##VIDEO ID:df1g_qzkaKQ## okay the Wednesday October 30th 2024 meeting of the garden of city council finance committee will come to order the clerk will please call a rooll president presc pres counc pres is anyone recording today's meeting we'll begin with the department head updates and we'll start right off with new resources we have Amanda Morse our Human Resources Director up morning good morning morning um so basically you just go ahead and update us on how things are going in the department and what's going on and that's it sure um these aren't the mic so don't worry about these oh okay I wasn't even paying attention to that so it's okay um so overall I've just been working a lot on updating policies process um we are starting to look at the senior um work incentive tax credit um adding in veterans to that which you'll see at city council um so we've been just looking at the application process um how those people are selected um in the past it's just been the same people who have been doing the program in the past have been selected to do it I kind of want to change that there was last year 40 applicants for 20 slots so I think I'm we're going to go to a lottery system this year so everyone has an equal opportunity to be involved in the program um same thing with um the swimming pool I've just been looking um next year to look at the process for swim lesson registrations um I think I want to make that a cashless process um just look at how it's how it's been done um I have been um updating all job descriptions as positions open um our job descriptions are not well written at all um all different templates different form formats um so as positions open I have been working with the um the department heads and the unions if it's a union position just putting them all in the same format reviewing them making sure the job description fits what they're actually doing um right now it is um medx enrollment so I was working on that for a little bit um getting the updated rates all the letters went out last week I have received phone calls that people have received the letters so um been working on that um I am working on a wellness initiative um I'm working with do you have a question I did did the medx rates go up they did they went up 12% that's okay that's um a wellness initia with Blue Cross and Blue Shield so we have a um $5,000 um credit to use throughout the year um so we just sent out a survey it closed on Friday I don't have the results yet but just figuring out how we can um use those funds to create Wellness programs um throughout city employees so whether it be you know a Step Challenge or um online uh webinars for like healthy eating or cooking um they do iners um like sessions there's all different things that they offer so we sent out a survey to see what people would be interested in um so I will be kicking that off once I get the results of those um yeah that's like the majority of like just like the Project based things I've been working on and then the regular day-to-day things that come up great if I could add mam president I know director mors has been here about six months yeah I think only around six um I've been really impressed with her the work that she's been doing and updating certain things that's involved with the department or bringing things into Just A New Perspective um I think it's been really valuable to the city just the changes to the job descriptions now when an employee gets hired to they're required to sign a copy of their job description just like they sign all of the different policies we have and it's just one of those back and forths to make sure that the person understands what the job actually entails and uh what's going to be expected and sets that expectation Foundation Upfront for the employee and we haven't had any issues with it but it's just something that it just that extra level of something that wasn't there I don't think anyone saw their job description other than when they saw the posting on the website before uh and it's one of those things that um between that and then handling the surprises that have come up along the way that just come from being in an HR role let alone the health insurance stuff that came up with both Medics and Blue Cross and everything else I think she's really done a a tremendous job in the role and I'm really happy that we have her on the team here thank Youk I similarly got um an email from um The Building Commissioner just about your performance and something you had helped him with as well and he went out of his way to do that so I thought that was pretty awesome I call May about it and thank you um that's great you know to hear it's it's you you how many employees that do you manage what of have oh for for my staff no I mean your staff but also the whole city yeah 1,200 yeah it's about between the school and between the school elections right and with the Department of you have two assistants in your office one one assistant so there's there's that you know I'm that pretty much that type of workload exists in government I think that's probably it um so you definitely have a role in front of you I appreciate all the updates this is great to hear is there any question comments from the committee members um I I just have a couple uh even just one of our outside vendors commented to me about um when I was here for the uh Health um open enrollment how unfortunate we were to have you on staff here and how knowledgeable you were and what the knowledge you bring in from Private Industry into the public sector how important it is um I just you know I I you know I just think there's there's so much you can bring into the human resource department here within the city um I'd had the conversation you know when we post jobs for the city just posting the benefits because the benefit package is huge I mean you know it's it's really supplements some the pay for people that they we really have to we have to Market that because it is health insurance is a huge benefit as well as as other things um you know and I you know overtaking um you know like this the swimming pool I you know one of the things besides swim lessons I would love to see us do a cash lless passes for family passes for people next year um I think that would be a great option as well um but I just I just want to you know applaud you because you walked into you know a very a huge position huge responsibilities um with some surprises that none of us expected and I think you've done a fabulous job and that you know know that we I at least I