um, by about, uh, let's see, it was the 2019 bond, so it was about 240 plus the ambulance bond, so it's about $280,000.

When you say this year, you mean 20 FY20. FY20. Yep. Okay. So, there was a a jump about $280,000. And one of the ways that that the board was able to keep that from showing up in the mill rate was by um basically cutting in half the maintenance paving line in in public works. um which is not obviously an ongoing thing that you want to do every year but uh we've done a lot of work on the roads in the last couple years and if because of the economic issues and COVID um we need to to cut it then you know that that's a place that makes a substantial difference. So that is how the mill rate was kept even this year.

Okay. So again, my question was, do you know what the total debt payment was for FY20? And you know, just roughly. So was it greater than we're anticipating for 21 or less? Yes, it was greater. Every year it goes down a little bit because um it's a flat payment and so the interest changes year to year and it goes down year to year.

Okay. Um do we have some sense of how much greater Yeah. Hold on a second. Sure. I'll go to find the right the right one I have too many things reconiliation. All right. So, according to what I had last year for a schedule 2020 was 1,13,164.

Yeah, thank you, Michelle. And you can see it goes from the 980 to 969 to the 958. It's not a huge amount of money until we drop one off in 2024. You know, that's a couple hundred,000, but um but the interest that we save every year is a little bit more. So, we'll be in a little better shape this year, but not much.

No, not as significant. Yeah. Okay. Um Calvin had asked me to do this one. Uh and this just shows what the decrease is. So, it splits out the the debt payments between um fire and public works and it shows um how much the they

decrease over the years. So you can see from 2023 to 2024 it decreases the public works ones decreased by 177,000 uh and then another 141,000 in 2025. Um and then in 2029 it goes down 221,000. Um so it just it just shows on a yearly

basis um how much the decrease is in the debt payments um and which department that is associated with. Yep. Okay. Um, so these are the uh capital accounts, assigned funds. Um, they're updated through 918. Uh, so they may have a little bit more. Um, for instance, I know the municipal bond account has about 3,000 more uh in uh interest. Um, let's see here. Here's the fire department. they have more in in the income or in the ambulance billing um right here. U but this is the 49,306.

That's the amount that has been spent um on the well and the septic and um um what was the other thing? The turnout gear. Oh, okay. So, that shows you where that that came out of. So, that comes out of the capital funds.

And then the other stuff is pretty self-explanatory. We did appropriate some money from undesated funds this year to also try and lessen the um impact of the mill rate. So there's there was $10,000 for the emergency fund, $50,000 we put towards the debt payments. Uh the cemetery fund was $4,300. Um that actually was left over from last year, so they just kind of basically rolled it over into the cemetery fund. And then the 77,410 was funds that were uh raised for purposes of the RSU5. And when the RSU5 went through their audit, uh the auditors found that what they had um charged the three towns was not consistent with the warrant that they had passed. Um and so the town paid in uh the 2020 20 no the 2019 2020 um

calendar uh fiscal year uh $77,000 less than we would have um and those funds uh just um revert into the the undesated fund. And so the board took those funds that we had raised for the RSU um and put them towards the budget this year to offset this budget this year.

Uh again, you're talking FY20. Uh yep. FY20. Yep. Okay. So that was a surplus that we overpaid. It was a surplus that we were overcharged. So we uh Yes. So, we committed the taxes and then found out that we had committed too much and so we

we put it back into the into the budget. That's good. Um, this shows our revenue fund bases. Here's here's our excise tax. This is um as of 918. Uh, and we continued to go up. So, in 918 we were at 71. No, we were at 73% of

last year. um in September and so that that's still 25% of the year we had left and we continue I suspect we'll at least reach last year if not surpass it. Um LRAP uh that's the funds from the the state for the roads that's gone down a little this year. It's gone down by 4,000 which isn't a big surprise. People aren't traveling and so the funds um aren't aren't being raised by the state. Um, I assume that our tag purchases are going to go down too. It doesn't necessarily affect the capital plan much, but

what about state revenue sharing? Are the payments following um the state revenue office projection that they gave us at the beginning of the year or are those drugs starting to drop off? It's starting to drop off a little bit, but it it's not tanking like they had originally um discussed.

So, we're we're doing okay. Um whether that continues in the next, you know, what is it, seven, eight months till we commit taxes, uh I I don't know. Let's see here. So, as of 9:18, we had received $225,000 worth of uh revenue sharing.

uh and then we went through the the separate replacement schedules from from the CIP plan for the different departments. Um, public works has its own and you can see where it's laid out all the way down as to uh an estimated

time when we would we would uh replace things. The dump trucks, the big ones um are on a 12-year um rotation schedule. Um and then let's see here. The excavator is at 16 years, you know, and obviously these things can change depending upon the um the condition of the the different vehicles.

