Select Board - May 12, 2026

Tuesday, May 12th, Select Board Meeting. Please rise and face the flag for Pledge of Allegiance, please. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, Indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Just please stand, stay standing for a moment, for a moment of silence for the state trooper that was killed in the line of duty this week, Trooper Kevin Trainor, who's being laid to rest tomorrow. Thank you. The first item on the agenda is Dedham Citizens Open Discussion. Anybody here for Dedham Open Discussion? Seeing none, is there a motion?

Yes, I'd like to request a motion for an item not on the agenda. Second.

Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye. Thank you. Joe? Yes, sir. VSO Joe Hamilton.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the Select Board, Mrs. Baker, Mr. Goodwin. This is just the update for Memorial Day. It'll be on Monday the 25th. We'll be at Brookdale Cemetery at 10 a.m. For anyone who wants to... Congregate and then march down with us from the St. Mary's Cemetery is welcome. We're going to meet there around 930. We're going to do our flag planting Saturday, May 16th, this upcoming Saturday. That'll be at 10 a.m. Knock on wood, the weather looks okay. We'll have a rain date for the following day, same time, 10 a.m. That'd be May 17th on the Sunday for the rain date. This year is slightly different with the religious services. We're going to use St. Paul's of the Episcopal Church. Reverend Melanie McCarley is, I talked with her today. They don't normally do Monday. and religious services.

So what she's going to do is march down with us and she'll give the invocation and the benediction on Memorial Day. And then our speaker this year is a Dedham native. His name's Ken Cruz. He's a Vietnam veteran. He actually just wrote a book. He was a CAP Marine. I don't want to give too much away. still from his speech. He resides in Vermont now, but he's a veteran that I work with. And his book's pretty amazing. I know some of the past select board members have seen it in my office and read it. It's been making its rounds, so I'm excited that he's able to join us. And then any questions if anybody has any?

Thanks, Joe.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, we'll just, Leon, do you want, we'll just wait for your report until a little later? That's fine, yeah. We'll do it at the end of the meeting. Okay, next item out of the consent agenda.

Move to approve the consent agenda including request for extension of opening day concert on Town Green 6926 at 4.30 p.m. Dedham Performing Arts Collaborative, 6, 4, 26, 7 to 10 p.m., DSC Summer Stroll, 7, 16, 26, 3, 30 to 10 p.m., Wine and Malt License. for Farmer's Market from 6-17-26 through 10-14-26 for Blissport Meadery, Rushford & Sons Brewhouse and Spicy Water Distillery, Drain Layer Approvals, LMA Services Company, LLC, and Anchor Excavating, 15th Annual Ride for Food, 9-27-26, 8-30-12-30, Gift Acceptance, 1,500 to Dedham, Library from DLIT for Spring 2026 Library Programming. Approval of all permits, road closures, sign requests. Recording in progress. licenses for the third annual summer stroll, 7-16-26, 5-30-9-30, with a rain date of 7-23-26. Is there a second? Second.

Discussion?

Michelle? Yes. I had a couple questions. I don't see Ann here, but I don't know, Leon, if you know the answers for somebody. I noticed in the request, hoping that there wouldn't be kind of outside vendors that are selling things there and I'm not sure is that typical and is that something that we're able to do and how does that happen to those folks usually just show up or seek permits?

They are required to get permitted. They're also required to be fingerprinted through the police department, just like they operate. If they don't go through that process, the police department can remove them. We can't prohibit them, but we can give them a designated area, which is what Ann has requested in the past. I will work with the Chief and Deputy Lunchback to make sure that

and then my second question was I didn't see anything in there requesting a liquor license again I know last year they tried the beer tent I didn't see any mention of that this time did you know if they're not doing

I don't have it unless they're hiring an entity with a C-12 license that's going to do it for them. They wouldn't have to come through us. They're licensed through the state. I can speak with them in front of them.

Thank you.

Thank you. Any other questions? Hearing none, all those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Thank you. Next item on the agenda, we're a few minutes early, but we'll move on. Discussion, excuse me, impossible vote. Renewal of the agreement between the Town of Dedham and Dedham Visionary Act Corporations. Representing the Town.

Jeffrey Blake.

from? KP Law. Thank you. DVAC?

Good evening. Attorney William Solomon representing DVAC.

Thank you.

Good evening, everyone. I'm happy to take over. We put before you a draft agreement between the town and the Dedham Visionary Access Corporation. What this agreement does is it allows the, it's an understanding between your access corporation, which is the people that provide the public education and government channels for you. As you may know, Under your cable licensing, you are given certain monies under Chapter 166A, which equal, there's three different types of payments. There's a gross annual revenue payment up to 5%. You guys are getting 5%. There's capital grants that come in from the from the licensees, i.e., the cable people, and then their subscriber fees for, I think, they're 50 cents a subscriber.

I understand, in taking this over from Bill Hewitt, who used to do all your cable and has now... Lucky Bill has retired and I've taken over. I've been doing this for 20-something years with Bill. But in any event, I understand that the way you have always done this is either the access corporation got the money directly or you more recently have been getting the money and then paying it over to the access corporation. This agreement has it so that the town gets the money and then pays it over to the Access Corporation within 21 days. there is a provision in there in the event that the deal, the relationship is no longer there, terminates. Everything that was bought by the access corporation is then, to be transferred to your next access provider, including any funds that may be held.

So the way this goes is the town is acting somewhat as a pass through. There are, and I'm certainly willing to go over each and every one of these with you, but there are a number of requirements from the access corporation providing you with audited reports and the like. And then every quarter is typically when we get paid. The town has, I think it's 21 days to pay over the monies to the access corporation. This is a five-year agreement with the option to renew in five years. I think I've hit all of the highlights. Obviously, if you have any questions, I don't know if you've had an opportunity to review the agreement, but if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them, and if I can't, I'm sure Bill can. and if not, then we're asking you to to approve the agreement and sign it, and then we'll continue on.

I understand that this is probably a continuation of the relationship that you currently have with the access group.

Thanks, Council. Council, I'll give you a chance, and then I believe that there's a presentation, some slides you want to go through. Or is this just for? That's just for your attention. Just for our, okay.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good to be here in Dedham. I work with a former town administrator of the town, Bill Keegan, town manager, Bill Keegan. for many years before Dedham. Thank you for having us. I just want to make three points. One is, like your attorney, Attorney Blake, I work throughout the Commonwealth. I work with many cities and towns and also with access corporations and there are a lot of excellent access corporations. You may know Massachusetts leads the nation in community programming and that's very much because of the the law and how it's geared to funding community television. And when I look across the Commonwealth, when I see a town that's well run, where people get along and work together as best as possible, in the modern era, I always see a strong community television program without question. It really says a lot.

