Select Board, June 20, 2023

The town has published neither minutes nor an agenda for this meeting. The recording is the only record, and what follows is a guide to it.

budgetcontracts and unionsgrantshiringpersonnelpublic commentretirementtown departmentstown meetingtransferswater sewer

Present: Chair (unnamed) (chair); Mr Franco (member); Mr Alonso (member); Heather (town manager); Elaine (staff (minutes)); Karen (staff (payroll/finance calculations)). Names are the caption model’s hearing and may be wrong.

Votes

1. ▶ 29:20Accept the provisions of Chapter 269 of the Acts of 2022 giving an additional two percent cost of living increase to eligible Worcester Regional retirement retirees, retroactive to July 1, 2022.passed (motion passes, count not given)
2. ▶ 31:36Ratify the town manager's appointment of James Ricci as on-call firefighter/EMT.passed
3. ▶ 34:18Ratify the town manager's appointment of Ashley Denio as conservation administrative assistant.passed
4. ▶ 1:04:42Commit thirty thousand dollars for the fiscal 24 tax revaluation.passed

And 2 procedural: approve minutes of march 21 and march 28, 2023 as written. (▶ 35:40); adjourn. (▶ 1:07:06).

Transfers

The money

1. ▶ 11:55Sewer enterprise retained earnings and ARPA request

   Sewer commission chair said it requests an ARPA amount and had retained earnings at end of 2022, with a planned draw for operations.

   as heard:500 0002.2 million420 000

2. ▶ 24:45Retiree COLA

   A retiree said the COLA applies only to the first portion of a pension, with a stated maximum benefit.

   as heard:sixteen thousandthree hundred and twenty dollars

3. ▶ 36:41Warrants

   Board reviewed several warrants including payroll, payroll deduction, real estate refund and teachers lump sum.

   as heard:187 494.25877 891.43464 000 59.65364 284.93982 327.93

4. ▶ 42:19Revaluation contract

   A single proposal came in well above what the budget held for the five-year revaluation, and the vendor could not start until October.

   as heard:a hundred and twelve thousand45 000

5. ▶ 46:46Quarterly tax cash flow

   Board discussed cash flow and possible short-term borrowing if tax bills are delayed.

   as heard:18 million10 million a quarterjust under 40 million

6. ▶ 58:46ARPA funds for investigation

   Prior ARPA allocation for the investigation was largely expended, with more payroll still to be calculated.

   as heard:150 000a hundred thousand

7. ▶ 1:04:22Revaluation shortfall

   Town manager said the gap to award the contract is about seventy thousand, partly covered by existing funds; board committed the rest from ARPA.

   as heard:seventy thousand dollars30180

Settled without a vote

• ▶ 2:31Water district chair to email written answers on ARPA to the town manager for distribution; joint meeting possible if confusion remains.
• ▶ 13:36Sewer Commission invited to submit a modified ARPA request with added context on unexpected costs before the July 11 meeting.
• ▶ 3:53Board aims to decide the remaining ARPA allotment around mid-July.
• ▶ 34:39Liaison and committee assignments, MRPC representative and master planning volunteer deferred until a full board.
• ▶ 55:19Board will ask the board of assessors for its annual agenda going forward; cannot compel it.
• ▶ 1:06:04Next meeting July 11, then July 18; no meeting in the coming week.

Public comment

1. ▶ 2:06Offered written answers to board questions on the water district's ARPA request; board asked for an emailed response. — Mark bersh, 20 Buttonwood Place, as heard, chairman of the board of water Commissioners
2. ▶ 4:14Offered to present on the retiree COLA and the Worcester County Retirement vote count. — Peggy Stewart, as heard, 20-year retiree of the town
3. ▶ 5:18Argued the sewer department's ARPA request merits the same treatment as the water district's, citing new permit requirements, flood studies and covid-driven flow; board treated it as a communication and asked for a modified request. — John Ramos, 91 Lancaster Ave, as heard, chairman of the Sewer Commission

Where the time went

Minutes of recording by subject, from the topic spans below. A topic with two subjects counts toward both.

• grants41 min · 61%
• town departments24 min · 36%
• budget24 min · 36%
• public comment17 min · 25%
• water sewer17 min · 25%
• retirement11 min · 16%
• warrant article11 min · 16%
• hiring4 min · 7%
• personnel4 min · 7%
• planning and zoning4 min · 6%

The whole meeting, in order

1. ▶ 0:00Opening, pledge, open meeting noticeinformational · 2:06 long
2. ▶ 2:06Public comment and communications: water, sewer ARPA requests, retiree COLA offer, transit programreferred · 17:05 long · public comment, grants, water sewer
3. ▶ 19:32Chapter 269 retiree COLA optionvoted · 10:58 long · retirement, warrant article
4. ▶ 30:31Appointment ratificationsvoted · 4:29 long · hiring, personnel
5. ▶ 35:00Minutes and warrantsvoted · 3:10 long · transfers
6. ▶ 38:08Planning board master plan reportinformational · 3:49 long · planning and zoning
7. ▶ 41:57Revaluation RFP delay, cost and ARPA allocationvoted · 24:03 long · grants, town departments, budget
8. ▶ 1:06:00Schedule, closing and adjournmentvoted · 1:27 long

What the captions could not carry

• The vote count on the COLA motion and other motions was not stated.
• Whether the 33 versus 34 two-thirds threshold is correct was disputed and not resolved.
• Exact warrant amounts are caption-rendered and unreliable.
• Last name of the 7:15 water district appointment not caught.

Written 2026-10-12 by scripts/write_recording_minutes.py (sonnet) from sources/data/youtube-transcripts/select-board/2023-06-20-pqOenqRbVqI.json — 1,663 caption segments, sha256 f56b754a9fd3…. All recorded meetings.