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exclude state education taxes and county taxes.
The exemption if granted shall apply to all properties within the town of Wilton.
The maximum duration of the exemption shall not exceed 10 years.
The maximum percentage of the yearly exemption shall not exceed 50% of the increase in assessed value
attributable to the construction of new structures and of additions,
renovations, or improvements to existing structures.
Following adoption, the duration and percentage of the exemption shall be determined by the governing body
on a per case basis based upon the amount and value of public benefit.
For the purpose of this exemption, public benefit is defined as any one of the following.
A, enhancement of economic growth and increase of the town's tax base.
B, creation of needed services or facilities, not currently available.
town, C, redevelopment and revitalization of commercial or industrial areas within the town.
D, prevention or elimination of blight, or E, retention of jobs in the town, increase in the town's job base,
and or diversification of the town's job base.
The exemption shall take effect in the tax year beginning April 1st after its adoption.
This requires a majority vote.
May I have a moment?
So moved? Seconded.
Article 1 has been moved and seconded. Is there a discussion about Article 1?
Mr. Williams.
First of all, I don't understand. I'm thrilled to see how many people are here.
Happy you guys are all here. You could come to our other meetings too, but
at least you're here for this. So this state law, the state law this article is based on,
RSA 7281, is relatively new. But many towns, both larger communities,
communities in towns our size, like Hillsborough, Hennaker, and Hinsdale, just to name a few,
have already adopted it. They've done that for a reason. Property taxes are going up.
Everyone here knows it, and no one likes it. I don't like it either. I pay them, too.
This is my 13th year as a selectman. I've watched costs increased steadily,
while the state shifts more responsibility to the towns. At the same time,
and the cost of doing even basic work, roads, equipment, staffing, keeps rising.
We aren't careful with our spending. There are multiple layers of oversight. And ultimately,
all of you have a say at town meeting, just like this one. But being careful only goes so far
when the tools available to us are limited. And that's the reality. We have very few ways
to actually change the trajectory of property taxes. This article gives us
one of those tools. Let me be clear about a couple of points because there's been some
confusion. This is not a blank check. It does not approve any project, and it's not
written for a single business. What it does is allow the town to consider on a case-by-case
basis whether a specific project provides enough public benefit to justify a temporary
structured tax agreement. If it doesn't meet that standard, it doesn't move forward.
and any proposal would go through a public process. Nothing happens behind closed doors.
If we don't adopt this, we're choosing to sit on the sidelines while other towns use every option available
to attract investment and grow their tax base. That's not speculation. That's already happening.
We said for years we want to reduce the burden on residential taxpayers by strengthening our commercial tax base.
That doesn't happen by accident.
It happens by being prepared and competitive when opportunities come along.
This article doesn't guarantee success, but without it, we're guaranteed to have fewer options.
So the question isn't whether this solves everything, because it doesn't.
The question is whether we're willing to use a reasonable control tool that other towns are already using to put themselves in a stronger position.
I believe we should. Please vote yes.
It's a further discussion.
So I had an opportunity to attend the public hearing on this, and I had that public hearing.
I spoke publicly in favor of this motion as well.
Initially, I was confused, to be honest, about what it would do or not do.
But I really came to understand from the presentation, and Mr. Williams had an opportunity to explain it to me.
The goal of this is to encourage industrial and commercial development and or revitalization.
It is to give
people who are willing to invest in the community in those types of projects, a tax incentive to do so.
It is not to reduce existing taxes on existing properties.
It doesn't take away any revenue from the town.
What it does is that it helps us be competitive with other towns, such as Milford,
who already does this, by offering a tax break to somebody who's willing to build a new building
or expand an existing facility or
to renovate and exist and you cross the town line in a Milford, you see a new dollar general,
and then you see a bank, and then you see a restaurant, and then you see a gas station.
Would you state your name, please?
Your expenses, you're increasing your income.
A business is going to generate $100,000 a year. The gentleman in back.
To your ability to secure something like that, if we were interested in doing that,
but it's a tool in the tool chest that allows us to maybe be more attractive.
If that was something we have somebody that would.
For the discussion.
Operation, like what we would allow in them.
Yeah.
I'll just add one small piece to that.
And I'm sure a lot of you picked up on this, so I don't want to diminish anybody's understanding.
But, you know, right in here, the piece that matters is that the maximum percentage of the yearly exemption
shall not exceed 50% of the increase in assessed value attributed to construction of new structures
and of addition.
renovations or improvements of existing structures.
So this isn't just, we bought an existing building, we didn't do anything to it,
and I'm just getting a 50% break on my taxes because I did that.
It's, I'm coming in, I'm investing a million dollars to rehab a building
or to improve the structure or do something along those lines.
And so we're looking at a break on to understand here because I think some of you might be worried
that what we're saying is, yeah, come in.
bring your business, buy something up, and just because you did that, we're just giving you a 50% break right at the gate.
