Yeah, >> we have a quorum. How long do we need? >> Are you gonna read it now? >> How long do we need to talk about the contract so do you think? >> Why don't you say 25 because it sounds better than 30. >> What do you I mean I think it's going to take it's going to be at least 15. Yeah, that's what I would say. >> I think so. >> That is one, two, three, four, five and a half hours of wasted time. >> Yep. >> Yeah. >> Have to be quick. Unless I vote against it. I won't. Good afternoon and welcome to the No need to rush, Lori. Um, sorry, we're going to be a few minutes. Um, good afternoon. Welcome to the Monday, May 4th meeting, the Orno Town Council where classes have ended, but the work of the council continues. Um, classes at the University of Maine have ended. So, all you Oro students still have a a bit to go yet. Um, roll call shows that we have councelor Laray, councelor Hardison, councelor Marks, councelor Demer, councel Powers, councelor Quinn. I've not heard from Jacob. >> He did. He's on his way. He's a little late. >> Jacob's on his way and he's a little late. Um, we agenda review. This is an opportunity for us to look at what's been referred to the various committees of the council um and to discuss any need for review, clarifications, or additions by unanimous agreement of the council. I have one request on the consent calendar. >> Okay. >> 87 and 88 should be pulled. They'll be finished this in the next week or so. So, >> what are the numbers? >> 87 and 88. >> Okay. Still going to be able to get delicious beverages at the Golden from now until then. >> Their licenses go well past nights into next month. >> All right. That's okay. So, we'll without any concern or objection. Well, they're not going to just >> they're not ready to go anyway, so we'll pull those two. And I understand there's a motion. >> I'd like to make a motion to move the executive session on labor negotiations to the start of the meeting. Um, we're about to set budget priorities for the public hearing. And I think since the labor negotiations could impact the budget, I think we need to have a better understanding of exactly where we're at and verify numbers with our town manager at the beginning of the meeting. >> Okay. Is there I don't we don't really have a second on those, right? But I mean I assume there is any concerns with moving that. We do these by unanimous agreement. So So that's what we're going to do. So for um we'll make that change. Um it'll move that executive session. It is item 14B and um with apologies to people who tuned in for the start of the meeting. We'll be in executive session for probably 25 minutes, >> hopefully less. hopefully less. Y >> um and I do we do apologize for that. Anything else on the agenda changes that we have before we move into executive session. >> Okay. I would then um accept a uh motion to move an executive session pursuant to one MRSA section 4056D regarding labor negotiations. >> So moved. >> Moved and seconded. All those in favor? Okay. Unanimous. We'll be in the aric room and back as soon as we can be. Thank you. back. Go grab it. Sorry. >> I thought it was easier until I actually built the spreadsheet and realized that >> What is this? >> This is the >> All right. Exactly 25 minutes as promised. We're back um from uh it's now 5:47. Uh apologies to the wait for that. And uh the quip I had about the time I don't know if it was on mic or not, but the quip I had about the four or five hour discussion was just representative of the fact that we had a lot of staff with us this evening and and uh their collective time. I'm frustrated that we were we didn't do a better job or I didn't do a better job ahead of time of scheduling our agenda so that it was clear to people. So, I personally as a chair apologize um to folks who had to wait for that. And okay, we are next up on our agenda is just to speak about what we were in executive session about. Um we are is negotiating an agreement with the um the bargaining unit for the firefighters and council's pleased with the negotiations that management and labor have put into the agreement. um and items were just received today and under attorney review. So, we're going to get some feedback from that before we have further conversations um in executive session and and move to consider the the the agreement for final adoption or approval from the council. So, that's where we are with that. Um next up on our agenda is approval of minutes from April 27th, 2026. Could we have a motion? >> Second. >> Um any discussion, corrections, changes? All those in favor? Okay, that's unanimous. Try and move this quickly. Presentations and discussion items. Well, maybe not quick, but we're going to start with a discussion and finalize our budget for public hearing. Oh, did I ask for public comment? Is there any public comment? Anyone here or online? Okay, no one with their hands raised. Um, sorry about that. by item five, presentations, discussion items, discussion of our budget for public hearing. We have a public hearing scheduled for May 18th. We are as a as part of our process. You know, it's we compleiment ourselves early on when we think, hey, we're going to do this faster and and have a more expedited process, but then it comes to our attention as we get close to the end that it's faster than people are used to and we'd be making decisions earlier in the process than we typically do, probably about a month earlier than we did last year, right? in terms of when we passed the budget for last year and had the public hearing. So, we wanted to have a um we have some an updated um manager recommended budget that we're going to talk through and I think we're also going to have a conversation about what it is that we want to do as a council to uh create awareness about about the budget. there is a potentially likely a tax impact on the town side that we haven't had in prior years and we want to make sure that uh our our meetings are not particularly well attended in person. Um, we're happy to have uh be online for everyone who's watching at home and we're happy to have coverage from uh our local news outlets and be joined by staff, but we have not had really much participation in any of these discussions um at all. And I think collectively we on the council are kind of concerned that people don't know what's coming in terms of the budget and we want to do what we can to make sure there's some awareness and we invite some engagement um as part of that process. So to start, Clint, do you want to and we had a a handout, but do you want to walk us through the manager recommended budget memo? >> Thank you. Yeah, if I I don't want to walk through it, but maybe just a highlight so the council can spend more time giving some direction. >> Um, it provided some clear bullets of where we're at. And you know the the situation I guess to make known is that general feedback and from my observations in these meetings is that this increase is significant and we want to be sure before we move forward. So some of the things I've outlined in there include getting reaffirmation as to where we are on the town side. You can have a full understanding of the county and the school but just kind of reaffirming where we are. I have made and worked with the team to make some changes. The other piece is to talk about what's got us to there and then maybe how is there specific directions the council has on how we market this to make sure the public is truly aware that we are adopting this one month earlier than normal. That was the plan. We've advertised that from the beginning. Now it's time to really do the the fullon pressure campaign of the public hearings May 18th. We're going to set this. This is what the budget will be if you if we approve it after that meeting. And again, most likely I'm hearing June 4, uh, June 8th is the date that the council meets in June where you could approve it after the public hearing unless you want to do it the same night as a public hearing or call extra meetings, but neither of those are things you typically do. >> Um, so that being the case, I would prefer if the council knows, understands those goals. Um, it really focuses in on the the uh municipal budget summary, the one pager. I think that's where most of the meaningful conversation if you want further refinement obviously revenues and expenses but a lot of changes were there um we have cut expenses significantly on the town side to get down to a 4.66 operating expense um and again total including economic development and tiff um and debt service you know we're at 4.28 28. Uh the problem with that or the concern is is that it doesn't address that we've lost 563,000 in revenue. Um 253,000 of that is directly attributed to the uh state revenue sharing and we're on you know you've reduced spending. If you look at the historical data our taxes have gone down. Um the less your need the less you receive is a lay person explanation of revenue sharing. um the higher your spending and the higher your need because you don't have the capacity, the more they'll give you. And Orno's in a one of the top receiving communities because of our value to budget costs. And it's partly, you know, being in a university town, being as you've shared and other counselors talk about being a smaller community um that has an influx of people that come in. your clerk and excise collectors talk to us about how, you know, of 11,000 population, we're the lowest when it comes to excise tax. And that's because of some unique exceptions and to our demographics. We have a demographic that doesn't have the more expensive vehicles and our students aren't required to register in town. Um, they're allowed by law to register in other towns. It's the only one of the only exceptions I'm aware of in the law that where you live is not where you register your car. Um, yeah. So, and we can talk more about those, but those are some of the things that we're working at, but they're longer term problems. So, as we look at the entire picture, you know, the town's tax assessment is up 784,000. That's 17%. That's right back. You know, you've had two, three good years of savings. You were able to reduce the local net assessment over that period by about that same amount. We're right back to