001Welcome to the town of Bolton board selectment budget workshop number three, Thursday, January 29th, 2026 at 6 o'clock uh town hall and via Zoom. Uh, first up on the docket is the town clerk. Welcome, Elizabeth. How are you? >> Good. How are you? >> Very good. Uh, so I see you're going up payroll is the typical 3%. >> Yes. >> And the Can you turn her up a little bit? >> You do what? Up, please. Yeah. Is there volume never had that problem before? >> Can you talk louder, Liz? >> Sure. I'm I'm talking through my earbuds, so >> Oh, yeah. Just talk a little louder. We'll be >> okay. Can you hear me better? >> Yes. Thank you. >> And the other contracts >> is 11% increase. Yeah, I have two of them that
002I have the uh our dog program and also our cot program which is the uh uh our land records indexing our fee station and there's also other costs that are in there. There's the microfilming of the images. Um there's also the e-verification that's uh part of our land audit that we uh land record audit that we have to get done every year by the state statute. And I think what else is part of that? Um >> a quick question. How much microfilming do we still do? Um, well, I got an estimate from um, K and it's about 3,300 images and right now they're going to charge us about 97 or 98 well 97 12 cents. I don't know how they come up with that, but let's just make it 98 cents an image um, to
003microfilm. And then that once those images are all microf filmed then they go um onto the rolls and then they go to Atkins and they get stored there in Iron Mountain. So those are our backups should we have some kind of catastrophic something or another happen. Um we have those kind of backups on film. If something happens to our vault and you know the record gets destroyed we have a backup. So it's a pretty >> be stored electronically or >> they look into electronic storage. >> Well, they I mean they are stored electronic. >> It is electronic. Yeah. >> And and and but you have to understand that the state librarian requires certain >> Yeah. >> parameters for electronic storage and the micro filming does meet those parameters. >> Yeah. >> And she's shaking her
004head. Yes. >> It's not it's not the old style stuff, you know. it's um they're more updated. Um but nonetheless, we're required to do that. And again, like I said, if some sort of catastrophic event happened, um you know, to the vault or the town hall or to the records that were inside of that, um then we have a backup for all of that because the per the records that are in my vault are permanent. We're required. >> What's the difference between a microfilm and like a PDF for a non-computer person? I'm sorry. >> What's the difference? These are documents that Right. Correct. that we need to keep. >> These are all the land record documents that are being microfilmed. We have other records though, vital records as well that are being um but that's
005not part of that this contract that we're discussing. >> And the microfilm is it film or or is it a micro is it a digital image? >> It's a digital image. >> So it's stored when it goes to Iron Mountain in a hard drive. It's not going to be on a hard drive, I want to say. Um, they probably put it to some sort of a disc. >> Okay. I just can't help but wonder if if there's a way to do it in aggregate that would be a whole systems change for you, but ultimately, you know, 50 terabytes is cheaper than the Iron Mountain storage, I would imagine. And, you know, well, I I call it Iron Mountain. Um, well, because well, actually it is because um and I saw the facility. It's out in
006uh it's in Bristol. Um a lot of the towns are, you know, uh Atkins will store all their microfilm up there. >> They have a secure vault. Um >> universities use it as well. It's like a standard for >> Yeah. And like like Jim was saying, the um state library who really is um who we answer to for all of this, they're the ones that are approving where we can store this, how we can store it, in what formats we can store it. It's all up to them. It's not really up to us. >> They make the directive and we have to follow it. >> Is there any other questions for Liz? Yeah. Uh, Gwen, >> hi. I'm I I don't Well, I'm not very good at raising my raising the little yellow hand. I'll
007try though. I'll try to get better at that. >> I could see you. >> Um, so I have one question for Liz, then I have a more of a general question. Um, Liz, I remember a few years ago listening in on the conversation when the board of selectmen that when I was not on it adopted the property check system and I know that that is to alert people if some kind of a fraudulent act has happened on their deed like you know you've heard in different parts of the state and the country that >> people will just come in and and pretend that they are a legitimate buyer and they buy somebody's property out from under them. So, I'm I'm curious as to if you know how many notifications have been sent out to land
008owners. >> Um I don't know that number off a offh hand. Um I do know that it works very quickly. We had somebody um that called the office just the other day and he said that he had gotten a notification that something was on the land record, you know, because he had registered. Um that's part of what you have to do. And it was funny because um a release had just come through on his uh prior mortgage. They had just paid it off. So this isn't just for fraud. It's just for anything that hits the land record that you know hits the parameters of your name of however you put it into the system for them to notify you. And it was funny because he called and said, "Oh, I I just got some sort
009of a notification. Can you tell me what went on the land record?" And I said, "Oh, yeah. we just recorded your release for your mortgage. >> Okay. >> So, it happened within like seconds. The minute that document got processed through and we, you know, took the money in, um, which finalizes that transaction, that that text or email or whatever, however he decided to get it, just went boom and it went out. >> So, um, >> those are the kind of things that people are going to see. As far as like any any kind of fraud in in this state, it's very hard to do that. um they'd manage down, you know, in the southern part of the state to get that done, but um that happens more on like a county recording level. >> So,
010the reason I asked is because I'm I'm wondering whether the cost to continue to pay for that service is justifiable. What's your opinion on that? >> I think it is because people are concerned. We have people calling all the time. How do I know if something's happening on my records? I said, well, you can sign up for the property check and do that. uh you can come down in the office if you want to, you know, periodically and look. I think they like the ease of just signing up for something and having it go out. And like I said, I know it works because we had it, you know, this one person call and it had just been put through. So, it's quick. >> Okay. Okay. Good. Thank you. That's >> justifies it for sure.