And that's certainly not the case.
It's really about getting people to invest those additional dollars in the town here that eventually grows that tax base.
So if somebody builds a new facility, a new modern facility, that's a big investment for the town.
And that's distinctly different than somebody, you know, buying an existing structure and using it for storage.
So, you know, we want to encourage the one kind of behavior, new structures, improved break.
So hopefully that was clear to a lot of you, but, you know, when I read this, I wanted to make sure that that's something.
This would obviously be our, there's a number of, like, safety.
Well, I understand you with the sentence that says the maximum duration of the exemption shall not exceed 10 years,
and you're changing that to five. Is that correct?
Correct. Okay. And then the next sentence would be, are you striking the next sentence?
I am striking the maximum percentage of the year exception shall not exceed 50%.
So striking from that point to 50%.
And I'm inserting the years 5 through 1 through 50 through 1 with 50, 30, 20, 10.
So I think it would be clear if you said the maximum percentage shall not exceed 50% in the first year.
Yes.
Yes.
And that a second sentence,
that would say in the second year, it would be 40%, third year.
Yes.
And I think that's a fair compromise where 50% is a huge amount.
40% is a huge amount.
30% is a huge amount.
Five years is a huge amount.
You know, 10 years at 50% is just way off the scale.
I think what I'm proposing is a reasonable balance.
And it's clear, it's transparent, that it's being applied to every and any commercial
and industrial project.
We're not picking winners and losers or industries that we want when somebody else can in.
This is about creating additional assessed value.
I'll second the motion, just so we can have a further discussion.
If that's okay, Mr. Warrer.
Thank you.
So it's been moved to second.
So we're discussing Mr. Fish's amendment.
I would say under full disclosure, that was one of the two options that we, as the Board of Selectmen,
were given.
The first option was 10 years, up to 50% of an increased assessment.
Second option was
five years with a sliding scale, 50, 40, 30, 10.
And the reason we went with the version that is in the harder for a business to decide to do it
if you're up against another community, which offers the full amount.
So I think we went with the more generous amount.
Understanding, again, is up to 50%, which I seconded.
The second year, the maximum percentage shall be 40%?
Yes.
And so on and so forth.
Okay, so we're clarifying that it's going to be the maximum percentage.
Correct for the first year only.
All right, further discussion on the amendment.
Yes, ma'am.
We can come back.
So why don't we go, yes, ma'am.
Could you tell us who you are?
Thank you.
Sunset after five years for the town, the town.
The town's bill was one of the ones and another.
These are the two different models.
It seems to be that already have some attraction for development.
Go ahead.
In front of you, I can continue the discussion as long as you guys want.
So, Jennifer,
Is this kind of?
It's on the motion.
Okay, great.
It's on the motion.
We're now saying the maximum duration of the exemption shall not exceed five years.
The language at the bottom, giving the select board authority to consider these other factors.
The way the RSA is written, it says,
the ones adopted by the local legislative body, the percentage rate in duration shall be graded on a per case basis
based on the amount and value of public benefit is determined by the governing body.
bodies.
I mean that some future select order to give you what I think you're moving.
To the sentence that says the exemption of granted shall apply to all properties within the town,
your motion would change the following two sentences to as follows.
The maximum duration of the exemption shall not exceed five years.
Percentage of the yearly exemption in the first year shall not exceed 50%.
I still have that not to exceed.
Do you mean to take that not to?
Shall be.
I would like to amend the motion to be shall be.
Okay.
Shall be 50% of the increase in the assessed value attributable to the construction of new constructures
in additions, renovations or improvements to the existing structures.
In the second year, the exemption shall be 40% in the third year, 30%, the fourth year 20%, and the
the fifth year 10%.
Is that your, yes?
Is that accurately your motion?
Okay.
So just so we're all clear as to what we're talking about.
So that's the motion, so that's the motion.
An amended motion, I'll second it.
I don't know if it was amended or not, but that's how it seemed to come up.
That's why I'm asked you.
Yeah.
And the point of the subjectivity should still, can still remain.
I don't know if it's illegal or not.
You know, has a pined on it may be,
but wouldn't it still be okay to app language that
it's on a case-by-case benefit that the select board's going to review
each application based upon those four criteria, which...
It doesn't necessarily make the building worth $3 million.
It's whatever the assessor values the building at.
So...
Just as a matter of procedure, right now we're just voting on Mets amendment.
And if it's voted in, then you can make further amendments.
No, no, just one... I'm losing it.
Just one amendment in the...
Wait, but we can do more.
We've got to deal with Mats motion first.
motion first.
Somebody can come to town meeting in a year.
Can't...
The motion to amend will begin after the sentence,
the exemption of granted shall apply to all properties within the town.
The amendment is the following sentences would read,
the match and duration of the exemption shall not exceed five years.
