001[Music] good evening and welcome to the Milford select board meeting of March 24th 2025 at 6 PM in room three of Milford Town Hall the first item on the agenda this evening is the signing of the warrant um Mr chairman motion to sign the warrant please Tom second and I would make that second Mr all right I would make that unanimous a roll call please I I I as well okay next on the agenda is the approval of the regular session meetings minutes from March 10th uh Mo uh Mr chair motion to approve the regular session minutes of March 10th 2025 and I would second Mr okay and I would make that unanimous roll call please hi I and I as well we also have regular session meeting minutes from March 13th motion to um
002approve uh executive session minutes regular regular session yeah I just added those Paul okay thank you uh regular session minutes of March 13 2025 second Mr chairman I would make that unanimous roll call please I I as well and the last uh minutes that we have are executive session minutes from March 13th okay here we go um motion to approve executive session minutes of March 13 2025 second Mr chair I would make that unanimous roll call please I I I as well okay our next agenda item is public hearings do we have anybody Andrew online for public hearings no no one's on is there anybody in the audience this evening for a public hearing not hearing anybody okay we are going to go a little bit out of order um we're going to move down
003we're going to pull out a new business the first item which is K&M Auto Sales Incorporated of 269 Main Street has filed an application for a class 2 dealer license to buy and sell secondhand Motor Vehicles the owner/manager is Marcelo Aro and he's here this evening and he's also being representative by represented by attorney David Bert NY good evening Mr chairman good evening uh so again K&M Auto Sales Inc is your applicant uh with me is Marcelo AR Roo he is the principal of K&M and K&M is Seeking a Class 2 motor vehicle dealership a dealer license in connection with a small six used vehicle uh dealership that uh K&M proposes to conduct on a portion of the property at 269 271 Main Street K&M controls a small 300 squ ft office space on the
004front left-and side of the building as you face it from the street and six dedicated display uh spaces on the exterior of the building for showing the vehicles uh for those of you who are familiar with that building it was built and designed for auto sales and used for that function for uh many years is well suited for the proposed uh operation uh that K&M intends to use it for uh all parking for for this business and for all of the other uh tenants operations on on site and all of the necessary elements and facilities for the for the operation of the dealership can be conducted on site um the Mr Rojo has experience in Auto Sales in service while he was in Brazil he managed a new and used auto sales and service business
005on a 30 Acre Site with approximately six employees for uh 5 years or so okay um the um there are auto repair facilities on site uh though those are owned and operated by another entity that is not affiliated with either K&M or Mr oroo but Mr or Roo has arranged and intends to use those facilities for any warranty repairs that might be necessary as part of the sales operation okay uh K&M has obtained a special permit from the zoning board of appeals uh for the operation of this business has gone through the site plan review process with the planning board and this license would be the last hurdle if you would for K&M to begin this operation okay with that said if you have any questions or concerns we're happy to try to address them
006I I have no questions I went over the application everything and like the uh paperwork did say all paperwork is is is in order um the uh prent department head such as Building Commissioner allows this in U A a CB Zone which is allowable use um uh planning uh town like uh attorney Burton as he was mentioned in two it got approval by zoning Board of Appeals and Al so the planning board and again all paperwork is in order fire chief has no objections police chief approved it and u i I have no further questions on this I was explained very well thank you thank you Tom I do not have any questions uh it was approved by zba and the planning board okay thank you very much and I don't have any questions as
007well uh your paperwork is all in order um so with that I'll take a motion a motion Mr chair to accept the application from K&M Auto Sales uh the application is for a class 2 dealers license to buy and sell secondhand motor vehicles and the owner manager is marshel heroo uh and all paperwork is in order and I make a motion to approve this second Mr chairman and I would make that unanimous roll call vote please I and I as well okay than congratulations wish you the best best to you welcome to Milford oh thank you thank you all right you have a good night see you now take care now Mr chairman maybe uh take one more out of order Kristen rather than have her sure sit there for the next hour and a
008half I don't think it it's F2 um the um new uh renewal rates okay open enrollment Kristen that okay yes all set yeah we'll take you up next yeah very good um so I'm sorry that Peter fosa couldn't be here he really wanted to represent the IAC but um you know the message is still the same uh we went out to Blue Cross they delivered their renewal at 99.9% early on um we pushed back on it and had to wait some time for the for the renewal which was ultimately 8.5% we did go to other carriers uh Harvard Pilgrim came out at almost 13% and one of the carriers declined to even bid so while we are still working and exploring other avenues and other options uh right now they were comfortable enough with the
00988.5% to recommend that as the new renewal rate um we also just as a matter of of um information of my mmh community um had sent to me sent to a bunch of people um a spreadsheet with 27 towns on it and they weren't all our comp communities but there were 27 towns on it and 2third of them were above 10% uh so I hate to call this a deal but I think at 8.5% it's probably as good as we're going to do right now under a premium Arrangement um and just to point out on the second page of the um memo that you get um where it says under dental insurance a small increase of 3.6% there's a typo on there it shouldn't have it shouldn't say to cover an increase in admin fees
010it's utilization we're self-insured and there has been no increase in the admin fees from Blue Cross this is just more people or more utilization of the dental plan for that um modest increase of 3.6 um and we have more um folks on the access blue medical plan than we've had before we thought we thought we'd only get like two people on it we've got about 34 now with the open enrollment so those are kind of the bulleted highlights but none of the other plans have changed so if you have any questions I'm happy to answer okay thank you very much Kristen as always uh very efficient well no no thank you Christian like I said you know to um review um Insurance uh rates and whatnot is uh pretty pretty you know uh uh complex
