Welcome to Toffy TV, I am joined by Callum Snell, this is the match preview, Everton vs Cardiff City, Gooderson Park, 3 o'clock this Saturday, is there a better kick off time than a 3 o'clock on a Saturday, love it. Love it Callum, welcome, haven't seen you for a few weeks but your backs, things are going alright for the Blues at the moment and Cardiff are home at the weekend, one we should be winning. One we should definitely be winning, yeah I feel like it's the way that we've been playing recently. It's definitely a reason to believe that this is definitely the sort of game that we can definitely go on and win. I think when teams like this, these have just come up, they haven't spent a lot of money. Some teams come up and spend a lot like wolves and others try to do it a different way. I think Cardiff have kind of accepted where they are so to speak and Neil Warner trying to do it in a different way. So they've stuck with a lot of the plays they had in the championship and obviously they were very good in the championship. They found it a little bit tougher in the Premier League. So I think they're going to come in, they've won and drawn the last couple of games so they're doing, they've improved a little bit. But I think they're going to come to Gooderson and try to have a game plan of not get beaten and have a lot of men behind the ball or something like that. I think so, yeah. I think that they can definitely have that sort of threat. For sure, they're a side that have come up that maybe haven't spent as much as full on more wolves like you just said. But I definitely think they're a side that I think their fans might be a little bit frustrated in a sense that maybe that sometimes they've got a result that has gone on the way and then the next week it hasn't. So therefore they'll be feeling that they can maybe come to Gooderson and maybe get on, start a bit of a maybe run for themselves and I think they can maybe see it as a good opportunity for them to do that, yeah. Definitely, I mean everything is very, very strong around.  But generally we've been stronger around since Bay of Moises days, you know, even under a birth home. I had one season where we were treffled around but the other two, we were going to Coomham at a strong home record and they had a say at Alla Dice. Oh yeah, definitely. I think in these games, first goal is the most important. Massively, I feel like the first goal, we were fortunate enough to get that first goal against Brighton, didn't we? They equalised. Thankfully on the day that we had enough to get over the line. In Cardiff, I think the same applies. I feel like we need to get the first goal and you know, we need to be careful that we don't concede the first one. Because I don't know if they do, they might be one of them size that just sit back and then that might make it difficult for us, yeah. I think what we have to do is we have to try and pull them out into a game because listen, if you're Neil Warner, you're coming to Gooderson and thinking right, let's get everyone behind the ball. Stay in the game, not in sheep. You know, they'll be physical because that's what his teams are, evidently they'll have to be wary of that. And they'll be open to frustrators, but what I think evidently have done well under Marko Silver and certainly improving week by week with is the patience when things aren't going the way it should do. I think too easily, under Ronald Coom and our partners, to be fair, too easily, we'd abandon what we were trying to do if it wasn't going well. Yeah, panic station was setting the real mist to come down, yeah. I think we can't do, I think what we're doing this season is we're trying it and we saw this, this was evident mostly against Crystal Palace, but certainly it was there against Brighton and against Fulham. You know, it wasn't going the way maybe we hoped it would go because obviously you go to a game and they go, well get the early goal and then we'll run away with it. Them games, it didn't really happen, but what evidently did well in them three games was we continued to pass it, we pull them out of position and we were patient and as a fan base we were patient and it resulted in us getting over the line in those games. Yeah, 100%, 100%. I feel like there's a belief in the side from the fans and the fans definitely have that feeling that this side is going to pull up some trees at some point in the game. You mentioned before, it's a good example of the Palace game, had that been last season people would have been like, oh no, we know what's going to happen here, everyone starts getting frustrated, bad vibes start to come from the fans towards the players.  Who have you been impressed with so far this season? Cos obviously the manager's brought in six players, we've just seen Gary Mina, he was the last of the new shining to perform. Who's really caught your eye this season? The obvious answer would be Richard Allison, I feel like he's definitely has the potential to be a really special player for us but for me, I feel like the defence deserves a really big mention this season, particularly players like Michael Keane and for me, Lucas Dean. I feel like the consistency of that player is something that shouldn't be overlooked, I feel like he's playing really well at the minute and the defence, the back four looks very strong and the fact that we have the options to switch it about and even when we have switched it about it looks like still a solid back line. I think that's something that maybe quite a few people don't appreciate as much how great it is to have such a strong defence as opposed to what we've had in previous years so that's what's impressed me. You've got a bit of a Lucas Dean going on there, not quite as sure to this. No, not quite as sure but I do mix it up now. What would you do this weekend with the defence? Cos obviously you've just mentioned Michael Keane, Michael's been fantastic form this season, playing really well back in England squad as well over the international break. Cair Truman and him had formed a really good partnership and then obviously Cair Truman couldn't play against Chelsea and yet he came into the side and we had a clean sheet against, I think it was the first time Chelsea hadn't scored so that in itself is a big thing and I think OK Jordan's had to make a couple of big saves on the day which he'd expect. Other than that they've not really caused us too many problems so what would you do? What if you were Michael Silver? Do you break that partnership back up and put Zuma back in or do you just leave Mina and go to Zuma? Last time out the lads performed well. This is going to be where it's going to start becoming really interesting to think about. Obviously last weekend we saw Gary Mina get his first 90 minutes and to say he impressed was an understatement he was really good. I think it's a case of who gets it over Zuma and Mina in my opinion. I feel like Keane's just playing so well at the minute he's consistent. He's been at the club a full year prior to the other two so I feel like maybe that gives other players a bit of a safety net playing alongside someone like Michael Keane. For me I think Gary Mina might just edge it for me only because the fee that was spent on him I feel like you can't just spend the best part of 30 million on a defender and not play him and also there's the whole debate about Zuma being on a loan whether you want to keep him in the side or not for that amount of time but to answer your question it's got to be Mina and Keane for me personally. I think it's right to think you're right with the transfer fee. Not so much just because we spent the money but we spent that money for a reason. We spent that money because we've seen a lad who we think can be the heart of our defence and be a key player for us. Michael Keane's been exceptional this season getting better and better and that's great for us. Keane Zuma has been really impressive but he is only on loan but the biggest thing for me to keep them together won't be the last time out because I would say it's unfortunate for Zuma because obviously everything being equally deployed at Chelsea, Mina wouldn't have come in there, Mina would have still been sat on the bench because they were playing well Keane and Zuma. I clean sheet against one of the best sides in the country. You've got to leave it in and you have to say to Zuma, they've got to sheet and it's your job now to win it back and that means being ready. That means if I need to switch the three at the back you've come in alongside them or it means every day in training you show me why you should be backing the team and then you say to Keane and Mina it's your sheet to lose.  I've got a lad here who's a French international. He hasn't just been in the squad but he was in the previous one. He's a French international here and he wants your place and go and do it and I think if we can do that all over the squad that's why we're where we are now. And that's something we haven't had for a while and that's something that I think was so made up with at the minute. You've got a whole back line there that are all internationals. And then you've even got the backup ones like if it is going to be the backup at Zuma. You've even got a French centre half coming on. It's something that's so good and as you mentioned then about if we can get that all over the pitch and I think we are getting that all over the pitch. If we play as like McCarthy and Adlin who maybe aren't in the pitch at the minute, if they can come in it'll be some challenge to get Gomez and Ghana out of the team at the minute but like you mentioned it's definitely exciting to have them options. Definitely. What have you made of Andre Gomez cos since you were last in he's gone into the side? Yeah last time I was in he was just starting to come into the team but I think from what we've seen of him he's definitely a cut from another cloth isn't he? He's just this composure on the ball, his passing, his vision, everything that he's doing at the minute just makes you want to sign him on a permanent deal.  I think for the time being maybe cross that bridge when we come to it but I've been overly impressed with him I really have. Especially with Ghana's but I think he's up to Ghana's game as well a bit. Definitely. I think that can be nothing but good to decide them two in the midfield at the minute. I think they're just playing so well and we can definitely see it in the games. I think you're right with the Ghana situation because he can just concentrate on doing what he does best which is nicking the ball and just being busy getting the tackles in. I think when him and Snidlin play together there's an onus on both of them to be more footballers than Neanna. I don't think they're good enough for that. Ghana was trying to do too many things at once wasn't he but now he's got Gomez next to him. He feels that he's got that freedom to do what he was doing when he first came into the side when he first signed him and that's when we get the most out of him and that's what we're seeing at the minute. Yeah and then you've got obviously Gomez alongside him. Guilffy as well, Guilffy Sigarton's gone up another level this season. Just less pressure on them I think. I think like Sigarton's not having to worry about maybe filling in some holes in the midfield as well. You can concentrate on his game and what made him such a success at Swansea. So we take a big domino effect in the side at the minute. Everyone's just playing well. Since he's come in Sigarton now Everton players being involved in more goals than him. We've got nine goals and five assists since we signed him so it shows how key he's been for us. Sure he's got to be sort of like close to what he did for all the last season already hasn't he? Definitely. I mean I just think, I think we're seeing a player in Sigarton and hopefully he's fit. We obviously be seeing him with the protective boots on off the Chelsea but early indications are there's a good chance he's