Carlisle Town Meeting Informational Video 2024
welcome to the first ever Carlile annual town meeting informational video we hope this presentation will provide residents with detailed information so they can make informed decisions about important Town matters the annual town meeting is scheduled for May 13th at 700 p.m. in the Corey Auditorium of the carile public schools the sections of this video describe each article on the town meeting warrant you will hear from several Town officials as they recommend critical Town projects including the annual budget Community preservation act recommendations Department Capital requests Building Maintenance costs and a major renovation to the police department for more information about any of the Articles we encourage residents to visit our website at www.car ma.gov on the homepage you’ll find a link to the official town meeting site full of presentations and background information about each item discussed in this video you can also reach out to me or any staff member to ask questions and provide comments thank you for your time and attention to these important car matters and we will see you at town meeting article one is the consent agenda to streamline town meeting and make it more inviting to voters the select board will propose a consent agenda the select board in consultation with the moderator and finance committee identifies Warren articles that are unlikely to generate controversy and can be voted on without debate these uncontroversial Warren articles are then grouped together as a consent agenda to be acted upon pursuant to a single motion and to be passed without debate if the town meeting approves the use of a consent agenda the moderator will call out the article numbers one by one if anyone objects to an article being included in the consent agenda they can yell the word hold in a loud voice when that article number is called that article will then be removed from the consent agenda and restored to its original place in the warrant to be debated and voted upon in the usual manner after the calling of individual articles in the consent agenda the moderator will entertain a single motion that all items remaining on the consent agenda be acted upon favor ably by the voters please carefully review the list of proposed articles if you have any questions about the consent agenda contact your town officials and we’d be happy to describe the details of them hi I’m Aubrey Thomas the assistant Town Administrator article three salaries of elected officials Mass General law requires certain officials in town have their salaries approved by voters at town meeting they are the assessors the moderator and the town clerk the town clerk’s salary has been tied to the salary classification plan under grade 10 which includes the townwide 2 2.25% Cola in addition to a step increase given to all employees who meet expectations in their annual review article four is the Actuarial valuation of post-employment benefits or OPB this article plans for in budgets a percentage of the cost of the Actuarial valuation that the town must do every 2 years for OPB historically Carlile has appropriated 3,000 annually for this service Article 5 is the chapter 90 authorization the Commonwealth of Massachusetts funds roadway repairs pursuant to chapter 90 the town will receive approximately 250,000 in chapter 90 funds for fy2 the DPW plans to expend These funds for repairing and Paving roads as identified in a road maintenance plan that is available on the town website to see this plan visit the town administrator’s Department page and in the left navigation you will see fy4 to2 road maintenance plan article six is Peg or public education government local access appropriation Massachusetts general laws require that carile deposit all revenue received under the subscriber license with Comcast into a special Revenue fund called Peg town meeting then appropriates these funds as necessary since October 2018 Carlile is contracted with the town of conquer for local cable access programming this fund also assists with the purchase in of cable related Capital Equipment that includes projects that increase access for Town residents the estimated cost for FY 25 for Peg related programming is $100,000 a great example of this type of programming is this video which is helping to inform residents about town meeting articles article s is the department revolving funds authorization Massachusetts general laws require annual authorization of Department revolving funds which are self-supporting and pay for Department expenses from user fees and charges the amounts for these authorizations are printed in your town meeting motion book article 8 fiscal year 25 salary and wage table the annual salary and wage tables used by non-union Town employees must be approved by town meeting each year this article appears in the form of a classification table listing all positions by pay grade and the actual wage and salary table that lists all grades and steps for all 15 classifications this table describes the wages affected July 1st 2024 when a 2.25% cost of living adjustment will be applied article 9 revokes the opioid settlement stabilization fund and creates a special Revenue fund the select board agreed to join the Massachusetts Attorney General settlement agreement against opioid manufacturers granting carile access to funds available for helping to mitigate the opioid epidemic Massachusetts general laws require special handling of this Revenue last fall town