They'll be online. Open. We are we being recorded? Yes, we are. Okay. Um, so we have many minutes from May 5th. I don't know. Oh, okay. Good. We can
jump right through this agenda. That's right. Wickety split. Let me turn that off so it doesn't drive us all crazy. Motion to approve the May 5th meeting minutes. Second. Any discussion?
All in favor? The only thing that needs to be added is the time that it was adjourned. Oh, I wasn't here for that. So, I'm Can you um Yeah. Can you just circle it for me? And then when I get it, I'll just reprint this thing. And
I'm going to So, Jackie's name is on it. Oh, you want me to sign it? I'll just fill in. I'm gonna have to fill it in. I'll put um NA. Okay. All right. All right. So, we're missing the other half of our meeting.
So, I guess we'll skip by the water commissions and I will send a message to Brad's not coming. I know Brad's not coming. I don't know if I have Peter's
cell phone. Um, I mean, life and but that's what you guys signed. Is it? Yeah, that's the Okay, so she has what she wants out of there. So, let's see if they come. Um, let's move to Christina.
This is what we sent signed by TJ and Oh, it's in there. I'm sorry. Oh, it's in there. Okay, great. It's in there. Look at your folder, ladies. We're good. Okay. All right. So, um, update on the
Ka property. TJ, I did get the signed, um, right of entry here, but it sounds like there's more to it. Well, it's that the, uh, water department had to agree had
agreed to help pay for the care of the driveway cuz the water department tore it up twice. And then they put a patch in it the first time, but the second time they never bothered to uh patch it. So they were going to pay to have the
driveway redone. The kanas that the kanas are and they would like to the water department to pay the portion like a quarter of what they tore up. So this would not allow for that. That will not
allow for that. Okay. So the signing of this releases the town of any further claims. Okay. In relation to and they already work that was done. Yeah. So So I think maybe we table this
until we get some more information. Um I think we need to have the water. Yeah. I don't know that. Yeah. They have they have to be in on it. Yeah. because at the time uh the former superintendent had agreed to do it and that was verbal.
Yeah. And when I talked to um Mrs. Kana, she mentioned that he had had mentioned that that would be taken care of with the rest of it. Okay. I happened to talk to Brad the other day. We were talking about this and he was explaining it to me and he said that he was going to take
it back to the water commission to fix the problem. inclusive of so they have to approve it though the water commission he didn't have the authority to prove it so I would say you know try to get them in the next meeting
that would be mute right have they signed that though already they did they did I mean I don't I'm not trying to be underhanded no no you're perfectly right um okay well let's it's okay if they come tonight we'll talk to them tonight if not we'll
we'll see if they would Um, so, uh, it had been brought up in a prior meeting that, um, Rey was still paying union dues despite no longer being a member of the union. So, I drafted a letter, um, signed it and sent it to
Sarah. She needs to also sign it and send it to the union. So, that, um, which it seems a little backwards. It seems like the union should have Yeah. But neither here nor there. Um the process of him getting reimbursed has started. Okay, good. Uh
I spoke with I reached out to Dave Stokes asking if he possibly could point us in the right direction of a contact for the Mass Pike rest uh area. Dave Stokes, sorry, I know the name. Mass DOT. Thank you.
Uh, and he directed me to Franchesca Heming and she provided um contacts for both Blamford Westbound and Blandford eastbound, the franchise and director of operations people and supervisor. Um the both of
this contact has been shared with water and I believe as of today Jasmine has got in contact with at least one of them and they said that they are processing their payment. So that's okay. Uh and are we also trying to get in touch with
them to see about the project that they have planned? Is that the other part? I mean now we have the information you guys can move forward with it how you see fit. Yeah. Um, earlier today I did send out the reverse 911 call for the
heat reliefs center notification. Um, last I checked it reached 33% meaning 33% of the people it went to picked up the phone. So it went to all 811 people who are signed up. 33% of those people picked up the phone. It gets log
messages for other people, right? So, if an answering machine picks up, I believe it logs that as, you know, an answer. An answer. Yeah. What about um I feel like there's a text option. There is a text option. It's very
limited. It's so limited. You have to be very careful. Yeah, you can't. Have you been using that one, too? Should we? No, only because I've never been able to put all the information necessary in the text. In the text. So you I used to go through the same thing and what I would do was like abbreviate everything, leave
out spaces. People are gonna be like, "What?" I mean, I will I have no problem. I just It's really limited. And if you're like, "How the heck I I dealt with the same thing." But I'm just thinking in order to reach the people because so few people have Yeah. phone or call the vendor and say, "Why can't
