The Raynham Channel
Welcome to Raynham Community Access & Media (RAYCAM), where we engage, learn, and create community access media. We are dedicated to providing a platform for all voices to be heard and shared. Join us in creating a vibrant and inclusive media community.
The Raynham Channel
Sewer Commission 1/08/2026
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
(Episode Description is AI generated and may be errors in accuracy)
A town’s sewer system runs on countless small decisions that add up to uninterrupted service. We open the books on the FY27 budget and explain, in plain terms, why treatment costs, health insurance, and negotiated contracts shape what residents ultimately pay. From rebalancing electricity and heating lines to consolidating capital assessments into a single, honest number, we show how trimming and transparency work together—and where external pressures still squeeze.
On the ground, the operations story is just as urgent. We tackle a failing pump station interface, restore a force main heat trace after an odd power anomaly, and talk through the risks of the Route 44 control upgrade that may require overnight work to match low flows. Backup diesel pumps, careful sequencing, and fast debugging will be the difference between smooth sailing and a stressful night. Around town, bridge and culvert timelines force smart relocations and new manholes, while commercial openings and closures shift both flows and future revenue.
The conversation around rates carries real stakes. We test what a $2 per month increase can buffer—especially when receivables lag—and weigh arguments for a slightly larger cushion to preserve multi‑year stability. Rather than rush, we table the vote to seek firmer numbers on health insurance and treatment assessments, while acknowledging that waiting has a cost too.
Finally, we share big news: our superintendent will retire in late June after decades of service. We outline a hiring plan that’s open and methodical, with overlap time to pass on hard-won knowledge so nothing falls through the cracks. If you value clear budgets, honest tradeoffs, and resilient infrastructure, this is a must‑listen for how a town stays steady under pressure.
If this kind of transparent, nuts‑and‑bolts breakdown helps you understand where your rates go, follow the show, share this episode with a neighbor, and leave a quick review to tell us what you want covered next.
https://www.raynhaminfo.com/
Copyright RAYCAM INC. 2025
Call the monthly meeting of the Board of Sewer Commissioners to order at 6 p.m. on January 8th. Uh to all of us. Happy New Year. I'm glad we're all here. I hope everybody is uh had a good holiday season and I wish them good health. Approval of minutes for uh the 1211. Have you had a chance to I have the minutes look good? Yeah I make a motion we accept as written. I'll second the motion and I uh all those in favor? Aye. Aye. And Joe is withholding because he wasn't here. Correspondence. None. No correspondence. Uh-huh. All right, superintendent's report.
SPEAKER_04:Thank you.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, we got pictures of this time.
SPEAKER_04:I thought we were gonna get a one-page here, but we've got the pictures of this.
SPEAKER_00:So she must have realized she was doing what she wasn't supposed to be doing. So uh superintendent's report, January 8, 2026, under Department of Operations, since our last meeting, there have been uh two room connections. Uh Brenda continues with inputting and updating customer information for this past July through December billing cycle. Um, commercial properties tied into the sewer. She has now received the third and fourth quarter uh water consumption reports from Northranium Water District. Uh, she is awaiting the fourth quarter from Santa. Um, has been well uh with those pumping stations that I previously reported having problems with. Uh Market Basket, as you remember, was giving us a quite a problem. We haven't heard from that in a while now, so that's Google down. Sennum Street gave us that minor issue where we had to have the flow meter recalibrated. Um we did did encounter one issue uh with the pump control operator interface at the locus street pumping station. Um while it's still usable, you can't really make out the display. It's got a bunch of lines running through it. So uh that uh part has been ordered and will be replaced once we receive it. And the Farms and Controls he'll be uh we'll be reprogramming the new interface and changing the pile for us. Uh the heat traits on the force main uh which on King Street. This is where uh Route 24 overpass is. Uh we have a force main running across from that. Um it didn't appear to be working. Um I found that out by uh keeping track of the electric bill. It wasn't making any changes with this cold weather. Usually you would see a little bit of a spike in that. So uh I had Chris, our electrician, run over and see if he could figure anything out. And he said for some reason the breaker was off. He said uh he didn't believe it was tripped, it looked like somebody had actually shut it off. Uh that breaker was actually up on a telephone pole up on uh on King Street. Um so, anyways, he reset that and so far it hasn't tripped again. Um we still have not received the new truck, which we ordered back in May. Uh originally when we ordered that, they were telling us November, December. Uh then last last month they were telling me January. Now we're saying the end of January possibly. They do have the utility body on, they are working on the truck, they're waiting on the snow plow and the associated equivalent to that from there to move into the lighting and put the emergency lighting on.
