All Board Meeting May 12, 2026

Other boards who have quorums please call your boards to order.

Thank you. Anybody else? Okay. This is our... Agenda, little added feature in the middle. Mostly we're gonna do feedback on the FY27 budget. moderator's gonna do some feedback on annual town meeting and we'll look a little bit ahead. And I'm gonna turn the budget work over to Megan and Rachel. and we also want to congratulate Paul Mangonaro who just passed a very difficult financial exam on his way.

Come on up. Tony, just come up because acoustics are tough without the mic.

Yes. You know me by now. You guys know me by now. Many of us, can you hear me now from here? Many of us have attended many public meetings, sometimes controversial. But the fact that we had a meeting last night on a very A controversial topic for many and the way it turned out in terms of having everybody being heard I think was a testimony to the way the leadership here put that event together. the people who were most worried about what was going to happen in terms of construction over on the other side of town heard the plan in a rational way In addition to that, they had many, many opportunities to listen and also to respond and to comment. I thought Mark Kaplan was superb in managing the room. clearly, yes, I mean, and of course he congratulated everybody and thanked everybody at the end.

But that meeting, I felt that the people left disappointed as though many were, they felt as though they were heard. They had plenty of times, plenty of opportunities to comment on what they saw and the concerns that they had. And quite frankly, it was no accident that it happened that way so I think I mean certain people's Madison and Marjorie and oh my gosh it was and and Casey it really made me proud actually to leave the room with with people feeling okay, that's just the way it is. So I needed to say that for us. Thank you.

On that thought, something that was really obvious to me after all of this was the planning that went into it, but also the communication. and so I think part of the reason it went so well was all the communication that was coming out to everybody for I'll say a week or 10 days prior I think really seeded the ability for it to actually go down the way to go off without a hitch, as they say. So I know in the past, there's been a lot of discussion about how do we communicate with people in advance and get people to see and know things in a timely fashion. And as I was listening to you, it's reminding me that's a big part of this, I think, the advanced communication I think really really helped so if we keep doing that hopefully more good things will happen.

It's gonna look better on TV, hopefully. Do you want, you already give your, okay, hold on. Okay, so that's gonna annoy me all night and I apologize. So we wanted to just start going through the FY27 budget process to get some feedback on how it went, because we did have some significant changes this year. and so we're trying to learn every year, trying to improve our performance each year. So keep in mind this year for FY27 this was our first year in terms of having the separated municipal and school budgets with the two separate motions and as well as the allocated budgetary components, all which are available online. This is our third year using the individualized guidelines. I'm going to show you some questions we'd like to ask you.

which we think have worked well and tried to capture elements that are unique to each department in terms of cost drivers. at the Fall 2020 All-Board meeting last year, we basically discussed a couple things. And you're gonna hear a lot of that again this year. Last year was level service budget planning, no new strategic initiatives, focus on long-range planning. Last year we also finalized and advanced the implementation of our new class and comp system. We will have some modifications at the fall town meeting. We've been working closely with the HR board on. and then preparing for collective bargaining which is a huge endeavor for all of the departments that have any union staff and we are well in the midst of that. because all union contracts both on town and school are expiring June 30, 2026 and at present there's currently no settlements.

So in terms of the budget process feedback, so this is the part where we want to hear from you, are there particular aspects that worked well for departments? Are there any communication or coordination improvements that we should be looking at as we just commence, you know, in the fall, really our FY28 budget process? and where the budget guidelines clear and effective. And I don't mean just for departments in preparing it, but also when we have individualized guidelines, That makes it a bit more complex sometimes for advisory as well in terms of trying to compare the various departments and initiatives. So are there, were those clear and effective and helpful? So maybe we stop there and hear if there's any comments on that first. and we're gonna have to have you come up here because you're gonna need a mic. If there's no comments, I'll proceed or you can think about them after but we'd love to hear from folks if there are comments.

All right, I'm going to take that as no comments. We did awesome. Okay, so as we, just as last year, there's always something evolving, obviously in both the nation and the commonwealth, that are going to impact our budget. So both our existing budget that we're, are going to commence on July 1, and then the one that we're going to start planning for, which is a little crazy, right? So we start planning in November in terms of putting your budgets together, which is you're basically finishing like Q1 of the budget season you're in in preparation for the next year. And so there's a lot of variability. So certainly we're looking at the federal volatility and the uncertainty that's going to remain. in particular, just given all of the different economic conditions, the war efforts that are ongoing. There's gonna be potential impacts. We already are filling them to petroleum and utility costs.

