##VIDEO ID:7sxjvCLMqWo## [Music] greetings everyone I hope everybody had a good holiday glad to see everybody's here um so we will it is uh 7 minutes after 6 we will call the meeting of the finance committee uh to order um appreciate everybody being here this meeting of the Halifax finance committee is being recorded by area 58 committee members and attendance are Cheryl Burke Michael Bennett Frank Johnston EJ Bill Smith Mike Retta and myself um and uh all voted on items will be done by roll call vote as we are remote at this time so any on to the first agenda item um on the I believe the 29th uh Katie sent out all the uh minutes of the meetings from 12 uh 4 and the two meetings on 12:16 has everybody had an opportunity to read through those I have yep yep anybody have any ads changes or deletions to those okay so um so Cody can we do we vote on those individually or can we vote on them as a group can do them together as long as that's what the motion is okay okay so I can have can I have a motion on the approval of the minutes from uh 124 1216 the finance committee and then 1216 the town meeting so moved not a second okay um roll call vote Cheryl yes Mr Bennett yes Mr Johnston yes on the three minutes from 12424 12162 24 and 1216 24 thank you sir EJ yes thank you sir Bill Smith yes Mr Retta Mike you muted there Mr [Laughter] Retta yeah you didn't want to hear what I was really saying I said yes good to go thank you sir okay so that motion is approved all the meetings uh have been accepted for those dates as listed all right thanks everybody um that brings us to our our first agenda item um I believe we have Mr Hayward on from the highway department is that correct muted out there he is he's muted yeah I couldn't get it on mute all right [Music] okay so Steve thanks for joining we appreciate you jumping on yep long no that's all right everybody has a schedule we're trying to kind of you know mold yourselves into which is absolutely fine one of the things I think we wanted to talk about so far as the highway department is is just kind of how things are going for you um there's a couple of questions that that I personally have but you know if you want to kind of give us a rundown on how you are from a budgetary perspective for you know this year so far um we would certainly appreciate that and uh then we can get into a couple of questions afterwards okay yeah my budget I'm I'm fine right now with the budget um that working on 106 cost more than what I thought it was going to cost that was $653,000 so uh that put a big dent in my chapter 90 money but at least it's done and now I can start working on some of the side roads but other than that all the all the uh my the rest of my budget looks good so your chapter when so that's going to be deducted from the chapter 90 money right yes yeah and that was I have to save money I have to save the chapter 90 money to do a project like this because like I said it's $600,000 I only get 250 something from the state so if I'm if I'm reading if I'm reading this correctly uh chapter 90 money is listed as 172 31069 is that correct where where you see that one what it's uh under Highway budget uh I think it's section 428 01428 530 6113 he's on the budget status Steve I'm trying to find it on here I can I'll share my screen if everyone wants yeah that's fine that be everyone see that yep yeah yep I don't see anything no I don't I think oh that that one there the 128 uh 1 72310 yep that's um I've already spent some of that for the blocks that we have out back that's going to be for the salt shed I have to replace the old one and a few years ago that's the money that we had in that account the town sh amount the chapter 90 put in and that was what was left over and we're getting getting a new salt shed from that you're getting a new salt shed from that yeah that's the town the uh chapter 90 Town share share okay so then if you could help me understand where I need to look to see the chapter 90 money for the for the road oh that's not on on this that's on the whole separate it's not on this uh paper it's not in the bu budget not on the B budget status no why where would that be then from the state but that's 420 428 right Highway grants yeah that's that's just for the like I said that that basically was dissolved and that was the left over money from when they dissolved it and we're going to use that money for the salt shed and then the chapter 90 money they get every year is where we get from division five so when does When does the when did the uh FY 25 chapter money get released July 1 or whenever they release it so where would that be listed in your budget then if it came the money came to the town I did a separate um like budget status when we ask for it from the state it it says 600 9,998 60 I'm confused Mike it's it's um Jim it's on the couple Pages down number 21 uh okay state grants yeah state grants y State share so all of number 21 state grants uh 428 Highway grants is all expanded at this point in time is that correct no it it shows that way on here because chapter 90 is reimbursement so we spend it and then Steve was talking about through the state we he basically they submit like a requisition and the state will send us the money yeah because we're showing an unexpended balance of a negative $637,000 right yeah that's why because we I'm guessing Steve probably just process some of those invoices yes that's what it was and then we're going to reimburse that differential in July is that correct no no it'll be done before that Frank we we have to show that we've that we're paying it first and then the state cuts us the money so it'll be it'll be done sometime in the next month or so probably so that'll clean that negative up yeah and will it be a positive or will it be fully expended that'll be a I'll still have money in that how much see if I can find that one that like I said that one doesn't go on this I'm sorry