001Everybody ready? Good evening. Today is Tuesday, February the 17th, 2025. It's 7:00 p.m. I'd like to call the regular Board of Selectmen's meeting to order. Troy Lemire. Paul Marino. Paul Harrington. Todd Arslanian. Glenn Albanese. William Hester Cheryl Heverin McGlinn William Pozo Selectman Bishop is excused. Please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I agree. Check the review. Mr. Mr. Mayor, if I may, under unfinished business, form charter revision commission, I I throw it out to the board. One item that I didn't realize that we should talk about is a recording secretary. If the board feels that form charter revision encompasses the record secretary, then
002I won't need it added. Or I do believe we do want to talk about the recording secretary. It is an item we haven't talked about in the past. [clears throat] I did look to see what happened last time we called charter revision. I just didn't want to run a foul as we go through this charter revision. So, I'll leave it up to the board if they feel that the agenda item form charter revision commission does encompass a recording secretary, or we can add it under, you know, a subsection of form charter revision. I think we can make it part of the item. I believe we should do. All right. So, do we have a motion to add it? So moved. So, do we have to add it, Todd, if we're just going to do it
003underneath that I mean, it's the agenda. Well, you know, we're going to have form charter revision commission. Is it not just part of that is the question? He said you could do it you could add it or you could do it as part of that. I just didn't want to go cuz I will bring it up and I didn't want to go down the avenue and at least not let the >> want to make it a second item, then it's up to you. I mean, we have a motion, so let's just finish. Second. Troy seconds. All All Thank you. >> [clears throat and cough] >> Item four, approval of the minutes of the regular Board of Selectmen's meeting on February the 2nd, 2026. So moved. Second. Okay. It's okay. Thank you, Cheryl. Sure. Which Cheryl?
004The one I gave. Uh she was Any discussion, corrections, additions, subtractions? Seeing none, all in favor. Unanimous. >> [clears throat] >> Item five, the Board of Selectmen welcomes public comment. Speakers will be limited to 3 minutes or less, may speak once. Please remember that this is an opportunity to make a statement. It's not meant to be a back-and-forth discussion between uh the citizen and the Board of Selectmen. Please limit your comments to 3 minutes and give you a name and address. Who would like to speak? Here I come to uh Uh come turn the mic on so we can hear you. I don't know if it's the right time. Okay. Can you turn the mic on so we can Yeah, just Yeah, hit your mic a little closer. Thank you, sir. You have another 5
005minutes. Uh you want me to use two more? This is what you get. This is what the grants What we've received in the town from through 2022. Two, I believe it says here. Those are the audited dates years that we have. This is what the commissioner has provided. Um so, to start off, education's a big topic um all across the state. Today you have to be education day in Hartford. There is actually 342 people testifying right now. They're on number 98. They'll probably be there for wee hours of the morning. I know Superintendent Luby is number 289. So So yeah, today I I was in Hartford and I brought in uh asked our chairman of education to come in. Commissioner testified at 10:00 this morning and she offered herself up to come to my office
006and speak on town of Winchester. Some interesting things came out and I just want to be transparent and what it does I wanted him somebody to be there that's on the board. It's all about money. Um Commissioner is more than willing as Kurt will probably inform his board to work with us. She does have some things that she's asked for. One is an agreement with a high school that she's asked for and she told that to him today. The interesting thing is we talk about the town of Winchester being a alliance district. That's a big topic. If we pull out of the alliance district the commissioner went and did some numbers before she came to the bill to the office today and they put us into the regular realm where everybody else is. There's 33
007districts in alliance district. We end up losing $980,000 with the way the calculation is right now. If we are not we are protected she wants us protected cuz she knows that we will go down significantly. They want to reconfigure that. They're trying to do something. This is the what everybody's testifying on today. It's our [clears throat] our kids. Um We've talked about everything on what she could do, what she can do to help us. She wants to help us. She's been here. She's Commissioner Kathy Dempsey was the chief financial officer. She's now moved to OPM where they finance education out of the governor's office. So we have two people that were here during our receivership now working at two very high posts in there. So we had the commissioner, her new CFO and her chief
008of staff in my office today. We were there for 5 half hour 40 minutes. Good conversations. We left there and went over to the governor's office. We met with his chief policy staff who has asked a few things of of Chairman Warner to come back so she can have their policy and financial people review. They want to help and work with us. It's not a definite that money is going to come. I thought it was interesting that if we do lose the Alliance District that our money is going down to 980 go down 980,000 dollars million dollars. But this what we did here and she's very key on this. The Commissioner's network was big. That's something she put forward that I worked with her on. >> [clears throat] >> It was $6 million over 5
009years. She told us and I know remember having conversations with Melanie the previous superintendent. You have to have an exit strategy. After that $6 million was up you have to have a plan. So if you look through here, this is $18 million that's above any line item in our budget as far as the town of Winchester. This is grants. The state has kicked in 18. $5 million since 2012 to 2022. 17 17, I'm sorry, to 22. So they're willing they're working to help. They understand when kids leave our elementary [snorts] school and go to Gilbert or go to our high school, I'll try to say. They don't have that extra help that the Commissioner's network gave for those students. Students are changing. They need more help. We need to find a way to get more
010help all the way through K-12. How that works, I don't know. She was very open. She's willing to work. I asked her, "So, would you help come?" She says, "After the legislative session, I'll send I'll come up with myself and my team. And we'll see what we can do." They want to help. It's not just write a check. And Chairman Warner heard this directly to him. I sort of let her lead the conversation. They know that letters are coming. Thousands of letters are coming to their office. This is the governor's office. The commissioner knows this. We had the opportunity. We stated our case. As I do every year with the commissioner, we talk quite often. It's money. Every town has this. Interesting fact, I mean Norwich Free Academy, which the chief of staff for the
011for education went there. Norwich Free Academy, Norwich is an alliance district. Same situation as we're in. A little bit different as far as their commitment to their school, but they're struggling. It's all about the dollar. And we need to find a way in the state Everybody says we have 4 billion. We do. That's your tax dollars. We have to get that back to you. This is one way to do it. The governor has cut his budget is right here compared to last year's. I mean, $12 million cut out of magnet schools and put to free lunch or free breakfast across the state. There's a bunch of cuts in here that people are fighting tonight. This is his proposal. This is not the legislature's proposal. This is his thoughts. Now, we go through and we pick
012this apart. The appropriations committee does, and then those things go forward. Commissioner says, "The more mandates you give me, the harder it is for me to fund schools." Last year there were something like 60 mandates that came out of the legislature. That goes right to your local boards. That's right. They're not funded. They get it. I I thank the commissioner for taking the time today. It was great. And then senior policy people over in the governor's office, um they were willing they met with us this morning also. Um you know, and they're they've opened up their arms to bring some information back to their finance people. Remember, there's three three branches of government. It's the legislature, the executive branch. We met with two of those today. Hopefully, we don't have to get to the judicial
013branch cuz that's not cool. But, so they're two different people. We try to work with the commissioner on the legislative side. And then, we work with the executive branch on some more money side. I just want to tell you what's going on. It's when you have that number of people signing up to speak on the first public hearing of the year, there's some trouble out there. The superintendent here and this uh principal of Explorations both testifying tonight. So, those are the only ones I saw in here from from Winstead, but we let our voice be heard. Thank you very much. I do believe that Commissioner Bishop was supposed to testify today. Today? I didn't I searched. I was looking for him. He he didn't start till that didn't start till 3:00. I didn't see it
014on here, so >> out to them in fact his attention was drawn and he also sat and met a couple days ago with various leaders as well. Went up there. So, I think it's great that everyone's pitching in from every branch to try to have the meetings and get our voices being heard. Yeah. And it's you know, it is it's been heard. I've been talking. Commissioner, you know, it's not every day a commissioner says, "Come on in." And she's done it for me many times. I had Superintendent Luby on a Zoom call because it's easier for her to be in district. That was probably 6 months ago. We have to have that communication. You can't ask for anything more where a commissioner, sitting commissioner, actually worked in our district for 2 years and put the
