Board of Public Works Meeting - December 11, 2025

Good morning. Uh, my name is Robert Alme. Uh, I'm the chair of the Dartmouth Board of Public Works. I'd like to call [clears throat] to order our meeting of December 11th, 2025.

Uh, this meeting is being held by Zoom and is being recorded.

Uh we have today a quorum uh of two. Mr.

Gier, you're present.

Present.

The chair is present.

Uh all right. Our [clears throat] first order of business is to approve and accept warrants for bills payable. Do I have a motion?

I have um motion by Mr. Gier to approve and accept warrants for the bills payable period ending December 1 8 and 15, 2025. The chair seconds the motion.

All in favor, Mr. Gier.

Yes.

Chair votes yes. Uh item is approved.

Next item is approve and accept payrolls. Do I have a motion?

So move that you accept the payrolls as presented.

We have a motion by Mr. Gier to approve and accept the payrolls for the weeks ending November 15, 22, 29, and December 6th, 2025. Chair seconds the motion. Mr.

Gier, how do you vote?

Yes.

Chair votes yes. Item is approved.

[clears throat] Next item is approve and accept uh meeting minutes for the following dates. June 4th, 2025. June 24th 2025.

September 18, 2025 and October 23rd, 2025.

Uh I would move that we accept the minutes as presented by the chair.

I have a motion to uh approve and accept meeting minutes uh by Mr. Gier, second by the chair. Uh Mr. Gier, how do you vote?

I vote yes.

Chair votes yes. item is approved. Uh, next item is old business water enterprise rates and orderly billing.

Uh, Mr. Barber.

Yes. [clears throat] So, due to the over expenditure of uh the water budget uh due to having to purchase excess water from the city of New Bedford, uh we are facing a budget deficit again this year.

In an effect effort to reduce deficit, uh we are proposing a midyear water rate increase.

So Cody, uh I believe Cody had presenting with with Gary Carrera. I don't see Cody on the meeting. Do you?

I don't see him. I don't see him with us right now. I think we'll move on down the agenda. Uh, wait a minute. Who's that? No, I don't I don't see uh Mr.

Hadad with us. Uh, we were provided a uh presentation uh yesterday, but I would prefer to wait until he's with us to uh to make the presentation. So, with that, we'll we'll um move down to old business B, comprehensive wastewater management plan update, Tim. Yeah.

Uh the the comprehensive wastewater management plan uh request for qualifications has been advertised. Um and a treatment facility walkthrough is actually scheduled for this morning at 10:30 after the meeting. Um, if any of the board members or anybody would like to join us for the walkthrough, you're you're welcome. Um, and then the RFQS are due uh to be submitted by January 13th at 10:30 a.m.

Right. I I know that uh this has been a lot of work for the staff. I'd like to thank uh Dennis and Sandy and Tim and also the uh town administrative team for the work they've done on this. So um do we have any questions from the board?

It was quite an effort putting together.

Yes.

Mike, do you have any questions?

I don't.

All right. Chair has no questions. Uh let's move back to item old business A, water enterprise rates and quarterly billing. Uh, Mr. Hedad, good morning.

Morning. How's everyone doing?

Good morning.

We're here.

Yes, that's right. No better way to start my day.

Yeah, early anyway. I'm not sure how bright, but we'll see.

All right, I'm going to share my screen.

And

is everyone a able to see my screen?

Yes.

Okay. So, as you know, um I'm I'm joined by our finance director, Gary Carrero.

Uh we've been working diligently.

So, you know, we ended the last fiscal year in the water enterprise fund in a deficit.

we have um really made a concerted effort, the team as a whole to making sure we're reviewing that because, you know, we don't want that to happen again in the current fiscal year, fiscal 26.

As we looked through basically um Q1 of the fiscal year, expenses and revenue, we became pretty concerned that that that was going to happen again. Um, so we brought forward to you a couple meetings ago the expectation of a mid-year rate increase.

I had mentioned at the last meeting that we anticipated it being around 18%.

The good news is is is we've been able to refine those figures and we we are going to be recommending a 13% increase to you today. But I'm going to go through and give you some background.

Um, and then we'll we'll have an opportunity to open it up for questions.

So again, I know the board is familiar with what an enterprise fund is, but for the public, right, an enterprise fund is really a business-like municipal service provided entirely and mostly by user fees and independent revenue. Um, it keeps the finances separate from the general fund. Uh, a tax levy bunded budget surpluses stay in within the fund, right? That becomes retained earnings to fund future capital

improvements. It's authorized under Massachusetts general law. And and the key here why we're talking today, right, annual revenue must meet or exceed operational expenses. Ideally, you exceed operational expenses to build up your reserves to allow for capital improvements.

Just wanted to start off by here's the operating budget over the last five years for the water enterprise fund.

What you see is significant increases in the operating budget from fiscal 22 right to fiscal 26. 4.8 8 million in 22.

We're up to almost $7 million um in fiscal 26.

This is probably um the most telling piece if you take anything away from this presentation. This is probably one of the most important uh things that we really talk about. In the dark blue, right, we have the percent budget increase year-over-year by fiscal year.

In the light blue, you have rate increases.

What what do you notice, right? You notice the uh rate increases have not kept up with budget increases over the pretty much the last four years. Um the fiscal 22 was a bit of a nomal anomaly, but it and it's significant, right? If you look at fiscal 23, we had almost a 12% increase in the budget. Rates only increased 4%. Again, fiscal 24 almost 11% increase in the budget, 5% rate

increase. Fiscal 25, um, you know, we did only have a 3.7% increase in the budget and we were able to recoup some of that, right, with a 7.5% rate increase, but back to that this year with almost a 12% increase in the budget um, and a 7.5% rate increase. So, so if you take one thing away, you can see [clears throat] rates have not kept up with our our necessary budget increases

over the last five years, fiscal years.

Uh, and this is um this is a tren trend in retained earnings. So, you you heard me mention earlier retained earnings um is basically surplus revenue. Obviously being a wa water enterprise fund, we have lots of capital needs. For those that were able to tune in and watch the long-term capital uh planning, the presentation that Tim put on regarding DPW, we have significant capital needs for the water enterprise

fund. Not only now, but we also have future capital needs, you know, in the range 16 to 20 million over the next few years. Um again what you see going back over the last five, six fiscal years, right, retained earnings was was close to 1.8 million in fiscal 21 and you've seen a steady decline in retained earnings.

Again, we're basically we don't have as much fiscal flexibility. We're not building reserves because rates have not kept up with the the budget increases.

In fiscal 25, we had retained earnings of about $240,000.

Um, but you you recall we had a deficit where we had to pull $100,000 approximately from that. So right now retained earnings sits at about $140,000.

That that's concerning when five years ago we were close to 2 million.

