recording good afternoon I'm now going to call the Wednesday October 2nd 2024 meeting of the noro County Commission to order on Wednesday March 29th 2023 Governor Healey signed into law
chapter 2 of the acts of 2023 an act making Appropriations for the fiscal year 2023 which included a two-year extension of the option for public body to hold remote meetings by suspending certain
provisions of the open meeting law Mass General Law chapter 38 section 20 this this action was effective immediately extending the current option for remote meetings to March 31st 2025 we are live
and remote today thank you if you join me in saluting the flag conratulations to the flag flag on the United States of America to the for which it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all
thank you I've call this meeting to order I'm going to call a roll call commissioner stady I pres sir commissioner Collins commissioner Shay is present we have a quum number three there is no executive session today
number four minutes of the meeting of September 25th 2024 for approval I move approval as presented second motion Maiden second it all in favor I it is number five no appointments number six public
comment every meeting of the County Commission includes a agenda item for public comment for anyone out in Zoom land as I call it or present that wants to come in and see us and comment on matters of importance to the county so
if anyone out in Zoom land has a the comment now is the time to bring IT director Cronin have you received anyone from public comment no sir okay that's the end of public comment for
today no more public comment number seven old business I have none if anyone has any know the time number eight Personnel considerations Mr chairman we have several at the Ang school with M May yes all right first I move uh to approve the
notice of resignation of Mary P I hope I'm saying that right of dalmont as a sub student instructor at the rate State effective date 92624 so second motion made in second in all in favor I it is a vote next uh Mr
chairman I move approval of the notice for contention employment for Victoria white of Franklin as a substitute instructor at the race State at effective date 10324 so move second motion made in second did all in favor it is a vote and lastly Mr chairman I
move approval of the notice of contingent employment for Nicholas stubs of Canton Mass as a student worker at the flat rate stated in the effective date for Nicholas appointment is 10324 so second M maid second it all in favor I
it is a vote that concludes the point commissioner would you like to do the payroll and expense warely sure will uh Mr chairman moving approval for the warrant list of 92524 first item is to make approval for
the payroll to school for 25-13 for7 the amount is 384,000 so moved second motion Maiden seconded all in favor it is AOS next I move approval for the payroll of the county
25-13 the amount of 149,00 $357 so moved second motion made in seconded all in favor I it is a vote third I move approval of 10- 2-24 for the wson recreational facility
credit card payment the amount of $44,000 715 so moved second motion maid seconded all in favor I I it is a and final I move approval for the expense of the county 10-1 125 the sum of 52,2
$202 so moov second motion made and second did all in favor all the vote that concludes that excellent moving right along number 10 report of the American Rescue plan Act of 2021 as well as number 11 which is
warrants I believe we have three or four warrants today for Opera funds director chome thank you Mr chairman um Commissioners you approved in the warrant a total of five new AR applications two to the town of Brookline two to the town of Norway and
one to Milton um I'm preparing a um hold on Mr chairman I don't see those here do you don't have them on the warrant no they're not listed on the warrant Mr chairman I did not read that out I read payroll School payroll County w i notic that we got another paper
somewhere can't do those we uh well you can do them but they're not on the warrant he didn't have anything to read well I read them right off we can revise it warrant is a posted item so this would be an amendment to the warrants that you've already
approved if you're if you're inclined okay that' be great well generally we always list them with the payroll and expense correct okay all right what why don't you give the commissioner to read into the record and then we'll approve separately and
you can and then we'll take any comment commission all right so what am I reading what reading here now going back to going back to the first one on the war for for Al could I ask ask if Mr Mr C proceed with his presentation and then
back all right go ahead before you this afternoon our five warrant uh excuse me five uh items for Opera consideration two for the town of Brookline two for the town of Norwood and one for Milton uh the total amount that the county is looking to move through your approval
today um will be $3.2 A1 million um I think reminded the Commissioners over the last several weeks while we've had uh little action on the award side there's been a lot of action within the portal to move some applications to this to the status this reflects that activity there are still a
couple more following this so I suspect in the next week or two you'll see a few more coming in um I I am preparing a presentation uh for the Commissioners over the next uh week or two which will give you a more holistic view of how the arpa program is beginning to close out
um but to sort of give you a little bit of insight on what that is beginning to look like today you've approve you will hopefully approve two Norwood applications that closes Norwood out um with that the the county will be um 19
