[Music] all right so it's uh 6m so I'll go ahead and call the Halifax uh finance committee meeting order it is 6 pm on Monday April 29th uh this meeting is being conducted remotely and recorded by area 58 in attendance from from the finance committee is Frank Johnston Cheryl Zera Burke Michael Bennett Jim Walters EJ Brian Bill Smith and myself TD dargy um so first order of business was the minutes but we're gonna skip those tonight there was actually a um uh the line item wasn't updated from last week so it specifies April 8th uh the new meeting minutes were from uh last week the 22nd so uh we're just going to strip the date out of there going forward just uh so it's more um generic and we can just review those um or approve those next week I know they just came out uh yesterday as well so I'm not sure if everybody had a chance but give you a little more time to do that and also you know part of the reason why as well is because we have Sarah hicky on here on online with us tonight to kind of review the uh couple of the school items the HVAC and the school Resources officer uh position and she does have a hard stop at 6:20 make sure we have enough time to uh to talk through those items um so without further Ado I guess Sarah uh first thanks joining us tonight uh and I'll just turn it over to you I guess whichever one you want to start with is uh is fine with us uh thank you um the I was given a list of three things to touch on for tonight I just wanted everybody to know that I also have a Plimpton school committee meeting that started at 6 which is why I can't spend more time with you um so the police officer I was asked to get the hourly rate for the detail from Kingston so for fy2 the rate for um a detail is $85 an hour keep keep in mind that that is an an average of um you know different officers get different pay rates for their details and so I was working with the assistant to the Chief and she and I figured $85 would cover the majority of the people doing details and so do you have the uh do you know why we we go that route with this position and as just to have somebody in detail versus an actual just part-time person I guess um well we originally were looking to have two articles for town meeting one for a full-time officer because that has been requested and then the part-time um just in case the full-time didn't pass and when I asked the town of Kingston for the cost for a full-time officer it came out into in excess of $180,000 because they actually don't have an officer available and they would have to hire one so they would have to hire an officer for us to put a full-time officer in they would have to hire a part-time officer which I understand that they can't do and so they're filling it the hours with details and sorry did you say 180,000 for a full-time so I guess couple questions there a like why like how why is that so high I mean that's just you know a very high salary for a um General position and really high comment on that it is extremely high that includes all the costs to the town of Kingston so that's fully this is for 40 hours a week well that was going to be my other second point is that we're talking about fulltime I mean school isn't in session full time I guess so like the hours necessarily wouldn't even be 40 hours per week right I mean okay can I see S Todd yeah go ahead Bill sorry first of all you gotta have the school resource officer has to be certified by the state so how many does Kingston have that are certified by post and $85 an hour that is absolutely outrageous and $180 $80,000 a year is absolutely outrageous that is so wrong I don't know where they getting their figures from but that's wrong I've been doing this job for a long time and that is absolutely wrong yeah and I guess and this obviously s you know is compounder just due to the fiscal restraints right that we're kind of under so we're really looking to save money wherever possible you know across all avenues right so given the uh astronomical you know fees we we did already uh you know vote did not recommend the uh the position just as an FYI I'm not sure if you're aware of that but just want to make sure you are the part time or the fulltime the part time because we had already uh had discussions on this and we found out that the uh the current wage was I think 7 70 plus an hour uh in detail pay so we were not in favor of of paying a officer detail salary to um and so one of the things and I don't know what the possibilities are but one of the things we um you know kind of considered or or brainstormed was this the potential uh for leveraging the existing school resource officer in the um you know for Civil Lake at the high school given the person's already on site um so I don't know if that's feasible or not but that's something that uh you know we' wouldd like to have looked at if if possible if that's a POS you know possibility or not but you know we are not the the committee is not in favor of paying a a detail uh salary so my understanding that the school resource officer at the high school is funded solely by the town of Kingston and so um I imagine the conversation would have to be with the town of Kingston about how they want to use their officer yeah exactly and maybe there's an opportunity to uh create some kind of allocation off of that you know I think obviously much more discussion needs to be