011and uh I can see your committee did take the time to work on this as well as yourself um you know we uh are sure that any any decision that was made was made with uh Karen FIS I'm sure by by your committee um and again navigating uh healthc care costs could be very complex and I I thank you for your efforts really appreciate it thank you Tom yeah I think once again I mean they've gone out you have one vendor that's looking for an increase that's far more significant than this increased um that's being proposed so I just want to thank uh Kristen and Peter and the others who were involved uh for their work and actually going out there I mean you had one vendor that um would even consider a bid so
012um good job and you know the rates are what they ended up being but at least they're less than what they possibly could have been indeed yeah if they weren't there so good job Kristen thank you you know and Kristen you made reference to the comps that you were able to see and and most of the communities are are all over 10% so to come in with their first proposal they .5 you know was remarkable you know and yeah it's expensive out there the other the other lines of insurance didn't change at all which was nice you know the the other you know products that we could buy didn't move which was good um but it's it's I know it's expensive I'm hoping we can break through and do something really radical change that whether
013you talk your municipality or you're talking the private sector health insurance costs to the employees is a is a big issue and every year it keep keeps going up so you know we appreciate everything that you know you and Peter and whoever else is involved with you you know on a yearly basis trying to keep those costs down for you know the town employees greatly appreciated with that can I have a motion you accept yeah U Mr chair um um a motion to um approve the 2 the 2025 uh rates uh that were voted upon uh during a recent meeting of the insurance board on March 19th 2025 second Mr Chen and I would make that unanimous a roll call vote please I I and I as well and again Kristen thank you very much
014to yourself and everybody involve thank you thanks so much have a nice night guys you too now take care okay we are now going to go back into regular order on our agenda we're going to go back up to scheduled appointments but we're going to take under schedule appointments we're going to take item two ahead of item one but we are back up in scheduled appointments we're going to have Nick vori um just one Nick valori of evse solutions will be with us to discuss an EV charger installation Proposal with us good evening Nick even n we're good we're good the floor is yours sir so um wanted to come to the town and talk talk to you guys about uh installing car charging stations throughout the community uh the incentive that the state of
015Massachusetts has with National Grid has to do with uh level two charges for the public the level two charges are you know 4 to 6 hour charges uh they do have a level three incentive still available but that would only be for the town employees which would be considered a fleet charge the new incentive for the level three charges is coming out supposed to be released in uh the summertime of 2025 so we could revisit that in the future but the way that the old incentive filled up so quickly having some charging stations for the community is probably a good idea it's also a great Revenue uh source for the town I I am donating the charging stations to the town uh whatever the incentive is not covering and I want I do want to
016disclose the incentive does cover the majority of the cost okay as the town should know I have been moving forward with a large number of the municipalities uh the state of Massachusetts um my company is a proud member of the MMA also and been uh um vetted by the MMA you have any questions well yeah just a just a couple uh Nikki what would be the initial cost of installation zero nothing at all so the N the uh National Grid incentive is covering very close to 100% if not 100% per location so so let's say we we wanted them in certain areas of the town that were allowed and whatnot um you just put them in put them in the town will own and operate themselves the town will receive 100% of the revenue obviously
017you'll have the expenses also which be the cost of the utility um they are warrantied for three uh 3 years so so how would we be getting any uh of the revenue How would how would that uh work so I'm an EV driver so I would plug uh come to the charging station plug my car in in flash a credit card and then as it's charging just like a regular electrical bill uh at your house it adds onto your uh as it's like filling your gas tank up uh normal okay so any above and beyond what it would cost us for the electric for the electricity would be ours yes so with the package that I sent you and I also have a few packages here that I'll leave with you um I normally recommend
018for the level two charges to charge 40 cents a kilowatt hour whereas the level three charges I recommend about 50 cents Target in Milford has level three charges and they have a scale ranging from I think 55 cents up to 7 cents depending upon the time of day okay now those are the level 3 so it's a quick charge quick charge right and you said those are for for the uh Municipal Vehicles no yeah that the level three would be for only Municipal so police station fire station Highway DPW right okay and I did briefly talk to uh Scott Christ foi on this and he is interested in the uh the level threes at uh the DPW okay what the other question that I wrote down here before while going over your um uh packet
019are the are space and power requirements uh what would we need to actually have these things exist the level two really nothing we'll just pull the uh power from the building or the pole and then the level threes you definitely need to get a Transformer dropped and the good thing is that the utility part of the current incentive is covering a brand new Transformer per location and the cabinet okay and and and and the universal charges in other words one charge the charger is more or less would be uh adaptable to any vehicle correct that's electrical yes uh now Teslas themselves have to have an adapter all the Teslas do come with those adapter they have them already had they already have them yes okay so this these charging stations would be Universal for everybody
020anybody wants to come in charge nice nice look for the town too and you said you dealt with other municipalities that have the same type of program and they accepted it have you heard any feedback from them about the success of it or unfortunately the incentive is um it's taking a little bit longer to for National Grid to push these things through so I this this week or next week we're installing in the uh the town of rentham and then in 2 or 3 weeks we'll be installing in chelsford okay so as far as um municipalities having a good um response as to how it's working I can't say I've done any any for any municipalities that have been installed just yet M but businesses have been making a tremendous amount of money okay and
021you know again also it's it's it's a good um view too that you know it's sustainability and keeping you know with the green environment uh keeping um discharge from gas powered vehicles uh to a minimum and it helps the air helps air and whatnot so anyway uh very good it's something to think about thanks so much yeah no problem you know having them at the school systems are a great idea yeah you know for me with the kids going you know traveling for sports I can charge my vehicles up at different schools sure and you know it's nice way to nice nice little Mr sh thank you thank you thank you Nick Tom Nick I don't have any questions I think the materials uh speak for themselves okay so the couple of questions that I
