good afternoon I'm now going to welcome everyone to Wednesday September 25th 2024 meeting of the norfor County Commission and call the commission to order on Wednesday March 29 2023 Governor Healey signed into law the
acts of the sign into Law chapter 2 of the acts of 2023 an act making fiscal Appropriations for 2023 which includes a two-year extension of the option for public bodies to hold remote meetings by suspending certain
provisions of the open meeting law Mass General Law chapter 30A section 20 that action was effective immediately extending the current option for remote meetings through March 31st 2025 thank you going to ask everyone to
stand and join me in saluting the flag I to the flag un States thank you I'm going to take attendance now commissioner stady I'm present commissioner Collins president Richard do we have your permission to uh
use your signature stamp for your vote Yes uh permission is granted sir and commissioner Shay is present we have a full board no executive SE session today number four minutes of past meetings commissioner Collins Richard you want to do it you
want me to do it I'll move appr I've read them all they look fine they I'll move approve of the Open session meeting of September 11 that's presented second motion made in second all in favor it is next move approval of the Open session meeting of September 18 as
presented second Mo Maiden second did all in favor I I a vote and I'll move approve of executive session September September 11 with a stipulation minutes shall not be released until U the matter has been resolved second motion made and seconded
minut September 11th all in favor I I vot thank you appointments we have none number six public comment each week at part of our meeting we have public comment the public members of the public could come in and
talk to the commissioners um or people could zoom in and talk to the Commissioners and now is the time to do it if there's anyone on the zoom who wants to speak to the commissions John did anyone you have anybody that's come to you speak to the
Commissioners no sir last call for public comment seeing none we'll move along to number eight number seven old business seeing none we'll go to number eight Richard I'm going to grab this matter I'll grab this one if it's okay
goe there's a notice of FMLA effective 82624 U the name has been redacted in accordance with the health insurance portability and accountability Act of 1996 guidelines and this is referred to 0902 and I'll move the um FMLA
notice we have a second yeah uh is that something that we we do anonymously we don't know who it is or I'll find out when I show up next week or something I don't know is it um this a county person I'm assuming is
someone in the county is the county person and uh by FMA guidelines we're not allowed to divulge that person's name in it's public meeting okay got it okay yep I have second y motion made second on the FMLA effective 8262 for reference
numbers 0902 all in favor all it is a vot thank you Rich do you have the payroll you want me to read it yeah Peter you got a handle I don't have it that in front of me today payroll expense War go ahead uh I move 25-12 payroll of the county in the amount of1
47,51 1874 I'll second that motion made in second it all in favor it is a go next I move 09-04 d25 expense of the county the amount of
$596,500 2021 John croman thank you Mr chairman if it's okay with you commissioner I'll I'll wrap 10 and 11 into this report there are no warrant uh arer warrants for approval this week I think I previously mentioned we were tracking quite a few in the queue um
several of those broke yesterday um so you'll be seeing approximately five at least five ARA Awards next week possibly more um I wanted to give the commission is a brief overview where we stand with
the overall Grant um award in terms of dollars as the Commissioners know broadly $137 million came to the county for distribution of which the Commissioners will holding back 3% for administration
and projects of their own design that total is about $4 million so the real dollars that are going to the communities um total is approximately $133 million to date you've awarded $128
million however 5 million of that 128 has been returned so uh in real terms you get to award um an additional $5 million so when you remove that 5 million um as actual dollars out the the
door and the amount remaining to award you're down to $123 million or $10 million more to go before you have fully distribute the funds when you see these applications as early as next week um by my estimates I
believe the five that are in my view right now total 3 million the uh the additional awards that are behind it are large as we see at least one major Community start to engage and really begin to spend down there a lot so I
fully expect within the next four weeks that the the county will be looking at its final Awards associated with the program um if it's if the Commissioners wish to have some kind of a presentation at that time so that we can publicly dis uh
disclose and describe where all the funds went by by type and by amount I'll be happy to do that as we approach the end of calendar year in 2024 that is your update sir any questions around
Opera commissioner Mr chairman Mr chairman thank you through you to uh uh director uh the five million then I get to hate to say the word is like found money and it's really not allocated per se in the original
allotment so is that something we're going to have some dialogue with you about in terms of where some of that could go to other towns or even for our own purposes in the county is that extra five million right no I I don't think that's a I I don't think that's the
proper way to view it effectively there are several communities that have decided not to go forward with a particular Grant or they would given a grant and didn't spend all of it so they have sent back that amount and wish to redistribute that same amount in other
projects under their total allotment so those dollars have gone back to will go back to the communities it's not Surplus dollars okay so you say we had 128 million but then I heard you say but really 5 million is coming back so it's
123 now you're saying it's not coming back so like say Canton let's say Canton we're supposed to get five million and Canton only spent four million you're trying to tell me that Canton now is saying we're going to keep that million and put it where we want don't we have to have some regulatory control over that and have them