going to make it. Which is great because we want to keep, and Gomez, we want to keep that side together. We want to keep this team going. It's like the old cliche isn't it? Don't change the winning side. That's it. I suppose the other area up for contention at the moment amongst Evertonians is whether Adam Ola Luchman comes in for Theo Walcott. Now we know that Mola was sent home early from the 21s with that he took a knocking train and so hopefully he's going to be fit. We'll know more obviously at Marko Silver's press conference on Friday but should Luchman be fit, ready for selection. Do you leave Walcott in or would you bring Luchman in for this one? Now when that we've got a lot of games coming up I think we play something like eight times in December so we've got a lot of games in that four week period. It's an interesting one definitely. I think we've been saying it for a couple of weeks now. I feel like if you are going to throw Luchman in now's the good time to do it at home three o'clock Saturday goodness and park against Cardiff. I feel like if you're going to do it now because if you leave it a week later to the Derby and it doesn't do as well. I think the fear is there from becoming the scapegoat a little bit and I don't want that for him. I feel like if you are going to throw him in, throw him in in this game because I feel like Walcott never take away from him much of a good player Theo Walcott is. But I feel like if you are going to make that change I think it has to be this weekend providing he's fit of course. But if I was silver I think I would maybe because I feel like Walcott's had a few chances now. He's sort of survived and he's always been the 11th. Like I say if you are going to play him I think now's the time to do it. And that freshens you up again doesn't it? That gives Theo a little bit of bite I want to get back in that. And it gives Luchman a little pat on the back because he started the season not great. You know what you didn't see? Luchman was going on one of the year. He looked like he was sulking but just over the last six weeks attitude totally different. Making more of it and impacting games that he's coming on in. He's established himself as the first sulk now which I think is a key thing. Definitely. It's a big step. Before I didn't know whether he was there everywhere. He didn't know what was happening but now he's consistently there which is a good first step if he is going to eventually become a first team player. That's it isn't it. And we see in his ability when he comes on against Chelsea. All be it it was in few and far between. The one when he went past the third and with the little nutmeg and he just ran out of pitch you're thinking. He's got that ability in tight places to take the ball now. It's an interest in one to see what Marko does if he is fit this weekend. Just looking ahead obviously if we can get past these will be tough. He's scored a ramfield. I think Calum Patterson has got three in his last four for them. If they win the game it will be the first consecutive top flight games they've won since the 50s. So there's a lot of things up for grabs. But obviously the heavy failures I think were looked at on the one football app before. There was a sample size of 5,000 votes at the moment and it's 89% for an evident victory. So that's worth and obviously the odds, the bookies odds are heavy favourites. Looking ahead after this obviously we've got Liverpool which will take care of itself. Down we've got Newcastle and Wafford at home so if you're looking at a block of four fixtures we've got Cardiff, Newcastle, Wafford and obviously Liverpool are in there. Three of our next four games are at Gouldersen. So for me looking at that we've got to be looking at nine points haven't we? We've got to be at the very least. I think we spoke off camera before didn't we about how this is sort of a test in terms of OK Everton have got so far since however we've started playing in this season. Now we've reached the stage now where we've been presented with Cardiff City at home. Do we continue on this good run we're on or do we do an Everton? I think that will be interesting to see but if we come out of this with a four on it everyone's tails going to be up going to the game next week. Like you mentioned I don't think anyone can say that this won't be a big test because it will be Cardiff have a lot to play for in terms of survival. When I've watched them they've never seemed like pushovers. They do seem like they have something to fight for. Definitely so but like you mentioned in terms of the bigger picture you spot on in terms of it's definitely a chance for us to pick up some big points going into the Christmas period definitely. If we could do that and people will probably have a go with me for just saying nine out of twelve but I'm just taking the Liverpool game out of that for a moment because these are home games and these are games that we have to... If we're going to try and finish as high as we can we have to be winning these kind of games and if we could take at least nine points from the next twelve then I think it sets us up perfectly for the turn of the year. We've got a couple of big games then we've got City away in Spades at home but then again after that we've got Brighton, Burnley, Leicester. So you know there's a lot of points over these next kind of eight weeks where if everything can do all right points wise we're going to be right in the mix. We're going to be right in the mix over this 100% Europe's fully there as a play for of course in the coming weeks. Talk of the FA Cup will start to emerge again and you know it all plays into this big massive confidence that the side can take forward which they've been showing and I feel like you know if we can definitely pick up a loader because like last few years we maybe haven't had the best sort of Christmas periods have we? It's not been great but definitely you know these two particular games against Newcastle and Watford under the lights you know we get that sort of Christmasy vibe at Godderson I feel like we can definitely start picking up a lot of points and you know that's just going to be nothing but exciting going into the new year with everything still to play for. Oh definitely and we would if we were to win those games we would be right in the mix because obviously at the weekend there's a couple of interesting games you know Everton if results go the way they can Everton and Everton win Everton will be in the top six on Saturday night so that's another big boost I think for the club, for the fans. Being the top six in November after the last few years we've had I think it's a massive achievement it's a massive credit to everything that's happening in the club. Yeah and we're moving forward aren't we? Predicting for the game. I never really do this but I'm going to do it today and put you on the spot. I think it'll be 4-1, 4-1 Everton. I think we'll do a big win, I think we'll do a big win and I think we might just get that this weekend. I'm going to go 3-1, sorry Cardiff. I think it'll be a tough game, I'm going to go 3-1. I think they'll score, I do think they'll score but I'm going to go for a 3-1 Everton victory because I feel like we're playing very very well and the other, sorry this is the last point I'm going to make before we finish. Coming off the international break, this is a big test for us. Can we pick it up? Because there's no international football now till the end of February so we really are knocked through right to the end of February. It's a frustration with the Nations League and everything that's been going on but again if everything can come out of it and just continue with the good form I feel like we're definitely on to something new. This time now it's worked out well for us because if we end up with Sigarton and Gomez about 5th of Saturday then normally they'd have been outlastly changed. So it might have worked out alright for the change. It's nothing but good, nothing but good. So me and Callum are going for an Everton victory. Let us know what you think. Cardiff fans if you're watching this, apologies. I hope after Saturday you'll have a really good season but after Saturday 5 o'clock. So big thanks for Callum for joining me. Let us know in the comments section below if you think we will beat Cardiff City at the weekend. If you haven't subscribed please do so and if you want more videos get over and join us on Patreon. Catch you soon on Toffy TV.


TEFL course is Costa Rica. The ITTTTEFL course in Costa Rica gives you the opportunity to learn how to teach English in one of the most dazzling countries in the world. Following successful completion of the course, you will find yourself in a great position to secure a job teaching EFL in Costa Rica and elsewhere in Central and South America. Costa Rica is generally considered to be one of the most attractive countries in the world. Its incredible features include divine beaches, fascinating wildlife, a lively nightlife complete with salsa dancing, and of course the friendly local people. Join our TEFL course in Costa Rica and not only train to teach English with a world leader in the industry, but also enjoy some of the world's best surfing, snorkeling, horseback riding and hiking whilst you do so. Attending our course and then teaching English in Costa Rica, where demand for our teachers is high, is sure to be an unparalleled adventure. TEFL Costa Rica. For those interested in living and working in Costa Rica, you will find that with a little patience, English language teachers are in demand in many parts of the country. TEFL positions are abundant in most large cities and can usually be found soon after completing your course. In the more popular beach locations, you will still find teaching opportunities, although they will generally require a bit more work in order to locate and secure them. With our TEFL courses running year-round, we are certain you will find a course date to suit you. Our TEFL course location in Costa Rica offers some great features for those interested in an opportunity of a lifetime. TEFL courses on Costa Rica's Pacific Coast. Attend our TEFL course in the town of Manuel Antonio and you will earn your TEFL certification in a Paradise location along the Central Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. This area of Costa Rica is one of the most popular with travelers as it offers some of the most amazing beaches and wildlife that the country and indeed the world has to offer. Manuel Antonio has become famous for its world-class coastline, fine food, lively nightlife and its national park. While attending the TEFL course, you can use your free time to relax on the beach, take a yoga class or enjoy some of the many nightlife options the town has to offer. After a day of TEFL classes, why not unwind in one of the numerous local bars and enjoy some Latin dancing, live music or even some Latino-style karaoke. A short distance from the TEFL school location is the Manuel Antonio National Park. Relatively small in size, the park remains a popular destination because of everything it has to offer. With breathtaking and awe-inspiring views throughout, the park is a great place to relax while not attending the course. The national park not only offers some beautiful beaches but has an unmatched collection of wildlife including monkeys, sloths, iguanas, frogs and much more. You can lose yourself in the lush rainforest or visit one of the dazzling offshore islands. If you join one of our TEFL courses in Costa Rica, you will leave with lifelong memories of a paradise location. ITTT offers super training courses for people who want to gain TEFL certification in Costa Rica. On completion of the course, you will have gained one of the most highly regarded TEFL certificates available that will allow you to find teaching positions countrywide. Our training center is also in a prime location for you to go on and teach in other countries in the region such as Nicaragua and Panama.