where we were in 2023. That's what the town's tax assessment was then. we've, you know, fallen back with all the good years of growth through revenue sharing. It's now back to stable or shrinking. And so now we're back to the same level of taxes. So that's where we're at for this year. And that's after some significant reductions um from the one that I want to make sure you're aware. Um and I didn't give you the menu or the list, if you will, of of what the things were, but um I did work with the team and we've adopted to one staffing change. We will reduce the newly added full-time assistant clerk back to 25 hours a week. That's with benefits that will allow them to cover lunches and all vacations and all, you know, sick days on a call-in basis. But that shrink shrinking of the budget is there. Um saved, you know, and again, I don't have the exact number, but I believe it was around 25,000. Um it gets us to the model we've always wanted to achieve. We'll try it again. Um but we were never able to find that part-timer that would stay on a permanent basis that would work within it. But that service reduction of sorts was there um because and again I will own the responsibility for this. I was looking at the total impact of taxes and I just knew that we were creating problems for future years. As you were looking at this you were asking the questions that were reinforcing my concerns. This isn't about just this year. It's about the next two three years. I don't want to position ourselves in a spot. That was a recent add to the service levels. It's something since I've been here, we went to a full-time third person and I said, let's take it back for this year and see what it does and if it helps the budget. Um, so that was my decision. Obviously the council, you can do what you want, but that was the one big change. Um, and I do see a question. I just the last thought you know right now the point to drill home if the budget that's presented by you is the updated recommended budget by me for your consideration were to pass taxes go up by 12.67% that means a a home of 375,000 will go up by $82. That's the actual cost you know and again that's where we got to figure it out. of that 802 uh 500 of it is not related to the town's increase. That's our school and county. So again, you know, the if you say you take I guess a way I would say this, if you want me to get us to zero, we've got to cut more than what we're than staying flat. We would have to have a what I would call drastic service reduction discussion if we want to try to sustain zero. Um because that's we're going to cut1,1,398 more than our increase. >> Council Marks has a question. Clint, >> yeah, I just wanted to ask you to repeat the 802 and this page we got today would be the impact on the average house owner and how much did you say of that was the town versus school and county of that 802? >> I've been using so again from my conversation I've been doing a 500 300 split. I can calculate it exactly if you'd like on the percentages, but I've been saying it's about 500 and 300. >> 824. >> Uh, it was 824, but with this newer one, this is a lower. >> I think it's 804, right? >> Budget. Well, I don't know because I haven't seen that page that came out today. Did that page get adjusted today to tell us >> it not because taxes did not change. It's 824. My mistake, I >> Thank you. That's what I was trying to find out. So it still is 824 >> and about 500 of that belongs to Gulen County and about 300 belongs to us. >> Yep. I'll tell you exactly in just a second. >> That would be helpful to me to know. Thank you. >> Um I have another question when we're there, but >> Okay. Any other questions to this point and then we'll have more questions as we go. Okay. Council Marks has another question. >> Except I think Clint's busy, sir. $361 of that increase of the 824 is the town. >> So 361 is town. >> The town share. >> Yeah. And finish the rest of the math and you'll know the other side. >> I'm going to math it right now, but watch out. >> Thanks. Um and and I guess I just want to say thank you. I'm sure this was not just you, but a lot of staff working hard to try to figure out where those operating expense reductions came from. Um, and I do think it's important to point out that the operating expense came down, but the capital expense went up. Um, which you can speak to why, I'm sure, but I think it was something that just had maybe perhaps not been put in there that was supposed to have been in there before that council had already approved. But I think it's important for council to note that although the operating expenses were brought down by 311, total expenses are not down. They are pretty much flat. They are up by 65,000. So, compared to the last budget we saw, we're basically seeing very similar expenses um with a lot of work to bring operating down, which is very um appreciated by me anyway because I know that the operating ones are the ones that I never want to outgrow ourselves and end up in a situation where we have to lay off staff. Um I did want to ask, you said there's the one reduction in the clerk position to part-time. Um but the rest of that nearly 300,000 then is all coming from a variety of small lines that are not uh wages and benefits. Correct. Everything else is non-wages and benefit reductions. >> Yeah, there was some benefit clarific pay and benefit clarifications when we read recalculated with the actual because we were hiring people every day. So everyone we hired we put in their actuals and there was some savings there or there were some increases there depending on who we hired. So, we are live to the minute on the current staffing that we have. >> That's great and hopeful for me. Um I I do think for me in the future, I would love to talk about us having a breakdown of the operating expense line to tell us um how much of that is wages and benefits. We're getting it by cost center right now. So, I could go through and add all the cost centers and add it up, but I would like to track it because um I want to be sure we're tracking how fast um wage and benefit growth is happening. And the 4.66 I'm thinking is a little bit artificially low for personnel benefits and wages because we've taken out so much other stuff that wasn't wages and benefits that's brought that number down. So it's great and I'm grateful we did it and I just want to be sure as we move forward we we track it. I again never want to be in a situation where we ever have to lay off staff if we can avoid it. Um so I always want to be aware of that number. Um and I am appreciative. Also I wanted to look at the general fund line. Um it's my belief that that line is looking much higher than the last time council saw it. It's looking almost 200 almost 261,000 higher. Um on the general fund revenue, anticipated general fund revenue. Uh so I'm assuming perhaps that was something that was rechecked. I I had been noticing before that we were predicting a a big drop in our general fund revenue which didn't make sense to me um because I think we're having similar fees and I doubt we're registering less cars or kids in wreck programs or all the things that come into that budget. So the last version council saw showed us actually down nearly 100,000 on that line down 99 and now we're seeing one telling us up 161. Um, so I'm assuming that something changed or was caught because that's great for me to see that the general funds are in fact continuing to grow as we would expect. They are not going down. Correct. >> Yep. >> And that is primarily that general fund number coming up. What is allowing us to give a tax more of a tax break out to folks? That's what's bringing our tax number from a million on the town side down to only 784. >> Correct. >> Correct. >> Okay. So that's the general fund increase. Thank you. >> That's a good day's work then. >> Did that in one week. >> Yeah. Good for you. Let's give you a couple more weeks and see what you know we'd be giving everybody a tax rebate. >> Shel must have had thousands of people through in this work down in the town office. Then >> I did pay my sewer bill. It was a doozy. So, Jacob, >> um, so first of all, Sarah, I believe the wage comparison is in here on the original budget package. Um, >> in the first one >> in the in the one that's online, currently online, >> the the big packet that we got months ago. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I just don't know if it's been updated yet to show me what gets I mean, because 4.6 is is a very different growth than 7.3. Okay. And I think most of that from what we're hearing didn't come in changes to wages and benefits. Um so I just I would like to get an updated one on that. >> Perfect. Um >> it is in the summary page wages and benefits is up 8.81%. Page 13. >> Page 13. >> Yep. >> Uh in which packet cuz >> the one for tonight we updated it. That's part of the core summary. We will give you those documents every time. So page 13 in there has got the municipal wage comparison. 