===PAGE 1=== Lunenburg Finance Committee Meeting Minutes Bilotta Meeting Room Lunenburg Town Hall March 21, 2024 Present Members: Chair Evan Watters, Vice Chair Chris Menard, Clerk Tiffaney Tavares, Board Member Tom Gray, Board Member Dave Passios, Board Member Jean Russell (Zoom), Board Member Jay Simeone 1. Call to Order The meeting opened at 7:00 PM. 2. Pledge of Allegiance 3. Announcements There were no announcements. 4. Public Comment Mary Foyle, 985 Flat Hill Road, spoke as the President of the Lunenburg Education Association. Mary Foyle wanted to clarify that the $4,300 is the amount of money that separates a first-year teacher with a bachelors in Lunenburg from being eligible for government assistance programs. She doesn’t believe the Finance Committee is working with accurate data or they don’t fully understand the data they are using. Mary Foyle asks the Committee to do their due diligence and fact checking. Rhonda Lisio,181 Reservoir Road, made a comment about whether the Finance Committee is going to vote on the override prior to it being on the warrant. Rhonda Lisio believes that some people look through the warrant and think nothing is being contested so these must be necessary things. 5. Minutes a. 2/20/24, 2/21/24, 2/22/24, 2/29/24, 3/7/24 Dave Passios is concerned about the wording related to Mr. Beardmores comment and wants another member to review. Jay Simeone is requesting a link be added to the minutes for the YouTube recording. Additionally, any public documents should be added as part of the minutes. ===PAGE 2=== At 9 minutes and 30 seconds the audio cuts out for a few minutes so I’m not sure who made the motion or seconded. Additionally, I believe the minutes that weren’t approved were the 22nd but that was not audible in the recording, so I just want to double check. Motion to approve the minutes from 2/20/24, 2/21/24, 2/29/24, 3/7/24 by , seconded by . Roll call vote. Jean Russell aye, Dave Passios aye, Tom Gray aye, Jay Simeone aye, Tiffaney Tavares aye, Chris Menard aye, Evan Watters aye, 6. Town Manager Report 7. Finance Director Report Audio returns around 12 minutes 29 seconds. I didn’t see Heathers report or the finance directors report. 8. New Business a. Public Access Committee FY25 Budget Presentation The Chair of the Public Access Cable Committee, Steve Walker, presented their budget. The Public Access Cable Committees mission is to establish, develop, modernize, and operate the town of Lunenburg’s public educational and government channels. The amount of content has grown and is now shared on a nationwide media database. Some recent accomplishments include: - Improvement of the production quality of town meetings by using 4 cameras and direct inputs for presentations and a voting machine. - Increased overall amount of government meetings recorded and broadcast. - Continuing local programming growth PACC oversees Channel 22, which has been in operation for 4 years. The channel is populated with local and educational database content. Additionally, the School Committee is aired 3 times a week and high school sports are aired 2 times a week. Locally produced programs that are not governmental are played on channel 9. Between FY 22 and FY 23 there was a 242% increase in broadcasting middle and high school sports. ===PAGE 3=== Finances The franchise fees from Comcast are the principal source of the PAC income and are reserved for PAC capital improvements and operations. This does not affect the town budgets. Enterprise fund reserved for fitting out and equipping the new studio space. Some of the funds from the enterprise fund have been invested in short-term bonds per the town treasurer to manage inflation. Evan Watters asks if there is a timeline for planning the buildout for the studio. Steve Walker says there is not and it’s dependent on having a building with enough space. Currently PAC takes up 900 square feet in TC Passios. The new space is going to be roughly 3 times that size. Anticipated income for FY 25: - Comcast $194,304 - Regular interest $13,499 - Bond interest $30,960 This totals $238,763 minus the reserve funds comes to $207,803. The contract with Comcast is in effect until February 2028. There are 2 employees 1 employee works 36 hours a week at a rate of $33.97. The other employee works 20 hours a week at a rate of $24.04. FY 25 budget summary - Salaries $126,643 - Indirect costs $27,930 - Operations $24,200 The total budget for operations is $178,773. ARPA Funding $50,700 ARPA funding was received and includes 3 categories of improvements 1. Videographer kits: $12,000 2. Studio: $34,300 3. Broadcast Audio: $4,400 There is potential legislature for a bill called the Act to Modernize Funding for Community Media. This