So where are we? I've given you some context, you know, why are we here today? I mentioned it earlier. Um, we ended a bud in fiscal 25 with a budget deficit of about $100,000. Uh, our team projects that if we do not make any adjustments to rates for the current fiscal year, we will have a deficit of approximately $500,000.

Now, we never want a deficit, but the the bigger concern this year would be we don't have the retained earnings necessarily to cover that deficit.

Right? Last year in fiscal 25, we made a transfer. You never want to have to do that. Retained earnings should really be used for capital, but if you need to, it was available. We do not anticipate having that flexibility this year.

Hence, with the need to to to bring forward this midyear rate increase. Uh why, right? What's happened over the past few years and particularly in fiscal 26? We've talked about it multiple times, but reliance on New Bedford's water. Um to give you some perspective, we budgeted $1.6 million in the purchase of New Bedford Water. uh when I ran a report earlier this week, we've spent almost $2 million on New

Veteran Water thus far this fiscal year.

So, right there you can see right that's almost $400,000 that that we did not account for. Um D restrictions, you know, as we get into peak water season, uh we have various restrictions, particularly with the Pasam River levels. If the river levels get below a certain point, we have to shut down some of our wells. That reduces the ability for us to produce and that increases our reliance on New Bedford water. We're

fortunate that we have that as an option, but it it does um it puts a damper on what we're able to um produce.

And and the other big piece of this which we'll get into is we we have annual water restrictions. Um and we are seeing increased water consumption from the community that we are not able to keep up with again which which makes us be more reliant on New Guford water which comes at a much more significant cost than the than the water that we produce here in Dartmouth. Um and and there's also other factors such as

energy. I mean, you you all see it, our residents see it. Energy costs have have gone up significantly. Um, you know, our wells in in the facilities that we have with the water enterprise fund use a lot of energy. So, when we see those things increase, that that's something that we're um seeing increase in our budgets there. Chemicals um for water treatment have significantly increased. And again,

um, we also saw an, I believe it was an 8% increase in the fee that New Bedford was charging us for water this year. So again, right off the bat, that increase is 8%. We only increased our rate 7.5%.

We're we're at a disadvantage once again, uh, with the purchase of water at such such a significant rate.

You heard me mention water conservation and how much water we've we've been using as a community. And I think this is an important piece. This compares 2024 and 2025. So not a lot of historical data. And this is millions of cubic feet, right? And it and it's a a little over seven gallons per cubic foot. Um so we're talking millions and millions, hundreds of millions, right, of gallons of water here. And and what

do you see? The dark blue is 2025. The light blue is 2024. Now, don't pay attention to December because obviously we only have through, you know, when we ran this report. So, so December really isn't a good comparison, but [clears throat] uh we're using a pretty much a lot more water this year than last year, right? in particular during those peak months um during your summer months June, July,

August, when you can see it doesn't look significant, but when you're talking cubic feet in the millions, which equates to millions and millions of gallons of water, uh this this is significant. Uh and and this really is one of the major contributo factors of why we're in the place where we are today. We're using a lot more water, but we've not had an increase in our supply portion. So, we really need to work on

um making sure the community is aware of water conservation efforts and restrictions, which you know, we'll get into, but we plan to heavily enforce those restrictions going forward.

All right, you have background, you have an idea of how we got here, why we're here. Now, um you know, what does this mean, right? For for the average user, we're proposing a 13% increase to all um tiers, right? So, we have a tiered water structure here in Dartmouth. We're so 13% increase across the board. Uh minimum usage right now per quarter you you get 600 cubic feet included

basically in that tier one minimum usage charge. We're proposing to reduce that to 400 cubic feet.

We've been talking about transitioning to quarterly billing for quite some time now. We're going to be implementing that um in January of 2026. All customers would go to quarterly billing. As you know, right now residential is twice a year. The average bill um would rise from 1866 to 228.881 uh per quarter, which equates to about $14 per month increase. And we are also um with the meter replacement project,

we have this ion water. I'm sure you've heard Tim and the team talk about this.

It's a it's a great tool, but we have there's a fee for that. You know, we're required to pay the the cellular fee for each meter. So, we are looking to add a $3 per meter fee per quarter essentially just to cover cover our cost. This is is exactly what it cost us. So, we need to u recoup that cost. And and as a note, right, you can see um ion water is not

just beneficial in the fact that as a as a user, I can have the mobile application and log on and see my water usage, but it it it allows us to go to quarterly billing, right? Which allows for um greater budgetary um flexibility with our residents.

they're able to better plan, get a bill every quarter um that would be lower, right, than one they get every two every six months. And then also this and I think this is key there, it allows us in in in the community to detect the leaks sooner, right? So you if you have a leak potentially and you don't have access to the the live water usage, you may go until a whole another bill cycle until

you get a huge bill and you realize, wait, something's wrong here. Do I have a leak in my sprinkler system? Do I have a toilet that's running? I just haven't noticed it. This this is something we're able to see in our our community and residents are able to log in and see, hey, I have water running non-stop.

Something's wrong here. and hopefully nip this in the bud, which again not only conserves water, but will result in hopefully a lower bill for for our residents who are experiencing um some sort of issue leak in their water system in their home.

You know, we recognize this is not ideal. Um we never want to come forward with a midyear rate increase. We certainly never want to come forward with a 13% midyear rate increase. this is unprecedented and we recognize that this is um you know it's not great. We don't want to have to do this, but uh we we wanted to put together some comp comparable water districts in and what that average bill looks like based on

5600 cubic feet. And this is some data that was provided by Tim and the team.

And so you see New Bedford and Fall River, they're outliers, right? Their bills are on on the lower side of things. And then you see there's kind of a significant jump, right? But Dartmouth is next at, you know, a little over close to $425 for 5,600 cubic feet. And and then it goes up. You see Taton, you see Bridgewater, Attabaro, and Norton almost $500. So again, we recognize the increase is not ideal. We we want to

provide high quality services at the lowest cost possible. But um I think this shows the board and the community, you know, what we're looking to do. You know, it's not unprecedented in the fact that this is what other water districts are having to do to provide quality water to their community.

A few other things that you know we want to want to mention um because this is not sustainable, right? cannot come forward with large increases like this annually. We need to sustain the operation. We need to sustain the finances. So, we you've heard me mention a lot about water conservation. Um and and we need to focus on that, right?

Efficient use of water entails responsible design with landscaping, um appliances, irrigation equipment, and and all the devices in your home that use water. And it really is incumbent on our individual users to use water wisely and and minimize waste. Um, we do have water restrictions that, you know, we we post every year. We're going to do a better job this year of getting that information out there and we will be

finding people. Uh, we are going to be taking an aggressive approach to uh violations of those restrictions. We are legally allowed to find up to $300 per offense. Um, and and you will see the water department out there enforcing that strictly uh going forward, particularly as we get into the um spring and summer. And a lot of this, again, it it really is irrigation that, right? That's the biggest thing. There's

certain times a day that we ask you to um use your irrigation. We're actually um we're pretty liberal in the sense that there's some communities when they have water restrictions, you can only use your irrigation system on certain days or or there's some that even you can't use it at all, right, during during the peak season. We're our restrictions are not at that point yet.

