001All right. Good evening everyone. Good evening everyone. It's 650. I'd like to call a public hearing to order. Um I'm going to have Tim read this public hearing notice in a minute, but before I do, uh just a quick summary. Uh at the last meeting we had regarding this matter, we were talking about replacing a boiler at Brownstone uh that had uh that had gone on us. Um so we had talked about replacing the boiler as well as $100,000 for sidewalks. The total of the money was $425,000. 100,000 sidewalks and 325,000 with a boiler replacement at Brownstone. Going to pass this on Tim to read the details. So certainly board selectman legal notice of public hearing April 2nd 2025 650 p.m. Buck Foreman community room 265 Main Street Portland, Connecticut 06480. Pursuant to section 123.4
002four of the Portland Town Charter. A public hearing will be held by the board of selectment on Wednesday, April 2nd at 6:50 p.m. in the Buck form and community room to consider public comments and questions both orally and in writing on the below supplemental appropriation. Public access also through the Zoom link a at Portland www.portland.org. Now therefore be it resolved the board of selectment hereby approves a supplemental appropriation in line item number 01-093-0000-90012 transfer out capital non-recurring town in the amount of $100,000 and a supplemental appropriation and light item number 01-093-0000-9001 13 transfer out non capital non recurring BOE in the amount of 325,000 funded through an increase in estimated revenue to line item number 01-0000-0000-0028 structural permits of 275,000 and 150,000 from unassigned general fund balance and be it further resolve The board of
003selectment hereby approves an increase in estimated revenues in number 08-141-0000-005 01 transfers in general town fund of 425,000 and increase in supplemental appropriation to expenditure line item number 08-141-0000-890. 010 board of [Music] education-system BOE-HVAC upgrades in the amount of 325,000 and an increase in supplemental appropriations to expenditure line item number 08-141-0000-89090 Public Works Highway Division Vehicle Maintenance Sidewalk Construction Non-Grant in the amount of $100 $100,000 dated this 20th day of March 2025 tested to by Michael A. Pelton first cycle. What's the A stand for? Anthony. Thank you. Thank you very much. All right. As I said, it seems complicated for those that might be listening, but we because it was an unexpected expense and a significant one. Um, our our director of finance um needed to pull funds in um in a way that would
004provide the funding they needed to get it done. So, somewhat complicated, but the end result was getting the money available for them to use it. So, with that being said, if anyone has any questions in the audience or if anyone has any questions online, just make a a point. Uh, Mike, you said we're replacing a boiler. I just want to make sure I'm got this right here. Yes, the boilers. Yes. Yes. Thank you. One of the boilers failed and the other one is just as due to the age just the age. It was thought best to replace them both because of cost and value and savings. Yes. Same same design and was showing some of the same signs. Yes. Of early failure. Absolutely. [Music] All right. I'll give it another minute or so. Going once,
005going twice. No questions. All right. Um, I'm going to hereby close this hearing. Time is 6:55. Good evening everybody. The time is 6:55 and I will now call the special town meeting to order. The first order of business is to elect a moderator. Are there any nominations? I nominate John. Thanks guys. I I'll second it. Motion has been made and seconded. Are there any other nominations? No. Hearing none. Is there a motion to close nominations? Make a motion to close. I'll second. All in favor of closing nominations say I. I. All oppose. Nay. So moved. All in favor of electing John Dylan as moderator signify by saying I. I. All oppose. Nay. So moved. Mr. moderator. Thank you, Mike. I'd next like to read the call the meeting into the record as published in the
006River East News Bulletin on Friday, March 28th, 2025. I would also ask that the town clerk record the return of notice along with the minutes of this meeting. Legal notice of special town meeting dated April 2nd, 2025, 6:55 p.m. Buck form and community room 265 Main Street, Portland, Connecticut 06480. The select the electors and those persons eligible to vote in town meetings of the town of Portland, Connecticut are hereby warned and notified that pursuant to chap chapter 12 section 1203.4 and chapter 5 section 503 of the town charter a special town meeting will be held by the board of selectmen on Wednesday April 2nd 2025 at 6:55 p.m. in the Buck form community room 265 Main Street Portland Connecticut for the following. Now therefore, be it resolved the board of selectment hereby approves the supplemental
007appropriation in line item number 01-093-0000-90012 transfer outcap non-recurring town in the amount of $100,000 and a supplemental appropriation in line item number 01-093-0000-90013 transfer out cap non-recurring board of education in the amount of $325,000 funded through an increase in estimated revenue to line item number 01-0000-0000-00328 structural permits of $275,000 and $150,000 from unassigned general fund fund balance. And be it further resolved that the board of selectment hereby approves an increase in estimated revenues number 08-141-0000-001 transfers in general fund town of $425,000 an increase in supplemental appropriation to expenditure line item number 08-141-0000-89010 Board of Education systemwide BOE HVAC upgrades in the amount of $325,000 and an increase in supplemental appropriation to expenditure line item number 08-141-0000-89090 public works highway division vehicle maintenance sidewalk reconstruction non-grant in the amount of $100,000. A copy of the complete
008resolution to be voted on is available for public inspection in the town clerk's office and on the town's website at www.portland.org dated this 20th day of March 2025. Attest Michael A. Pelton first selection. I'll now entertain a motion to introduce the resolution entitled supplemental appropriations for transfer out cap non-recurring BOE and transfer out cap non-recurring town and increase to estimated structural permits and use of general fund balance and I will wave the reading of the resolution. So moved second. Okay, I'll take a vote. All in favor? I oppose. Nice to have it. We'll now call for public discussion on the resolution. I think this is a good thing I mean to keep that building heated. Yeah. I also think it's important to note the urgency, you know, given given the lead time. Um the fact
009that one boiler is down, the other one could give us trouble when we go to heat up and the fact just the lead time is going to push us towards uh heating season next year. So something we need to get moving as quickly as possible. Could be pretty more sidewalks. And the sidewalk sidewalks. Absolutely. Oh, absolutely. Just for uh I can give you for [Music] clarification, the town received a grant funding via the connectivity grant and local capital improvements grant for the sidewalk project. The funds were used for design of the connectivity grant and the Highland Homestead Avenue sidewalk project. And it's anticipated additional $100,000 funds is needed. So that's what that's on. So that combined with the money for the two boilers is is what we're voting on tonight. Anybody else? Being no further
