did it for us all right I'd like to call together the June 27th uh 2024 school committee meeting at 6:30 and we have a consent agenda posted this evening which consists of our minutes from the May 20 uh May 30th 2024 meeting as well as oath to bills and payroll is there a motion to accept I move that we that we accept the consent agenda Mo made by Elaine second Stacy can second that seconded by Stacy all those in favor uh it's actually a roll call vote because we're virtual um so we'll just take this in order Alaine I Janine I Stacy stac Scott yes and Justin McCarthy votes yes as well so we'll mark that unanimous and uh I don't believe we have anybody with us but on the agenda this is we have one two opportunities for interested citizens as we Al do so if there's anyone hopping on this is your first opportunity if not we'll get to our uh singular uh agenda item and then we'll see if anybody joins us for the second opportunity for interested citizens so we do not have any interested C seeing no one and hearing no one um what I'd like to do is welcome uh Jonathan Vance to the meeting very much appreciate you um you're expressing interest uh you were involved in the planning board race is that correct I was was I ran for planning board I'm currently on zoning board and economic development um okay should uh this appointment happen I I very well may drop um zoning board as the alternate there um just it's a lot to take on but I think fincom would be very interesting I think my skill set aligns with it and um I wouldn't be an alternate I'd be involved so I think it makes makes a lot of sense to kind of take that next step great um that's why that's where your name was familiar to me and I watched the uh the Cates EV yeah the event sponsored by the Rotary Club so feel like I got to know you a little bit there um why don't we just start off by you just telling us a little bit about yourself and um why you know I appreciate you not only running for the planning board seat but then holding other positions in town and then putting your uh hat in the ring for an interest on the on the fincom seat that's a very important board with in town so if you would mind just kind of sharing um with the school committee here a couple minutes about your uh personal and professional um attributes and then we can see if we have any questions and we'll kind of move forward sure um so I grew up here in h Central Mass in in Garder area um yeah I'm off okay um I moved around a bit out west and ended up in the military I was uh a medic in the Army for six years deployment over to Afghanistan uh came back and uh finished out my term ended up going to Business School uh over in China and mostly it was through Holt international business school out of Boston uh ended up working overseas uh for quite a while over in Pap Guinea Fiji and Australia with uh save the children the UN and a uh private insurance company uh came back and worked in cannabis space in Consulting uh helped build one of the largest uh cannabis wholesalers um uh in in Massachusetts um that component was a lot of uh sales operations Financial projections um unit level economics looking at a range of of topics and that was done through my first consulting firm um led into a number of other Consulting clients with uh AI with uh just financial planning for different organizations um and then Co hit I ended up going back to do some work uh for W2 I was with a medical device company for two years uh kind of uh seeing how things played out after covid and uh I restarted my consulting firm so I'm back doing consulting and business brokerage here in Massachusetts um current uh contract is with uh clear path for veterans uh so I'm the acting executive director uh there it's over on devans the founder was there for seven years and needed someone to kind of help transition her out uh capture processes do a revised budget for the following year um the organization in almost in the time I've been there has has close to doubled um largely because of work that was done to bring on new grants so it's really establishing some uh strong formality uh to the organization and uh making sure that things are captured from what's been done in the past and improved um so you know that's a real quick rundown of the past you know 10 15 years of of experience but uh you know I moved to Littleton about two and a half years ago with my wife um I came from Somerville most recently and you know we moved here to you know start laying the groundwork for having a family she's on the cultural committee uh cultural Council uh I'm on a couple different boards you know we're trying to be as involved in the community as we can uh it's been interesting because there there is uh I think a lower level of involvement from uh you know younger individuals so that's that's actually been the think direction of many conversations I've had you know what's inspired you to get involved when you're young I'm not that young right I am rounding rounding 40 I'm I you know I'm looking to settle in and and be involved I mean we we all live here in this community and I think taking my military experience and my desire to to you know um have Public Service as a component of my life is is definitely important so uh I've gotten involved and I think that this is a given my background in business I have an MBA I have a MERS in in data analytics um you know I think that academic experience coupled with experience across operations sales uh Finance project management uh really will be helpful um to to the committee excellent thank you for sharing all that um folks might have some questions my initial question was um obviously there's a learning curve to any any board or Association that you join but have you been following the finan like is that a board that you follow in town are you following what what their what their process is like who the members are what your involvement would be like what some of the uh the hurdles might be in the next year or so or you kind of going into this with just hey I'm gonna show up and I want to get involved and uh eager to learn and participate when uh when I can yeah I have hav't done as much research into it yet I understand what the the fincom does uh you know I was at the town meeting and and saw you know some of the work I think from several of the different uh you know committees that I've attended or participated in I do see some of the challenges I think that are that are going to come down the way um but given my Consulting background I mean this is part of what I do right I mean I engage with a clients and you have to go in you have to learn a lot about that that company's operation that organization's operations in a very short period of time been with clear path for four months and we've gone through you know building uh an entire budget for the next year and a half uh you know finalizing three additional grants that have pretty much doubled the size of the organization hired a number of Staff all of these things in a very short period of time and in large part that's utilizing the the team members that are on the ground to share information with you start capturing processes asking the right questions and collaborating to to get things done I think I would be able to do the same thing with the committee it would be a a strong learning curve but there's good structure in place and um there's always the backlog of videos I can watch to kind of play catchup as well which has been helpful for planning board to kind of dig through some of the the historicals prior to getting up there yes you ever find that you need you're having a difficulty getting to sleep you can tune in to lctv um let's see Stacey Elaine Janine Kelly any