011>> That's good to know. >> Okay. And my my more general question is probably directed at Jim. And so I'm as we were going through the budget process, many of these uh budget requests contain a salary increase request. And it would be good helpful to me as a reminder and probably helpful to the rest of the board to know uh which salaries are have already been negotiated through the union negotiated process and which salaries are not because there because then we can understand you know if we see if we see a bump up okay well that's you know that's already taken care of that's not even up for discussion because we've negotiated it. So, I was I was wondering if Jim could list and you don't have to use names of employees, but if you
012could tell me the titles of of um the employees who fall under the supervisor, the non-supervisor category and then the whatever whatever other the other category. >> So, are you asking for that now or for at a later date? Oh, well, I think now because as we go through these budget reviews, if there if then we it's just easy to we'll just say, "Oh, that's not that's not negotiable. That's not negotiable." Or that one is that one is negotiable. And then it and it also leads into the question of if it's a department head, have we taken a look at the department head reviews to understand whether the increase that's requested is justifiable based on your review of the department head? So, it's it's really all all of that is tied in to the budget
013process. >> So, so so and and and the the town the town clerk's office does have at least one individual that is not covered under a union contract. But typically what department heads are doing is if if they are a department head and they are not under a union then they are putting in whatever percentage increase is in the in the supervisor's contract for an increase for themselves. So all three of our union contracts which cover the majority of our employees are in force through through at least next year. Um, and all of them have wage increases tied to them for at least next year, if not for the next two years beyond that. Um, there are very few staff that are not covered by a a union contract. Th those would be the individuals
014in the selectman's office. It would be the recreation director. Um, our we have one full-time assistant building official. The part-time building officials are not covered by a union contract. Um, >> elections are not covered by a union contract. >> Um, there there are there are very I I think that covers most of that. >> Okay. And could you tell me who the or what employee titles are of the department heads? So, you've got the the the department heads that are not covered by a contract. >> No, that all all of them. >> I I'll do my best to not forget anybody. You know, I I hate being put on the spot like this because I don't want to offend anybody by forgetting them. So, you've got the the recreation department. Your rec director is considered
015to be a department head. Your fire marshal is considered to be a department head who is he is not under a union contract. Um your building official is a department head. He is under a union contract. The town clerk is a department head. She is not under a union contract. The tax collector is a department head and not under a union contract. The assessor is a department head and not under a union contract. The librarian is a department head and is covered under a union contract. The senior and social services director is a department head and is covered by a union contract. The finance director is a department head and not covered by a union contract. Um, the highway foreman is considered a supervisor and is under the supervisor's contract. The buildings and grounds supervisor
016is considered a supervisor and is under the supervisor's contract. Gary, can you help me? Is there anybody I forgot that you can think of? >> Yeah, there's five. >> Oh, sorry. And the the regist the registars of voters we consider them to be department heads and we they are not covered by a union contract. And the fire chief we consider a department head is not under a union contract. >> Fire marshall's not any of the above right. >> It's a one it's it's a one and a half person department. So he technically is a supervisor. You know, we typically invite him to our supervisor meetings >> because he is a department head of that department. >> She's a sub. >> We generally invite her to supervisor's meetings, but she is not a department. >> Okay.
017So, um thank you. You did a good job there, Jim, remembering. >> I I try I tried. So, so I um I based on my notes is maybe one, two, three, four, five or six people who are whose salaries are not covered under contracts. So when >> it's probably closer to 10, but yes. >> Yeah. Because you've got you've got two part- timerrs and a full-timer in the building in the land use office that are not under a union contract. You've got myself and the other two individuals in the um selectman's office that are not under a a union contract. You've got two registars of voters that are not under a contract. You've got the finance director, um the town clerk, the assessor, and the tax collector. >> Okay. I guess I was I was
018looking for asking about department heads that who are not under contracts because they are the people. >> Yeah, that's pro that's probably accurate. >> Okay. So So because those are the people whose requests we have some discretion with and >> that's that's accurate. >> So that that's okay. So I'm focusing in there's maybe five or six. I'm not sure I kept exact notes. So, um, what I think that we've got to do as part of this budget process, this is the time to do it, is we've got to take a look at those reviews of those department heads, um, to to tie our um any increase that we may um decide on that we tie the tie that to the reviews. I I agree and that and that is, you know, so all of the
019I think I've shared with you all of the reviews are I've already written them. I've been meeting with department heads. Unfortunately, I've had a couple of um priorities that were unanticipated with like the parks and recck grant and the grant for the playground that I'm working on. So, there are things that have kind of jumped in front of that process. Uh, so I I've met with about a third of the department heads already uh to do their reviews and I uh am I'm almost done with the parks and recck grant. You guys will be taking an hopefully taking an action next Tuesday that will allow me to finally submit that and I will be working on very hard on the uh the grant for the um playground which is due by February 19th. So, I