And working across the Commonwealth with a lot of those great programs, I can very sincerely say that I've never seen a program better than DVAC in terms of what they do. There are a lot of programs out there that don't cover Many or certainly not most government meetings DVAC does as well as handles the public and the educational. So just as an outsider, sometimes it's easier to see what's going on from the broad perspective. and they do a wonderful job and that reflects this board and it also reflects the community and that says a lot. I'll just make two points as the council said. that if for any reason anything changed going forward, the funding would go to another community television program. That was very important. to DVAC. And I thought that spoke a lot, because you don't usually find groups that are worried about what happens if they're not providing that service.

But that was one of the two most important issues for DVAC. was that the program continue in an effective way regardless of what their status is going forward. And two, I just want to mention that in this agreement, which excellent work involved with your attorney, and with your assistant administrator who was intimately involved and thank you. There's a provision that the quarterly reports that are provided by the cable companies, three cable companies, that say what the gross revenue was in the quarter and applies the 5% franchise fee. Those reports set out the different categories of gross revenue and have the numbers. And that's not something that in any town I've ever seen that ever gets into the financial loop. The town accountant never looks at it, usually doesn't get it. There's usually no reason to provide it. The town treasurer certainly doesn't.

finance directors, the finance director never looks at it. And so here's millions of dollars of revenue upon which the 5% is paid. And there's oftentimes no one looking at that. and that was the most important issue for DVAC is that they get that information that's sent by the cable companies to the town that you provide it to them so they can look at those gross revenue statements and keep track of that and say, well, what happened to this revenue? Or why has this changed? Or that isn't 5%. So they're there to protect you and that really, reflects the relationship that together, working together, you've created great community television, a great community, and they thank you for the opportunity of continuing that service to you and with you.

Thanks, Council. open up questions from the board.

I don't have questions on the agreement. No, thank you. Thank you. Reviewed it.

Sure.

No, go ahead.

Thank you for coming before us. One quick question. I know there's a few pieces of legislation at the State House that would pull money from streaming as a potential avenue to fund PEG funding. Programming, does this agreement allow, if that is to go into effect, us to be able to transmit that money seamlessly, or would we have to reopen the agreement?

I think, first of all, you saw me chuckle because that's a question that's asked of everybody because we're seeing these revenues like nosedive. and my thoughts are, I've been hearing this for five or six years, my thoughts are the likelihood of it passing are slim, but be that as it may, it's a great question. I don't know, we're talking about the cable licensees, so It depends upon what the legislation ends up being, but I think that we would probably want to amend this agreement to incorporate those if we wanted to. But again, it will depend on... How the legislation is and how they characterize these fees.

I guess it's certainly right that there could be a characterization that takes it outside of the agreement. But in the agreement, which is you know what implicit in the response on page page page here page five Section 7B provides that. Additionally, any future funding provided to mass peg access entities through taxation fees or the equivalent of Streaming, exactly what you said, or other alternative communication services shall be made to DVAC in accordance with the percentage distribution guideline said out in an applicable law. So the bill now has different percentages going to the Commonwealth, to the town, to access.

And if the law divides it in such a way with that distribution, that'll be what occurs under the license, again, as indicated, absent something that takes it fully outside of this language. And then if there is no state percentage of distribution guideline, that all of the funding would go to DVAC. So exactly consistent with what Council said. The setup here is that all these funds, three areas that Council mentioned, go to DVAC. your community access program, your entity that provides all these services. And so, I don't envision something being outside of the scope of that language so that if it's not, as Council said, if it's not, then we're dealing with that in this agreement. And that was a...

frankly, the work of DVAC that enabled us to put that language in the license because they were very much focused on that. Thank you.

Through the chair, if I may, I just have one question about the funding. obligations within this. Currently, we have a town meeting warrant article twice a year to turn over the funds. that allows us. In this agreement, it states that those funds will be turned over within 21 days of receipt quarterly. And I'm wondering how that obligation has shifted and whether or not that's something that we need to account for.

if I can just respond to that. We do have language in there that says if there's a town meeting requirement, then there's the appropriation. So that's a great point. But I think implicit and explicit in the agreement is that that's a condition precedent, and that absent that appropriation, then the funds would not be able to be turned over. But if I could, Mr. Chairman, just say briefly, because I got to testify in this, at the legislature. Prior to a law being suggested by Mass Access, the people that represent Access Corps that was passed in 2016, and not implement it right away frankly confusing. Prior to that time, town meeting never had a role in appropriating funding. And that's because the Cable Act is a federal law that, as you know, sets out a three-year process

of ascertaining your future cable-related needs and interests, where you look into what equipment do you need, what personnel, what facility improvements, how much funding is needed, and you negotiate that for as much as three years, sometimes longer. and that's a very clear statutory scheme under federal law that's given to the franchising authority called the Issuing Authority of Massachusetts. So that is taken care of under federal law. and after going through that for three years and documenting that, the idea that somehow a finance board or town meeting would come up and say, I don't think we need to spend this money, would be totally inconsistent and contrary to the federal law. So partly because the folks who proposed that law weren't thinking of that consequence.

And the Department of Revenue felt, well, I don't know, maybe they do have to go to town meeting now after 30 years. I've seen interviews saying, no, of course there's no role for town meeting. you had for the first time beginning in 2019 this idea that you had concept you had to appropriate And so now there's a bill at the State House, which contrary to the bill on streaming, is going to pass. It's at the final reading. It may pass this June. When that bill is passed, it removes the appropriation requirement and leaves it to the board that has the authority under the Federal Cable Act and the state cable Law, which is the select board, to determine how to provide that funding. And through this agreement, you're prospectively, in a thoughtful way, dealing with how the funds are provided so they can make investment-based expectations.

decisions, and not have to can be concerned that they can't invest in the future. So I think we're going to be good on that. But I think implicitly, we make clear that if it's there, that appropriation has to occur.

like we do with all enterprises. Are you a 53 F and three quarters?

Yes, I believe so, yeah.