Yeah, I see that they're only projecting uh their reserve balances out two years. And is that because of all the, you know, the complications regarding, you know, how we budget revenue that they don't I mean, is is that what's going on there? Why why don't they budget that why aren't they budgeting that are forecasting that out further? Uh well partially because uh it's unknown how much money we're going to have in the capital fund from um from the operating

fund and partially um it's from the operating fund. What do you mean? So at the end of the year if the public works has an excess in their operating fund and last year I think it was about $50,000 um then that goes into their capital fund and and partially um it depends on

on how the town decides to go forward. So, are we going to put $100,000 in the capital fund every year so that it evens out this or is it not? So, I mean, if you want me to, Paul, I can I can estimate what I think it might look like over the next I think it's 20 years for public works.

Well, just an option or an observation. I think the way that we account for, you know, unspent funds and revenue right now, it's really difficult for us to project out. Yeah. And rather so and that's because we, you know, revenue gets designated for these specific purposes rather than going back to like an undesated fund. And I know you know I recall this a lot of discussion by the selectman or quite a bit uh earlier on a a year and a half or a year or so ago and I thought something more recent regarding changing that and there was some discussion about

um well that it had I believe something had been approved at a town meeting but could they change it? You know where does all that stand? Well, well, as far as the the capital funds that were approved at town meeting, we had intended um if you look at the the original warrant that was put in the town report, we had originally meant to uh consolidate a number of the different accounts um and also uh

stop the practice of putting the funds from the fire department and from the public works operating funds and perhaps even from the ambulance revenue uh into the capital funds and instead voting on the capital funds as a separate um line item so that you would have a more direct notion of what would go in every year. Um

you know it it got taken out because we couldn't have an in town meeting so we couldn't discuss it. Ah, I see. We were having a lot of issues trying to take the ballot to a a small hook instead large. So, it was a kind of another victim of the whole uh you know mess that we found ourselves in with uh with town meeting but not being able to hold a town meeting like every other town in Maine.

Yes. Yeah. Okay. Very good. Thank you. Yeah. And the deadlines made it very difficult to to uh extend a lot of things. We we were very under the gun in trying. So that one's still on that one's still on the table. Yes. And that's probably and I'm assuming that's one of the things you were referring to when you talked about kind of a whole host of decisions that the selectmen are going to be looking at.

Yeah. The the problem is though, Paul, that they're looking at the probability that next town meeting is also going to be a referendum ballot. Yeah. Yeah. Of course. And with that being the case, uh, you know, it it it really, uh, is a is a good discussion to have, but I don't know, um, how

logistically it would work. Yeah. We may be stuck here for now. Yeah. Yeah. We may be stuck here in limbo for a little bit. Yeah. Um but but you know keeping on going and keeping on the planning and keeping the the process uh headed in the right direction I think is really important even if we're you know a little off track at this point because of the pandemic.

Okay. So Ruth, I one question I have is I'm looking at the uh spreadsheet from last year and um the capital fund they they they did extrapolate out for the it looks like public works what they would be spending. Would it be worth putting that in as if they expended say $68,000 in uh 2023

for $273,000, right, that we would, unless I'm reading this wrong, that they would um Actually, it would be that number minus the $68,000, right? As an expected You just changed the worksheet on me, but an expected You want me to go back?

No, but but as an expected um capital fund uh reserve, I'll call it. Right. So like so in 2023 they were gonna sp you know they're going to spend $68,900 fund balance that they were expecting of $273. So you just take that number and subtract the 68 out of it and that would be their reserve. I think it's more complicated than that. And I think

it probably is, but I just for a while it's going to change every year, which is why I've done this type of schedule. So it shows in the blue where our capital fund balance is now taking into account the truck that we we just purchased even though we haven't actually spent the money on it yet.

Um and and so uh it kind of brings forward and you can see that over the years There's no amount of capital unless you put it in there. Right. Right. No, I agree. I agree. All right. No, that's fine. You've already done it, so that's that's good. Thank you.

