##VIDEO ID:Gq1KVSDGElc## [Music] look like we have a full committee meeting this evening so we will go ahead and get started it is currently uh 6: pm on 11:18 of 2024 um this is a meeting of the Halifax finance committee it is being recorded by area 58 committee members in attendance are Cheryl Burke Mike Bennett Frank Johnston EJ uh Bill Smith Mike Retta and myself along with Cody Hadad from the town and uh Caitlyn Esposito as our secretary so I hope everybody's had a good couple of weeks kind of glad to get back into a little bit of uh some of the Town stuff going on so uh we will start with the agenda item number one which is the of the finance Comm me meeting minutes from 117 uh has everyone had a chance to review those and does anybody have any ads changes or deletions from those minutes Jim wasn't that 114 yeah 114 sorry 114 I'm good with them I'm good okay y all right can can I get a motion to approve those minutes so moved second Michael thank you Bill a roll call vote um terl I have stain I wasn't there Roger that uh Frank yes on the minutes from 114 2024 Bill yes Mike thank you um yes thank you Mike EJ I have stain as well Jim Roger that so uh we'll take that motion as passed as the meeting meeting minutes have been approved um and that will conclude any actions on that first agenda item second agenda item is preparation for the discussion with the highway department on the second of December at our next meeting so um what I really wanted to look at Cody is and when I was asking for the new status update was I wanted to go over Department 429 which is all the articles that he has outstanding um and to see where we're at with that what he's going to do with that um you know because it is a fairly you know I would say in my opinion a fairly sizable chunk of change um that's just kind of sitting idle so I think he you know just as the finance committee and the town should like have an understanding of where he's at with it but you know and that's so I wanted to see an upto-date one to see if anything it changed um you know which was going to be the foundation of my questions yeah they uh we'll get that over hopefully sometime this week we we're just having an issue with the um October actuals being posted um but I can tell you there might be some changes in particular the highway dump truck the 71,000 that's been carried over since 2021 that that should be completely expended um at this point so but again we'll get you the actual report um but I think it'll be a good um conversation for not only the these articles in the past but also might be good to touch on you know what's the plan going forward and how can we avoid um the same thing you know articles that are several years old so just um for my own edification and more probably of a procedural question is when the articles are generated can they be time bound like you have that fiscal year to spend it or it comes back to the town so articles typically not um not to two parts yes they can be time bound but typically not just the ex existing fiscal year or the next fiscal year um that those are that's typically operating budget right within the existing year but you can you can certainly be time bound I I don't I don't know if we need to do a specific time bound on them that holds us to it because things can change but I think it's it's good Financial practice if we're just as we're closing out our books annually we just start closing these out because you don't we don't need um like to meeting approval to close them out once they're closed out we we can just close them out on an accounting side and then anything left returns to our free cash to get appropriated again so in which if you compare I think I mentioned this but if you compare what's there this year to what's there last year or the year before there's a lot closed out that were just you know there was tons and there's still some but there were tons of Articles $80 you know $200 $300 um and so we're working with Lindsay and Eric to close out even more of those um so I think it's more just better Financial practice uh to to stay on top of these and honestly if a department doesn't you know utilize it if there's not a really good reason we're we're going to start we're going to close these out because if you don't if you my theory is if you need it that bad um you need to be spending it unless there's some you know things happen but for the most part if if you need it and town meetings appropriating it you should be using it right absolutely very much agree yeah Jim I have a question um so Cody you saying let's say it's an article 200 $225,000 to buy a uh dump truck and hasn't been purchased in two fiscal years we can go that money can be that whole 225,000 can be pulled back from that article without Town meetings is that what you're saying um likely yeah if it's the whole thing it's a little bit trickier because you're you're you're almost resending the whole the whole AR IAL um but it's we can certainly look into it the the close out occurs a lot easier on our end with just like accounting if it's if a part of it's been spent and there's just a leftover then it's easier for us on an accounting side to just close these out which is primarily there's some that haven't nothing's been spent but there's a lot in here that um there the primary F