e e e [Music] all right counselors today we are going with going right into the budget hearing for the school systems going to start off with G lawence technical school hello superintendent good evening chairman and finance committee let me start off by as uh saying a huge thank you to um to you and the citizens of Lawrence for the support they give glts year after year uh it makes a difference and it's helping us to meet the the needs of so many students moving forward so I'm going to go through uh our budget starting on page booklet that you [Applause] have with our foundation budget what page are we on superintendent huh just looking for the right page here page 22 so this year our state a for Chapter 70 uh was 38 mil 245,000 7 23,000 which is an increase of 2,696 348 that's because we uh for the most part a big part of that was we increased our student population enrollment admission so we've uh had an impact on our state aid uh for the City of Lawrence uh the assessment under the foundation budget was 1,668 , 495 which was an increase of $171,636 m198 718 uh in non non-foundation Revenue uh for Regional School transportation state reimbursement was 1,278 113 uh Lawrence's assessment uh for busing was 2,214 162 for a total of busing costs of 3,9 uh 94,00 956 with an increase of 121,50 dollar of end funds uh for a total of 5,373 66 reason we moved over a million in D and money is because of all the construction projects we have going on site right now we have uh one two three four major projects going on where we're building where we just about finished one of our Aviation hangers and the largest one is just brok I actually just started digging the foundation today which is about 5 .5 million for that building and then we have a new barn for Horticulture uh landscape and then we also have putting in a second cafeteria because we have so many students um we've increased our student population uh over the year right this year our student population was 1,778 students um we uh expect to uh which is uh an increase and we expect to continue that Trend again next year uh that does include our after dark with our after dark students were at about 1,900 students uh for uh our total and our total uh uh non-foundation uh for net busing uh for busing the opet fixed assets and long-term Debt Service was a total of 3,940 ,4 9954 um and um School enrollment was uh for Lawrence is uh about 70 uh 70 almost 72% 1,272 students council president U thank you for coming up and I'm presenting this budget just for the uh for the record and I want you guys to to take note uh we expecting to to to see the budget from everybody that deal with the City of Lawrence by May 15 if it's not approved by the city by the that uh by the school committee at the time uh we would like to see the the draft budget until uh until he get approved once he get approved and then we get the final vote so that way we have no confusion whatever or perhaps oh download it from the Internet or it's supposed to be uh together with the entire uh City's budget so because this is part of the of the city budget so next year please take note that you would like by May 15 May 15 as per CH of the City of Lawrence everybody yes all right thank welcome councilors any questions or comments regarding the good alarm Tech budget council president um I just want to reiterate um I need to feel I need to I need to you know follow up on a question that it was asked for the city of metan city council and it was in regard to your salary the salary of the superintendent I don't want uh this this body of this city not to ask that question uh for the uh for the rest of the city of lam to be able to uh to hear you out as of why your salary have increased and how much it is and uh and what what is it that um uh as of why it went it went up to the way that it was it went up so just to follow up and to build up around what the uh city of methan City councellors uh were asking okay so uh this year my salary was approximately 300,000 uh I'll make a statement that was similar that I gave to the newspaper then I'll also give you a list of accomplishments over the last of my 14th completed my 14th Year my 52nd year in vocational education uh but like any superintendent uh my compensation package is reached through negotiations with the school committee it's based on both goal setting process and performance review our negotiations are always professional and fair uh great allance has seen many gains in student performance in recent years including large growth in the mcast scores when I started we were the third lowest performing high school now in a 30 somewhere in a 35th 38th percentile uh more students than ever are career ready upon graduation this year we had 275 students on call the most we've ever had uh when I started we were below 100 um more students than ever are career ready upon graduation or entering College due to dual credit programs when I started we had no dual credit programs we've also added 11 new Career Technical programs which adds many uh opportunities for students to seek great careers and uh opportunities for uh jobs when they graduate um we're placing this year when we did our uh Federal report Perkins report we had 100% positive placement which is the first time ever for the school um and uh we are looking at a possibility of two to four more programs moving forward two that we are uh we are looking at is animal science right now possibly masery um we uh we are uh in the process of finishing our Aviation program we invested $7.2 million in that program it's been a threee almost a three-year effort um we have two buildings on site we're just about ready to purchase the hanger from the city now that everything is done and finalized so we can give the city back its funding uh which would not have been possible at the help of the city which we appreciate um so um we have now approximately 1,800 students that apply every year back when I started we had somewhere around 800 so more students want to come because we're a better institution we provide better opportunities uh we accept this year we're accepting 485 students each year we take more and more um 14 years ago we had no competitive Grant we were receiving no competitive grants year after year this year we we received 6.1 million in competitive grants 14 years ago we had no Workforce Development programs zero so we weren't helping supporting any underemployed or unemployed citizens in the City of Lawrence or any of our communities today we have over 5 million dollar in Workforce Development programs we're offering many programs so when you think about my job isn't just the responsibility of overseeing The Vocational High School but also my job overseas Workforce Development overseas the after dark program so it's more than just the high school it's also supporting and helping the citizens of our communities have opportunities in their lives uh I believe that the um the things that I've done have are making a difference in our community what's important to me is that everything we do is to try to help our communities uh the strength of our the economic develop the E economy of our of our of the City of Lawrence I believe is better and stronger because of the changes in the and the growth that we've made at glts um we have 700 more students than we had when I started um and um and I have here a list of probably 50 things I could go through that have that I that are different today than when I started started that have that are making a difference in our community so uh I know that um I think that my uh my passion my efforts are all about what's the next Vision so right now we're in the process of trying to purchase the Elks I'll give you a perfect example of that trying to purchase the Elks so we can uh bring in another 300 students and the main focus of purchasing the Elks was to make it a uh Health Center so it's going to be all health related programs so we're going to expand up to six programs there to provide and training for the all the for the hospitals and that a huge need for uh training uh Health uh occupations uh that was that Vision was my vision to try to expand and take more students in but also what can I do to help our community with a need I saw there was a need and I said the way we can provide and help help that need is to do that so what I would say to you that the work that I do is is unusual from most superintendents in terms of the vision and the work and these changes that have happened and the support that I give are for communities and I think I believe that's why I make the salary that I make you Madame shair council president just to follow up on what you were this what you were saying when you mentioned the 38 percentile um that uh the 38 percentile means different things to different people mhm to me what this means is that our students are 38% above any other students at the same level yeah they're not 30% above the state average um they're so our performance on the mcast has grown uh where uh like Nash last year 98% % of our students reach um uh passing um in the mcast for ELA and uh which is the best we've ever done outperform some of our own high schools um and then we also had performance in math that's gone up we outperformed two of our high schools in that as well in terms of passing in terms of Advance we are not doing as well as some of our high school because our Focus we don't have the kind of Advan math programs that you would see in even in Lawrence High or that you would see in methan high school uh albe it so we don't tend to have a lot of kids reaching that although we're doing better with that because we have more advanced math programs at the school