WEBVTT

METADATA
Video-Count: 1
Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=fA3NtBxl5Tg

NOTE
MEETING SECTIONS:

Part 1 (Video ID: fA3NtBxl5Tg):
- 00:00:00: Excise Tax, Parking Meters, Cash Machine, Check Printer
- 00:05:09: Treasurer's Office Update: Employee Changes and Draft Budget
- 00:05:57: Public Comment 1: Discrepancies and HR Communication Breakdown
- 00:08:06: City Auditor Update: Audit, Financials, and Journal Entries
- 00:13:29: Public Comment 2: Invoice Payment and Overdue Bills
- 00:15:02: City Solicitor Update: New Assistant and Legal Issues
- 00:16:53: Public Comment 3: City Solicitor's Helpful Legal Advice
- 00:18:29: Resolution: Redeployment of Prior Authorized Funds
- 00:29:59: Public Comment 4: Support of Resolution & Transparency
- 00:36:43: City Council Budget Proposal: 2027 Fiscal Year
- 00:39:12: City Council Budget Transfers Discussion: Salary Issues
- 00:42:10: Ratifying City Auditor's Step Designation Recommendation
- 00:44:35: Health Insurance Payment and Trust Fund Discussion
- 00:46:15: Facilities Management for All Municipal Buildings Discussion
- 00:48:26: Salt Shed Repayment Issue: Study and Report Discussion
- 00:50:54: Transferring Auditing Department Salaries for Services
- 00:52:30: Lifeline Services Update Postponed to Next Meeting


Part: 1

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If the bill is still not paid within about 30 days of the due date of the demand, we turn them over to our deputy collector and they add a $10 first warrant fee and a $12 mailing fee. If the bills still remain unpaid after about 3 to four months, a $17 service

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fee is added. Approximately 3 months after that, a $20 marking fee is added and the person gets a non-renewable mark on their license and or registration. that marking ensures eventual payment on the excise. There is current legislation

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pending to remove the ability for the RMV to mark for non-renewal. From a municipal standpoint, this is not practical as there would no longer be any incentive to pay an excise tax bill. Uh parking meter collection is still

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taking place about three times a week. Since the last update, we've collected $25,364.70 in revenue from coins and cards and have paid $2,7427 in card processing fees, netting $22,62243

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in 6 months. Since September, 674 parking violation tickets have been issued by the police department with buys totaling $11,10. Most notably, 151 for meter violations,

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466 for code red parking ban violations and 33 obstructing or interfering with snow removal violations. 7% of the tickets were voided and abated and 63% were paid. The total value of

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the tickets outstanding is $3,355, not including any fees. Uh, I recently purchased a cash counting machine for faster processing of cash payments. The machine allows a stack of bills to be inserted. It will read each

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note for its value and check for counterfeit. The machine also calculates the total and will print a receipt of the cash submitted. This double check prot checks the city as well as the resident to be sure that everyone agrees on the amount submitted.

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Uh we were never able to correct the issue with our check printer uh putting my signature directly on the checks as they printed. So all checks either require the use of my signature stamp or I have to hand sign all checks. Uh we

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did open a case with Munice to see if we could modify their forms template. The template only allows for the check to print at print at the bottom of the page. Our checks are for top printing. There's no workaround for this. Uh we may try to order checks with the check

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on the bottom, but timing could be an issue depending on you. You can't be in the middle of a check run and have them switch. So, uh we're still looking at those options. Uh I believe the upgrade with the water, sewer, and trash billing module has been

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completed. Bills have been delayed, so the collection in the office has been lowered than normal over the past month. This upgrade is supposed to create a digital file to upload to UNIPE so that residents will be able to see what is owed for utilities without having the

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physical bill and make payment. I've submitted my reports, my cashbooks, warrant transfer and reconciliations for November, December, January, and February to the auditor. and I expect reconciliation reports to be completed shortly.

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I've completed my work with community development. Their transactions are current. Draw down requests are being done regularly and timely and I'm confident there won't be any issues moving forward with them. Uh we're also reviewing employee master files in

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Munice. There have been some discrepancies with with regard to status part-time over 20 hours, part-time under 20 hours, and temporary seasonal and group codes and munis account numbers. I don't believe anyone has ever looked at these discrepancies before, and making

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changes in one area doesn't necessarily update any other areas of the pay record. Uh, we're also still having issues with communication regarding appointed board members. Some boards pay their members a stipend. If the newly appointed member doesn't complete the

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paperwork at the HR and they aren't entered into the system, they aren't paid. The treasurer's office sends out pay sheets either monthly or quarterly. And we've not been notified that anyone is missing from the pay sheets. As a matter of practice, all board members

