001e e e okay good evening everyone it's Tuesday March 4th it's 5:46 in the evening this is a special meeting uh of the Western Connecticut Board of Education to talk about the uh capital budget we have a quorum uh the first item on the agenda is a pledge of allegiance a pledge of allegiance toag United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible of Liberty and Justice um so the the next Lisa has lost her voice so I'll carry it on as long as I can then Phil and Mike can weigh in so we propos this this has to do with the capital budget that we agreed to uh as a board and presented to the uh to the board of Selectmen um Phil Lisa and I
002had a meeting uh with them now it's like three weeks ago two weeks ago whenever it was um and uh they were uncomfortable with uh with what we proposed was which was $33 million and asked us uh if you could come back with a reduction um and Phil in conjunction uh with Mike uh our new director of and and our new director of uh uh Safety and Security and others uh came up with a reduction uh that brought the number from $3.3 million to $1.7 million and you can see uh where the uh where the reductions are but I needed I need to point out that yes we reduced it from 3.3 million to 1.7 for the upcoming fiscal year but if you look at the you know currently proposed budget for fiscal year 27
00328 and 29 um and we've just moved things a year out um so uh you know the the key drivers of the reduction was a uh $230,000 reduction in security initiatives initiatives Phil which uh you need to address um the HVAC system um the funding for that uh is going to be split um over two years and and and Mike can address that um after uh going out for uh the cost of the new radio upgrade that was actually increased by $50,000 um and then there were you know then there were the the biggest thing was in addition to these uh was the high high school uh locker room uh heating replacement that actually uh had a conversation around it um we took it out uh and uh Kareem actually was thinking about putting it
004back in um because he uh thought that we should he looked at the numbers and he said we should actually smooth the budget um meaning you know keep it at a a level but a consistent level regardless of what the level was um uh but at the end of the day uh the other Selectmen didn't agree with that I think that's fair way to look at it Phil and so uh with that I don't know if he want to ask questions or uh where everybody wants to go with it so this budget the budget of 1.7 a million 710 is is the bud the capital budget approved by the Selectmen um and uh that's the budget that the board of Finance Tomorrow there's a board of Finance meeting at six o'clock uh to review our
005budget that's the number that they're looking at jump in with a point of view on I don't have an immediate question but I do have a point of view about it if others have questions feel free to cut me off I I'm inclined to almost Lodge a protest vote on this a little bit I'll tell you why it's more about the procedure really than it is about what the final number is if the administration comes back and says we can do these things then okay but I really do ask this sort of existential question of like what the heck did we do just spending our last six weeks coming up with a budget that went through multiple rounds in fact that we pushed on the administration quite hard to find different numbers we heard from
006parents about the drama program etc etc went on and on and on and then what we get back is like well this slightly arbitrary feeling of HVAC and security measures and I don't really feel as though the the number that the board of finance and board of Selectmen are trying to achieve doesn't make much sense to me just seems slight ly arbitrary and I really don't see the wisdom of kicking the can down the road given the pattern of investment we've been in for quite a while so I've seen and not that I don't share some of the same priorities regarding safety but if you look at the last two years of sitting here and listening to parents talk to us about safety uh the way in which both David but certainly Michael have tried
007to make that a a significant issue it seems like we've made some good progress with that the whole thing seems to me a little bit hamfisted that then the board of finance and board of selectman says make these changes what the heck was the point of our entire budget process if that's what we come to and so my thought is why not just say no let's revert back to the budget we originally submitted so not to throw out completely inflammatory beginning to the meeting but that's my thoughts okay why don't we take other people's comments and then we see how we address them y Lisa or Michael or or uh Sharon yeah what was their thinking on C I mean we cut the budget and I'm I'm sure that we cut the operating budget oh
008yeah but what was their thinking about um cutting those particular items especially security and we've heard parents talk about it they they didn't reduce them we reduce them they wanted a reduction in the overall budget capital capital budget not the operating budget they're fine with the operating budget they wanted a reduction in the overall capital budget uh because they think it's the gross number is more than the town can bear in the upcoming fiscal year yeah and as it relates to security one of the reasons why we originally recommended um eliminating that 3,000 placeholder was that one we have two items address in security really we have the Rader project and we also have the PA system um at three schools and in addition to that we believe that in terms of all the funding
009that we currently have that we have adequate funding in place once um director um Willy has an opportunity to truly evaluate he's in the process of doing a forensic audit audit as he said of our entire system and then making the recation that he deems it necessary so so I I think in the near term we we do have funds available out that can cover um any any any new purchases um I think this year we knew that we had to address the quick alert buttons and um we had the non-aps and account that was established one of the purpose of that non-aps and account was to to address items WR into security and also all the deficit items within the budget so based in where we are currently and how current trends are we
010do believe that we will continue to have funds available in that nlap account and also maybe from maybe a few extra dollars left over from all Appropriations that were made for security and we did caveat the reduction by saying that uh Jim is doing a a a forensic audit and he may come back and say no I need X Y and Z like he came back and said I need 50 $50,000 more to get the radio uh project done and that they should if in fact that's the case they should expect that we're going to come back and ask for supplemental appropriation and so that's on the table was that was not left unset correct and to the I guess to the credit of the board of Selectmen they did add back $1,000 into into