had there but um maybe there's an opportunity to kind of uh you know leverage that person a bit to kind of do both and then you know each Town kind of pays an assessment piece to it or something to that effect I'm not sure sure but I think you know the grand scheme of things we want to get the best bang for the buck right being spent um you know for that officer so so Todd could I ask a question yeah absolutely go ahead um Sarah so to bills earlier Point anyone who's working as a resource officer is supposed to be certified by the state is the is the solution that's in place right now with the resource officer for the junior high is that is that the case the officer who's filling in is certified or is this just the detail officer a regular police officer that's filling in that I don't know and I would have to get that information back to you yeah that's a fantastic question EJ um yeah we definitely would like to uh to know the answer to that for sure uh I see Chief chavs you have your hand rais did you have um a certified officer Chief chavs I spoke about this and it is a certified school resource officer there's two of them they uh trips at the current uh they what they do is when Sandy and I reviewed the invoices they do um 16 hours one week 24 hours the next week so it it equals out to 20 hours a week okay all right thank you cor thank you all right I want to just be mindful of Sarah's time here right she doesn't have much time with us so uh we just kind of wrap up any other comments I guess but I want to make sure everybody has a chance to so Frank Cheryl Michael anyone else have anything Jim no was self-explanatory to me based on Bill's information and his pting years in the field as chief of police so exactly yeah me as well Jim anything last I mean so no I would say it's it certainly is odd um so the $180,000 you know my questions would be is that a fully burdened rate what Burden rate are the using is at 1.35% of the person's salary to cover benefits and all the other acuts that go with it that would get you to 180 because if you're going to use 180 as a base that gets you down to $117,000 per year for for a full year which is 40 hours a week uh 52 weeks a year if that's you know but then that's something would have to come from Kingston I'm sure that the school doesn't know how they're calculating that but you know $85 an hour is $17,569.13 um I'd like to have that job so but uh so I I don't think we're going to get the answers here um I don't think it's a good way of a good use of the town's money given the situation we're in so you know I I I don't think we're going to really get the answers that I was looking for no and we already voted to to not recommended so obviously we're not going to change that opinion uh you know here and now or and again I think you know we do have some ideas of potentially um you know leveraging that other officer and stuff as they mentioned s so I don't know if that's something that can be taken back to um further discussion but I think you know that would be our um you know proposed um solution I guess you know because we we do want to consider the safety of the students obviously right so that's um something you know we're mindful of but uh you know we want to make sure we're we're doing that in a um intelligent you know way financially so just go responsible um way so um all right so I guess do you want to move on I guess to the HVAC project did you have an update there so I know we had allocated funds to town meeting last year for some Renovations which I believe you know weren't you know performed so I think we have some questions just on yes uh what what caused that or um and then there's some additional fees I guess being asked for and if that figure is available so I'm going to apologize about this there um there was an issue with the procurement and we have uh the the sake Regional School District has contracted with a house doctor uh we now work with khabib and Associates which is an architect that'll be managing the um project for us and myself and the facilities director had a meeting with them last week so the there's two different projects one of them is being paid for by a town meeting article that is an hbac Unit on the roof of the cafeteria at the high school the amount for that is going to be going so the electrical contractors will have um an estimate tomorrow afternoon and then it goes to the cost estimators and I should have a number by the end of May by the end of May so I guess what are we presenting in the town meeting I guess as far as as far as currently have 100,100 already appropriated for that article we can start that way and then if she need if they need more money we could always cover it in the fall town meeting I mean Cody I don't know what you think about that um strategy but it doesn't seem to make sense to go forward with an article now and we have no no firm agree no definitely not I agree um I think I the we put the $225,000 on there um initially there have been some conversations and an adjusted quote but if we're not going to have a revised number um we don't want to have to do this you know in the spring and then potentially again in the fall we we have the money in the stabilization fund but I think we need to have a solid number um what's unique about this project with us is we're using the state you know we're using the towns