now we're embarking in a early college program this year this is the first year that we've uh we're uh partnering with Northern Essex we got a grant from the state this year uh to do a planning Grant to start an early college program as they do at Lawrence ey we were never involved in that program but we are now next year we'll be starting the early college program as well uh which will allow us to offer more dual credits in math and other uh academic areas where we haven't and so we expect by doing that we flatlined in the I would say we flatlined in our performance in in terms of mcast performance but so is a lot of schools because of what happened with Co we've kind of flatlined so we're regrouping and and working with new strategies and ways to uh get back on track and helping perform to get to a higher level continue to work towards seeing an increase in our performance academically as well uh so I think you'll see us doing even better as we move forward I have two more questions regarding to that uh so I would like I was saying I mean 38% of the of the students are doing equal or better than the rest of the students and that's kind of like you know scared me a little bit because that means that the other 6 2% kind of like you know priorly falling behind is that the case or I'm doing it the the wrong the wrong looking at it it's in comparison to other high schools not students are students so compared to other High School yes yeah so we were in the 30 between the 35th and 38th percentile the last time it was measured by the state which was three years ago we had fallen we had gone from the 3 percentile to the 38 percentile so which means 60 that means 62% are uh yeah 62% of the high schools in the Commonwealth are doing better than great lawence technical school well we started we were 97% of the schools in Massachusetts were doing better than jts so we've we've improved a lot in terms of our performance in terms of how where we sit with regards to our performance and uh State assessments is it good enough no it's not good enough but we've but all all I'm saying is that we've grown and perform we're performing a lot better than we did 14 years ago yeah um I definitely appreciate the service that the school have provideed to the community because there is a lot of students that um that are going through the school that wanted to be in the school to matter of fact this year there was a kid that wanted to go to the greatest lawence and he was a set and I was like I'm not doing this phone call I'm not making this phone call you're staying ab and then we deal with the other stuff because it was like No it's it's like I I wasn't able to but um definitely a lot of kids wanted to go to The Vocational School uh I'm a client to The Vocational School I I bring my my cars to to the vocational school then to for them to get fixed so I'm definitely a supportive to to the school yeah yes because I get to know the school U deeper than before yes thanks to councelor Infante when she was a member of the of the of the school committee she was able to introduce the school to to the members of the city councilors and then since then I become more appreciative to the school uh with that said um I hope that you know we can we can keep on improving uh I hope that please uh share with us the kpi is for your performance when it comes to your contract so we can get to know more about absolutely uh what is your long-term goals for the school then also uh the short-term goals I know the short-term goals because we've been talking about that when it comes to different programs I'm seeing it and I appreciate it thank you I'd be happy to share my vision for the school moving forward so you can have a better sense of we never stop we're always trying to get more kids in offer the best programs out there to have good jobs not just above average salaries because we know the strength of the community is based on the salaries of our citizens and the better they you know the more financially well off they are the more they can support their own community and participate in their own Community thank you three you man council is on question you mentioned the El Club it up can you give us an update about about uh the process are you are you guys in the process of buying the El club or you already bought it the El's Club the the process we use what is are you buying what is the current where where you where what is the status of of the purchase of the Elks oh so right now mathuin originally voted it down and they revoted last week and they passed it so right now all four communities have approved Pro getting the bond and purchasing the Elks the one thing we have left to do is try to help them find a new location which we've been looking for five months we have a couple leads that are we think are very possible that they may be interested in once we can help them find a new location then they will sit down with us and uh negotiate the final price and then get their uh their membership to vote on it and then once that happens then we can move forward on trying to purchase to get the purchase done and then uh we in the meantime we'll uh we'll be putting out our our plans and our uh vision for what will happen in the space so we're looking to you know support the space itself will be bringing in uh uh support Partnerships from uh Mass on Lawrence General and from the uh great Lawrence Community Health Center will work with us and many of our other medical facilities to help design the space and the program so we can meet the needs of our of our uh medical facilities what will be the cost for so purchasing it is last we had last time when we had it uh appraised by a uh an appraiser was 4 million uh so purchasing would be $4 million uh and we're probably looking at somewhere around 1.5 to 2 million in renovation work which we renovation are intent is to use the students to do the renovation work to keep the cost down the facility itself has we did an inspection on has a good heating system and air conditioning the roof is only 3 years old so the Mechanicals and the structure of the facility is very good so we don't have to invest a lot of money in that area what we need to invest in is making the inside facility into classroom space and lab space and things like that and um so you mentioned five new projects that you are working on it is that included in those five new projects that the school is working on it so finding a new property for the Elks so for us it's finding a location that they would want to move to and they want to stay in St Lawrence so that's the challenge trying to find property in St Lawrence that could house uh their their new club so that's where we're having some challenges um in finding that once we find that then um we're more likely to move forward we can then start to move forward on uh the actual process of purchasing it but we had to get all our communities approval first before we could even sit down with them and try to really negotiate with them now that we have that and that's been approved that allows me to finally sit down with them and try to get a hard harder number any other questions or comments councilors council president when it comes to the transportation um have you have the school been a little bit more like um proactive when it comes to the beating process because we have kept a lot of complaints for different schools uh that kind of like you know we always get only one one be what and that's kind of process but we follow procurement laws and anything that we purchase so yeah I know I know I know it's not it's not a school fault trust me is the is the issue of of of just getting one client all the time to be on the on the school buses and I have seen it throughout different different schools including the school system for the SCH for L and um have you SE any other provid or baiting on the transportation for the school oh in the last 10 years uh the last time we put it out no we had one provider and the LA the previous time it's been one provider for the last four New Years right uh way back I think maybe 10 years ago there was more than we had three different bids but they're all out of business company that kind of provides the service now bought out all those other companies in the area well U the reason that I'm bringing this up is because uh there is there is there is a situation that at some point while way or another we need to be creative around this this topic because this topic keep on increasing increasing and increasing and it's not being justifiable at all when it comes to quality of service it's not the school for because you following the procurement yeah um I understand that for sure I mean it is well we would love to see more competition we'd love to have the opportunity to find another vendor ourselves because we've had our own challenges and difficulties with this particular company today I was in the back in the back of the school and was half hour and kids were still waiting for their bus at the end of the day we've had at least 10 meetings with them regarding this and haven't been it's not going to change because there's only one company that's going to beat right been a a major challenge well thank you for taking these points thank you for looking into it probably thank you for eventually down down to the following years looking to look look into the main problem for the transportation issues that we have throughout the city you're welcome thank you councel lone and my it's just a comment thank you for what that you do uh we appre appreciate uh your work uh and I know you guys have the the vocation have been working with Workforce Development uh and I'm just going