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All right. So, we have quorum and uh we will go ahead and get this meeting started. So, it is 6:00 on the 29th of June of 2026. This is the Halifax Finance Committee meeting. Um, this

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meeting has been posted in accordance with the provisions of MGL 38A section 20B and is being recorded and will be posted on the Area 58 community access channel. The finance committee and its chair reasonably anticipates the following matters will be discussed and

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or voted on at this meeting. Agenda items may be taken out of order for time management considerations. Committee members in attendance, Cheryl Burke, Mike Bennett, Frank Johnston, EJ Bryan, and myself. Um, so that takes

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care of our first issue of calling our meeting to order. Move into our >> second uh agenda item, which would be the approval of minutes. There are none currently on the table to be reviewed, changed, or corrected. Um, so I will

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reach out to Emily to see where we are where we are on our minutes to get us all up to date. Um, so that's the that is the update on that. Uh, we will then move from there into our June our June

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uh, finance actions. So are there So Lindsay, I guess the first thing I have in there is any final line item budget transfers that we need to deal with. >> So line item transfers can be done till July 15th. Mhm. Okay. >> There will be some that will need to be

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done before then. I in my email when I sent out the budget status report um I briefly mentioned those. >> I have asked the department heads if they received their final bills for either electric or the um heating gas

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oil and they had not. So there will still be the June bill that is coming in. We will need to process those before we do the line item transfer. So then we'll get an accurate total. Um so tonight there are none.

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>> Um but there will be some. Yes. >> Okay. All right. Um okay. Uh so with the second item I had on there was any kind of special town meeting needs from the finance committee but we can roll that into our

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just the TA update perspective. So um with that said uh so thanks for again thanks for sending out the budget status report. I sent over some I guess questions that I had regarding the the report itself. >> Um if we could you know kind of like

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walk through some of those >> u some of the answers if you have them great. if they need to be >> dove into a little deeper, we can certainly do that also. So, over to you. >> Okay. So, I'm going to jump down to your bottom question about the um older

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article balances. >> That I will definitely have to take time and look into. >> Um my plan is to have that before the books are closed, right? >> So, tonight I don't have any answers for you. Um so, just to get that one off the

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plate, it's a quick answer. Um, >> so can can I ask you a quick question about that? >> Is it possible and and this is so this is what I would like to do. You know, for articles, town meeting articles that are still funded or have funding that are over three years old that haven't

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been obviously used. >> Yep. We should, in my opinion, the town or the selectman, well, actually the finance committee should have an article on a warrant in the special town meeting to pull all those back into the general fund because you just can't have them

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sitting there. And there's I don't know, there's at least 15 of them that are over 3 years old. >> Um, you know, one's like a roof thing for like $15,000. Um, you know, there's there so there are there is at least I'd

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say 50 to $75,000 in monies in the budget from old old articles that haven't been spent. >> So I think we need to collapse those and pull those back in given our current financial situation in >> my opinion. >> And I and I agree with that, Jim. And

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the reason is because a couple years ago we cleaned a bunch of that stuff up, remember? >> Right. And then there was some people all of a sudden went to spend that money and then they're like, "Oh yeah, we're all going to need an additional 10 or $15,000 now because the cost of X went up the

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item that they wanted but they let it lag for two, three, four, and some of them were five and six years old, >> right? So, if that's the case going forward with these ones that are set and stagnant now, we just need to close them and if they want the money and still need to do the project, come back with

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revised budget numbers for the um town meeting. >> Yeah, that certainly makes sense. >> So, that would be my suggestion. I don't know if that's something that I need to create on behalf of the the finance committee to put on the warrant. So,

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maybe Steve would have that answer. I I don't know. Yeah, I don't know if um they just get closed out and they go it would be closing it back out to free cash. I honestly don't know. I mean, I do know that that would be what happens. I just

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don't know the process to get to that point. >> I I would imagine I would imagine that if the town voted those dollars to be appropriated, the town should vote for them to be moved back into the general fund. Yeah, I would have to ask double check

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with Steve about that portion of it because I don't know the answer to that. >> Okay. All righty. So, go ahead. You got more? >> I do. Okay. So, the Silver Lake assessment, the labor

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council, and the IT equipment, those are all going to be answered in a similar way. So, I'm just going to take all of those together. Um, when I enter the budget on the beginning