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should meet with each meet with HR and at a minimum have a file created and I'd suggest a quarry check as they are city representatives. Uh the treasurer's office has had discussions about this with HR and we're trying to find the best way to minimize issues with newly

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elected board members. Uh my senior account clerk, Lisa Arseno, retired Friday, March 27th. She worked with the department for seven years and we were sad to see her leave but excited for her to begin her next chapter. Lisa had given me a month's notice, so we

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were able to advertise the position internally. We had one candidate apply. Tammy, my assistant treasurer, and I interviewed and hired Margaret Jordan from the building department. Margaret has had experience with Munice and dealing with the public during her time in building. She also worked in the

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private sector for various law offices, and that experience is invaluable, especially since a lot of our calls are from law offices for tax information for real estate closings. Margaret will be trained to process and answer questions related to taxes as

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well as utility payments, but her main focus, however, will be utility collection. And I've submitted my draft budget for FY27 to the mayor's office. >> Very much. >> We've been busy.

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>> Yes. Questions, comments from the committee? >> Yeah. >> Thank first and foremost, a lot of work, a lot of great updates. Um what for the discrepancies with the status is that coming out like being overpaid underpaid is that the

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implication of that or is there part time seasonal? >> Oh it's just uh when people sometimes people come in as temporary and then they get moved up to a full-time position but some things are never updated on their master file. So, when

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we're trying to run reports to find out how many full-time employees we have, they're not showing up even though they may be full-time. So, it's just trying to get everybody in line with what their status actually is and make sure every page in their master file is correct.

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>> And then it sounds like you may be working to it, but with the breakdown of communication, I know this is something that's come up. We've talked about in our appointments committee meetings as well. We've tried to like help troubleshoot that. Is it do you feel as though it's just between HR and your office ironing up or is there other breakdowns that

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>> I'm not sure? >> I'm not sure that HR was being notified. So the people were going to the meetings. >> Yeah. >> But >> signing or getting sworn but it's not getting >> Yeah. We're not we don't have the paperwork and if we don't have the paperwork they're not appearing on the

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pay sheets and we can't pay them. >> So thank you. That's really good to know. We have an appointment meeting today. And that's the thing is the whole procedure, you know, from appointments once you're sworn in at the clerks, the communication has to get better. Um, and as you said, yeah, at a minimum, every everyone needs to have a quarry done.

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And this has been something that has been mentioned before. Every member of a board, commission, employee in the city all need to do the the um conflict of interest >> um training too. And that should be >> with without saying for every every person, right?

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>> Um, and that has not been done. And I I I hope that a new procedure gets um gets straightened out. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anything further? >> That was great. >> I appreciate it. Thank you for your information. Thank you for coming.

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>> Next up, we have the city author Karen Butler. >> I have a small thing. That's okay. you did provide a update as well to our desks here. Thank you and the floor is yours. >> Thank you. So overall department

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updates, we are still working on the FY25 audit with CBiz, which is our outside auditing firm. Um they were trying to push still for the 31st of March to get the certificate so there's

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no lapse with the bond. Um, they did just ask me for four more items this morning. I'm not sure if that's going to hold it up or not. I haven't heard anything from them. The

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mayor's office did do a 30-day extension for the audit, so that's good. Um and the um requests that I got this morning

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were stop losses for the um insurance funding. So, and actually looking into that, it looks like there was an error with posting. So, I'm looking into that.

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Um month end financial updates. Um, all monthly journal entries have been done up through January. There are still three or four more for February and then I'll be starting on March, probably next week. Um,

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I reconciled cash up through February. I just finished putting all the PDF files for signature for Jen and myself. So, I will distribute those to her today or first thing in the morning and I'm

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starting on the um receivables now for November through February. So, hopefully that will be done next week. Um, snow and ice account is currently 85,138,000

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uh 800 $85,1383 in deficit. Um, and then the uh health trust fund balance as of the end of February is $2,181,1663. That is different than what's on here.

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Um, that is the updated figure after the entries have been made for February. >> Can you read that amount again, please? >> Yep. 2,181,166.3. And then just a few things that I've noticed just internally just within the department. Um there are some issues

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with journal entries. I would like to set up a workflow with Bob um to get those in place. Um some journal entries have been duplicated. Um research isn't

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being done on some of them um before they're being posted. They're not going back far enough in in history to look them up. And then um I just want to make sure that we're being signed off on. And

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another thing that I noticed was that expenses were being reclassed versus um transferring the budget. So what happens is if your electric bill

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if your electric account or you your utility account is in the deficit and you have another bill, well this is only March and we did have somebody come in and wanted to post it to a different expense account. I'm like, "No." I'm like, "We can't do that." I said, "You

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can move the funds into that account, but you can't move expenses because that doesn't give you a true or accurate um snapshot of where you are. And then when you're going to do the budget the following year, you're going to have

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that same issue. You're going to be um overdrawn in that account." So, I'd like to set up th those um workflow processes in Ununice to help with some of those issues.