010discussion, I will entertain a motion to move to the question. All in favor? I need a motion. I'm sorry. So moved. Second. Second. All in favor? I oppose. Okay. Can I sit? Congratulations on this publication. Oh, that's right. Oh, sure. Can I Can I buy a signed book? Any other votes? The results are 12 in favor, none opposed. The motion passes. We have a motion to close the meeting. Make that motion. Second. Second. All in favor? I oppose. This meeting is closed. All right. Very good. 7:03 73 Good evening everyone. It's now 7:05. I'd like to call our regular first select meeting to order. Could everyone please stand? 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,
011and justice for all. like to correct it to the board of selectment meeting called the first select meeting. That was the second time I've done that. All right. Um like to make a motion to accept the agenda. I have no changes on here. So move. Second. All those in favor? I I All right. Um budget workshop and adoption of the budget. Wanted to say a couple things uh before we get to that. First, um I appreciate all the hard work that Tom did over the last couple months getting this budget together. Tom and I worked very closely together. There was a lot more to it uh than I had thought being on this side of it before. Um so Tom puts heart and soul into what he does. He cares about every dollar and especially
012toward the end as we did our last meeting. Uh the amount of work that was done by both Tom and the department heads was something that was truly amazing to me. I don't think I've ever seen that in my time on the board of selectmen where people from different departments were working together to find the money that we needed to get the budget passed. Um, and that was uh that was very encouraging and that made me feel good about how we do things and uh the fact that everyone cared about getting this done and what's in the best interest of the town. So, I appreciated that. It was a lot of work at my end. As I believe selectman Hernandez said or heman uh uh selectman Bobby Hedrickk said, this was the first time it
013was my budget. So, I took a lot of care in putting it together. I tried to look at it as if it was my own personal budget. Uh made sure that every dollar was looked at. Um and I feel good about what we did. I think we ultimately came to a better budget at the end of the whole process. And I think this is going to be good for the town. So with that, I'd like to hear a motion to adopt the 20 2025 2026 budget. I'll make that motion. I'll second it. All right. Discussion. I'm just going to say I'm not particularly thrilled with the increase. [Music] Um, it was a tough workshop. Everyone pled their case. Uh, I understand it's it's very tough to do and uh um I would just like to
014say I think we could have done a little bit better. But with that being said, we could move forward with the motion. Thank you, Michael. That being said, all those in favor of passing this budget? I I All those opposed. Any abstensions? All right. Motion passes four. Oh, I of course. All right. And motion passes. Passes four. And Rick is not online, is he? All right. Very nice. Um, approval of minutes. Uh, hasn't read the minutes from the last two meetings? Yes, sir. Can I get an approval of those minutes? So, we'll make a motion. I'll make a motion we approve. You want to do them individually or all at once? Simple. I'll make a motion we approve the minutes from the previous meetings of March 18th and March 19th. Second. I'll second it. All
015right. All those in favor? I opposed. Abstensions. All right. Um, communications and correspondence. I have one communication uh from Liz, former president of the committee on solidarity. Um there was a question asked at a meeting two meetings ago uh by Mr. Hernandez regarding what's more details about the program. So uh she has sent me a letter to all of you here um you should have in front of you if you haven't read it please do now. While you're reading that I want to relate um to one of the answers to that question. So, with regards to the question that was asked about um about what the difference between students attending the meeting as members of the public versus students being reps on the committee, uh in her opinion, if you're if you're attending the meeting
016as a member of the public, you're not making a commitment. You show up if you feel like it. If you're a member of the committee, you make every effort to attend and you're much more likely to be invested in the work of the committee. I think it goes for adults as well as students. I think in turn as members of the committee, the representatives work and input is way differently than if they were members of the public. I think they will receive a higher level of appreciation from the committee, develop pride in the work and a deeper sense of what they're doing is important. I think Liz is right on on that. I think it is a distinction with a difference and um I think this is a really good idea. I think there's no
017downside to it. Um and I would favor it, but I want to put out to the members and maybe to the board. Just to be clear, I just so I'm not sure if we said exactly what this is about. This was a proposal from Liz to have two Portland High School students serve as non- voting members on the committee on solidarity. Yes, that is correct. Okay. Thank you for clarifying discussion. Does this require any action on our part? I mean, it's almost like pointing DOE student liaison to Yeah, I think we'd have to just I think we'd have to just have a motion and I don't know whether or not there's another place in the agenda if you were looking to do it here. Yeah, I I thought maybe because it's not specifically a noticed
018item to vote on. Um, right. But the to me I think we probably would at least just want to have a vote that creates them because we there was a vote that created that committee with a specific number of me members and and things of that. So, we probably would want to have a a vote that say we want to increase um that we want to add two more non- voting members. I don't think there's any harm in in them putting together those students. I know I don't know if there's any real opposition, but um I I'm just not sure. I'm just trying to look and see, you know, where we could The only question I have is in the final paragraph of Liz's letter, she states, um well, the idea of inviting two Portland
019school students to serve as non- voting members of Command and Solidarity was proposed to them by Portland High School black and Latino studies teacher Ryan A. But then she goes on to say with principal Kate Lawson's and superintendent Dr. Britain's approval Ryan would choose. So I'm not sure, you know, I mean I agree with Jim. I think because we created the committee on solidarity, I think we we say that we approve the concept, but I think it sounds to me like now it has to go to the high school for their approval because it it would seem to indicate here that neither principal Lawson nor Superintendent Britain has given this approval yet. So I spoke with uh with uh Superintendent Britain and he was in favor of it when you said earlier. So he's aware
020of it. Um he's given he gave his full support. Now I think what that means is that that the principal and the superintendent would give the final approval to which students are chosen that the teacher picks them but they provide it as the administrator. That's that's kind it's I think it it's one of those places, right? Depending on, you know, which way you angle the paper and how you read it and which you want to put on, you know, emphasis you want to put on, you could read it. Yeah, you could read it a couple of different ways. But, um, but that's the way I took it is that it was the way that that the instructor would make proposal and that ultimately it would be the superintendent and would would finalize it. Right. Yeah.