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of the year, I have the warrant that was approved that has the grand total of the expense, the wage, whatever account it is, >> right? >> It then gets broken up into the smaller expense lines. The way I do that is I take the prior

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year's budget status report and the submitted budgets during budget season. >> Mhm. >> So based on that is how you put the money into the various expense accounts

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to then equal the grand total. So for the labor council, we are still in the positive for that overall account. We are under what was approved at town meeting. The individual lines >> um

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there was $4,000 put into cable and nothing has been spent out of it. That was what was requested. That was what was done the prior fiscal year. That is not what I did when I did the budget for FY27 because if we're not spending four grand, then it can go elsewhere,

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especially when we do have accounts that in the individual line are current shortages. The things that probably go into that are public records requests, the five unions that were being negotiated, um town meeting like stuff like the

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extra night of town meeting, stuff like that. But the overall budget, we are not in a negative. we are a positive so it's fine same thing for the it does need to be looked at because if you

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need more money in one line then you should be requesting that amount in your budget report so when I enter it into the budget >> in your budget meetings so when I enter into the budget it's a more accurate number but it we're

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still $15,000 positive of um the Silver Lake assessment. We have Silverlake assessment as an account. Silver Lake assessment debt as an account number. >> Yeah, >> they were allocated correctly. But when the bills get paid, I or my assistant,

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whoever will enter the bill schedule based on the account number. So that Silver Lake assessment clearly we were given the wrong account number. So the debt payment was not taken out of the debt account. That account overall is

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still $145 positive. So that is clearly just the wrong account number was given and then entered. The same can still be true for the IT and the labor um legal count accounts. >> Mhm. >> Because if we just enter it based off

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the account that's given to us, that's what we're doing. They don't know right then and there that it might not be the right account number. But the bottom line, all three of those accounts are positive, so they're fine. >> Any questions?

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>> Lindsay, can I ask you a question? >> Yes. >> From from an accounting standpoint, >> Mhm. >> what would your recommendations be to better that process? >> So, I'll use the legal account cuz I literally just entered that budget for next year. I did not put $4,000 back

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into that cable account. It was not not even $1 spent. So, putting that back in when we have currently an account that's in a negative $5,000 I thought would have been crazy.

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So, I did just add that back into another account that got overspent. The bottom line is still what was voted at town meeting. So, I'm not like changing any of those numbers. Same thing for the subscription account. $1,000. Not a dollar was spent. So, I moved that to

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give a buffer elsewhere. So, I guess when we're doing budget meetings and the departments have it broken out, that's what I'm going off of. So, it really need I guess it would just be try to make what you're asking for what you

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need in that line. So, is it possible that the departments when they're doing their budget are looking at are just essentially carrying over what was approved the year prior rather than looking at what their actuals were >> for those accounts. That's what it

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sounds like probably happening, right? >> Yeah. >> Yep. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. >> What uh >> and that's also Oh, sorry. Go ahead, Rod. >> No, it's okay, Lindsay. And I don't know if you can answer it if someone on the committee or maybe the department. What

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exactly is law cable? What is that? What's the cable? Is that cable television? Is that cable correspondence? Like what is that category used for? >> I don't know if it has anything Caesar. Does it have anything to do with Area 58 stuff? Do you know?

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>> It does and it doesn't. It's for It's the attorney's fees for um our cable franchise agreement. So, we have a we have a specific attorney that deals with our um our cable licensing. uh stuff which we renewed I want to say either

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last year or the year before. So um if there was any money allocated to it last year, it's because we just renewed our cable franchise um and had spent money on those fees, but we don't our cable franchise agreement is a 10-year agree 10-year

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license with Comcast. Uh so the only other time we'd be using that cable law is if there's something that comes up in between now and then. So, it's 4,000 for a 10-year license agreement. >> No, no, no. That's just the attorney's fees to help build out the agreement and

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and what have you. >> Okay. >> So, I do think that during budget season, it's probably a lot of this is what we asked for last year and keep it the same. Like, I mean, I know I have a

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very small expend expense budget, but that's what I do for mine. I >> keep it exactly what it was requested at last year. If I need more, then I'll change it around. But I do think that's what other departments do, which is why

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I also try to use the June 30th prior year budget status report. So then I can see that yes, they wanted $100,000 in labor council, but they used

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125. So, let me do 125 here and maybe 25 less than where they only spent five grand instead of 25 grand. >> Okay. So, just a I guess just just a couple follow-up questions.