funding where Kingston and Plimpton are using arpa funding so they have a little bit more flexibility they don't have a town meeting requirement they can just apply to the county to change that amount where we don't have that uh flexibility we need town meeting appropriation so Cody could I just clarify something for the articles that we voted on so um the Sandy just mentioned we had a 100k that's set aside for this um in the article for town meeting I think asked for another 25,000 was that 25,000 to um I guess satisfy any adjustments in what what the new quote would be or was that set for something specific no that was so ultimately yeah we had previously allocated that 100,100 at last Springtown meeting we knew that the amount was going to uh change in The Proposal that I had gotten in an email from I think it was Kingston um had provided us with a their updated proposal it was going to cost us an additional maybe 17 or 18,000 so in order to provide for a little bit of a contingency my thought was put 25,000 forward and then we would be good to go but it seems like you know there's some procurement issues with with Silver Lake not issues but things that need to be addressed um so yeah that would have taken care of the adjusted amount the additional 25,000 okay so it was it was a rough estimate while we were waiting on a hardest correct and then the thought was is we could always we could have done an amendment on the Flor town meeting if we needed to change that 25,000 amount but it sounds like we're not going to have a solid number until the end of May I think sy's um suggestion of waiting until the fall town meeting is probably our best bet right so there was there's a couple articles still open that we haven't voted on this being one of them because we're waiting on the final number um so now it's just going to be uh removed as an article given the fact that uh we won't have a number in advance of the meeting so there are still a couple other articles that are you know we still need to vote on so separate to that um all right any other questions to Sarah on um just good news uh Cody had asked me about the end of the fiscal year with Halifax elementary school and I was able to work uh with a special ed department and they were able to offset the deficit we have in tuitions and transportation with their circuit breaker and so we would not be requesting any additional money at town meeting for to finish the I'm sorry at the special town meeting to finish out the fiscal year so barring any anything catastrophic between right now when I'm speaking and June 30th um there would not be any need for additional funding that's great news thank you Sarah y made my day too yeah thanks for sharing appreciate that um all right I think that's it right Sarah was there anything else that you had I guess or those were the three things I was asked to comment on okay has thank you so much yeah does anybody have any other last question comments or anything for Sarah before she leaves Sarah do you know when Halifax Elementary will have a line item budget um obviously the finance committee recommended a figure but it would be nice for the finance committee just to review the line item budget that Halifax Elementary is recommending and we also would like to provide it as a handout at the meeting so right now the school committee needs to vote as you're aware they uh in their last last meeting they voted a budget that didn't um align with your the requests of the town we have a new proposal from the school administration for the school committee for next Monday night once that happens um I can update the individual lines and I will send that to Sandy okay yes so that won't give us a chance to review you I guess before the town meeting but having the hand out I guess would be helpful to uh Cody T point I guess we can for I will make sure that I forward it to everyone sure so you'll individually have it right yep thank you Sandy all right anything else for Sarah everyone good all right well again thank you so much Sarah for um for joining tonight appreciate you taking out the time and uh giving us the the updates here so not a problem thank you for having me see you at town meeting all right sounds good thank you s um okay all right so that was that I guess next up on the agenda was the uh fincom review inv vot on the town articles I guess Cody any update I guess on the other couple remaining ones that we have lingering um the only ones is the CPA article which I had sent you the um financial information last week for review so if you want to I don't know if you've had a chance to review that um and that's I think that's the only article the other one was the school deficit which Sarah just gave an update on well so the other one was the um there was one other one as well right there was um I just haven't draw it here so there was Article 27 and N I forget which one is which but the other one was the um payment and Le of taxes I guess whener we is that contract was still yeah so in my conversations with the assessor it looks like we are not going to have a um pilot payment and L taxes in place for town meeting so we will probably end up skipping right over that article um so you won't need to provide a recommendation the only so the only one left would be the um CPA article because it look like deficit which was that one do you