is a proposition of a 5% fee on digital streaming providers, based on a company’s gross annual revenue in the state. Monies collected at State level are disbursed as follows: - 20% to state general fund ===PAGE 4=== - 40% to municipalities - 40% community media Chris Menard questions if it has been confirmed that this is coming to Lunenburg. Steve Walker states they are currently waiting for information but confirms that the monies that come into the State would be distributed or dispersed by the population. Proposed Warrant Article There is a request to see if the town will vote to raise and appropriate or transfer from available funds, a sum of money to fund the FY 25 Public Educational Government (PEG) Access Enterprise operating and capital budgets; or take any other action relative thereto. Tiffaney Tavares asks what the line item for consultant services is for. Steve Walker states that the cost is for a technician to come in on an hourly basis to solve complex problems. Evan Watters questions if the upgraded studio includes switching over to some type of high-definition system or if that is an additional expense. Steve Walker states the present contract allows for 1 high-definition channel. All current equipment being used is high definition. b. Public Comment on Public Access Committee Budget Rhonda Lisio, 181 Reservoir Road, is concerned about the dropping revenue and how much is being spent on operations. The rent is still $6,000 and has been since 2012. A 3,000 square foot place seems like a lot of space especially since most of the programming is generated outside. Steve Walker states its size is comparable to other towns. Additionally, they are looking at creating a podcast which will require additional space. c. School Department FY25 Budget Presentation The preliminary budget was presented by Superintendent Dr. Kate Burnham, Chairperson Carol Archambault from the School Committee, and Julianna Hanscom Director of Special Services The mission of the schools is to provide all students with skills, confidence, and passion for lifelong learning so that they may find their own path to successful careers, active citizenship and rewarding lives. Student Enrollment The average class size for the 2023-2024 school year ranged between 17-25 students apart from pre-k ranging 11-13 students. ===PAGE 5=== 2023-2024 homeschool data • 4 students have returned to the district. • 19 students have moved or reported attending other schools in the State. • 37 students have homeschool plans approved by the district. • 14 students (families) in the district are still working on plan/status. Student count on IEPS • Lunenburg Primary School: 79 students • Turkey Hill Elementary School: 61 students • Lunenburg Middle School: 62 students • Lunenburg High School: 46 students • ACE Program: 7 students The district will evaluate at least 110 students this year to determine eligibility for special education services. Students on Section 504 from 2023-2024 • Lunenburg Primary School: 8 students • Turkey Hill Elementary School: 33 students • Lunenburg Middle School: 51students • Lunenburg High School: 69 students • ACE Program: 0 students This includes students with either identified disability or a suspected disability. This does not involved specialized education. Board Certified Behavior Analysists BCBA Caseload for FY 24 • Lunenburg Primary School: 44 students • Turkey Hill Elementary School: 25 students • Lunenburg Middle School: 23 students • Lunenburg High School: 24 students • Out of District: 3 students Evan Watters asked if the numbers for BCBAs in the school is catching up to needs or if they are climbing. Dr. Kate Burnham believes the teachers may be more in tune with what they need to be looking for and how to approach getting students’ assistance and support. There is a referral process before they get to the level of special education. Evan Watters questions if the parents are aware if their child is going through a referral process. Dr. Kate Burnham confirms there is communication. ===PAGE 6=== Behavioral Health Update & Response Mental Health Crisis/ Hospitalizations - Section 12 Middle/High School: 0 hospitalizations from 2023–2024 Middle/High School: 1 hospitalization in the Middle school in 2022-2023. Hospitalizations requiring tutoring. 