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>> Do you happen to know offhand what our attorney's hourly rate is, what they bill us? >> I do not though. >> Okay. If you can find that out, that'd be great. Um the second thing is so I I appreciate the feedback and the

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information on the um the line items and the account numbers. >> So understanding what you said that you're you're merely putting in the numbers as they are being given to you, right? >> So So who gives you the numbers? The the

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department does. >> Yes. >> So does the department not know their own account line item numbers? Is that why you're getting bad information? >> I wouldn't say so. I mean, every single thing that we do is manual entry in an

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Excel spreadsheet. So, they might have So, the wage account for example, like >> Mhm. >> it's ends in 5113, but then there's another one that ends in 5110 5114. So, if you're typing in a

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number, it's possible that you hit the wrong number, but it still is an account in your department. So, when I type it in, >> it still pops up as that account. So, it's really not going to trigger anything right away.

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>> Okay. >> So, I wouldn't necessarily say that the departments don't know their account numbers. No. Well, I'm just curious how we would be getting bad information when really I wouldn't imagine that the account numbers change yeartoear. They shouldn't should all be the same numbers every year. Every year it's, you know,

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accounting is a very kind of static, you know, practice and the account numbers should remain the same. I mean, I'm not, you know, obviously none of us are, you know, Dioynes on a considered, you know, seeking of the truth, but, you know, it's just it just doesn't make I

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just it just doesn't make sense in my head that you would be getting bad information every year. >> It's not nec I don't think it's bad information. I just think it's manual entry and that when someone types in a number, it could be they could hit the

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wrong number and Okay. I just think it's manual entry for the department head. It's manual entry on my end when I'm in soft rate. Nothing is automatic. >> Well, one would think that the department head checks their work before

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they submit it to you for entry. >> And account numbers are an important part of a budget within that department >> because of what's allocated per line item. and they need to pay a little bit more attention to the numbers that

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they're utilizing before they send them over and make sure they're correct. >> So, and and just one last thing, I I I understand that the overall, you know, dollars assigned or assessed or appropriated for that department are

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still in the positive and they're not over budget. However, as we are as this is a public document, when it looks like somebody's spending more in something than they what they are, it's just going to generate questions from the public. >> Mhm. then you know and I don't you know

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I don't imagine any any of them thinking that you know oh well it's all the same because the number's still positive would be an accurate answer because they would you know we went through that at the well we were at the selectman meeting when we were talking about the

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you know the the legal costs right so you know that's uh those are the questions that we're going to have to answer so I think accuracy is very very important very >> yeah and I mean I'm not saying that it's necessarily okay

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>> right >> I'm just giving the questions and it's >> it's how it happens >> right >> and >> at the end bottom line the bottom total was voted and we are still below it so I

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know it's not the best answer but it is still >> right I mean >> a valid answer with things to work on I would be a better response. I think I think exactly Lindon uh is that the number the total number may be

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under the allocation but we need to be a little bit more the the department heads I mean obviously you are you're you're attentive to the number the department heads need to be a little bit more attentive double check which which account they're they're debiting from so that we be as accurate and transparent

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as possible when the the public asks why these numbers because we had those questions right you know the answers you're very attentive So just having them be a little bit more attentive, double check their account number before they send it across just so the numbers are debited correctly. So there's less

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less question if someone come or we so there's less uh misallocation uh through no one's fault other than a few people's inattentiveness. I think >> and I'm not saying that every single time this happens that is why like I'm not blaming department heads at all. I'm

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just giving a couple different reasons why these things can happen. >> So, I'm not saying that it's all on the department head. Like, that's not my intention at all. I was just giving different examples as to how these

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mistakes get made. Okay. All right. So the next was uh the storm water engineering over. >> Yes. So that one did have an open PO which when you enter a PO it removes it from the expense. Every single bill is

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supposed to be credited to that PO and if not then it looks like a double entry. However um that account is short. There are two stormwater accounts. there is their general operating and then their article account.