We just have certain times of the day um where we require that you use it which are essentially out of peak demand times so we can provide the water that's necessary rather than relying on New Bedford water. So we'll get more information out on that but I just want to make it a point water conservation is key here. Uh and we're going to be really working towards that going into

2026 reviewing our supply costs. You saw me um in the average bill. New Bedford has one of the lower water bills, right, for a resident in the region. We want to work with New Bedford to um get get that rate down for the town of Dartmouth. We buy a significant amount of water. You heard me say we've purchased almost $2 million this year in in New Bedford water alone, fiscal year, I should say.

We need to um negotiate a rate that is uh that works for both communities. So, so Tim and the team are in the process of working with New Bedford on updating our agreement, which uh likely would include the rate itself. We have several wells that are down currently, you know, existing wells in the community um for one reason or another, whether it's lightning strike, whether it's um issues

or or making sure quality is there in some wells. We have wells that are down.

We are working to get those wells back online. and we have three key wells that we anticipate being back online before the end of this fiscal year. So again, we that is relief that we expect in the next fiscal year. Doesn't necessarily help us now, but we are planning and and working towards a solution. Um, and then there's a few other wells that we uh need to make upgrades to and work

through, and we'll be doing that over the next several fiscal years to to get those online and also increase production uh where we can to to provide water for uh our community. And then you we've heard this, we need to look at uh investigating further opportunities for water supply in the community. It's the town has relied on the water from the city of New Bedford for some time now. That's not a

new that's not a new thing, right? It hasn't been to this level. Uh last year it was almost 50% of our water was coming from New Bedford at some times.

Uh historically it was around 20 maybe 30. But we we want to look at opportunities to provide our own water to our community and not have to rely on another community on a regular basis. Uh so we are in the feasibility stage of of looking at an interconnection with the city of Fall River. Uh Westport's done a lot of work there. So that may be an opportunity. Um and we need to uh go for

funding at future town meeting to really conduct an analysis on um how we can produce more water in Dartmouth, our our own water.

Uh and and just as a a note, you know, I I've said it a few times, but we recognize the significant um financial burden that this may have on some households in in the community, particularly on our elderly and low income. And so we are looking at uh programs and opportunities to provide reduced billing starting in fiscal year 2027. Uh that's something that we do not offer right now with our water bills.

you you may be familiar, we offer it with the smart smart billing, the trash billing, but we do not offer with water bills and sewer. So, we are going to be investigating that to see if it's something that we can offer um and and I expect Tim and and the team to bring something forward to the board of public works um hopefully sometime in the spring.

Again, timeline um this the the rates as approved by the board and structure would be effective with the first billing in 2026.

Um we have developed a online bill calculator for our residents. So with the updated uh percent increase proposed 13% increase, we'll be launching that on the water department page. It allows you um to essentially go in you have do have to select your meter size which most of our residential meters are one inch Tim right?

Yes. Most new some old meters are 58 and 3/4 but yes.

Yeah. So but your bill if you have a previous bill your bill will tell you what your meter size is and then you can put in your usage and you can again you can get that from previous bill. This is based on monthly usage. So, if you're looking um at a bill, a semiannual bill, divide that by six, right? And put that in here and and and this will give you

an idea of what your your bill look like. Or you could even plug in, hey, if I use more water in the summer, what would my bill look like? So, so um kudos to the team for putting this together. I think it's a valuable tool um to provide to our community. And then after the board of public works uh approves a rate increase, uh Tim and the water team will be sitting down with DCTV putting

together anformational video which we will plan to launch. Uh we want to make sure that that residents are aware of this and and and this is not just a one-time approach. we need to work on water conservation and long-term stability of the water enterprise fund because right now um you know we need we need to bring that stability back. And then lastly uh before I open up for questions this is what you can expect a

revised bill to look like um with um the 13% increase. Um so the back of your bill right has the basically the breakdown of what the the bill charges are based on your meter size. Uh, and then there's the tiers right on the right side um for the water usage.

So, with that, I know that's a lot of information. I hope I hope um this gave you an idea of of how we got here, why we're here, but we can open up to questions. Um, I appreciate, you know, Tim, Gary, and Steve have been instrumental um in working long hours to to to make sure we put forward something that is least impactful to the community yet makes um the Water Enterprise Fund

solvent and financially stable going forward.

Thank you, Cody. Great presentation.

Muted.

Oh, you're muted, Rob.

Yep. Mr. Gier, any questions?

Not so much questions, but a comment.

Um, the [clears throat] retained earnings at $140,000 is extremely concerning because the Department of Revenue makes recommendations on what you should have and reserves and it's based upon generally what the budget is similar to what they do with uh, you know, the levy and uh, the regular tax funded annual budgets. at an $8 million budget, $140,000 in retained earnings is extremely concerning and

well below the Massachusetts Department of Revenues recommendation for that. So, that would be the first point I would make. The second point is generally uh since you do have a substantial amount in cost of capital improvements that must be done to meet D and federal drinking water standards.

the the matter becomes very concerning because generally you would put up some of your retained earnings but since the uh projects are so expensive you don't fund all of it from retained earnings.

Generally, you go out and you borrow the money under a debt service, which the debt service is funded by the sewer enterprise fund, and you're going to have to make the annual payments on that debt service. And there's no way you're going to do that with any kind of retained earnings and a tight budget that you're seeing right now. the forecasts that Cody and Gary and Tim came up with. Even at that, I'm I'm

concerned and I would ask them to watch that on a monthly basis because that's very concerning. Um it's it's necessary.

It probably should have been done some time ago, but I think these individuals have done a good job with an excellent presentation and I would ask that they probably encourage the Dartmouth News reporter to view the presentation and then that way they can uh write an appropriate story with all this information and a link to this presentation. But I got to say the presentation was exceptional. Thank you.

Uh I' I'd echo uh Mr. Gier's comments.

Excuse me. I'd like to add one of my own and then a suggestion.

