Hello, friends! As I promised, I’m back with a summary of a chunk of our Town Meeting Warrant. Other than that, I won’t talk too much. (But be sure to stick around for a surprise at the end.  )

Here goes!

Warrant Article Roundup, Part 1

Just as a heads up, this isn’t intended to fully educate you on every aspect of the warrant. It’s to give you an idea of what your Town Meeting will be voting on, so if you notice something you have a question about, you can dig in further by looking at the backup. And then, you can reach out to your precinct representatives to discuss your views on the articles about which you have opinions.

General

• Article 1 - This just says Town Meeting will hear reports from town officers and committees.

Financial

• Article 2 - Authorizes the use of funds to pay outstanding FY2022 expenses and close out the year.

• Article 3 - Authorizes the funding of the FY 2023 budget. This is a HUGE article, and it is accompanied by its own separate budget book, which can also be found here, split into School (226 pages) and Town (all other departments, 117 pages).

• Article 4 - Transfers money from our Free Cash to our Stabilization Fund. Free Cash is money left over after the fiscal year’s accounts are trued up, and the Stabilization fund is a kind of rainy-day fund established to take care of any unexpected expenses that come up. some of the later capital articles are requesting to be paid from the stabilization fund. (WITHDRAWN)

• Article 5 - Transfers money from our Free Cash to our OPEB (Other Post-Employment Benefits) fund, which pays for things like health insurance for retired town employees. (WITHDRAWN)

• Article 6 - How much is allowed to be in our revolving accounts, which are accounts that have both income and expenditures, and essentially fund themselves. Examples of this are the rain barrels, which the town buys and residents buy from the town, or the Ice Palace Improvement and Maintenance, which is funded by Ice Palace Revenues. At a certain point the excess goes into the town’s free cash, so we are essentially deciding what that amount is.

  Tips always appreciated.

• Article 7 - This is another big and huge one, and I’m not going to go into detail here, but these are capital articles - one-time expenditures that will come from one place or another. There is a capital request form for most of these, and backup for each one, ranging from a playground diagram to a quote from Trane for HVAC upgrades to a letter from the police department to accompany their request. If you have questions about any of these, I highly recommend checking out that backup document.

  • 7-01 ($20,00)) - Installing a fence at Chestnut Hill Cemetery

  • 7-02 ($200,000) - Storm Cleaning/Drainage Improvements to try and mitigate residential flooding

  • 7-03 ($130,00)) - Grandview Ave Pump Station Design to replace deteriorating components

  • 7-04 ($593,000) - Vehicle replacement program - Our DPW vehicles are on replacement schedules, and several are coming up for replacement. They’ll be replaced with more modern vehicles with better capabilities (i.e. plows).

  • 7-05 ($700,000) - Phase 2 Communications Plan for the Fire Department - This is to replace outdated equipment (which is 30 years old!).

  • 7-06 ($439,500) - Records Management and Dispatch System for Fire and Police - This is to institute a digital records management and integrated dispatch system, to modernize recordkeeping and improve responsiveness.

  • 7-07 ($63,219) - Network Security Updates - Our network switches were end-of-life in 2016, and we need new ones.

  • 7-08 ($222,870) - Body Camera Storage - We got a grant for police body cameras, but we need more storage and want to buy extended warranties to protect the equipment.

  • 7-09 ($35,000) - Transportation Study Route 3A - We want to see if there is a way to modernize and improve the safety of this corridor. The study will look at things like pedestrian access, accessibility for people with disabilities, and bike accessibility.

  • 7-10 ($50,000) - Pickup Truck with Plow for Recreation because the one we have is rusted out and doesn’t have a plow. The new one will be added to the snow cleanup fleet.

  • 7-11 ($230,000) - Simonds Park Basketball Court Renovation because it’s in need of new lighting and surfacing to eliminate safety hazards.

  • 7-12 ($290,000) - Francis Wyman Playground (There’s no capital request form here, and I’m not familiar with FW, so I’m not sure the reasoning for replacing it. There are some estimates and proposed layouts.)

  • 7-13 ($150,000) - Computer Science For All Curriculum Materials (There’s no capital request form here, either. These forms are so helpful for giving background for why this request is being made at this point in time.)

  • 7-14 ($108,000) - HVAC Controller Upgrade (Again, no request form)

  • 7-15 ($65,000) - Pine Glen Bathroom Repairs (No request form here either)

  • 7-16 ($500,000) - Pine Glen HVAC (broken record here…)

  • 7-17 ($70,000) - Burlington Sports Field Master Plan - I have, of course, heard the complaints from many residents about the condition of our sports fields. So we are looking to contract with an organization that can assess our needs and help make a plan to meet those needs.

  • 7-18 ($450,000) - BHS Music Floor Reconstruction (I’m just going to stop saying it - no capital request forms for any of the school requests, so I can’t really editorialize much.)

  • 7-19 ($160,000) - Fox Hill Portables Repairs

  • 7-20 ($110,000) - Scoreboards for Sports Fields

  • 7-21 ($145,000) - Activity Bus and Utility Vehicles)

  • 7-22 ($220,000) - MSMS Field Bleachers

  • 7-23 ($25,000) - Visitor Control Access system

OOOOOOkay. I think it’s best to pause there. My eyes are definitely starting to glaze over, so I’m sure yours are, too. And this isn’t even the end of the financial articles! Thankfully, I’ll have a friend to help me with the next portion, which I’ll be back with either tomorrow or on a slow day next week - we’ll see how the schedule shakes out.

If you have any questions or input on any of these, reach out to your Town Meeting Members! We want to hear from you.

And just for sticking with me until the end, you get an extra funny this week. I couldn’t let April end without this one.

Roses are red / April is gray / but stick around ‘cuz tomorrow…

You are oh, so welcome.

See you tomorrow,

Nicci