011our request because our initial proposal was to take the line out to make it zero they added $100,000 so um I'll jump Lisa do you have any any more comments okay um I guess a general just observation and then a couple more specific questions the general observation is look we all knew the capital budget this year was higher than it has been in the past um I guess when you look forward there were a number of items here that were moved right um so the security initiatives were reduced by 230 but there were a number of items the furniture purchase the LED retrofit the locker room replacement the the cafeteria table portion the field site work a lot of these were move those items were moved it looks like to 2027 but the 2027 budget
012capital budget as it stands currently is even more than our prior one and so and then you look further and even if you took out the high school d-wing renovation which is in here for you know 4.4 million even if you took that out that's elevated and then the next year is elevated and so I think that these are things that are going to get either we're going to continuously Kick the Can with these things or we're going to have to cut them yep and that's going to be sort of you know the ultimate realization here is that these things aren't getting moved they're getting cut and if they are getting moved then they're crowding out other Investments I guess going forward so um I guess to Mike delmastro just a quick question for you
013maybe not quick but um looking at all those things that I just I just reference that are being moved to 2027 um what are the implications of moving those about a year and or multiple years or cutting them entirely so it makes your job obviously difficult and I understand there's a there's a balance here right between we all want to be fiscally prudent but I think that some of the delays and decisions that we've made or that made in the past sort of now this is all encroaching upon us pretty quickly so um I would love to hear from you sort of the impact your outlook what are things here that let's say in the future let's say for next year that we absolutely have to get done um knowing that a lot of these
014things may just get caught entirely yeah it's it's difficult um came up with a plan um what it's going to do is it's going to increase some man hours um for maintenance it's like the the systems that we have here 18 systems 1960s so nothing is nothing is new requires a lot more maintenance I I can't speak of anything that's going to that I would say tomorrow is going to cat trafficly fail um including the the locker room uh unit although it does show signs of issues and repeat um calls to it but it it's hard to project what could fail in a year what could fail in two years um yeah it's just it's just a difficult call and unfortunately where we are now this is just a small unit for the locker room
015I'm just going to give you an example what we have coming up the High School units the Intermediate School units are all you know they're all hidden that 20 year mark you get about 20 30 years out of a unit so 5 years down the line just the cafeteria unit alone at the high school if we replace that tomorrow it's a half a million dollars and that's one unit of the 181 19 units that we have in just those those two buildings so to keep pushing things down is going to get difficult it's going to get more costly um but yeah that's where we're at and that's a good point too because I think pushing these things forward I don't think you just carry over the 50,000 the 75,000 the 190 now those things are
016higher by I don't know 10 15 20% whatever whatever it is pluss I'm sorry Plus Ts yeah potentially they're talking tariffs could next in the future could be 25 30% on units um it's going to increase uh labor rates it's going to increase um lead time for material to be coming in so it's we're up against some some difficult times coming ahead so so we start the year let's say next year let's assume the budget gets approved for what it is now the 1.7 which which to be fair too look is is elevated right from you know historically um I think we start next year really having to take a look at this cap budget and having to actually Redline items here because they're just going to get kicked down the road in in perpetuity
017and we're going to have to make some decisions I guess um two other questions I had just really quickly to finish up the security initiatives I think I know the answer you guys have alluded to this on the security initiatives you guys have been in consultation with Jim on this correct so so there is as Steve said there is an opportunity if Jim comes back and says hey it's actually not you know I I I previously said I thought we could get by with 100 but we actually need 150 so there there could be there could be room here for special appropriation I think if I heard Steve correctly is that right so we did mention to the board of selectman that if there's a need we'll we'll seek a special appropriation based on how
018things are trending currently for this fiscal year we believe that we will have it's possible that there may may be some funds available in that number laps in account um and if that Trend continues that those funds will be available to cover those those expenditures okay great um so that's TBD um the the final Point here I guess is on this this North house HVAC replacement which it looks like so we originally said okay look my my inquiry at the beginning of this of course was whether or not we could just cut this in half and do it over two years and I think it was impressed upon me and the rest of the board I think there was a view that hey look um the most efficient way of doing this and avoiding any
019delay would be just just to prove it all up front um Peter I know I know you I know you had your view on that and I'm not going to dispute it altogether I I I thought it was I thought we're trying to balance out here sort of the spend and personally I thought it was unrealistic I know you thought it was maybe more pragmatic okay it does look like so two questions on this number one it looks like we reduce that amount Now by a couple hundred, in total over the two years and so why do we reduce it and then secondly are is there a concern as as there was expressed at the beginning which look I voted for because it needs to get done even though I didn't agree necessarily with the
020with the allocation um is there any uh um concern here that that does end up now if we split into two as was as was told to me during the discussion that there's going to be some sort of delay there in getting that that project done so two questions why reduced any concern that delay I I'll start with with reduce um we did propose to split the project over two years at ag75 there was some discussion um amongst the members of the board of Selectmen um reference was made to the col report um that the colle report has a total alln um project cost of $1.3 million I I keep repeating that the college report is not a new study what the college report is is escalated cost from a study that was done by
