I was about to say good evening I'm used to that but good morning and welcome to the select board meeting for Saturday April 6 time is 10 o'clock we're here in the select Board conference room at Town Hall this meeting is being conducted in a hybrid fashion um the meeting is being recorded if anyone is recording the meeting please make it known to the vice chair and we'll start off this meeting um any veterans in the room Marcus can you lead us in the pledge this morning I Al United States andice for all thank you sir at this time I'll open the floor to uh public comments if anyone has any public comments that they'd like to make to the select board at this time uh now is your opportunity uh we'll start with the room first today is there anyone in the room that has a public comment that they'd like to address to the select board none in the room we'll go to zoom is there anyone on the zoom that would like to make a public [Music] comment okay seeing none Mr Dary you can hear us okay how about Joanne yep I can hear you just fine thank you Ju Just making sure thank you very much Mr Jo is really not there yeah he's getting Cofe ah there he is sorry I just screwed up something on my computer and I couldn't unmute just wanted to make sure that we were getting through with the audio onto the zoom so yeah I can hear apprciate thank you okay so today we're going to have inter uh final interviews with um two candidates and the first one's supposed to be at 10:15 we're running a little bit ahead of schedule I believe the applicant is already here so I see no no issue with proceeding um so do we want to bring the first applicant in at this time and then we'll go from there Mr chairman and members your first candidate is Nicole facker Nicole that's the hot seat okay thank you so Nicole uh is currently in hwit Massachusetts another Wick Community smaller the only other Wick other Wick uh I'm not going to regurgitate all of her stuff you've got all that but what we identified in terms of skills a passion for local government strong in finance strategic planning and zoning grant writing and administration Labor Relations Collective Bing economic and Community Development initiatives written and verbal skills and farming sustainability support Nicole talker thank you so let us introduce ourselves uh we've had the pleasure to meet my name is Doug Mogan I'm the chairman of the select board this is Jason Vice chairman ofce to meet you Jason and Diane Gale you too thanks for coming thank you for having so we've got 96 questions for you and we're going to go kind of round robin if you will sure and there may be some follow-up questions based on the responses here and at the end of uh our 96 questions you'll certainly have an opportunity to ask any questions of us or make any statements that you wish to make and um we'll go from there sound good sounds good to me thank you all righty Jason you want to go first and we'll go this way this time well all right is it Miss or Mrs whatever I'm Mary Mrs Parker what will be your first steps upon assuming responsibility in this position and what would you hope to accomplish in the first year it's actually three and what are your long-term goals well um you know what I would do initially is meet everyone and really get a feel for all of the staff a lot of you know the residents I would want to meet the residents um I I I don't I don't pretend to know uh you know what exactly the town wants to move forward but I know that as a leader of a community I I sort of steer the ship that everybody's on so I want what the community wants I don't interject my own opinion I am not a resident here I want What the residents want and clearly they elect the select board to make those decisions for them so you know through the select board as the everyday uh sort of monitor of the Town um I think that uh you know all I want to do is Project what the town wants what the community wants how they want to move forward I think if you live in a community you live here for a reason because you love what you know is in your community however whether it's Urban or rural or a combination of both and I think that it's very very important to listen to the community to see where they want to move forward I don't have my own personal agenda to where I want to go I always want to listen to the residents and you know obviously mostly through the select board because again as the elected members of the community uh you know the the community expects that you make the good decisions for them and I want to support that and that's what I do every day I support what my Selectmen want and I give them all of the options as I listen to the community whether it's staff or residents and you know bring that back to the select bir so they make the appropriate decisions that they make so you know if you say where do I project where do I want to bring the town I want to bring the town where it wants to go so I I don't I don't come in with any preconceived notions that I'm going to make any um giant decisions or changes that I think are better because really you know the best community is you know what we have which is a Town form of government where the town makes the decision and I really have my ear to the ground listening to what the town wants thank you Diane can I ask a followup to that absolutely um you had mentioned about you don't live here yeah would you if you were chosen as the CAO here um I mean it's not out of the question because my kids aren't in school anymore or anything like that right so I I was really um seated in my community why my kids were in school and now they're in college so it's not necessarily um required for me to say where I am I like where I am I I live in a in a more you know I'm very close to downtown Springfield I'm on a on a 90 interchange I like where I live I love the town that I manage now too and my husband and I have looked because he loves the community too he loves the rural factor of it um but is it out of the question no do I promise that I would move here no okay can I go out of order because there's a question that kind of sure not to make it difficult I'm just gonna put check marks in all right go ahead so number nine how would you get involved in our community and give us some examples of your previous Community involvement so the way to get involved in the community is to be here um I am thoroughly engaged I am I mean I say I'm at work a lot but I don't really consider at work it's really my life passion is what I do I want to help the community so um you know I am I'm always at all I go to most of the meetings you know not just my own selectboard meeting but all the meetings I know what's going on in all the Departments all the boards uh a real feel for the community I go to the community events um I'm involved in in preparing the annual um you know parade and pwn and just you know all the things in the town there's really not a lot probably nothing in the town that I'm in that I that I'm not involved in or I don't know what's going on and give assistance when I need to you know there's boards that need um some guidance and assistance and you know whe whether it's planning or conservation or any of the anything that's going on I'm I'm always involved thank you how do you set goals and objectives for staff and how do you measure attainment of those goals and objectives please provide an example of when you had to evaluate whether to take disciplinary action with an employee the evaluation process you used the actions taken and the outcome okay so overall in general you know everybody will get a review annually and they set their goals and we look at to them to you know I I look at their history I look at what they've done look at how um ambitious they are with their work and I feel like you know if they if they set a goal and they attain it or if they're working to attain it you know everybody's human not every we we're all very busy every day so if you know somebody doesn't necessarily meet that goal then we can strategize and work toward um you know reaching that goal or goals um I did my specific instance that I'd like to share is when I combined the treasure collector position um they were separated and we had the collector leave so you know um do DLS they they recommend that you combine them if especially if you have attrition if you have somebody LEF and so I took the treasure and uh you know gave her a lot of training to be the treasure collector uh gave her staff because she was a office of one at that point and we worked for almost a year I had a firm come in and train them train her because she wasn't a collector she was the treasurer uh she didn't have a lot of training even in that so you know I worked very closely with her and the firm that was training the it's treasure collector um out of actually it's out of my town but she helps a lot of towns in Massachusetts and really to make a good department and there were some some struggles there were and the only the the only thing that I can do is Empower and assist and you know I really I I just want to see everybody succeed so I'll give them all the tools necessary sometimes that isn't enough and the difficult decisions have to be made and I've also made those difficult decisions ultimately we are running a town and it has to run efficiently and it has to run smoothly and you have to have the good people in place to run it and if people just in a good fit and you've done your due diligence because you're not just going to fire somebody it's illegal anyway but if you've done all the training all of the assistance and it still doesn't work out and you have to part ways that's just it's a difficult decision it's difficult because people are have lives and this is their livelihood but at the end of the day if you can't perform your job then we have to part ways and that's happened and it's unfortunate but it's for the good of the community we're not just going to pay somebody to do a bad job just can't do it thank you followup sure in that situation um did you have to get approval to make that move and did you get push back from it how did you deal with that so it's funny that people say you just want all the power and I'm like I have no power zero it's not power that I have I assist my Selectmen certainly make that decision so I don't unknow the dynamic here necessarily but I bring all of the information to my Selectmen and encourage and uh you know recommend uh decisions and I give all the backup as to the reasoning and if they are reasonable people and they see that what I see you know then it's it's like cut and dry it's not it I have no personal vendettas against anybody you know I would never do that at work it's simply a job it's a job that needs to be done and if you're not performing and I've done a b CDE E and F and you still can't perform that job then I must you know bring it to my selectman for the decision um I I haven't really had any push I mean I I do have um some instances where my decisions have not been chosen or me and the legal team have made a recommendation and the Selectmen have chosen to make their own decision on a situation and that's what I live with then that's the way it is okay thank you is it Jason all right Mrs Parker we are interested in knowing your experience with conflict resolution specifically describe an example of a complex situation that you were involved in that tested your conflict resolution skills and abilities how did you handle it did your position disagree with the elected board just that so how was it was R resolved well it's inevitable to have conflict you know in a job when you have you know 50 100 employees um and really the biggest thing I think is to remain objective and I simply live by bylaws Mass general laws policies I don't inject