[Music] all right I think we can go ahead and get started here we have everybody so um I'll go ahead and call the Halifax uh finance committee meeting to order at uh 6:02 pm today is Monday June 3 in attendance from the Halifax finance committee is uh Cheryl Zer Burke Michael Bennett Jim Walters EJ Bryan Frank Johnston Bill Smith and myself Todd dargy uh this meeting is being recorded by area 58 um first order of business for tonight's session was the acceptance of the meeting minutes from the last um well actually not the last meeting but uh from May 13 which uh happens to be the or happened to be the the town meeting has everyone had a chance to review those minutes any questions concerns comments no all set for me okay all right uh hearing none then would somebody like to make a motion to approve the meeting minutes from um Monday May 13 so thank you Michael thank you Bill uh roll call vote Cheryl yes EJ yes Frank yes on the minutes from uh 5:13 2024 Jim yes Michael Yes Bill yes and I am a yes as well motion carries 7 to zero um so next on the agenda was the reappointment of Cheryl and Michael and Michael looks like we had a typo on your name there so apologize for that but um so we did the uh the appointment last week so um they were appointed by the committee for another uh three-year term uh effective at the end of this fiscal year so um so again Michael and thank you for your um continued um commitment to the town I know you've um you the two Elder uh Statesmen on this committee and um you know obviously um you know very engaged and um you know continue you know to support the the town so very much appreciated so thank you for your your service and look forward to continuing to to work with you um so that was that and then uh next up on the agenda was the Deferred topics uh so I just wanted I thought now would be a good time to kind of just you know not necessar we're not going to solve anything certainly tonight but thought it would be a good uh time to kind of dust off the spreadsheet that we had going from um you know last year we had some discussions and we had tabled a few items so you know post the town meeting I thought would be a good idea just to kind of again just kind of dust off that list take a look at what's out there have some discussion around uh some of the topics and you know formalize a um or at least begin to formalize a game plan on some of them and then also just open up lastly like any other discussion of you know topical areas that um you know we think we should get on the radar for this year so that was really the intent of this uh the review of the topic so uh we'll just go in order of the list as it is uh printed here in the agenda so uh the first was the highway department Consulting contract and and I don't know so I guess maybe you know Cody I guess if you could maybe hit on some of these just some some thoughts and then obviously like folks feel free to kind of jump in with any questions or comments or anything I guess we go through these but um so I just um do we know exactly what this was the only consultant I can think of in the highway department is for our storm water management our ms4 permitting so I assume that's what it is I just not 100% sure yeah yeah so was I think it was a roof sorry what was that show wasn't it the roof no EJ can weigh in on it um he brought it to the table but I'm pretty sure revolved around the um storm water management contract yeah that that would make sense um I mean I'm more than happy to answer specific questions on it you know generally speaking so that falls under engineering which is exempt from 30b um it was VHB is the contract the Consulting we utilize an engineering firm they specialize in ms4 permitting uh storm water management and then we have requirements per uh for ms4 permit annual filings that we have to do um and then also projects that we have to take on we have to show um that we're making progress towards you know full compliance and they've really helped us actually even map out all of our storm water you know storm water systems we many of which we didn't have any mapping in town so they do a lot of field work um I'm not sure how they were brought on board that it was prior to me I reviewed some notes today I couldn't really find much um Sandy wasn't super involved with that either so you know she wasn't sure um you know if as far as procuring it and going out to a competitive bid process you know it's certainly something we'll look to do when our permit is up in I think it's 2027 um but you you you really don't want to change vendors throughout your permit year or the the permit cycle because they're the ones that put the permit together they're the ones that know the projects that you're going to be working on uh and also they're the ones that mapped out our system so it would probably cost more or even if it it it didn't cost more there would be a loss in productivity because they're familiar with the town they know the town um so I certainly think there's opportunity at the end of this permit uh to go out and you know procure um services and you know we may even get them again but it makes it a little bit more competitive which is great uh but it we wouldn't want to go out mid kind of mid cycle uh with the permit just because you know they're the ones that's overseen this process uh thus far yeah I think my my only recollection on this Todd was was more of a general comment related relating to contracts in general across the town um there seem to be a lot of uh gaps in terms of the understanding as to what contract terms we had in place how we got there were they bid out what you know what can we what can we put out to bid that maybe hasn't gone out in quite some time um to Cody's point just to kind of make it more of a competitive process rather than just rolling it over year to year you know no exactly yeah and then having a firm policy in place that we're you know following and abiding to type of thing which really leads into the third item um so maybe we can hit on that just the over all procurement policy is concerned yeah so we implemented a procure purchasing and procurement policy um last July 1 that you know the town didn't really have a policy in place so um it's a I think it's been well it's been a learning curve you know Sandy can certainly touch on it but her and um her her team the assistant Town account have been a great uh assets in policing this because really they're the first line of defense if making sure that the policy is being followed because um if a purchase order isn't submitted with an invoice they're they're the ones that need to put a flag on it and say no you know we're not processing this you're not following the policies and they have been excellent with that which has helped to really make it successful um so with that there's been a lot of things that we've caught you know that maybe we weren't getting um multiple proposals on so and we're not really doing anything more you know than the state law requires at this point um you it's it's challenging for a small community like us to go above and beyond and do you know competitive procurements for many things because the you know the human resources required to prepare those um procurements is it's in- depth if you look you know like we have a procurement or we just had one out for um a uh the project manager for the Council on Aging project and if you look at our website and you look at kind of what we