meeting approved a stabilization fund for this Revenue because it was the best available Financial mechanism for managing those payments since that time the common wealth has authorized the use of a special Revenue fund a better and more efficient mechanism according to the town’s financial management team and the finance committee this article revokes the stabilization fund and authorizes the use of the special Revenue fund article 10 is the town’s operating budget the budget is always one of the most important decisions residents will make at the annual town meeting not only does the budget fund services in the community it also is a statement about the town’s values residents looking for an in-depth and transparent look of the budget should visit the town’s website at www.car ma.gov the homepage carries a link to information about the annual town meeting including a budget book this book allows residents to dive into every aspect of the budget and learn how Town officials plan to invest their tax dollars overall Town officials recommend a 3.06% increase to the operating budget budget this will result in an estimated 3.1% increase to the average tax bill this is a $522 increase to an average tax bill of 16,826 operating budget highlights include 3.31% increase for Carlile Public Schools a 2.1% increase for the Regional School 43% increase in vocational school spending a 2.25% townwide cola an increase in employee health insurance splits of 1% and two big increases in assessments 9% for health insurance and 6.14% for our retirement assessment the referen budget book includes sections about Revenue Capital spending debt and town reserves highlights from these sections include limited new Revenue as most carleans know the town’s primary revenue comes from property taxes carile expects modest increases in state aid and local receipts to mitigate these Revenue limitations Town officials agreed to use $100,000 in free cash to fund the budget for Capital spending Town officials split the asks into two warrant articles one focusing on Department requests and the other on Building Maintenance the budget includes a one-year and 5-year Capital plan for residents to see current and future spending while the budget does not call for any immediate additional debt Town officials published a multi-year debt plan that maintains the capacity to fund larger projects while not strangling the budget and finally this budget recommendation includes Reserve levels exceeding the town’s Target of 12% this allows the town to keep a reserve for future project or for funding rainy days we want residents to have all the information they need to make a good decision about the town’s budget if you would like additional information about this presentation please visit the annual town meeting website to find the budget book you will also find a present ation from the finance committee that will be handed out at town meeting article 11 is the capital plan this article ask residents to support the town’s fiscal year 25 Capital plan officials split Capital requests into two articles Department requests and building maintenance requests all the following items were prioritized by Town officials and published in a 5-year plan you can find a copy of the 5-year plan on the town website several Town officials will now walk you through the Capital request you’re being asked to support at the annual town meeting hi I’m Chief Andrew amandola these are our Capital items requests for the police department the police department requests two vehicles one marked unit and one unmarked unit as part of a conservative replacement plan for an aging fleet of cars with many acing over 100,000 Mi we only have one vehicle with less than 65,000 M on it the current fleet has frequently been sent for repairs or other recall the maintenance and repair cost is climbing ranging over 9,000 with 60% of our admin Vehicles out of warranty in over 100,000 miles by replacing two Cruisers we will have two Frontline Cruisers with low mileage and one admin vehicle replacing an admin car with approximately 130,000 miles on it the police department is an immediate need of new tasers as part of our Capital items expense currently our tasers will cease to be supported by axon Enterprises after December 25th 2025 this means we will no longer have access to essential accessories batteries cartridge Etc this is a critical requirement for our operations the purchase of new tasers is vital to ensure the department can transition to the latest model and Technology the police department is also looking to acquire new defibrillators to replace models and equipment that are aging our Cruisers carry defibrillators and assist with medical calls when someone experiences Cardiac Arrest please consider supporting our Capital items request to help the department move forward with better equipment to handle call demand types of calls and help keep our town and police officers safe I’m Brian SARS the fire chief the uh existing Bay heaters and the fire department shown in this photo were are 40 years old and they’ve been failing we do not have dampers so that even when they’re not in use the flu are allowing the heated air to escape from The Bays the a couple of years ago did we did replace one of the failed heaters with a new higher capacity heater that uh is self-contained this doesn’t allow the um hot air to escape this proposal is to remove the remaining three heaters and replace them with one that is similar to the one in this photo hi