Steve that does not go on the the budget status report I I get that one directly from the state okay that that's confusing me maybe it's just me being confused no I'm confused too so it sounds so Steve if I and correct me if I'm wrong I'm just trying to so what I'm hearing is is that your the highway department gets funds from the state that aren't listed in the town's budget not on this sheet or if it is it's it's uh it's never correct it's always behind because like Cody was saying it's a reimbursement so if I have to do a job I have to wait for the money to come back from the reimbursement but but it is reflected in here once we so basically what this this account is almost like a pass through account so the state we have this chapter 90 funding from the state and I'm I'm using round figures here just for the point of the conversation but let's say we get $600,000 they don't give us the 600 up front what Steve has it's called like int grants or Grant Central or something through through the M do and he submits projects that he's going to do or have done into this portal once we've done it and we show them that we've paid for it they cut us a check so the town cuts the check first and then the state gives us the money back which is why you see the negative now so it is shown in here it's just not shown in here until we get the money back but but it is in here this this is where the money gets expended from which you can see St uh chapter 90 State share expenditure and then once we get that money in you'll see It'll fall under the revenue portion when we get that back from the state so you this budget status captured a a because the budget status only captures a point in time right when things were at a certain point in time so this captured a point in time where we've spent the money and we're in the process of getting that reimbursed from the state I believe they' I think you've already submitted it for it Steve right the reimbursement yes we just haven't received the funds from the state yet right yeah and as soon as we do this this will no longer be a negative a Nega right so set the money we receiving in July Steve or is this something different we're talking about each year they yeah it it just adds up we get 200 depends on how many lay miles the people how many people live in town how many people work in town and they there's a sis there's a uh system how they figure out how much money each Town gets but we've been averaging about 20 two what is it250 something thousand a year basically from the state and I'll like I said I have to build that up a little bit before I can do a major job because it's not enough money to do in just one year if that makes sense yeah so this so it becomes available in July of each year they don't actually send it to us until we need it until once we've spent it but it becomes available in July so to give you an idea fisal 25 we received $ 262,525 and basically there's a it's a intricate formula but the formula is based on local Road mileage which makes up 58.33% of the formula population which makes up 20.83% and then employe which makes up 20.83% and they put that all in and then divide that by how much F funding has been approved for chapter 90 and that's how much each Community gets Cody that doesn't count the um unaccepted roads right correct it does not so if you accept more roads more money you get yes yeah that also doesn't include the past is it last year or the last two years Steves we've got a little bit extra from that fair share the millionaires tax there yeah that there was a little bit more that we got so you may recall as part of that um the 4% tax on all income over uh a million dollars in Massachusetts it has to go to public transportation uh public education and maybe one or two other categories and so one of the things the state's done with that is they they've given separate increased in portions to the towns of chapter 90 so we've seen a little bit of an increase over I think it was the last two years so the money that's going to be left over from that paying off the negative 6 um 63755 to will have a balance of how many dollars of chapter 90 money that's what I don't have with me now um you get 200 average 250,000 it was it was up over a million dollars last year and I spent 600 this year oh and we're going to use that money for us you can I can only spend that money on anything to do with roads appointment that works on roads yeah and stuff like that I can't use it for anything that I need around the barn or something like that it's got to be certain right things and and everything's so expensive now that the I said that 200,000 we get from the state each year it's not going to not even do a mile of road so I have to build it up for a couple years and then I can spend it well then is the goal to do some of these um residential streets then in the coming year because that that last mile I did last year on 106 that basically did all the the numbered roads so now I can start hopefully nothing happens major that I can startop working on the side streets right all right I I think I understand yeah me too okay um what's that it's a pain trying to catch up with how much they give you you know when you get reimbursed and how long it takes sometimes it makes confused I mean true Cody are these were are the highway dollars we're discussing here are they discretionary dollars from the state as long as they fall into those categories that Steve mentioned you know servicing the roads yeah it's it's discretion of the of the town of of of the state to give us the money oh uh well chapter 90 itself is a law so it's mandatory mandatory yeah it is the the amount changes based on the state budget that passes every year okay but we're pretty much guaranteed to get the chapter 90 it just the amount varies just varies on the amount it's available and right right if we hit the formula numbers I guess yeah yeah