Good afternoon. I'm now going to call the Wednesday, January 7th, 2026 meeting of the North County Commission to order. I'm going to read the remote executive order on remote participation.
And on March 28th, 2025, Governor Healey signed into law House Bill 62, an act relative to extending certain COVID 19 measures adopted during a state of emergency, which includes a 2-year extension of the option for public
bodies to hold remote meetings by suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law, Mass General Law, chapters 30A, sections 18- 25. That action was effective immediately extending the current option for remote
meetings through June 30th, 2027. Welcome. We are live and on Zoom today. I ask everyone to join me in saluting the flag. >> I pledge to the flag of the state and to the republic for which it stands, one
nation under God, indivisible with all. >> Thank you. Happy new year to all. This is our first regularly scheduled meeting for 2026. Uh we have published a calendar. Uh
hopefully we will stick to it. We probably don't won't delineate any. We probably may add to it. But we have accepted a calendar in the last meeting in December. And if anyone wants to know any of our meetings, we have them all posted for the whole year. Thank you very much.
Call to what? Roll call. A roll call. Commissioner Stady >> present sir. >> Commissioner Collins >> present. >> Chairman Shay is present. We have a quorum. Number three, executive session. We have no executive session today. Number four, minutes
of the December 31st meeting. I'd like to do them and then we'll go right to our appointment. >> I'll move approval of the minutes as presented >> for the open meet session meeting. Richard. >> Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yep. Second. Motion made and seconded on the open
session meeting of December 31st. All in favor? I. It is a vote. Secondly, >> roll call vote because >> roll call vote because one is okay. Commissioner Sty, >> yes. I vote yes. >> Commissioner Collins. >> Yes. >> Chairman Sherry votes yes. It is a vote. >> Uh I second executive session same day.
>> Will you have permission, Mr. Chairman? And I'll move approval >> of the executive session minutes of 12:31 with a stipulation not to be released until such time as GSO declares. >> Second. >> Motion made and seconded. Roll call vote. Commissioner Sty,
>> I vote yes. >> Commissioner Collins, >> yes. >> And Chairman Shay votes yes to vote. Thank you. Number five, appointments. Uh, today we have some people from our upper Accountants
for Lawson. >> Yep. >> From Clon Lawson. This is a little update. I'm going to have you introduce some joint right. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon, commissioners. It's my pleasure to bring forth our representatives from Clifton Larson, also known as CLA, that you hired uh several years ago to help the
county manage um the American Rescue Plan Act, also known as ARPA Grant Program. As the commissioners know, with one year to go, um we have a year full of uh monitoring and adherence to the federal guidelines and the rules associated with the monies that have
been distributed to all the subreients. Um the partnership with Clifton Larrison extends beyond Nor County. It reaches all the other counties in Massachusetts. Um it's been an exceptional partnership, not only working with Clifton Larson, but um having the experience uh to work
with the other counties simultaneously. Um over the last several years CLA and the county have put in place several measures to ensure compliance with the federal rules and the federal guidelines. Um as I mentioned the last phase is really principally around monitoring are the comm are the
recipients subreients doing with the money that they told us they were going to do what is the status of those projects and so forth. With one year to go I thought it would be appropriate to bring Clifton Larson in. uh mostly because you haven't seen him in several years, but also to give you an update on how the big picture looks with 12 months
to go. Um joining us today are Sean Mcoldrich and Katherine Pomeroy. Uh two folks that have been exceptional to work with, timely, professional, thorough, always right. Um it's been a pleasure working with them. So without that, I will yield my seat, Mr. Chairman, and uh
Katherine and Sean can join you. There are a few items that I thought we would go over and I'll speak to them from the corner over there. Thank you. >> All right. Welcome. Sean and Catherine, have a seat. >> Thank you so much. >> Better. I'll roll it. >> Thank you all very much for having us
today. >> Okay. >> Sorry, I know if I podium or whatnot, so that got >> Oh, you're fine. We'll >> pick everything up. Excellent. Watching. Very good. >> Uh so again, good afternoon and thank you commissioners for allowing us the opportunity to speak today. Um as John mentioned, my name is Sha Goldrich uh
from CLA. I'm a principal in our state and local government uh industry practice and we focus on client accounting and advisory services. So for the most part our group full uh solely focuses on Massachusetts, municipalities anywhere from interimm roles uh such as finance director, town accounting to
state reporting, ERP implementations and obviously grants management. Uh I'm also joined by my teammate Katherine Pomeroy who has been instrumental in our overall ARPA grant work. >> Afternoon everybody. >> Good afternoon Katherine. And before I get into the weeds too, I also just wanted to thank the county for their for