my own opinion on anything so if we're having a conflict if I'm having a conflict with um an employee and I bring it to my board and my board disagrees then I and I I think I just said that but that's literally what I'll do I will work and currently doing that they chose they chose the the the opposite decision of of what I have and I work with that I work with that constantly I have um an employee that I thought uh shouldn't be allowed to do a because you know the attorney strongly agreed that this this employee shouldn't be able to do this well my board said I don't have a problem with it so I said okay well I'm still documenting all of the things that I didn't that I strongly recommended my board to go with and they didn't so I'm I don't hold a begrudge or anything like that but I do keep documentation of the things that I feel is very important to why I made that decision and and that they chose to go another way um you know I'll always have this backup as to why I why I think that it should have gone the other way but again um I don't have the personality to I I it's not in my professional ability to really have conflict with my boss you know my board is who I answer to you know if they want this I do that I wanted this but they chose to and I I I have to be very vague obviously because I don't want to call anybody out um but I just I I just you know work with it I pivot and I work with it thank you to meet [Music] um again another followup how many employees do you work with um on a daily basis like 20 but there's about 100 employees but you know some of them are boards and I do see them all because uh you know they're volunteers and they're excellent excellent studious um you know members of the community but on a daily basis about 20 okay all right availability of housing for all income levels attracting young families with children and increasing lwi impact commercial or Industrial in De development are all important factors to the growth and health of the community um and sometimes conflicting do you think these objectives can be prioritized and can you indicate which of these you think you might be able to impact most immediately and how well again I feel like the it's community-driven other than housing I mean there is a certain percentage of housing that's required for you know the state of Massachusetts to achieve maybe 10% of you know your housing should be affordable um that's not really attainable for most communities I don't only maybe the big cities have the 10% um it's very important it's becoming more important I'm on weekly meetings with the governor not me personally but she holds these meetings that we're on for Avail uh affordable housing and how we achieve that and how we do that through zoning how we do that through you know Community impact um so it's very important certainly that we have affordable housing to the best of our ability um of course attracting young families to the to the community most people look at the schools so PE you know when they move into a community the first thing you do is see how your schools are performing um you know sort of see what's available in town for your kids to do do they have recreational activities um so you know you want to make sure that you have this responsible growth where again you take from the community the community wants three hotels and a Foxboro Stadium then you work to achieve that uh through zoning through uh Community Development if the community wants you know Mom and Pop stores and some Farm stands and small growth develop development then you work toward that again zoning uh Community Development you get you know I I I say it again people live here because this is what they love that but you have to grow or you'll die so there's responsible growth and I think that I I don't know what I would do immediately I mean I don't have a crystal ball to look into the future but I certainly would want to work with the community with planning with the board who is out in the community constantly to see what the community wants and how they want to grow thank you all right it's a change of pace have you been through any major system convers verions and if so what was your role in the project what projects of any type are you currently overseeing or directly involved in and can you demonstrate how you set project goals and led manage and collaborate with other other departments and agencies to complete the project loaded it's a lot of questions there we had to limit it to a few questions so it's 96 parts of each question no problem are we glad to repeat any of the questions um as as far as systems go so when I when I got to the town they were relatively like uh you know not really modern so I had to we had to we had to do some conversions um our finance uh systems weren't talking to each other so our assessor couldn't talk to our collector couldn't talk to our treasur and it was like here's a piece of paper or here's my spreadsheet that's probably wrong and so you know I had to um get some Financial software that was going going to be able to do this to manage it and so everybody can see it the accountant can see it she's off site and so we converted from a very old Financial system to a new Financial system and it was difficult because we have somebody who's been there for 40 years and likes the system and um you know we have somebody who has never worked with a system and then we have somebody who's very eager to learn a new system so it's it's hard to get everybody involved because change is hard but when you when you um sort of massage it slowly and and make people understand that it's going to be better and it's going to make your life easier you know I'm not here to make anything more difficult I I if anything it's more streamlined and more accurate so and it it was it was almost a year that it took us to really convert everything um and I'm 100% involved in it I even though I don't rarely use the software I'm certainly involved in uh the development and overseeing and the implementation um I did forget the next question well I I'll read it again have you been through any major system conversions and if so what was your role in the project what major projects are you currently overseeing or directly involved in and can you demonstrate how you set project goals and led manage and collaborate with other departments and agencies to complete the project yeah so here I'm very lucky in the small community is that I am involved in every project and I also have great partnership with state and federal agencies so not only our local planning agencies and the local uh you know Regional agencies but also state government and federal government and the biggest project I'm working on right now is a $30 million loan SLG Grant from the USDA and it's a sewer upgrade project the day before I started the entire funding was de obligated from the town and it was due to the government structure and they didn't feel that it was um responsible enough to administer this funding so they took it away it took me a year but I got it back and if I didn't get it back the town would have gone into receivership because there were two treatment plant shooting effluent into the river and there are EPA consent orders that was sent to me two weeks after I started Dear Nicole and I was like oh great so I worked extremely hard it was the top priority of the selectman for me to get this funding back and I worked diligently on on it and then literally almost to the day uh it was July of 2022 the all the funding was re obligated and we are full on into the third phase of the project there are three phases so we've just awarded the third phase I am very involved I'm involved in the weekly calls with the engineers I'm deeply ingrained in USDA with the funding and how we are going to administer that um and you know I rely on my waste a treatment plan superintendent to tell us what you know the priorities are because I don't know what he wants for pumps and things like that but as far as managing it I am all over it I have probably I can't I can't remember up top of my head I should have written it down but I probably am doing like six or seven Grand right now I just got right now I just got um the $200,000 maximum for Green community and um we're doing Upgrade U weatherization upgrades to our DPW our fire station and the town hall um I am I'm the only contact really with my regional planning Agency on that um I just had through evip which is the electric vehicle incentive program $40,000 to redo our electric vehicle stations of I'm really the only one that does the grants and my police Lieutenant will get some grants that you know I'll assist him with for the police um fire has been doing their own grants um that they haven't really been successful but hopefully they'll let me help them and then they will be um so uh I am really involved in all of it um and it's really it's it's at of necessity because there's you know limited staff I I certainly welcome anybody to come in and assist or you know I have a whiteboard where I keep where I keep track of everything so any deadlines anything that's due next you know I'm uh we're just doing the complete streets me and my um Highway superintendent attain uh attended the training and then we had the complete streets policy pass that I wrote and then yesterday I submitted it that's the tier two so I'm very involved in all of the grants and the administration of them I hope that answers your question because I forgot me too cuz I'm out of places to write I sorry I tried to get to the point thank you Jason back around the me what are your thoughts on the utilization of enterprise-wide document and project management systems and collaboration across boards commissions and department heads and what are your thoughts thoughts on public access to these documents and status reports for non-confidential topics okay um the enterprise Enterprise not funds it was something else enterprise Enterprise wide document and project management systems so it really depends on you know which are you talking like software systems yes I would assume okay so you know depending on who's administering these systems is you know um crucial to um I I you know I can you just repeat that question because I'm not the Enterprise systems the software systems what are your thoughts on the utilization of enterprise-wide document and project management systems collaboration across boards commissions and department heads and what are your thoughts on the public access to these documents and status reports for non-confidential topics okay so um it's certainly extremely important to have these systems in place for cohesiveness and you know communication between the boards and commissions and whoever has access to them um and I think it's extremely important to keep you know them up toate and relevant and modern um as far as access as far as I'm concerned everything that gets turned over to me is a public document as soon as it's as soon as my board acknowledges receipts so um essentially I think everything is a public document but I really really encourage bridge and I will sit on something until my board acknowledges receipt of it um because I feel that it's most important for the executive body to First acknowledge receipt that's when it gets brought to the town um you know for an example I have we have cassella who is a um land trash company trying to reopen a landfill in town and expand it and it's very controversial as you can imagine but it was given to me on a Thursday and I felt it was very important for me not to give it out until my board acknowledged it on Monday so you know I I don't want I say I'll sit on it but what I mean is I I feel like the executive body should always acknowledge a seat of the documents before they