##VIDEO ID:E4K0QTgHI48## okay we will call call the order the finance to the nor County Advisory Board finance committee meeting Wednesday September 18th we'll take the roll call First Dr child here seal here Mr Connors here chair is President the only person not here Jo not sure he's join us or not but we'll get started he said he's trying to join is zo okay may want to call than we'll keep going okay so the first item on the agenda is fiscal 25 first supplemental budget transfer requests and appropriation amendments the Mr director yeah it over to you thank you very much Mr chairman members of the advis reports Finance um this evening I just wanted to uh could bring up a supplemental Bud that dat are up I will inform you believe you have the attachments the county closed fiscally year 24 with a surplus of 3,478 that number was inclusive of a $2 million Capital Improvement appropriation that you made last year that was not spent so um it is part of the actions we're going to request your consideration of this evening uh to reauthorize that but when you remove the $2 million and you set aside the $30,560 um appropriation required in the FY 25 budget um the real balance becomes $677,500 $78 worth of items which I'll discuss in just a moment which if approved will result in a carry forward $484,350 and fy21 with a 5.28 million surplus um I think we know why these numbers trended the way they are but uh we sit on 1.4 million today um our current stabilization fund balance although I'm not making any recommendations for deposits into stabilization or opep um has gone up since last year uh we now sit at 6.37 to million doll in stabilization which is just under 177% of our operating budget for FY 25 it is the same percentage of operating costs that we carried last year um you may recall from my prior conversations um my goal is to get the stabilization fund up to 20% of the operating budget as recommended by Mark Abrahams um we will resume our contributions to the stabilization account when we see an influx of additional revenues um which hopefully will return uh in the next fiscal year or so um opep um balance so our gby 7475 report from June of 23 indicated our total liability of 36.6 million um that's a decrease from $40 million reported a year ago um as the Commissioners know and as well as The Advisory Board the county continues to make regular and recurring payments from our operating budget of $100,000 in some years uh fy21 I believe maybe 22 we made additional payments because we had um higher Surplus we don't have aeter so our curring payments will continue to come from the operating account projected to um be for um FY 24 in the $36.4 million range regarding supplemental items um very briefly um the technology department is requesting a total of $6,795 it's broken into three components as shown in the spreadsheet of 8618 um this is a municipal local security cyber security Grant administered by the state Our IT director Sam Evans applied for this reimbursement Grant was awarded we need to expend the funds and then will be reimbursed by the state um so with your approval tonight we will proceed with a grand award which was provided to us on July 11 the wallon golf course um we are currently in the process of uh studying the tennis cours at the golf force and require $32,000 to complete uh the study work needed to understand how much work is needed um to repair and replace this the surfaces I think on two tennis courts um once this cost is known we will identify a funding source through arpa the Commissioners are aware of this um to hopefully fund up to $300,000 in improvements for that particular asset we're looking for funds from the supplemental to Simply pay off design Feats I'll get to the registry deeds in a moment I just wanted to wrap up the final item on items on the Commissioner's Office uh the auditing Services uh for FY 23 um are needed to be supplemented in FY 25 um I think I mentioned that we were playing catchup last year when we hired powers and Sullivan which is now known as Mark they completed fy22 they are almost done with FY 23 we're hoping to have that done all um and we will need to supplement those dollars um in FY 25 um we had we had supplemented the FY 23 budget last year but it wasn't completed so the money reverted now we're looking for re reauthorization um and then finally um some of you may know that our CPO our chief procurement officer retired in July we're taking this moment in time to reform the unit study its workflow it's policies and um we've hired a c a group called Capital strategies to help augment Personnel Services um some of the leadership and uh Chief procurement duties um as a result of this unexpected cost we have been using emergency funds appropriated in the commissioner's budget we'd like to replenish that line item so because it's so early in the fiscal year to the tune of $50,000 that completes the request of $192,700 kind of clean up actions the school's looking for a transfer of 40,500 um to correct uh some permanent salary needs and the treasurer's office is looking for a $900 deposit in longevity that was overlooked in the development of the FY 25 budget uh briefly as always I I note items for your interest um there are five items the first um we are currently tracking a deficiency in the employee health insurance fund um the deficiency emerged in FY 24 as a result of Revenue deposits for this fund on Landing in the general fund the treasur reports it's approximately $250,000 as of the end of July of 2024 we will address this shortfall later in fiscal year 25 as supplemental fund availability develops um I've spoken to the treasurer they understand that the county at this point doesn't have endless Surplus to address the Surplus deficiency at this time they're happy to carry the deficiency we will address this by the end of the school year 25 um in FY 24 I mentioned the county requested $2 million from the capital Improvement fund to install a new HVAC system in deam Superior Fort there was no activity in FY 24 to bill against so the county is requesting a reauthorization of this amount in FY 25 as the plans are now proceeding we hir to PE architects who are close to developing the final um study documents for our uh use in bidding this particular uh item this fall so we're expecting some access to um we need access to funds this fall to carry full with the project uh which we hope will begin uh later in this fiscal year as I mentioned the county has completed its fy22 audit we'll continue with the 23 hopefully have that done this fall the FY 24 audit will commence in the second half of fiscal year 25 virtually caught up which is good news um the County's exploring electric vehicle charging station Grant through the state uh we're piloting an a location right behind the deim registry um this particular program to date has been identified as a no cost uh to the county option um it is offset supplemented by state Grant funds we will inform The Advisory Board through the Commissioners as soon as we hear word on the application