Okay. All right. So, there's the public works replacement schedule. So, the fire replacement schedule. Um, you know, obviously it looks a little little bare, but I guess that's good because then we're not spending tons of money. Um, annual inflation, I I put in 3%. We can change that to whatever you want. Um

the the board had had us put this out to 2026 so that it's not uh really considered in in the schedule so much this year um to discuss whether or not we're going to replace the quint. Um, and you know, I think part of that will change uh when we get an RF, if we get the RFP out and uh get some a company to come in and and make a recommendation as to uh what type of apparatus a town of

Durham size and and Durham's um um close to closeness to other communities and what the other communities have um to back us up in case uh in case an emergency arises. Um and so I think I think that the board would like to talk about the direction, but I'm not sure how far that's going to get unless we have somebody uh from the RFP who who gives us the report or until we get the report. Um and then the inventory of the public works. This is what the public works owns right now. Talks about the years purchased, the mileage or the hours on the machine, um, and the VIN number so that I can keep track of what is what because I'm I'm always trying to track that one down. Same thing with the fire department inventory. There's the ambulances down the bottom, the pierce, the brand new one. Um, and then the other trucks that we have.

There's a lot of facilities. They're not a lot on the facilities um schedules yet. Um I think that uh maybe in the next year we need to to look at some of the things that might possibly need to be replaced um on some of these different facilities. Uh this is the public works department with the garage and the offices. Um Calvin anticipates that he'll need a new heating system uh in about 2030. Then there's the cold storage. We don't have anything um in the cold storage. The only thing that we've talked about uh as far as that was concerned at some point was whether or not it should be insulated at some point to try and keep it from being a little less cold. Uh the salt shed doesn't really have anything. I think at some point uh the town's going to have to look at the idea of the doors um because the salt corrods the doors and at some point we may have to do some repairs on those. Um the rest

of the building's in pretty good shape. Uh the fire station, the only thing the chief came up with was a new boiler that he thinks we'll need in 2024. um and he estimates that's around 10,000. And these are really um low-level estimates. They're not really detailed estimates. It's not something where we've gone out and and said, you know, how much would you charge us for a new boiler? It's more, oh, how much does a new boiler cost? And then taking information from um different anidotal

uh sources and putting it in there as a placeholder. Uh the modular um chief is looking towards uh doing some remodeling to the modular for fire department use um of the whole modular and so uh and possibly um reconfiguring it to a certain extent and they've discussed the idea and I know that they're going to discuss the idea in in deeper depth of uh possibly uh the code enforcement officer going over there um and working out of the modular But I have no idea if that's ever going to to come to to uh fruition. Uh the town office, you know, with the the MA manager uh question passing on the ballot, uh there's going to need to be some reconfiguration of the town office. Uh it's very small. Uh the other issue that we're going to run into uh with COVID and possibly into the future is that the meeting room is extremely small. there is there's no way to social distance in the meeting room right now.

Um and so the idea is that at some point we might look into the possibility of uh turning the Eureka into a meeting room or finding some other alternative. Um I I really don't know where that's going to go. Um the Union Church, we're in the process of doing a um making a committee uh for the Union Church made up of people from uh the historical society and the historic district um committee uh and some others to try and put together a schedule uh for the the uh upkeep of the Union Church

ton there. There's the the bathroom facility and a couple of um uh picnic tables and um the what do they call it? The kiosk. Uh River Park. Uh the uh conservation commission has uh been meeting um and one of the things that they had discussed is is possibly wanting to install a vault toilet um at the river park at some point in the future. I put it as a placeholder in 2022. Um there's also the possibility that um grants might be available for that. We didn't pay for the vault toilet at Runaround Pond Park. Uh the state paid for that. Um although that is because that is a state park. So I don't know what funds would be available for the river park, but but that's something that the conservation committee is going to look into. uh War Memorial Park. That is the gazebo. Um and the now we have the bricks and the flag poles. Um and then

uh the memorial itself. Um there's not a really ton of stuff that looks like is going to be needed to get done there. Um, I do think they're going to probably need to paint the roof next year, but that that wouldn't be a capital expense because that wouldn't be enough money. And then the Eureka Center. And so there's also nothing at the Eureka Center at this point. Um, nothing that needs to be done is more than $10,000. Uh, and so I think we're just going to

have to keep looking and determine how how the board wants to go forward with that building and uh what it should be used for. So those are most of the spreadsheets. Well, those are all the spreadsheets um for the plan. Does anybody have any questions on that?