myself as a Council counselor we're all here to support you in in every aspect of your position and um and please don't um as ever hesitate to reach out and the welfare committee will actually be having you at a at a meeting pretty soon just to give updates on the pool and the disabilities perfect thank you anything further just while we have you here um thank you for everything you've been doing um I've heard all the great things that spoken about already we do have that item you talked about the veteran incentive program the VIPs program um how is that going to if a senior's a veteran is it two different programs or is it like a pool is it just 10 10 for the veteran I believe be starting um and then 20 for the yes so we're going to CH we're going to keep the same 20 for the um senior we haven't determined so I think if we're going to have 30 slots and say we have only five veterans who apply and then there's 30 people who are not veterans just seniors I don't see why we couldn't place the other five just in the program if we're open 30 slots we should open 30 but 10 will be dedicated toward veterans y so when they apply I'll kind of separate the veterans um and that PO it's only going to be eight or 10 so they get those slots exactly okay thank you yeah I have nothing further is any else great thank you thank you okay um we'll continue with department head updates the treasure collector's office um Jen treasure J did send me an email written report I don't know if she CC on it but I can email it to you s you and put it in for the minutes okay so we'll email the treasure collectors right question go to her directly and you'll put it in the minutes of this meeting got I also she's on a pre-planned vacation this week excuse me thank you and to the auditor I mean you're at these meetings often enough now this is about you so tell us whatever you want um I'm sorry um well I was working on free cash got that certified on 8 I'm sorry October 8th um came in at 2.6 million working on another 514 th000 um it was a when against our free cash but we're working on it and hopefully we'll get that uh certified within a uh a month or so so that'll be another uh uh 54,000 towards free cash um then I'm work uh working on the tax recap uh basically everything's in the system waiting for Monday to certify uh the tax rate the one or split um rate uh once that is uh agreed upon then we submit and that get certified hopefully that'll be certified mid November which is pretty much our earliest we have done that which it it helps cuz uh it makes the billing process a lot easier uh we can get that certified early and then right after that I'll be working on the schedule a basically getting all that data um into the system and submit that um by December beginning of December it has to be uh in uh and and submitted to the do by the end of the pH uh the calendar calendar thank you and that's Do's policy correct y exactly exactly exactly they uh they they frowned upon that if you don't do that they uh hold back grant money and stuff like that so we make sure we get that certifi uh submitted uh and then working on uh FY 26 budget get uh starting to work on that and then what else dealing with uh Blue Cross boo shield on the billing side um they're having issues they they change systems billing systems uh in February of this year and um they're they're trying to basically they're trying to push back and saying we're we owe an extra monthly payment and they're they're totally wrong so um basically I've been dealing with this since uh September 13th and uh they're not budging on their end I'm not budging on their our end so and it's significant money so um I'm I'm still pushing uh just a little history with u Blue crossby Shield two years ago they tried to bill us for interest um and what happened is they had one of our payments it went to their a different lock box they actually had the money and they tried to charge us interest so I fought it it took me a year to get the money back but it was $115,000 this issue we're going through is significant so um couple million right it's it's a 900 9 $20,000 so um that's been paid it just isn't reflected on the statement so we're just trying to show them like here they billing issues totally and that's what we're trying to and then they're saying they but I don't want to bore you with the details but working on that um what else um also I I should have sent this well my Amanda was here I worked with Amanda to make uh the the uh payroll process paperless so basically all new hires um um rate increases in termination paperwork is now done um uh paperless so all that makes the the the the process streamline um it takes we don't run into um you know oh shoot we didn't give this person or or getting them into the system so they're paid on a timely manner it it makes that uh process a lot better um and that's all I have thank you uh any questions comments from the committee if I could add I know uh the auditor is one of your departments as the city council but it's been tremendous working with John and I'm not just saying that cuz he's on the third year of his appointment it's just the fact that he's my job wouldn't be as easy as it is if it wasn't for the work that John collaborated with I think there's twice a sometimes twice a day but at least twice a week that I'm calling John and asking a question just being like hey you know what do we have the information on this where can I find the the information on this how about do we start this process now and he's just got the answers and it's just one of those departments that you know you can call and rely on and just get the answer that you need the moment you need it and how however you need it and then some too and realize you didn't need the other stuff that he threw in there too until he told you about it um I've been really happy with the work he's done I think the audits uh that we've been getting back that have been clean for the last four years uh since I've been here without you know a finding of one year without a management letter it was um just shows the profession professionalism he brings to the job and I've been really happy to work with them thank you first be careful calling your job easy Mr I know easier than you how's that um but I would say even as a council we're we're kind of just used to this at this point with things just kind of coming through having the information we need getting a constant answer like we're very lucky and I don't want to bring us back to 2020 but I have got to know John very well