communities completed for um Awards against their allocation 19 um nine communities will remain with um some amount of money still to allocate uh that includes Brooklyn Canton cassid Dam
do Franklin Medway excuse me Franklin Milton and the last one is uh planville um I'm sorry there's one more Wells Le the um the overall um approach we're having is to ensure that uh every
Community understands uh the time frame involved with obligating funds before the end of December um many of the uh applications that are pending will close out several of these communities um including belon and Canton um so they're very close um so next week I hope to
give you some more information on the holistic diagnostic view of how the program is starting to close out but with your approval of these applications today um we will have approximately $6.6 million remaining to
award so that is the brief update um if you would like I can give a description of the proposed Grant applications now and then you can move to perhaps considering uh approval in Mr chairman that's what You' like to do why don't you synops siiz and then we'll go to the first under consideration stove the
first is for town of nor um 1.42 million um this is a water infrastructure project um for the West over Parkway Culvert it is replacing a bridge that carries West over Parkway over Germany Brook near the George Willet school you
want a motion on that now no no I I will rely on commissioner stady to read that from the W that brought in that's okay okay the second is a town of Norwood uh items the last one for them 23,33 this is also water infrastructure
item uh for the Robinwood Road drain uh to construct drain improvements on this road to eliminate serious flooding experience um over the past several years the third is for the town of Milton uh this is $3,835 um it's a revenue replacement
item to offset expenses associated with operations uh this I believe would fall under the utility category it's important to note as I mentioned Milton has a little bit of leftover money Peter um 580,000 they have one Grant application in the portal toing that
amount so I'm expecting to see that move in the next couple of weeks belon stunt um the fourth is from the town of Brookline $600,000 under economic impact this is main an expansion of the Brookline food Pantry's operations and programs the
Brookline food pantry weekly distribution includes three locations serving 600 households and then finally um again Town town of Brook line um it's a $1 million Grant to support Public Health um this is under the Community Mental
Health Urgent Care stabilization and Recovery Service of the community health um center it's called the center in Brookline that is funded through an ongoing uh subaward from the town as well as the county Grant to build a program to improve access to Mental
Health and substance use disorder services for Brookline residents this initiative created a dedicated Urgent Care Program for offering expedited access to care the eventual goal of delivering within 24 48 hours so these five grants again before you total $3.4
million uh as we near the end of the program I hope to have a more comprehensive program description and closeout description uh in the coming weeks thank you Mr chairman okay you have those grants in front of you we need to approve
I have some questions though go ahead don't you read one and whatever one you have a question I I I have no problem with Norwood grants neither I have a problem with Milton's Grant so I could those right away if you want we'll disc's get those done that's fine I'll move approval for the town of
Milton to be awarded the grant of Opera in the amount of$ 30, 8398 has presented and it's described so Mo second motion made second at all F all that's the Milton Grant next move approval for the town of nor to receive
the OPA Grant uh in the amount of 230,000 $33 as presented and approved so move second Mo seconded on no with Grant all in favor it is approved and it's the third one 1 million yes it is exactly
that's right okay I'll move approval for the town of no to receive their final Grant of Opera in the amount of$ 1, $420,000 uh for uh purposes and water infrastructure and that's presented so
moved second motion made second it all fav it is vote now I want to preface what I'm saying again this is not directed me personally I know our team does a great job and they working very hard but this to me when I read these when I did some
homework on this this is the second Grant that's very similar to what we already gave Brooklyn we gave Brooklyn a million dollars a check for more or less an organization that supports public health and supports substance abuse and here we are again given an organization
that my records show the center just came about 2023 they're new they're a new organization I question how much of that money is going to Services how much is going to Administration how much is going to people who are working there how much is giving out to the people the is that the is that the food pantry no
not the food pantry I got no point food pantry seem like a pretty large Grant it's a very large Grant but I'm not going to go against somebody giving food to people so it is it's a very large Grant uh I'm again I probably I want to disclose full transparency I look at what we're doing to help out the town of
Brooklyn and I know we're working hard I also know wherever I go and you must get it the same way Mr chairman there are a lot of towns that are saying we could use some more help we could use some more help and if there's way we can help some of these towns out I know it's not our job but yet it is our job I look at