reason for it has been expended and then they keep it around in my understanding from speaking with people is um what what's happened in the past is you would have budgets are so tight operating budgets that they would keep these articles open and if there were a an item that could fall into that article they would use the article but again that that's really not the purpose um we should just be you know providing a little more flexibility in our operating budget as difficult as it may be to to account for those things so that's why we're starting to close those out if it's if it's something that hasn't been spent at all um then we may have to look to bring that Tom meeting to resend it but but I can check with Council on that well the intent of the article is to spend it for a specific item not to use it as a cash flow for a rainy day yes but but a lot of our articles in the past Frank have been these so I tried to change the shift it so we're not putting article articles forward for things that should be operating budget we saw that last year with the assessor department for instance you had a reoccurring expense it was on an article every year well if it's reoccurring that's operating need's going to the operating budget but you would have things like there's one I can think of um administrative vehicle maintenance well rather than just including a line in our operating budget they appropriated you know let's say $5,000 at one point several years years ago every time there was vehicle maintenance for the administrative Vehicles they would pull from that those are the types of things I'm trying to get us away from but there are several in there we've closed out a lot of them but there's several in there like that not as much in Highway um but well I mean actually shouldn't say that because another one is you see Electric solar traffic signs you know there's $2,400 left in there you know if we're going and we're replacing all the signs in town I view that as a capital item but if we just need to get a few signs every year that's something that should go in our operating budget so those are the types of things we we're working to clean up but but it's not necessarily how it was done in the past they would do articles for some of these not necessary though all right so kind of a lot to unpack there as we go through it yeah so I can just I'll I'll reach out to Steve and just make sure he's prepared to discuss all of his um articles and the status of them um if there were any delays what what the reasoning was and plans going forward so there aren't delays right or if he needs you know if if they need to be reviewed again because I'm sure you know things that are construction based I.E the town Barn fence you know I'm sure is no longer $15,000 I'm sure you know since that was approved in 2019 it's now five years later I'm sure the costs labor have gone up yeah oh definitely um yeah and and we'll hopefully get a status on you look at something like the medium duty dump truck you have $4,100 left in there I'm thinking that's a leftover we probably paid for the truck maybe had a little bit left sometimes it'll go from one fiscal year to the other um and I can give you the example fire department go a vehicle last year um in the beginning I'm sorry the might have been the end of a fiscal year and then we have to send it to an outfit to get uh I'm sorry we have to send it to a different shop to get outfitted with all the lights and equipment so we had one payment for let's say $50,000 for the vehicle itself that went through and then you see a carryover of you know 20,000 because there's still going to be some things like that so you may have a little carryover but it really shouldn't spend two or three years right okay interesting I appreciate the the feedback on that anyone have any other questions for Cody on that agenda item for the highway department next week or not next week for the next meeting so go ahead Mike no just in general to Cody is that did you get push back from the Departments about the move from operating budget money from Capital money to operating budget money like or is it they Mak sense I mean obviously that's the right way to do it but I'm curious what they what they they are good with it as long as we provide them with the adequate funding so and I mean I think they're from their perspective it's actually better because then the money is in there annually you know gets appropriated annually can be utilized and basically is replenished right every year in theice operating budget um the the challenge when I've spoken to different department heads has been that you know that there wasn't the money available right in the operating budget to make those Appropriations so they want to make sure they're not going to going to go without so as long as we're still providing um the resources that they need they're they're generally okay with it but isn't really sorry go ahead EJ isn't that a um isn't that just a budget management issue is because if the money's been approved it's there it's just how you're spending your operating budget is going to impact whether or not you visualize the money later on when you need it no because we have two pots of money so you because you're pulling from a different pot when we when we appropriate through the operating