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Meeting Minutes r.. ,
Board - Committee - Commission - Council:
Select Board
Date: 2024-12-04 Time: 7:00 PM
Building: Reading Town Hall Location: Select Board Meeting Room
Address: 16 Lowell Street Session: Open Session
Purpose: General Business Version: Final
Attendees: Members - Present:
Carlo Bacci, Karen Herrick, Chris Haley, Mark Dockser, Melissa Murphy
Members - Not Present:
Others Present:
Town Manager Matt Kraunelis, Executive Assistant Caitlin Nocella, Fire Chief
Greg Burns and Assistant Fire Chief Nelson, Police Chief Clark and Deputy
Chief Amendola, Health Director Ade Solarin, DPW Director Chris Cole,
Assistant Town Manager Jayne Wellman
Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Caitlin Nocella
Topics of Discussion:
Bacci called the meeting to order at 7pm.
This meeting is the first night of budget presentations from the departments.
Fire Department
First up was a presentation from Fire Chief Greg Burns and Assistant Chief Richard Nelson
The fire department presented its budget proposal for FY26, requesting a 2.72% increase
overall. The proposal includes a 2.53% salary increase for contractual obligations and
an 8.41%expense increase to cover inflationary costs, equipment maintenance,
ambulance billing fees, training, and protective gear. The long-term goal is to add four more
firefighters to enhance operational efficiency. Nelson mentioned the department's focus on
training and the potential for adding another ambulance in the future due to increased
mutual aid
requests.Town also addressed questions about ambulance billing and the possibility of
using the town's health trust fund for mobile healthcare services. The conversation ended
with a round of applause for Chief Burns, who is retiring.
Police Department
Police Chief David Clark and Deputy Chief Christine Amendola presented the board with the
Police Department, Dispatch and Coalition's FY26 budget requests.
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The Police Department is requesting a 3.87% increase overall noting that 95% of this budget
is spent on personnel. The staffing wages is increasing by 2.93% budgeting for 46 sworn
officers but the department is also anticipating two retirements and two new hires, which will
befunded
by the budget increase. The expenses increase of 17.51%is largely due to the parking
enforcement software and equipment. The dispatch department is also requesting a small
increase in their budget to meet inflation costs. The Coalition, which provides mental health
services, has agreed to level fund their expenses. The department's overall budget is
expected to be 3.8% with all three budgets combined.
Health Department
Health Director Ade Solarin presented the Health Department's FY26 budget request.
The budget request includes a 6.5% overall increase. There is an 8% increase in salaries due
to COLA and salary adjustments. There is a 1.9% increase in the expense budget to the
mosquito control line item.
Department of Public Works
DPW Director Chris Cole gave the board the presentation for the FY26 budget requests for
DPW.
In the general fund, salaries are up 5.3% and expenses are up 3.2%. The total budget increase
is up 4.8% including fuel or 3.5% without fuel costs included. He noted there are no requests
in staffing changes. The expense increases include training, traffic control repairs, police
details, equipment maintenance and fuel.
For accommodated costs, snow/ice control and street lighting are level funded while fuel and
rubbish/recycling are seeing increases. The rubbish/recycling increase is the largest due to a
few factors including contractual obligations with Republic (this contract is up in 2026) and
the new trash and recycling carts that were purchased recently to be rolled out in the spring.
Enterprise Funds are up 3.9% for Water, 3.8% for Sewer and 4.3% for Stormwater. While there
are no staffing changes in any three of those departments, there are increases to many
expenses in each.
Administrative and Public Services
Assistant Town Manager Jayne Wellman presented the budget for Administrative and Public
Services. Administrative Services is comprised of Human Resources, Town Clerk's
Department, Operations and the Town Manager's Office. Public Services has two divisions,
Community Services and Community Development. Under Community Services we have
Elder and Human Services, Recreation and Veterans Services. Under Community
Development we have Planning & Development, Conservation and Building & Permitting.
Human Resources has no increase to expenses and a 3.88% increase to salaries due to COLA
and step increases. Town Clerk has a 3.81 % increase for salaries with a decrease of 11.11 % in
expenses due to elections. Operations is fully staffed with a level services budget. They are
expecting a decrease of 1.22% in salaries.
Public Services overall has a 4.98% increase in salaries and 28.54% increase to expenses. It
was explained that $30,000 in Metro North Regional Housing Services Office (MNRHSO)
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Expenses will be reimbursed by the municipalities involved. Reading's portion of the
MNRHSO Expenses is still $15,000 and will not be increasing.
The board adjourned at 9:43 PM.
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