which I believe was filed back in May finally uh Revenue collections in July were slightly below Benchmark we uh as they did last year we keep an eye on Revenue month by Monon um a year ago we collected $661,000 um our Revenue collections were slightly Below in July at 5985 uh we did hear word that August looks very good compared to last year we don't have the trial balance yet to discuss numbers um but I'm also happy to uh report as I believe some of you have heard that the federal uh Reserve today announced the a jumbo reduction in uh Federal Reserve borrowing rates by a half a percent that will hopefully trigger um the market um coming down on interest rates which will then open up um additional buying and refinancing options which feed our registry um uh Revenue so at this point we're seeing some signs that indicate the remainder of FY 25 may look much better than we did a year ago or certainly the prior year but overall I'm optimistic we will remain Vigilant guarding uh or monitoring I should say those revenues each month going forward um regarding the registry Deeds correction um I believe you folks have um some information in your packet that shows the calculation that we had arrived at so for the fourth third year in a row um to remind you each we are looking to amend the registry of deeds appropriation in this case downward by 69898 when we approved the budget back in may we had estimated the appropriation based on spending at that point at 3,152 534 actual spending uh which became known after fway 24 was closed came in at 3,745 446 um we are adhering to the guideline Within Chapter 64d uh section 12a uh regarding the dispersement of not less than uh let me just get it real quick at the very bottom the county budget shall provide a continuing amount of expenditure of not less than 102 .5% of the amount expended for that purpose in the preceding fiscal year so using 2 and a half% of the actual expenditures the revised or amended appropriation now becomes 3,826 4082 or an adjustment downward as I mentioned of $ 69,8 n318 um notice was sent to the register regarding this matter on September 6th he appeared before the Commissioners last week the register had some differing and pending as you can imagine on on the approach of this particular item um I won't get into those details at this time but we have recommended um where to find these particular dollars we thoughtfully went through the appropriation to see where prior year spending and current year spending may offer some opportunity um those are found on an attachment within your U packet U 13 various line items which we hope have minimal effect on the Registries operations this fiscal year um so the Commissioners voted on on all of these items last week favorably and then now before you this evening for your consideration happing answer any questions you all may have thank you okay I will open up the floor to any questions from the committee Mr R is nice to see you sir thank you glad to be here um do you I don't know how much of that you heard do you have any questions on the uh supplemental budget no I read the information I'm good I understand the stuff that's going on here it's U typical okay um there's only two questions I have that I I think i' I've asked you before but I just want to make sure that that it's open too sure um the information technology grants those are 100% reimbursable that's right so we have to front the money once it's spent we get 100% back from the state that's correct is that all sub true of the HVAC system I see it on here it says um the project may have a cost offset from Opa and access capacity develops and is eligible for reinvestment State not strictly no is we're doing with aror as we wind down that program we are mindful that we may have some surpluses emerge in the last month or two some communities in their close out plans Eric have stated they intend to obligate their funds in contract under contracts you know towards the end of fiscal year 24 in the event that any any of those plans fall through and we cannot initiate further action with that Community or that application that frees up money to go somewhere and the commission has been very clear they don't want any money to go back to the government the Fed so we're positioning certain uh through contingency certain applications some from communities we have about 10 of them in the portal right now as one as well as one of our own to scoop up any eligible uh Federal grant money that can offset this cost it's just a contingency um I will note so um I I think I misspoke Eric when when you expend Monies to improve the courts the states the state turns around and reimburses us for those improvements this is a very large um and in the past when you Bond projects the state has said no we will not get involved with reimbursements of bonded projects but I have approached them I said well this is capital money not bonded this is capital free cash and they said well we appreciate us letting us know we may not be able to give you 2 Mill million dollars back in 18 months we may have to talk about repayment plan for the benefit of the program I said that's fine by me so I stand corrected by saying it's not reimbursable it is under a different term that I think we all understand through the trp lease okay thank you very much sir um so I will take a motion to um recommend the fiscal 25 supplemental budget request from the director's office sorry from the commissioners to the full m County advisory Bo so move second Motion in a second any further discussion go ahead John uh through a friendly Amendment if I might add that the total amount of supplemental would be 2,234 se8 Eric that's reflecting the capital item the transfers and the supplemental item if that's agreeable thank you understood thank you um so we have a motion second any further discussion seeing none all in favor the roll call vote Dr Charles hi Mr hi Mr Conners hi Mr R hi chair votes I okay so we will recommend supplemental budget to the north Advisory Board as presented um the next item on the agenda is um a report for meeting with thec High School John um Mr chairman if I could ask is it the finance committee's chairman Chairman's interest to amend the registry of a separate motion oh I'm sorry any discussion on the registry of needs um reduction okay I'll take a motion to uh I'll take a motion so second we should probably read it right all right so this motion is pursuant to M General law 64d section 12b to amend the 20 the fiscal 25 registry of D's budget by removing $ 69,8 19318 from 13 line items as provided the attachment for a total fiscal 25 appropriation of 3 million 82,6 4082 so I'll take a motion on that I thought I thought you made a motion that is your motion yeah we me I'm sorry a second on that second okay so going to Motion in a second any further discussion seeing none all in favor of this motion by roll call Dr child hi M hi Mr coners Mr R hi here both I okay so now we will move on to um report of the chair for we had a meeting with um with John with John