hello everyone and welcome to the norol County Commissioners meeting uh Wednesday December 26 2025 February February 26 2 we just missed Christmas right so um welcome and U pursuing to the
executive order on remote participation on Wednesday March 29 2023 Governor Healey signed into law chapter 2 of the acts of 2023 and act making Appropriations for fiscal year 2023 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 General Law chapter 30A section 20 that action was effective immediately extending the current option for remote meetings for March 31st 2025 votes may be taken on any of the content uh listed in the meeting agenda uh so call to
order um we have a PL yeah you want toet us unit States jice for all thanks commission roll call V commissioner stady I am pres and I am president Peter Collins and
present so we have a quorum uh commissioner Shay is out of state on County business so uh we were supposed to go into an executive session so um Peter suers is our attorney Peter I'm just going to ask you to hold on a couple minutes we have two quick budget things that we could tackle in just a
couple of minutes and then we'll get to the executive session so um the first is the budget for the treasurer's office so Michael and Joe if you want to come on up thank you thank you very much for taking us out
um so you know essentially the budget is there's no dramatic changes to it and I'll get some details and Joe will fell in some of the blanks and well questions if you need if you do have those um it it's or original increase of about
4.71% about $28,000 but I think I can find uh half of that in savings but I'll talk to that as I as I've been having discussions with with your staff and with my staff uh we understand that there's pressures throughout the whole County we want to try to do our part and
it's these ongoing and evolving discussions that uh I can hopefully lesson in uh that number so I'll go through a few of the things that are going to impact the budget we have a uh Lobby downstairs Works four days a week and I'd like to
increase her to 5 days a week uh that's a uh $199,000 increase the budget know essentially as you know she uh does expense warrants she works with the vendors and she's uh I've asked her to pick up because Kylie has so much going on a few of the responsibilities of
Kylie including uh interest for all the the grants the banks and the trust accounts um and asked her to kind of do some qu training with Kylie too um I mean also I mean she she does that but um we want her to do more of that with Kylie and take more of that workload off
and pick up all the bank reconciliations uh so that would be a one- day increase for lari in a number two was longevity we have somebody $900 Jo Kylie Kylie because of longevity so that's that's something that uh isn't uh
discretionary uh Printing and binding services is increased by $200 uh Jo tell it's Cal to recall our payroll records from stor company now charges service fee every time we do it when we ask for records um there is a payroll consultant line and I'll talk
about that momentarily PO Box rent is increased $100 and the computer equipment was decreased by $200 to offset the increase in items 35 so uh if you look at the actual budget there is a line item in there for
temp uh temp salaries $15,000 that's that's interance last year we had Gavin here I think helped you guys out a lot I don't need an inter and but but I do want to justify some of the increased expenses so I am happily willing to remove that line at them okay so we'll
represent the budget officially is that the best way to do it John well you know did they have to vot on this today no no so we okay good so uh in in
the payroll Consulting landine item $88,000 that's really to help me do a workflow analysis to see how we interact with all the other departments in North for County and maybe we can uh increase some efficiencies there but it's also I
hope Joe never leaves but uh I can I how long say we' been saying this for four years but at some point he's going to leave you know it's a function of his wife and his grandkids and uh in really his desire to leave so I'd like to have
in there the ability to uh uh make sure that as we transition uh that uh I have somebody kind of working with me and Joe again looking all these other efficiencies
around the county and creating a job description that uh you know obviously we have one in place now but one that's really to the detail uh accurate and allows me to better find a replacement for him when that time comes and and when that and again it's up to him
because we know we know that Jill's been here many years uh but I don't want to be caught off God right and I don't want to put pressure on him if he decides he wants to leave in a couple months you know 6 months from now eight months a year so I just want to get something ready but five years
yeah sure it's and uh so that's that gives me a little uh breathing room to do that and then at some point if we do bring in another assistant Treasurer I would find I'd like to ask y to kind of hang around a little bit and train that person so those are the justifications
for that particular and for everything else and again uh I am happily willing and uh to take out the temp salaries okay going the increase down to like 2% to something okay okay thank you thank you quick question yes sir do you think
it's wise though based on what you're saying I'm not trying to give it a Joe no but what Joe said to you in August I'm out of here you you Christmas time wouldn't it be good to save a little bit of money in temporary salary in case you need to hire somebody you know train or
whatever or is that a different category that doesn't fit uh I don't know Joe what do you think I mean would that even be a line that we could use that way in your experience well I mean if you're hiring someone you would be hiring them as a permanent salary position but right so you would have to we would have to
add to the permanent but I guess what he's saying is I love you to stay when the time comes to stay on and overlap but I don't want again I'm just trying to do my PO here in relative what's going on so I'll leave that up to you okay you're okay if we took the whole 15,000 yeah all right good to know okay
okay yeah cuz in Ence we use all that money for an intern did I think did some great work for you guys right yeah we did you did so okay uh that's it for me pretty easy Charli you have anything you want to add um the only thing I will add is in the budget now with that that consultant Lin
is the says payroll consultant um it's that's the old description it's just I already talked to Phil about like changing it to just you know Consulting Services okay great thank you okay all right thanks thank you so much I appreciate
it come on up let's get you out wa wait I'll move that we uh take the matter under second in favor thank you thank you Mike come on up let's get you out of here wow HEK Commissioners okay so I heard your
budget's essentially the same and you have one ad uh two [Music] two in capital so uh good afternoon Commissioners happy to present the fiscal 2026 engineering department um
proposed budget be review uh in consideration um basically uh we're request everything is um level funded in the except for two items and the two line items one is um in the operating budget it's a increase from 20,000 to
$23,000 for um software subscriptions and maintenance they keep going up uh getting more costly so and and uh so that back so we're going to 20 to 23 that's about 2% increase then the other line item was
in the um permanent salaries so I as part of the aam reports um you know due to fiscal constraints in the past couple years we haven't been able to grow the department and add in um more field services so my request would be to add in the um permanent uh position and
serve a crew chief at uh $ 76,6 um and that's at the max of the range so that we can try and bring in some with experience um and that increase for the personal salary would be about