this in terms of addressing mental health and as a county issue a county issue issue and we've given Brooklyn an enormous amount of money to deal with County Health and we gave Franklin only $100,000 they were so grateful for that we gave that group safe 100,000 and
we've given other groups 50,000 100,000 we're giv them a million dollars I mean what do we know about this group what do we even know about them I'd like to see if we can maybe take a second look you know maybe there's something else in Brooklyn besides substance abuse that we can give them help with I I don't I
don't see any water projects projects I don't see school and they got a great school system so maybe they don't need the help we know that congratulations on that but I mean to put that amount of money almost $2 million into that seems a little bit excessive and I think as a commissioner maybe we need to pump the
brakes a little just take a look at that and say where well if where that money going that's what I'm saying if you want to hold that for further SC I I will support it of course I like to get a little more we we are charged with the
responsibility processing these we process it in the same manner and it went it passed the test so to speak and I there might be something to be said for it's the last year and they're hurrying a little but no that could yeah
I'm not right I don't know but I'll be happy to hold it up or support any motion to for further review how's that sound and again I might want to ask the director what he thinks but it might ask him next week yeah I mean I have time to talk to on or anybody else about it and
that it shouldn't be I know you I I just I read I read the description I did some research I made a few calls what's the center about I got a quick understanding of it which isn't fair to them they probably do a great job and they're going to do a great job I'm probably looking at just a bigger picture and I'm
like this is a lot of money for one organization it just seems pretty high amount is it a separate organization yeah it's called the center they're a nonprofit organization within the town of line so again they're under that umbrella like the other group they're they're really not they're not run by
Brookline they're a nonprofit organization and Brookline helps to fund it and John this one through all a normal well bells and whistles at everything yes it was determined eligible this is a uh reimbursement expense so in other words Brooklyn has already expended the funds associated
with this request they're looking to be reimbursed for that's makes a little different Rich they already spent the money so they've already spent the money on they're just trying to get reimbursed I'll do whatever you think sure if you want to hold it in there can we hold it week give me a little more time I put a
calling to some people we know too just kind of get a little feedback I I would rely more on those you know people that are in the town and in the city oh I mean yes whatever a motion well the food pantry again that was a good Grant that's a great Grant okay it just seems pretty
significant live Grant you know it's but we're we we have we Quincy had a food pantry for a number of years yeah they they pretty much forced forced put all all them into one under qap yeah
bought a building on copin Street in in bruis col in West quiny named it for a great friend Paul Conley and it is a great place it's booming I work with them my wife works I work with them through the Elks at Christmas where the Elks gives them 100 turkeys to distributes but it's all done under one
and and the mayor takes care of them they didn't apply upper money but the May giv them other money but so I'm a big food pantry guy especially if they're well running I mean even doesn't matter there's plenty of clients for these food pantries well I remember I was not here last week and I apologize
for that but um I did mention that the Gilly house is a sobriety house is coming again in substance abuse and rent them and they're looking for help and I mean we could name I'm sure each of us could name two or three organizations that are looking for help so I'm looking a way if we can spread it out help out
that's fine but if this Center is I suppose Where Brooklyn want to put their money they already put it there yeah don't is well if you think if you think can we table it for one week absolutely I me I'll support it all right it's only reimbursement so that's not going to be a a major problem and I
can give me a little more time to absorb it all but I have no problem with the food pantry that's fine okay so we want to trans so I'll move with that I'll move Mr chairman so that and I will move that we approve for the town of Brook line uh in which for the food pantry program um the sum of $600,000 as
presented uh today so Mo motion made second on the Brooklyn food pantry Opera funds all in fair I and the last one I move with table just for a week for the the grant of opa for the T for $1 million I just table
it motion made and seconded to table for one week a grant of op a grant of $1 million for further review all in favor no problem thank do I do we have to strike a line through Brook line and then well just don't we're just not going to approve that one today we put a
line through and we'll put it on for again next he'll take care of it okay you want to sign this then yes please okay and I'd like just you know we'll put on there for next week further discussion might help don't hurt number 12 thank you you could write next to the
um $1 million do we have a report from the procurement Department again today no sir no okay number 13 report of the county director uh just very briefly two items
