##VIDEO ID:_QQbUW0yHp8## the Wednesday September 4th 2024 meeting of the gardener city council Finance Comm come to order the clerk will please call the role councelor darwitz pres Council Mac president president kinus pres is anyone here recording tonight's meeting okay the uh first item on the agenda is item 11383 in order authorizing $525 36 payment of Prior year expenditure M nichon thank you very much Madam president uh this is a bill from the Massachusetts Department of Corrections that the city received uh the City uh or really any governmental agency and nonprofit in Massachusetts by law is able to order uh items of furniture or office supplies from the massachusett Department of Correction basically what it is is part of the reintegration programs that they have for the inmates of the different state prison facilities across the Commonwealth uh the inmates can make furniture upholstery different things like that uh as part of their work skills program that way when they get released they have work skills so they can get a job and get back into uh reintegrating into society after being incarcerated uh this bill that you have here is for uh three of metal picnic tables that you see in front of the library uh and then a couple of the uh desks that we have in City Hall that we've replaced in a couple of our departments uh the bill came in on June 29th and then we closed out the fiscal year before we were able to pay that bill and by the general laws the council has to approve any time that we pay a previous fiscal Year's bill with a current fiscal year funding so since the money that we have available to us now is fy2 money but the bill was received in the last couple days of fy2 24 we need Council approval in order to pay the bill to the Department of Corrections thank you and so it was received my only question as it was received on the 29th so I mean just it made it's September like it made it to the council in September normally things will go much quicker I would normally they would go quicker uh sometimes we can work with the vendors and they'll either redate an invoice so we can pay it on a different uh schedule or uh we make sure everything's arrived before we pay it and a couple of the items hadn't arrived yet uh by the time that the final invoice was received uh so that's again one of the things we just out of practice don't submit payment until we get everything and make sure it's up to the standard it should be at uh so those were the two reasons for that delay that's there but even still with that um between when a bill ised to when a check is cut it's normally around about a 2 we turnaround time period for all the you know processes to go through in the auditing department and the procedures L out by our auditing firms uh so it's even if it got to the council for the August meeting uh it's one of those it's just we hadn't we weren't at the stage yet where it was ready to be submitted because we were still waiting for the pcking tables thank you any questions comments on the committee further nothing okay understand motion make a motion to recommend passes of the order full Council full councel second motion made by councelor jow seconded by councelor m to recommend passage to council is there a discussion on the motion all those in favor say I those post say no motion passes item 11384 a measure transferring $4,000 from city clerk salaries and wages to city clerk Professional Services operating expenditures thank you very much Madam president uh this is something that we've done before whenever we've had employees either leave or be on different uh absences due to different reasons uh where we have a Consulting contract come in um where the city clerk is currently on a medical leave and we've had a resignation with the former assistant city clerk uh former city clerk Alan Elli has come back as an elections consultant uh that is paid for in a different M item than this this is because former assistant city clerk John Oliver has come back as a consultant for the city clerk's Department uh to help train the new staff members that we have there as we have our new assistant city clerk uh and our new uh two new staff members in the city clerk's office so with three new new uh relatively new employees at least new in those position employees um and then the elections and everything else coming up we just want to make sure that those processes are one covered but also trained correctly and the elections done the correct way uh so this is transferring out of the salary light items that aren't going to be used this fiscal year because of the vacancies that were created in those positions uh and transferring those into an expense light item because a consultant's contract by law is considered an expense and not a salary payment and we can't cross fundings over without my Council approval on those matters thank you questions comments from the committee so to be clear which roles is this paying for this is paying for the assist former assistant clerk John olber so he come back and train the STA okay you said that money for the former city clerk Allen Al is from a different Source yeah it's from the election account okay thank you uh for any state elections we actually get partial reimbursement for the funding that we put out so that's why that's in a separate account thank you um I have really appreciated all of the communication that I've had with HR and um you know within the clerk's Department about this it's just kind of one of those things we have to be sure everything is covered uh and so uh as I understand it for um alen Elli uh his contract was covered basically but then the elections piece of it had come into it um so I don't have any questions regarding that I just wanted to be sure that was for um John but it is covering John oler yeah just one more question going forward um how long are they staying on and is there enough money to cover them for those time periods from what our projections are yes we expect probably for um for John I'm guessing probably mid- October when the city clerk comes back um and for uh Allan I'm going to guess through the November election just to make sure all our eyes are dotted and tees are crossed because uh while we anticipate the city clerk to come back sometime in mid October for maternity leave um early voting starts second week of October uh for the votes act and mail and ballots go out last week of September so there's a lot that builds up to that election day that'll happen actually before the city collector get back so I wouldn't doubt if Allan just stays on through that November 5th election to just get us through where we need to be and the funding was there for that or be coming back for more for hour we from our projections right now it's there for that it's there he's just add that he's at my understanding I I had asked the same question of um basically the uh I've been a prize of all this because the council oversees the city clerk's office and so I've been kind of part of those um conversations and questions and so it's my understanding that uh basically they provide their hours of what they have worked so far and that's how that's where these projections are coming from it's it's been provided to them saying okay expect to work this much and also it's matched the needs of what department has said they're going to need for the election um so it's not you know one dictating the other it's a conversation about okay this is our needs and this is yet this is what we can work to fulfill and that's what's happened so far so if it does go past that then there'll need to be justification for that and they'll have to come back and ask for more but it should fill it from what they understand that was my questions have been answered um in that capacity thank you and it's one of those things as in between elections right we just had the primary uh so you know former clerk Elli was working full-time hours to get us ready for that now that that primary is done it's probably not going to be in every day or all day every day or