15% so those two combined uh overall with the total Department budget would be increase if we were they were approved would be about 125% um to the budget I believe so all right if they're approved and then I have a capital request depending on
available funds uh for items like the biggest one is uh I think about 16 or $177,000 for a plotter that's beyond it um life cycle or it's due to replacement the other ones are a little bit um so that that's it in a n okay very any
questions um yeah one we obviously obviously one uh justification for the new person in terms of your overall workload or productivity with all due respect is the workload going up are we doing more work for towns and so you can
show not just to us but the I'm I'm limited on the jobs I can take in based off the amount of people I currently have people that are supposed to work in the office working in the field so instead of I think I tou based on that I
have a a Senior Crew Chief and and a survey crew chief working and they work in the field and in the office and then I have one of my project managers and a senior project manager that go out in the field and help with the field work so when they're all on the field we being productive in the field but nothing in the office is trainning so
for us for efficiency purposes I need like to have that third Crew Chief and and I can keep the wheels rolling out in the field um there always been a big demand yeah so it would actually increase productivity yes okay for for poundy related projects in house and then and then for the towns yeah so it
limits the the volume of work in the size of work that we can do okay and the salary for that person was what 76,000 630 so it was in the budget previously but then due to budget issues in the last couple years we had
it uh it was you had to cut it out yep yeah want to take it under advisement okay motion take it under advisement second all in favor say I thank you Patrick you're good to go and Peter we're gonna jump to you if that's okay we're gonna go to item
three you want to make the motion for um item three yeah um here you go thank you uh Mr chairman move exe go to Executive session purs the Law chapter 30 38 section 21 A3 to discuss strategy
with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares okay so motion has been made I'll second the motion we go to roll call Vote Yes yes so we are
now in executive session and uh John if you can get all right very good now we taking the electrical gas please um yeah sure let's do that all right yeah let's take that yeah well you know what let's let's
let's just follow along because um item four minutes I'm going to add so on item four minutes that was two sets of minutes from last week and I wasn't here so we had to vote we have to hold them for next week anyway right so that'll just go for next week that's right the next one was appointments and John I we
have any appointments I I think it that we're with our appointments now well minutes minutes um I'll make a motion to table do that we do that we back session yeah so motion made to table the minutes till next week roll call yes yes the minutes have been tabled till next week
okay appointments 2 o' presentation from Port energy LLC car charging stations at County Properties we're up all right you're up are we going to show here or are we going to just talk well two guys can sit here andever you want and you want to
display the presentation yeah did you talk to Billy about doing that we have a I'll bring it up Bill you GNA do this uh display for them please somebody should come up somebody should come up okay Nick do a quick intro before we start how much time do
we have sir um 15 20 okay great I'll just start just because I'm with Port energy and I also self East Coast I do both I work for both organizations there two different divisions and I all my green energy business I work with Nick through East Coast renewable he's the
owner of the president of East Coast and Rob you decide want make present Rob will do the presentation I just wanted to get we start with introduction for the record though let's start with that yeah sure for the record yeah so Ed Mill and I'm with Port energy
right so Nick valri uh companies called East Coast renewable energy we're located in Milford Massachusetts been in bus business since 2021 we do a range of renewable energy stuff from solar installation DB charging battery storage third party
supply this is Robert Robert Quintel I'm the EV division of EC we call evse Solutions on the Su I was looking through the GL and the summer pay account that's
used for 2011 fund it looks like it's still carrying the prior balance excuse me Joe Joe Joseph you got to mute yourself there we go thank you there you go thanks Joe all right quick quickly to the point so uh
next slide please do we have a way to yeah we're doing it now great thank you all right so I'm not going to spend a lot of time today talking about what a lot of EV Specialists talk about and that is how many EVS there are on the road where we're going I think we all
understand in this room EVS are going we're going electrification the state of M Massachusetts is one of the most Progressive states in the entire United States as far we actually have executive orders uh as an example I'm showing 594
which is the fleet ring this for All State vehicles and my message here is this is trickling down into the cities towns and municipalities so over the coming years we're seeing Fleet electrification not only from passenger vehicles for residents but for City town
and Municipal Vehicles as well next slide please so in Massachusetts we have an abundance of different funding mechanisms that are uh that are funded through the investor owned utilities um we have 11 different
iterations of VB charging programs and when I say programs I mean rebate or incentive programs ways to tap into funds to help pay for the installation of these charging stations um there's a $400 million over threeyear spend of investor of investor own utility dollars
that are essentially that's rate payer money that are paying to install these or you know subsidizing the installation of these stations in general they're categorizing what we call level two charging stations and DC fast charging stations the investor-owned utility
money is uh managed through eversource if you're in the eversource territory National Grid obviously which is where we sit here and Unitil those are the three IUS and then there's a separate pot of money that's managed through Mass D which is called mass evip that stands
for the Massachusetts electric vehicle infrastructure program so we love to have new acronyms I thought I would introduce you to a few today next slide please what's a level two by the way we're going okay thank you look at that right on C how much do I owe you all
right let before I get into how the incentive programs work and how that ties into the County's potential plans uh for launching and installation um basically Level One charging is the is the charger that comes with the electric vehicle um it would be like your golf
cart charger that you purchase right and it's uh it's 120 volts and it's going to take anywhere from 20 to 30 hours to fully charge the vehicle so most folks the first thing they do when they buy an electric vehicle is they have a 240 volt dryer Outlet installed in their garage
and they purchase a level two charger on Amazon for $300 or $400 and now I can plug in my electric vehicle every day when I come home and when I wake up in the morning every day I've got a full tank of gas so level two between home
charging and workplace charging um will represent over time about 80% of the charging needs across the country then we have what's called DC fast charging this is your road tripping this is your Tesla supercharging stations these are
your high power uh Polo pull into the Mass Pike where there DC fast Chargers located at the service areas and you've got a 20 to 25 minute maybe a 30 minute charge time you get a coffee you use the restroom check your email you come out
and you go you're up to 80 90 or 100% of your charge so the categorically we're really the incentives and what we're talking about for public charging are level two in DC fast charging and that's where the utility and uh Mass evip