have to put together it's not just a onepage document that says we're looking for X you know submit proposals by this State it's it's you know 15 20 Page procurement documents we put together so um anything over 50,000 we have to do that we we move forward we do that anything between 10,000 to 50,000 we solicit at least three proposals um from different vendors who who who do the work so uh a lot of it has been catching you know over the 50 we were usually going out to bid the town did a good job of that it was that um you know maybe just over 10,000 or in that range that's where we're seeing we're kind of catching the most of making sure that we're getting you know three competitive proposals and it's been good and like I said it's been good um Sandy and the accounting office has been great at policing that so um anything over 2500 requires a purchase order right now purchase orders are supposed to be you know submitted before any sort of um item is actually purchased or you know anything is ordered the department head signs off on it uh comes to me as the chief procurement officer I review to make sure the procurement was followed sometimes I'll check in the account to make sure that you know we have enough money and then once I sign off on it I send a copy to back to the department and then to Sandy um if it's done electronically if it's just a paper copy it goes back to the department head then they're responsible uh to be submitting it with their invoice uh that is respective to the purchase order so you know certainly something will look continue to tighten up but we've come a long way in the last year with it I think uh it's really helped to button us up and it's really helped I think with the um the purchasing in our line item transfers I mean we've had some line item transfers this year but if you look it's it's not to the extent that we had last year knock on wood uh and I think part of that is is we have a little bit better of a grasp on the spending um when a purchase order goes in our our financial system it shows up as an encumbrance basically already being accounted for so we um you know we know if there is a contract in place for $50,000 purchase order has been submitted uh it shows up in our accounting system now you know that that that's actually going to that full 50,000 will be taken out of the budget for that year so it's been helpful uh hopeful we're hopeful that with the new Financial system it'll all be electronic because you know it's not perfect that it's a paper system now or we do it via PDF uh but again it's only been a year and most department heads and staff were never familiar with a process like this so it's been a big adjustment right yeah and as Cody said the bigger items um we were going out to bid for usually um if we had a contract it might have been a three-year contract but they were going out for like the highway um supplies for the um you know the tar for the gas and oil would do it for electricity um we did it I'm trying to think of some of the other things but they were good on the bigger items of going out with the previous to administrator so okay great any questions followups on that for I just want to Circle back on that uh contract Cody for the consultant expires in 2027 I believe you said well our contract is an annual contract with them Frank but the the the current permit ex uh needs to be completely redone in 27 so I mean we we technically yeah yeah we technically could SAR ties with them at you know at the end of the fiscal year and seek out a new uh vendor it's just not something that we'd recommend because they're the ones that have seen this process through so thus far right so so why how does that work though how so if if the permit is done by them and it's good until 27 they're they're ultimately responsible for obtaining that permit to begin with in their and and while that's happening they're on a year-over-year contract no it's the town's responsibility and we just basically contract with them to assist us in the process like even the our submittals they can't come from the the consultant they have to prepare everything and then we actually have to submit it and send it all in um and it's the the reason that it's a annual contract instead of a um you know a three-year or 5-year contract is more because the pro it's a lot of it's Project based so they do the Consulting work for us and that's um you know 70 to maybe 70 to 80,000 of the I think it's around 150 we probably spend um and then the rest is all Project based and so the projects are up to what we want to do and so he we have regular storm water management meetings myself our health agent Steve and our highway department and then conservation and determine you know these are projects we want to go for so it varies year to year on what the extent of it could be um and that's why it's just been an annual contract so wouldn't wouldn't it so if we if as a town we're not going to want to go out to replace that contract for obvious reasons I mean everything that you're saying Cody makes sense but if we know that a permit that they were involved with us obtaining is good for say five years if if we know that we're not going to want to bid that contract out wouldn't it make sense to try to negotiate the fiveyear contract with them to get better terms rather than going year-over-year and have to deal with you know increases and whatnot you know sometimes when you do that you might be able to say if they have a a 3% annual increase that they build into the contracts you might be able to talk to them and negotiate down to a 2% annual increase in the contract but when we're going year over year that that wiggle room sort of goes out the window you know what I'm saying yeah yeah absolutely yeah it's something we could we could definitely look at TI the terms of contracted the uh period of performance of the permit with the state um if it they issue it for 3 years then we should have a contract with the consulting firm for that three-year period yeah I feel that's how it should work and that's typically how we used to do it back in the day when we had storm water permits we had to manage um we tied it to the permit and um for that period of performance yeah especially where you tied to them anyways right so it just makes sense DJ's point to to get more favorable to be have more leverage to get more favorable terms right yeah right because they'll put escalators in there each year which is which done but it allows you to negotiate what those escalators are over the three three to five years what however long the permit is good for with DP oh yeah and then you usually it I mean it it involves saving some amount of money even though it does escalate a little bit you will save some some amount of money yeah because you're committing up front to go x amount of years yeah so build a relationship with the uh vendor the supplier consultant whoever it might be you know and and they also look at it as okay well we've got a contract for the next three years or five whatever whatever it is you know um based on the permit and they like that too because they're forting their workout as well you know exactly year to year you know I worked with a lot of Consultants don't like to go year to year they want to get a three five year contract in you know and then they can manage their business accordingly make sure they got the right amount of Staffing to manage the contract things of that nature right