as many not nearly as many hours but then the election gets closer then that's probably going to be something that picks back up again so it's something that'll have and flow So based on our projections that's why I say that is where we think the time will be needed when we get there that's the financial projections and that's all coming from the city's auditor perfect thank you there questions comments make a motion we recommend um the transfer of the funds to the council second motion made by councel General La second by councel n to recommend authorization of the transfer to the full council is there discussion on the motion I just want to throw out uh just thanks to the council for John Richard because that auditing Department falls under the council too and he's the one who comes up with all these projections and all the other stuff that goes with it and it's one of those that kind of throw a dart at the board and hope it SS but he's been great with all of this process and just getting us through what we need to get through so just thank you for that department to yeah I can I I can say that John has also made sure that I was in the loop on a lot of those things too and it's his job and he does he really did um a great job at it cuz of course there's been some things um in the clerk's office we haven't expected in the last couple months and it's really been seamless and smooth so um I can definitely second that he's he knows knows his stuff um further discussion all those in favor say I I does it post say no motion passes item 11289 an ordinance to amend the code of the city of Gardner part one thereof entitled administrative legislation uh this has been with us for some time there's been different documentation added uh we had questioned more time um and I didn't know what we wanted to do moving forward C General L seems like you've done some work on this with the extensive evence that been done and I would be asking um for some more time hopefully be able to act on it at our next uh next finance committee meeting okay I agree if I could just throw into just another uh piece of feedback I've received on the latest round of it is uh I've gotten good feedback on the format changes that we've done where you know we taken a lot of the redundancies out of some of the lower sections and just put them onto their own section at the top um and uh one of the feedbacks I've gotten from a couple of the chairs of the different boards and committees that we have uh is also they also don't have a uniform reorganization pattern some of the ordinances say that the board of commission shall have to you know reor reorganize a vote at the beginning of every year for whose chair who Vice chair so on from there others just say the in the first year they shall have a meeting but doesn't specify what happens after that there's some that just continue in that position unless they decide to change it there's others that you know some are set by state law and have to put unless baring state law but they I likely be uh you know suggesting I guess when we review that just another section in that top item that we added the last time that just says uh unless state law says otherwise committee shall reorganize in January of each year just like we do with the other stuff that's there um just to keep it consistent across everyone too and that's the goal of all them I think it's great I think that it's going to be super helpful this is how things should be done and then it answers all of these questions and kind of keeps it you know where people can easily figure what they need to do um and it's important because this is like these are ad these are administrative matters of the city so you need to have them be very clear um any other discussion or com think the uniform formity I guess of it would be is going to be great um and hopefully we um the next few meetings we're able to act upon it okay so what we recommend more time okay okay um item 11382 motion to amend item number 11256 a resolution to rename the city council chamber the Ronald F Cormier Council chamber as adopted by the city council on June 17th 2024 um so this was submitted by councelor tyros back now refer it's kind of a different item Council M do you have anything yes so this comes back to my original resolution which was passed by the council to name the council chambers in memory of former counselor U Ronald cor um so my uh MO motion would be or suggest would be to the full Council would be to form an ad hoc committee um that would be formed of four individuals um to recommend to the finance committee to then present to the full Council options for a physical display uh to dedicate the council chambers in honor of councilor Cormier and to ensure that the uh dedication um in his memory is um appropriate and and the process Ur you know is approprate ly follow that so that's what I I think should be done um you know I do have mine I think four members that would be adequate for this committee um you know former counselor president Neil Jansen former councelor and council president close friend uh James PCH uh Mrs Marcel forier and a former city clerk former mayor and um somebody who knows the charter the history of Gardner um Al no um second well I think so um do we I think we could so I I agree I have no objection to any of those suggestions I I think doing it in a committee makes total sense um because we've already kind of decided what's happening in now to have move forward and to have people from the community weigh in what relevant to the situation I think it makes a lot of sense too um but we can take more time on it and pres as here would would you mind if I ask Council I mean we can do that during during a committee meeting so sure okay I because I mean this is actually for the finance committee CU I don't this to form this committee needs to go back to the council so we're going to recommend to the council what we want to do moving forward so you know we can um make that recommendation and then that can at the council to to kind vote to do that would become the form of a motion I just don't want to step on his you know this was his resolution I just want to make sure that he would be in agreement with this yeah you can certainly do that councelor tyros to come forward please president yes this side of the table so I know we're not sure what these chairs um so I think I I heard correctly yeah sorry con I didn't mean to put you on the spot there but I just want to give you you know Fair input on this yeah and and I'm happy to see that is exactly what I intended when I put forward this resolution and um from what I heard when I walked in it sounds totally in the line what I was hoping for so thank you welome okay thank you uh so we want to make a make like motion to recommend or I'll make a motion to um that we bring uh make motion to the full Council to form an ad hoc committee um to um review the appropriate dedication of the council chambers in honor of um former counselor for me second um I just um have so motion made by counselor Mac uh to form an outop committee uh to review um the dedication of the chamber in Council cor's Name seconded by councel General lawitz um any discussion I have discussion so I would say though to name the committee should we make that part of the motion in order to name the committee members like who's going to do that I think asked first before we name them those are the people that I feel should be asked um but I wouldn't name them until they have a chance to be asked okay so just for for interm information only purposes for this meeting for the discussion for the discussion those who those who I think would be appropriate but for the full Council I just all I need to know is I think before individuals yeah okay I have no further discussion any further discussion no guys covered okay all those in favor say I iose no motion passes and further this evening second motion made by councelor second by councelor m to adjourn all those in favor say I I say no motion passes meeting stands jours thank you