they write a real text?" That would be a question to see if there's like a a more of a cost or something if they can raise our monthly fee so that we can actually because no one has a home phone anymore and people don't answer. You can put your cell phone. Well, exactly. But if you're not
answering your cell phone because it's a number you don't recognize. Yeah. Well, it's a number. Yeah. It comes through as like 413848. Yeah. But I'm probably not going to answer if I don't see a name on there. I think we just put it on the list and maybe I could call them or something. Um, we did just get the
invoice the so right the question I have is is and you know Joanne you had pointed to Jennifer and I wasn't sure if it was Jen Deil or Jen Gerard or who actually manages that relationship with the vendor and with Blackboard right and
who actually makes sure that it's an accurate list I don't think it's Blackboard anymore it's something else but neither here nor what I mean like in other words over the course of many years people come they go. It gets to be a mucky list of numbers. You know, you tried to test this guy that was in here
last week. And so I And do people understand how to get on the 911 at this point with the world the way it is? I think it's critical that we at least have a very very strong 911 process. Right. Nobody can get on 911 except just
a select few people in the town hall can do it. No, I'm I'm talking about people. No, I'm talking about the list of residents. If there's 800 and something people getting it, are they current residents? Are the
residents that have left? Is there managing that list is important from an emergency stamp? And when I say emergency, I talk about I don't mean like 911. I'm talking reverse 911, which I understand. So, I I really don't like the fact that, you know, like you tested
and this guy was upset he wasn't on there, but who's managing that list? As far as I knew, the list was in her hands. Who's her? Jennifer. Jennifer. Which one? Jennifer Gerard. Well, I wasn't sure because at No, no. At one point, the bill was under the
police department and I'm thinking blind. And that's where I go. Somebody calls me and irrationally says, "Oh my god, I got a phone call and I didn't want it." So I say, "Okay, let me get you off that list." And then I send it to her. Or I'm not getting these phone calls. I get their number and I send it
to her. And that's the extent of Yeah. Go ahead, Jen. Am I allowed? Yeah. What? How are you managing the chair? Go ahead. Sorry. You're fine. So I started doing it because we didn't have anybody. Yeah. Um we was in that time. Yeah.
Where we didn't. Um and I use it for the board of health stuff. Mhm. Um or the transfer station if we closed the transfer station due to planet weather. Um so I helped out putting them through. When Joanne gives me the information,
you go in and you have to pull up a certain thing on the side. You got everybody's phone numbers that are listed. You got to find that person. You and you delete them out or you go in and add them. But residents can go in at any time and add themselves through know.
Yeah. Right through our website. Right. Yes. Right. Through our website. Residents can add themselves. Okay. Um good to know Mary. Maybe that's you know I mean I would suggest that there should maybe that's something that we could put in as a reminder to everybody. You know
what I mean? Just at this how often do we remind them that they can? I don't get many calls either. Oh yeah. It's on the That's good to know. into it more so I understand. Okay. No. All right. Can they delete themselves also? Okay. So,
they have to cut. I don't think they can. I don't think they can because you can log into there. Okay. But and while you're talking about that that should be it was my understanding for emergency management that Adam is the one for
emergency management that has the say in the I don't know if you want to say control but you know are you saying the fire department should be in control of this? No, I'm talking emergency management and Oh, yeah. The last time we met supposed
to be the one in charge of emergency management, unless I have that wrong. Adam's the one who gave me the information to to do it. So, to be able to Okay. It's something we could talk about, but I I really think that it's
it's important, right? Um Yeah, absolutely. I was just trying to log in. Lord knows. But also remember I don't get many complaints. Three a year maybe. Maybe. Worried about the complaint because I
didn't get anything on my cell phone and I know that I think I'm signed up. So I'm just wondering like how is it working? Do you know what I mean? Like I know we got it on my home phone, but very few people have You got it on your cell phone. Yep. And did you get it as a text or does it come as a call? It's a
call. And there's a message that's left. Yep. Oh, okay. Did you get it, Jen? When I didn't get it. Do you get Are you on the list? Um, my home is on the list. Okay. I didn't get it either. All right. So, I'm
wondering why it's being It's seems like it's being really That's my reason for bringing it up. We need to kind of figure it out. Are we clicking that? And I don't mean to be. Yeah. But are we clicking that right? They ask you three different ways and how it's to be sent out.
I mean, yeah, I just I sent it out as a phone call, as an update, not a 911, not an emergency. It asks you like emergency update thing. I think there's a third option. Yeah, survey maybe is the third option.