021But they, like Mike said, they were on board as part of that. Well, step one is the board creates the two positions. Step two is the principal, superintendent, yada yada yada. Correct. Designates the two students. Right. So, we have to do take step one. We have to do create the positions first. Yeah. Well, wouldn't that contemplate we need to revise the original um approval the the document resolution that approved it and it would give us an opportunity to look at the whole thing and see if there's any other changes that we need to Yeah. I I I actually was just contemplating a motion that said that we, you know, add what I was actually contemplating was something that went along the lines of to add two uh non- voting positions on the the committee on
022solidarity for student repres representatives to be selected by PH staff as um as outlined in the proposal. That's I was kind of going along those lines. My real bigger question would be I don't know whether or not we need an actual agenda item to vote on it. I'm actually not sure. Yeah. T t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t typically if we're going to vote on something, we have it as an agenda item. Either way though, this is the same as the board of ed having the student representation. Yeah, we're just taking part in the meetings. They're not having a vote. So, it's
023not changing any part of the committee except for there a lot of times if you if you're not a member of the committee, right? And then then generally speaking, you would speak during public comment. The student representatives can speak during the meetings. They actually will present to the to the board of education during those meetings, etc. So, it's a little different. I understand why they're looking to create it. I also think it does create that little bit more ownership. Um, well, this will be the same thing because they want them to participate in the meetings, not just the public comment. Yeah. But it's the same as the board of ed where they're they're not voting, so it doesn't matter. Yeah. We're not changing the construct of the committee. We're just It's like an honorary position.
024Bob, you want to make the motion? Sure. I'll make the motion that we add two students from the high school to the solidarity committee as non- voting members. Yeah, I'll second it. All right. And any other discussion? I think it's a good idea. Maybe we're over complicating it, but I think solution. All right. All right. All those in favor. Any oppose? I. Any extensions? Motion carries. Oh, Rick, you are there. Hi, Rick. I'm here. All right. I I vote in favor. Okay. Very good. All right. Good. You got that done. That's great. Thank you very much. Is Rick on for the budget vote? Rick, were you were you on here for the budget vote at all? Uh, no. I was trying to get on and uh I was having technical difficulties for the first five
025or 10 minutes so I missed that. All right. Uh how did it go? Uh it went four to four to two in favor. Okay. In favor. Yeah. Thank you. In favor. Okay. Well, that's good. I think so. All right. Uh next, um we we do this every year. Michael Van Bieber will be coming up and presenting the overview and audit results for the last year. Michael, welcome. Good evening. I think we're having this evening. Couple comments. We haven't done public yet. You want to do public comment? Public right after. Should be on the agenda after it's on the agenda. Mike, can I see one of those? No. No. I just There's only Yeah, there's need one more. Yeah, that's what I thought it was on here. Yeah, it's after. Okay, it's under correspondence. Yeah. Yeah,
026you're good. Presentation. The resolution is the one after it. I got it. Okay. All right. I I promise to be quick. Um again, my name is Mike Vandenter. I'm a partner at Mahoney Sable, ultimately responsible for overseeing and issuing the audit reports on behalf of the firm. Uh hopefully by this uh point you have received copies of the reports that were issued in connection with the audit. Again this evening I'm going to run through my presentation. Um it covers the scope of work, the audit reports that were issued. I'll provide some overall financial highlights. I'll make our required communications and certainly be happy to answer any questions that the board members may have. Um so turning to slide two. As far as the scope of work, uh no changes from uh the scope of work
027from prior years. We did do an audit of the town's financial statements. We perform that audit in accordance with both the auditing standards issued by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants as well as the government auditing standards issued by the government accountability office. Uh in addition based on the level of federal and state funding that was received and expended by the town, we did perform both federal and state single audits. Uh we also perform an agreed upon procedures engagement on the end of school year reports that are filed by uh the school district with the state of Connecticut Department of Education. uh in addition to those attest services where we actually issue uh a report um we also provide some non- audit services for the town. So we do assist in the preparation of
028the financial statements, the schedule of federal awards and the schedule of state financial assistance and related notes based on the information obtained as part of the audit. Uh we also assist in converting the town's governmental fund financial statements to the governmentwide financial statements. uh in order for the firm to be uh independent of the town and be able to perform those services uh management is required to oversee those services and accept responsibility for them. Again, Tom Robinson as the director of finance uh accepted responsibility for those services and therefore we remain independent of the town. Uh in connection with the audit, we do it through multiple reports. Uh in terms of the report on the financial statements, we did issue unmodified clean opinions on your financial statements. Again, an unmodified opinion is expressed when we've
029concluded that the financial statements are fairly presented in all material respects in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Again, I do like to point out our opinion does provide reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free from a material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. Um again, we do not provide absolute assurance. We do not test every transaction. We do utilize sampling in our audit methodology. Um and therefore again we cannot provide absolute assurance. Uh in addition to the report on the financial statements, we do issue a report on compliance and on internal control over financial reporting. Uh if you read this report, we do not actually express an opinion on the town's compliance with laws and regulations or on the effectiveness of the town's internal controls over
030financial reporting. Essentially during the course of performing the audit on the financial statements, if we become aware of or identify a material non-compliance with laws and regulations or a significant deficiency or material weakness in your internal controls, we are required to include it in this report. Um again, we're not reporting any such matters. Uh in connection with the federal single audit, we issue a report on compliance uh on and on internal control at the federal award level. In this report, we do actually express an opinion on the town's compliance with your uh major federal programs for fiscal year 2024. Total federal awards that were expended were approximately 3 million. Uh the major program was the coronavirus state and local fiscal recovery funds, also known as the American Rescue Plan Act funds of about 1.1 million.