What is up you guys welcome back to another one if you are new to the channel I am Gold Pony and today we are in the new 2020 Chevy Tahoe courtesy of Turner Chevrolet in Harrisburg PA. And so at this point I think it is safe to say that the Chevy Tahoe does have a timeless design definitely looks good, FBI car of course which is kind of cool in itself but I think everybody already knows that so as always let's just jump right into it and let's start with pricing. I said there will be a few different trim levels of course for the 2020 Chevy Tahoe first one being the LS starting at $49,295 then you have the LT which is the one we have today starting at $54,295 and lastly the Premier that one is going to start at $63,995 and by the way that was all pricing for the rear wheel drive setup if you wanted to go with the four wheel drive setup simply add $3,000 to any of those prices there. And so then when it comes to the power plan on the 2020 Tahoe there is one standard engine setup and one optional engine setup. The standard one that we have today is going to be a 5.3 liter Ecotec 3 V8 putting out 355 horsepower 5600 RPM 383 pound feet of torque available at 4100 RPM power against center rear wheels or all wheels through a six speed automatic giving you 16 in the city 23 in the highway for the rear wheel drive and 15 city 21 highway for the four wheel drive. But so as I have mentioned there is one additional optional engine setup only available for the Premier trim level and that one is going to be a 6.2 liter V8 which by the way bumps the price up to $72,520 but that one is going to put out 420 horsepower 5600 RPM 460 pound feet of torque available at 4100 RPM power on that one only sent to all four wheels through the four wheel drive system through actually a 10 speed automatic that's going to be another major change with that engine setup but MPG numbers on that one 14 city 22 highway towing capacity comes in at 8100 pounds in case you were curious with a 0 to 60 time of 5.7 seconds which I got it meant is quite impressive on paper for the size of the Tahoe but now having said that I think you guys know we have to do next we don't have that 6.2 liter we do have the 5.3 liter so as always let's do a quick little acceleration see how quickly we can get the new 2020 Tahoe here up to speed actually he's got some get up and go you're most definitely not going to have any issues merging on to the highway I was kind of impressed I gotta admit the 5.3 it is a V8 but then again it is a larger SUV so I didn't know what to expect honestly but the VA definitely pulls hard without a doubt but so is always to go along with that acceleration braking is equally important and so as expected you will find four wheel disc brakes when it comes to the braking feel it's not bad I do feel like a lower speeds when you hit the brake it is a little bit squishy or spongy I guess you could say but when you're going at higher speeds coming to a quick stop definitely new issues there they're touching on suspension and handling a little bit you will get a premium smooth ride suspension Chevy calls it that one's actually going to come with the LS and LT trim levels and magnetic ride control is actually going to come standard with the premiere thing I like about that one is it actually monitors each wheel individually kind of adjusting the suspension based on not only the road conditions but your driving style as well so that therefore it's not only going to give you a smoother ride but it's going to tighten up the suspension during heavy cornering as well really giving you the best of both worlds so I am always a big fan of the magnetic ride control of that technology also standard on the Tahoe is a limited slip rear differential which of course helps keep the rear wheels moving in utis in little extra traction there for you and touching on ride quality honestly I can see no issues with going on long road trips in this thing definitely a relatively smooth ride and of course as you go up in the trim level specifically the premiere you're gonna have an amazingly smooth ride so that's definitely nice as well steering feel it is as expected is a little bit on the loosey-goosey side but again you can expect that from usually larger SUVs like the Tahoe so then touching on cabin noise a little bit it is definitely a quiet cabin I got the air on right now but I guess if I turn that off gets even quieter really no outside air no outside wind noise coming into the cabin so very impressed there as well then touching on rear visibility a little bit it is a little less visibility and then I'll guess you could say a lot of other three row SUVs now I guess that's just because that third row kind of sits up a little higher in the back but I can still see perfectly fine out the back I really don't have any issues but it's not gonna be as much as let's say the Chevy Traverse but it will say one thing I definitely do like about the Tahoe is it does offer a head-up display it is available we don't actually have it today that's essentially gonna project your speed and speed limit onto the windshield helping you keep your eyes better on the road so that's gonna be there for you too if you wanted it but now I think it is timeless check out this timeless design once again and let's make our way to the exterior on the 2020 Tahoe it's sort of start up front that front grill is actually gonna differ slightly depending on the trim level for example LS and LT trim levels are going to look the same that is what you're currently looking at and then if you went with the Premier trim level you're gonna get chrome horizontal bars up front and if you went with the 6.2 liter optional engine setup for the Premier you're gonna get black horizontal bars I guess that being the more of a sportier appearance to go with the sportier engine setup if you will but to the sides halogen headlights will come with the LS and LT trim levels they will come with the automatic feature and you're gonna get LED daytime running lights with that as well if you want with the Premier however you will get HID headlights and they will actually come with fog lights just below as well then make your way to the side roof rails are gonna come standard on all trim levels as well as rear privacy glass back there Tahoe lettering can be found on both driver and passenger front doors that's kind of a Chevy thing whether it be suburban or traverse kind of an elegant look I do like that power adjustable body colored side mirrors will come standard for all trim levels and they will actually be heated as well and if you wanted integrated turd signals in those side mirrors simply go with the Premier trim level let's take a look down at the wheel setup 18 inch aluminum alloy wheels will come with the LS and LT if you went with the Premier trim level however you will find 20 inch alloy wheels then make your way to the back rear spoiler with integrated brake light will come standard just underneath of that the rear window wiper this is unique to the Tahoe and suburban actually as well but usually that rear window wiper can be found kind of exfixiated to that rear glass which doesn't have quite as good of a look to it as the setup that the Tahoe and suburban does so I like how they tuck that rear window wiper up underneath the spoilers definitely nice little design cue there I just below it all a single exhaust outlet so you guys know what we have to do next even though we're in an SUV as always here is that exhaust clip and so now since we are around back to weapon that rear hatch there actually is a button on the key fob so I'm just gonna simply press that manual lift gate comes with the LS power lift gate with the LT that we have today in a hands-free lift gate if you want with the Premier trim level and actually to close it all you need to do is just simply press one button once again but once opened up behind that third row cargo capacity is gonna come in at 15.3 cubic feet also behind that third row there is a little bit of in-floor storage not a ton of room back there but still enough room to store your guns are really smaller items I guess you could say also there was some grocery hooks back there as well so that's always convenient but when you fold that third row down behind the second row cubic fitness comes in at 51.7 with all rows folded that comes in at 94.7 cubic feet that is quite a bit of space and if you want with the Premier trim level actually you will find power folding rear seats as well and that is gonna be optional on the LT today so that is why you have me showing it to you right now I love that feature it's pretty pretty darn convenient but make your way up to the rear legroom third row is gonna commit at 24.8 inches I gotta admit this is probably no definitely better life for small children because 24.8 inches is actually less rear legroom than let's say the Chevy Camaro and again that third row does sit up a little higher so people with larger legs are gonna kind of feel like an awkward kind of position back there let's say but any who make your way to the second row legroom that's much more manageable for an adult coming in at 39 inches even six feet tall this is how much space I had back there I did what also mentioned you will find rear ventilation found on the roof for all three rows to keep everyone comfortable also plenty of hookups there's a 12-volt power outlet hookup in the third row and that continues to the second row as well and plenty of cup holders and of course this particular Tahoe that we have today does have optional rear heated seats as well which is always a good thing but then make your way to the front seats LS trim level is gonna give you cloth finishes LT and Premier trim levels are gonna give you a leather finish and there's front seats will be power adjustable with that leather finish as well LT is gonna add heated seats Premier is gonna add heated and ventilated front seats but now taking a look at the steering wheel it is tilt and telescoping leather wrapped on every single trim level and it will be power adjustable and heated if you went with the Premier but now let me show you guys the key real quick here before we get to the startup Chevy logo is gonna be on the one side on the other side when you flip it over lock unlock and again this two actually buttons depending on how high you want that lift gate to raise up to and that circular button in the middle that's gonna be a remote start which is actually standard on every single trim level of the Tahoe it's definitely quite nice and then if you want with the Premier you will find a push button start with keyless entry again it is optional for the LT so we do happen to have that today so all I'm going to do is simply put my foot on the brake and press that engine start button there and so but then once started up tachometer on your left speedometer on your right the gauges will do a full sweep always like that with Chevy and there is a small digital display front and center to control what is on that digital display there are actually steering wheel mounting controls on the right side they're giving you things like a digital speedometer force trip H or B how many miles you have left until you hit empty there's your next oil change when that's needed tire pressure for each individual tire and a bunch of other things actually as well but now let's take a look at overall interior quality universal home remote meaning the garage door openers that is going to come with the LT and Premier trim level it's going to be located actually on the roof up there wireless phone charger is going to be found with the Premier power Sunroof is available for the LT and Premier trim levels if you wanted that tri-zone climate control also standard and again plenty of hookups the USB charging ports are actually going to be found up front here it's going to be one just underneath the climate control settings there and there's some storage just behind that as well just behind that two cup holders and in the center armrest here you will find a cell phone holder there and this center armrest is definitely quite beefy if you lift that up you're going to find probably some of the most room for a cargo area in the center there that you've ever seen there's two more USB charging ports by the way within that some other storage trays and a very very deep cargo area there so that's definitely quite nice also when