but it's it's been pretty consistent so 2021 we got 269,000 22 we got 268 23 we got 266 24 we got 2647 and then what I just said for 25 so it's been pretty consistent so quarter million dollar a year basically on average yeah yeah and then you're hearing you know Steve say we just did a mile stretch of road and it cost 600,000 it's it's crazy right yeah real quick question for Steve here a mile of 106 versus a mile of residential streets is there any difference in in cost you get more for your money on the residential street or what uh if I have to completely overhaul like Haywood Street uh River um what is the other one over there Wood Street if I did those three it's going to cost a little bit more because I have to completely reconstruct them and then it's going to have to have if I'm using chapter 90 money I'm going to have to put drainage in because there's no drainage over there so that's that's where they get you the money doesn't go too far yeah that's on that top of a street let's talk about other residential streets that aren't if I do like if I want something close to me here um Indian Path that would be a easier fix it wouldn't cost as much because I'd be just doing like a leveling cost and then a overlay of uh the rubber chip sale instead of asphalt which will be cheaper right it's also a narrower Road as well 106 and 58 and exactly 36 and that that job that I did this last year doing the uh the Hut in place that's cheaper than having it m in overlay right so that's where the savings at 600,000 so we do get more for our money on the residentials for the most part yeah but if you let the main roads get too bad then it's going to cost twice as much to redo those so that's why I try to get the main roads done before I get the sides Yeah so basically and we're done with the main roow unless something was to happen is that correct yeah yeah okay well that sounds good people are going to be like liking to hear that no get complaints Steve did you try to go through the tips program for the main roads no I haven't done any of those there was like a fivey year wait to get something done on that yeah but if you put in they say that but sometimes it comes a lot quicker I mean it's always good to put in for it have in the future I've heard of that and uh I think the last thing that the town's done with that was uh Route 36 and the problem that we have of that is the length of time that it takes to do the job but yeah it's like it's free money if you if you can get into it right so I I just have like a couple more questions for you Steve and then we can uh open up to the floor uh in your in on the budget status report uh under uh Highway other Highway other and articles yep um you you have a number of articles that are quite dated that seem to be unspent what's the story behind that okay the uh crosswalks and the Electric solar lights that's they want me to I tried to get it so I could have like a Revol credit and get money put into it each year because we started putting in but now if I have a something go wrong with one of the the uh solar or crosswalks I use this money to fix it um the boat ramp that is just that was left over that's been in there for a long long time that was when they redid the state boat ramp on 58 and so if we have to buy some chain or or something like that for fixing the ramp we use that money um the highway Bay the uh recycle cover there the wash bay we're going to actually have that done this year with the company that did our roof out back but we had such an issue with the roof we we Ned it so I'm gonna have to try to find another company that can come in and just do that job and now it's going to be is like an overhang for where we do the washing of the vehicles um like a lean to Steve yeah yeah just to cover so when we use the wash bay it's it's a recycling unit so whenever it rains out the thing fills up with rain water and now it's not doing what it's supposed to do so we have to get a cover over it right so when we're washing Vehicles it's collecting it's going to have like a sediment trap on there something right and that's and then a filtration and then what do you do with the water are you allowed to discharge that well that's what I I bought bags we discharge it out into the the driveway right and then and then just um have the truck come through and clean out the sediment drain or what yeah we have the uh the drain people come in and clean it out yeah but we're it's okay to discharge that water without a permit nobody said I couldn't I I've told the STM water and everything that's how I get rid of it cuz we put it it's filtered water to start and then it's going through another filter that we have the bag yeah you got a bag filter for it right so so you you're running it through a bag filter and then doing discharge straight another filter before it gets to the ground it goes to another construction filter like they call it right and you don't have to check for Hydra carbons or anything like that no I haven't no and we're washing Vehicles yep yeah that's just and storm and who and our storm water consultant said that was an acceptable means they haven't said I couldn't do it I explained how I do it so okay I'll ask him again yeah I was gonna say Steve you might want to ask that question because you might have to put a charcoal a couple days so I'll be I'll be asking her yeah because you might have to put a charcoal filter on the on the final end to catch the any hydrocarbon you know one more one more stage of filtration before you can do a complete discharge of the water it's all you know so Steve why why is there why does there seem to be a delay between when the town approves your dollars in these articles and them getting expended on the projects that you have asked this money for it depends some of them AR from me some of them from before I even got here okay and then when I got the the only ones that I have