Finance Committee Meeting April 2, 2026

I'd like to call the finance committee meeting to order on Thursday, April 2nd.

Please join me in the pledge of allegiance.

I pledge 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.

So, on the agenda tonight, we have a review of the CPC warrant articles and our esteemed guest, Buddy Baker Smith.

He's going to be going over the articles for us. And I I guess I have to thank you, Buddy, because you brought a crowd with you.

So now we expect this attendance every week.

So just introduce yourself to our all our viewers at home.

Yes. Uh Buddy Baker Smith. Um, and I'm with the chair of the community preservation committee. And just um, I apologize I'm wearing my hat only because I went to the dermatologist. I had a dermatology visit the other day and I had this and I have this big and very goofy looking patch on my head and I figured if I it would be more thoughtprovoking than anything I might have to say. So, I figured I just would

cover it up so you wouldn't lose focus on the on any of these warrant articles.

So, that's why I've got I'm styling a little bit more than I typically would.

Um, and we have a lot of projects, probably the most number of projects we've had in I would say easily 15 or 20 years.

Um, and so I asked all the sponsors to be here in case you have more specific questions about projects. I thought it would be uh helpful probably um for you all to be able to uh and I won't keep it all straight. So I figured you know that would be good. So if there are spec some more information you'd like to know about any of the projects folks are have

been very willing to come and and say a few words and answer some questions about that and I would probably prefer to defer to them. Some of these are complicated. Um it's a big number. So I also thought um you know anticipated kind of a common question would be I think the total project articles are uh 3,69619,694.

Um and I thought it probably would be helpful for finance to kind of see how that fits in the scheme of things. Um that certainly was a long discussion at the CPC. Um, and so, um, I put together, uh, a couple of charts um uh, thinking after our CPC conversation, what would be probably helpful to understand and put this in perspective.

And so, I'm going to give you two charts. Um, this is something that I try to keep track of, uh, as we go along.

Um, and let's see these. I'm going to put these on the end of the table because they want to slide right off the pedestal.

No pass.

The first chart is um something I keep track of which is just each year what are what do we project for revenue? What do we project for the state match and then what is the actual and so I just kind of keep track of those numbers over the years and this chart reflects kind of what those trends are. Um so what you see is um actual and projected uh searchcharge revenue and the actual and

projected state match. Um for me the whole thing is how closely our projections seem to run with the trend of the actuals. So you can kind of see we're pretty much spot on assuming a 2% searchcharge uh revenue increase year-over-year. That seems pretty consistent. uh and then the state match goes up and down based on uh a lot of other things that are happening in the state. Um so that's one thing that I'm

always tracking.

And then the next uh thing I want to share with you is what the trend is in project availability. So as we enter the each year we have reserves um and then we have the year the reserves that we start with as of June 30th um and then we have state revenue uh and then we have uh searchcharge revenue and that kind of makes up the available funds. So, one of the things I keep

track of each year is just how how much we are starting with in terms of um our our reserves, our state match uh and the searchcharge revenue. Um but what I did here um is because we have a large commitment that we are going to town meeting with and it was a big question at the CPC what does this mean for our capacity to fund projects in the near future? Um, I tried

to do some estimating. And so what I did is I um looked at our three, five, and 10year averages for uh annual um commitments to projects. And then I took those averages and um I assumed um those I assumed those trends in case we have additional projects for the next round for October and put all that together and then what you'll see here is the 20 the 28 and the 20 FY28 and FY29 are basically

looking out with the worst case scenario of those averages.

So I took those averages and whichever produced the highest fiscal year average I applied that to fiscal 28 and fiscal 29 along with the assumptions in search charge revenue and state match. And so, uh, roughly, and now emphasis on rough, um, this is what it looks like if we did all of our commitments that are before town meeting in June, um, and did on average another round in October based

on the average that we've been doing.

Uh, this is what the available funds for fiscal 28 and 29 would look like.

So for me um I think we're we are we have the capacity to make this amount these amount of commitments um and we are still going to be in a place that is still actually well above what our first I guess 10 or so years or more of uh the CP uh CPA funds were available to us. Um so looks like we would be somewhere around a little bit more than $3 million

um in FY29 available for projects and this is assuming the worst case scenario of averages for commitments in 28 and commitments going in uh for 27 and commitments in 29 or 28. So, so it's my rough idea basically that I feel uh we have the capacity uh the town has the capacity to make these commitments without je making uh jeopardizing our cash flow if you will in terms of what's available for future projects.

Any questions about that? Yes. Buddy the state matches the um amount of money that the town spends.

We are getting now on average the state is matching about 15% of the searchcharge revenue. So as you can see in that first chart I gave you, you can see where that state match over the years has dropped uh pretty precipitously and we've adjusted our projections accordingly. So right now we're pretty much year to year we project about 15% state match. Sometimes it's been 18% sometimes 16 but we've

kind of settled on 15 seems to be the trend right now is just because towns are becoming more and more with right.

Yeah. Exactly. There's more of the more people to share the pie with.

Yep.

Okay. Thank you. In regards to the CPA tax, has Dartmouth always had it at the cap of 2%.

Um, yeah, we're at I think we're at one and a half%. Yeah.

So, we town meeting could theoretically raise that another percentage point, a half percentage point.

Actually, you could go to 3%.

Go up to 3% with the CPA search charge tax. And with the 3% um you towns with the 3% are also eligible for an additional state match. So the state match is given in two rounds. The first round everybody gets the same percentage um and then they go back and they do another round of state match um for any community that is um uh has a 3% match. So we would also uh it would

also increase our state match.

Correct. Thank you.

Yeah.

Question. What's your uh what was your rationale for FY29? It seems comparable.

I'm looking at this bar graph here. It looks comparable to FY22 and FY23, but what was your exact rationale for FY29?

How did you get from A to B, if you will?

um trying to look at what the worst case scenario is for future commitments and looking at our averages and then in uh applying those.

So you're saying FY22 was basically where it was and you base worst case scenario I see that's what I'm looking at. How did you get all the way up through FY25 are actuals.

Okay. And um so I go back and I make uh you know I go and look at Donna Fernandes gives us a uh quarterly report. Um and then I look at her June 30th uh figures and make the adjustments to actuals. Um so those are actuals. um our FY26 um are actuals for the starting reserves and the state batch because those figures we know and then we are projecting what the FY26 revenue will

will look like and that figure will come in you know so you're thinking we're going to have more we're going to have less reserves come FY28 29 uh yes with this big commitment it will reduce the amount of reserves we have going into each each year Yes.

What's your amount all you have for reserve? What's in your reserve?

Um Oh, that's a great question.

I don't know if I have it here.

Oh, actually you have Donna just sent the report. Um but I believe we are um I think it's a uh let's see, I should look up Donna's report. Do you have that? let me know.

Okay, I can look up. She just sent it today. So, I I want to get you an exact figure.

All right.

Keep in mind it's 1.5% of the first 100,000 assessed value.

Yeah, that's how it's calculated.

The first 100,000.

That was a board that was a selectman board meeting. I'm sorry. Between town meeting, that was a town meeting versus the board of selectmen.

Correct.

So, town meeting had to approve CPA tax.

At one point in time the board of segment had to put an article through tell meaning I'm not sure how you know when the program started buddy what year the program started in uh 2006 I believe okay yeah 2006 yeah the percentage so in our current uh reserves as of um March 31st um in the housing fund we have $367,08360.