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And I am transitioning um some of the things that Jackie was doing um that were transitioned to her from John. I'm transitioning back to myself um just so I can see what's going on as

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well. and you know seeing what recclasses and what people are you know looking to do when it comes to expenses. >> Any questions or >> No questions for me. This is great. I really appreciate that last bit in particular. So thank you.

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>> Yeah. seems like you're spawning some ways we can improve and like you said for the budgeting process being able to have a more accurate picture of where our expenses are and what we're what we're spending >> at the end of the year and how to plan going forward for the next years. So thank you.

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>> Um so we just thank you this has been less than a month and to find ways that things could be changed or aren't being done appropriately is extremely important. the um server invoice that has been paid. It was paid on March

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19th. Um the amount was $13,175.70. So we are due for another bill this month in April. Well, tomorrow will be April. So, there is another bill that will be due um I think it's the 30th of

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May. We get it in April, but it's due the 30th of May. So, we'll have to make sure that gets processed bills for the first three months. It's um no it's um build in two periods uh 6 months increments

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and there were some other overdue bills that were also processed for the department >> from what in the same department. >> Yes. >> Hopefully you'll be able to get a handle on that as well. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. All right,

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there's no further questions. Uh, thank you very much. I appreciate your time. >> And our last update today would have been I don't Oh, he's hiding behind the podium on me. Solicitor is here um to give his update on the law department.

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Appreciate you being here. >> Hey, thank you very much. >> Yeah, I don't really have any prepared remarks, but I will say uh my new assistant is the most significant event that we have and I've been very happy with everything that he's been doing so far. um he's actually um brought up put a lot

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of wind in our sales in the whole department. Uh our primary objective obviously has been handling all the legal issues whether it's a real estate conveyancing. We have a few of those going on. We have a few um um legal cases, superior court zoning, um other

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litigation going on. Um and um general tasks and supporting department heads, uh questions and answers, you know, obviously hopefully answers. good legal advice. Um just trying to stay on top of all those things and um working with the

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mayor's office on a number of issues. Uh there's been some union negotiations been going on. Uh we have been outside legal counsel on the formation of department heads union but other than that primarily with a few exceptions

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primarily everything now has been in-house and a lot of it has to do with the assistant solicitors uh skill set being in in union negotiations. So um our goal is moving forward keeping as much in-house as possible. Um we do

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recognize that it's a municipality is a uh representing a municipality can be a very varied um legal um um operation but trying to find either ways to solve the problem either without a full legal solution or to provide the legal

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solution uh with a little extra research is is our primary objective at first. So there's any questions >> questions comments from the committee? >> Not for me at the time. No, I know. I'm >> just aware of some of the things that you're working on and

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>> Yeah, we are working on >> No, I appreciate I've had some questions and you've been obviously very helpful for my questions I've had about things with the city. So, I appreciate that. And >> everything else is it's obviously very busy busy department. A lot of lot of moving parts, a lot of different things going on.

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>> You know, it is busier. Um my friend um uh my good friend, late friend John Flick told me that this wouldn't be as busy as as it actually is. So I once in a while I shake my fist. >> I will say I had a conversation with the assistant city solicester and he was he

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was excellent. He was very knowledgeable and >> yes, >> I really I I felt very comfortable. >> I I complimented him too much the other day while I was talking to him on the phone. So I promised myself that I would try to refrain from but I really have been very pleased with him. Yeah, great. And you know, I think he's working

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eventually to maybe even take over the department at some point in time. So, it's it's a longer term plan that we've been thinking about, but you know, certainly someone you have a servant uh uh in in him. >> Uh and he's definitely interested in the city. So, you know, it's a pleasure.

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>> Thank you. Thank you so much. >> All right. Thank you. Appreciate your time. Thank you. >> Thank you guys. Thank you. >> Okay. Okay. That ends our uh department updates for today's meeting. Uh we're on to section three. First item on the

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agenda, item 11803, a resolution supporting the redeployment of prior authorized funds. Um we have the uh mayor's um Ian also uh uh Jason Stevens here as

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well from the economic development department to keep us updated on this. I don't know who would like to start with this project. >> Sure. Good evening, councilors. Um, so as uh as you're aware, this is a resolution. Um, we're seeking the uh sort of, you know, approval, if you

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will, the uh informal approval of the council for um the I wouldn't say the reclass of these funds, but the uh sort of the blessing of these funds. Um the geo fabric uh item for rear main came