022have for you Nick so you're saying that the the equipment and the installation of the equipment is totally covered under the program as far as between National Grid and the state correct so it's primarily National Grid current the current incentive is covering pretty much 100% of it anything it's not going to cover I will cover within reason so then the personally the only opposition that I would see would be the placement where we're going to put them yeah that would be something that I when you guys are ready to move forward we'll we'll do a site walk on all the different areas talk about where they should go um so the level three chargers they do need Transformers so we need a little bit more space right so that would be something we would definitely
023want to spend some time on uh as far as the level twos they don't take up any space you know you can put them anywhere and the other municipalities that you're working with are they doing the level two and the level three Char primarily only level twos because the level three incentive is filled for public access and one of the things to be able to get the fleet incentive for level three is you need to have uh electric vehicles coming on and Scott did tell me that you guys he is planning on getting a couple electric vehicles so okay you would qualify for that okay ask one question Mr chair you sure me the other towns where are they placing them locations do you know uh I do okay um you you want the answers
024yeah if you would mind so R them is in the town hall they have a big town hall there I'm familiar with their Town kind of um across the street so if you're coming out of the rthm town hall to the right there's an open parking lot no I'm very familiar they just they just redid that there's one going there oh there's three Chargers going there and might I might I note that each charger is dual P so one charger can charge two cars oh okay um and then the Third location in rthm I'm not familiar I can't think off the top of my head where it is it's okay I just I give you that information uh chelsford has five different locations okay thank you thank you thank thank you very much we appre
025thank you for uh letting me present here thank you for your time this a little bit more of a package I put together thank you thank you very much thanks appreciate it nice job thank you have a good night see you Nick have thanks all right you take care thank you okay we are still under scheduled appointments and now we are going to have the finance director and our state representative and Town Council Brian Murray come up and give us an update on the uh budgets good evening gentlemen gentlemen good evening so um yeah so I was asked to come here and kind of give a general overview of uh I guess what's happening at the state um because obviously that's going to impact Town's budget right so uh I'm I'm sure you know it's
026it's in the news you know right now um we're in the budget process in the legislature the governor filed her budget in January um the uh house Ways and Means Committee is in the process of budget hearings uh they were at UMass today for education I think Thursday they're wer on Health and Human Services so this will continue into first week in April or so um at that point the house will come out with a budget uh we'll have an opportunity to amendments to that budget and then the house does our budget in the last week of April usually a three 4 day process um from that point the budget then moves on to the Senate and the Senate uh tackles it essentially in May and um they don't have any budget hearings um they
027just rely upon budget hearings that occurred uh with the uh Ways and Means Committee um Senate has their budget hopefully by the end of May there's reconciliation through June the house and the Senate get together to hopefully agree upon a budget get submitted to the governor and the idea is that the governor signs it so we have a budget by the end of June which doesn't usually happen lots of times it goes into July and August um you know for the most part right now it's it's business as usual uh in the that the governor came forward with her estimations and and and recommendations and projections um but I think what everybody has seen and the huge Dark Cloud over the process and the big question mark is the level of federal funds that is
028going to come forth uh to the state uh now that President Trump um is is in place so by rough numbers uh the state budget is approximately $660 billion and that includes a foundation of roughly $16 billion from the federal government M um there's been no definitive answer at this point as to what's going to happen uh with that Federal money um I think as you've seen in the news there's been pullbacks on the federal money just a couple of weeks ago uh the federal government stopped in in Midstream $12 million Grant to schools uh to allow them to purchase food and local farms uh for for um the the school food program so that just terminated right midy year it's $12 million uh the state's not going to backfill that um so the schools
029the students and the farmers uh Lo lose out on that um so the big danger is if we don't get any federal money and um it's it's going to be a real challenge sure well let me backtrack it it the state is would be unable to backfill that that $16 billion you do it and at that point it'll be it'll be a scramble and uh I've talked to people on the school committee and um you know I don't know that you could even estimate that it's a dollar for dooll reduction in your local Aid you know what I mean so you might think oh it's 25% of the budget will'll get 25% maybe because number one I I don't think anyone's everever encountered this kind of a situation before I don't ever remember it happening
030in all of my years um it's happening in real time uh there's no Playbook to go by and quite frankly there's a lot of Chaos in Washington waston messages change every day um so the feeling at the state level is to go forward uh with the best information we have at a particular time and build a responsible budget uh revenues otherwise are generally unremarkable I think 3 to 4% it's it's it's not you know overabundance but it's certainly not a bad budget cycle it's kind of an average General General cycle but again I I I think the big cloud of uncertainty is is what's going to happen with those federal dollars and that of course will permeate throughout the entire uh budget I think you've seen at the federal level that um I think it's
031the Congressional committee on Energy and Commerce they've been told to come up with a savings savings cuts of $880 billion over 10 years and and I think 90% of their budget is Medicaid and I don't know that people realize that Medicaid is the primary payer for folks in nursing homes um so if there are Medicaid Cuts uh it's going to impact everybody and and certainly elderly and disabled that that are in nursing homes um so there could be a triage type thing you know if there's less Federal money we may have to allocate more to Mass health which is the administering arm of Medicaid in in Massachusetts um there may be a percentage to to local Aid we we we just don't know at this point and we're again proceeding on the information that we