In the historic preservation reserve, we have $636,184.85.

Okay.

In the open space reserve, we have $219,154.3.

Okay. And in the unrestricted reserve, we have 3,37,15182.

So that's what we're looking at.

Um, buddy, I just had a question about the project funds available. So it looks like from fiscal year 10 through 21 it was kind of you know bouncing around between$1 and $2 million and then fiscal year 22 jumped up to over three and then it's kind of stayed over three and and then projected up to almost 6 million in um fiscal 27. Is there any reason for that jump between 21 and 22 or was it

just less projects?

Less projects. Yeah. So, we've went through a period in which we had um we had projects, but they all tended to be $25,000, $50,000 kind of commitments.

Um and then this year is like the catchup year.

Yeah.

You know, but even even still, even with funding this, it's still, you know, in fiscal 28, you're still up over four million. So, you're pretty well above where we were prior to fiscal 22.

That's right. It doesn't take us at all near that level.

Sure.

I'm sure CO probably had something to do with that, too. maybe the projects weren't right um fully funded to the to that point because if you look at that time frame that's the time frame that there was um not as much spending.

There's a quick question. So you said if if we went up to the maximum of 3% then the state would increase from 15% to some. Do we know what that does it fluctuate or it varies again according to what uh because the state fund um is um capitalized on registry fees. So if if there's if there's a downturn in the real estate market, fewer fee, you know, fewer filings, fewer fees kind of thing.

So that that number will fluctuate. Um, is there an average that like if we were if we're getting about just under 200,000 a year in state match, what would it go up to approximately?

Not holding you to it, but I don't know, but I think that's something I can give to you because I can go and take a look. So the the uh Department of Revenue publishes um the um commitments for every town and so you can kind of go and look up every town and stuff. So I can take a look at that. I'd be happy to do that.

Be interested.

Yeah. Here.

Yep.

Almost feels like, you know, if your employer offers 4% match on your 401k, you always want to put your your full match in to get free, you know, free money.

Yep.

Okay.

And most of these funds are typically invested in to our town government community projects.

Yes. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. This is not a rainy day fund. I think that's kind of that was a a discussion at the at the CPC meeting as well. Um you know it's very restricted too. It was the whole purpose behind the legislation.

Yeah. This is specifically earmark. It's not the point.

The P is preserved. It's not um it's not a um it's not an account that the town can go in and use it for to balance a budget or or something like that. This is specific to specific projects that the committee listens to and vets out.

Yeah, it's very much, you know, it it's about tangible benefits for the town and town residents. And so I think we're we're very cognizant of that. Um and we can only work with the proposals before us. But in terms of commitments, you know, I think it's really important that we move uh these warrants to town meetings so they have the opportunity to commit the funds because when they're

committed, then you get tangible benefits for for your little property tax sarge. Um so I think for us the the fiduciary concern is um that we still carry enough in reserves to be able to absorb large um requests on in at any given year. Um we do have the option to borrow funds committee I would say the sense of the committee is is to not do that if we can

avoid it. Um we carried a lot of debt in the in the early years of the CPC because there were um some 61A land acquisitions in the first few years before the fund had any opportunity to build up. And so we bonded u I think probably five or six projects in the first five or six years of uh the CPC.

Um and our debt service uh we met I think with finance committee several years ago now I can't remember when but you know with finance committee really wanted us to bring the debt service down to under 25% of the annual projected annual revenues um and we were able to do that and now we have zero debt service. So there's a little cushion for a major project that we don't have cash

for. A little bit cushion, but the committee really would rather be able to absorb those. But I think with these figures, we can still absorb uh a big project.

Speaking of commitments.

Okay. Um, and the the I'm going to go in the order that I have since you you don't have a a a partic.

Oh my goodness. Okay. I hope my spelling is right.

Oh boy. Oh boy.

Um, so the first is um the DCTV. Um this I believe we think of it as phase three.

We had done some initial cost um estimating uh and then the town approved uh preparation of bid documents for uh repairs and renovations to the annex uh where DCTP is located. And now they're ready to move forward with the actual work. And so this is this is the the funds for the work. Um, and that's a total of $461,394.

Um, and I believe about 50,000 from the uh enter the DCTV enterprise fund um is also um will also be put towards this project.

Did you have more detail on the project or did someone want to speak on it?

Probably good if some of the detail came from these sponsors.

Thank you.

Uh Peter Chase, director of media for DCTV. Um so we're um going to basically do the outside of the building. Um all the shingles, all the um um borders and and uh trim work and then a little bit of uh grading outside to grade water away from the building. Um, the majority of the inside of the building was done when we moved in about I don't know 12 years ago or so. Um, all the windows

were replaced at that time. The roof was done at that time. The doors were done, but the siding and the um, like I said, trim work was not completed. So, this is just going to replace um, red cedar shingles on the outside. Uh, redo our the wood around our handicap ramp out front. Um we're going to add little dormers to the side where there's two side doors to try to get water away from

the um the doors a little bit um cuz it's coming right down the roof right onto the platform. And then um I think the only other part is on the side that's the old police station side.

There's a set of steps and we're going to add some railing there just to make it come into compliancy um with just you know upcoming you know the the times of now. Um, we've been in front of the historical commission. We've worked with them closely on making sure we keep it all historical looking on the outside.

Uh, we're going to go back in front of them once we have the final bid documents and so they can approve um all the stuff that's going to be put on. And so, like Betty said was 46 thou 460,000 from CPC and then we're going to we have a uh $50,000 from the DCTV Enterprise Fund and that's in the CIP articles. Um and so the total cost of the project is just over 500,000

and the CIP has approved it already.

CIP has moved there forward. Yeah. So both articles will be at town meeting.

Great. Anybody have questions?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, let me get that project file.

Um the next project we have here is the Devolve Field. Devolve Field is a piece of property. It's um addresses for Tannery Lane. Um it's a piece of property that um is bounded by uh Russell Mills. Um Tannery Lane, which is a little street behind um or off the off to the if you look at Devals, it's a little street off to the right. um and then bounded by the uh Slokum River. Um

and so that uh the um the project is for the Buzzards Bay Coalition to um purchase the property um demolish the house that is on the property uh and then maintain the land as public open space. Um and um the importance of the property is that one is it's in a flood plane zone. Um and uh it is further uh water protection for the Soukum River because of the the the

front there. Um the um sponsors did not have um any interest or purpose for the house.

Um so their their idea is to um demolish the house and they are proceeding with the historical commission um with the demolition kind of review. Uh I think the house was built in the 70s I believe something like that. Um some of the outuildings would be maintained for things like storing um uh equipment that would be used to maintain the property.

Um and that's 575,000 which is will actually go to the conser to the town of Dartmouth um for the conservation commission to purchase a conservation restriction on the property. So that's the 575,000 is for the um the um restriction which is a little less than the assessed value of the property with the restriction. And so that's one of the things that we always try to pay attention to is uh we tend not to um uh

approve um funds that exceed the value of the restriction. So, we get an assess the the sponsor submits an assessed value of the property with the restriction placed on it and we look at that and and make sure the CPA funds don't exceed that amount.

How much acreage is that property?

