good afternoon I'm now going to call the Wednesday February 5th 2025 meeting of the N County Commission to order on Wednesday March 29th 2023 Governor Hy signed into law chapter
2 of the acts of 2023 an act making appropriation all fiscal year 2023 which included a two-year extension of the option for public bodies to hold remote meetings by suspending certain provisions of the mass open meeting law
General Law chapter 3A section 20 that action was effective immediately extending this current option for remote meetings through March 31st 2020 2025 I'm sorry March 31st 2025 fast
approaching so we are live and remote today thank you Joe maybe Mary could lead us in the pledge okay I don't know about that special guest join in because you know I'm not very good at this un stes America and to the stands
one na indivisible with and justice for all thank you thank you thank God you oh you're very thank you for asking thank God you didn't ask to thing Richard do we have your permission to sign uh the county
doc yes sir yep all set perfect you I'm gonna call a r commissioner stady yes sir by remote commissioner Collins pres commission Shay is present we have a quum no executive session
today P does a word let me okay number four minutes of the febu January 29th meeting for approval please there's two there's an open session and an executive session corre Richard do you have me uh the minute the minutes for I do move approval as
presented okay um for the Open Session yes a second motion on the Open Session minutes of January 29th all in favor executive session minutes of February 29th and hold a release I just
got those so I didn't really view them honestly if you want to move go ahead I'm sure that I really just got them literally like two minutes ago yeah let's let's wait a week um you I'll make a motion we postpone for a week okay thank you sir thank you executive session minutes of February 29th a
motion made to postpone all in favor next week's agenda number five appointments I have none number six public comment session each week we have a session on our
regularly scheduled agenda for public comment um anyone can zoom in or come in and speak to the Commissioners um director Cronin do you have any public comment today I just want to share with the Commissioners that um a gentleman
stopped by the office yesterday um on planned unannounced he was curious to know what County government is all about especially here in norer County um I've have been having opening my schedule so U Bill Buckley and I welcomed him in had a nice talk with this retired gentleman
for about an hour he uh is a fascinating resident of weth former resident of dam who has some lineage in norer county that takes and back I believe it was to his great-grandfather who was a clerk of the courts in North Fork Superior back
um the late 1800s um so it's a pleasure speaking with him he's uh was very impressed by the work you do and the task you have every week to improve um the lives of people in norfor County the regional Services approach um he was completely fascinated so um I think
we'll be seeing him again good visit great guy um retired attorney from wayth by the name of Bryant so thank you thanks you interesting I'm I know what do you mean by we're going to see him again what's that mean he um I
believe we've uh wed his appetite for some historical documentation um we encouraged him to um go next door to the dam Historical Society they have a lot of documentation yeah apparently his um his uh late relative wrote the history
of norfor County at least version of it and uh he wanted to learn more so we encouraged him to stop by and say hello we have documents of our own we could help share with him but uh with time in his hands and a strong interest in overcome good well maybe our new volunteer
coordinator that were're appointing today could uh put him to work too as well in that capacity you never know that was good volunteers right that's right number seven I'm sorry public comment last call for public comment
okay thank you number seven old business I have none number eight Personnel matters for consideration we have two today actually have three commissioner I'm sorry we have three one is an FM La but Richard do you have that I'm going
to move the first one notice retirement I move the motion notice retirement for Robert Pearson of Newtonville as RCP director at the rate State effective date 22825 I'm sure we're going to be seeing Robert one more time but he's done a
great job there and he's leaving big shoes to fill we wish him all the best so moved mention I I'll second it and I agree um Robert's been a great asset to the county we're going to miss it on the notice of retirement of Robert
Pearson a motion made and seconded uh before we take a vote I will tell you that we are going to have a final report from Robert on the last meeting of this month uh February 26 I'm sorry February 26 well it is February right February 26
and we'll formally bid him a do but on his retirement a motion made in seconded all in favor I is a motion next one please P you want to do that one no notice of appointment for Lucille cus of brry mass as RSVP director
talk at the rate stated effective 21025 um uh to take over the position as rfv director um that's a motion all right second motion made in seconded uh let's
have the director bring us up to speed on this appointment of Lucille castles before we take a vote go ahead than Mr chairman I want to thank our Human Resources Director Michelle leini uh Robert Pearson um Mr Buckley and a