reapply um they do not get to spend it anyway they want they're going to reapply that million dollar the the new million dollars um for new programs no I get you what I'm saying maybe it's a different point of view they had their chance they've already had it why can't
we look at it a little differently and redistribute excess money to other towns or for our own County uses so Richard I to see where you going from going with it but um we talked about this at length over the over the years and so each town
was allotted a certain amount of money right and we encourag those towns to come up with a backup plan in case something fell through or the money wasn't used and so each town still has their allotment and now we go into the backup plans now if the Backup backup
plans don't work that's when it becomes free cash for other projects but right now it's still with the T the idea is that money is still going to the town although if they didn't use it it comes back to us and we dish it back out after their application is approved again so
we're we're trying to keep them so if Canton didn't spend their money they didn't spend it of it but they're supposed to get say they're supposed to get 10 they spent eight the 2 million would come back to us but they already had a backup plan in place for that too and so now we're going back to that now
if for some reason they can't capitalize on that too in the time frame we put together then it comes back to us for other purposes but we're still within the timeline that they can do what they have to do with it okay I just hope that we'll have the same I trust we will have the same level of scrutiny and
evaluation on say secondary funds in other words if that money couldn't have been used maybe they overestimated maybe the bids came in lower those things happened I get it I get what you're saying and I totally understand your explanation but what I'm saying is I don't like the idea of saying no no no
that's Brook Lines no no no that's no that money is the county money we should be evaluating that and if they have worthy projects that's fine but if they don't that should come back to us and then we can maybe reallocate to other towns you know or to ourselves that's
all saying that's all we're the same yep um now that there's Clarity there I just wanted to add this was all part of the close out process every Community had to give us a close out plan and the county agreed to uh a variety of these plans I believe we have 23 communities that have
close out plans approved now and so when a community sent back money in their close out plan they articulated where they plan to reuse the uh the former funds and for 23 of the communities we agreed to those terms and we gave them extensions to get that work done before
December uh 30th 2024 so there's a very there very much of a process um that's involved here to ensure the communities have every opportunity um but we have lined up um a series of check-ins between October 30th and December 30th
to make sure that the communities are adhering to those plans if they're not and some of those funds to commissioner st's Point become a available because the communities have run out of time they've run out of eligible projects we have at least six eligible projects
currently in the portal from other communities that have put in for those excess funds as well as County opportunities to clean them up so the fail point and you're right commissioner Collins uh this would be the this is the last opportunity for the counties to re communities to reuse those dollars
they're running out of time okay okay we're fine thank you and everything that goes out Richard has to be vetted by um The Outfits the two outfits that have been vetting these things from the beginning well that I mean it's almost October guys I mean that's why I'm
looking at the clocks ticking and you know it's almost October and the the program ends at the end of the at end of the year as we've been told over and over again so that's why I was saying too if there was some extra money maybe we take it I know we have projects in the county we need to address you know
at the agie school and other places and maybe we could handle it faster than you know recycling it but I I I understand what you're saying I understand the process I got it I just hope sure it's the same level of scrutiny and if they don't meet it then that's going to come back and hopefully it gets utilized and
not sent back to the federal government we don't want to be sending money back if we can you know there a one time shot so okay thank you okay anything else on Opa okay number 12 report from the procurement Department bid opening in
contract award fishan will we have a contract award today for the golf cart concession for a period of one year with a two-year option to renew also we have superintendent Carl
Miner here with us today if there any questions thank you Mr chairman uh well we have that contract what as you stated it was the only bidder for this contract they meet all requirements it has been reviewed by our CPO and Carl has made a
recommendation to make this award they are the existing vendor with this concession as well you like these people I do Richard you want to make the motion you do it it's fine all right so
um his name right there okay yeah so um it's Country Club Enterprises Steel m light body electricians um golf cart concession for
a period of one year with two one two one year options to R it's hard to read this the way it's written uh bid scheduled for each year is 53% to wall and recreational facility and 47% the Country Club Enterprises for sales lesson
$185,000 and then 75% to wall recreational facility and 25% the Country Club Enterprises for sales greater than 185,000 so move I'll second that motion maid second any questions at all on this
award I mean it's a standard award uh these we familiar with this Vendo they our present vender now K right yes and they have a good record okay no reason not to sign it today
and okay last call all in favor hi okay sign up Country Club vendor for three years stop talking about cge thank you commissioner State commissioner Collins chairman welcome
Take Care thank you thank you thank you Trish okay Trish I like how you're personing a few words that was well done that okay um number 13 report of the county
director we're all set with kle right yep K you don't have to stay unless great all right thank you okay thank you Mr chairman a few items um Commissioners um every two weeks uh respective stakeholders from