Let's see how much acreage is that is there anyone and we do have someone who could speak to that. would you come up here to the microphone and thank you Mark Mark Ras with Buzzards Bay Coalition. Thank you. Um yeah, this is creation of a new park on the Sloum River. Um we're doing it together in partnership with the town. We will own the property, maintain it as a passive

park. This is not going to be a place where there's ball fields and tennis courts. This is a place for enjoying the river, taking a small walk, visit Devals, visit down to the river, taking taking advantage of the how many people visit the falls, but really don't have a place to actually go down and enjoy more of the river. So, we will own the property. We'll maintain it. We'll take

care of all the uh field mowing. The intention is to keep it as a field. One of the great things about the site is it's vista of the river, the ability to see the river from the road. So, we'll keep that as a field. Um couple benches and that is the program for the the park aspect. And then the town will hold the conservation restriction on us to make sure it always saves a park.

Terry, will uh people with kayaks be able to access the river?

Absolutely.

So you've talked about the benefits to the town. How do the abutters feel about this decision?

Um so I haven't talked to every single abutter. Um there's a letter of support from Deval's general store and our application to CBC, from the board of selectman, the select board, the uh conservation commission as well. Uh we're before the historic commission on April 21st to talk about the house. Um one thing we're hoping for the house is that it's actually relocated. We'd love

to give away the house for somebody who wants to move it. It's a thousand square foot house. It's pretty small. So there's potential for moving it. If we cannot succeed at finding somebody to move it, we would demolish it and that will just become more of the park.

So bys I mean neighbors though.

Yep.

They're they're good with this.

I've not met with every single neighbor like the ones you've met with. Yeah.

Okay.

Yep. And they've all been notified, right?

They all the direct ones that were notified by the historic commission.

Okay. Thanks.

I know there was some discussion at the meeting about the repurposing or relocating of that house. So, can the historical commission stop you in any way due to the age of the house?

It's it's from the 70s, so it's not a historic structure. Um, it is within the district boundary, so we need a a permit from them. Um, we're hoping not. Um, that's why we're going to them before town meeting.

So, if we were somehow not able to get a permit from them, we would not go forward at town meeting.

Thank you.

Um, on the GIS map, it looks like there's uh three separate parcels there.

Is that all the one?

It's what you see purchase. Okay. Yep.

Okay. And then how about parking wise? I know that there's kind of limited parking at the falls across. Is there any parking on the property planned or would it all be across the street where the current parking is? Uh we're planning just right in front of the So there's for those you can imagine the house the property there's a garage and then the house in front of the garage we're talking about a six slot parking

lot.

Okay.

This is not meant to be a lot of people at once. This is just go walk your dog sit by the river a little bit kind of park up on the screen.

Oh yeah, you got it. Um yeah. So that you drive this would be the entrance. You drive into there and then that's the little house. So the parking would be just to the right of that driveway view.

Oh okay.

Yep.

So it'll be really better to look at if you drive down the street here on Google.

There's Stonewall there.

Yeah.

So, this property right here, road or what is it?

It goes rockanny. Yep.

So, if you go to the other direction though, the other direction.

Yeah.

That's the best way to see it. You go down there. Yeah. Then take the turn on horse neck and Yep.

Oh, there you go. A little bit more and then you'll be able to see in.

Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah. There you go. I got you.

So, This garden shed's in great shape, but it's really attractive, too. So, we tend to keep the shed, keep the garage, all the wood, all the stone walls, amazing snow walls, and cut granite along the river. Really beautiful.

Yep. And then the field just goes down down river.

Aren't there swing sets or something down there on my further down, Bill?

There are.

That's the town landing.

Yeah.

You don't realize how that property is.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. There you go. That's the whole That's the southern boundary all inside the wall. Yes.

Well, this is the daffodil madness time of year over there. So, people will be parking in the thing and walking across.

They're not ready yet. I got the email today.

And that's an old barn foundation, which is really cool. The barn used to be right up on the street with the old old paintings.

Um, so phenomenal.

Great. Anybody else have questions?

Hey, thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Uh the next project is the Crapo Field uh lighting. Um and this is um a project to replace the field lighting at Crapo Field um to more energyefficient uh LED lights. Um, and this is a amount is $230,000 um to the Dartmouth Youth Athletic Association. Um, and they um have typically uh they are getting their lease renewed um for that property, but um historically the lease and there no

indication that will be different. Um, as part of the lease, they're responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the property, including uh equipment and facilities like like the lighting. So, uh the lighting is I think what 40 50 years, very old. The lighting is very old. Um and very inefficient. Um and so this project would um basically replace the lights with LED uh fixtures.

Terry, so LED is much brighter, right? And yes, I wonder I wonder how neighbors I I know somebody who lives next to a ball field who has the um lights. Great question. Is there anyone because we spend a good deal of time talking about this neighborhood lighting a lot beyond my expertise. Um great. Thank you.

Thank you everyone. Uh my name is Adam Matthysse. I'm the president of the DYA.

Um, what we're proposing and asking for is $230,000 to replace 112 metal halloi fixtures that are currently on the property now with LED fixtures. To answer your question, uh, specifically, uh, the light spill is actually going to be greatly reduced by, uh, with the install of the LED fixtures. The metal hallides spill light wide. The LEDs are very directional lighting. Um, so doing this project

should actually help our butters. Um, but again, yeah, it's $230,000. Replace 112 fixtures fixture for fixture. Um, that they're between 30 and 50 years old depending on which field they're on and they're failing is basically what's happening. Uh, starting to lose fields for the kids to play on and can't get parts. can't even get bulbs in some instances. So, just a followup, just a followup. I was at that meeting

and I had just said to Terry um that was a long discussion and these two um electricians that are donating their time but getting paid uh really went uh down to the detail level about light generation and spill and foot lighting and those kinds of things. And what I didn't realize, and I'm sorry John's not here, John worked at Sennsylvania for eons and eons, and the electricians and

John were going back and forth with terminology I've never heard of. Um, but the neighborhood lighting and the longevity of the lighting was taken into consideration, the color and the be blue and the warmth and the hue and all of those other kinds of things. So, it was a very in-depth conversation um and very technical at the time. So it was a little above my pay grade, but mine as well. But there was just so much

time and effort and commitment to not only the project, but to doing it once, doing it right, doing it with volunteers, but just really a wonderful community thing. So I was very impressed.

Thank you. Um, and to touch on the lease, um, we did just have our lease extended for one year. um just with the intention of uh the town administrator's office is preparing the RFP for us right now for a 10-year lease, but there is a one-year extension in place as of well I I need to come here tomorrow and sign it but that is in place and the administrator does intend to issue an RFP which

obviously we will bid on. We've been the stewards of that property for about 70 plus years. So, Bill, I Adam, uh, is DAA contributing any money at all towards this project or, uh, and what is the total package on this, uh, what's the total price on this project right now? 221,000 and change.

That's it. Okay. So, that's a total package is Yep. That's for all the lighting fixtures. uh replacing the lighting controls which are also 30 plus years old and pretty scary to throw them when you need to put the lights on.

Understood.

So is there any money available coming out of dya?

There is not. Uh we do have a commitment from grade and beard voke. Um that's how we're able to kind of keep this cost way down. They're uh going to be bringing their students down to work side by side with the electrician to handle the installation.