SPEAKER_02:Do they physically have all right? You we're just waiting for them to put all the body parts together and deliver. Yep, yeah. The utility body waiting for it to come from the manufacturer. No, they have that. Yeah, yeah. The utility body? Yeah, fitting.
SPEAKER_00:Correct, yeah. It almost sounded like he didn't have a snow plow for it. They do the lettering rock too. We do the lettering. Oh, yeah. I used to order it. I don't even know if Orbe's bike shop is still in business, but I used to get uh uh printed decals from him and we just put them on. I have uh like four of them still in stock, so we'll just use them. Uh the first street uh fence repair. I reported to this to you uh last month. We had a complaint of somebody dumping up behind that that's pumping station. Um so there was a piece of the fence missing, and uh as mentioned, the guys were replacing that fence, and we were gonna post some signs. I had talked to the conservation commission and and uh they told me to put on the signs, no dumping, environmentally sensitive area. So uh we posted them and nothing has no dumping gets. We could do that too, yeah. Uh when time allows, uh Chris uh is um continuing replacing some LED lighting over at the CD Center. The Route 44 Club Control Project, um, we are awaiting an update is scheduled on the project. Originally the uh contractor was telling us he was immobilize this week over there, and that did not happen. Um there is an on-site project meeting scheduled for next Wednesday being January 14th. Um, and this meeting will be go over be able to go over the uh sequence of um equipment installation. Uh some of that work may need to occur at night due to the two. That's whenever we have our minimal flows over there. And we basically can't shut that station down, as you know. And um, we may be relying on the diesel, the backup diesel generator uh powered guardwood pump that we have there. So um, I mean I it's gonna be kind of a scary job. I mean, having to shut things down and replace parts, and then uh the last time we did that, there was all kinds of bugs we had to work out of the new controller and all that, so it's gonna be a little uh touch and go there, I think, for a little while. So we get in work out. Uh Tom Infrastructure Projects, um, the highway superintendent informed me uh that the Gandhi Street Bridge replacement project uh will possibly be bid out this spring and possible construction starting in the fall. Uh we have nothing of concern there, we have nothing crossing over the bridge. Um, so no problems there with us. Uh the Pine Street culvert replacement uh may possibly be getting bid out uh next fall with possible construction starting um a year from now, so next spring. Um we will be heavily involved with that project as uh the plans uh to relocate that sewer main to the side of the culvert. Right now we're running over the culvert, so we're supposed to remote that around similar to what we did on Mill Street. That means we've got to put another manhole in? They'll probably have to put two more manholes in, yeah. Yeah. Uh commercial properties update, the old dog track Sinocast building has now closed from what I heard and will be demolished at some point. Uh, the belief is that the Sinocast will eventually be moved over to the new building, but it's currently being held up by the State Gaming Commission. Um, IHOP is now officially closed and wing stock, uh which is going in next to McDonald's on Route 44 in that old uh in the mattress building mattress store. They they cut that in half to put the wingstalk in there. That's nearing completion, uh, possibly opening next week. I believe their final inspection tomorrow, uh Bob Hype Rady was telling me. Uh Rainham Tool and Dye over on Broadway near near Walmart. Um they're pretty close to completion with their new building. Um they'll be moving from their current location, which is right next door. I think they referred to that as the old toll house on 138, which is where they're at now. So they'll be moving into their new building. Uh the motel on Commerce Way, they were in front of us a few months back. Um they are moving forward their project, and they were in front of conservation last night. Um they do have some issues to work out with them still. Um, they may possibly be in front of the planning door at the end of this month. And there was talk of a uh jewelry store possibly going in at the old uh Joanne Fabrics building. And the old uh Great American Pub Restaurant, which is gonna be turned into a uh an upscale uh pizza joint from my understanding. Um that remodel is going along somewhat slow, so uh not sure when that'll be completed. And uh Party City, the i Party store on South Street East. Uh, latest I heard on that is they're gonna demolish that building, and uh there's still talk of some sort of a chicken restaurant going in there, be either be Chick-fil-A or Raisin Cane. Uh they're gonna downsize the footprint of the building to put that in from the latest I've heard on that. Party City store. Yeah, that's over on the corner of South Street, the old K Matt Plaza. Yeah. Party next to D'Angelo's. Yeah, pretty good sized building, actually. It is. So they get four years on that. Thank you. Thank you.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. New business, nobody's talking to us. Old business, the FY27 budget and the Suey Us of Rate Review.