032have at a particular time uh hopeful that you know the $16 billion do that came in federal money will continue to come in and we can build a responsible budget but um also try to remain Nimble and and pivot if we have to if if there's if there's some changes now kind of overlaying on that and and kind of a separate but related discussion is uh the precipitous increase in health care so Chia which is the center for health information and Analysis and they chart the growth of um all all health care costs blanket healthare health care costs in the state on a yearly basis and just this past year health care costs increased dramatically close to 9% 8.6% previous Benchmark was about 3.6% um so that's another stress that cities and towns have is
033as well as the state in terms of um health care and health insurance uh that's another Factor um so you know I guess the the the the lesson to be taken out of this is we need to uh proceed um with caution conservatively and think about different contingencies and stay AB breast with what's happening um moment moment notice as it changes moment moment uh in Washington um so that's kind of a general overview really of what we're seeing in Boston and and and where we're at with things and um you know how those ramifications could you know have real effects on you know what we do here in the town of Milford just want to ask Brian a question too U excuse me Brian you you were mentioning too how um right now with the
034$60 billion budget is all right today as we speak it's business as usual you're going to be more orless making uh a budget or you know expenses in in and and and whatnot uh based on that $60 billion doar um and then the Senate is meeting at the end of May to you know during the month of May yeah to to solidify everything well they do their part right so do you think there'd be an answer or or some sort of a guide from then until uh the uh Senate meets one would certainly hope yeah we certainly hope but um this Administration is just so chaotic right and things change at a whim I mean who knows so we could more or less be planning our budget for the town of Milford like we are
035going to do tonight and go to town meeting in in in in in May and then maybe have to make some Cuts after that absolutely wow well I was just going to say like to to Pivot off of that like the biggest difficulty here is exactly what you just identifi we could be moving forward say say even Governor's budget stays through May like you said right we're going to town meeting in May right and also say the process Brian described changes in June that's what I mean yeah be prepared to we going to be prepared to to to go back to the drawing board potentially yes yes wow well that's a valid point and Brian you talk about the process that you're using or do performing at the state level and this evening we have
036right our first draft C copy of it as well and you know to Paul's point or to everybody's point and now you know we we vote to approve our budget that we take to the Maytown meeting and the Senate you know is is now working on their end of the budget in the month of May and you said if I heard you right Brian that in June it kind of gets everybody re-examines it and the final number we could approve a budget in May that could really be affected by the end of June right so the town budget it's really kind of a microcosm of the state right you know there's that's predicated on a certain degree of state aid and if the federal aid to the state is drastically reduced I think it's fair
037to say that the state aid from the state to the town could would would would be affected as well right right I'm sorry Tom no I I I think there is R Mar's indicating there's there's a number of unknowns and I think we have to keep in mind as well that the federal fiscal budget the fiscal year feds is different than the fiscal year of the state and local here in Massachusetts so there there's still going to be unknowns even after we get into the budget I would assume Brian well I I mean like what happened and I said the $12 million for the the the food uh uh the nutrition at the schools um that was pulled mid year you know they they there was a second part of a grant and the federal
038government just said they're not going to fund the rest of it and because it's so chaotic down in Washington you know I don't know if they've had a r i can't I don't know the last time they've had a regular budget they just do these things these continuing orders if Contin resolutions I think the last one they did I know goes through September or something it's so difficult to try to keep up with um so you know to to Tom's Point yes the fiscal year is different but I mean what what the president is now doing uh just ignores fiscal years and and and and just pulls money now now uh Massachusetts is is has initiated a number of lawsuits against the Trump Administration for restoration of funds and we've gotten some preliminary orders but
039they've been ignored it just ignores them so so you've got to continue to fight it in court um it it it's unprecedented it really is and a lot of people are I think focused maybe on some of the different stories that are out in the news about different kinds of situations but uh meanwhile you know this is what's going on with the operation of government and I guess a question I would have Bri is in I think I have the answer to this but is anybody on the federal level communicating with the state I know it's a tough question to answer but yeah from from the the the the the information the sense that I got is it's it's sporadic and and it comes through various departments but it's very tourist messaging I think if
040you go on a lot of the federal websites Department of Education for example they've taken down a lot of their notices their Administration is looking to disrup um terminate these agencies and and of course Department of Ed administers uh Head Start money um uh a lot of the um special education funding and oversight it's all administered through through the department of Ed so I mean again this is all new territory right yeah it really is and it's happening you know in live time and that's why there's kind of this cloud of uncertainty um you know as to the whole budget process so I wanted to make sure I communicated that to you clearly so that people at least have that awareness and we can move forward kind of thinking about different potentials that you know
041that that that that may have to be addressed sure well thank you very much not that it's good news but but you it to us yeah yeah so that's I didn't know Zach wanted to yeah I definitely aot yeah so with that said you know we've met um with Rick and chairman of the fincom we set goals and objectives and then to now is a little bit of a different story you've also had departments in pitching different uh employment and operational changes and probably great to do but in this uncertainty times we've kind of gone back to the drawing board so I'd say uh about a month ago our budget was looking a little unhealthy I would say at about 2 million over of what we projected and in light of everything that Brian's saying
042it was unacceptable it would not be wise to move forward in that situation so we've been doing a lot of meetings with various departments and you have now presented in front of you a much more lenient um responsible budget we're still over about A5 million and if I may I'd like to explain how we got to that situation um you heard Kristen talk earlier about the health insurance renewal at 88.5% and kind of interesting Brian just told you the benchmarks of 8.6 right so we're kind of right there and then you mentioned last year was 36 and that's kind of what our renewal was so coincidence interesting minimally yes um we're at 8.6 now you heard that the state or a lot of the other communities are above 10 at 11 12 13 so on