during 2020 because he was one of the only people I talk to pretty much every day multiple times a day when all of that FEMA and you know all of the um that money and things became available where we had to account for it really specifically um and you know all of our our budgeting I mean Budget people don't realize budget is a 365 day process it it just the minute one's over the one's already started again it's it's really important and I think for the council you know it being a position that we oversee you're readily available you make things put things in front of us so that we can understand it and we have it when we need it um or if it's requested the numbers there within you know minutes if you're at one of our meetings or if not um and now we have a former auditor on our city council so that's also the added picture but I know there's a good relationship there and that's really helpful and I think that's how things are supposed to work um so I certainly appreciate the work that you do and you know a financial peace of the city is one of the biggest things that people look to when they're moving to a new place when they're going to remain living in a new place and when they have something that they have to uh give their own comments on you know a lot of times it's something financially related so the fact that you can work so well with the mayor's office and we're able to oversee you I think speaks to the strength of everyone and the government the department heads but also your job specifically because it really is um it's very very important so I I have you know nothing but good feedback I'm glad to hear about all of the the things that you're doing especially some of the stuff you don't really think about like the issues you're having with the Cross Blue Shield like we wouldn't know that but you're okay to say it because you're doing your job and you know you're working towards you didn't have to offer that today but KN that you do and you've had to do things similarly is also I think it's good information people know there's a lot to the position um also having one staff member in your office as well um is there any other comments or well to add I have no questions yeah I don't have any questions just kind of reiterating start say I don't have a level of mayor or former mayor former acting mayor interactions with you anytime I have any questions um I always tell you you know it's no rush and I I have it in you know half an hour or something sorry back to me um so I appreciate that if you are busy and I say that please take your time and just thank you for for what you doing thank you yeah know I I appreciate everything I appreciate your explanation when I stopped in over the the Blue Cross increase for the insurance because it was it was it's just really hard to understand the whole process and with the trust fund and the fund and everything and you explained that very well but I think it's important and I'm glad you brought up what you're dealing with blot cross because I mean I I can't imagine on your end how frustrating that is because time is money and the amount of time that you're spending going back and forth with him that's time is taking you away from other things you know and um you know uh I'm sure with you know my frustration with Blue Cross is is high I can't imagine what yours is right now so I think that you know any point that um you need reinforcements you know whether we have to bring in um you know the mayor has to go to our you know our legal department I think that's something that has to be considered because it is costing this city money with the time that you're spending um you know just just constantly going back and forth with him over things that should be shouldn't even be an issue yep so but I do thank you for everything that you do for the city you if I could just reiterate what he said before about how we're at the um tax rate being earlier than it has been before and having the hearing at an earlier date than it has been before and what that means in terms terms of making things better with the time cost of money that's associated with that too um I'll go back to the days that my father used to work at City Hall there were days that the those bills have to be sent out before January 1 there were days I remember my father being here until like 6:00 on New Year's Eve because the hearing was held later a later date and then you have to get everything through the system the right way the bills printed stuff and sent out the right way and everything like that so getting this done actually makes it so that we can pre-plan all of that ahead of time and actually save time on the cuz when you're rushing to get everything done at that last moment in time you're going over hours you're paying overtime to employees and everything like that that um it really is not helpful not only just for our cash flow but the peace of mind that we can just get it done the right way the first time well and on that note too I do appreciate the communication over the last couple of years I we've talked about it since I've been in this position as council president we've talked about how important that deadline that 1231 deadline is for that and we purposely tried to make it so that we could set it as early as possible it's also for morale for the staff like they have enough going on it also makes so there isn't mistake because people aren't rushing around to do things um and it is part of our job as the city council like we hold that hearing you know and so if you can get us what we need you know you have we have the information from you that we need we can we can have the hearing we can make the decision and things can get rolled out so them the staff and do their piece like it's all it's different branches and people have different responsibilities but it it's all working together and you know as counselors that's that's our piece of it but we need to be prepared to do it just as a staff needs to be prepared so um knowing that I think we've been able to push it earlier each year but this is definitely the earliest that it's been and it still isn't it's not really being pushed in a way it's just being prepared enough and and having the wherewith all say hey we're going to plan for this differently in the future and it's worked out every year pretty much in the last couple years that way um so it's good to know because again you just don't in the end it all goes back to all of us the way things get done in the end so um and I know also when we have our um our