SPEAKER_00:Yep, so we started on this uh back in November, as you remember, um, kind of had it on the agenda for December, but we never really got uh any progress on it then. Uh so I brought it back up and to go over it. Um so I left them papers on your on your desk there, and on the top should be your the budget submitted. So working over the budget, I'll go over line by line on this one. Um selected uh salary, elected uh chairman uh it's gonna be 6,000 up from 5,400. Um elected members 10,800 up from 9600. Um superintendent, 127, 262. Um chief operator, salary assistant superintendent, assistant superintendent, chief operator, 103-899. That's up from 101-894. Uh Operators, that's the remainder of the guys that's 428-094, up from 414-877. Temporary clerical, that's if we brought in some help. Um if we brought in some extra help here, it's just be temporary. There's 4,000 that hasn't changed. Uh the overtime, 35,000 that has not changed. Longevity, 7,161, up from 6,913. And all these items are basically uh contractual items negotiated with the sewer union and the uh selectment. Um, so longevity is 7,161. On call status, 728,600. Uh that's up from 26,000. Health insurance 127,695. I'm carrying a 10% increase on that. Uh, that's up from 116.084. Again, that's not one of those things we wait usually until around April before we actually get a firm answer from the town building on how much we're gonna carry on that. But from what I'm told, um it may be 10%, it may be more, but they're hoping 10%. Retirement and pension, um carrying 8% on that, that's$184.050, so$184,050, up from$170,416. Uniform allowance, um, that's$11,205, up from$10,875. So for total personnel costs$1,073,766. That's up from$1,028,321. Uh moving on to other expenses being heating, electricity, uh pump parts, all that other stuff. Um, one thing you'll see on most of these, uh a lot of these went down. We transferred that into a line item down the very bottom, as you guys know, uh, as being the transfer of the sewer assessment. And this is gonna be that bill that we're waiting on from Twine. Uh starting at the top, energy heating, 22,000, that's up from 18,000. Um, energy electricity 136, 136,000 down from 140. What I did there is just basically took a little bit out of uh energy electricity and moved it up to heating because my heating um typically was costing me more than I was carrying there and I had a little extra in electricity, so I just did a swap on that one. Capital cost 40,000. Uh that's down from 280,000. Again, that's transferred down. You'll see that after. Um 600,000 on the city of Taunton, which is the treatment cost, that's up from 500,000. As you know, our costs have been going up with the treatment. Um infiltration and inflow is 71,400 last year. We're not carrying anything there because last year was our last payment on a 20-year bond amount. Uh repairs and maintenance building, uh carrying 6,000, that's down from 12,000. Repairs and maintenance building. I just said that one. So repairs and maintenance equipment is 73,000. There's no change on that. Repairs and maintenance vehicle 2,000, down from 7,000. Repairs and maintenance I and I 40,000, down from 175,000. Repairs and maintenance infrastructure, 45,000, down from 50,000. Other property-related services, 3,000, no change. Professional technical 30,000, no change. Communications 75,000, I'm sorry, 7,500, 7,500, up from 6,500. Telephone, 11,000, that's down from 12,000. Office supplies, 3,000, no change. Building and equipment repair maintenance supplies$13,000, that's down from$15,000. Customer custodial and housekeeping supplies,$5,000, no change from last year. Groundskeeping supplies is$1,000, no change from last year. Vehicular supplies,$11,000, no change from last year. Gasoline and diesel,$15,500, that's down from$18,500. Hopefully, gas prices keep going down like we've been seeing. Public work supplies,$16,000, that's down from$20,000. In-state travel,$500, no change. Dues and memberships,$5,000, no change. So transfers to the general fund is another one of them items we usually look for from the town building. I'm carrying$124,778. That's a 3% increase from last year, which was$121,143. Transfers to the sewer assessment fund. This is where a lot of the majority of these funds were transferred to. Again, this is for that cost on the bill that we're expecting from Taunton for the capital improvements. That we are now carrying$900,000 on that line item. That's up from$500,000. So total expenses$2,110,278,000. That is up from$2,078,043, a 1.55% increase from last year. Total expenditures, so that's personnel and expenses,$3,184,044. That's a 2.5% increase from last year, which was uh$3,106,364. One thing of interest, um, I always kind of give you a referral on this. So from fiscal year 21 to 27, we've had a 7.73% increase. Divide that by the seven years, it's an average of 1.04, each of them seven years. Any questions on the budget?