The first is that the cost of purchasing water from New Bedford [snorts] is roughly 10 times the cost of producing our own water. And therefore, when we purchase more water from New Bedford than we have estimated, uh, it very quickly throws our budget out of balance. And I think that's, uh, you're breaking up, Rob.

piece here is that in the past, New Bedford has um modified or raised its water rates after the adoption of our budget. And I think as we move forward, there needs to be uh embedded in our agreement with them for water purpose uh purchases uh some mechanism to have them indicate the cost of water well before we adopt our budget. That seems uh prudent and fair. And so those are those are two comments. The

last is um when I look at the excess use charges uh in the proposed billing uh I notice that the highest water use is above 2,125 cubic feet at nearly $90 per thousand cubic feet. Um I suggest that at some point in the future there be an additional step added.

um that increases the top a new top rate with a much higher um cost per thousand cubic feet.

to recognize that um that higher level of water use is likely to be included uh or to trigger additional purpose purchases from uh New Bedford and also is likely to be associated with irrigation and uh controlling irrigation in the summer. uh I think is something that uh we need to focus on. Uh Cody, you mentioned that in your presentation. I couldn't agree with you more. Um but I I still think we

should have a an additional top rate that um is specifically set up to encourage conservation uh of outdoor water use through financial means. that seems to be effective. It's proven to be effective uh over many decades in other parts of the country and I think we ought to take a hard look at that for next year's rates. Anyway, those are my comments. Um any comments from the public?

Any questions uh from anyone else?

Uh am I allowed to speak? Absolutely.

You're a member of the public, sir.

Thank you. Um, first of all, I was shocked by what I heard. I had no idea we were in such dire straits in regards to our water usage. Um, and his comments, I think, were uh it was an excellent presentation, by the way, and it's unfortunate that uh entire community couldn't hear it. But in any case, um there he he brought up a lot of factors uh that I I just wasn't aware

of. And um and it's interesting because in our community uh country and panium acres, we are considering putting in wells because we recognize the irrigation issues that we're having uh there and and the results of the the water bills. Um, but in any case, my point was going to be that as much of that information that could be made to the public, I think the better off the entire community would be. And um, I

don't know how to effectively do that.

But if there are ways to again communicate that uh to this entire community, I think uh it would be helpful.

Uh, for the record, sir, could you uh state your name?

Ron Winnick.

Okay, Mr. Winnick. Thank you very much.

Um I I think you saw in the presentation there was a a slide about getting the word out to the public, one of the key presentations will be to the select board Monday evening and uh as as hard as it is to compete with media these days, uh hopefully the uh local newspaper will pick this up and we have discussed ways to get it out on the town's cable network as well. So, I I absolutely

agree with you that this is it's very important to get this out and it's probably a message that we'll have to uh continue with all the way through the spring and into the summer.

Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more.

The more often you can spread the word, I think the better off you'll be.

Yeah, absolutely.

And may I make a comment as well?

Yeah.

Thank you, Mr. when it timbber. So, also you mentioned possibly going to wells, installing wells at at countryway. Um, and while the restrictions that we impose aren't imposed on on private wells, they should the the restrictions should be followed. uh as as you're drawing peak water, we're we're all pumping out of the ground um and we're restricted um during uh May and September uh to to restrict some of our

wells to to allow the groundwater to recover from from the the draw. So I always encourage uh private well users to follow those restrictions as well on on irrigation times so you're not irrigating during peak [clears throat] usage time and and also you know hot hot times of of sun exposure which helps uh evaporate water rather than allow it to get back into the ground.

Yeah, I I think that information needs to be uh more widespread. Um I I I for example I I couldn't tell you what the best times to irrigate are though we we try to do it at night. Uh and uh in regards to how frequently you should water. I think that would be helpful as well.

Yeah, typically our our restrictions are you you can water between 5:00 p p.m.

and 9:00 a.m. So So non-essential water use is is should be uh is restricted during between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.

So all right, are there any other questions or comments?

Mr. Hadad, thank you very much.

Excellent presentation. Um, and I think we we can have a conversation about uh the presentation to the select board as well. Anyway, thank you very much.

Okay. Thank you. I just as a a note, so we're going to present this to the board on Monday night. If if the board of public works is available, uh it would certainly be great um for you, I think, to attend. And also it would be great for you to to take a vote on a recommended rate um in the structure here as proposed.

Yes.

Well, as to your first comment, um I have it on my calendar. Um, and then if there are other board members that are there, we will um we will attend the select board as individual members. So, we won't run into problems with the uh with the noticing.

Um, unless you recommend we uh attend as a board, but you don't you think think about that and and have a conversation with Mr. Barber about what you think the right way to do it is.

Um, uh, Rob, one of [clears throat and cough] one of the things you might want to consider is, uh, since Cody did make, you know, a mention of the recommendation, um, if you post that if you post that meeting, uh, for Monday night after the presentation to the select board and our recommendation, uh, we could actually then take the vote. I think it would be nice to hear the comments and thoughts of the select

board and my feeling is as a board we would then be able to take a vote after hearing that. So just an idea.

[clears throat] Uh Mr. Hadad, do we have time to post a uh board of public works meeting for Monday evening?

Yes. Yeah. Just you would need to get hosted prior to 6 PM today.

All right. And then uh Mr. Gier, are you available?

I will be there.

Okay. So, we we will have a quorum uh and if you want to post our meeting and uh perhaps what we could do is call our meeting to order at either at the beginning of the select board meeting so we don't get in the way of process or just before the uh this item comes to the select board.

Yep. Absolutely. All right.

Okay. Now, with that, I believe we are not going to formally approve a 13% increase in the rates at this meeting.

That we're going to defer that until Monday evening uh after we hear any comments from the select board and any additional comments from the public. Is that correct?

I think that's a good way to approach it. that way hear what the select board members have to hear say and that they see the presentation and I certainly think the coverage uh you know of the select board meetings is quite good and uh the public will certainly be made aware of the concerns and the items identified in that presentation. Thank you.

Yeah, I agree. [clears throat] All right. So then we will defer action until uh our next meeting and that is tenatively planned to be Monday evening in association with the select board.

Tim, you and uh you and Mr. Hadad can uh figure out the posting and take care of that.

Yes, we'll we'll take care of the posting today.

All right.

All right. Anything else on this item?

No.

Okay. I I'd like to thank uh the administrative team. Um in the past there there have been some questions about the level of cooperation.

Um I think with the new team on board uh things uh at least from my perspective uh are much better. So thank you. I appreciate it.

Well, thank you. Like you said, it takes a team. So we appreciate it. We appreciate the opportunity and we will you you're fortunate you get to uh go through this twice. You get to hear the presentation again on Monday.

Well, I I have some ideas. Maybe it won't be exactly the same presentation.

Okay. Well, we look forward to any feedback that you may have.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Take care. Have a good day.

All right.

Then we will move on to u item C, an update on the operational study. Tim the so I I did have a a chance to sit down with Mr. GE uh to discuss the operational study and you know and potentially uh you know working on the scope. Um u due to because due to the cost of of the extent of scope uh this may have to be advertised as a a request for

qualifications or request for proposal.

Um, so I I you know I recommend we work on the scope to tighten it up a bit to get that cost down. Um, unless unless we choose to uh uh advertise an RFQ.