Uh what about the undesated fund balance? Where do we stand with that these days? Hold on. Hold on. Got to me. Fund balance history. I think I need to Hold on. There. New share. I'm going to share. seeing a different worksheet now?

red on it. No, just your files. Just my files. All right, guys. Oh, that's because notebook. Well, maybe if I get rid of those. Your screen sharing is paused. Hold on. There. Okay. Um, was not a particularly good year. So you can see over here that I've been tracking the non-spendable, the restricted, committed, assigned, unassigned tax assessments and the percent of the undesated fund over the years. Um you can see here in 2010 there

was a 16.12% 10.57% in 2015 and now is is back up to 13.08% in 19 um and so far I'm projecting it to be about 13% uh in 2020. So the biggest issue that we have is that we do not collect taxes for six months of the year. So we do not have a cash inflow for six months. One of the reasons we've been able to go with the undesated funds um as low as it is is that we have a very high um

unrestricted fund balance. So that means that the funds that are in the capital funds plus the funds that are uh in the undesated fund are the unrestricted fund balance. So you can see back in 2009 this is a percentage of of the unrestricted fund balance which is basically funds that are put aside for some other use. Um and it's it's not like there's another account somewhere. This is only a a um accounting construct. Um but what it does is it allows the cash uh flow to work better even with the halfway through the year. But you can see down through the years this has gone down and then it went back up almost 40% in 18. Um and this year depending on how we come out in the end um I'm looking at about 23%. um which which could be a problem. So

you're looking at basically here the public works capital fund. So we have enough for the truck and the public works capital fund. Um but that cuts out twothirds of that fund which lowers this percentage quite a bit. And when you're not adding any funds into that that account, like the $100,000 or the $50,000 put into the capital fund, um that the town basically loses liquidity. Um and so I do see that as an issue in the next couple of years if the town doesn't either increase its undesated fund or uh start uh putting aside more funds in the capital accounts. So I'm

not sure I understand this correctly. So are you saying that um basically the town borrows from un unrestricted uh capital funds in order to in addition to the undesated fund um in order to you know bridge the gap you know until taxes come in.

Uh basically it allows it to have a cushion. I don't know um how it works in New Gloucester, but we don't I don't have a separate fund. Uh you don't have a separate fund. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Got it. It's all in the general fund. Um just separated out via

I see. Got it. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Thanks. Yeah. So I I guess basically Paul the answer is yes. Yep. Okay. Yep. And do you anticipate then you don't know yet whether we'll have to do a uh a loan? Um, we'll have to borrow.

I would not be surprised if next year we had to do another tan next year. Okay. So, we another tan. So, we did do a tan this year. We did do a tan this year. Um, a lot of that was because we didn't we usually commit taxes in the end of June, end of June. Um, and the bulk of the taxes are collected um middle to to late July and early August. This year we because of the the COVID and the putting off of the passing of the budget, we couldn't commit taxes until the end of July.

Um that also with the the schools um budget being um put off until July 14th, which was the primaries um we also couldn't commit because of them until the end of July. Um so the bulk of our taxes came in in August and September

and uh we just couldn't make it. Yep. about the finances? Okay. Um, did you guys want to look at um the applications really quick? Did you have any other questions? Um, where do you think you guys are? Well, why don't we look at the applications really quick here and why don't you run us through the applications here just briefly if you would, Ruth.

Okay, let's see if I can I think the committee is going to have to make some decisions with regard to how we're going to approach these next meetings. Okay. But yeah, why don't you just kind of give us the primer? I know you've talked about most of these already, but

Yeah. So, what are you guys seeing? Oh, sorry. Now you're seeing the ears again. I think I understand the difference. So, I can share my screen one or I can share the specific thing. And if I'm sharing screen one, if I change what's on screen one, you lose it. So, all right.

I think I'm getting this. So, we'll start with the the the air packs the page with. Um, I think we actually went through this pretty well. Um, you know, the questions that I have for Chief to answer. Um, did anybody else think of any other questions that they they wanted to answer?

Not yet, but I think um that's one of the thing that things the committee needs to talk about. But I know last year, you know, we met an extra time to come up with questions. Okay. Whether we specific questions whether we want to do that or whether we just want to meet with the department heads and you know ask just ask questions or whether we want to give them questions in advance. So um but uh yeah, I don't have any questions yet. But I'm sure I will.

Uh, so this is start to start um raising money for an apparatus and this is is associated with the apparatus that would be replaced in 2024. Um, which is a replacement of the fire engine. Um, uh, let's see. Hold on. I got to go look and see which one that is. So, so this does not have anything to do with the the Quint um because that is still uh an

item that the board wishes to discuss um with the chief. So, this is specifically for a new pumper to replace engine 21 in 2024. Um like I said before, he's asking for $100,000 in 2024. They're they're anticipating that that that would cost about $73,000. So even at $100,000, you aren't going to reach the $73,000, but at least you could get fairly fairly close and you wouldn't have to borrow the whole thing.