yeah but we got another couple years to go on that so but you know it's it's important that we look at things from that standpoint I feel it is oh yeah no definitely all all great points for sure all right so I guess stay on the procurement front is the school department so you know that's a much bigger issue I think something that we need to focus on this year so I don't know I was kind of thinking about this the other day and maybe makes sense Co because we need to figure out how the best to try to address the whole situation with uh the vendors like you know particularly even like the school resource officer contract right where I mean they made the the point on the floor right that um you know the town approves it and they just you know say to the police department you know fill the position and then whatever the cost is just pass to the town right which you know can't you know can't operate that way right for various reasons so so I think that's a big point we need to address with them so I was thinking I don't know maybe we can ask them to add that to one of their agenda you know to their agenda to one of their upcoming meetings or something that we could attend and try to uh have some open dialogue and discussion with them to try to figure out a way to push that forward I guess we need I think we need them to take ownership on that and uh potentially let us get more involved I guess in that um in some capacity they well they go about bids yeah so what I I see what you're saying I guess in order for us to I think have um you know an effective dialogue with them it would probably be beneficial if we we can provide them kind of exactly so what exactly is the finance committee looking for from them that they are prepared and they can produce hopefully the information and it's yeah well I mean I mean you know U from my point of view I think what we'd be looking for is them to take more uh responsibility I guess over the contracts and not you know again in the particular instance of the the school resource officer not just going to say you know the Kingston Police Department and saying you know we need a part-time uh employee for x amount of hours and then you know and then be obliv oblivious to what it cost and um to the towns and things of that nature so I think um we need to have some kind of agreement as to like how those those kind of contracts and negotiations are going to going to work if if they're not going to take ownership of the contract then um then I think we need to get involved some way some way shape or form to be able to help you know push those discussions and make sure that you know the town is actually getting a uh you know valuable and financially responsible outcome I guess of of whatever the situation may be um you know so there's the school resource officer there's the whole Transportation special needs Transportation which you know we spent a lot of time you know diving into which I you know created a sheet that broke down all the the prices to um a very granular level of detail which we found that actually which was surprising to me because I thought actually the costs are going to be really more of out of District uh Transportation but they were really you know I think 80% of the cost were right in Kingston alone so there's there's opportunities and some of these fees to kind of drive them down and and be more sustainable and again viable for the town which I think is a major problem right as we've seen in the last town meeting like folks are really against taxes increasing right so um unfortunately as we all know we we go through the town hall um the town Department you know budgets with a fine tooth comb right and and have for you know decades I guess probably right and so there's not any there isn't any more fat any of those budgets so really the target area has to be with getting our hands around these School budgets and having somebody take more ownership of the what to say no they do yeah yeah so that's my thoughts I don't know if anybody else you know you know disagrees or or agrees or well it's nice to get your hand around it but they o need to get it started in a reasonable amount of time right yeah because the time they're taking is obviously not adequate right yeah challenge is is they won't talk about a budget until January right and they should be talking now right well we should be talking in October we should be talking in October they by the end of their first quarter they should understand kind of where they're at from a spend perspective right no exactly and that's why I was hoping maybe we could just somehow have some dialogue and open discussion with them say in the coming months's harm and asking and you know again the challenge is as you rightly said Todd is you know they're going to go out and get a contract for a school resource officer and then just dump it on the town and make the town say no because then they are basically blameless when it comes back on so that's that's the tactic that that they like to use that's fine again it's it's got to be something that we have to have an active conversation with and you know so and that starts with um uh what's her name Dr Jill yeah so I was hoping Cody but also Sarah hickey right yeah right so I was hoping Cody we could maybe and maybe it's not in their meeting it could be in our meeting or maybe it could be a separate meeting but just have some like open and honest dialogue of just like almost like a brain stor storming session even too just kicking the tires on you know what's the best way to move this forward you know collectively right for them for the town citizens for the region as a whole right like what's there's a lot of work I think and a lot of opportunity here that uh you know we need to get started on and come up with some solutions because you know long term this isn't going to be viable right to continue to operate this way and it's uh it's coming to a head actually pretty quickly right maybe even next year with some of this stuff so yeah no it's a good point um you know I can tell you one of the things that they have brought up is um you know they want us to overc procurement at the elementary school and um you know from my standpoint point I I pushed back just for the fact that I have no we have no authority over there right so we have no Authority on their purchasing um so I'm not going to oversee their procurement on an operation that I have no no authority over or you know or no oversight over um and that's you know that's been one of the things that we've gone back and forth with but should we have some Authority with that yeah isn't that a way for us but isn't that a way for us to establish some I guess Cody by getting in there and and formalizing it as you no because they they want to say um we we're we're doing this project we want you to procure it that's that's it put the the work on us rather than any sort of oversight or authority um to do anything it's and we have no Authority you know they can say we're we're doing this contract or we're purchasing this we're purchasing that and we have no authority over it um and you know they also spend you know again look at their 50 you know the elementary school is you know8 million 78 million they're a big operation to then just say we have to take over their procurement with little to no oversight you know we can't say you're going to follow this policy this procedure it's just not it's not it's not a viable thing