come become public but it's public I get public requests all the time and everything that's non-confidential needs to be you know given out to whoever wants it I don't usually wait the 10 days you know if somebody wants it and it's available I'll give it to them um but I I'm keenly aware that everything that I do and have my computer is Public public document thank that's back to me again right yes ma'am I'm sorry I have a problem going this way because IED it makes me um you did very well on last question I just want to say we didn't know what the compilation of questions was so if we struggle it's not because we don't get it we just this is the first time we saw the questions too no problem I think you're doing a great job [Laughter] sorry okay so public participation in routine public meetings on appointed boards and commissions and an annual town meeting is generally week and you probably experience the same do you have any thoughts on how to ignite more Community interest and participation oh so I always say short of smoke signals and Me Knocking on everybody's door I have you know we we have Public Access television we have YouTube so what I like about YouTube is that it's available anywhere you are so if you're at the C and you're on vacation and you want to watch a meeting you just pull it up in my town I have to actually be in my house watching it on the cable TV right so I thought that you know giving access to people to the meetings anywhere is important um we I have um Co code red we do community meetings um we you know we go to the library we try to advertise everywhere we possibly can where people you know can come to you know let them know what's happening we do have good participation in the town that I'm in right now they're extremely you know um involved it's really nice to see um but for the people that maybe live next door to town hall that simply don't pay attention you know I try to be available for those people that uh the voiceless the people that think they have no say I I had a call she says you know the train keeps tooting their horn in front of my house or um the the light is very bright at my house at night and and originally I thought well there's nothing I can do about that but you know when I look deeper there is a bylaw there is a bylaw that you know I can tell the business that they need to turn their light down or Shield it or something you know so the person that thinks that H there's nothing I can do that's not true you know and so I try to I try to be available to everybody on our bills I have all I have my phone number even on the tax bills on all of the bill you know everybody can reach me I do a bi-weekly um report that's on my we on the website I created a new website that's you know it's it's um it's more modern than the former but it's also like um for the VIS ually impaired and it does things that legally that we're supposed to do so it's easier to navigate you know um that is one of my big goals constantly is getting our message out getting our the word out to people for everything that's happening and I I do feel that I do everything that I can to get it out to everybody thank you can you describe the extent of your Professional Network and relationships at the regional and state level what is the nature of your routine interactions with other agencies and legisl I'm very involved in that again uh you know as a small rural community we are underserved by our state government I feel I feel everybody West is 495 really is um so IM on Stam which is small town administrators Massachusetts it's a it's a um body that has been created for towns with 12,000 people or less and uh I'm you can only be on two of the Committees and I'm on too I'm on the legislative committee and the bylaw committee and we write bylaws we also write legislation and we give it to MMA the MS Municipal Association um and you know to try to get some more uh visualization for our small towns I am very involved in state government um I I know I'm supposed to be fast but if you just have a minute I have a tiny story so Wednesday we had an emergency Bridge closure and I'm really in involved with um mot for several reasons but um especially regarding this bridge project because we had to have a special town meeting to accept the way for all the abuts to be able to do some easements and etc etc etc and this bridge was supposed to be fixed in 2026 and I she slowly encouraged that I do this special town meeting sooner and when I say I I certainly bring it to my board and ask them if they'll do it they did and we were able to secure all of these you know the the permits the license the acknowledgement we have we've accepted the road they're working diligently to move us up to get us to get us the funding this year so you know I feel like having those professional relationships with state and federal again I work with USDA constantly um is extremely important for them to know who I am as a character and to be able to trust and know my professionalism to be able to do things like this like it was I thought it was going to be uh you're you're in when you're in you're in the queue when you're in the queue and I expressed you know the emergence of us needing this bridge to be reopened and the next day we had a meeting I got all of my staff and a select board member and the state and in a meeting and we're working hard to get that bridge done now so you know yeah the relationships that I have built through my regional planning agencies through the state agencies and you know do DLS I'm I know a lot of them I mean I I went to a legal update training and I sat with all DLS and they made fun of the Town administrators and how uh you know in the select boards how we get tortured by you know sometimes uh the work the bogd down whatever it is and they're laughing like at least we don't have to do that you know so I was like oh make the wrong table but you know I'm I'm I'm I have a lot of contacts I have a lot of contacts there and it was I feel lucky that I was able to come to this community to really um engage with all of those people what happens when your opinion on a given subject differs from that of the governing body well I don't have opinion I really don't I will make a suggestion if I think it's the right thing um and I will bring the facts the supporting facts whether that's law whether it's bylaw whether it's policy But ultimately my board makes the decision and I work from that it happens all the time you know it happens all the time and I I mean with the town that I live in the towns that I pay attention to I have a lot of town administrative friends you know we we know we work for the board if the bo makes that decision then we will do our best to carry out that decision that they've made whether it's I feel it's the right one or not it's not mine to make that was a great response it's the truth there's no doubt about it it's the truth the next chief administrative officer will be following in the footsteps of a highly regarded and well respected individual um you've heard of the 35 5 years experience consequently you can expect to face daily comparisons to an iconic predecessor from staff local officials and citizens alike describe how you will go about working in this Shadow and what you will do to quickly establish your own management and Leadership presentent well I I believe that I had to do that in my first town and not in this most recent town and it's sometimes it's well you're not from here or well at least you're not from here you know so it's it comes and goes it's what whatever it is um yeah there's definitely been a a something set here with 35 years it's really unheard of these days uh to have that long of a tenure congratulations for sure um I feel like I could bring a fresh set of ideas and a fresh set of eyes and really um you know again put my I don't know if it's the ear to the ground or something like that really to gauge you know where the community is and where we could potentially go um whether it's slow growth you know rapid growth or you know status quo I feel like I could definitely bring um a a good set of of ideas to the town especially again with my relationships that I have with the regional planning agencies and the state and federal agencies um so bringing my own management style I'm sorry I I just kind of like startled all of you I think um I have what I have have like I am I don't pretend to be what I'm not and all I ever want to do is really be partners and I want everybody to succeed and I want to help and assist people to be the best they can at what they do and that's what I do every day I just feel like I I just try to support everybody to be the best they can be thank you could you please take a few minutes and tell us why you should be the next chief administrative officer in South I feel like I have an excellent set of skills I am a natural leader I am empathetic and I feel like you know I would really be in a I would really put the town in an excellent position to be um you know one of the commendable communities of the state and I really feel like I've done that in my last town you know that they're really in a good spot now and I I credit myself for the diligence and the work that I bring to the community just to just to make it a great place to live to work and to be so I feel like you know with my set of skills which I have in all local government it's been my passion for over a decade I've been in this role and I feel like um you know I could I can face anything that comes out at me I have faced significant push back in some projects that have come to the town and I believe I handled them with Grace and professionalism and I've gained a lot of trust from a lot of untrustworthy people in the community um just by my actions so you know I feel like I have the skills the experience and really the passion to help you all make this town like shine and make Boston and the federal government be like yeah cook is a great place they're in a great place you are in a great place I mean I've looked at all your stats so that was the end of the 96 question really yeah so now is your chance to ask us any questions that you have of us and or if there's any other statements that you'd like to make at this um I what what is your ideal candidate what what do you see um the next you know chief administrative officer would be for your town to be successful you've hit a lot of the points right in the answers you've given you know you feel you know youve got the leadership skills uh face any issues and you've done a lot of you're already familiar with a lot of the stuff there a little bit less of a learning curve I mean me the the the uh contacts with the state and uh different agencies and the the legislature and that's that's a huge thing um the USDA thing sewers always get talked about around here so yeah I know way more about sewer than I ever wanted to know um careful well I know it now you know you talked about updating a website that was that that caught my eye um you've got a lot of the things that I'd be looking for personally nothing we say is a reflection on our past CAO um so don't think there's fals or anything but going forward um communication is critical it's part of the reason I ran for this scene was open communication access to information um without having to pull teeth um interaction with the public um you've expressed those goals as well um communication between your employees um it doesn't have to be you know Mr Roger neighborhood but it's got to be a great place to work we have that we want to see that continue um for me the master plan was a big deal I was I wasn't on the master plan committee but I was the honorary member of Master Plan committee um there was a lot you'll you'll definitely want to get heavy into that