021in 2017 which was a one for one replacement our we're thinking behind this is that we were no longer going to do a one for one replacement because a lot of the technology in the building including the unit vendors are rated and we wanted to change it wherever possible um not to have that and Mike always tells me that a new technology is going to where there's a heat pump embedded in the unit so that was overthinking and because that was overthinking and mik mik did did a math based on what current prices are we came up with a 1.7 number so we we SP we split that we split amount into over two years um and then brought a finance relying on the all those cost estimates and that coler's escalated report reduced the
022project by $400,000 are planed to reduce it by 400,000 200 in fiscal year 26 with an additional 200 in fiscal year 207 so that's on the the cost side yeah then um it would be really a nice project to be able to do in a year but after speaking with um Mechanical Contractors there's no way in nine weeks that they would be able to get 24 rooms a uh 24 classrooms uh gymnasium unit and a makeup year unit done in that SP that bit of time so it would have to be split up into two years anyhow whether it been first floor second floor um and possibly splitting up the makeup a unit in the basement which say hallways com areas and the uh unit for the gym so over a couple years isn't really
023the worst thing in the world um because they can't physic they don't have the manpower to dump all their mechanics into our project to do the whole the whole Bell and whistle job and and and to Peter's point where we had another discussion that where it's going to be difficult to have a contractor to sign off on a project without fully funded so by splitting the project over two years if we're looking at a true start date the true start date is not going to be it's not going to be until 3 years because if we have half the money right now the first half of the money may get us will get us definitely get us the um the design the design component will be done in the first half of the Year what's
024going to be missing is a purchase price a vendor is not necessarily going to just accept a purchase order just for a partial purchase price when the overall project or the scope that we will provide them is going to be significantly higher than that so then we have to wait for the second run of funding the second run of funding does not fully get approved until May of 26 in May of 26 we cannot start the project in summer so what that means is that we can award that project in this in May or so of fiscal 20 by that time 207 27 so we're securing our place in line so to speak so the so there can be maybe some shop work but ultimately we're not we're not having a contractor here until the
025summer of 208 right and in addition to that when you look at the scope of what we're proposing so in in summer of 28 we awarded we have the first nail in in in on the ground right so we we start a project then if they're able to finish this project that's going to again get swing to the following year so that's becomes a 4-year project because based on the timeline right based on what we're thinking we're looking that this project will take us about 4 months if the project takes us 4 months we do not have Swing Swing space for the students at hbut so we're doing a lot here by making all these shifts and a lot of the shifts that that we're making is really to to be mindful of the town
026and the overall costs or true cost of all capital projects the capital projects coming in um combin between town and board of for Education this year I think the initial request was somewhere to the T of $6 million so if you even if you look at the escalated um coler's report right whether those numbers are soft or not those are projects that we have to get done right over a 10e span and over a 10e span pure average it's $5 million per year and if we're thinking that and we smooth that out over five years it's $5 million now each time we decide that our capital budget is too high we pause and we say let's rethink let's defer something else and we defer and defer so I just wanted to kind of just really
027paint the full picture of the impact of the decision that we made we did right to to be in line with the board the board of board of Selectmen and their budget as to truly what the timeline will be for the north house project so it's it's effectively delaying the project by a year when when all is said and done having the full funding in year one at by Year yes because this correct because the second run of funding does not happen in order for us to start the project let's say in May June of fiscal get my years right 26 we would need to award a contract to a vendor by January right in January we don't have approval for a budget so then we have to wait okay so as it stands now
028in order for us to be able to get the project done uh in 2027 we have to have the full amount approved now not the not the capital budget that's in front of us as it stands we would have to add the additional amount in by waiting and approving the final amount next year it delays the project another year right so we're talking 2028 at that stage and even then uh would we then you said it's a four-month project obviously we you know the minimal disruption to students four months isn't to work so with that then it's half of it done in 2028 the other half done in 2029 correct so this is a long way off it it it is a a long way off but so this is one of the reasons why
029to Peter's point it was important to have that funding in place upfront in year one so although we may not have or we did not have at that time a solid plan with all the engineering and with all the specs laid out but we knew based on the time and what we were trying to accomplish having all the funds funded in year one was the way to go now granted we understood that it's was going to cost us it it was an expensive project and it was a lot to ask the taxpayers and everyone right everyone in town to fund this project right now knowing that we did not necessarily have all the specs and everything else that we needed to have in place at this time when we discuss our budget so a lot
030of times when we may propose items and not is and not have everything in in place place we time it out in such a way where that by the time we do get to when we would award everything would be in order so that's one of the reasons why we kind of front loaded right let's call it front loaded in year one with all of these things in consideration right but but I'll just I'll just say Phil on that um look I agree I want to get these things done as quickly as possible Right look it has to get done I mean I I guess my my retort to this whole thing was just that you know we're we're trying to you know the the decision is not made in a vacuum right and so
031the 1.7 alone was more that was a greater amount in the capital budget than let's say the previous let's say average just by itself and so it just didn't seem feasible to me I look I I want it done next year right that's why I voted for it but it just it it felt it felt like it felt like that was that was setting us up to fail in terms of look I guess we threw a hail Mary right and no one caught it right because at the end of the day we would have liked them to approve it I think we probably knew that they probably wouldn't approve it but I guess look you know if you if you don't try you don't necessarily you know you know get get what you you don't