Petroleum is a big one right now in terms of what was budgeted, what we forecast in particular to those high user departments. We are fortunate that we have been looking at alternative fuel within the town for a significant period of time. but certainly we have high demand vehicles in terms of most of our cruises are hybrid or EV. I'm looking at Scott. Fire, DPW, we have a lot of heavy petroleum-based products. There will be a cost to that. We continue to watch the impact on interest rates, how that will then impact our free cash turn back in terms of investment earnings and also our out year borrowing. So we are very conservative assumptions right now. and the town-wide financial plan. We look at everything at essentially a 5% interest rate for the out years. Will that fluctuate? Our most recent borrowing had very favorable rates.

We actually put out to market today for a bond anticipation note. So we'll get a sense of what the interest rates are for an approval next week from the select board on that. In terms of the 20 outlook, I did speak to Representative Paish's office to see if there was any words of wisdom, and they just said it's just too early at this point. But certainly we continue to look at the impacts on Chapter 70, what's going to come down from the state, as well as any of our AGRA funding, the unrestricted general government aid. We'll have better information as we proceed into the fall. It still will be probably early when we're setting our guidelines to have that. It really trickles out later in like November and December. Guidelines are set end of September, October. The other thing that we're monitoring very closely is health insurance. It was a huge cost driver this year.

We have anticipated in the 10-wide financial plan an 8% year-over-year impact. increase for the next three years. We are hoping that under the new provisions, and I'll get into it in the next slide or two, where GLP-1s have been restricted by our health insurance carriers that that on the market will have an impact. So that should present some cost savings, although likely somewhat delayed. So we'll see a trend analysis from West Suburban Health Group. after Q1 or so. So we really won't have that information typically until November and it gets better each month after that in terms of our forecast for the impacts on health insurance. as part of our town-wide financial plan and certainly under the select board in setting their assumptions. We continue to plan conservatively and we'll continue to do that for the long term.

in terms of guidelines, we do anticipate likely individualized guidelines for FY28. That's largely because of the union contracts. however those settle out, each year may have a different percentage base impact on personal services to each of the various departments. which then also may necessitate impacts or reductions in expenses. So each department has very unique drivers. and one of the things we've tried to do is at the fall special town meeting, as you start thinking about your, not fall town meeting, excuse me, the fall all board meeting, as you start thinking about your budget, you really need to identify those as early as possible to the select board because as they're looking at their individualized guidelines, they take the comment and feedback from the all board meeting in terms of potential cost drivers unique to the department into their calculation on the individualized guidelines.

and the more information you have to finance on that the better when Rachel is assisting us and Paul in terms of setting like those very specific you know 3.1 or 3.65, whatever that may be. So the all board meeting in the fall will be really important. and certainly the outcome of collective bargaining is going to be unique across the union boards and departments which is largely driving a lot of the individualized guidelines. So cash capital, I'm going to turn this over to Rachel to discuss cash capital. This has been, in particular this year, we had to take a really close look at the carry forward on cash capital, and we had a significant reduction request in cash capital. We would anticipate that cash capital would be likely at the low end of the range.

Because of union bargaining, you're going to try and put in personal service costs. That's going to be the primary driver unilaterally across departments this year. So you're likely going to see not only an expense cut, but a capital reduction. And just based on recent experience that finances has had, we really thought it was important to have the cash capital discussion here tonight. So I'm going to turn it over to Rachel.

Thanks, Megan. So we did want to use tonight as an opportunity to kind of reset the expectations around cash capital. as Megan mentioned, in an effort to close and balance the FY27 budget, the finance team, we worked with all of the departments to have them identify prior year cash capital. What was the status? Was it still active? Is the intent to continue to use those funds in the current year and in out years? Did you have some projects that were actually complete and you don't need to use those funds? or possibly there's projects that were complete and there's some residual funds available. So given that effort, we did identify into FY20 6, we had over $6 million of prior cash capital that departments are actively working on those projects. So we asked that they were able to defer FY27 requests.