read that thoroughly that gives you a lot of guidance on what the people want um and uh next I I think Communications is always the key and I I think the [Music] um you know working with the other boards and commissions and kind of and the department heads and providing that cohesiveness to um to make sure that all all the communication is there amongst those department heads and their respective boards and commissions you know it's a challenge because you know they meet on odd schedules or you know different nights of the week and different people are coming from and sometimes opposing um or different points of view on on certain things um so it's it's kind of sometimes it feels like you're hurting cats right but um I think that's the most important part and I think you know and then the rest of it is operational um operational excellence you know with with especially as the adoption of technology and Adoption of of certain processes in order to make government as efficient as possible within the constraints imposed by DLS and do and the other alphabet soup that you have to deal with on a day-to-day basis right um and then you know obviously the biggest one and the elephant in the room is always the budget right as far as you you've got all these constraints oh and by the way the budget is the big constraint of everything right and you've got to do all that within that and provide for you know adequate Public Safety and and other services that the public demands absolutely Within and and do it for nothing so other than that piece of cake so um you know just in response to that if I can I feel like I can achieve and go beyond all of that I'm an excellent Communicator I I I don't feel there's overcommunication even if I send an email because something happened during the day and I send it to the board you know I'm I'm making them aware of everything that's going on um I you know I again a leader there are several different personalities to people some people are strong some people are not so strong but they are equally important in what we do and you know when when one my board says but I wish I knew this you know well let's put a new policy in place let's make sure that any decision that's made all of the mailboxes get noticed so everybody knows when the planning board you know makes this decision or or when there's an noi on a parcel that the planing board may see later you know conservation puts that in all the boxes let's you know maybe it's information you don't want but you have it so nobody can say that well I didn't know because now we've put that into place that we all do share the information with each other and you know leadership is is precarious because again you have to cater to all the personalities and all of the people and I really feel like I've refined and I'm I feel like I'm an expert at that I don't have any adversaries and there's a reason for that that was the document Enterprise why document system that you just responded to that was that question 97 questions then I have one more question that's simply just personal so you say chief administrative officer which is um absolutely the term and it's also Town Administrator is there a reason that you CH choose chief administrative officer Overtown administrator um there's probably more history than than I even know because it pred and it's predates all of us on this board um but that was how the position was created I Believe by by special act and we when we adverti it and talking with our um Compadres over there we advertise it as kind of both because the term CAO is not used very often in this role so they're similar but they're not the same um and we can get you the finer points if you'd like as to what those are no I was just curious um every you know I don't know any other town and I do attend trainings and trainings and trainings where I'm with a lot of other Town administrators and nobody says Hi I'm the chief administrative officer that is what the role is equally but um it's it's longer that's all yeah C is a unique Community yeah calls themselves a unicorn so unique we're a we operate without a charter so most of all of our stuff is done via special act and and and the documents that we we operate with um we were also at Mass Municipal Paul I don't remember was probably eight nine years ago and uh Paula Poundstone does not know what a CEO is either because uh she asked our former CEO exactly what that means she was familiar with Town Administrator but not chief administrative officer so anybody any Town Administrator I mean typically the job description is the chief administrative officer right we administer the day-to-day work through the through the select board so I was just curious um again it's just longer that's all CAO works but then nobody knows what that stands for correct one more acronym in the sea of Acron that we do yes yes and we do have the assistant C who handles handles some of the responsibilities that you probably currently do um so you'd have support to do more so and that's really you know honestly there's nothing wrong with where I am it's lovely I've brought it to a great place a place where I feel like I can leave it two years ago I was poached by several towns when they knew I was leaving my other town but I I couldn't leave because they needed me and it's kind of funny because the next time the New Town Min the next town over I said oh you live here they were approaching me she says oh my gosh that's you she says um we wanted you so bad and and and our chair comes back and says she said Hardwick needs her and she's like what so you know I there was a diligence that I had here and I feel like I'm leaving it in a good place and to have it's simply personal for me it's it's uh professional development for me to move on and to have more support is amazing it leads me to be able to do more creative things for the town sorry that was long told me I don't know if this is so so now I have a followup to your question so what's what's your your long-term goal this is my long-term goal my long-term I'm never leaving this industry um I think I can retire at 60 um so that's probably my goal is make it to 60 my husband's 10 years older than me so he'll be retired you know so we'd like to live some time in retirement but I have 12 more years of being a Town Administrator hopefully here thank you this is my passion so I know I couldn't go anywhere else like I couldn't go and be a banker I just couldn't Jason I'm satisfied let's go I have no further questions okay I think we finished thank you very much thank the thank you for having me thank you very nice to meet you all I don't know if you want to shake my hand little clammy all right you need some coffee no thank you we should the way that'll sell you on the community is [Music] the okay so we we're running uncharacteristically of us we are running a half an hour 40 minutes ahead of schedule so we will take a 10 minute break here and we will come back in 10 minutes and we'll see if the other applicant is in the building and what not and uh we'll go from there can you just mute that we'll let the recording run but we'll just mute it e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e right she's okay hi folks I think you know this gentleman you all know Randy he your engineer DPW director is a PE maybe engineer a little too much hone anyway you can well the embellishment is 10 years graduate of WPI please top right here or over here thank you you've been through this Randy I have yes Randy see you I think we can dispense with a formal introduction since you kind of know who we are yes but good yeah exactly good morning so we have um I believe it's 96 questions for you awesome and when we complete these questions um which there may be follow-up questions to there'll also be ample time and opportunity for you to ask any questions of us or make any statements that you wish to make or get on the record um as part of this process I want to thank you for going through this arduous process till now and um we're ready to start if you are you ready let's get over with it's been three months all right happy today is the final my end my part it's all done as of today all right so we'll do the same thing we'll go in the same order want to unless Diane wants to go first I'll try to stay in order this time are you to number nine again no that's what I said well that would just followed that question perfectly okay okay all right but keeps me on your toes all right so question what will be your first steps upon assuming responsibility in this position and what would you hope to accomplish in the first year and what are your long goals so first steps um obviously I've been here for 10 years I'm familiar with the Departments but I want to sit down with each department head individually and discuss um the goals and objectives of that department uh and where we can you know may may maybe make modifications uh as far as the goals the long-term goals um I want to make sure we're we're continuing what we're doing um we have a lot of programs in process now I want to make sure those are being administered properly a lot of these goals and objectives are being per through the S board such as the uh Municipal aggregation um there's a a cannabis um post agreement which needs to get resolved so these programs I want to make sure are are going to be delivered um in advance you know in a timely manner I think it's important that uh we get feedback from the community in a allot these projects and I'd like to solicit feedback from the community um whatever way we can do that whether it's just individual meetings of myself or having forums with with the community um on certain projects so that would be my my my goals for the first year thank you how do you set goals and objectives for staff multi-art question sorry how do you measure attainment of those goals and objectives and please provide an example of when you had to evaluate whether to take disciplinary action with an employee the process you used the actions taken and the outcome that's a long question itate for that again how do we measure gold and objectives uh this the staff is that what for part that I think it's uh comes down to communication start off you want to make sure we're all on the same page make sure that uh we're all striving for the same goal and objective and if we need to provide input or secure input from other departments other employees certainly we should be doing that um an example of the the discipline um I'll be honest I've been pretty lucky in my Department of Public Works that we have had very little issues with with discipline I think as a board you can proba recognize that I don't think we've had many issues where you've had to get involved in in Personnel issues with the public works um I can't think of a you know one example particular where um an employee said some words that probably shouldn't have been you know about a member of um a family member of another employee and um you know I think that employee probably regretted that but in the end of the moment they were said they had to be addressed so first steps is we uh we sit down with the employee who was making those comments and and talk about what was said we will also talk with the employee who who um or talk to employer employee who's who a member was family was talked about and get their feedback on it um and also maybe any others that were involved in that that maybe overheard that discussion I want to make sure that uh the employees can move past this and get along and and work together so that's a question I had for them is like like can you continue working with this individual and if not what what changes do we need to make in that situation you know there was no issues I mean it was just more personal