volunteer from the RSVP cor who all conducted um of candidates that apply for this position there was um good interest in the position we solicited and interviewed I think about a half a dozen candidates um in the end they determined that lucil castus of brain
tree um was the best fit you'll find that um Miss castus has extensive nonprofit um management experience um running among other things programs within norfor County um she has an exceptionally strong aptitude writing
skill knowledge of federal grants and other uh qualities that made her almost a perfect fit um I spoke to Robert after her interview and he was um very very happy that we were able to find somebody with her kind of qualities and backgrounds as a suitable replacement
for him so looking ahead I think uh when you get a chance to meet her you'll find the qualities that we found to be so outstanding um that should be a very good replacement um going forward for the RSVP program thank you Mr chairman okay mtion Maiden seconded on
the appointment of seal cast's Branch M so Mr chairman just want to clarify uh this candidate did get the recommendation of the full committee correct yes correct okay and she's starting February
10th yes we have sufficient um salary resources to have an overlapping training of approximately two weeks okay and um yes that to answer your question that's correct okay and Robert will be around to help her in those two week period that's why she's com in a weeks
early because Robert's gonna Robert's giving us the thumbs up here okay that's what I was wondering about good all right thank you all right let's call on the appointment of Lucille Cassis as RSVP director starting
February 10th all in favor I I thank you the third uh Personnel matter for consideration today is a notice of return from FMLA for an employee right I'll move approval or
make a motion move approval noce return from FMLA effective 2325 code 11- that's what it's known as code is 11-2 okay second motion made in second all in favor I it is a vote thank you I
don't have the warrant you don't have these Richard no it's on you okay I'll make a motion we moove the warrant 25-31 payroll of the county in amount of 144,00 $4.69
second motion made in second all in favor I it is V Next second item on the warrant list is 25-31 um uh subsection 16 payroll of the county in the amount sorry payroll of the school in the amount of$
38627 43 of so Mo motion made second all in favor all this the vote thank you third is warrant 020125 expense of the county in amount of 41,4 49.77 second motion made in seconded all in favor it is a vote the last item on
the warrant list is 25-5 US Bank no County Agricultural high school loan interest in the amount of $3,825 second motion made and seconded all in favor I it is a
vote that's the last one thank you that's number nine number 10 opera update we have no warrants but any Opera update I director cor thank you Mr chairman uh very briefly Commissioners um later this afternoon I'll have a call
with Clinton Larson to begin excuse me um identifying the New Path within our portal system to accommodate transfers um we do have one Community who has uh a transfer request pending so we need to iron out how this portal will
accommodate and track electronically the movement of funds from one approved Grant to another approved Grant um this particular action will be meaningful because following the approval in action um we will bring forth uh at least one transfer request as early as next week
I'm also eyeing potentially a track excuse me a transfer within the norfor county Grant uh constellation once we um conf um complete uh an existing grant program at the end of May so um I mentioned the Commissioners
when we transferred to this monitoring and um um observation transfer phase of the grant that we might see some of these um and we might be talking about our on a monthly basis so we'll schedule this one in the next month or two excuse me week or two as soon as we iring out
how this transfer process will work you have to just make sure that the um breadcrumbs or the the sign offs and and all the paperwork are track traceable I should say so so things moving ahead I should have something for you in the next week or two thank you any questions
director Cronin about Opera update set my end and I just want to confirm that as the end of January just uh Joe deoria that we have uh secured our final excuse me our latest quarterly report to the federal
government as of June January 31st so we are compliant with that so to thank Joe for self as always okay thank you number 11 fiscal year 25 wson recreation facility transfer request director Crome
thank you Mr chairman um our wellson Recreational facility um superintendent Carl Miner has asked for a transfer of exact amount $1
4,685 from miscellaneous current charges to hardware and plumbing this is required to replace a pump that has failed at the golf course Carl's looking to replace that thank you sir motion any questions about this
transfer is this from existing funds to fund within our within the wson okay this a transfer all within the wallon recreation budget to fix a pump I'm sure we mute I'll make the
motion thank you second motion made and seconded to transfer $4,695 within the uh won Recreation budget to repair a pump prior to opening and it might announce today Amy was in
today and we were talking to her and gave her a plaque for 35 years of service um the course will be open in a month Believe It or Not March 10 I could just cor your statement the transfer is 14,