Okay. Uh and there is hope that now well once it's funded uh we did try to first go to the utility to get it funded by the utility um they did not ex they rejected it initially um but our consultants are hopeful that once it is a viable project we can reapproach the utility and get them to put some skin in the game with us and thus be able to

return some of the funds to the town at that point. Uh but we don't know until we get to that. I've asked them not to reapproach the utility until it is actually funded.

And there wasn't any activity on grant writing or anything like that. You could There was no Thank you.

Any other questions?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I I learned a lot about lighting in that conversation. that CPC had and uh and John was was great because he had the expertise and um yeah um the next project is the Dartmouth Cultural Center. Um and we the town meeting had previously approved $260,000 for um uh renovations, restoration at the cultural center, which is the uh the town owned property, Old South Worth Library at the on Elm Street. Um the um

in the course of the project um the the sponsors sought decided to um seek a 30-year lease with the town for the property um thinking that would be uh give them more favorable conditions for uh putting this project out to bid. Um and so um they held off proceeding with um any actual construction work um continuing with design um until they could secure this and and the town went through an RFP process and awarded uh

they responded and they were awarded the 30-year lease. Um so in the meantime um they've continued to do the design and engineering and cost estimating um and have um finalized kind of the complete picture of the project um and determined that they need to do the whole project an additional $853,300.

Um so this would be in addition to the $260,000.

Um and this would be provide handicapped accessibility to the property. um heating uh HVAC kind of improvements which are pretty critical to any kind of an art gallery uh to maintain the uh um humidity and temperature in the place is really important as well as provide uh the indoor um bathrooms upgraded and just the program space in general um renovated and kind of upgraded. And

there are and this is all to historic u preservation standards. Um and so folks are here if there are specific questions about that. Um but um so this would be uh an additional amount of funds that are projected to be the complete package for funding needed to then proceed to get bids and do the work.

So if you have someone from the cultural center want to speak

I'm not I'm the architect Katherine Duff. with studio 2 sustain in New Bedford and um I've been working with these folks and actually with Buddy I mean I just want to I don't I'm a resident of New Bedford but I'm on the planning board in New Bedford and I have to say working with Buddy is a pleasure.

He's uh patient and um in New Bedford I as the planning board member we have to work with CPA committee as well in New Bedford it they take a different approach in New Bedford they have to spend all the money each year so it's sort of a rush to get projects evaluate them and distribute the money spend it and then do it all over again but um Buddy has a diff you guys have a

different approach which I've enjoyed learning and working with Buddy has really been a pleasure he's very patient methodical Um but about this project, so the scope has expanded a little bit. The committee has raised some money. They secured a mass cultural facilities grant. They're in the process of of applying for another one. They've raised quite a bit of money from local banks that have

underwritten some of their programming and operations, but also secured, you know, small amounts, but in perpetuity.

So 5,000 over the next 5 years that will support the capital projects moving forward from some local banks and these are um they still have to do FF& you know so the the project as designed and scoped is the rehabilitation it's a historic rehabilitation we're putting in a handicap access mitigating storm water on the parking area and and then repointing to the secretary of interior

standards of historic restoration work on the exterior and the windows will be restored as well. So wonderful.

So Pauline, I mean, she's the the poster child for the cultural programming in Pauline Santos, president. There's nothing else to say. She said it all. I mean, that's we've waited a long time.

We've been working hard. We, you know, we've, like she said, we're seeking grants all the time and uh we're ready to go.

So, and I will say we have a great team. Um, the project uh this this is a historic building. So, unlike the one that Mark talked about, this this building is it's a historic artifact. I mean, it's an extraordinary building and we have Postto is the historic consultant on this project. They have filed successfully a beautiful PNF with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Historic Commission and they've given

our blessing to all of the work has been presented to them and approved and it aligns with not only their goals but the goals of the Secretary of Interior standards which is the National Standard for Historic Restoration, Rehabilitation, and Preservation. Um, and so it's just we're ready to go. So we've got a good team. We've got a great uh project, a great client, a great programming. So, we're we're excited.

Terry, I was on the finance committee the year that we recommended that we sell the cultural center. I don't know if you remember that, but we we did not think that we could afford as a town to um to maintain or improve this building. And I applaud you for the work that your group has done looking for grants and um going every which way to see if you can come up with the

funding. Um you've done a good job with that. So, thank you. But we didn't sell the building though.

No, Patrick. I'm new here.

Now, is um this the building on um Elm Street at Prospect?

It is.

Okay. And um how about I know Buddy had mentioned something about the lease.

Were you able to secure a 30-year lease or was it was it We have a 30-year lease now.

Good. Good. And I mean, it's a town, you know, building. So, at least this is an investment in in the town. So, Exactly. ask and then the followup to that it's with CPC funds that were matched by the state. So it's just a really wonderful community project to to to to put together. I was also I was ob obviously at that meeting as well and it's a great presentation and one of the things that

just really strikes you in the face is hearing that construction I I wrote this down put it on my refrigerator.

Construction costs since 2019 to 2026, so that's seven years, have gone up 67%.

And go.

And the increases for CO are baked in.

Your tariffs are now going to be baked in and those construction costs are going to continue to rise.

So congratulations for the work that's done. It's a beautiful building and it's a beautiful community asset.

Thank you very much, Pauline. I know you've worked long and hard to get where you are today.

I'm looking for a new president.

We are too.

And volunteers, too.

Okay. Anything else you need? This is your chance. No, we have thousands of viewers.

It's going to be so comfortable.

Everybody's going to want to spend time in that building when we're all done. So nice.

Thank you.

Very nice.

Yeah. I I would just echo the accolades for for the organization. Um there in particular there are two this project and the dog park are examples of two projects that have taken a while. We needed to have patience for all the pieces to come together. But the thing that um we were able to get to this point and get to the point where the dog park is finished because of the community

volunteers and organizations that held everything together in the meantime. The dog park folks were extraordinary in um working with the parks and recreation up at the regional park to maintain uh a space and and keep it clean and make it work until finally all of the equipment and fencing could be installed and stuff. And I think the same is true the cultural center folks. um they made

the building viable because they made the program and programs viable um and interesting for people. So, uh it's a great example of kind of really what held holds these projects together are those organizations and volunteer efforts um that made it happen. So, yeah, it's fun to kind of be at this part too. Uh not that the headaches are all done because once you start construction, it's nothing but a headache. Um,

buddy, did you guys maybe I'm asking the wrong question. Did anybody build any uh they fudge factored into this construction? Like you have a contingency?

Yeah, contingency.

We have a 10% 10%. And you think that's uh accurate or and we added a factor in for prevailing wage of 20%. So I think we're in in good shape. We'll go out to a competitive bid which will dial in the price. Um, but I think we're in good shape.

What are you looking for? How many vendors are you looking for on this bidding process?

Well, I'd love to get you want to get good solid three bids minimum.

Okay.

Mhm.

Good. Thank you.