043the face of it it looks great cool we got an 8.5 but that's our second biggest budget our largest budget any community's largest budget is the educational budget quickly followed by health insurance so you're going up almost 10% on health insurance that's a huge amount right so that's what I'm calling our quote unquote budget Buster this year is health insurance now not only an 8.6% increase but in this current year budget we're in right now we're actually about a half million doar short so I don't have an article I'm not looking for it because a few years ago we adopted we reopt the opep trust trust which allows us to have that as an actual working operational trust so to pick up the shortfall of the current year Chris pill is the custodian I got
044his permission we signed off to charge two months worth of retiree health Insurance to that fund rather than go appropriate and tax more but the starting point of the next year is not only the 8.6 in premium but we're a half million doll shy how employee requests employee hires over the past few years a lot at the school um we've had on the town side with police officers we've had four hires in the past few years had various different hires throughout town so all those combined and we're in a situation where our health insurance is growing really rapidly you know so I think we all need to do a pump the brakes moment here and I think you're going to see that in this version of the budget we we've had Rick about 12 plus
045requests for employees and we've just been kind of holding the line saying no uh we do have one which is the sergeant that you'll see at the police department but we've also taken it a step even further Rick I don't know if you want to mention your Department's uh removal of budgets yeah we did um again we were looking to place and fund an assistant Town Administrator at this time I just don't think it's advisable that's why you'll see General governments down I know Zach's better with the numbers but down uh because we're not going to fund that thank you that position so that's one um storm water the we were going to do a storm order position we talked with uh Liz minini Town engineer we've talked with Zach and we've talked with Scott
046Chris ofoli off so obviously right now we're not going to fund that we think that can wait also so that's another um uh savings there were requests from other departments and again credit to the Departments that they recognize that it's not crucial that they have these positions at this time so they are going to defer uh funding certain positions uh wanted the Youth Center one at the uh Senior Center um so again there has been cooperation I want to credit Zach he's the one that puts all of this together um but the department heads uh and also you know Mark Nelson and and chief dinino same thing they have been very Cooperative understanding where we're at in these as Brian said I guess we call them uncertain budgetary times thank you Rick and nothing to
047say that things go the other way we can always revisit but I think it's you know it's imperative that uh we continue you know down the road we're going and we you know keep our keep our belts tight because we just don't know you know we just don't know I will say as we traditionally do on the revenue side I go very very very conservative at this time of year just because I'm always nervous of uncertainty so that has not changed so that is a little bit of a feather in our cap for wiggle room in the future and then I did want to come back to the reason we're potentially a half million dollar over here is you may have seen or heard by now that BBT has accepted 37 I believe more students
048but did equate to about a half million above last year that's a big number for a budget like that but I know the message has been sent to him that take more so some much two classrooms yes because I was going to ask you too I mean the education budget budget at 8% increase comes to a little over six6 million from last year to this year big um is that because of the increase of students and whatnot too or um well it is it's uh important to note too that the major school budget our school budget the largest budget in town that's an estimate right now where they are at is not there but they need to be they just have to I it yeah they have to be at that number y okay thank
049you and again they've got they you know you know sitting in the room are three former School community members and you got to figure it out you know and and we we got to take a tough stance we got to say you know yeah you're asking for this is what this is what we have you know and this what is presented as an estimate is not small as you could no not at all I'll be honest I'm looking at it I'm thinking about if I'm not mistaken the the last time we had a little go on it was just over 60 million and tonight it's proposed at 82 that's not a small number no no you know Tom do you have any questions for these two fine gentlemen while we have them here well I
050think we all have questions I don't know that we have answers the difficult right I agree with Brian I agree with Zach in both of you gentlemen that we should put together our budget be as conservative as we can be right and hope for the best but be prepared for changes I just going to say I appreciate the work that everybody did Brian Zach uh Administration um it's very you know it's a complex thing to come up with a municipal budget let alone in these times you know where you where you have to more or less go with what you need as opposed to what you want in getting that message across to the department heads and and and and thank to them too that they understand like you said um it is something that
051um like I said we have to think about the essential services that we still have to provide which comes first such as your infrastructure your maintenance of infrastructure um uh education um Health uh sanitation and whatnot that's going to improve the uh or L the well-being and the uh of the general public you know without them having to go without these necessities and and I appreciate the work you're doing I'm sure you know it's it's a lot of time a lot of commitment and and we see that as a select board too and I'm sure that the general public sees it too and I just want to thank you for that thank you and you know Brian I'll I'll start with you and and I I I want people to appreciate that you know you
052know not only you going to be in there you know working trying to figure out if in fact you know the 16 let's just use the worst case scenario the $16 billion cut does come um you know dealing you know as a State Rep dealing with that issue but also you know the the you know the the fighting every year you do to get funds to come back to the Milford Community the Milford youth center and all the different things that you you're able to you know to bring back to this community all those things that you know are going to be affected and how they're going to affect this community so I you know from you know from your seat as a State Rep I want people to understand you know what you're going