685 please you see me stranding three 685 I'm sorry all in favor all right thank you next report from the procur procurement department on bid openings and contract
Awards nothing seeing none no report from Ming this week thank you number 13 report of the county director thank you commissioner a few items to your um your benefit um first I want to confirm that the budgets uh for the FY
26 budget process are in they've been delivered to fill they're in the process of being reviewed um the Commissioners may know from the previously published schedule you'll begin seeing um the department heads come in and discuss their requests um in two weeks on February
19th um in order you'll see Information Technology the wells and recreational facility and facility maintenance um as we progress with the development of the F 26 budget of course there'll be other pieces that come into play including a
discussion of Revenue um and um indirect costs and things like that that make up our budget presentation um but I wanted to let you know things are underway we're meeting our our deadlines we're all set to uh present the first three in two weeks uh wanted to let the Commissioners
know that I received an invite uh to observe a portal that the state um has developed for municipalities to observe the transfer of funds associated with the um opioid Grant settlement um over the last two years as these funds have
been made available to municipalities the the funds have flowed through a uh process that included an outside vendor who um helped the Attorney General's office facilitate the award amounts um for now we for For the First Time rather we now have a Consolidated view of how
much money um in one on one page is Flowing between now I should say 2023 and 2039 according to the State website um norfor County slated to receive by the end of this distribution period over $212,000 so it's a nice tool it's there
for our use and I'll be updating the Commissioners obviously as we continue with this important uh Grant distribution method um later this month month possibly early March I'll be bringing before the Commissioners the round two opioid Grant Awards um you may
know that you've already approved 11 Community Coalition grants of $1,500 um there have been several other Community Coalition applications that came in subsequent to that deadline that you'll be hopefully looking at um awarding within the next uh 3 to four
weeks uh we also received a separate email from Barbara gilme from gillies's house um she was very very appreciative of the grant award you provided her and again has extended an invitation to the County Commissioners to come and see the facility and rth them um she'd very much
welcome any or all of you to attend if more than two of you are interested in going just let us know so we can post uh otherwise I'll just pass along um our thanks for her invitation regarding uh contract negotiations uh and so forth I just want to let the Commissioners know that we
are underway we've had multiple meetings with uh all three units with abme over the last um month and a half um things are going quite well we've done our introductions our ground rules we've introduced um well they've introduced their asks of us very creative
approaches for mme um we really appreciate that it opens up opportunities for negotiation paths for compromise um we also had a PEC meeting last week pursuant to General law uh we introduced the idea that we need to come
back and finalize a PEC vote once the uh Mayflower Health Group uh confirms their expected cost rate structures for FY 26 um we've scheduled that meeting I don't remember it off the top of my head but again we're on track to um abide by
General law and make sure the PC gets what it needs to move forward with the vote so all things are going well with negotiations um I want to alert the Commissioners that the state has informed us that U they have awarded a cyber security uh training Grant to us
um next week we'll have Sam Evans our CIO before you to explain how this uh training Grant will benefit um All County employees and finally um relatively good news um the Commissioners may know that last fall um we received news from the
norfor county retirement system that as a result of um expedited uh planning recommended by the norfor County Retirement System actuary um costs associated with closing the liability were going to be um
assessed to all the various customers within that that group looking at the numbers the the impact of norfor County was staggering uh it stood out we uh have since had multiple conversations with the Retirement Board um your
contact Paul Conners has been invaluable um he is a great assistance um have been of great assistance decoding and trying to understand why nor for County liability numbers were peaking as much as they did um I'm happy to report that
Treasurer bot came into my office last week he and Paul helped coordinate a meeting with the actuary as well as the Retirement Board um staff member Patrick leage and they determined that there had been an error in the way that they had
assessed uh this uh outfacing or forward- facing liability over the next 5 years U they were double counting effectively the norfor County Retirement uh excuse me the North for County Sheriff's retirement obligation which is a separate line item Al together so as a
result of that change um I'm here to report that the liability view which had been disastrous looking for us uh over the next five years is now relatively modest if not flat uh Paul Connors told me we'll be hearing soon uh more from
