HomeMy Public PortalAboutSelect Board -- 2022-03-23 Minutes ��.�"� ".. aE w $ T y'��,o
s '•.,� FinCom Approved : 4/20/22
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Select Board Approved : 4/25 /2022
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TOWN OF BREWSTER
FINANCE COMMITTEE JOINT WITH SELECT BOARD
Date : March 23 , 2022 Time : 7 : 00 PM
VIRTUAL MEETING MINUTES EIK015 CR
Present : Select Board Chair Cynthia Bingham, Vice Chair David Whitney, Clerk Edward Chatelain, Mary Chaffee,
Kari Hoffmann; Finance Committee Chair Pete Dahl, Vice Chair Frank Bridges, Clerk Bill Meehan, Honey
Pivirotto, Robert Tobias, Alex Hopper, Bob Young, William Henchy, Andy Evans
Also present: Peter Lombardi, Town Administrator; Donna Kalinick, Assistant Town Administrator; Mimi Bernardo,
Finance Director; Brooke Clenchy, Nauset Regional Superintendent; Keith Gauley, Principal Brewster Elementary;
Chris Easley, Chair Nauset Regional School Committee ; Giovanna Venditti, Nauset Regional Director of Finance &
Operations ; Tom Fitzgibbons, Nauset Regional School Committee, Robin Millen, Nauset Director of Curriculum,
Instruction & Assessment; Chris Ellsasser, Principal Nauset Regional High School; David Telman, Chair Brewster
Elementary School Committee ; Keith Kenyon, Principal Nauset Middle School; Katie Miller Jacobus, Brewster
Elementary School Committee ; Dick Stewart, Nauset Regional School Committee ; Arlynn Consiglio, Executive
Assistant to the Superintendent
Absent: Andy Evans
The Chairs called the meeting to order at 7 : 01 pm and announced a quorum .
This meeting will be conducted by remote participation pursuant to Chapter 20 of the Acts of 2021 . No in-person meeting attendance will be permitted . If the Town
is unable to live broadcast this meeting , a record of the proceedings will be provided on the Town website as soon as possible .
The meeting may be viewed by : Live broadcast (Brewster Government TV Channel 18) , Livestream (livestream . brerwster-ma . gov) , or Video
recording (tv. brewster-ma , gov) .
1 . Public Announcements and Comment- none
2 . Town Administrator/ Finance Director Report - none
3 . Presentation of and Discussion on FY23 Brewster Elementary Schools Operating Budgets
( Select Board FY22- 23 Strategic Plan Goal G - 1 )
Superintendent Clenchy addressed the Committees by introducing herself and those from the Nauset Regional
School System who are attending the meeting tonight. She then went into all the huge challenges and transitions
the school system faced over the past two years . She also said that with all the Covid changes and transitions ,
and all the hardships having to be faced, also came along with Covid funding . This funding was wonderful, and
it tools so much more to handle that extra work, monitoring , and reporting for that funding . They identified key
goals, key levers , and strategies they wanted to face and have been working on since July . What they did see
were huge gaps in social and emotional learning . There was a great need . They looked at new initiatives that
could help as the students came back into the schools . Being such a new team, we recognized that we needed to
develop relationships with our municipal leaders and emergency safety partners . We also met together with all
the Town Administrators and Finance Teams . The Nauset High School Building project is taking a fair amount
Finance Committee Joint with Select Board Meeting Minutes
March 23, 2022 Page 1 of 7
of time as well . The project is on time right now which is very exciting . We have done the hard work with our
budgets to move forward . The other transition is that Dr . Ellsasser will not be returning, and we have a new
Principal coming in, Patrick Clark, to take over at Nauset Regional High School .
We generally start building our budgets in July and August — looking at tying in with goals and our strategic
plans . Through September and October, the principals look at enrollment programs and additional add-ons for
social and emotional learning . They are also working with their staff and their school counsels . Once we hit
October, the principals start to submit their draft budgets to the Superintendent and School Committee . They
aren' t ready at that time, but they are starting to flush through . November to February we start to see what our
house numbers are and see what the Delta is and where you fit . From there, we do a lot of refining through
January and February . The month of January was a very difficult month for the District and the High School
which slowed our process a little . The other piece is that at the regional level, we also have a Budget and
Finance Committee which is very actively involved in the regional component of building that budget . They are
very resourceful to us . She then turned it over to Principal Gauley to go through the enrollment numbers and
then into the budget piece .