and John joh John John John John and Robin yes um on as we know last year during the budget process there seemed to be a little bit of a little bit of a some friction between the board and um the Ali and we reached out basically to say let's work in a collaborative manner coming into this coming year for the for the budget uh so we had we had a good meeting thought it was a good meeting um Lei has a plan in place to start um a series of meetings on strategic planning that um will not I've been told will not affect the fiscal 25 the upcoming budget but will may affect future budgets but it's the Strategic plan on where we're going to go from this point as far as capital needs and um and budgetary needs um but also to um try to make try to give the school what it needs to run obviously but also to try to build it up so um I'm sorry Dr Child part of that meeting too I didn't say that I apologize um so the first meeting is going to be in October I believe 10 and there's about seven or eight meetings scheduled right now um I will open it up to I I have offered to attend these meetings but I'll open it up to the board anybody would rather take that on yeah I think so so be more than happy to so um so more to come on that but we're basically going to work with them um they are hiring a consultant to look everything over um I think the the big thing is just to make sure that the Consultants are great to be there but we need we need to be the ones driving the bus obviously we need to let them know and make sure they understand what we what you guys need and then how we work that into budgetary process and everything else so your role is the facility absolutely is facilitated yes okay um so is there any questions or any comments on that meeting okay so we look forward to doing that and uh the first meeting like I said is in October um so the next uh I don't know when the next Advisory board meeting is but shortly after that we will uh we will bring that back to this board as a whole just to say uh what that what that kickoff meeting was okay the next item on the agenda is the minutes for the Open session meeting of May 15 2024 for approval did any everybody get a chance to look these over so move yep my hand okay I got a motion second Motion in a second any further discussion seeing none all in favor chares yes yes Mr Connors I Mr Ren I and the chair votes I okay I don't think we have any emergency items or topics that were not anticipated anybody have anything else to say before we adjourn this meeting okay adjourn sorry motion to adjourn got a motion second Motion in a second any further discussion seeing none all in favor Dr Charles hi M hi Mr Connors hi Mr Riden Hi V finance committee is jours all right I'm gonna call the meeting at the North Count Advisory Board to order um can we do Barbara Avon here Bellingham present Green Tree here Brookline here Canton yes Cohasset Dam do Foxboro Franklin here Holbrook Medfield here Medway Millis Milton Milton here Nita norul de nor wood PL here quinsey Randall here Sharon St wle Welsley is here Westwood can you guys hear me multiple times okay give give me a second I B if you mute your computer didn't got a number yet muted right now only got 30,000 40,000 oh that's pH how are you okay a you can proceed Madam chair thank you very much we need to do a couple housekeeping items um I'm sorry about this we need to read the executive order remote participation um on Wednesday March 29th 2023 Governor key signed into law chapter two of the acts of 2023 and acts making Appropriations for fiscal year 2023 which includes a two-year extension of the option for public bodies to hold remote meetings by suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law General Law chapter 38 section 20 that action was effective immediately extending the current option for remote meetings through March 31 2025 and that is because we are in a hybrid meeting tonight and before we start why we do the pledge of allegion Carl can I bother you to lead usice thank you all and then before we get started I thought uh Mr Martin our superintendent would you like to just say a couple words we thank you for hosting us again and we're glad to be here would you like to just say a couple things sure uh welcome to your first meeting of The Advisory Board glad to have you and we have some gifts for you on the table um I'll let principal man R tell you exactly what's in because I don't really know as I've said on multiple occasions I wasn't hired because I know anything about farmer um but we're off a great start here this year we have had the usual school start some fits uh some scheduled glitches with kids we've had some bus route issues but nothing we can't hand so we're off to a really good start as uh some of you may have heard uh in the first meeting we are uh developing a strategic plan with the work of a Consulting Group that hopefully is going to layout uh layout feure for the next 3 to five years for the aie this would include vision mission statements as well as the list of core values that hopefully will inform what we do with our Capal and operating budgets over the course of the so we're looking forward to working with um this group during the course of that process be be has cre volunteer to be a member of that committee the executive committee uh so he will be able to report back to you on our progress as as we meet through here welcome to have you thank the so as you know um we have our abundance Garden um that is a a cross collaboration between multiple departments um mostly spare headed by the environmental science program and some of the environmental teachers who care for it over the summer along with students so um you kind of get the excess um from the garden for The Fall season so we have in there what we call our ugly garlic uh when you see it the outside of it doesn't have its skin anymore because it was harvested a week too late but it doesn't impact the taste so cut the top off spr it with olive oil and your house with great garlic there's also some spicy peppers in there um and a bundle of herbs from parsley to oregano um to Basil what else is in there um chives and they're all a little bit different so um that's from the agie abundance Garden um the students and the teachers go to various different farmers markets um and sell the goods and then what's left is donated to area Ms thank you very much you're welcome no will enjoy that okay all right um welcome everyone I think the first order of business tonight is an executive session um with our H Council Scott Lopez so I believe we'll need a vote to go into executive session we'll need a vote to come out of executive session um and uh if you could do that motion to go into executive session thank you that so I I'll read the executive so motion is executive session pursu to math General Law chapter 38 section 21 A3 to discuss strategy with respect to litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares so declare yeah I do declare that we need to go into executive session purposes litigation and