know hand or I believe it's seven no seven might be right seven is the pilot one yeah then it would be nine nine so nine yeah so that's the um I had sent you the financial information the board of selectman had voted to present a um one and a half% search charge with all three exemptions yeah okay did everybody see that I guess any questions on that everybody comfortable I guess to proceed with the recommendation or to not recommend I guess to take a vote on it I will say if you if there um is anyone who is uncomfortable or if the board would the committee would like additional information we can um Jonathan seelig has really been the driving force behind this I've certainly worked with him but if you would feel more comfortable I can always ask him to attend next week's Finance Comm meeting um information but whatever whatever the committee is um looking for I mean I think that sounds good I guess what what are other people think you think yeah wait I guess I yeah okay so yeah I guess Cody if you can see if he's available to join the meeting next Monday at 6 I guess uh we could have him right at the top of the agenda and um if he could just kind of walk us through take that uh not not to take things out of whack here but um if school committee is meeting next Monday night same time as us um would the group be interested in kind of relooking at the date and time for our meeting so maybe those who are interested in attending school committee to get a lens into what they're thinking from a budget standpoint have the opportunity to do that or can we not do that or is nobody else interested in that I mean it's not a bad suggestion I guess yeah I mean what are other people think I mean first off I guess what's everyone's availability for now next week we have flexibility to move the the Monday meeting I know Cheryl usually do Tuesdays Thursdays I guess is that yeah fine I'm fine any night now yeah okay works over anyone else have any conflicts if we move to say Tuesday I guess of next week no I shouldn't should be fine yeah that that sounds good I know I was planning to attend the uh school committee meeting just so they could have our perspective but it would be great if there's any else available to attend I think it can be helpful to have part of the committee there okay yeah no I think that's a greata EJ then it sounds like uh that works for everybody so if we move the meeting to uh Tuesday 6 PM obviously via Zoom you know still for next week yeah sorry to jump in there Todd I just figured Jonathan it was a good time yeah yeah yeah no it was a great it was a great thought so thanks for uh thanks for bringing it up is that school committee meeting a zoom meeting or what is that no that is iners at HX Elementary um what time is that at is there a usually yeah I think it's it's either 6 or 6:30 I can um once they post their agenda I will send it out to the full finance committee so you all have it perfect yeah thank you Cody yeah because we'll have to um it'll have to be considered a meeting for us as well it doesn't have to be considered a meeting if you don't deliberate so as long as you go and don't um discuss it don't actually discuss it you don't deliberate then it's not actually a meeting but if you think that you'll be discussing it amongst yourselves then you should post and the key is too is amongst a quorum right so if there's four or more um you know then that becomes a problem so that's just something to keep in mind so if four or go you know one of the best um thoughts probably will be you know to not sit all together as well right like maybe two sit one side and two on the other or something to that effect so just kind of keep that stuff in mind I guess I'm not 100% sure if I'll be on site but I'll try um myself but and I don't know how many folks will actually get there but uh but you know if we can just try to take that strategy I guess of just spreading out across the room and uh and and not you know discussing amongst the Quorum is important Cody if they'll be live streaming it I know they have in the last couple of meetings yeah I'm not sure about this one I haven't heard anything that they're going to what I would request is if um if if anyone of the finance committee knows you're going to attend just shoot me an email when I send out the agenda and if there's going to be a quorum it's a it doesn't hurt for us to post a meeting if we know there's going to be four or more uh finance committee members okay yeah it's better to be safe I guess yeah yeah okay yeah so let's do that I guess well why don't why don't you respond to me I guess if you're gonna go or can I just ask that everybody confirms back to me either you are going or you are not and then that way I can send the you know that way we can just coordinate it a little bit better right and I can work with uh KY to get it posted if we do need um you know if we are going to have a quorum I guess so if you guys could just shoot me back if everyone could just shoot me back an email just confirming uh whether you are are not going that that work for everybody y anybody unless anybody knows now I guess you know you can state it now or I'll be there Todd I'll be there yeah I'll be there yeah I'll be there there you go all right so where so there we go so that just made it easy so we already have a forum so I guess Katie if we can just our work