All right, let's see. I know you're not you're seeing this now. I got to go find And I'm sorry, what year does he want to buy that again? 2024 is is it's slated for. And now what year do we does the first bond drop off? The first bond payment is that 25.

work. Uh first bond payment drops off in 2024. Okay. And so that will will drop it by Yeah. So not 780 880 about $200,000 that will drop off. Uhuh. Okay. admin reserve one. over the internet. All right. So, this is this is one that I did. Uh we have 25,000 in the town office municipal account. There is also a municipal building account that has additional monies in it, but that's just the office municipal account. Um I have

I have over over the last uh few years back in 2006 I think it was I think I wrote it in here. 7 2007. Um the town had gotten a design done uh for an addition to the town um the town office. Uh and it was it was substantially expensive. Um I I think it was over 500,000. It was it was a lot of money and the town decided not to go with it. Um, and then, you know, as I came on board and we got the full-time code officer and and a part-time planner who actually is working from home now, um, we talked about doing a reconfiguration of the office, um, with the thought that we would make the back storage room into an office. One of the bathrooms would become a storage room. Um, and so that way we would have three offices. um that didn't come to fruition. Uh

instead, what ended up happening was we um purchased some furniture uh for different areas of the office that was more um spaceoriented. So, there's a wraparound desk now in the the code enforcement officers uh room which allows uh several people to work in there at the same time. Although with COVID now um it's a very small room and so you really can't have too many people in there anyways. Um but with the hiring of the town manager, um I I think there's going to be a space issue uh in the town. It's, you know, several of you have been to my office. My office is very tiny. Um, and it's right off of the front and it would be very difficult to have any kind of um

meetings uh large meetings or or confidential meetings um in that office. Um, and so I don't know where we're headed with that, but with the anticipation that something's going to have to happen in the next couple years. Uh, and, uh, we will take in about $10,000 less in interest this year than we did last year because of the interest rates. uh I have uh put forward uh the idea of

raising $10,000 for this account with the thought that that this money would go towards um whatever was decided with the town office. right one. Future apparatus funding. other one. I think I need to name them a little better.

Yeah. No, that's the fire truck again. All right. It doesn't like me. In any case, um, so this is for the truck. Uh, Calvin is asking to get a one- ton next year. Uh, it would be used for several different things. In the summertime, it would be used for transportation to different jobs. He's run into the a couple of issues this year where, uh, there are two different crews working on different sides of the town. uh and there's not enough vehicles to transport them to the places where they need to work. Uh there's also been an issue where um if the the mechanic needs to go get something there there's no vehicle for him to go get stuff in. Um he would also use this truck for um plowing some

of the smaller uh subdivision areas um in the wintertime. Uh the advantage to this truck too is that you do not need a CDL to to operate this truck, I don't believe. And so most people who who have some knowledge of driving trucks could drive this truck.

Go ahead. Um, so now we already have currently in terms of, you know, the smaller vehicles, do we currently have two one-tonon dumps and then Calvin's pickup? We have, let me find works, you know, off hand. I No, I was picking up the inventory. Oh,

okay. So, we do have a 2008 Chevy. One's a flatbed. Okay. And the other one is two-tonon pickup truck with a plow on the front. And then Calvin has his truck. Okay. All right. Thanks. Yep. Um and then this is Oops. And this is Calvin's request for uh funding in 2022. They're looking towards uh replacing another one of the dump trucks uh in the rotation uh for replacing. This is another one of the dump trucks that is uh 20 year old or 20 plus year old dump truck. Um and we anticipate that it'll cost about $200,000 in 2022. And so what he's asking for is to get $100,000 this year. Um and then the rest would be um sorry either raised

or um um appropriated in 2022 depending on at that point what the balance of the capital fund is. the project title. Mhm. So, this is a reserve request. And is this reserve request specifically for this vehicle? Yes. Or it's really just a reserve request, right? That goes into his reserve account.

