Chair John Cronin, Vice Chair Tina Hein, Clerk Ben Sparrell, Town Administrator Travis Ahern. 

John welcomed everyone and introduced members of the School Committee including Superintendent Susan Kustka, Dan Alfred, and Keith Buday.

Holliston Public Schools – Statement of Interest (SOI) to Mass. School Building Authority (MSBA) – Accelerated Roof Repair Program and/or High School SOI (vote required for application)

This will be our 6^th request for the high school, we heard in December we were not accepted We were encouraged in October and were optimistic after the visit. We do not have any additional priorities this year, we submitted after the senior study that the fieldhouse may not be part of the project. We can stop calling it a fieldhouse” to encourage help.

The building was built in 1969 so it’s definitely showing signs of that age.

Ben reminded everyone that thanks to the MBTA 3A Zoning, population growth may have a positive impact on our next request.

The School Committee voted affirmatively this year to move forward unanimously.  We’ll be adding the 3A language to our submission.

John: Is there anything available for us to review? No, the presentation is largely what it was.

Ben: Did we have a priority number 4 for overcrowding?  Dr. Kustka: Yes, we did explain that we are running out of space and if the population increases, we have no place to move them.

Tina: Good news that the fieldhouse is going to become a “wellness center” – it does make sense. Can you walk through the timeline – walk us through that process and what happens after December?

Dr. Kutska: The feasibility study would have to be funded and started. We cannot do this on our own because if they ultimately approve the project, they will require us to start it over again.

Tina: does that mean we wait until the May 2025 town meeting for approval of the feasibility study and then we are still looking at a couple of years before we get to the full build.

John: I was the one no vote and I appreciate the fact you took the time to have a review of the building and I read that report and was glad to see that my concerns were addressed. I agree there is a need for complete rebuild versus rehab and I am prepared to go forward.

Ben: Senior Engagement: I will be continuing to engage with the seniors for open dialogue, so they have an understanding of how this impacts them.

John: Please engage with the community regarding the changes we are anticipating in our education system. There is more than this.

Dan: There are many challenges with education given budget constraints and associated costs. Placement costs, special education costs, etc. we need to make sure we are putting the right resources and tools into people and buildings.

John: As you said, none of these things are getting any cheaper. We do want to make sure that people understand you are looking at the bigger picture and not focusing on one issue or another. Construction could take 3 – 5 years and people need to understand that. Inflationary costs seem to be embedded into construction costs and it’s not going to get any cheaper, and three to five years it’ll be even more expensive.

Ben: technology is also more expensive, and the lab costs are changing. Student needs are changed and we need to meet the needs of our students.

John: SOI Motion to be entertained: Ben made the motion, Tina 2^nd, motion passed.

Superintendent authorized to submit SOI to Mass School Building Authority.

Roof Projects

These funds were not used during COVID allowing us to run multiple projects at the same time – they are evaluated separately and one does not impact the ability to have funding for the other.

Dan explained that there are funds available based on school age and area of need. It was determined that Adams school roof is in worse shape than Miller Placentino roof so we are going down that path.

Unfortunately we have a short window, the application is due on Friday (uncertain why they do this the week after school vacation). Application is ready we need to get classroom sizes. We’re asking for accelerated care program for roofs. This does not prevent us from doing other projects if needed. We did replace portions of the Miller roof last year (after approval at the May 2024 meeting).

Ben: what is the approval process like? Dan: We know they have a one-year backlog of applications, and they don’t publish as many as we’d like. We do not know what the current backlog is post-covid because many projects were put on hold because MSPA was not doing them, and individual schools were not doing them either.

Discussion ensued regarding roof projects and areas where they were complete and pending. Mid-late October approval, design phase, then do a placeholder for a capital request.  There is a portion the town would have to foot the bill on, the reimbursement is approximately 60 percent.

Estimated repayment begins around 50K per month over the life of the project, the money is there, and they disburse as it moves forward.

John: how bad is this roof? Answer: It’s bad – do we go ahead and do that and if so can we go forward and reimburse later? The answer is no, we can’t the project has to be approved first in order to get reimbursement.

Right now we’re tossing good money after bad, and we’re barely keeping up with the maintenance. We’re worried about compromised insulation. We simply do not have the time to wait (and we do have another roof to put into the program next year!

There is a total of $5M designated to roof repairs.

NO comments.

Ben: Made a motion to approve the SOI for the roof submission (MSBA) the Adams school roof repair. Tina seconded. Approved and passed.

Board Vote to Ratify Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Laborers’ Union (DPW) for FY25-27

John was heavily involved in these negotiations and feels they made great progress. The proposal we’re presenting to fund the contract for three years and it makes us competitive with other communities.

Travis we understand we’re up against a lot of communities and that there are reasons why the contracts needed to be more competitive. The increase will be charged over three years (7.75 percent). Our members are well-trained, and we are lucky to have them. Removal of step one with a max step added and we will have new members added – the town needs our operators to achieve Level 3 and we need to be able to retain our members which is why we were anxious to be able to retain this talent.

We’ll be adding a committee to explore efficiencies to make sure we’re operating the best we can. We are finding it difficult to find people with the licensing necessary. We need a pipeline to bring people in and create a succession plan.