budget it all comes from our operating revenues our annual revenues when we appropriate articles typically Capital items we use our free cash which is our excess revenue or uh typically excess revenue or just funds that were appropriated that weren't spent in the prior fiscal year that we can't utilize for operating expenses and so that's that's why it was done historically this way because operating revenues have always been limited so there was only so much there so any opportunity there were to utilize free cash to kind of supplement that they they did that uh and that's why you have a lot of these articles so that's that's the only difference is the pot of money it's coming coming from as long as we're providing it at the departmental level it doesn't really affect them but you the pots of money are are kind of the key difference gotta thanks and sorry guys my my camera is not uh proper for tonight so I I didn't bother sparing you guys the the black and white you like silent movies EJ I can get you little operating money to get a new camera that or is that operating I'm not sure whates that what does that go yeah we'll just put it somewhere thanks [Laughter] Frank all right any other questions for Cody uh any other questions on the for the highway department discussion okay excellent I I would like to also be able to discuss what's going on with the roof down there at the barn too Cody we can have that discussion in a couple of weeks as well I can give you a little uh snipp it's it's done and the roof is completed all the work is done down there oh so the building's tight building is tight all the work was completed we just had our final walkthrough and final sign off oh good okay was it was it on budget or yeah a little bit over budget but we're able to utilize chapter 90 funding which is the state state grant funding basically um so no no no additional impact to the town so how does it so how does the is the chapter 90 money just available for whatever or is that something that needs to be specific highways yeah it has to be specific to highway so it has to be to specific to um basic maintenance of the roads but you can use it for things like facilities that would support the roads okay that's what I'm looking at $172,000 right yeah that sounds about right it may actually even go up a little more so we get our um we get our initial apportionment and then what we've seen I think the last two years definitely at least last year was that um the millionaires tax they call it they've appropriated some additional monies from that through the chapter 90 program to cities and towns so last year we ended up with a little even a little more than that and I believe anticipate so so who manages that fund is that all up to Steve it is [Music] yep interesting it's one of it's also one of the you bring up a good Point Jim where one of the things we need to do with our Capital planning committee is get them and and this is more on me um to get them more involved Capital planning committees should really be approving any Capital expenditures right regardless of of the of the source of funds that's that's never how we've operated here and so we're trying to make that shift the first thing was getting the committee completely established which we do have a full committee now which is great but um that that's one that's an important thing too like our financial policies would be a little clearer that it is all capital expenditures so that's really any item I can't remember if it's we have it I think it's 10 thou over $110,000 and a useful life of five or more years that's anything we don't specify it's only for appropriation you know Town funded um it really should be for everything so there's still a little bit of oversight from the capital planning committee okay and when are are are there going to be some Capital planning committee meetings here coming up shortly sorry just cut out what did you say Jim Capital planning meetings scheduled we don't have any scheduled I'm hoping to get one on the books for sometime in December okay very good all righty okay those are all the questions that I had over that anyone else going on oh and then if you don't mind Jim I just want to introduce Lindsay Martinelli so this Lindsay is our assistant Town accountant currently and it is on the agenda tomorrow night for the selectman to appoint her as our interim Town accountant uh so Lindsay will be at all these meetings going forward most likely excellent excellent yes I fully support that excellent welcome to the team Lindsay it's a good choice thank you either a good thing or a bad thing but I'm sure you're GNA find out a good thing yeah thank you congratulations Lindsay yes congratulations thank you okay pretty good group yes we we do okay yeah we do if they do this say so themselves all right so uh again CR congratulations Lindsay that's great news um so we're going to close out the preparation for the highway department and move to a discussion on returning to in-person meetings so we carried this over from our previous meeting because we had a few people who were not able to attend so since we have a full committee meeting um I'd like to have that discussion on this call um so I'll just go ahead and start I would I it's just my opinion that I think there there is something a little