8.81 is the percent difference. Thank you. That's what I was looking for. I appreciate it. >> You're welcome. And then the other question I had, and I apologize because I think this is something you and Sarah had already talked about, and I uh yeah, I I missed that explanation um today, but the uh operating use of restricted TIF funds looks like it changed um from the original budget of 851 to 903. re can you I I maybe you or Sarah cuz sorry Sarah I didn't listen to your voicemail I didn't have time so yeah so the use of tiff we realigned where the different tiff budgets and what they can cover and and what was funded out of them so again that 8 903 ties right to the expense budget um I can go through that line by line or you could do a sidebyside of those um one of the ones was is that we made made the decision with the uh and I got the notes here with with the team that the town manager and the assistant town manager would be funded equally in that line as a percentage and then we also uh realigned how the director of community development. So there was some increases there by putting that money into tiff. It does increase the use of tiff but it lowers the amount that goes to the taxpayer. So that was a small savings to realign some of the costs into it relating to positions >> and related to that though that that movement of funds um and reallocation that will continue to happen moving forward or is that just a one-time adjustment this year to so the assessment that we've received was is that t that the tiff budget would be nice if we could lower it the use but if you look at the growth of the value of the tiff. We have been doing it just because our value in the districts has improved. So what we're trying to do was just sustain it flat. It's been right around the high eights. Staying to the low nines was our kind of our goal. And so when we realized we had that room, my opinion was is that we were coming up too much to property taxes. So my amended updated budget lowered the impact on taxpayers. That was the goal. Shrink taxpayers what they're paying. Did that mean I had to leverage TIFF funds? It did. And I did it to a small degree. But again, I normally don't want to get into the habit of an updated budget, but my observations on the questions of the council and the community knew that I had to make an adjustment. And personally, I knew those needed to occur and I worked quite a bit with staff some um uncomfortable conversations that we needed to lower taxes. This is a year where we can't we got to be extremely careful. >> Okay. Thank you for that. Um, council Hardison, >> we're asking staff to find ways to reduce the budget. And I'm wondering from my fellow council members, what are we willing to give up in our proposed budget? Um, if we're asking them to give give up things and find ways to reduce looking at the March uh expenses, um, I'm on the f the March quarterly financials for expenses. travel and >> yeah, travel and training. Um, not much spent there. Uh, dues and subscriptions. Maybe that just hasn't come due yet. Um, we have special projects. What What are we as a council willing to concede if we're asking them to give things up? >> What page you on? Are you in the which financial last? >> Yes. >> Okay. How much is the line, Andrea? Because I don't have it in front of me. I think if we pull it up, it's important because most of the things that show under council are actually um like the contract with the auditor shows as a council expense, which we don't have any control over. And the auditor bill is going to go up, we heard in finance committee, very significantly. So, I would be very nervous about not only not decreasing the auditor line, but if anything, we need some padding elsewhere in the council line because the auditor, we were told, is going to go up potentially 9,000. Um, I don't have that right pulled up in front of me, but as far as the training budget goes, we don't use it on many years. This is not a year when I'd want to see it go because we've been told that that's the way we might be able to fund training that's being recommended for council and staff um not for council, but for all of us um for the Wabanaki reach trainings um coming on the MCU plan. So, if there's a line that's not that training line and not what's called special contracts or something, which is the auditor, I would certainly want to hear how much is on that line. And but actually that Andrew so I agree with everything Sarah said a lot of that uh is not actually specifically related to us alone. But that being said I am open and I mean last year we had a conversation this exact conversation and that's when we uh got rid of the um mini grants. Um, so I'm I'm open um to any items on our docket as well. Um, >> and is this the $69,411? >> Yeah. Thanks. >> So, >> can we come back to this one? I don't know if we can. >> Yeah, I'm trying to find it. >> Yeah. >> All right. Does anyone else have any other questions other than um All right. Any other questions before we move on? >> Bring it back. Take Yeah. >> All right. No more questions for Clint in terms of the budget summary or anything like that. >> Got another. >> Okay. Let's go at it. >> And go ahead. >> Yeah. Um, I just want to know, are we setting the town up for success in regards to planning for the future as far as um, future projects, building maintenance, equipment maintenance. I just want to make sure that we're not short funding any projects or required repairs. >> Um, >> well, success. Not do you not recommend your budget? >> Uh I mean I'm recommending success is subjective. >> No. So no wait it I meant it genuinely though. Success is so subjective and that's a great question but I think more what you got to look at is what is what is orno's measure of success. I've been here two years hired to figure out what success means for ORO. We have made great progress to putting some rules around that. We're not done. Um, I've shared with you in my annual that a third year is going to be extremely important to figure out where we are and what success is or isn't. Um, I'm in the learning stage. This is a significant increase year for a town that I've been in 19 months. Will the town be accepting of this? Will they not be accepting of it? I have no idea. You You've been here. You're the elected officials. If this budget is approved as written, I think we're continuing our ability to succeed. It's not ripping out things that will hurt us long term. That being said, are we addressing all our needs long term? No, we are not. We have multiple things on your capital planning and on our road infrastructure and on our economic development expansion that we need to figure out how to fund and we're not. But that has been the case for many years. I've talked to councilors before you that said Oro's done it that way before. You know, when it comes to what we need, we cut the long-term vision of the capital needs and you don't you didn't do it. So, I mean, and that do I have specifics? That's no, that's anecdotal, but that I I could tell you the person who said it to me just in the past two weeks as a former counselor that you know, you go to capital. I think right now you're making good strides and I'm seeing a long-term sustainable capital vision, but we're not ready to adopt that yet. We and every year has new challenges. What's going to happen to the economy between now and and March of 2027? I don't know. if I did um I've said this before in other places I'd probably have a different job um yeah you know so >> but I mean not to be facitious but to be genuine there's a lot of variables up there so I think back to your question Andrea yes this is not going to risk our future >> is it setting us up for perfection no way I could I could ask me I'll tell you how to spend $3 million more in a blink of a hat because that would in a way that could grow our town's value just don't have three million more to add in here. So, >> I think it's drop of a hat or blink of an eye. >> Oh, did I say blink of a hat? >> Yeah, you did. >> I like blink of a hat. It's a good one. >> You got me nervous. >> Open question. Council Marks has a question for you. >> No, I just to follow up, Clint, I just wanted to say um it's it's my understanding though that this budget you've brought us on the capital side is funding what you asked us to fund in year one of the capital improvement program. >> So, in that sense, we were brought a plan that was a 10-year plan. We did not cut things out of that year one. >> Correct. So, and um and we also are making big capital investments in the library and in the police station and moving some big projects forward which staff has worked hard to bring us a financially sustainable and possible way to do that. Um so, I mean to Andrea's question, I want to be real clear that you are telling us you have not cut anything out of what we were proposed we should do in year one of the capital improvement program. >> Nope. >> Right. Okay. And then I did want to ask there are a few other capital project increases showing here beyond the 250 which is the police building which already had been passed and just didn't get entered on the correct line as I understand it the first time around. But there are a few other small increases that are showing on capital projects use of taxes or grants and ARPA um that total around maybe 50 to 70 on there 75. Can you just speak a little to what those are? What those projects are? Were they something also that got forgotten from the capital improvement program year one or are they something that's come to staff's attention that needs to be done this year? >> Because I think this is staff responding to something they felt needed to be done. I think >> uh the biggest change again it's not funded through taxes. Um there's a trail connector for out in on the Ben Road into the river trail. Um I took it out in one of these updated versions completely. Did nothing to taxes. When I looked to put it back in I realized that 25,000 was on the low side. So we jumped it up so that it would be bigger at and again I've seen a plan you've seen a plan with the cemeteries that they've talked about where there's bigger needs there. So I jumped that up to 50. That was probably the most significant change in that line of full 25,000 >> and that's reserve funding. So it's not >> coming out of the secretary reserve fund. So there was an increase to reserves when I did that. That's why that revenue line shows higher. Yep. >> Okay. Anybody else? Um, I think it's all set down on this end. Um, I think it's all No, just No, we're done. No. Um, no. Go ahead, Andrea. Of course you didn't. Go ahead. We one of the things that we've said is uh is safety for our pedestrians and our bicyclists and community development brought us uh propos some ideas as far as the crosswalks, the signaling, the temporary placement things. Are we just going to see if there's money to do that or should we as a council be looking at including that in the budget up front? >> Yeah. So, this is um >> is it in the budget though to do to have those things? No, we are in discussions at the community development about um capital investments at both the Oak Street intersection where Marsh Island is and potentially some sort of signal lighting out on a forest and Taylor which was the top um the top response well a couple of the top responses in in our oral stop survey. Those are not funded specifically in the budget because we're not done working with staff on what they're