##VIDEO ID:aBsux1zaXUo## I'm I'm now going to call the Wednesday November 6 2024 meeting of the north county commiss to on Wednesday March 23rd 2023 Governor hilly signed into law chapter two of the acts of 2023 which was an act making fiscal Appropriations for FIS for year 2023 which included a two-year extension of the option for public bodies to hold remote meetings by suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law Mass General Law chapter 38 section 20 that action was effective immediately extending the current option for remote meetings through March 31st 2025 thank you we're live and remote join me in saling the flag flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you call Lieutenant commissioner stady I pres sir commissioner Collins commissioner Shay is here we have a full quarum we're going to go right to Executive session if you don't mind I need a motion to go into executive session I'll make a mo motion to go into executive session pursuing to master and Law chapter 3A section 21 subsection a subsection 1 discuss the reputation character physical condition of mental health rather than professional competence for to discuss discipline or dismissal of or complaints or charges brought against the public I'll second that motion as right motion made and seconded I'll take a roll call vote required commissioner stady yes sir commissioner Collins yes and commissioner Shay votes yes we are into executive session I might say that we will be returning to do the remainder of a regular meeting good afternoon John thank you than care John got it we good afternoon thank you uh executive session is concluded for today I'm going to call your attention to item number four which is minutes of the Open Session meetings of October 30th 2024 in the open session meeting October 23rd 2024 I have to make motion on the 23rd seeing that was thousands of I move approval as presented on the October 23rd meeting second motion made in second all in favor it is a vote next I move approval of the minutes you want to do no no I move approval of minutes of October 30 that presented thanks motion made in second all in favor I it is the vote next next is appointments number five I have none number six public comment each week in our sessions we have time on our agenda for public comment whether it's in person or uh on Zoom land so now is the time for public comment Mr chair appropriate public com reg Don hello Mr chair iiss some letters let me just read the Comm County Commissioners this regards the posting of two registry staff positions I write this letter to inform each of you that two registry staff Union positions have been posted today at the NK registry Deeds enclosed as a copy of each posting I think you can make that as part of the minutes count director uh my hope is to work with each of you to facilitate these promotions I do note that on September 11th 2024 you as a board table the registry appointment of an entry-level Union staff position for Carol Graham on October 30th 2024 the nfor County Commissioners some seven weeks later did sign a blue Personnel paper for this appointment I have not been informed of any changes to the present Union contract these postings and the dates therein are consistent with the obligations memorialized and outlined with the registry union workers in the signed collective bargaining agreement it is my hope to work directly with each of you as not for County Commissioners to facilitate these appointments I write this letter to you to help avoid what occurred the last time time Union promotions were legally and validly posted under the signed Collective Bing agreement at that time the nfor County Human Resource director Michelle lardini on May 7 2024 tore down off the union bulletin boards union job postings I wrote a letter dated June 5th 2024 to each of you about that unfortunate incident this letter was incorporated into your June 5th 2024 minutes all of which are attached to today's letter upon reviewing these June 5th 20 24 minutes on page 5 third paragraph it says quote commissioner stady asked if the Commissioners could send the register the labor Council opinion related to this matter that shows contract language does not uh supersede the employee handbook my memory of that meeting was there was a commitment made that labor council's opinion would be sent to me as of this state I have not received this opinion and would respectfully request that it be sent to me thank you for your attention to this matter since the US so it's posted and we move forward thank you we'll take this item under advisement thank you very much you think I can get that opinion at some point we're on public we're on number six go ahead John thank you Mr chairman regarding the recent Cyber attack in the county We are continuing to work with a team of Industry professionals who specialize in the response to such threat actors to ensure excuse me to evaluate personal data has been compromised We are following their proven expert opinion closely we anticipate notifications to go out to current employees very soon we want to thank people for their patience as we methodically go through this process with the experts any and all employees are welcome to contact me directly with any concerns thank you under public comment any other public comment anyone else last call for public comment number seven old business I have none number eight personal matters to consideration I believe there are four today all all at the agricultural School commissioner stady