strategy I will make a motion yes and we have a second second second all right I think we're ready for a roll call vote Avon yes Bellingham yes Green Tree yes Brookline yes Canton yes Dam Dober Foxboro Franklin yes pbrook Medfield yes Medway Millis Milton yes NM Norfolk yes Norwood planville yes quinsey Randol yes Sharon Sten Walpole Welsley votes yes Westwood Waymouth rentham thank you the uh B is unanimous correct yes okay thank you all right we're gonna turn it over to everyone thank you thank you okay welcome back everybody to our open meeting are we live you are we are live okay all right we are going to move on to um the fy2 um first supplemental budget transfer request and appropriation amendments and um I think we'll start on that with um uh John Cronin walking us through it okay thank you very much good evening um regarding the County's request for supplemental funding um I wish to inform the committee the board that the county closed FY 24 with a surplus of 3 million $7,988 which this board approved last year the deam Superior Court uh each renovation project no funds were expended from that authorization subsequently um that money will be requested for reauthorization shortly but if you back that uh figure out as well as the $73,345 77,000 $481 this evening we're requesting um $192,700 draw from that which if approved will result in a balance forward of $48,750 before I get to the County's uh brief request for supplemental funding as usual I'd like to give the adviser board brief updates on a number of different Financial touchstones um the first I just wanted to show how this particular Surplus adjusted with that Capital dollar out mayor prior year surpluses you'll know the fy21 Surplus was a high Watermark followed by fy22 and and thus um with these diminished uh revenues um we have decided through the Commissioners not to fund uh a capital budget in FY 25 we are not recommending any deposits into stabilization or opep uh we're simply going to use this um small amount of money to make do with um essential needs through the rest of the fiscal year or until Revenue models improve the current stabilization fund has increased uh through interest gain to $ 6.37 to million that remains at 16.8% of our uh operating budget for FY 25 that is a healthy balance um I think I've stated in the past our goal through recommendation of the Abrahams group is to achieve a 20% of operating budget ratio hopefully with years better years ahead we will um eventually deposit more money and stabilization to gain that uh that level of protection uh and then finally the opv contribution um according to our June 23rd liability gasby 7475 report our liability has gone from 4,129 91 down to 36 m601 815 uh the county continues to make regular and recurring payments of $100,000 through our oper budget contribution some members may recall in the past when we had large surpluses we'd throw a little extra into that it's not the case this fiscal year so overall we remain quite healthy and well uh protected against any future problems from a supplemental perspective as I mentioned these are rather brief requests uh the first is from our information technology department this is a reimbursement uh request uh we're in we're in receipt of a grant award uh from the state for mun ipal local Cy cyber security um this $ 60,770 Grant um must be fronted by the county once expended we'll send um the reimbursement request into the state and will be made whole the walon golf course um currently is going through a design phase we require an additional $32,000 to complete the study uh to look at the tennis courts um that have experienced a dramatic amount of cracks and and po unsafe playing Services the Commissioners have committed to offset the cost of resurfacing these particular courts uh through the use of arpa funds so with the county supplementing this uh study piece uh we're expecting the results to be available to us within the next four weeks at which time we'll take the estimated cost put the product out to bid and pay for the resurfacing and uh remedy at the wson recreational facility using federal arpa funds that project is estimated at currently to be approximately $300,000 I'll get to the registry of deeds last if you don't mind we'll just complete our request for supplemental items the commissioner's office um you may recall was in a catch-up mode to complete audits last fiscal year you um budgeted supplementally um $50,000 to help us complete um the FY 23 budget um unfortunately that work was not completed before the end of the fiscal year the money reverted we're now asking you to take that reversion reauthorize it through this supplemental so that we can pay our Auditors uh to finish FY 23 we expect them to wrap that up right around Columbus Day at which time they will begin doing FY 24 and we will be fully caught up that's value of $50,000 the reserve fund briefly um some of you may know our longtime uh Chief procurement officer U retired at the end of July um and at that time we took the opportunity with the Commissioners um direction to reform form the unit and examine it we've hired a firm to supplement um ny's role as Chief procurement officer and also examine the workflow and the policies within the unit to bring them up to speed and identify um role responsibilities for processing contracts purchase orders and so forth as well as examining our purchasing policy to see if we have any gaps of compliance uh we continue to interiew and hope to backfill her position in the next several weeks but meanwhile we've consumed funds within our budget our emerc Reserve account to the tune of approximately $50,000 and we require we're requesting additional Monies to replenish that as we have so early in the F school year Turn the page on to the back we have a couple of very small transfer requests um the schools are looking for $4,500 to correct a permanent salary item in their FY 25 budget and the treasurer's office has a longevity oversight of $900 that looking to offset attempt salaries each time I speak with The Advisory Board I'd like to give you um observations ahead um and one of the items I wanted to be very clear about is the county is currently tracking a deficiency in our employee health insurance fund it emerged in FY 24 as a result of Revenue deposits for this fund Landing in the general fund the treasurer reports $250,800 that amount of money towards this deficiency with such little balance on hand we will address it by the end of the year and briefly as as my explanation indicates uh funds were deposited into the general fund in Prior years and used so they they need to be replenished through supplemental needs ny24 as I mentioned y body um approved a $2 million transfer from Capital Improvement to install an HVAC system at Jam Superior Court we've been working with Architects to uh finalize the study and estimates for a scope of work to be put on the street this fall uh so you're later on will ask for a motion to reauthorize that $2 million uh this project may be eligible for arpa funds