working with the Department of Transportation working with in the committee. So, we're kind of keeping those in the committee level, kind of work with staff and then, you know, work to advance them as part of the as part of our work. But I think it's fair to say, you know, when we say that um we're funding the stuff that the managers recommended, I think the manager and staff kind of read the room and understand that there are limits to what they can ask for in the first place. And those are the kinds of things if you know if it was up to me and and taxes were no no object we'd have you know raised intersections at every intersection in Orno and we'd have um you'd be I literally got accosted today about the the Forest Avenue um speed um mitigation systems we have installed um by someone who works in Orno but does not live in Orno and I was um you know skin off my you know I mean but anyway Okay. Um, slow down. And um, but that's kind of where we're at. I mean, I feel like that's and I feel like there's a for me when I think about is this budget sufficient, I think about it in terms of we we want to position all of our departments and especially our town manager and frankly the council to be successful. We want to have we want to build momentum. We want, you know, we're doing such great, you know, that last night's potluck, the festival days, all the different things that are going on to build community. We're not just because I have no interest in serving on a council that's just a placeholding, you know, business as usual council. I mean, this is service to the community, but also building the community. And I think that this budget's a good step in that direction. It's not as big a step as I would like. Um, and I think we need to have more awareness about what the tax impact is going to be, but I think it's it's staff and the manager have done good work, and I think we've done good work. Um, so we're not done yet. All right. So let's talk about that. We've got two weeks before the public hearing and 30 some odd seats to fill. So what are we going to do? Do we do we care? I mean people share my concern that this has been a somewhat under ambitious kind of public engagement or the public has not been I would love to believe and let's just off the record that the public Yeah. Right. whatever whatever demand. Um I would love to believe that people are so trusting of our work as a council in our community, but I I just don't think they've dialed in yet. And um so I think I'm concerned that we haven't had a lot of engagement in any of these meetings. And I would like people to know what's coming. Um I joked about it. Some of us may be knocking on doors in August when tax bills come and I don't want that to be the first time someone hears it. So, I'm not joking about it. Well, I guess I'm not. I know I'm going to be the one knocking on somebody's door the same day their tax bill shows up. And I'd like them I'd like to be able to say we had an earnest ask of people to be aware and and contribute their thoughts. But I don't I also don't want to set us up for, you know, whatever Clint I don't think there's any way this council is going to pass a budget that um eliminates the $824 impact across the board because we're out of business at that point, right? Um, so I don't want to create a misconception that that we can solve if if 40 people show up at a public hearing, we can we can solve the tax increase across the board for the people of Orno because I don't think we can do that. So what are what are people's thoughts on that? Um, I I'll say, you know, I haven't had anyone knocking down my door um with concerns about the process so far, but I also haven't been, you know, reaching out to see where people are at and what what they're hearing um, you know, beyond kind of a small circle. uh and would certainly want to hear if folks had concerns about the process and would really want to hear if folks are um which I tend to believe they are that folks are in line with our vision of like continuing services um in a sustainable but um consistent way. Um so would certainly want to fill all the seats and hear things on either side. Um, but I do, you know, looking kind of historically at our, um, at the at the mill rate and the cost per thousand evaluation, um, you know, last year was particularly low, um, in in comparison to past years. And I think there's a, uh, a measure of rebound from that. Um, and if it's not a number that folks are comfortable with, I hope that they feel that, you know, there's a space to be able to come. And I do want to reflect because I don't want it to be kind of a I don't I don't want to encourage folks to be banging down the door to come in um to to talk in these next couple of weeks and then feel like disappointed or disenfranchised in the process either. um and be kind of realistic in communicating that there is this uh county tax bill and um revenue sharing that is making up such a big percentage um that I don't want to say we are obligated to pass along but that you know doesn't doesn't come from the town and doesn't necessarily come from the the day-to-day impact on on services and things like that. >> Yeah. >> But the tax bill comes with a town oro letterhead on the top of the letter. So, I don't know. Does anybody I know Rob, I know you got time. Anything on this that you want to >> Yeah, I do have to leave shortly, but um yeah, I mean, I think there's to John's point there, there's only so much really that we're going to be altering uh this point forward. And I'm of a similar mind that I think people are generally aligned with the idea of maintaining the current service levels. And I think we're putting in a good faith effort to try to figure out how to do that in a way that um respects people's wallets and also still respects um our valuable staff members. Um I think uh perhaps when we're presenting on this as we usually do, I mean lay out the facts of what we've lost in uh revenue sharing uh and what's coming from the county, what's coming from the the school, what's coming from the town, how does it break down so people understand sort of where the money's going. But I think that's that's um that's what we can do is just communicate honestly and openly about the specifics. >> Okay. >> I think I >> Council Marks, >> I very largely agree with things folks are saying. Um if you looked at the first two pages of our memo tonight, which is our town manager's memo about um why the FY27 budget has a higher tax impact. Um, I think that the starting place for whatever is put out publicly needs to be clear that although there is an $824 on the average home increase, 361 of that only are the town share. And we need to be clear, the other half, it's 2/3, I don't know approximately what it is, is the county and school. And then we need to own what our increase is. And it's a bit too simplistic to pass that off completely on state revenue sharing. If you look at the numbers, we have 784,000 increase on the net tax assessment for the town. So that is the town side. No county, no school that we're looking to collect. 784,000 more than what we collected last year. 253 of that comes directly from a cut to revshare. So a third of it is a cut that came to us from revshare. and the other 500 is other things. And our town manager calls those out in the next two bullet points. One is talking about inflationary cost increases. So I'm on page two of the memo from the manager. And the second is compensation and benefits. So that would be labor agreements, health insurance, workers comp, benefits, and salary. And I do think we should split that out so that that remaining 500, we have a number on how much is inflation to goods and other things and how much is our benefits and our commitment to keep our staff paid, our really qualified staff at the level that they need to be. Um, and I think if we break that out, that's as honest and transparent as we can be with the public. We say here's the average increase. I think we should also say the increase per 100,000 of house value, not just the average because not everybody owns an average house. Some people own much smaller, some people might own bigger. And it helps if you have the hundred,000. It's easy math to figure out, my house is 250, so I multiply by 2.5. Or my house is 150, so I multiply that by 1.5. So both of those figures and then a dollar number. This is the town amount going up, not school, not county. 784, 697. 253 of that is a revshare cut. The other 500ish needs to be split into these other two categories Clint has listed here and laid out as numbers so that everyone sees this is what we're dealing with in what category. If our town manager wants to split those two further, that's fine, but I'm perfectly comfortable with those two as long as they each have a dollar number on them. >> I agree with that. >> It's a great suggestion. Thank you. >> Yep. >> Good. Thanks, Rob. Um any more thoughts on so I mean the thinking would be we'd work with the town manager and staff to get the word around. We could certainly are open to our channels and I would very much encourage you want to hear from people about the you know you sit where we sit and we get to talk about service levels all year round and it gets really easy to understand the value of the services we have in Orno and the and the kind of the privilege that we have. Um, I'm hopeful that people people want to come participate. I'd like very much to hear from people that um want to share the value that they receive from the the various services that we have in town and and why, you know, why they should be sustained and and um and supported with with tax revenue. And um I think that'll be an important part of the conversation as well. So, and I I tend to agree with um this sentiment that people seem to be pretty comfortable with where we are as a community in terms of our service levels, but we do want to have I think some greater awareness about um this particular budget year in particular, why it's a little harder than it has. You know, for years I' sat next to Sarah and you know, the talk about the increases in the operating costs and then but then, you know, rabbit out of a hat, the revenue sharing was up a million dollars or whatever it