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>> So, that one I do need to talk to Kathy and Steve about and just review the bills and make sure that the bills were put to the correct place. I did talk to Kathy last week. There was a little confusion about

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it being two separate accounts. Um, so I do have to >> review that one further with them. But there was an open purchase order of $10,413 um that was under the incumbrance

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column. So it does make that total look like it's short 18 but it's not short 18. The 10,000 is being counted in that. >> Still short but not short almost 20. Um, so that one I do just have to do a

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little bit more work and talk to Kathy Steve about >> right. Okay. What do we got next? >> Um, FY26 article accounts closed out at this point in time. No. Um, we're

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still in FY26 until July 15th. So, I won't even really know that for another couple of weeks. Um, the year on transfers we kind of already talked about. >> Yep. >> Um,

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>> questions about uh once we're done here. I'm sorry. I just want to make sure I don't lose >> my brain. Uh, I noticed the fire and police. I was looking at their budget items and they're both uh well under budget by over $100,000. The fire the police is under I mean the fire is under

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by 177. I think police was under by 111 or something. Are there some outstanding wage in in other items that haven't been uh added to that? >> Um yeah, so I just did payroll today and police the grand total after paying out

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everything that their contract says they have to. um that was close to $100,000. So yeah, there's still stuff that gets for their contract stuff that will be getting paid out. >> Okay.

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Thanks. >> All right. >> Um I'm going to skip the free cash one real quick cuz I had a question on that. >> Sure. >> So the reserve fund is a general fund account. So the $81,000

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will go to free cash. Okay. So, there's we're not going to be moving that into other accounts to make to rightsize them in, you know, before July 15th. >> Um the No, not for FY26.

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>> Okay. >> Um I have not heard back from Kathy Linatra's office. We haven't heard too much regarding the snow and ice in that situation. Um there is money so we would be able to do

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line item transfers. I did get an email from DLS explaining different ways to handle it. Um our deficit we can handle with line item transfers. >> Okay. >> Um so

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81 if you wanted it to go to any snow and ice obviously that's a discussion for you guys. if you just wanted it to go to free cash, that's a discussion for you guys as well. Um because >> obviously obviously the anticip we're anticipating, you know, well, are we

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anticipating? I mean, I don't expect the state senate to act expeditiously on anything. >> So, too, >> you know, it's we would hope that we would get the money that Latra says we are going to get to rightsize that account. However, by July 15th, I doubt

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that's going to happen, which means we're going to have to move monies around inside of our own budget to balance that >> because that is what we are legally responsible to do, >> right? So, I was just throwing that out there. Um,

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any other questions on that before? >> Um, no, I don't think so. Um, and I was just curious with the free cash impact for FY26. I was just, you know, where are we, you know, with now that we understand we may have to move over $100,000 into Snow and Ice to balance

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that to bring it to a zero, right? Um, we may >> it wouldn't be that much money. >> Okay. Oh. Oh, you mean taking it from other departments? >> Correct. Correct. >> Okay. >> Correct. >> Um, I don't have any current projection

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on what free cash would even be. So, I don't have an answer to that. I know our deficit is, I believe, like right around 148, 149, >> right? >> Um, we're supposedly getting 138. >> Yeah.

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>> I don't I don't know. Um, I know that there was another email from DLS saying that there were there's money to be had there, too. There's two different levels of it. Um,

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it didn't say anything about when we would be getting that. I don't So, even that, I really don't know if anything's going to happen before July 15th. >> Okay. Um, so just to, you know, since we're talking about the free cash and

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the the uh the process there, >> the Steve said he was going to get the consultant proposal for us to look at. >> Yes. Um, we I or I should say I don't have that at this point in time. I don't know if he does.

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>> Um, but I don't. >> All right. >> The uh the elementary school has a $2 million surplus at this point. There's still quite a few outstanding balances uh bills coming due for them. >> Yes.

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Yep. So, they do lumps on payroll. Um, which we just did last week because it is due to them on their last day of work. Um, that was a very large sum of money. It was like $700 something

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dollar,000. >> Yeah. >> Um, >> then there are people that still get paid throughout the year, the summer I should say. Um, >> right. cuz it's like a 12 month or a 9month pay schedule, right? They can opt into either one. >> Yep.