020I am very hopeful that within the next two and a half weeks, those department heads that I supervise will all have met with me and I will have that report generated. >> Okay, great. Because I really don't think we should take an action on a requested increase until we see those reviews. >> So, that that's that's fair. >> Okay, good. Thank you. Uh that's um that's those are all my questions for now. Thank you. >> All right. Anybody else? Welcome, Bob. How are you? Uh, all right. I guess that clears the way. >> Thank you, Liz. Thank you, Liz, for that. >> I'll sign off if nobody has anything else for me. >> Anybody? Uh, Senior Social Services and Public Health. Thanks for that book. So Gary Terry's here to represent our >> Yes. >>
021Senior and social services. Thank you for coming. >> So I I did come in with um as low of a budget as possible. um which it's not really changing any current levels of of staffing or services. Um my concern is whether this will really be sustainable over the long term. um without cutting any services eventually because the majority of the budget really is staffing followed by probably what's our our most expensive program of course is our robust transportation. So those are our biggest expenses. Um the changes to the staffing uh the payroll is um it to answer Gwen's question it's putting in the contractual increase and longevity for myself which is under the supervisor's union. Um all of my staff are non-union they are part-time. Um so it was entered with the assumption that it
022would be the same amount as the nons supervisors union. So that was basically a placeholder based on the other um contest to calculate the amount for transportation which of course is always variable because we never know exactly um to film usage but we have historical data. So, a lot of these numbers were based on historical utilization. Um, and I was able to lower in some areas. Um, you know, we really do have a lot of help from the Senior Inc. nonprofit group for that really offsets the supply item quite a bit. That does make a tremendous difference. Um, you know, I I spoke with my staff about what we do well, what we're struggling with. Um we really have had a strong level of participation. Um a lot of consistency across most programs. Uh we've
023been attracting new participants drawing from the local area um as a whole. We're going into our TF program now. You know, things like that that are are very well attended. We're offering more um tax appointments than ever this year. Things like that. Um we've done a lot with the holiday program. a lot of the social services this fall was very busy. There were a lot of changes to Medicare. Um for the first time ever, we had the the new name for Operation Fuel is generation power CT. I was able to do that inhouse this year for the first time. That was great. Um we've done a lot of great programs. I know um in his presentation, Bill spoke about the Knox program, which we're very proud of. Our fire prevention posters this year were fantastic.
024Um, you know, so I I think there's a lot to be very proud of that we're able to offer at very low or no costs that are very community oriented. Um, what we're really struggling with is we really do need more van drivers. We really don't have a good backup in place. Um, getting CDL drivers is very difficult. Um, as you know, this year we were really inundated with our food pantry. That was really a strain on staffing and storage. um storage issues and space issues we run into with our programs. You know, we'd like to offer more programs and sometimes that's a little bit of a barrier. Um we didn't get to do as much outside this year of course with all the construction. Hopefully this year we'll be able to incorporate that more.
025Um, so I think looking looking forward, you know, I go, how do we continue to offer that level of staffing some and services with that level of staffing because sometimes it can be hard to cover, you know, when there's a lot of things going on at once, making sure we have at least one staff member in the building at all times, that kind of thing. So, so what I brought to you today is not lowering anything. Um we did consider other revenue sources and one we thought was to charge a little bit more at the lunchons again to offset the cost of food being what it is. Um otherwise it was pretty minor changes. Um the same professional development. Um we know our repair costs and inspection costs and things like that for the vehicles
026are are what they are. We we have no way to get around that. Um so it was really trying to keep things at a pretty basic level. Uh, if you were to find another driver, would that increase your um your payroll or is that kind of covered? >> It possibly could. I mean, we always base it on a a projected number of hours per week. >> Yes. So, yeah, >> we are sometimes having to deny rides if we don't have a driver available. Sometimes we have multiple drivers at the same time. Right. >> Um the biggest concern especially with uh right now we have one CDL driver and one who isn't >> oh >> is any of the trips >> if we don't have a backup if if we don't have that driver available that
027day we we may be in a bit of a pickle. So that's a real big concern to have that or having to you know schedule the you know like for example we have some programs already planned for the summer. we have to account our rotation schedule, things like that already months in advance because we're committing to to different programs. So that those are very popular programs. So it's really hard not having that backup or if someone's needing a medical transport at the same time, you know, really trying to juggle that. We do cover pretty expansive area because of the location of all the the medical facilities around here to make it it's a little bit of logistical nightmare for sure. Do you have to resort to uh outsourcing the bus trip to another bus company?