Um, so I sent it out as an update. I sent it out as a phone call. I did the script. I played it back where I had sent. I sent it to all 811 people. Um, and it says, see, there's a box where it
says call only allow call once. I unchecked that box just in case because I know people were saying they weren't getting it and I wasn't sure if maybe that was a problem. So, I unchecked that box and I hit send and it it's it gave me back information on like how many
people it reached, but I I um and then the last thing I one of the last things I really have here is the fiscal year end incumbrances. So I've every department has gotten this email um
but I printed it out and I put it in everybody's mailboxes. If a department has procured a service in fiscal year 25 but has yet to receive an invoice, they need to fill out the incumbrance
form and get it to the accountant so that that money when July 1 hits, if it's an account that they need to pay out of, that money is not just gone, right? It doesn't hold back in and now there's a new budget. This is a prior year bill, right? So, I've sent out a
reminder. Uh, Kelly initially sent it out. I believe Joanne has also sent out reminders. Okay. And we have until I think the 15th. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. But still. Yeah. I know. Otherwise, we have a long list for this.
Uh, like on the cemetery, we You're okay if it's if it's a grant or if it's a help me trust. Trust. Yes. Thank you. All right. No. uh like we had work done at in late spring, okay? But they're not
they're they gave us the bill, but they don't want us to process the bill until after June 30th. All right. So that why? Because we don't have the money in the account that has to come out with until
the new new year. That's how we've always done it. Oh, all right. It's not recorded. Um, that would then just end up being a bill of prior year that we would have to
put on to get paid. Okay. We'll have to amend it. Okay. Um, public comment. Oh, we're going to go to Oh, I haven't heard back from the water department,
but I don't see anyone. And it is 6:22. That makes me think that no one's coming. I If I could. Sure. If we're not water department, we have water department. Yeah. Well, we were supposed to be,
right? But the fact of the matter is is that we said that we manage the people in water department. So we could at least deliberate a little bit about what we think should happen when it comes to Steve as
far as his contract and pay rate goes. Correct. Yeah. So at least when they do come in, we can say we're all in agreement. This is what we're thinking. get their feedback and then move forward because the longer this waits, the more more Steve is kind of being taken advantage of in this situation, right?
Absolutely. So, I would rather not skip it and just go ahead and at least us have a discussion about it and get it done as to what we're thinking. Okay. Is that okay? Yeah, absolutely. Um, so why don't we talk about that? Let's talk about Steve. So, we're all in agreement
that he will be the or is the interim superintendent. Yeah. Right. And currently he works how many hours? 37 and a half without overtime, but he frequently will have open. Okay. Due to
breaks and um the pay rate that the his predecessor had as the superintendent. Um how many hours did he work? 19. He was only we we're going to stick to what the job description always was and it's 19 hours a week for superintendent
duties. Okay, we know what that pay rate was. Do you want it right now? It's on my desk. It's okay. We might need it. Well, I can tell you that for fiscal
year 25 it was supposed to be $414. It's 3915 I think. Is that when it is year 24? Understood. But it was only two and a half% more than that. So whatever that price $4. Okay. So that's Yeah. So,
we're looking at an option of either paying Steve 19 or 19 hours at superintendent rate and then the remaining 21 hours at his current rate or the whole thing at
superend is what we've asked for. So, what are your thoughts? So he's full-time water department employee and
his salary is going to be part-time full-time employee and then no we have to decide what so he's going to stay he's going to stay full-time. Yeah. But 19 of the hours that he's going to be working are going
to be as the interim superintendent. So the question is, do we pay him that part of his pay at the superintendent rate and then the remainder at the rate he's currently at or do we just pay him the full 40 hours at the superintendent
rate? Because that's Well, what what's his rate? I do. I'll go. No, I don't. I have it in the paper. I mean, I would be leaning towards paying if he's doing the superintendent position. It should be he's full-time
worker. It should be full time. Yes, he will be. He's no matter what, he's still going to get the full-time benefits to be doing Yeah. fulltime. I think his pay rate should reflect that he's instead of being a part-time superintendent school.