So, I mean, again, it's a revenue receipt account. So, I think we can make that a town meeting. We can... we can forecast that and then be able, we might be behind one payment or maybe not and then just have it, then you can pay it out and as my brother correctly points out, there is a bill that may get rid of that. Because he is right. For the longest time, never showed up on anybody's radar, never went to town meeting. And then DOR came out and said, we want to see enterprise funds or we want to see the 53 F and three quarters, F and a half or F and three quarters. And that's a fairly new requirement.

So the language in this contract, sorry, would allow for both of those situations. Exactly.

Yes, it does. Right. Thank you. Stephen, was that good?

Michelle?

Yeah, related to Steven's question, presuming that the cable is less popular and revenues might be going down, I'm curious if that has had a funding impact for DVAC and if what percentage of the full budget this is and if that's been an issue or might be an issue.

May I have DVAC answer that? I know that they answer generally, but they can answer more specifically.

Hi everyone and thank you for seeing us. I'm Donna Greer, I'm the executive director of Dedham TV. I would say for right now, we're looking stable, but I'm getting a little bit worried about where we're going budget-wise with a couple of big things that we have coming up. We have to redo our entire broadcast system because it's got a nine-year to ten-year life expectancy. We're at nine, and it's going to cost us about $100,000. then we have to prepare going forward for the changes that they've made to Disability Act where we're going to have to do some closed captioning which for meetings comes down to about a dollar per minute. which many stations are taking at like 7,000 minutes to see if they could do it for a year, which would be $7,000. So try to keep them short.

So we have some big things coming up that are going to really impact us, I think.

So, yeah, so related, well, I also noticed in the agreement, and so I need a reminder, that yearly you all provide us with some reporting, like financial statements. Yes. Around what time of year do we see that?

We do our taxes, tax statements in May to June, so you would get those right before the end of our fiscal year.

Do you have other significant funding sources besides?

This is where we are.

Thank you.

Thank you. Anybody else? Good. Thank you. Thank you.

Sure. Sorry. No. Sure. Sorry.

Hi, Bernadette Cherokas. I'm from 132 Colwell Drive, but currently, right now, for this question, representing the Commission on Disability, of which I am the chair. so we do have funds that we acquire from the town through handicapped parking violations and we have in some other instances shifted funds from one department to the other for instance, the Council on Aging to provide some of their services. And we are looking for other ways to diversify the funds that we are using or that we've accrued. and to draw those down. So closed captioning for reasons of disability would definitely be a viable use of those funds and we would see if we can come to some sort of agreement on that. Okay?

Thank you, Bernie.

Good question. Any other questions? What is the wish of the board?

move to approve the agreement between Dedham Visionary Access Corporation and the Town of Dedham.

Second. Any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Thank you. How about introducing those that are on the board? Mrs. Keough, it's always great to see you. Seems as though we have been doing these for quite a while, and your leadership in the cable industry is, is well known, and so I just wanted to introduce the others within that are on the board, please. Mrs. Keer, why don't you? Sure.

Let me just say that Donna has been with us for 16 years. I met Donna. When she entered into our office one day, I cried over there. I said, I have just dismissed the person we have who is the technical person. What do you think? She's one of those efforts, and I'll tell you, she's the best thing that ever happened in this town and for its payment. Just impeccable. That's it.

great resume before she even took this position.

Thank you, Mrs. Kehoe. And others on the board?

Liz Tavalone, and I'm going to agree with Mrs. Kehoe. Dunn is really out in front and looks at the town for education, public government, and all aspects of meeting the needs of the town.

Thank you.

Yes, hi, Susan Butler, and I will also echo. I'm sorry, don't decide. She's a number one winning television producer, and I wish you came to see that. She had many years in the Boston scene, including ABC, so she's well-known in television production. It's been a real pleasure working with these ladies. and learning a lot and really looking forward to what Bernie mentioned and also match closed captioning and expanding accessibility for our audience

Thank you.

Lisa. And last but not least, Lisa Moran and my service, dear treasurer. I think that's a new trend word in like every place. But it's for livings. And I won't embarrass Donna, but she is definitely the person that keeps it put together. and I do have to say, I will add a little words for you here as well. This is, I have to say, one of my favorite boards because every meeting, you still learn something new from Mrs. Kiel. Or Marie-Louise, she'll be yelling at me after this. So, a well-developed model, yeah, definitely. Like every time, just when I think there's nothing else I can possibly gain, that'd be just saying, Oh, okay. Thank you.

Jim, I also express the Lord's thanks to our attorney, who has just served us so well, objectively. Well, thank you.

Very kind. Thank you very much.

Thank you. He had big shoes to fill with PETA. Jeff, yeah. No, yeah, right. Jeff. Thank you very much for all coming in. You're all set. Thank you. Wonderful, thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, moving on. Next item on the agenda is positions. on the warrant. Everybody has a copy of the book? And so the way in which we do it, we will, Nancy will read the article number, the title and what we have on the sheet. And if you, and then what the process is, if you wanna talk about an article, then say pass, we'll go back and pass. And if you don't, don't say anything. And then at the end, we will take a vote to concur with finance and warrants recommendations. and then go back to anything that's passed and have a discussion. We can also, if somebody wishes, to wait until town meeting to take a position. We also can do that.

So, Nancy, why don't you... Stat, please. Thank you.

Thank you. Article 1 requires no action. It was the election of non-officials. Article 2 allows for a 3% cost of living adjustment for the management and management support staff. By the way, may I disqualify, unless I state differently, all recommendations by King Kong was unanimous, unless stated otherwise.

Nancy, could I pass number two, please?

Sure.

Article three is the town operating budget. On a five to three vote, the Finance and Moral Committee approved the recommended budget of $149,904,944. Pass. Article 4 is the capital budget, which appropriates $656,500 from free cash and $4,950,000 to be borrowed. Article 5 appropriates $1,526.95 for prior year bills. Article 6 transfers $520,695 within line items to varying departments. Seven is special purpose funds. It appropriates $2,796,029 from the Robin Reyes Fund for debt service. and $205,587 to DVAC for the public education programming. Yes.

Article 8 is the Sewer and Stormwater Enterprise Fund. Article 9 is a request to rescind authorized and unissued debt on various projects. Article 10, amend funding for prior borrowing. Article 11 is a proposed new bylaw regarding the banning of cryptocurrency ATMs. Article 12 updates various bylaws and other recommendations by the Decennial Bylaw Review Committee.