015money forward. So, let's try to keep the communication up. I'll let you know if anything changes on that end, [clears throat] but the ECS money is difficult. I don't know where we get it. She wants to know the governor's office wants to know more about why insurance is is going up. They're hearing it from every municipality. That's one [clears throat] thing we got out of the governor's office today that everybody's calling them saying that insurance premiums are skyrocketing. So, we're going to try to get some analysis together. High-level stuff so that they can go and they can look at it and they can dig in. Um but that's something that we're just going to keep going and and try to see if we can get more money. So, we worked on worked on a couple
016more projects, too, Paul, while we were in that office. >> Right. Tom, Andrew Harris, do you know as why some of our premiums have gone up? I do. Um if I may, Board, um to just put this to our our representative. So, one of the issues that I've had uh in in in all the years of municipal government is the process is always too late at the state. Um any word you're hearing of when decisions potentially could be made? You know, my budget is due to this [clears throat] crew on March 15th, which is a Sunday, which means they'll get it on March 13th. We start vetting this. And the problem is is we're off to referendum in May. You guys are still in session. We may not have a final number until after our
017first budget vote. You won't have a final number until the first Wednesday in May. So, I appreciate that. >> We get it at 4:00 in the morning the night before [clears throat] we have to vote on it. We won't even have any town runs. I do have the governor's towns runs that I can forward you. I'm sure you have the spreadsheet. It's a mile long. >> But that's the governor's. I mean, everybody wants to change with ECS. But that final number doesn't come till we get it We have to have it 12 hours before we can vote on it. And it comes to us Everybody's waiting with baited breath for the budget probably around 4:30 in the morning the night before. So, that's the last document that we really have to get done. And it
018usually comes, believe it or not, if you read it, it's not a bill, it's an emergency certified. Why is that? No changes can be made. Can I ask you a question? Did In talking about the ECS, was there a discussion with Commissioner about why we get less how the calculation is done we get less because we have an endowed academy as a high school. That doesn't just impact us, it impacts other schools like that. So, the fact that we are still providing and paying for that those students is not factored into the calculation because of the endowed academy status. And that question was raised and her finance staff is going back to re-look that. They didn't think it was that big of an impact financially, but they'll look at the um equation and how it's
019figured. Um but she did say you might be able to get a little more money, but you got a huge building you got to support now if it's your own building. So, and she's saying you have to come out and look at, you know, I think it's minimum 22 acres. You got to build a school. She said probably minimum 100 million, 120 million. Because I wasn't talking about that issue. I was talking specifically is there any way to have the calculation done differently so that we're not penalized for having an endowed academy that we pay 99% of the cost for because we don't that's not factored in to the through the calculation. So, we're kind of feeling we're getting cheated. And I I agree with you in that that conversation did come up today and
020her her finance staff is going back and looking at that and I think that's one of the things why you see in that document over 18 million dollars in grants. She's trying to back that with other things that are coming into us. And that's where she saw the deficit when she was here and that's why the million five for the first few years for Commissioner she needed to build the district back up. But none of that money went to the high school. That was just here for K through six. Um so, yes, that is being looked at um because they're going to look at Norwich and they're going to look at Woodstock and see how theirs is done and to see if there's any discrepancy there. That's something we brought up because you shouldn't be
021penalized for having that type of a a school district. We agree. But then she also, you know, she's very intrigued in in the governor's office too is, you know, we have a another high school on town property, but we can't access that because that is a regional high school. We are not a regional town. And if you want to change it to a regional town, there's a lot of things that change for the town of Winchester that would have to [clears throat] come into place and that's that's a big feat to do. So, that is something that was asked and and her new finance staff is looking at that. They weren't sure it was going to make a huge difference, but I asked that because the calculation when you pull out of the Alliance district,
022why does it drop so low? That's also the question. Why does it drop down from $980,000 in the negative? That's scary. I mean, but but fortunately, once we're in the Alliance district, we get to stay in unless they change the legislation. But so, we're in the But that's not really the concern. The concern is on the ECS and why it we're not being counted appropriately. Um and I don't care if Commissioner Gross is not going to make that big a deal. I can tell you everyone at this table would say $5,000 can make a big deal. You know, this is important. Any amount extra amount we can get is going to help hold on to a teacher, hold on to a program, or something. And also to your point too is to try to get
023how the ECS equation is done is nearly it's it's it's such a large equation to try to figure it's not just it goes on demographics, it goes on students. It goes on so many different things, but how they calculate it for all students, that's what they're trying to figure out. So, >> add they don't include the Gilbert students in our calculation, even though we pay for them. I don't think that's 100% accurate, but I will get that answer because part of that $8 million is for all students, so that money is for all students. You they don't just cut all students per out of that calculation of $8 million because it wouldn't be just $8 million to to run Winchester. So, that goes for all students throughout. Um so, we will get that answer. That
024was one that was asked. It is only unique to three. She says, "Please go back and look at the old line agreement." That agreement also has some things in it for the type of school district that we have, but we are unique to those three. So, hopefully we'll get that rather quickly. And if I don't get it by the end of the week, I will text her and ask her. But, they were That was brought up. So, Jay, we're the only ones that don't have the agreement with our I don't know that for sure. The others I know Norwich has something to that extent. I don't know what it is, but they also have some projects that were done because you have to have a memorandum of agreement in order to file for the state,
025and the commissioner agrees that that has been done. And if you want to do projects, and then if you do one, it's 10 years before, you know, the financial responsibility is for the the the district that took that money to fulfill it. Um, or as in any project, it's a payback. So, >> period is is is 10 years. The completion The final The last time >> final completion. >> Yeah. We have a memorandum. We just don't have the final agreement. And we've been >> And the memorandum allows them to legally not I don't know if I said we're legal, but allows her to understand that there's an agreement so they can apply. They are starting to apply for stuff. She will keep watching that and seeing what's going on. You know, she knows that we're
026looking for dollars, whether it's on this side or on that side. She gave me some avenues to go talk about the roof. You know, our our previous CFO for Department of Ed is at OPM now. I might be able to go over there and see if we can get something else out of that. But, that's something that needs to get done. You know, you throw that into a building, you know, it's it's a lot of money. And I expressed this to her because [clears throat] she says, "Jay, every district is having this issue, funding the students. And our students today Now, they they some of them require a lot more. And we need to be able to fund that. Every student deserves a proper education. And how do we get there? Special education is a
027huge issue. We tried to fund it fully last year. 130 million dollars, I believe it was, needed to fulfill it. We only got 80 million in the budget. The rest went to the towns. You know, if they pull the 12 million dollars out of magnet schools, it's in the governor's budget, that's a tuition for people going to magnet schools that the towns are going to have to pay cuz he cut their budget by 12 million dollars. Every time you cut something, there's a cost to a a district. I don't know how many we have in magnet schools in this town, but we pay tuition. The other thing she's very highly talking about is bringing out of district people back into the town. Finding programs that she can help build so that the out of districts
028come here. Our K through 6, I believe, has about 1.2 million dollars in costs, and our high school has little over a million dollars in costs for out of districts. If everybody can find a way to bring those back into the community, and that doesn't include transportation. She gets it. I just wanted to say we're we're at discussions. If she could come out here now, she would, but budget session. She's a little crazy, but I just wanted to keep you informed. We will get that um you know, you have my number, [clears throat] you can reach out. Um and we'll see what we can get for that. Thank you, sir. All right. Thanks, Jack. >> Keep in touch. And as as they go, I'll just keep coming forward for you. That's [clears throat] perfect. Hello.