So you think you should get the 40 hours for 40 hours $4 for 40 hours? Yeah, that's fair because he's got the full responsibility and how you different when you're a superintendent for 19
hours and then you're a regular employee. I mean, when a situation arrives, you've got to be superintendent. You might I forgot the school teacher. Stop. Um, no, I was leaning towards um that, but I
can't remember what I was just I had a question and I forgot. So, Steve's current hourly rate. Oh, I $25.81. So my question was, can the water department budget support full-time at
40 hours? 40 hours. Not as it stands, but that we could always change that if you want to have a full-time superintendent moving forward. And they're planning on posting the position at fulltime. I don't know. They're not here yet until they get approval. So,
all right. So, instead of going to the $40 an hour, he's 25. What? $25.81 currently. Okay. So, he's like $26, right? So, that's he'll increase it by
half $7. So, it'll be 30 something dollars as superintendent full-time. That's not half. Well, it's close. It's You're talking 14 hours or $14 difference. Now, because we're talking
budgeting, the final decision comes down to the water department commissioners on this one. Is that Yeah. Well, they would be a part parcel to Yeah. Because they have the money in the budget. They're they want to budget for full time. The the fact that they're thinking about
posting us fulltime. I think that will have to go to the Minitown meeting for approval because that's a change in the budget. Correct. Well, at all perspective. And to move the funds,
well, correct. We'll have to increase the budget. Mhm. On on the payroll only. On the payroll only. Yeah. Right. Now, that doesn't mean that they can't, if they think it through, they may say, "Well, we want a full-time
superintendent, but we want a part-time person to replace Steve if Steve were to get the job." That kind of thing. Yeah. But I don't know. It It just makes sense to
to me anyways. He's getting $26 an hour. Superintendent was getting 40. You know, give him a $7 raise and he's superintendent full-time. Not that that would solve the problem. Mhm. I'm just
not sure with the licing that he has if Well, his licensing now depends on his time at work. He's completed all the work. He just got to put the Yeah. Well, I I am interested to hear what the commissioners want to do. Well, if
we're, you know, worst case is we're saying give the guy 40 bucks an hour until we get that job replaced, that's what we're saying, right? That could be two weeks, that could be six weeks, that could be three months, we don't know, right?
Um, so if we at least can land on worst case, it may come back and say, "This is what we want to do." We can all say, "Yes, we're in agreement." Now, now, as far as I understood it, the superintendent before, even though he was part-time and he put in 19 hours, it
wasn't 19 hours straight. That's correct. It was more or less if a problem arose, you know, he had to come in. That's correct. And he was getting paid for the 19 hours. Well, now you're going to have a superintendent that's going to be there all the time, right?
So, if you split the difference, that makes sense to me cuz he will probably and I'll probably wind up being superintendent in the end, maybe. You know, it depends on, you know, I was on the commission, but right. I mean, he he
seems to be very astute at what he's doing. You know, I've talked to him. He may not want the job, though. That's Don't talk like that. We just want to hear mouth out. Yeah. There's a lot all of this, you know. Well, we see the struggle is folks can do the job that
what they're responsible for, but it's all the paperwork and all the other stuff and the grants they're going to deal with that really cause the challenge for people and he may not want to deal with that or maybe he doesn't want to manage people. I don't know. No, we have to we have to put it forward
though. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I'm just saying that, you know, we can't assume. Oh, no. The wire thing for water so I can take and send it to Sarah. This one? No. Uh,
Jackie, what are you thinking? In terms of pay, I initially was thinking pay him the 19 hours at 40 and the rest of his regular pay. Mhm. Because so in addition to his regular pay or we split in, we're splitting it.
So, um, that was my initial gut, you know, in fact, I think you had said the same thing, which was pay him the 40 bucks for the 19 hours because we're saying that the former person in the role was able to do the superintendent
job in a 19-hour day for five years. Is that what he was putting in for hours? No. How many hours was he putting in? Uh, sometimes he didn't put hours down. Sometimes he did. Um, most recently he was putting himself down for
uh oh gosh 20 hours per week or something of that nature. That was that was you know would I be willing to say you know let's just pay him the 40 and move on and it'll be for
like a 12week period or something. get the ball moving, get the job posted. Um, I mean, realistically, I think he's doing the superintendent work. Anyhow, the entire Okay. time, but I guess we would have to ask him to
get more information. I don't know exactly. You know, at this point, I would vote for 40 $40 an hour. Yeah. And tell us attorney to get the job replaced. Okay. I work with that. How about you?
Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. New this. You're creating a new position, right? No, it's uh Well, yes. Interim superintendent. If the the superintendent role right
now, if it was fulltime, would get $84,000 a year right now, right? We're gonna That's what it would be. He would get half that, right? So, you know, and he was and the plan was to increase his
pay to 40 hours, $40 an hour. So, we're saying, "Hey, we want you to do this job full time as interim. He deserves $40 an hour." Absolutely. Um, the other part of that, you don't agree. I think I think Mary has a point. The
point is the budget was approved at town meeting for a 19hour superintendent $41 an hour. Yeah. not for someone to be a 40hour. You are essentially taking over the job of the water commissioner, which is if they wish to do a 40hour
commissioner or or superintendent, they need to come back and get your approval and then get town meeting approval. But what we're asking is we're asking first as a group, what do we agree on? When the water commissioner comes in and discusses it, then we'll at least know what direction we're going to take. If
they come back, we should go with what the town meeting has already approved. $41 or 40 hours a week which is not what how many approved in the budget. Right. So it would be the 19 hours at the $40. Yeah. Because you're setting a precedent
overriding meeting in the finance committee recommendation. If you go $41 an hour, $40, you are essentially, as Mary says, creating a new interim position before the commissioners come to us asking for
Well, I I think what you're saying is you want to have an answer for when they come. Correct. The answer I think needs to be in line with what the town approved in the town meeting, which was 19 hours of which he wasn't doing anyway. So we were already out of
compliance because we were paying them for 25 um which is a problem in itself. So we split it but then when the commissioners present the idea of full-time that
becomes a issue that needs to be okay right and then at that point and then at that point it can change to a full-time Okay. Correct. I I I'm guessing, but I think they're going to come back with
the $40 and $19 split or $40 and 25 hour split. Okay. Which would which So then it's actually two job then just he's going to be paid out of two items. He's going to be paid out of two items. So he's just going to have to put in 19 hours at one rate and then Okay, I understand. So we're in
agreement with that. anything for the um but the other thing I was going to say is that do we need a contract drawn up for the interim position everything should be documented yeah then we need to ask Jasmine to draw up a contract for interim superintendent
based on it's going to be 19 hours at that rate if the water commissioners present that and then we would want her to start working on a contract for superintendent or right they need to come in first the discussion. Yeah. But
but to be devil's advocate, how how does kind of silly talking the part-time water superintendent and the full-time employee different is it's not it's not going to be perfect. No, no. I And I'm not looking for
perfect, but I am looking for close. Yeah. Are were you saying that that Jasmine wouldn't be able to do the contract? I don't think so. Well, well, let's just say this. We we tell the water commission it's their responsibility to do it and they figure
out who they're going to get to do it. And I mean, we would approve contact with town council for help with that. I'm Let's hope it takes less time than to get somebody else in there. Well, I'm looking at Christina and I and I see in
her facial expression that she has an opinion. I don't have I don't get paid to have opinions. I was thinking she was just making sure that we didn't put it on her plate. No, no, no. If you would like me to handle it, that's more than fine. But I I think the water commissioner obviously I think
you guys need to be in agreement with water commissioners and also to Dave's point until anything changes at a vote for special town meeting that it has to remain the 19 hours a week for that pay grade. So I would say next meeting have
them come in have them tell us what their thoughts are what would they like to do and then we've had a you mean the next meeting that we post as a joint post meeting and then well when is here they they should be having one coming up they're usually on Wednesdays I think
Wednesday water department usually meets Wednesdays Thursday because they sign bills Thursday okay Thursday so maybe one of us could attend and well they could attend the joint meeting that we they
requested. Well, yeah, I just like to mediate things a little bit. I'm very impatient. All right. Just tell them specifically on the next meeting that that's what we're going to resolve is make sure
um Jennifer, did you have anything else? Report on the board of health and Maya if you want. Sure. Great. Come on. I don't have to go through another daughter, right? Don't blame her.
Okay. Um, Florida Health. Let's see. We just applied for uh grants for a paint shop and a compactor. Paint shop. Paint shop. Thank you. Yes. Uh, we got all our stuff in for the swap
shop. So, I have to just send them a picture and I have Brett sent that to me. So, we're going to send that off and then we should be refunded for the 6,000 for the swap shop. So, um, so that's good. What's the paint shop? Is that
like people could drop off paint? So, they can drop off paint. Yes, there would be a fee on that one because we would have we would be charged for that to be disposal disposal but it has to be in a separate camp paints can't be put
with anything else so that's why they do the paint yeah go ahead go ahead are you accepting oil based and latex no I don't think we can I don't remember what the specifics were okay so I think it's probably just the latex paint I think so because the
oil based paint is considered considered a hazardous waste. Yes. What about aerosol? No spray can. I don't think so. I don't I don't know that. I don't know what is allowed for it. We just know we want it. Okay.
So, and then they'll tell us all the rules and the regulations. They were put in bonfires. Oh, one of one of the things that I'd like to see changed is that for us is is you want the grant. You want to put the
grant in, right? That's great. Do you have any idea what the build might be for something like that? Is it going to be as big as a swap shop? This is going to be a tiny little house type. Okay. Yes. This is much smaller than the Taj Mahal.