more with an in-person meeting there's just seems to be more collaboration more discussion uh when we're all in the same room um you know I I'm not asking I don't think we should you know I I think it's great that we have the virtual option uh because there are times when you know people can't make it and things of that nature so I would like to start kind of and like slow roll it a little bit like one meeting a month we meet in person the other we meet uh virtually uh because as we get you know into January we all know that the meetings ramp up you know from twice a months to once a week uh so you know and just to just to get a hold of the budgets and things of that nature um and make sure that we're on top of the stuff and perhaps even when we have the inperson meeting when we do a budget review we can have the department head come in and talk about it while we're there on site at Town Hall so that's my opinion I open it to the floor for everyone else's uh discussion and debate and whatever the committee wants to do we will do I agree Jim I think it's far more Ive whenever we've had uh inperson meetings we seem to get a lot more done than than we do on zooms I I agree I think it'd be a good way to go and phasing it in is a nice way to make it happen Okay thank you Mr Bennett Jim I agree oops sorry no go ahead go ahead bill I agree also um having the department hits Comm in in person I think is important doing it over Zoom it's tough sometimes you don't you can't see their face or I believe in person is a much better way to do it so I've always done it in person before and I think it's a better process okay Cheryl I'm fine with doing maybe every other I don't drive well in the dock right which is my issue and it's dark yeah that's true that's true and plus you get busy uh during tax season anyway so I do yeah yeah even if you did hybrid is that possible what's that hybrid you know people here people in you know what I mean yeah sure I mean I don't think the Link's going to go anywhere we can certainly on a Case by casee um scenario so if there's a a situation where you know you can't attend Cheryl or someone else can't there's an in person well we can work to accommodate we don't have a great hybrid setup um but we can certainly we can accommodate if needed right okay EJ you were saying yeah so so I um I'm I'm with Cheryl I think I think kind of a combination of both is is good I think every other is is uh a good approach that way at least once a month we're getting face tof face time you know um I I do have to um for myself uh Jim I I meant to reach out to you before this meeting but it's been crazy and I I wasn't able to do that but I do need to have um a conversation with you offline about A Private Matter okay that could affect scheduling um so I I guess overall what what my recommendation would be would be that we don't make any final decisions here tonight until you and I have that conversation just to see if it's going to affect how you want to approach this big p approach this big picture with everyone you know sure no absolutely we can certainly you we don't have to make a final decision this evening I just wanted everybody to have a chance to you know speak to it give me their opinions yeah but I I I agree I mean I think inperson time is obviously more valuable time um you know the the convenience of being remote every once in a while is is also helpful to personal lives so right that's kind of where I'm at Roger that okay Frank um I like the zoom meetings don't get I I I really like the Zoom meetings but um I don't have a problem with inperson meetings similar to what Bill said when you and you as well Jim um we're in the middle of this budget season face tace sit down meetings are very important um to have the one-on-one discussions with the different departments and amongst ourselves so during budget season I can get that once we get out of budget season and things start quieting down and we have 15 20 minute meetings I would really prefer to be kind of on the zoom side again than come in the town hall for 15 or 20 minutes you know yeah no that certainly makes sense so you know I'm good to go you know every other week or all month or however we're going to do it during budget season I don't have a problem with that at all but I just would like to say that when we get to the the Slowdown as we well not always slow down but uh infrequently of once a month or whatever um yeah those meetings aren't very long so I I prefer that we go back to a full-time Zoom during that period of time yeah that I think that makes that makes that's a that's a good modification there Frank so it's a good idea thank you I'm in agreement Mr Retta yeah I'm in agreement I'm in for the first time in my show career with you people I am in full agreement of Jim Walters plan thanks a lot Mike okay I I do believe that you know in person I think it you know it does build obviously some some camaraderie and and you know more get you know that kind of stuff that goes on when you is but obviously the short meetings yeah who wants to drive five or 10 minutes for 20 minute meeting so yeah I think that there's a hybrid formula in there somewhere for us that we can all probably live with pretty pretty happily sounds good all right so I think we've got a general consensus um EJ if you want