SPEAKER_01:Repairs and maintenance of vehicles, just the 2,000? Well, is that because we have a mechanic and he does more stuff in house or you pretty much. I mean, 2,000. I just think of the fleet we have, it's just that's like a lot of our stuff is new.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, we got some of the older stuff, but um yeah, Sean does a fabulous job.
SPEAKER_01:And you weren't you weren't chewing up to seven last year, so you say for that. Okay.
SPEAKER_02:What we did when we went through this was we looked at what our actual costs were on those items. Uh we didn't take it down to what we actually spent, but we reduced it from 12 to 10 because we only spent nine type of thing. A little bit tightening up on everything in order to get to the nine million dollars. Get to the nine million dollars on the bottom without too much.
SPEAKER_00:If you have no other questions, are we going to um how are we gonna fund that?
SPEAKER_02:Well, we know periodically you're gonna have to adjust the user fees because uh without doing anything whatsoever, we have uh some forty-five thousand dollar increase just by contract with personnel. And as far as when we get down to the expense item, uh we had an increase there of just about eighty thousand dollars. Uh, even though we moved things around to kind of close the gap from the five to the nine, uh, we had to eat an extra hundred thousand dollars because of the Taunton increase in the rate that they charge us. So if we were to oversimplify it, if Taunton left the rate alone, we wouldn't be up at 1,184,000, okay? And uh we would have still covered the 900,000 by tightening the budget in each item. And then, of course, given the fact that we were on a 20-year payment program and that we made the last payment last year. So that doesn't show up as a charge in this year, but that savings of that amount does drop down to health tonight, nine hundred thousand. There's a little room, not a lot of room. And if we knew what Trump was going to do and how they wanted to do it, we could get this down so that we would be, you know, not guessing as we go forward. And your proposal to um cover that cost, uh, you did your you showed the difference uh of what If you if you left it alone and didn't change anything, uh we would be deficient by$30,000. And then you talked about a change which was uh a small$6 per year, which would have been 50 cents a month, uh and we would have a$9,000 reserve. And uh showed us one at$12 a year, which is a dollar a month. And uh I was the one that suggested to you let's look at$2 a month, that's a reasonable increase, and what will that do for us? It gives us a little bit of a cushing. And uh even though there's a budget and we know how much we can collect, or we hope we're gonna collect, what was the number that we ended up with unpaid? And some, yeah, one point it was like 160,000. Yeah. So we have receivables of$160,000. We eventually will get, and that just goes into the cash that's available. So the$2 made reasonable list because we even at that, you could say that's probably enough to carry us for three years without having to change the rate again before having to go in and take something out of stabilization account. And hopefully within the next three years, that the after talk really gets in there, we can really get a good idea of what we have to do and uh make a long-range plan as to how we uh how we accomplish our goal. And of course, they won't see this increase until the bill that they get in July. Correct. But we we must vote the increase. Now, I I think we could wait on voting the increase because the bills that they're getting now is what we need to finish our fiscal year. So we could put off the vote on the rate increase, the actual vote on that, um, down, you know, a month or two if we had to. Um and if that, if if the city of Taunton got off the pot, so to speak, and came down with some hard numbers that we could do, we could also be able to adjust the budget to cover it. Uh they they've missed the boat per the contract. They should have told us in September what we needed to give them and FY27. So if they come hand in hand and they're reasonable people, we can accommodate a certain amount of that. But if we knew what the numbers were going to be going forward, we're guessing$900,000 FY97, 27. Okay? If they held to what they say we're supposed to do, here's the bill. And uh the last time he handed us a bill was in October. They wanted us to pay it in December, and because they were gonna pay it in February, I says, How about me paying you in January? And that was the bill where they were billing the B.O.Ds. And I said, Well, this bill's not gonna get paid. And the woman just uh looked at me like I had four heads. I says, No, I got one head, and I see you're charging me for something that has got nothing to do with construction. And Rob knows, and uh that bill was accounted for and provided for, but we never got a bill.
unknown:And that's four years ago.