Mr. Gier, any questions or comments?

I had a good meeting with Tim on this. I gave Tim a set of notes that I had come up with in trying to scope the degree and nature of what the Dartmouth public works department does because I think it's extremely important uh to cover all of the facets. Our public works department covers a lot more than many municipalities public works departments and I think it's important that the consultant that's selected has

experience with the type of a community we are in public works and has that information and I think it would provide a better uh steady outcome. Thank you.

All right. Um if there I have no questions. Does anyone else have any questions about this? The only thing I'd note is that um we've been working on the scope for a while and trying to get this done and this is a priority of the uh select board. So um Tim, whatever you can do to keep it moving.

Sure.

I think it's appropriate. Yeah, we had we had requested some quotes on on the scope and they were exceeding uh some of the procurement limits. So, like I said, yeah, think we have to tighten it up a bit so we can meet procurement.

Okay. Uh if there are no other questions on the operational study, uh item D, storm debris management. Tim, at this time there are no updates on the storm debris management plan. Uh we plan to have more updates in the future.

All right. Uh item E uh 33 Sagamore Drive.

This item was completed last meeting and was placed on the agenda at ERA.

Okay. Uh next item, item F, water pollution control composting.

Uh as an update to the board uh on our ongoing water pollution control composting of bioolids future um there's been some recent correspondence from DP uh in regards to the completion of a recent study that uh included sampling of effluent uh influent and sludge at all Massachusetts water pollution control facilities that discharge to surface waters. Um and uh in in regards to to PASS and um the study is available

in the link that uh that was in your packets and part two of the study also included uh future options and associated costs um for disposal of uh you know sludge and and and wastewater bioolids. Uh there's there's also a link to to that report and we had touched base on some some options you know including uh trucking incineration um and and and other other options that are all extremely expensive and if you

look at the costs in that report it's it's pretty alarming. Uh so we we plan to continue to work on al alternative options for vital solids disposal including working with our consultants and our vendors. uh for the best options and and and uh hopefully least amount of cost.

I Mr. Gier, any questions?

You know, I just want to probably reiterate a comment I made on the previous meetings is that that plant when it was upgraded in 1995 uh specifically encompass that composting uh measure and operation into that and knowing what uh communities are paying to have liquid sludge trucked away to various incineration facilities. I think it makes all the sense for us to consider doing a solicitation for the same

material that used to be taken by Cassella. I think it was Cassella. And um I did happen to go out of this area and looked at a couple of facilities that actually produce a mix for the um their u materials that they sell. And I think there is a markets out there.

Maybe not with the company we've used for years, but I think you would be surprised because you're going to need those revenues that you get for the you know that material and have a revenue coming in versus an expense going out.

We really should work very very hard to u continue the whole model why we did the plant way we did in 1995. So I think there's opportunity there and if we can avoid additional expenses by another company selecting this material I think it would be great for the revenue you need and it might you know might be a company that's not based in Massachusetts because of you know the the regulations that are coming down

regarding you know land use of of bio sales. So, uh, I think, you know, I think that's a it's a good idea and and and we're looking to move forward with solicitating soliciting the bioolids, uh, you know, disposal for for compost.

Any comments from the public?

All right. Uh Tim, I think uh if you could keep us apprised of what's going on and we we're entering now a process for uh evaluating wastewater disposal overall for the town and I think this is an important element of that and um I think we'll as we go through the comprehensive wastewater management plan I think this will be a a piece that will make a big difference from a standpoint

of the finances as you point out but also the design of the uh any upgrades or replacement of the facility.

Okay. Yeah. You know, we we plan at to see some recommendations in in the uh comprehensive wastewater management plan, but you know, that's a little ways out. So, um, and I think looking at, uh, estimating trucking costs, we're looking at around 1.3 million increase in a budget, uh, for for that for those costs. So, so if we can, you know, if we can uh discard these uh for for cheaper

cost, it would work and be beneficial and hopefully maintain our composting uh process because it is a great process and uh it allows you know us to use the the residents uh the brush for the compost which is at at no cost to the residents and and then we produce a gradea product that you know that's been used for years. So, yeah, make just make sure the consultants's got a good crystal ball.

They may need it.

Correct.

Okay. Uh thank you. With that, uh we'll move on to um new business item A, wastewater consulting agreement.

Mr. Chairman, um I know um we're getting into new business. Mr. Mr. Winnick is he wasn't just here for the presentation.

He's also here uh because he he had filed for a water and sewer abatement request. Um so I recommend if if we could uh take this out of order to uh to move Mr. Lin's abatement request along since you've been here since through the meeting unless you That would be item C. Tim.

That would be item C. Yes.

Yeah. Okay. If you could introduce that please. Uh item C is the water and sewer abatement application uh the 65 country way. Uh Mr. Winnick has stated that the usage through April and May of 2025 has far exceeded the typical usage from previous years. Uh you know Steve Sullivan concluded that this may have been a toilet leak issue. um as I guess the volumes were were uh uh kind of

estimated at at that type of use. Uh the prop uh Mr. Wick also noted that during this increased use the house was vacant until June 1st and somehow the flow stopped uh on its own. The usage is shown uh on the the graph in your packets. I can I can bring up a graphic as well if you'd like to see it. The usage from April 1st of 2020 25 to October 28th was 20,730

cubic feet with a total bill of $2,712.73 with $1,173.97 from sewer and $1,538.76 from water. Uh looking at uh last year's usage for this time period, um looks like the usage uh was about 13,720 cubic feet with a a total bill that included water and sewer for $1,630.92.

Tim, I have [clears throat] I have a question.

I'm sorry. Um, in the request it refers to an MBR toilet. Can you give us a little bit of background on what that is and how it functions?

I may ask Mr. Winnick if you could uh speak to that.

Mr. Winnick, could you help us with that?

Uh, it's the master bedroom toilet apparently.

Yeah, apparently um there was something that was in the uh I guess the structure of the toilet bowl. I'm not disputing that with the water was used. I mean the meter is the meter and I'm not disputing that. I just I wasn't uh we go to Florida from uh October to June and uh so the house was vacant and I have no idea why it started. Have no idea why it stopped.

Um, and I assume it, you know, in the uh structure behind the ball, there's all kinds of different fixtures uh that control the flow of water. Something must have gone screwy with that, I would assume, uh, to caused the flow of water.

Again, this I guess my timing on this couldn't be worse in regards to the issues with with water in our community, but uh, the bill, as you can see, is exceedingly high. and I was looking for some relief.

Right. The reason I asked about MBR is it turns out MBR is shorthand for a a very specific kind of toilet that has um higher treatment and I wanted to make sure that we were talking about a standard toilet one of these Yeah.

real fancy uh no basic toilet.

Okay. Thank you. Um Tim, anything else on this for us?