conflicts at that point um so we uh ended up writing a was a more of a verbal warning uh for that one employee and it has not happened since then I mean I think one of those employees has retired one of them is still here working for us but uh that's how we resolve that issue and I'll be honest that's probably one of the most significant issues I've had to deal with at Public Works and I think a lot of that comes down to finding the right people that we employ to begin with finding that got the right personalities obviously when you look for new employees you want to have a certain skill set but uh I think personality and how how that person will fit fit within the department plays a big role in in in making decision whether hire the employee so I think you can head off a lot of these internal issues by finding the right people to begin with good Randy we're interested in knowing your experience with conflict resolution specifically describe an example of a complex situation that you were involved in that tested your conflict resolution skills and abilities how did you handle it and did your position disagree with your elected board if so so how was it resolved another long question there we wanted to limit it to 96 we broke them all up in right so obviously uh in any leadership position like this conflict are there's going to it's going to come about and you're going to have to be involved and have to be the one who makes a decision on how this conflict gets resolved uh First St is you got us listen listen to both parties um understand where they're coming from and and why they or what they said or did something and whatever whatever they how how issu came to about kind of like the issue I talked about the last question um you want to get input from other stakeholders that were involved in this conflict um this is a broad question but it could involve other employees it could involve other board members it could involve members of the public or businesses that are involved uh so you want to get their feedback uh get gather all the the facts and then at some point you got to you know review your options and make a decision um I'm trying to think of a a situation where we had a very significant conflict I would say I would say as my prob as a public works director obviously we oversee the water department um there's been uh Park and wreck his try advance of spray park uh on the town property and the spray park would be a pretty big water they would be the biggest water user in town and there' be some impacts to the water department by having a you know a spray park so there are some questions that I had early on uh how you know I just don't want one board think of trying to advance a project without getting input from myself or others so I reached out to that board and try to solicit information you know i' say I probably didn't get I wanted to quickly and it seemed like that department started daning after ction um but you got to be you got to preserve um and just just keep on with your questions and and make sure you get the feedback that that you need and ultimately we were able to come and and finally meet and and I think come to a a fair consensus where you know obviously we want to have a spray park in town but I think you know what ways we were able to identify ways where we can minimize those impacts of water property can I answer all five parts of that question Tu I believe so yes Mr prone all availability of housing for all income levels attracting young families with children and increasing low impact commercial or Industrial Development are all important factors to the growth and health of our community do you think these objectives can be prioritized and can you indicate which of these you think might be a which of these you think you might be able to impact most immediately and how so housing young families and what was was our third categ sorry low impact commercial and or Industrial Development industrial so I think that the town has is certainly more involvement in some of these um issues than others that they're all very important but the town I think can play a bigger part in some more than others housing I think is is is difficult that's it's a reflection more of the the market and it's a reflection more of uh the property owner of what they want to see on their property you know we typically don't see these projects come to the town until the property owner has put together programs plans on the project and advance that to a certain stage certainly during that process we can provide input and and provide um ways where we can make projects you know more economically feasible for families but I think it's a hard thing to do from from a town standpoint and we see the development happening in town now and they're not anywhere where I consider you know for Wilding so it's tough um I think as far as the there was a kind of industrial uh development low impact commercial or IND L impct commercial yeah so I think the way that we can try to help um Pro uh promote those types of projects is through infr infrastructure upgrades so when you're looking at industrial commercial developments they're all looking for a lot of them are looking for water sewer fiber Gas Utilities those are program those are obviously we have water and sewer in house but I think we can coordinate with other utilities to try to bring those Services into town I do know that as part of the master plan committees um review that that obviously in housing was was a big was a big concern the community and is as mine I just don't know how we get there I'll be honest with you I think it's it's difficult there may be programs out there that we can try to work with developers but I think the developer really has a lot has a lot of um say in you know what happens to the Ser proper that mean yes well I'm laughing because I have a problem going around oh it's um have you been through any major system conversions and if so what was your role in the project multipart what other major projects of any type are you currently overseeing or directly involved in and can you demonstrate how you set the goals lean and manage and collaborate with other departments to complete the project so as far as subsistent conversion I would say five well 2016 2017 we upgraded replaced all the water meters in in town so we have uh approximately 2,600 water meters that are in homes and businesses and we undertook a project to replace all those water meters with new meters and also upgrade our infrastructure so we could read those meters remotely through our radio communications or as opposed we had to go te chison there's a touch bad you touch touch the meter device outside the house and you do your read readings that way so that was a big uh uh I say learning learning curve in our end and how to implement that program we obviously we had a consultant who are the experts the the one that came in and managed a program for us but how we took that information and and communicated with our with our residents you know obviously there's a there's a big Outreach we have to get every everyone's house and that's a big undertaking so how we can do that or how we did that was through mailings through phone phone calls through door knockers any way we could get in touch with those Property Owners we did that in order to uh to get in that house and and and and make swap out that meter uh the second part of the question how do we collaborate with others is that correct I guess maybe I touch upon that with um my answer but so obviously we can only do so much with with limited staff so we have to rely on Consultants to help guide us through these big types of projects and we did that for the water meter project any type of uh I would say most projects we would probably we would want to get input from consultant and that would have to be part of our planning process to to plan out budget for you know so these projects may take you know several years to come to fruition I touch up on all your questions there Dian yep thank you what are your thoughts on the utilization of enterprise-wide document and project management systems and collaboration across boards commissions and department heads and what are your thoughts on public access to these documents and status reports for non-conf fincial topics can you repeat that dog you mind I'll try yeah what are your thoughts on the utilization of enterprise-wide document and project management systems in collaboration across boards commissions and department heads what are your thoughts on public access to these documents and status reports for non-confidential topics I think it would make uh a lot of our department heads uh jobs easier to understand what we're all doing if there was some type of file sharing right now I don't see that in public works you know I have my own server which is basically my computer uh there have been inant upgrades over the years but I I I think it would be make a lot of sense to develop a program I'm going to go back to when I was uh my former employer when I was at c bond we had was called the internet uh not the internet but the internet where it was a basically server private private website where all departments everybody could log in and there was sharing of information uh throughout the board so if you were involved in you know on the water department and there was some projects on the sewer or a client working on the sewer another another area you could easily get information um from that intrnet I could see something like that uh happening here in South where you have your each department has a separate you know maybe the pull down on screen but if I have questions for the the fire department I may instead of calling the fire chief maybe I can I can find the information on the internet website now as far as sharing information with the public obviously you want to be as open and transparent as as possible I it would probably have to be a a specific it would have to be a more of a a field decision as far as what we want to put on that public website what I like to do on the public works department and I encourage you to take a look at it is I try to put as much information on that website as I think the public is interested in you know maybe more so than other departments but uh you know for example we have our sewer rates and water rates on the public on the website that go back to you know 20 years you know we keep the information there people may not people may may not be interested in it but it's there for for the and they can kind of see that they can track okay well how how would our rates increase over the past 20 years and uh and so I think that's there's value to that information but I I guess I would I would just want to look at each piece of information probably you know piece by piece and see what what is appropriate what is not I I think the if I guess I would put this the bar at you know if it's something that's you know of interest to the public and and I and not just maybe just one individual but you know a subset of the community is interested in some information I would be more amable to putting them on on a on a public website but if there's something that you know you only think that you're going to get one or two people in town that may be interested in I'm not sure if there's value for that I guess I want to ask a followup to that then so um if you were to do I mean how do you measure success of that because I think that that's kind of a keep I don't think you know upfront if it's going to be one or many people are interested in a piece of information till it's out there so I guess do you look at some of the the statistics or data of what's being looked at from what's out there today for example to see what's worth expanding on or expounding on