053through on a daily basis is you know let's just say everything was status quo and we were going into the budget season you would be saying okay this year I'm going to go back in for the Youth Center I'm going back in for this and right now the way things are you're going to plan for those kind of things but you know you just don't know you know but yet you're still you know you're still in there you you're still in the fight I guess is a way to put it it sure is it's an awful way to put it but all right he does he does a good job for us and Zach and Rick and all the department heads thank you I know it's going to be difficult and you know we've talked
054earlier there are department heads that had static conversations with us and what they were looking for and they've already started you know pulling back you know trying to get ourselves ready so again I thank everybody involved and you know to Brian's point and you know from the town let's just keep walking forward business as usual and hope for the best you know but again thank you all of you Rick Zach and everybody involved thank you and again ran thank you thank you Mr CH and and again obviously any updated new information I get I'm right here pass it on and uh you know we'll just operate with the best information that we have at a given time sure thank you much appreciated thank you very much thank you have a good night you thank you
055again have a great night you too see Tom Tom hey our next agenda item is the town administrator's report yes thank you Mr chairman just one item tonight I just have an update on the Metro West bus route uh we've been informed that they have finalized a launch date for a new route which will be called the 495 connector the launch date is Tuesday May 27th this will be a commuter shuttle during Peak commute hours and then turn to a fixed route during the midday during the commute hours the route will travel from the South Acton MBTA station travel to the Southboro station making stops in Hudson in Malboro and then travel through hington to Milford stopping at the Milford Crossing and making its last stop at the Franklin 495 commuter rail sta station and
056then doing the reverse the route will utilize Route 85 for most of this trip this will allow passengers connections to three different Commuter Rail lines and connections to seven different communities they will be sending us Flyers and promotional information for distribution uh I'm also informed that they're going to be installing a solar bus stop sign at the Milford Crossing so I think this is good news for the town and other towns along the Route and that's all I have tonight Mr chair thank you thank you thank you Rick no thank you Rick Tom thank you Rick no no questions and Rick if I could just jump on to you report a little bit about the about the bus only because I was involved in a meeting that was at the senior center um and there
057is going to be uh publicity on this for the general public but they've also uh obtained a grant that's going to uh enhance not only their their bus routes it's going to be a program called catch connect and dialo ride um which is um going to be a really great ad because dial the ride is going to kind of be their version of of uber um it's not an Uber program but that's the best way that I can describe it to you but catch connect is going to be an enhancement to the current system that's running right now and I know you know once everybody hears that there's going to be a lot of questions and they are coming back into the community and they're willing to uh do whatever necessary whatever is necessary to
058get the word out to the general public in the community so you know again to jump on to the town administrator's report about the bus uh the the the new bus route we've also uh through a grant uh going to be able to enhance that even more with the two new programs called catch connect and dial ride so please you know stay posted because uh as I said I was in in the meeting and it's it's definitely a a a major plus you know for the community thank you Mike thank mik thank you very much RI thank you as always okay next agenda item is old business does anybody have any old business all no no Mr chairman and I do not as well okay next agenda item is new business and under new business
059we've already taken care of item one which is K&M Auto Sales and item two which is a human resources director's report on insurance renewals so the first two items under new business we've already addressed earlier in our meeting so our next item under new business is seasonal license renewals this evening we have two we have the masog rod and gun Rod and Gun Club located at one McGill Lane and Sons of Italy dramatic and Sportsman's Club located at 55 Depot Street and Paul can I have a motion sure Mr shamman motion to approve the seasonal license renewals for 220 2025 for M Masano Rod and Gun Club and also the sons of Bentley um dramatic and Sportsman's Club on uh Depot Street second Mr chairman and I would make that unanimous okay next we have
060Town administrated nomination of the inspector of of animals yes every year the board must vote to nominate the inspector of animals it has been Keith Haynes uh who is our current U Animal control officer so I've be looking for a vote to appoint him as the inspector of animals sure uh motion Mr chair to reappoint um K Haynes as Inspector of animals for the town of Milford second Mr chairman and I would make that unanimous roll call please I I and I as well okay next we have a very generous gift from a gentleman in the community by the name of Joseph Graziano he has donated to the Milford Police Department a gift in the amount of $5,000 and this donation is money is to be used for money for purchase of mental health intervention
061and or further support of the Milford Police Department's efforts in this area um and again it's a very generous donation of $5,000 and it's also um you know a big thank you because a lot of people don't realize that a lot of the calls that the Milford Police Department is handling on a daily basis involves some kind of a mental health crisis and so this is this gift is is going to be able to use to assist those um individuals that you know are in distress and the police department responds to it and we'll be able to you know to handle them and and and get those individuals the help that they need so to Mr Graziano I want to say thank you very much that was uh that was a very generous gift and
062a very thoughtful gift Paul yeah I agree Mr chairman of uh and I thank Mr graciano as well um and like you said about me about um me mental health you know a lot of people don't realize how prevalent it is and uh how every family needs that help that they could get above and beyond a family member um and it came at a at a very intricate time especially now where funds are are are low like we just heard from our um Finance director and our state representative and $5,000 is a very generous gift and it couldn't come out a better time and I really appreciate it thank you Tom and just Echo um what each of my colleagues said uh particularly the fact that clearly a number of the calls to service that