Yes. So when you do get it, Jen, or get some sense of what it is, let us know and we will immediately at least put the money aside and approve it so you don't have to come back. It's you know what I mean? Yep. So this grant is another I think $6,000 to but again it's going to
be much smaller so it won't be as much as And it's a reimbursement grant. It's a reimbursement grant. That's the paint and the compactor one. That's Yeah, the compactor is a 20,000 grant. Okay. But as they explained to us, it's you probably won't get it. Okay. They're
looking to give that grant to the larger cities. You know, Boston and you know, once you know, let us know because the county will set it up and we'll have it already so you don't have to worry about where where we can get the money up front. Oh, yeah. Because I know you were
saving that in your budget for the other one, right? And you don't necessarily have to do it that way. Right. Okay. Okay. All right. Well, keep that in mind and I'm sure you'll get you'll know before we do because they usually send it to okay to the town administrator. Um
we are doing a Narcan class on Saturday at 1:00 um with the Hilltown Ambulance and um Pat set that up for our guys. So I know some people from COA are going some transfer station guys are going and
some of the fire department guys are going. So but the board of health is sponsoring that. Board of Health is sponsoring. Is it Hilltown Ambulance that's um they're coming to do the training. Do we have Narcam like on? So no we're
um Pat's going to get some from which hospital Holio and I'm going to Noble. Okay. and see if we can get I do know that we have some funding, don't we, Christina? And we do. So, what we once they do this class, we want to purchase
now, will that roll over? Yes. The national opioid I can never get that um reimbursement. There's a thing that that cities and towns get for the impact of the opioid crisis. So we right and I
think we have like 200 and something right now or maybe clo maybe we have a little more than that maybe we have because we've been collecting it for a while we haven't done anything with it but we want to purchase them and they're quite expensive um for to put out in the
gym like maybe put some at the library and the transfer station just yeah in case I don't really see the transfer station but the maybe the library in the gym and then fire department obviously has some Yeah and and the police, they should have them in their cars if they
don't already, then we can certainly get them some some on that. So, that's on that. Then, um, do you have any questions on board to help? I'm not fine.
Um uh so I met with the guy from Maya and um um and we are up 1.5% from last from last year. It's not much but it's something we appreciate but uh it could be a lot
better. We're at award for through the courses that Jennifer has been working with the highway completion is that I I have to put words down here in we're up 1.5% they're not going to know what I'm talking and rewards insurance rewards.
Thank you. because they took for the different courses that it's not just the courses, it's like they did the uh job hazard analysis and they did the toolbox talks and you know things like that we put forward. So it's not just classes
that they attended, it's other stuff that they did, but we're going to make it more next year definitely. Um and I think that the um on workers comp I think it becomes zero this year. I don't
think we have anybody on workers comp after 25. Do you uh you might be correct. I know that we are um staying static at they didn't our price for workers comp did
not go up this year. That may have something to do with the fact that we didn't have any new claims and people are falling off. Right. Right. So I think in my conversation with him that this is the last year. So as soon as 26
comes, we're clear how workers come. Um so we just have to work on and the professional loss is zero still. So, we just have to work on the vehicle accidents and stuff. So, but that's it.
Thank you. Thank you, Jen. All right. Um, so highway, we don't have highway here. Um, but we were going to talk about the compensation day. Oh, yes. Um, so
Ray reached out to me today. He said that he worked on June 19th, which was a holiday in town, and he was wondering if having worked June 19th, a holiday,
could would you be willing to apply that to his negative vacation acral? In essence, comp time is what he's saying. Um, but not just for that holiday. He was mentioning another day
that he worked over, which is part of his contract, right? I mean, it's just as you had just mentioned, if somebody was full full-time superintendent at the water department, they're going to have to come in during breaks and and that's just part of the job, right? So, while I
guess I'm only here to be the messenger. He's looking for comp time for the holiday that he worked and The way he would like that applied is for it to come off of the negative balance of his vacation time. Um, but I don't know that
any other days that he works beyond his scope of the 40 hours would be eligible for anything. So, you were you were showing me the um policy. So, it said, it does say if there's a holiday, it says full-time
employees who come in during a holiday to perform regular work duties are entitled to time and a half holiday pay or regular time with one compens.
But is that just for an emergency or is that just It doesn't clarify. We really need to work on our personnel policies. I mean it I we really do. There's a lot of confusion there. Um also I don't know that it applies
in this scenario. It's they're calling it a full-time employee. He's salaried. There's a gray area because salary I mean you work you work his own time. Oh, and and it was to fulfill the contract because they were paving up on
Sal Street that day. Oh, so it wasn't an emergency. It was a This was a planned job. Yep. Yeah. Scheduled work that had to be completed. Thoughts? Well, if it was scheduled, my only
thought is that he should have come in last week and said this. Yeah. before he went and did it and then come back and asked for money. What's that? I was told by Sarah because I was going to work a holiday for something that was really important. She had to go forward and get permission for me to get paid on a
holiday. So, but if he's salary that kind of blows that out of the water or salary I mean that's my impression that's always been my experience with salary. Yeah, I don't salary is salary, but the select board has the ability to do something. And the question becomes,
you know, the only thing I don't like about it is he didn't come in and say, "Hey, I'm going to have to work Thursday. Would you be willing to make this adjustment?" And if you said no, would he not go? I don't know. He's I don't
know. Well, he would be obligated to go on. So then I guess that answers the question, right? Well, actually, you know, way I'm looking at we're not losing anything. We're not gaining anything really.