push those out so that in FY27 we could lower that cash capital request and they can focus on closing out some of those old projects. So that being said, when we're looking ahead to the FY26 Year End Close, we're going to approach that a little bit differently than we have in the past. So of late, we've automatically, so the finance department will automatically carry forward your prior two years cash capital. This year we're going to be looking to departments to detail out which prior year capital that they would like carry forward. and that way they can go through that exercise yet again so we can identify what older projects are still out there and we can close that out, that will turn back to free cash. So again, this analysis, we did see some departments that had some older cash capital. Was it back to 23, 22, I think we had a department

that add cash capital back to 21. And again, we've been very flexible with allowing departments to carry this forward, but going forward, we would be looking for that justification do you need to use these funds? What are these funds for? And again, when we're dealing with these unused cash capital monies, Again, a reminder that there is an intentional effort going through your cash capital requests. So you're identifying specific needs, specific cash capital items. when you have unspent cash capital monies the intent isn't that oh I have this bucket of money I'll use that for another need so we need to be more intentional because those are presented to you to the boards and you're approving that and that trickles up to the select board when we're preparing the overall cash capital and capital plans so we are going to you know tighten

a little bit the controls around what we're allowing folks to carry forward and how you can use those cash capital funds. Again, if you have prior year capital monies, and you are wanting to use those for a modification outside the original intent. Let's say you have a budget for iPads and you bought less iPads. and you have some leftover monies. You can't use that money to go out and now do some sidewalk improvements because it doesn't align with the original intent. it's just an opportunity to recognize how are we using those funds appropriately. So if you have that situation, We do ask the department head to reach out to finance before you start engaging in any capital projects that otherwise weren't approved.

Thanks, Rachel. I was trying to text Brian to say, how do I get this off? And he's like, yikes. I don't know. So never a good response from the IT director when you get that. These are all things you all know in terms of what are the 28 budget drivers that we see so far. Keep in mind, it's so early in the process that there's so much that can happen but the union negotiations I've said it 10 times I can't say it enough that's always every three years a huge impact because it doesn't just impact you know, FY 27 and 28, it also hits 29. So there's really a three year impact in terms of those appropriations and approvals. And so the select board and all the other board DPW Library, the school, and FMD. We spend tons of time thinking about that and really factoring that in.

and so when those are all voted there is a real recognition of the three-year long-term impact on that. We should expect as a result a tight budget year, particularly towards expenses, because again, we're driving costs towards personal services. So strategic growth is at this point unlikely. We're gonna try and stick to the town-wide capital plan with regards to free cash appropriations to offset the operating budget. We certainly are going to look at capital projects, which we have a bunch coming at both annual town meeting and then the special town meeting in FY28. and then Health Insurance. I am hoping for good news this year. We actually ended up the year in a far better position than we had initially projected and it will be important to see the impact of that GLP-1 coverage.

The other thing I'll just note sort of in forecast of 28 as well is that June 30, 2027, our MOA on health insurance with all the unions will expire. So just as we're likely wrapping up all of the union negotiations for salary, we'll then commence negotiations on health insurance. and in that particular one, it's really the select board and financial staff with the HR department and we negotiate with everyone including the schools. in terms of that given it's a financial cost under the jurisdiction of the select board. So that's also something that will have out year financial impacts, just too early to tell. although arguably we did a two-year extension. The last time we did the two-year extension for the MOA, it went incredibly well. The unions get the pressures that health insurance

creates and, honestly, they generally have some great suggestions on how to maintain the services we're providing them. and come in with great ideas actually. So it's always a very valuable discussion because they recognize the importance unilaterally to the organization. Mark, we're gonna turn it over to Mark on some reflections on ATM. And I'll just change the slides whenever you can.

You can stay right there. Okay, the two minute rule does not apply. It's history. Megan, can we put the STM one on first? Because that sort of bleeds into the ATMs for the future. So with adversity and difficulty, we do some experimentation, and sometimes the experimentation works out better than we might have anticipated. So there were three or four things that occurred last night that I'd like to suggest we give some real thought to making them permanent for the annual town meeting. The first and most prominent was the speaker podiums rather than the standing mics. Number one, by being directed more toward the audience, I think people could hear and understand better, and yet they weren't so distant from the moderator that I couldn't hear what was going on.

Secondly, they could really see the countdown clock by just turning. They didn't need me to remind them, although I had to remind some, obviously. and most important of all what I noticed is that most of the people were had scripts written out. And obviously, that was to try to get whatever they had to say in within two minutes. But I would say 90% of the people at the podium in front of me had it written out. and it's much more convenient to be able to lay it on a table rather than to hold it in your hand and be juggling a microphone and so forth. So I certainly hope that's something that we continue to do in the future. One thing that I would suggest is that the podium that was off to my left seemed to me to be much further away from the presenter's podium than the other.

and we ought to bring that in so it's equidistant to the podium on the right. And some people approached me after the meeting and said this was great having the yes and no microphones. And we should do that all the time. Well, I don't think we should do it all the time. but we can usually tell from advisory committee hearings and select board hearings and and probably most important of all, what I call the online chatter. What the complicated and controversial issues are gonna be. and I would think that that's a good time to have mics designated or podiums designated to position A or position B. because I think that really worked well and it gives a much more balanced presentation to the town meeting members.