to put out there there's a need in the community for Barbers uh licensing I met with NASA city counselor as a uh president of federation Hispanic Federation of Commerce former former president thank you Madame chair um and I I met with uh Mrs alono and we talk about the need of Licensing for the barber uh yes in the city so I just going to put it out there and I know uh you've been doing a lot uh um uh but if it's possible add it to a to your agenda because there's a need for them to have a local place that they can go and get their license yeah and I think you have the potential in this space uh and the ability to help in that area yeah so we do have a baring program that's part of Cosmetology now so once the cosmetology students get their license for cosmetology they then can work towards their barbering license because they only need 500 hours and so we've had a couple this year that are close to getting both licenses U but I will say this we have for years been trying to run a barbering program at night for the people particularly for the barbers in Lawrence and the problem has been the barbering licensing board keeps stopping us from doing that they will not give us a license to do that because a competition of uh barbering schools most I probably shouldn't say this but the people on the board own barbering schools and they don't want us to open up in bar that's I see our other superintendent his head but I have been testified I've testified twice thank you before the barbing licensing board to try to get this done and it's been reject rejected both times I and I know you've been doing that I just put it out there so please keep doing it and hopefully the state the state Elation it it um pays attention to this to this matter but I appreciate what you've been doing I know yeah thank you so much you're welcome superintendent what has been um the primary feedback that you received from the school committee pertaining your budget the budget M um as far as the budget we've got uh no negative feedback that I'm aware of no we haven't got any negative feedback in terms of the budget um we have a a strong budget we've been able to balance I think this is the first time in many years we were able to balance the budget based we got to we put build typically we build our budget and then we find out what the state's going to get us but what we built as a budget the state gave us almost exactly what how we the number we built our budget to which usually we have to go back and make Cuts but this year it came very close to but we have still made some changes because things are always changing in terms of personnel and stuff but in terms of our budget we've been able to balance the budget and meet the needs of you know uh all the programs and the and the things that are going on in the school to continue to be proactive in the growth and in the things that make difference for kids thank you my next question is I'm looking at at the the Excel spreadsheet here that you provided for us professional salaries um I'm looking for the assistant superintendent I don't see is that reflected under the over like under the the superintendent's office professional salaries it says here over $500,000 does that account for you and the assistant it does okay yes and also um under the finance department is the 27 278,00 12 is that for one salary or is that multiple salaries there more that's more than one salary okay um lastly I'm I'm just going to make a quick comment um for those that people have people paid attention to the methan city council and I it's unfortunate that you went through that um I I was very people have came to me as a counselor about that and wanted me to ask questions I was the wrong person to come to CU I'm a huge supporter of G laen Tech and I am a product of the changes that you implemented in that school I was a sophomore when you came in as a superintendent so I am a product of of all the things that that you listed so thank you for the service and um I'm excited to see the future of good lawence Tech cuz there's a lot more to come thank you any other final questions or or comments thank you see none thank you so much superintendent Lavo thank you all right before we get into Lawrence Public Schools I do want to acknowledge our new superintendent once they stop talking catching up so before we go into Lawrence Public Schools uh budget I do want to acknowledge our new superintendent Dr Ral carero thank you so much for being here I know you haven't officially started yet but thank you uh for being here and on behalf of the committee we wish you the best of luck and I'm sorry um but you know we we got to keep pushing forward and you are you you you have been chosen and I know we're willing to work we have to move forward for the sake of the kids so I I we do wish you the best of luck and thank you again for for being here tonight you're welcome uh before we get into the budget I also I want I want to call I see that the vice chair of the Lawrence school committee is here you uh Mr Gman I saw I saw that you sent the budget and finance committee a document earlier today can you take the podium because I I want you to exp I'm a little confused on what you said I want you to explain that a little bit more before before we get into into the budget yeah of course uh Jonathan Gusman Vice shair of the Lawrence school committee uh 237 xx3 Lawrence Mass so we I was able to figure out like sit down and uh review part of the budget particularly because I was concerned of the extra funding right I was trying to figure out where is this money exactly how much money have we spent uh have we utilize all of the money that we have for for us as a as a district um but for this culture like we Me Myself and the department will be having a meeting soon to discuss that to see if a particular funding we couldn't utilize right for spender and we have to give it back or or what exactly is happening overall to understand this when we look at the particular increase on staff you know I always look at sustainability if we're increasing on staff right do we understand we have the budget for the next fysical years to keep them or are we're going to unfortunately do what we do a lot of times or we we have them for a year and then they laid off right most of these individuals particular in these particular positions when you look at them they're from the community right they the people that look like our students and we we're trying to figure out like how do we retain them how do we provide them the professional development that they need and the pathways to become teacher to jump into other positions where it our our school district um I send you a detail letter which provides you key inquiries that I had like the per pupil spending on the exceptional studies right when we look at the exceptional studies and the high needs and special needs students I I'm looking forward are we spending that on other schools with special needs students right I got a lot of challenging calls from parents are not obtaining uh the same equal support for the students and other particular District uh districts and I gave you also a graph that shows you where each School is right on spending and performance of student outcome so that also gives you how much is a school particularly spending and getting and are suceeding are we providing the same equal funding and opportunity and resources all across the districts and I'm a true supporter of student of autonomy right ensuring that every school within the district has the ability to meet with their principles to meet with their students and their families and then project what resources they need in order to move their particular School forward you know I think of our schools as small communities Within the districts that they represent in service and if you look around right you you have districts that are poorter than other ones other districts that have the wealth and the ability to provide resources for their kids furthermore overall um let me see uh there was particular questions that I address also for the district on the Staffing and enrollment uring like what are we going to be putting forward to ensure that we retain those teachers all across throughout the year of the particular fiscal year and then the multi-year revenue expense projection right what is that projection how are we make sure that we spend every dollar that comes into the district and that we allocated to the particular schools and then when the new physical year starts we ensure that we explore various communication strategies to inform parents of the resources in those particular schools and and I want to address you know the Lawrence the Lae the Lawrence education Justice Alliance because even during the budget process I came to this body with this usually I would do this at their end but we I didn't get a chance to do this because they took a vote the first day that the budget was presented because it needed to come to you guys to the budget sub to the budget committee for its passage so we didn't get the opportunity to go before them and express our inquiries and concerns and challenges with the budget and the other piece overall is trying to figure out um it's the extra funding like if you if there's like one thing that I'm really like what is going on with this money is the exra funding are we're going to give it back like right now we are let me see we got allocated uh 80 4 million and we have only claimed 51 million okay with that being said thank you so much councilors I'm going to ask that we hold our questions and comments for the end because we might get our answers to the budget presentation at this point uh