The final uh project warrant is um $1.5 million um to capitalize an agricultural preservation fund. Um some time back um we um met with the agricultural commission just to get a sense of kind of what are what are some of the issues that farmers are facing in the town of Dartmouth and it was a very enlightening kind of session that we had. Um, one of the things that came out of that is to really explore the

possibility of um, create of basically initially capitalizing the agricultural um, preservation trust which was something the town established I think in the late 1990s I believe um, and has expended pretty much its funds. Um we had a working group we uh between some representatives from the CPC, the A commission and the trust um kind of looking at sort of what what could CPA funds be used for? What what would be an

eligible entity? And in doing so, we um um discovered and then later confirmed with town council that the uh existing preservation trust is not eligible for CPA funds. it wasn't um established under the under a statute that would be recognized as by the state as a eligible entity. Um however we also um discovered that um the department of revenue does recognize um the conservation fund um which is

under chapter 40 um that CPA funds that's can be um uh used for a conservation fund and lo and behold uh further up in the section I think or further down in this section is language for an agga agricultural preservation fund which is essentially the mirror language. So, uh we confirmed with town council that yes uh an agricultural preservation fund um under statute uh the chapter 40 would indeed be eligible

for CPA funds. Um and then further we confirmed that um the agricultural preservation fund is is an accounting um measure. So it's does not have to be authorized by town meeting. Basically the town can establish that fund as so that it would then be a recipient of donations or CPA funds or something like that. So it doesn't require authorization from town meeting. So with that background um and homework done um

the agricultural commission the town of Dartmouth uh submitted a proposal um to capitalize the uh an agricultural preservation fund initially with 1.5 million. I think the the plan is um as funding allows, we would continue to capitalize that up to I think ideally a little more than 3 million. Um and with a capitalized fund, it would basically um work in a revolving way. So, for instance, if it was um if you think of

it in terms of um like a 61A project where the town has the right to step in and purchase a property uh and then um put it back out with an agricultural preservation restriction, um the town were to um do that and then put out for bid um the agricultural land. the funds that came that were received by the bidder um would go back into this agricultural fund. So it would

revolve um so that's what we'd like to um to uh bring to town meeting and there are folks from the ad commission I think um can can say a little bit about how they see that working um and why that's important if you would if you would like to hear a little bit more about that.

Yes, please. Okay, thank you.

I'll stand next to you.

Okay.

Uh Derek Christensen, I'm the chair of the agricultural commission. Um so first and foremost, the work done in the late 90s was pretty significant for contributing to a permanent character of the farms in town. Copa Cut on the north side, uh which is probably one of the more wellestablished. It's a poultry operation, pastured pork. Um, Dutch, that was the Dutch Belt property. Um, there was a number of properties that

have been preserved over the 15 or 20 years that that fund was capitalized.

And probably about seven or eight years ago, we started talking about and said, well, those funds are gone and what what how are we going to capitalize to make a difference? And the genesis of this is we have a lot of great local partners.

One's in the room with the Buzzards Bay Coalition, the DNRT.

um most of those organizations their mission is around conservation. It's not around agriculture.

And so we felt like it's really important um if we have a capacity to bring money to the table, then we can be a stronger voice for let's make sure this land is preserved for agricultural purposes as opposed to just for conservation. Um all of these projects, none of them are going to be funded just from this fund. They're going to be uh federal and state matching dollars, local donations most likely, and

nonprofit donations. What this allows us to do is number one, as I just mentioned, give the voice of agriculture a place at the at the table, and number two is not be reactionary, um, but be aware of when these properties are coming up. Sometimes these land deals can happen pretty quickly. Mark's done a great job.

Partially the reason in my observation that coalition's been so good at this is they've had those resources ready at the hand to step in when they need to. Um it is the intention that this would be a multi-year ask. We would of course come here again. Um but the idea is to put enough resources together that as we look at some of the properties in town, uh the John George farm is obviously one

of the most notable ones that's not preserved. uh Vincent's property just up the road from the the property and discussion there. Um there are a number of farms but we're also kind of at the point where the conservation work has been done in the past was great and there's not that many farms left that aren't conserved and so it might be in the next 5 10 years shorter than that that these are the opportunities to step

up to the plate and make a difference and we want to make sure that happens.

You have a question.

I just wondered how how that works. So you purchase the land, it's for farms basically.

So the idea is we would be stepping in most likely through an a preservation restriction or a conservation restriction with deed language around keeping it and maintaining an active farm. Uh we wouldn't own that property.

Uh we'd either work with another nonprofit or potentially sell it to the farm with the conservation rights taken away. Um, and the vision in terms of how that works is, as I mentioned, these properties are not going to be small dollar properties. Um, so it's going to be partnership through uh federal resources, state resources, and other nonprofits to make sure all the money gets to the table. Um, the reality with

any of these conservation projects is, you know, you have most farmers don't have retirement income because farming is not a lucrative career. And so they often look at uh the land base as their retirement or future generations, the way to sustain whatever the future generations need from that property and obviously the the purchase prices of these farms. Um and I think what's notable is the state APR program. uh

typically they look for the best bang for the buck which is how much land can they preserve for the dollar which means most of that land conservation tends to get into the p uh pioneer valley in the western part of the state where the land values are lower and from a state perspective they say hey well we we want to have more land preserved for dollar spent and so historically in the last 10

to 15 years there has been less conservation from the state APR programs in the high values part of the state just because it's you know if you have 500,000 or a million dollars and you can preserve four times as much land in the valley. They put money towards that.

So, one of the reasons I'm asking is I'm aware of a a property in in Dartmouth that was purchased, I think, by the agricultural commission and sold to a private party who they had the restriction that they had to farm, but they couldn't farm the way they wanted to. And so, you know what I'm saying? So I just would not want to see the town get in another situation like that

because people felt like it was sold very underpriced and if that is sold now that it would be uh different essentially it's one of the most difficult questions to say and um the egg preservation trust fund when that was funded they put out RFPs and they would ask for biders to come in um and then they'd go towards the bidder and it wouldn't always be the bidder that would come in with the most highest dollar

figure. Typically, it was informed by people that were on that committee that had good a business ideas, knowledge of resource, you know, what's going to be successful, what's not going to be successful. So, you know, I I raise up Vince and Elizabeth at Copa Cut because they've done such a remarkable job on that property. um the property that you're talking about um you know ostensibly I would when I first arrived

I just went everywhere with Sue because I could just be like just you know anytime I could be next to Sue I could hear and learn from so much in the community and she was so generous with her time and we would go walk any property that was in this conversation pool because when I first started renting from the Dominican Sisters on Tucker Road it was like what's our long-term plan we ended up thankfully at

the King Farm where we rent land that's preserved for the APR, the property that you look at is a very wet property. It's it was like it's it's a tough property and the family that was chosen uh the family didn't stay together and the the the person that was the more committed active farmer was the part and parcel that didn't stay on that property. Um I think going forward couple of these things is is

these funds would be used on some of the properties that are the best opportunities financially for future farmers. They're going to be competitive funds and competitive bidding processes.

Looking back at that piece it there weren't a ton of farms that were like oh yeah that's the piece that I want. If that makes any sense. I think if you look at Dutch Belt, one of the reasons Vince Lith, you know, are so good is there was a larger pool of applicants as hey, look at what we could do with this.

Okay, that's helpful.

So, I had a quick question. Um, all right. So, we give money to essentially preserve these farms and educate what's to stop a farmer from saying, you know, I don't want to be in this business anymore. I want to sell to a developer.

So this is actually trying to buy the conservation rights for that property so that it would not be developed in the future and then specifically with language that says that this has to be maintained in active agriculture as opposed to just open space conservation.