questions for Jonathan Janine I saw you had a hand up uh just very quick have you done any uh classroom work or or real world real world work with uh municipal or Community finances which are one of the complaints i' I've heard is is there's a lot of reference back to you know this is what's done in Banks it's like but communities are different um I have not done any um direct work I I will say that you know coming from mainly the private sector uh I have worked in nonprofits and now leading a nonprofit again that was that learning curve where it's a reimbursement model it's it's not driving income you have a fixed budget you're dealing with reimbursements or some sort of additional documentation so there's a huge amount of Regulation that was required in order to step into that role um and and I think it would be the same kind of curve uh it would come down to asking the right questions and making sure that I understand before speaking you know what uh those deviations or or nuances are to the municipal side uh I would say the only uh other caveat would be that I do follow um you know the the town meetings I I've read through the finances and I I think I understand a good chunk of it uh but again there's going to be a learning curve where I have to make sure that any anything I don't understand I'm willing to ask and and put myself out there you know I think that's that's important if you don't understand ask the right questions uh because even if you feel a little bit you know silly when you ask the question it's better than making a fool of yourself later for making assumptions that you know what's going on so happy to ask the questions ahead of time and do the research ahead of time you know for for preparing for whatever meetings come up and thank you thank you for that answer elae Stacy Kelly any questions or comments well I I appreciate your desire to be involved in the community as someone newer to the community um I think you're very correct that many of us get involved later after our children are grown and we have more time um Stacy and Justin notwithstanding they they got right into it when their kids were young so um very much appreciate your involvement and I guess my question is more for Justin and Kelly if um would the the representative of the fincom meet with school committee or is it more um communicating through reports I can touch on that and Kelly can add if I miss anything and I was going to mention that like so um the plan is here to have a motion and appoint Jonathan as the school as the uh member of the fincom for school committee appointment what we would like Jonathan is just I mean we're we're a very cordial committee and I think we get along with the the finance committee as well as all the other boards in town but um we do spend I'm just going to say 50% but that's not accurate it's a little less than 50% we do spend 50% of the town's budget as it relates to the schools so we're we're looking to keep you very much in the know as well as our other our other um school committee appointment just so that when it comes time to slice and dice the budget you understand firsthand exactly what I'll of our requests are we necessarily won't require anything of you over the course of the year to help with budgeting because we have a business manager and Kell's very familiar with the budget we have a budget subcommittee but I think at times we would invite you to participate in uh in some of those meetings just so that you can get an understanding of how we're arriving at our budget and the the stewardship of the money um as it relates to our spending and sort of the conservative approach that we take as it relates to uh spending the tax tax dollars um that's what we' be looking looking for some assistance from you it's not this is not a quid pro quo by any stretch of the imagination you're highly qualified for the position and um I think it'd be a huge asset to the town but if you wouldn't mind just recognizing the fact that you're the school committee appointment then we'd probably be asking for you to help advocate for our budget a little bit as well yeah I think that's uh that's a fair ask uh you know to come in with a an open in mind and ask questions and make sure I understand what you guys are are looking to request ahead of time um definitely helpful to um you know situational awareness as going into that budget season Y yeah well stated Justin uh I think John it's really important that you you do spend some time with us so you understand uh where the rationale we use to to build a budget uh school school district budgets are not fixed there are many variables there predictions uh and uh there we have a lot of moving parts during the year so I think it would be a good idea to to join us we're certainly not going to expect you to to uh or give you a heavy lift but uh I think that knowledge would be very valuable to have as you're advocating for us uh you know for each successive budget year and I we really appreciate you uh wanting to be part of the fincom and and uh and age age is meaningless it's desire to to be part of the community and contribute to the community that counts so thank you very much for putting your name forward Stacy just want to double check in case you had any hot questions that needed to be answered before we move forward with motion for appointment yeah no I don't have any questions I just wanted to kind of echo what everyone else is saying and just maybe during our Summit maybe we can come up with some meetings that would be important for him to come to specific ones you know we we obviously can't expect to come to every meeting but if there are certain ones that we want to highlight him to to come then maybe that would be a good idea for us just to help him get on the calendar um but yeah no very very qualified love appreciate that you're willing to contribute and seems like you'd be a great candidate terrific all right if we're all said I would accept a motion to appoint John Vance as the fincom school committee representative from June 2024 through May 2027 I can I make the motion that we appoint Jonathan Vance for vong second motion made by Janine seconded by Elaine this will be a roll call vote uh we'll go back to Janine I Elaine I Stacy Stacy Scott yes Justin McCarthy votes yes as well congratulations John thank you guys appreciate it yeah thank you look look forward to working with you thanks joh so much if you need any help plugging in directly to the finance committee just you can reach out to me but um I'm sure you know the the folks that are on there and um I don't I don't know when their next meeting is but your involvement starts uh as soon as you can get to the clerk's office and take your next question okay yeah so um Diane c will uh gladly see you during regular business hours at the oath t uh five minutes yeah be the third one so this this one okay you're used to this routine I just wanted to make sure it was the same process yeah Dian exact same process y perfect well thank you so much I appreciate the the time and the the vote of support for stepping up thanks all right if there is no other business before the school committee this evening I'll just take a slight pause to see if there's any uh interested citizens that wish to speak as it's post on the agenda none hearing none uh I will ask for motion to adjourn I move that we adjourn a second Mo made by Elaine seconded by Janine be a roll call vote um elain I Janine yes Stacy Stacy Scott yes Justin McCarthy votes yes as well all right well congratulations John and we have officially adjourned thanks have Ace evening everybody thanks Dorothy thank you Kelly I appreciate everybody moving the time Y no worries enjoy your game