yes sir uh move approval of the following uh notice of contingent employment for Lori C Handover as a sub nurse for the r stated effective 11724 some second motion made seconded all in favor it is a vote next new approval of contingent employment for Selena Humphrey of dam as a sub nurse also for the r stated effective 11 724 so Mo second Mo M seconded all in favor I it is a vote thank you next move approval and notice contens employment for an Marie Lan of Walpole is a sub instructor rate stated effective 11724 so Moe second motion made in second did all in favor and I move approval of the appointment of Wendy Cameron of Middleboro Mass as the animal science four person herdsman at the rate stated effective 1112 24 this is replacing mine gr so mov second motion made in second all in favor it is a vote that concludes the uh appointments thank you number nine payroll and expense warrants for approval right can we have three move approval the warrant list for 11624 uh first item is the payroll of the county 18 the move approval of the sum of 147,50 16.93 so moved second motion made second all in favor is a vote next we approve of the expense of the county 11125 the sum 17,50 5811 so move second motion made second all in favor is a vote next and last I'll move approval the wall recreation facility credit card payment 11424 the sum of 32351 some move second motion made in second did all in favor question sh Opa there's no Opa thing on here yes there is but there I believe there's one there is not on the warrant no I Begg it pardon because there's no Opera here but we don't have Opa here that's my over sight I apologize um there is one like to make the uh I'll make the motion that we approve uh the Opera for the town of Medfield this $845 that correct John that's correct 8450 and for we have a copy here thank you okay is that fine yeah on the Opera of $8,000 uh dollar for the town of no8 8450 8450 he made a motion on a second y town of Medfield Opera all in favor hi hi apologize I usually cycle these through um to our I think that's it that's any other thank you any other reports on op for today director uh just briefly I wanted to describe the uh application just approved with the town of Medfield has stated it's a revenue replacement item tree planning in in an effort to improve Open Spaces storm water practices in the environment town of Medfield has embarked on a tree planting initiative uh the Su board approved a $10,000 project this uh funding is an um a portion towards that initiative um and in this matter does not impact any operating budget or other eyes otherwise uh involve recurring expenses town of Medfield I believe has a small amount of money over we're working with their consultant to close out their final there are four communities I believe right now Medfield planville Welsley and Brooklyn that are still out there um with a couple of Grants to go literally a couple were down to about $5 million so um on the greater sense of U matters the uh the arpa syst the arpa award process is as you know winding down I wanted to alert the Commissioners that um we are likely to um submit on behalf of the county a host of Prior projects that were approved under Capital means in fy22 23 and 24 these applications will be the County's form of excess capacity Grant so in the event that funding becomes available we can use our previously approved excuse me our previously funded capital projects as a reimbursement cycle to put ourselves in a better position down the road excuse me this um this approach is a more of a a hedge against any windfall of money that might be coming our way um we don't expect any at this time but uh we've been advised by flip and Larson to consider that um one other um note as the Commissioners may recall from my arper presentation about a month ago we have pretty much submitted all of the arper applications that total the county allocation with the now exception of one app we're still waiting for an eligible project from probation um we have been working sorry probate we have been working with um colen berson's um office to come up with a project we're starting to time out if it involves anything that would be a public bidding process um other than that all the other grants that we've submitted have been approved um and that's why I'm going to not take the steps of putting in our excess capacity grants while we still try to wait for probate on clearing the air so that's your uh oper update for this week thank you thank you Mr chairman thank you number 11 number 12 report from the procurement department for bid openings and contract Awards we have none today number 13 NAA County Retirement Board update are you going to hand Mr yes sir commissioner good afternoon um I have I had invited um your representative to the north for County Retirement Board Paul Connor to today's meeting he had an other obligation could not attend um I believe you have each individually spoken to him regarding uh recent activity at the Retirement Board I just wanted to give you an update on where things stand um so last week the Retirement Board met with um the intention of handling um a plan the new actual AAL plan to fund the liability of a p pension plan out to 2030 or Beyond uh the modeling involved in that caught the attention of many Town managers who expressed their interest in learning more about the process as well as their concerns over spiked costs excuse me um following that meeting Mr conis was kind enough to share with me some of the models that were being