uh if we can just get that posted I guess um for Monday at 6 what I put an agenda how would I post it yeah just uh um attendance at the uh school committee meeting I guess right yeah I would justst I would post an agenda item of um school department budget and that covers you okay perfect thank you and then the location obviously just change it to the Halifax um Elementary School yeah instead of uh Zoom or whatever at the top right yeah and then I think that should cover us and then our regular meeting will schedule for Tuesday day at 6 PM via Zoom uh and then Cody if you wouldn't mind just reaching out to I guess Jonathan well actually is there a there's not a um selectman meeting or anything on Tuesday there is May 7th there is a selectman meeting okay so that's not going to work then right unless jump to the eth yeah Wednesday the eth work for folks yeah yeah I can do Wednesday okay that's that's Target that I guess then Cody Wednesday the 8th at 6m okay sounds good yeah we can um definitely plan for that okay awesome but that will be um article nine I guess review so if we can just add that kitty on the um that agenda for for the review of Jonathan um article nine okay all right so then that will complete the Articles and I guess while we're just talking about the scheduling I guess and then obviously the f week May 13th is the town meeting itself uh that's at 6:30 so I guess we should plan to have our meeting at 6 pm on site there we usually do that little uh break room there in um at elementary school so we can post that for 6 PM um as well so take care of the uh the three up meetings um any other questions comments on that on the scheduling okay all right so then moving on the agenda next up was the uh Reserve fund transfer request so haven't seen anything come across there uh as of yet Cody I know you said you were expecting one I guess any further updates on on that for the roof there uh we do not have an amount yet we're still working with our facilities director and the contractor I'm hope we have a meeting tomorrow morning so should have more information then okay all right sure um next up is the committee liaison updates I anything material share from anyone I guess any other movement or news on um sy's replacement to share it or um well un we had um identified a finalist we were not able to reach a tentative agreement with that finalist so we are back out to the search we have an interview scheduled tomorrow um that we'll be conducting so fingers crossed okay all right thank you for the update uh correspondence and as may arise is next so for correspondents Cody I did see your email with the financial management review so thank you for sharing that I think that's something we can definitely um you know add post the town meeting I think once we get through uh this crunch I guess it would be a good thing to kind of look at so everybody should have received that if you want to just take a look to through that when you get a chance and then we can spend some time just kind of going through it with Cody um you know probably uh you know late may I guess or so we'll add it once we get through the town meeting stuff one of the things I was thinking Todd was it may be beneficial to do a uh joint meeting with the board of Selectmen to the yeah financial management review I think it obviously there's some Financial stuff in there but there's a lot of organizational items in there um and it may make sense all in a joint meeting and I've also asked them to provide fin policies so they reviewed our financial policies but I've asked that they review and provide some best practices for financial policies because I know that something the committee has um discussed is new Financial policies so we can also tackle that in the summer okay all right awesome that sounds fantastic so yeah I guess we'll leave that with you then to try to schedule that um you know when when the time's right to go through that I guess once we get through the town meeting and everything um okay all right thank you Cody uh as may arise anything from anyone to uh bring up tonight sure no okay public participation uh anyone have anything no okay all right so next meeting planning we've already kind of talked about that so just to quickly summarize so Monday May uh 6th will be the um on-site um school budget review uh bless you thank you then uh Wednesday the 8th we're targeting for our normal uh finance committee meeting that will be 6 PM via zoom and then um last but certainly not least uh Monday May 13th for the town meeting uh which starts at 6:30 but we'll um open our meeting at 6 PM in that uh that break breakout room there so those will be the next three upcoming meetings and then you know post that we'll we'll work to schedule something on the books um thereafter so all right um what time what time is that meeting on what time is that meeting on Monday for the school committee yes uh 6 PM we believe um Cody's gonna send out the um the invite and everything once it's uh distributed so okay have that um okay all right that brings us to the end of the agenda I guess would somebody like to make a motion to adjourn so moved second thank you Michael thank you Cheryl uh roll call vote Frank yes to adjourn Jim yes Bill yes EJ yes Cheryl yes Michael yes and I am a yes as well motion carries 7 to Zer uh meeting is adjourned at 6:31 P.M [Music]