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>> And then they still have um one vendor warrant, I believe, because I >> did I do June? >> No, they they had the one for um the snow removal. They had the snow removal one that they had. >> There's that one, too. And then

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>> you're talking about the roof, Jim. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> Right. Which is that thing's kind of bouncing around. Who's going to pay? >> Well, it was I guess the school either doesn't understand the process or thought they could just send it to us and we would pay it. So, the the invoice is made out to the school. The school

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needs to pay the invoice and then they come to us to fund, you know, their deficit. So, they just didn't pay it and it just sat. >> Yes. But I should be getting that this week, I hope. >> Right.

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Um, and then they also got the email any FY26 bills so are due before June 15th. So, >> right, >> there could be a couple more bills to get paid. So, at the time of that um

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budget status report, it was before all of that stuff. So, they probably don't actually have a $2 mill million surplus. >> Probably not. >> Yeah. >> No. If you just use 700 for payroll, they don't. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. It was like almost 800.

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>> 800. So there's 1.2 potentially, but there's still a couple more big bills going to come through before the 15th of July. >> Yeah. I think the roof alone was like $40,000. >> Yep. >> All right.

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And then I think that was it from your email if anyone questions. >> Going to open it up to the floor for any committee member who's had a look and has any questions about the budget status reports or the numbers there in. >> I took a look at the state uh when the

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state's going to finalize the budget. Looks like they're going to take a vote on Wednesday. So hopefully we actually may hear some more stuff on Wednesday about state budget and hopefully the monies that the Lanch's office had talked to us about or mentioned. So

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>> that would be amazing if they did something one time. >> Sure would be. >> Right. Yeah. Since you're going into a holiday weekend here. >> Oh, they're exactly exactly >> 29. All right. Well, if they're voting

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right before a holiday, that means there's going to be things in there that people aren't going to like because they want to get out of dodge before right after they vote. >> Yep. >> All right. Hearing no other questions regarding the budget um or the budget status report.

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Uh if anybody is there anything else that Steve gave you for us to chat about, Lindsay, or is that covered? Um, the housing authority. I talked to Sandy. It is a completely separate entity. It is not a department of the town. We don't turn any money

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over to Pemrook. We don't pay Pembrook in any type of facet. We actually don't even receive direct money for the housing authority. >> Um, Steve spoke to John, so he has a

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little bit more of an indepth on that side of things. Um, but that is the very broad that I have. Lindsay, my understanding with the housing authority is that uh at some point the town of Halifax entered

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into an agreement for Pemroke to uh manage the property because it would save us from having to hire a separate executive director and a number of additional expense the town would hire because of uh the how small we are that

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it made sense at some point for Halifax to enter into this agreement. Uh, so I'm interested to know to learn more what Steve has learned as well, uh, about how >> Yeah. So, it sounds like the town specifically

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doesn't do any of that. Pembrook Housing Authority does cover Halifax, but I don't I wouldn't say it's because of the town of Halifax asking

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the town of Pemrook, >> or anything like that, >> but we have our own like Halifax Housing Authority Committee, right? way. >> Um, >> that's true. >> Yeah, I think that's common in the

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towns. >> Yeah. >> Like I know Plymouth has overseas multiple different housing authorities, but it's not the town of Plymouth. It's just the Plymouth Housing Authority. >> Okay.

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>> That doesn't make sense. >> Interesting. All right. What the tangled web we weave. Okay. >> Okay. >> All right. Um, so thank you for all that

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information uh, Lindsay. I certainly do appreciate it. At least it gives us a little bit of insight to it. >> Um, so if there are no other questions uh, on for Lindsay or regarding the town administrator, we can uh, close out that line item and move over to

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correspondence. as may arise. I have not gotten any emails from our residents uh for the for the team to talk about or discuss. Um opening it up to the floor for any of the other committee members who would if they have anything they'd

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like to chat about that wasn't on the agenda or would like to uh talk to anyone or talk to the team as a whole. Opening it up. >> Yeah, Frank. Uh, Lindsay, just uh that email you sent out earlier this afternoon regarding signature memos. Uh,

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does that even apply to any of us here, Jim or Lindsay? >> Well, it usually applies to me because I have to sign Emily's um uh time sheet, >> right? Uh, but you know, Frank, we might want to put you on there as an alternate just in case.

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>> Okay. >> So, >> so I'll fill out this form then and just send it back, Lindsay. >> Yeah. electronically is fine. >> Um, >> or do I need to come into the office and do it?