You're gaining more time from him. That's what you you're losing more time for him, but he's got to make death. I I really I'm only concerned that you're setting a precedence once you do this. Yeah. You've done it and you've
done it for everybody else that works in town. We've done a lot of that lately. Yes. And you can't, you know, unless it's policy, you know, I if you want to make it policy, great. But once you do it, you've made it policy.
So, you know, that would be my biggest concern. So there is again there is the policy that we have. I am not interpreting it one way or the other. All I can tell you is it says full-time and regular part-time employees who work
on a holiday to fulfill their normal duties will be they have a choice between time and a half holiday pay to work that day or regular pay and a comp day to be used
within 60 days. It I'm not telling you that that applies to him. It says full-time and regular part-time. Does that mean salaried? I don't know. It also says, unfortunately, this was done in in 2014. No, we have a 2021 one. This is one that
was just hooked up to the or this was the one online. There's a different one. There's one that was updated in 2021. The one online is 2014. So, I was going to say um it's not in here. Junth is not on it. It's on the Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
It says if they're called in on a holiday. Did we change that, Jackie? I just emailed it to you recently. Can you pull it up? It doesn't say if they're called in. It says if they perform their normal work duties on a holiday and then it gives the list of the holidays. And Junth is on there.
Then we also need to fix what's on our website. Why? Because that's an outdated policy. Okay. Can we go to the next one? And while I'm looking into something, talk about something else. Sure. Um,
next one. We've got some appointments. So, I'm going to start I'll start going through them. Uh, appoint Sarah Hunter. Motion to appoint Sarah Hunter Massipan as treasurer tax collector for the term July 1st, 2025 through June the 30th, 2026.
Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Motion to appoint Jennifer Gerard as Lamford safety director for the term July 1st, 2025 through June 30th, 2026. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I motion to appoint
Colleen Doyle to conservation commission for the term July 1st, 2025 through June 30th, 2026. Is there a second? Second 202 2028 for sorry it's 2028 2028 for colle
um any discussion in favor I I um motion to approve Kelly brains is that right Brian Brian Bri Ca is accountant for the term July 1st 2025 through June 30th, 2026. Second. Any
discussion? All in favor? I I Oh, this is a tough one. Motion to appoint Christina Ferrer as town administrator and emergency management uh July 1st, 2025 through June 30, 2026.
Second. Any discussion? Favor two. Um, oh, another one. Motion to appoint Christina Ferrer to American Disabilities Act for the term of
July 1st, 2025 to June 30th, 2026. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I wish to appoint Robert Holmes as interim highway labor for the term July 1st, 2025 through June 30, 206.
Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I I and a motion to appoint Aaron Tit as plumbing and gas inspector for the term July 1st, 2025 June June 30th, 2020. Second. Any
discussion? All in favor? I that should be the rest of All right. Um Joanne, you're on for ID machine. Yeah, that the um that Higgins machine, every time I get a new computer, he has to
come in and we have to spend $350 to $400. So I just need you to spend money again. That's kind of that machine should just work. You know what I'm saying? That is very annoying. I remember trying to get it started in the
beginning. I'll wait. Uh, no, I won't wait. Yes, I will wait. It's too close to the end of the year. Um, it's not a lot of money. Okay. Yes. And it's it'll come out of select board account. It'll come out of um I was going to take it out of office.
Okay. I I never run out of this year, but you won't be able to do it. Yeah, absolutely. No problem. Yes sir. I I don't know if I should mention the word Verizon or not.
Okay. You signed all those. Um All right. So then we're going to come back Jackie to you because you're you're going to tell us what you found and then we're going to talk about um feedback from residents. All right. Holidays and holiday pay as
we talked about, right? Yeah. Okay. It lists all the holidays. So, and yes, Junth was there. Okay. Holiday pay for full-time employees shall be eight hours pay. Regular part-time shall receive holiday pay equal to the hours the employer was scheduled to work.
Okay. full-time and part-time employees performing their official duties on a holiday and employees performing emergency work on a holiday shall be paid at the rate double time the basic hourly rate compensation. In the alternative, the employee may
elect to receive holiday pay one compensatory day off taken within 60 calendar days of the holidays. So again, it's not specified salaried
full-time or hourly. It did say they would receive their hourly pay. Yeah. I just don't want to be the one to make I don't That's my decision to make.
Oh, right. It does say that. Yep. And it says performing their efficient duties. So it's not as though it had to be something an emergency or something scheduled in advance. You're changing policy if you do it.
Yep. It's a change of policy if we give him a day. Yep. How so? He's not an hourly employee. He's And this is This just says This said hourly. Oh, it didn't say hourly employee. They would get paid hourly.