The countdown clock, what a wonderful invention. How come we never thought of that before? The one thing that was actually very uncomfortable for me was when people would, particularly there was one person that took about a minute and a half to make his comment and then spent 15 seconds asking three questions. And needless to say, that didn't get off the ground. What I'd like to do is work with, I think it's Brian that was really in charge of that, to see if there was some way to stop the clock during the answer. portion because it becomes like these congressional hearings where the cabinet secretary sometimes takes the five minutes of the senator's time. So if we could do that, I think the countdown clock... would really be beneficial.

And then, this is not on my list, but I really thought of it afterwards, and this may upset some people who have reserved seats, but having all of the town meeting members sitting in the middle section I thought was it brought everybody closer together greater collegiality certainly easier to moderate the meeting when the people are not as scattered. Also, from what I call a moderator's perch, looking over to that side on the left, It seems awfully far away. It's dark. Sometimes I couldn't even see that there was somebody there. So what I would like to suggest, give some thought to, is having

Town Meeting members sitting either in the middle section or in the middle and on the section to my right and having the residents or observers sitting over on the left. That brings everybody in much closer together. So just if people can give some thought to that. So those are some of the things that I would like to see considered more permanently for the annual town meeting. Okay, now if we can go back to the annual. These are some thoughts that I had some back and forth with Marjorie and Tom on this. this is all very tentative and just you know thrown out for for consideration so number one to continue to support the to separate the town and the School Budgets. I think that definitely is something that I would like to see continued from not only as moderator but also as a citizen.

because it enables much better focus on both of the budgets to stand on the town and the school budgets, to stand on their own two feet, so to speak. and to familiarize the town meeting members with those budgets. To me, what was happening with the omnibus budget is the school committee of course is the biggest budget and it also always went last so when we would go through the discussion afterwards what was fresh in everybody's mind was a school committee budget and very little attention was focused on the town budgets and I think this worked well, and I don't think it took any more time than putting it all together. So that's something that I certainly hope would continue. The sense of the room, have more departmental presentations. That's something that I threw out as a possibility. I've had some feedback from people. since then that it may not be a great idea. So let's hold on that.

On restoring the MLP to the enterprise articles, To me, as a rate payer and a customer of the MLP, that's one of the jewels of the town, quite frankly. and you know I think it's important that people know about it and even if they don't make a presentation just having their article in the advisory report makes people aware of it and appreciative of it. And if they just make a presentation once every four years along with the other three enterprise funds, I think that would be helpful. Next. Yeah, the town-wide financial plan, I think there were some potential by-law issues with separating it the way we did. We may have been correct legally,

but we don't have to be so legally technical about things like that. I think people want to hear the financial plan as soon as the business part of the meeting gets underway. so definitely that's something that we should continue with the first night and you know then you know my thought on the first night you know after the opening ceremonies and so forth would be to go with the town-wide financial plan the consent agenda and I think people were more receptive to a more expansive consent agenda this year. It seemed to work well and I think it saved us some time. and then I would go to the supplemental appropriations for the current fiscal year. So to get the current fiscal year behind us in the rear view mirror so that we can focus on the year ahead.

and then go with the town clerk salary, all of the HRB, whether it's the salary schedules or any policies they might have, and then the usuals, the revolving, Stabilization Funds, and so forth. There's a lot of consent agenda items in that first group, so we can get pretty well through a good portion of the Warrant on that first night. And then the second night, start off wherever we finished the night before, start off with the budget. and that way we can be pretty much guaranteed of getting through the whole budget in one night and you know potentially having time to go back to the regular order in the war in the warrant so I think that will sort of expedite things putting the town-wide financial plan and the budgets on the same night there's too much of a risk that that will

run well past the 1030. I think it's helpful if people vote on the budget on the night that they heard the presentation. and I think it's also important that the same town meeting members vote on both aspects of the budget. Okay, grouping the later articles by board or department. We had Dave Cohen run his marathon and that must have been exhausting but I think it really worked well it keeps people you know focused on that particular topic and more importantly it's an accommodation and a consideration of the staff sometimes they have to sit there through two, three nights just to make one presentation. And that's really not fair. So that's something I certainly hope would continue.