Principal Gauley went over his presentation starting with the Brewster Elementary Schools Enrollment . They
are experiencing the enrollment decline . They feel really good about the budgets in terms of students and
maintaining the level of services . The Special Education tuition bullet point is the one great variable hard to
predict . The town is looking at a stabilization fund to address those needs . The major increases are increases in
salaries , instructional hardware, transportation, contracted services , and preschool tuition. Stony Brook came in
at a 2 . 48 % increase and the Eddy came in at a 2 . 49 % increase .
Giovanna Venditti took the helm and discussed the staff benefits increase — comprised of health insurance
benefits , life insurance, and retirement benefits . They did see an increase in the benefits primarily due to the
50 % mitigation taken in 2022 and the current year increase in cost . She went line by line to explain the budget
and expenses on her slide presentation.
Honey Pivirotto wondered about the Circuit Breaker Funds being used to offset costs to bring the numbers
under the 2 . 5 % guideline . How much of those funds were used? Giovanna Venditti answered for Stony Brook -
$ 150 , 500 and $ 63 , 500 for Eddy . Honey Pivirotto asked if that would need to occur going forward . Giovanna
Venditti answered the amount they receive is based on the number of students they have in special education in
out of district placements or collaborative placements which changes year to year . Superintendent Clenchy said
it is always one year behind . Honey Pivirotto asked if this is a practice in the past or something to be used going
forward? Giovanna Venditti answered they have utilized circuit breaker funds in the past to bring the budgets
within town guidelines percentagewise .
Robert Tobias gave a quick mention that at the February 17th Brewster School Committee Meeting, Principal
Gauley and Assistant Principal Joy presented the elementary budgets line by line in detail and took several
questions . He asked about the Circuit Breaker budget availability at that meeting . He will be supporting what
has been presented .
4 . Presentation of and Discussion on FY23 Nauset Regional School District Operating
Budgets ( Select Board FY22- 23 Strategic Plan Goal G - 1 )
Giovanna Venditti went over the presentation of the 22-23 Nauset Regional Budget Overview Expenses . She
spoke regarding the percent change from year to year for each.
• Nauset High School 1 . 59%
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March 23, 2022 Page 2 of 7
• Nauset Middle School 1 . 67%
• Region Only 13 . 84 %
• Central Office - 018 %
• Total Expenses 5 . 45 %
She then went over the Income Drivers .
• State Base Aid 1 . 02%
• Charter School Aid 59 . 04 %
• State Transportation Aid 0 . 00 %
• Truro & Provincetown Tuition 5 . 67 %
• Elementary Assess . Therapists - 5 . 39 %
• Estimated Receipts 0 . 00%
• Transfer from E & D 5 . 62 %
• Total Income 4 . 56 %
2022 -2023 Net Operating Budget Increase :
• FY23 Proposed Budget $ 34 , 017 , 151
• Less Revenue $ 8523502
• Total Operating Budget $255782 , 089
• Net Increase $ 1 ,400 , 367
% Increase 5 . 74%
• Debt $ 29304
• Capital Plan Projects $ 573 ,290
• TOTAL ASSESSMENT $26 , 649 , 063
TOTAL BUDGET DECREASES $ (715093 )
TOTAL BUDGET INCREASES $ 15711 ,721
TOTAL INCREASE FY23 REGION ONLY BUDGET $ 1 , 640 , 628
Chair Easley addressed the Committees at this time . His thoughts on education over the past couple of years -
Covid has been a terribly difficult time for so many on many levels . For education, it has been particularly hard.
The challenges and the developmental issues caused by remote learning and the isolation it brought was
something which our country was not prepared . As a community, we owe a great debt of thanks to our teachers,
staff, and administration who worked tirelessly to keep our schools open and provide quality education to our
students . The cost of providing a quality education went up driven by the challenges Covid placed on our
society - separating the children, masking, high absenteeism either from illness or quarantining . Lots of time
was spent just to keep the school open and staffed . It made the operation of our system very difficult . When you
add to that the misinformation being used as a political tool to divide society at a time of crisis, making any
course of action to overcome the challenges of Covid that much harder to accomplish . Thanks to the efforts of
our teachers, staff, and administration, we have turned the corner and are on a path to reestablish the excellence
provided by a Nauset Regional School Education ,
Pete Dahl then turned to the Finance Committee questions —
Frank Bridges said, as an observation, we are constantly referred to the dashboard reports, and if you are trying
to do a good thorough look at the overall budget, it makes it very difficult to weed through those reports to get
to the underlying data to determine those answers .