The percentage of the yearly exemption in the first year
shall be 50% of the increase in assessed value attributable to construction of new structures
structures and of additions, renovations, or improvements to the existing structures.
In the second year, the exemption will be 40%.
In the third year, the exemption will be 30%.
In the fourth year, the exemption shall be 20%.
And in the fifth year, the exemption shall be 10%.
Okay, Matt?
I think that we need to strike that shall not exceed five years.
It should say shall be five years.
Yes, I think we did.
Did I do?
Did I not read that correctly?
I guess you did.
I was reading and listening at the same time.
It shall be.
If you're in favor of that motion to amend,
please signify by saying I.
You're opposed nay.
Nay.
Okay, nays heaven.
Now, further discussion.
We're back on the original motion.
Yes, now?
There's one in the back.
I'll get to you, Jackie.
Okay.
council and some other communities or the city council and other communities that are,
depending on what their form of government is,
the applicant has to justify it in their app.
The services are something that's attracted to community,
so like a grocery store, for example, or some other place you give.
How many of the jobs are you?
RSA is written.
That's except the maximum duration would be
seven years instead of 10 years.
The maximum percentage, it just would be the percentage.
Yes, I agree with that.
And ultimately, this is, the money we do not.
I think I can recite.
Seven years, 50, 50% of the assessment.
40% for the...
I didn't hear that from her.
Is that, is that, is that, is that, how would the percentages work?
40% in years.
I think this is kind of your motion now.
No, that was my motion.
That was your, you like that?
Is that your motion?
I think that's, you seconded it, so,
is the discussion on the new motion to amend?
Mr. Payne.
What he's saying, because the original Warren article does say,
shall not exceed,
doesn't say,
we...
That's your motion?
And is the second.
I will second that.
Shall not...
All right, so on.
And you're withdrawing the first word, right?
So we're back to Christine's
motion to amend.
Is there discussion about that?
Thank you, Jen.
Thank you, Judge.
What we have on our plate right now
is the motion to amend.
Christine's motion to amend.
Is it a discussion about the motion to amend?
Yes, ma'am.
Further discussion on the amendment.
Please listen to my, as I read this,
make sure I've got your intent.
We've got it right.
And this is, if it was a regular town meeting, I'd be a real hard-nosed moderator and say,
you've got to write this stuff out.
But we're kind of on the fly here.
So what I think your motion is, and someone correct me if I'm wrong.
After the sentence, this exemption shall grant,
if grants it shall apply to all properties in town.
The amendment would change the following sentences to read,
the maximum duration of the exemption shall not exceed seven years.
The maximum percentage
of the yearly exemption in years one and two
shall not exceed 50% of the increase in the assessed value
attributable to construction of new structures
and of additions, renovations, or improvements
to existing structures.
In years, the exemption shall be not exceed 40%.
In years five, the exemption shall not exceed 30%.
In year six, the exemption shall not exceed 30%.
In year six, the exemption
shall not exceed 20%.
In the year 7, the exemption shall not exceed 10%.
Is that correct?
Yes.
Okay.
If you're ready for it, all in favor of the amendment,
please signify by saying aye.
Aye.
Aye.
All opposed, nay.
Nay.
Okay.
The amendment is defeated.
So we're back to Article 1, as I originally read it to.
So we'll further discussion.
Mr. Paley.
The agenda for this one.
We can make the application part.
So we have to create an application for this,
and the application can include that there will be a public here.
I was saying that we'll decide what to do, but they're going to put together an application.
We're going to help.
The board members, or at least three of them here, you might want to ask them.
We have no authority in the planning board.
There are a separate entity.
Do I know that?
I'm going to take Mr. Feynman again, just because I hate.
May I answer that question?
I think that's, you know, I think part of that discussion is why
select board was in favor of having a sliding scale here rather than just that, hey, everybody
gets 50% because not every business comes in with the same kind of an offer.
So if it is going to be a business that's going to be a strain on services or infrastructure,
I think everybody in this room would want this board to make a decision accordingly and say,
hey, maybe it's not, you know, the 50%.
Maybe it's still good for the town, but maybe it's a lower percentage, or maybe it's for a shorter duration.
And that's really what that flexibility is about.
What I would say is I understand the concern in the room that it's, you know, you look at a board like this.
We show up here every two weeks, and, you know, we're doing the town's work every two weeks.
It's not sexy like this might be, but we're still here.
And so if you want to show up, you know, you'll hear us often, you know, litigating these littlely in the town's bank.
How does this, you know, are the reason why we wanted to set it up this way, so we have that flexibility.
So we wouldn't just be shoehorning in a place.
at this count for everybody. It's really about figuring out what's right for Wilton and how
do we make sure that, you know, this board is trying to structure it that way.
Okay. I see three hands up. Matt, you had your hand out first.
Yeah. There's a gentleman in the back, and I see, Jennifer, entertained that you can vote no,
and I assume the select board will bring it up again next year. And yes, in the back.