there's a pretty hard line drawn between town and school as far as who's responsible for you know the purchasing and all of that line item autonomy which also makes it so they can move their money between all their different lines right basically we've been told in the past that the school building is the schools and the town has up up to the building the building and everything inside that envelope is the school's responsibility the school committee and the the administration yeah go ahead makes sense that makes no sense at all our children go to school there we pay taxes for our kids to go to school there we should have more of a say as to how you're spending money yeah when we yeah well that's it you elect the school committee and they're the ones who have to say over how the money is spent but they only they sign the bills they're not in charge of the procurements or telling people where they have to order from or of that and don't they they have to fill all the same rules as far as procurement as everybody else as we have to correct they have to put them out to three bids and they have to do that for the most part it's a little bit different for schools some of the thresholds are a little bit different um but in general the process is is a very similar process it's just the thresholds are a little bit different but it's but again you know that's the whole the whole idea right we part of what we pay at the Elementary School is shared cost and you heard the school committee touch on that right these shared cost contracts I mean a large part of that is the administrative side that the town pays we're paying for that you know that that Services we're paying through Silver Lakes admin uh that's beyond our assessment it's the shared cost in the elementary school budget right for the superintendent for you know their administrative staff over there um so you know it's it's kind of an operational thing but I want to mention it because it's probably something you'll hear from them but again I think if if that's something we're going to look at we need to look at the operation of how we're doing this as a whole and if we're going to and then you know if we're going to be overseeing procurement we're already paying the bills right it all goes through our accounting system um we pay the employees you know we cut the checks for the I'm talking for the elementary school here right you you got to start to look at why don't we have total control of the elementary school then because quasi you know quasi Regional element school but not really it it presents challenges like this is is this is this segregation or separation I think is a better term is this separation codified in the Massachusetts general laws or is it just something that we do yeah it's it's in the law yeah so the school committee uh per the state law I don't know the exact you know chapter but it has the authority total authority over the school doesn't the regionalization agreement touch into this too the regionalization agreement only touches into the aspects of um the the regional so prek and then 7 through 12 is the focus of the regional agreement and then what we do through the elementary school is this Union I think it's Union 31 31 yeah Union yeah right and that and then we have the shared kind of services Goa but in reality we're only Regional 7 7 through 12 and then prek uh and then it's this but but again I wouldn't say we run our own ship really either because it's the same superintendent it's the same administrative staff it's it's very it's odd yeah are all cities are all towns like that are all no Regional Schools run this way no so for instance I live in a a a town with a Regional School District and um but but they're fully Regional so the the Two Towns both have their own elementary schools but but they're run regionally so that you know it isn't it's one Regional assessment that you know each Town pays an assessment and that that runs the school they have a shared High School um and then they each have their own elementary school and middle school but it's a Regional School District you know prek through 12 go ahead EJ yeah I just to um Cody had asked a question when we when we first started talking about this as far as you know what we look to accomplish with meeting with them and how we want to structure that but you know Cody you just touched on it with you with what you just said a minute ago it's it's almost like this is a this is a good conversation starter with them right if they have intentions on how they want things to be managed moving forward we have the same with regards to the budget process and both sides can't you can't take and not give back right so if if we both have goals that we're trying to accomplish we got to sit in a room put all those goals on a table and then figure out how we get there and it starts with the budget process because if that process isn't right everything else that they're looking for in terms of procurement process Etc is all by the wayside if you don't know how the numbers are being established to begin with right so I feel like this is almost that stepping stone where we get them in a room and say okay if we want to look at you know for lack of a better term and overhaul on how this works moving forward then then let's start that conversation and let's begin it with this coming Year's budget process because you might actually want to start before the budget process no that's what I mean start it early like August or say September yeah I was gonna say September because the the you know that that meeting was tough on the 13th and it it didn't help getting chicken scratch on a piece of paper 20 minutes before we walked into the town meeting you know that's aw right it was and it puts it puts us in a bad spot it it shines a negative Spotlight on the work that we do and to sit there on the other side of the table and say oh by the way we want you to run our procurement process that's not entirely fair if you're not gonna have a conversation about the overall big pitcher right exactly yeah no agree I guess so I guess as far as next steps I guess do you want to reach out to them I guess and see if I mean I think we're amendable to either solution either we maybe join one of their meetings school meetings and we discuss this or uh maybe the more preferred approach for us would be that they join our meeting I guess and kind of cover these but you know whatever they prefer based on their availability you know I think at the end of the day we just want to move this forward so you know I'm happy to facilitate either option I guess yeah that's fine is your focus um more General in the schools the elementary school and the regional or are you FOC I'm just if they you know because so yeah high level General to start I guess and then you know as we have some to kick the tires on a number of these items and then we figure out how to uh you know kind of tackle them and address them which will you know require more follow-up discussions more targeted discussions but um you know I think the key point is first just to start to open up the dialogue I think that it's a big win in itself right just to have more formal and perhaps reoccurring dialogue with them I I think is uh very beneficial will go a long way as well okay yeah I'll reach out and see um if uh at the very least Sarah and Jill would be able to attend a finance committee in the near future okay yeah see what they say and then um