rebates are geared to it my next slide please so the rebate summary as of February 2025 just to bring everybody up to speed I mentioned there were $400 million of investor own utility dollars that are being spent across the state for electrification that is all just for
Chargers not for vehicles uh the DC fast programs are are for the most part are fully subscribed um there is a weight list opportunity for National Grid so we could work with you on on that ever source is really is they're done they're
they're so over subscribed um funds are available for Fleet charging and when I say Fleet charging that means that the city town or municipality has to either already own an electric vehicle or has an elect minimum of one electric vehicle on order and is progressing into a fleet
conversion over time level two incentives are also fully subscribed for most Cate ories there are dollars available for multi-unit dwellings multif family and environmental justice communities but in
general really the money that's available that we're able to help you scale plans for electric vehicle charging installation today are through the mass evip program so that's really what we're going to focus on today level two incentives under Mass evip um are
attractive for a lot of reasons one is that typically not a lot of major electrical infrastructure work is required rarely do we really need to tap into an you know a new Transformer with a new service for what we're going to be
presenting to you today I mentioned to you that 80% of all charging will be level two so we think that from a roadmap standpoint it's it's the best way to start an overall plan and I will just end this slide with telling you that the investor owned utilities
currently have a filing in front of the state Regulators um where they're asking asking for more money and they're asking to re Focus the funds more to level two away from DC fast but tied to that is a
request for a rate increase so I wouldn't expect to see anything positive anytime soon I we're thinking it's going to be months before The Regulators rule on any type of rate increase to pay for this next slide please so let's talk about a proposed
Strat what do we do now right so we understand where the monies are available we understand where the monies are not available so let's talk about building out a strategy for EV charging for cities towns and communities I look at three kind of points here that are
important one is why do we want e charging Community benefit um and if we're going to pursue an overall strategy and a plan we want to make it impactful um throwing one or two Chargers in a community parking garage or a city parking garage is nice but
that doesn't really get us to where we need to be as far as demonstrating that the city town community or the county has a wellth thought out strategy in a road mapap and then thirdly would be the plan and develop for Fleet conversion which is a little bit longer term
planning next slide please okay so Community benefit obviously the benefits are are high visibility that the county is providing vital services and utilizing massive abbate money getting a high value return on their investment next slide
please scale for impact EV charging and to try to get EV charging in as many public locations as feasible at little or no cost right so we want to try to get these at the ball fields the parks the library the rec centers City Hall so
that there's a strategy that shows that we've got scale to really impact the community rather than sort of just dropping dots on a map and throwing a charger willy-nilly next slide please and then last but not least plan
and develop for Fleet conversion that involves vehicle lease purchase Arrangements it's a it's a it's a larger scale infrastructure upgrade utility is now at the table with all of us planning on a new service with the 480 volt
transformer and a timeline to accomplish that uh and to ensure that there is electrical capacity in that area to be able to even pursue looking at 4 bolt charging so there's a more collaborative effort uh we like to get
involved in all aspects of strategy but we also understand how to prioritize that and start with what we could do today and then build towards the future next slide please okay so highly visible and meaningful EV charging let's talk about
where the rubber hits the road here scale for impact so we've built an charging what I call a starter kit to get charging to as many locations as possible at little or no cost how does that work we utilize the mass evip incentive and we design four parking
spaces so that would be two dual Port level two chargers for every government address and we're able to provide that at zero out of pocket cost so if you had 10 locations or 10 cour houses you wanted to consider um we would propose
coming in putting in four electrified parking spots and it would be zero out of pocket cost for each one of those addresses um this consists as as I said of two dual Port fully equipped network stations revenue is generated from the
charging session from the driver plugging in and using their Apple pay or their charge card or whatever to be able to pay for that charge so 90% of that revenue from the driver fee can go to the county it can go into a rainy day EV
account it can go to building out the future additional stations um and this is a very attractive option because 10% of the re you're wondering where the other 10% goes that goes back to the manufacturer who runs the network that
collects all of the revenue and disperses it back to the county at zero annual license fee so you don't get an annual Bill like you would with your Microsoft Office comes up for readable right all software costs money this is is a way to defer cost away from the
city's town and the county so that you're not getting hit with hidden charges um I also would point out who wants those uh sorry who wants the um the charging things so like who wants them we the scenario that we're presenting here the city town of the county owns when once we're done with
the turnkey installation we hand the keys over oh yeah yeah they're yours now we do have options where we can own and operate the stations which we are happy to talk about if if you're interested how long are e you good from is another question I have these level two Chargers
are roughly fiveyear life five years so we bring we wrap a fiveyear warranty around it and yeah it's it's like a laptop computer or a cell phone perfect for Frank okay thank thank you U we've built this zero out of pocket cost with some assumptions okay because there are always going to be unique situations so
what we did is we factored in up to 150 feet of trenching from the power to the charger Lo the actual Charger station location so when we're out doing s sidewalks we're factoring all of this into where the charger where's the
visitor parking where's the ideal location where where can we keep this at zero cost so just to give you a little bit of an asteris there but in general um we could probably get anywhere from 60 to 70% of the S sidewalks that we do
to work under this zero out of pocket and then the outliers we can revisit that as a separate you know there may be some some electrical infrastructure out of pocket cost that we can deal with as a separate bid or whatever uh next slide
please ready there we go so planning and developing so now once we're we've we've got this underway we've got uh Community visibility there's a road map in place and now we can start working with you hand inand and and with National Grid we bring them to the table they're a key
partner in all of this um and have sources in the as well I'm sorry right right both utilities have an active point of contact that we work with that specialize in Fleet electrification and we bring them to the the table as part of the team so but we we're we're the
hands on or the boots on the ground with regard to the design and the coordination of the charger itself and the location Etc U equipment selection warranty all of those things but we you know the utility is a key component to