I'm going to recognize the gentleman in back. Big enchiladas I originally read it to.
Can I move the question? Yes, you back.
any further, if you're in favor of the, um, is there second to the motion?
I'll second motion. Okay. Good. And if you're in favor of the,
it will be the questions, it signify the saying aye. Aye. Your opposed name.
72 colon 8. This exemption shall apply. The exemption
and granted shall apply to all properties within the duration of the exemption shall not exceed 10
years. The maximum percentage of the yearly exemption shall not exceed 50% of the
increase in assessed down improvements to existing structures.
structures. Following adoption, the duration or percentage of the exemption shall be determined by the governing body on a per case basis based upon the amount of this exemption public any one of the
services or facilities, not utilization of commercial or industrial areas within the town.
D, prevention or elimination of blight or E, retention of jobs in the town, increase of the town's job base. This exemption shall take of adoption.
Article 1, as I read it to you, signify by saying,
Aye.
Aye.
All opposed nay.
Nay.
The eyes have all.
Article two.
To see if the town will vote to appoint the select board as agents to expend from the
Revaluation Capital Reserve Fund previously established at the 2015 town meeting.
Do I have a motion?
So moved?
Second it.
Article 2 has been moved and seconded.
It's their discussion.
This is a housekeeping warrant article because it's going to revaluation this year and we have a
And we have a capital reserve to pay for it.
But we didn't do this last year.
We wouldn't do it arbitrarily any year.
You know, it's something the state requires us to do.
And when we're required to do it, the town has set aside funds.
We've set, as Tom mentioned, every year we vote to set aside $10,000 that goes into this fund
that's specifically earmarked for covering the cost of this process, this rebelled process,
because it costs the town money.
And so we set those funds aside so that they're earmarked for that.
So we're not pulling from a general fund.
And so all that this is doing is saying, hey, as Tom mentioned,
we missed the warrant article that allows the board to say we would like to use the funds
that the whole town voted to set aside for this.
It allows us to expend those for this thing.
Otherwise, we'll have to pull from the general fund because the state's still going to make us do this process.
So it's just about allowing.
us to spend the money we've saved for this.
Can I follow up on that? Yeah.
We don't sell our houses. We don't make a...
Mr. McMoran?
We haven't removed the question. Call the question.
Is there a second?
I'll second.
That's been seconded. All in favor of signify by saying hi.
Aye. All opposed name.
Article 2.
To see if in town will vote to appoint the select board as agents to expend from the
Revaluation Capital Reserve Fund previously established
typical two as I read it to you, please signify by saying, aye.
Guys have it. I'll entertain a motion to adjourn.
So moved. And a second.
All favor of adjournment, please signify by saying
aye. Aye. All pose nay.
That concludes the special town meeting. Thank you very much.
Feel free to stay for Selectman's meeting.
Thank you. We're not going anywhere.
Thank you for coming. Thank you for coming.
We have a regular meeting of the board already, done the pledgables already.
We've been doing around accessibility for the website, and then at the end talk about our future plans for a new website.
Sure.
So just the kind of review, and I know you guys reviewed this, we have this law,
that we're sure that our website, particularly town and state government websites, are accessible to people with all sorts of abilities,
and that includes people who have visual issues.
And you want your, all of your citizens.
to be able to do business. Sure.
With the town. So, um, so this law applies with a deadline of next April, more towns of our size.
When April comes around, there's no immediate, uh, if you're not compliant, there's no immediate
action. It's not like you immediately, you know, get yourself up, obviously to loss of organization.
Sure. Who wants to, you know, and I wanted to make sure that people understood that we want to do this
not because it's the law. So I've identified for, is Neil still here?
There are four sites. The zoning board site that server, uh, here's a server.
on separate, Wilton ZBA.org, that he's won forever. So ever since I've moved to town,
he's had his own website. Okay. That he maintains and he manages. But since it's for all the
zoning board information largely is stored, it obviously has to comply. We have our online
payment sites. This is where we take, you know, we register cars and dog licenses and things,
which is new mail payments, I guess. Town hall streams. So this video live stream and the replay sites
of town meetings has to comply.
and also GIS live map site.
I mean, we use this, citizens use the GIS maps that BNRPC provides.
So that's another site that officially should be compliant.
So what's really great is when I first looked at this law, I said, you know,
I think we're going to need some sort of consultant to sort of help us assess where we are in terms of compliance.
But it turns out, I did a little research, and the New Hampshire State Department of IT,
has an incredible set of resources on how to comply with this law.
And they have licensed a commercial tool, which is called Dubbot, their commercial provider.
And they've made it free to all towns who want to use it to assess the quality of their website.
And what's really great about this is it doesn't just assess accessibility issues,
but it looks at the spelling's broken links.
You know, so it's a great quality control tool that we can use forever, right?