it comes to interior quality here if you look up at the roof once again there is not only an overhead sunglass holder that's pretty standard these days but also a little school bus style rear mirror so you can spy on the rear passengers so always like having that in three row SUVs as well but now let's take a look at the tech display 8-inch color touchscreen display is going to come standard on all trim levels and all trim levels will give you Bluetooth and audio streaming as well as Android Auto and Apple CarPlay meaning if you have a smartphone simply hook it up to the Tahoe and therefore you have free navigation through that smartphone as well as the ability to lug in just like your Pandora songs as well if you wanted the factory navigation that's going to come standard with the Premiere and you can of course also check out your radio settings up there as well by the way when it comes to the sound system six speakers will come with the LS LT is going to bump that up to a nine speaker Bose sound system that's the one we have today and the Premiere is going to give you a 10 speaker Bose sound system so you guys know what we have to do next let's go ahead to turn the radio see we got plans today and let's test out the clarity of this one oh my gosh I'm dizzy that was nuts definitely good bit of loudness good bit of face I've never had any issues with the Bose sound system I had one on one of my previous cars never failed me so big fan of Bose last thing I want to mention on that tech display is when you do put the Tahoe in reverse you of course will find a rear view camera for every single trim level letting you know who or what is behind you which is always is going to lead me into safety and so to start there are front side and side curtain airbags in the back you're gonna have latch aka lower anchors and tethers for children for the rear car seats also rear child door locks back there if you want with the Premiere you're gonna get lane change alert with side blind zone alert Premiere is also gonna add front and rear park assist but if you want with the LT trim level that we have today or the Premiere of course you will get forward collision alert lane keep assist with lane departure warning and low speed forward automatic braking and so but that is about it for this one you guys thank you so much for watching be sure to like the video and subscribe if you're for to follow me on social media at the bottom of the screen there and I will see you guys in the next video stay gold


Greetings and welcome to the Introduction to Astronomy. In this week's Exploration of the Solar System, we are going to look at the Apollo 7 through 10 missions. So these four missions were actually the first crewed launches after the Apollo 1 disaster. And again, we're setting the stage for the Apollo 11 mission coming up that would first actually land humans on the moon. So let's take a look at these. First of all, these were the first now crewed missions that actually launched into space. So the first crewed missions of the Apollo program. Apollo 7 launched on October 11th of 1968 was a test of the command module in space. So this was in Earth orbit and consisted of the first live broadcast of an American crew from space as we see an image here of the crew up in the command module broadcasting down to Earth. Now Apollo 8 launched a couple of months later in December of 1968 was actually the first crewed craft to leave the Earth and travel to the moon and gave us some famous images such as the one scene here where we could see the Earth rising over the lunar limb as the command module traveled around the moon and then as it came around we would watch the Earth rising up over the limb of the moon. Now we can see the Earth there as a phase, a little over a quarter phase, so a little more than half of the Earth seen as illuminated. So just as we see phases of the moon from Earth, the moon will go through, the Earth will go through phases as seen from the moon. But this was the first time that humans had traveled to the moon not landing on it just making kind of a loop around it. And then we had a little bit closer to home Apollo 9 in March of 1969 was a test of the lunar module not at the moon but in Earth orbit here. So we had again a crew testing out the lunar module and getting prepared we're getting really close now to the first human landing on the moon. So we tested out the lunar module in Earth orbit as we see the Earth with the cloud cover down below and the last of the missions we want to look at is the Apollo 10 mission from May 18th of 1969 just two months before the Apollo 11 mission. And this was a test of the lunar module at the moon. So again traveled out to the moon went into lunar orbit and were able to test them test the lunar module in lunar orbit and in fact came very close to landing and the craft was flown down to within about 10 miles or so of the lunar surface as a test to see how everything worked. Again it was never planned to be a landing it was getting down there and testing out all of the systems in preparation for the next mission which would be the first actual landing on the moon. So the craft had to separate from the command module which would have still been in lunar orbit descend down to within several miles of the lunar surface and then use its rockets to propel it back up and then redock with the command module so again multiple tests that were done in preparation for the Apollo 11 mission. So let's go ahead and look at what we can summarize here and what we've looked at with Apollo 7 through 10 there again were designed to test components in preparation for the first human landing on our moon. They tested both the command module and the lunar module in earth orbit and around the moon as well and these paved the way for the Apollo 11 moon landing in July of 1969. So that concludes this lecture on the Apollo 7 through 10 missions. We'll be back again next week for another exploration of the solar system. So until then, have a great day everyone and I will see you in class.


We are going to start recording. And we put all of these community chats onto our YouTube channel and playlist. So I want to welcome everybody to our cup of Joe for May with the focus on the FY23 budget. We have your town manager, Paul Balkaman. Here with me Brianna Sunrid, and we will be having our finance director Sean Mondano join us in just a moment he's hopping over from another meeting. So, while we're waiting, I'd love for Paul to maybe give any updates, whether budget related or not, feel free to go ahead and get started. Thanks, Brianna. So, first off, it's going to be a warm weekend. So we will have the graph park spray park turned on for the weekends which will give some relief to kids. You know our emergency management directors monitoring the weather so if there's any needs that need to happen. In the meantime for heat relief or anything he'll be, that's Chief Nelson, he will be the one to address that. Also this weekend we're really excited that our new DEI director and our Crest director and our assistant DEI director will all be have all been invited by the League of Women voters to be at graph park on Sunday at 3pm to do sort of a very informal meet and greet. The director is here today, walking around meeting staff and meeting department heads and is relocating from another part of the country so it's a really exciting time for us as we continue to build our capacity here. The other thing that I want to mention, we're trying to get the word as much as possible that we have new voter locations many people will have new voter locations the council approved this recently after the re precincting. So there will be additional. We should check where they are scheduled to vote. If you got your census it was written on your census form a little tear off thing on the bottom, but it's make sure that you're going to the right voter location. Because with the re precincting things changed a little bit so when that comes into play, just make sure that that that you're paying attention to that. The last thing is something that Brianna just put up this morning, which I think is really interesting. There's, there's two things I've been really wild about one is our webinar on bears, which if you haven't seen it please track it down and look at it because it's, it's, you know, they're using it in the schools actually I didn't mention that to you Brianna. Somebody at the school said oh I want to take this show to my kids, because it is there's a lot of scientific information about bears, and it's all specific to Amherst and where they are in Amherst there's a map they track these bears they have the colors on the bears they track them. So that one people are sick of me talking about this but that's a big one and then the other thing I think is really valuable to the public is our town engineer making a presentation about what roads get paved and why. And the sort of scientific analysis that they use they literally drive every road in town with a vehicle that takes a 3D shot of every inch of the pavement, and then they calculate the condition of the road, and then they factor that in with traffic counts and sort of things that have been just sort of, you know, this conditions roads that people see in general, and then that's how they come up with their what roads get paved because we have such limit, even though we've doubled the amount of money we put into roads over the last five years since I've started here. We still have unmet need, and so how do we choose how we spend our limited dollars on things that are on the roads and so this shows that it's very. It's not driven by somebody sitting in a room saying or driving or driving on their way home saying I want my home road paved it's really done through an analysis and that each each road gets a grade. And then they do an assessment that way. So, and that's a, the presentation's like 30 minutes the whole videos like an hour and 15 minutes I think Brie, you know something like that. The presentation's a tight maybe 20 minutes and then there's a lot of good information in the Q&A. Yes, so really methodical and the methodology for choosing streets is included in there and you'll even learn about something and I had no idea about called alligator cracks so So tune into that it's on our YouTube channel will be on our homepage soon. And it also includes what streets are planned to be done this year and next so it's a lot of good information for those who are interested. So we go ahead. So I think so maybe we can just open up to see if people have questions non budget questions before we till Sean gets here for the budget questions. Yeah, so we're still waiting on our finance director who'll be here shortly I do see a number of you in the room and as usual we welcome live questions by raising your hand in zoom or by just popping your question into the Q&A function here and I can read it out loud, but we'd love to hear from you so if you do have any general questions ahead of the budget segment please go ahead and raise your hand or put them in the Q&A. I do see birdies hands so birdie if you could unmute and introduce yourself. Hello. Thank you so much for hosting this event I was curious I was really excited because I just saw the article in the Amherst indie by the community safety working group about the idea of putting a youth empowerment center and a BIPOC cultural center at the current Wildwood building and I was really curious if you'd had a chance to look at that or consider their idea. I haven't I actually we I've received the letter but I haven't really looked at that deeply and we haven't really looked at future uses for either Wildwood or Fort River whichever building is chosen to it's not chosen to be the new site for the schools. You know I think we're looking at lots of different options for a BIPOC cultural center youth empowerment center last night the TSO committee heard about the need for a senior center. And this the sort of needs I think right now where we are is doing a needs assessment for a youth empowerment center that's sort of risen as the highest priority and we've allocated some ARPA funds to support that work to do some needs assessment about what exactly what is what is the need that we'd want to be working towards and what would be the kind of facility that would best serve it. And I'm curious how does that work intersect like I know a lot of, or some some portion of the community safety working groups charge and research involved looking at that like what that youth empowerment center would serve so I'm curious what the sort of additional like gap in knowledge would be that this would be aiming to fill. So, you know I don't know if they, they didn't do a ton of research as far as I know, and to the actual, you know the data that we would normally collect in a situation like this in order for us to go to the council does to take money we would need to have a fair amount of data in terms of the need surveys that might have to be done. So I think we would build on what CSWG is already put together, and then go to the, you know, go to the council talked about the needs and how this fits in with our overall capital plan. Because it whatever we're going to do is going to take money is going to take capital investment. Okay, thank you. And what's the best way for birdie to stay up to date with that Paul would you recommend interfacing with council council members from yeah you know. For that we've asked our recreation director Ray harp to sort of take the lead but we were a realized that, you know, he's relatively new in his position so building a team around him of people to support his work. And, you know, I think just stay in a stay in a touch with us in our office or Ray harp at the recreation department that might be a good person to. Great. Thank you birdie. So we have a question that our friend Jeff typed in that I'll read now. Has there been progress made and finding a new home for Amherst media. So we.  