this overall opportunity and really partnership um over the past four plus years, especially uh John Cronin and Bill Buckley uh running point in the general management of the grant. Also Bill Gin on community support and Joe Diaria and Kylie Maulharn too from HL
standpoint. Uh this overall program would not be the success it is today without everyone's efforts planning and eye on the future. So really appreciate the partnership. um you know we do a lot of work as I mentioned with other local municipalities too and sometimes you get in what you get out right so if
everyone's on the same page and everyone pushing for the same direction certainly makes life a lot easier um and always approach a success so want to give a little bit of background on ARPA in general and where we were in 2021 uh where we're at now and then where we're
going to be in the future so just as a background for everyone even though I know you all know this um back on March 11th 2021 one, which seems like an eternity ago, the American Rescue Plan Act was signed into law, providing billions of funding to various states, uh, tribes, territories, and local
governments. So, specifically for North County, um, you were awarded $137 million roughly. Um, and approximately 5 months later, the county and CLA entered into two agreements. One were for a digital component, which was now known as Northfor County ARPA.com. And this
allowed us to build a custom portal for not only Northfor County but the other counties that Mr. Crony mentioned to. And this allowed us to do application intake, eligibility review, multi-level eligibility review, workflows, reporting and document retention, which is so
important from a internal control standpoint and also from an audit standpoint. >> Some of those tools and the cost of those tools was um shared with the other counties too. So there was a good good buying power associated with >> that is a a great point on the digital component. So there was that four-way split so that Norfick County didn't eat
the entire cost in developing these platforms. Second component was the consulting component um which encompassed application review, general guidance, tracking, reporting and of course sub monitoring as Mr. Cronin mentioned. So and as a refresh um all
your member cities and towns received a percentage of funds allocated by their population amounted to over $133 million of that 137 million. So the county yourself kept about 3% for administrative costs and general projects for ARPA.
Communities have the ability to apply for various ARPA funding under ARPA eligible ARPA eligible categories which were mainly laid out in six phases to start which was water sewer infrastructure, broadband infrastructure, premium pay, addressing
negative economic impacts, supporting public health response and of course rev loss which is your traditional government services. Uh I won't get into the additional subcategories added after the fact and then added again after the fact by the federal government but all in all after the last update there were
a total of 10 major categories with 126 individual subcategories all had their own complexities programmatic data requirements and support required. So, it was quite the uh the lift and every time I think there was a new income or final rule, Kath and I just did an eye
roll and said, "Great, we got some more ring to do tonight." Uh so, I just want to give some background on that. Uh where we currently stand now. So as the years have gone on and once once was a heavy application intake and review has shifted to reporting and
has shifted again to monitoring. Overall during the application stage which ended effectively 123124 there was a total of 390 applications entered into your portal which was a a staggered amount. I don't know if any of us would have thought that amount of applications would have been entered in
by all your subreients in your county uh yourselves. Out of that 390, 281 were approved and that 281 also includes 15 additional aotment applications which we'll get into that in a second. Uh, additionally, reporting occurs on a
quarterly basis. We actually have one due this month. So, on a quarterly basis, we take your general ledger information, we tie it out to what's already been approved. We make sure that gets uploaded to the federal portal. All the programmatic data gets in, ticked and tied and submitted um with a nice
PDF provided after the fact. Also, on a quarterly basis, your subreients complete reports within your portal to make sure that we have an understanding in terms of where their spending is at, what they've been spending their money on, including general ledger support, which then also plays into our subreient
monitoring to make sure that you are are complying with federal regulations, and that they your subreients are complying with what you set it out to do for those applications. And so since that count since you the county are providing federal funds they
become a subreient and so with that we need to monitor for compliance and we also for single audit purposes. So at a minimum each subreient is monitored on an annual basis. Also important to note that if a community received ARPA funds as a reimbursement no monitoring is
required as that work was done up front. So the best applications were reimbursement applications. There's no subsequent monitoring because they spent the money up front. We simply reimbursed them. We checked for support and compliance to start which was uh
excellent for those that could do that. Based on our current monitoring procedures and subreient reporting as of September 30th, 2025, there are approximately $7.6 million left unspent as uh as of 9:30 of the 133 million.