So this is a really fabulous thing.
that the state has done. Once you enroll and we're enrolled, you get a weekly scan.
This will go on for as long as you're enrolled. And you can then track issues, see how you're
doing. The scan includes the actual text on a page, but also images and PDFs that are linked on the page.
So I signed us up, and so I've been getting weekly reports. So I think this is really the key
slide I want to share with you in terms of the progress we've made.
99.9% since April.
So we got our first website scan, which identified 1,972 accessibility issues.
And that's when I lied when.
Yeah.
No.
So what I basically said is we have to, like, move to a new website immediately,
because we're never going to make this website compliant, you know,
it was that many issues.
Then I delved into it a little bit more and discovered that there were only 10 really separate
distinct issues, but some of those issues applied to every single page on the site.
So of these 10 issues, initial issues, four of them, was site-wide, and it was 475 pages
on the site, so it generated 1900 of those, 1973.
The issue with those site-wide issues were, I can't fix them.
So these are things that sit up my optimistic that we could get them to fix them because
their service has really been going downhill.
We got them to work on these four issues, and that's how we were able to solve the bulk of this.
The rest of this are things, basically that's within my control to work on.
It takes a lot of.
Our latest score, we're at 99.9.9.
So we have just three distinct issues and six instances.
Good job, Jack.
I said, you know, I told him you don't have to come to this.
He said, you know, I want to come.
I tell them, you know how much money is she saving?
The other thing was, if you look at the pages on our site,
that's pretty dramatic.
So we started with 1.75 pages.
So one of the things I spent a day or two doing was literally archiving many, many old pages.
Three news article is a page, and we've had every news article on the site since it launched in 2018.
So all of those pages, if they don't need to be there, I got ready to reduce our costs when we have to migrate to a new website
because they're going to charge us by the page.
By the page.
So the fewer pages we have, the better.
So now we're in a much more reasonable shape of having more current.
information.
That's what you're covering on the next slide.
Yes.
So this is just the, this does not include the PDFs.
This is just the page themselves.
Okay.
Which is what the score is based on.
So they are, all, so now the, not so good news.
So they scan 323 PDFs and 100% have accessibility issues.
So we are not writing, we are not doing word documents,
which then get turned into PDFs in an accessible way.
So all of our minutes, none of these documents,
are really being written for accessibility.
Because most people don't pay attention to it and don't know how to do it.
It's not difficult, but people just have to get trained on how to do it.
And that's only the tip of the iceberg.
They can't scan PDFs that sit in folders.
It's on our website, all of our minutes and agendas sit in folders, and those aren't scanned.
And there are literally thousands of these documents.
I don't know if you know it, but the planning board has 39 years worth of PDFs of minutes and agendas
on our online site, 39 years worth.
So I think there are literally, if not tens of thousands.
But the good news is anything prior to 2027 is exempt.
They are exempt, anything posted prior, unless it's going to be used going forward.
So things, you know, I look down at, so the things that are exempt are pre-
pre- April 29 minutes, agenda, this town report, research studies.
But not exempt, so all the things that are going to keep getting used.
town ordinances, land use regulations, permitting applications, voting forms,
you know, all of that, all these documents are going to have to get updated by the deadline
of next April because they're going to be...
So what are you going to do that?
So I did some research on this, so you and I have talked about it, and there are tools
that will fix the PDF.
I'm not sure that I would go through the process of doing it for our current website,
because what I've seen is that all in favor specifically kind of required.
that we find a new website vendor because our current website vendor, while they did a decent job,
has really moved on and they're not doing municipal websites anymore.
So what I've seen is that a lot of the...
You don't want to have to keep...
You want to learn how to...
These PDFs started out as Word documents.
You need to learn how people are going to need to be trained to do that moving forward.
Okay.
And there are Microsoft tools, so it's not that difficult.
Any Microsoft Word has an accessibility.
tool built in for free that does a check.
And I would agree with that.
And certainly that's what we should ask people to do.
But because PDFs come from a moment,
if we still should have some way to...
So what we're going to find is that the quality of the sound
is not sufficient for...
That's something table-based mic...
Yeah, we're like I said, you can do a beam-forming system
that's ceiling too.
You know, either way you're talking.
about some sort of capital investment.
But if it's something we need to do...
Good idea, though.
So we'll continue work on those last remaining issues
just because I'm fixated on being perfect,
but I think two of these may not be fixable.
Those are civit-lides.
I spoke with the client, this kind of shows that you're...
This is what we talked about earlier.
All users, and so we'll have to set up some sort of
communications to our town users
who create all the minutes and agendas
for all the boards and departments.
There is online training.
that you can take on how to write a good word document.
You can take an online video tutorial.
There's a Microsoft tool that you can just use that tells you what your issues are.
So I think there's, same thing for Adobe.
So there are tools that people can use.
It's going to be a process.