um and see how you would do that I think from I um I agree with you 100% about you know internal you know internet or how you you know whatever that looks like today um to ease Communications amongst departments and then probably potentially make that available to the public but um how would you decide what what is or what isn't something you that the public would be interested in I guess you got to put yourself as in as a as a public you know in the public and and someone who is not involved in the day-to-day happenings in town hall and is it something of interest you know I I guess it's more of a judgment call at that point and yeah you can you can go back and look at how many hits that website took and then you can use that as a guide for success but it's that's tough that success is is uh it's difficult to judge in that Tye type of a format I think you just use your best judgment and if you get you know you could if you get inquiries from the public on you know one certain matter then you know what maybe that's something that that should be out there that's that's not thank you all right public participation in routine public meetings on appointed boards and commissions and at annual town meeting is gener generally week do you have any thoughts on how to ignite more Community interest in participation yeah so uh it's difficult to see the luing population um going to these these Town meetings and even the the number of volunteers that you know participate government I think uh we have to somehow Recruit new people to come to town meeting to town to these types of meetings board meetings and also volunteer how do we do that I think I think we have to go to them right I think I think we have to go find find these individuals and I'll give an analogy my uh my wife is a minister and when she became ordained about a year ago and one of her one of her goal So within the church they're also losing membership and so one of her one of her directives at become ad Minister was to go out into the community and so she was part of this program called Church Without Walls you know basically she was church wasn't in in the in the building but you know outside the community and I think we need to do that we need to recruit um we have certainly events in happening in town that we can and should be using to our advantage where we have a lot of families coming in uh others from even from out of town coming in and seeing what's happening here so like the Easter egun we've got the uh rotary um concerts um you know the trunk oret Treat events those type events are great where we could have uh you know maybe a booth or some people set up just kind of walking around and trying to trying to promote the town and what's happening in the town to these you know newer faces I also think uh social media is going to be a is a big tool I mean everyone's on social media I know there's been a some hesitation you know on prior boards that kind of Go full board into into like Facebook and other forums but I think we have to especially if you want to try to capture the younger crowds you know they're not on Facebook but they're on you know Tik Tok and all these other ones that I don't know much about but if you want to get your younger Young Generation involved in the town you need to go to them through those forms because that's where they are so how we do that you know that that's you know I guess up for discussion but but I think that's the Avenue you got to take to get more people involved and ultimately you want to see you know especially the younger generation you want to see them I think if you if they get more involved in the town now at the younger age they're going to want to stick around you know they're not going to want to leave that that's the generation we need to see coming in town we are as you know the BR community and we need to inject some new blood into our town government and volunteer boards thank you we're on the short page now two of 10 can you describe the extent of your Professional Network and relationships at the regional and state level and what is the nature of your routine interactions with other agencies and legislators so as Public Works director I do have a lot of uh contact with other not other communities my peers in other communities but also at the state level we are a member of the Piner Valley Planning Commission there's a lot of great staff who through that through that agency and a lot of good programs come out of it and I I certainly interact with them I would say maybe not weekly but uh at least several times a month basis for various events uh that that pertain you know obviously for Public Works uh there's a storm water committee meeting that I'm in I'm the vice chair of we meet once a month we collaborate with 20 to 30 other communities on zoom and have a discussion about our ms4 THM water permit and how we can administer that properly there's also called GTC joint Transportation committee meetings through also through P value Planning Commission where all the Departments other other municipalities sorry uh attend at those JTC meetings we do also do see some participation from Mayors and and uh select board members of other communities they're involved in that process so I think uh through Piner Valley Planning Commission that's a great resource for us to start with the discussion we do have uh two Representatives um that represent the town our state senator and loal rep they do have a presence in this building and which is nice to have um when they are in town or obviously we can we can reach out through by phone or email but but having that constant communication with those with those members is is is critical so have an idea what's happening not only just in South but get idea what's happening and elsewhere and bring those ideas back to back to southw followup you mentioned pbpc and JTC in your unique role as DPW should you be CAO would you be able to maintain those would you want to would you have the capacity to I would like to stay involved as I if I could my role really as Public Works director so I would say that uh the the the next director would be primally responsible to deal with those agencies for those programs but that's not to say there are other programs through P planning that the Town Administrator is involved in okay uh there's also um Mass Municipal Association they have uh that's a great publication if you don't already read it there's uh a lot of good events that that the time you know can can and should be involved through through M Municipal Association as well and I I would expect to be involved in in those organizations in that organization okay thank you ground ball question for you sir how would you get involved in our community please give us examples of your previous Community involvement so I I I obviously I I live here so I I am fully immersing South C my my wife and I both grew up my kids are in the school systems I'm also a volunteer I sir I wear uh several hats through 4 each um we have uh my wife and are Club leaders for a local club we have I think 12 or 15 kids in our club we had a meeting last night we actually meet in this building in town hall uh once a month on Fridays uh so that's one role is we we Mentor those kids um through for my other hat in 4 is through H County 4 Fair Association where we we were tked with putting on the 4 fair at the biggie fair grounds every year that's in July dog was there last year with uh he was very gracious to show his goat milking skills to the to the crowd um so that's my other has 4 is uh is uh so I I'm I'm immersed in in in 4 I also my my daughter and my son are both involved in soccer programs to the rec center I do coach my daughter's team uh we start practice tomorrow I'm tomorrow on Monday for our spring season getting ready for that uh so obviously I'm I'm here uh I'm not going anywhere uh kind of a side joke I you know my I go to bigw with my daughter quite often we eat a lot of ice cream so we go there twice three times a week to buy ice cream and so it's always a joke when we go into bigw and like all right Dad how many people are going to know here today you know like so I was like you owe me $5 every person you say hi to you know but so it's I'm here in the community I'm visible um obviously I live here I don't plan ever leaving my mom is right down the road for me so I don't see that being a being an issue aside from my first job in college and my four years of my four years of college and my first year my first six years working for a a private company and i' I've been thank you not going what happens when your opinion on a given subject differs from that of the governing body good question so I know that my role is really to support you as a board right that's one my primary functions and make sure that your goals and objetives objectives are being met but you know it's inevitable that there's going to be differences of opinions and that's great I don't I don't I think I think uh it's healthy to have discussions on different on different opinions and I hope that the there will be some common ground we could find but uh ultimately if you know this three member board decides to act on a project that I may not person agree with I will certainly give you my my feedback and my input but if you decide that you know this is the direction we're going to go then that's that's I'm going to follow that directive um like I said I would hope that you would listen to my considerations and my my concerns and then we can come to a common consensus but I I recognize that some situations that that may may not be the case somehow I landed on the same question the next even though I went out of order last time the next CAO will be following in the footsteps of Highly regarded and well-respected individual consequently you will expect to face daily comparisons to an iconic predecessor from staff local officials and citizens alike describe how you will go about working in the shadow and what you will do quickly to establish your own management and Leadership presence we've been very lucky to have Carl in that role for 35 or so years obviously there's no other Carls around um you know and I would not try to even um you know follow you know I I would not try to be Carl I can only be myself so I would take take my role one day at a time and try to learn as as as best as I can uh the the um how we need to implement the the goals and objectives for the for that for that position um I guess all I can say is I I I'm my own person so I'm not looking to follow anybody I'm looking to start my own my own my own track and I I would do that you know one day one day at a time one one decision at a time and I would think over time you would see that you know my My overall body of work um is uh is is fruitful and serves the town very well did I um I was going to ask a followup but I think it rolls right into the next question and if I need to I'll come back for a followup so um and fortunately this is the last question but please take a few minutes to tell us why you should be the next chief administrative officer in South lck so like any other business or organization I think you want you want your leadership to be fully immersed fully Allin in that in that entity and I think I'm that candidate we talked about you know I I live in Southwick I grew up in Southwick my family uh my kids are in the school systems you know I have invested interest like my family has invested interest in this in the future of softare um I do a lot of volunteer work in town so obviously I'm very familiar with South in my 10 years as Public Works director I'm also very familiar with the the process that happens you know inside this building I've been to uh every town meeting I've been to not only town meeting but I I listen I