SPEAKER_02:So, you know, we've been we've been trying to figure out how to do this in a say a much more organized business way, but our partner doesn't uh we're we're not on the same page, so to speak, you know. So uh we can vote it and we can then next if we have to change it, we just turn around and nullify that vote and put a new vote in because we now have hard numbers. So that isn't as important as the budget, because the budget's gonna go within the next two or three weeks, if we look at it.
SPEAKER_01:No, not yet. No, we won't we won't have to present the budget until uh sometime in February. Late February. Usually you don't get guidelines until like the last week of January or something.
SPEAKER_02:Late February, early March. Yeah. And the budget is gonna be changed anyways when they give us the numbers that they want us to carry. Yeah. So we're just doing uh front-end work. Yeah. And it was better to know it earlier than having him working on at the end of January and then into February. And we just did it uh a very simplified way of doing things, and uh he's done a yearman's job on it, too. Joseph, do you have some questions?
SPEAKER_04:Get the calculator out. Yeah, no, I'm just doing doing some calculations. I mean, it personally I would carry 15% on the health insurance. That would be me, um, which is only a difference in an additional 5801, which is fine. But I was looking at what$3 a month would do. And the reason I was doing that is I don't know if we've ever nailed down a percentage of the receivables. So if we have 492 residential, excuse me, 4,913 units residential, are we collecting 98% of them? I don't know the answer to that. Because if we're only collecting 85% of them, 87% of them, is the$2 per month enough?
SPEAKER_02:Well, the two dollars a month that's on housing correct and the$167,000 is total. That means commercial in housing.
SPEAKER_04:We're gonna have some commercial defaults, I'm assuming, as well, that don't pay. Yeah, we do get that too, yeah. Yeah, so we're I I guess just talking out loud was when we have a deficit of the$29,621, which commissioner referred to as the$30,000 deficit, that is assuming everyone pays. Yeah, correct? Okay, which that's not gonna happen. So that$30,000 is not accurate. Last year our receivables were what for the year?$167,000 or something, is what you say?$167. Well, that's what we will call it right away.$167. So if we used the same people didn't pay, we'd have to add$167 to this$30? Eventually it catches up, but it's not eventually, but I mean that could be 10 years down the road, right? It just gets lien on their property and gets paid through the taxes.
SPEAKER_02:And it it gets to a point where it's the same amount because they paid the old one, now they owe a new one.
SPEAKER_04:So, all right, so if they do and it's interest in there too that we get, and then we get the money from all right, so it's rolling. Once they hit a certain amount, we collect that money. Yeah, okay. I just want to make sure we're we collect enough in user fees to cover the people who don't pay until they're forced to.
SPEAKER_02:In the in the past, I don't think any we ever asked the question, do we have unpaid bills? Because it just kind of gets lost in because we had enough money in articles that we didn't spend. So if we had uh$240,000 budget item and we spent 15 of it, you got$225,000 in cash to offset that$165,000. So we always had enough cash available. But I said that because in business, I I don't know how you do it in your insurance, but in business, there's always an allowance on collectibles, unpaid bills. And you you have to provide for it. If you have an operating budget and it's that tight, then you can't pay your light bill the last month of uh$8,000 because you don't have the money. Okay? And uh but we're never ever in the position where we do not have money because we do have retained earnings, and we maintain retained earnings to the equivalency of half of a full year's budget. So you you've got the money to pay the bill, and you catch up when the bill comes in. You because when it comes in, it's not recorded as income. It's just the bill's paid. So, but it's a good point. I uh I've asked uh the town accountant, uh, he didn't think there's a way of making a provision for unpaid. And and I looked at him, I said, but you you have more unpaid bills than we do. How do you cover that? And the response was he smiled. The regulations, you know, kind of get flexed in different ways. It would be nice to have a line item uh just in case. Just in case. Yeah, so and what happens is that uh if there's uh a hundred people who don't pay their bill, you know, and the bill is 490 and it's a hundred, what do you got?$49,000. Okay? And who paid for it? Well, it would be a buck out of yours because you paid your bill, a buck out of yours because your bill has a buck to take care of the people who want to pay it. Eventually it comes in. But the the sting of doing it, so it's something to consider. I don't uh I don't argue that point. I think it's uh we'd have to do it in a different way.
SPEAKER_01:Well, that decision didn't have to doesn't have to be made tonight. Maybe we could table it. But let's go back to one thing at a time from the resident professional on the health insurance. You think that's you got some insider information? You think that's where it's headed, or got feeling or best experience?