031Again, we did issue unmodified clean opinions on your compliance over that program and we did not report any deficiencies over grant compliance. Uh we issue a similar report in connection with the state single audit uh for fiscal year 2024. The total state financial assistance that was expended by the town was approximately 8.1 million. Uh the majority of that consists of your education cost sharing funds. Um the portion that was considered to be exempt or not exempt from our testing was about 2.7 million. Your major programs were the open choice funds at the board of ed, the regional and local improvement grant, and then the community connectivity grant program. Again, issued unmodified clean opinions on compliance over those programs. And we did not report any internal control deficiencies over compliance. And again, the primary compliance requirement
032is targeting allowable cost. So, we do do a lot of testing to make sure what you're spending those grants on are allowable under the grant. Uh next section goes over your financial highlights. Again, there's a lot of financial information that's included in the financial statements. Again, it's over a 100 pages. Um this section uh again provides some overall highlights. Certainly to the extent uh I'm aware of any financial uh issues. I would include them in these overall highlights. Um the first slide goes over your general fund budgetary highlights. Um again your your final budget did include the use of fund balance in the amount of about 784,000 to balance your revenues and expenditures. Your actual change in fund balance was an increase of about 910,000. So that resulted in an overall favorable budgetary variance of
033about 1.6 million. Um that 1.6 million was really driven by a revenue surplus of about 761,000. uh you had favorable variances on prior year tax collections, building permits, uh police private duty charges, and then interest income. And then overall expenditures were approximately 933,000 less than budgeted. Again, no budgetary compliance issues were identified during the course of our audit work. Next slide goes over your governmental fund uh financial statement highlights. Again, this includes your general fund on a gap basis as well as all of your special revenue and capital project funds. The total combined ending fund balances reported by the town was approximately 14.9 million. Um that was an increase of about 683,000 from the prior year. Uh in terms of the overall fund balances, approximately 8.9 million is in your general fund. Um that was
034an increase of about 943,000 from the prior year. Um the capital project fund had an ending fund balance of about 80,000. Um that was a decrease of about 1.2 million from the prior year and again that was the spending down of the uh the restricted proceeds. Uh your capital non-recurring fund had an ending fund balance of about 3 billion. That was an increase of about 387,000 from the prior year. And then all the other funds of the town had an ending fund balance of approximately 2.9 million which was a decrease of about 54,000 from the prior year. Again, important to understand the activities that occur within these funds as ultimately um they could impact the overall general fund uh to the extent you need to budget for any uh deficits or deficiencies. Um the town
035continues to report uh un unassigned deficits in the sewer and operating fund. Again, the deficit in the sewer fund was approximately 272,000 uh in the water fund was approximately 134,000. Um, again, the town has done a good job at decreasing the deficit that has been reported in these funds over the last several years. Again, continue to to keep that in mind as you uh budget for the sewer and the water revenues. Um, those funds should be self- sustaining and be able to cover the expenditures as well as the deficits in the funds. Can I ask you one question? Yep. Is this $683,000? No, it is literally $683. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, I did check that as well. All right. Um, but yeah, you have some that go one way and then others that go the other
036way and they just added up to $62. Um, next slide goes over your governmentwide financial statements. So, this converts your governmental fund financial statements to a full acral basis of accounting similar to a a company. Um, you do reflect all of your capital assets as well as the long-term debt of the town. Um, the focus on the governmentwide financial statements are on your overall unrestricted net position and your long-term liabilities. Again, the town is reporting an unrestricted net position of approximately 239,000. Um, that unrestricted net position really reflects your unrestricted reserves offset by your long-term liabilities for retirement benefits, which again are being funded over time through actuarial required uh contributions. Uh in terms of the uh net pension liabilities, the town and the police plan were reporting a a net pension liability of about
03710.6 million. Um that plan was approximately 66.14% funded. Um again, that was compared to about 65% in the prior year. Again, there were really no significant changes in the actuarial assumptions that were utilized in uh developing those liabilities. Um you do you continue to report a net pension liability for the volunteer firefighter plan of about 917,000. Um that plan is currently 39% funded. Um that's an increase over 34% funded as as of the prior year. Again no significant changes in the actual real assumptions that were utilized to calculate those liabilities. Again this last section goes over our required communications. Um and again our these communications are really geared towards when we run into issues or we're communicating you know certain findings in connection with the audit. Um again it was a very clean audit from
038our perspective. So um these communications are brief. Um the first item here talks about our responsibility under our auditing standards. Again although we assist in the preparation of the financial statements they are the responsibility of the town. Um again it's our responsibility to perform our audit procedures and express our opinion on those statements. Uh in terms of the plan, scope and timing the audit. Again, no changes in the overall scope of work that was originally agreed upon, um we did obtain two one-month extensions from the office of policy and management. Um and that was really due to some scheduling issues uh with completing the audit. Uh in terms of significant audit findings, again, we do review your accounting policies and practices. Um there were no new accounting standards that were implemented by the town um