no longer ask non-town meeting members to speak. You'll notice, and this came about I think it was with the the article the the Rio issues a couple of years ago when we had large numbers of residents wanting to speak and through that, at least the practice of asking if there are any non-town meeting member residents who want to speak developed. And that always takes 15, 20, 30 seconds. and if somebody wants to speak, they saunter down to the mic and that adds more time. I think a more appropriate way to do that would be at the start of each meeting, just ask if there are any residents here who wish to speak on a particular article, come down to the front, give either me or Casey a piece of paper with your name and the article you want to speak on, and that way we can be

are much more effective and efficient in having non-town meeting members speak. Okay, speaker podiums will remain. Have a runner for those who can't easily come down to the front. to take off from what I said about the special town meeting. I can't remember that anybody has ever raised their hand. I've seen people come down on crutches, on canes to get up front. I know there was some concern by some people that requiring people to come down front to stand in line to speak sort of discouraged some people from participating but quite frankly I'm not seeing that at all. So that would be my suggestion on that. Then the last two are sort of housekeeping.

you know you think by this time it would be easy for me to figure out what two-thirds is but you know it's you don't like to do math in front of a crowd let me put it that way and I've talked to the electronic people and they say they can do that. And in fact, they did it last night. So I think that's something that should be done permanently and then sometimes you get too close to town meeting and you figure everybody knows what move the question and lay on the table means. and you know we certainly had some confusion about that at the annual town meeting so you know I think it's the moderator's responsibility to give a more a complete explanation of exactly what those you know inside baseball terms mean and you know I tried to do that last night and I think people certainly understood it so those are my thoughts and you know if anybody has any reaction to any of those

just give me a call or shoot me an email and before the annual I'll be meeting with the people that are usually involved in the planning and try to make it as effective and efficient as possible. Okay. Yeah.

Do non-town meeting members have a right to speak at town meeting, or is it just a courtesy that you're extending to them as a...

Speaking of the microphone folks, right? by law and by bylaw, by state law and by bylaw at a limited town meeting, a representative town meeting, any resident of the town has the right to speak.

Yeah, I was going to say, any other questions for Mark?

Actually, this is not a question. I realize now that I had missed the cue or missed the opportunity at the beginning talk about in particular the separation of the municipal and school budget from the school committee perspective. So if that's all right, I'd just like to share some thoughts. Actually, our chair, Nikki Offenlock, could not be here tonight, so she had specifically asked me to share some comments. And as a committee, we did have a chance to debrief following ATM, and so I just wanted to share some of the thoughts from that.

Okay, sure.

Okay.

All right, and actually, I definitely wanted to share that from the standpoint of what went well with the budget process. We were definitely very pleased with the communications that I know that our colleagues on the select board always make an effort to have conversations in particular at the leadership level in preparation for the for ATM and we certainly appreciated that the close coordination and conversations especially knowing that we were going to be trying a slightly different form Matt this year and certainly the budget guidelines I think were very clear and you know this this time around school committee or in particular we had Our assistant superintendent of budget and finance had put together the longitudinal analyses and I know a lot of that was

really sparked by questions we got from advisory, from town meeting members, and I think we got very positive feedback, so we're glad that that seemed to be well received. In terms of the, I guess we would call it the divided omnibus, I guess from the school committee perspective, we actually felt that The results were very much the same. We felt that the process that we go through in terms of budgeting for the subsequent fiscal year that all along certainly town meeting members, community members are welcome to attend all of our meetings and have many opportunities to provide their input starting with the presentation in December from the administration when they share their recommended budget with the school committee.

so none of that changed of course and we actually had very few questions along the way so I guess we didn't anticipate a lot of questions really at town meeting and so we felt that again that there really wasn't a lot of change by dividing out the budgets. I guess the way I had looked at it is when you think about sort of risk and the risk and benefit We felt the benefits were similar to the way it has been all along in our process. but it seemed like dividing the budget actually introduced risk this time around. And I think about the write-up and advisory, There seemed to be a lot of attention paid to, well, if one of the budgets does not get approved, what are the contingencies? What are the steps that we would have to take in order to address that?

and so I guess from the standpoint of if there really wasn't a lot of additional benefit to splitting the budgets, then the question is why would we want to introduce the risk of having one of the budgets not be approved. So that's certainly something that I wanted to share. and I think that that's pretty much what I had wanted to point out. All right, thank you.

Kronopal. Get it.