as an offset we're using it as a as a space to hopefully um in event we do our math right not use but if some Community does not use all of their oper money and we want to avoid sending the money back to the federal government we can use this or some other authorized eligible project to consume those funds and and avoid a reversion otherwise we expect a 100% reimbursement of this project from the state pursuing to our lease we have completed our fy22 audit as mentioned I hope to have the 23 audit completed within the next two months we're exploring an electrical vehicle charging station Grant um which would provide um our first electric charging port um behind the registry of deeds our vendor works with the state grant program we' made application in the spring and we're waiting to hear from them on our eligibility and we will inform everybody if we're successful and then finally Revenue collections in July uh we're slightly below Benchmark as noted here we a year ago collected $661,000 our Benchmark um from then to now unfortunately fell below 600,000 we did hear um the August numbers maybe trending up we don't have a trial balance yet to show you but we see some favorable action going on in the marketplace could show FY 25 Revenue collections to be stronger um many of you do know um that the Federal Reserve and the interest rate they set is a major driver towards the economic engine of registry of D fees I think most of you heard today the fed's approved the jumbo rate cut of half 1% which may very well jump start a lot of Home transactions and other things that will possibly generate that additional Revenue we've been waiting for for the last uh two years um so overall the supplemental budget is relatively light uh as designed I wish at this point to just draw your attention to our recommendation to alter the registry of deeds or amend the registry of deeds budget forly 25 Bill if you can pull up that um one page here that shows the proposed amendment to the register of deeds please thank you um The Advisory Board um approved an appropriation in May estimated at 3,152 $2,534 um as FY 24 closed the register Deeds actual spending was below that at 3,745 446 when you take the actual spending and multiply it by 102.5 as as described Below in section 12 of chapter 64d the resulting adjusted appropriation would be 3,826 4082 effectively this would be an amendment to reduce their appropriation based on spending by $69,999 in18 cents the register appeared before the Commissioners a week ago um he pitched a uh proposal to offset this um deficiency or Amendment through the use of additional Deeds excise funds um I don't recommend that at this point if this board is interested in um upholding what the commission is Advance um we have put forth an area of where these These funds could be reduced within the registers appropriation um Bill if you could pull up that spreadsheet for a moment um using some thoughtful analysis based on prior spending as well as existing year appropriation space there are a number of accounts where this uh this reduction could be minimally affecting affecting the operation of the registry we feel we propos this to the register um I don't believe he has endorsed this project um product he has different ideas on on on how this particular item should be resolved um the commissioner has approved this proposal last week um and welcome the register to return later in the year if circumstances involving registry uh activity improve um but uh this evening I'm recommending you adopt um an amendment to the budget um to the tune of $69,000 with the associated and proposed uh reduction by account to sare the deal that's all I have thank you thank you let's take some questions from The Advisory Board I think Charlie you had your hand up Charlie please thank you I have a question regarding the HVAC project at the courthouse I given the fact that you're still having the um the the consultant work on the design of the system um how much of the $ million do we anticipate being spent in this uh FY 25 and do we need to budget all 2 million it's taking a very long time to get air handler units and Equipment associated with h3ac and uh if somebody could take a look at that I don't need the answer right now but if we could look at it and maybe make a budget that um appropriately that would be a good idea um thank you Mr Ryan the um the product has not been put out to bid but your your point is well taken we will need the full amount to authorize the contract act when it is we expect product to be on the street for bid um um this fall and awarded before December 31st 2024 um but to your point in the event the uh the vendor finds that um because of Supply stream issues or other product uh delays that the project will go beyond June 30 if we will we will inform this body that um some of that project means may go into FY 25 and we'll look for similar reauthorization of any unsp balance it's a 26 all right thank you that's right and then I have one another small question if you please um the um Tennis Courts at um presidents are we looking at modifying any of the tennis courts into pickle ball courts we are not no they're already there there were two already there thank you thanks Charlie okay anybody any other members with questions of the budget please go right ahead I have two areas uh on the on the fy2 observation they had the first one about the deficiency in the employee health fund yes sir is the was how did this Revenue get into the general fund I assume it was some mistake that it got there these are that's correct these are employee contributions to the fund that should have gone into this fund so what I was trying to figure out was is the amount that was misdirected into the general fund equal to adjustment type of an adjustment in the past so this is in terms of consistency and handling this is consistent with what we've done I don't mean the exact numbers but the adjustments have been we've done this every year yes in the last two correct um last two one year was in the register's favor yeah that's what I thought I thought I heard you say just we're not changing any of our procedures here that's right correct so in FY 23 um based on prior spending the adjustment was to increase his appropriation by 90 $ 4,192 51 a year ago similar circumstances as this year lower spending resulted in a recommendation reduced by $8,155 75 that was offset a bit by a supplemental for 10 temp services um so we are following the same pattern of examining actual spending during the first meeting of the fiscal year following that's right my last question is a mechanical one so if I understand this year the the register is saying go pull this out of this Bucket over here which sort of doesn't affect me if I'm understanding it right in the way it's it's a bucket but go get it over there and leave me alone uh do we have so we have the authority to to decrease the budget and obviously you've got to be able to pull the money that we're decreasing it by from some account and the register's budget the