028>> We had to do that uh once um because uh there was a medical reason that day. >> Um which is we had looked into that last year to see is this you know any cheaper of a prospect and and it isn't. It's more way more expensive. >> Um they were very M andJ Bus helped us out that day. They were fantastic but yeah >> it's definitely not cheaper. >> Okay. So it it's much better to have our own both for cost and flexibility etc. >> So all these programs you have none of them you don't charge for any of them unless it's for the the Christmas brunch or something those but generally speaking it's all covered here. Correct. >> Most of the programs are covered if we charge anything. It's generally how much um
029whoever the particular person is charging us. >> Right. Entrance fees. >> Right. Exactly. Um you know like if it's trips etc is all we get a group rate that's we're charging exactly what the price is >> and and that those funds don't are not reflected in here anywhere right they go to >> they go to the miscellaneous revenue >> they go to the okay so so do you know what that would be for a number is it a th000 5,000 10,000 >> there is a line item in there for basically if if we charge like a van fee something that kind I think that goes into the general funds. Um I believe has it listed as senior donations and it's it's generally I think listed at about a thousand for the year. >> Okay. >>
030Give or take. Our only other revenue is the DT grant which has been a stable amounts per year >> in the tune of 11,000. >> Yeah. >> 10,800 in here. Okay. >> Which is currently fading with twice a year increments. We just got the second. >> Yeah. installments. >> Any other questions? I didn't mean to be asking questions, but uh Bob when >> uh car just curious, do you have any sense of how we compare to Sithther Towns >> for total budget >> for Yeah. for >> uh total budget for the senior and social services? Yeah, >> I'm not sure about total budget. Um, that's a really good question. >> I don't can I can't think of another town that has senior and social services combined and is about the same size, >> right? It's
031pretty rare to have it combined. >> So, they would have two different budgets. >> Correct. >> Well, we can always add those together if we can find them. Thank you. >> A quick question I did have looking at your for your payroll unodudited actual expenditures compared to this year's request. Um, I guess my question too with that almost $20,000 lesser amount, was there like a significant amount of un, you know, I assume that that delta besides your increase would be van drivers. Was is that safe? >> There's a program coordinator and an administrative assistant. >> Were they unhired during that time or was that that $20,000 is all of your increases combined? my I don't know why it would be 20,000. I mean that's >> it's 19 >> right adding the the >> 5,000 value
032change >> I feel like maybe in the back of did we have discussions about rates for drivers and part-time employees last year >> last year it was increased um I think you know my staff in general is lower than other similar clerical positions in town they they are on the low end for sure um that was an increase last year I I to in response to your question there there was a period of time last year where we did have significantly lower use of van drivers because of at the time we had some medical issues with the van drivers we had at that time and also there were some vehicle repairs that fortunately at one point last year both the 10 and 20 passenger vans had significant vehicle repairs so we did have a period
033of time where we weren't able to cover our normal transportation. Um, that wouldn't be the full 20,000 of our We were fully staffed the entire year otherwise. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Hi. Yes, this is the recording clerk. I was wondering um for point of clarity if um Terry could spell her first and last name, please. >> Terry. C A R R I E. C O N C A T E L L I. >> Thank you. >> So Carrie has the two budgets, right? That >> the public health. >> So the next one is the public health. I don't know if you guys saw that one yet. >> Look at it. Yes. Thank you. >> You haven't gotten an email from Rob about changes for next year yet, right? >> No,
034we have not been told. They're they are anticipate they are anticipating an increase which is not reflected in this budget because we don't do not have the numbers from the Eastern Iowa's health district as of yet. >> Yeah. Is there what is in this other contract? >> So this this is this is the the value for Eastern Highlands Health District which is a which is a health district that we belong to that provides uh our health services through through them and that includes our sanitarian, the health director, which is required by statute. Um, and they provide they work with Carrie to provide uh vaccination clinics. They've also done vaccination clinics at the library and some other popup events in town. Thank you. We are one of, I think, six towns or seven towns that belong
035to that district. So, does this number represent the aggregation of all of those services or is this just a flat fee? >> This it's it's a per the fee is per capita. >> Okay, got it. So, it's annual D >> and and based on the the budget discussions I've been a part of at the Eastern Highlands Health District. There is an anticipated increase, but I don't think it's been adopted yet. You >> guys remember the years when there wasn't increases every year that they were afraid to increase? Well, >> remember that >> minimum wage is helping out on these increases, too. You know, if you were making >> anyways, we'll get into that. >> So, I I mean, I I would say that, you know, this this provides a critical service and we could not
036do it cheaper inhouse than we're doing it >> as a member of the health district. >> No doubt. >> So, it's like $60 a person then. Is that kind of the ballpark per capita fee for it? >> No, it's not that high cuz it it's it's every person in town, which is around 5,000. It's we're just shy shy of >> $6 per person. $6 a person. >> Yeah, that that sounds much closer. >> Yeah. Concerned I was going to round to zero depending on the finance committee. >> Any other any other questions to Carrie on the health? All right. Thank you very much. Thank you, Carrie. Thank you, Carrie. And now we're into the finance committee. >> Excuse me. This is Ross Lally's chair of board of chair finance committ speaking. Question. We're going to
037do the auditing budget too because I didn't see that called out specifically but it is we do hire the auditor. I don't know if we included that in this. >> I don't think we included in the back. I don't think we included the that in the package. Ross, sorry. We tried to get you all done in one night. I apologize. >> So, this is a special meeting then. So, we can't cover that. >> That's correct. Clarify it. >> It is a special meeting. Yes. >> Okay. >> So, we move on. Do we start a timer? >> Uh, we'll move on to elections. No, >> no, it's committee. >> We just can't do the auditing. >> Oh, okay. >> Yeah, that's I just was asking for clarification on it. >> So, let's go on to the
