March 14, 2019

Present: Don Hawley, Bill Hiller, Gary Thomas, Becky Stone, Terry Gould, Michael Ernst, Walt Engels via cell phone (remote participation), Lisa D’Orazio

Also Present: Eric Jesner

Meeting called to order at 5:31 pm and is being recorded.

Purpose: Review Budget proposals for Fiscal Year 2020

Pg 35 #300 School: Eric noted that this budget was down $13,471 less than last year’s budget for Otis. They plan to use about $15,000 of the school’s E&D to keep costs down. Some of that is due to higher Sandisfield enrollment than before which changes the percentage allocations. PASSED at $2,407,679.00 which includes $40,000 for the school stabilization fund. Scholarship Committee should NOT be part of the School budget – it should be separate.

Pg 7 #136 Audit: $10,000 was encumbered so we need an additional $5000 to cover this year’s costs (FY ’19). For FY ’20 we need to budget $15,000. PASSED at $15,000.00.

Pg 15 #151 Legal: The second detail line for Town Counsel needs to be changed from $10,000 to $20,000. PASSED at $48,500.00 and anything left over from FY ’19 may be encumbered.

Pg 33 #292 Animal Control: Our agreement with Becket will continue. Kennel supplies has increased to $5500. PASSED at $6200.00.

Pg 21 #171 Conservation: The clerk is set at $18.53 per hour for 306 hours (2.5% increase). PASSED at $15,870.18.

Pg 31 #241 Building Inspector: Terry recused herself. A 5% increase was approved plus additional monies for education expenses. PASSED at $63,416.77.

Pg 6 #135 Accountant: A 4% increase was approved. PASSED at $21,124.69.

Pg 10 #145 Treasurer: A 4% increase was approved. PASSED at $27,624.69.

Pg 12 #146 Town Collector: Don recused himself. A 4% increase was approved for $24.56 per hour. PASSED at $61,983.52.

Pg 17 #161 Town Clerk: A 4% increase was approved. PASSED at $47,946.87.

Pg 57 #543 Veterans: $40,000 was confirmed as the amount for Veteran’s Benefits. PASSED at $47,494.27.

Accounts still needing approval:

Pg 1 #122 Board of Selectmen: SKIPPED – no salaries have been discussed as yet.

Pg 3 #123 Town Administrator: SKIPPED.

Pg 26 #210 Police: SKIPPED.

Pg 36 #422 Highway: SKIPPED.

Pg 39 #423 Highway Snow Removal: SKIPPED.

Pg 41 #429 Maintenance: SKIPPED.

Pg 47 #433 Health and Sanitation: SKIPPED.

Pg 58 #610 Library: SKIPPED.

Pg 60 #630 Recreation: SKIPPED – Programs need to be split out.

The boards still need to meet with Recreation, Transfer Station, Police, and Jim, Keith, and Derek to continue discussion of the Safety Department. Transfer Station and the Safety Department are scheduled for Tuesday March 19, 2019 and Police and Recreation are scheduled for Wednesday March 20, 2019. Monday March 25, 2019 after the All Boards will be a final meeting if we still need to have another meeting.

Meeting adjourned at 7:10 pm.

Respectfully Submitted,

Lisa D’Orazio

Selectmen’s Secretary

Town of Otis

List of Documents

A copy of Chris Morris’ Town of Otis Annual Operating Budget FY07 to FY 17 will be filed with these meeting minutes.