informal meetings on the TAC for the um not informal meeting I'm sorry the hearing the tax hearing the mayor will give a little bit more of a presentation than she as you and I talked about just on what those options are and how that works and I think that's another effort this year going into it where we had said you know we really need to make sure the public has that information um moving on in the future because I don't think they really realize what goes into a single versus you know split tax rate and so that will be helpful for the council as well as for um the public and understanding how what we make our decisions and what we base them off of to um so I have nothing further there's anything further from thank you rich thank youate okay item 11 1289 an ordinance to amend the code of the city of Gardner part one thereof entitled administrative legislation so at our last city council meeting uh all of the counselors were given a copy of version seven yes okay and so everybody has that I mean it was in the packet as well we just had it printed so that um it was you know I know I work better with a thick document looking at it so we kind of did that as a as a courtesy but um it's been available through all of the versions to the council to the public for people to look at uh and so knowing that we're going to do an informal meeting on this as well um I think we should obviously ask for more time at this point because that's we were we're going to have an informal meeting on it um I it's it will not be before this Monday's meeting I anticipate will be before the 2nd nov M meeting um so I just wanted your thoughts on that um I 100% agree I think we should uh this is hopefully pretty close to the final version if not the final version um we want to make sure we we have it right and really only had it for um just over a week now at this point so give everyone time to continue to review it all the other councils to review it have the informal meeting see if there's any questions or concerns and then um hopefully tie this up and um finish passing yeah I appreciate everything about the process for this so thank you g your office and everyone who's been looking and working on it but I think this being the most final is version of it I have like some more time to observe I think the more eyes on it the better also just because the point of this is to clean things up and to make it streamlined so we don't want errors in it uh and I think the more eyes you have on it the more that timely have to catch things or ask questions about it before we do have our informal so I do anticipate that meeting before the second meeting in November for the city council um and so at this point we'll ask for more time okay age thank you item 11407 A measure authorizing a 5-year contract for school transportation services we have director Cormier here did you want to join us up here if you need sure come on just in case we need you so this is pretty standard from the last couple of contracts that we typically received you know around um this time of the year from the summertime is there anything that you wanted to explain about it dor for you uh not really it's just uh it has there have been spotty requests lately so sorry that you've gotten so many typically we try to do them at the end of the year uh this one was initiated by the school department who wants to start this process early uh the current trans Transportation contract ends at the end of this fiscal year so there is some time the idea is to look at a 3 plus two contract so three years plus plus a ren for 2 um so yeah it's at the initiation of the school uh they just pessimistic we have also offered the note that to expect about a 20% increase even if it is a 5-year uh contract I don't know if that's true U but we'll see we'll see what happens there Transportation cost since 2019 when this was first entered into Yeah Yeah we actually we negotiated we did this in 2019 and we actually right before the world shutdown had this pretty much review go so um the plan is to put it out on November 6th available to the public and then to uh have it due on the 12th of December I think is the plan right now 12th of the 13th that that week uh there are about 11 projects right now in my office in some form of the bid process so I'm trying to push this one a little later because it doesn't expire until the end of the fiscal year and you mentioned the history of it so this 3 plus 2 is this how so this is not how it's been done or this was how this was how it was done and we got the fiveyear approval last last time to do this as well thank you yeah most contracts in a 5year situation aren't for the full five years it's the initial three and then the option to extend for an additional two after that but anytime we add the option to go over that three that's what needs councel approval and just and for reiteration account for the public too the once you get to the three and you decide for the two are we authorizing you to just do yes to look at the two okay and that's what we've done in the previous ones we did similar to this very recently actually um and just because you approve it doesn't mean that it has to we'll have to do the initial three but if happens we have the option to not do the additional two so it's solely at the discretion of the city that's the way the contract is written is it 32 or is it 311 uh this one would be um so authorized the option just another I think the last one was 3 plus 2 okay um but we do have some contracts that are 3 plus 1 plus one last so we do we do mix it this one I think was 3 plus two but I can double check it either way we won't we'll exceed three but we won't exceed five so thank you further questions comments on the committee if I could thank you madam president um I do want to say thank you too for your patience and dealing with these as they've come up peac meal recently like the uh director Cory said we do try to get as many of them Consolidated together as we can at the beginning of the fiscal year but there stuff that just comes up along the way like this one um I got a request from the police chief for one at your next meeting for body cams uh next week that came in at 4:30 last night so we'll talk about that after but um I appreciate the collaboration with them too and it does make things a lot easier for the department heads and just on our end and planning out these contracts budgetarily um and just thanks for how you've been handling these rather than all at once like we normally do just throughout as