038finance budget. >> Yeah, it's small. >> Oh, sorry. I think you're talking about finance. >> Anyway, two members of the finance committee sitting up here on stage as well, so you guys can help keep me honest with this. Everything is staying the same as last year except for advertising. So you'll notice that we just move money back and forth between payroll and official/admin services. They both go to pretty much go to pay for our board clerk and it's just a matter of is the board clerk possibly going to be on staff or is the board clerk going to be somebody who's a contractor. So we just split the money between the two, you know, the two different line items. But it's the same amount as we asked for, you know, previously. The advertising budget, we
039did ask for an increase of $800. And the reason for that is we have heard very loudly and clearly from the public that we need to do a better job of, you know, communicating what the finance committee is doing, what our how our budget is developed, how we present it. And so that's what we put the monies in there for is for that purpose, the additional funding. >> Then what does the $1,800 buy? >> It buys, we have not figured it out yet. We just put that in as a placeholder to go through and see what we are going to do. A >> lot of room to figure out how to how to use it and make it make communication. The reason for doing it is simply because we could talk about it at our
040meetings, figuring it out by the end of this fiscal year, and if it needs to be cut, we can do so before the end of the school year, you know, the request, you know, for next year. So, it's better to put in a placeholder and whittle it down. If we don't need it than it is to come back and say, "Oops, you know, we asked didn't ask for something we needed." So, that's purely it. We talked about a bunch of numbers and you know Rodney and uh David keep me honest with that. >> That was basically the thought that went in. >> Any other questions for Ross on the finance committee budget? >> Bob, you're good. Thank you. >> Yep. >> One's good. Okay. So, let's move on to the elections. >> And did Miss
041Pira join? I do not see her. I do not see her. >> She and I discussed a bunch of it, but I think she thought that we were up for discussion next week, but we did actually talk about it yesterday and we're good as far as what we have presented. So, I can go over that. And the majority of our increase comes from the fact that the CEO of police is election year and we're anticipating putting deal in like six referenda based on last year. We typically would put in four referenda as our budget reflects. They run us, you know, between5 and $6,000 each. This year, we're going to be short and we're, you know, with the because we budgeted for four, we had two. We got $6,000 in from the state, but that's not
042guaranteed that we'll get it next year. That was money for early elect early voting. And so that offset one of the referenda that we had in 2025, but we can't really guarantee we're going to have that funding again from the state. They don't seem very interested in paying for early voting on an indefinite basis. >> So question you said you budgeted for six referenda. The note on one of these pages. They're not sequentially numbered so it's hard to tell but uh it's no four you have you referendum but three are for 26 27 and three are for 2728. My question is why are we budgeting for 2728 already >> because the fiscal year covers both election years. >> See because you're going to do three >> not till July doesn't start till July. >> Fiscal
043year starts in July. There's a possibility we might continue with a referendum for this budget in July. Okay. >> And then you go over into next year and we start talking about the following year's budget and those first rep set of referenda are in next year's. >> So then could we get could we get a table that lists out hey if we are able to get the referendum done and we don't need those three for the 26 27 year. >> Okay. It's in not it's not in the um small document that summary document that just lists what the boss argu submits separately of Excel spreadsheet that documents every face. >> Some of these got scanned off a little bit. >> Yeah, some of these are cut off. So, I'm not sure that we're going to
044have all of that information. >> Well, I can certainly give it to you again. I can send it in and that's they don't chop it off. But I did include everything, you know, in a document. >> Okay. send you the PDF obviously which you can look printed as a PDF >> was probably helpful because then you can't screw up >> I have a whole spreadsheet if you want to play make sure my numbers are good I didn't send it but I did submit it all specifically >> so basically >> you guys can you know if you want to take a chance with it that's up to you again it comes down to each one of them runs about5 to $6,000 so there's six of them that's about 30 to 60 no 30 to 36, you
045know, $6,000. And if you want to cut out a couple and is your prerogative, but then the money's got to come from someplace if we have them. Well, I don't necessarily want to cut it out. I want to be able to say like, hey, if we go into the first budget cycles and we only need x amount, and then we need to change where the budget is. Hey, okay, all of a sudden now for for registered voters, we need this amount, which means we need to move money from elsewhere. That way we can kind of plan for um what amount we actually need for the register our voters knowing okay if it pass on the first try this year then >> they're all itemized they're all itemized in that other document that I provided I
046have basically I have one thing that spells out the election cycle for the whole year and the total cost of each election payroll buying the ballots feeding the pole workers all of that stuff it's itemized >> perfect so you can just go across the bottom of it. Here's the first referendum that costs all this much. >> I saw the the second part of that. So, it says four, five, and six, but we don't have the front of it. >> Send the full spreadsheet to Kathy and ask that she send it to the board of selectment intact. >> I would PDF it in whatever way that you want to see the tables just because that'll help printing out. >> Yeah, >> appreciate it. >> Yeah. No, I will do that because I know these questions come
