[Music] all right so I guess we'll go ahead and get started it is 602 Monday July 88th we call to order the uh meeting of the finance committee uh for the town of Halifax uh in attendance are Cheryl Burke Michael Bennett Frank Johnston um J Bill Smith uh and myself for the finance committee uh just some housekeeping items this meeting is being recorded by area 58 uh and will be posted on YouTube for public consumption afterwards um so I want to thank everybody for getting on uh and uh we'll just go ahead and dive straight into the agenda so I think the first agenda item that we had were the Cody have something you want to did I miss something oh no sorry okay um first agenda item was the approval of the finance committee meeting minutes I think what has been circulated up and into this point are from June 3rd and June 24th so we'll address June 3rd first anybody have any comments questions additions changes or deletions okay so we'll move into a rad call vote so if I could have a motion to approve the minutes for the 3 of June so moved second thank you Cheryl roll call vote Frank yes on the June 3rd 2024 minutes thank you sir EJ yes thank you Bill yes Michael Yes Cheryl yes and I a yes also so that those are approved uh all in favor uh moving on to the minutes for 620 424 anybody have any questions comments additions changes or deletions all right can I have a motion to approve the minutes for 624 T it thank you Mike thank you Bill roll call vote Frank yes on the minutes for uh June 6 2024 thank you sir Bill yes Mike yes Cheryl yes thank you EJ yes thank you sir all right there so that uh takes down that specific agenda item so thank you very much uh moving on to the next uh I have the line item transfer request for the parks department uh and uh we are moving $500 from um from Park wages uh to park expense for vandalism to the porta potties so the porta potty uh cost more than we had budgeted or the Parks Commission had budgeted for the year due to um um increased cleanup costs um as a result of the Porta poot got flipped over a couple of times uh so we budgeted kind of right down to the penny and ended up coming in more uh because of the additional cost okay anybody have any questions comments no all righty so uh may I have a motion to approve the line item transfer so moved second thank you Bill thank you Cheryl roll call vote EJ yes thank you sir Bill yes Michael Yes Cheryl yes Frank yes on $500 for the uh Park expenses thank you sir and I'm a yes also so that passes uh 6 um all right so I have the ability to send this through Adobe to get e signatures so I think we'll give it a go on this one here specifically and I've loaded everybody's email address and there's a block for everybody to sign um so I'll send it out after this meeting uh if you guys don't get it let's just say by tomorrow morning for whatever reason just let me know and then we'll just go through the process of getting it signed at Town Hall does that make sense yep works for me if everyone does get it if you're able to to um sign it electronically and try to get it back to me before tomorrow evening that would be great the Selectmen are going to approve it so if I was able to print the document and then just have the board approve it um at the meeting tomorrow that would be nice no big deal not we can just attach a separate sheet but okay thank you good all right so that is the line item transfer um the next item that we had on the agenda was uh it's our space it's our placeholder for reviewing the budget report so we haven't gotten the last one for the month of June um so I anticipate I guess getting that from is that Lindsay that's gonna send that out Cody or is it is you guys didn't receive it no I didn't see it no no oh okay I apologize I thought it had been sent out I will um I will make sure it get sent out to you guys tomorrow okay very good so we'll hold this for the next uh for the next meeting that we have and uh by that time everybody should have a chance to run through it uh and that should Encompass all of last fiscal year right Cody it well so we can pay invoices through the 15th though so um you may see a couple of accounts change a little bit there's still some invoices coming in but it'll give you a good idea of where we are and then we can send out a um end of fiscal year one maybe at the end of July once all the invoices have had a chance to go through this system uh but we'll definitely get you the current status uh tomorrow okay very do we anticipate any more line Adam transfers we are I received four of them today oh yeah okay so we'll have um so the Monday the 15th we'll need to meet to um to approve the last of those that's the last day for line transfers okay how is there a higher number than normal of these requests coming in this year for some reason it seems like there's been a lot of them is it's actually it's actually lower this year EJ than um in the past it just th this happens you know we we don't have a ton of fiscal flexibility in most of our line items so it definitely happens um we're trying to tighten things up a little bit but you know as you saw as we went through the budget process we were going through some expense lines and cutting off hundreds of dollars so you know when we do that unfortunately these things happen and it's just so many of our contracts although you know we try to run them fiscal year to fiscal year some of