representative from Lawrence Public Schools you guys have the floor welcome and I look forward to hearing we look forward to hearing from you guys thank you good afternoon City Council Members thanks for having me today Perez Chief Financial Officer for Lawrence Public Schools um and hopefully through this conversation and presentation we can answer some of jonath his questions uh if not then we do have a meeting on Wednesday as he noted um at 1 pm and uh we wish to answer those questions as well so before diving into the three item agenda that I have I just want to thank um all who participated in this budget development process as we finalized the process and get the full approval for the fy2 proposal budget I especially want to give a thanks to the school planning engagement cycle that being principles that being uh leadership team and central office departments without those efforts we weren't going to be able to build a sustainable and balanced fy2 budget so as I dive into the budget priorities the fy2 starting on I'm sorry what page are we starting on I'm not starting on a specific page from the budget budget book I'm going to do a highle overview and if you guys have questions from the budget book I'll be happy to answer perfect okay um so the budget priorities for the fy2 budget starts with and reflects our Student Center priorities and those are four major priorities that we focus on specifically acceleration cies and summer school opportunities to accelerate student learning through intensive instruction tailored to student needs enhanced curriculum materials Prof I'm sorry go a little slower what was the second one the second priority I'm I just started that one enhance curriculum materials and professional development for educators to further promote high quality instruction in every classroom and just to reference these priorities are on the first page of the budget book so you can find those there as well the third priority is a holistic learning environment and support of all student academic physical and mental Wellness including expanded social emotional services and extensive opportunities in the Arts Athletics and Beyond and finally the facilities upgrades repairs and school building improvements across the district as well as Furnishing for the renovated or newly um to be opened Oliver and Ley school buildings again I reiterate these are Student Center budget priorities that really um impacted our budgets for Revenue update and why we're here today the Lawrence Public Schools fiscal year 202 5 appropriation requests is $280 m1330 supported mainly from 95% state aid the fiscal year 2025 budget represents an 8% increase from the fiscal year 2024 adopted budget that increase primarily is driven and funded um cost by student enrollment if you note in the budget book there's student enrollment is $2,327 per student for a projected enrollment for next year for 2025 of 14,815 students that 8% increase is also um illustrating $2.8 million increase and that's mainly driven from both cycles of s SOA which is a student Opportunity Act that second cycle of student opportunity acts is what drives that 20.8 increase in that 8% increase year-over-year from 24 to 25 and just to talk a little bit about the student Opportunity Act and what that breaks down um we invested we are investing in 15 million of systems to support student families increased number of power professional interventionist counselors and behavior analysts across the district we're adding homeless and newcomer Specialists to schools launching a new parent AC Academy to provide families with tools and resources to engage in their students education revamping system of school-based trans translation and interpretation support and increas in supports for students with limited or interrupted education that's 15 million from that s SOA cycle I'm going to pause right there where what page in the budget book can we see these numbers there's a there's a breakdown of SOA and what the student Opportunity Act um represents on page four but I'm giving you what I'm going to ask moving forward is that as as you present your your executive summary um reference the page numbers so we can see the actual um numbers cuz that's easier on our end sure no problem thanks for the feedback so in addition 26 million was invested in systems to engage deeper learning we're launching and expansion of bilingual education program expansion of multilingual learner and special education co- teing programs and just to finalize on that student Opportunity Act piece per cycle 2 we're also um investing $8.8 million of hiring and retaining Educators committed to lawen success within that increased Partnerships with higher education institutions to develop Pathways to grow our own Educators and leaders retention initiatives including tuition assistance licensure coaching support and funded paid teacher and leader um fellowships the last piece here is Market salary adjustments for teachers par power professionals and school-based staff so what I just walked through is 49.8 million of student Opportunity Act within two cycles of this um process so that tells you right there how much we've really grown exponentially for The Last 5 Years and that's the trend that shows and this is what really is going to make fy2 a sustainable budget because we unlike other schools we're in a unique Financial Health environment where we didn't have to worry about Cuts we didn't have to worry about the Sesser Clift so to answer Jonathan's question the SOA funds in that increase is what covers that Sesser Cliff if you will and really carries out for a three-year span cycle so that's projected for 25 26 and 27 got it so a key question that you may have how do we spend our general fund budget how do we spend that 280 million that we're requesting so as you know from years over over 90% of our budget goes to people right that's our main asset if you look at page just to tackle Madam share um one second if you look at page eight pardon page nine is on the back there as I mentioned 280 million how do we spend that 90% goes to people our main asset buses building and out of District tuitions if you want to breakdown of what makes up that 280 million from just a high level overview 90% of that is salaries that's $191 million other categories include benefits utilities facilities Transportation which just last year we did a negotiation contract so that we we knew we were going to see an increase in transportation there and then other categories are supplies and materials and other charges which include other assessments um which we get from the city what positions are funded in this budget that's another main question right we've added 126 FTE for FY 24 and that's primarily driven from that increase of SOA that I explained and and really the vast majority of Physicians are in direct support of LPS students such as teachers par professionals and nurses and again you can see the breakdown of those FTE on page pardon me on page 13 in the middle there you can see LPS all funds positions by job class and it show you showing you a comparison from 24 to 25 and that variance is what I just mentioned the 126 FTE that truly concludes um our proposal here today um if you have any questions questions feel free to ask and I do the best in my abilities to answer the questions as as you know we we were pone from last Monday where you had a full crowd of of principles at superintendent leadership team um but they could not attend today but any other questions that that I may not be able to answer I can get an answer for you um as a followup I have a question sure it is my understanding and please correct me if if I'm wrong that the Lae board members approved this so you guys can have a two week time frame to get the budget to the city council why was this sent to us on a Friday before a weekend great question Madam chair um we submitted our electronic version of the budget book on May 15th just to um take note of javan's mention earlier and we made public um a public note on the Eagle Tribune I believe um that we were going to be presenting on May 21st for the Lae board so we we checked off all of our um dates and we presented on the 21st they saw no um objection to the fy2 budget they approved on that date and then we had a set date for June um last Monday for to present to you guys thank you U councilor's any I'm not really sure why you guys didn't receive it in that inum um but I believe we brought it over uh that Friday morning before our presentation on Monday thank you um council president just to follow up on that very quick um The Way That is supposed to be done is not because we have this issue before um it's not through the just publishing on the website you got to be you got to be noticed at the city clerk office with the specific amount of printing books just like the together with the mayor's book just for the uh for the future reference uh because I mean I know I find it I find it on the website it was very clear there but I mean uh it's not until we it get it get here officially it's like it's not been received understood uh but next next year I hope that you know we have this discussion uh two three years ago I believe during coic uh that we have the same issue but let's let's move forward let's understand how the process work sure um when we receive the budget from the mayor the mayor budget include the amount that is related to the school but we're not seeing the details so we need to we need to get the books together with this and and and un officially at the city clerk's office that it will become available to the public as it's supposed to so let's that's for next year make sure that