Now, your subreients have until the end of this December to spend those monies. And so, what CLA and also the county are doing is to make sure that your subreients are on the right path to spending to make sure that if excess funds happen to exist, which right now
we do not know if the entire 7.6 million will remain unspent. I guarantee it will not um that those sub significates are spending down accordingly. So, as I mentioned, out of those out of that 7.6 6 million unspent as of 930. The vast majority is comprised of two
communities which we are working with um with another four being on the the next tier down. Um as I mentioned earlier too annually we review each subreient's audit report. We also update our risk assessment of these subreients and then based on that
level uh of risk we are conducting our monitoring uh for each subreient at least annually uh rotating them out each quarter. Team members that perform the monitoring work will review the work uh prior to submitting to the county for their final approval. And this monitoring over a
specific quarter um uh deals with a slew of items, but most notably checking the support, the GL support to make sure that they actually are spending down their funds in accordance with what they apply for. Um, also if we do find any sort of finding, we make the county
aware and we also communicate with the subreient to make sure that uh the costs are being appropriately um recorded on their ledger and appropriately spent. I think in the time that we've been running the grant, there's been only one occasion when a community's auditor has
flagged an item associated with u a policy matter. I think I don't think it was procedural that uh was related to the county's funding to the subreient with respect to ARBA. That's remarkably low and I know you folks were front and center with that community as they tried
to address that finding. Agreed. Yes, we we view our relationship with obviously the county but also your subreients as making sure everyone's in compliance, making sure that you know u all monies are being appropriately spent and recorded, right? So, if there's ways we can help in terms of guidance or overall
reporting, we are certainly working with the county and your subreients to make sure that is accurately going on. Um, additionally, we will we will reach out to any of our subreients to inquire about significant changes um on their system, on their personnel, and to check in on these statuses to make sure
they're fully spent by 123126, which is John alluded to is the um the endgame for the spending for non-administrative costs. uh any questions arising from these reviews uh or or the documentation of
the response from the or subreient are followed up on. Um I believe the total number as of today eight individual subreient monitoring reports have been provided to the county with the last two um in process. I think there's just one outstanding question John on the uh on
the 93 reporting. So we're getting really close on that one. Uh many of the county subreients have been able to use their funds for the intended purposes and have been spending their awards down diligently. Uh based on our observations, the county's funds are being used appropriately and going to
good use. Through our monitoring, we have identified projects coming in under budget and have worked with the county and the subreients to notify us of those excess funds that are now being transferred back to the county so we can approve and um dole out to other
appropriate applications that have been approved as of 123124. So, in terms of the future, uh, as the opera grant starts to wind down, uh, I do believe the county is in great shape to continue to monitor, monitor these awards, uh, complete the remaining
quarterly reports to the federal government and close out the grant successfully. Uh, the county has a plan in place and forms in place to potentially move surplus funds returned by some recipients and to comply with federal guidance. The last federal guidance that uh came out, there was an
additional segment of FAQs and it essentially allowed some flexibility in terms of moving around funds between obligations, which was great. Um, and obviously as a reminder, our goal is to make sure this grant is 100% spent with nothing going back to the feds um prior
to 123126 uh which again is that spending deadline except for admin costs. So, uh, with that, I again want to thank the county, uh, for their partnership and finishing strong, which will almost be a six-year grant by the time we are done with this, uh, come the spring of
2027. Uh, so with that, anything to add from Katherine and John? Otherwise, I'm happy to take any kind of questions that the group may have. >> Go ahead, Katherine. >> Oh, I was just going to say, I think Sean covered everything. >> Okay. The other thing I want to emphasize, commissioners, is that as
Sean indicated, um the biggest part of monitoring is sort of um looking over the shoulder of the subreient. So you're doing what you said you going to do with the money um and prove it. So right now we've identified about 7.5 million out of the 133 that was sent out. That has
no proof of being spent. It doesn't mean they won't. They've got nearly 11 months and some change to expend that money. So over the next 11 months, CLA is going to be checking quarterly on how the progress um is going with the community's use of those funds. So we
don't have an ARPA surplus. That's that's very clear. The funds have been awarded. It's clear now that as we approach December of 26, the game will be to ensure that they use what was awarded. And if they don't, Sean indicated, there's a plan in place to come back to the commissioners and
discuss whatever that might be. But as of right now, there's no surplus. Correct. Real surplus. No. Correct. All all money all money is accounted for and obligated. >> Thank you. >> And those people have already submitted.