they come up I sounds like all at once for you isn't the greatest anyway for the being able to handle all the bids coming at the same time and the Staggering might be kind of easy for yeah it's not the worst thing um I don't think it's a heavy lift on our side to take them I know spre if anything I like a little confused at the last council meeting because I was like wait a minute I think we used to doing it this way and I said I can guess myself which I shouldn't have done but uh that's it's fine like we do our job as we get them as long as we have the information and we you know that's to me that's as long as it doesn't affect the city negatively or shouldn't if it should be changed then change it but if it doesn't need to be and you know it's just an administrative thing then the takeen as a again well it is it's required by Master General law so 30b section 12 requires it if it goes above 3 years so it's required of us um I think on the positive side it's the goal is to try to get a contract that's more uh economically efficient for the for the city and the second thing is it also allows you to to know about it beforehand it allows you to get it out into the public beforehand so I mean you know it's transparency it's it's always a good thing so I think as the mayor said I appreciate you doing the heavy lifting on it well the lifting on it but uh as long as I have approval I'm going to I'm just going to process it the way I would as the job requires but a lot do require you guys to do it so that's why it just feels like a pain sometimes to always send it out to you guys so any further questions comments from the committee no I think this is being um very proactive as when we went through the last budget process the school department did say to expect a1.2 million increase on Transportation cost for the with the new um bid going out so um planning does need to be done yeah that was that was the request to get it done before the budget season so um my only worry is if you do it on November 6 you have it due 1212 you're going through the Thanksgiving break you know the other idea was if you push it further you're going through the Christmas break and the New Year's break so do it beforehand and have that time to review last time we did the review in February I think it was December to January we did review in February and we awarded it right before the world shut that actually I think we had to re we awarded it and then we had to look at it again before they sign the contract so um okay um is there a motion I make a motion that we uh recommend item 11407 for recommendation to full Council for approval second motion made by councelor Max second by councelor General LTZ to recommend authorization of the full council is there discussion on motion all those in favor say I I close say no motion passes thank you director corm thank you guys item 1148 in order accepting the provisions of of section 5n of chapter 59 of the ener laws to establish a veteran property tax workof program good morning morning morning um we have director hasselman here and um I don't know if who wants to start but I I let you go I'll uh start for this one thank you m president uh with the uh Healy tax cut law that was signed in late September last year one of the new programs that was created in the Commonwealth was a veterans tax workof program on a local action uh local option acceptance program program uh very similar to the senior tax workof program that we've been operating here in Garder since 2010 uh now there's a couple different things that I want to explain when we talk about this and the first I mean just out front I think this is a good idea for the city I think it's in the best interest of the people who live here um it's obvious that costs aren't going down for anyone um but there's certain things that we've been trying to do to make things easier for our veteran population in the city we uh if you remember last year passed a uh uh accepted a provision of the general laws um that you know I proposed to the city council and thank you for your adoption of it that waved property taxes at 100% uh for any of our Goldstar families that live in Garder um there's an ordinance proposal that's before the city council right now that would wave parking meter fees for uh veterans who have certain specialty license plates from purple hearts to gold stars bronze Stars different recommendation uh commendations and things like that um this is the next step in our quote I guess veterans package that we're looking at making things easier for our veterans here in Gardner Garden has always done a really good job at supporting our veteran population here mimics identically the senior tax workof program that we have right now where if you uh work a certain number of hours at minimum wage rate for the city on a volunteer basis volunteer because you're not getting a paycheck but in lie of a paycheck you're getting that equivalent amount deducted from your property tax bill um so minimum wage right now at $15 an hour whatever a th000 divided by 15 is that's the number of hours that these individuals are capped at working they may not work that full amount but they could work that full amount to get that full, deduction um and what this does is just make it so that one it benefits the city and the fact that we're getting additional Staffing work done uh it's very particular work uh the Department's request this is these are how many positions I could use this is the work I'd like them to do and then we assign individuals in that program off of that um but this would make it so that we could have up to 10 veterans positions in the uh in Gardener for up to $1,000 a year uh a couple things with that is 10 is just because this is our first year doing it we do have to allocate these positions on our revenue and expense side when we do the budget uh because it is $10,000 that we aren't getting now in Revenue that goes towards the general fund but I think the the cost is absolutely worth the benefit that's there for these individuals too um plus adding an additional 10 staff members to do this work would be a lot more than $10,000 at the same time um so the the the benefit is both to the veteran population and to the city down by far for sure uh the reason why we had capped the senior tax workof program at 20 before is just because $20,000 would all was all we had budgeted for it um there are some things just in the sake of transparency here uh the state law for the senior tax workof program the when the council votes to accept