uhuh is the wash B the fence which I was going to that's the next one that was when I asked for the money after I asked for it they said they were going to put the solar field in and when they put the solar field in they put up a fence so why should we put money into the fence that we were going to get for free that that makes sense then why don't you turn the money back over to the town I still want to get a gate and the side fence is kind of messed up but now the solar thing nobody knows when that's going to happen so even or even if it's gonna happen so that's why I keep on going back and forth with putting up that fence or not put the fence just get the gate and do a a stilled gate but that's been six years six years now yep so six years of what in inability or indecision or what it's kind of a mix of indecision and like I said I don't want to spend the money unless I have to and that's one of the things I want to get the right uh the gate is the biggest thing because it's going to be one of the can L Gates and I want to get it so that um I've talked to Caesar about the like the fuel Master it's a fob yeah card reader on there yep except for it would be on like each vehicle for the police would have it so they don't have to get out and push the buttons they just drive through and it's not that much more of a car but it's just one of those things that I want to get a good one but I don't want to go too low because when you go low you get what you pay for and we're find I mean what's the cost of quality then at that point that's the opposite question well like I said the ones I've looked at is not they're about $8 $9,000 for a decent gate right I just haven't so I mean we're so I mean not to not to kind of beat on this for a minute but but it seems like we're we're concerned about the convenience of people doing things from their cars as opposed to them getting out of their car and opening a gate oh yeah no that's not why I'm not doing I'm just giving one of the excuses why or reasons why I'm not buying just any Joo gate if that makes sense I want to make it so it's good for the town and not a waste of [Music] money okay so you're like banking $135,000 obviously well actually 57,000 because you did spend the money on dump truck after about four years which one was that one uh a heavy dump truck for $71,000 oh yeah that that was right when Co hit and everyone was having a hard time getting trucks and they were you didn't even have a choice when you ordered a truck at one point and I wasn't going to get some of the stuff they were saying you could get yeah so once I got one that I wanted that's when I went and got it right and I still didn't get the color that I wanted I ended up with a white one but personally I think the white one looks better yeah you said that yeah yeah you and I had that conversation didn't we yeah okay um go ahead and that was I think that was the only one the the world escavator that one we spent the money um oh the back hole Yeah the attachment there's an attachment that we were looking at um it end up being less than what I asked for which was surprising and the attachment that I wanted to get because to won't let us get a sweeper there's an attachment that goes on there that just a little like a two yard sweeper right a one one and a half yard sweeper that we can put on the front of it so when there's car accidents or something like that we can go out and sweep off the glass and all that stuff with that instead of buying a fullsize sweeper is that the highway wheel excavator huh is that the one you got on here is a Highway wheeled excavator from fy4 that would go on the um the backo on the new backo yep uh number 49 4295 74225 is $21,800 and the one that they've had was $24,000 so I didn't buy it because it was more money than what we had but now they just came out with another one that's actually bigger but it doesn't have two pumps it's only got one pump but for what we're using it for I think it's going to work it should so that so that line item there 01429 5874 225 is actually not a back ho it's a sweeper is that correct it's for the the back hole Yeah but it says highway back ho it doesn't say sweeper so I looked at that attachment for the back hole Yeah it's an attachment for the machine right but but Frank that the initial appropriation was for the backo the backo came in less so basically there there's an excess of 218 that Steve is going to utilize it for to buy the attachment for the backo the initial appropriation was for just the backo okay this is what's left over from the backo and two attachments came with it right and then this one is another one that I can get because it came under what the price was that we were awarded all right so just so I understand everybody here this is to purchase a sweeper attachment to 21,800 is that correct yeah yes that that's Steve's plan for it that's that the appropriation was basically just the backo and then you know that would fall under that appropriation but technically if it's for the backo Steve could say I'm going to get a x attachment you know not necessarily a sweeper attachment what whatever as long as it falls within the purview of the appropriation which is the back which is for the back out and then he is just saying his plan is to to get a sweeper attachment it's it Steve is that planed to take place this year in this fiscal year yeah I'm still waiting for the the guy to give me uh the new prices for them cuz like I said they just came up with another one this year that's not as it's bigger but it's smaller motor so it's it's under the 21,000 as and Steve that has the collection bucket on it as well for that price yep so it all sweeps up in collection bucket they can dump it in the back of a truck correct in the water system too to keep the dust down oh it does have a water injection how do you feed the water injection you have a you're going to put a tank on the