2023-2024: 4 students (data up to 1/11/24) 2022-2023: 16 students 2021- 2022: 4 students Chris Menard asks if this data shows a student being hospitalized on multiple occasions. Dr. Kate Burnham states there were 2 or 3 individuals that had multiple hospitalizations last year. Tiffaney Tavares asks how the 16 hospitalizations affect the budget. Dr. Kate Burnham states there are programs where students who might be coming back from a hospitalization are transitioned into a smaller setting to ease back in. This classroom was always offered as a fall back if students were having trouble. There is also a budget line for hospital tutoring and last year that line was underfunded. Tiffaney Tavares questions if there is tutoring for non-behavior related medical issues. Dr. Kate Burnham confirms that is the case and isn’t aware of any trends. Grants Esser grants were used in FY 21 to FY 24. The intent of these funds was primarily to address the covid impact. The 2 biggest priority areas of impact were social emotional mental health and academic learning loss. Tiffaney Tavares raised concern relating to learning loss for students. She is of the opinion that students who have gone from elementary school this past year and are now in middle school were not prepared for having homework and the rigorous schedule. Tiffaney Tavares believes this is because there was not a plan in place for elementary school students to have homework and doesn’t believe that has changed this year. She is concerned and curious if the clinicians are going to see a heavier workload and reoccurring problems. Dr. Kate Burnham states the strategy is pedagogy. If you look at academic performance of the Turkey Hill Elementary School, its increased during the years when there hasn’t been mandatory homework. At home they are to prioritize free ===PAGE 7=== reading. Teaching children time management is not the first right answer for why we give homework. It should be connected to the learning outcome. Tiffaney Tavares disagrees and encourages Dr. Burnham to sit through a sixth-grade classroom. The amount of work is shocking, and the teachers are stressed out from having to acclimate those students and spending resources to try to decrease the stress levels in that middle school because kids are not prepared. She questions if they wouldn’t need as many clinicians and time could be stretched differently if there weren’t as many anxieties thus have a little less on their plate. Loss of Esser Funds Tiffaney Tavares asks what is happening with the position cuts of the PE teacher for the primary and elementary schools. Dr. Kate Burnham shares that most of their unified arts for the last 3 years have been shared. One building will have their specials scheduled in the morning and the other building will have their specials scheduled in the afternoon. Chris Menard asked when the cuts are announced to the teacher or the union. Dr. Kate Burnham confirms they are trying to figure out what the cuts could potentially be before she goes to a public meeting. The individuals attached to these positions will meet and have a discussion. These conversations are timed tightly just in advance of a list of positions being discussed at public meetings. Dr. Kate Burnham emails out regular updates. Chris Menard states there have been times in the past at the last moment where chapter 70 funds were increased by our legislature. This was due to a statewide problem. Heather Lemieux states it would take another town meeting vote to make those adjustments. Every year federal grants are received, also known as entitlement grants. The state grants need to actively be pursued. There is no primary grant writer position. Typically, it’s the lead person that would be connected to that grant area. FY 25 Budget Priorities Factors underlying the need for reductions for FY 25 • Health insurance increases $500,000 • Contractual increases $400,000 • Loss of COVID grant funding $600,000 The Town Mangers budget calculations reflecting a 2.94% increase Total school department budget for FY 24 $22,878,443 Plus, the 2.94% increase of $672,262. ===PAGE 8=== The Town Managers 2.94% increase totals $23,551,069 The Town Managers revised budget reflecting a 4.19% increase. Addition of new growth $236,025 Addition of monies from the pavement management plan $50,000 The Town Managers budget with the 4.19% increase totals $23,837,094 At the Select Board meeting on March 19, 2024, there was a vote to approve reallocating $101,640 that was previously allocated for sidewalks. Chris Menard states going forward with a 7-digit override number is a much harder ask than a 6 digit and may be more palatable to residents. Carol Archambault thoughts were if we went with a $700,000 override the problem is we will be doing this over again next year because that’s not enough to raise the base. Tom Gray questions if we have a million dollar override this year what happens with the additional $200,000 requested. If we are doing an override and we are going to be taxing the people $221,000. He wants to know where that money will go. Carol Archambault doesn’t think it would be a problem to find