We have looked at all the town facilities, you know, we looked at the former Hitchcock Center on West on South Pleasant Street. The Hickory Ridge building that's there. And we most recently with representatives of the Amherst media walks through the South Amherst school, and our building commissioners doing did a assessment of the condition of that building what it would take to be occupied. And we recall all three of these buildings were things that we inherited from other people the Hitchcock Center from the old Hitchcock Center from the Hitchcock Center, you know, we bought the Hickory Ridge and then the South Amherst school was something that the school department left and then they after they they gave it to the town. And there hasn't been investment much investment in that building since because it wasn't being utilized. So in order to re occupy that building it will need a fair amount of work to make it up, get it up and running. So, you know, building commissioner and assistant town manager work with them. So, and maybe they met this week or let me forget this Monday or last week to find a site that their needs are, you know, we also have offered to put them in touch with individuals, I think they've already done some of this work with at the university and the two colleges. They often have space, and we've also forwarded some some sites that, you know, in the real estate market, and I know they're looking at a location on University Drive. Our responsibility is to make sure that they can have access to the internet and can access, you know, the, the, the feeds that we have the Ethernet fees that we have, and we're prepared to do that wherever whatever their site they've chosen. Great. Thank you, Paul. So we are still waiting on our finance special guest I do see normally when we have some of our counselors in the room we invite them, if they'd like to raise their hand and pop in and say something. So, if you'd like to do that feel free to raise your hand and there we go. Yeah, we try to make this as informal as possible because we're trying to replicate our having a cup of coffee in front of black sheep or something. Do you want me to go? I don't know. Good morning, everyone. It's nice to be here and I apologize I do have to leave a little early but thanks for offering it. I'm excited I don't have anything to say other than thanks for doing it and I'm glad everyone joined us. What are you working on? What am I working on? Yeah, what are you thinking about? What do you think about for counsel? What's your top topic? Oh my goodness, so many things. I am deep into that budget book. For me, you know, I think Paul has heard me talk about our capital inventory a whole lot recently that's been on my mind thinking about how we can further our climate goals and our equity goals through infrastructure, both of which are tied to those so thinking through what does it mean to have more vehicles that are not even hybrid but actually electric and how do we get to that point? You know, and I know Sean told us this year about school buses taught me a lot about school buses this year through the budget process. And then the other part that's on my mind with the budget is the opportunities for resident engagement specifically through, you know, the joint capital planning committee has a resident capital request and we're working on figuring out how to make that really accessible and part of our budget process, you know, that we are able to utilize so I'm excited to get into that and grateful for town staff's willingness to put up with my shenanigans around it. I love shenanigans. Shenanigans for good. Well, thank you, Anna. And we do have Sean here joining us so welcome Sean Mangano. I think probably most people know who you are but for those who don't, could you introduce yourself? Yeah, hi, I'm Sean Mangano. I'm the finance director. Sorry I was late. I happened from another meeting and Paul left me behind to make sure that the meeting could finish so sorry for being late but happy to answer any questions or whatever, whatever probing questions have been sent out so far having to dive in. So the meeting we were both at was the elementary school building committee, which I thought was a, I don't know, we haven't checked base but I thought it was a really good meeting really substantive discussions about sort of narrowing down. It's really about which site do we choose and narrowing that down was it's really interesting people bringing lots of different perspectives to the table. Really rich conversation I thought. And just as a reminder, don't limit yourself to budget questions if you do have a question about the school or something else feel free and just as a reminder for anyone who joined new raising your hand or using the Q&A function would be the best way for us to hear from you and I do see a hand in the room so I'd love Sarah to unmute and introduce. Hi Sarah welcome. Hello, and hello again, Sean and Paul. For meeting the meeting. I know. It's a busy morning. But this is about the budget so maybe six months ago or last fall at a finance committee meeting I noted that the town regularly ends a fiscal year with a surplus. And that's a good thing and that it's the practice to budget conservatively, which is a good thing. But that sometimes the surpluses are, I mean, they seem inevitable, and sometimes they're quite large. So was, I suggested that the team think about easing up a little bit on the conservatism. So, because every dollar that's left behind. It's a good opportunity, you know, to do to pave a little more of a street, or to give a little more money to the schools, or just to do something else. I mean it's wonderful to add that to free cash but the pressures on the budget are considerable so I wondered if there'd been any movement on that or, or how really you can gauge how conservative you're being. That's a good question and if I start with that Paul. So I know the dollar amounts appear large, because when we're talking about a $90 million budget $85 million budget if you have a 2% surplus at the end of the year could be a million or $2 million. But, but when we've looked back historically we're sort of in that range of between one and 2% of a, of a difference in what we were budgeting and what we're, what we're having left over at the end of the year. And you have to remember that that's a combination of both the expense side and the revenue side so far revenues come in, you know, for for conservative revenues and they come in a little bit higher than we budget that a little bit gets added to our reserves. So on the expense side, if our expenses come in a little bit less than that gets added so when you add that the two of those when you're really talking about $290 million projections, a one or 2% surplus at the end of the year really is pretty reasonable. We, but acknowledging what you said and that our reserves are at a place. You know, where we were our goal was was to get them up to help support the four building projects. We did do an appropriation last year from our reserves because it was a little bit of a higher year than normal. We appropriated I think it was a million dollar for roads I think there were so many for sidewalks. And there was the contribution to the reparation stabilization fund. And acknowledging exactly we said Sarah that last year I think was a little bit larger than normal. And a lot of that was pandemic related we just not knowing when we did the budget exactly how University was going to return how quickly downtown would return. We were maybe a little bit more conservative. I think the other thing that I'll say, you know, so I've been here two years now and Sonya Aldrich who all of you know has taught me a lot. And, you know, town budgeting, it's that we can't just put whatever numbers we want, you know, we could, we could feel really, really confident in a number that something's going to rise but the state really reviews our revenue projections in particular when we set the tax rate they look at each of our categories of revenue. And unless we have a really rock solid case for revenue increasing, they don't want to see it any higher than the year before whatever the prior actual was. The issue that causes is there's a little bit of a lag in terms of when our revenues increase, when we can start to realize that increase I'd say, you know, the big exceptions that are property taxes which we, you know, we do have rock solid information that that's going to go up and and state aid we have the governor's budget. But I think the areas where you know we tend to be more conservative around the local receipt side where we want to see the history and the actual receipt of that revenue before we budget it. And that again is driven by the state sending that message out to us when they review our revenues and they set our tax rate. So you don't feel there is significant room or permission or merit to tweaking the numbers. I think we try to when we so when we look at revenues like local receipts, which again that those are the areas where there's probably the most. Wiggle, because it's it's really driven by user user behavior in town. We look at what we've brought in in prior years. We look we talk with departments to see if they're you know they're aware of something that's going to influence that number in the future. I think again, we've been more conservative. You're going to see larger revenue growth if you've looked at our revenue growth in the budget the last two years it's much larger than normal because we're come out of the pandemic so we are being a little bit less conservative because we know there's room to grow because we because we dropped it so much during the pandemic that we're going to come back faster. I think within the next year or so we're going to start to stabilize we're going to kind of realize that we're out of the pandemic and back to where we were before that, or whatever new level we're going to be at, if behavior has changed. Can I ask a follow on. Sorry. Yeah, I looked at the in the budget proposed budget for the you know outlook for the next few years or whatever the budget outlook, and it looked like local receipts. We're still not back to pre pandemic levels, even in even two years hence. So it looked like a really slow recovery and I was curious about that. In particular, I mean, I know their new businesses starting up but maybe total business activity is still down I don't know. No, I think, again, we go out five years that we're going to be more conservative and those out years in terms of projecting revenue increases. When you look back at history there's there's also sometimes you have to dig into the numbers a little bit more to know if there's a one time thing that may have made it higher and prior years. There are