You know, they're going to have to learn.
Should be looking at their applications and form.
They should be redoing them in Word and learn.
In terms of the external sites, I did talk to Neil.
He also signed his site up for Dubbot.
Good.
He had four major issues identified that he's working on fixing.
He has the same issues that we have with PDFs.
So he's going to have to figure.
Town hall streams and I ask you all of these.
We need to have those relationships and who's going to have that conversation.
Currently, you're our member to NRPC, so you dip that one.
So I can tell you that NRP is doing the same process.
Let's control over their website.
They claim, they claim, they think they're very knowledgeable about them.
WCAG and they claim they're going to be or they are compliant.
So that's a good thing.
That's a good sign.
Any future website plans?
Okay. So as Kermit was saying, you know, our current website is fine.
It's still well received.
It's working reasonably well.
Generally satisfies our needs.
But it's now, well, next year will be 19 years old.
Nine years old.
The company's civic lives, it was acquired twice
in the subsequent years and the current
which is power school focuses on software and applications for school systems.
They totally deprioritized municipal websites.
I think Civit Lides also owns some school software, which is called School Messenger,
and Sivit Live websites.
And so their support is not great from the time that I've been involved with the website,
which has been for the full eight years.
Service has support has really gone down.
They're hard to get people on the phone.
The responsiveness isn't great.
A lot of times they'll try to try to go.
charge you for something that you should be getting as part of your standard maintenance.
They're not releasing new features.
You know, so the writing's on the wall.
I wouldn't be surprised it within the next year.
So I think we're all in agreement then.
So then I have a rough timeline.
I think the good news with this, our website now,
we've solved a lot of new website and asset now reasonably compliant.
So I'd like to do it.
So I think I would like to propose beginning now
to survey our current town users.
users we have about our website today to find out what their desired features are.
So what does our website not do that some of our values would really appreciate.
And then actually finalize a set of website requirements and evaluation criteria
of what we would look at so that we would have that in hand.
So maybe May June, then form a small evaluation committee,
maybe some of our power users, some of our users who really are using the website all the time.
the time.
I evaluate the offerings, pick two finalists, and get final pricing for them, which would include
them evaluating our website to see how much it would cost to migrate all that content, assuming we want
to then pick the final vendor, negotiate a contract and a final budget that we would have in October
to be able to add to the 2027.
The concern is, you know, the July-August, in terms of meeting with the vendors, it's summertime.
It's vacation time.
You're showing progress.
actually I was going to entertain a motion.
I would move to move from old business select board participated.
We talked about it in our last meeting briefly.
A lot of RSAs and made a very compelling.
You have a chance to review it because the last time we had a meeting,
the board other than myself had not read the legal.
So I'm sorry that we reached out to invite the library trustees.
His understanding was is that the makeup of the library trustees
did not meet what was the original intention of the original deed,
which was that the original six appointed trustees would include
the chairman of the board of selectmen.
And then subsequently, a new RSA that came along required that there be
an appointed trustee or an elected trustee, and that was basically
chairman or an appointed, again, the select board did.
The select board did have a member as a trustee,
and at some point in the last 20 or 30 years, that fell away.
Well, it's possible.
It goes back to when the original deed was done,
when the library was gifted to the town,
or any comments you'd want to make.
Mr. Torrey, if you want to speak to,
this is your direction.
I know you believe, because I mean, we have a copy of it,
but I think you should input it if it's your letter,
rather than me telling people what you said.
All right.
So basically what I said was saying that some people
would argue that the current chairman of the select board condition the chairman of the
select board is an appointed trustee, not an elected trustee, it's an appointed trustee.
Another now because of an RSA that is an elected representative.
And that's my position.
Okay.
And I would think that one of the current appointed trustees could become an alternate
with the chairman of the select board becoming an appointed.
appointed.
We have a copy of it.
It was in our folder tonight.
Right.
So we did receive it.
This summarizes my position.
If you want, we can provide you a copy too, Ron.
That's my original, but we can run off a copy for you.
Okay, that would be great.
And then that way you can bring it to your board.
And the point I was making was that if the chair of the select board
chose not to participate, which is...
I'm a copy of the letter so he can review that with the rest of the trustees
and have a further meeting with us on it.
with us on it. I know this, we caught you off on the
Well, thank you for staying.
I provided them the original letter that I think I gave you in January.
Decide not to do it.
I think you're right.
I think you have, I believe the select board has a commitment.
I think the challenge is because it hasn't been done for so long,
it became just the standard that that's the way it was.
Right.
But thanks to your research and really documented it,
until when the town passes another warrant article,
to discontinue that,
that's right.
And that's an option also.
Then it can just revert back to its standard,
up into the alternate position.
We'd just like having you to make any decisions
or make any confirmations available.
No message.
And we thank you for your 38 years of service.
Thank you very much.
Sure.
I'm only saying half an hour.