backo no there's a tank that's on the machine on the the attachment itself oh the attachment has a water tank on it yeah okay yeah it's not for doing we're not going to go sweep a whole Road it's to do little cleanups here and there right exactly no get the debris off the road right all right um thanks Steve it's uh you know other do you expect anything you know given the situation that we're in from economic perspective are you expecting cost increases or supply chain issues or anything that's going to drive costs up more than you currently anticipate it doesn't look like it it looks like everything's staying about normal so okay I just have one more question Jim go ahead sir um uh Steve regarding the roof and I think Cody and I miss touched on this a while back on the roof on down at the Town bar and that's all taken care of all done good to go correct oh yeah that that was Scott's project yeah that but that that's all done so there's no additional cost coming in for that no we had to take money from somewhere else to get finish that one off yeah so okay but yeah that that's finally done and glad it's finally done okay all right um that's good anybody have any questions for Steve who's myy aison I am all right we see are you gonna come talk there's nothing I'm not going for anything I'm not I'm level funded anyway but right but if you still want to come down come down anytime okay I'll be sending out the email Steve for us to meet like we did last year with Mike all right y hey Steve thanks for your time tonight I appreciate it yeah I appreciate you jumping on no problem thank you thank you sir thanks all right so that closes out anybody have any questions or any discussion points for the highway department budget no answer of my lingering that I've been hanging on to for a few months yeah so and it's good to see he's um un taking care of some of those purchases that were older yeah right yeah looks a lot better now than it did six months ago that is correct and if we can next year we'll hopefully see it pretty well cleaned up next budget season right right okay all all righty so we will close out that agenda item and move on to the next one which would be the FY 26 budget liaison updates um so I know Cody has been going hot and heavy running uh getting appointments and time set up with everybody I have a few myself this week uh I think everyone else has has been getting theirs um Cody any updates anything you want to add to that nope I think um I emailed a couple of you guys today and last week about your availability um if you've gotten back to me I'll be scheduling if I haven't scheduled meetings yet I'll be scheduling them um you know Mike and I we were talking at the beginning of the meeting Mike has three that really aren't I shouldn't aren't really operational departments Mike Retta does so um we're going to meet and go over just some big picture things and then Mike if you're around we may um invite you to a couple others just so can kind of see how it goes and you can be involved in those um but everyone else will look to get them scheduled and um forward to it all right have a question for Cody please I do too sir um Cody um we're set for Wednesday 10 o'clock with the buildings and then the fire department to follow do you have their sheets I can get in advance of that meeting I have they should all be in the one drive if you guys can ask all right so under finance committee if you go to um I tried to clean it up into folders but under FY 26 there's submitted budgets and it's each department is okay should be there so those will be the current ones for our inperson meetings then yes and if you can all look and if anyone has any issues with those let me know I thank you yep is it possible I can get a copy of Daring in the F in the police Chiefs before next Wednesday my laptop is giving me problems oh yeah sure just just swing by whatever uh Cheryl and either myself or Lindsay can print them for you and I and I'll have them all printed for the meeting so when you all come to the meetings I'll have them printed any documentation because I think there's sometimes it's valuable to have you know that that paper documentation when reviewing it um but it should be available all in the one drive and then in the coming probably by the end of the week I will have a full FY 26 budget in the one drive where you'll be able to see all of the requests in one sheet and you'll be able to see our revenues in there and you'll be able to see where we are um which is a deficit with the with the current request and again projecting the schools we don't have the schools request yet but if you throw in what I'm projecting you'll see you'll see the big picture Okay um feel free to go in and look at that the only thing just it's a shared Drive don't change anything click anything by accident I always save a backup document but just be careful when you're in there you don't want us adjusting the budgets yeah all right thanks Cody thank you Cody um anybody have any other questions or comments on the uh uh for the for the liaison updates all right then we will close that agenda item out and move on to the next the next one was FY 26 Capital planning updates Cody I saw the memo you sent out today so I appreciate you getting that out there in front of the department heads I was going to ask if there were anything uh any uh major purchases that everybody was thinking about uh for next year um but uh I see that we're just kind of getting into that process so so appreciate you getting that out there we are it's later than I had hoped um you know our free cash um we had hoped to have certified in October it is still not certified our financial team is working on that um so we're we're hopeful that we can submit that for certification later this month and that's basically what what gives you what we have to play with for Capital typically we typically fund our Capital with