032you don't get what you don't ask for so there's one thing I want to um say the numbers are from 2017 right so this has been discussed since [Music] 2017 um that you know that's part of our frustration you're talking about eight years it's been discussed that we knew we had a problem here I I I agree with you Lisa and it's not the only thing right because there there are look at this list there are a whole bunch of things that I think that we all want to get done as soon as possible and we've all been probably looking at this I don't know I've only been here for a year year and a half but I'm sure we've been looking at this for a number of years and so you know we have
033to make decisions on this stuff I I just want to make sure we're going about this we're considering the feasibility of this sort of as we move forward even though I understand your point there is there's action that needs to happen here sooner than later I mean if you look if you look at this I mean this is the history of Weston in General and is that we keep pushing things further and further out and I'm not at all as an individual I'm not at all apologetic for saying I mean if you look at this list these aren't you know these aren't nice to have these are we have to have it or we should have had it in 2017 and this board has just said okay you know this is it you know enough
034pushing it further and further away um I mean I Steve I I agree with you I think then really if you looked P if you look back over the last couple of years the capital budget was um artifici artificially low right right it shouldn't have been about 1 million it should have been about 1.5 let's say but it's always been artificially low unfortunately I'm sorry it's been always been artificially low right and now we're having them play catchup right and make tough decision and it's because it's the really the only budget that you can play around with right because everybody else be it the our operating budget or even the town's operating budget is basically all Personnel so that's a harder decision to make right I'm going to what do I want to do do
035I want to fire somebody or not buy a car well I I mean I mean part of my comments just during the operating budget 2 was not that I you know again you know my kids go here right not that I want to cut things but I also want it's it's sort of like you know the national debate of like you know entitlements right at at some point someone has to make a tough decision and we're trying to make smaller Cuts sooner to avoid making larger Cuts later and having an impact and I know you you made disagree but that's the reality of it I don't disagree no I I know no Peter was shaking his head but I just maybe he feels differently I just that's just the reality of it I'm I'm trying
036to avoid a more cataclysmic sort of impact let's say in the in the classroom by making you know smaller Cuts today than waiting I agree and and you know what Mike you mentioned that um other the other systems 19 units that we have and they're all headed towards if not already at their end of life useful life um we shouldn't you know there should be no surprises in these budgets we know when the hvacs were installed we know when various systems need to be updated or renewed and so you know as uh I mean I've been a board member now I guess this is my fourth budget or fifth budget I'm I'm a rookie compared to you uh Phil but um you know we can't artificially lower this capital budget in my opinion anymore and
037in doing so we're just we're kicking the can down the road and we're hurting ourselves further you know either we're going to maintain these buildings um or we're not and that's not an option we we don't have that option right so I appreciate that the board of Selectmen said you know you need to decrease your capital budget I certainly appreciate that I tend to lean more towards what Kareem said which is rather than having a dip down which is still higher than last year actually what is our what was our um capital budget for last year Phil I tried to look it up while I was here I don't know I think it was just over a million last year1 thank you okay so I mean to go to 17 this year is still an
038a tremendous increase but the reality is it needs to be three right and if you're looking at you know the projected you know to Michael's Point 3 million 7 million three almost 4 million like we're we're not doing anybody any favors by lowering this budget unless the unforeseen from our side is that the board of Selectmen again right pocket left pocket all the same tax dollars if the board of Selectmen has an unusually high request for capital budget this year which it sounds as if they may and that's why they're asking us to lower our capital budget if that's the case I would love to know I mean I've been a little busy haven't had a chance to watch the uh selectman meeting um so if if this is something that I'm not aware of
039share you know let me know um but otherwise I'm somewhat inclined to say perhaps not back up to 36 but you know maybe we need to push it up higher than 17 add some of these things back in try to get a year back rather than three or four years down the line having the um HVAC system replaced and repair at hurlbut make it 2 to three I you know these are these are our Learners these are our youngest kids we need them to make sure that you know their air quality is what it should be that the that they have air conditioning on a 90° day and they can actually focus on their learning as opposed to you know that what sounds outside the windows because all the windows are wide open so I
040personally lean towards saying unless there's a reason from the board of Selectmen as to why we as a board of education should C cut our capital budget I tend to lean towards saying no let's well just just just know the process the board of Selectmen they their vote is great but it's the board of finance that actually count Selectmen have no right that's why I'm saying no have no power here right that's why I'm saying I appreciate their feedback I really do but unless there's a compelling reason as to why we should bite the bullet this year and kick the Kick the Can further down the road and cause all these delays in these systems that we need to address responsibly I'm not inclined to to lower our budget so that we end up having
041a just a huge blip next year we're you know back at it again next year and just also the board of Finance can reduce our capital budget line by line they can't do that in the operating budget and so can the atvm so yeah you know this is going to be it an iterative process of whether we defending whether we pass this budget or not that's still a case yeah yeah no that's the process I mean I I fully expect at the atbm to have people come in especially if we come in at a $3 million capital budget I fully expect to have a group of parents or and and residents in the atbm saying this line on and by this line on and you know what if that's the case if they choose to