Well, you know, we had we we had gone back and forth about uh how we were going to do that, Paul, if if you remember. And um I I thought we had landed on the idea that we would actually have specific accounts for specific trucks. And so um we would create an account for this particular truck uh and put $100,000. You know, you you you can argue both directions. um that saves the money for this particular truck, but it also sort of um ties your hands in a certain way because then the funds are supposed to go towards this truck and if you need or want to use them in any other fashion, then you would have to go to a town meeting vote um to to try and

uh appropriate the funds for something else. So you know the question is do you save for a specific thing or do you save within a capital fund for a specific thing? that I would say within a capital fund. Well, you know, but you know, I I can only, you know, tell you from my own experience, my own experience is um the

way that, you know, they do it in New Gloucester, which is to have a public works equipment reserve, vehicles and equipment reserve, and a fire department equipment reserve, and then like a facilities equipment reserve. So, or you know a facilities reserve. So, um and

you know one of the kind of the nice things about that is let's say you don't you know you don't spend it all. Let's say you allocate 200,000 or you appropriate 200,000 but you don't spend it all. You know what you can end up with if you have a separate account for all these different trucks is you're going to end up with all these different accounts with these small residuals.

Yeah. So I'm just thinking in Bodenham. Yeah. So So and then over time people don't don't even remember what it was for. Yes. Yeah. Those accounts in Bodenham. So if you have it in just a public works equipment reserve, then it automatically rolls over, you know, for that next whatever that next, you know, need is.

That actually makes more sense to me. You know, it had been suggested that that we do it a different way, but I mean, if if I if I had my way, we'd have just one big capital fund that we could use for the whole town. But maybe that's a conversation for future.

I mean, ideally, that's where you go in the future, but it's hard to do with where we've, you know, past practice to get there. Yeah. Yeah. All right. That's it really. Yeah. I got one question about um they're calling this what? Truck number six.

Yeah, Calvin keeps renumbering the trucks. number six and he's got an old number six. So, what number six is this? The old one which is trap truck. Let me see if I can So, is he really talking about number three? Can you guys see the the uh the Excel spreadsheet again?

Yes. Oh, awesome. We're getting somewhere. Um, so he's been doing is he's been renumbering the trucks. So, as we get rid of them, they get to go to the beginning again. So, one, two, three, four, five. So, this year it looks like the 2021 is replacing the five. And then next year he wants to replace the 2000 international which is number number six. But I I understand your confusion because um he has been reumbering them.

Yeah. one's the scrap one. So we're not replacing that. No, the scrap one's not on the list because it's it's nothing that's ever going to be able to to be driven again. So, well, he's he's got it listed as Oh, yeah. Maybe it isn't.

It's not on the list. Not on Yeah. list. It's on the list that was sent out, though. Unless I'm looking at last year's list. Uh, last year it was on the list. Calvin had me take it off this year. Uh, because it it's not Okay.

It's not really a truck. It's just a hump of metal right now. I must That's fine. All right. Thank you. Yeah. Yes. This truck the last of the really old. I am. We lost you. Okay. So, we lost you there, Paul. Oh, yeah. Sorry.

I So, I I didn't hear your answer, but I'm assuming that was a a yes that it is the last of the really old the last of the old ones. Um, so the next ones that would be start being um replaced would be the ones that we bought new in 2014.

Okay, great. I I think there's a a miss um that 2001 truck right there. I think that that should be a 2001 International No, I think it is a 2000. I think that that's what should be changed. Okay. Then the 2000 above it is the

scrap truck. Nope. That's the one. The 2000 above it, the number five, that's one that's going to be traded in for the new one that's coming hopefully in the next month or two. All right. Well, the list is skewed somehow from last year as to what year

the truck is versus what it's being described as. It it it could be. Yeah. Just want to make sure we're because I know when we purchased them there was a 97. Uh there were a couple of 2000s and there was a 2001. My understanding is that the 2001 was the one in that was in not very good shape and then the 97

the 97 we got rid of last year. Um and then this year is the 2000 or one of the 2000s. them so I can keep them a little Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Trader, Uh, that's great. Thank you, Ruth. So, is that the last of the applications?

Yeah, that's it. There there's just the two from the fire chief, the two from Calvin, and the one from me. Okay, wonderful. Hey, before we move on, uh just one thought, you know, I know the the policy uh kind of points toward with regard to committee members the idea of uh having a selectman on the CIP committee. to

help encourage uh coordination between committees. Has there been any discussion about that? I think Mark got volunteered. Um and so I will make sure that he is invited to your next meeting. Oh, okay. That's too. Yeah. Wonderful. Wonderful. That would be great. Yeah. We we'd really like to have him if he's willing to come.