So starting at 5.30 rather than 6.
In there, here and sit.
If we run a couple minutes late, we're not trapping people up.
I mean, we do that afterwards for meetings.
So we can address that by using the smaller space.
space. That was supposed to be, it's like
30 minutes of non-public done really early.
And if there's somebody that has, like a department head,
who has a non-public, and it keeps them from having to say
through the bloody end of the...
Recognize that, you know, we...
We stop at six, because...
Here's my two cents, and I'll make it quick.
I don't think it's a bad idea.
My preference would be to be more disciplined with the standard agenda.
And still...
And part of the reason I say that is that, you know,
we don't always have not.
on Publix, and so committing to doing 530 every time, when we may not need to, add some...
Would it be possible to be advised in advance if there's no...
So, again, I'm not opposed to it just sharing my two cents, but my preference would just be to be more disciplined
with the agenda, and I know that's not always possible.
I feel like you're doing a nice job, but if...
I'm cracking a whip, boy.
So I'll leave it at that.
That's my preference.
I'm willing to give this a try, though.
Well, I'll entertain a motion.
If some of the discussion.
And again,
this is a rule which we can, if it becomes...
Something different, so...
The agenda will say, we'll call a meeting to order, and then we'll immediately go to no.
It's a great point, Tom.
I'm glad you brought that up.
That is a valid point.
No, I think it's insightful of you.
I'm glad you mentioned.
Again, this sort of goes to my earlier point of, you know, there's value in consistency, right?
So if we're not starting at 530 every time,
that could be confusing to some towns folks.
I think we might be to not have a non-public.
There's often something.
comments. And again, anybody who had a public comment can...
Storytime. And Saturday, you want to touch on that?
Would you like me to do it? So Saturday is the all-day event.
It starts at 7 a.m. at the Walton Fire Station.
By the Suns of the American Revolution and the Daughter's American Revolution.
The committee will be session starting at 10.30.
And then there'll be a reading of the Declaration of Independence fun months.
Soon is a secession of event. There's a whole raft of different opportunities.
There's a skywatch later in evening at Congress.
And we're having a hike out at Sheldrick Forest and NHPR is coming to interview us.
WMU.R.
We got it going, God.
This could not have happened with an administration, Danis, and Nick of an action.
Our agenda, is our car.
We just split it with us?
Yeah, I thought it.
It's still 2,000 more, right?
Right.
So, again, that's stuff that you can...
I can think of this, and I could be off base on this, but we had, you know,
when we initially talked about taking the tank and putting it on another truck,
there was a perceived value of the tank.
As a lifetime tank.
that's why they were going to be the only other thing that I would say that we ought to look at in terms of value.
What were we assessing the value?
I don't have it off the top of my head, but we had perceived some value in doing it that way because the tank was...
That was what the original intent was, right?
It would have saved you purchased.
Right, I'm just saying...
I've heard that before, Chief, just so you know, I think somebody told me that that tank got replaced.
The tank that's in there is not the original tank.
Yeah, I thought it was quite new, right?
It's been replaced.
So I would just say that that would be my only ask is if we gave that a second look and just,
because we went through all the trouble of hopping through all these hoops to reuse that tank
because it was a great deal of perceived value in that lifetime.
What is it you're asking?
Well, so if we have a way to...
Determine whether the tank is new, and if it...
Right, or perhaps if the tank itself is worth more or similar to what's being offered.
But so that's the only thing, that would be the only thing that I, and I'm not...
not suggesting we need to go down that.
So that's, but you would not be able to do that.
And that also begs a question, which is, if we give me to the dealership,
a dealership can sell it to anybody who wants you, but the odds are, it won't go local,
it will go somewhere in some other departments, somewhere around the state.
I guess the question is, you know, all other things being equal, it would just be a question
of what value is in it for the town, right?
If DPW purchases the, you know, the tanker.
So if DPW buys it from the fire.
department for whatever this trade in value is, is the value to the town greater than that?
Because if it is, then the simple answer is, will the town just...
$7,500 to buy that truck?
One department just...
The tank is newer.
Oh, the price just...
...on a trailer last year, right?
Yeah, so, I mean, I just...
Well, that's what I'm saying.
How much do we spend on a lawnmore?
So, so, I mean, it's not, I mean, it's a...
For the average individual, that's a chunk of money, but in, you know, in terms of equipment,
If it's the town getting more value out of it,
then we're going to get out of just the trade-in,
then we might as well take it to the value.
So then if we're going to keep it, which I think is $7,500 is that.
Yeah, because he was willing to take $2,000 out of vehicle maintenance.
If for some reason, highway department uses it, finds out we don't really want it,
you guys can still auction it off.
Yeah.
Right?
So, I mean, highway department, if the town were interested in auctioning off anyway,
it's a different department auctioning is off, but it's still...
Yeah, I understand how that works.