So any of these contracts that that would be funded through this program would be specifically designed to reduce the development. And to just put like a spotlight on one project that was missed from my perspective. Um is the the property on Tucker Road that's now West View Estates, right?

Oh yeah, sure.

Um when I first chatted kind of I wasn't directly to Mark, I think it was with the Brendon. I said, "Hey, are you guys going to move on this? this has you know influence on the Pascamid River so on and so forth and at the time I think it was 4 million was the asking price or something like they said no those numbers are too big too wide and you know eventually that price came down but

I don't think it was floated back and said hey by the way now it's a million bucks do you want to buy it at a million bucks and there was no resource base that we had that said hey we'd do that or maybe we'd make it 1.2 2 million and um I'm really acutely aware of housing costs being you know a major issue for us. I'm not anti-growth by the any

stretch of the imagination. Um what what I look at is the agriculture resource base once those properties are taken out of agriculture they are gone forever. Um and we have obviously lots of opportunity for other development places. So they could cut out a parcel of a farm and just say, "Okay, it's going to be conserved." But they do they don't have to dedicate the whole parcel to this plan, do they?

The vision would be that the farms that we're looking to preserve is exactly that. But sometimes it comes to situations. You don't know each family's situation. Um there's other properties in town where sometimes they will create a second housing lot and make sure that's preserved for a family to stay on. It it's a case- byase basis.

Okay. Um so all of these um properties that would be purchased just to kind of piggyback on what Bill said um would they have just the agriculture um purpose or would it be just you know any conservation um type?

It's a case by case basis. So I mean there's some farms that have dual purpose. If you look at um you know there's properties in town that are preserved and still used for agricultural use like around the bend I think is one observational one where then there's also still recreational activity being utilized. Um it would just totally depend on partially the intention of who's selling the property.

Sometimes they have very strong opinions and then also the um business plans for the but at the end of the day it would preclude them from development at any point in the future.

Yeah.

Okay. That's good. And I'm glad you mentioned um John George too because you know it's the only big property right in the middle of town here and my mom grew up in a farmhouse on Chase Road and you know when she was born it was just all fields upon fields and and you know and now it's changed so much over the you know the last 70 years and you know Dartmouth is a farming community and

it's good to have our own locally grown food. I mean I love going out in the summer to get locally sourced things and and I'm glad for the work that you guys are doing to try to preserve that for generations going forward.

Thank you. This work is going to require good stewardship which is what you're talking about providing right. Okay.

Yeah. I I think so Susan Mariam Masa on the a commission I'm not the Sue he was talking about. He's talking about Sugaduchi who's wonderful. Um I I may be also wonderful. I don't know.

Um so just just to clarify a little bit.

So we keep talking about um conservation restrictions and then the APR. APR is agricultural um preservation restriction. It's preservation and preser preservation restriction. So they are very similar. So you have a steward that holds just like you hold a CR there's a steward that holds that APR that is in charge of making sure that the land is used in with the intent. So in this case if it's an APR it has to be

kept in farming. It can't just like a CR it can't be developed. Um, unfortunately the property you mentioned earlier, I believe that is a Farm Bureau APR and they have um it's it's an older APR and um they have not maybe done their due diligence there. We have a lot of partners in town like Mark that does and DNRT that do a really great job. I think we learned a lot from that property. Um,

and would make sure that the steward, so the person that holds the CR, which could or holds the um, if it if we go with a CR, the person that holds a CR might either be the town because it is CPA money um, or it could be if if depending how the deal goes, it might be DNRT or it might be Buzzard's Bay, but we would ensure as a group that the

person holding the CR and if it's if it's an APR, the state would hold that.

So that's MDAR would hold that. Um so we would make sure that we're working with people that we know would do the due diligence to make sure that the land is um stays farming because that's that's what we want to see is we want to see an egg covenant. So something that says that land has to be farmed in perpetuity. Um and I think one of the things we haven't really mentioned yet

is why one big reason why we all live here. I grew up in Dartmouth. Um the working landscapes makes this an incredibly special place for a lot of people. Um and I think you know we we are at um a very critical juncture with having to put in more housing in the town. Um and um just how built up southeastern Massachusetts is right now.

We're in between Providence and Boston.

We have a lot of people that go between those two places. Um, and we, you know, I have conversations with Nick Wildman at DNRT and with Mark at Buzzards Bay where we're just at this critical juncture that there really isn't, you know, we we drive around, you still see the open land, but there's there's not a lot left in the grand scheme of things.

Um, and we really need if we want to stay a town with a working landscape where young farmers can come in. We don't really have young farmers coming into town right now because land is so expensive and housing is so expensive.

But if we want to keep our open working landscapes, we really need to put some money behind that. And in like Derek said, in the next 5 to 10 years, we really have to put some effort behind that. And we can't do that without money. Um and and we can't, you know, we need the farmers at the table to make sure that we are we are picking the right properties. you know, we we sit

down with different boards in town and talk about, hey, this would be really great for um ball fields. This is this is prime farmland. So, that's a technical term, prime farmland. It is the best soils. Um so, we want to make sure that we're at the table to say this property, this is prime soils. this really needs to be kept as a farm and we really need to steward it through that

process and make sure that we have successful farmers moving onto that property that they can afford to move onto that property and that's what this lets us do.

That's very I just can't speak highly enough about it. I really just to piggyback on what Patrick said. I didn't grow up here and I grew up on the northshore in Newbury and West Newbury where we had the farmlands and the agricultural um commodity farming and the local commodity farming for communities. So, it's just incredible and it's wonderful wonderful opportunity for Dartmouth. So, thank you for your work.

Thank you guys.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. And I I think you know from that CPC point of view. We're also hoping that, you know, this um shifts some of the conversation um where the farming community can have some more predictability about where where would I go if I needed to, you know, um stop my farming on this property, which is a little different than 61A kind of process, which is kind of the the farmer has already gotten to

that point. I'm selling the land and now everything else is catch up. Um, this gives some predictability that that, you know, if the egg commission has an agricultural preservation fund, they can talk to farmers about it, farmers who might not even be have a plan for the next 5 years. But then if you're going to have a plan, you know, if you're going to exit from farming, remember that we're here. And so I think

there's a lot more planful um conversations that can happen around preserving farms than our current process which is um the farmer already gets to that decision point and then we have to work quickly to to um react to that. So hopefully um if the town approved this um there would be much more opportunity for forward thinking about preservation of preservation of agriculture that it's very important to say that the

volunteer work on the commission is what is going to inspire confidence because yes as I understand it there was kind of a a lag there where there weren't people who were as active um in and watching what's going and I think the town meeting is going to ask questions about that because that that you know the ones that don't work are the ones that get into paper you know.

Yeah.

So fair that's that's a real fair question.

Yeah.

I hope at town meeting that you show the map of all the farms that you've identified when I attended your meeting when you first started talking about these. That that's that was a good illustration of what we have left in Dartmouth. Not much.

Y not much.

Those are all of our project uh warrants. We have um two housekeeping warrants. One is reserve. So um despite um committing 3.6 million or so in projects, um we don't have a housing um uh project. So um to meet our CPA requirements, we have to either commit or reserve at least 10% of our projected revenue for each of the three purposes.

So we project about 1 about 1,13,000 in um revenue for fiscal 27. So based on that projection um we are proposing to that town meeting um set aside 112,000 of fiscal 27 revenues for our housing uh housing reserve.