you know we can go from there and figure something out but I yeah I'd like to you know as Sandy mentioned like you know come August or so really start having some these uh in-depth discussions and get ahead of this curve um try to figure out what kind of wins we can get in place for this upcoming year and then you know some of them will be a little more uh you know longer term but um you know at least we will put us on the right track I guess yeah I think you know come late fall we're going to want to start talking Financial projections with them it's something I've been trying to get out of them you know since I got here because how do we plan if we don't have projections and again not going to hold them to it I understand things change you know enrollment changes but you have to have some sort of projection because yeah at least or something yeah when it represents more than 50% of our budget yeah it has to be mandatory for us yeah so you're talking you know from the projections that I put together for them and and I don't really know their operation right um we're looking at there's no way we can possibly fund their budget next year you know without an override so those are it's a conversation we really need to start early to figure out how a what is the approach going to be if the and and if it is going to be you know for the potential for an override as a finance committee as a as a select board that's something we need to start very very soon and and start getting the appetite you know from the community um and and if you know present multiple budgets if this doesn't pass this is what it looks like if it does this is what we'll do but it's not um you know when we started talking this past year a couple months before a town meeting you know oh override potential or not you can't just you can't Implement a successful override in a couple months it's a very long process if you want to be successful or at least present it successfully yeah yeah no I think that's exactly the St be presenting overrides and the schools especially the Silver Lake District needs to be more transparent on how they're operating with a 35% increase over the previous year instead of a chick and scratch on each side of a piece of paper dropped off you know at 6:20 at night you know um and then nobody within the community even questioned that you know it's it's just crazy you know when they're 54% of our budget and that leaves us 46% to operate this town we you know we're Bare Bones to begin with on the operations of the town you know and right yeah exactly Community has a difficult time understanding they got it flip-flopped you know they think it's the it's the the town that's you know the cream of the crop you know but it's not it is it's the Regional School District and the elementary school took the heat of the heat of the um deductions you know and the Regional School District didn't contribute to the party you know no exactly they they got stuck with the uh holding the bag I guess if you will yeah but that that 46% too just keep in mind right that includes the fixed cost right which is like what 13 14% so you know um the the town government budgets really only operating around like what 32 33% and something which is pretty small and uh so it's going to be some challenges um certainly for next year but I think that's exactly the starting point Cody is that we have these major concerns and then um you know how do we address them how do we you know kind of move the dial a bit and and again some of these discussions are what does that right the procurement uh practices the overall um management of the budget and the line items and uh and more transparency into the stuff because we're um you know we're blind to the to a lot of what's going on there um and you know we you know we you know you were able to find that uh that overd there right in within like 20 minutes of that meeting which is you know kind of concerning um as well right so um I don't know you bring valid points there Todd there's how many buses are running half empty over in that side of the house you know you know right that can be tightened up on the on the general busing you know um just a lot of things you know what's the head count over there what's the what's the teacher ratio what's the what's the assistant ratio to the students you know all those things need to be looked at just like what happened over at the elementary school you know and exactly that's what we need to look at there yes exactly part of that it's not just you know this contract or that contract and there's no reason that they should be waiting till January February to kind of tell us kind of may be where they're going to be and then in March say we're still not sure if we're there yet you know yeah well that's not working not working at all not working at all for us sorry yeah so I mean I think the historical practice of kind of writing them blank checks right which continues to this day needs to needs to stop right and we need to work with them to to change that but also think part of the problem is is what I've seen Cody is that they continue to run at a um overage as well on their budgeting right which I know they ran last year so so I I you know I don't think any of us should have a comfort that they're actually you know running to budget right they're running over the budget so which is highlights an additional concern as well right like they don't I don't know that um you know there's the full um understanding of of the cost and and the certainly not being managed to to budget entirely so um that's you know that's a problem in itself sure is the biggest the biggest challenge as we all know in business is people it's the people's it's it's the salaries that are killing us so in the at at Silver Lake it's it's the high school teachers followed by the middle school teachers and Then followed by unbelievably the nurses so you know that's where that's where the money that's where the lion share of that is going yeah so unless we're getting in which we are not obviously getting in on Union contract negotiations about what they're going to get paid and what they're asking you know we don't have a lot of wiggle room once you take those dollars out there's really not a lot left from a operational standpoint yeah but Jim that's where the head count comes in on a number students oh I absolutely agree absolutely agree I get it you know it's tough to make those hard decisions but you know what they've got to be made in business you know it's just how life rolls in the business world and no different they're 100% support that yeah so anyways I mean there's a lot of challenges to to kind of uh get our arms around here so um but yeah so I think that'd be a good start just having some open and honest dialogue with them um to at least get the process and and folks engaged and and that kind of stuff will be huge and then we kind of we go from there but um but yeah I think all of the all of the all of the fruit not just the low-lying fruit right I think all are on the budget all all are on the school side because uh there's just nothing left to pick on the on the town government side as as we know so and it's an ear is is we keep discussing here it's an early process and the earlier the better exactly yeah exactly that's the key Point yeah that's why I want to get started on this sooner than later like you know in the summer like even you know we're not going to solve anything on you