facilities procurement my office meet with um khib Architects and uh the engineer Carly engineering to discuss the progress towards two large uh capital projects the dham district court building management system which is funded by arpa and the dam Superior
Court hbac which is funded by Capital we are pleased to let you know that the denam district court project will be prepared and sent out uh to the central register this Thursday uh with the expectation that in early October we'll have a bitter walkth through bids will
be due on this particular project by October 22nd um and the bid award hopefully by the end of October um because this is ARA related um we are projecting this particular project to be in the um um High six fig range and it
would be beneficial to have this obligated to the winning bidder uh certainly before um the beginning of November uh we do expect Adam Superior Court and the associated um project to be ready for bid in about uh two to four
weeks um it's following the same path um and um we will let you know as soon as that's ready um I wanted to also let uh the Commissioners know that we were approached by uh gillies's um home in Norfork um to set up a date for the
Commissioners to visit their site um they expressed an interest in hosting the Commissioners to see the good work that they do um today commissioner stab has responded and we will be working with him to uh finalize a date for that visit what did they do uh commissioner
stti did you want to talk a little bit about Gillies they uh commission Shay asked what they do I'm not overly familiar with the organization but I know they do human services workout in that section of the county it's yeah it's focused towards
um dealing with men with uh substance abuse problems I believe they're located in rent them I'm not exactly sure but I know it was representative Roy and vau both had I run into them at different occasions and said okay I do know there I'm Sor yeah okay that's say d take a
look at them and if there's some way we can assist them in some way that you know might be a good thing so that's okay thank you okay um a reminder the Commissioners will be switching their hats to trustees this evening for the monthly norfor County
Agricultural high school meeting believe that meeting starts at 6 PM in wall Poole um one of the items that has come up as a result of the transition on procurement unit relates to uh Project work at run District Court um I'm
speaking with our engineer Patrick Higgins who's been helping me on this um a brief background for the Commissioners about 24 25 years ago the rentham district court had a um oil tank that was being removed um it's no longer
going to be used to heat the building in the removal of the um the tank the vendor accidentally released some amount of fuel into the ground um out side R District Court uh to remedy his error he
removed uh quite a lot of soil in and around the area where this release occurred about five years later the county realized it needed a new septic system um put in for rthm district fort which was on the same side of the building not far from where the release
occurred during that excavation it was determined that there was still some ground contamination from the release that occurred uh 5 years earlier um the county following state law reported it the Department of Environmental Protection
opens up a case and as so often is the case the The Cure or the remedy um includes not just the immediate removal of a product but also the monitoring of the site for some years going forward until and if the product is determined
to be completely gone so over the last 20 years the county has been engaged in a process to monitor the site and file the reports with the Department of Environmental Protection um we understand that the individuals who had provided that
service on our behalf have now retired um we have been contacted by a vendor interested in assisting Us in the site and before we engage them we are going to be putting the service out to bid or at least determining how much um money this particular contract will be um our
efforts will be swift because we understand um a deadline is approaching I believe October we're filing um the report with the D so before you in a short week or two will be a request to approve contracts associated with that
particular site um next I just wanted to let the Commissioners know um I've spoken to the um the state's trial court facility manager about a host of things and I
inquired about quiny and he mentioned to me that the quiny district court has been rebid um and this is for the location of staff to a location that can house their operations while they renovate and build excuse me build a new courthouse on that site he told me the
new bid is closing on uh Friday October 4th which is a week from this Friday and they're hoping to see some action associated with their new uh newly devised scope for that property and then finally um the schools have uh informed me they have completed
their study uh associated with HVAC on top of Kemp Hall um that was a arpa funded study I spoke to Pete Murphy yesterday I'm looking for some slight additional information before we turn this over to our procurement unit for bidding uh the Commissioners may recall
that this particular project was always envisioned to be funded not just through the study but also the project work itself with arpa funds to assist the schools in this um Improvement um as soon as I get the information from Pete I will pass it along to our procurement unit so that we can get this out for bid
without delay as well so our perim unit I've already spoken to Trish and will and Amy uh they're going to have a very very busy fall there are several large procurements um that are now upon us and this will continue into the fall as we get closer to wrapping up the arper
grant um so their work is prominent right now but that is the update I have for the day thank you okay anything else for the county director any questions okay moving right along emergency items and topics that
the chair did not reasonably anticipate I don't have any today last call anything else at all Commissioners okay I'll entertain a motion to adjourn yeah I'll move we adjourn at uh
125 second second to adjourn all in favor join thank you very much Richard you're gonna be there tonight I will be there I'll see you there yep