Pass.

Article 13. is a bylaw amendment regarding the addition of a street takeover section, and that is also recommended by the Decennial Bylaw Review Committee at the request of Chief John Tronc. Article 14. was voted five to three by the Finance and Warrant Committee to indefinitely postpone, and that was a proposed amendment to the bylaw regarding detailed budgets by requiring that the school department provide the same detailed line item information as the town?

Yes.

Article 15 is... an amendment to a current bylaw regarding in-person meetings. It was voted seven to one to indefinitely postpone by FinCon. In Article 16, the Finance and Warrant voted 6-2 to indefinitely postpone the request to establish a working group to consider use of revenue from planned commercial development.

Okay, is there a motion for all those that were not passed? So moved. Is there a second?

Second.

Any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor?

Aye.

Thank you. Article 2.

Stephen? I just need to either abstain or recuse if there's going to be any discussion on this.

So is there a motion to concur with finance and warrant with Stephen abstaining? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Discussion? Hearing none, on the vote, Michelle?

Yes.

Erin?

Yes. Dimitria? Yes.

and the Chair vote yes. Make it known that Steven did not participate in the vote or discussion. Thank you. Article seven. Three? Three, I'm sorry, yeah, three.

So I, Mr. Chairman, I passed on that. I just want to start by recognizing the work that went into the budget. It funds important services. and I respect the effort of the Finance and the Warrant Committee. That said, I am going to be voting no. Our operating costs are going faster than they can be sustained and we're adding 18 new permanent positions on top of that. Those positions don't just add salaries, they also add long term costs for health insurance, pensions, and eventually retiree health insurance. Schools are our largest cost driver and already have a very high per pupil spending. We still struggle to fund priorities. Until the broader educational model changes, we need to be more creative with programming and willing to look at reducing some roles, possibly to protect student-facing positions.

I know my vote alone will not fix our structural issues or guarantee we avoid a future proposition two and a half override. But at some point, it's not enough to say we need to do more with less. We have to reflect then on how we vote. My no vote is a signal that we cannot keep adding obligations at this pace and just hope revenues from the state will catch up. That is the reason why I am voting no on this. I understand and I was watching some of the conversations that were happening during MINI, and I'm sure that it will take place during town meeting. It's a very small difference between one vote and the other vote, but at some point it needs to stop and we need to really figure out where we're going. And I'm not saying that the answer is going to come in the next budget. I'm not saying that this is going to help us avoid a Proposition 2 1⁄2 override.

I think there's a lot of important work that's going on right now between the facilities working group and the educational model working group that are happening now as well. So I think that we are heading in that right direction. I just look at adding 18 positions right now is not doing a service for the future. We need to learn now and figure out now what we can do in what we have and how we can protect as best we can those student-facing positions. Thank you.

Thank you. Anybody else on Article 3? Michelle?

I was also going to pass this, and I'm not sure procedurally if we just vote no or we ever make different recommendations. watching finance and warrant committee and then Minnie last night. I was really struggling with this, but myself personally would have have chosen the 5.75%, the middle road of the options that the Finance and Warrant Committee was discussing. I'm glad. that the recommendations, all of them, start to restore some of the positions that were lost over the past few years. And I appreciate the needs and the challenges for the school budget right now. but I'm also really concerned about the excess levy. And while Dedham compared to many communities has done a good job of avoiding an override so far,

I would just like to see us have a little more time working on some of the long-term solutions that the deficit reduction plan is trying to get to to avoid or at least further delay and override and more time really for public education on this around tax relief on override trajectory and some time for the tax relief working group and the other efforts going on to relief tax. for some of our residents that are struggling. So to me it was just a middle ground option that is more, I'm glad it's more than level service, I'm glad that the schools would be getting some things restored but a little bit less tax impact and less impact on the excess levy. So I would also be voting no.

Thank you. Anybody else?

I'm sure I'll speak. So one, I want to just lay out and clarify for those listening what I think the center of the discussion has been at this table and what it's referencing. Specifically, What's been mentioned so far are positions that are being added to the school department. Those are 18 positions that that meet this specific need. There are five positions that are education support professionals that would be allocated to the kindergarten, 11 positions that would be allocated across the schools for grades one through three. And the reason why these 18 positions

are included in this budget is responsive to lower than lower or declining literacy testing for our K through three third graders. testing has declined over the past few years. And this is being responsive to that decline. I think we spend a lot of time, and I've heard it over the past several years in this town, talking about test scores in Dedham and wanting to look for ways to improve them, to make sure that our students are getting the best shot. And I think there's plenty of evidence showing and indicating

that the time to do that, and specifically, I think there's been a lot of discussions about, you know, about high school, a focus on high school scores, and research and data... absolutely support that the time to do that is in the early years, with grades K through three being critical points in time to establish literacy. And that once you get behind in literacy, it is extremely difficult to catch up and move beyond. I don't know the details or reasons as to why our literacy scores have gone down. I think that there are many reasons that may go into that. I thought it was really important that the superintendent mentioned that Dedham has a higher than average special education

enrollment between 20 and 23 percent of our students are part of special education services. And while I really spent a lot of time wanting to look for a solution that focused on a lower allocation for the schools that would bring us to that 5.75%. One way to get to that 5.75% that was suggested would be to reduce the number of this education sport professionals from 18 down to nine. However, understanding where those professionals are going to sit I don't see how that is practical or implementable. And while I do share all of the concerns that have been shared at this table,

see that we absolutely have urgent need to look at in the next year and two. significant ways to change and alter the path of our tax revenue and burden on residents. I don't think it should be on the backs of our K-3 students. and if this has been an identified goal and there is a research backed way to make sure that these students don't get behind, so that we are able to track them through the years and make sure that they can achieve those scores that we all want for our students by the time that they are in high school that I could not... justify saying no to that request on behalf of those students and their futures.

I wanted to explain what those positions were and what went into my thinking and reasoning.

Thanks, Simon. Steven? And just to chime in, I know a lot of the focus is on the school budget. in Article 3, and obviously just coming from the school committee, I had voted in support of this request. the initial request that came or the initial recommendation that came out of the school committee's budget subcommittee was significantly higher and the school committee working at the table working with the administration got it into a place that was lower, but what it does is it targets needs in schools. I think Erin made a great case for why these specific positions are needed. The school budgets have not hit level service in the last six fiscal years. There's enormous strain on teachers. There's enormous strain on administration. Teachers routinely came to administration.