a couple anomalies in some of our history where there was a large revenue in one year that boosted local receipts up and made it look like it was really large but it was a one time thing. And the one that jumps out to me is our. The trust insurance trust fund issue where the town loaned $2 million to the trust fund to balance it for the year and then when we did a surcharge and when the surcharge. When staff paid back that loan that went back into the general fund and went into into those that local receipt section for one year so it made it look $2 million higher than a normal year. So there's always a little bit of variability. But we are a little more conservative when we start projecting out five years in terms of how quickly revenues will grow. I do think, Sarah that we do a little bit of a look back after the fiscal year closes out. We come back to the count we can come back to the council like we did last year and look at, you know, here's how the year turned out maybe there's something else that can be done for the current fiscal year. So we do it and I mean I think conservative financing is a good thing. But we also have this sort of release valve of coming back in the fall to present some ideas to the council if there's additional appropriations to be had. Okay, thank you. Thank you Sarah. So I want to just prompt the attendees again if you have a question, feel free to put that in the Q&A. Raise your hand. I don't see any hands at the moment so I wonder if there is like a quick budget recap we can give or next opportunities that are coming up. Yeah, so so Finance Committee meets on the 24th is it Tuesday. Yep, until the 24th. The 24th. And so on that meeting though the finance committee will be diving into the general government portion of the budget which are a lot of the town hall departments the town manager town council finance HR benefits, and then they will also be talking with conservation planning and development, which is a good one because, you know, just like the previous speaker mentioned, they actually do a lot of the revenue generating activity in town, or at least in our license and our local receipt section. So they'll be on Tuesday. And then we have at least. I believe we're on the 26th as well. And we are doing facilities with finance committee and then public health the senior center and veterans will be on the 26th. And then the finance committee will start wrapping up their recommendations so they'll meet on the 26 and possibly the 31st of May to finalize a recommendation to the council. So we have to complete that recommendation by the end of May and, and then on the sixth we have a capital improvement program forum, which is sort of like a budget hearing but instead of it being on the operating budget this is specific to the capital improvement program, where the public can come and share their thoughts. So relatively the council is, it's not I don't know when what has changed this on the agenda but at least previously, the budget was on the 13th of June, that council meeting to be considered at least I don't know if it'll be voted that night but to be considered for a vote. And I'll just one thing I just want to follow up to the previous question to. And I can talk offline. If we want to look at that five year projection. I can kind of point out some of the areas in the local receipt section for you where there were things that were in FY 20 that just don't exist anymore in the future years which is part of why you're seeing that we're not back to where we were in FY 20. There's just some things that aren't there anymore, which is why there's a little bit of a gap. And I've just welcomed Council President Lynn Griezmer into the room so Lynn feel free to go on ahead and introduce. First of all, thank you all for attending. And for your focus on the annual budget proposal for FY 23. The hearing on the capital side of the budget will be hearing our public forum will be this will be on the 6th of June and the vote on the budget is scheduled for the 13th both the capital as well as the operating. I, I'm in the spirit of informality. I, as a person who's focused on fiscal issues for much of my career, and now been on the council and the finance committee for four years. I actually appreciate the fact that our budgeting is done in a conservative manner. And I want to build on Paul's point that when we have some surplus, if you will, at the end of fiscal year. It allows us to maybe catch up on a couple of things that arose during the year. So in last year, one of those in fact was reparations, and we were able to put some money into reparations and Sean correct me but I think we also used some of it as an opportunity to catch up on a couple of things that we had under budgeted or during COVID, like the retirement funds or something like that. Yeah, yeah, no thanks for reminding me I forgot so we used it to make up for what we, in previous years cut from our op-ed contribution, we usually contribute 500,000, and we had reduced that during the pandemic to help soften the blow.  And then the other thing that you mentioned we've used it pre-cash for is to help when we we've had some projects where the costs, personally because it's just how quickly prices are rising has come in higher than what we've budgeted for capital projects and the one that jumps out is, well there's actually two that jump out the ladder truck, not the ladder truck the pumper truck for the fire department. We appropriate additional funds so that that purchase could be finalized, and then the feasibility study for the elementary school. Also, the estimate for that was a little low and so the final cost for that feasibility study we had appropriate additional funds. And so let me also say that this is maybe foreshadowing a little bit of what somebody may hear from me in the finance committee as we move on to the council but my biggest concern this year is whether or not our present budget proposal for FY23 will seriously be able to accommodate what we're seeing in inflation. And that is the hardest thing to predict at this point. And as we looked at the third quarter reports, we've already for this year FY22 we've already seen what might be considered additional funds available no longer being available because they're being eaten up by inflation. So, these are just the many ways that we all have to think about how we balance our budget. And we also have to think about the fact that even though we pass a budget. Once a year, there are financial issues that come up during the year that it is best for us to attend to at the time they come up and that's where some of the flexibility in the money year comes in handy. So thank you for being here and thanks for listening. Thank you. Thank you Lynn. So one thing I wanted to mention we've made reference to a budget calendar capital improvement program all the different documents. One of the best ways to engage with some of these materials and ask questions and submit your feedback to us is by visiting our budget our FY23 budget page on engage Amherst. It's a great place to, to get linked to all these different resources submit your questions for for Sean and the finance team to answer and also, you know, after looking at the document and some of the resources the story map, etc. Submitting your feedback to the finance team, as well as any feedback that you might have for your counselors. So if I go on engage Amherst and I submit a question like what why is whatever it is. Then that question goes to Sean and he responds right that's and everybody and everybody immediately like that. And everybody gets to see the question and the answer so it helps or creates a shared database or whatever knowledge base for everybody, which is, I think that really nice invention that we that you've implemented bring so. And there are FAQs already kind of built in so Sean's identified in his team of identified the questions that they've been getting a lot so they've kind of preloaded some FAQs. If you don't find your answer in some of those. We've got Sean wired up so soon as a question comes in he gets like a jolt so feel free to put your questions there the full but budget calendar all these dates that we've been talking about. It's a great place to put eyes on to find all those details. And we've got a question in the Q&A this one's for Sean. How did the ask me anything go. So nobody asked me anything. I think it's the best way to answer no I we got one question. And this might be actually a good one to talk about there was one question. And it was that the person was asking how can the budget change once it's been submitted by the town manager. They relayed that they'd heard the council can only reduce the budget, which is mostly true the council can usually only reduce the budget. And but I did share the one exception or one of the few exceptions that might that's being discussed this year, which is around the school budget and that the council can by two thirds vote choose to increase the school budget if they choose to do so. And then the only other way the budget could be increased would be if we have to submit a balanced budget so if there were more revenues that became available it's possible the town manager could do something but we don't typically do that after budgets been submitted because we won't have any more information on revenues being increased until after the state budget is voted. And see budget a big piece of it because we work from the governor's budget number which he puts out in January, and then there are other milestones like the houseways and means budget comes out and then that goes to the senate and they work it all through and they don't really vote that till June, we hope it's in June. And because it's not real until the legislature votes it in the governor signs the bill, the budget so we don't like sort of keeping, you know, moving numbers around based on whoever's whatever the last person said we start with a number hang on to it until we get a final vote by signed by the governor. As people know this year, it's a little bit unusual where there's a really big gap between the house budget and the senate budget. In terms of the funding they're proposing the house budget was marginally better for us than the governor's budget, very marginally. But the senate budget was quite a bit better for us and, you know, we're obviously advocating for the senate version of the budget, because it did propose some significant increases to unrestricted unrestricted general government aid which helps the town and pilot payments which helps the town. So, we would like to see the senate budget become reality but because there is such a big gap between the two houses it's unclear where they're going to settle when they finalize the actual budget. I've got a couple quick comments in the q amp a section follow up that's relevant to this topic can you can appropriate from reserves, though, correct. Yeah, so, once free cash is certified. We can appropriate from free cash, and that requires a majority votes. And that certification usually happens in the, in the fall later fall, and we can appropriate from stabilization fund as well. That takes a two thirds vote to do that and the reason I pause a little bit is there's some legislation that's being proposed that changes the is considering changing the vote quantum for you appropriate from stabilization funds but it's, but it's specific to certain types of stabilization funds. So I believe general stabilization funds it's going to continue to be a two thirds vote to appropriate. All right now we've got a question and a comment from Julian. I recently read over our operating and capital budgets in the capital budget there appears to be an APD SUV from 2019 with 67,000 miles. Why is this being replaced is it an anomaly. It does. It does not have over 100,000 miles or over four years old as the town policy states. Thank you for all your work drafting this thoughtful equity based budget. I love that question Julian. That's so detailed. Perfect. But it's going to be an unsatisfying answer. So, Julian, that's a great question I'm going to reach out to the police chief and and the officer who manages their fleet replacement so I can give you a full response so I will email you after this meeting so that we can address that question but that's a great question. Great. Thank you Julian. So I know that we're