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March 23, 2022 Page 3 of 7
Chris Easley said, in essence regarding the reserve for negotiations, there were two years without a contract
with the teachers, however, you know there will be COLA, plus the Steps and Lanes . So , money was put aside
to cover those potential expenses to be able to cover those contracts . If there were any monies left over from
that used to negotiate salaries would go into the E&D .
Pete Dahl said the question is clear — the $ 1 . 8M in reserve - we asked for reconciliation of that number, and we
did not receive it . Bob Young said the request was made almost a year ago , then in February, then earlier this
week. It seems pretty simple to us that if you can allocate a specific number for reserve, we are asking how
much of that was used for negotiation. Tom Fitzgibbons said the sheets we gave are general ledgers that show
where the money has been placed in the line items . If there was a gross amount of those funds left over, we
would have placed them in the E&D funds . That number is reflected in the ledgers we gave you. We also came
in at 2 . 5 % . There is no money hanging out there in excess . Pete Dahl said he thinks there are a couple of issues
— it appears to him that when asked to present a reconciliation of the numbers, he presents it. This is not an
unusual request when $ 1 . 8M has been requested and handed over. The Town of Brewster represents 47 % of this
Operating Budget - we are the largest customer of the Nauset School System. He wants to make a point that
when they ask for information that is not unreasonable , he thinks a reasonable answer should be presented.
Pete Dahl went to the next question regarding enrollment decline and what the long-term strategy is for the
region? Superintendent Clenchy said she was making notes and as she is brand new, this is all new to her as we
discuss these questions . She was thinking that without understanding the Step and Lane matrix for personnel, it
would be very difficult to put clearly . Whenever you hire a teacher into the Union, within three years, you own
that person, no matter what the numbers are . Nauset Public Schools is not set up in a way that we could take
someone from Brewster and put them in a needed spot in Orleans . It doesn ' t work that way . There are some
detriments to how we are structured, and it comes down to how we staff. You are almost at the whim of retirees
and people moving on because you don ' t have the ability to shift people throughout your system . We are
shifting internally within our schools, reallocating where it makes sense to do so . There are many levers in place
that you have to be very aware of. It will be part of a broader picture over time . Bill Henchy asked about the 3 .
year term and being owned by the school system . Superintendent Clenchy answered that after 3 years, the
teacher would get a different level of status within their contract . You have to be very cautious when hitting a
plateau at the school . She would love to see some creativity in how this could work, but she has no answers
tonight . These are things to think about when manning a school — thinking bigger on strategy . Frank Bridges
understands that there are long term implications for that person and it ' s important to keep that staff active and
utilized. He is looking ahead to 2-3 years out and the budget will explode exponentially once the construction
project is underway . Our district population has been declining and will continue to do so for many years . We
have to figure out how to get control of these expenses in a declining school environment . Superintendent
Clenchy said she thinks those are very valuable points . She would tell him that we are already looking forward .
She looks out 2 - 3 years with the budgets . For this year, we didn ' t hire for many positions because we wanted to
review each one specifically . School Choice is its own conversation, separate, but intertwined . Whenever a
Superintendent starts to look at School Choice as a revenue stream, she thinks that only leads to trouble . She is
very conscious of that . With that said, there are opportunities if you are strategic . There is room for School
Choice, but we want to be cautious and strategic with how we approach it .
Selectperson Bingham is most concerned about us losing so many students to the Charter Schools . The loss of
students should be something raising red flags . That is a cost driver . She is curious how many teachers retired
and if most of those positions were filled . Superintendent Clenchy said she will look at the Cape Cod Tech
budget formats and see if they can make some changes to make theirs more understandable . She went on to say
that in looking at the Charter Schools , we lost students because of masking and covid mitigation strategies ,
home schooling, etc . She thinks these two years are more an anomaly than the norm . Superintendent Clenchy
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March 23, 2022 Page 4 of 7
then said some retired positions were filled and some were not . She didn ' t have solid numbers . Each time there
was a resignation, they evaluate if that position needs to be refilled or not .