register doesn't want to pull it from any of the kinds of accounts we want do we have the authority to unilaterally choose where we're going to pull is that one of the questions we have is where to great question uh Gus I spoke to the assistant Treasurer today about that matter um in other words can we just vote the bottom line is that the question well or I'm happy to do I'm saying we have the authority to do anything other than you have the authority to increase decrease or alter the appropriations of you know individual departments through your vote I think you're directing the treasure on where to find that in the event the register finds that to be incompatible with his business model he can certainly ask for a transfer okay that's we don't so we don't have to worry about where it's coming from we just did the top line and then okay and remember this is the fy2 budget so there's time for him to adust his budget to meet the slightly lower appropriation I just wanted to understand t word yeah other I'm sorry please so on this sheet that I I have in front of me has some red highlights so where did the decision come from to reduce these specific items who is who was the decision maker of those pieces there has been no decision to do that Peter these are recommendations of where the total $69,000 would come from let me rephrase the question so where did the recommendations come from these areas who made these recommendations the director of administration and budget who examined the registers fy2 spending to date and prior year spending to see if there are any areas U associated with um potential surpluses that would be less impactful to the registers prop uh operations it wasn't the County Commissioners that made this suggestion um the director of administration and budget works for the County Commissioners okay but but that's the person who looked at the numbers and came up with these figures for the commissioner's consideration that's correct M if I may a little bit of light for our members here this was a subject of some pretty retractive discussion and perhaps I had a minority view on this because I felt in fness to register odonald we had instituted freeze you may recall and basically it's pretty hard to spend your money when there's a Freez in effect so to some degree that the numbers that Mr oono is being being cour cour punished by was caused by our freeze which was in a good interest of the Cy however really sure I'm clear I did support the recommendations here have presented with the understanding that if at a later time revenues come back Mr oono could petition and get a transfer granted by the Commissioners and then of course endorsed by you I want to make sure I'm clear on that I was bothered by this because I felt in fness to him we put the freeze in right or wrong good or bad how can you spend when you can't spend but the good thing I think is that on the record the vote was taken and we acknowledged that if things turn around and they they could they should we can put somebody back in there and I think that's fair as well but that was the Compromise want to make sure I'm clear on that okay and in fact we did that last year with the slight we end up voting supplemental if I may Madam CH it goes back to C question we're being consistent what we did before so it was consistent but I want to make sure for the record we have said In fairness that if there's a change we can you know do that that's all so all right thank you so we would support this budget we would support this this change great thank you thank you very much you wel other questions seeing none can we have the report of the finance committee um the finance committee met tonight to discuss this and we um voted to recommend recomend the motion that um sorry recommend all of the changes and all of the supplementals that are being presented by the commissioner's office um there was no um no major questions on any of these I I do have one one comment to commissioner st's uh comment on the registry that I that I'm just curious about most budgets I understand that your salaries and your expenses are two separate pieces of the budget a hiring frees on the registry in my in my estimation we're only talking about $69,000 that wouldn't even be one person so did the did the hiring free actually cause the 69 the 69,000 seems to be expenditures but I think it make of salaries and I I'll defer the to the to the director I I want get into AAL thing right I could be wrong iy the we had would be froze the budgets right I was looking at it that way schematically you're right there was a hiring threee so you know no I supp and and I support exactly what you said I just want I'm just curious to know if we're talking the same language but right I my saying my sentiment was as a commissioner I support the budget I support the cut the understanding is that board which is important for you to know is that changes come about will support will change thank you thank you very much all right so I think we're going to need um three to approve second Milton thank you Mr Brian I think we're gonna do it three bites at the Apple here we're g to do the motion for the HVAC $2 million Capital uh project we're going to do the Motions for the supplemental budget and then we're going to do the motion uh to amend the FY 25 registry of deeds budget motion to approve the first motion Mo okay thank you in a second from no not a second I have question I'm sorry I'm sorry hold hold on Charlie just a minute HB is included in the fal 25 first budget adjustment it's all spelled on one sheet here it it is and and the HVAC is in there it's a cap it's a capital appropriation it's defined by General law we uh we have to have a 2 thir vote to reappropriation to reappropriate the reason it's part of number two Mr Connors is because this the sheet you're holding is the way the count has always assessed the total action of the board but I want to be clear we require a separate vote on the capital Fe for General law the CIP is a new tool that you put in place a couple of years ago money in Money out has to be a two-third vot so if you exclude the HVAC PL then the motion for the supplemental budget itself would be 234 $1,178 it would be I'm following that's correct I'm following past practice where the total vote on the supplemental reflects the that's all I understand there's a bit redundancy there but I the the threaded needle is the authorization need okay so Charlie can I ask you again to make your motion to approve the Superior Court HVAC project in the amount of $2 million funded from the previously authorized Capital Improvement fund monies in fy4 which have reverted to the UN ended balance fund Charlie to moved thank you thank you Mr coners okay um we do have to do brall votes so I do believe on this and we need two-thirds vote okay okay Avon hi Bellingham I Green Tree I Brookline I Canton I hassin Dam Dober Foxboro Franklin yes PA Brook Medfield hi Medway Millis Milton hi okay Needum norol I Norwood Plainville hi quinsey Rand yes Sharon St wole