my name is James Hall I’m the director of Public Works here in Carlile my Capital request for the fiscal year 2025 consist of two items the first item is a 2025 Ford F450 diesel powered on- T truck with a 9- ft power angle plow this truck will replace our 2011 Ford F450 gas powerered one ton with the same equipment our 2011 truck has some irreparable damage and is not not worth repairing the same problems over and over which aided me in this decision my second capital request calls for a new 20 yard open toop glass container for our transfer station replacing the existing container which is over 30 years old and is also in disrepair allowing us to safely transport glass to appropriate recycling facility thank you very much for your time the school committee recommend Ed several important projects at Carlile Public Schools three projects relate to the building and grounds including a concrete and walkway repair drainage improvements and working on and cleaning the building sofits facilities director Steven Canary presented these projects to the select board and finance committee with each board agreeing to the repairs as necessary for student safety and building accessibility hi my name is Jerry lurman and I’m chair of the municipal facilities committee warrant article 12 asked the town to appropriate $520,000 for the repair and Improvement of various Town buildings it’s the sixth of these fundings in an ongoing process to keep the town’s buildings in good repair the cost of these projects is estimated since most of them will have to go through an engineering study to produce detailed drawings that can then be put out for bid two of the projects are at the gleon library for an estimated cost of $250,000 three of the projects are at town hall for an estimated cost of $260,000 and one project is at the B house for an estimated cost of $10,000 at the library there are 43 fan coil units that provide both Heating and Cooling they’re located in the grill units by most of the windows many of them are original equipment replacing them will allow for will allow for connection to the new building management computer system that was recently installed the work will be done in conjunction with the with the library renovation projects since it will invol involve running wires and pipes through walls the new fan coil units will provide better control of each unit and improve the comfort and efficiency of the library’s temperature control the estimated cost of this project is $200,000 the library’s mechanical room is fill to capacity and then some the recent installation of the pfest filtering system has used the less square inch of available space the room is very crowded and makes it difficult to access existing equipment for maintenance purposes as part of future upgrades at the library’s hva system HVAC system we’re expecting to need additional space for new equipment it makes sense to expand the the mechanical room at the same time as the library interior renovation project is happening the estimated cost of this project is $50,000 the elevator in town hall is nearing the end of its expected life cycle it makes sense to plan for replacing it before it actually fails an engineering study will performed to develop specifications for a bid the estimated cost of this project is $200,000 right now at Town Hall actual physical keys are issued that allow access to the front door there’s little of little control over who has keys also someone needs to remember to lock the front door a key card system will allow the front door to lock automatically at a programmed time various parts of town hall such as the clerk’s office administration Board of Health can have separate key card locks key cards can be issued with various Privileges and can be easily disabled if a card is lost the system can be connected and controlled by the the existing key card system installed at the Carlile School the system will provide vestle improved security at Town Hall the estimated cost of this project is $30,000 the bathrooms in town hall are old and out ofd upgrading them now will allow for easier access and maintenance the cost of this project is $30,000 we’re requesting $10,000 to be used for relatively minor carpentry repairs to the bog house that will preserve the Integrity of the structure while the town is deciding on its long-term use they include things such as repair and replacement of rotting sighting repair and painting of deteriorating windows and trim and patching of holes the estimated cost is $10,000 the select board the finance committee and the municipal facilities committee have voted to support this warrant article we hope you’ll join us in also supporting this motion thank you please support the carile police station renovation project the conversation about the police station renovation and the work plan dates back to 2019 when I became Chief in 2023 I requested to alter the plans with the support of the Town Administrator and select Board of the previous renovation project to achieve two primary goals number one develop a modernized police station that provides a safe and healthy work environment and is code compliant to achieve accreditation number two create a police station that welcomes and engages the community providing safe healthy spaces that are a resource to the town this revised layout increases officer safety in the booking area and prisoner safety in the Cell Block area currently cell blocks do not meet code compliance with accreditation in the Department of