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>> You know, I actually don't know. I will ask. >> I'll just come by your office and do it and then won't have to worry about, you know, no sense chasing something. We don't need to. It's easy for me to come by. >> All righty.

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>> Jim, I had a I had a question for or or something to think about as as a committee. >> Please. Uh I've noticed that uh not just our committee but a lot of committees in town our minutes are delayed by sometimes months being posted to the to the town website for consumption of the

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public and just think about ways that we could speed the process along. Um, I know that some companions like the Zoom has a companion now for AI that takes in real realtime notes. Then of course for the you know that we'd have to review them. But just thinking of ways that we

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could potentially use technology to speed up the dissemination of the of the meeting minutes for people's review. It just seems, you know, going a couple of months since our last, you know, when those minutes are posted. Uh, I just think it would be great if we could aspire to be a little bit more u timely

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with them. I don't know what people thought. >> So, I certainly can appreciate um wanting to get minutes out as quickly as possible. Um be that a, you know, a a a performance issue or an aspirational target, I

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guess. Um we do have, you know, we do pay Emily to she does a number. She works for I think she works for another town plus she does selectman minutes and hours. Um Lindsay, is that right? She does ours and the selectman's or she is

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there anyone else after that? >> Um nope. She actually I think she just does ours and the selectman's but she does work for the town of Randolph I want to say and she does minutes for them. >> Yeah. So I'm sure that uh you know it

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certainly is I don't mind. I think I think it's interesting to use just a direct transcript, though that would make a lot of sense, right? In my opinion, someone would have to still review it and summarize some key points,

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I think, before we send it out for for public consumption. >> You take the full Jim, you take the full transcript and dump it into AI and have it summarize it for you, and then you just proof the summary. >> Not necessary. Zoom will do it for you. >> Yeah. Yeah. It'll do it right through the engine for you. It will do the

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transcript. It'll say, you know, EJ said this or Jim said that. >> Yeah. >> So on and so forth. As each person speaks, it it'll do the recording for it. And it's >> going to know who's speaking. That's my question. How does it know who is speaking? >> Same way lights up. You get focus.

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>> Yeah. It's the same way that at the bottom of your screen, the name will change when someone else speaks. >> I don't Does it do that, Caesar? because looking at the transcript on Zoom when we do it when we have it going live it does not add names. >> So uh I have our all of our Zoom

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recordings to to download or to generate transcripts on the back end um as a fail safe or as requested. Um so I guess there's two things. One uh EJ and Mike are correct that yes it will be tied to a speaker's name or

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whatever the display name is set on the call. Um, is it 100% accurate? No. Depends on a number of factors. The only issue that you're going to run into is when we're having the in-person meetings where all the board is technically one speaker.

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>> That's where it gets a little difficult. >> Um, but you know, that's the transcript is still going to exist. You just have to parse out the individual speakers. And then um as far as the minutes for the finance committee, uh we

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are I'm I'm getting them all uploaded before July 1st for everything up to whatever the last set of approved minutes were. >> Um cuz I think uh Jim I think um Emily sent us those. >> She sent quite a long list of them. Yes.

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>> Yeah. Yeah. So I'm just fitting that in, but I want to I am getting it done before July 1st. whatever that last set of approved meeting minutes were, they'll be up there within the next 72 hours. >> Okay. So, what I Caesar, just do me a favor then. Uh, can you send send out a

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copy to the finance committee of the last Zoom transcript of finance committee meetings? the last one that you have because I I would I'd really be interested in seeing the the product of this of this uh trans

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transcription function. >> Do I want to send you today's or do I want to send you last? >> Today's is fine. Sure. >> So So Jim, I I would say just to kind of expand on on Rodney's point, the the intent isn't all just about making it

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faster for them to come out. It's about taking a little bit of the load off the person who's doing the work. So right now currently Emily has to I'm assuming she's watching everything. She's taking notes as she's watching it and then she's summarizing it in an email or in

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documentation form, right? Whereas if you use it in AI and you use the transcript, you still have to take steps. It's not getting rid of the fact that you have to do it. >> Agre, >> but it's cutting it's cutting the time in half for her to be to need to get

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everything done the right way. Um, we use we actually use this at work a lot and it's very very effective. >> Okay. I just I'm just interested in the work product. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> But it does it matter the the end