029Uh just hit the button so the microphone is on. All right, very good. There you go. Okay. >> [cough] >> Uh >> [clears throat] >> I'm John Furman. Uh I am I've come to just speak uh in regard to my application for the Charter Review. This is the right time to do this, gentlemen? Ladies? Okay. Um, >> [clears throat] >> well, you know, I have um I like to help the town, you know, where I can to make a contribution. I think some of us on this board Todd and Troy, Glenn, you've seen me in in the um tax appeal situation to attempt to bring out people's thinking, their feelings, you know, not to leave anybody feeling unheard completely. And I try to nurture that out and have them have them express and you know
030in in the end attempt to find what is the fairest thing. Okay? I think you've seen me do that and you can make a judgment on that. Um I'm not affiliated with any political party. So, I you know, I don't I don't have any agenda to follow. You know, I would be deciding issues, contributing to the decisions of those issues on this on their merits and what's the greater good for the town. Um, if I have any kind of helpful qualifications, you know, I have over the past 20 years presided over ethics arbitration and media and mediations for the Hartford Board of Realtors. So, those are formal hearings with you know, two lawyers, secretaries, testimony, thrown like a courtroom and it's I've done I've presided over those hearings for 20 years and that's another opportunity
031to um you know, let people be here, heard make sure you've considered all sides of an issue. It's something you learn to do over time and um, you know, I have some skills with that. I can contribute. So, the other thing there's been some talk some con consideration I understand of whether it's a conflict of interest to um be part of this effort seeing as I'm also chairman of tax appeal. And I would just like to point out that I have a small real estate company. Uh it's a modest little firm. Um mainly I represented buyers only for 30 years. And now I I do both listings and and buyers, but um what I have done consistently is and I we are the only company in the state of Connecticut that uh is in this
032particular situation where uh I've done transactions in a hundred over a hundred towns in Connecticut, but I have uh I've never represented both sides simultaneously. The the company was conceived to avoid conflict of interest. So, I have a lived and breathed and walked avoiding conflict of interest for 30 years. There's literally no other firm in the state that can say that they've done transactions in a hundred towns and never represented It's a singular minor accomplishment. But um I do walk a high ethical road. And um that's what I will bring to any issue that uh is is considered. Fair play, uh contribution in the best interests >> [clears throat] >> of the town and the town's people. And I think that's about it. Questions? All right, very good. Thanks, Jack. Quick the uh Jack, quick
033the mic off. All right, very good. Thanks, sir. Thank you. >> [laughter] >> They're just in writing. All right. Item number six, town manager's report. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Good evening, board. Uh this will be a fairly quick town manager's report cuz most of my uh hours are spent putting the budget together, but really quickly uh couple items I wanted to bring to your attention. First one is the automatic speed enforcement proposal has been submitted to the DOT. Our consultant at Sidestream reported that DOT conducted the initial cursory review within 24 hours of of submission. An exceptionally quick turnaround, one that they've never seen before. That might have something to do with me sending out some emails and texts that we were submitting the report. Um there are a couple things that they've come back
034with on the cursory review that myself and Sidestream were working on it, but we hope to get the approval in the not so distant future and obviously eventually get these cameras up and running. Moving on, Northwest Council of Governments, also known as the Cog, we recently met and it was more or less a routine meeting, but the mayor and I expressed concerns that their prioritization of MSW at the time may not represent the most strategic use of regional resources. We emphasized that municipalities are facing more pressing and immediate challenges including compliance with MS4 stormwater mandates, planning for the implementation and long-term impacts of newly enacted housing requirements, and coordinating regional strategies to respond to the evolving land use and zoning laws over the next 5 years. We're advocating for focusing on Excuse me. Strategic planning
035and regulatory [clears throat] preparedness to ensure communities are positioned to respond effectively to significantly policy changes coming from the state of Connecticut. On a lighter note, Restaurant Week. If you all remember last year, we had Restaurant Week. Restaurant Week is going to kick off on March 4th. Put it in your calendar. We are all going to show up at Little Red Barn for a culinary offering within our community. Um a bunch of restaurants have signed up. They're bringing in their culinary [clears throat] items for the townspeople to sample. Um it was such a huge success last week, our our inaugural restaurant week. We're doing it again. Kicking off on on March 4th, but really the highlights, um, the strength and diversity of our local restaurant community, the continued momentum within Winsted's small business sector, and
036the opportunity to attract visitors to support our local economy. So again, please, March 4th, believe it starts at 5:00 p.m. at Little Red Barn. Come get uh some sampling of foods. Um, and then let's kick off restaurant week like we had last year. Uh, while I'm here, just a quick update. Um, we did receive the three proposals. I just want to let you know where exactly we're at. Um, I have uh task Goman & York out of Hartford, Connecticut. They currently have all three of the proposals. They are doing a overall impact, a fiscal impact, and a uh school impact. Um, that's going to take them roughly 30 days, so we will have experts that are, you know, town planners that do this stuff every single day to give us an 30,000 ft unbiased view
037of each one of their proposals on their own to really tell us what the fiscal impact is, potentially the the school impact is, and the overall impact on the town. So, once we get that, I do plan on bringing you all into executive session, showing the three proposals, but also providing the report. So, [clears throat] as you review the proposals, you know, you can see what Goman & York thinks of each particular of those proposals as well. As I stated earlier on uh as I started, budget development uh is well underway. I've been meeting with department heads, identifying efficiencies as much as we possibly can. In [clears throat] fact, you'll see some tonight on some bid waivers that I'm looking to see if you all would grant. Honestly, if if if if we put together
038all of what the department heads were were asking, it would just be completely untenable. Um, I I we we plugged in all the numbers. It was well over a 18 19% tax increase. We're way way underneath that after several several budget meetings. >> [clears throat] >> Um but we're we'll get it to you. My goal is to have it to you. Um March 13th, you'll have your big budget packet. If you remember last year, I think we ended up supplying a 12-page report that walked you through the budget. If you thought that one was long, unfortunately, I think this one's going to be a little bit longer this year. Um I think it just tells the story. You can look at obviously, you know, the the the thousands of pages that are in the binder,
039but I think the story, the narrative of, you know, how we got to the budget and and areas that you may want to dial in on to say, "Okay, why are we doing it this [clears throat] way?" So, that'll be included with the packet as well. As you got the email on Friday afternoon, our audit is complete. It is filed with OPM. Um we have this uh the single audit uh for the state and the federal and the ACFR, which is about 110 page, which gives you the overall financial recap of the town. Um I wanted to put this on the agenda for one reason and one reason only. I have to thank Ann Marie and our exceptional finance department for their diligence and professionalism in completing the work uh of getting this audit done.