this um just to give you a general rule of thumb once Mass EV app approves a site rebate application we can typically install these projects in two to three days on level two when you get into the DC fast we're talking about typically a
9 to 12 month from breaking of ground to completion and again because we're talking about a new 480 bolt service so there's there's much more Make Ready um involvement on the DC fast so the you can imagine the planning stage for Fleet
is you can see why it's l here there no real Fleet applications in the county we already reviewed that just a oh great okay terrific next slide please I think I might be done forget yeah that might have been the last one yeah so I'm open for questions
comments so what you the lower one is pretty easy to install Higher One would take a little while EXA Mak sense makes sense um what would be needed on our end to make this thing happen so what we generally like to start with is a list
of you know the most appropriate properties that you would like us to embark on a s sidewalk and then we just need a coordinated effort at your level to make sure that we've got the right folks typically all we really need to do is have access to the electric panel and
then somebody on site who was with us to be able to say we'd like the Chargers here versus over here you know we don't want to make the final selection decision but we also want to weigh in on the fact that hey if we can keep this to you know we're we're trenching 150 ft
we're if we're going across Main Street to the visitor parking you know what I mean so we want to have some weigh in on that other than that I mean it's it's not a complicated process but we do need access because we're basing this on the fact that um we're able to tap off using existing
available power from available panels so we had informal meeting before with a zoom call right and we had talked about the court um buildings being used which would be there's one in Sten uh there's a r District Court the brook line
District Court y of course we have deim and Court registry deeds and we have the yagi school right and then we have the GOL course so y potentially you know those are great great we have all those addresses okay so that's the list that you Prov that's the
list that you that would be a great starting point those are great in fact I think I had a quick call with uh John McGowan the other day and he said that they had already anticipating this by some other talk they had even looked at potential
parking areas for uh the solar charging thing so not so okay so yeah we got a little jump start on it the main thing would be again looking at the electric bills and looking at the connectivity right right that does Factor it
yeah I'm for it I want to get going on this a big program sir I know that um so we had actually voted on this previously not with your group but we had talked about this and I think we talked about having one at the registry as it started just to check it out and see how it went and then looking at the other locations
I think that's what you talked about before right but my point was that I agree we did say that um but if they are doing the work why don't have just look at everything and maybe you can you can move quickly on it you know what I'm saying um May is there an advantage in
doing that well there isage I mean the the urgency is this um if you can get them at no cost that funding just think of all the cities and towns are going to be taking advantage of it this funding will not be around first come for a Ser so we're yeah that's part A Part B would
be we'd love to look at a portfolio because 100% of that portfolio that we look at is not going to be exactly suitable there may be some extenda circumstances there may be say an older court building may have some existing code issues that come up so what we'd
like to do is say let's look at 10 and then maybe there's three or four that are just this is you know really really sweet spot perfect opportunity and then we would present you at that time with a final proposal we would come back and report and say okay we looked at these eight we looked at schools the other day
for Blackstone milville we start at the high school they've got asbest okay well so try to pipe and get power out of that with his bestus remediation and everything so you you know you don't know until you get in these buildings and kind of see what the existing circumstances are you can tell pretty
quickly that this is going to be an absolute home run versus Okay so let's prioritize and go after those zero out of pocket get rebate applications into the state which earmarks the funds for you and then they give you uh I believe it's nine months to execute the project
so you're not even fully committed at that point basic basically but the money is earmarked for you know for these projects so our our goal would be to try to get you know get your name on as on as many dollars as possible for the locations that make sense how many sites
could you visit in a day for like site surveys oh Chad and I are pretty pretty good uh depend you know geographically if we're in one County we could probably look at 68 a day yeah easy yeah I mean it all comes down to the coordination effort on the other side
you know somebody who's with us with keys getting us into panels walking outside it's literally could be a 15minute s sidewalk yeah um so John you want to say something yeah excuse me I do recall having a conversation with that I want to clarify what the grant
through the state is offering yes in terms of specificity because as Peter mentioned we had previously engaged to another vendor for the same purpose we received notice from that vendor in December that the state Grant to fund DC fast charges had dried up is that accurate yes so are we not talking about
fast charges under your program right now free of charge that's correct well which all about level two gentl behind you let's just talk about so we're talking about this call this meeting has been primarily on level twos but in National Grid we can do the level three
Fleet but not Public Access so this so the gentleman you were talking to whoever it may EV been was correct that the level three fle um level three Public Access in incentive is filled right now they are as Robert
had mentioned it is out there that they're going to replenish the money I was told by National Grid it should be replenished by the summer of this year however more likely next year okay we won't know that but the fleet
opportunity is available right and as that pointed out we're not in the fleet business we don't have no I I'm just trying to address your question make one correction not correction but just let me just elaborate a little bit so your previous vendor was absolutely right but it wasn't the state grant money that
dried up you see State no no it was the utility National gr and never Source money which is the investor owned utility money that comes from the rate payers that got fully subscribed regarding level twos um your program offers that to us today yeah the
other distinction that's prior Benda mentioned was that the only path to that opportunity was on Street charging that was a distinction he made to us in December iware of those restrictions on the level two applications there's no in this case we don't have we don't own the streets we
can't put charges on Street side they have to be in public lot system as described the only requirement is is they have to be publicly accessible it's an interesting yeah now there are there's a separate grant program right now for on Street charging it's a pilot program and they're accepting up to 25
cities and towns to sign up for this and this is a totally unique program in the sense to your point and that would be electrification along the Downtown parking where you've got metered parking and there's nowhere where would you get the power to be able to power these that's a whole that's a new program I'm
happy to share it with you we don't participate in that they've got a separate vendor does what we're talking about is is public charging at any government location so like what you mentioned the list that we have now is a great start