047up and it's hard to think about how do you do your, you know, your trading, you know, risk risk analysis and tradeoffs without that. So that's why it's provided. Sorry you guys didn't get >> you threw us our maximum >> the budget number that we put in is the maximum, >> right? >> The maximum assumes six refer six referend during reports of the next fiscal year. Three at the beginning of it for >> Yep. for this year >> three for the next year. >> And then the other thing it includes is this is a state election year and that means there's a potential for primaries. So the primaries would be in August and the Dems and the Republicans both currently look like they're going to have in primaries and if they do that's the potential
048for four different ballots because you might have two different you'll have Democrat primary Democratic primary in district one and Democratic primary in district two. There you go. Like $6,000 to $8,000 for those. They're a little more expensive than the general than the referenda. And then you wind up with if the Republicans do the same thing, then you wind up with you've got the possibility of you're effectively for the primary running four different elections simultaneously. Two Republican and Democratic primaries in district one. And the same thing going on in district two. So they have to be each staffed separately and so it's expensive doing that and then because of that you also wind up with the risk of recounts and with as many prime as many referendum we do there's a possibility of doing recounts for
049those. >> You carry almost $13,000 for a recount. Is that one recount? >> There's recounts are expensive. Yes. We're assuming that it happens with a primary and that can be more expensive. >> Same thing with the audit. Yep. We're assuming you may have more than one race to audit because of the primaries, >> right? >> Normally, we just put in uh we put in for one a like last year we put in for one audit, >> right? >> And one recount. >> Yep. >> Can't recanvases the state calls it. And um we didn't need either of them, but those monies then go towards the extra referenda that we had. But the more elections you have, like the more the more referendum and the more like general elections too, the more likely we're going to get
050have to do a recount if they're close. And then again, it's the same thing is it's they can get expensive and I don't know if you want to go scrambling looking for that, you know, that chunk of change at the last minute and transplanting where you transfer it from. So it's like it's you know your your your call on it. But I >> my call is let's have a do a budget every two years instead of one. >> Yeah. But uh you know it's the same thing in the fall. We'll have two districts instead of one. >> Yeah. Last year we were able to because the the actual ballot was the same in both districts to just do it in one place. You cut the staffing in half. We won't have that option >> this
051fall. We'll have to do one over at Bolton Center school, the other one over at the high school. >> So that doubles, you know, it doubles the cost. Plus you then have the early voting. >> Is it necessary that two districts like we couldn't handle it all in one spot? >> It's just war. It doesn't make sense. I asked that question to the secretary of state's lawyers. They said, >> you know, yes, you have to. And then somebody else challenged me and the secretary of state got up and said, "Time out, guys. It's the law. You don't argue. You talk to your legislators about it and get it changed." But it's just it's just the state. >> Well, it's just the way it's been forever or it's a per capita thing or >> No, it's
052in statute that if the ballots are different in each district, you have to do them in different locations within the district. if there was a place within that district to hold the election. >> That's when they decided to redistrict us. >> We were two years ago. >> Yeah. We were two districts in the past before I became registered. Then it went to one and now it's back to two. >> Wow. And before that it was at one when I was >> thinking it was not three. >> Yeah. When I first started it was one. >> Well, theoretically, if you had a gymnasium that you could split in half, could that be considered two polling places? >> You could consider it two polling places, but you would still, if you didn't have another, so let's say
053that for whatever reason we couldn't use Bolt the Senior High School and we had to do it in Bolton Center School. I'd have to get approval from the secretary of state explaining the emergency for that and why you wouldn't be using St. Morris and because that's over in district two and then because let's say it's a primary I'd still have to fit four elections into there because you'd have to do the one, you know, two for district one, two for district two. And if it's a general election, we'd still need to split it up and you'd still have to double staff. And the reason I and you and I have had this discussion, >> I don't mind talking about it again, >> but but I'm asking it publicly so that people anybody who's interested may
054>> No, that's a good thing to listen. >> No, it's it's a lot of this stuff people wonder why do we sometimes do it over here, sometimes over there, and it's really because we're trying to be effective with the monies we have and when we can combine it into one place, we will because it cuts the cost down. And for the primaries, we do not duplicate everybody because we can have um we can have um one assistant registar for the Democrats and one for the Republicans. So we don't have to double up on those and have four. We can just keep the two that we usually would do. And you can have technically you can have one moderator to keep an eye on both of them in one place. So there is some savings. Not
055everything is stubble, but for all practical purposes, it is. >> Food for thought. It seems to me there's four science rooms in the high school. They each have an entrance door from the hallway and an exit door out to the courtyard. Could each of those be served as a different polling location? if you could prove that you did not have any place in the other district that was available and met the requirements and we have a whole grid that I can go through with you if you would like that shows the criteria for accessibility and security that we have to meet >> and Jim's another thing Jim and I >> yeah and he's and he shared that document with me and with the board in the past >> I can just I can also dig
056it out send it over again if you guys are interested but there's a whole riz the 10 different criteria regarding security, accessibility, was it air conditioned, all that stuff was part of why we had to change location last year the last referendum because it just was too darn hot over at St. Morris and there was nothing we could do and it was 90 degrees and more in there all day. >> Are there any buildings that are on the line between the two districts that half of the buildings in district one, half of the buildings in district two? >> The gazebo. >> Yeah. No, the the only the buildings that we have over there, Heric Park can do in a pinch. It's not ideal from an accessibility perspective. And then St. Morris is good except for