I think this actually goes to both special town meeting and it may go to all town meeting going forward. But I and others thought that the special town meeting advisory report was particularly helpful in that it had all the links in it to various things that had happened in the discussion along. So to get prepared for the meeting, sometimes you get the advisory report and there's stuff written, and you're like, yeah, but I'd like to see the discussion, or I'd like to see the document, or I'd like to see something else. And what you guys put together this time you can just click on it and it would take you right to the questions we sent to the state or to the select boards presentation or whatever. So that was, for those of us who got into it, particularly helpful. So if you can do that again for, you know, I guess, I don't know if you have to do it for absolutely everything, but within the report, if there's something that's coming up that might be considered controversial and we're going to have a pro and a con kind of discussion, to have the actual links was really helpful.

Any other comments? Okay. I think there's been a lot said on the school. Thank you Linda for those comments. Don't know why I'm frozen.

Okay. All right, so just one additional point to the separation of municipal and school budget. It was a lot of work on the schools, I also want to recognize that was a lot of work on everyone else too. DPW spent a significant amount of time parsing through accounts. as did the smaller departments, went through with recreation, the select board, et cetera. So it was a big endeavor. We do have it. sort of once you do things once you sort of have a background to do that in the subsequent years so we certainly will wait for the select boards direction on how to proceed as they contemplate FY28. But at present, we would go under the intention to maintain the separate budgets.

This is a lift that I have been sort of carrying through department head meetings as well as and other known items that would be coming forward. So for personal services, we expect 10 to 12 personnel policies from HR. The HR board has been working really for months and months on these, both internally as well as with a consultant. and there'll be more at annual town meeting as well. They have a long list that they are working through. So there'll be 10 to 12 personnel policies. We will obviously have union contract settlements. And then we will have, working with HR, one modification to class and comp where we really think we need to add a level 16.

We have two or three positions that are being compressed, which are the facilities director, the DPW director, and if we intend to list the chief financial officer, although that is a contract position, the select board actually has the option in the future to not potentially use a contract. We expect some supplementals because we've had some role changes. And so we need to move some funds from the treasurer to the police department. That's covering the police department. It's the police department because we've shifted a parking clerk role. and advisory members here. Think about the whole thing we went through earlier as our bookkeeping exercise for HR and finance. It's basically the same thing, although less complicated, but the same thing. We obviously will have capital projects. The school AC design funds are listed for the fall.

School Facilities Management, I asterisked that because I don't know, I know there's a discussion whether that would be fall or annual, so I'm just asterisked that as a potential. We have the LED light project, the library. That was something we deferred with FMD definitively to come to special town meetings, so we'll be seeking a free cash appropriation for that. The fire station master plan study is just wrapping up that's going to be presented to the select board in June, and so following that presentation, the board will need to discuss whether a feasibility for the fire stations would be at the special town meeting or be held to a later town meeting date. That's why that's asterisked. We also have been in preliminary discussions months ago with Jumbo Capital who would be looking at developing 888 Worcester Street so that would necessitate zoning and development agreement. So Brad and I have been in conversation with them.

We expect them to commence conversations with the planning board and the select board any time now. Well, they're starting to get late. We're waiting on them. So I have that as an asterisk just pending obviously planning board and select board discussions. We actually have a department head meeting this week. So if there's any other items and this list gets updated, we can send that out to everybody. But this right now is what we currently have slated. Keep in mind, union contract settlements take a bit to walk. Thru as well, and the financial implications of each of those. And as just a reminder, town meeting only, I know all of you, most of you know this, but I have to always say it, town meeting is only authorizing the money. and doesn't get into the negotiations. I have hard copies of this because this is going to be really hard to see, but I do have hard copies.

This is no surprise for any of you in terms of the dates. the same weeks with a different number on when we typically do this because our process generally remains the same. I have a couple highlighted dates. just because we're in preliminary discussions the schools obviously have to set up their own timeline and then we insert their dates as part of our broader process but these are certainly the days we're expecting and we'll obviously work with advisory committee once they establish their public hearing date which largely shifts when the 10-wide financial plan is presented to advisory because we must present it prior to their public hearing. So oftentimes it could be the same night, which has happened in the past. So, you know, but generally they fall within the same weeks as they have in past years. And we have a hard copy here for anyone who would like one.

and obviously sometimes they'd shift just based upon like HR board meeting calendar, select board meeting calendar in terms of availability of board members, et cetera. but generally we also like the date of submission for budgets sometimes we'll shift that a day or two to capture some of our other departments who meet monthly just to make sure we have that in there. So that might shift a little bit. And then Colette's going to give the select board updates.