was for a couple years in a row and that was handy. um and that's not the case this year and so people need to we can have a good conversation about that and and people can hear from us and and understand why. So sure >> I think the only other thing I would add is that I appreciated the town manager calling out that this budget is not attempting to increase service levels anywhere because I think that's important for taxpayers to know also that in a hard budget year we're not trying to institute new programs and tax you more for something new. We're trying to keep the existing services. Um and also I think there should be uh a figure given on whether we are adding positions. So um my understanding is that we are actually going down now a half a positionish close to half a position in the clerk's office. Um we did go up in an economic development position this year. So maybe that puts us up a half a position there. And then we are assuming cost for some fire positions that were grant funded. So, I think we need to call out where we are adding any um FTEEs. I think that's also important for folks to know and why. >> Okay. >> All right. Anything else? Anything extraordinary? Keep >> I got one tough question if you're moving on to the next item. >> Yeah, go ahead. >> Um so, capital plans kick off the town. You set a nice capital plan. We made a lot of debate. We made some great discussions there. There is a extremely good lever you could pull, but it is pushing it out to next year, but it also leaves us some financial capacity. I've heard from comments from one or two of you, and it led to me putting some notes together and just saying what would happen if I could give an option to attach with this for the public hearing on how we could releverage how we're doing capital improvements and how we're doing our bonding. you could actually free up some unassigned fund balance this year and you could actually not have to reduce any of your projects. It does mean you're borrowing more, but again, the reality is is that your this budget spends down a million dollars of fund bance balance for capital. And if you spread that same million over a 20 or 30-year bond, you will save money for this year. This is where borrowing can save you money. People can't afford to buy a brand new house cash. They finance them. They do mortgages. We're about to build a brand new police station. Should we revisit this police station just to compare it to what you decided to do when you adopted the capital plan? >> You mean the we're going to remodel the building across the street, not build a brand new, but >> remodel it. Build it. It's It's a new police station to us. We've never owned it before. I buy a used house. It's new to me. >> Yeah. It's new to us. >> Okay. >> I think if we're going to talk about that, we ought to talk about that a bit tonight uh before we send you off to do any more on it. Um, and there is a page in our packet that gives um tax impact data. And that page um it's the one that says the average. I'm looking for the number now, but the one that says this 24. Yeah. Uh I think it Well, maybe it was three in the new one. I'm on the old one. >> Okay. >> Page three in the one. It's tonight's packet. Packet. >> I'll scroll >> 8.97. >> Yeah. >> So, it's page three in that. So, I guess on that page, you know that we can look at if we take a 20-year debt service on a million dollars, it tells us that that is a 0.4, right? Percent increase on people's taxes for 20 years. So, point4 times 20 because it happens to them 20 times, >> right? So, that comes out as a what? Can someone do that math? 5%, Jacob. >> Right. Um, right. And if we funded, is that right? 04 times 20 years. Do that math. Something doesn't seem right. What do you get? Eight. 4* 20 is eight. So an 8% actual increase spread over 20 years. And if we just fund that flat out, we would look at the line above and multiply it by two. So instead of spending 500,000 once, we'd be spending a million once, which comes out at five. So it's 5.2% that people are paying on, you know, increase, right? if we do it in the one big chunk and it's 8% that they're paying if we spread it over 20 years but it's spread out and so I mean that's what we're looking at is what you're bringing up we spread more of it out right and that's a perfectly legit thing I just think that as a council we should talk about whether that's something we want to entertain or not >> and I would argue um that and we can talk about that but I would argue that that 8% is actually low because it's 4% compounded >> right >> yeah so maybe higher >> a Andrea, >> can you clarify when you say revisit the police station? We're not revisiting whether or not to do it. We're revisiting how to finance it. >> No, revisit how you finance it. >> Okay. Thank you. >> So, we we're taking we're transferring what, a million.2 in unassigned fund balance. Yeah, but um I'll put in I'll put in my two cents on those numbers that I'm not I'm not seeing a need to revisit that unless I I think that's a great lever to have at our disposal if we get a lot of feedback from this push that like hey something needs to change but right as things sit um I would rather not kind of just project it out >> and the only thing to remember this lever is not just this year >> you're spending $1 million of money we have today to lower the borrowing of that building. If I if this town needs 300,000 next year to get a balanced budget, >> it's gone. You spent the million. >> So, it's not there in your reserve. So, it's an opportunity cost. Yeah. >> That's the piece I'm trying that I've been sharing throughout this whole process is that we are spending down our fund balance aggressively, you know, right now. So I think maybe I I think to John's point, I think there's that point to think about in terms of I think having the lever is important. So we ought to know about it in terms of this particular budget, but we also need to think about opportunity costs. if there are things that kind of come down the road um in terms of you know we one of the positions we have is a economic development director and sometimes you got to spend money to make money and we we're started talking about this the $25 million valuation we need to add to to or on an annual basis we talk about the need to um generate other revenue sources and we talk about the need to share share the cost of services among our our partners in the region Um, so there may be an opportunity that that million, some of that million, if we made some kind of change or some portion of it, could be used for other short-term opportunities to grow our valuation, which helps us in the long run. Um, so that's something to consider, too. And just as we ask our manager to be entrepreneurial and and bring us opportunities, we have to have the res when I think about this recommended budget, I think about having the resources so that we can say yes to things that are going to make a difference in our future. >> So, okay, Council Marks, you going to go in? >> I thought he did. Did you have something, Jacob? >> Um, yeah, fully agreed. I also think it's probably important for us to realize as a council I don't I at the moment I would say I don't think I stand in the place of wanting to revisit that decision. I think we spend a ton of time trying to find a balance between how much reserve to spend down and how much to bond out and it was a long and complicated and well thought out and debated discussion at the time. I understand things change and I'd be willing to have it again but my first instinct is not except for what you're saying. I understand that it allows money to be there if I'm thinking yes economic development but also there's nothing to say that the money coming from the state and the state economy doesn't do worse next year than what we saw this year. So I do understand why having the flexibility matters. Um I also think it's important for us to realize that this lever that Clint talks about it exists only for a moment in time. As soon as we bond it's gone unless we want to send another bond out. Right? So there is some time window. And I guess my question to Clint is when are you planning that we are bonding? What is the timeline on that? >> Found out this afternoon. It's in the manager's update, but they want to either meet on June 8th or July 13th. That's when you have to authorize the bid >> pretty soon. So I guess I mean I'm curious if the rest of council is feeling like they want to revisit the bonding conversation or not. I'm at the moment feeling like I'm comfortable where we are, but I could be swayed. My only my only um desire to to look at that again is is if it really would impact economic development like really leverage something because I'm that's I'm very bullish on the economic development because that's that's what's going to keep us from getting into situations like this as we go into the future to some extent hopefully because we'll be expanding. Um our businesses will be expanding. um who's living here will be expanding what we're at. And so if if you feel like economic development has the money it needs to do what it needs this year, then I don't want to revisit it. But if there's some leverage or something that you see coming down the pipeline that this is um something that we might need, then I'm all for that. But that's me personally or at least I'm up for a vote to have that taken. Um, so >> can I I I guess I would ask that you bring a bring the information with you after the public hearing. We'll have a conversation about it. And if it gets to the point where um we want to visit it, we will. If we don't, and even if we do and there's a, you know, majority of the council feels like it's not the right move for all the different reasons why it wouldn't be, then we we won't do it. Go ahead. Okay. >> Can Dan, can I ask for one other part to be brought back to us if we're asking the manager to go ahead and bring that back? >> Go ahead. >> Um, we've thrown around a lot of numbers about how we think the economic growth will impact the town side of um taxes collected and um on new new value added, again, not on people's existing property and how that is helpful to us as a town. But we have not yet sat down with the