coming up on our time Julian says thank you by the way. We're coming up on our time but we did get, we lost Sean for a few minutes so if there are any last hands that want to get raised to make a comment or a question or last thoughts to put into the q&a. Did you do that now. Did you already talk about the exciting stuff in the budget that already happened. I missed the first 10 minutes but it's a very exciting budget I know. Go for it. So I know there's lots of needs right and it's it's hard saying no to certain things or no we can't do it now it's not usually no forever but it's a, we don't have the resources to do now but this budget is, you know, very unique I think it's the first time. But we're funding two new departments that are going to be doing really important work that's really aligned with direct input from the community and input from the council and. Again I know there's lots of other needs but these are two sort of core issues to the town that are being funded in this budget so. You know we had to do things a little. I think that the thing we showed this year is we're, you know, we did things a little bit different to try to achieve those goals right we. We don't typically allocate more to the municipal budget we try to do the equal increases to each department budget. But understanding how important this, the Crest program was to the town and the community. And we deviated from that this year. So I think, you know, for all those reasons it's a very exciting budget we got capital back to 10 and a half percent, which gets is not 10 and a half 10% next year's 10 and a half, but to 10% which has been our long time goal. Hopefully nothing happens between now next year we're there for you to change that again but that's exciting for the ladder truck I don't know how long the ladder trucks been talked about but you know, proposing the funding for that is is really substantial. Cracker from Jim I know this is a minor thing for people but the cracker from Jim has been a problem for a long time because of some HVAC issues underneath the floor. That's being addressed. So I think there's a lot of exciting projects and new initiatives in this budget that we shall be proud about. Thank you Sean for that recap I do see Sarah's hand so Sarah please come on in and unmute. Thank you for reminding us about the all the new thing the new stuff in the budget, which is great, but I didn't see. And I may just not have looked in the right place. If the budget explains how these new programs will be funded over time because I think that to some degree they're, they're being funded now by ARPA funds which will disappear so No, that's a great question. Can you discuss that thank you. Yeah, that's a great, great question so So DEI is funded fully within the operating budget two person department. If there's any changes to the size of that department in the future it would have to be done through the regular budget process but a two person diversity equity and inclusion department is funded fully within the budget for FY 23. Let me just and so and what how are we able to do that one is we did not. We, instead of having an economic development director we have a DEI director and the assistant director it used to work half time for HR and half time for the town manager so we took those two half time positions and move that into the DEI department so those two positions that we had used before are not being used now. So we're sort of redeploying existing staff on those things. Right. The crest department. It's the budget funds a 10 person crest department. Again, all within the operating budget. If that if the size of the crest department were to expand in the future again that would have to be done through the budget process but the 10 positions that were identified in the reorganization plan those are fully funded within this budget. We have used we have set aside ARPA funds for startup costs for the crest program so those are things that we view as one time costs anyway or not maybe not one time but maybe every five or 10 year costs. So things like potentially vehicles that the software that they will need for reporting and managing their calls. Outfitting the space, you know, if there's uniforms you know we're still sort of working through these things but any of those one time costs we propose from ARPA but the recurring costs are primarily within the operating budget. The, the one. This was a question I financed me so it's a good one to discuss the one decision we've made. That's, we've said we're going to, we're committed to beyond ARPA that we are funding with ARPA are is the addition of four firefighters. So those four firefighters we will have to work over the next few years to incorporate them into the operating budget because the plan is for them to be permanent. So that I would say out of all the ARPA funds we've allocated that's really the only place where there's a promise to continue funding after ARPA that we will have to plan for. Thanks. I could get an answer another time if, if it's time to stop this meeting but I'm wondering where in the operating budget does the money for the 10 Crest. Staff come from Paul explain the DEI. Right so that was so every year, not every year but each year our operating budgets go up a little bit. Two and a half percent is sort of our target each year so that two and a half percent. The new money that was allocated to the operating budget, the things that it covered, or the major things that it covered this year are contracted steps and colas for staff, all the staff that are employed by the town. And what was left over went to help fund Crest. The additional piece this year was that within that two and a half percent increase to the town budget, we didn't have enough to fully fund that 10 person Crest department. So that's why we were able to add an additional 300,000 to the municipal operating budget to get that all in there to get the all 10 positions funded within the budget and that rolls forward so that 300,000 is funded by current revenues that we've projected. And that will continue that'll be the new base for next year, which allows us to fully fund that 10 person department. Thanks. Thank you Sarah. And I originally thought we were at half an hour so I'm getting my platforms confused so no rush we do have until 1130 scheduled so feel free to keep submitting your questions and raising your hands. If you have a question, a comment and a question from Bertie. Bertie's excited about the emergence of crests and the town's response to overwhelming public demand. So two questions. What have you found to be most impactful in terms of public involvement in the budget. And what can citizens do that help motivate you as officials to create these kinds of big changes. To some of that, at least, you know, my experience. So one area where I feel like there's was really good public input that did translate into funding was with the ARPA plan. So it's not the budget itself but it's a separate separate grant program but pretty much every allocation that ARPA plan came from stakeholder input, or from engaging with the public we held several forums. We had an engage Amherst page like, like we'd have for the budget we have a separate one for ARPA. There were a lot of direct conversations with stakeholders. And so that really sort of set the direction for for how we allocated that first round of ARPA payments, and coincidentally and I think this makes sense a lot of it aligns with the goals of the council as well which makes sense that town councils are probably based on what they hear from the community and what's important to them. And that's also what we heard when we did the ARPA session so so that's exciting. I think, you know, echoing what Anna said earlier, it'll be nice to. We've funded a couple capital resident capital requests so far. There was a feasibility study for River that was funded that way, or maybe it was a cracker farm that was funded that way. And so there've been a few projects that have been funded through that error that mechanism. But I, we have heard that it's a little cumbersome and complicated so excited to work with our joint capital planning committee and some of the representatives of that committee to try to make that a smoother process. Yeah, I would say what really drives us is the, we were really trying to strongly observe good government practice which is the elected officials set the policy and set the priorities for the community. And that gets reflected in the, what my job is which is to build a budget that reflects the council's priorities. And then if I, then that council judges me through a performance review model, as to whether I've been successful at doing that or not. And through their own own sort of engagement with the budget during that through the finance committee process this month of intense meetings or through their own vote on the budget. And it all starts in the fall when we start with our financial indicator saying here's what the money looks like coming in. And then the council says, great, here are our priorities for the coming year and the coming years. And then we listen to that very seriously so that's the most important time we do a budget public forum at that point in time. And it really is up to, and we hear lots of information at those things but it's up to the council to decide which of those things they want to put into a document that says these are our priorities for the coming year. They don't get to say, they don't say go fund this, you know, thing or that thing but sometimes they get there's some specifics to it. But then we try to align our budget to be in alignment with our public, the our elected officials. And I think that's, and then if the elected officials are out of step with the public then they get, they are up for election every two years they keep the public and say we don't like what you're prioritizing we want something a different priority. So, but I think our counselors have been super responsive to community input and doing really good job at listening. So, I think that's. You know, it's an annual process, but the constant engagement I think it's a terrific question birdie because I think it is kind of impenetrable sometimes. You know, I was just thinking like as Sean is talking about where our money or how we allocate local revenue receipts and stuff and like, like what does that sound like to a normal person. It's kind of impenetrable sometimes but I think the idea of organizing and getting in front of the council during the public. In the fall when we do that public forum is a really good way to good place to be. I'm totally going to age myself here but it sounds like we need to do a schoolhouse rock local government public finance edition. Great explainer Paul thank you so we've got a couple questions in the chat. Jeff would like to know if we expect support for virtual town government meetings to extend beyond July 15. Lynn and I meet with our state legislators frequently and we talked about that last Thursday I think when we met with them and, and I think that in talking just other local officials I think there's going to be something. But that we probably won't know for a while but we made it clear that we need to know if we can are we going to continue in a remote format, or have the ability to do that after July 15 or is it go back to pre pandemic times in which people are all in the building. I think that our public at least people who talked to me, love the zoom meetings and don't want to lose that. So it's this is really a decision by the legislature. Birdie seconds the schoolhouse rock episode and Julian would like to know if there has been a new public work site located. There's been a lot of suspense within the community surrounding that so. This is something we have been working at pretty aggressively if you will recall, four years ago probably now we did. We spent probably a year working with Amherst College to get a site and on on Stanley and Southeast Street, it was a great big site flat everything, but a lot of neighborhood opposition and so we chose to pull back from that location. Since that time we have explored several different sites with property owners. We've done some, you know, we've done an RFP and identified four sites that way none of them were really suitable. So the short answer to know we do not have a site. We continue to explore