Bill Henchy had a couple of specific questions — as he read the budget, with the total assessment - do we have a
per student expenditure based on that? What do we receive per student for School Choice and what do we
receive from Truro and Provincetown? Pete Dahl answered that the amount for School Choice students is fixed
at $ 5 , 000 per person by Statute . Giovanna Venditti answered the amount we receive for Truro and
Provincetown is $ 19 , 876 . Pete Dahl said the towns of Truro and Provincetown pay their own transportation
costs , so you need to add that in because it isn ' t in these budgets . Bill Henchy asked what it is costing the
district per student to get a Nauset education. Pete Dahl said it is a very complicated question — choice in/choice
out, teachers , services provided, and costs of charter school students — Chris Easly answered that the cost per
student taken from the MA DESE website was $21 ,492 in 2020 .
Chris Easly said we are in a perfect storm relating to the schools — brand new Tech School, the pandemic, and
how people schooled their children, we have a construction project over the next three years, and those are just
some of the things impacting the population in our schools . Pete Dahl said once the debt starts to hit, that cost is
going to be astronomical .
Selectperson Hoffinan asked if the amount on the revolving insurance fund is included in the cost assessment to
the Town? Pete Dahl said there was a line item in the past but the advice from DESS is that it should not be
shown in the budget . Giovanna Venditti went on and said she shows the full region only budget with all the
expenses and the difference is coming from the School Choice revolving account . The amount that goes into the
operating budget is net. She can' t combine the revolving accounts with the general operating accounts . Pete
Dahl said the numbers we are seeing at the top is the Net of what is being used out of the revolving accounts
without showing those numbers in detail because it is not part of the DESE regulations .
Robert Tobias said he is comfortable but is wondering if the Chairs would like to come up with a solution rather
than going through each of these numbers here . He senses there needs to be more education about how these
budgets are prepared. He isn ' t sure how to do this in a public meeting . Frank Bridges said at the Orleans
meeting, Chair Brunell had a meeting with Giovanna Venditti a few days ago , so maybe we could sit down with
Giovanna and put this presentation in a better format going forward .
Pete Dahl said we want to move on . Everyone has the Q &A provided. The information provided is not going to
change . In all respect to the Superintendent, Giovanna Venditti, and all others who have been at this since 5 pm,
are there any real questions about this budget that must be addressed? We are the Finance Committee ; our job is
to represent the taxpayers at Town Meeting . Our questions are naturally financial in nature . You have provided
a fantastic education to our students . Please don' t think we are disrespecting the job you are doing to educate
our students . You are doing a great job . Tom Fitzgibbons suggested that a liaison attend their meetings — once
per month — many of these questions are addressed at these meetings .
Peter Lombardi asked Giovanna Venditti on the original region budget, you had the total debt assessment at
$ 440 , 000 , then we met with the other Administrators and talked about our approach to financing the high school
project . There was consensus that we were going to delay the impact of the long-term debt issuance to FY24 .
As a result, we were going to increase the BAN amount from $ 6M to $ t2M . The budget that was approved
recently , that debt assessment is the same . Is he missing something? Giovanna Venditti answered that the
amount in there was approved by the School Committee and that includes the debt we have for the high school
and middle school for prior projects, and we have the interest on the BANs that expire in June, the renewal of
those BANs that total $ 6M and then taking out BANS for an additional $ 6M for the modulars for purchase,
transport, and install, and any other building related issues . Once that is completed, we will come together again
Finance Committee Joint with Select Board Meeting Minutes
March 23, 2022 Page 5 of 7
and determine how much to borrow for permanent bonding in the fall . Peter Lombardi said he understands that
but is trying to understand how we are going to be carrying a $ 12M BAN instead of a $ 6M BAN and the
interest associated with that . He would have thought the debt assessment would have increased . Giovanna
Venditti said based on the information she received from Lynn Welch; she projected the interest rate at 1 . 75 %
with a little cushion for any possible rate increases which was all in collaboration with her advice as to what to
put in for interest . We are deferring the payment required on the permanent bonding to FY24 . The version they
were looking at was not the most up to date and Giovanna Venditti said she would send the most current version
tomorrow.