superintendent or the president of the school board to talk about how it impacts them on their end. Um, and I believe it actually may impact them in the opposite way and cause their cost to go up significantly, which also impacts our taxpayers. So I really, if we're going to start making decisions based on the building will help us financially, I really would want us to have a meeting with the school side about whether it in fact makes taxation on their end go up. they lose money on the same things that often bring us in money on the state formulas. And we in our town, we pay we spend much more per pupil than what the state reimbures per pupil. So the per pupil growth thing we've talked about at a council, we think that'd be great for our town. But I'm curious if the school believes that that would be great for them either for social reasons or for, you know, what the impact on tax reasons is. I think it may actually be the reverse. So for taxes. So I I we have to have a comprehensive picture because if we're thinking that that's a solution that solves the town side but it actually makes the school side worse, we haven't helped our taxpayers. So somewhere that part has to get woven in if we're going to start making decisions on that. I thought those were further down the line. But if we're going to be talking about making them on bonding in a few weeks, I think we need to accelerate some discussion with the schools. And so I guess I'll a couple things um as I sit here and think about it is um we talk about you know staff time allocation of time resources. So are so are we asking Clint and staff to come back with data and details on how an extra million dollars of bonding would, you know, positively or negatively impact us. And so if we're doing that, then we have to be prepared to actually have that discussion. And I guess I will echo a what Sarah had said earlier is that we had this discussion. We came to what I thought was a really good compromise that not everybody got what they wanted, but it was a good compromise. We didn't bond as much as, you know, we could have to get everything, but we also didn't spend down our reserves as much as some of us wanted. So I think we've already made that in my mind we've already made that decision and from a budgetary perspective I think if the public hearing you know shows us that a vast majority of the public of of public of the public wants us to look for ways to reduce taxes then yeah maybe that's a good option but I have not gotten that sense in talking and and you know you know it's just my group so it's a small data set but I have not got the impression that you know people they always want their taxes to go down but this isn't something that they're going that the room's going to fill with everybody's demanding to have their taxes lowered. So, I guess I'm not willing I wouldn't be in support of revisiting the bonding conversation. >> Okay. >> I'm fine with that, too. I just had that was placed on the table that there might be something with like development, but I fine. Let's move forward. >> Yeah, I I um I think it makes sense to have the some talking points if it's something we want to visit. I'm not I understand. We did have a compromise. And now that you bring it up, I remember, you know, I got you to take a swing at that firetruck thing so I could get, you know, I proposed the firetruck knowing that you weren't going to go for it so that we get No, I'm keep Well, no, I'm not teasing. >> It was a good conversation. >> It was a great conversation. One of our best. So, I get it. And it would be I just want if if we need options I'd like to have a couple things in our you know other than a service level cut I'd like to have some options that allows us because I think there's a strong support for service levels and if there's some opportunities I'd like to at least be aware of it and if we decide we made the right choice before and we should stick with it. I think we should I think we should give a lot of weight to the decision and the compromise we reach be reached before. I guess I would commit that to you and everybody else that I you know I won't try and sneak sneak it by you and you know we'll have you know we'll give a lot of weight to the conversation we had before. I just think we ought to be aware of what what opportunities we have before we have to start thinking about any kind of service level cut. So that's just my thought. Sarah, >> thanks. I just wanted to sort of piggyback on what Jacob said on my school request. I am not asking staff to spend hours and hours and hours, but I do know the schoolboard president pretty well and I asked him and I know you know Meredith pretty well and they already know the answer to this. Like they've looked at it and they know what the kind of impact or at least um somewhat would be on their end on a high level the same way we've only talked at a very high level. So I don't need details but I need us to be talking about high level impact to both tax things not just the town side but also the school side as we look at that. Um, so that's all I'm asking for is a high level discussion sometime soon if we're talking about those things. Thanks. >> Fair enough. Okay, we are Anything else? Andrea, I know you like to go last tonight. You got anything else? You all set? All right, we're having good conversations. I appreciate it. Um, we're going to quickly close this um discussion. We will work with the town to spread the word about the public hearing more so than typically probably we would um given the timing and the impacts. Okay. Uh acknowledgement by council members. Uh Andrew, you want to start with your side? Um, I just want to start with thanking all of you for being here, listening to us, answering our questions, um, doing all that you can to present us with budgets that, um, keep the town moving and keep the residents in mind. Um, I want to thank Lori and Lindsay, the friends, and the foundation for the library for the fantastic potluck dinner, and thank you to everyone who came out for that. Um, I appreciate that you put the time into the community the way you did. >> Sarah, >> I think we need to shout out Andrea Hardison to my left on those potluckss. Also, tremendous amount of work going on by um, councelor Hardison on those. So, thank you. >> Have you noticed when Sarah Marx was running those that I had to do a lot of dishes and now I might have to do >> I think it's Brian back there who's jumping in. I think that goes maybe to Brian Hardison in the back. >> Upgrade. Definitely an upgrade. I think I also wanted to acknowledge um UMain I know you know it's all graduation things happening but so many cool things happening there in these last weeks I personally got to go to both the final projects presented by the engineering graduate students which blew my mind and were many things that I don't even begin to fully understand and then I also got to go to the final um dance recital so where all the dance majors choreograph dances and I don't know how many dancers were out on that stage and the Hulk auditorium packed to the gills with hollering and clapping students. And I just was thinking of the incredible broad range of everything that our university offers, right? And how lucky we are to have all those things here in our town. >> Council Powers, >> I've got nothing right now. >> Council Baker, >> nothing at this time. >> John, um yeah, I just wanted to recognize uh I was able to um visit the Orno Health Association food cupboard uh this week. Um, and I know we've talked about them in the past and we probably will continue to. Um, but it was really cool kind of being there that day to see uh um you know just how many folks are utilizing that service. Uh it was was really um really pretty spectacular and the the effort of the volunteers was able to talk to some of the volunteers there. Um just an enjoyable uh enjoyable Wednesday and encourage encourage folks to stop by. I'm going to save my um acknowledgement for the main day of safety update in the town manager report. Um I particularly I will acknowledge that I appreciate the naming of the update as main day of safety. Um went ahead and did that kind of all by myself. Yep. Thank you. All right. That's acknowledgements consent agenda. Um we've already removed orders 2687 and 2688. For those who weren't in attendance at the start of our meeting, you can still go to Golden Bean and get a delicious beverage. Um, and those will come at an upcoming meeting. Any change any other changes to the items on consent? Otherwise, can I have a motion on the consent agenda? >> So, second. >> Okay. All those in favor? That's unanimous. Action items. We have one order approving amendments to the town of Oral Code of Ordinances, Chapter 20, Law Enforcement, Article 3, Disorderly Property. Can I have a motion? moved and seconded. Um I guess as a chair of the good neighbor committee, I'll go first. We've done a lot of really good work with this. The council's been informed and engaged. Um really appreciate all the participation from um the good neighbor committee and particularly the um student representatives who joined us. um expanded this council expanded their role um after the summer and we had some really good um conversations and engagement and came back with a really I think a really good package of changes that kind of align keep the intent certainly in place but also signal pretty strongly that um this is about education engagement. It's not about punitive actions um unless you know punitive actions are truly warranted. I don't know if Clint if you have anything else. I did want to ask uh um as part of this update, we have a disorderly event update from 2026. I wanted to ask Chief Merrill if he had any um any new data or updated data he wanted to share. Okay. I think this has been on the whole time. Green light. Yep. Green light's on. It's been on the whole time. Dan Merrell, police chief. Um, yeah. So, I would say we're going in a good direction. Actually, the spring of 2026, not to jinx the rest of the year, is actually going very well for us. Um, we've only had two violations. Um, one of which was a fine and the other one was a warning. Um, so coming into the end of at least the spring semester, we've only had