participate in other board meetings if uh you go to a Conservation Commission meeting or planning board meeting I mean you probably hear my name being red up once or twice uh because I'm involved in a lot of things happening in town and I I think I think that's that's important that you know what's happening that you know that you know all the ins and outs on town government so that's why I mean I think obviously I don't have experience sitting in that in that position but but uh I do have I have enough experience to know what happens in that position where I can pick up the pieces I think pretty pretty quickly and obviously there's a big support here I know you the three of you are very involved in running the town I would certainly rely on uh some of your experiences and and uh and decisions that you made over the years on how we can move advance that position forward as well as other other Town staff so I have a followup then so what what do you think if you were to step into this role would be areas of improvement that you would need you think that you would need to undertake um to be super successful in this role so I'm going to look at where I think some of the I would say the where we can improve as a town I think one area is uh I would like to see the town more proactive than maybe reactive so and I'm going to throw a couple examples out there I know Jason's involved in Municipal aggregation right that's that's not a new Pro concept right and this has been around for 10 years right these that's something that the town May or could have initiated sooner than now and obviously when that when that does come fru I think we're going to see a lot of benefits to it um I know Dan's working of the green infrastructure communities and we started this many years ago and and and the program has evolved where a lot of the projects that kind of we wanted to proceed with are no longer eligible how do we we advance those projects even a couple years ago you know we we could have seen some improvements there uh even uh you know cannabis right whether you're for or against cannabis it's here it's here it's not going to go anywhere and uh but you look at other communities have been doing the past three or four years and and some of the revenue they've been able to bring in through those Community host agreements and we we've you know missed out on that I know we're working towards that and you know I don't think you know look other parts of the country of the state you know the markets actually were oversaturated you know I don't think we have that issue here and know we're looking to you know get a couple facilities in town but that's an example of where I think we need to be more proactive so I think the Town Administrator should be you know going to MMA events talking to their peers and other communities seeing what's happening elsewhere in the state and bringing those ideas back to town and then it may not be the Town Administrator who advances those projects but they're the ones who can at least plant the seed in the Departments that you know can and should be advancing those that's where I'd like to see some imprudence and and how about professionally for yourself where do you see areas where you think you could professionally Advance yourself or or through AC acquisition of additional um skills or learning I think learning is something always do our whole life and I certainly wouldn't stop that you know in that role I would I would seek out training opportunities leadership training opportunities other other um other types of programs where I can learn more about maybe maybe the fiscal end of town government or dealing with Personnel issues I mean those are types of trainings that you know I think everybody should be taking not just you know the Town Administrator the I think I think those are those are goals that everyone should have so I would certainly encourage taking those wherever I I thought would would help myself my career and also help help the town help help me lead the town in the future thank you you do write grants correct now within our department we do our own grants corent and you are primarily the grant writer experience with I'm I do have experience I would say that I'm going to throw John Gard on the bus but he is a very good grant writer and I re on him to do a lot of the Public Works uh grants you're gonna actually see one from him on on us on Monday for a covert project okay but yes we do we do that um I I'm certainly involved in in gring those grants and and I I would say that public works I I think is very successful in getting getting some good projects done through the grant so tell me how you know grants are available how do I so going back to there's a lot of communications that I get from the state and other trade organizations so through like Mass Waterworks Association uh MMA they has they they put out blasts or emails or newsletters periodically even even the state agencies mot I'll get emails from them frequently you know upcoming programs and uh so we have a pretty good idea of when these programs are available a lot of them are are cyclical so we know time of year we're going to expect this program coming out and we can maybe prepare ourselves for it okay thank you that concludes the question and answer portion of this interview do you have anything that you have well it's not exactly do you have any questions for us and do you have any statements or any information you'd like to provide to the board at this time I don't have any questions uh first I want to thank you for your consideration I uh I threw my application in you know maybe three months ago and uh was been a been put a lot on my mind since those three months and you know kind of see how it's all going to play out but I was uh very pleased to hear that I made it to this far and the more more I think about it you know the more excited I am about you know moving into that into that position uh I will will say that um if you look at my my work history everything I've kind of done has kind of brought me towards closer to South um my first job I worked for for beta group I was out living out Boston for six seven years I left that job to move back to South l i then I was working for tyan Bond I worked there for seven years six years you know I left that position to work for the toos s and I've been here 10 years and I'm not one to you know move around a lot and once I take a job I'm committed to it and I think there's value in that I think there's value in having that longevity and continuity in these positions and I hope you see that value as well other questions all set I'm all set well thank you very much thank you thank you you appreciate it I know they were long long questions you needed more paper there only three questions but they're all 26 Parts I check where we are on our agenda here I think we have a break we do have a break so we'll take a 10-minute break I've got to compose some notes um to go through the rest of the meeting and then we'll um once again we're still running no ahead of schedule so we will reconvene at 5 of 12 e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e all right yes all right we're coming back at stop just about five of noon on Saturday and uh I'll thank Mr Dow is on online I'll I'll thank him for the text I got in while we were on the break there and yeah I have no idea what to do with myself because we're running ahead of schedule and a meeting that I'm involved with is almost unprecedented in in my tenure so um uh before we get into discussions on on the uh CAO uh candidates and and the discussion amongst the board um I want to personally thank um first of all the Town Administrator search committee that was convened um to vet the preliminary pool of candidates and then uh send candidates up to this board for uh the interviews you saw today so um Mr putam and Celeste Mr coward Mr dowty Mr hamlon Chief Landis um and I want to thank you guys for allowing me the privilege to sit on the the search committee um they did yman work over a lot of hours and a lot of time going through the merits and of each candidate to send uh two uniquely qualified candidates up to this board um and I I also want to thank uh Buzz and Bob for for their work in in helping to recruit a good pool of candidates that we were able to discuss and review um and get to this point thank you very much um and I also want to thank naen you know naen did a lot a lot of ground work and leg work and has kind of been a a quiet giant through this whole process in getting us to where we are so um you know Kudos and thank you for all of your hard work in and kind of guiding us along through this process so thank you Mr chairman may I on on behalf of Bob and I we couldn't have done it without one's help the admin support that she gave is you know just tremendous a number one we really appreciate that made our job look easy you know really streamline the whole process Jim as well Jim was a master in moving meeting along meetings along in the U search process so Jim thank you very much as well absolutely and I also want to thank Lisa I know she's always quiet behind the scenes until we call out the seon and then she magically appears through that door but uh thank you and if I've forgotten to thank anybody who's who's participated in in through this process um please please take my thanks now I'll second that yeah I mean it it's been a long process and you know it is a a it's a big deal and it's um and you know and also to this board here um within a week's time we're going to be ex you know considering an offering an offer of employment to essentially the two top spots or two top positions in the town they're actually technically on the order chart peers um so I know this has been a long several months for all of us um and you know I think we we done an excellent job on both of these um and and no matter the outcome here um you have two very good candidates in front of us to to make a decision from so uh with that um as chair I'll open up the floor to discussion from from from I want to say use but that's a very New Jersey thing and by the way I just wanted to ask who else had an earthquake on their bingo card for 2024 I certainly did not but um so I'll open up the floor for discussion and then we'll decide how we're going to proceed from here for the rest of the meeting Mr Vice chairman well I I I'll defer to you as the vice chair to to start discussion if you want to defer to I'm G defer to miss Gil okay as you said they are unique um we have the benefit of knowing one a little bit in this case after 35 years of consistency I feel like an outside refresh is the right thing at this time and I felt Nicole was Stronger in a lot of areas and very confident but not boastful I think bringing in fresh contacts um different ideas from other smaller communities that she is dealing with surrounding her her involvement in others says a lot too she's involved in others to compare and bring forward what other people are doing not so much in the Shell of southw I I find those strong benefits uh well I'll coner with Diane on some of this and this is I'm I am starting to dislike this part of this position very much so um you know somebody's always going to be disappointed and um it's just I think this one's difficult um you know Mrs Parker had a lot of great ideas and there was so much that she's already accomplished that you know the connections that she had with the local legislators um but you know then you have Randy who's been dedicated to this town for all these years uh you know lives here and obviously it's going to matters and I'm by no means saying Mrs Parker she said how much this would matter to her for the town you know she wants to be uh attend just about everything she might want to