free cash so um we'll see uh early estimates look good uh for us but again you know until it gets certified we have no we you know you can't count on it until it's certified so hopefully get that submitted soon okay very good thank you sir um any anything else for liaz on for planning updates I don't believe so until we get that budget in okay so we'll close out that agenda item and move on to committee blaison updates now Cody I know the last time the only thing I have like lingering in my head is I think we were gonna have one last zoning bylaw committee review meeting just to kind of tie everything up in a neat bow at that point so I don't is that something you're G to schedule or yeah um I'll talk with John Bruno I'm thinking we'll probably schedule something for mid-February um give the opportunity for everyone to review everything and then vote on um a full package and then we'll start those you know uh public Workshop meetings and get it on the warrant for May perfect very good thank you sir um all right anybody have anything else for liaison updates hear none we will close out that specific uh agenda item um correspondent correspondence and as may arise I have not gotten anything myself uh for the finance committee um as may arise I think the only question that I have Cody and maybe you can help me out with this now I know that we're working with the software guys on our financial software um and you know just kind of leveraging what I understand the software development like life cycle is and project deployment is have they given um Lindsay or anybody something to look at or try to say that it even works or even comes close to working or can give us results or are we just waiting for them to back the truck up to the front door and dump it in our laps no so we we going back probably about a year we had gone through myself Sandy Caesar Linda um probably did 10 hours with them running through the software at a high level to make sure it would a generally speaking work yeah um so they know that and then Sandy had been working to build out our information and that's when we came across some of the issues with building out the accounts where we've had to backpedal a little bit is with that but everything else looks we we've been in the system we know it it'll work once they get that segment portion built out um so they are working behind the scenes we have a calendar I have a calendar update here I think for the beginning of February where we're going to start um they should have everything built out at that point and then they we're going to start being more Halifax specific at that point and um uploading our data and they you know they are still very confident that we will be a July 1 go live is um is is us being cautious that they they thought we could go live before that and I had said well at that point we might as well line it up with the fiscal year it gives us more time for training and stuff so more updates to come probably February into March as we really get things rolling it's also a lot easier than having to close the books in two different systems by waiting until the fisal year y exactly so all right okay any other member of the committee have something they would like to discuss or bring up during this part of our meeting uh just real quick to kind of piggyback off of what you were just talking about with the finan management system um Cody anything uh you know with the new system coming Al I'm assuming that it's going to have the ability to house more um comprehensive information about the town spending and revenues um with that I'm just curious from an IT security perspective what what if anything is the town doing to make sure that we stay um at minimum up and current with what we need to have for patching and things like that to make sure that any data that we have housed in that new system is protected the way it needs to be yeah so Caesar stays on top of that but we also in the past couple years have been bringing in um a consultant um the the company it's called datalist um and they have helped us with a lot of a lot of that stuff they've helped Caesar with a lot of the network um aspect of it they did a full security assessment for us due to the nature of it it's obviously confidential but um we've we've been working on some of the items that were identified as a possible risk in there um and they've been helping us Caesar's been doing a lot of it and then some of the things that are um out of Caesar scope or just does isn't able to take it in take it on within his daily tasks we've asked them to take on um but we're we're pretty confident that we we're staying on top of those things and there's certain requirements EJ to with our insurance so our part of our insurance is we get um cyber security coverage so part of that is we have to have certain um aspects of cyber security in place or they won't even give us the coverage we're meeting all of those aspects and they're they're signing off on it which is good so it's a huge um it's a huge benefit to us that they provide it to us actually at no cost and we we want to keep that up and part of that is meeting their standards yeah it's just a lot for one person to watch and it's good to hear that there's at least somebody else looking at it at the same time Caesar is um because municipalities are are a big Target you see it all the time with towns and communities getting hit by this so um yeah it's it's definitely one of the things I think you know you as we we know it's challenging budgetary times but there are certain things that we can't ignore it is security certainly one of them so I think one of the things that you may see in the budget this year is some money for Consulting on an annual basis we were fortunate where we had arpa funding in the past that we were able to subsidize for this consultant but um like you said as a oneman show and not even an IT director Caesar's