SPEAKER_04:Other municipal entities are are getting killed where they've been told 15 to 20 percent for the foreseeable future, and then just in private entity, it's getting very expensive. Is this medical insurance? Yes, medical insurance.
SPEAKER_01:So well, everybody's going up, you know, they did away with the cruts for those poor people. So you think the 10% is too conservative?
SPEAKER_04:I think so. I think you go 15%, I would think. But again, you wait to get the actual case.
SPEAKER_01:I just want to go to watch the whole.
SPEAKER_02:I understand. This whole thing could be the same way they did last year. They didn't allow us to increase the labors because it was under negotiations, yeah, and they say we now you have to do a second article, and that's to be used specifically for health insurance. Yes, present. Okay, and then we have to vote that and we have to raise it. So that's uh that's how they'll end up doing it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Well, we'll we'll know before um, certainly before the town meeting what they've ever town meeting before what the insurance is going up. So like we've done previous years, we've adjusted that. I think it's probably as late as you know, April. We've made them adjustments by the time they get some of them answers. I was at a department head meeting today and they mentioned 10% on the health insurance, but they said 10% was the bottom line. Yeah, that's it may go up more. Yeah, they weren't sure yet.
SPEAKER_02:But is the town of Greenham in its own group?
SPEAKER_04:Or were they I think they're in the the Southeast uh regional yeah, I think I thought it was a county county group.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Well, is there a is there an awful lot of demand upon it? You know? It's uh well you pay a high price, you only have single or married, and uh married is like two people, and uh so many places don't do the third tier of two people only, and family being kids type of thing.
SPEAKER_00:So uh if it goes to 15, it's not a material difference. And and uh from what they said on the on the um retirement, uh they were mentioning 6% on carrying eight, so I'm a little heavy there. And I've done that before, I've had to swap it, really.
SPEAKER_02:We may he may have cut it in the on the different and we can move them around. But that was uh an exercise that uh prior to coming to what the 27 was, we took the 26 and we moved the items out into the 900,000. We changed, so we knew that we could cover the 9 with this year's budget showing the five by closing this one, sharpening here, and then I says, all right, let's take it and just move it forward. And uh he did a good job moving it forward. And the fact of the matter is that the actual increase, you can just put your finger and say$48,000 just to do it, union contracts. We have no control over. You got medical insurance, you got retirement, and we got a hundred thousand dollar increase from the city of Tom. So our budget is fiscally responsible, and we can keep it that way, too. So that's uh an exercise he's gone through. He's done a great job.
SPEAKER_04:I would I mean thank you for the sewer rate adjustment history that you provided to us. So in January 2019, we went from$300 to$420 on the residential rate, five dollars per thousand to seven dollars and eighty cents per thousand in 2019. We were able to keep that rate, if I'm reading this correctly, for three years. Yes. So all right, so then we went from 420 to 492 uh on the residential side, and then$7.80 per thousand gallons to nine dollars and thirty cents per thousand gallons. We've kept that for four years. So the biggest thing for me, and I never like raising anything, but I would feel comfortable more at the$36 per year increase, so we can continue to keep that three or four year buffer where I would hate to increase it, and then in a year and a half we're looking at it and saying, geez, we've got to do it again.
SPEAKER_02:That's how I would tend to look at it, but I'm just a single you have a voice that is listened to and heard, and you can make it in the form of a motion when the time comes that are we gonna do it, and uh and that's what the democracy is, you know. Um I like stability. I um I suggested the two because way back, way back, uh when Mike King was treasurer, and we were talking about it, he says, I'll make a suggestion. Make it in whole numbers so you can divide by two. So this would divide by two, but you'd end up with a 50 cent on one and fifty cent on the other. Because two dollars divide by two is one and one, and three dollars is one fifty. And why? I think he just liked the idea of a round number. So if you feel strongly enough and you don't have too much of a problem, go up four, and you get a bigger cushion. Yeah, okay? And that could be done, and that may in fact might have to be done if we find that when the town comes with the numbers to us, it isn't 10% for the medical, it's 20% for the medical. And you say, wait a minute, how much more is that? You know, another 20, another$20,000? Holy Macpool, another$15,000 here, and the retirement goes to this, and their assessment goes up to that. Next thing you know, you've eaten up another$45,000 in two items alone. So we'll keep that door open if you all feel comfortable tonight.
SPEAKER_01:I'll make a motion we table it for a month.