these programs they also vote to set the cap uh so if you'll notice in the vote document that you have before you it sets the cap at $1,000 per year for veterans just like the vote that accepted the senior tax workof program in 2010 voted to set the cap at that at $1,000 for people in the senior tax workof program the Healy tax cut Bill did extend what the option for seniors to go up to I believe it's $2500 for seniors and $1,500 for veterans because this is the first year in the veterans program and because this is the first year we're expanding the program we're proposing to keep that ,000 limit right now rather than increase that because we' one we'd rather have an additional 10 people for the amount that it would cost us if we just increase the senior workof program to what the law allows us to right now but too we also don't know how this application pool is going to go so just seeing how things are going to go this first year and then if we need to go back and revisit it at that time we can look at it then but this opens it up to 10 people for the same amount of cost it would have just to get us to the new point in the senior side of things and if it goes good this first year or maybe in the second year after that maybe then we look at seeing do we go to the full, 1500 on the veterans end do we go to the full $2,500 on the senior end or do we stay with what we have and just open things up more to more people and that's going to be something that we evaluate uh as it's going but this is just to get us started with the program thank you for that Dr as great good morning good morning um so I did submit a letter just from our department saying that we think this is a benefit to the city and also to the communities veterans U at least once a month if not more probably even more than that um we have a veteran who comes in that is not at the senior age who is potentially medically retired from service they're um marked unemployable based off of their disabilities and they're living off of a set income just like a senior is right uh and they're still wanting to commit their service to something um and a lot of individuals a lot of veterans love their Community right we're we're ingrained that's why we joined is to defend that community that we live in and this is just a way to support them and give them a way to support that community at minimal uh cost to the city and we're also getting the benefit right just like the mayor expressed I mean in my office I could easily see us getting at least two two volunteers to help us with just the mass amount of paperwork that we deal with on a daily basis all the calls and influx of emails and everything that we deal with just helping us manage that obviously we just heard from the auditor I'm sure he could use some help HR could probably use some help everyone could could use some help in the city and a veteran is bringing in special skills right the training that they go through uh the discipline that they learned we we know we're going to get um the money's worth that isn't directly from the city too right um and it's giving them a reason to St in Gardener as well right it's it's a it's a little cost to us to keep them in Gardener unfortunately a lot of veterans are moving up to New Hampshire um because taxes are different and everything and um this is just an incentive to keep keep them here and make them feel good about being in the city just that much longer thank you uh well I so your letter as well as um the letter of support from um yeah Dr maren and um the at um enok um you know I thought was because you work directly with the veterans all the time every day I mean you reach way outside of gardener as well too as well as um and block right downtown so I felt that really explained a lot of the benefit from that side of it the mayor I appreciate the um explanation from the the city side of it as well it's kind of mutually beneficial as we've said uh I'm interested to see how the application process goes I think it's great that you've worked with HR considering it's like the same thing like why we invent the wheel let's just cater it to what we have um I think that was a great use of resources uh and so I just I'm interested to see like what the obligation pool is and and how that goes because I think it's good to we'll gather the data now look at it again see if we're going to go from the, to 2500 whatever like see how that goes I think it's smart to do that and then we can look at it re evaluate again in the future to see if any changes need to be made but I think this is really exciting again it's just another great as it's a great asset to having the veteran services right here in the city that we do have cuz we are a veterans friendly Community for sure and if anything um this is something that's going to uh enhance that even more so I I really appreciate you know this getting put into play the way that it is I think it's one thing to have it but it's another thing to do it this way where it's everybody's on the same page and um you know establishing a process to make it successful going forward uh so um thank you for all that info is there any questions comments from the committee I just had I just had a question for the mayor um first of all this is a great program and I and as as is the VIP program I think they're fabulous when I was going through the um chapter 59 5n um is this only one exemption per household because it does not outline that I could find where outl that in there so you could have a veteran and then a and then a spouse do it through the VIP program cuz I I'm just finding correct yeah that's in the there's a a reference to like somewhere in chapter 59 section 5n it says it references the other tax workof program and that says in there that it can only be one individual per household so you can't have two people getting $2,000 the same tax I wanted clarification on to make sure but I think it's I mean um I think it's wonderful because there are people that wouldn't qualify for the because based on age that this will be a wonderful opportunity for them and I go ahead sorry I was just going to say if I may um that's another reason I think Amanda is doing the lottery system um and I think that's also a great idea is just just widen the pool of of who has been working here and and who will work here in the future and as she mentioned earlier we'll have 10 slots for the veterans and it just makes sense because we don't know who will apply especially starting a new a new system it's going to take some time for