Selectperson Chatelain said he was going to ask a general question — he thinks Pete Dahl said it very well that
the Nauset Schools have done a consistently excellent job in educating our children. It is worth acknowledging
that, as a separate issue, that the relationship between the School Boards, Select Board, and Finance Committee
does have room for improvement . We have made it our goal to better that working relationship . We have set
that goal and set some strategies , but we have not asked the schools that question . He would love to know what
the schools would like from us to better that relationship . Chris Easley responded that, yes , he agrees we need to
work on these critical relationships . Also , the budget subcommittee is going to sit down and look at our process
and look at how we can improve communications . The dashboard was created because it was felt there needed
to be more transparency for the towns . That was the tool that we thought was preforming that function. We
understand our budget is complicated . We are looking at different options , we are trying to have more
transparency , and are attempting to provide quality education. We are aware of the challenges that face
education in our region. In the age of Covid, many things that were not priorities were not able to get done .
Hopefully now we can begin to look at some of those other challenges that face us . Superintendent Clenchy said
she would say , in a word, support is what they need from the towns . She also said they are not afraid of the hard
questions . She is grateful for the liaisons who come to the meetings and ask the questions . She thanked
everyone from tonight as well . Pete Dahl specifically wanted to thank Giovanna Venditti for being gracious and
taking the time out of her schedule to do this for the Town . Giovanna Venditti said any time anyone wants to
reach her, her office doors are always open. She welcomes anyone who would like to have conversations with
her regarding the budgets .
5 . Discussion of Proposed Creation of New Brewster Elementary School Special Education
Stabilization Fund
Peter Lombardi said the Brewster School Committee voted to support the local option to create a special
education stabilization fund, we will bring it to Town Meeting in May . This is a reserve fund that ' s specific to
unexpected special education expenses that come online midyear and can cover out of district tuition,
transportation costs , in district staffing and support services related to special education. Special education is
one of those variables often outside of the Administration ' s control . This is intended to provide relief to deal
with those costs should they come up . It requires approval from Town Meeting to create those funds ,
expenditure from the fund requires a majority vote of a combined panel of the Select Board and Brewster
School Committee . For FY23 , we have included an appropriation of $ 100k through a transfer precipitated by an
unexpected increase from our Chapter 70 funding which is coming online for several reasons . With that, we
were able to meet the budget demands of the schools with this increase . We thought it appropriate to include
this appropriation to provide at least some funding should we see the need to use it . It rolls over from one year
to the next . Circuit Breaker funds are the first line of defense , and this would be the second line of defense if
those funds aren ' t sufficient. We are including this on the Warrant to be voted on in the upcoming meetings of
the Select Board and Finance Committee .
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ALarch 23, 2022 Page 6 of 7
6 . Potential Votes on Annual Town Meeting Article 2 ( FY23 Elementary School Budget ) ,
Article 3 ( Special Education Stabilization Fund ) , and Article 4 ( FY23 Nauset Regional
Budget ) - defer
F7 . Matters Not Reasonably Anticipated by the Chair- none
[8:::Q:uestions from the Media - none
9 . Next Finance Committee Meeting : March 30, 2022
10 . Adjournment
Selectperson Chatelain MOVED to adjourn the meeting at 9 : 17 PM. Selectperson Chaffee second.
Roll Call Vote : Selectperson Chaffee — yes , Selectperson Hoffman — yes , Selectperson Whitney — yes ,
Selectperson Chatelain — yes , Select Board Chair Bingham — yes
The Select Board voted : 5 -yes 0-no
Bill Meehan MOVED to adjourn the meeting at 9 : 17 PM. Frank Bridges second .
Roll Call Vote : Frank Bridges — yes , Bill Meehan — yes , Honey Pivirotto — yes , Robert Tobias — yes , Bob
Young — yes , Alex Hopper — yes , Bill Henchy — yes , Chair Pete Dahl— yes .
The Committee voted : &yes 0-no
Respectfully submitted , Beth Devine
Packets of supporting materials on the website for public review .
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March 23, 2022 Page 7 of 7