that thank you councelor any questions or comments for um Lawrence Public Schools council president um like I always go I always go to the school that I represent uh that I used to represent that I represent at all uh because I'm a large counselor now but uh I always look at the page 29 and 30 which is the G med school and BR school okay and I look at that uh that potential increasement on on the on the budget I'm seeing that this year the school have about 492,000 for that uh for the Middle School uh as a difference and also 488,000 for that uh gilet Elementary absolutely um I I keep on I keep on kind of like you know keep on questioning around the safety portion of it uh that is too stipulated for this year when it comes to that U safety officers uh knowing the the challenges that we face around the area I think it is a little bit of a challenge to just have two before we have one I'm glad that we have two now uh but it used to be more like a a people person there that you used to take care of more issues because it was not a typical um uh safety officer it was a deeper connection between the student and the and the and that uh and the and the safety of the school and uh we don't have that person anymore now I'm glad that to see two people but I mean I think that you know if we keep on having issues related to the safety uh having an increase on that particular area will be uh needed not not even appreciated will be needed so just in case let's let's let's take you know things one step at a time absolutely and see uh how things goes I I agree with you Council Rodriguez um safety is is crucial for our students and I believe that you know that's definitely something that we can take into consideration my last question will be around the S then as I as I previously asked Transportation issues we need to start looking into what we're going to do as a city I'm seeing that the budget for the school department cancelers if you look at the last page about $13 million for the Transportation uh and uh and that's something that is very about yeah about $13 million with an increasement of fiscal year 2025 of uh $3.7 million uh it is a significant amount of dollars when it comes of Transportation um and we seen that every time we unfortunately see issues we kind of like tend to see more issues related to the transportation and issues happening within the bses uh or around the bus when it's going to whe they going to take the boss and stuff like that so I mean I think that we should look into it proactively MH um knowing the fact that that cost might keep on increasing but procurement and not going to you know going to keep on mention that because it is a tremendous issues that we have when it comes to procurement of those Services uh because there is not many competition but people tend to believe that the competition is not available for many reasons I don't want to say public I don't want to I don't want to just go into that but I think that we need to kind of like you know be creative around that specific line item okay because it's affecting the city tremendously no I mean it's has been growing year over-ear right that cost definitely increases um and just to highlight the significant variance there uh north of 3 3.7 million that's primarily driven through sped people transportation and that's it's a high cost so I'll definitely point second thank you Rodriguez yeah when it come to early college education I I would like to see that increasing and uh and overall the standards education for our students that for sure like when we compare our students to the uh po the percent the percentile is compared to the other to the other students outside of L uh it tend to believe that our students kind of like probably not perform as well um I believe otherwise but still we need to keep on pushing our students our parents um to to make sure that they get more involved and that should be one of the main goals I hope that you know with it uh with the new Administration we take that into consideration for sure thank you thank you I appreciate it counselor any other questions or comments councelor Lon yes to you Madame chair how much of we spending per student now so range for the proposed fy2 budget we're planning to be spending $2,327 per student that's for projected 14,815 students is that align with the need of the students the new Range the new amount that we going to spending it is again those are projections based off the governor's budget that was um delivered through the division of labor Services can you repeat the number please sure the cost 20 , 327 per student for fy2 we through you m so if you multiply those two councelor Rodriguez she has councelor L you may continue question councel yes I just wonder we spending this through you manare we spending 20,000 how much we receiveing per po that's the amount we're receiving we that's how much we're receiving per student correct that's that's the revenue that's what m Mone money is received yes and that's the amount we're spending correct thank you Council um yes thank you Madame shair can you explain the I'm going to spell it e s e r funds uh CU according uh to what I received the district uh got about $85,000 $80 million you want me to explain on the eser funds you mean yeah explain it and so the SR uh funds came in three Cycles Sr 1 Sr 2 and Sr 3 both two the first two cycles are closed right now the last cycle is sr3 which ends on 9:30 2024 um they've been given a oneyear extension truly for uh to wrap up sr3 um but only if if dollars are encumbered by by September 30 of 2024 any other questions or comments councelor lzone um and we're on a good in a good place right now of spending all of S3 by the end of that extension through you Madame chair how many new positions are we going to see in the new fiscal year as I said earlier 126 F do you uh could you mention in what which areas are we going to see it so you're going to be seeing that there's the breakout is in the budget book but I can articulate more on that yes please you're going to see um increases in teachers you're going to be seeing increases in par professionals um clericals for sure uh Our Family Resource Center increased 27 positions and that's primarily Specialists that'll be helping families across the district um with their needs uh through you Madame chair for the Family Resource Center uh some of those positions are uh clerical correct those are those are specialist uh clerical um non uh clerical Union positions can you explain what's going to be their responsibilities I can get back to you on that um once I Circle back with the director of f FRC um I'd be happy to touch base offline and I would like to know that specific what they will be doing for the students absolutely and why is the district proposing to add so many um uh par professionals and custodians why is that I can give you a more concrete answer offline as well uh please do yeah absolutely is it because you don't have the answer or do you have the answer I don't have the answer right now correct because I wanted to make sure that people understood that no absolutely absolutely yep uh I'm going to connect with the folks who who can provide that answer and and also through your mad chair uh and and I want to not in what schools specific schools and Y and I know we I asked something similar but do we know how many par professionals and custodians are we going to add um again the the breakout is on page 13 okay if you look at par professionals there's going to be an ad of 16 I see it clal you mentioned correct 27 of those are from FRC that's right any other questions or you yeah through you madam chair so if uh I'm going to have to explain the increase to my constituents how would you suggest that I how did you suggest that I presented can you explain to the people that are watching why are we seeing uh an increase in this budget sure as I said earlier we're going through uh student Opportunity Act second cycle right and that really serves the the students in needs and that increase primarily is through that student Opportunity Act um cycle which offers the Lawrence Public Schools a a greater a greater Advantage if you will um because of the community that we serve and unlike other districts we are face at an advantage and and sustainability if you will because um a lot of the other District this time around for fy2 had to cut we didn't have to do that we were at an advantage that we can increase our FTE and really uh get a return on investment on the student outcomes and I'm through you Madame chair I'm assuming that part of this uh increase is to benefit the students have you uh can you share and I know that we're here unfortunately we were not able to have the meeting that date M uh for reasons previous mentioned but can you share some of that if you can some of the uh um principles um comments on why increasing this buget will be beneficial for the school that they are uh working serving so as I mentioned earlier counselor luzong uh this this budget is student centered right everything that we do is for our LPS students um I can provide a definitely more in depth answer um offline but truly it's student centered and the principles that that work for LPS are really committed to the success of the student to each unique story and um I can tell you that during this budget development process they were fully engaged and fully aware um about the student Opportunity Act cycle number two and all of the increas that came with it whether that was serving the people which is increasing salaries that's main that's our main uh driver for for the increases and and really um adding FTE as well to better serve our community I through you