Present:

• Roxanne McCaffrey, Chair
• Chuck Cardillo
• Patrick White
• Michael Canales, Town Administrator
• Charles Kenny

1. Operating Budget Increases
   1. $50,100 oil and gas
   2. One additional police salary
   3. Cultural Council $5000 match to $5000 from Commonwealth
   4. $20,000 for ConCom for Conservation Agent
   5. $6000 for training
   6. $85,000 litigation — White: Town not suing or being sued at this moment; is this for Rest of River? Usually $35,000
   7. Pay raise 1% – 2% and then Canales recommended merit increases in addition
2. Capital Expenditures
   1. $20,000 cost of Revaluation, process required by Commonwealth
   2. $110,000 Water and Sewer
   3. $176,000 Pump Station? Inflow and Infiltration (I&I) — White said, “no one should opine on how much capacity in any meeting until after I&Iamp; study”
   4. $1,419,000 in free cash available — Highway vehicles? Fire truck?
3. Debt Schedule
   1. $288,000 coming to end — could keep debt annual cost (interest) level in anticipation of costs for school and bridges by combination of free cash, borrowing, etc.
   2. White, if we borrow “the cost of fire truck is $64,000/annually including interest” He said to calculate that cost against the probability that the cost of truck and the interest rate will go up, and then decide whether to buy now or later. Also, White said, there was a long lead time to receive truck after ordering. Three reasons to buy now to be more prudent? He asked
   3. Decision re: fire truck — put aside $250,000 AND place permission to borrow full amount of purchase on Watrrant AND then wait until December to see if receive the grant for truck. Set to purchase fire truck with or without grant. Better as deep concern: what happens if Stockbridge has a fire and not proper equipment?
4. Kenny objected to bundling large expenses in Article 52. Kenny said some are necessary and other expenses are controversial. SB decided to rewrite Warrant Item 52, remove “intersection”, and consider intersection at a Special Town Meeting to decide spending $1,000,000 on the Red Lion Inn Intersection.

Meeting adjourned

Editor’s note: 1. To clarify what was discussed, this is Warrant Article 52 as originally written: To appropriate a sum of $4,000,000 to pay costs of restoration of the following town infrastructure issues; Tuckerman Bridge, Averic Road Bridge, Intersection, Salt Shed, Pump Station, and all incidental and related costs, to be spent under the direction of the Board of Selectmen, the money so appropriated to be raised by borrowing under the authority of G.L. c.44, §7(1), or any other enabling authority, and to authorize the Town Treasurer, with the approval of the Board of Selectmen, to issue bonds or notes for this purpose; and further, that any premium received upon the sale of any bonds or notes approved by this vote, less any premium applied to the payment of the costs of issuance of such bonds or notes, may be applied to the payment of costs approved by this vote in accordance with G.L. c.44, §20, thereby reducing by a like amount the amount authorized to be borrowed to pay such costs; or take any other action relative thereto. 2. The word “Intersection” was removed but unclear if spending authority per item restored to the voters?