know day one obviously but at least get the discussions going and um you know move things in forward I guess to where we can um and a lot of these have no easy solutions too right so but I don't think that you know it shouldn't shouldn't deter us from uh trying to tackle them right yeah exactly so all right so so Cody you reach out to them I guess we get a chance and just get their thoughts as far as like you know when we could have some dialogue with them whether it's us joining their meeting they want to do it that way or if they want to you know join ours then we can just have some initial conversations on some challenges and concerns and um you know maybe you know best practices I guess are going forward I guess if you will yeah I'll reach out to them tomorrow and let you know when they're available okay all right great thank you Cody for that uh and so the one item we did skip over which I just want to go back to before we open up for other topical areas is the uh the financial policy so I know Cody you gave me um an update a couple weeks back I guess but you want to just relate to the committee har I get do a ro plan to kind of sure uh so you may recall the plan is to do a joint meeting with the selectman on June 11th one of the topics um to discuss there is the do financial management review um you know with that they did look at some of our financial policies um but it's a good opportunity after that I think to really dig into those summer times the best time to do that you know it's probably the um the workload of the committee is at its lightest during the summer so um but they have best practices that we can look at they have model Financial policies so after the meeting on the 11th I can start to share some of that with you um I'll also work to get out our existing Financial policies to everybody um that way there you can see what we have in place um you know areas where maybe we need to do some updating and then I'll send out the um the model that the state has which a lot of our financial policies are in good shape you know we have solid strong policies in some areas there's some that you know we need to update uh um just that it haven't been updated in a while and we need to you know change it with the times and then there's others where it's more of um you know the the Outlook of the community you know how do we want to handle X or you know do we want to go in this direction or do we want to go in this direction so those are all things we can look at but I'd say in the summer time is probably the best so after the meeting with the selectman we can start to dig into those yeah great yeah thank you Cody and so we have that nailed down for next Tuesday right the 11th at 6 pm on site right yes yep we'll be in the Great Hall yeah okay awesome and everybody's okay with that I know Cheryl you'll be away but everybody else yep yeah I'm good okay all right awesome um and then we also have those other items on that agenda as well um Cody right just with the communication and that kind of stuff contract you know outcomes I guess yep so I have um you know General communication Financial impact of contracts uh Department of Revenue and Financial management review uh town meeting recap okay was there anything else from anyone that those are the three that we I discussed with Cody but was there anything else that anybody wants to add I guess now would be the time to you have any other do do we have any Cadence with the selectman um where we sit down on a on a scheduled basis to go over like year-to dat actuals on the budget do we do that quarterly this is my first full this will be my first full year going through so I don't know the end answer to that question no we haven't historically now okay oh and the audit Todd so our audit was just finalized I will get that sent out to everybody um probably tomorrow and um so we can discuss the audit to find actually no findings this year which is excellent findings okay that's fair surprising we run a tight ship Jim it may not seem like it but we do run a tight ship I'm not surprised I read the one from last year so if we fixed everything from last year I'm surprised have them swing by the school district [Laughter] there all right very good so I guess going so as far as just closing out the Deferred topics I guess any other key Focus areas that anyone thinks that we should uh get on the radar I think obviously the school will be the uh the major Focus certainly but big yeah no okay all right so I think that's sheet was helpful so as things pop up you know Katie I'm sure we'll be happy to kind of manage that and we can add things to the list um so we don't lose sight of them yeah I think it's great to keep tracking like that Todd and the ones that are currently on there with updates to them you know exactly things of that nature you know get one sheet going and just keep rolling with that sheet so we can just refer to one page or two whatever you know one document you know yeah yeah so the the document is saved out on the folder too so you should all have access to see that uh if you don't just let me know but uh but yeah exactly we'll keep that out there and we you know we can close down the items as we go and and add to it um as necessary so all right anything else on the Deferred topics from anyone before we move on no okay all right so we did get to um last minute transfer requests in um so uh one was from the highway one uh from the police Department both of which were related to uh electricity cost so the highway um one was a request to transfer $7,000 from the snow and ice which we know um you know had very you know minimal almost no snow um so transfering 7,000 to that account to the street lighting account um in the amount of $7,000 I think the current balance is uh what is it 2545 um so I guess how so the 7,000 would then put it what around $4500 500 yeah one more round of bills to pay okay that's so yeah that's what she's expecting okay all right any questions comments on that from anyone Sandy they're comfortable with that's going to cover that we're not going to have another one pop up here in July I'm hoping not it if we get any surprises but no I'm talking about the electricity that the town hall on not Town Hall but the street lighting she believes that will cover it we are we did just start getting our bills with the new electricity rate so they should be a little bit lower too so even with them using the the average of the past few months the the number sh be lower so this is a pretty comfortable number yeah I didn't realize we had that many street lights in Halifax you know a lot of these Road Drive are pretty dang dark pitch black where I drive black is yeah exactly pitch black that's right Sandy it is dark on Elm Street all right so would somebody like to make a motion then to transfer in the amount of $7,000 from snow and ice to the street light account so moved thank you Michael thank you Cheryl roll coval Frank approve the 7,000 uh transfer for the um Highway Department Street lighting thank you Frank EJ yes uh Jim yes Bill yes Cheryl yes Michael yes and I am a yes as well motion carries seven to zero um all right so next up then was the uh the transfer from uh please so the transfer request was in the amount of $33,000 from the conservation Agent salary account which has a current balance of just under 13,000 um so the request is to transfer 3,000 out of that account to the police station electricity uh which