SPEAKER_02:Second, all those in favor? Aye, aye, aye, the commission unanimously suggests and voted to table the finalization of the budget and the increase for at least a month. Okay, emergency business. Aye, commission report. I have one for my fellow members. And this is for the record on the thirtieth of December at twelve fifteen. That's twelve minutes at fifteen minutes after noontime, I was presented a This letter from Mr. Robert Carey. I'm gonna read it and I'll give you a copy and give it for the transcript, and I'm gonna give both of my fellow members a copy. They can do what they want with it. December 26, 2025, to the Honorable Board of Sewer Commission, Attention Chairman Joseph Betancourt. With careful consideration, I regret to inform you that I have decided not to move forward with a contract extension for the sewer superintendent with the Rainham Sewer Department. Please accept this letter as a formal notification of my intention to resign from the position of sewer superintendent with the Rainham Board of Sewer Commission. My final day of employment, I ask to be June 26. I want to add that 2046. 2026. And the chair can make changes. There were three, and now we have 35. I have progressed through the years within the department with titles of pumping station operator, chief operator, assistant superintendent, and now serving the last eight years as superintendent. I'm very grateful for the opportunities that have been given to me within the sewer department. My hope being that during my tenure I have served this department in the town of Rainham with integrity and respect to all, especially the employees and my co-workers within this department. I would also like it known that I would not have had this success if it weren't for the great working environment and help from the Border Sewer Commission. I would like to thank each member of this board for the opportunity and trust you have given me as superintendent for these past eight years. Yours truly, Robert Carey, Grainham Sewer Superintendent. So you want to resign on the 26th of June? Yes, yes, that's to be my last day, correct? That's so that you get your paycheck by the end of June and not in July, which is the next fiscal year. I'll fire you on the 25th. That's that.
SPEAKER_04:He had me until the last paragraph. That's all AI. That's all AI. He had me until the last paragraph.
SPEAKER_02:Congratulations. Thank you. All I can say is thank you. Really? You've done human service. We all know you've done it. I have been watching you a lot closer than they have. And uh I've kept your blood pressure up, and uh it's all been done with good humor and uh tremendous amount of respect.
SPEAKER_04:Come on. I said he's not gonna let you outlast him, is he?
SPEAKER_02:Well, you know, he had an offer.
SPEAKER_01:He chose just made a motion not to accept.
SPEAKER_02:Well, unfortunately, it doesn't it doesn't we it we require our acceptance or actually acknowledgement of it because uh he's made the decision and it's in his contract that he can make that decision by giving us a six-month notice, and he made it by a couple of days. Um and uh it's bittersweet. Yeah, it is, it is. Um we're almost there. I'll complete 12 years in April in this battle to get us where we are today. Meaning autopilot? Is that what you mean? Autopilot? Uh I I said I want to get this to a point where it takes care of itself, and you don't have to worry about you know, you fix this, you fixed that, and should we do more expansion? Couldn't do that, and then it was a constant battle to change the mentality and attitude of a department that was just kind of laid back and happy, uh, but you know, we got here, but there were some big bumps in the road to get here. We've all had a share of it, so it's one of those things you hate change, but that being said, uh you're resigning for the purpose of retirement. Correct. Okay, and I know we're gonna say something before June 26th, but um I'm happy for you. I truly am. To look back, you were the first full-time employee. Yeah, your father was a part-timer because he's a highway department on the sewer department started, and you've been here through it all. Nobody knows our system better than Rob Carey. And he learned it the hard way. He got his hands dirty, he was in every nook and cranny, and he could solve the problems because he was up close and personal with every detail in the system, and it was very fortunate that he said yes. Of course, he said no this time. But I wish you the best of luck, Rob. And I know between now and then uh it's gonna be bittersweet for you. Um you have a lame duck. You can quack all you want, but it doesn't do a damn thing for you because if you want to come back, you have the same salary. You missed the bank.
unknown:You missed the date.