040I know towns are still struggling to get their audit done, but simply unbelievable work by our finance uh team to get that audit completed. If you haven't seen on the website, we did submit for a new payroll system. This was funded years and years ago. Um one of the issues was is that the Board of Ed uh was on our tax ID number. The Board of Ed is now under their own tax ID number. Um so, they can go on their own payroll and the town can go on our own payroll. So, we're going to go to an automatic an automated payroll system. Believe it or not, and what that really means in simplicity forms is um I have money taken out of my check every 2 weeks to my HSA contribution, we physically are
041mailing a check to Fidelity. And that's for each one of our employees. So, we're going to go automated and uh exciting that, you know, years ago the town had had the brain trust to put this together and and and fund it. We just couldn't do it because the Board of Ed was hanging out under our tax ID number. Sat down with Julie, she completely was in agreement. We worked through. We said January 1st, you cut off into your new EIN number. They're on their own EIN number. So, we're off to the next item. CCM conference and state aid. Unfortunately, I did not attend the conference cuz it's budget season. But, the position that ECS believes is increase ECS funding and broader municipal aid are necessary to address the growing imbalances between local costs and state
042support. Continued reliance on local property tax payers to absorb rising expenses is unsustainable, particularly at the state maintains significant budget surpluses. We talk about that every week, every every 2 weeks. And then lastly, I do want to let you all know that I followed up with the letter that you all approved with the letter from the town manager urging the governor to supply more state aid to the town of Winchester. And last but not least, if you have any summer projects or spring projects on the horizon, please submit your building permits so we can get them turned around right away. With that, I'll open it to questions. Any questions from the board? Uh I think I saw on one of the flyers the tickets or registration required for that little red barn event. I In
043fact, I was just over at the EDC meet meeting tonight. I had asked for any marketing material they have on that. To be continued, but I can tell you probably by 8:30, 9:00 in the morning it'll be posted on our social media pages and website. You may be accurate with that. >> There's registration. There is registration. Okay. So. So, if you're interested, make sure >> If you're interested, make sure you register. But, I'll supply the link [clears throat] tomorrow when I get it all from EDC. And again, it'll be on our website and our social media channels as well. >> Where was the The last week? He said last week. He said last week he meant last year. I know. I know. Sorry. Thought I missed something. Any other questions? So did I. I don't
044misremember things. >> [laughter] >> I'm going to pick out item six. Item seven, finance director Uh as stated before the meeting began, Marie is taking a well-deserved uh little break uh from municipal government, so I will be doing the finance report. We did include the little cheat sheet with you, but for the general public watching at home or later on, current property taxes uh collected is 27,575,654, which is 94.47% of the budget, which is stellar uh compared to prior year of 25,884,620. Motor vehicle supplemental, keeping in mind those bills just went out in January with a due date of February 1st, 187,663, which is 53.62% of the budget. Compared to the last year of 192,733, 85.66666% of the budget. Past uh due taxes, 252,050, which is 72.01% of the budget compared to 235,260 last year,
045which was 39.21%. Total revenues being 34,200,536, which is 82.9% of the total revenue we're expected this year compared to last year, 31,836,736, which was 78.02%. Expenditures coming in at 25,027,353, 61% of the budget compared to last year of 23,527,681, which was 57.66% of the budget. So far, and I put this on the report for a reason, uh we talked about the $8 million dollar number for ECS that we roughly get from the state of Connecticut. So far, as of January 31st, the town has only received 1.9 million dollars of that ECS money. So, there's a whole lot of money that's due to us from the state of Connecticut over the next six months. Uh moving on, cash flow right now in our general fund, 28,513,446 which 19,065,277 is invested. 458,5 76 is in the Northwest
046Community Bank sweep. Uh 2,622,426 is in the stiff account. In Northwest Community Bank money market has 15,984,275. Moving on to capitals, obviously it's wintertime right now. Um so, not a lot of capital stuff going on, but as uh we did um I think the January meeting, the annual police vehicle replacement, which we funded from the police revolving account, 66,127. Retaining wall for East Wakefield, work was done, but the invoice finally came in, 13,500. Price Road mill and paving, 1,899. The Wanni Road uh bill came in, 473,527, which first paid for out of the bond. West Wakefield Boulevard drainage, 54,814 out of the bond. Um and more drainage out of the bond as well. And then $5,000 for Holland Beach parking lot improvement and $3,500 for the senior center mechanic mechanical repairs. With that, if there
047are any questions on the finance report? Questions for I have just one quick question, Paul. That 66,000 we spent on the cruiser that comes in from the police revolving fund. >> Yep. Does that show in the revenues anywhere? Is that lumped into any one of these revenue sources? Or that essentially, cuz that was a that was paid for outside of the budget. It was paid for outside of the budget. So, what we do is we do a transfer from the police revolving account into the police vehicle annual uh or the annual police vehicle replacement capital account. So we pay for it out of a capital account, not directly out of the police revolving account. It's just an accounting thing. So we take the money, move it over into a capital account, and pay for it
048out of a out of a capital account. >> much like the way we handle the bond. The bond comes in and goes out somewhere. Pretty much. Yeah. Other questions? >> [clears throat] >> All right. Thank you very much. Item eight, correspondence. Does anyone have anything? Item nine, boards and commissions. Bill, it's all you tonight. Um we have one nomination appointment, Lynn Skoken. Historic Commission, party Democrat. Uh seated member, term end date 12 of 2031. Mhm. 12 31 is the current Yeah, yeah, that's correct. So is there a motion? I'll make a motion. I'll second. Okay. Thank you. Thank you both. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor? I'll vote. Was that a yes? Yeah. >> [clears throat] >> I just like to say for, you know, those who are watching from home that we do
049have a lot of um seats available on a number of boards if anyone's interested. Looks like we need Aquifer Protection Committee, Architectural Review Committee, Conservation Commission, Cultural District Commission, Economic Development Commission, Ethics Inland Wetlands, Laurel City Commission, Recreation Board, and Zoning Board of Appeals. If anyone out there is interested in contributing, please reach out to us. We'd like to have you join the town and help it grow. If I could just add to that, what I'll do uh if the board uh doesn't have an issue with [clears throat] it is tomorrow I'll get some stuff up on our website and our social media listing these availability. I'll also note that this board at a at a recent meeting did change the process. You will be seated very very quickly. So, it's not one of those
050I'll [clears throat] put my name in wait 6 weeks. It's put your name in and you're probably going to be at a meeting later on that week. So, we're we're moving much quickly on on the nominations and appointments. So, I'll get a list up. I know we read it really quickly tonight, but I'll get the list up for uh for you all to see and hopefully you can join us and the water's warm. Moving on to item 10, unfinished business. Item A, form the Charter Revision Commission. We have a motion to form the commission. Mr. Mayor, I've had an opportunity as you know, we've we shut down the application process last Friday. I did get a chance to speak with several of the applicants, not all, but several. And I think we'll I'd like to
051put the motion forward and then we can have discussion, but and it's a long motion, so bear with me. Um if I may, just before you start when you I'm not sure if you had an opportunity to look over the motion. Um you see that item one is charge of the commission. These were the items that we originally talked about. [clears throat] It was the town clerk, it was the four-year terms for the Board of Selectmen, it was the limitation of co-current service of multiple boards, and the budget adoption process. Is there any other items that you wish to task because this is going to become an official document that we're tasking the Charter Revision Commission. Yes, they can go off in other areas, but these are these are items that the Board of Selectmen
052are defining that they want the Charter Revision Commission to look at. These were just the items that have been mentioned at meetings before you made a motion, I I wanted to just bring that up to see if there was any other charges that this board would want to see the charter revision. >> Well, I think the charge should be clear that they are not limited to the areas that were highlighted. And that's not clear from what I read when I read this. It was like you can look at this, this, and this. And I don't think that's appropriate. And the language needs to be changed to allow them and to to clarify that these are areas that the Board of Selectmen has suggested. However, the commission's charge is for them to review all the ordinances.