057the AC if you have to continue the referenda in the summer. So that leaves the schools and they only can be used when they we arrange with them in advance when the you know like election day, >> right? so that they have a teachers workshop or something on that day and then there's no students coming in and out. So there's no security issues and then there's also no dealing with the buses going in and out. And the other little quirk you have to deal with is if you have a primary for a general election, you have to have the primary in the same location by statute as the general election. So, that's going to be part of what I'm doing this summer for when we we're going to come back to you folks again for
058approval of where our voting locations will be and you know where and when. And I'm getting all the approvals in the background right now. I already got St. Norris lined up and I'm working on the schools next. But uh we if we let's say the general election is going to be in Bolton Center school and Bolton High School in the fall then I have to make sure that when we do the primaries in August they're in the same locations center school and Bolton High School. >> So yeah and I'm just thinking out loud maybe this isn't the time to have that conversation but there's no air conditioning in BCS gymnasium. You know, it's been hot in there, too. Sometimes when we've used it, it's not been that hot because typically >> they don't have the
059glass that >> they don't have the glass. It's not that bad. They got the high ceiling so a lot of the heat goes up and you can put the big fans in because we've done some of the >> But it works. >> We've done the referendum there. We can make that work. But also, I don't think we've gone to August in there when I've been >> Well, that's my concern for you. >> Yeah. So, what I'm I'll just tell you guys now. We'll come back with the whole schedule. What we're looking to do is start at Bolton, start at St. Morris, try to get in for a referenda between May and J, the end of June. Hopefully that does it. And if not, a high school the common rule like we, you know, did for
060the general election last fall, the municipal election last fall. So, is there any any thoughts, any questions, any discussion? >> Yes, sir. >> Um, early voting just happens for every every election now in perpetuity. >> It's in perpetuity by statute. For the primary, we have to have four days of it. Actually, I'm sorry. Let's see. Let me just be sure. >> So, we have no savings. >> No, hold on. Let me just go work before I go into There's a big increase when they >> presidential preference primary with more J is letting go of an election expenses but the early voting is all done well weird hours but the staffing for it is not same as a voting >> right I don't believe >> yes early voting for the primary is 7 days with 6
0618hour days and one 12-hour days and then we have we allow two hours typically for setup and take down. We have to get in beforehand, get things set up, and then take it all down at the end of the day, reconcile records. And for the um >> grand and there's only four staff member on that. >> Yeah. >> Right now, depends on how many people come in. I I went and put in here municipal primary, but it's actually should be the state primary in the general election, >> right? >> I didn't change it. I should have, but it doesn't change the number of hours and days. So for Yes. So it's seven days early voting for the primaries for the state and then you'll have 14 uh days of early voting for the general election,
062the state election and for you know snow in November. >> Yeah. And >> those are the same thing. They're um 12 8 hour days and then there's two 12-hour days. And again it's the same thing with two hours set up and taped out. Sandy and I went through and we spread all the hours out that we put in between office hours and this is turning into like two days a week basically. >> And the other thing too is this is the first time we actually have four people in the office. We've never we've always had some money to give back in the past because we haven't done an audit. We haven't done a recount and we've budgeted for four people, but we've only had two pretty much like Bernice and me, you know, while Sandy
063was out, then it was Sandy and me. While Bernice was out, >> right? >> And now at least we have Susan Pike. They're I brought in as an assistant registar to see if she likes it. Bernice is basically not working, >> right? >> And then Sandy has Mary Cheron. >> Yeah. for the Democratic um deputy registar. So we finally got four people in there. >> At the end at the end of last budget season we started having some conversations uh between the board of selectmen and the registars of voters about reducing hours. Is that >> that would be something I would present when Sandy and I come with the with the proposed, you know, schedule of elections >> that for the referendum this by state statute and town ordinance, the selectment, excuse me, are empowered
064to reduce the voting hours for referenda. And and if if the board of selectmen chooses to do that with with the recommendation of the registars of voters is that impact shown in this budget. So it's not so that making that >> making that decision could reduce this budget some >> yeah it would just reduce it for the referendum or cut it down. >> Well it's four hours. It would be 12 to 8 instead of six. >> Yeah. Still you come in earlier again an hour before and an hour after. So, it's basically six hours instead of 12, but then there's some fixed costs like the ballots don't change and the poll work. >> I think it was 30% of the votes came in within those hours that we're talking about reducing. But the early voting
065is still there, right? >> Yeah. It's the only thing it would do would save you on the referenda. So, let's say between let's say 30, you take a third, you'd save 10 to 15,000 possibly on the year. That's my old just calculating it roughly. Now, if we want to reduce the schedule, >> I think what would be ideal here is if they're they're coming through the schedule anyway, um having updated information on that, but that doesn't necessarily need to be available for the first referendum. That would be something that we could use as like a way to reduce or a way to, you know, really look at how we're going to be economical about um >> So, you're saying use the regular schedule for the first month? use this for the first one and then