them are calendar year or mid year and we can anticipate you know an increase but sometimes they're just larger than than we anticipated or you know costs were more than we expected whatever it may be so yeah I guess I guess my question is more targeted towards the the timing of them like they all seem to be coming in the end of the fiscal year where you would think we' be we'd be able to recognize that there's going to be a need on in the process maybe maybe March April time frame once we once people see how their budgets are trending but to see them all come in at the end of the fiscal year I think is the more surprising part to me so they can't we can't do line item transfers until May June July not to say that you know we we can't anticipate it sooner like you mentioned um you know a lot of it is we rely on our department heads to to keep up with their accounts and continue reviewing them you know they know the invoice is coming in we don't you know know their individual Department as well as they do so um it's it seems like a lot and I agree with you it we're but it is progress compared to last year uh yeah and so hopefully we continue to progress and it's been a big focal point with our department heads is trying to plan review budgets regularly um and with our new Financial system I anticipate that'll actually help as well because they'll have you know real time access to all of their accounts rather than right now they're getting a monthly budget status report um and sometimes you know not necessarily monthly so it'll definitely get better yeah it's much better than last year and the dollar amounts significantly lower this year too yes they are I would agree any further any further questions on uh on the budget report so again we'll look at it when it comes out and um and uh we can ask any questions that we have of Cody or and uh Cody will are we going to have is someone gonna take sy's place on the call or is it just G to be youing everything okay nope that's me so um that's why I had mentioned if things come up and you know you're going to have a question shoot it to me ahead of time that you know I I'll be able to certainly get you the answer and then um if there's questions during the meeting that I you know can't answer I'll I'll get an answer for you mostly just because our financial system doesn't hold all the information that I would like it to hold right now so um it's not as easy as just jumping into the system and and looking at something but uh we're actually anticipating a December go live with the new system now so come that come December we um I think a lot of that will change okay do we get a good timeline from your consultant on the financial system we did yeah we got a uh revised timeline which calls for that December go live we're actually going to implement Utility Billing in um October so water bills for in October are going to go out through that system which will be excellent be a good test and then um yeah December go live and that way they are um either January or February I can't remember when they go out real estate bills will actually go out through the new system as well so the idea was to try to time it strategically so we could have a good test of the system while the uh onboarding support was still with us um and we think we have a a good plan in place so and they feel like this is conservative which is good that's good all right thank you for that okay so um next agenda item was a review of the article regarding the retiree medical bills so Sandy sent that out shortly after the call last week um I have it up on my screen if you want me to share my screen anybody have any questions about it um from a long time ago it certainly was I was shocked when I saw the dates right um so Cody is this capitated at all or can anybody leverage this program anyone who is injured on duty um in public safety police or fire would be able to leverage it basically we adopted a a Mass General law is what it is it allows for that this is the only we have one individual um that currently takes part in the program right so I guess my question is it it does it's there is it's unrestricted population and there is no date of you know like expiration date or Sunset date no once you adopt the mgl you would have to I would assume have another town meeting to repeal the adoption of the Mass General law aw if you look at the Mass General law it does State you know in order for someone it's not just an automatic process so uh the board of selectman would ultimately have to approve so if someone were to get injured and we're looking for kind of that reimbursement the board of selectman would have to approve the onboarding I guess you would say of of that individual okay those were my questions anybody else I think Cheryl's looking there Cheryl so does this mean that anybody who's hurt on the job and he reti that we continue to pay there's no no only it's only if someone goes out on 11f so um injured on duty Public Safety um police or fire then you know whatever related to that injury whatever co-pays are not covered by the insurance the town picks up so it's not just just um you know they they need to go on blood pressure medication and you know they have a co-pay of $20 the town picks up that you know we're not paying for those things it's only if someone were to you know have a a permanent back injury that makes them so they can't