053The charter charter, sorry, for a while. The charter actually does um cover that. And as part of the revision commission in the charter, it says that this commission has the ability to do what they want. They're not just directed to these four. So, in the first part of the motion, it says um pursuant to the general statutes as well as as well as the Winston town Winchester town charter. So, that language is already in the Well, it says Okay, so and what's it? Yes, however, but then in accordance with the statute and the charter, the charter is charged with examining and studying regarding the following proposed areas. I think it's got to be made very clear that they can go outside of the proposals. May I offer the a suggestion? Maybe we do an E
054or any other items any other revisions that the commission sees fit or sees recommends? And again, I just you know, when I was looking at um and studying forming charter revision, it clearly states that the board wants to charge them with what they see. You're 100% right. They are free to go out, and I should have stated that in E. And I think now this is why I didn't want the motion made. I think that's why you go with E and say um or any other >> recommendations by the Charter Commission to the Board of Selectmen. Any other proposed areas >> I would say any item that the Commission um would like to address? I would say >> Any other items? I would say in any other proposed areas of revision the Charter Commission itself
055feels is appropriate. Determines as appropriate. What? To recommend to the Board of >> to the Board. Cuz at the end of the day when they turn in their report we can accept it or just tell them thanks >> Right. for your 18 months >> [laughter] >> Well, and then the the other thing as as you're going and and I do want to thank former Selectwoman Perez for the guideline that you provided with her application. I believe you all had an opportunity to read that. We do have the timeline. I I I'm I'm I'm No pride in ownership. I stole it from Selectwoman Perez cuz I loved your timeline that we're tasking the Charter Revision Commission that they have to hold their first meeting on or before February 25th. Um Yeah, obviously the two public meetings
056and stuff like that, but they are due back a final report to the Town Clerk no later than June 15th. So no 18 months. No 18 That's why I chimed in on that. With this and you can look at the election intent is November 3rd, so the voter participation threshold is not going to be applicable. I I you know, I we're going to go through this document, but I wanted to spell out everything that's in that document and making sure that the Board, you know, I went with a lot of assumptions just based on the meetings we've held about it, but is the Board good with you know, first the mayor has to actually call the first meeting. Yep. Okay. So that's the first thing we got to make sure that the mayor is good
057to do on or before February 25th, then having everything done to us or to the town clerk by June 15th, and then we start checking boxes once we get the final report cuz then we have to hold a public hearing. So, you all can hear from the public if these items are, you know, something you want to move forward with or not. But, this thing hopefully will appear on the ballot on November 5th. So. Okay, I made that change. It'll be item E. >> [clears throat] >> Any other changes to this before we before I move forward. I have none. I do want to talk to the recording secretary, but >> That's going to be >> Yeah, we can talk about that. Yeah. >> Okay. [clears throat] So, I move that pursuant to section 7-188
058of the Connecticut General Statutes and the Winchester Town Charter, the Board of Selectmen hereby establishes a Charter Revision Committee for the purpose of reviewing and proposing amendments to the Winchester Town Charter. Item one, charge of the commission. In accordance with the general Connecticut General Statute 7-188 through 7-191 191, the Charter Revision Commission is charged with examining, studying, and making recommendations regarding the following proposed areas of revision. A, >> [clears throat] >> town clerk, transition from electric elected to appointed position. To review and propose amendments consistent with Connecticut General Statute 7-141c2 and 7-193 to convert the town clerk from an elected office to an appointed administrative position under the authority of the town manager subject to confirmation by the Board of Selectmen including repeal of election language establishment of appointment and qualification standards definition of reporting
059structure and employment conditions and appropriate transitional provisions. B. Four-year terms for the Board of Selectmen. To review and propose amendments extending the term of office for members of the Board of Selectmen from 2 years to 4 years as authorized under Connecticut General Statute 7-193 A including implement implement imple- uh implementation timing possible staggered terms to ensure continuity of governance and transitional language necessary for orderly imple- implementation. C. Limitation on concurrent service on multiple boards. To review and propose amendments consistent with municipal authority under Connecticut General Statute 7-148 and 7-193 prohibiting individuals from serving simultaneously as voting members on more than one permanent board, commission, authority, or regul- regulatory body including appropriate exemptions definitions of permanent versus advisory bodies and transitional provisions for current members. D. Budget adoption process reform. To review and propose amendments modernizing
060and streamlining the town's budget process pursuant to Connecticut General Statute 7-148 and 7-344 including earlier submission deadlines for the proposed annual budget. Earlier scheduling of public hearings and referenda. Authorization of expedited subsequent referenda if it if a budget fails and optimal interim funding provisions in the absence of an approved budget consistent with applicable law. E. Any other item that it that the Charter Revision Commission would like to submit to the Board of Selectmen. The Commission may also recommend technical, conforming, or clarifying amendments necessary to ensure statutory compliance, internal consistency, and effective implementation of the above revisions as permitted under Connecticut General Statute 7- 188b. Two. Composition. The Charter Revision Commission shall consist of seven members appointed in accordance with Connecticut General Statute 7-188 as follows. Five electors, residents of the Town of Winchester. The following
061candidates. Candy Perez. Holly Cassaday. Sandra Strubhar. Strubhar. Strubhar Louisa Martinez and Mark Lapanana. Two members of the Board of Selectmen to serve as facilitators. These would be Selectman Kevin Bishop and Selectman Paul Marino. The Board of Selectmen facilitators shall participate in discussions and serve as communication conduits between the Commission and the Board but shall not vote unless otherwise required by law. Three timeline and deadlines. The Charter Revision Commission shall proceed in accordance with the procedural requirements and statutory timelines set forth in Connecticut General Statute 7-188 through 7-191 including the mayor shall call the first meeting of the Commission at which time the formal charge shall be delivered. Two the Commission shall hold its first meeting on or about February 25th, 2026 for the purpose of electing a chair and establishing a regular meeting schedule. Three
062the Commission shall conduct two public hearings as required by Connecticut General Statute 7-191a. One public hearing prior to substantive work drafting work and one public hearing following preparation of a draft report but prior to submission to the Town Clerk. Four the commission shall submit its final report to the town clerk no later than June 15th, 2026 for transmittal to the Board of Selectman pursuant to Connecticut General Statute 7-191b. Upon receipt of the final report, the Board of Selectman shall hold a public hearing as required by Connecticut General Statute 7-191b, act within the time frames prescribed by Connecticut General Statute 7-191c, and submit any approved charter revisions to the electors in accordance with Connecticut General Statute 7-191d. Four, election intent. It is the intent of the Board of Selectman that any proposed charter revisions be submitted