so um so I'm going to dumb it down for me right so I I saw that this is level two and the level two is a higher end that people would have at their house and they charge over night so if somebody pulled into the registry and they wanted to you know fill up with the
electrical current um how much how much power would they get here for like day that's a really good question so depending upon the size of the vehicle the range is going to be anywhere between 25 to
75 miles per hour of charge gain okay so if you've got a Hummer that with a giant battery pack it may only gain 20 to 30 charge miles per hour and that's why level two generally
fits and when we talk about 80% of charging will be level two it's really based on 12 time so if I'm a school a courthouse anywhere a golf course anywhere where I'm going to be my car is idle for more than a couple of hours level two is the right selection if I'm
staying overnight at a at a hotel and I want to plug in I don't want a 20 minute charge because then I have to come out and move my car so it's all application specific um but to your point yeah so schools workplace charging a courthouse
right where Court's going to be in session and folks are going to be in there for two three 4 hours perfect for level two charging what happens after a certain amount of time the people get dinged if they don't move their car so there's a way through the software to set up what's called an idle charge and
they'll get a notification on their phone that says your car is now fully charged you have 15 minutes to move it from the spot or else you're going to get build at whatever you want to charge them you could charge them a dollar a minute for staying overtime um but yes
that's a very common mechanism in the networking software to be able to you can set the charge rate what you want to charge the driver you could set we want all City employee vehicles to be to have no charge right and but we want the
public is going to get charged 35 cents a kilowatt hour for their charge all of that is done through the networking software that's why their software is such a important component of this okay would it make sense for you as a team to look at some of that information and
maybe visit the sites with somebody and then come back and make a decision and show what we want to do yeah well then we'll be able to lay out which mon able to do with no c yeah that would be our so do we need some kind of a vote to that effect to basically say we would I would recommend
a vote by the commission take necessary State you know what um so I would just suggest Richard because this is a big this a big topic and the chairman will be here next week I would just hold off the vote till next week on this I I have no problem with it in fact I I like the
whole idea but um I think the chairman out way in on it just to make sure that he is that chairman okay all right excuse me I just want to add one point sure in when it comes to the charging stations currently the DC fast Chargers
do not charge quite frankly the most popular vehicle out there which is the hybrids you have to have the level Twos for the hybrids okay so even though I am my full proponent of the DC fast because I have two electric vehicles the hybrids only to
charge the the level two so the level two are always going to have a a major value because that's how the hybrids judge yeah that makes sense okay thank you appreciate that so I think that's a it's a very important topic to understand even though again I am a huge
proponent of the DC fast everywhere if the incentive was there but having the level twos is I think mandatory so the DC fast they they can't dumb it down to work on the hybrids currently no but you might there's anything pop up yeah
currently no it doesn't do that so it's only the level twos that will do the hybrids okay and there's a lot of cars out there that are hbri capability because of the infrastructure
Nationwide of not having charging stes but the fast charging St so I would recommend after the chairman is briefed on this next week we would typically be scheduling um site walkthroughs for
probably about two to three weeks after that so we we we kind of fill up our week with site walk so our next opening would be so after you notify us we'll we'll put you in the schedule might be helpful if one is followed up with a just again a quick
note which is what you're looking for and we can do to expedite that would be good any of course CH approval sure great you mean for the site visit yeah CH a site visit and information yep he keeps talking about information but I think we we going to coordinate that with our our maintenance people make
sure someone's there and what time You' be there that kind of thing that gets into nut two to three weeks enough time frame that should be enough time yeah okay good great awesome you got you got you got three buildings right here right so we're probably looking at one parking lot we were talked about looking the
area was called behind the registry of deeds that's like one site right here right and then you're only looking at it's one the other site is Ram Court that's a visit that's down in ROM Sten Court that's in Sten that's a visit that's it of course the other two would
be the aie school visit and the GOL five visits great five one terrific oh Brook line right it always um blew my mind that Brook line was part of long story is a long story is it really Ian is there some behind that
yeah so uh what had happened was uh Brook line and hi Park and all these other towns of County and um as was H and U and they decided they decided that they they didn't want to be part of nor County
anymore they were woed away by the city of Boston for better schools and streets and things like that and hangam decided that they'd rather take a ferry to Boston than drive horse and buggy to dam for the courts is hangam and no then
they they decided they didn't like went to yeah right those a trade off we got we're the only non-contiguous County um county in the state only a mass Co is not part doesn't touch like literally if
you look at theet it is not contiguous with the rest of the county yeah we one last thing before we leave I just want to let you guys know that I think next week we're installing uh DC fast charges uh in rental oh okay so so in rthm we should have I think three or
four different locations going in right so probably within two weeks they should be uh all 100% installed not powered up takes a little while for National Grid to power them up but uh probably by the time you guys make the decision if you guys want
to drive by um some of the locations which would be happy to send you the locations um they should be installed and you'll be able to really see what is private property or town properties I think one is uh behind the town hall the
other one that I can think of is um if you come out of the town hall and take a right there's an open parking one it was an unpaved parking lot and we're putting three I think three or four charging stations oh it's brand new I know what that is yeah they used half of money to build that they did it's brand new it's
very nice yeah that makes sense a good spot for yeah yeah so there we are uh those ones will be installed um next week I'm quite sure thank you so much thank next job good
presentation be in tou going to send me something take Carew nice job today thank you thank you than you so Robert it is your day and you're technically next uh how long is your going to be your as short as you want
except let me say a couple words like two minutes oh no no no come on up come I'm sorry business cards or anything you can if you want you guys need thank you thank you Commissioners I know you're having a very very busy day and
you want to have your wife come up and join us come on sure come on if you want Ellen could be where she wants I want to thank you for your acknowledgement today plus welcoming my wife Ellen uh has been part of the inv today and
gets to see right now County uh operations in action God help her so this is my final RSVP report and I'm glad to just give you a couple minutes of updates of what's Happening