be a police officer a firefighter anymore and related to that treatment they may have a co-pay for medication or whatever it may be the town will reimburse them for just that that portion okay and it's not and it's not just workers cop it's only for 111f which is you know police and fire you're not do okay that was voted at time meeting it was yeah right thank you Cheryl any other questions all right okay so thank you everybody I appreciate the questions thank you Cody for the uh information um the next item that I had put on the uh agenda was the Silver Lake assessment so earlier uh last week I sent out the Silver Lake assessment that was more of an FYI so everybody can see how that's going to be um acred by the town and how it's going to be you know how we have to get that over you know the times we have to get it over to Silver Lake so um I didn't I don't if there's questions great we could certainly chat about it I I would just wanted to get that out to everybody so from a just from a transparency perspective thanks Jim for sending that appreciate it yeah that was interesting to look at was yeah it was yeah the the 400,000 that's exempt what what is that what's it exempt why is it exempt so um basically that was uh they did uh repairs over at might have been the middle school but it was it we it's debt that's exempt from the tax levy so it's beyond the two and a half% right increase it's beyond our normal tax levy and so it's exempt in that sense so once that retires technically that'll fall off the resident's tax bill unless you know something else up so the town voted um for a a a capital exclusion debt exclusion um for that project okay interesting it it it most likely came from you know a project was approved by the towns um and it was going to you know cost the town it varies every year we have the debt schedle but it's it's around that amount every year um and the town probably didn't have the capacity within its operating budget to fund it and so hence the exclusion that exclusion okay thank you sir questions anyone all righty moving on to the next agenda item uh uh Department Liaisons for this coming fiscal year so I pulled up the one that Todd used last year uh for us so let me share that here in a [Music] sec okay let's see here all right anybody see that yes yes Y is it legible yes oh Jim is is that the one that I sent you yeah yes um I don't think it is that has all the old contact information on it yeah I've got the a different one that was on the uh one drive or actually I pulled it up out of one Todd's old emails is where I pulled it off of yeah let me see maybe I send you back the wrong one Jim that's always possible uh no here let me I'll resend it to you right now so it's at the top of your email it looks just oh okay I see all right the two bottom names got it yeah that's an old one because I didn't have F last year all right all right I just sent it to you again sure [Music] got it okay so let's do this thing that I also sent out the budget status from this afternoon so everyone should have that in their inbox yeah I got that got it thank you sir all right so here we go um Jim hate to interrupt but that's different as well yeah I didn't have fire last year yeah the one that's on the screen right now Jim yeah that's U pre uh same as before well it's different because it's missing this one and it has these two on here so this is the one yeah I've got I pulled one out of Todd's email that we finalized um last spring or last uh fall I mean um it should have everything on it at least so it it might not accurately reflect last year's um assignments it should have all the departments on it so if you guys are looking to redo it anyways you could work off of this but this is um at least the contact information is all accurate on this one okay Co all right so Frank send me the one you you have yeah I've got it in my downloads gy I will shoot that over to you here momentarily okay um make sure I don't end up getting out of the system here I will just forward you this email um off a Todd old emails h W let me do it that way I'll have to create an email okay [Music] so why don't we do this instead of everybody you know just staring at each other we'll just Frank if you just send me that or or help me find that we'll put this back on the agenda for next Monday um and uh we'll just cover it at that point so that way we're all square for you should hit your mailbox Jim okay thank you sir and there it is all right let's have a look at this one okay interesting I don't have this it's weird that's the one we worked that's the one we finalized up all new contacts and the assignments all right so let's do this share it can all make sure we're looking at the same thing okay do Okay so we've got going to I guess need I'm I'm going to take over what Todd was working on uh at this point I would I'm looking to our team here for someone to look at the schools in the library any anybody interested in those I'll take the library if you want I'm interested in schools I was actually it's funny so Jim I was actually thinking about the schools and I was like maybe maybe we can have two people people assign to that one just to here have more like I don't know a little bit more of grab and things and we did historically yeah no that's certainly that's certainly understandable it's it's a lot especially silver leag um if you know why don't we do this