I just, I think it's one of those things where, again,
if the town has, you know, is potentially gaining more value out of, retaining it,
we need to...
But again, I...
75% of the case scenario finance officer says, nope, can't do it.
Does that work for every week?
Yeah, well, he said, you need to tell them whether we're in...
Yeah, I just need to tell them whether to do the upgrade.
Because they have to order the pump.
Yes, it's in production.
So it's only that.
So we don't need to tell them whether we're going to trade it in or the government.
Yep.
Well, so we'll have a chance to review that, though.
Yep.
Okay, that's all I wanted to be thinking.
At the state, sending out the invitation of the bridge to a piece of...
and reach out well beforehand to start getting input on that project
or let people know what's going on to hopefully reduce some of the chaos that could result from the conversations around.
I'm still waiting on time for the dams.
I have not gotten an update yet from...
Got on the same page with Joseph regarding the...
study for the...
That would be part of the discussion is to figure out where they treat the...
So...
Brad Roselle Senior.
We've received a couple bids for highway trucks.
I don't think we received any bids for mowers yet,
so we'll...
...the bids for the...
...the failing highway truck that voucher places.
We're selling.
Their expression in me is that they're very interested in advancing the selling of the building
or the dividing up of the building assets to however that's...
I mean,
Temple said at the Cyprey that they wanted to know when they were going to get their money.
I'm a little surprised that Lianborough was aggressively pursuing this,
considering they are still, you know, the ambulance is still located in that building
that supplies...
I won't talk to anybody to put any words in the town of Temple's mouth,
but when I talked to them after the meeting in private,
they were like, oh, yeah, we just want the value eventually.
Yeah, they were very nice about it.
They weren't in a rush for...
But, I mean, Temple has a right to make...
second for the discussion so I'm still not clear on
to what extent
Limeboro can pressure this move like I don't have a sense that that's
that that's something that we need to capitulate
so I that's what I so it doesn't have to be this meeting but I would like to
understand so we could move forward with this process but I'd like to
understand yeah we have to be because the temple temple even there I would still
like to understand what the obligation is for us in terms of timeline because again
And what it comes down to is that, you know,
this is one of these things that I still don't have a great sense of,
which is we sort of have the responsibility of running the service,
providing the service.
I say we, but Chief Gardner over here, you know,
does the lion's chair of the work,
and it's maintained by Wilton overwhelmingly,
and yet everybody else is sort of just, you know,
benefiting from it and then, you know,
saber-rattling about,
wanting their money and we have...
Well, at the end of the day, their customers...
So I'm going somewhere with that, and that's exactly what I'm saying,
which is that customers generally pay an additional margin, right?
If we were running a bakery and just cooking for ourselves,
there would be no markup, but as soon as you have customers, you markup, and then you sell it.
You know, that's any business, so, which I don't believe we're doing for these other towns.
We're not charging them a premium that's beyond what we would charge ourselves, so to be.
Everybody paying their share.
Right, right, we're not charging.
We just don't want them getting...
We're doing it somewhere else.
Yeah, well, that's...
Well, but...
It win the battle and lose the one.
One of these things where I think for us,
like I said, I'd like to understand
to what extent we have to jump through hoops to...
They are requests, right?
If there's any real legal standing
for them to pressure us into it,
that's what I'd like to understand.
The second piece is, if there is,
moving forward at some point
in the future, maybe there is
a need for us to rethink some of the
finer details of these
arrangements at all the response.
of owning the building, then
maybe it's a, hey, instead of you being
a part owner, because you're part of the program,
you're paying us a lease fee
or something along those lines.
Well, the IMA will definitely get...
Yeah, I... Ambulance...
What are the expenses in the...
And so that's what I want to understand
is what that interplay is. That's not something we'll answer
tonight, but I think it's one of those things
that I would just... I think those are very valid questions
that I appreciate you bringing them up.
But I think having an appraisal...
They have to set of baseline.
And this is why...
What the writ would be.
I'm trying voting for that.
I just want to sort of add
these different pieces to the discussion
before we just say, okay, go appraise.
And maybe we should ask our appraiser.
No, I'm not saying we zap them,
but I think it's about presenting
them with a different option.
Certainly with Lymebrough, because Lymebrough has been part of the
ambulance service. Yeah, but I think that's the next logical
progression of that, which is
if there is some sort of a push for us
to cash them out
of the building, the next logical
stipulation is, well, what's the
rent that we're charging for the
utility that you're getting, that's
going to have to be answered before...
So... It's going to be
whatever we owe money divided by 12
for the next year. Okay, so anyway.
All right, so...
The last item I'm I'm adding in public.
We've got a couple non-publics, hopefully most of the
public. Just to recognize
the passing. John was a very
long-standing member of funds, so he served
the community. In the Second Congress. Yes,
I read that in the obituary. I did not know
that. So I knew him as a
The best I have so we'll...