especially with Lucille on board now we as we stand have 192 volunteers placed in 221 active placements some a few of them about 20% have more than one placement 221
volunteer opportunities that they fill and we currently have an RSVP Advisory Board of 10 active members who we have organized to help Lucille our new RSVP director in specific areas one around
the grant one around uh gift card mailing another one around program surveys uh our Flagship program rides for vets uh which we're very proud of we started that 10 years ago with 10 active drivers
and now we have 48 active drivers if you include two new recently trained maybe 49 the TR to recruit me uh but I want to go to Hawaii first before I um so we've uh given 97 rides over the
past 10 months with an average 91 rides per month and that's about the average over the past two three years we've averaged 90 plus rides per month this is an amazing program that not isn't really available in other
counties we need to limit the amount number of rides we give because of the demand and my suggestion is if you want to see the program expand potentially the higher a part-time person to be exclusively working on uh rides remember
we had a part-time person when Sally oconnell was here uh to work with rides for vets exclusively and along with the whole volunteer dispatch system to have more people so it's not just staff that are spending so much time because it's
so labor intensive I mentioned this to Lucille uh so I updated our RSVP policies procedures manual it's 50 pages it's a great resource for Lucille I had requested two weeks of training uh and
I'm grateful to uh to John and Michelle for having arrang first of all we found a great candidate in time and I had two solid weeks to train Lucille uh in the primary things Grant financial
reporting timelines coming up Grant and programming resources partner site volunteer contacts the RSVP website newsletter time schedule psvp events I've even ordered her new name badges and business cards which have arrived we
made time to go to four volunteer sites in the past week de and Walpole Council on Aging Southshore Elder services in Springwell and I think Lucille is definitely going to increase the visibility of the RSVP program in the county and through time is going to be
great thank you for giving me this opportunity uh this 10 and a half years ago to be the artist SVP director I have I it's been a dream job except when I had a couple nightmares but it's been like overall just uh tremendous
meaningful opportunity and I'm bringing it Forward into my retirement don't know if I'll be a rid for vet dber or what but I'll definitely be given of myself so thank you thank you for your blast so I I want to thank you again I did a
fabulous job and I know that um the Manifesto that you gave to John was amazing it really outlined everything and you've done a terrific job in so many different ways so um with with heartfelt thanks thank you so much for all that you've done and and we hope
that you uh continue to be part of our Lives thank you very much I expect I'll be around here and there just real quick I had a chance early this morning to speak to a group in Canton and U I brought up the RCP program specifically
the right for that and so many people had so many good comments to say about that it's a great program so your sentiment about trying to increase it I fully support that I think it's something that we can't do enough for our vets and it's a great great program and people knew about it and they were
asking questions about I don't get I said well the guy you would have called his name Rob but he's gone don't worry about him but but uh it's it's a great idea and I think you just set a very high bar for Lucille to follow she's going to be good and we're very optimistic working with her but we've done a wonderful job for everybody with
definitely appreciate you and we'll make sure wish you the best I'll be keeping an eye on you guys see what's happening see what's happening in the county now we're in trouble Robert thank you again thank you Robert thanks for everything very walk lot take care thanks enjoy your
retirement in Hawaii and everything else and have fun all right all right um I say we get right to right to the registry Bill let's get you out of here we did we did that we did that for the other um both the engineering and the Treasures Office did get jumped
ahead of you but he jumped ahead of everybody I can't help myself bill but like with Robert leaving I was thinking like when we started well at least when I started you were here a couple years before me but Dan chipchase yeah all right grou Russia good lot of good memories lot of
good work too good didn't work well hopefully uh we can approve our budget my budget down the line I'd be I'd be happy camp but go go through it anyway a little bit yeah um you know submitted to to each of
you on February 4th so you know as as the manager of the registry you know the budget that was submitted I I hope you'll approve it because I I think it supports uh the operations the needs the services the registry has but also you know needs to provide
um you know I do you know have to point out I think the registry's tighten its belt over the years uh in fiscal 21 the registry had a budget of uh I believe it was like 300 3,663 th000 and then last year with the
reductions and there was a reduction in the September of 2024 the fiscal 25 budget was 3,826 40.82 so that's a reduction over time of a half a million um so the the budget's been cut staff
positions have been cut um there are 40 positions uh down from the 48 in fiscal 21 and actually I was going through last year's budget there was a chart your your staff U produced and the registry was the only Department that had staff
positions cut and uh those staff position cuts went from 45 in fiscal 23 to 44 and fiscal 24 and it was cut again last year um uh down to 40 positions so I think the you know the registry has uh you
know you contributed um and again you know I recognize it's your prerogative to to increase staffs in in other parts of the county that that's your prerogative but I'm just here to be supportive of this registry budget because uh just out of
fairness to the whole process as well as you know the service to the registry users um and residents um and and when you make cuts and we've you've they've been made you know we have to manage it and but I think I would be remiss if I didn't say both Union and non-union
registry staff have voiced that staff Cuts mean more work for them individually without an increase in pay so um and then to get right into the budget uh there's other group codes two three and four and it kind of ties into the supplemental appropriation request
that was put in uh groups 2 three and four are integral I think any way to providing the services NK registry is known for um but these codes are also integral to the protection of of the registry records the registry data and there's over 13 million registry images
uh I believe these budget codes are the foundation of registry's responsibilities which is why I I hope you approve the budget um you know the titles to the biggest asset most of the folks that we serve you know is is their home and and um you know the protection
of the records that that lead to those titles they're not being enhanced if we continue to make you know Cuts in in groups two three and four and and why do I bring that up um in in group two in fiscal 22 the registry spent
$45,100 25 it was cut to $230,000 and then there were more Cuts made in sept on September 11th 2024 to the registry budget and I guess what I'm saying is you know the re you know the rubber hit the road you know um just today uh February 26 monies were
transferred posted we asked for a transfer request which we can do within code it was only $2,000 but why because group 399 as of yesterday only had $15 and 27 cents in that code and 60% of
that subgroup 3.99 was cut in that September 11 2024 registry budget cuts so I I guess I'm just making an argument and and and I hope it's adopted is that even if you we put increases in group two and I've heard other people in other