It was forwarded to us of how burdened they felt. and you know we received a lot of outreach last year after the town meeting budget vote of disappointment from teachers and you know obviously for this vote and the job of town meeting is to balance all of that to balance the fiscal realities. But this is investment in our youngest learners. It's going to pay dividends through grades K through 12. educational support professionals are some of the lower salary and lower benefit employees of the district. and it's not wrong that Dedham has a higher per pupil average. We also have the highest educator salaries for classroom teachers within a 45 minute range other than the city of Boston. And I know that's something that the school committee has worked on.

I've worked on that in our negotiations subcommittee. it's impossible to bring that down immediately but over time that does have to be a goal of the school committee and I believe that it is and the agreement that came forward is in line with that. But I'll also point out We are 73rd out of over 300 districts in our per pupil cost for facilities. And so we just really can't ignore the cost burdens that facilities put onto our schools. and I know that the master plan is moving right along and so is the ed model and hopefully both of those will lead to solutions that can kind of trim some of that increased growth. Just from where I sit, I'm supportive of what the Finance and Warren Committee put forward. I'm supportive of what the Town Manager put forward. And so I will be voting yes to concur with the Finance and Warren Committee.

Thank you, Steven, and appreciate the dialogue on article three because usually we just move on. We don't discuss. So I have So I have voted on, I should say, agreed with 32 budgets that have come before me. And they were small, some of them small, some of them were big. some of them were painful, but most were most budgets were acceptable to town meeting with the exception of a few where there was some real back and forth on town meetings of taking from one department and putting it into another. and it got very, very, very messy.

You know, finance and warrant has a tough job, as does the administration of both the school and the town side. But what I've been seeing is reduction or not filling positions in our public safety, which the chiefs have said are needed, but we tell them, We can't because we can't afford it. But we have, for the educational, we have needs and sometimes we take a different position. because of the great work that happens. So it's a balance that happens in town. We reduced DPW, and what happened? We started getting calls about our leaves aren't being picked up, The parks aren't being maintained. The roads aren't being done.

But that's the way it is that people will say because we made a choice. and I'm really concerned at this point in the budget that we have that we really don't say no enough. and we don't ask to reallocate resources. and come November when we have another town meeting, what's gonna happen then? What's gonna happen when somebody says I need more money and we have a levy of $786,000? Will people say no? then? Will the residents say no? Will town meetings say no? We only have a vote at this table here because we don't have a vote at town meeting. In my history here,

the select board has never had a vote where they disagreed with finance and warrant. And as of right now, I'm sort of, I tell them I'm gonna be a swing vote. because there's two that are for and two that are against. And really, I'm thinking about what message do we want to send as a board to the town. We've been talking about it for a while. And we've been talking about it. We've been trying to do something. But it hasn't happened. It hasn't happened with this budget. and we're not getting the support from the state that we need. We're not getting the additional money that has been asked for by many city and town managers and city and town.

the city and towns throughout the Commonwealth. We were talking to a town the other day. You know what their free cash number was? And I'm not gonna mention. They have $40 million in free cash. How did they do it, but they don't want to spend it? 40 million. So you have some towns that have excess cash, right? and other towns that are struggling. And I will put Dedham in the struggling because we are gonna be struggling. But what do we do? Where do we go? There's only one place we go, and that's to the voters and asking them, do you want to support the public safety educational model that we have are not. And some people will say, what have you done? What have you done as as leaders in our town to make things better.

What have you done? the Deficit Reduction Committee. I have really high hopes of the mask, the facilities plan and the educational model. But the question's gonna be, they're both going to cost money. If we think that a new educational model that is going to be voted on is going to be saving us money, we're dreaming. It's not going to be. because there's going to be expenses. There's going to be cost. And when you change the educational model, you have to retrain teachers. You have to give them new skills, and that's all costing money. You know, I listened to the Minitown meeting last night, some good questions. My hope is that nobody tries to add money to this budget.

and I think that we as a board would, my hope is that we would be in the position to say no to any movement of money. are adding of money to the budget. Because what do we have in free cash after this budget is done? What is a number that somebody could come in and say, I want to take X number of dollars from the balance in free cash and put it into a line item. What do we have left? 4 million. So we have 4 million in free cash sitting out there. And any of that could have been used to, will any of that be used to reduce the tax rate?

no offset of tax rate. We were using some of it to, well, in essence, we're decreasing the tax rate because we're using it to pay some operating costs.

But we're still gonna have a balance of four million in free cash? Okay, thank you. Okay, what is the, somebody has to make a motion. What is the wish of the board?

move to vote in concurrence with finance warrants recommendation.

Is there a second? Second. Discussion? Hearing none, on the vote, Erin.

Yes.

Steven. Yes. Michelle.

No.

Dimitria.

No.

And I'm voting no. Thank you. Article 7.

I pass that. Thank you. Just a quick question, Leon. So we're taking 205 out of The Reyes Fund going to DVAG for PEG programming, is it?

It's a special revenue account. When the checks come from the three license holders, they go in special revenue accounts. and are held there until the next town meeting and that's where it comes from. The $2,796,029 is coming out of Reyes for paying the debt service.

There's two actions occurring within one motion.

Within one, okay.

Okay, thank you. Is there a motion?

Motion to approve Article 7.

Second?

Second.

Discussion? All those in favor? Yes.

Thank you.

Twelve.

I had passed this because on page 818, I just noticed one inconsistency with how the Youth Commission, which is now going to be called the Youth Commission Board, was on so section 12-4 it says duties of the youth board as written with the strikers in bold so just it's it's very minor and I don't really know the best way to go from here, but I just caught it and just wanted to make sure that

We'll make sure that before it goes to code, we'll get it fixed. Thank you.

We should bring that up Thursday. Thank you.

move to concur with the Finance and Warrant Committee's recommendation on Article 12. Is there a second?

Second. Discussion? And then all those in favor? Aye. Thank you. Fourteen?