two violations. Um, thus far. And one note that's worth mentioning that I think we were going to hit in the town manager update, but I'll hit now. Um Ed Leki, our community police leaison, was able to get out um early last week and get the notifications of the rebates that's part of this ordinance um out to the four people that have paid in a timely manner. And he said A+ success, 100% success. Everybody was very enthused that they could be getting money back. Um we have dangled the carrot and I think we have four takers. I will not be surprised if I have to issue those four back, but that was what we wanted to do. Um, so for the council, they were all extremely happy and said they would be minding their P's and Q's for the next 200 days or whatever they have left over them. >> So that was a good that was a good win for the town for sure. Ed said it was widely accepted with great positive feedback. >> Is it is it true that Orno will be the first college town in America and perhaps the world to offer a college rebate, a rebate for good behavior to your knowledge? to your knowledge right now? >> To my knowledge, I'll give the town council and the town manager that win. Yes, that's a success for us. >> May not be true. If anyone's doing any background checks, but you know, it it seems like it's >> You could ask your town manager to ask. Yeah, he he probably would be able to find. >> You're saying that Orno is the only community in the world to give a rebate back to Good Behavior. >> Good behavior. Good behavior pays in Orno. Yeah. Um well, >> so and I tip of the hat to Dan to you offer Schleski town manager for your incredibly graceful way you've managed this in terms of working with people for warnings and and things like that. This is exactly what we asked you to do and you delivered. So thank you for that. Okay, anybody have any clarifying questions? We do this so rarely tonight that I can't Okay, any comments from the public. All right, discussion. All those in favor and Rob Councelor Laray was a co-chair of the good neighbor committee from the beginning. He expressed his support for tonight as well. So all those in favor. Excellent. Write those checks. Big words. >> Mark it down. >> We want pictures. >> First town first town in America is checks. >> Thank you Dan. All right. Council committee reports and thank you everybody. Um council committee reports. Community development. >> Whoops. Sorry. Um we will be continuing to look at the metrics to reduce speed on route two and also um ideas for pedestrian and car safety and strategies and that and um I'm excited to say that we will start talking about the kiddie pool at the next meeting. That's it. >> Good. Thanks Matt. Uh council Baker. >> Uh nothing since last time from finance. >> Okay. Council marks nominations evaluation council policies. >> Nothing since last time. >> This is moving. I can't even get a drink in ordinance review committee. Um, I think we're good. Nothing since last time. Um, DEIB, back to Matt. >> Our next meeting is on Wednesday. >> Okay. Any updates from council leaison to boards and committees? Open. Anybody? >> Can I ask that we sometime soon get some report back from our OEDC reps? We just haven't heard anything much about OED in a while. Thanks. >> Pretty sure they want to keep a lot of that unfund balance for um >> No, I'm teasing. All right, council chair update. I have you've heard from me plenty tonight and I'm sure you'll hear more from me, so I have nothing at this point. Town manager report. >> Um, so I'll lead in main day of safety. Um, it went very well. Um, the chief's going to come up here and join me. I'd like them both and both chiefs, but uh, I think from my perspective, I was able to communicate with be home right afterwards, share kind of our thoughts. um they were in commute, so some of the emails came in a little late as they were returning back, but I did hear back from them as well. And they were very pleased. They learned a lot. They actually even paid a compliment to our kids in the community saying that, you know, for all the potential, it was a very well- behaved, very polite group that was respectful of what was going on and appreciative. So, um overall, you know, first year, which is always stressful, but from my perspective on managing the town, it was nice to see it all come together with a little bit of extra effort on our part. But from your side. >> Yes. Uh so Dan Merrill again. I'm up here with the fire chief. Obviously I'll just speak real quick on a high level of what the day looked like. So um from my perspective and I know Chief Higgins and I spoke a little this morning. Um a smaller group. Um the day didn't go as long as it normally does, but something unique to this year. Um that doesn't necessarily interesting to me that doesn't necessarily correlate to less volume of calls. So it's actually a smaller group. Um but we had a significant impact and and drive for medical calls. Like when I was looking back through um in 24 and 25, year 24 and 25, we usually have about 25ish calls for service, we were at 40 for this year. Um and that's so how we look at that, at least from our perspective when we're tracking the calls, it's um any call for service that we can track back with some precision to what would be mainday activities, right? So, we pretty much were packed up and releasing the crowd management team and all that by 6:00 cap. Is that about right? 6:00ish we were going home. Um, but that doesn't mean the calls for service stopped. Um, I know from what the fire chief was telling me, he can talk a little bit more. There still were followon medical calls that happened all night long and there were follow-on calls for service that our people had to handle all night long. So, those in years past in 24 and 25, those would be the same numbers, right? in that 20 22 to 25. Um, so this year it it didn't mean that it panned out to be all roses. All right, just just so we're all on the same page. Um, it the group was great. They they were good. I think that they just embellished a little more in the alcohol than they may have in years past. And I think some of it might have been a early on with the medical call. Some of it might have been a us working with that new security group as to what's actually a medical call that we would normally come triage through the fire department, right? Um I think that there were some that may not have generated calls for services. They may have just been something that security would check on somebody for, but they were hypervigilant, which is great. We're we're all we're okay with that. Um so, you know, just just to say that, you know, we did have three arrests, which is a little high for us, too. We had a um intoxicated underage person that got in a car accident. Um somebody that just wouldn't leave that was disorderly that got arrested. Um we have a stolen car actually that's still out there. Somebody stole a car from the venue. Um so that's still out there. Um and uh different disorderly. So you know it's it's it's work. Um, and I just want to take a minute to acknowledge some of the partners that we had for that day because I mean, uh, councelor Deare can speak to the group of people that was there. He got to see some of it firsthand at the brief in the morning. Um, the American Legion is a fantastic no money paid on the town side resource. Um, genuinely that building and that setup in that parking lot is what makes part of this day such a success for us because we can have all of our resources under one roof. Um, and it's really close to the venue and where we have a lot of our um, calls for service. So, the American Legion is fantastic. Um, the University Main Police Department provided an officer for us for our triage tent to help out. Uh, Chief Higgins staff. Um, Palm Scott County, huge supporter. They brought in a whole fieldcom team that was basically a mobile dispatch that came and was in our operation center with us. Um, EMA was there. Chief Higgins staffed up. Um, we had some staff from Oldtown Fire, UVAC, um, all that. I mean, there was well over 55, 60 people that were there in addition to my staff. Um, so a really large turnout all at essentially no cost to the town, which is a huge, huge thing. Um, we do have our staff's time obviously and our overtime, but you know, I'm talking with I was talking with some of the state police, some of the people at the state police and they're saying that, you know, that crowd management team, there was like 27 people here. You know, all those people on overtime fringe benefits, you're probably talking in the thousands of dollars an hour if we were to receive a bill from them. Um, so they were here for 8 to 10 hours. So, you know, that's a huge huge asset. And it's not just them. Again, that's just they brought the biggest the biggest group to try and help us manage the crowd. So, um, Chief Higgins, >> well, thank you. Nice job summarizing what you talked about. Uh, some of the big things I think they're important for us is the early planning. I think that makes a huge difference. We're having uh conference calls with each other, a meeting, and uh, put together a great plan on paper which carried through at at the event itself. A couple of uh or one key thing I think is that we were successful this year a little more so than even last year is that we didn't overload the hospital systems that uh three or four years ago they would have said that everything we saw went straight to the hospital and it didn't need to. So the triage tent that we put together using our oro staff made a big difference that way. I think that we're going to have to make an adjustment for next year next year. Like chief mentioned, uh we did see activity into the night into nine o'clock at night. Just because we clean up and we all leave the parking lot at 6, that doesn't mean those people are instantly not drunk and having their their problems. So, um that's something we'll make for an adjustment. And we certainly, like he said, we couldn't do this without our partners with UVAC helping us uh with uh Oldtown sending down a truck all day long and a fire truck and their chief was down to help support the deputy and I and uh Brian ran things for us and did a great job. So want to