currently has a negative 14 3843 uh in the account so this would put it as a posit of uh just about $1600 I guess 1561 yeah thank you Jim um so same scenario obviously here right um any questions comments on this request is that the average bill Sandy 15 yeah that um it will probably come in about 14 something like this past one did so I went a little generous I told her to ask for 3,000 to cover the last one and this the next one yeah yeah I see the Chiefs on here he might want to go around flipping those switches off before he leaves you know no heat in the cells that's right all right uh would somebody like to then make a motion to transfer in the amount of $3,000 from the conservation Agent salary salary to the police station electricity account some mov second thank you Michael uh roll call vote Frank yes for the electricity of three ,000 at the police department Jim yes Bill yes EJ yes Michael Yes Cheryl yes and I am a yes as well motion carries seven to zero all right so that took care of the funding transfer request uh any others that we're expecting I guess for like uh we won't be meeting we're not planning to meet next week so I guess just let us know if anything develops I'm keeping my eyes up on um on the accounts and asking the department to do the same so yeah sign tomorrow say that again do we have to sign these yeah chy why don't you give it a couple of days let the guys all sign it electronically and send it to me and then you can sign that one okay all right oh come in on Thursday okay yeah and so I'll I'll circulate the uh sheet to you guys uh post this meeting so you can try the electronic way if anybody has any issues just just give me a shout and then we can uh figure out game plan or just or have you go down once I send the sheet over to um to Sandy all right yeah Todd um Sandy and or Cody you think we have any outliers out there that are going to come in of significant dollars or we feel pretty comfortable with each department here I think anything significant we've been relaying for the past you know two two three months everyone needs to be very aware of their accounts you know no no spending sprees at the end of the fiscal year um and to keep us updated if there's going to be any overages and these are the only ones that have come up so yeah departments are doing a really good job of of making sure that they're sticking to their budgets yeah yeah that that's great that's big change from last year yeah actually Cody I had a question actually weren't we G to um start a new process I guess for the signatures on the um on these transfer requests is that in place now or that's a good question I can check with Caesar um tomorrow and make sure I think it's built out so yeah I can I can double check tomorrow okay yeah because these two might be good to to run that run these through that I guess if it's up and running but if not just let me know and I can uh I can go the old Route I guess yeah I'll double check tomorrow but I actually think it's all built out so I'll let you guys know okay awesome yeah thank you um okay all right so those were the transfer requests uh correspondence and a as may arise I guess anyone receive anything or where we at with the accountant to accountant back Phill oh glad you asked Jim um we I do not anticipate we will have anyone in place for July 1st we have no um vital candidates at this point we're reposting again the plan is to bring in a consultant who will handle the day-to-day accounting um requirements and then Sandy has graciously offered to consult for us um you know uh maybe 10 or 12 hours a week to um you know for the things that are more perent in the office and as you guys know sand has really acted more as a finance director uh over the you know last 10 plus years in Halifax so some of our financial departments she is really um supported at a very high level so she's going to continue to you know if the board approves a contract and we'll have a conversation with you guys about it um hopefully continue continue to provide some support and also a process for um you know getting our financial departments in a s in a spot where they you know no longer need her support you know we've working at it over the last six months to a year um and we've made progress but there's still some work to be done okay any viable candidates in the pipe line or is just nothing um well I mean I think the issue has been compensation you know we we've had two viable candidates um two very very different candidates but both were were very good the the search team really liked um them both and it just came down to we weren't able to negotiate uh a wage that either candidate was comfortable with right okay so yeah it's a challenge I mean I it's one of those things um you know we we may depending on what the you know the the Consulting contract is going to be around $90,000 a year for just the accounting consultant um and then you know we're going to have to obviously compensate Sandy for her time so um you know it may be something in the long term where after the board uh if we're not able to find someone for what the sele board was hoping for we may have to bring someone at a little bit of a higher rate um because the other options aren't great you know we have enough money um set aside for of 25 here if we have to go that year Cody uh we do yeah for for some of the contracts but we're not not all of it um and that's we just don't know we're going to do yet Frank so it's hard to say you know if we have to hire someone at what I anticipate we're going to have to hire someone well it'll probably end up being a Lineum transfer you know at the end of the year yeah I was getting at the point of if we do go with a full-time consultant for the year uh do we have enough money set in the account at this point are we going to have to no something different yeah I think we'll be we'll be a couple thousand dollars short oh okay yeah I think we we budgeted 87 I believe um it would be 90 for the consultant for the full year we have some arpa money available to pay for financial consulting um so we can look at that so we would probably utilize part of that to pay you know Sandy as a consultant for a little while and then you know if that started to run low we would have to look at the accounting um salary line item but again with just so much in the up in the air at this point I don't yeah the board hasn't approved any contracts that that's my plan to present you know to them but they haven't approved anything at this point yeah regarding the OPA is that um have to be expended by the end of 2024 calendar 2024 has to be committed by the end of calendar 2024 yeah okay so so if we have contracts in place uh purchase orders executed those we can provide that as proof of commitment uh that's for anything that we have anything that we're getting through the county has to be committed by September 30th which we'll have we'll have no problem with that um the school has one project that we're a little bit concerned with but we're working with them um basically till the end of this month actually June 30th they're supposed to have it in and if they don't it's going to be another conversation we have to have with the select board to see if we want to reallocate that money we obviously don't want to take a project away from the school but I also don't want to see us give you know $400,000 back to the federal government yeah no we don't want to lose any money yeah no we already know