Thank you, Megan. So I'm just going to give a quick update on the Townwide Capital Planning Committee. And for those attending tonight or who are watching who are not familiar with the background, just at a very, very high level. The town's bylaws tasks the select board with coordinating the preparation and maintenance of the town's long-range capital budget program. and the town is facing a growing challenge posed by the number, scale and complexity of the major capital projects proposed by town boards and departments over the next five to ten years. The most recent Talmud Financial Plan shows how proposed capital projects will increase the median tax bill from just over $18,199 a year in FY27. to $24,365 in FY35. So that's an increase of 34% based on capital projects alone.

The proposed projects span a wide range of development stages from early conceptual master plan through feasibility onto the design and construction making it impracticable really to assess the projects in their total impacts on taxpayers and municipal operations independently of one another. So the last time I gave an update at the all board was in October, and I shared at that time what the current capital planning process was and why we were reviewing it. and what the proposed Townwide Capital Planning Committee outline looked like and how the proposal was derived, and then the next steps for the select board in developing that committee. So since I last spoke at the All Board, the Select Board then worked for several months to refine the Townwide Capital Planning Committee framework. And that work included a roadshow in the early months of 2026,

where I shared the proposal with nearly all boards and departments for their feedback before the select board voted the final framework in February 2026. So the Townwide Capital Planning Committee is composed of two select board members, one school committee member, one Board of Public Works member, and a citizen member with staff engagement and support from the Executive Director, the Chief Financial Officer, the Facilities Director, the Department of Public Works Director, a school superintendent or assistant superintendent for finance and operations or both they're all welcome to the party and then we also have the municipal light plant director So the select board is currently interviewing candidates for the citizen member of the committee with the intention to schedule a kickoff or an onboarding meeting in this first year, a little bit off cycle. So we'll do that in June before school breaks. because it's the first year, just to give everyone a chance to get up to speed.

And then the Townwide Capital Planning Committee is really expected to start their work in earnest in the fall of 2026. with their first report and recommendations to the Select Board in the spring of 2027 and annual reports thereafter. The detailed framework, anything you ever wanted to know about the Townwide Capital Planning Committee can be found on the Select Board's policy page. So that's the update on that. Oh, Madison. Just the TV.

just wondering under that timeline in the town-wide financial plan for fiscal year 28 would some of the recommendations begin to be reflected in it would

So what we anticipate is the committee will be giving a recommendation to the select board and we're also looking to produce a tenure capital plan which that would then be formed part of the town-wide and those recommendations, depending on what the select board does with them, would then be in the Timeline Financial Plan. I anticipate there's going to be a report from this committee, whether that's appended to the Townwide Financial Plan or an independent report as part of the reports to town meeting through the advisory book. I'm not quite sure we haven't finessed that quite yet, but there's something along those lines. Yeah. Bylaw.

So one committee by the select board is not enough, so we're starting a general bylaw review committee. I'm sure many of you will remember that Casey has brought to our attention There are conflicts in the bylaws. There's old language in the bylaws. There's sometimes where the bylaws are internally inconsistent. And the select board would like to take a holistic look at the whole general bylaw. so we're starting a committee to do that as well. There'll be two members of the select board, ex officio town moderator, town clerk, executive director or her appointee, and three town meeting members. So if you are a town meeting member or know town meeting members who may be interested, we're taking applications for that and we'd also like to start this in June. and probably have some work to do over the summer before we reconvene in September.

We'll be looking at enforceability, internal consistency, whether things are still current, whether they're enforceable, The committee will be making recommendations to the select board about amendments to bylaws, potential new bylaws, The committee will also review proposed amendments and new bylaws to go to town meeting and will be making recommendations on those as well. So if you're interested, Kenny and I will be working together on this committee. And if you're interested in bylaws, we'd love to have you. So thank you. And next, Citizens Leadership Academy.