039that had an impact on the financial statements. As I mentioned before, the financial statements do include some significant estimates. Those consist of estimated useful lives assigned to your capital assets and then discount rates that are utilized uh to determine your net pension and OPED liabilities. We did review those estimates. We did deem them reasonable and consistent with what other municipalities are utilizing. I'm happy to report that there were no significant difficulties encountered in performing the audit. Again, everything that we had requested was provided to us. Um there were no audit adjustments. Uh we had no uncorrected misstatements. Uh we had no disagreements with management. We did obtain a management representation letter. Um again there were no unusual representations that we uh requested from management. And again I just give the board members the example. If
040during the course of performing the audit we were unable to substantiate a transaction and that we ended up relying on the representations from management regarding that transaction, we would disclose that to you. Um, and again, we're not aware of any consultations by management with with any other independent accountants. Um, again, if management did consult with other accountants about an audit issue or an accounting issue, we would need to be aware of that and have a discussion with those accountants and make that disclosure to you. Um, again, not aware of that uh happening. So, with that, that concludes the presentation. Again, happy to answer any questions that any of the board members may have. How would you summarize this to the folks that are watching at home for the residents in the town? How would you
041summarize the state of our budget and the state of the books as you've gone through it? Yeah. So, um, again, it was from from an audit perspective, it was a clean audit. We had no significant findings. Um, you know, certainly from a board perspective, um, that is something that you'd want to see. Um I do always bring up the fact that uh we have not had an audit adjustment in in uh several years if ever Tom so we will get them at some point in time but again it was a clean audit from that perspective. Thank you. only comment is, you know, thank you and, you know, nice job keeping your records intact. Absolutely. Michael, thank you very much for all the We appreciate that. All right. Any public comments? Anybody online? Anybody in the
042audience? All right. So, that's the next one coming up. That's the next one. There you go. But you're right on top of stuff, though. That's okay. That's okay. It's going around tonight. Yeah, it is. I know I got it right. I checked a couple. All right. So, next is a resolution to appoint the auditor of public accounts. That's Mahob Sabi. So um would someone like to read this appointment? John, you got it. Resolution board of selectman town of Portland, Connecticut dated April 2nd, 2025, appointment of the auditor of public accounts. Resolved that pursuant to section 407 of the Portland Town Charter, the board of selectment hereby appoints the firm of Mahoney Sable of 180 Glenbury Boulevard, Sweet 400 Glenbury, Connecticut 06033 to audit the books and records of the town for the fiscal period July
0431, 2024 through June 30, 2025. Dispelled that discussion. All right. All those in favor? I opposed abstensions. Motion carries. That's very good. Right. Uh next is Tom monthly budget reports. Thank you, Michael. Thank you, Tom. Great job. All this gray hair came from state and federal audits. I used to thank we uh hit up the revenues quite a bit. So, I did just um I provided that for you guys if you want to take a look whenever um the text the town board hadn't been posted uh this month yet since interest hadn't been posted. County ordiners on vacation. Um so, just going to go over the uh expenses with you, hit the highlights on those. Uh so, you go to page three. I always again with expenses I usually talk about things that are not
044going well instead of things that are going well. But just uh on page three of the town council um as you can see there in uh 37019 object the 01014 object there you can see we're I apologize. I'm not we're on page three page three in the corner if you look at the top. Well no I do. We have page one and two. Then we have page one. So you're on we're on page one. Page three of that three of this. Yeah. That's the authorized. The first two is revenue. Right. Right. Yes. Okay. So that whereas in the the the department is the town council uh planning and development matters. We we spoke about this. There's been a couple lawsuits and other planning and development matters that have been going on. Um, one of those
045lawsuits I think wrapped up as Mike had alluded to uh, recently. So hopefully there will be less spending uh, the rest of the year on that area other than but as you can tell here, we're only with 6,000 left. There's clearly going to go over budget in this line item and we're going to keep watching and that. But that was a, you know, cases that she can't uh do much about once the once the uh case starts or the u the uh the items out there. So, we're going to watch that going forward. Um there are some there is a property I believe that we're working on possibly working on some foreclosure work on. So, you'll probably see some expenses out of the tax matters um coming up uh as well. But uh page five
046um police we've we've spoken about police uh but again conference meetings and dues as a um there's some high level trainings that have gone on there's been a lot of new officers so we have some additional trainings and there they only show about $300 left at that item that will be very challenging to stay within that number. um and miscellaneous. Um that was there's normally that not there's usually not too much out of there, but what we've been charging there lately is um a lot of the cell tower companies um have have started charging an administrative fee when the detectives doing a a dump on the uh the phones, the cell phones. So you're seeing that uh that so far today that's about $340 that they charge their the various cell phone companies will charge
047them when they request that data. Um, and then the other things they've been doing law edition of books for about 420 and then there's something about 187 that was related to the Halloween at Main Street. Page six, uh, part-time uh, building official um, part-time payroll. We have zero uh, budget there. If the building official uh, is out um, we've been having to backfill that position while he's away. Um so um right now we're about $8,900 over uh budget on that line and uh there's a possibility they may go be going out again in the future. Um so we'll have to uh you know we we're going to have to spend money there is to uh to produce a backup feature as all these projects are going on. Is he out on paid leave or unpaid?