different options for that, both internally and with the town council. But we know that that's a high priority and there's urgency because we want to get both of these things moving forward. DPW is probably the hardest facility to site just because of the neighbor concerns because of the noise and the you need a pretty large site because of all the activities that go on there. The traffic issues and it's just, you know, kind of came from the school side but seeing all the issues that are considered for setting a DPW it's very difficult. So we think about it and Amherst, you know, we would we want it to be an Amherst it's eight to 10 acre site that's on vacant land that that's an Amherst like there aren't spaces like that very often. And so I think trying to figure that out. The other factor is quite frankly is zoning site in many cities and towns. The uses are exempt from zoning but we aren't in Amherst so we have to also as a developer of a site for a public works facility we have to look at the zoning to see if it's an allowable use so those that's what makes it added added difficulty to it. So I do see Sarah, please welcome Sarah back in and go ahead and ask your question. Well, I think tick tock is the way to go, not school has rock so you're right. Send some teenagers your way to work with you on that. If I could change gears a little bit and put my CPA hat on and ask whether any of the many town projects we've approved for which money has been approved. So I think all will happen this summer or this fall, there've been several regarding building maintenance and the in the North Common revitalization and I know it takes some time to get those things off the ground but will they. So the do it. Okay if I start Paul. So the North Common when I believe the timeline and Paul unless you've heard other otherwise is to is to potentially bid that out in the fall and get that moving later this this year, and that relates to another CPA project, Sarah the front steps. I know they're trying to coordinate the front step project with the North Common project because how the way the North Common project will kind of but those front steps and run into them. They're trying to coordinate that so so those projects may be done in tandem. When that happens. I'm trying to think what would that happen next, you said bid in the fall. In the fall with a goal. Yeah, I think the following year. I believe so yeah the following summer spring summer. Let me just pull up the list real quick. Are there any in particular you're thinking about Sarah. We're building like roof repairs and months in library. I know I think the libraries are getting some attention. Mostly, mostly the North Common in the steps because I figured those would go together. And I heard that the DPW has been doing the design, but I just didn't know how advanced, how far they gotten. Yeah, so so we are making progress and we hope they have some new update news on that in a relatively near future. So that will, will explain a little bit why there's taken a little bit longer than we had anticipated. But so it's a good news story so. So that that impacts the town comedy that as Sean said that's connected to the front steps as well. Is inflation forcing reconsider it. Reconsideration of those. No, that's not the issue though. Okay. Okay, thank you. And I think Sarah one thing I'll touch base with Sonya to I know we the CPA committee has started a new process of providing annual reports, or amended a process of providing annual reports so, you know, we'll be getting those. We'll be working on those pretty soon, because I believe they report through June 30. So, reporting back to see CPAC about whether they completed their projects. Yeah, or given updates on where where they're at so maybe there's a way we can compile that at some point too. Yeah, that'd be great. Thank you. Thanks Sarah. So, we are nearing the end of our hour. I think it's time for kind of a last call on questions or comments so feel free. If you have just a even just a comment you throw it into the Q amp a feel free to do so or raise your hand. I just want to thank folks who are being here as well. You know, it's always nice, especially people who are engaged and have good questions and great questions like how do I get involved in this process I think that was a great question and that it does for us we talk a lot about that. We talked about doing a, you know, a resident academy learn more about town government and that was really on the front burner pre COVID and then we redeployed everything towards addressing COVID. But we actually just had that conversation recently with CPOs about that would be a fun thing to do and a lot of cities towns do it and it's a nice way for people to learn about town government. And you know, we're all junkies on this stuff we, you know, but it's it's interesting, you know, I think we should also get some sort of pins or some sort of badges for for all the finance committee members who completed 10 hours of meetings 24 hours span between Monday nights Council and Tuesday Tuesday mornings finance. That's right. That's right. Yeah, that's pretty impressive stickers for them. And that has actually survived. We did talk about that actually related to the Amherst 101 or the Community Academy. As Paul said we were hoping to launch that and then COVID but we're re dusting off that idea. And hoping to maybe do something like that in the fall and now we can do things virtually although we'd love to be in person if we're able to so more to come on that. Sarah says give them donuts. That's always a good incentive for anybody that I know. Thank you. All right. So, again, we've got a couple of minutes here while while we're letting people have their last comments. Sean Paul anything you want to leave people with today that you didn't get to say yet. Let's see things coming up we have Hampshire colleges having its graduation tomorrow at 11 o'clock and they're graduating, they're having a ceremony for three classes 2021 and 22. The next weekend Memorial Day weekend Amherst College is having its graduation for the 2022 class, and then two weeks later I think they're having a separate ceremony for the 2020 class and congratulate Brianna who walked at UMass getting her degree on last week so. Thank you. Appreciate that and congrats to all the graduates out there. And Julian wants to say he'd prefer ice cream with the warm weather so yes, good good segue into stay cool this weekend. Stay safe and check on a neighbor, especially if you've got some elderly neighbors by you. All right, so I want to thank both Paul and Sean for their time today, but especially all of you who took the time to join us. We will have this recording up shortly in our community chat playlist and feel free to share it with anybody who might be of interest. Thank you. Thank you.


software might trigger a sales process recording revenue at the point of time the invoice happens, but note that that really if they're shipping goods, the revenue should be recorded at the point of time that the shipment happens or when some type of delivery happens, whether it be FLB shipping or FLB destination. So we're going to have to be looking at the relationship between these types of items. And when the system, the accounting software is recording the revenue with relation to them and see if there's any kind of timing difference issues that we need to consider. Then we have the sales journal. After sales invoice has been issued, the sales need to be recorded in the accounting records. The sales journal is used to record information about the sales transactions. So the sales journal will be a specialized journal that's just going to show the basically the sales type of reports. This might be a report that we'll have to print out. If we're using accounting software, we might have to ask for basically a sales journal, a sales report. The names can differ. Note that when we go to different types of industry, different types of companies, they may have different names. The accounting software may generate reports in different types of formats. So we need to understand, you know, what the general name is of the report and what it is that we're looking for on it, so that when we get the report, we can recognize that we have indeed gotten the information that we need, even if it's not by the same name. Then we have the customer statement. Mailed to the customers has details of all sales cash receipts and credit memorandum memorandum transactions. Accounts receivable subsidiary ledger. This is obviously going to be really important when we consider the sales process and consider the auditing of accounts receivable itself has an account and detail of transactions for each customer. So the subsidiary ledger. Remember when we think about accounts receivable, of course, we've got accounts receivable representing what is owed to the company by customers. We then break that out by not just the GL by date as all accounts are broken out on the general ledger by date, but also by subsidiary ledger, the subsidiary ledger breaking it out by customer. So now we have the same detail broken out by customer that's going to be important, of course, for accounts receivable. Accounts receivable aging report summarizes all customer balances in accounts receivable subsidiary ledger. Each account is classified as either current or placed into one of several past due categories. So this is a similar type of process on the on the on the balance sheet. We got accounts receivable that represents what is owed to the company by customers. Then we're going to break that out by by customers subsidiary ledger, but also an aging report subsidiary ledger type report, which will break out who owes us the money, but also break it out by how old that money is or how past due it is. Is it current? Is it 30 days past due? Is it 90 days past due? That'll help us to value the accounts receivable and see if the collections are actually happening in a timely manner with regard to the sales on account. Remittance advice. Part of the customer's bill that is returned with the payment. So when we think about the remittance, when we receive a bill like a utility bill in the mail or something like that, that little slip that you're supposed to fill out the amount and then send it back, that's going to be important within the internal controls process. Because when that goes back to the system that remittance, you can have a check in the envelope, you can have the remittance that will then come back. And those two things will typically be recorded and go to different departments and be recorded as a form of check in balance. So when we're testing the internal controls, that's going to be an important document. Cash receipts journal used to record the cash receipt of the entity. So we'll have the cash receipts journal. Again, within an accounting software, it might be that we're going to be asking for some type of report with relation to the cash receipts journal, which may not be named exactly the cash receipts journal, but obviously we're looking for a report that has cash receipts on it. Credit memorandum used to record the return of goods by customers. So this is going to be important for the recording of revenue as well because the credit memorandum, which is usually something that many times within even the accounting process that you ask the bookkeeper or the people in the accounting department, what's the journal entry behind the credit memorandum? They don't really know, right? Because it's backwards, it reverses the sales. So we have to understand that the credit memorandum is typically going to be the reversal. There's going to be some type of return. And therefore it's the easiest way to think about it, the transaction related to it. It's going to think about the sales transaction that will typically be reversed and then make any kind of adjustments such as sales instead of sales, you've got the sales returns and allowances. So anyways, the credit memorandum form can be a little bit confusing to analyze when you have those returns, because most of the times when we think about accounting, we think about the sales process and the return is a little bit backwards in our mind. So credit memorandum, we have the write off authorization authorizes the write off of an uncollected accounts receivable. Final approval is often done by the treasurer.