the residents to be aware of it um to fill that if if that's the need that the city has than you um there was a thank you there was a a small reduction in the senior side of things when minimum wage went up because we kept the cap at $1,000 so that did reduce the number of hours that they had to work here um so that's another benefit to this program too is that it people didn't get as much the Departments here didn't see as much work the people saw the same benefit because it was still $1,000 um but this also then opens up the door to kind of make up for those hours that were lost when minimum wage was increased to thank you anything further no I think I mean I know people many people participated in the this programs a 50% increase of a um people were going to be able to get in here to take part in a program like this and um as you spoke it's great to extend to Veterans of any age so thank you is there a motion I make a motion we recommend passes the order to the full Council second motion made by councelor General second by councelor m to recommend passage to the full council is there discussion the motion all those in favor say I post say no motion passes thank you thank you item 11409 a communication from the mayor regarding the certification of FY 2024 free cash Mr Mayor thank you madam president I did speak a little bit about this at the last council meeting uh so this is our free cash it's a little later than we got it last year was September 24th last year but uh it's still probably the second earliest time that we've gotten free cash certified here it's about 2.6 milli ion uh as the auditor referenced earlier uh we are going back and forth with do on some of the things that they deduct from free cash um to see if we can get that added back in that 54,000 what it is is if we have any outstanding liabilities on our books in terms of uh grant funding that hasn't come in yet by the time free cash is certified in terms of uh payments that haven't been issued for bills that we've received in terms of authorizations that haven't been uh fully uh completed in the funding received for you uh those things there are then deducted from our free cash liability so that we have some type of pool that's there that if that comes up later on that deduction that was there is now put back into place and if we get that money M for school year normally we get it added into our free cash in the next certification round uh we are working on uh with do right now on seeing if we can get some of that back uh so that we can have that additional 54,000 put back in so we can utilize that in this fiscal year if not it'll fall to free cash next year uh the uh free cash history we are pretty on par with where we've been uh 2018 and 2020 saw excuse me 2019 and 20120 saw spikes uh in what we had in free cash the reasons for that being is 2019 you'll notice 2018 was lower than usual we had a insurance payment that we didn't get reimbursed for by our insurance company by the time free cash came in so they deducted that as that liability just like we just explained uh we got it back in 2019 so that's why 2019 had that spike in 2021 I believe or 2020 one of to had a spike in it because the schools shut down uh during the covid-19 pandemic uh so a lot of that funding fell to free cash because the budget for it used up to what they were budgeted for in expenses and a lot of grant funding was plugged in to cover what we would normally use for expenses because the cares Act was passed and then the Esser funds were put in place and then there were other different school computer uh funds to make sure every student had a laptop all of those covered a lot of expenses we would normally cover on our budgetary end of things uh so that uh equates to that big bump in free cash that we had this year but we're pretty much on par with where we've been uh you haveen you've noticed that unlike usual years after free cash is certified I normally put up a slew of free cash uh requests per our financial policies to stabilization OPB uh Road repair different other items uh the reason we haven't put those up yet is actually more work for the auditor if we put up free cash expenditures before the tax rate gets set and the tax recap sheet is certified uh because every and part of that uh process is to put in all of the financials that the city has and one of those is free cash and if free cash goes down he has to go through and lower that and explain what it was put towards and where that money is going towards and how that's allocated in the budget so it's just a cleaner process for the city as a whole financially and just for an audit or review uh of everything if we just wait to do that till after the tax uh hearing is done and the tax rate is set uh so and the recap sheet is submitted and certified uh so we do plan on submitting certain free cash Appropriations uh however with the insurance increases that we saw with what we're planning on for snow and ice uh with uh everything else that's coming down the Pike and knowing all of the expenses that we have coming up to with equipment breaking and things that need to be repaired and other uh grants that need matches and things like that uh we're probably going to wait till later in the fiscal year after this first round of free cash that we first put up to get the other amounts of free cash put in place so that we can really get a clear picture of this is what we need right now this is something that can be pushed off next year so that we can have those extra budget budget items in our free cash appropriation so that you know if when health insurance goes over because of the new rates because we didn't have those new rates when we set the new budget we have that pool of money that there when snow and ice is done we have that pool of money there so I didn't anticipate that you're going to have some appropriation request submitted to you in December and then probably not again until April uh and this probably going to have that buffer there just so we can have a better more financial planning picture on our end um but I just want to you to know where we are at free cash what our history has been like how this compares to other years and the funding mainly came from local receipts uh free cash comes in from either Revenue that came in over budget or expenses that came in under budget about I'd probably say 70 to 80% of our free cash allotment this year came in from revenue over budget and that came from our local receipts uh so that's motor vehicle excise taxes uh different other