developed um the one that was um in play also known as the quote unquote pink copy um would have put a tremendous burden on norfor County briefly explain what that means the model that the actuary had planned would fund um an additional $158,400 for FY 26 that's next fisal year uh it's an amount that is on top of the increase that the County Commissioners had already seen two years ago under a similar um model however following FY 26 now at to 27 28 29 30 and 31 the County's obligation would explode we would be looking at in the aate 9.9 million in additional expenses to close out the actuaries model assigned to M County needless to say that's an that's an amount that would have serious serious consequences for our financial resources I um I took the opportunity after doing the analysis to reach out to Paul and um Treasurer Botti we met um I think it was late last week and went through these figures and just as a sort of a reference point uh norport County system is kind of in the lower middle area we're about A3 to4 million system in terms of our annual contributions We compare to towns like um Cohasset which is 3.7 um another one ram is a little under us um I looked at their contributions over the same period of time using the same model Cohasset would pay approximately $1.29 million towards that obligation while rent would pay $900,000 so for similar size systems we were being um you know the model had been putting an emphasis on Our obligation to be close to 10 million while theirs is a fraction of that looking at larger systems in norfor County Retirement Board cycle including c um as well as foxb Franklin Randolph Sharon ston wole and so forth uh those are larger systems and out of those particular systems the largest one [Music] is St Fall by St Fall by randolphs Follow by uh Franklin those are large systems and the largest being stoen they would pay 3.3 million over that same time period Well we again are at 10 million so these concerns were uh brought directly to the stakeholders I want to thank PA Connor again your represent to the North Count Retirement Board as well as the treasurer for listening to us they took our concerns to um Monday morning's meeting of the Retirement Board in Canton uh thereupon the Retirement Board voted to approve only the FY 26 model at this time they did not adopt the out-year model as prepared they found it I believe to be uh filled with questions that they couldn't adequately answer and certainly in our case help us flatten out costs that uh I thought were way out of scale I believe under Mr Connor's motion they intend to revisit the calculations in in the modeling of the actuary within the next two months so we expect to hear more from them down the road again I asked Paul to be here I'm sure he would be happy to answer any questions you might have but I I also want to let you know um for FY 26 it'll be about $158,000 increase which we can absorb uh but FY 27 remains an open question and possibly a large obligation so more than that thank Mr chairman and when can we expect in last year he came in December I believe I'd be happy to have him come in at another date if you want to speak to him directly the facts though as I described are you know he was part of all of this so if you want me to have him in separately I can do that or you can wait to hear from him once they reform their model for the once they reform their model okay fair enough understand they Tak think I don't think so our budget for next year going forward doesn't include that increase we're all set for that right well we have to budget well I mean we we know the number it's been voted okay yeah all right right I believe in my traveling and my hustings to other public entities that have their own system governed by the same rules they're all going through this um it's a perak the bed overseas the7 public pension systems that we have in the col per overseas this and they put these demands on the individual systems and given the date and he was even more ambitious than 35 I think it was in the 20s R well and I think it drill M out it was Impractical the good news is is sometimes and cities that have already 100% funded some in nor for County I don't want to mention but it's I I'll double check but I know one and they've already done it when you finally get to you 100% fund it it levels way up at a much lower ohly okay again I've been a Public Employee so long and Richard you might remember this I remember them talking about 2040 in 1992 or 93 or 203 you know and they would they've tackled it all along things have changed people are making more money contribution goes up but you know it's it's like fighting your yourself here and we're all aware of it but public employees are guaranteed their pension and even if you had a raise taxes and you know that's a good point Mr chairman though I believe it's law that requires these systems to be solved by 2040 and I and I understand the norfor County Retirement Board when they met two years ago attempted to move that liability and cleared by 2030 10 years earlier right and so looking under the lens of this new actuaries model um things moved and shifted they saw high risk and a higher need to raise money against that risk so some of the discussion was to move move the 2030 timeline to 2035 but when you look at the model as commissioner Shay just indicated the peak of the contribution ends at 2031 and then it goes down it drops Like a Rock by 2035 we're only paying about $4,000 a year so what the model did is instead of