066reduce it for the second. >> That way they're not in a rush to get the information to us. We can use that information for a future one. >> Thank you, sir. >> Yeah, I got to talk to Sandy about it. I'll take this info back. Sandy and I can sit down. I'll send you the first thing I do is I'll send you this spreadsheet that I'm looking at here. >> Thank you, Sam. >> So, you can see what I gave you for starters. And the other thing I will do is talk to Sandy about it and say here's the potential that we could figure out if you come in with we come up with the reduced hours for the referendum. >> And I do we do want to sit down with a selectman sometime in
067February so we can get the schedule all ironed out. post it so people know where things are going to happen and when put it up you know I think put out in the B bullet and I want to put it up on the registar site and just get the message out so we don't have the confusion that we did last year particularly with the referenda happy to change at the last minute I just want to have it as a you know as a plan we all you know agreed to >> well said for the poll sergeant >> for the municipal as well I had heard frustration from a good number of people that they didn't know where they were voting and they were surprised to be at the Yeah. And that's and again that's something
068we need to figure out basically some more about the publicity where we're going to put up signs and so forth and just get that all squared away in advance as to who is doing. >> That's what that $1,800 is for. >> No, there's a thousand for advertising in this budget. >> Is that what it was? >> Yeah. No, no, it's so different budget. That that is part of what the $1,800 for the finance was meant to be for as part of that like um put out >> there's a little cross. We do have a little bit of advertising monies in the budget for here as well. >> Was it was any expended last year? >> Some of it goes towards the you know posting official notices and stuff that we have to do. So you
069have So another crazy thing the state does is you have to post it in the newspaper that's generally read in the area. There are no newspapers anymore. So we put it in the Harford current because the J is sure JI is no longer there. >> So >> it's just a lot of stuff that you just do because the state says to >> the uh so the town clerk Liz carried legal notices. Hers are different than yours. >> Well, she she usually does the legal notice for the referendum, >> right? So those are in here already. years of for the actual elections. >> Yes. And we have sometimes, this is again some quirks of the law, sometimes you can do stuff that covers both of us and sometimes we have to do it each separately even
070though it's the same election. >> So she has to put it out and you have to put it out >> sometimes. Yeah. >> Not always. >> Yeah. >> And it has to go out there on the on the board. >> Yep. We should keep track when that happens so that we can show how much the budget actually gets used for >> Yeah. multiple Right. That's not where our savings are. >> No, no, it does come it does come up. You can look at the, you know, the actual budget sheets that that Jill puts together because each one of these line items equates to a, you know, line item that we take money out of. >> So, typically, I'm pretty sure we don't use the full $1,000, you know, that I think we have in there.
071>> So, our our option tonight did you have any questions, uh, Gwen or Bob? >> No. our our option tonight is to to say let's take a gamble and chop some out and >> there's only four reparations. >> Yeah. I mean, you're going to be having budget deliberations and and I think, you know, you're going to want to see all of this in a master. >> I'd like to have the whole >> that Jill puts together so you can see where you stand before you start >> Yeah. >> making decisions. And I think, you know, um, and and and we can make changes, you know, if if the if the elections budget comes back to us and the RO has a great conversation with the board of selectmen and they agree to make some changes
072to the hours. Reality is we can make changes to this budget right up probably through the first week of March. >> And it's the way I have the spreadsheet up, it's easy enough to do because it's all broken out by, you know, expense category. So, it's very it's very easy to do. One other thing we did put in was for a 3% increase. I don't know if you noticed that. >> Yeah, it's clearly ad here. >> Yeah. I just wanted to make sure that we put that in there because I think in the future you guys are going to have trouble finding people to do a part-time job that has this responsibility for pay that's less than a janitor gets. >> You won't be around forever. >> No. >> Either doing this job or live.
073I don't know which will come first. It just depends how threatful it gets. But we'll >> I wasn't trying to be morbid here with us. >> Well, I am 72, so we shall see. >> You don't look at the 50. >> How old do I look? >> I'm just going to figure out this figure out what you want at the next meeting, but whatever. No, seriously. Anyway, if you guys have any questions, you know, let us know. And so I'll get you that spreadsheet and then I will also get together with Sandy. We'll ask for some time with you folks to talk through the some more detail around the scheduling and stuff and then that can also inform, you know, what cuts if anything we can make before we get to the first presentation of
074the budget to the public. >> Thank you, Ross. So, with that being said, nobody has any questions or comments. >> Back again to talk about the uh auditor's budget. >> I'm I'm sorry. I I really tried to get you all done in one night and I apologize. >> Well, that'll be a very >> It should be. Yeah. >> And we'll put And we'll put you on first. >> Well, yeah. Okay. >> That was a promise. >> Is it really a discussion about it or does it just fall into another fee? like it's just another >> there to answer any question. >> It kind of is what it is and there's not much you can do about it. But >> yeah, I'm just saying maybe when he brings his schedule and so forth, we can formally
075do it then, but just >> Yeah, we could we could we could do it when you come to have the discussion. Um >> yeah, as long as you just put it on the agenda. >> We'll just put it on the agenda. >> Be a special meeting or something like that. Well, we don't have many special meetings, but you know, I know that you reached out to Kathy today, so we'll we'll figure out with you guys what works for you based on a date that the board of selector are meeting and we'll get you on the agenda. >> Yep. I don't think it'll be again, it's just like as long as we all agree one way or the other, that's more important, >> right? Yep. >> You know, because I just keep better that way. >>
076I agree. >> Cry. >> What? Oh, thank you. Fin. I did that. >> Is there a finance meeting? >> Are we going to adjourn? >> All right. >> I don't think we need to. Right. >> This isn't an adjournal meeting. Yeah. Yeah. But it says, "Thank you all for coming." >> So, just just for the record, >> Tim left 655. >> Tim left at 6:55 and it is 702. >> Thank you everybody. Okay.