042take things away from us at that stage shame on them shame on them but as a as a board member I think we have a responsibility to maintain these facilities and if we allow the pressure of um of outside forces to Sher our responsibilities shame on us so that's how I feel about it that's just my two cents can I just talk real quick just about procedure or process because I think it was the big thing so Board of Education submits the budget to the board of Selectmen Board of selectman reviews makes their recommendation then the board of Selectmen votes on what budget that they want to convey to the board of Finance so at this stage the conversations that we need to have right based on all these conversation will be with the board
043of Selectmen I'm sorry the board of Finance because that's the next step within our budget process um so it's just the board of f Board of Selectmen they voted to I don't honestly think the word was recommend but they voted to convey um our operated budget as well as our capital budget so any arguments that we would need to make will need to be made to the board of Finance right yeah yeah right I think we could defend it personally uh can you indulge me for a couple minutes no it's it's dinner time but I I need a few minutes because the this is an excellent discussion no trigonometry can you I I I don't have trigonometry you're in music you're but I do have I do have algebra so you got I do have
044one little math question so I think this is a watershed budget for two reasons um and uh actually three reasons the first is as Chad says it reveals the the conundrum and the conundrum is the expertise in this room gets we have to defer and relinquish our control over the the health and well-being and educational outcomes of students and staff to the political vagaries of the Town atbm Board of Finance Board of selectman and I honestly I think these gentlemen and in this superintendent have much more experience than the vagaries of the town to figure out what's best for our for buildings our Administrative Building and all the people involved which is about 2 200 people a day on the campus so we've exposed the vagaries but we know the process we have to work
045through that so why is it a watershed budget and I'll give you two examples and you have to live with me for a minute of History before I to get to this point three years ago we were talking about Esser funding right and during that discussion Mr Pesco was the chair David and he's missing his chance for me to get complimented because he's not here tonight raised two great questions he was like can we get something lasting in our investment and if not if we don't get something lasting what could be the outcome of the focus of that investment and are we tied to that inv investment what he was referring to is if we hire a social emotional learner or math interventionalist are we going to have that expense moving forward it was two
046good questions and I thought about what he was asking from the first point what's lasting so Tony and I had a sidebar and I said what's really lasting what Esser allowed us to invest in was HVAC equipment and we opted not to do that right and you you know hindsight's 2020 but we had a moment in time and David stumbled upon it and Tony and I agreed he goes that's going to be the rub that's going to be the ultimate big expense for our town is investing in that and every year we delay the investment's going to get uglier and uglier and more expensive and that's when Tony turned me and said Pete you're the engineer it's your gig right and you've heard me talk for three years about it right so there's a history
047there uh and we've delayed and delayed and delayed so that's why this is a watershed event CU two things emerge Ed and one number one is and it's so interesting that Michael asked some insightful questions because I remember when he stood up here as a parent and said I don't get the security right do we have a plan how do we make investments do we assess this and we live with that for 16 months for better worse right and we've answered all those questions right so what's happened here in this budget HVAC the safety of our children particularly herbut has actually supplanted the security of the envelope of the building in the largest expense and probably the largest discussion this town will have moving forward because of the monetary amount but also the implications for
048the health of the kids so one may Envision his analog right getting up in a few months and saying hi I have a second grader they came home with with a cough a sneeze a rash they're not safe in this wing of hurl butt what are you doing about it right and it's the same discussion but we had answers for the Mr guidos out there right we had the layered approach the chief said here it is Department of homeless security FBI we have an approach we assess right and then we have a new director of security that wrote the assessment right and guess what now we actually now have the same ability and we have to go through the same process with as big a monetary or bigger monetary Stakes so let me talk about
049that then I'll talk about my last point with respect to like the game plan we actually have this right remember I said I'll go to my workshop well I I I know we have a a layered approach we have the game plan public for when you come to public speaking and your son or daughter got sick in second grade there is a game plan that we have to M right step by step layer by layer in all schools particularly in hbut where we have a northwing problem and guess what the state asked us to do assessment so we do assessing because what does the state require of US state law requires school districts to conduct an annual inspection evaluation of indoor air quality in each School building and one can boil that down to isolating
050a wing of a school board a school building right so Mike and I have talked about about this like how do we know what's going on in that Wing right so we we owe the public that explanation we have to do that assessment it's so interesting that we have to do that assessment because it's sort of like the structural engineer assessing in middle school we don't know exactly what we're we're working with but the discussion that you just had is exactly a preview of what we'll have to talk with at the public the first time a kid gets sick knowing that we're delaying and delaying fixing HVAC system that puts that kid at risk so it's really Watershed what's happened here HVAC has supplanted security as maybe the issue that the parents latch on to
051right we already saw it at the speakout parents stood stood up and said I want to know about HVAC I mean protecting my child against an intruder is important but how about pathogens and ozone and dust what are you doing about that the second Watershed part of this budget and actually Michael talked about it is and here's the math question look at the bottom line numbers right the sequence of numbers are 2 48 what are the two next numbers in that sequence that's a math question $16 and $32 million it's exponential growth so Karen wants a smooth curve curve he got a smooth parabolic curve he doesn't get a linear curve parabolic curve it's all about parabolic curves right and it's that's the deal so it's not red lining it's in my assessment the town