places for that money. We’re not going to get an override 2 years in a row. If the override goes and it’s not enough, then what happens. We will always have major maintenance, football field repairs, and reoccurring Chromebook expense every year. Peter Beardmore, 282Pleasant Street, the numbers have changed on an almost daily basis for the past 2 weeks. The School Committee voted on the pink column the night before. That is the absolute minimum amount of money needed to operate the schools without massive disruptions. This still includes a lot of cuts. The maintenance requests for next year are going to be double those of this year. The rationale behind the roughly 1-million-dollar override is the difference between the budget base and what the Town Manager has offered and put on the warrant. This is not putting money aside from the override. Chris Menard wants more understanding of the rationale behind the override figure that was obtained. We need a clear answer from the Select Board who will be putting a number on a piece of paper, the School Committee, and the finance department to make a recommendation. That recommendation needs to be made within a week. We need to plan operations in capital, infrastructure and everything needed for the next 10 years. ===PAGE 9=== d. Public Comment on School Department Budget TJ Laughlin, 207 Rolling Acres Road, states he is seeing a common trend. This is the 4th meeting where people have said they don’t know what they’re looking at and people need to come back with the facts. How can we educate the public when none of it is being stabilized. This process is not all inclusive. Why? Who is responsible for making this an all-inclusive process because the Select Board has not acted, and you guys have not acted. Peter Beardmore, 282 Pleasant Street, asks if the Committee has received or heard anything about the salary administration plan or the salary gap that was discussed a few weeks ago. Evan Watters states we have received that information this afternoon. What we’re seeing is the MO of the Town Manager and Peter Beardmore wants to know who is going to hold her responsible. Believes the chair of the select board and the Town Manager made this plan in the beginning of February to shift the burden onto the school department. Somebody needs to show some leadership and it certainly isn’t coming from the executive of this town. Mary Foyle, 985 Flat Hill Road, has worked at Lunenburg public school and states we have never had good programming. We have been the bare minimum and suggest using ARPA funding for programming. Mary Foyle appreciates the work of everyone. The Town Manager states there are a lot of untruths in the previous speakers’ comments tonight. She states she is looking at local receipts and needs to look at historically what has been estimated versus actuals. Tiffaney Tavares believes Dr. Burnham needs to also take accountability. This isn’t only about looking at the numbers. It’s about the school as a whole and how this is affecting teachers and can we operate differently to save money, to save time, to save stress. Sometimes someone else needs to step in and look closely and find different possible perspectives. Jean Russell thanks Dr. Kate Burnham for her presentation. e. Other Monied Articles Presentation This presentation did not take place. f. Public Comment on Other Monied Articles Presentation The other monied articles presentation did not take place. g. Warrant Article Discussion This discussion did not take place. ===PAGE 10=== h. FinCom Report for Warrant Discussion This discussion did not take place. 9. Old Business a. FY21-FY23 Revenue and Expenditures Recap Discussion This topic was not discussed. b. FY 25 Budget Update/Discussion This topic was not discussed. i. Previous FY25 Presentations This topic was not discussed. 10. Minutes This topic was tabled until the next meeting. 11. Committee Reports There were no committee reports. 12. Topics for Future Meetings This topic was not discussed. 13. Upcoming FY25 Budget Meetings a. Mar 28th – FinCom Public Hearing b. Apr 1st – FinCom Special Meeting (Remote) c. Apr 4th – FinCom Special Meeting 14. Important Dates Apr 5th – FinCom Report for Warrant May 4th – Annual Town Meeting May 18th – Annual Town Election 15. Public Comment Tom Gray states that since this started, I have seen people working really hard trying to do the right thing whatever that may be. We will get through this as a town, and we will move on. 16. Adjourn There was a motion to adjourn by Chris Menard, seconded by Tiffaney Tavares. Jean Russell aye, Dave Passios aye, Tom Gray aye, Jay Simeone aye, Tiffaney Tavares aye, Chris Menard aye, Evan Watters aye, The meeting closed at 11:29 PM.