048Uh, I believe it would be uh probably um it would be through our shortterm disability. I believe it would be when the time is right. But um I'm saying we just move his payroll down to cover that or No, there's there's a payment there. If not in full our payment u pa See uh just below there in overtime 31. So um overtime it was u that's just uh some you see that's a zero line item. Uh the administrative assistant has been granted ability to work some overtime as the director position continues to be vacant. So, we're seeing that that's being reviewed by the interim helper there, Michael is monitoring that. Um 32, these are some line items we've been touching upon the whole year. 1302 overtime. Uh that one is budgeted 15,000. To date, we
049spent 20,735. Um 03231,000 service contracts. We have 9,500 budgeted. Um 84 91 is spent to date. Um so we um have those are some of the areas we've been talking about to date. 0326103 which is equipment supplies. Um that we have 20,000 budgeted and 16 is uh 166 is spent to date with encumbrance is around 3500. So we had to continue to watch there. Um so that was uh your information on the highway department page seven vehicle maintenance. Uh globally the equipment repairs is doing okay. Encumbrances are there sometimes it's a placeholder but uh as you do go across you have 76,000 spent 42 encumbered only 11 remaining. So that's going to be a item we'll keep watching. There has been a few um repairs that have come across hit on some of the larger
050jump trucks that have been uh some costly repairs. 6101 uniforms. There's an overage in that due to the fact that there was an employees that have left and then been replaced. So that previous employee use their uniforms and the new employee gets to get uniforms. Uh going down the next line is uh the overall engineer. So we only have about 14,000 E13 left in the global budget there. Uh that you know we have to keep doing a watching on that. That's going to be harder to stay within that uh with some of these um projects that have been going on. Uh miscellaneous engineering obviously again is up to uh 13,000. So hopefully we can get the go ahead on the um the uh brownstone uh for the airline trail entrance way project there to uh
051get that where the the project gets developed and run through the grant. So that's just wanted to give you there that's a watch and we talked about that uh page um 30 page eight sorry department 37 um over time um the uh building department building maintenance department has 6,000 budgeted spent 5,680 to date there has been some storms there been some projects as well that we've been running that have required them to come in and out um 4 hours after hours. So that's uh contractors in um you can see on 037 equipment repair about 7,000 budget of 3600 um expended uh 5,000 uh 960 encumbered. I did notice that in that encumbrance the the 1575 of that 5960 was actually could be closed. I did close it today. So I'll actually improve that. So it's
052not going to be 2598 over um it will be um only 1023 over with with the incumbrances that are there. Uh what we're seeing in that there was some repairs that were required at the town hall water fountain. Uh there's some carpet cleaning that was require required. There was a float they call a repair at the senior center and there was a couple did overhead doors uh that needed work about 41,72 and 94 and then there was some uh concrete repair work 6800 custodial supplies um the uh Mike is looking into reviewing that with the uh lead band. Um, so that's that's going to be a watch and and look at and see where we're we're at there. I did cost supplies have risen in that. So there is a rise in the cost as
053well. Page uh nine, snow removal, this hasn't changed much obviously, but just a global $28,000 overage in that budget. Page 10, the capital expenditure commission. It's a pretty relatively small budget, $500. About $600 million was used by the boulder clerk to run all the minutes that were required for that. So that obviously has an overage in it. page 11 senior um center instructional um fees 2250 2060 um has been expended that's a one I think they did request I think additional funds next year in this line this is you know programs that are being run that have an instructor so they get charged there and then the u and then in theory there's a revenue dream on it, but uh we're trying to uh you know, they're trying to get the more um projects run.
054Therefore, that's why there's more spending in that lineup. Uh next one down was the agent municipal agent of the elderly van driver stipens. 32,000 is budgeted. 29,356 has been expended. Only 2,643 remaining. Um if we keep running the uh clearly if we keep running to the level the month the date was $300. If we keep running to that level we will be in a loss position. So the um person elect we'll have to review that with the director to determine you know how they wanted to manage that the rest of the fiscal year. 065 um service contracts 31,000. Uh we've spoke about that in the past but the 17,000 was budgeted 15,914 expended 2702 encumbered um resulting in overage of 1617. Those were the uh items that I just wanted to touch upon. Um there
055are definitely some other items that are positive. I like to touch on the areas that we watch and we want to concern and we have the directors to watch those and or the interim personnel that's helping. That was a lot of information to digest. So you have any questions let me know or let me know and I'll answer them for you. Right, guys? Awesome. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much, Dom. Could you read through this in the next day or so? You have questions, you could reach out to me to Tom. All right. Next item is our tax suspense list. So this list, we we do this every year. uh just a list of folks that owe some kind of property tax uh that we just have not been able to achieve that
056life. So the the list here is based on strictly either those that have that have died or those that we just can't find uh the post office sends back for mail. So these are unfindable. So, we're not giving up on it, but we put it into a different category of money that we most likely won't see, but we don't want to keep it under the books. So, Tom, is that the correct way of describing it? Okay. Okay. Pretty good. We got that. We're probably not going to see this, but we're not going to wipe it off the books completely. So, uh, take a look at it, see if you have any questions on this. I don't believe there's any action we have to take. More of an FYI. That's all we need to just approve