me to give you a call after the meeting I can certainly do that we can chat yeah that's perfect I just sent you uh an email with my cell I think you have it but just in case Roger that thank you sir um and then once I once I coordinate with EJ we'll kind of I'll just follow I'll just send out a group email and uh we can figure out what to do on our next call from a scheduling perspective sound good perfect nice all right very good thank you everybody for your thoughts and opinions on that it is as always valued um so closing out on that specific agenda item the next one was the code of conduct um obviously you know thinking back on it or doing a little reflection myself we don't really need to vote on it it's just kind of this is this is the policy of the Town um this is how we as a committee should be operating and staying in um in line with the way the town wants their committees and their committee representatives to function I would pay specific attention to the social media piece because I found that rather interesting um especially that uh the I think it says in there Cody that it's like they're not they're not open or um Social Media stuff is not exempt from the um from the open meeting uh law or something like that correct yeah yeah so you you were to post something Jim in in a a quorum majority of the group start you know commenting on it expressing views or opinions technically that could be you know a violation of the open meeting law and one thing to keep in mind from a legal perspective if you've got some you know you post something from your phone on social media and it's a violation and they can take your phone and go through your entire phone and uh view everything that's on there and effort of finding more info so it's w it's good to be wise yeah it's best not to a reply to any of those exactly exactly yes and make sure you're using your town email for any Town business kind of for that reason exactly if someone submits a public records request the last thing we want to have to do is go through people's you know personal emails and things like that so use your town email okay um again if everybody's had an opportunity to read it if there's any questions please go ahead and ask them now or send them to Cody as a one-off and he can certainly get you an answer for that okay no I when that policy came out I read through that and I thought it was very good idea to have um a lot of good things in there for people to um use as a good guideline to help them do their jobs yeah pretty straightforward yes yes it is it's very straightforward it's a lot of common sense yes a lot of common sense it's a good way to put that Jim so that's uh so I'm I'm I'm in full support of that all right if no one has any questions on the policy itself uh we'll go ahead and move to the we'll close out that agenda item and move to the next one which is committee liaison updates um I don't have anything new just personally from the other Town chairman I think uh just kind of looking at the articles that I've seen in the local paper Plimpton and Kingston already having some challenges uh with their stuff so I'm sure that's going to be coming our way shortly um with the schools speaking just and so I don't have anything on that from them uh anything new other than what I've sent everybody on the committee so far okay uh so as soon as I get something new I will get that over to you and um EJ I know you and I need to coordinate on some of the school stuff which I'll just chat about here you know get some updates from Cody when we get to the next one on asme arise okay so uh anyone else have any anybody had an opportunity to talk to any of their departments or reach out to any of their departments on you know budgets things that are coming up for you know after the first or we just waiting for after the first and either way is fine um I thought the budgets would due back on the 12th of December member is that correct that's correct it is yeah so we'll do the same thing shared drive you guys will have access to them and then we'll quite uh that very next week we'll start scheduling all those meetings with everyone um with all of you guys so sometime the next few weeks I'll reach out get all of your availability so we can choose a couple time slots for each each of you and then um get those scheduled and start working through the budget sounds good sounds good right yes let the fun begin okay um if there's nothing else we'll close that agenda item out and move over to correspondent correspondence or as may arise so I haven't gotten anything uh via email uh regarding uh the finance committee or things that need to be brought to the finance committee um the only thing I wanted I know Cody that this you know that you were said we had something with the schools early December um but I'm just wondering if you've gotten any feedback or seen any activity from them as if they are ready to give us a like some type of budget for next year in January um other than their word I I don't I don't have anything else but you know I do think you know we're going into it in a hopefully a better spot you know we we've I can tell you one of the good things is we we probably have one of the well actually I'll just say I think we have the best collaborative collaboration with them among the three towns