No, it looks like um you know, you know, after that usage and you know, when you ride back home there, there was an increase in usage, not not near as much as as as a usage through May. Um so I assume this is irrigation, some irrigation. Yeah.

Yeah.

Right. Uh Mr. G, any questions?

I I'm sort of curious if we apply the same principle that we did with the gentleman from Emerald Drive a couple of meetings ago, where would the number arrive at? Tim, I think what we did on that one is we looked at the sewer portion and then we evaded on only the sewer portion but not the actual water consumption.

Right.

Yeah. And I I also think there was consideration of what normal water use for that period of time was.

Yeah. and that was subtracted out as well. U yeah.

So Tim, can you get that information for us?

Yes, I I I have um I I did list the the uh the usage of the last year's uh billing period at this time as well, which was about 7,000 cubic feet less.

I can I can work up um the costs uh associated with last year's use u based on this year's rates.

Yeah. Not the new rates, Tim.

No, no, no. FY25 July, right?

125 rates. Yes.

Okay. And then can you bring that back to us? And uh the payment is held in a payment. Is that right?

Yeah, we do. We do uh recommend that payments are made. They can be you know be refunded based on the payments. So you know but um the uh just so you know there are interests and demands p placed on the account and then and we can work with the we work with the collector's office as well on that.

Yeah, I paid the bill.

Okay. All right.

Right. So, so it this is important because we get these requests from time to time. Uh, and we need to be consistent so we're fair with everyone that we uh that comes before us. Um, and and there's also a wide range of reasons this happens. In in the next item, um, it was an irrigation system and that that raises different issues.

Yep. Um, all right. Uh, are are you comfortable, sir, coming back next month and uh when we have more information in front of us and we can actually make a decision on this?

Sure.

Okay.

And I can reach out uh Mr. Winnick once we have a that calculation to to inform you of it.

Yeah, that'd be fine. Okay.

I appreciate your work. Yeah. Thank you.

Absolutely.

Yeah. M Mr. Wick, we want to get this right. uh you know there's a fair amount of money involved and we as I say we try and um treat these kinds of requests consistently and fairly. So very good. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. We'll hopefully we'll see you next month.

Yes, sir. Thank you.

Thank you for your time. I appreciate it.

All right. Uh Tim, uh is the um the owner of uh 15 Puritan Street with us. Do you see I don't see them here. We were unable to get in touch with them. We did leave them a message. Um we didn't have any email address. So um we can continue to try to contact them and I can put this on the next meeting unless they do show up later in the meeting. Yeah, I'd like

to have the uh the property owner uh here when we talk about this um just in case there's anything else that that comes up.

All right. And then Tim, this by the way, this uh item um 15 Puritan Street looks a little bit like the one we did last month uh in in terms of it's an outdoor water use and so there wouldn't be any implications to the sewer.

So it would seem appropriate to handle that pretty much the same way as the other one. So you could come back with a specific recommendation.

Yeah. The only difference is is that's discharges to new benefit. So we'd have to we'd have to abate also with new bet.

Right. Can you and and is that done that's done through a separate process?

Yes.

Can you initiate that process and uh make that part of the report back?

Yes.

Okay. Thank you. All right. Let's go back to um item new business a uh wastewater consulting agreement.

So this agreement is specifically for the consultation review and analysis of a proposed discharge to sewer from the Oberon Sherwicks uh company facility located on Foxcon Road in Dartmouth. Uh this facility has an overflow on their cooling tower system that currently discharges to the ground outside their facility which was found by mass D by routine inspection uh which was followed

up by a correspondence with us regarding uh this issue and a request for resolution and in the you know form of possibly connection to sewer. Um due to this uh discharge uh being from an industrial facility, we we involve our consultant Stantech to uh analyze the their process in sampling to determine what what nutrients or metals or any chemicals anything or and pH levels that are in that discharge to make sure that

they do align with our with our treatment facility. uh requirements and uh the cost for this is $4,200 and I have also given this agreement to Oberon Sherworks uh for their review and and and payment. We would not enter into this agreement with fant until overron uh does uh pay the funds uh that we can put into a 53g account and use that to fund the consultant's work.

No. I would make the motion that we approve the uh agreement for consulting services of Sherwark Stanic for $4,200.

Motion for approval by Mr. Gier. Uh the chair seconds the motion. Tim, before we uh actually take a vote on this, when was this uh facility built roughly?

Well, the the facility is it's located in in the old Vanity Fair uh building on Pon Connor Road. Um so it it it it was typically with a change of use when when uh landlords uh lease to tenants uh and in including in commercial industrial usage. Um uh they've been around for quite a few years. Um and sometimes you know this this step of notification gets missed from from when it's permitted through

say like the building department uh or zoning to come and to as a change of use where it's not a new construction. So sometimes we don't you know we don't get those notifications. So that's one of my uh you know not notes that this is important that we get notified on any any change of use because it could be uh it could have an impact on our sewage system and and

whether it's whether it's this type of industrial use or a restaurant with with fats oils and greases you know so we you know all these all these discharges impact sewer. So we we really do need to be notified.

Yeah. And I am uncomfortable that the change in use occurred and there was a an actual surface discharge.

Um you know a wastewater discharge at the surface and it was capt inspection. That uh suggests to me that whoever was responsible for inspecting this project and the permitting really did miss something.

Yeah.

Um and I'm just what what I I just hope that the discharge isn't so serious as to require a site cleanup. Um anyway, okay. Uh so we have a motion and a second for approval. Mr. Gier, how do you vote?

vote yes.

Uh Mr. Gier votes yes. Chair votes yes.

Item is approved. Uh and uh just just one last comment. We've you know I've recommended numerous times uh to the company in the interim that they provide some containment uh for the for the discharge. It's not a large amount of discharge. So and they don't they don't know the volume. So for them to figure out the volume and contain it would be beneficial.

So they're also working on that as well.

Okay.

All right. Uh moving to item B. Uh sewer betterment notice. Tim.

Yeah. So this is a betterment notice lean discharge for 56 Lakeside Avenue.

So this the uh request is for the notice of sewedment which was estimated uh prior to the construction of the sewer project uh at $11,9987 which is separate from the order of bed which is recorded after the project with the exact pediment amount of $11,17 as shown in in your board packet. So, so typically the order of [clears throat] betterment uh includes uh the lean which is which is paid off uh typically either

paid off at the time or through taxes through the assessor's office and they would discharge that lean. The order abedment, the notice of abedment is is us notifying all residents that there will be a betterment coming and and you know if there are any transfers of property that that it goes with the deed. Um so so this this property is going through a transfer and they're requesting the release of the notice

which I recommend.

All right. So, you you included a um a form. Uh do all board members need to sign that form?

Um I think at least two, I believe.

All right.