Some of the towns have already submitted if there's going to be extra money. >> They did. >> They already put their digs in, so to speak. >> We have um multiple what we call excess capacity grants from about I think it's nine communities. >> I think 15 total, nine communities, but 15 overall in >> we're one of them. the county put in
access to to help clean up anything that looks like a surplus. Um, so >> okay, >> that is our relief valve. >> Richard, any questions? >> Yes, sir. I have my hand up. Uh, is okay? >> Yeah, I can see you. >> So, three questions. Uh, number one,
nice job. you have a a written summary of that he could forward to us or provide us at a a later date just to have I'd like to have a record of that if I could just to have I get out about and it's good to talk about opera and what we're doing and questions come up. Number two, I thought I heard you uh say
at the end of your presentation you said we have a mechanism for moving funds around and yet I'm hearing director Croning saying we don't have that. So what is it? If we say we have somebody comes back and says, "Hey, we got three million, we only spent 3.9." What happens at 100,000? Can we put it
somewhere else? We pocket somewhere else. What's the deal with that? >> So, there is a mechanism in place to deal with any surpluses that the communities may have. >> Before we get to the mechanism, we do work with the communities to find out if there's other eligible uses of the money
within the grant that's already been approved. We're dealing with that right now with NEM commissioner. However, if they've run out of options and the surplus is real, what we've what we did is, as I just mentioned, we put in place about 10 to 15 excess capacity
grant applications that have been approved in the portal as of 123125 24, excuse me, that may be used to receive all or a portion of any surplus. So, it's a tool and we have not had to
extensively use it. We used it a little bit earlier in the year. Commissioner, you may remember when Canton and a couple of other towns had small transfer uh values, but right now we don't have any real surpluses to initiate any meaningful use of those excess capacity
applications, but it's there if it if we do. >> Okay, great. That's excellent. >> All right, one more a quick one. um not really quick but say on a negative side let's suppose in the process of our examination by the federal authorities
uh US Treasury or whoever does it they come across something that perhaps is a skew what do we have a what mechanism and what assurances we have from you that you'll stand by us and help us on that >> well I think uh commissioner great question I think we've done that already
too um in the terms of single audits right so on a annual basis not only does the county get a single audit based on the federal grants received, but also your subreients also go through the single audit process. And so when that happens and if there are questions from external auditors, we certainly hop in.
I can't tell you the amount of times we've hopped on Zoom calls, team calls, or uh met with the external auditors to help them understand where our thinking is in terms of why it's eligible, providing documentation uh to support that and then having that back and
forth. Um, as I mentioned, Commissioner Sty, this is a true partnership. So, we are we're not going anywhere and uh we're here to see this grant all the way through. >> Well, you know, I mean, I may one more question, Mr. Chairman, if I may. >> Uh, just my fear is that it is year 2,
2026. I'm can't used to say that. This is it. And for years, all of us collectively as commissioners, uh, well, I'm our director and assistant director, we've been talking about this, you know, dead the deadline. This is it. This finally here. So, I'm afraid there could be and it's only natural um a kind of
push at the end to get things done and that could lend itself to a mistake. So, is it realistic to say that perhaps perhaps our work may carry over to 2027 in terms of examination and questions? Is that a realistic statement to say? >> There will be a little bit of admin work
to do in 2027. So your last PE report, which is your project expenditure report, is technically due 4:3027. And so that's why administratively your costs do not expire as of 123126. >> There you go. >> Federal guidance that carries you into
that. And now our agreements go through that, right? Because the last thing last thing we want to do is pull out 123126 and then have the county well, good luck reporting on the next quarterly cycle. So yeah, there will be a little cleanup work and also a close out process. Um Kath and I were actually working on a a checklist the other day for a closeout
uh documentation. The feds released some closeout documentation today although high level we took that we created a checklist for it so that if and when the time comes to properly do a closeout we can make sure that our eyes are dotted and our tees are crossed. >> Okay. Thank you. You read my mind. Thank you very much. Great job. Thank you Mr.