Hourly. Oh, get an hourly rate. Dave, push on it. I think given that you're not explaining that that policy is not laid out, any full-time employee is certified qualified as from the union perspective.
I would say you owe him a base pay and comp because your polic is full time to be paid at the hourly rate because that's you have to figure it out. Hourly rate doesn't make any difference. Yeah.
If you're a full-time employee, which is anybody over 20 hours a week, you get paid your hourly rate. So, you're thinking it's Wait a minute. She's got to do it. I can't do it. She wants to say something.
Okay, go ahead. I'm sal I don't ever get to have any of those things. I work at MIT. I work crazy hours. I work 60 weeks. It's not compensated. I think it's my personal opinion is that
Yeah. because I never get the best hours. I'm I'm reading that I'm interpreting that as we owe on the day. I've worked salary my entire life and I never got paid.
The common joke about salary people is overtime is your own time. Yeah. And I don't disagree with that because I was employed states if you're a full-time employee in county work. Well, it isn't called into the door, but
it states you're performing your normal duty. Duty, which TJ says you were paying already. So, do I agree that he should come in and ask for that? Absolutely. I agree. But your policy doesn't say that. So if I was a lawyer
and said, "Yeah, you know what? I'm a full-time employee." Yeah. I work that day for something that was already planned. Yeah. I get paid either overtime or I get paid my regular time plus thing for his face
to go against is what Yeah. I don't I'm just going to say I don't interpret it like that. And if you do that, you are now liable to go back in time and look at everybody that you paid. Well, that was my That's a legal thing. Are the
other laborers titled to Absolutely. Yeah. We're now setting it precedence. I interpret it as being because the union was still The union has nothing to do with this. No, no. She's saying highway laborers,
which the union does have something to do. Right. Right. They were working that day, too. So, her question is, do they also get said they fall under what the union contract states? No, I'm But I've taken it even further to say if you if this is what the policy is supposed to
be, you have to go back in time and look at how many other employees didn't compensate accordingly. You can't just go forward with it. That's in other words, I've been there where companies have been sued, but we typically pay time and a half to any employee working
on holiday. The problem is that this federal holiday falls in the middle of the week. And this is where it becomes confusing because it's not a Monday holiday. Normally, a federal holiday like Memorial Day, they're off. So, this is not a common occurrence.
Michelle, have you ever worked holiday yet for us? Not a holiday. I mean, I've not come in and done a road paving job, but there's not a day or hour that I don't do something. And that's fine. I understand that that's my job. I'm salaried. That's what I do. But
I'm not again spending 12 hours out in the road. Yeah, my vote is no. I I have to agree with Jackie only only because he's a salary employee and
he he had already scheduled this work for that day and uh the only ones that have uh right for compensation work workers. Um I don't know if we have a vote on the
table for this. Would you like me to ask legal? Um, you can ask Legal's interpretation. I would just my personally would be to give him the conte because I feel like that's the way that that um we don't we don't have a vote on the table.
So, it's not like I I would suggest uh like like uh Jackie said, I I would ask the Lord or if if we do in fact decide and raise favor,
do we have to go back in time? You know, can the time pass go back in time and figure out how many other people did this? Well, just because it came up at this, you know, it's any Yeah. Go. I've seen it happen. Believe me, absolutely heaven and and they just because it's at
this point in time means that we misinterpreted the policy didn't pay tax correctly. That's what it means. It doesn't negative right coming forth and saying I want to do this. I would just ask the lawyer. Yeah. But we definitely
need to revise our policies. That's I agree. Okay. Then we come to a decision. I mean no we don't know. We got to ask the lawyer. Mary, um, Massachusetts used to require holiday pay, but that has not been
I mean, we get paid for the holidays. That's not the question. I'm trying to find the look back period. Oh. Oh. Um, well, so I think I'm not disputing what you're saying, Jackie, but I think what the attorneys would say is they're focusing on what the issue at the table
is and they're not going to similar to what you had heard them say with water. Like we're not going back, right? Like what when So I don't know. That's just my interpretation. All right. So, I'm going to motion that
we go into executive session not to be um to discuss uh strategy to conduct strategy session in preparation for negotiations with non-unit. Wait, is that the right one? Yeah. Um
yes. Yes. Thank you. The non-un personel conduct collective bargain sessions or contract negotiations. Um, is there a second? Second. Uh, all in favor? I I roll call vote. Thank you.
There you go. All right. Yes. Yeah. But I discovered this in a deep dive. Um, and I I did my research. It's never presented. a lot of work but it's you give that to Dick Gates. Yeah, I started
looking into that as well. Um and it's a conversation I do want to have about our involvement with PBC and things of that nature. Well, I think I think since the town was never submitted that Dan, but it was clearly done on behalf of the town and it was done during that tenure.
I went.