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product is a is the result of the review of the person who you know what I mean that is still what you're getting >> someone someone still has to look at it. Yeah. >> Correct. >> Right. >> Yep. You know, as I had this conversation with someone else, I think last Wednesday when they were talking about AI, there's always a human behind

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it, >> right? >> Always will be a human behind it. >> Was it what do they call a mechanical Turk? >> So, yeah, I'd just be interested in seeing what it looks like. Um, I know that Emily's busy. Obviously, when we had Katie, it was a lot faster. Um but

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uh you know we are where we are >> and I want to I this is not not a slight to Emily. This is just about improving the process within our committee but also aspirationally for the rest of the the town. So if we want to look at

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another committee's process and what they're reviewing uh in time to be able to do it in a timely manner instead of looking at February and we're going into July. It just those kind of things could be sped up. >> I I would leave that to the town administrator to deal with those

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committees. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> Thanks. >> Good point, Rod. Thanks. That was good conversation, EJ. Appreciate your feedback on that. >> Got it.

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>> Okay. Anything else for the committee? Hearing none, we will close out correspondence and as may arise, moving into public participation. Uh, any resident of the town who is currently on the call have any questions

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for the finance committee. Going once, going twice. Hearing none, we will close out public participation. Uh and we will move into the last agenda item which is next meeting planning. So um what I if we go

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out two weeks, we're looking at the 13th of July. I'd like to make that an in-person meeting, a town hall because then we can because we're getting pretty close, I think two weeks after that or 10 days, 14 15 days after that is the special

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town meeting. So, um, when are the select when closing the warrant, Lindsay? Do you know? >> Um, July 7th. >> July 7th. >> Okay. >> Really? >> So, that'll be their next meeting then,

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right? >> Because they opened it last. >> They opened it last Tuesday. Yeah. And they and then it was two weeks I believe >> because on the seventh would get >> two weeks >> two weeks for the warrant to be able to

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go out. So yes >> cuz we still have to get it. It has to be approved by them. Then it has to go to the printer. Then it has to be mailed out to all the residents. >> Yes. >> Um and then you know we we have the meeting. So Steve is back when? >> He'll be back tomorrow.

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>> Okay. So, if we could find out what we need, do we need to put an article on the warrant to close out the three-year-old town meeting appropriations to pull them all back into the general fund? Because I think that would be a big help to

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where we are financially. >> Yeah. Okay. I'll ask. >> All right. And if we do, what's the process there? Is that something I do? Is that something the committee, you know, I do it, the committee votes on it, the committee puts it together, whatever. or he does it.

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>> Okay. >> Okay. So, we have uh So, let's everybody okay with um July 13th? >> Mhm. >> 6:00 p.m. Let's meet at the town hall. Select my meeting room.

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>> Excuse me. This is Sue. I just if you guys are going to put something on there, you might have to meet beforehand because the warrant has to be posted 14 days before the meeting. >> Okay.

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All righty. Thank you, Susan. Um Okay. So, pending Steve's answer tomorrow, uh you know, maybe we'll just we'll have to do a quick meeting at some point before the 7th. >> That's fine. And as long as we get quum, we can all

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vote on it. >> Well, there you go. >> All right. So, um, depending on the answers, we may meet prior to that, but let's just go with the 13th right now so we can at least get that on the schedule. Um, and then I think we'll probably after that we'll need to

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review, I guess, the warrant articles, I would presume, like we did the last time. Or maybe we'll be doing that before it goes to the after it gets closed and before it goes to the printer. >> Good.

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>> So, you know, check make sure you guys check your emails at least once a day. I certainly would appreciate that. That way, if I have something come out, we can uh we can get that addressed as quickly as possible. >> Okay. >> All right. >> Very good. >> Anybody have anything else?

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>> No, sir. >> All right. Do I hear a motion to adjurnn? >> So move. >> Second. >> Very good. Roll call vote. Cheryl, >> yes. >> Mike Bennett, >> yes. >> Frank Johnston,

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>> yes. To adjourn, please. >> EJ, >> yes. >> Rod, >> yes. >> And I am a yes as well. We are ajourned. Thank you for attending. Appreciate it, guys. >> Thank you. All right, everybody. >> Thanks, everyone. >> Bye. Have a safe 4th of July.

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>> Yes. You too.