052of Weston better figure out how to pay a $50 million bill in the next five years because that's where the curve's taken us because it's mandatory right this isn't like a wish list we're we're going to be $50 million in the in the hole unless we find the money as in bondit in a referendum to pay for that $50 million cuz that's what 2 plus 4 plus 8 plus 16 plus 32 it's actually 6 million up the number's higher the number's higher right so that's why this is a watershed budget because it it reveals two things we've still we've we've now identified probably the key risk factor for our kids education HVAC and we better raise $60 million right quick so yeah it's a it's a haircut in what happened this past weekend St bdri
053right I went to the middle school today to pick up Jazelle and all her friends their heads right for bod right we got a haircut and it's just a matter of Sharon says do we do we live with the haircut or do we go no it's unacceptable but that's what the board of selectman and board of Finance did to us they St BS us and the board of Finance hasn't done anything yet well okay don't same PA expit I support bod but I I think we need the money all right thank you for indulging me with that history and on a positive note over $50,000 was raised that's a huge number when you think about it for this town so where do we want to go with this it it sounds like we want to
054add back the full funding for HVAC well I think we should revert to the budget we submitted I think it's a sound budget I also think the other point about it is trying to point out that essentially the kicking the can on the road doesn't work and in fact it makes the situation worse each year and if we don't to develop an appetite to actually deal with what needs to be dealt with we're shooting ourselves in the foot each year I do think it's important yeah go ahead Steve well we've given them a road map for cuts because this is a public document so we've given them I have no problem just going back with the original number I I think we should go back the original number but we've given them you know a
055bit a bit of a road map um not much of one right I if you add back the full amount it's still you know big number the biggest reduction would be CLE 230 $230,000 in in security initiatives and the cost of uh the locker room replacement but it's actually less than the 230 for security because if you consider the radios are also a part of the security investment too that's it's more of 180 for security and and not for nothing of course look security we all know that that's a priority but especially with Jim in place doing the assessment you know for him to have an an additional $100,000 to add to whatever he needs to this next year I think is sufficient if we need to come back and ask for more that's fine
056so I don't 180 taken out of that you know we can make some we can chip away at things but the reality is I I don't feel comfortable um taking out the HVAC I really don't I a year is a long time you know and as it is it's already a long time coming for these kids uh I I would like to see the full HVAC added in and I think that there are other areas in here too I I you know if you guys want to go back with the full budget I'm comfortable with that as well but that's my vote well if if okay sorry I don't mean to you surf the the security thing of course no no it it's fine um again I'm just looking at yes there's there's a intersection
057here between sort of you know the need like what what are the half to haves and maybe you all would say they're all have to haves versus what I think may be feasible and so I guess the question is given the road map that we've provided right to to Steve's point if we were to look at the things that that we've suggested cutting what are the things so you know you can go either way what are the things that that we absolutely want to add back have to add back is there anything that we can defer right I guess is the question I could speak of this as best I can resp I mean you get to it's not flashy it's not pretty the um driveway paving we've been told for since we actually were
058able to get some Paving accomplished and some maintenance accomplished it was about 10 years we told no no no no when you see what our driveways and what our parking lots look like so although it's not a tremendous upgrade it's not really flashy it's necessary um whis playground site renovation again it's a little bit of money for water runoff to stop the eroding um safety hazard for the kids the black top is in complete disarray it needs to be done it can't be it can't be shifted which is why we didn't shift it not flashy but completely necessary for the kids we we it's an accident waiting to happen [Music] um Furniture purchase that can go either way L retrofit we're working on um we're anticipating a report very soon which is why we remove
059that that could stay off we already have year one from last year uh the locker room replacement for the um HVAC unit struggling like I had said earlier and when you had asked me that's I put that back on VAB boxes are starting to fail at a pretty good rate and unfortunately that's for every single space in the intermediate school first floor second floor so it's going to start choking down the fresh air coming into the space tempering the space necessary needs to be done cord boiler and pumps we kind of me and the guys were down there went over everything this is a project be great to get out of the way but I think this is something after the last handful of days of discussion that can be moved a year but only
060a year um I replaced personally a section about 10 years ago so it does have signs of failing this is put back in uh 1995 I believe it was so again we're at that end of useful life um so if there's one project that we hadn't shifted the first time but like I said talking to talking to the guys talking to our boiler technician who does our servicing on a yearly basis I think that's something that we could move out um North house HVAC we shift one year we lose three so to me that has to be here this year on that one would you be comfortable with the reduction that they proposed no I was asking we' have toer we'd have to get really creative I based everything on pretty pretty accurate numbers I
061think that we would be taking a huge risk we wouldn't be able to complete the project or we would have to piece it out and then add to it down the line which is going to get us scrutinized anyway so I need the one million 7 MH okay uh radio upgrade obviously it's increased $50,000 it's absolutely necessary um table purchase for the uh the whis we can we can hold the year um refen field uh site work we can push if we need it to okay so last comment by me and I'll shut up but um I I just maybe not um if I have this sort of process right fill this will be present whatever we approve will be presented to the board of finance and to Steve's point they can sort of go
062line by line and reduce in any manner in which they feel fit what will be presented and discussed with the board of Finance is what was conveyed by the board of Selectmen but we're going to tell them tonight we're going back we're giving them a different number correct so I think we will inform them tonight and in our discussions tomorrow we will say that our Board of tonight approved X so go ahead so so here's what I'm trying to avoid I'm trying to avoid so when they go like let's say lawn by lawn they request the input from from you guys correct are you guys talking them through so if they said to you hey look look we're going to we're going to cut this in half so you guys advise us how to cut