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back um under budget. Um and we're seeking to use the remaining funds for uh national grids uh costs. Um and Jason can certainly get into any of those. Um that whole 100 that whole 800,000 would

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uh be utilized for both costs. So that would um help us in making sure we can see both projects to the finish pieces of the project to the finish line. So >> Director Stevens, >> I gave a pretty uh full timeline as much

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as I could keeping it to only 42 pages um in my submission for the resolution. Um, and I just want to make sure I I go through item by item because there is three years of history behind behind this in terms of the original submission

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uh for the engineer's estimate to when we now have received National Grid's response for the uh back charges related to the cost for National Grid. they're just going through the packet and I'll be referencing the page numbers at the top uh left corner of of uh of the

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packet for anyone uh going through the packet at home as well. Um pages 3 through 12 include the original range of uh magnitude estimate prepared by PMC uh that was delivered back in March of 23. Uh this estimate had listed uh on the

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last page. Uh, let me just make sure I I do have it highlighted in here, but I just want to make sure it's known on page 11 uh of the packet. Utility charge utility company back charges engineering

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allow per engineer listed at 60,000. Utility company back charges construction allow per engineer at 200,000 for a total amount of 260,000 was listed for the estimate. Um, pages 13 and se through 17 include email

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correspondence between myself and uh the project's engineering consultant national or uh Fen O'Neal following the receipt of national grids formal cost breakdown which we received on February 9th of this year. Uh the total amount for that is $922,357.33

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which is a large jump from the original estimate of $260. Um this figure that they had presented reflects the full scope necessary to relocate the overhead electrical wires and electrical infrastructure underground, the installation and um

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purchase of the actual conduit units that will be placed on the pads which are being constructed currently uh for service to several of the main street properties as well as some actually on Parker Street as well. um to kind of delve into this and some of the kind of

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correspondence on on on this. Um it was advised from the engineering team uh to the city that while they hadn't received the back charges from National Grid at the time of the preparation of the estimate and submission of the grant to Mass Works uh for the 5.1 million that

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that this project was allocated um that the back charges could be to the amount of a million dollars, but the city chose to go with a the 260 that's reflected into the estimate by PMNC. see as to not

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overwhelm the the grant application and I in a in a way I can under I wasn't obviously there at the time um only being here since January of 25 but in a way um I can understand the want to um

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have not have that be a question on the grant application not having the full scope of charges laid out from National Grid in regards to what that electrical cost breakdown would be for those uh for those construction and engineering uh

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requirements from national grid. Um going with it I mean it has its drawbacks because we're in the situation I'm in right now. Um, but I doubt we would have gotten the grant award if we put a million dollars and had not

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received the actual breakdown of back charges from National Grid of having that just be a shot in the dark of what the costs were. It would have been an accurate shot in the dark, but this is what the department had chosen to move forward with. But I'm just trying to give kind of um from what Fussen O'Neal

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had laid out and from what I've been able to parse through in regards to the three years of correspondence with them um which the evolution of of timeline of events was also laid out in my in my uh packet. Um why likely the department

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chose to move forward with this as they did. Um again it's providing issues with us now in regards to that. um as the amount came back at the 922 versus the amount we estimated at 260. Um

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but we move on and here we are. Um the timeline for for the documents um oh I guess I'll just go straight into the remaining material remaining uh materials. Um

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the pages 29 through 33 show that the Wilkins Road uh project component of which this project was uh put forward jointly with. So the rear main project and Wilkins Road project were considered one and the same in terms of the grant application and the allocation of the

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$5.1 million from Mass Works. Uh that they had unexpended funds to the amount of $449,41282 in unexpended funds which remain to be eligible towards the rear main project. Uh again as both projects were funded

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under the same grant award. uh pages 34 to 37 show remaining balance of 282,858,85658 in state funding after reimbursements to date and pages 38 through 41 show the latest approved contractor payment application dated February 17th of this

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year indicating a remaining balance of 2,328,198 for the contractor to complete the remaining portion of their project. So to lay out in in layman's terms of how much funds uh is are remaining that are unexpended for this project um there is

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the $449,41282 from uh the Wilkins Road project. And then if you actually look at the um last page, page 41 of the breakdown of um

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the latest invoice from the contractors at UEL. Uh change order one is the full amount that was then allocated off of the 800,000 uh that was brought to the was allocated to the project in April of last year. So that was the 800,000 that

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we received. The total amount for that that is uh going to be spent is $506,482.33. So remaining out of that um 800,000 is going to be 293,51767

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remaining of those bond those bond proceeds that um are the reason that we're here today. um the there was the 260 which I had previously stated was in the original estimate and is

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incorporated in the um remaining balance. So the remaining amounts from the change order one which are not incorporated in the 200 2,858,856 58 cents that I say um I stated was remaining in state funding as the