. So, Article 14. So while I understand and appreciate the autonomy that the schools have by law to manage their budget between lines and definitely not trying to erode that in any way, but I also think that it's important to see more details of how that bottom line has arrived at to help build trust and transparency. And I agree and I've seen when I was on Finance and Warrant Committee a lot of movement and progress being made. but still I think with the schools being such a large part of the budget and our budget's so tight that we do need to be able to understand the details and the public and town meeting do to form an opinion on the bottom line. And I don't know...

how much this article dictates how that is done because certainly I would think there should be kind of some time to come around to it and I understand that our systems on the town side aren't necessarily compatible with the school side so I'm not saying I feel like they all should be it all has to be exactly the same but like the spirit of this I think is really important. So I just wanted to mention that and you know I'm inclined to support it because of that but I I'm open to understanding if there's ways that this is written that make this not the best way to go about that.

Thank you. Anybody else on 14? Nothing else I can add.

I would only add that I feel that a suggestion like this needs to go through a school committee process first, either by establishing a work group to look at in improving transparency around school budget line items. It's not that I disagree with the end goal of better understanding the details of the school budget, but I'm uncomfortable proceeding with a recommendation that has not been before the school committee, that the request hasn't been made, there hasn't been a request made to the school department from my understanding that hasn't been met with detailed information. And also that the school committee has a budget subcommittee that reviews items in details.

I'm curious if there perhaps through a work group process could be additional transparency layered into that budget subcommittee work. I hear enough questions about whether the timing of the School Department's ability to enter financial information into MUNIS might not align with this process. There are enough Tweaky little questions to me that I really think that something like this would benefit from a work group process. And that's my thought process on this article.

Thank you.

Anybody else? Steven. Mr. Chair. Probably unsurprising, I would vote to concur with the Finance and Work Committee's recommendation of indefinitely postponing. It was mentioned that through general law chapter 71 section 34 the school department and through the school committee receive a bottom line appropriation and it's it's then theirs to execute that budget. So I think that I would reject the issues of transparency. 46-page budget book published on the school's website. I would encourage town meeting members or community members to review that. and I think we're just wading into a territory that gets a little dicey. Finance and Warrant Committee already takes some pretty good liberties with the questions they ask, with the information they request and sort of

how they make recommendations and I think that's an important part of their process and I think the schools have been willing partners with that understanding the role that the Finance and Warrant Committee plays in making that recommendation but I think back to I'll say two years ago there was an annual town meeting and a lot of town meeting members were upset that there was a cut to DPW and it was summer jobs I believe that was cut and we might have sat through 20 minutes of debate of people saying we want to add this money back in for summer jobs when it was stated even if you add this money back in it is not going to summer jobs. So I just worry that there's an issue there where town meeting may believe that they have the ability to dictate how the schools can spend money and they don't under General Law Chapter 71, Section 34. And so I just worry about that gray area.

It's already a challenging spot from the schools and having people believe that we gave you money for this or we took money away for this and the authority wasn't there to do that. I would worry about that. My advice to people who feel there isn't enough transparency is to go to the school committee. Like Aaron mentioned, there's a budget subcommittee. I know work has been done to make it a little bit more open and accessible, and I think that work is evergreen. I will be voting to concur with the FinCom recommendation.

Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, so listening to what everyone has to say, I tend to agree, Michelle, you had mentioned that the spirit of this is really where I'm falling with this as well, too. It's the spirit and what it's trying to Achieve here. This may not be the perfect article. I do understand a work group getting together to see how we can make that. And I don't actually even like the word transparent. We use it all the time. If I could, Steven, and I don't mean to put anybody on the spot, but the 46-page budget that you said that's out there, what's the difference between what this is asking and what's in that budget?

It's broken up more in how the schools and how the town generally reports what we consider line items, but the school line items as reported to the state are much more detailed than what's in the budget. So what this would ask for would actually be more detailed how I read it. than what any of the departments provide.

So this would be more detailed. And what did you see as a school committee member?

So as a school committee member, I saw the function code level, same as what town meeting votes for town departments. What I would say is what is in our town meeting warrant book may not necessarily be line item. I know we've referred to it as such, but it is more of a conglomeration of multiple more detailed line items and how the school defines a line item. how the state through DESE defines a line item is more specific than what's printed in the town meeting warrant. So I'd be a little concerned based off of that as well.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Any other discussion?

Please. At mini last night, I know somebody asked a question that I think you were going to get back to about, or maybe it wasn't you, it might have been the superintendent, about how other communities handle this? Is this something we might want to delay a vote on until that information is gotten?

Yeah, I think the question was what our peer communities are doing and whether there was a best practice around that and that was something we're going to look at and try to bring some examples back prior to town meeting. that could be something. Certainly as soon as we get that information and I'll work with the superintendent on that, we could share it with the board so that you could make a determination at that time.

which is why I advocate for a process that begins with the school committee and includes other relevant stakeholders in the department. We just don't know. I don't know. I don't have the benefit of being on the school committee. It has not been before the school committee for discussion. These questions haven't been asked. Yes, we can get a question or two answered by next week, but I feel that this is an under-vetted article and process at this moment in time. a work group may come up with something similar. But I am concerned about the lack of process at this point.

Let me ask a question, Mr. Chairman. Please. During the different meetings and so forth, because you said it's never been asked before, have the schools been asked for more detail than they've given by either a financing warrant or by you?

In my experience, every bit of information that the finance and warrant committee or the finance department has asked for for the school department has been submitted.

Everything that they've asked for, not ahead of time, but as they go.

We get the information that's required for us to submit to the Finance and Work Committee in advance. And then if we have further detailed questions, we always get that information as well.

Thank you.

Anybody else? What is the wish? Motion, please.

I'd like to postpone.

Okay. Motion to be made at town meeting. Thank you. 16.

Steven. I had passed this because I think that the intent is really strong on this in that I think that there's a larger role for the select board to play with analyzing revenue, thinking about things like economic development, and then longer term planning. So I know that I think where this one sits might be a little I'm not too prescriptive of something that we already have the ability to do, but just wanted to commend Mr. Teehan for putting it forward, or Dr. Teehan, excuse me, for putting this forward. I would be happy to work with the board moving forward on trying to find something that takes the essence of this but implements that. I think as we're talking about things like just the growth of budgets we also have to be talking about the growth of revenue and I think that's a conversation that's missed in some of this bigger picture and having just a board that is or a committee that is playing a very dedicated

role in this and having a very focused eye on this I think is just important for the town's fiscal health. So I'll vote to concur with FinCom, but just wanted to put that out there. Anybody else?

Is there a motion, please?

motion to concur with finance and warrant recommendation.

Thank you. Is there a second? Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Exit interview.