063to the electors at the November 3rd, 2026 general election pursuant to Connecticut General Statute 7-191d, one, in order to avoid the voter participation threshold applicable to special elections under Connecticut General Statute 7-191d2. Second. Some discussion. Can we Give me the list of the five electors that were named? Missed one. They are Candy Perez, Holly Cassaday, Sandra Strabar, Louisa Martinez, and Mark Lapena. And can I ask how these people were chosen? Uh they were chosen after speaking with uh most of them and uh they were chosen I made the motion. Okay, so you you've chosen them. So, was there any discussion with any other members of the board in regards to who would be named in your motion? Uh yes. >> And who was that? They were discussed among the members of our caucus. Okay, so
064there was no outreach to the members of my caucus cuz I know I wasn't spoken to. Uh I spoke to Selectman Bishop about serving with him on this commission. But we've not spoken about the other members. Is there any reason why you know members of your caucus weren't to speak to me about my thoughts on this? No particular reason. This is time for discussion now. So, you've named three Republicans, one Democrat, and one unaffiliated, correct? That is correct. Okay, and I would ask that we have that Holly Cassaday be replaced with Bill Hudak. He is not member of the DTC and he's not the president of the DTC, so he's not disqualified and he would be very good for the commission. And I think it'd be fair to have input from the Democrats on this
065party on this um group as to who should be our on the commission and not just have it be one-sided. Well, I we >> So, I'd make a motion to amend. Well, there's two things. I also need to amend [clears throat] your motion to make them ask if you'd entertain it um amendment to your motion. When you read the initial part, you referred to it as a charter revision committee and it should be the charter revision commission. I'd also like to point out that when you're citing statutes the symbol means section. And if you have two of those symbols before the number sections. So, it's not General Statutes 7-188 sections 7-188 through 7-191. And I think for purposes of doing this right, you know, we can assume it for now, but in the future it'd
066be right to cite the statutes correctly um cuz it just makes things look like we know what we're doing. Um so and Mr. Bishop and I had spoken about me serving as the Democratic representative from this board on this commission, not him. He He told me just the opposite. Okay. He told me quote that you didn't have time and that he would be the one serving for you the Democrats on this commission. And I don't know when you spoke with him last. I know when I spoke with him last and I will be putting my name forward to sit on the commission as the representative from this body as I'm the Democratic side. I'd also, you know, again make a motion to substitute um I don't know that you can make a motion on top
067of a motion. I think the motion that's on the floor needs to be voted on and if it fails then you can make amendments. >> a motion to amend which I >> Well, he can he can rescind his motion or he can't. But I can do a motion to amend the motion that's on the table. I'm not sure about that. If I may, she she can do a motion to amend while you're in while you're in discussion. Can I amend a motion that's not been made? Right. So, that is permitted under Robert's Rules. >> first motion to amend that I know is to correct the motion which referred to a charter revision commission committee as it should have said charter revision commission in the beginning of that. That'd be my first request to amend and
068ask if the gentleman would agree to a friendly amendment in that I would agree to amend the first paragraph where I said charter revision committee to charter revision commission. Thank you. And I make a second motion to amend to put myself as the Democratic representative from the Board of Selectmen on the commission. I would have no objection to that. I need a second on the question motion to amend. I will second that. We're good. Which your second just for point of clarification on both the committee committee going to commission and Yes. Okay. So, both have been seconded. Good. Checking boxes. And then I make a motion to amend to put William Kudlak on the commission in place of Holly Cassaday so that there is appropriate Democratic representation on this commission. Uh that change I'm not
069willing to change within my motion. So, you'd have to get a second vote on that one. I seek a second on that motion. I just for as discussion I think it is really sad that this body wants to exclude as many Democrats as they can from participating in something such as this that's this important. I think actually when you look at the makeup of this board and what the town has said over the last two election cycles, they gave this board a super majority. This board or this commission now is made up of a majority as well as a representation from the Democratic Party and an unaffiliated. I think you actually have a good cross-section of people on this board. As you said to me on election night while we're waiting for the results, knowing
070full well that there was no contest to the Board of Selectmen because of the number that were running that while comments and politicization was part of electric process that when we sat on the Board of Selectmen that that would not be the situation. But that's appears to what it is because otherwise it would have been a group discussion as to who to name and what the various merits of the individuals who applied were, not a party decision that excluded a member of this board, me in particular. And of course Mr. Bishop wasn't discussed wasn't consulted regarding the other names as well. So I think that's that's a sad commentary and I hope going forward with this board that we can try to work together as a group and not isolate the other side. It's not
071appropriate. We We represent We sit here on this board representing everyone in the town of Winsted, not just the people that [clears throat] voted for us. And for you to make a comment about the supermajority There was the the votes numbers weren't that significantly different. So I think that's something to keep in mind, too. So the numbers weren't that wasn't a landslide so to speak. Yes. You We put up two The Democrats put up two members. You guys put up more members. Everyone who ran got elected. You can say I don't think that says much particular to this board. That's why that's why that's not fair. >> that by saying Shirley, your party could have put up five candidates. They didn't. So beyond that beyond that I think we have a good mix. We have
072an unaffiliated, we have a Democrat and we have the majority. I would also say that it is my hope that we cannot deal with each other in partisan politics. And frankly, many of us who are are saddened by your bi-monthly or however often you put out the quote from the desk of the minority report where you've had no problem taking some swings at us during your public comments there. So unfortunately, there's a little bit of that from both sides, but we do want to work together and I think this is a fair representation of this commission. And just respond to that. There's been no swings. We've indicated what our position was. That was it. There's been no attacks, personal or otherwise. Said this is what we feel and why. That's appropriate. >> There's been a
073few, but that's fine. >> Well, you know, I'd be you know, I'd be very interested in having you point those out because I think, you know, selecting a bishop by them very carefully just trying to get facts and I think if you were trying to be all encompassing, you would actually include all of us in this report and we might address the public together, but instead you two have decided to do it on your own. I think the minutes are what addresses everyone together and we've decided to put our position forward because that's significant to people to hear all the different sides. Understood. >> So, and you're welcome to put yours out, but yeah, you know, that's that's a totally different subject. I think you gentlemen coming together to to unilaterally decide a commission of
074this nature was bad business and it looks poor on you, in my opinion. >> [clears throat] >> That is your opinion. Can we move to the vote, please? Before we move to a vote, I'd like a recess to caucus. Move that we recess. Second. Call the table. Trace, can you just turn the microphone on? >> Mhm. >> We are back from recess at 8:08. So, before we uh before we vote, Mr. Mayor, just to make sure we have the amendments correctly, we changed the Charter Revision Committee to Charter Revision Commission in that first statement. Um we had changed the Board of Selectman facilitator from Selectman Bishop to Selectman Heffernan-McGlynn. Heffernan. Sorry. It's all right. Heffernan-McGlynn. Um we recognize that the um the all the statutes were uh had the section symbols as part of that.