in the administrative team over there so I mean that helps um and they have vowed to get us uh you know budgets in in January at least preliminarily um other than that they you know they they were issued the same budget guidance that all of our other departments were um I don't I don't anticipate we'll get what exactly what we're looking for from Silver Lake for their budget because that's treated a little bit differently but I have specifically requested that HX Elementary School submit everything just like another department of the town because that's that's what they are so and um the superintendent and the business manager have shared that with the school committee chair and so they know that we're looking for um level service budget and then also a 10% cut budget so I anticipate we we should get that for at least helax Elementary okay so for transportation we're the schools are obligated to provide transportation for all children outside of two miles of the location correct I believe that's the case yeah I think it may change based on Age Jim I know it's two miles for the older kids but it might be less for the younger on might be a little bit less for middle school and elementary school but I can check I don't know and they get a a reimbursement from the state a percentage reimbursement from the state on the transportation yes uh I think so but I particularly it's for the um the special education Transportation where they're how do they how do they apply those monies I'm not sure to be honest I that' be a better question for the well I mean that's one of the things that I'm just kind of curious how they can you know so I mean it's I mean we're talking what a million and a half for for busing um you know and when the so when the state is giving them a reimbursement is that money going to amarate that cost or is it being applied elsewhere where they you know possibly you know may need it I'm not saying they are I'm not saying they're not I'm just yeah I know as far as the application of those funds from the state they on their level I'm sure they specifically allocated somewhere but um in a line item budget that I've Pro been provided from them they just kind of use it as a you know they have total budget request of you know let's say five million right and then they they kind of show a credit of let's say 500,000 so then that leaves the four and a half million that they that they request um as far as where they actually appropriate it that's more in their accounting system so we can certainly look to have a conversation with them when we meet with them yeah that's that's like a burning question in my head yeah so so Jim it's funny because we we've talked about this a couple of times on the on these meetings actually where um budget oversight for the schools um and just how often we're taking a look at the numbers where they're at and things like that and I think this is this kind of Falls along the same lines where if we can get more of a lens into what's happening on a more regular basis throughout the course of the school year we might be able to better track how some of these things are going within the budget um so I think if we my point is I think if we stay true to what we've talked about here about trying to get more frequent updates on where the budget stands might be able to get some of those answers through that process that's fair that's that's that's a fair point EJ fair point I did send out did I just send that to you Jim their actuals uh year-to date what was that last month I think I sent it out I think you well you sent it out last month I kind of scrubbed it put it into a spreadsheet and I sent it over to EJ for him to okay you know for for some light reading so uh so yeah we have those and um you know so uh I can I'll send that out to the rest of the committee apologies for not getting you guys on that email when I send out but I'll send what I sent to EJ out to everybody so you guys have a copy of it just to get a look at kind of where everybody's at okay any other items under anybody have anything they want to chat with the committee at as we are all here when asme arise Frank uh Cody over at the library in the playground parking lot there's a fairly large um vehicle charging operation being put in who's funding that uh National Grid so National Grid is put those two look like some type of a supercharger at those two units for four vehicles so no they didn't do the work they provided an incentive for us to contract with a vendor and the vendor has put in the the Chargers so um you know there's all the these energy incentives out there so our energy manager worked with um a company is uh linkwell uh with a linkwell linkwell was able to you know get a large incentive from National Grid on our behalf and then as part of the deal we actually were able to get it so um any costs not covered by the incentive link well eight uh so it cost the town it cost us nothing um so it's a it's a winwin again not we're not going to make money on it NE necessarily the idea is to cover the cost and provide a service to the community you know we'll charge some fees to cover the cost of any sort of um software you know to to run it every year and then we'll put a little bit aside if things come up with there's um extended warranties that we could purchase and