specialty taxes um fines fees penalties if you look at the budget document there's a whole section on what local receipts is those came in well over budget we try to plan for that ahead of time uh we take the average of the last 3 years and then do 90% of that threee average when we are planning our budgetary Revenue knowing that it's likely going to come in higher um but that's basically how we build free cash into the budget because the department of revenues recommendations is that your free cash certification be between 3 and 5% of your annual operating budget uh as a good practice that way you're making sure your revenues really it's not so that you have the free cash at the end of the year it's to make sure you have the revenue to fund your budget and that you're not over guessing and really being overzealous in what your revenues are and then if your revenues don't come in at what you guessed at then you have to find a new way to pay for those expenses or cut other cost that's there so really that's why do says that you're 3 and 5% is the healthy what you should be for free cash because it meant you budgeted your revenues the right way uh and we are within that three and 5% in this free cash appropriation here and uh happy to answer any questions that you may have thank you Mr May questions comments from the committee I don't have any thank you for explaining it twice appreciate it um I I would make a make a recommendation to the full Council Place this communication on file second motion made by Council General by councel m to place the communication on file to make a recommendation to place communication on file is there a discussion on the motion all those in favor say I I as closly no motion pass thank for that item 11410 a communication from the mayor regarding the certification of FY 2024 Enterprise fund retained earnings Mr thank you madam president I really like the word retained earnings way better than free cash just because I feel like it actually shows what the item is it's and basically retained earning is the free cash of an Enterprise account and there's retained earnings because the money that's put into that account can only go towards that account uh this I use Golf Course membership fees are what goes towards the golf course account and retained earnings is BAS is really honestly Revenue that came in over budget um or I mean yes in some cases it's expenses that came in under budget but even if that expense came in under budget it just goes back to the fund that's there too uh also included in retained earnings different than free cash is because this is an Enterprise account you know you have this much in the fund when the budget is set if you only budget 80% of what's in the fund that other 20% just automatically falls back into retained earnings at the end because that money is basically your evolving account to fund that department that overseas that is run by that Enterprise account so we have a couple Enterprise accounts here in Gardener we have water sewer golf landfill closure and solid waste um the solid waste you'll see is the lowest retained earnings that we have that or besides from the landfill because we don't take any money in at the landfill and we actually supplement the landfill closure account with $75,000 of free cash every year for the next well 30 years from the closure of the landfill we have that schedule that'll come up when we do the free cash appropriation for that um so taking that aside because there's no Revenue coming into that account because of that that's just the 30-year monitoring fees that we have on the uh Capp landfill on West Street for the sub the dump for lack of V term not the Sledge landfill the actual landfill um that has to be monitored for a certain amount of time since the closure per D and EPA regulations that's what's funding that Pro program Solid Waste you'll see is the lowest that we have out of those that's why we did that uh rate increase uh per the rate study that we do every so many years we'll look at the rates that cover the trash contract that we have solid waste includes trash and the trash the transfer station and the recycling services that we offer for the city um so that should hopefully have some healthier free cash that's the only one that didn't fall within that 3 to 5% range uh that we have have uh water and sewer uh again the sewer rates are a little bit on the lower side of that 3 to 5 but it fell in between there but if you remember we just had that sewer rate uh ordinance that we just had through that again we look at that every 5 years at our sewer rates and water rates that are there um so everything fell between the range that it's suggested that we fall into um and then when you add in the recent actions that we've taken to plan for this coming fiscal year it should be healthier in next year's too so I we're in a good spot with all of our Enterprise accounts um um I will say because you know we talked about different programs and projects that we're looking at the solar on the cap landfill uh solar at the airport even though that's not an Enterprise account just to throw that in there uh solar at the golf course different things like that if those projects continue to move forward there are state laws that say if revenue is generated on a site that's related to an Enterprise account the funding from that project goes into that Enterprise account so if there is solar put at the golf course that money from the solar rent payment and any uh pilot payment and anything like that from those solar panels would go into the golf Enterprise account not into the general fund whereas if we have solar on City Hall's roof that falls into the general fund because this city hall building is a general fund funding building um so there's different things like that that we are looking at in the future with these but that's the uh brief Cliff Notes Financial rundown for the Enterprise accounts and uh where we are and what got us our retained earnings this year thank you Mr Mayor questions comments from the committee recommendation to the full Council to place this communication on file second Mo made by Council General second byoun that to recommend to place the communication on files the full councel is there a discussion on the motion all those in favor say I say no motion passes I will entertain the motion to adjourn St mov second motion made by councelor Ma second by councelor General to adjourn all those in favor say I I oppos say no motion passes meeting stands thank you everyone thank you