075And I think that is all of the amendments to the to the motion. Majority seconded amendments to the motion. Yes. So, the five elector residents in the motion are Candy Perez, Holly Cassady, Sandra Stuber, Louisa Martinez, and Mark Lamparelli. With the selecting facilitators, Selectman Marino, and Selectman Heather Mame Bucknam. Any further discussion? All in favor? Opposed? Five to one. Uh we will reach out to commission members to establish a date to set the first meeting. Mr. Mayor, if you want to provide me a date tomorrow or the next day, I will get a letter out uh officially letting them know their appointment um with a meeting that Secretary scheduled for what day and time that you give me. Perfect. Before we move on to the next item, um recording secretary uh I >> Which is
076item B. Which is item B. Um I wanted to bring this to the board's attention. We haven't talked about it in the past. I did look at the prior Charter Revision Commission when when they met. The chair uh person at at time was also the recording secretary. That is correct. Herculean lift. Unsure where the commission's going to go in terms of that, but what I would suggest that if the board or if the commission so chooses to have a recording secretary, we should allow it. The mayor could let them know and we could fund it. There's more than enough money in the selectman contingency fund, but I personal opinion, I truly believe chairing a charter revision commission and doing the minutes and all of the other work is a Herculean effort. I would strongly suggest
077that this board maybe support bringing on a recording secretary. I'm sure we can find somebody that I think it'll make things better minutes, everything, and and get things. But I just wanted to put that out. And also, if I was going to use the selectman contingency account, make sure you approval was given to that as well. So just just a for clarity, this could be a town employee or could it be not be a town employee? It It could be It could be a town employee. Um I know >> attends each one of the charter revision meetings. >> Correct. Um minutes do have to be filed in the clerk's office. Um there's reporting obviously that's required as well. They would attend all of the public hearings as well, take minutes from the public hearing. Um
078I bring up an example. We have the assistant town clerk, Lauren. She is a a town employee and she's a recording secretary on several boards and commissions. Does a stellar job. I'm not sure if she is going to put in for it if we go down that road or not, but that's just an example of an employee. >> Or anybody else. So Paul, that that recording secretary would be a stipend position? Yeah, it's It's X dollars for the first hour and then a reduced amount for each additional hour. But we could allow it to be a stipend position. >> It would be a Yeah, it would be a stipend position. It would be >> And we leave that decision up to the commission. Yeah, if the if I I think it overall, it's selectman contingency
079because we don't have a line item in the budget for recording secretary for charter revision. When we created the budget last year, we weren't thinking. If you all are good with, we can do the accounting practices in the back office, but if you're all good with the using selectmen contingency, we can just fund it out of that if they so choose to use a recording secretary. So, I move that the um Board of Selectmen authorize a recording secretary to be present at the Charter Revision Commission meetings to record uh minutes as well as other filings that need to be done. And this to be funded from the Selectmen's Contingency Fund. I'll second. If the committee requests. At the pleasure of the committee. >> At the pleasure of the committee. Commission. Commission. Don't know why I
080do that. At the pleasure of the commission. Thank you. Uh, we have a motion, we have a second, any discussion on it? >> So, the the discussion I have is when we say at the pleasure of the of this commission, it's possible they wouldn't want a recording secretary. Is that what we're saying? >> Yeah, one of their own members could possibly step up and say I'm not chairman, but I I'm more than willing to be secretary. The last Charter Revision Commission that was called in this town, um the chairperson actually took the job of chairing and doing it. >> Herculean, my favorite new word of the night, Herculean effort uh by that individual because the really detailed notes uh I mean, it's very easy to follow along. Again, I just wanted to put that on
081your radar in that, you know, asking somebody to chair and also to take minutes is a big effort. >> some of the even some of our commissioners, they bring in a recording secretary. Others, they have one of the seated members. I I know like Park and Recs uses one of their members to do it. The recording. Okay, well, that makes sense. No. Herculean. >> Herculean. Get it right. No, the pasta's been baked or boiled. The pasta's already been boiled. There's something All right, we have a motion, we have a second. Uh no further discussion. All in favor? Thank you. Moving on to new business 11 new business item A, 26-05 proposed line item transfers by the director of finance, Town Manager Harrington. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I was hoping that our fire chief could be
082here tonight. Unfortunately, something had pulled him away. Um 20 He was in uh earlier this year uh fiscal year 26, we experienced an un- uh predicted of massive amount of apparatus repairs causing the line item to be depleted quickly. In an effort to maintain our other equipment, we require transfers of the uh of funds. Tires um new tires replaced on all apparatus as planned. We maintain a small amount of funds to accommodate repairs to tires if required. The pay per call based on the payouts of the first 6 months, we should have additional funds there. What we're just looking to do is our maintenance of equipment line is completely exhausted. If a piece of equipment goes down, we just want to be able to move quickly to get that uh fire apparatus back up and
083working condition. So, um $2,000 from two accounts going into the maintenance of equipment. Um it is transfer um and it's the transfer request the fiscal year 2026-02. By recommendation of the town manager, I move the Board of Selectmen approve the above action steps, 26-05 a budget transfer totaling $4,000. Second. You have thanks for all discussion. Real quick, Paul. Yep. I know that led from a vendor that they had used in the past. Has that vendor set been replaced? That said vendor has been replaced. If you remember back at that meeting we are looking at other [snorts] recourse. We're still not there yet. I'm excited to update the board when we have that done. I just want to know about that is that there've been no action so No action yet but You all know me
084by now. Yeah, we have a new vendor taking care of the equipment and to put it bluntly I want some of our money back. All right, that's all I got. That's not going to fully pay for the property. >> No, no it will not. No. Okay, good. All in favor? Unanimous. Item B 26-06 proposed line item transfer by the director of finance town manager Harrigan. Thank you Mr. Mayor. So we recently replaced the battery in the white EcoSport which is used majority of the of the current maintenance of vehicle funds. We now need to replace the gas trap in the green Jeep as they call it Booger Mobile. Um I had asked that to be stripped from the but that's how they identify this vehicle. And lastly we need to do two oil changes before
085the end of the fiscal year. We do not expect any further expenses from the clothing allowance so we want to move $550 from the clothing allowance line which all contracts everything has been spoken for so that line item will not be touched again and move it into the maintenance of vehicle line to get the gas trap and two oil changes. By the recommendation to the town manager I move the board of selectmen approve the above action steps 26-06 a budget transfer totaling $550. I second that. To the Booger Mobile. They said you guys you guys would appreciate that. That's why we left it in there. That's why it's in the motion. >> I would like to know the history of the Booger Mobile and how it got that name actually so I'm not going to
086I actually when this came and hit my desk I I actually stated we need to remove Booger. Like, "No, we can't. That's the name of this vehicle." So, I I I didn't even want to know the history. I shook my head and said, "Okay, we'll run with it." So. That was worth the $55. Terrible. 500. >> 500 what? You've been reading too much. All right, we have a motion, we have a second. No further discussion. All in favor of Booger's? Booger passed. I move to see 26-07 consider and possibly act on the bid waiver for Open OpenGov. So, um I'll I'll talk about bid waivers in general because there's two items coming up on the agenda. Bid waivers come in when the town uh necessarily doesn't need to go out to bid. And And this
087came up when I started looking at contracts for uh the contracts that were expiring and looking to put them in the next year's budget. Um when we went and looked at OpenGov, which really is the only software out there that we really put the entire uh land use office in. Um they had come back with a 3-year proposal totaling $147,533.93. We felt that because it was over the bid threshold of roughly $12,000, you know, we're agreeing to a 3-year contract that we wanted to loop in the Board of Selectmen into the process to say they are current vendor with us. OpenGov does provide phenomenal online support and back office support for all of our land use stuff. We do want to keep with them because the process of getting all the information uploaded into OpenGov