SPEAKER_02:Um with that being said, I I want to mention to the commissioners as we sit here for a very brief time, we will put this, we will post this meeting. I mean, post the job. I have a a list of job description that was used by um prior commissioner when they described the job in a contract as to this is your responsibility. Um it was very nice the way they do it. Uh I have a simple way. You do everything you're told, you don't have to do the windows. That's all. Everything else is your responsibility. And if you told me that no matter what it is, it's your responsibility. So we will we will take that job description and we'll put it together. Um I would like some suggestions uh over the next within the next month from each one of you as to uh what do we want for qualifications, how much of anything. Um we're at a point where we've always had a PE sitting over there, and we're at a point now where we don't need one because we have a consulting engineering firm, and we're not looking to go and expand any further. I still have the preliminary draft for somewhat over$8 million for the next, the last phase for what's left, with the equivalent of and if you depending on how you do the calculation, if you take them all together, the bedman cost is around$22,000. You know, it's it's it's just prohibitive. Uh so looking back 30 years, the way we should have done it was everybody pays the same betterment. Okay, so the guys that paid$500 way back when should have been paying$3,000 or$4,000, and the guy builds it that hooks up a new betterment this year would be$4,000. But they didn't say how soon they were going to do the sewer, they wanted to do this right away because of commercial, the big problem was 44. That's stimulation. All right, but then I want to get uh something and um an idea of um two of us can't sit at the table during an interview as such. I would suggest one take the applications with the time frame on it, and have all of us at your own leisure read through all of the applicants and have a sheet rating system, and then we will come down. I don't know how many we'll have, okay, but it it will come down to maybe a final two or three that we will have sitting there at one of our meetings, and we will interview them in an open session, and then if you're satisfied that the three there are all qualified and you want to do it, then you can do the give me who your number one is, your number two is, your number three. And whoever gets the majority and put a value on the points, he's got one that's one, I got that person as two. He's got them as three. Likewise, or he's got a one, and he's got a one, uh, and uh he's he's got the same two as he does, and I don't have the same two, okay? But there's a whether you use a one-three five or one anything, that's a process, and you can say this is what the vote is, and then if we go by that method, and once we determine who the person is, um we will make we would I would I would say that we would take a second to just think about it, and I would hope that we could say we want to make it unanimous. Here's the results, and then if uh well it it's unanimo you it's covered if you get two ones, and so the vote would be two to one for that person, but then make it unanimous. All right, that type of a thing. I you know, I I I sat I sat on uh an interview for a job, and there were three, four. There were there were there were four there were seven people that had a vote. And the vote came down three three and one abstained. So we had to go back for a second time and do it. And then they asked a couple of questions, and again, we went through it all the way again, then it came out four-three. And then one of the pe one of the um voters uh said, I would like to reconsider the vote and make it unanimous. They reconsidered the vote, and then it was 7-0. So, you know, it's just a courtesy to the person. You know, I wasn't the first. Somebody out there didn't want me, type of routine. So just to think about stuff like that. One of us can go through the detail, but boom, and meet them individually when they come in, and here's the boat, read them, think what you want, you know, that type of thing. Just be careful, uh, and and I mean this sincerely, just be careful that if you came in here and you're sitting at his desk and you're reading the applicants, don't come in and sit down while he's here, or take different ones and break it up. Because if they thought two of you were reading at the same time, you're going somebody would say, Well, that was a it was a done deal. We don't want any idea that somebody is predetermined before they come for the final interviews type of thing. We're going to do that. If you had six, I don't want to sit six people out here, we're going to call it out to the three best. And we pick the three best because we will go through them all. We can't do it together, but we can do it individually. Okay? So when the time comes, within the next month or so, the word's going to be out very quickly. We will do some interviewing, and I uh while we're still on the clock, uh, one of the things that you were considered with concerned about, Joe, was that he's willing to help, but he'd have to send a bill. We I've got the money's in the budget to do it, but we could do it in the other way of hiring the person two or three weeks in advance. You know what I mean? He's still superintendent, he's watching, he's doing, whoever it is. And then he could still talk to him after, because he's not gonna learn everything in one day, two days. He's gotta go through a payroll, understanding, and he's gotta understand that he's got to go down to department head meetings, okay? What's that about? What's this, what's that? And it could very easily be done. You take him with you and introduce him, then he's our new superintendent. He's here just to observe, and we will find a way to pay that person for for being here. Even if we have to pay him, you know, his regular salary, that's okay. We'll find a way in there. Don't think about it. The last thing in the payroll is the 7th of January. Now, all right. That being said, the announcement is made, we're losing our superintendent. Uh therefore, there is uh no public forum, no press time, and uh I would entertain a motion to adjourn for the purpose of just doing uh administrative work and nothing else. So move. Second. Moved by Mr. Bickle, seconded by Mr. Kelleher. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. It is a unanimous vote at 659. See you next month.