Chapman. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Commissioner calls. All set. >> Okay. >> I'm all set. mission. >> Okay, well that was easy. >> We'll see you in a year. Do we see you
>> we'll see you whenever you guys want us to >> and I will work on drafting a formal memo to Mr. Cron to provide uh >> we'll get it over. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you everyone. Really appreciate it. >> Thanks so much. >> Thank you.
>> Good luck. >> Thanks for stopping by. Of course, I think it was number five, appointments. >> Six, public comment. Item number six, each meeting we have public comment, whether it's on Zoom or in person. Anyone else committed
to speak to the commissioners relative to agenda items, now is the time to speak up. John, are you aware of any public comment? Have you heard from anyone? >> No, sir. >> No, sir. Anyone out in Zoom land? Now is
the time. >> Last call for public comment. Seeing none, we'll go to number seven, all business. I have no all businesses as of yet. This is our second second meeting of the year.
We have a light agenda today. Thank you. Number eight, personnel matters for consideration. Commissioner Sty today. >> No personnel matters today. >> I didn't see anything. Right. Okay. Thank you. >> Holiday week. >> Holiday week. We have no personnel
matters. We expect some next week. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Goodbye, folks. Thank you very much. >> Number nine, payroll expense warrants for approval. >> Do you want me to read them? >> Peter has them. Commissioners call. >> Go ahead, Peter. Thank you. Thank you. >> Okay. I make a motion um to approve on
the warrant list 26-26 payroll of the county in the amount of 143,97182. So moved. >> I'll second that. >> Motion made and seconded. All in favor? >> Roll call. >> Commissioner Stady. >> Yes, sir. I vote yes. >> Commissioner Collins. >> Yes.
>> Chair Shay votes yes. It is passed. >> Okay. The next item is 26-25 payroll of the county in the amount of $146,494.81. So move. Second that. Second. >> Motion made and seconded. Roll call vote. Commissioner Sty,
>> I vote yes. >> Commissioner Collins, >> yes. >> And chairman chair votes yes. The order is adopted. Next. >> Uh 26-25 subsection 13 payroll of the school in the amount of $397,315. Some move.
>> Second that. >> Motion made and seconded. Payroll of schools. We'll take a roll call vote. Commissioner Stady, >> I vote yes. >> Commissioner Collins, >> yes. >> Chairman Cherry votes yes. It is adopted. >> The next um the next warrant is um
12-05-26 expense of the county in the amount of $420,885.97. So moved. >> Second. >> Motion made and seconded on expense of the county. Roll call vote. Commissioner Stady. >> I vote yes. >> Commissioner Collins.
>> Yes. Chairman Shay Roch. Thank you. >> The last item is 26-06A, expense of the school in the amount of $169,873.88. So moved. >> Second that. >> Motion made and seconded. Roll call vote. Commissioner Standy.
>> I vote yes. >> Commissioner Collins. >> Yes. >> Chairman chair go yes. That concludes the payroll and expense warrants for this week. Thank you very much. Number 10. Fiscal year 2027 budget development guidelines and timetables. Director Cronin.