as I mentioned I plan to provide a close out uh presentation to the County Commissioners in the next couple of weeks um this will feature Diagnostics where did your money go um how did it uh Faire against um the overall plan what
type of administrative costs uh did we endure uh and what is our final close out looking like in terms of obligations um again hopefully in the next couple weeks we're starting to reach that point um and I just wanted to alert the commers one more time the procurement unit is going through um its reform um
but while they're doing that they're also very busy um The denam District Court $800,000 project for building management system is up for bid um it'll be up for 30 days we have following that uh likely in sequence um Ken Paul uh posting for H
out of the schools that's a $250,000 estimated cost um we will have the deam Superior Court um ready for bid I'll know more details on Thursday but I think we're looking at the next week or two that item will be ready for uh the street and um that'll be funded with
capital money um and then the fourth one uh Patrick Higgins has been helping to Shepherd this uh with assistance from Carl um Miner this is a approximately 300,000 give or take project to resurface Tennis Courts at the golf course we should have an estimate of actual cost and a plan for bidding by
October 18th so the next several weeks in procurement I'm going to be quite busy and I just want to give the commissions a heads up that despite the vacancy and the role of the Consultants during this time to do what they were they're asked to do they're busy they're pushing some procurements you'll be hearing from them in the next couple weeks thank you thank
you any questions any comments for director Crown the Quincy Courthouse I could for you go ahead they're still still using the Quincy Courthouse right is and when they had to wrap it up did you say when there
they're looking to get a new they have a new place signed up or they not no they don't they don't they they've bid it um on more than one occasion since they vacated well since we sold it to them last July right 23 um I believe last week I reported that uh the state was
expecting to receive bids um on its latest interest for um relief property with I think it was this Friday this coming Friday um it's um it's obviously going to be a challenge and they knew it all along to find a location that could house uh a Specialty Service like that close to
public transportation as much as you could with ample parking um I think the state's finding that to be a challenge but as soon as they do then the clock starts ticking because um upon vacancy the Commonwealth will begin its $187 million just to Center Improvement and
that should take at least three to five years more construction so the least is likely to be out there for 3 to 5 years until the new place is ready but the lease will be a private lease where we're done correct they not lease it from us it's not like one of our buildings theye their private building that's right whatever yeah okay yeah wow
we continue to operate for them under our standard contract and just chugging along I ask question if I could so assuming they if they don't get a successful bid they keep staying there at the courthouse one of the strategies that I heard early on and I suspect
they'll follow it is you know the intention is to obviously keep it in Quincy that's the that's the host City that's where the majority of the population surfac is to use the service of the courthouse but I think what they might do is if the Market's not showing availability for that type type of
property within the defined space they might go further out into a joining town it's like brry WTH or that's what I heard that's what I was wondering I don't know I don't I haven't tracked their are part of know if they've already done that but that was initially one of their strategies and it makes sense I mean they have to go where the
market tells them to go right okay quite interesting it is very interesting well there's always been parking discussion along with the Quincy Court I know it even before when it was rumored
but there was a one one site one there was a site that sent their paperwork in in the Square it's an empty building it's the old Patriot Ledger building on Temple Street nice building not no ping it's right at the
turn and they couldn't consider it because they had no parking so unless you how far is that from the prent court about 100 well 200 yards it's right near City Hall it's right where the turn where the first church is it's all parked in front of it
now but there's a nice looking building on the corner that's old owned by Mountain realy it's kind of a Renaissance and next to it is fivestory brick building that was the patriot Ledger up until 20 years ago printing press everything and it went through into the back street which came out next
to the post office and then so I mean as downtown quiny as you can get again no pocket now they're going to put it in again put this sped out again I have
know but I know should the state have maybe locked up a place beforehand before they make the move it was disussed but it was never didn't come in that way I mean you know
we're we're out in one ways but we still got our anmen there and you know like Scotch tape and glue we keeping it good you know clean anyway you know hold our breath all right okay anything
else any other discussion any topics that the chair did not reason anticipate I have none but I'll take a motion to adjourn I move we adjourn at 126 second motion made in seconded all in
favor thank you very much we are adjourned we have a full meeting next week thank you