Public Health the renovation also features new locker rooms that would create a larger space for the female locker room to help create create gender Equity amongst the police force ranks the redesigned community room will be versatile accommodating up to 40 people this will benefit our community members and provide a convenient venue for other Town departments moreover it will enable our Police Department to conduct training enhancing our preparedness and saving costs this project is a crucial step towards strengthening Community ties modernizing our police force addressing Recruitment and Retention needs and promoting gender Equity within our ranks I request your support and a favorable vote I’m Brian SARS the fire chief uh thank you for the opportunity to discuss the replacement of car’s engine 3 this engine is the first engine that responds to alarm investigations gas leaks and reported structure fires it’s the engine that must get close enough to the building that the hoses and ladders are accessible the current engine was put in service in the year 2000 the national standards organization recommends that engines over 15 years old are rebuilt and engines over 25 years old are retired in this slide you see the picture of our current engine 3 for those of you who’ve called on the fire department this is the most likely engine that went up your driveway into your home since the existing engine 3 was designed a number of things have changed from a national perspective it’s reported that there is an 82% reduction in time to exit your home in a fire this is because the rooms contain a lot more BTUs both the amount of contents and the fact that they’re are made of synthetic materials in addition modern construction methods do not maintain their structural Integrity for as long if the structure is exposed to fire newer homes on average are also 70% larger than they were years ago from a local perspective the newer homes in our town often have long driveways or on private drives and we more than match the national average for larger homes we also now have multif family dwellings like Benfield we are proposing replacing our current Engine with one to meet carlile’s specific needs our goals are it should be shorter and more maneuverable it should be set up for hose deployments for larger homes the engine will carry as much water as feasible as well as be capable of using class a foam this is basically surfacant that makes water more effective it doesn’t uh contain pasas as many of you know Carlo does not have a Municipal Water Supply we do not have pressurized fire hydrant the engine will have modern driver operator aids to help getting a large vehicle into tight space we also want to enclose the ladder and hard suction to protect them from our New England salt and sand the new engine will have mod and safety features as well we are told to expect a 3-year delivery time at that point the current engine will be 27 years old when the new engine is delivered the old engine will be traded in or sold thank you for your consideration of this major investment in car’s continued pirate protection hello everyone for those of you who I haven’t met yet I’m Julie Mercer Town planner I’ve been with the town for almost a year and a half during that time there have been many advances in the use of GIS within town and I’m now referring to the gis project as the GIS program um and this is how I really feel about it the presentation I’m about to give pertains to a request by the planning board for $45,000 over the next three fiscal years to be used if needed mainly for Hardware software and added functionality as the town rolls out the gis program at their meeting of April 22nd 2024 the planning board voted unanimous support for this article so the next slide is an overview of the request this slide outlines potential future uses of the funds requested the red text shows that some things are built into existing contracts we have and thus already accommodated within the budget we believe that the $445,000 request across 3 years is an accurate representation of near future ongoing costs to support the program whether we need to use it or not any use of these funds will be tied to the gis strategic plan which is in draft form on the gis web page on the town website some examples of how the funds might be used one if Town staff begin to get a lot of mapping or analysis requests we may need to add a software license an additional software license may cost between $750 and $11,000 two if DPW wants to maintain their data layers their coverts catch Basin Etc um while they’re in the field we may want to purchase a handheld device that can be attached to a cell phone these devices retail at just under $600 three if we want to add features to the axis GIS site such as a batch upload of documents so we can link PDF plans of each property to the parcel layer for example these enhancements typically start at about $2,500 per year um so what is Gis for anyone who’s wondering what I’m talking about because GIS is just another acronym in a world of acronyms um here’s a quick primer GIS stands for geographic information system it is a compil of data layers tied to a spatial reference for instance a geographic coordinate system and displayed in a digital mapping context the main components of it for municipalities tend to be a back-end desktop or cloud-based software where staff create store edit and analyze data and create maps and a public facing online mapping system that is typically built