057it. Right. Okay. Okay. All right. Do I hear a motion to accept this? Yeah. I'll make a motion that we uh that we approve the uh tax suspense list as presented. I'll second that motion. Okay. Any discussion? Yeah, just maybe a little more thorough discussion on what what is is that this is my first time on this. So, it I mean it sounds like these are debts we never expect to ever make good on. But what what's the process that gets us to this document here? So, suspense. I mean, I'm sure that tax collector could do a better job than I'm going to do, but the way to explain it is you have properties. Um, there's there's the regular outstanding collectible. Um, and you you go, they keep going after that. They keep searching. They
058keep trying to get the money, sending out demands. Sometimes we do tax sales, things of that nature. And if there's a, you know, point in time based on the statute that allows them to kind of take it from the collectible. So there's a collectible report where you say, okay, this is the percentage of what we've have out that we collect. So it takes the this collectible piece and it moves it to what's called the suspense. So there's out there in their tax system there's a tax suspense collection and uh what it does is it takes it off of the the outstanding list and moves it over to suspense for things that you're really probably likely never going to collect. Now they do stay on there for the process until the required throw off is there
059and you do get suspense collections um throughout the year. Um so monies can be done off of collected off of suspense. Um the the town of Portland has kind of done it more there's some places will um completely take a year of motor vehicle and just move it to suspense. Just uh we've been doing it more of if you passed away or the the the address keeps coming back address. So that moves over to suspense. It kind of makes the collectible a little better. It moves it off over to the suspense list. Cleans up the outstanding receivable to less a more reasonable number that you're hopefully going to achieve. Um that help. No, it does. So the suspense once it's on suspense, it's not we're not giving up on it forever. It's there may still
060be efforts, but it's accounting wise it cleans up. Yeah. To leave out there that someone's passed away. Well, that weakened why would you leave it in your you know and the other thing is this in the motor vehicle they they know. So if you try to if you if that person somebody has that car and they try to register with it it's going to flag out. That's still registered with the state. They have that going to flag out even if we suspend it. If we suspend it, it could still flag out and they have to get they got to pay for it. That's how you'll find them. Some of the people. Yeah. You know what I mean? But that's that's kind of what it is. It's just a practice we do every year. It's it's
061a the every tax every tax office has that every year they require you to do that and move the items over to suspense. Great. Thank you. Y thanks to this first time do this. It is my first suspense list. About to have a cupcake later. I can celebrate. You can celebrate. Absolutely. I mean, it's a small amount, but still uh we got to look at it every dollar. All right, we got got a second. Got a motion on the table. All those in favor? Opposed? Abstensions? Motion carries. All right. Um the next motion is for participating in the um Neighborhood Assistance Act, uh which we have done for many years. years. I know Susan was part of it. Ryan continued it and I'd like to continue it uh as well. So, could I have someone
062read this resolution? Certainly. All right. Beautiful. It's a short one this time. It's a short one this time. Not a lot of number. There's not a lot of numbers. Not a lot of resolution board of selectman town of Portland, excuse me, April 2nd, 2025. the 2025 Neighborhood Assistance Act participation or program participation. Whereas the state of Connecticut Department of Revenue Services is providing the town of Portland the opportunity to participate in the 2025 neighborhood assistance act, thus allowing interested nonprofit organizations within the municipality to submit application. hand. Whereas in accordance with the state of Connecticut Department of Revenue Services, the board of selectmen shall hold a public hearing on all programs and the governing body of the municipality must vote to approve these programs. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the town of Portland board
063of selectmen does hereby designate the first selectment, Michael A. Pelton, as liaison to handle all neighborhood assistance act matters. You need a second to that resolution. Did you make that as a motion? I believe I did, but I I make this as a motion. All right, I'll second it. Got it. All right, I'll take it. There you go. And discussion. All those in favor? I opposed. Abstensions. Motion carries. All right. Thank you. So under appointments of boards and commissions, I really only just have a couple quick comments. So with regards to the two committees that we recently put into action, the Brownfields Area Steering Committee and the American 250 committee. Both of those committees have started. In fact, um tonight at 6:00 was the first official meeting of the Brownfield Area Steering Committee at the
064library. I have the agenda. Uh the members that were selected um are off and running and I'm looking forward to the work that they're going to do. Just as an FYI to this committee, uh the America 250 committee, we have one more spot we have not filled. Um the committee has still been started because all the primary members have been selected. It's just one alternate member that still needs to be selected, but we do have a board of ed member that needs to be slotted in. So, um, they were going to vote last night, the board of ed, on a member for that committee. They did not. They tabled it. They tabled it. So, that will come up once they select someone. We will add that to that committee. But because the committee is filled
065with the voting members, they're off and running. Um, they had a good first meeting. Um, they were excited about their charge. Um, there are already numbers of ideas that they have for next year. they're communicating with the state organization that is helping to put this out along with the national organization that's um you know putting this effort in. So uh that's exciting. It's a big group. Um but that will probably be on our next meeting once board vet has someone to add to that. So that's the only thing I have for boards and commissions. Does anybody else have nothing on our side? Okay, good. All right. Refunds of excess payments. I'll make a motion for a refund of excess payment Nissan Infiniti LT LLC $16626. Second. All those in favor? I opposed. Extensions. Motion passes.