Madame chair and what will be the new ft for the special education if you can point page I can find it you perhaps can get back to us for the special education it should be let's see that's on page 14 if you look at sped office there's going to be an increase of 24 ft there so it's going from 54 to 78 SC to7 you say can you mind repeating that do you m yeah that's fine page 14 and it's towards the bottom and it says sped office and it's 54 to 78 the variance there is 24 thank you so much no problem through you mad chair are we going to see an increase in the new superintendent salary I can't speak up on that um I think his contract is still going through negotiations okay are you you have more question no I'm just asking you C I got so many questions um and I'm going to put it out there uh uh because I've been getting a lot of complaints through you Madame chair about safety at the is what what is it called the center where the old high school is located um sorry what's the name on the the the on lawence street across from the library where the old high school used to be now that you have the old La high oh no it has a name conso uh um I'm getting complaints that school is in my district and I'm getting complaints uh from the parents about safety and about not having uh is um I just going to put what they told me sure that they when they go there they don't feel uh welcome or they don't have someone to talk you know directly about their concerns because safety is a major concern for some of these parents so I just going to put it out there because I know council president uh Council Rodriguez mentioned safety and if we can look into that it it I just uh I have concern from different families so of course yeah safety is a general conscent in that as I mentioned to council Rodriguez safety is is crucial um to our students and we we make sure that that's always in place um is the old high school I'm not from Lawrence but the old high school is where the Ley and the sces is exactly it has a nameb yeah I've been there school several times to speak with principles and I've never really felt unsafe um again I take take your feedback into consideration and definitely we can address that I think it through you Madame chair I think it's it's having too many students in this Center and I know this the center is old and having different um age students with different age exactly so it it for then it sound it looks like a a safety concern but hopefully if we can have a system that works for the parents someone that they can talk directly and they feel lost and they convey that to an unsafety uh situation not taking out of the table that we have fights and that that's been issues there yeah and that we know uh but uh in general if we can look into the safety and the way things are working hopefully we can find uh a new process that work a new system that that works for the families and the students because we understand that there's a lot of different there's two or three different School in this Center there is and that that may be one of the problems hopefully opening up the new Ley building will solve that issue we don't want to wait till then but um point taken so thank you and also to I want to add a comment to to your statement about your visit and not and feeling safe um things are always portrayed when there's somebody from the distri District if there's a counselor it doesn't matter where you are even in the private sector when your boss is coming and and you know everything is going to be good during that visit so just remember that all right um I I want to say it's true I'm just you know I'm honest um I I want to say uh going back to the four pillars that you mentioned I'm glad to see the facilities up upgrades uh I'm glad I'm glad to see the facilities upgrades I was at Lawrence High last month as a special um a guest speaker for one of the classes and I had an amazing amazing time there the students were great glad to hear it they did they they did bring up some concerns um that I'm actually I'm I'm going to wait until our new superintendent takes office cuz there more long-term things but um it was amazing feedback from the students and and I'm glad that they felt empowered to uh to to let me know their their frustrations I think some of them are are minor that can be probably fixed sooner rather than later others like I said them a bit more long term um but the good thing is is nothing they aren't uh too crazy or anything like that very uh great feedback that they provided so I'll share that with the district um when the time comes thank you I appreciate that feedback thank you and I also and I should have said this earlier um and I forgot I'm remembering now but for those watching at home uh we did receive an email from the intrum superintendent about his absence for today I believe his daughter has a tournament or something like that so I I want to say that publicly so people don't think that he's not here to not be here he he wishes he could be here but he can't be in two places at the same time um any other questions or comments councilors council president Oh I thought okay um I do want to take this opport I don't know if our new superintendent has anything to say but I always offered these are on my meetings if would like to say something you're more than welcome if not if if you're a good superintendent then then we will um continue is there anything that you would like to add of course you or are you just you know taking things in before observing well thank you thank you um I did have a meeting with uh in Trump superintendent Rodriguez last week and um he did mention to me that um uh he wouldn't be able to participate today because his daughter obviously is in a tournament and those are special moments um and in talking I told him that I would be happy to fill in his stad but that I wouldn't participate because I did not participate in the budget uh deliberations I think that your questions are valid questions um and I have taken mental notes I think I share with you the issue of safety I share with with you the issue of every dollar that we have we can squeeze to make it happen for kids okay um counselor uh or pres the council president I'm fortunate enough that he keeps me on my toe in my current job CU he asks his uh insightful questions um and I've always felt that if we're going to make changes for the betterment of students we have to make it at the school district area within the particular schools but unless staff and kids and parents uh feel safe they're not going to trust so it's all about trust so I have taken um you know good notes mentally as to what your concerns are and I I hope that I look forward to having conversations with you and hearing your concerns and trying to address them as best as we can together okay thank you one question M chair council president uh just like the like I asked the previous superintendent from the uh from The Vocational School uh do you mind sharing your kpis that you're going to have in your contract with kis uh key performance indicators oh those are standard yeah no I mean I'm assuming that there will be but I mean we just don't know so we will like to see those those kpis those come in the form of uh superintendent evaluations exactly so like how they you going to evaluate you in terms of what key performance uh indicators you going to have for the future of the school going to be your goals and stuff like that so we can have a better idea as how the schools are going to move forward absolutely I think that's important because those key indicators are what is the uh Foundation pillar when you're evaluating um a superintendent of schools and you want to measure his Performance Based on those key IND indicators that are prioritized and voted on by whether it's the LA board the uh school committee or input from the city council and it's a public process and you should hold me accountable to that thank you okay thank you thank you thank you before um before I get to councelor lzone to the CFO um I'm going to ask you the same question I asked the uh superintendent Lavoy What were what was the the major feedbacks that you that you the district received from the Lae board I always want to say L LA board every time yeah yeah so we we received um all positive feedback from board members at the LA board uh which is what resulted in their approval on on May 21st and um wishing us nothing but success for the new fiscal year and and wish him success as well for the new superintendent thank you councilor lone one last question I oh thank you you're welcome um we do have another meeting that we need to yes I think it's called the family uh the the new school is called The Family Resource Center no Department it's not rece to oh I'm sorry yeah okay okay wrong so my constituent send me the wrong information are we filing um re um let me look for the name of the uh are we submitting reimbursements late according to what you s there 328 million in this project and uh according to the de de uh data and we haven't claim it yet so is the school system filing reimbursement forms late no we we file all our all our deadlines are on time okay I don't I don't I mean I'm commander and chief right I I don't see anything behind schedule FS they said fonts D I think that statistic or data might be outdated is that the one that Jonathan Guzman sent earlier today yes he mentioned that at the beginning that's why I'm mentioning yeah I don't again I can answer any of those questions on Wednesday when we meet with him but I don't think anything is behind deadline hopef yeah just be ready to absolutely answer that question and I mentioned earlier we have a one-year