>> Thank you, Chairman Shay. Good afternoon, commissioners. It is that time of the year as we uh now begin our efforts to uh craft the FY27 county budget. Um this afternoon, I'm proposing the attached budget document uh guidelines that are in your packet in
the associated timelines, which I'll ask Mr. Buckley to bring up quickly. These uh this memo will be delivered to the department heads this afternoon following this meeting. Um essentially it's the same guidelines that we've had for the last several years. It calls for all department budgets to be entered and
delivered to the commissioner's office by Tuesday, February 3rd, 2026. Um currently revenue for FY26 is meeting its benchmark which is favorable. Um, however, given current economic conditions, I don't envision any
significant changes up or down from FY26 uh level into FY27. Um, we're asking department heads to plan conservatively and to expect an FY27 budget with very limited new growth. um in included in the um budget
development guidelines as I've done in the past working with Phili and TUSCa we're giving the department head specific instructions on which tables to enter the data into um um IV that can be found on page two of the memo. We're
asking all departments to include a 3% cost of living allowance for union and non-union members. This uh excludes any other relevant numbers that may be uh forthcoming due to aggie school collective bargaining agreements and so
forth. We ask the Aggie to follow those rules. Excuse me. Um we're asking departments to work with our HR director to calculate uh days worked and salary timetables. Um we will hopefully have
all of the materials I said uh in our possession by February 3rd. And from there, as Bill points out, on this um upcoming schedule, we will enter into 3 weeks consecutively of the commissioners receiving department head budget
requests. Starting on February 18th with the IT department, Walston recreational facility followed by facilities maintenance. February 25th, you will entertain the registry of deeds and the engineering department as well as the treasur's office. And then finally on
March 4th, the commissioner's office, the Aggie, and regional services will wrap up budget presentations. You'll have a public hearing on this particular budget request on March 11th. You will vote presumably on March 25th on the
balanced budget for FY 27th. The finance committee and advisory board will have a hearing on this budget proposal on April 15th, at which time questions and so forth may be entertained. And then finally before the advisory board on May 13th for a
finance committee advisory board consideration for a vote. This uh timeline follows as I said um virtually identical the last several years timeline. We thought it would worked effectively. Uh we want to thank in advance the departments and their staff. They put a lot of work into preparing
that budget request. I would ask also that the department heads be mindful that the guideline includes a request to prepare a memo detailing their FY27 budget request uh any justification for any increase or decreases and also to include any uh capital items that they
may require which will be acted upon in the fall of 2026. Um so straightforward Mr. Uh, Commissioner Shay, Commissioner Collins, Commissioner Stady. Um, I'm happy to entertain any questions, but this memo will go out this afternoon to allow um
the departments sufficient time to prepare and submit their budgets for FY27. Thank you. >> Any questions, commissioners? >> Yeah, Mr. Chairman, if I could join a great job again. Um, is the
guideline for the May 13th, is that set by statute? some place. Does that have to be done in a certain frame? Does that have to be the date? >> Um, it does not have to be the date per se. It happens to be the date that we've commonly used over the last several years.
>> Okay. >> Um, so we're we're trying to follow uh sort of past practice in some effect. Uh, Commissioner. >> Okay. I just I'm looking at it. I think I see a couple of possible minor conflicts. Nothing I can't overcome, but this isn't like set in stone. We can
maybe talk about it, right? if we if I could check my calendar to look at some of those things later on. >> And I also want to point out, commissioner, that we understand there's some transition going on at the Aggie which may impact the Aggie submission of a budget. And of course, we'll work with the superintendent, right,
>> to provide him as much flexibility as he needs to inform the trustees as well as the commissioners on their request. >> That's the thought I had. We have some Yeah. some changes here. All right. All right. So, that's fine. Everything's fine. It looks great. I'm I'm fine with it. >> All good. Thank you.
>> Thank you. >> I'm going to take a minute. Joe, are you here for this first portion? >> Um, if I Yes, if I can. >> Go ahead. Sure. >> Um, if staff noticed, I wasn't really completely listening, but I think the expense warrants that you approved were actually last week's and not this week's
expense warrant. >> And we have one for this week that's over a million dollars because um >> That's right. >> We have the retirement assessment. >> Hold on a second. Let me grab the updated list. >> Say bye, Joe. Thank you, Joe. And we just want to make sure retirement gets their money.
>> Oh yes. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> We're in a brief recess while John gets a copy of that.