Thank you, Marjorie. I'd just like to briefly update you on this fall's inaugural Wellesley Citizens Leadership Academy and why the select board and staff believe it will be a valuable investment for the town. Our government in Wellesley depends on resident participation with elected and appointed boards working closely with professional staff to guide town decision making. That system works best when residents understand how local government operates and how decisions are made. A Citizens Leadership Academy helps build that understanding, strengthens civic engagement, and creates a more informed and productive public dialogue. Many of our peer communities have successfully used this model to educate residents and develop future volunteers, town meeting members, board and committee members and community leaders. These programs are low cost, highly effective, and often lead to long term civic engagement.

our academy starting in September will focus on interactive hands-on sessions led by town staff and department heads giving participants a behind the scenes look at town operations through tours, demonstrations, and practical on the job examples. This fall's cohort will serve as the pilot year with the goal of making this program an annual offering and with the goal of also expanding departmental participation over time. The current draft work plan includes eight evening sessions from mid-September through mid-November covering major town functions including finance, public safety, housing, sustainability, public works, natural resources, Initially, we had intended to start this program this spring in March, but when we turned over the, when we publicized the application and started receiving applications, we only got responses from four residents.

and we had decided as a board and select board staff that we would not start a class with any fewer than 15 residents. So the board agreed with the recommendation to postpone the inaugural class until the fall and that actually worked. as of this morning we have 20 applicants for this fall so we are going to be moving forward. So we're very excited to start this work. The program will be free and open to adult residents over the age of 18 and those who work in Wellesley, with participation capped at 25 participants to keep sessions interactive and manageable. Town staff will collect feedback throughout the process to refine and strengthen future programs. So to close, this is low cost, high impact, and it's an opportunity to strengthen transparency, civic knowledge, and community leadership in Wellesley. I want to thank department heads and staff, boards and committee members and chairs who have already helped me set up the work plan.

Some false starts but we're moving forward and I thank you for your continued partnership and we look forward to starting this fall. Thank you.

Beth, would you like to talk about this weekend?

Lest you think we're all work and no play, I wanted to remind everyone it's Wellesley Wonderful Weekend this weekend and there are an abundance of opportunities to preview all of the departments. You can start with I think the most popular one, Touch a Truck, the DPW Park and Tree Highway. We have more vehicles that children are climbing through and honking and there is sensory hour though, right Dave? So go late, it'll be quiet. And pretty much as you work your way down Washington Street, every town building has some event going on. So please come. The parade is on Sunday. If you have not signed up, to march as a board or a committee. It's not too late. So let us know, bring a float, do whatever you'd like. And on May 30th, which is the original Memorial Day, also known as Decoration Day.

It's a Saturday night, so if anyone's looking for something to do around 7, 7.30, we're doing the Memorial Day celebration out in front of Town Hall. So thank you.

So we've taken a little break from lunch and learn, but we're very interested in knowing if there are topics or issues that board members are interested in hearing from town council a little bit more about or discussing with one another. So I'm not going to ask you to give us all your ideas now, but if you have thoughts, please let Megan know so we can let town council know and we can start those up again in the fall.

Thanks, Marjorie. The other thing on Lunch and Learn, if there were budget tips and tricks or things like that that you would also be interested, we could work with our staff to also host one unrelated to Town Council or think of anything. If you want to know more about water or sewer, we can make that happen. or public safety, whatever it may be. So when you're thinking about lunch and learn, I'm just saying you don't have to limit it to town council because we have a lot of experts in various fields that we could certainly pull together a session on. So these are just reminders on dates. I know we've shared these before. The special town meeting is going to be scheduled November 9th, 10th, and potentially the 16th. at the high school, and then annual town meeting will be the 29th, March 29th and 30th, April 5, 6, 12, 13. We're hoping it's We don't need that many nights next year. Also at the high school. So just dates to be aware of. Yep, sorry.

Just to add on to the thanks that started at the beginning of the meeting, just because we're talking about this, I want to thank all the staff and James Joyce at Wellesley Media for all the help setting up a very quick special town meeting, and I want to thank all the tech Custodial, FMD staff, all the administrative staff at Wellesley Public Schools and Wellesley High School for giving us the space, again, very last minute, and for giving us a home for town meeting. So thank you.

Well, on that too, it went really well last night too. And so we appreciate, there was a lot of effort between the school administration and staff and our tech teams and staff. and Public Safety, it went really well. So we're always striving to improve. I think that's it. I think that's it. I just want to make sure. Yep, that's it. So we're happy to answer any questions. I'll send the slides out because you couldn't read the middle. Brian DuPont has informed me that's the Zoom computer, so I can't fix that. But is there any other comments or questions from folks? I know we wore you out last night and so this was our ploy to have two nights in a row so that you don't have questions. All right, great, thank you so much, and we appreciate everyone coming out. Oh, yeah. Oh, you, yep.

It's all right, we got it.

We'll put it in.

Yep.

Thank you. There's hard copies of the dates up here.