066All right. Status reports. I can give you a board of ed. I attended last evening. Um they had their usual Portland public school spotlight. last night was Gildersleeve Robotics. I guess they call it a team. It's a It's a new group that the kids have. Um they were making structures with Legos. And I never knew that you could program Legos. They built submarines and then one of the young guys came up and and showed how it worked. And if it saw a light color, the propeller would go in a reverse direction to back it up. I mean, if it had a a dark color, it would go the other way. It was pretty impressive. Um, they had a huge turnout for it, so they hope to do it again next year. Um, the student representative
067gave a number of updates. Um, the the folks up at the high school have taken their PSATs and SATs. Um, the spring sports have begun. Uh, anything goes, the play was a huge success. Their prom is going to be at Glastonbury Hills Country Club and one their project grad fundraiser is going again. So, if anybody wants to block somebody's front yard with a bunch of pink flamingos, just reach out to the high school and they'll help you out and get you going. Um, Superintendent Charles Britain um gave his usual report. He gave an enrollment report um a budget comparison of Portland compared to other similarsized schools. and we're smack dab in the middle. Uh and there was a discussion of the budget process in our meeting last week. Uh and everybody he was thoroughly impressed
068by the work and again like you said of all the different departments coming forward voluntarily and and working towards a common goal. So we that all went well. Uh and then the um an update was provided by the business and financial individual from uh board of education and just provided information on the last quarter and appears that right now they have $100,000 surplus, possibly a little more. They're getting some state money. They're finally getting the information that they wanted. So all news sounded good. That's the update. Fantastic. Fantastic. Jim, anything you haven't granted? Um just a couple I guess you know quick ones. Um from a water and sewer perspective um I think the biggest item is we we did have um without getting into too much detail a negotiating session or a meet and
069greet slashnegotiating to get a little bit of a the perspectives with MDC. Um and I think that went pretty much as we expected it would go as as the initial one for with you sitting in that seat. Um, and I'll say from a I was also happy to see very pleased to see I'll kind of do this from a parks and wreck even though it wasn't part of the parks and wreck meeting. Um, I was pleased to see the news that the those six pillars have been or the eight pillars have been replaced at the riverfront park. Um, oh, can I can I jump in on that? I took a walk this morning and I went down. I was watching the guys working on them. And remember, we had a discussion about putting some kind
070of a um a platform in there that will hold them in place but keep them off the pavement. It would appear that they put something like that in. There looks like there's about an inch spacer between the bottom of the the post and the concrete. Yeah. Everyone should have gotten the pictures today. They were emailed. So, yeah. And I and I guess just to finish that off and I think that um I know I think Bob has said the same thing. I think we all kind of looked at it'd be nice for us to look at getting the other ones done while we can make sure they're done in the same manner by the same vendor um for aesthetic reasons also kind of they were all the same age. So, um so I think we
071should we should definitely look at taking another swipe at that to try to get the other ones done. you know, even if it's ends up getting it ordered and get us done this this fall, um it'll put us in a better position for the next bunch of years. Absolutely. I know I reached out to Andy today, told him that uh that they're open for business there if they need to rent out or do something there. So, yeah, I was I was I was talking with Andy um because we we've got a few things going on right now. I think we've got three of the five concerts currently scheduled and think we were talking about those things, but um yeah, I know that was one of the concerns because there are some events that are coming
072up in in basically late April, early May. So, but just to follow up on that with the other um pillars are all they've been determined structurally sound. Well, they they were not determined to be emergencies, right? So, and the budgeting initially was laid out as we should look at doing the these eight because without those eight, we would not have been able to reopen it the structure for the summer. But what we also talked about is that um that the other ones aren't going to be too far behind it, right? They're all the same age. Report on that though is that the report says that I know we had them assessed, right? Didn't they? Yeah, they I think that the ones that the eight that that were most emergent are the ones that we did.
073But the other ones that was determined from my recollection are also going to have to be done. They just were not at that same emergency status as the the the ones that we ended up replacing. And and I spoke to Ryan Halpern today as well. And he's suggesting that the other pillars be stained as quick as possible so that at least it keeps that maintained until they are replaced. Should have already been done, right? It's we've known about this for quite some time. I guess weatherwise. Yeah. Well, it was very it was very clear that the we we determined this before that those posts were not pressuret treated. It was not the season. They were they were they were rotten. But these posts as I saw them today are green pressuret treated. So it is
074very clear that these should last a lot longer. Yeah. the these are contact contact and it sounds like I didn't realize they were going to put that spacer and I'm glad to Yeah, that's good. Jim, how many more posts are there? Six. Six. Six. I think that we we talked about it and um I think the issue was that the when when it came to us from a budget standpoint, we had the monies to do the original eight um not necessarily to do all 14. And then when we came when we kind of revisited the issue, the um the issue that we ran into was um the order had already been placed for the materials to do the first date and we didn't want to slow those down. So we said, "Okay, we'll roll the
075first ones and then look it then look at doing a second a second phase, but we wanted to time it so that it ends up being done by the you know, we wanted to all end up looking the same and being the same and you know, resolving the same issue. All right. Thank you. Um I only have two quick comments. Um we've talked about the other events already, other things going on in the time of last meeting. Uh earlier this week I had a uh meeting with all the folks in our all our all our department heads that deal with human re human services, library, uh senior center, uh youth services just about what we could do to tie our services together. We don't have a lot of funding. It used to be a funded
076position years ago and it's ended up kind of falling into the buckets of people in town that are doing the best they can in their departments. So, we got everyone together uh the counselors from each of the schools and all these folks and we are kind of reutting that group together so that we can provide services uh that are needed to the folks that need them in town. So, uh it's something that I think connecting up um the people that are motivated and have the ability to help together is going to make it better for those in town that need it. So, uh, it's one of the projects I'm working on. Uh, the first meeting went well. Uh, many of these are already doing good work, but they all expressed an interest in knowing what
077the capacity of others in town are so they can send it to the right place. So, again, it's like everything, we got to connect it all up and make it work in the budget framework that we have. So, that was what happened this week. And to add on to one thing that Jim said, um because we are looking to become water self-sufficient, um that's the reason that we're talking with MDC to make sure that we do the transition to where we are right now to something uh where they become a backup to what we do. Um is important. So, we're starting early u and we're going to be running those those negotiations concurrently with getting the water up and running as best we can. So, um I also met with the East Hampton, uh town
078manager, David Cox, this morning, and uh they're interested in water. It's something that's been discussed over the years. Um so, they're paying attention to what we do, but they'd love to be able to have water come through Portland to them. So, it's something that um that we'll be looking at over the months ahead. So, uh that's that's a good good target. So, that is all I have anyone down at this table. Michael, any updates of your Bob? All right. Very good. Um, any public comments? Nothing online. All right. No one in the audience. All right. Informal discussion. Nothing. All right. Um, follow-ups. Uh, the town charter and the ethics ordinance. That can wait till some other time. I'm not ready to move on that unless anyone has something to talk about that. I'd like to
079adjourn the meeting. Make a motion we adjourn. A second. All in favor? I I passes. Good evening, gentlemen.