extension which Dy um has granted for sr3 well that going to be my last question according to the mine shair thank you mine shair and thank you thank you um any questions we uh we do have the final special meeting in for all departments any questions um that we didn't cover here we will be asking questions um at the special meeting not just us but the rest of the counselors too so just just be ready for that and if and I'll get back to your responses as well and and if you can send that to the full committee and include our city clerk so she can get she can sign off on it too um so we can include that in our in our documents for that meeting that would be great have tomorrow I say just a comment uh I received a call from one of my my constituents this morning she was trying to bid in one of the contracts uh for the school something also for the uh the superintendent the new superintendent and it was difficult uh for me to provide her uh proper information so hopefully in the future if we can have this for information available for local vendors uh K it was like finding gold in the middle of the deser um so I know there's a lot of people in the community uh willing to work for the school system and having this process available for new vendors for local vendors it will be very beneficial official for the city okay if possible sure thank you you're talking about the procurement process yes yeah for vendors yes yeah new contracts okay thank you for the feedback thank you all right well that concludes our budget hearing thank you so much and we will see you when is it again council president oh Council c m madame Madame shair uh through you before we conclude the meeting I think that um I think that we should hear the the proposed amendment to the budget and keep this open maybe have if if if not I mean I think that it should be important to for this committee to look at it so probably once they get that amendment to us we should schedule another meeting to look at okay what is the difference so if we send it over to the full Council we might have a little bit of an issue I agree thank you not take good thank you so much uh LPS uh we will see you at the special meeting thank you for having me now before we conclude uh cfle do you have any information on the amended budget when I know that's being worked on you guys you guys are all set thank Youk you yeah sorry thank you mayor's working on that I've been working with the mayor on that but I I don't have a release date okay thank you okay oh council president to you mad chair and so like I mentioned I just want to say in public as I mentioned before when we have we were having a conversation uh as soon as you guys get that done please send it to us so we can cure those changes at this level yep uh and that way we can U schedule a new meeting because we don't have have a meeting right now because it's going to depend on um on that day when we receive it hopefully before I would imagine this week but I don't want to speak for the mayor but you know we've got to review a bunch of things so we've gone over quite a bit thank you can I get a motion to recess motion to recess motion has been made by Council lzone second by councelor uh council president Rodriguez all those in favor say I I and the eyes hav thank you so much counselors we have e e e ch ready ready good evening and welcome to the Personnel committee meeting it is now it is is Monday June 10th it is now 7:56 p.m. with me in the chamber we have counselor uh Wendy lzone to my to my left who is the vice chair of this committee and counselor fidelina Santiago pursuant to the to chapter 20 of the acts of 2022 this meeting of the Personnel committee is being conducted both in person and via remote participation a reminder that person who would like to listen or view this meeting while in progress May either attend in person here in the city council chambers or uh may use our Facebook and YouTube Pages um at this point can you please join me in the pledge of allegience I to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stand one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all counselors we do not have minutes to approve so we're going to go right into the agenda um are we have one new business and I'm also looking after that to to have an un a taed item be unted for purpose of discussion our first item is item 28924 the to extend to ex extend 90day appointment of acting chief of acting police chief meix bonja brought To Us by our uh Personnel director director Owens director Owens you have the floor good evening Madam vice president chair counselors uh thank you uh for having me uh Michael Owens personel director for the City come before you with the request uh that was submitted through uh the city clerk um and that is uh to extend the appointment of uh acting Chief Milik Bonia um he he was uh first appointed by the mayor on March 22nd 2024 per the city uh Municipal Code uh when a mayor appoints um department head City employee under a temporary appointment that's uh a municipal code chapter 2.4.0 that appointment is for a period of 90 days uh to extend the appointment uh the mayor would make a request to the city council and the city council um as you know has the authority to um extend that appointment up to um another 90 days so uh I'm here before before you to make that request uh that mil Bonia be extended for a period of um up to 90 days um from your approval thank you councilors any questions or comments is that my council's any questions or comments um councelor lzone through you m here is the administration planning to start doing the uh uh well they announc it and um like to thank the uh mayor Brian depa for announcing that can you explain if there's any uh time frame this any plan any uh suggestions of a possible me committee members yep I'm going to pause that right there because there's an actual item that I will be asking for a motion to untable so we can get into that discussion um but yes there's an answer for that uh councelor lzone can I get mad shair to you mad shair so are we going to wait for the all the item yep y let's wait for the item is there any questions in particular about extending U acting police chief meix Bona's um appointment seeing none at this point I will in councelor lzone can we have a acting Chief madx Bia can we have an answer some few questions morning Council so I know that you sent a report but I want the the people that are watching this uh um can you go over your report the one that you sent what report I don't this one I don't have it you don't have it okay well such a good report I don't have any yes that's the fire department yeah well it's not that this is another okay thank you Madame chair this is of the fire department report it's not it's not your department okay let me rephrase that apologies uh acting Chief can you explain um to the people that are watching the things are you being doing uh any idea of how many calls you you Department the department is responding okay so we'll start with the report of how many calls I got on Appo to the position on on on the 22nd of March and the department have received between um approximately 12,000 calls for service so that's a high volume that means I been working a lot some police department in the merac valley don't receive 5,000 calls a year we're receiving at least 45 to 5,000 a month and we're responding to all of them we going to work I mean it's a work in department and any other questions also uh through you Madame chair can you mention the meetings uh um I just want to people to understand how your meetings are conducted now and that you invite your uh Superior officers to this meeting of course uh in the bance police department the structures of police chief and for four captains and uh we have a meeting uh or we try to have a meeting every Monday or Tuesday at 9:30 in the morning in which we review the weekend uh review reports of everything that happened to city in those three days and if we see any deficiencies things that we have to be stronger or things that we need to do we address them at that time in my um in my office or the people's office it's not mine and we have an excellent leadership um team that works with me very experienced guy in which we have at least one one attorney which is on on Mauricio Ager Great Captain and we I like to practice transparency I don't take decision on my own I ask my team what do you think about it and we take our time making decisions uh thank you uh acting police chief Bona I just wanted to you m chair uh my constituents to know that the chief is uh actually uh implementing uh uh new things in the department and that uh uh he it's uh he works based on teamw workk um that's what I wanted to him to explain to the community uh thank you thank you for responding my questions question councelor Santiago yes can you explain what what is your your goal in your next 90 in your next 90 day well you know um it's I could be here all night explain it but I I don't have the time yeah but the main one well the main one is you know U we're going through an accreditation process right now is very important for the police department and we're working slowly to toward that so that when we transfer to the new building we good to go I mean our building needs a lot of work so we're addressing those issues but for me the most important part right now is to keep the department together so that we could work together so that people know that there's a big family that's getting along and working together but for me the the accreditation process is extremely important can you also counselor yes you have okay all right can I have a motion to send this up uh with