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800,000 was allocated separately as unexpected uh unexpected work and was not included in the original scope for what was allocated to mass works. So we have the 260,000

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the 293,51767 which total to $553,51767 and then the $449,41282 which I stated was remaining from the Wilkins Road project. So bring those together bringing a total of1,22,93049. So that is the total amount between

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again the 260 for the original estimate that was incorporated in the PMNC estimate and is included in the 2.8 million remaining for the project. In terms of state funds, there's the 293,000 in change which is remaining from the unexpected bond proceeds which

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were allocated to the project in April of last year for change order 1. And there is the 449,000 in change which is unallocated from the Wilkins Road project. Um there's a lot of numbers

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here and a lot that has gone into this behind the scenes to really get this project um moving that I've discussed at length with my e my um economic development subcommittee um and had relayed over to this committee as

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well in terms of those unexpected bond proceeds necessary to move forward with this um as those funds were allocated um to the project at large and not related to the specific change order work for the geotech fabric and the unsuitable

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conditions of the subsurface. Again, this is more of a um a supportive ask of the council to um support the reallocation of funds uh for us to continue with this project. again

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as as the original allocation and remaining amount for that change order one that would be reallocated to uh the work for national grid would be um also in relation to the project at large

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in similar way to what the original funds were allocated towards. It's quite a lot and I talk quite a bit so I I expect questions. Um >> appreciate the the breakdown. There was a lot of lot of different numbers going on here. Yeah.

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>> Um previous estimates um which were you said was the 260 $260,000 um the actual cost of this unexpended funds for well part of the same grant a different book road. So not necessarily part of this um rear main street project

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but part of the overarching grant. Um, my understanding in conversations with you, some of these funds in the 2.3 million aren't weren't reimburseable, such as the um the funds for the um the GE fabric. And so that came out of the

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the money we allocated from the bond. Um, so there's um there's a lot going on here. I guess my main question, we're are we going to be able to cover the work? It sounds like we are, but we're definitely going to be able to cover the work with National Grid. Has

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the state approved the usage of of how we're doing this entire project and using the funds? >> Um, and is there an idea of what's going to be remaining or if anything's going to be remaining of any of these funds? Um, >> the only amount remaining is going to be the difference between the 922 and what

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we've been able to bring together, which is the just over north of a million. So that would leave I don't have a calculator out but probably around 82 88 to 87,000 um will be remaining and then there's also retainage um which is being held

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until project completion and all signs point to us not having to delve into that retainage to pay for any unexpected work beyond the two change orders that we've already incorporated into the project. So um that would also be remaining to bring that to probably

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estimated around 190,000 remaining out of the project after uh after completion. >> Okay. And uh the state is everything's been ticked and tied with the state and getting these uh amounts approved that are need to be get approved for the grants.

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>> Again, for the 293,517 that's remaining out of change order one that's going to be handled on the city side and isn't going to be reimbursed, but the remaining of the funds are going to be used uh between the difference of the 2.8 million remaining and the 2.3 uh

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necessary for the contractor to complete their portion of the work. Thank you. Um, any other questions? >> Yeah. Um, question. Well, is there any sort of timeline rush need on this, but did I know you guys are going to be able to do this is more supportive and

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ceremonial than anything else, but do you have a sooner better than later or is it >> We We have already submitted the pay to pay National Grid. uh we want to make sure that we're moving forward with scheduling for um that we're satisfying

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all the pre prescheduling requirements >> uh to get on their calendar as soon as possible cuz as you can see um and you know I will be speaking about this at length with and have sp spoken about it at length with the economic development

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subcommittee to relay that you know a three-year waiting period between waiting for national grid just to get back to us in regards to civil design or almost 3 years. It was I think February where we received it. Almost 3 years for waiting back for response for civil design and over 3 years waiting for

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response back for uh definition of back charges for this project is unacceptable. So, I really want to make sure that we're satisfying every prerec requirement for us to get on their schedule so that they can bring in all

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the equipment that we're paying for, all the conduits so that we're not just building those pads out there and then waiting around um for unnecessary time. So, again, that prerec that that pay has already been submitted and will be

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completed uh I believe next Thursday. >> Thank you. Um no, I appreciate that. And I know you've had a lot of conversations with that committee. The GR has thoroughly looked at this. Your office has been thoroughly looking at this. I love the practice. Just a comment too. I think this is a really nice transparent

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way to do this instead of it just sort of happening and not ever finding out or finding out later or there being more money needed and turns out something else had transpired. So, I really appreciate um you and the mayor putting this together and putting this up. Um I hope to see more things like this. I

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think it's a really good um just you know communication between the two bodies and good transparency and good government. Um so if there's no objection I would move to recommend to the full council that the resolution be adopted pending

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suspension of our two meeting rule um at that meeting. Um or again it's just sort of ceremonial and we've had a lot of vetting leading up to this. for the sake of transparency and that I'm on the GR. I'm not going to be contributing to the discussion or to the vote on this item.