Any questions, board members? Mr. Gier, I would move that we follow the recommendation of the superintendent on the discharge of the lane on Lakeside Avenue.

I have a motion to uh approve the chair uh by Mr. Gier. Chair seconds.

Mr. Gier, how do you vote?

Yes.

Chair votes yes. Item is approved. Uh we have already dealt with um item C. Uh we've continued item D. Next item is item E, a discussion of the FY2027 operating budget and CIP. Tim, yes, the uh the finance committee and and finance director has set the required submittal date uh for fiscal year 27 operating budget and capital improvement plans uh to be submitted no later than December 26. Um so uh all of

our department heads are currently working on uh the proposed operational budgets and and capital plans um 10ear capital plans um and I'm scheduling to meet uh with departments beginning on tomorrow morning and early next week uh to to move to finalize these budgets. uh once the proposed budgets in CIP is is finalized, we I'll submit them to the board for review as well and they will hopefully be on the next

uh next meeting.

All right. Um Mr. Gier, any questions?

Only thing I would ask Tim and I those budgets are extensive. You showed me a you know a copy of the the budget book for f for the current fiscal year. I would just ask that the department heads would just make a a one sheet on the most significant items that have changed in uh cost and value uh for their department. Not interested in the issue of the salaries. Those are contractual.

I'm more interested in looking at what expenses are rising significantly. It gives us a better opportunity to put into our focus such things as were mentioned in the previous presentation on the cost of chemicals, electricity, those items there. So I think a summary sheet would be very helpful and and we also put a we do have a summary notes um at the bottom that I request from any any departments that

are requesting an increase in a line item as to why that item being increased or being requested for increase the same reason. So yes, thank you.

We can do that.

All right. So Tim, we we expect that on our next uh agenda. Is that right? Yes, sir.

Okay. Uh you might since we're going to be talking about budgets, uh make sure that the um public is noticed. Um, I we we're talking a lot about large financial issues at this board and I'm not entirely sure that the public is is um well aware of the scope of what we're talking about here. Um, so if uh you could coordinate with the town administrator uh and the finance board and uh have

somebody just pick up the phone and tell Dartmouth weekly that we're going to start talking about budgets if they want to listen in. Um I think Yeah. I believe that the finance committee meetings are are public and televised as well.

Yeah. Yeah. If if but we need to somehow we need to get the word out and be sure that um the people who have any interest at all are aware and and remind them that we are we're meeting and discussing these issues. Um as I say, I'm not entirely sure that uh I don't know how to put this politely.

I'm not sure that the public is really paying attention to what's going on from a budgetary standpoint at this time of year. In other words, it all seems to come to a head at U at at town meeting, but the all of the work is done starting now. And the best time to have input or comment or raise issues is now as opposed to at town meeting. a lot harder

to make uh make changes or influence the direction of uh things that are going on. So, all right. Thank you, Tim. Uh next item is uh water connection fees.

So, kind of in line with the discussions on water rate increases. Um I was just kind of polling the board to see if there's interest in the review of our existing water connected fees. This was done back in 2023 when we uh we also compared sewer connection fees. Uh and and while our sewer connection fees were dated and lower than a lot of comparable um communities, uh our water fees seemed

more in line at that time. Um, but you know, it's a couple years old and uh we may want to research that again and see if we need to update any of our connection fees as well.

Mr. G, I um the my interest is not so much in the area of the residential. I think it would certainly be helpful to see what other communities get on the residential connection fees. I really would like to see some research done on communities that are having substantial apartment complex developments and what they are charging for those apartment complex uh units. Um, we're seeing we're seeing some very very

significant uh growth in that particular area. And I I really would think it'd be beneficial for us to know probably around the metro Boston area and some of the suburbs what water departments and sewer departments are getting for those particular types of units.

I agree. I agree completely. I think it there. I have also u an interest in understanding the purpose of the connection fees and if the if we are limited [clears throat] by um any regulations as to the amount of connection fees and how they relate to the actual work of say inspection.

uh and the meter itself or whether the fee can also uh be applied toward uh future capital projects that might be necessary, additional water supplies in the case of water. Uh I'd like to know that and also whether we a portion of the fee can be uh of the sewer connection fee be put toward um future wastewater treatment facility upgrades.

So, [clears throat] if you could bring that information back to us, that would be very helpful. I'd also like to know um if we do adopt new fees, when they would be effective, and importantly, if there are any projects that are in the pipeline that would be affected by the new fees. Um, we did have a discussion with an a uh developer a few months ago about a fee increase

and I'd like to make sure that we uh understand whether we would be facing that kind of a discussion again.

Yes. I think I think the other factor you got to take into consideration I believe Tim said to me based on the projects we know that are apartment or condo projects that were somewhere in the range of about 1,400 units in Dartmouth. One thing that's going to do is it's going to trigger those capital items that you just spoke about in that presentation to have to be [clears throat]

put into place a lot sooner than, you know, a house built here and a house built there. I mean, we're on a very accelerated schedule uh with these permitting for these units. And I think it's uh we we're going to have to deal with a substantial capital cost and you're going to have to have the revenues to meet that uh debt service.

I agree. Absolutely.

Okay. Tall order, Tim, but we know you can do it.

Thank you.

All right. Anything else on this item?

No.

All right. So, next item is committee updates. Tim, I don't have any other than the finance committee request for uh for budgets.

I have no updates. Mr. Gier, do you have any updates?

No.

All right. Uh, next item is the director update.

Um, again, the 579 uh for Westport Road uh reconstruction project or upgrade project is still underway. The CT pipe or full log pipe [clears throat] work has been completed on the exterior and they're working on on interior work. Uh we're looking to expedite getting that fully connected um operate uh tested, sampled, and operational uh as soon as possible uh to be able to work with D to

get those uh three wells back turned online for the near future.

Tim, uh what is the uh the actual role of DP in bringing those wells back online?

um they you know since they were uh shut down due to uh a bacterial right hit they'll they'll need to know that those wells are and are connected to a CT pipe infrastructure and and also you know sanitized and and and and we'll have to test and and our our you know report our analysis on our samples.

So, is there is is their role simply to look at samples and sign off on the uh sampling system or do they have to come out and do physical inspection?

Um Steve would know that, but I don't think they come out and do physical inspection. It's more on our reporting and basically u being permitted to turn those wells back online. Okay. So then it sounds to me like this is a matter of a few days or or weeks as opposed to some kind of longer process.

Yeah, we're hoping it's it's it's a short process uh once we once we get everything sampled uh connected, sampled and ready to ready to uh turn back online.

Okay. Yeah.

All right.

Uh it's also the the Hawthon uh Hawthon street reconstruction design project is currently under view by Mass Dot's uh intersection control uh team uh to see if uh control upgrades are are needed at the Sulcom Road intersection. Uh so we were we had worked with our consultant to uh to put that uh into our our scope um and submit that to ICE or intersection control evaluation for mass. So that's currently underway and

we'll we'll be planning to meet with uh with our design team in the near future.