them in the next several months as they unfold what that new schedule looks like but it's a great development we're no longer staring at a multi-million dollar liability obligation um in fact I think it looks more modestly flat in so good development we're waiting for more
details but again High Praise for both Michael of course and Paul Connors they did their jobs quite well so that's that's that's the pension liability scare that we got because we're we have to pay the pension
liability of cod right as you know we all understand the pack not the pack the the uh the state wants to ensure that retirement systems bring um full 100% funding um into view by 2040 um the Retirement Board was
accelerating that to 2036 I believe 2035 um where currently it's 70 or 71% funded this liab or accelerated liability payment cycle closes that gap before the state um required deadline
okay so they're on track everybody Embraces the model that the Retirement Board is putting forth um some communities were um like us they were stunned and shocked by the amount that they would be facing um but um as a result of some really hard work by the Retirement Board Michael and Paul I
think we found safe har okay that is all I have thank you Mr chair any questions I have a question these fixed costs pension liabilities big one what about Mayflower have we I Didu
we haven't heard on the final not officially no there will be an increase um from the last Mayflower group meeting um I think the Mayflower group people made it made it clear that they hope to help communities
navigate um these spikes or these expenses that typically wreck local budgets um Mayflower is good at that they they when when their increases come out they're not staggering I will tell you I'm aware that Maya the um the group that covers most Municipal Insurance
Groups um is coming out with a 10 to 14% increase it's it's staggering um I don't believe M fla was looking at anything like that because they tend to flatten things out through the use of the reserves we'll know more officially in the next several weeks so um I'll share that when I have
it okay and we and Michelle and Frank hey monitor that committee they represent us so Frank Frank's not on that any longer Michelle goes on theack as the retiring represent okay what's question questions yeah can I ask a
question do what yeah thank you uh John good news that's great news actually so congratulations to everybody involved in finding that error or mistake but um roughly roughly what was that amount that we were going to be hit with this year was it wasn't it like 600,000 we
were looking at make up a difference on or so right when Paul came before you in early December y they had already voted what the proposed increase was going to be for FY 26 commissioner stady yep and that increase was a approximately 100 I think
it was $120,000 um but the schedule then took off like a rocket right I remember that between 27 3536 and as a result of those increases we've seen obviously a decrease
expectation but the increase for FY 27 was somewhere in a $1.5 to2 million increase range and then it went up from there so it was it was trending towards a a multiplier effect every year it was going to be another 1 million two million 1 million two
million and in the aggregate it was about a 9.7 million hit and um now we find out that that was mostly a double C so if I may uh thank you John if I may my my voice is starting to go but um I
remember the town meeting in Canton and a couple of the finance members were very concerned about also that year and they said just don't extend it out anymore you know keep it was it 2035 they didn't want to stretch it out anymore they said okay we can live with this but try to keep it within that
framework and I understand all that but how soon can Mike balot and you and the team get the word out to the towns that the financial impact will not be as bad will that be something they'll send it the towns information wise they have reached out to the cities and towns commissioner I did see an email
from um Retirement Board Kathleen sent it out and it's an an an invitation to an online Symposium to have that discussion if you would like the date I will following the meeting I'll shoot you a text with the date of when that's happening yeah I would conversation with
them that would be good I appreciate that it's good I mean it's good news for towns good news for everybody it's great it's great it's a great find so that's good that's great news thank you for that thank you okay under the report P County director anything else no
sir Commissioners I don't have anything else um oh okay number 14 Emergen any other business we did not anticipate I do not have any uh we have before I retire back to bed to get better I just wanted to mention to our director I was
in the great town of uh I see PA hon Sunday yeah yeah I saw a couple of places here a pine crest golf club for a a candidate had a little thank you party so oh yeah area CH Arena the Rosen nice
being very nice that um that Golf Course is owned by the town it's almost the exact same model that you have for walls and recreational facility which golf course is this pinec interesting is that right yeah CL house we contract out the
services to manage the course as well as manage the restant it makes money um that's great that's great yeah look pretty nice you know it's winter but uh GL I mentioned that was great nice I that's all I had unless Peter has something
okay all right uh number 14 we have nothing else I'll take a motion to adjourn please all right so moved at uh 1:30 in favor thank you very see gentlemen next week