063the police are involved in and I think Mr Graziano recognized that so I I just want you involveed mental health issues as well as um substance issues so um I just want to thank him as well for his personal recognition and his willingness to help others I mean that's a significant sum of money of someone to take out of their own uh personal you know uh funds and and I just want to say thank you um it'll go a long way to help others thank you Tom and again uh Rick will make sure we get a nice letter out to Mr Graziano and again uh thank you very very much very thoughtful and thank you for uh considering the Milford Police Department okay next we have a resignation from the Milford zoning board of appeals
064uh dear David kigle effective immediately it is with regret for me to inform you that I am stepping down from my position on the Milford Zone in board of appeals sincerely John dagnes um I personally would like to thank Mr dagnes for his years of service uh serving in the board of appeals sometimes is uh quite a task I think that's how I'll put it um so you know Mr dages you know thank you very much for your years of service we greatly appreciate it and with that Paul I'll turn it over to you yeah to just like you said uh Michael uh uh John was a fantastic member a longtime member he had the knowledge and experience but he also had the compassion as well especially on the board that you said that could
065be a little difficult uh to be on cu the decisions that you have to make that could affect you know uh our residents and the applicants who do apply for various variances there um anyway um I really appreciate uh John we hate to see him go um it's with regret that we will accept his uh resignation uh but we we grateful for the years he served and we're grateful for all he has done for us too thank you John tomn yeah i' just like to extend my thanks and gratitude on behalf of the community I that board is very busy and they make to say the least you know complex decisions uh to the benefit not only the applicants but the benefit of the overall community so um I just want to thank John for
066service and uh I'm quite sure he'll still be available as you know that wealth and knowledge that someone else can tap into so but um this board I believe should send to him um thanks on behalf of the entire Community Rick he'll take care of that we always do y okay with that can I have a motion please a motion to accept his regation with with regret second Mr chairman I would make that unanimous a roll call please I I and I as well okay and now next we have a letter from the chairman of the zoning board Dave kigle uh looking to fill that slot dear select board members as you may be aware one of our full-time members of the Milford zoning board John dagnes has resigned after many years of serving on
067the board the loss of John with his knowledge and compassion will be missed on the zba and we wish him nothing but the best in his retirement we continue to have many important decisions that are coming in front of the zoning board and I feel it is imperative we appoint a new full-time member as soon as we possibly can we have had three Alternatives that have been on the board now for a number of years all our key members of the board and all are very knowledgeable and could easily step right into a fill that vacant position but they have recommended Robert cazulo as the number one candidate to fill the slot that has been created by the resignation that we just talked about earlier if I could offer a recommendation I would recommend Robert
068capula to fill the full-time vacancy position Robert has been on the board for many years now he has demonstrated solid knowledge of the zba process ATT attendant at most all meetings as an alternate associate and has a good understanding of the zoning bylaws and treats all applicants and the public with respect dignity and compassion Robert has worked hard to always be prepared for each meeting and has earned his way to a full-time appointment I appreciate the opportunity to provide the recommend I appreciate the opportunity to provide to the board this recommendation David kigle chairman of the Milford zoning board with that Paul yeah we do like you were uh mentioning two in the letter too the David mentioned uh three very strong candidates uh all three are very uh active members uh they were alternate
069members but they all know quite a bit about zoning uh and uh what the and what it entails um it's a difficult decision but like I said respecting the recommendation of the chair and the reasons uh why he recommended uh do align with the board's goals and values in the best interest of the committee uh so therefore I would make a motion to appoint as the chairman uh conly would recommend Robert Capello for the next member what second there Mr chairman and I would make that unanimous and a roll call vote please I and I as well okay next we have the Milford planning board uh requests petition for the acceptance of Walter Circle we have a letter here from Kevin luser of luser and Ferrera construction dear members of the Milford planning board um
070and the Milford select board on behalf of lurer and Ferrera construction Corp I am writing to formally to petition for the acceptance of Walter C Circle at attached as the copy of the set of the plans in the legal description and that is uh we will also drop off copies in person thank you for your attention to this matter sincerely Kevin liser of liser and Pereira construction yes Mr chair I do uh make a motion then uh to uh remand the petition to the planning board for public hearing uh uh for this particular request uh to be included under May 19th 2025 annual town meeting warrant second Mr chairman and I would make that unanimous a roll call vote please I I Mr chairman and I as well okay next I'm going to take two
071items together uh nine and 10 which is a reappointment and an appointment to the Milford cultural Council and I just want to explain um if I could back up just a second we voted on the recommendation from David kigle um for Robert capula to the um zoning board and now we have a recommendation coming from the uh chairman of the Milford Council Council and if you remember maybe a year or two ago the select board you know came forward and said we would like the the the board that's looking to fill a vacancy um or appoint a new person to bring the recommended names to us in other words you're going to be working with that person so you need to do the research on that person and then bring the names to us and
072so um I don't want people to be sitting out there thinking well that you know that's politically it's it's not the names that come to us have already been fully you know researched by the current sitting committee the chairman is involved and it and so they bring the names to us and I just I wanted to explain that because tonight under the new business we've got you know two appointments to two committees and um the names have been submitted to us we you know we assume that they've done their research and and these are the people that they want on their committee and so that being said we're looking first off uh I have a letter here from Martin montonia who's the chairman of the Milford Council Council and he's looking to reappoint Cura cidd
073for a second term her first term ends this coming April and we are eager to have her continue as a highly valued member she has served on the board for the last two years and has been working diligently to expand Grant access and opportunity to younger mil forian and again that's from the chairman of the mil cultural Council and that is for a reappointment m Paul motion to reappoint karesa C CA uh to the uh cultural councel uh as a reappointment for her second term second Mr chairman and I would make that unanimous roll call please I I and I as well okay and now we're looking to uh the again uh Mr Montoya the chairman of the Milford C cultural Council the Milford cultural Council respect requested the select board take the following action