Any questions Mr. Gier?

All I can say is that Hawthorne Sloum Road intersection is one scary intersection.

If you're coming uh westbound on Hawthorne Street, you're going to make a left turn onto Soukum Road, take a deep breath because there two lanes coming at you from the north on Sulkum Road and you're not always sure one of them's going to take a left turn.

Correct.

I avoid that constantly.

I just experienced that as well the other day. I I tend to go up through there every now and then to to to look at the the traffic in in uh in that intersection. So, absolutely. So, you know, in the um and we had done a s ser uh signal warrant analysis um and in their analysis um it did meet you know uh intersection control. So that that that's what triggered us to to

also submit that to to mass.

I become very concerned with parents that are picking up children at the Quinn school that are coming up on Hawthorne and uh uh it's it's needs to be addressed I think specifically from a safety standpoint.

Absolutely.

And moving on the uh so so once we have that information I'll update the board uh from master moving on to the crossroad reconstruction project. So that that project has moved into the 75% design phase. So we're so we're working towards that with our consultant and and hopefully that we can expedite this design and get that uh expedited on the tip as well for future construction.

Um, as you know, this year, uh, we did overlay um, a little into the the project area, uh, because of the the, uh, the flooding in that area and and the the the road conditions. So, so we did some some temporary storm water work uh to alleviate some of that and as well as a mill overlay to to make that, you know, road more drivable um until this project is is underway.

I'm glad you did that, Tim, because that that curve that's there is up because of the water that lays on the pavement. Um and I agree. I mean, it's it's a measure temporarily for getting the water off that road, but I was very glad to see that because that is one scary curve. If you're heading um east on crossroads and you come to that curb and it's icy, you're going to go right into the westbound lane.

Yeah. Yeah. Especially during the winter when you have, you know, you have any precipitation, then it freezes. So yeah, you know, our our our highway crew did a great job out there constructing the storm water to get that uh functioning um so we can you know hopefully have a safe safe winter and move forward towards this construction.

Thank you.

And lastly, uh staffing. You know, we continue to work with with our human resources department. they've been uh really uh working hard with us um throughout throughout the whole town. You know, there's been turnover and and and stuff.

So, I think we've had a lot of eb and flow lately with with with staff leaving and new new staff coming on board and we're working to onboard everybody and uh train everybody and and and hopefully move forward uh with our you know operations. Um we have a new associate engineer coming on board um on Monday uh which is which is exciting news. Um, and then we we we also did offer uh the assistant superintendent of

water and sewer position uh to a candidate who we're looking to get on board by the end of the year.

That's good news. Uh Tim, if you're uh if you have time to read the the uh Boston Globe, there have been some interesting articles on uh town financing over the last few weeks and there is a theme a recurring theme of um difficulty in bringing people people on board because of uh pay scale and medical insurance costs.

So, um, it doesn't necessarily make us feel any better to know that other people have the same problem, but clearly other towns have the same set of problems.

Yeah. And uh you know the the town is uh working on a committee to evaluate the health care costs and and medical insurance and and look at uh possibly um other programs to to to reduce the cost.

So So that's their focus currently. And and also, you know, we're we're going through our a compensation and reclassification uh study um which was originally uh scheduled to be completed by the end of the year, but it looks like it's been extended at least a month. Um so, we'll be looking forward to getting that information and reviewing it, moving forward with that as well. And then coming into coming into uh this

next year um you know union negotiations will have to kick off as well for it for the fiscal the new fiscal year.

Tim going back to the reclassification study. Uh, I recall that the last time the town did a reclassification study, there resulted some uh systemic problems in how the the uh study was implemented and I also recall that it was it it seemed impossible to correct those problems. Mhm.

Um, can you give some thought about how the board could be most effective in helping the town um develop any changes that make sense um because some of the stuff just didn't seem to make any sense. But it it it I also got the feeling it was kind of locked in and um there was a lot of of shoulder shrugging about making changes.

So um that that's a requesty.

Absolutely. And and you know hopefully assign it's not rushed even though we we need to get it done and expedite it. We we need the time to review it as well and make sure that that all the information is correct and and done properly.

Yeah, there there's an old saying, if you don't have time to do it right, when are you going to find time to do it over?

Correct. Correct.

100%.

One of the things that you really should ask them to look at, there's two communities that I've been working with, and one of the problems is your senior long-term employees get deadended at a scale, compensation scale that's short, let's say 10 steps.

um you really should ask them because there there's a problem with that because for one an employee deadended gets a COLA the COLA covers or doesn't cover the cost of the insurance increases that are running double digit year after year. you should ask them to maybe if they're not doing it, but at least do a 12 or a 14 step so that those valued uh top scale employees feel like they in

fact continue to be recognized. Um I know a couple of communities in fact have lost long-term employees because they were deadended at a 10 uh step 10 on their particular classification.

Um it's it's very beneficial because if you can keep that employee for another four years uh especially if they're you know essential valued employees um from going to another community I think a longer number of steps is helpful and as long as those steps aren't just you know the same I guess increase extended over a longer period of time because the small increases aren't No, I'm not talking about that. You take

the incremental increase between the existing 10 steps and you make that incremental increases for three three or four more steps. No, I agree with you.

Don't bre don't stretch it.

And I think that's what's been done in the past. So, you know, right?

No.

Um, on that, we're working on hiring, you know, a couple more uh workers at at highway drivers and also we we our admin clerk uh Stephanie Roello has started and she's doing a great job catching up and and and on boarding and uh getting getting trained.

Uh it's a it's a it's a really task oriented and and uh demanding position. So she's she's doing a great job and uh and working out well.

Okay. Any uh any other questions, Mr.

Gier?

Um, one one question I have, Tim, the connection application for Delano Apartments, that was for 50 units.

Delano uh 89.

89. Okay. Are they Are they building 89 there now or more?

No, it's one building. 89 units. Yes, but it looks like it looks like there's a second building going up.

It's an L-shaped building. So, it's it's all one building. It's it's just it's just a lot, you know, typically you don't see that many units in in a single building. Uh but uh so this is a I think they built the front section and now they're building the the back section.

Okay. Thank you.

You're welcome.

All right. Uh if there are no other items and if there are no other comments, uh I will entertain a motion to adjourn the meeting. I make a motion that we adjourn the P board of public works meeting.

Mr. Gier has uh moved adjournment. The chair seconds the motion. Mr. Gier, how do you vote?

I vote yes.

Uh chair votes yes. Uh thank you very much all of you for being part of this and uh all the work you guys do in providing ser necessary services to the town. I appreciate it. I really do.

Thank you. Um okay with that uh the meeting is adjourned.