Welsley yes Westwood WTH Bram okay Phil hi can you guys hear me y finally I have unanimous thank you very much the motion passes with unanimous vote okay the next motion I'm looking for is a motion to approve the fy2 first supplemental budget second okay totaling 2, 23478 for the projects as listed the Deb of SP cour HVAC two FY 25 budget transfers in the amount of $900 from the county treasurer's office temporary salaries account and 4,500 from the northfalk County Agricultural High School contractual Services account and $192,700 um I guess Barbara here we go again okay give need a second we have a second uh who gave that a second Charlie Ryan okay Dallas okay thank you Charlie Avon hi Bellingham hi Brookline hi santon yes Mass dams do Foxboro Franklin yes Holbrook Medfield hi Medway Millis Milton NM Norfolk hi Norwood planville hi quinsey Randol yes Sharon Sten Walpole wisley votes yes way r Phil unanimous that's unanimous okay the motion passes okay the last motion that I would like would be somebody to move the motion pursue it to master law 64d section 12b to amend the FY 25 registry of deeds budget by removing 69898 from 13 line items as provided in the attachment in front of you for a total fy2 appropriation of 3, 82648 so moved thank you second second okay all right okay thank you Avon I Bellingham I gream tree I Brooklyn I Hanton yes casset deam Dober Foxboro Franklin yes Holbrook Medfield hi Medway milis Milton NM norol I Norwood planville hi quinsey Randall yes Sharon stoen Walpole votes yes Westwood WTH and R unanimous again Phil that's unan us okay motion passes unanimously thank you very much everybody um let's move on to the other agenda item this is the report of the of regarding the meeting of the Agricultural High School leadership um this is h a project as we talked about at our last meeting um so that uh at the end of the year when we have to vote the bottom line on the budget for the school we actually understand better what within that bottom line so that it help people on the board understand the process um remember this is going to be an inter process the plan is to work closely with the leadership of the school through this whole cycle and maybe even through the next cycle if necessary and Eric Beckerman is is graciously chairing this effort and I'm gonna ask him to speak to our first meeting which we held last week and um talk a little bit more briefly about it and and maybe we'll also talk ask you to speak say a couple words with superintendent Martin okay go ahead please ER okay so um we did meet last week by Zoom um the the people who were presentent at that meeting were U Mr Martin and Mr Wallace principal BR um chair Childs myself and paas I was Miss missing somebody um and it was a good meeting we talked about um you know where we want to go from here you know I think everybody uh remembers last year we had some some issues between uh between the the agie and The Advisory Board and in a effort to become a little more collaborative we uh we discussed where we going to go from here the school does have a plan in place to um as John had mentioned earlier um to start a um a uh sorry a strategic plan thank you I'm not just losing my um and they have a series of meetings set up as of right now the first one would be in October um to work with a consultant to go over the next uh three to five years and maybe even further into the future um we have been told that this would not affect the fiscal 25 budget this next budget cycle will not be affected by this so this is strategic planning for future it could um obviously impact future budgets um but this is also also for not just the budgeting side of it but also the capital side and we all know that you know the V is going to need some Capital has going to have some Capital needs in the future um just like any other school system would so um in an effort to just kind of work together and all of us be on the same page and understand the same thing um we're GNA we're going to start these meetings in October so I'll turn it over to John if you have anything to add sure I want you to know Eric you're not the only one who's who's in his Marvel feel same same V PR I thought it was a very very positive meeting I think it's a nice tone for the work that we're going to do as we use barw collaboratively this year um and it certainly will the Strategic plan process will have um a say in what or a recommendation coming out of the process uh looking at our capital and operating budgets as Eric just mentioned we have a very old and continually aging infrastructure here U and we're also always looking to improve our work improve our program so I'm hoping that's through the sour of the process we will get also get some recommendations as to what does the what do the na vation at the aie look like for a 21st century learn are we doing the things now necessary to ensure that that SCH gets proper education I have some personal thoughts on that but I'm hoping that through again this process that we will come up with a plan that addresses all of these issues and just one thing I want to add also is part of the reasoning for um for the finance committee to spare head this right now also is to also look at the tuition models that are out there I know there was some questions years ago about um structural deficits that have been pretty much cleared up now um as I understand that there's some surpluses now so we want to start looking at you know protecting all of the different towns making sure that the tuitions aren't over taxing the individual towns um in County out of County obviously is a little bit different that's a different type of model but um we want to start looking at all of these to make sure that we all understand exactly who we're hitting how we hitting and why are we hitting and you know it turns out that we're in a a structural Surplus now then maybe we need to look at tuitions in a different way or maybe we need to look at Capital in a different way so those are those are of this as well Madam CH I'll turn it back over to you okay thank you questions I could the meeting by our superintendent said uh I would take a little bit of Pride being the chairman of the aie not anymore Mr yoris is now Dr yor but uh we worked on this and had a lot of debate we were surprised that we didn't have a strategic plan we didn't have one and it was amazed to me we thought about what you be kidding me so this is a big step for the aie school aie school is excellent school we know that we know that it is held in high regard wherever we go as Commissioners or trustees we always hear positive things about the a school we want to do like superintendent Martin said where do we want to go next where's our Direction going to be the only way to do that is to have a plan and the plan is going to involve not just the Advisory Group you're going to have stakeholders there be parents teachers students alumni and why diverse group of people that will be on this committee and as John mentioned we start our work in October so I'm looking forward to