things like that but we won't necessarily in Massachusetts you actually can't profit off of electricity as a municipality so um we just look to cover our cost and provide us service to the community so the fees will be coming into um Halifax then not to a private contractor yeah correct yeah they're they're ours they'll be our our chargers uh they are our chargers so when some someone plugs their car into it they'll be charged for it yeah yeah AB me sort of thing yeah so what we do they're they haven't been interconnected yet uh if you notice there's that um there's that concrete pad out front by the library that's still waiting the awaiting the Transformer so that's National Grid we're waiting on once that once they're interconnected we'll um you know we'll we'll have access to a system where we set the fees and again we'll we'll just charge basically what for the electricity what we're paying um and then probably a small fee um like a parking fee to cover the things like the the software plan uh as a result but is that how the two at Town Hall work as well two at Town Hall are a little bit different they're primarily used right now to charge the the two electric vehicles we have for Town Hall um those are level two Chargers they're not the fast Chargers so they they charge a lot at a lot slower rate and we we're having some issues with them because the company that um the vendor that the manufacturer actually left the North American Market um last month and basically said um well your systems are no longer able to be utilized uh they're still working to charge our vehicles but we don't have as much control of the fee charging and the control aspect of it because of that so we're we're working to identify a solution for the Chargers at Town Hall but those are different because they're the level two and like I said they're primarily used by the vehicles that we have we have we have a hybrid Ford Escape and then we have a fully electric um pickup truck okay so the um Library playground that's no cost to uh town of Halifax then no it was about a $300,000 um basically incentive that we got th those level three Chargers are incredibly expensive um so it I mean was kind of a no-brainer for us to provide the service to the community at no cost to the town no and I get that I was just curious about how that was laying out and I saw that they had a substation or a transformer pad without a unit on it and looking at the cabling in there that's going to be a fairly good siiz um Transformer that gets set there yeah and of course if we p a car there and it's not electric we'll be fine or toad or is this much like handicaps bik yeah once they're operational we'll get some signage you know that says electric vehicle parking only um subject to you know being towed at owner's expense or they currently have some signing on them Cody and as of yesterday it was at ground level so yeah there you're not going to see that yeah we're not worried about it yet because they're not online and we don't want to yeah we don't want to take up the parking spots right now they're not operational once they're interconnected we'll make sure the signage is adequate yeah at least up at eye level right now it's about uh knee high yeah my granddaughter pointed that out to me I'm like electric cars are small so I wouldn't recommend Towing the cars though you could run into some serious liability what Towing an electric vehicle Towing the C I would cite it I wouldn't to anything like that parked and handicapped or that that right yeah interesting is that from experience bill or yeah yep yeahum them yeah I guess I guess if you were gonna tow it you could probably pretty easily damage the undercarriage and everything no I'm talking about any vehicle like handicapped or that I would I wouldn't tell them just cite the site the owner and that's go from there do that good to know that two two questions for you um first was how how are things going with the new financial management system so I think we touched on this recently but we we um we're delayed basically we're we're pushing it out to July 1 to line up with the next fiscal year hopefully um the the benefit is it gives them more time to build out exactly what we need and also we've actually gotten sub substantial credits um and it's really not C it's not costing us anything for this Rollo um or or no way near as much for the actual software at this time so it's a savings for us and then it it gives us some more time to roll it out so is that a so um are they building now now and going live on July 1 or you going to start the build on July 1 no they're building now um you know they we started the uh integration and what we found was there were just several components that weren't built out kind of to exactly what we needed so rather than us paying for this software during a buildout phase we we met we actually had a meeting with um I think it was their CFO and coo to discuss you know what our options here and we agreed like hey well if this can be a mutually beneficial relationship we'd love to do it but it's not going to be at our dime so um they they're working behind the scenes building out and they said we probably could have gone live a little bit sooner than that July 1 but just it doesn't make sense for us to go live you know three months left