great but Caesar is an IT support specialist um you know we do need to bring someone in on a Consulting level for some of these high level things Cody does that include training for employees with a contractor would try to breach their email stuff like that Caesar's taking care of that we do we have um cyber security training um that is issued townwide and it's through training modules and that's that's always ongoing but and it's been deployed so the staff are um currently under undertaking that right now right bad time to ask the question I you know I'll admit that before I even say it but has the town ever looked at bringing on a d a director level position in the it role um yeah I mean I I would like to it's again it all it's a it's a budgetary um thing that we look at and then we look at also you know if you were it's towns are having a really hard time getting it staff to begin with um so we look at you know director level Staffing and um what we would have to pay and what the availability is out there and we at this point we have identified it's kind of a the our best option is to do a mix of how having inhouse support staff with Caesar and then also with some of these more network engineering things bring in a consultant yeah that's that's the risk with it though right when you bring in the consultant work to try to make some of these you really important decisions for you on how you're going to secure your infrastructure um you know they're they're professionals I get it and they can make the recommendations but we need to have some oversight on the final say and making sure we have someone qualified to make those decisions is something that would be would be it' be nice to be able to say we have that at some point oh I I couldn't agree with you more EJ Caesar just became full-time like two what ago Caesar yeah and before Caesar I mean Caesar's been here almost 10 years but before Caesar it was a um I think it was a middle school intern who did our it y yep again I know it's a it's you know an ft conversation that the town should really be willing to entertain right now but this to me is an area that really concerns me from a security standpoint for the town as a whole um it I I think it's such a high risk and the way that it's being looked at now for us um doesn't give us the full protection that we need that's all I just so I just wanted to highlight it and just make sure we had some type of discussion about it have you have you thought about like um teaming up with one of the other towns like we do with uh some of the other positions that we have yeah we could um the problem is is what I found is a lot of towns either have all of their own dedicated support staff and they're not looking to to share or a lot of smaller towns don't even have inhouse staff and they have a full MSP um so there aren't a lot of opportunities out there to to do it okay have to be somewhere close to you and most of the towns like I said that have it don't want to share it because they they know that there's a need for it for all you know just for themselves yep when you when what do you mean by when you say they don't want to share it Cody what do you mean by that so they've identified that they have um you know if they have a 40-hour director let's say that they need that director 40 hours they're not willing to give up you know 20 hours a week or 50 you know what I mean whatever it may be and then the town that don't have it at all a lot of them have just uh you know managed Services yeah yeah I I think the other side of it though you know if if we're limited to the degree that we are from a budget standpoint as far as how we can sta our our Town's needs at minimum we should be able to at least have confir um conversations with other towns you know sit down discussions about what they're doing things that they've found just so that we're information sharing on you know on on an important topic quite frankly you know and just they may see things that we don't we may see things that they don't and it's a it's a more affordable way for us to at least stay on top of things oh yeah we're definitely doing that I mean Caesar has good relationships with a lot of the IT staff and surrounding communities at the The Rock um at the school department so there certainly the relationships are there we're always talking and if and if something comes up an opportunity to do something like that we'd certainly explore it but I know you know we one of the first things a couple years back that I did you know identified there was a need and it brought in the consultant but also I met with some other towns seeing you know is there an option out there to to do some sort of shared you know uh additional Staffing right maybe we can't take on a full additional staff uh FTE right now but can we bring someone on parttime and they work parttime in another community and again it just it's kind of been dead end because for that reason that I mentioned before but definitely recognize it's somewhere we need to invest in and I think again not to say that we're there but if you look at where we were even three years ago um we've made significant Investments which you know again which is good we're we're heading in the right direction but definitely need to do more thanks Cody I appreciate the information Cody thanks Jim I got one more for Cody here and this be my last question go ahead take your time Jonathan's not on here so I don't have 200 questions um recycle um fee increas is there one for 2025 this year or that that stay the same it was just a trash recycle went up $40 yes yep so the program went up $40 it'll be assessed on the second half bill um for the for the fiscal year um that is the only increase we're anticipating for this year so the folks that are just um have the recycle uh there's no fee increase this year is that correct correct just the sticker right we don't offer the recycling