063it in half or we're going to make this decision unilaterally they make it unilateral I I yeah I think more times than not that we offer we do give our inputs but at the end of the day the board of finance will make their you collective decision in terms of okay what they cut or a number that you're trying to get to and then they may make those cuts to get to a number and and what the problem with if they just give a number that's wrong I mean I'll say that's just wrong right you know okay so they would they would actually go through and they would okay so look in in a lot of ways we here today are sort of sort of you know held captive by let's say decisions or not
064making decisions in the past here now we're having to deal with all this and look I agree with all of you and that a lot of this you know if not almost all of it right has to get done it has to get done as soon as possible but I am also trying to avoid having someone else make the decision for us and so if we know that the board of Finance is not going to approve $3.3 million does it behoove us to say okay we're going to reduce that maybe not to the 17 but at least it puts the decision making in our core in terms of what we think maybe at least can pass or is more likely to pass as opposed to having them cut so go ahead Phil yeah and and
065I think it's more we don't honestly we don't know where the board of Finance is and what they will approve um I think over the past couple of weeks and they've been working on their debt capacity and everything else so I there'll be a lot of discussions most definitely because I think combination of the Board of Education and the town they've never seen this kind of request right because um we've been averaging maybe two two and a half million or so we came in with sex the board of I think the board of statman did make some adjustments um so they're coming with a lower number but that number even still is much higher than where we were last year meaning if if but if we make if we if we actually you know let's
066say reduce it somewhat let's say from the 3.3 um is that first of all it puts the the decision- making at least to a greater extent in our with this body and then secondly it does somewhat I don't want to say say it does show an effort and a sort of cognizance that that that number is very high and that we are taking into account you know some of the feedback from the board of Selectmen and we are trying to sort of meet them sort of halfway again maybe it's 2.9 Million I don't know but it's 3.1 no it's it's what I mean if you if yeah yeah yeah based upon what Mike said yeah so so I guess I guess my question is you know we can go back with the 3.3 and then
067does the board of Finance take you know real exception to that because you know their position can be hey look you're requesting you know capital budget even as we think it's necessary a capital budget three times what it's usually been again we've talked about how it's artificially low and the board of Selectmen cut this in half and yet you're coming back to us with 3.3 and so I don't know if that hardens their stance in terms of well you guys aren't even trying to to meet us or meet the town halfway so I guess that's that's my concern here okay but I just I agree I think that I'm not saying we need to go back with the full 3 three I think if we show some flexibility let's just let's just go through the
068numbers right we we did with Mike it's it's like if we just I mean it looks like to be perfectly honest with you we're not getting new furniture this year right we have to just double check the numbers cuz I came up with 27 I I could be wrong districtwide security what did you say working together I left absolutely keep it at 100 keep it at 100 keep at 100 right districtwide PA is 100 yes energy is 40 we're keeping that we're keeping that wish playground we're keeping correct we're definitely keeping the wish the wish parking you're saying no no parking we're saying yes saying yes I may disagree with Michael on on on one thing here and just and just and well we're going to get get to that in a minute if anything
069what we could do right the 40,000 that we have here for the for the BMS upgrade we can maybe shift that and try to to cover that cost from our operating budget little bit risky but if we're trying to to do stuff we can probably do that are I talking about the energy management the 40,000 correct you know I want to be real clear $50,000 for furniture is a drop in the bucket it it does nothing um it really does nothing we're going to have to come up with a much bigger plan we've been piloting different furniture and forget it look the swing number is the high school locker room at 190 at 190 that's the rest of it is you know that where we reduce it to zero is but Mike you said that
070you thought we could perhaps move that one a year correct or not I think Mike mentioned the the core um was it a core or was it the boiler it was the core the boiler okay sorry so here that makes me nervous so correct so while we may be able to similar to the locker room while we may be able to defer an item for a year we can right we can defer this similar to how we're deferring replacing the unit at the photo locker room but what that does is that it's going to require more maintenance on that unit and it also leades susceptible to to to to failure not saying that it is going to fail so it's already showing signs of wear and tear and for the mere fact that is showing
071wear and tear I would say that we keep that item in the bo the boiler if we have to choose between what's the lead if it fails what's the lead time to replace it it changes we had to do a couple section replacement at the we do a couple section replacement at the middle school this summer it initially started off as a 3 to four week lead time it turned into about a I think it was 15 weeks so it's it's cast iron they're molded at a factory and they come in so it we're at the we're at the mercy of the supply house which makes them and if there's a lot of boilers going in one section to us isn't going to prioritize what they're going to ship it to potentially 3 to 6
072months it it could certainly get you to 3 months it could be even more especially now with the the tariffs going in we have really no idea how long things are going to take at this point it's all new I oh go ahead M no I'm done just saw new um new hurdles that we're up against now I see things a little bit different ly respectfully I disagree and I actually disagree with the yes collaboratively here's why I I actually think this process is a little bit broken and I think throwing a bit of a cold water in into the faces of the people who were offering a different suggestion is a good idea here for the following reasons I think the part of the process that is not sustainable is not these numbers but