a favorable recommendation the motion has been made by councel Santiago seconded by Council Lon discussion see none all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it thank you counselors can I have chair thank you counselors oh you guys are not done yet y can I have a motion to untable item 393-2320 police chief position search committee and update motion to un table on item 32 39323 a motion has been made seconded by counselor Santiago all those in favor say I I I and the eyes have it uh counselors as we all know recently the administration put out a press release about a search commit committee being um about the next process uh to find a a police chief a permanent police chief which includes a search committee if I can have our director explain exactly the vision uh how you explained it to me when we spoke of of this of this committee whom will be part of it or how do you the people that you envision to be part of it and um the timeline of of when we'll see this uh taken place thank you madam chair um so uh the uh time first I guess in terms of timeline um as soon as possible um I am working this is a top priority for me for the Personnel Department to move this along um I've you know I've spoken at length uh with the mayor on this issue um I think we're both in agreement of how important this is um and uh I think the mayor shares that that sense of urgency as well um so uh for me this is the number one priority for for uh for the Personnel Department this week uh you know there's been a number of uh emergencies that were trying that that I've been addressing um and as you know I'm um in my fourth uh about fourth week here with the city so I'm trying to prioritize the day-to-day work um and uh and you know the there may be an announcement um soon from the Personnel Department about kind of how we're organizing our work um and and this will be uh top priorities so um and the next step for me uh is over the next hopefully by the end of the week but I can't promise that but hopefully by the end of the week if not early next week I'm going to put together a memo to the mayor um that would um kind of talk about the makeup of uh the process the makeup of the uh search committee and so on um the early discussions um with the mayor's office um I've recommended and I plan to um highlight this in my memo uh my recommendation would be you know an appointment by the mayor's office appointment by the city council um it should have the Personnel you know Personnel on there as well not necessarily as you know a voting member or anything like that but um Personnel should certainly be involved um possibly one to two members from the police department constituents uh number of constituents from the community um and this process absolutely needs to be centered in the community uh there needs to be public input sessions um where you know the public can come to meetings and and uh Express to the search committee what they want to a chief and you know give Maybe input on uh candidates that may be in the process um and also um we plan to offer a um public comment um form that residents can you know go online City's website and submit public comments that way as well so um really this process needs to be Center absolutely should be centered in the community um driven by the community with a lot of input by the community and uh that that's that's my what I what I see from a Personnel standpoint the vision for it and um the mayor shares that Vision as well in my conversations with him of course I don't want to speak for him here uh on this tonight but um I've spoken at length with the mayor about this and he absolutely believes um the community really should drive this do so what will happen with the applications that we already receive yeah um so those applications are are not going to be considered at this point um any in all of those individuals can apply uh through through this process so it's really important that this process is you know open to EV everybody that it's transparent and that all applications through this process kind of go through the same front door so um all applicants anyone that's applied and I haven't seen any applications myself you know I haven't reviewed anything um so I would encourage anyone uh that has applied in the past to apply once this process is officially kicked off through you mad chair how is your office plan to promote this nationally y can you please explain sure um so I uh it was my um recommendation to the mayor and he has agreed um to uh bring on the services of a u professional consulting firm a talent acquisition firm um you see many of these executive they're often referred to as executive Search committees or executive you know search firms um often these committees will use an executive Search firm they're really Professionals in this this space um they they can assist us with promoting uh the search with getting it out to various channels social media professional boards police associations you know various Avenues uh they really have the resources and the expertise to to guide that process so um we're going to we're we're going through that process now to to you know reach out to a number of executive search firms once we retain them they're going to assist with assist the search committee throughout every throughout the entire process through you my yeah hopefully it's Al uh Al also the search will be at local I mention it national but hopefully it it will also be local and Statewide um I have another question to you Madame share uh for how long will the um job be up I mean the job description will be um posted posted thank you m chair posted um I I don't know exactly I mean it C that that's something that uh you know I'm I'm curious to hear from uh the search committee and the the the um executive Search firm kind of what their advice would be as to what what is an appropriate time period uh for that you know obviously there's a sense of urgency here I mean the city absolutely needs a permanent police chief turnover in the role just creates instability that you know I I I know that we we the residents can't um feel that that um instability any longer from from the police department I completely understand that but we also want to make sure that you know we we have it out there long enough to get it noticed to get the right candidates in the pool um so I think it's a balance between trying to do this in and you know a way that is considerate of of time but also we want to make sure that we have um it out there long enough um you know I would um yeah I can't really guess but you know it's this isn't something like your typical job posting that you put up for 10 days or even four weeks you know it's it's definitely a long longer process and that and sometimes in these process um these search committee processes you know um it will go out for a period of time and there aren't you know enough good applicants or the search committee isn't satisfied with those applicants and they and they repost it I mean a number of large communities in Massachusetts just did that recently they had it out for you know 90 days or whatever and and they weren't satisfied with the pool so they put it back out again so um yeah I I can't say specifically but umk thank you through you Madame just just to put it out there there's a tendency uh uh this Administration tends to posst um for for 10 days so I just hope that at this time it doesn't happen like that thank you for mentioning that 10 days is not enough cuz uh uh they tend to do that so hopefully this time the uh the job description uh the job position is posted for more than 10 days cuz 10 days is not enough to post for a national or uh Statewide or local search yeah and and I councel I absolutely agree with that and you know my advice uh is going to be that we this needs to be posted longer than 10 days I mean this is a a probably one of the most important positions in the city and it's way too vulnerable to have it out there for 10 days thank you thank you m chair uh director I would like and and obviously you guys handle it how you want at the end of the day but um from my understanding the last time we spoke about this item uh the the 13 applicants did not have not received well I don't know now but at that at that time um did not receive any communication from the city I would like them to at least get some type of communication from us letting them know that we're restarting the process and that they're they are more than welcome to to reapply if if they're still interested because I don't think we have sent anything so I could be wrong now I I don't know but I think I think that that that's a nice cesy to do absolutely no that's a that's a great point and like I said I I know nothing about that pool um as I'm sure you all know you know I'm uh still getting my bearings here and uh there's been a number of uh things that have kind of risen to the top of the pile and I just haven't even had the uh the chance really to look to look at that but absolutely all of those applicants um should be sent a notification to let them know that this process is is opening back up and they're more than welcome to apply so I'll make no note of that and make sure it happens thank you counselor any other questions or comments seeing none thank you so much director thank you thank you I appreciate it thank you can I have a motion to table item 390 39323 motion to 3933 second motion has been made properly second all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it this point can I have a motion to adjourn motion to motion has been made properly second all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it thank you so much e e e e