and hosted by a thirdparty company we’ve recently launched ours getting it up and running in 2024 put us a decade or so behind other communities um but we benefited from leap frogging over some of the challenges early adopters faced so we’re way ahead now access Gis for Carlile just last year Carlile contracted with Cai Technologies and they built an online site our access GIS site for Carlile they gave a 1.5-hour demo to a group of Staff residents and stakeholders in early February the video is linked on the gis web page on the town website I gave an overview of some of the sites functionality to the select board on February 13th 2024 if you want to watch that video um you can find it on the minute man media Network’s YouTube page for Carl thank you and enjoy my name is Alex parah and I’m a member of the Carl Conservation Commission the town of Carl owns over 30 conservation Parcels containing almost 1,100 Acres this article seeks a one-time appropriation of $16,500 to supplement the conservation commission’s maintenance budget to fund deferred maintenance of the Cranberry Bogs as wet Meadow habitat in accordance with the wetlands order of conditions issued for the bogs and would include such activities as mowing of the bogs mowing of the ditches seeding and planting the conservation commission’s regular maintenance budget pays for Beaver control field Edge clearing field mowing invasive control and many other maintenance activities on the conservation lands including fos Farm Bisby Greeno Benfield toll Hutchins Robbins Fox Hill and Woodward the Conservation Commission with the assistance of the land stores expects to generate a five-year maintenance plan and budget for All conservation lands to incorporate into the town’s planning next year hi my name is Barney Arnold I’m a member of the slick board and I’m the chair of the community preservation committee article 18 is the annual community preservation act appropriation every year the community preservation committee reviews and recommends Grant requests that support Town Projects in the areas of historic preservation open space and Recreation and community housing and this year the committee recommends passage of four Grant requests and funding for administrative expenses the first project is the cranberry bog H&H study for $56,000 this grant provides funds for a hydrologic and hydraulic study of the cranberry bog Watershed the study will address issues concerning the restoration and maintenance of the bog as a natural habitat now that it’s no longer in agricultural use to grow cranberries it will help with the maintenance of the bog as a passive Recreation site and it will address the rehabilit a restoration and maintenance of the bog Dam number one and the Fisk Street Dyke this will result in a comprehensive Water Management plan that’ll be implemented by the Conservation Commission and the land stewardship committee the second request is a project for the Greeno Pond H&H study for $30,000 this grant provides funds for hydrologic and hydraulic study of the pages Brook Watershed that contributes water to greo Pond which is located off East Street the study will address issues concerning Upstream flooding and its impact on the residents in that area and the low water levels in the pond that affect wildlife and recreational use as well as the three Upstream constrictions west of the pond this too will result in a comprehensive Water Management plan that will be implemented by the Conservation Commission and the land stewardship committee the third project is a request for rental assistance for Carlile seniors for $50,000 this grant will provide 12 months of funding through June of 2025 for rental assistance to eligible Carlile seniors renters who are below the area median income may receive up to $400 per month to help pay their rent this this program was initially begun by the Council on Aging and Human Services in September of 2022 using federal dollars through the American Rescue plan Act and the program has been supporting 11 seniors in town most of whom reside at Benfield Farms on South Street even with support from a local food pantry some Carlile seniors struggle to make ends meet and have been faced with choosing between paying for medications and other necessities this program helps make it possible for seniors to continue to afford to live in carile the Carlile Council on Aging and Human Services administers the program the fourth Grant request is for the Benfield Farms entrance doors and apartment fobs for $50,605 the main entrance Ada accessible system to Benfield Farms the existing entrance activation system has not functioned for several years and does not allow a disabled person to safely enter the building in addition this grant will provide funds for each resident to receive a programmed fob to use to open their apartment door rather than the current key system which is difficult for a person using a walker wheelchair or cane to manage the elderly disabled residents of Benfield Farms need and deserve to be able to safely access the building and their Apartments finally there’s an appropriation of $30,000 for the CPC administrative account These funds will cover the cost of administrative staff to support the community preservation committee and will also cover membership in the community preservation coalition in addition this year approximately $20,000 will be used to fund a preliminary study to determine the feasibility of converting the cranberry bog house into community housing