that and we're going to work AC course with the advisor report but I think it's premature to start looking at tuition and what you could do and not do I think What flows out of the effort of the streat feure plan will be some initiatives that we're going to look at we may need something in terms of maybe additional staff or additional offerings or something to that matter we can't do Capital program to we born to dead is so terrible we can't do anything in 2030 which is unfortunate but we can plan can plan for that that's something we can do so let's take a look at the plan and work forward then you kind of work backwards in terms of okay where is our tuition where are we at do we need to cut it do we need to increase it I don't see any kind of thing like that happening I don't a premature jinson but you know I agree with Eric there's no question n just agreeing with you we had a couple of years of races and we heard I think loud and clear from different members one from Walpole and a few others saying hey that's it for the tuition so I think the school's in good shape but we want to again we're looking at where's the future going to be and that's what's going to come about for this strategic plan very exciting time for all of us to be evolve with all of us so thank you all right thank you very much okay um let's approve the minutes of the uh meeting of May 15 2024 can I have a motion to approve them motion thank you second second any edits Corrections changes all right all right we have to vote this and my roll call Avon hi Bellingham hi rree Brookline I Canton yes hasset Dam Dober Foxboro Franklin yes pbrook Medfield hi Midway Millis Milton mum norol hi Norwood planville hi quiny brand yes Sharon stoens Walpole Welsley votes yes Westwood Waymouth Bram brain tree was I I couldn't hit unmute quick enough sorry thank you Charlie unanimous all right so philas unanimous thank you very much the motion passes um um I don't think there are any emergency topics would the Commissioners like to add anything to the meeting tonight sh sh would you like sh do but I again it's all positive I uh talking about strategic planning for the school reminds that all of uh what we do here is part part of a plan that started to change for us four years ago with the Abraham uh I have to tell you that change comes easy in n county because I believe the lawsuit in one of two other the very important questions brought about by us ask asking questions particularly the budget and and and when I came into it I didn't come into it without Municipal experience a budget experience but it was still pretty eye opening and I didn't uh by asking a lot of questions but we ended up asking a lot of questions and lo and behold plus the change in Personnel the new highest particularly at the school complete team John John Wallace principle a new IT director on our side um we we initiated the new weights and meance program which is going terrific we got the employee handbook which hadn't been done since is it 87 or 77 in the 70s the last time we handed an employee a book and said hi welcome to North County we're still we just got through negotiating with everyone I think the teachers are on board now that took two years and lawyers and everything else so we're really kind of proud of it but change doesn't come easy there's a lot of positiveness to this uh we got a new director new assistant director um our Personnel our our ping agent left a month ago a 30-year employee we we're searching to get a qualified purchasing agent we're using and Consulting for now because in order to be an Minister coaching agent you have to have some certificate from the state which obviously the new person have so we're proud every week when I read the paper reading political advertisements that we lost the law so and call and ask Scott and I'm fortunate to have the two Commissioners who are lawyers so they might understand a little better than I do but I'm not a stupid person we never initiated this lwuit we said let's try this this and this several of several of our department heads going along with us and some of them a 25 year depin I don't think they're crazy about it but they say okay we'll do it but we ar getting sued on this question of of 64 uh D sections 11 and 12 in chapter 35 section 20 32 in in 17 and 18 the independent Auditors in their management letter said you you better look at how you're building your budget uh I don't think 64d being fall this is our outside auditor so I look at it then we changed Auditors last year they didn't bring it up but when I used to ask what the outside Auditors were talking about I'd get silly answers I guarantee you I shouldn't say if we lose the lawsuit but we've been told by our councel to you know just keep your mouth shut and go about your business which is fine don't think May is in selectman other haven't hey said hey hey Shay what what's going on you lost this you didn't tell us you know CU I always tell them the same thing we spending your money to sue us is a little crazy but the amount of mailings and everything that went out he won't get a mailing from US unless it's wise and and properly done I mean we're getting mailed and day you look up in the cor it's seven or8 doll you know many there was hundreds of those booklets and everything going out you know why they went out because it's an election year and they were excess in this Celler of the Reg we paid to send those up and if you ask you get a letter back you get attacked you know never was this way why can't we go back to the old ways hey we may go back to the old ways and we lose but it won't be without an honest effort which was an idea of us collectively and we were out ably high on the Abrahams gr and I mean I think he's still in shock after he did this report because he's done hundreds of missile reports and he said you got some great people but I also had some stonewalling and and in but we're not name calls we're relying on our lawyer after I think he succinctly packaged it up today I gotta tell you the C system is not the fastest system in the state but we're all subject to the same rules and I think we're making progress and again thank you thank you thank you and the last thing I want to say is if the fires and registry go if they need more money they'll get it thank you thank you and we never lost an employee uh doing the hiring free off you know we didn't hire any new but business is pretty slow everyone's still in their seat no incumbent has been let go and no you know and we're out looking for an assistant person to help the W and measuring personel I hate to take your time but that's going great thank you thank you thank you that's great okay's getting dripped on strawberries in morning any other final items that we didn't anticipate no okay I think I have a motion for ger thank you second thank you all right um can we do this by acclamation can we do this by acclamation everybody does anybody object to Us ad joury well please take take this uh okay yes remember from by acclamation it's unanimous we're adjourned