Hello, my name is Rebecca Gamsby. I'm a shareholder with CBiz CPAs, so thank you very much for having me today. I'll go over a quick... A little bit of our process for the annual audit, if that's okay, and then some of the key results that came out of the audit. So I am here to discuss the town's fiscal year 25 audit. Our objective as the town's independent auditors is to express an opinion on the town's fiscal year 25 financial statements and your schedule of expenditures of federal awards. We perform our audits in accordance with generally are the auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America and standards for financial audits contained in government auditing standards. Our responsibility is to plan and perform our audit to obtain reasonable but not absolute assurance that the financial statements are free of material mistakes, that they're fairly presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, also referred to as GAAP. Our audit includes obtaining an understanding of the internal controls sufficient to plan

our audit procedures and determine the nature, extent, and timing of these procedures to be performed. This is mostly part of our risk assessment process that we perform upfront with the audit. The audit is not designed to provide assurance on internal control. or identify reportable conditions. However, if we do find any internal control deficiencies during the process or anything that we need to report to management or the board, we do so as part of the process. Management is responsible for the preparation and the fair presentation of the town's financial statements and SIFA, the schedule of expenditures of federal awards, and ensuring that they're in compliance with GAAP. They're also responsible for establishing and maintaining effective internal controls over financial reporting. As part of this audit process, we do assist the town with preparing the town's financial statements. The town prepares an ACFER, and annual comprehensive financial report, which is a lengthy document.

It has additional disclosures that are not required for the basic financial statements. The additional disclosures are provided as part of the submission process to the Government Finance Officers Association to submit for consideration for the award annually for financial presentation. So the town's fiscal year 25 ACRA was submitted for consideration and the award was won for fiscal year 24. As part of that process, though, we do receive the trial balance from the finance office, from the town's general ledger software. That trial balance is imported directly into our audit software and then adjustments are made based on records provided by the town. the audit adjustments essentially move from the budgetary basis of accounting into the modified and full accrual basis of accounting for the financial statement presentation So this was not a result of errors that were found during the audit. They're just standard audit adjustments that are made for every community.

Typically, we begin our audit work in June. So it began June 2025. We start with our preliminary risk assessment process so we can determine all of our testing procedures that will need to take place. The year-end audit typically starts after the books are closed. Usually around September we begin the year-end for the closed process and reviewing all the final reconciliations and account balances and support that's provided. So during this process, we do the risk assessment of the internal controls, we review for compliance with laws and regulations, and we test those year-end account balances and reconciliations, significant balances such as receivables, cash reconciliations, investments. We test the cutoff for accounts payable at year-end. We look at the long term disclosures related to capital assets, debt, net pension liability, the net OPEB liability, compensated absences. We then review the financial statements and ensure that you're compliant with GASB and GAAP.

that all the required disclosures are presented within the town's financial statements. And we assist the town with the implementation of any new accounting standards under the GASB. So during fiscal year 25, there was an implementation of GASB 101 that impacted the financial statements. and I'll get to that one in a second. So as part of the financial statements, we were able to issue an unmodified opinion on the financial statements and the SIFA, so also referred to as a clean opinion. We did not have any instances of noncompliance. We don't have any reportable deficiencies or material weaknesses to report to the board. So that's always great news. no difficulties encountered with management, with the finance team, no disagreements, no significant or unusual transactions were noted in the course of our audit. The audit of course does test account transactions and balances on a sample basis, so we don't look at 100% of the activity that goes through the town, but we look at a substantial amount of that activity.

the clean opinion again was expressed on the financial statements and the schedule of expenditures of federal awards. So at year end, again, June 30, 2025, For the full accrual financial statements, your governmental activities reported a net position of $68.3 million, which was a $6.9 million increase from the prior year. So that's all the governmental funds, primarily the general fund, your special revenue funds, capital project funds. Business type activities reported a net position of $33.7 million at year end, an increase of $2.4 million from the prior year. So the business type activities represent the sewer and stormwater fund and their operations, which are always reported on a Full accrual basis. So all the long-term liabilities, the capital assets are always reported within that number. When you move down to the modified accrual statements, we're looking at the governmental funds. So total fund balance was $52.8 million. There was just a decrease of about $590,000 from the prior year.

Most of that related to the general fund and the operations of the general fund. At year end, the general fund did have, of the $52.8 million, the general fund represented the $27.2 million. of that balance, there's $13 million within the stabilization reserves. So the stabilization funds are reported as part of the town's general fund for the audit purposes. There are two other major funds that were reported. for the year. One was the COVID-19 grant funds, so all of the grants that were provided in association with the impact of the pandemic. And there was the Building and Improvements Capital Fund. Those activities stayed fairly consistent with the prior years. There's a few significant disclosures as well. So we have a responsibility to review any significant estimates that are a part of your financial statements. The first one being related to the pension plan and the disclosures related to the net pension liability.

So as part of the town's audit, we do audit the Dedham Contributory Retirement System as well. Their audit was completed as of December 31st of 2024. So the town is actually at year end. So again, December 31st of 2024, the town's share was just under 95% of that pension system. We take a look at the assumptions that are essentially provided by the board and agree to with the systems actuary that go into the disclosures surrounding the total pension liability, so the most significant estimate that relates to the pension system. So the total net pension liability for the system as a whole as of 12-31-24 was $15.9 million. The system was almost 93% funded at that time, which is excellent. and the town share again for that just under 95% was about 15 million.

So within the town's financial statements, there's an overall net pension liability that's recorded of 15 million. Similar to the retirement system, the town hires the actuary for the other post-employment benefits and a total OPEB liability is determined based on the assumptions that go into that report as of year end, so June 30, 2025. The net OPEB liability for the town was $77 million. That's reported as a long-term liability in the government-wide statements. That represents a total OPEB liability for the town's retiree future health care of just over $114 million, less the amount that is held within the trust and reserved for that purpose already that the town's contributed of $37.3 million. which is how you arrive at that $77 million estimate on the town's government-wide financial statements.