budget pres presentations talking about inflation talking about supply chain issues and the registry is no different but even if uh um even if you go with the number that we have uh in group two that's still uh uh over $68,000 less
than what we spent in fiscal 22 so in other words if you approve the group two request you're still under the past amounts that the registry is spent and I'm not going into fiscal 21 where it was $522,000 so um but also approving the
budget as submitted will avoid the situation that the registry has has been put in you know uh with these Cuts we've been left at fiscal 25 short of Monies to cover registry expenses services and contracts and in December the supplemental Crest you people approved
one that came before you it didn't pass the Advisory Board and hopefully it it's supposed to be reconsidered and I'd like to talk about that but I I say we should put the money in from the beginning that the registry needs to operate so that we're not in that situation like we are
right now and uh I I think the you know what's happening in fiscal 25 can be easily avoided if the fiscal 26 registry budget that's being submitted is is approved now why do we need increases I you know one level is you know we have
you know you're spending money to protect I see Sam's in here from cyber security the registry needs to be funded to protect the registry records as well the registry documents registry indexes that has nothing to do with cyber security that's just dealing with the
records we have and there are state laws that require us to protect those records there are state laws that require us uh to do certain things and complying with state law cost money and uh for instance uh Iron Mountain costs have gone up 48%
since fiscal 22 so your budget approval approval would recognize that we're all dealing with increases in in Vendor costs and as basic as it sounds the codes I just talked about 2 three and four it's all about making sure the registry records aren't changed or
corrupted or or altered in any way and again that's separate from from cyber security and what Sam deals with so uh I'm just asking you to approve the budget because I I believe it's lean but I also thinks it I know it makes sure that it takes a better step to making
sure that the statutory duties and responsibilities that we have uh get fulfilled Richard do you have any questions no I just I want to make sure I got the right numbers on here though um so the first page I'm looking at it
says this request 3.3 million am I looking at the right number or salaries contractual Services supplies materials um yes yes that's the total number and then there the county mandate and then
the D's excise right on the cover page that's what you're saying under the request right but that's your request from the bud yes okay okay you want to make a motion take it under that's sounds [Music]
good one second one more thing hey is this and get don't get upset I get confused at times with the number letters but is this the one where you identified three different possible ways to for funding or was that something else that was fun actually it's kind of
time timely that's commissioner stady just referenced that's this was the letter that went through yeah that's your that that has nothing to do with the budget but but it kind of touches upon where we find ourselves so and maybe it's a good
time to talk we put a request in uh supplemental appropriation for 120,000 right and outlined in that is it's up to you as far as how you're going to fund it um but there's ways to fund it there uh first first of all there's savings um
I think the most compelling thing the registry you know has been running lean I mean uh this is right off budget sense and it was attached to that letter that there was over 223,000 uh I guess gu the Treasures Office encumbers the money and that's
the projection of 200 you know and it could be more but I guess what I'm saying is our request is only for 120 if we're not spending uh in group one with the salaries and and things like that over 223,000 there's money within you know
there's money within to to to pay um also we have the issue of the and it was an issue still an issue with me you know that the Deeds excise we have Deeds excise collections which was also um attached to that you know to that uh
letter that you referenced I mean the Deeds excise collections for fiscal year 25 the registry statutory share for the general laws is over 1.1 million but that's the one that's the subject of the other lawsuit isn't it
but the actual EXA side well there's two aspects the Deeds excise the judge ruled that that the registry gets a share it's not and I know some people say it's 100% the count 40% of that yeah so while we got the 1.11 million you people have got
almost 1.7 million so that's one way to pay how you it's up to you people identifi okay I app and then the other issue is the 3.8 million I mean the judge's ruling there is you know that 3.8 million is registry monies you could
use that that's money that's in the Deeds excise account uh but last ly um I also attached using the numbers from your minutes there was 484000 that you could use um the minute showed you use
71,000 and and so to me that's another way to pay for it and then I also attached and it's in again referenced in the letter some of the Advisory board members were saying you you people there was $94,000 of Deeds excise money that was
put into the general fund at the last meeting and people were saying why don't we use that money to pay for for the request that you approved so there's a bunch of different ways to get this done um is should we talk about it at some
future date when you're getting ready to because you got to because this why is impr proper today but I mean the budget is you raised it I just I know I did I did I open the door I got it I just getting mixed up there but the budget I understand the budget this is something that would be supplemental for Advisory
board right that be separate yes Advisory Board is approved but we recommend to The Advisory when do you think you'd be voting on that when's The Advisory board meeting April 16th sorry April 16th I thought okay A little ahead of the curve but okay okay okay sometime
before all right that would be when would you anticipate voting on it he said April 16 that's like the week or so before yeah I'd say like first meeting of April or something like that so you made you made a motion to take the the budget under I think yeah I make a motion all right
take the registry budget under I'll second that motion all in favor yes sir thank you good thank you thank you you than good J all right now we're going to go to uh item number six public comment
I know we took everything out of order today sorry about that folks so every week Tri B uh that's coming up that's coming up yeah public comment item six W so um every week during our meetings we asked the public if they have any uh
specific public comment now's your time and um has anyone asked for permission to speak publicly this week uh not not directly to that definition commissioner but I did receive a call from Mike Michael devie who's the head of the Men's Golf Association at um wson
Recreational facility president's Golf Club Michael was monitoring some of the vacancies that have occurred at the golf course especially in the eve of the season opening and he wanted to find out what the commissioner's plans were to backfield the assistant superintendent the golf pro and uh had a wonderful
conversation with him he wanted to express um his appreciation Commissioners specifically supporting the club um he has a long lineage with um um himself as grandfather father being members and uh he loves the property and wants to make sure that it
uh continues to to to Really provide excellent recreational opportunities for people up there um he was meeting with um his Association I think it was this past Saturday and uh was going to convey the County's plans to backfill his position so good communication with uh one of the organizers of the men's golf