Um and then the final uh housekeeping is our administrative budget. So the CPC um is by statute allowed to set aside 5% of the funds um for um uh administrative costs and for us that's legal costs. So we if we ask town council for services in uh reviewing warrants or reviewing uh project questions we have um we pay for those services from the CPC budget. Um we pay for uh administrative support. Um

and then if there are special plans or assessments that we um would help us in um setting project priorities or things like that, we we can use the funds for that. So, we typically um have a budget of 35,000 um and that's what this warrant article is. Um that represents I should have done the percentage, but it represents probably about 3% of our projected revenues. We we don't increase it

because we really don't have the need for a big administrative budget. We actually typically spend about 1 and a half to 2%. Um, so anything we don't spend of the 35,000 um is then put into our unrestricted reserve at the end of the fiscal year um to be committed to projects in the future. So we just have our standard 35,000 and that is all of our warrants.

Well, that was very informative.

Thank you all for your timebody. Thank you.

Thank you all for coming.

Thank you for your time and your efforts and your commitment. Thank you very very much. Our pleasure everybody. That was good.

Helpful to me to try to keep it all straight.

And there's some complicated stuff.

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Buddy provides very helpful educational material for town meeting.

Oh god.

10 o'clock for next week.

Back in the day I worked for a while.

Oh yeah.

So next on our agenda, um, so, uh, obviously Cody isn't here tonight, uh, but I can give you some updates on what's been going on. We've been having some really good conversations with the schools. As you know, we had the um the joint meeting with the select board. Um and uh we feel that we'll be able to uh we feel that we'll be able to bridge the gap. They were looking for 5%. We've I've had some

conversations with them and I believe they're going to be voting on their budget um coming up. I don't know if it's this Monday or might be the I think it's the next Monday.

It's the next Monday. So um uh we feel good about that. We've met with uh the superintendent and Jim over the last um beginning beginning of this week actually. So um that's one one item.

Also uh we will be going with um you've heard us speak about the um health insurance. We will be signing with uh South Coast Health Group uh South Coast Municipal Health Group. We've got the buyin from all the 11 unions.

11 out of 11.

Yeah. And we're all we're ready to go with that. Uh so congratulations.

It was a lot of work. Cody, myself, and everyone involved, all the union union leaders, um, and, um, our HR director, and Melissa, um, Jerome, our benefits coordinator. So, we're happy with that.

Um, looking to save some money and putting that back into the, uh, for the employees uh, going forward for FY27.

Well, congratulations.

you know, out of everything that we do in municipal government and and employee benefits administration, health insurance, and just changing that, which is a natural just, you know, don't touch my health insurance. So, that's an incredible work and it means a lot to our Dartmouth employees as well. So, thank you very very much for all of that work and please to to Cody and the rest of the staff.

Exactly.

Gary, I'm curious as to how the school and you manage that gap.

What what what did they decide to do on the health insurance?

No. No.

Oh, on the budget budget. Uh so, uh right now we're uh they we're still um we look like they're going to be able to do the 5%. Um they were coming in at 4 and a half. Uh we then uh looked at some other um items in the budget. Uh so we they still haven't we haven't finalized it yet, but I think what they're going to do is use some of their money in the

um in uh the uh kindergarten account. I think maybe for like not all of it, but some of it. So, I think that we'll be able to get that accomplished.

So, they won't be laying people off.

I'm not sure what the function is at the schools. I I don't I don't think they are. I think that they talked about one um one position, but it's going to be through attrition. They're not then it's going to be the person's retiring.

Jumping back to the health insurance, I I can't emphasize enough how big of a deal I mean I know you know how big of a deal that is, but uh that that is a huge win for our community. It it's literally the definition of a win-win, right?

Where employees are going to get a better split on their health insurance.

Uh and it's protecting our town in the long-term future for our ability to track attract and retain the next generation of exceptional municipal employees. I mean, that's that's been one of my big concerns personally for for a while now is is um being able to attract and retain and what that means, what turnover in departments means in terms of quality of service delivered.

So, I mean, well done to to you and Cody. I know you've been harping on that uh for at least a couple years now, Gary. So, so thank you. Um that that's a big win.

Yeah, it's historic. I mean, think about we've been with um Maya for since 2012.

That's that's a long time to not visit and you know, we need to look at this all the time. It's not just we do this now and then we forget about it for the next 10 years. I think it's something that continually needs to be looked at.

We need to um you know, be competitive so that we can offer these, you know, it's not just salary. It's it's a whole package when we're looking to hire somebody and then retain that person for a number of years. So yeah, it's it's it was a long road, but um you know, it it's to all the everyone that came in at the end and and um put this all together. So it's hats off to to everybody

and really the the the the it's so huge in the longer run as well and the town employees that also came to the table and really wanted to understand their change and there will be bumps in the road with paperwork at the doctor's office or you know kids turning 26 or dependent and things like that. There's a lot of transition to it, but the bargaining units, the union presidents,

11 out of 11 is a pretty big deal for everybody involved. So, thank you to the unions, thank you to the stewards of the unions as well. Um, it's it's a pretty wonderful thing to have happen. So, thank you.

And, um, that is it for updates right at this moment.

Um, does anybody have any liaison reports?

I was wondering about a leazison report from the budget advisory committee. Was there any discussion about uh plans for future decision making around the budget?

Yes, of course. I was going to was trying to understand your question for a minute because that's kind of what we talk about, but you know what I mean, right? Um yes, it's ongoing every time we meet and we're not meeting again till the 14th, I think. Yeah, I just refreshed my memory.

Yeah. and at that meeting. Uh so what we want to do is put a put everything that we've talked about over the over the um past few months and then uh present that either to the select port and then to the finance committee. So put a put a document together and um you know Brian's big Brian's been working on that and u we've been trying to get that together. So that's probably get we'll

probably get a draft of that at the next meeting.

Did you have something specific you were concerned about?

I I'm what I'm looking for is movement.

I'm I'm hoping that some decisions are going to be made soon and so that people who need to work on this can begin more. It's going to be more of a re I mean obviously we know it's going to be more recommendations that that committee will give recommendations and then the south has to make decision override.

No, we're talking about the budget advisory group.

Budget advisory group.

So you're speaking about So we have the budget advisory group. So what we're going to what the group is going to be doing is coming up with a some kind of report you know and uh presenting that to the to the select board and then to the finance committee but it's it's a recommendation on what you know we've seen through the through the process and then you know going forward ultimately it'll

be the board of selectment and then obviously like we've talked about the voters to put a if in fact that's one of the options is an override. What I'm looking for specifically is a plan to deal with the u school choice money and the gap in the school budget and um not do this for another year, you know, right? You know, that's understandable and some of that's come in the conversation a little bit and obviously

some of it was discussed to finalize the school budget on how that was going, as Gary touched upon with the kindergarten stabilization fund, um you know, how they might move forward with that. That was talked. Did you watch the last meeting?

Yeah, they had a meeting um Monday. It was on Tuesday.

Zoom. I think it was Zoom.

It was a Zoom meeting. It was a Zoom meeting. Yeah, it was a it's a quick meeting actually on Okay.

Okay. Thank you.

So, I had uh just something uh real quick. They we had a uh DPW meeting or they had a DPW meeting at the property the other uh last week.