Yeah. I I I think you'll be willing. Good. Good. Okay. Excellent. Um All right. Very good. So, well, that moves us, I think, on to our next question, which is before we get to scheduling of these of the meetings with department heads, um do you guys have any thoughts on how you'd like to handle questions? Um, you know, I think last year we we met um a separate meeting to try to uh

you know, hammer out some questions that they could have in advance. Uh we could certainly do that again. Um, we could also, if you guys would like to email just directly to myself or Ruth your questions, we can pass we could pass them on to uh, you know, the whoever we're meeting with in advance that way, too. If we, you know, want to try to avoid that extra meeting, it's up to you guys. Um, or you know, we can do, you know, an more of a uh unscripted question and answer session. I I'm interested in hearing from you what you know, what you'd like to do.

get a shot at presenting uh their case to us. Um, and we can uh we could we could do the questions ahead of time as well. Um, which helps them prepare for what we're expecting when they show up. Um, I don't know. I mean, everybody likes a fair shot at it.

Oh, absolutely. Give them the fair shot first. Yeah. Yeah. I mean it it's it's it's it might be worth the um you know the the half an hour with with each uh to just you know discuss what they have in mind and and some of their plans moving forward.

Well you know that's another way we could approach it. We could just say you know we want you guys to come present and then after the presentation put our questions together. We could do that too. Yep. You know, although there there certainly is a benefit to being able to ask questions live

because that interplay is sometimes really important, you know, because they may the their answer to a question may lead to another question. Right. Right. That's what we found a budget committee last year was we'd bring them in, we give them questions ahead of time, they'd answer questions, but then as we talked with them, we had more questions. So, they didn't really benefit from having the question in advance anyway because they still had to get us answers as we went along past that. So,

do we want to all send our questions, for example, to Ruth for each application and then Ruth can provide them to department head or do we want to meet again and try to formulate a set of common questions? depend on timing as long as we can all meet. I thought there was some benefit to us talking it all through and coming up with questions together.

Yeah, that's a good point. Okay. Um, sounds good to me. What do you guys think? Uh, Brian and Joe. Yeah, that's fair. Okay, we can do that. Yeah, good. All right. So we'll, you know, we'll work on our questions here offline and then bring them back to another meeting where we can and then and have the discussion about the applications. I think that's a really good idea actually and and then meet with the department heads.

Yeah, I like that approach. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, I like it. Okay. So now that said, I think just because everybody's schedules are busy, we ought to try to get um you know, these guys lined up like some dates, you know, um solidified with the department heads for those meetings. Um maybe a good place to start is well let's start by trying to figure out a date for this next meeting which is the meeting where we're going to talk about applications and questions for the department heads.

next. Now, in terms of our our uh you know, when we're expected to be done, we're actually right on schedule because we're not we don't have to be done with this process done done until January 1st. Um, so it will be nice to be done before the holidays certainly or before you know the Christmas holidays. So, got a little bit of time. Do you want to try to meet next week? Yeah, that works.

Is Is Tuesday generally a good night for you guys? So, Paul, just a reminder, the 17th is an appeal. Oh, 18th is a planning board workshop, and I can't host two things at once. Okay. Um, Monday the 16th or Thursday the 19th?

Thursday the 19th. I'm wonder what was the what was the other date? Monday the 16th. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So, Monday or Thursday next week. What do you guys want to do? Thursday works for me. Okay. See, I'm good either day.

I'm wondering I'm wondering if Thursday is the conservation commission though. Well, because I'm looking at the calendar. The 20 26 is is um uh Thanksgiving, isn't it? Yes. Yes, it is. It is. Yeah. So, I think they're probably going to meet They usually meet the last Thursday of the month, but they're probably going to want to meet the 19th.

Oh, well, we beat him to it. Yeah. Either you beat him to it or I just forgot to put it on the calendar. It's one of I don't know. What do you think, Ruth? I I can see if they can move it maybe to the Monday if if you want.

Okay. See? So, you think they're definitely having a meeting on that day? I I would be pretty pretty sure that they're probably having a meeting on the 19th and I just haven't added it to the calendar. Okay. So, who can meet Monday? I'm pretty sure I can. I I'm good.

The 16th or the 23rd? So the 16th is next Monday and the 23rd is the Monday after that. I can do either or both. I can probably free up Monday the 16th. 23rd's better for me, but I can make the 16th work if we want that.

It' probably be a shorter meeting. Yeah, it's up to you guys. Um, so I'm fine with either one. You know, the the only thing about the 23rd, you know, I guess we don't have to worry about people doing a lot of travel during Thanksgiving week this year.

No, hopefully not. Usually that's the week everyone's getting ready for, you know, family coming to visit and all those things. Actually might travel. Who is that? Ruth. Yeah, it it depends on what the the COVID situation is at that point because I I can't quarantine. So, I can't go anywhere where I would have to quarantine.