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>> I will uh I'll second the the motion. Um motion made by councelor Pman, second by councelor Dowitz to uh for the two meeting rule and recommend passage to the full council. Um is there any further discussion?

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I just want to thank the committee to to for meeting and I again as just echoing what councelor he had said I want this to be an open communication that I don't want us saying that we're needing of the 100,000 back in April of last year for

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the unsuitable conditions to the subsurface and then go ahead and spend it even though it was allocated to the full project. I want to make sure it's clear to the council where every cent of those 800,000 was allocated. So, I don't want to make go and spend it on national grids money necessary that we couldn't

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have expected. Um, so I I appreciate that and um just want to make sure that the department's being transparent with how it's utilizing its unexpected bond proceeds for capital improvement projects in the future. So, appreciate again. >> No, as stated by council Hegelings, it's

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very appreciated as you know, this wasn't doesn't necessarily have to happen. You could have used the money. It is was allocated to the entire project. Um but keep it was um when it was in front of the council it was for that specific part of the project and what needs to be done. Um so it's it's

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good for us to know you know what else is being done how the money is being utilized. It's great it came in under budget we can help fund this other portion that um because of timing issues you know got more expensive partly um and because of how it was the grant went out as well. Um so thank you for that.

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That being said >> um this is further discussion. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed. Motion >> motion carries two to one abstension by councelor Mack um to recommend this to the full council for passage. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much.

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>> Thank you. All right. Where do I put my agenda? So, uh next up on first time on the agenda has a little break here for a bit. Uh we have item 11803 uh fiscal year 2027 city council budget

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proposal by the council president. This was um put in our packet by city council president Tyrros. Um it is the wrong page here but it is the budget for um small portion of our budget um for the city council. Um I don't know if there's

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any particular discussions we like to have on this now um while it's in front of us. something I do expect to keep in front of us for another meeting as well. >> But if there's any topics anyone wants to discuss right now, we're open to that. >> No, quick plans that look good, but definitely more time would be great. Um,

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it's the first It's also just nice. It's the first budget thing we've seen. So, just nice to have at least something to look at and review with the season of >> I appreciate the council president getting this to us. Um I had some just you know quick thoughts on you know the

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the expenses expense side and possibly budgeting for maybe budgeting the future for technology um some kind of I know school department and other departments have a rolling you know every three or four years people getting new um computers, laptops, iPads, whatever we

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may use instead of having a one large um expenditure where everyone gets one. Um I know me personally I can wait so maybe some others can get a new new device and start doing something like that whether it's in this budget or a future budget. Um just a quick thought from looking at it. But >> unless there's anything further we'll

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just keep this item on our agenda for the next meeting. >> Yeah. The interesting part about the projects we were asked in the fall >> by the IT director. >> Remember that he was getting what? New devices for some of us and that has nothing ever became of that. So I think it's important that we put something in

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our budget. >> I agree. I think it should be something I think there's some counselors who who've asked um and we like >> I being one my my laptop does not work right. >> Um so hopefully that can bring it up and maybe part of our our budget going forward.

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Okay. Um on to the the next item um is discussion on city council budget transfers. Um this item was put in front of us as well. um has to do with um kind of

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partly what the auditor talked about about transfers coming from one um budget line item to another. in particular in um speaking to the council president and reviewing um with help from the auditor. There um has been um a

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couple transfers from the council salaries um in order to put together this budget from council salaries to the um other other items. One of them being our owl and laptop which is here we're using it. Um that was uh put through. However, there's another one um in

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there. there was a transfer of $15,000 um from the salary to outside council um from the city council salaries. Um it seems like this may have just been done in error in relation to us um while back probably in December I

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believe item it was item 11736. I haven't noted down in but the date we transferred money out of the assistant auditor's salary account to outside council to pay for union um the go the outside union council um and I think it was inadvertently done out of the wrong

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account so um moreover curious what happened here how we can remedy that process going forward to make sure um this type of thing doesn't happen again so I don't know if that can get brought up to the the mayor um just to look into further again it's item 11736

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um that would have been transferred um and how um yeah, how to make sure it doesn't happen again going forward. Um I don't know if there's any further questions on that item or comments at this time. I can get the information I had into our packet for next time though

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as well. Um so everyone can review >> that would be great. >> Yeah. Yeah. Obviously, you know, having the information the first time um it'd be great to see that for the next meeting and mult things over look into it. Um I do remember that you mentioned I remember we needed to pay that bill.