rethink that but um you know so the familiarity with Randy is almost a to me it it makes it even harder you know you've got that personal connection in that case and you know I've seen his body of work already it's just Diane said they're both uniquely qualified from both different areas I'm still bouncing this run around in my head and know which way I'm leaning but um still guess I want to hear your input if I can throw one more thing in I think Randy expressed um one of the things he'd like to see change or improve is the speed of getting things done and I feel like Nicole could help Randy get more things done in bigger ways and and satisfy all of that and ress a lot that way not just CPW and those big infrastructure projects I've heard it's obvious she's got some serious tenacity you know to lose a was it 30 million said what she said yeah Grant and then turn around and get it back than year that was impressive you know Mr chairman thank you I thought you know and and I think I have a um I got a little bit of an advantage uh in that I sat through a round of interviews with with um all of the the candidates that were in front of the search committee and then again today um and that's kind of why when we when we sent up our questions I I think I included a little Aster like if you don't include any of mine that's fine because I already have seen some of this movie so really wanted to have you guys have the opportunity to get all of your questions in front of the applicants today um I think Diane proba got all of them in there anyway well yeah it was definitely but you know I think you had two really really great candidates and very very the dichotomy is is was was hard to reconcile for me I could both see them I could see either of them excelling in this position and I could see I I think what I took out of the preliminary and then what I saw today as well I didn't I didn't see much difference from the interviews I think it was they were they were very very similar I didn't see a different Miss Parker or a different Mr Brown um at either interview it was it was very very similar so from a from The Experience through the the task to this um I think it kind of emphasized to me where where I was coming into this process um you know I've had the opportunity to work with Randy on on a lot of different projects and a lot of different a lot of different things i' I've worked with him and and talk to him or had him consult with me on different whether it's econom uh Economic Development projects or um you know Planning and Zoning stuff or um and stuff like that and and and I think you guys might I might have tipped my hand a little bit on on some of the questions around that because coming from where he's come out of you know from the engineering side and through um his experience at uh out east and then at tyan Bond and then into um the DPW director position here is okay how have you prepared yourself to to to be more of a complete picture because that CAO role encompasses so much more than than what you have in um as the DPW director and I I I kind of had to poke at it twice I think to to get maybe I I asked the question incorrectly the first time um and I think he's he's I think he's there or close to being there to to take on that role and I do appreci and I I can also appreciate very much that um I think the word he used was Allin and you know he's he lives here he works here he's got kids in the school here this is kind of where he set up shop um that being said I think you know the there was a certain energy to to Miss Parker and and how she presented stuff I think I'll be honest I think she interviewed better um but at the end of the day to me I think you know the interview piece is but one part is is is I have to think about how are they going to do in this role um as the chief administrator ative officer of the town of Southwick um and like I said I think I think she she could do a good job I think it would be a very different place um and I think she has the experience in in the TA role but maybe not so much of the experience on some of the other things that Randy has so they're they're and I'm you know I'm giving you the kind of political answer here AR so if I were to rate them I would have I would have Randy first and Nicole second and it's by a nose and I think with Nicole's experience um coming here that experience can flourish for her benefit and for the town and Mr Vice chairman if I can break the tension a bit when you uh complete your career um where you are now you have a future as a pharmacist I don't know how you read that sometimes I can't my handwriting they tried for the entire time I was in elementary school right when I graduated from here I'm s I'm leaning towards Nicole myself um as you stated I did think she interviewed a little bit better um they're both coming from two different complete points um what Miss Gail said about a fresh point of view somebody coming in here with a fresh set of eyes that that that kind of appeals to me um like I said some of the things she has accomplished and where she is now are very impressive and ry's accomplished a ton of stuff here too um but it's like I keep going back and forth through both these notes um I mean I kind of know which way I'm going I at the motion the other day you're the vice chairman I can't defer that to you are the vice chairman you do get to make that motion as for our our kind of protocol as you know and and I'll be clear you know to be clear on that um I as chair I don't think I've made a single motion as the chair of this board um in advance of any other motion I think it's the job of the chairman to run the meeting and solicit motions from the floor you know if there was an Al uh a motion on the floor I sometimes would bring forth a second especially with candidates or something like that um but I just think just with the general rules of order that the select board operates under generally we've always kind of had where the vice chair makes the motion the clerk seconds the motion it's easy to keep the minutes but from running the meeting that's my job is to solicit the input from the board and solicit a motion from the floor hence why I slipped you the paper from and I'm not sitting here silent because I don't know what to do no correct I mean if if you'd like to defer the making of a motion that is your privilege and your right um or you may make the motion or a motion different than your last reading no we waited for Jason to make the motion we've actually had a conversation sorry I just got stared at [Music] so as I said this is becoming a part of this job that I don't like at all um but I'm going to make the motion to appoint Nicole Parker as CAO you might want to read that because that's that was given to us by and vetted by Council as to the proper format of said motion read the whole thing you'd like me to is that yes please okay at this point I'm going to move to authorize Municipal resources Incorporated to make a conditional offer of employment to Nicole Parker for the position of chief administrative officer this offer is conditioned upon the satisfactory background review investigation conducted by Municipal resources Incorporated physical exam and the successful negotiation of the terms of appointment by the select board motion made by me and I will second the motion okay we'll move to a roll call vote Doug moglin yes Jason perone yes van gaale yes so that was a fancier way of the Y yadas that I usually refer to I actually that way a little bit better the yattis or you like this way better right written right in front of me so correct so that that's a motion made seconded and a roll call vote um do we have any other business in front of us for public session today Doug do you want us to tell you what what the next step is now for this board we would love for you to tell us what is the next step for this board so you've done the important work you you you've made a motion and um you you supported at 30 so what we will do is we will send a the conditional offer to the individual and for sign off uh because there's a there's a package we need to receive back to do our background investigation it is fairly expensive it gets into a lot of detail uh on the individual we don't expect anything wrong but it's we think you need that uh for your CAO and uh so it's fairly exensive I think Jason our boss is a former police chief so knows how to get these things done and uh so that's takes about two weeks bu I'd say two and a half weeks uh yeah it it just yeah CU we need to contact a lot of people Banks and those type of things and sometimes they don't get back to you as quickly as you references sometimes are hard to track down they don't they're not as responsive as you'd like so it it's a people process and that document is available to you that's it it's uh you know it's a background investigation confidential background investigation so you get that but in the inro uh assuming that the candidate is going to say yes I'm in um you guys can commence negotiations in terms of conditions of employment um and as I said it's about a two two and a half week process for us to get you the final document but as you read as Jason read in the conditional offer it's conditional on a successful completion of the background and successful negotiations on a potential contract going forward so you protected in that way um so is that and the physical exam as I understand require and you folks will do your own quy you'll do your own query for that individual we don't do the quy yet so that's your timing and you that's that's just to lay it out so everybody knows what the process is going forward I'm sure you have all of that I was opening Monday it will be a Monday I'm not clear on which Monday that's going to be with me for a minute all right so then that will conclude the open part of our meeting we are since and uh I discussed this with Nate Dean and and the board earlier since the board has deliberated and and voted in Open session we do have an agenda for an executive session but from a perception point of view I did not want to roll into executive session if we had not resolved this issue today but by a vote since we've done that we can now go into executive session which we're going to do we've got some other business that we want to attend to so um I'll entertain a motion to go into to Executive session pursuant to Mass General Law chapter 308 section 21 sections 2 and 3 and chapter 214 section 1B labor Council litigation matters and strategy for collective bargaining with police Union Coalition fire iaff DPW non-union staff and clerk um and we will not be reconvening today an open session and we're going to move to go into executive session to condu conduct contract negotiations with non-union personnel and not reconvene in Open Session um and I'm going to declare that an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the body and not reconvene an open session and to move to go into executive session to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining and the chair uh declared move to go into executive session to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with non-union personnel and not reconvene an open session move to go into executive session to discuss strategy respect to litigation and the chair de Clare that an open meeting may have a detrial effect on the litigate litigating position of the body and not reconvene an open session um and lastly A person shall have a right against unreasonable substantial or serious interference with their privacy the supremor court shall have jurisdiction and Equity to enforce such right and in connection therewith to award damages uh would you like to make that motion motion made second roll call vote Doug moglin I Jason ey ey okay