Um, there were there's an article in the newspaper that talked about the meeting and it talked about it mentioned kitchen sinks and which I thought it was really cute because it's really not kitchen sinks, it's the garbage disposals. Um, and I say that with respect to the pumping station issues that they're having on Dartmouth Street and some of the things like that. So, um, that becomes important because the next

subject it was talked about with respect to capacity. There was a legal opinion that was issued by the town uh legal department uh that talked about capacity with respect to betterment and the legal opinion was that the betterment fees that have been paid to connect count as far as capacity is concerned and the member has asked Tim one of the members have asked Tim for a secondary

opinion to counter the town's opinion on on respect to capacity and bereavement.

So, I thought it would be important because we've talked about how do legal opinions get approved at the department head level and how do they get approved with um Cody and is that something that comes forward lost me somewhere in that dear I'm sorry I'm not I'm not following what the issue you talked about garbage disposals betterments what does now we're on legal fees oh sorry so there was a meeting at DPW last

week and there was discussion regarding our water treatment issues that we have with respect to capacity and as I had reported out previously at one of the meetings garbage disposals are problematic here in Dartmouth I'm just trying to be more concrete sequential because obviously I'm not I'm trying to speak too fast because I've been told I give too long reports you're doing I can't So, I'm going to try this again.

You're doing great, dude.

You have to understand these meetings.

Sorry.

Very long. Yeah. Yeah. That's all right.

No, that's all right.

I'm going to send you an email tomorrow about a concern that I have that was raised that is concerning legal opinions that have been rendered by town council that the board of public works is suggesting are incorrect and that they are challenging.

So, I'll send you an email in that regard. That's a concern as a finance committee member I'm bringing to the finance committee because of the conversations that we have had at this level regarding legal fees and the appropriate process that the department heads should be using to approve legal fees. That's all I just had a question regarding that because you know in last year's budget

um discussions we obviously the increase in cost of legal fees was a was a you know big um issue. So, um, town council issued, uh, an opinion and then the board of public works is trying to have their own council kind of rebut the town council's version.

Yes. And it once again deals with capacity issues. And this came up when a question that Nate had asked when Cody was explaining capacity issues after it rains, capacity issues because we're a seasonal community and capacity issues when it deals with condensed neighborhoods like we have going down Dartmouth Street. So we tease and we say garbage disposals are an issue, but zoning goes to building. Then

it comes over here to DPW and DPW at the end of the line going how come someone doesn't listen to me about capacity issues with garbage disposals in high density areas.

So then it came well what about the betterment to high density areas. So to long story short, there is a gentleman on the board of the public works that does not agree with the legal opinion issued by town council witarth respect to capacity issues and betterment fees that have been that have been so is the qu what I was trying to understand is in terms of garbage disposals is there a question that

they're going to ban them? I get the problem with the sewer and the garbage disposal. I think that we I think and I I'll be brief that just as we have this citizen advisory committee, I would like to see the chairs of the boards in town in a room and that they know the sequence of events that where their approval process nexuses with their approval process that kind of backs into their approval approval process.

Can I make a comment? No, just just one more thing because when I I I listen to all these meetings like I'm supposed to listen to all these meetings and I hear people go I think that's the people on boards go I think that's the board of health and guy goes no that's not the board of health that's zoning but no no that's conservation and all I am suggesting is that if garbage disposal are an issue

and we have the newspaper reporting it at its kitchen sinks we might want to talk to the guy in the back of the room that I'm listening to that's going to kill himself. He has to hear talk about garbage disposals one more time here in the town of Dartmouth.

The only thing I wanted to say dear is it probably would have been more impactful if Cody was here because he really is the one that oversees the department heads.

Well, I'll make sure I know when Cody's going to be here next time when I give my liazison. I think I think that um anytime that you mean we're talking about having um department heads in in one room or whatever, we do have monthly monthly meetings.

No, I'm talking the chairs of these boards.

Yeah. I mean, that just go like this. And if you listen to a couple of these boards talk, sorry.

Well, I mean, the only thing I can recommend I'm going to I'm going to send you the only thing I can recommend is send your um concerns to Cody and myself. I was going to and we can um we can look at it and and address that code. Uh protect Tim Barber a little bit.

I have heard that before, Deedra.

I have heard that before. So that's not a new thing really. But um I was just trying to understand because I know there's a huge development going in on on D Street, right?

That's right.

So yeah, you've got three of them. You've got Old Post Road coming up real quick. You got Sherban Farms and No.

Yeah.

Yeah. So send send us the concerns and call and I will we can look into it.

Um still on the just checking anybody else?

No n okay so um you have minutes here from March 5th.

Somebody want to make a motion to approve the meeting minutes of March 5th.

I'll make a motion.

So somewhere between make a motion to uh approve second and seconded by Nate. Um, any discussion?

All in favor?

I I No, Bill was saying he had to abstain.

That's what his uh he wasn't making a motion. He was abstaining.

Everyone was talking. We still have five people, so we're good.

So, um, as I mentioned, Cody will not be able to come to the next meeting, but he will be here afterwards. So, I have nothing really scheduled for the next meeting. I know that we don't like to say that but um the following meeting after that we will have the draft warrant because the schools would have already been met have already met so we'll have the draft warrant and then

some of the articles will be ready for um discussion so we can probably knock out a lot of the articles review the budget it's a date that it's due to the clerk May 12th is yeah this is like the second week of May the third week in May she usually gives us some flexibility there uh so that would bring us to April 16th April 16th, uh we would review the budget and articles and then

my suggestion is that um we continue that for the 23rd and then the week of and then and then as we wrap that up we now talk about the letter the week of the 27th or the 30th. So we'll have the 30th and the 7th to work on the the letter.

Okay.

The town meeting.

Understood. Uh so nothing.

I think we can get it done in two sessions huh?

The letter.

Yeah. Okay.

He's optimistic, Terry, isn't he?

Well, he always is. He always does.

I think if I think if we use like we're we talked about the format like maybe you know that we change a little bit of the format like Nate had mentioned some like an executive summary but still use still use some of the data that we've had over the years.

No, some of it's just forms or you know the actuals is a spreadsheet. I mean that's easy because they're they're pretty much easy to do. actuals is done and the other forms.

Most of the information is coming off the do's uh website, the DLS website.

So, I know those are easy.

Brian, I'm sure Brian I don't know if he's on vacation, but usually he usually works with me on that.

Yes, he's he's out.

What was on the schedule for the 16th and the 23rd?

Uh 16th and the 23rd, we'll be reviewing the uh budget and the warn articles.

Then are we are we meeting next week or No, no. I I would say doesn't sound like there's anything available for us to look at at this point which is it is it possible to do hybrid on the 16th and the 23rd? I'm going to be uh we'll have uh DCTV set up April vacation.

Oh, that's right. Yeah, we'll have DCTV set it up.

Okay.

I'll let them know. Oh, do you want to just send me an email for the and then I'll Yep.

The 16th might be I'll be driving. The 23rd I'll be uh stationary. So, I might not be able to join the 16th. I I'll send you an email.

Yeah. And then we can set the the link up.

Yeah, that can link.

All right.

And that is it for me.

Anything else?

Look at that. A little early.

Motion to adjurnn.

Second.

All in favor?

I I Thank you everybody. Thank you. Thank you.