pickup by itself so yes so the sticker is going up no no no if you have just the sticker If you have just a sticker um it it's staying at $75 75 yeah okay it's not going to 100 then no no not if you have just the sticker to drop off at and utilize the recyc right okay thank you you're welcome okay anyone else just a reminder The Joint meeting with the schools School committees is the 16th right um Kingston Town Hall at 6: PM I believe they're going to um live stream it and so once I get that information I'll also send it out to you guys for anyone that can't make it now Jim we're not all attending that is that correct well I'm going um and anyone else is welcome to go uh but I guess if we and and Cody I guess if we have more than three quarters of the team then that's a quarum and I guess we need to have a meeting or what yeah yeah so if you have four because there's seven of you yeah so if you have four or more you will need to post a meeting um because because likely some discussion will come up um so so it may be a good idea if everyone lets you know Jim by by say the 13th if they're planning to attend or not and that way there it gives you time to to post something if need be um I don't think there's going to be a ton of information this evening um but I do think it's the idea is to make sure we're all on the same page we're all going into this with the same expectations that each of the towns are making it known to the school Committees of where we are um so it's something that the the town administrators requested and I I think it'll be beneficial um School Halifax Elementary School is meeting on the 13th um and they are being presented with their preliminary budget at that meeting I have not seen it yet I'm I'm hopeful to get a copy later this week um but they are being presented with their meet their budget that meeting I'm going to try to attend um the 13th but if anyone is available you can feel free the 13th when at 3: is that 3: in the afternoon again no it is let's see it's 6 p.m. 6: p.m. at the Halifax elementary school right and then on the 15th um Jim and EJ I think you're both doing schools um we have a meeting scheduled with the school administrators I will be sending you an invite for that where we can at least go over their preliminary Halifax elementaries preliminary budget I don't think we'll have a Silver Lake preliminary budget but we will have the Halifax Elementary preliminary budget okay okay great perfect it's on the 13th okay okay exciting times have you well I mean I know you said that you really haven't gotten anything from the schools yet Cody but any kind of insight comments anything they've kind of floated out there for anybody to kind of digest before we talk to them next week yeah yeah I haven't heard anything um I know they presented the budget memo to the school committee that we sent out um at their and have a December meeting so the November meeting and the school committee wasn't super thrilled that we asked for a 10% cut but I think it was um the administration did a nice job of of explaining that this was to everyone right the elementary school is a department of the Town it was sent out to everyone it's not just the school but that's really the only feedback I've gotten anyone discuss with them about the the enrollment drop members of the school committee have brought that up at a few meetings um and I know the chair herself is is aware of it and has brought that up several times okay all right okay appreciate the the the feedback uh Cody any anyone else have anything under correspondence or as may arise okay very good we will we will close out that agenda item and move on to the next would be public participation uh any members of the public who are always invited to attend these meetings and have an open conversation with the finance committee I don't see anyone else on here except for the people who are always on here so okay um being no public attendance at this point uh we will close out that agenda item and move to the last one which is next meeting planning um as Cody said uh the 16th of next week is the school committee meeting at the Kingston Town Hall uh I plan on being there if anyone else would like to go please let me know so that I can let Cody know and Katie know and we have to post a meeting if more than four of us or four or more of us go so um if if not you can attend the VIS the virtual meeting that Cody will send that link out when he gets it um after that the 20th uh which is our next finance committee meeting for Halifax that will be a virtual meeting it's a holid the 21st 21st yeah 21st is on the uh yeah that's on schedule calendar right right 21st on Tuesday yes yes okay okay um Jim is you said that was virtual yeah the 21st is virtual our first in-person meeting will be the first week of February um we'll try to get you a link out so that you can join from your from Florida as I say jealously you're month in Florida your month in [Music] Florida what can I say yeah you can say bye exactly boy it's h out here be wearing her sun hat in the next meeting we have my sones yeah go to the beach you don't get sand in your keyboard ah So Fresh So just the only thing with the 21st is I have a select board meeting so I won't be able to attend but Lindsay is more than capable um very good okay you will be sorely missed Cody as always yeah likewise okay um that being that being our last uh last agenda Point uh I if does anyone else from the committee have anything they would like to discuss while we are all here on the phone save rounds left rounds okay all right then uh can I have a motion for adjournment so mooved second thank you Cheryl roll call vote Cheryl yes Michael yes Mr Johnston yes to adjourn please thank you sir EJ yes bill smth yes Mike Retta yes and I'm a yes also so the meeting is adjourned it is 7 minutes after 7 thank you all for attending good night good night everybody [Music]