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It felt like a it needed to be done quickly and then sounds like March the transfer at least was finally made. So yeah interesting and then maybe from the wrong place hopefully from the other place. >> Yeah. So it just working on that figuring that out. Um it was something

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you know like we had lengthy discussion about it the need for it was really paying for something that sounds like our current assistant city solicitor can provide those services now. So it's almost, you know, we paid out of that that bucket to pay for outside outside services kind of filled the missing role of the assistant city solicitor. Now

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assistant city solicitors performing that, but um it obviously should came out of the legal side's budget, law department's budget and not the the council's u bucket going forward. So um this is further discussion again that

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will be left on the um on the calendar for our next our next meeting and was item 11805 discussions of city council budget. Um and then we have item

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11806 a measure ratifying the council president's recommendation for step designation for the city auditor. Um this has to do with our still pending in front of us our further update to the

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ordinance for pay um for the um five under there's five five positions once again the five five positions we're adding to the step scale um seeing the city auditor is underneath the uh city council we need to figure out um where she's going to fall according to

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experience in the step system u the recommendation had been has been put uh forth by the council president to I believe it's 7.5 years. Is that correct? I >> haven't jotted down here. 7.5 >> 7.5 years of experience which would put her um in the uh step two

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>> step two >> um in accordance with that. >> It keeps her in line with current pay with a slight um you know slight pay bump but um the being any step lower would be a decrease um in pay. Um so this I believe falls in line of where um

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where we need to be. um she has significant experience um as well. Um so I think it's appropriate to give her um to give her the experience. I don't know if there's further further discussion on the item though. >> No, I just think um having the finance committee having served on the interviewing committee, we're familiar

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with the experience um that the new city auditor has and I think that the president's u recommendation is appropriate. >> Agreed. Well said. So, same thing. I think if there's no objection, because I knew we have this coming up on our next full council

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agenda, move to recommend this measure be adopted. Again, pending suspension of the rules to keep it in line and and on the same pace as the other pay. >> I think that's uh totally appropriate. Something um I was hoping we were going to do on this one, seeing we're going to

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hopefully pass that at next meeting. It's already passed the first printing. Uh second printing would happen. uh at next meeting where we could approve the uh designation of the um step step designation for the city auditor. >> I'll second that motion. >> Okay. Mot by councelor Hegman, second by

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councelor Mack to recommend passage uh of the step designation for the city auditor to the full council with the wave of the two meeting um requirement. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. I. I.

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>> All those opposed. Motion passes. To subsection 4, item 11482, discussions regarding the city's health insurance payment and trust fund. Um, I know this was kind of hard to spoke to by the auditor, but if you want to update us

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while I feel great. >> Um, no, nothing beyond what um what Karen had mentioned. Um, we could certainly get you the number uh in an email or hard number rather than just jotting it down. Um and we can also get you the updated number once um the monthly reconciliation is done at the

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end of the month. So once um March is done, we can get you the updated number as well. >> And would we expect that to be done in the next like week or so do you think or a couple weeks? >> The the u the stop-loss amount, how long does that usually take once the end of

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the month hits? I not sure. >> I don't stop loss. >> Okay. Yeah, that um I think there's an issue with um a journal entry being posted with that that the outside auditors

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have. Um >> Okay. >> So, I'm researching that now. >> Okay. Um why don't we >> we can I mean we this is kind of an ongoing item for us and I think sometimes we pull it we pull it off our calendar seeing it's not going to be update but seeing there's maybe further

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updates regarding even that was why my what my question was can relate to I think maybe keep this on the on the agenda for our next meeting >> as well. Great. >> Okay. So no objection to stay on the calendar on to item 11 1728. uh

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discussion on the current state of facilities management for all municipal buildings. Floor is yours. >> Sure. Uh so as um the mayor may has may may have mentioned informally uh he's working on a plan to centralize all facilities management across all of our

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city buildings um to make sure we're adhering to all the requirements um in both the requirements and the needs um of both the departments and those buildings. Um he plans to submit uh a plan for adjustment to the city council

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for your review uh within the next month plus. Um currently working internally on the details and nuances um with all the relevant staff uh department heads, unions uh to make sure that um you know

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we finalize all details properly before we bring it before the council. Okay. >> Thank you. Um this is a big undertaking. I know I've met with the mayor along with some other councils about this. This is something I think everyone was trying to work towards um uh is going to be you know executive side side

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initiative but u put this back on here just to get a further update to see you know where we stand. I'm glad to hear something forthcoming but I have nothing further unless there's further questions from the committee. Just a quick more comment for everyone. I'm I appreciate the update too and really glad you would add to that initial meeting. You the