073part of the process that is not sustainable is kicking down absolutely essential changes that have to happen to our district year over year over a year we're looking at this list there's not a bunch of fat on here even the one just now Lisa talking about furniture we're throwing out oh we might not get new furniture that's not new furniture this is furniture that over the last three years Lisa has researched it's going to actually be a more positive experience for our children in the classrooms about how it actually it's additive to educational outcomes there's not fat on this so if you all want to choose a thing or two that you think actually could could be moved fine but I think it's a and and I actually feel oppositely which is the following I
074don't know about you but I don't relish another two years of having the parents security minding Community show up here so let the board of Finance say here's a line at and we should rule out I don't want to have a bunch of parents again saying to me you guys took out $300,000 from the security budget let the board of Finance do that if they can do a much much better job in this capital budget which I don't think they can and I think we have to begin to acclimate ourselves to the fact that we're going to have to make investments in our schools each year is something we've avoided doing I I have no you know I I have no problem with that it's not like as I said at the beginning of the
075meeting these are not wish I had you know it it's have to have look I'm I'm not opposed to it either um um I am trying to I'm trying to just think through the process and look I mean you look at those numbers going forward right in the coming years we're going to have this problem again exact and again and again we're going to have this discussion exactly each year we'll be asked like can you skinny this down yes well and that's parabolic curve is that am I saying that right parab parabolic curve only gets worse so what are we doing so we keep on talking about the problems that were we having and this is what it's going to cost and we're kicking it down the line but I'm going to go back to
076what Peter said about HVAC it's going to come down to are we waiting for a crisis not having a boiler you can't not have a boiler in the middle of winter so now you have to call in an outside Trucking unit I don't how many how many millions of dollars is that going to cost so it's not kicking it down the line it's what crisis is coming up and how much is it going to cost how many people are going to sue the school district sure don't fix the parking lot except when the first person breaks their leg and starts suing the school district for millions of dollars you're going to have issues I you know I know this and and in this litigious Society how many lawsuits so our law bills are going to
077go up people are going to sue us because it's all great and good and I used to go into my staff and I would say I need your emergency numbers no one fills it out and I would start have to say the emergency room is filled with people someone has to get hurt and the idea is take a look at this list where are we going to get hurt we're going to get hurt when we lose our boiler we're going to have to bring in a you know you bring in a truck with boil got to heat the building you're where HVAC someone's going to come in with rashes or mold or whatever next lawsuit so where when are we going to be proactive rather than reactive and I think that's what the concern here
078is it's not kicking it down the line it's where are these crisises going to hit us because you can't keep on piling them up and think you know we're we're the perfect School District crisis doesn't happen here but it does and that's why we've taken so much time with our security this is the safest School District in the entire country and we have worked on security to make it safer and so we need to make the other areas of our schools safer too it's not kicking it down the line it's being proactive so we don't have a crisis and really pay very large sums of money to U make it better do you want to say or can we just make a decision so I think I'm hearing that perhaps the best way to proceed
079would be to add back certain items but not um the original amount Well Chad Chad what are your thoughts on that because I think Chad Chad I think your perspective is just go back right to the original yeah um I look I I think and and that's fine I mean I mean I think a lot of this needs to be voted obviously um voted forward I just I also think that this is going to require a longer discussion with the board of Finance because these numbers for the next couple of years are going to be much much greater than they have been in the past and maybe that's okay we're playing some catchup here right because of things that we haven't let's say addressed um and I'm fine to do it um you know I
080just again I'm I'm worried myself that I don't want the board of Finance to go making decisions that are let's say less informed than we can make for ourselves to your point maybe this is the way to you know change things up and and rile up the process that is obviously broken maybe that's the case I'm happy to to do it to go back to the original again I'm just I'm just worried about what they are going to come back with um if we don't show sort of any ability to but but but but we're you know the only thing we you only think the only number yeah I know it's minimim B number that you know like it's minuscule and you know what at the stage of negoti against ourselves yeah okay okay let's
081fine let's vote let's vote on then so do can I have a motion to Phil do you want to say something no no no what are we voting on first we're voting back to the original capital budget then there then there's no need to then yeah there's no need to vote so let's let's vote on down we never so we have to vote it down so you have the mo the this was a recommendation by the board of Selectmen Selectmen so um so I would make a motion to pass the board of the revised budget and then everybody votes okay so um I make the motion to pass the revised capital budget um uh in the total of $1,710 th000 as recommended by the board of Selectmen is there a second I'll second that okay
082and then those in favor all okay so we go around and vote So Lisa you want to go first no Michael no no no no no there we go Motion fails you're just seconding the motion I just had it like ours it would have been even easier can't vote L was a second so do we need to now put for a new motion no no didn't change something so the budget the way I understand it is you put through the original 3,3 correct no well we we did however did what was transmitted by the board of Select to the board of Finance is a lower amount right but that was not approved by us correct okay would you feel comfortable Phil if we do another vote to say that we want to reaffirm the original
083number yes pleas thank you okay yeah we're doing it all right so um I I move that we reaffirm the initial capital budget of $3,336 th000 to be transmitted to the board of Selectmen Board of Finance sorry to be transmitted to the board of Finance is there a second I'll second that all right Lisa yes yes yes yes yes yes motion passes okay we go any items else on the agenda motion to adjourn so move all those in favor I I I I go