club up with golf course just want to pass along his best wishes to you and his appreciation thank you great thank you John so is there any public comment uh as uh Joe Shay our chairman would say out in Zoom land any public comment okay hearing them we're going to
move on to item seven old business what do you have John uh no old business sir okay Personnel matters for consideration as one person matter um I move north resignation of Dana Smith L Quincy as a head golf professional assistant director at the
salary stated effective 3725 somewhere I'll second I'll second the motion to accept the resignation and I go Saints with a heavy heart because uh everyone here liked Dan quite a bit and uh he will be missed he was a terrific guy and he did a great job for the GOL course so thank you
D um item number seven take the vote um Richard motion yes I did make the motion second all in favor I I so thank you thank you to Dana all right so number nine payroll and expense warrants for approval CH I'll move the warrant list for approval there
are four items number one 25-34 payroll of the county the sum 153 598 54 so second all in favor say I I second item payroll for the school light 25-34
parentheses 17.2 I mve the sum of $2,680 sove second on fa say I I so third expe in the county uh line 0242 I move approval the sum $74,200 a $50,000 so Mo second oh say I
I so okay terrific includes that thank you so um great job now we're on to um number 10 report of the nor County Opa Pro John uh briefly commissioner just one item um please to announce that the transfer tool has been approved um as
you may recall over the last several weeks we've been working with c and Larson to develop a mechanism by which communities requesting transfers during this um monitoring period um can establish not only a request but a process in an review cycle that mimics
uh pure and full and strong Auto Trail um furthermore last week I announced that the other counties in Massachusetts have adopted it or wish to use the same tool that we've developed so uh yesterday we had a uh dry run through the approved product and it will work very simply communities who have an
interest in requesting a transfer of existing funds um to a excess capacity Grant could do so um they will make the request in writing um the request then gets P put onto a form uh within the portal the form is then reviewed by
Clifton lson to make sure that the new use for money is compliant with the intended purposes of that Grant application once they have approved it the county will enter the transfer document itself into the portal probably be be bill um and it'll be put before the Commissioners for approval once the
Commissioners approved the transfer um the transfer will be executed within the portal and the money will move into its new destination um it sounds simple but it involves several steps that now um will be memorialized through um um the creation of forms and the approval forms
which makes our audit Trail quite firm so um we expect to start moving on at least one of those uh transfers within the next week or so um I think I mentioned that to before but um this uh this Milestone is important happy to make make it U useful to these
communities and over the next several months at least through the end of 2026 I expect sever of them to make use of it thank you very much anything else on Ara okay item 11 report from the procurment bid openings and contract WS
my is there are none not this week next week next week all right item 12 December 2024 trial balance for acceptance yes Mr chairman um as we don't move approval we move uh accept
accept move accept the trial balance for I believe that says 12 3124 that's correct make it smaller we uh the amount of 37,5 194,50
66 some W second favor say I great thank you right okay um item 13 fiscal year 26 departmental budget presentations we've already tackled AB andc we're also up with that now we to item 14 report of the county director John thank you uh
just a few items Commissioners I want to let you know that the FY 24 audit announced last week is underway um members of the cbiz staff have recorded to norfor County they are held up between our office and County treasures this week for a couple of days uh we're moving ahead and hope to have our audit
done in the next month or two um so that'll be good and we'll be fully caught up on our cycle um to give the Commissioners a brief facility update is provided to us by Mr mcowan John reports that uh they've met with
members of ABS this is the company doing the automated building management system work at Dam District Court they've done a walkthrough to get the game plan for the HVAC project this uh plan is to come back on Wednesday they want to start each workday at 6 o'clock um they work
on Corey certification processes so things are underway there ston um our carpet Jo is working on the ciling and the judge's benches I'm not sure if I alerted the Commissioners but last week after a rainstorm there was a a significant leak in one of the um
courtrooms and the leak caused some damage to judge's bench in some other areas which county staff immediately responded to cleaned up restored and fixed um but the judge's bench was damaged and Joe's fixing that the roof was to icy to get up onto to detect
where this leak may have come from uh we'll keep an eye on to deal with it if it's in fact a structural problem and then finally um as I mentioned the roofers will be out to look at the leak at Sten next week um and I also want to anounce that the work and Commissioners uh Lobby downstairs is virtually
complete we have a few items to do relative to uh some wall work but other than that I want to thank the painters the Carpenters the electricians and of course the carpent guy for doing such nice work I think you can see the Improvement for the for downstairs presents well for the
Department um put the Commissioners uh next week for follow up and Final Phase of your FY 26 budget presentation scheduled Commissioner's Office uh will be first I'll be before you to give you an idea of what the commissioner's office is looking at for FY 26 as well
as the debt schedule and miscellaneous expenses following that will be the agie and then finally Regional Services you'll have Mr Buckley to hear the final budget presentation before you turn the request over to the director myself to help build a balanced budget for the county throughout the month of March um
and then finally as I mentioned um we've had a vacancy obviously with the um Head Golf assistant at uh Wallis Recreational facility and the assistant superintendent vacancy those the interviews are ongoing we've been very active um we are nearing the end of the assistant superintendent search and we
have beginning that of the golf pro we have an interview tomorrow and then three more interviews I believe before the end of the week with Pro candidates into next week as well very strong market for those positions so hopefully have some blue papers and some hires coming before you without delay uh one
foot note I had a conversation with Carl Miner just to make sure that he has an idea of what to request from outgoing um head golf professional Dana Smith regarding transition it's a very very busy time for the golf course our HR department is very active reaching out
to seasonal employees securing their services March if golf whether it provides it um as well as getting ready for tournaments and so forth so U there's a lot going on we want to give our support to Carl during this transition period he'll be speaking to Dana making sure that U he understands
all the needs before Dana departs on March 7th so all I have at this time thank you Mr CH terrific item 15 emergency items topics that the chair did not reasonably anticipate will be discussed Richard do you have anything I'm good John anything no sir okay uh
item 16 is adjournment I'm mov we adjourn at 3:20 Mr chairman um motion's been made in second all in favor say I I uh thank you everyone for attending the meeting and we look forward to seeing you next week thank you take
care we close to me honor I think we just close it but that's all right okay all right all right