That trust fund is just under 33% funded as of year end as well. One final significant assumption that we should discuss as well is the compensated absences liability for the town. So as I noted, there was one new GASB that took place that had to be implemented as of the fiscal year end, GASB 101. It surrounds compensated absences. and essentially how the town estimates the amounts that are due based on contracts for town and school employees for earned but not used sick and vacation time. it essentially made management reevaluate how they were proposing this estimate. And for all communities across the board, it has essentially increased that estimate that was on your financial statements. So previously, the estimate

mostly related to the amounts that the town anticipated would be paid out upon retirement or if there were other contractual buyback agreements within contracts mostly related to accruing all of the vacation time that was earned. this new standard requires another look at what could also be utilized by those employees before they retire. So the sick estimate of that liability has increased significantly for most communities. This was just implemented prospectively, and just increased again, that liability that's reported by the town. So those are the three most significant estimates that we do take a look at for the town. Capital Assets is another one, however, the depreciable lives and how depreciation is applied for capital assets, very consistent against all communities and done very well here. So the other report that we do and the City Council.

Thank you. the majority of the expenditures relate to the school department, child nutrition, so school lunch funding and related expenditures, and then special education expenditures. This past year, the major program that we were required to audit and focus our procedures on for fiscal year 25 was the ARPA state and local fiscal recovery funds. So one of the grants that happened on the town side. There was about 1.5 million was spent out of that program for fiscal year 25 out of the 5.4 million overall for the town. Again, we issued a clean opinion on that major program. There were no reportable noncompliance that we noted. no material weaknesses, significant deficiencies across the board. Again, clean opinions for both reports.

Anything else?

I have, unless you have some questions on it. I know it's a significant document.

Thank you very much. Questions? I know that's a lot of... That's a lot of information.

It's an almost 200-page report summarized into five to ten minutes, so it's a lot coming at you. I apologize for that. But if there's any further questions later on, of course, we're always happy to answer them as well.

So you did mention that there were no findings materially or otherwise. In your management letter, Any comments on the management letter, things that you see that you recommend to be done differently?

We did not issue a management letter this year, so any comments that we had or recommendations were minor, so we were providing them verbally to management, so either discussed with the finance director or the treasurer as items came up, so again. Nothing significant we felt needed to be communicated in writing.

So anything previously that was mentioned in a management letter is no longer an issue? It has been resolved. Correct? Yes. Thank you. and just one note that when you talk about the pension liability as we were just talking about the budget I think it's important to note that the teachers are not within the the budget for retired. In fact, you make a note of it that the state contributed $8.5 million to the teacher's retirement fund towards their pension. So I think that was, I was glad to see that. that pulled out because I don't remember seeing that before, so thank you. Anybody have any questions or comments? Brady, that looks like... You're doing a good job, huh?

Yes, she is.

Looks like you are. You and the entire team, finance team, to be commended because this is an excellent audit in financials. Thank you. Leon, any comments?

No, I just want to thank CBIS and their team for the audit, and then commend to Brady and her team for all their hard work, again, make sure that we're complying with everything and doing a good job. We ask the taxpayers for their trust and I think this shows that we're doing the right thing with the funds that they are willing to give us. It's important.

Thank you. Just as a follow-up, didn't we ask for a couple of departments? So has that been done to be reviewed?

We've started the process. Okay, you've started, okay. All results of that aspect, yeah.

I just want to make sure I didn't miss something. Okay, thank you. So what that is, Stephen, every year the select board selects two departments for the outside auditors to come in and to do a deeper dive into operations. And who was it this year? Was it PACS?

Part of the school department and board of health. Does it have that right now?

No. Is the school outside of the operating room?

Yeah.

And then...

Okay, all right. Thank you. Okay, look forward to that. Thanks very much.

Have a good night.

Yay. I think that that is the fastest exit interview in concise that we have had.

Yeah. Well, I mean, I think it's worth noting that there isn't a management letter. And we've been working through minor issues for my term on the board. So I think that's worthy of note.

That's significant. It really is. It's to be commended to the staff. Yep. Thank you. Minutes?

Move to accept the minutes of April 7th, 2026. So second?

Second. Discussion?

Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye. Thank you. I'll abstain. I wasn't a member of the... Oh, yeah, I trust that they were done right, but he wasn't here, so.

Thanks, Stephen. And then Leon's report.

Yeah, go back. Oh, right, yep. So now, Leon.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the board. So just a couple of items. I know we've talked a lot about some of the important projects that are going on. So we do have the facilities master plan project that is ongoing. We are planning, there is an FMP regular committee meeting coming up on May 21st next week, 7.30 p.m., a little bit later start time to accommodate the school team. and then we'll also have on June 15th, we're going to have another community meeting that one will be 7 p.m. I don't think we've nailed down the location for that yet but we're working on that and we'll pick a location that works well for a community type meeting and again very very happy with the 93 participants we had in the last community meeting hoping maybe we can do even better at the next one so again and then we also have

and that's going to be a joint meeting with the educational model team on 6-15. We have two surveys ongoing currently, the educational model survey and the FMP survey. So just so folks don't get confused, if you filled out one survey, there are two surveys. And so we want people's voices to be heard on both of those. And there will be a mailer going out or it's in process going to every door in Dedham to remind folks of those surveys and with QR codes linking to those to make it easy for folks. Again, as has been referenced a number of times, we had our warrant review meeting, otherwise known as Minitown meeting last night. I thought it was a very good conversation. We spent a lot of time going through the budget. A lot of good questions were asked. 99% sure that it doesn't happen in every town that we do the warrant review meeting.

And I think it's a hallmark of, I think, good work that we do here in Dedham because we get to have a good conversation, resolve questions, and then go to town meeting, I think, with better information to inform our representative town meeting. So I'm proud of that here in Dedham. Town meeting, May 18th, 7 PM at the high school. I think that's... Again, 16 articles this year, but some very important decisions as we've discussed tonight. And then last but not least, I wanted to note that It was brought up last week that there were questions around visitor signs or confusing signage in front of the public safety building. I went out there and looked at that. I talked to facilities. What had happened, I think, is over the wintertime, one of the signs was damaged, and when it was reinstalled, it was installed Backwards. So it didn't match the marking. So we now have a clear sign that says visitors over the five visitor signs in front of the public safety building.

should feel confident being able to park in that visitor spot when they come to the public safety building. So very clearly demarcated now.

Thank you. Any questions? Hold a new business. Aaron?

No.

No. Camicia, no. Steven? Michelle? No. I just have one. Wish James a happy birthday next week, next Wednesday. So I guarantee you he is still watching our meeting.

Happy birthday, James.

Thank you. Motion to adjourn.

Second.

Discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Thank you. Thank you for a great discussion tonight on important issues.