We want to not only remain competitive but we also want to make sure we have skilled people in the right areas to help keep us competitive and recruit strong people.

Ben: Were the requests made inclusive in this contract? (Yes)

Ben made a motion to approve the MOA as presented, Tina seconded, motion passed.

Review and Approval or Adjustments to the FY2025 Budget Requests for Departments that Report to the Select Board

We knew we would be out of budget immediately, there have been some changes:

We can vote as a package (versus individually)

This is the first of several steps – Town requires balanced budget in March.

Pinecrest contribution of 60K was 20% of revenue They asked that the new 87k (15 percent) will change. Investment income changes are consistent.

Other changes included Family Services budget (can use Opioid settlement funds for this). We’re currently at a deficit of 1.4 million and we’ll be working on balancing this out.

Presentations from Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024 Budget Hearing

There are some difficult decisions still remaining to decide, but we will get to the balanced budget we need.

Warrants

Ben made a motion to approve the warrant, Tina seconded, passed.

Chat at Senior center on Friday, come buy, do not need to be a member of the COA everyone welcome.

John: Town Clerk has papers for office, contact the clerks office for information.

We’re working on getting Senator Spilka and Representative James Arena-Derosa to join us at the SB meeting. Tentative March 18^th.

Next Monday is another further discussion regarding flag policy.

Comments from the Town Administrator

Early voting ends on 3/1 at 1pm. The presidential primary is 3/5 from 7am to 8pm. Nomination papers as John advised are due back by April 2^nd. We have numerous vacancies.

Financial Policies Update / Discussion

Ben: When evaluating the policies and having discussions with the finance committee, in terms of formatting it’s easier to navigate. The old document was frustrating and the newer one is better.

Was disappointed about some of the discussions regarding some items that I felt were not moving in the direction we thought they should be. The entire process is to make sure we can maintain services, and we do not want to kick the can down the road. Infrastructure programs were put off and now we are dealing with some of those issues. I feel there need to be some changes here.

Tina: In step with Ben on this – the changes are more streamlined and helpful. – The finance committee voted on their edits, will there be further action from the Finance Committee? Would like to hear from them further regarding these changes.

John: similar to Ben and Tina – disappointed in Finance Committee insistence of putting 1.5 it’s bad public policy and ties up funds we can use for other projects. We have had numerous votes in favor of changing this language and yet, this continues to be a drain on our finances. How can 10 people say yes, and five say no and the finance committee is still not listening? We should not have to consider an override when the finances are right there and available. Other communities have made this change and its long past time for Holliston to get current. The finance committee needs to look at this holistically. To the finance committee: Please reconsider this vote. We need flexibility and creativity

I’m going to make a recommendation that the language indicating 1.5 million must be set aside for the pension fund to read not more than 1.25 for FY 25 and 26 budget cycles and I’d ask Travis to draft the language for this.  This will free up one-quarter of a million dollars for us to address FY 25 and 26.

Ben: I agree this makes sense. I would rather see this done from the budget.

Tina: I agree – we should leave this open to loosen the chokehold on this revenue and agrees we should not have a minimum of 1.5

Travis: to make the policy more flexible can we set a minimum/maximum (e.g. 1.0 minimum, 1.25 max).

John: I think that is not necessary. Flexibility is good and most rating agencies don’t dive that deep into this.

Travis: So we’re looking for a joint meeting

Woodland Street – Dam and Bridge Project FAQ for MEPA Process

We’re in the throes of the permitting marathon and most people feel that the project is too big, they want the bridge open.  MA DOT required us to close the bridge and unfortunately the permitting does require both to be closed. There is a lot that goes into this project and we’re working as efficiently as possible. Information here.

Warrant for May 2024 Annual Town Meeting closes March 11, 2024 (contact Town Administrator or Town Clerk for further information)

John indicated there was a proposal for special legislation to change the Town Administrator to Town manager position. Also some language regarding who reports to whom.

As we proceed, we will be redefining among boards. This will firm up some of the management and accountability which is reflected in other communities in our area. There will be additional language in this legislation but wanted to give a heads up. John indicated the draft is about ½ way complete and hoping to have this prepared for the May town meeting.

Upcoming Meetings:

• Continuation of Flag Policy Discussion – March 4, 2024
• Transfer of Host Community Agreement (HCA) for 89 October Hill Road – March 11, 2024
• Capital Budget Request Review – March 11, 2024

Board Business:

• Appointments of EMTs:
  • Huff, MacKenzie
  • Ramnath, Kathan
• Meeting minutes of January 3rd and January 8, 2024
• Amendment to Pinecrest Restaurant Contract (non-substantive: schedule of payments) Event Permit Panther Prowl 2024 5 K road race
• One day Wine & Beer License Crafted at 752 Washington Street, Holliston Library Adult Book Fair 5 to 10 p.m. March 2, 2024, with snow date of March 9, 2024
• Senior Center Donation in memory of Merrilyn Ann Potter from Johnny and Gwen Ulrich and Family $100.

Individual motions made by Ben seconded by Tina passed unanimously.