there's several places around town that could use that money yeah absolutely yep we could use every penny we can get right so we don't want absolutely I just have one more final question yeah go so um the Ada funding now the study we base that off of is a study or a self assessment that was run in 2021 now it's 2024 so that study is now 3 years old and we've barely done anything with the 500 ,000 so that said you know what if if we obviously that's not going to get done before the end of the fiscal year so I presume that that account's just going to roll over into next year right yeah um I hope it's in a high interest bearing savings accounts or something so we can make some kind of money off of it yes we've we've had a financial meetings and our treasure collector has been uh much more Progressive in our investments and you know um some CDs and stuff so if look our are we actually this year year to date we have a record high of um of earnings on on accounts with in between interest in Investments investment accounts we're up 70,000 I think 70 or 880,000 and we were like 5,000 last year or the year before so that's good are up yeah it does um okay so that said are we running up against the time clock here yeah uh for the viability of three-year-old data and dumping half a million dollars into it no not really because the ADA requirements haven't changed um the so the project it the way it works with many of the projects is either it's compliant or non-compliant and so if anything it may just be um when we reassess there may be more items that are out of compliance but I wouldn't say that the projects that were that are or the data that's presented is invalid it's it's definitely still valid it's still applicable uh we have until 20 I think 2030 um to to get those implemented and then there are certain things you can request waivers for so on and so forth and it's a good it's a good question Jim I actually um I'm gonna ask Scott to put together for the end of this fiscal year everything that he's done uh so far this fiscal year in a cost associated with that because he's actually done quite a bit or he's ordered quite a bit of stuff so um yeah but I'll have him put a list together and I'll I'll email it over to you guys will'll post on the website as well okay very good yeah I think that's a great idea yeah we really need like a road map I think to get there because I know he's just kind of been working with those funds and chipping away at things as he can but we really need that you know now you're talking kind of just fiveyear Vision I guess right and we we also need to understand if there's additional costs like you know how we're going to fit those in and stuff like that so yeah well that's true because we knew that the 500,000 wasn't going to get all of the right yeah how long is it going to last and when is it going to need another money right so do we need to start air marking you know uh some Capital you know funds for the next five years to you know what I mean like that kind of stuff I think we need to start thinking about yeah um I had another question for Cody if we're finished on the Ada stuff the floor is yours Frank thank you Mr Jim um down at the Town Barn kind of dat us a little bit on what's going on there um let's talk about it at next meeting Frank we just have some things going on behind the scenes that I don't want to give up our position on um that's fine but we're we're definitely making progress and it's it seems to be positive so on the 11th if you'd like I can um I'll add a quick item on the joint meeting agenda and I can fill you guys in I think we'll have a solid answer by then yeah I think that'd be good maybe have a little discussion at that meeting then I'd like that um kind of get a feel for what's happening because we're talking potentially some significant dollars down there I think we're gonna I think we're gonna make our way out of it without too much of an impact but stay tuned okay so thank you Cody all right great anything else from [Music] anyone no okay any participation no all right so next meeting planning so we already talked about next week's meeting so that's Tuesday June uh 11th on site uh a joint meeting with the board of Selectmen to go through those items that we discussed uh post that will be our um finance committee meeting which is next scheduled for June uh 17th Monday uh I'm not going to be able to make that meeting I have a conflict so we have one or two options I guess either Cher we can leave it as is and then Cheryl you can run it or uh I'd be available to move the meeting to like Tuesday or Wednesday that week if if folks are available so um just wanted to preferences I guess or availability for folks week we' a zoning bylaw meeting SCH at 8:00 19th is juneth it's a holiday for the town yeah all right so yeah so let's leave it on the 17th I guess Cheryl you have to just plan to I'll do my best gentlemen you'll be you'll be fine I'm sure Zoom right I don't to be out yeah it'll just be a zoom meeting like this so um it would be good just to keep it scheduled that week right because there might be some line item transfers coming through so um don't want to move it you know any further in that week I guess um so we want to just make the agenda kind of light for that week the 17 yeah throwing you a bone there Cheryl you be able to um you may be able to we can monitor the line item transfers and then and you know we you can post it we really when we do Lem transfers we supposed to be specific you know what it is so if we don't have anything by Thursday we can always just say no need to meet unless you guys wanted to meet over something else but if there's no l transfers I don't necessarily see anything urgent that would be no exactly yeah it should be a very really light meeting because you know obviously we we covered all these deferred topics which is a big you know sticking point and there'll be some work in between of uh progressing there right so really it would just really be the item transfers if there are any um to really cover that night so um okay that's fine yeah unless I mean unless something else comes up I guess but uh like an ad hoc type of thing but um but yeah I think we should be in good shape if not a line item transfers or pressing we can skip is that what you're kind of saying Cody either that or there may not even be any Frank may not be any yeah okay well Sandy said she had a couple yeah that potentially might be coming up you didn't say what they were so yeah because we wouldn't be scheduled to meet again until what July July 1st I guess right yeah it's Fourth of July week yeah no 20 24th right 24th oh no no you don't yeah yeah I think we were scheduled for July 1 yeah you're right Todd July 1 would be the next one so we probably be okay yeah yeah is that one going to be actually we're talking about is that one going to be problematic for anyone be going on vacation or anything like that given the holiday no I'll be I'll be here I'll be here every day Saturday for me Todd it's good to be retired [Music] Frank all right sounds good um right so I guess that brings us to a unless anybody has any last minute items no hearing none I guess then would somebody like to make a motion to adjourn so moved second thank you Cheryl roll call vote uh Frank yes to adjourn please uh Jim yes Bill yes EJ yes Geral yes and I am a yes as well meeting is adjourned at 7:07 p.m thanks everyone have a great night night he [Music]