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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-12-03 Select Board Minutes�p r Town of Reading TO L'�I�rLER,;a 3=1 Meeting Minutes , axrne�oN' ...95 n: o 9 Board - Committee - Commission - Council: Select Board Date: 2025-12-03 Time: 7:00 PM Building: Reading Town Hall Address: 16 Lowell Street Purpose: General Business Attendees: Members - Present: Location: Select Board Meeting Room Session: Open Session Version: Final Melissa Murphy, Chris Haley, Karen Rose -Gillis, Carlo Bacci, Karen Gately Herrick (Remote) Members - Not Present: Others Present: Town Manager Matt Kraunelis, Assistant Town Manager Jayne Wellman, Police Chief David Clark, Deputy Police Chief Christine Amendola, Fire Chief Rick Nelson, Assistant Fire Chief John Keough, Health Director Ade Solann, Technology Director Kevin Furilla, Technology Manager Jenn losua, DPW Director Chris Cole, Assistant DPW Director Mike Kessman, CFO Sharon Angstrom (remote), Ed Ross (remote), Marianne Downing (remote), Lisa's iphone (remote), Taylor Gregory (remote), Kate Harlington (remote) Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Jacquelyn LaVerde Topics of Discussion: This meeting was held in -person in the Town Hall Select Board Meeting Room and remotely via Zoom. Co -Chair Melissa Murphy called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. FY27 Budget Presentations Police Department Police Chief David Clark was joined by Deputy Police Chief Christine Amendola, who gave a detailed presentation of the department's operations and budget. The department reported strong performance with 46 mom officers at full staffing, multiple safety awards, and successful community engagement programs. The salary budget request included a 2.59% increase totaling $6.7 million for FY27, which includes contractual increases in salaries, additional overtime funding, and training and equipment upgrades. There are small increases for Dispatch for increased costs to licenses and programs needed, and the Coalition for Prevention and Support for rising costs of educational materials. An $80,000 E911 grant will help offset Dispatch overtime. The Board raised concerns about the increase in public records requests and suggested coordinating with Town Hall to manage these expenses. Fire Department Fire Chief Rick Nelson presented the Fire Department budget and staffing plans, highlighting their current challenges with hiring and maintaining adequate staffing levels. He reviewed the Department's minimum staffing requirements and how they distribute personnel across different apparatus and shifts. The proposed FY27 budget total is $6.818 million, with 89% for union salaries, 7% for non -union salaries, and 4% for expenses. The expense budget of $247,000 includes $31,000 for firefighter clothing allowance, $159,000 for the EMS program, and $58,000 for non -EMS expenses. Chief Nelson requested an increase in the overtime budget from $530,000 to $600,000 to prepare for changes in the collective bargaining agreement. He also sought a $2,000 increase for the fire ambulance service line item and $17,000 to cover ambulance revenue billing fees. The Department received $85,000 in federal funding for a new incident command system training Page 1 1 program, which was successfully completed in October. Chief Nelson explained that while the salary budget was 4.01 % of the town's total budget, the revenue from permits and ambulance services reduced this percentage. He proposed hiring additional firefighters to reduce overtime costs and improve service levels. Karen Gately Herrick suggested using Hospital Trust Fund money to cover the costs of some ambulance service fees. Health Depsrbndd Health Director Ade Solarin presented the proposed Health Department budget for fiscal year 2027, and requested a 2.62% net budget increase of $14,053, primarily driven by an increase in salaries and mosquito control expenses. The department maintains 4 full-time positions including Health Director, Administrative Assistant, Public Health Nurse, and Health Inspector, while other services like tobacco control, animal control, and pest control are handled through contractors or grants. Mr. Solarin provided detailed attendance numbers for various health clinics, including mammography screenings, vision screenings, hearing screenings, blood pressure screenings, and several vaccine clinics, with most clinics being provided at no cost through partnerships with external organizations. Karen Gately Herrick suggested also using the Hospital Trust Fund to help defray costs for vaccine clinics. Technology Department Chief Technology Officer Kevin Fuddle presented the Technology Department's FY27 budget, focusing on how decisions are made and money is spent to support other departments. He focused on strategic focus areas, including cybersecurity, infrastructure reliability, modernization, and efficiency, and highlighted the challenges of balancing fiscal responsibility with risk mitigation and service quality. The proposed budget showed a significant increase due to the implementation of a new cloud -based computer -aided dispatch (CAD) system. Despite efforts to save money, the increased subscription cost for this system put the department's expenses significantly above other departments. Mr. Furilla reviewed the expense budget of $852,000 and highlighted that software costs account for $615,000, with major items including $115,000 for the financial system, $100,000 for the computer -aided dispatch system, and $68,000 for email and office automation tools. He emphasized that while some costs could be reduced, the financial system cannot due to high migration costs to implement a new system. Mr. Funlla concluded with outlining his concems about future technology needs, including the technology needs for the Reading Center for Active Living (RECAL) project and the Pleasant Street Center, as well as the long-term impact of aging technology infrastructure on staff capacity. Department of Public Works Public Works Director Chris Cole presented the FY27 budget and highlighted achievements from the past year. The proposed budget includes moving stonnwater salaries from the general fund to the enterprise fund to reduce salary expenditures by -0.3%. The proposed expense budget increased by 6.8% to cover increased costs for seasonal employee wages, police details, equipment maintenance, and other expenses. The result is a 1.4% overall budget increase. Mr. Cole then presented the budgets and noted increases for Water, Sewer, and Slonnwater Enterprise Funds and accommodated costs. The Stormwater Enterprise Fund sees the largest increase due to salary shifts from the general fund. He reviewed the level funding for snow and ice budget and street lighting, $5,000 increase for fuel costs, and 39% increase to the new trash and recycling contract. On a motion by Karen Ros"illis, seconded by Chris Haley, the Select Board voted 5-0 to adjourn at 10:17 pm. Roll call vote: Karen Gately Herrick — Yes, Karen Rose -Gillis —Yes, Chris Haley —Yes, Carlo Bacci — Yes, Melissa Murphy — Yes.