say thank you, Brian, for what you did that day and uh I just it couldn't have gone much better really for us and I think that that's what we'll shoot for for next year. So >> yeah, I that's a great point, Chief. I I hadn't mentioned it either, but the public recognition of staff for us, um Chief Higgins and I There goes staff doing good work. >> Y >> good job. We're on time as always. >> Uh you know, I really want to thank our staff, my staff, his staff, and my captain also. Really, they're the people that were out there all day long. They're the ones that go without the lunch breaks and stuff like that, right? The chief and I have the responsibility to be back here and coordinating and pulling all the strings behind the scenes, but really the people that were doing all the work that day, the people that were down in there dealing with the crowd all day was all of our line staff and our supervisors, our our twos as I call them. Um they were the busiest of anybody. So >> you didn't give them any of that candy, did you? No, no. So, we, you know, I think that we spent the time laying out the plan and then they executed the plan. Honestly, even though we had more calls and arrests, some of these things are just unavoidable, right? Um, so it's not because staff wasn't trying or because we wasn't we weren't there. It's just things happen. Um, and you know, we went through the whole day. A big thing for me whenever we have a big day like that, we had no uses of force, no no disorderly, no fights, no hands-on encounters with our officers and stuff like that. So overall for a whole the day was a a smashing success for us. Really >> talk about Wi-Fi. You need better Wi-Fi there at the American Legion and is there something we could I mean I know budgets are tight apparently, but um >> yeah, I would uh >> those guys like bringing it in that That's a dope piece for them to bring in when the county breaks. >> The county does, but I mean they were like scrambling. I mean, they're using my they're using the hotspot off my my Google Pixel there for a little bit, I thought. So, >> yes, I think >> that's why you kept breaking up when I was trying to >> Yeah, let's I think it's worth a conversation. Yeah. you know, in terms of how maybe in exchange for the the free use of facility, maybe we could upgrade there because that was a that was one of when you're there and you're watching it and you know, you hate to think that we don't have the the technology that we all have in our houses ought to have at least that at the >> Yep. >> Yeah. at the command center. So, >> Yep. >> Sure. >> And anything, Andrea? Anything from the Webster neighborhood you want to share? I know you had videos, but we probably don't have time for those. No, the neighborhood was great. Um, we had a lot of traffic through. Um, laughter, >> you know, I didn't see any um disorderly, >> you know, trashing of anything or anything like that. And uh >> um just a reminder to residents to please call 8664000 when you have a concern. Um, that's the best way to to get a response. >> I had it happen to me, too. Somebody might have called me when I was home on Wednesday and they're like trying to tell me something. I'm like, I I'm I'm home. I'll call somebody for you. You know, I always will. I always pick up the phone and I'll create the connection. But it still happens. It happens to me, too. So you don't monitor the Webster list serve either for like immediate urgent calls for >> unfortunately the oral parents group is not >> again emails and online when I get home if my phone rings I'll answer it but >> the the list serves and stuff they they fall down a little bit I'm not going to lie >> need a pair of used five five skates and oh by the way there's a you know >> disorderly event and >> all right um well I couldn't have been Thank you for the opportunity to visit the command center and see it all I counted It was like, frankly, at the potluck where you get to the room limit and you just stop counting because you don't want to know that we're over the um I stopped counting. I don't know. Plausible deniability, right? So, but I there were 80 if there was one first responder, there were at least 80 by my count. And I just it was a remarkable and I think it's the fact that people answer Oro's call is probably because Oral is such a good partner throughout the year on other things as well. you know, VZY was there, UVAC, and the UVAC, uh, one of the students who the the voluntary ambulance corps at the university referred to it. It was all like their Super Bowl, right? They get to work with the state police, the fire department, and they do such a great job of keeping their fellow classmates safe. So, thank you for I know it's you don't just get together on a Wednesday. There goes Vzy. Hint hint. Um but if there's uh the ladder truck the um excited about the work that goes into it and really grateful. So thank you. >> Yes. Thank you guys for the opportunity to let us come up and talk about a little bit. If if something comes up or somebody in the community has something I think you know definitely reach out to Chief Higgins or I um you know I know things take some time to get back to us sometimes. But if anybody has any feedback we're we're here for it for sure. Reach out to us. >> Winter Haven was nice and quiet that day. Don't worry. You guys did a great job in Winter Haven. >> We made sure to send an extra car to your way. I hear I hear your way and like Page Place are popular places to run through. So, we made sure to hit those, too. >> It's It's so quiet. Yep. Thank you. There's just It's It's unauthorized. It's, you know, it's but not unsafe, which is I think part of the lore of main day for the Stu as I watch students get fired up about it and the social medias and whatnot. Um, it's the fact that it's kind of a bootleg kind of event, but at the same time, it's not unsafe and it's there's a just like with the good neighbor stuff. It's a interesting balance that we ask our community police department to and partners to address and they do a great job. Really proud of it. All right. Um, overages for audit lines, attorney, finance committee follow-up. Oh, I'm sorry. Just your report. >> Great intro. So the finance committee had a report on this um per the charter I'm supposed to bring to you if a department's going over budget. There's no department going over budget but the audit did come in higher major driver I think was discussed a little bit here but the major you know additional work uh more intricate accounting is going on more uh uh followup you know and we've worked as a team we've actually had some meetings last week with some outside help they can kind of get us caught up we've had this conversation the finance committee but you know after a few years of transition we got behind during that and it's uh finance is a tough one to dig back up and get caught up in but Again, I the team that we have is doing an amazing job and I see the progress. So, for this year, there is a little bit of an overage there, but the department as a whole will be fine. The reason I put attorney in there, that one's also a little on the high side this year. Um, so unique legal cost, but again, overall, I think we'll be fine. If not, I'll let you know. This would be a line that overlay would cover and that's why you carry an overlay budget year to year. Um, two others just not on there. Uh, one little housekeeping, no one can leave until you've signed everything Amanda needs signed. If you do, um, we will suspend pay. Uh, but please see Amanda. We got some important signatures, so we just want to make sure those aren't missed tonight. And then the other one I want to just take, you know, we talk about a lot of the different departments, different ones, and the good things they do. as he's walking back in, I want to give a thanks to Cody. There's uh between everything from the emergency standpoint for what he does on a main day to getting out the positive issues going on in our community, whether it's welcoming in spring, whether it's making sure public works and the road work got to get out there, whether it's how we uh welcome in and and promote uh June is pride month or all the other things that go on here as we come into spring. It's just nice to see and it it does there's a lot of efforts to coordinate all the information the town's trying to get out to the public um that is so interested in seeing it. So, I just wanted to take a minute and thank him for what he's doing there. >> Way to go, Cody. >> Yep. Tip of the >> tip of the wink of the tip. >> Wink of the tip. >> Whatever. Yeah. No, probably not. >> Blink of the hat. That's better. That's better. Blink >> of the hat. Okay. >> All right. Sorry. Didn't put any time into that before I said it. Yeah. Um, public petitions for the overturn of the town council chair over um, recall election. All right. Future agenda items. Anybody have any? >> Andrea. >> Uh, tomorrow night at the Birch Street School at 6:30 is the historical society meeting. Um, and just a early plug for the June 7th potluck. Um, this one will be held down in the parking lot uh between the library and Birch Street School sponsored by the Orno thrift shop. Anybody else? Just quickly, um we are working with um the library foundation and the town clerk to have a table um on primary day, June 9th to spread awareness about the the drive at the library. So we need to be careful. We don't, you know, directly solicit, but there'll be opportunities for counselors to join us if they want to be there for any part of that day to spread the word among oral residents about the library project. Do we have any uh public comment online, Cody? And still none in the room. Um, all right. We've got stuff to sign with Amanda. We don't have anything. We're not going to come back in and do anything after executive session. So, uh, take a thank you to staff for all the time and again my apologies for the, um, scheduling at the start, but, uh, we'll take a motion to move an executive session pursuant to 1 MRSA 456D regarding >> no 6A >> regarding a personel matter. >> Firsted and seconded. All those in favor? That's unanimous. Thanks. All right. And we will adjourn right out of that meeting. So we won't come back in here.