in a fiscal year for instance so um and it gives them even more time to build it out and start doing testing and stuff so they're they're actively building the goal is to go live uh July 1 yeah that's and that was my point was that uh going live during a fiscal year is a lot more disruptive uh and the other question was I and I think this is kind of a silly question in a way but I wanted to ask anyways with all of the red flag warnings that we've had and responses or in our community and others have we seen any um fiscal impact from that no not really um I mean there might be some increased overtime time down at the fire department because we've actually sent up sent out some Crews um it was somewhere went met uh I can't remember somewhere yeah somewhere out that way yeah I think it might have been Medfield um we sent two Crews two days in a row so um some but nothing beyond what we budgeted for so I don't anticipate being there being any issues yeah I was just curious we were seeing it um become a problem this soon I'm sure it's not going away soon yeah no nothing significant KN on wood um like I said we sent some Crews up there two probably two weeks ago and then we had a small incident in uh the barage actually actually but um they were actually pretty quick to respond and and got a knock down quickly real quick yeah yeah they were very lucky there at the barage that guy lucky he didn't lose his house yeah it was close it was very close yeah EJ anything else no thank you Cody I appreciate it yeah anytime all right anyone else have anything they want to discuss any questions you want to ask oh the next meeting Jim you need to have an agenda item to review the warrant the special town meeting warrant so you guys can be prepared make your recommendations your recommendations won't go into the warrant because we're actually going to get it out to print this week but um they probably be good to take your votes ahead of time there there when you're at town meeting you can say yes we voted and here's what we did Cody um just two articles on the warrant correct yes okay very good sir we'll make sure we get that added in for December 2nd and then just a reminder the 12th is still the plan for that um joint kind of financial meeting with all the towns and the school committees uh in Kingston is the plan as of now at the Kingston Town Hall or yeah yes that's that's the plan as of now um I'm hoping in the next couple weeks everything gets finalized but I haven't heard anything saying otherwise so um I'll keep you guys updated on that but just a reminder good to hear all right is that going to be an evening meeting or yeah I have it in my calendar right now as a 6 PM okay okay all right thank you for that update Cody appreciate it anybody have anything else yes sir all right all right we'll close out that agenda item moving over to public participation which is the following item um I don't see anyone from the public here so I will uh I will close that agenda item and then the last item is next meeting planning um the next meeting that I have on my calendar for us is December 2nd um it will be a uh you know it'll be a virtual meeting just like it is tonight and um we'll get an agenda out uh with the additional uh item on there Cody so thanks for letting us know that and we'll have that posted before the meeting for everybody okay good any questions no oh you know what something just came up today I I should have mentioned this um I just wanted to let you know the school um heating project was just was completed the one you did the reserve fund transfer for uh came in on budget did not go over that amount there were no issues um everything's running operational and also Scott is working on getting the warranty information so hopefully I have that to you prior to your next meeting great two boilers are operational out of four now they knock on wood with the work they were able to do they're all operating oh y they're all operating but that we're we're primarily using those two new ones as they're kind of in the best shape as the primaries and then the the old one the old old one is that still in online or they take that off it's offline right now but it it has the ability to be brought online they the technician was able to I guess kind of Band-Aid it um so if it does need to get brought online during the winter it should be able to be brought out inline the goal is though with having these two you know primary ones operating where they should be it should be very few and far between where we have to fire up that that fourth larger one because um they're finally operating at the levels that they should be and apparently they hadn't been for a very long time yeah that that's good news all right great to hear okay good stuff thank you for that Cody appreciate it all right uh next meeting is December 2nd uh 6 PM so I look forward to seeing everybody there um and I believe that concludes our business for the evening may I get a motion to adjourn so moved second thank you Cheryl roll call vote Cheryl yes thank you Michael Bennett yes yes Frank yes to adjourn please thank you sir EJ yes thank you Mr Smith yes Mr Retta yes thank you sir and I'm a yes as well so this meeting is adjourned thank you all for taking the time to join have a good night good night everybody bye [Music]