088and switching to potentially new vendor would just be uh cumbersome in time that we were hoping we could get a bid waiver and just agree to a new 3-year contract with OpenGov, and you'll see the prices uh with that. I move that the Board of Selectmen waive the town standard bidding and procedure requirements in the best interest of the town and authorize the town manager to execute a three-year continuation contract with OpenGov. Second. Thank you, Bill. Thanks, Troy. Any discussion? The uh the uh cost of this, Paul, I see each year it goes up somewhat. Um where was it for fiscal year 2026? It's in that budget binder. Okay. >> [laughter] >> I'm usually very good with numbers, but there's so many numbers swirling in my head. >> little bit lower than 2027. I I
089want to put it at roughly Is it Is it a Is it a fixed ex- It's a fixed line item every year. No, is it a fixed increase that they give us every year? I'm not doing the math in my head here, but is it >> I believe it was a 3% increase each year going out. We did We did have several conversations with them. Um they were pretty firm on the number. I do want to bring up uh OpenGov um public works director did engage in software. Um Failure to cancel would have locked us into an additional $78,000. Um we brought them in about 4 months after the fact, and they were very good partners with the town, and they allowed us to get out of the contract, no harm, no foul. Um they
090are a a great partner with the town. Uh I will get you that number cuz it's sitting in a budget document um in my office. >> just curious if it was the same 3% Uh I believe yeah. >> the new contract was giving us a different cost basis now roughly. So, I mean and just so you know, we we did hammer them. I did call other towns um that use OpenGov. They're all at 3% straight across the board, 3%. Not that we were higher than any other town, but everybody was getting a 3% increase on either uh three-year contracts, but some that were looking at one-year contracts were actually getting much higher than a 3% increase. Any other discussion? All in favor? And two. Item D, 26-08, consider possibly act on a bid waiver for
091Everbridge. Town Manager Harrington. So, this one's just above the bid waiver threshold. We're looking to do a three-year contract. We did call Everbridge about the renewal. Um if we lock in for an additional three years, they would keep the rate flat at $5,459 for each fiscal year. I think we'll find that obviously Everbridge is a great way of communicating with our residents. Um this is a line item in the in in the budget. Uh happy to report that if the board does agree to do a bid waiver, this line item will stay consistent for the next three years in our budget. And I think we'll all find that Everbridge, for what it does and the small amount of money that it costs, is well worth its weight in gold. I move that the Board of
092Selectmen waive the town's standard bidding and procedure requirements in the best interests of the town, and authorize the Town Manager to execute a three-year continuation contract with Everbridge. Second. Thank you. Bill, thank you. Troy, any discussion? All in favor? Thank you. Unanimous. Item E, 26-09, refunds as recommended by the Collector of Revenue. Town Manager Harrington. Uh as you can see, totaling the amount of $1,304.82. A lot of them are certification of correction with one overpayment of $289.29. I move the Board of Selectmen authorize the refunds recommended by the Collector of Revenue in the amount of $1,304.82. Second. Thank you. Bill, thank you. Troy, any discussion? All in favor? Unanimous. Item 12, citizens' comments. The Board of Selectmen welcomes public comments. And we have a speaker. I'll just make sure you turn on your microphone, please.
093>> Just curious to know when you'll have your next special meeting? Like for 48 Bridge Street. If you If you don't mind. If you have an idea. >> Uh March 17th. It was set at the last Board of Selectmen meeting. We have two things going on. Uh in fact, the legal notices went out today. They'll be in the paper tomorrow or the next day. So, on March 17th, we have uh two items on the special meeting that night. One of them being the referendum uh or the town meeting for the referendum for the uh new roof and also 48 Bridge Street. So, 7:00 p.m. start time. So, the roof is going to be a separate referendum? The roof will be a We're going to adjourn the town meeting on March 17th to go to referendum
094for the roof. We're going to talk about the roof that night and we're also going to talk about 48 Bridge Street. We just combined Are we voting on the roof that night? Nope. We're We're going to do it We're going to We're going to adjourn the meeting to referendum. Um and then we'll open up the polls on March 24th from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. voting here at town hall. For the roof. For the roof. 48 Bridge will be decided at the 17th meeting. The special town meeting. >> you. You wait Does this go off by itself? Nope. You just hit the button again and it's off. Item 13, Selectmen's comments and reports. Just really quick, I'd like to throw it out there. Uh don't forget the Winchester Soldier's Monument Commission, their winter lecture series
095is continuing uh from 10:30 to 12:00 at uh the Beardsley Library. The Great Tariff Train Wreck of 1878 will be discussed. That should be exciting. I got one thing. I would like to task our uh humble first uh town manager here, Selectman Town Manager, um to pick out four to six other properties and get working on those to be listed. I think that needs to be done during regular orders an action item on the agenda. That's not something for comment period. He can look at properties >> he can't task him to do something. That's something for the whole board to act on and has to be added to the agenda as a as an action item. So, just bring >> I'll add it to next month's agenda. There you go. I'll keep looking in the
096meantime. I I'll state that um I talked to Dave Sadrina today. Um there are some interest in some properties um that I think are very right that line up with the current property list that we have out there that I was looking to actually put on must be in my head um in in the March's meeting and it's probably March 16th, but there's a few properties that I want to bring y'all in the executive session. We can talk about it, price, where you go from there. So, um there's a there's I think three or four properties and a lot of it's coming from public works. Um we've noticed the maintenance of those properties um especially during snowstorms um that our public works director would like to offload those properties. So, >> So, it's coming. >>
097So, would we. Other? I just like to follow up on the conversations we had earlier. I you know, I understand we each have our caucuses. We each have our positions on things. I just think it would be better for our community if the discussions and decisions are being made here, not privately and before we all sit at this table to address items on the agenda. I think it just it damages any goal of transparency when things are tight deals are made in back rooms and they exclude other members. I was very disappointed I didn't expect this today. I was very disappointed that there was not a discussion and a discussion when we went through cuz that's what I thought we were talking about, you know, originally about going through and discussing each applicant's qualifications and
098why we felt individually they would be best on committee. And apparently you guys did that in a dark room without any light or recording, without the community being able to see it and comment upon it. And that's not what we want to be, I don't think. I didn't think that's what we wanted to be and that's exactly what was just demonstrated today and I I really found it shameful. And you can justify it, but you know, it's always very clear that you guys coordinate who's going to make a motion, who's going to second a motion. You guys do a lot of that, it's very clear. Cuz it's so staged. But when decisions are going to be made, things are going to be deliberated, it should be done in an open setting in front of our
099community, in front of our electorate. And that's not what was done today on that commission, which is why I voted against a commission that I support. Because I don't like the process that was followed. That's all I have to say. Any other board members? Uh just in closing for me, uh I mentioned it last meeting, elderly scams, telephone scams are still out there. One came to my house. Somebody was in a car accident, broke their nose. And when there was some pushback by the person who answered the phone, they were hung up on. So, be vigilant in your phone calls. And if you didn't notice, I have fish on my tie tonight. Saturday, February 28th, another fishing derby, Island Lake. Brings people into town to show off our uh beautiful natural resources. And just for
100info, Dairy Queen closes in 30 minutes, so everybody [laughter] We got to go. Motion to adjourn. Second. Second. All in favor. Good night, everybody. Does that mean you're buying? I don't think I'd say that. I don't even need Dairy Queen now.