um EJ why don't you and I just split it you and I can jump on the schools and uh and we'll give Mike the library yeah um and then I can do all the other ones that Todd was doing so we'll just assume those responsibilities that work for you yeah that's perfect then I'll hang on to what I had from last year unless unless anyone's opposed to that or wants to take them on themselves so these will have to you'll have to rework these again probably sometime in August or September anyways when the new member is on right um prior to the budget season so but just yeah staying up to date on on what's going on um in the meantime but prior to the budget season I imagine you'll go through these again when you have the new member sure I think you will enjoy working with the schools EJ I'm looking forward to it all right so um okay so that should be um that should be it for the assignments everybody else is good with what's here yes yeah yeah yeah all right thank you very much everybody all right so we'll stop sharing that back to the back to the meeting the next piece we have here on the agenda is correspondence and as may arise um I haven't seen any correspondents I stopped by the uh town office today just to check the mailbox I didn't see anything in there just some other paperwork and stuff um as may arise the only thing I have for that is I am my wife and I will be away from the 21st through the 30th uh so it's I'm glad we are meeting next Monday because I wouldn't be able to meet the Monday after that um so that's those are the updates that I have from my end anybody have anything else they would like to chat with the group that we haven't been able to get on the agenda I was going to mention um although we'll have to rework this but um you you guys had requested a meeting with the school department the school admin team um they've been pretty busy on Mondays and so they had tentatively thrown out Tuesday the 23rd but we will need to rework that so let me um I'll go back and see if they can throw out a couple dates in early August and I will get back to you guys for the next meeting that sounds good that'll be great awesome thank you all right anyone else okay um next item public participation any comments from anyone from the public very good thank you everybody uh next meeting planning so we are going to meet on the 15th uh same time and we will go do specifically to cover line item transfers um the budget um uh the budget uh report and um has so Cody just this is a question just for my own edification the application we got through the um for the vacancy is that something we all need to look at the application and vote on or do we just bring that person in so we um you can do one of two ways in my opinion you have that one you can bring them in um you know uh the next meeting if they're available you know to ask them some questions see what you guys think but we did post on the website that there's an opening and that we would um take the the talent Bank forms into consideration through the end of the month so you could you could wait till the end of the month uh review what you have in totality and then you know let's say you have three or four bring three or four people in bang it all out in one night and then you guys as a committee make a recommendation of who you know who you would like to see on the committee to the selectman put it on their agenda um that probably makes the most sense but it's up to you guys no it certainly makes the most sense anybody have any objection to that I agree with that statement I agree too yeah I agree okay so we'll wait till the end of the month or till the time expires on what we're running on the website then we'll review what we have in hand and then Mo make decisions from that point so what we can do proactively if you'd like um it looks like we're tentatively scheduled to meet on August 5th at that point we would have had them in so we can work internally to just invite everyone in on the fifth if that works for you guys and then now we there we're not waiting again for another meeting to schedule them to come in right um and if we had them in on the fifth we could then um have them before the selectman on the 13th um and that way they were moving pretty quickly and then they could join you off for as part of the the finance committee on the 19th sounds like a good plan right and we'll just work it from that aspect then okay so um next meeting planning is next Monday uh any and then I guess as you said the 5th of August is the following one behind that so those are the next two meetings coming up on the calendar uh anybody have any conflicts with uh next Monday or August 5th no but Jim I I will be out of um out of the country for the from the 17th to the 24th of August so I'll miss that um was it the 19th meeting okay but all right yeah so we should be able to keep you caught up on that stuff EJ all right I'm good thank you sir all right everybody I think that exhausts our agenda for this evening so I thank everybody for jumping on uh can anybody have anything to add before we close any save rounds anywhere all right I have a motion to adjourn so moved second thank you Cheryl roll call vote EJ just to adjourn thank you sir Bill yes Mike yes Cheryl yes Frank yes to adjourn and I yes also thanks everybody for jumping on appreciate everybody's time and we'll talk next Monday all right night take care [Music]