074regarding appointments to the Milford cultural council at your coming upcoming meeting on March 24th please appoint David Hatchy to the Milford cultural Council he has engaged with the board in in volunteer work and completed his talent Bank application David has been enthusiastic and supportive in helping the council maintain and continue its work on public art in the community the council voted to appoint Mr hatch Hatchy unanimously back in February pending his confirmation to join the council so again this is a recomendation a recommendation that's being made to us um but all the research has been done by the Milford cultural Council and they would like to add this individual and with that Paul I'll turn it over to you I then make a motion based on the recommendation from the chair and the council that
075would be a member that would uh that they would need to move them forward then I uh vote to I I make a motion to appoint David Hatchy to the cultural councel I would second then Mr chairman and I would make that unanimous with a roll call vote please I I and I as well okay okay that is everything under new business and again I apologize we kind of went out of sequence a little to to try and help some people get in before the board and and get home next agenda item is invitation to speak is there anybody in the audience invitation to speak not seeing anybody and do anybody online online okay and next agenda item is correspondence before I turn it to the members uh I do have two I have uh
076one from our uh from our Retirement Board from Kelly capisi who is our retirement administrator supplemental cost of living and adjustment members of the select board in accordance with Massachusetts General law C32 103 the statutes that apply to cost of living adjustments for Town retirees and beneficiaries you are hereby notified that the Milford Retirement Board will meet on April 15th at 1 p.m. to vote on whether to authorize a cost of living adjustment effective July 1st 20125 to those Town retirees or beneficiaries who were receiving a retirement allowance as of June 30th 2024 the statute allows for the Retirement Board to Grant a cost of Liv living adjustment up to 3% and again that is from Kelly capisi who is our retirement administrator for the town of Milford PA any questions no okay Tom any
077questions on that no questions no okay thank you Mr chairman you're welcome and the other correspondence we have is from the water department general manager uh Dave condry and it's basically a uh public notice um I just want to find your notes on that re yeah this has been a notice I can help if you'd like been a notice that went out I believe this past Monday uh we have contaminant it's past the name itself is just too difficult to pronounce but basically it's a contain containment and it's in our Godfrey Brook waterer well right now that facility has been taken offline Dave condry and his people are working with Engineers to remedy the problem it's not an emergency but we're required to put that kind of notice out and that's the notice that went
078out um I believe it went out Monday uh last week I'm sorry or Friday of this week but uh past week I'm sorry so it's already I think you should have received it or you will be receiving it but this is notice to the board should you get any questions sure and and how how are they planning on getting it out to the public Rick they do a mailing they do it on the website uh it's going to get out there yeah they're required to yeah okay yep all right so again that's the correspondence that I have questions they can call also okay yeah all right thank you Paul any yeah just it was I think this is good especially you know very glad that they did find it in the gy brook well because
079learning more about pasas uh is very crucial because it's is is one of those forever chemicals uh that are always in the environment that were used back in the ' 50s and 40s uh you know on various clothes and cooking material and especially on uh fire uh equipment especially the foam and uh it's something that they found that uh uh could be uh hazardous to the health and uh between federal government state and local they're looking to find ways to detect it and also control it so it is not a health factor and I I appreciate this being done by the Milford Water Company MILF water department right it's just an example of being you know proactive instead of reactive which important and in important in any matter but very important when it involves you
080drinking water sure so to Dave condre of the Milford Water company to the Milford Water Commissioners and and the employees thank you very much for getting ahead of this before as you know a few years ago we had a serious situation uh which did not go well so this is an example of you know how we're we're getting ahead of the curb we're being again not to be repetitive we're being proactive instead of reactive so again thank you very much to everybody involved um we've already had our executive session M I have some correspondence sure go right ahead sure uh what I'd like to do uh thank you Mr chair is uh make note too uh uh just recently um there were 33 local firefighters that graduated from the fire academy in stass and that
081was on March 7th and I was informed uh by a few people as well as articles in the um Fall River news that someone showed me as well as mass government uh.com uh that one of our our new firefighter Michael Bodo who graduated from the Massachusetts fire academy in STO at the sto campus on March 7th um I'm proud to report that he received the uh Richard n brag outstanding recruit award uh this was given to the top uh recruit in each class and and Michael was it the only he was the milord guy he got it out of the whole 33 uh uh students uh the Richard n brag outstanding award is presented to one recruit in each graduating uh career uh recruit training class the award is named uh for the longtime chair
082of the Milford um I mean sorry of the Massachusetts fire training Council and reflects the recruits academic and practical skills testing and evaluation over a course of 10 we program and on behalf of the select board I want to congratulate Michael for a well-deserved recognition and the best of him in the future as our firefighter thank you very much Paul and to uh to Michael thank you very much for uh making us proud great job and look forward to being on the fire department so okay Tom doesn't have any correspondent so with that I'll take a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn Mr chair thank you and I would I would make that unanimous roll call Paul I I and I I as well and with that I want to say thank you to everybody
083for watching again we apologize if you were you had a copy of the agenda or you were following the agenda online and we kind of went out of order a little bit on you it was only we were just trying to you know help individuals that were here before us in this evening to get in and get out so they could get home in a timely manner so we greatly appreciate your patience as always thank you very much and hopefully hope that you have a good rest of the week thank you and good evening good evening good night good night