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council president HR and the mayor as well. Um I I'm really excited to see where this proposal goes and then what it looks like. Um not too long ago it had been kind of reported to to some council that came up that you know even we had even had a staffer who's not in

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maintenance doing work in another department's office doing construction based work and obviously HR is aware that raises a whole litany of issues. Um, but I think that's why again evidence of why a system is needed and why something a little more centralized and a little more organized uh based on,

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you know, something we inherited and the mayor's administration inherited is going to be really important. So, thank you. I think it's great. >> Um, no objections, so just stay on our calendar. Um, but yeah, good. Uh, item 11 1752 study and report on the salt

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shed repayment issue. um this um lawn going in front of us. Um I know the um snow and ice season um isn't maybe hopefully is over for us. Knock on wood. >> Knock on wood. But um I know there's

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some other questions possibly regarding the um the chassis um as well and the repayment for those portions. I don't know if there's an update on on anything from the mayor's office in regards to that. >> Sure. Yeah. So, I can give you a little update on the work. Um, as well as, uh, the transfer. Um, the lighting work was

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recently completed. Um, bills are still being processed for that work. Um, the former salt shed was recently demolished and debris have been removed. Um, we're waiting for a price quote for the LMAN seed currently. Um, once we have that

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price quote, uh, we will, well, the mayor and the DPW director will do a full review of the account and all the expenditures. um all that were made from it and uh make sure that the clarifications, new submissions and corrective transfers uh that need to be made are made. Uh that those will come

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down to the uh city council um and that you receive all of the remaining balances and everything so we can continue in that spirit of transparency. um any remaining anything any amount remaining uh in the account um does

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require a city council vote to redeposit the funds into the stabilization account. So that's just sort of a procedural item that we'll have to uh work with the city council on and we'll bring down as well as part of that part of that update and package. Okay. Thank you. Questions?

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>> Uh I guess was there anything on the the chassis and that $19,000 transfer? Um I don't have anything specific, but I would imagine that that's part of the corrective transfer that will happen um with that entire package when it comes down. So >> Okay. >> But I don't have anything specific on that.

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>> You can ask specific to the mayor about the um about those with that 1920 $20,000 um and status of that portion as well. Um but as expected with the um additional deposits back to the stabilization account related to free cash. Um I I assume expecting those if

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you could ask as well, but I be expecting those in May or June. Um once things are finalized, um is there any further questions? >> Nope. I will leave this item without any objection um as part of our calendar. Uh

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item 11799 in order transferring the sum of $3,580 in auditing department salaries to auditing department expense account professional services. Um this was to um finalize a bill from the outside

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auditors um for the time we were um without someone as the head of the audit auditing department. Um this is was before us uh our last meeting as well. I'm not sure if there's any further questions or comments from the committee. >> Did you ever find out about the account standings? I think that was one of the

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questions you had asked for the auditor or you were looking into. I made a note um about >> there is a surplus in the wages and salaries right now. >> Okay, that's so appropriate transfer.

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>> Okay, perfect. Thank you. >> Um I assume there's no further updates from the the mayor's office on this other than that. Okay. Um so >> I'll entertain a motion that we um recommend the transferring of the sum to the department salaries to the full council. >> Second by councelor Mack. Second by

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council Hegund to recommend passage of the order to the full council. Is there further discussion? >> Just um real quick too just as a some do we know if there's going to be I assume we have more future bills coming and are the services still ongoing or have we

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severed that contract or >> the services are not ongoing. Um everything's been transitioned back to the city. Um there will be another bill. Um we actually just got February's

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bill that was $23,000 and we will get a partial one for March as well. >> Thank you. >> That's it for me. Thank you. Any further discussion? There's none.

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All those in favor say I. >> I. All those opposed. >> Motion carries. Uh and then item 118000, lifeline services update. Um update from the mayor's office on this. >> Sure. Uh so obviously this was a an item that was on the last FINCO meeting

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agenda. Um the senior center director has been on vacation and out of office in between the last meeting. Um now that he has returned, um both him and the mayor are going to meet um review all the questions that were asked. If you have any additional tonight, we'll certainly take those down. Um and we'll

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be providing responses uh with a presentation at the next incom meeting as long as that's acceptable to the committee. >> That's uh perfect for me. An update next meeting. Um so expect an update on that in two weeks. >> No objection then. It will stay on the calendar.

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>> Objection. Item 1180. It will stay on the calendar. That concludes the items on our agenda. I entertain a motion to adjurnn. So moved. >> Second. >> Moved by councelor Hegman. Second by councelor Mack to adjurnn. All those in favor say I. I. >> All those opposed. Meeting stands adjourned. Thank you everyone. Thank

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you.