Uh, yeah. Yeah. Right. Okay. So, Monday would work for you. Monday the 23rd. Yeah, I can do Monday the 23rd. Okay. You know, how do you guys feel about Monday the 23rd? Is that I mean, we'll be we'll we'll be a little more condensed if we do it that way. We'll be a little more condensed after Thanksgiving, but I think we could do it.

Okay. So, Monday the 23rd. I you know I think that's probably okay because we won't be meeting with these department heads probably until after Thanksgiving anyway, right? Okay. Yeah. So, so what about timing? Does 6 or 6:30 work for you? What guys? What What's good for you guys? Maybe seven. I don't It doesn't matter to me.

6 6:30. Yeah. Yeah. Either work I have to worry about commute right now. So, I just have to go down the hall to my office. Exactly. So, we'll do six on the 23rd. All right. Works. All right. Very good. So, Ruth, you'll send out the invite,

the Zoom invite, and post it on the calendar. Yep, I will. Okay. Wonderful. All right. And so then looking down the road and here I'm going to do the oldfashioned way. Grab my calendar here. is the week of Monday, November 30th.

Um do you know uh Ruth, for example, fire department trainings like what days they hold their trainings on? Those are usually on Thursdays. Thursdays. So maybe do we want to try to do fire and or excuse me, public works and fire and rescue on separate days or do we want to try to do them both on the same day?

them this year. We could probably do it in one day. Yeah. Just separate them by 45 minutes or an hour or something. Yeah. Yeah. So they're not hanging out. What about Tuesday, December 8th? That's a board meeting. Okay. That's my birthday.

before. So um birthday's coming up. Mine's the day after Thanksgiving. We could try We could shoot for Wednesday the 2nd or Wednesday the 9th. Uh the second's probably a planning board meeting. They usually do it the first Wednesday of every month. I haven't had notice yet, but uh assuming that they'll have a application.

How about Monday the 7th? That one's free. Yeah. me. Okay, I'm good, too. All right, very good. So, let's see if we can come up with one other date just in case these guys have conflicts. So, we've got Monday the 7th and let's see. We know the 8th and the 9th are out. What about gosh, I don't know. The 14th, that's kind of pushing it.

with the first? The first or the or the 30th? The first. Yeah. How about the first? Tuesday the first? I can do that. Yeah. dates, Ruth. for staff if you could check with them for the department heads to see if they might both be available on one of those days either the the December 1st or December 7th.

Okay. If if you had to split them that would be be fine too, right? Yeah. If you got to we have to split them up. We have to split them up. Yeah. I can get them both in one night. Yeah. I think that's best. I'll bribe them.

our next meeting is on Monday the 23rd. Yep. To talk to go over the applications in more detail and probably all the material, the schedules in more detail and to uh talk about our questions. Okay. We're going to meet with them on the 1st or

the 7th. The 7th and then from there we meet again. Yeah. There we usually meet one more time. Um just to make sure everyone's all set to go off and do their scoring. We get Could we get that on the calendar? Sure. Yeah, let's do it. I usually schedule out like a whole year ahead. So,

good for you. Good for you. Okay, so That works. Or the 15th? Either one is free. Sure. Okay. Do you guys have a preference? 14th or 15th? Tuesday the 15th. Okay. Sure. o'clock, right? You guys like six? Six is good for me.

Yeah, six works. Yep. Is that right? And then we will come back after we do our scoring. Um and you know we may want to come back the very next week right before the holidays. Yeah up. Yeah the first is free which is a Monday.

That works for me. Yep. I'm good. Okay. Now, I will say the only thing about that is is, you know, you've got to go off and do your scoring and then Ruth has to tabulate them so we can see where it all comes out. So, this may

a little bit on Ruth's ability to get that, you know, get that accomplished in that short window. Well, do you want me to do it? Once again, not a lot of things that we're scoring. So, Oh, did you do it last year, Michelle?

Yeah, Michelle did. I did it last year. Send it. Really? You did a really nice job of it last year. Thanks. I can do it again. I'll do it in short short amount of time out. Yeah. No, I I had forgotten that. That's wonderful.

Okay. Very good. That sounds good. Does anyone else have any other business? I'll make business. Yeah. So, I agree. Everyone, it sounds like everyone is in favor. Is that correct? Michelle, Joe, Brian, and of course myself.

That's correct. All right. And um so, Ruth, will you also share that schedule with Mark? Yes. Yes, I will. Perfect. Yeah. Okay, great. Thank you everyone. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you, Ruth. Have a good day.