flattening that out over you know a 10 nine year nine 10 year period they they spiked it in a period of four to five years um and and that's a tremendous hit on any budget I think the Tom managers saw that as well although they like they like what happens in 2033 that's nice um but here and now you're the burden on some of these other communities was astounding I thought Paul I thought Paul three options one was the who 2032 he mentioned that but the pink the white different color that's right yeah everybody kind of call lest around the pink version cuz it was the less pink is that 2032 uh it's 2035 2035 okay all right yeah the White and the yellow were much much more impactful uh and not tenable frankly for anyone so they all focused on the pink version um but once I pointed out that the norfor county modles stood alone in in scale and in Impact um I think they decided to kind of take a step back Paul said can you deal with 26 and I said absolutely so that'll give us time to take our next step but everybody on the other hand and that includes several the Town managers who sent out emails through a string support the northr County Retirement board's efforts in this regard they know that we have to do this because if you don't uh the state print will come after you and and and and and dare I say start taking over systems that are not compliant with um funding liability so I think the proactive approach is warranted the modeling has to be you need a vote any a motion no there's no vote no but we we'll just pay particular attention to I right I did I found out that I believe we're 71% thund some of the communities not in our system that's that's the whole system and I don't care you know well all this together but some of still down in the 40s and 50 right and I don't know how if in 71 it's a bur for us those that are in the 40s and 50s have to go to the same years they're really going to be hurting but I'm I'm here to worry about and uh you know we absorbed the pension Peter probably knows more about it than I do that's a separate issue they went to the state y the new people contribute to the state and you know we're stuck with the BL this model excl excluded them because that's part of an agreement with a right state so okay thank you um Commissioners I want to let you know that I'm working with Meen Leiden to prepare letters to 15 norer County coalitions um to open up the solicitation period for them to apply for up to $1,500 opioid Grant by November I think that's the 22nd on the letter given a couple of weeks um you may recall our last round was quite successful we're hoping to get higher um participation from these groups um I want to thank nor for comy DA's office for their assistance and helping us Co orate this it's a great partnership and um I think as you know these monies for these smaller organizations although sounds like a small amount of money are quite meaningful and while accepting as they try to combat this uh this epidemic of Public Health uh we are currently positioning for a PEC meeting in early or mid January a notice went out to all the stakeholders today um as you probably know our PEC agreement expires in FY 25 so this meeting will be the beginning of our conversations with the unions to come to an agreement on overall Public Employee contributions also looking to hear from the Commissioners on an agreement to have a prep meeting with labor Council on November 20th commissioner stady I believe you would remark some time ago that you would like a uh conversation relative to where we're heading um and our council's offering the 20 which I believe is uh wait a second is that a Wednesday 20 yeah I know it is 21st to Thursday I there you go right so it's um so if you're open for that I can schedule lock Michelle in to join us in executive session to have this uh open-ended um dialogue before we begin our table talk and ground rules with abs November 20 a good idea I have no objection I think it's a good idea is that the day they're doing the dedication no that's the 27th I'll speak of that's coming later got something on that so if it's okay with you fine it sound it sounds like it is I will confirm Michelle and she'll see you an executive session on the 20th that's all I have thank you Mr chair any other questions of director croman okay reports from the county director I just did that thank you um I discussions on any other items no time change 27 meeting no no right um um the 27th is the day before Thanksgiving it's also a day that we've all been invited to a dedication down at the school at 8:30 a.m. I have an idea that I did discuss with director Corin about the interest of disclosure um whether you go to the school board that morning or not I'd like to have our meeting at 11 o'clock after that yeah and then go right through and then adjourn for the Thanksgiving okay yeah you can look at your calendar and let me confirm it next week and we'll fine we'll make it to date 100% with you 11:00 a.m. yeah that's great so hopefully we'll be done by two in the afternoon yeah yeah we could oh earlier than that okay 11 a.m. on the 27th yes 8:30 9:30 10 yeah where would the meeting take place you're here to leave there and come here also we're not going to meet in the Aggie we're going to have the meeting come back here I think so let's come back here okay yes okay um Commissioners having no further business I entertain a motion to adjourn I move be adjourn at 202 motion made seconded to adjourn all in favor thank you very much we are adjourned at 202 pm