Well, well, you're right on the water. This This isn't Paul. How's the how's the commuting and and sort of staying up here and all that stuff? How's that going? Truthfully, if I wasn't staying up here
four nights a week, I wouldn't be able to do it. Yeah. Yeah. It's just a bear of a ride. I think my shortest one morning was like an hour and 15 and the longest was like 2:15. 220.
Oh, really? Wow. Yeah, that's a long but in that much time I would hope to be like in New York, Connecticut. Yeah. Oh, it's Yeah, it's an awful Pam is rejoining as a panelist so that she'll be able to so she'll be here shortly.
I'm here. Hey, Pam. Hi. How are How's everybody? Good. How are you? Just a wonderful time here. I'm sure I'm see myself on that large screen. I'm sorry about that, guys.
All right, Bob joined the wrong meeting. I'm just gonna ping him. And Rich is also remote. Okay. Thanks. Yeah. I don't I'm not sure what I'm assuming my camera's not working,
but uh I I can hear everybody and see everybody. Girls, you're coming in loud and clear. You have a lovely font. Yeah. Good. And Erica, when we uh well, I I guess
we'll we'll talk about that later, but you can share you can share your screen, right, with different documents and so forth. Is that true? Yep. Okay. So, just let me know when uh Bob's in the meeting and we can jump in.
What's happening with Do you see that? It could I think it's just my computer's just giving me a hard time, but I think it's a personal Are you here for a minute? Well, no. We're just going to executive after. Okay. But I think I should be fine.
Yeah. Honestly, Pam, he might be a minute. I don't know if you want to call to order or wait for Bob. Um, well, the only thing is I think Bob was the one who was going to provide the GM search committee update. So I I could do that. Oh, unless Bob, you know, you and Bob, I
mean Okay. Okay. All right. Uh so it being 503 on October 2nd, we're going to call this meeting to order. Uh I believe we're going to forego public comment from now, but of course, if anything comes up, um you know, let us know. Um
uh Erica and Aaron. Um so we'll move right into the committee updates. So we'll start with the GM search committee. Ray. So the PM search committee uh we've received about 36 applications. Uh we've rated them against the
uh requirements that we had set out in terms of the specifications um skills, education, uh experience. And we narrowed that down to a subset. uh we did a more critical evaluation uh
ranking each of those candidates against that criteria uh and then uh narrowed that down to about six candidates that we interviewed. Uh preliminary interviews uh they responded to standard set of questions and uh we are now close
to recommending to the to the general board uh a slate of candidates that we'd like to uh move forward. Excellent. Um, do you have a anticipated uh or an ideal schedule for sharing that with the
board um and determining the uh schedule for kind of final interviews? Um, we have been working. Yeah, it's in the next week or so we're ready to recommend to the to the board and begin
uh announcing when that the board would have open interviews with the candidates. We're we're talking to the candidates and and seeing their response. So, um I I don't have the actual dates that I'm can report out on, although I know we're working with uh
Susan to to kind of get that scheduled, but we're mindful that uh we want to try to get um someone selected promptly so that we can move forward, but um I I I don't have the exact dates where
Okay. Um Erica, do you happen to have the original dates um handy of like what our what our aligned schedule was or is that something Susan might have? I'm just going to give Bob Bob a call one second. Um
I I do want to say as part of that process us while we're tracking that piece of information down um that as a part of our review we met with various groups of the RMLD staff and got their feedback in terms of
you know what did they what did they like uh what values and qualities that they see um that we should be mindful of in our GM search and do want to say that was been very helpful to us. Uh we're very mindful of their feedback. Um certain certainly I'm
very mindful of it and we we talk about those qualities. When the candidates have asked us, you know, what are we looking for? Uh we pair it back, you know, we talk to the staff and these are the qualities we're looking for. So it it's been very very helpful uh to us in
our search and it's been a high in our minds in terms of those those qualities. And if I could add to it, when he says staff, that's both represented and non-represented types. So you had, you know, union folks and non-un folks being asked those
questions. Yeah. We only that we broke down into manageable groups so that we could talk to groups separately. But yeah, it was across the board. Yeah. Everybody was given an opportunity to weigh in, right? You guys did a lot of work. I a lot of meetings have been happening. Yeah.
Thank you for that. Thank you, Paul, for any help you've been providing. I stayed out of the way. Yeah, it's it's excellent progress. The end point that that's the one thing Paul has kept us kept us on track with.
Always good. Always good to have the end. Yeah, absolutely. Um, thank you for the update and thank you u agree. I concur with what uh Commissioner Talbet said in terms of u uh thanks for all the commitment. I know it's a lot of time and and certainly appreciate folks who
have thrown their hat into the ring uh for the for the role as well. Really exciting to hear. Um I I we'll do a double check, but I I think our objective um is is to really get through the interview process in the month of October um you know to allow us
time for any you know selection deliberation and contract negotiation so that we can you know kind of secure our plan before the holidays. So, um would be would be excellent if we keep our focus on, you know, I know Erica is working diligently to make sure we have
uh meeting times slotted and available. Um let's let's work towards getting those on the calendar um as quickly as we can. Um and we can certainly slot in candidate names um on those available available slots. Um but I know things get busy, so let's try to get that
scheduled as quickly as we can. Okay, Bob's in. Oh, perfect. All right, thanks, Bob. Okay, he might have some additional information, which is why I just wanted him to pop on. Yeah, absolutely. Uh, Bob, are you there? Hold on. He's rejoining as a panelist so
that he can talk. Okay. So, here now. Yes. Hi. Yes. Joining Ray just gave us a quick update in terms of kind of the the candidate um uh process. uh number of candidates and
the fact that you're very close to making a recommendation on the the three finalists. Um and we were just talking a little bit about the timeline uh and the objective of getting um uh the meeting the uh final interview time slots on the calendar so that we can ensure we get
through that process by the end of October. Um do you want to add anything to Y Ray also sorry Ray just also did talk about the um importance of gathering feedback from the RMLD uh staff and and how important that was to incorporate
collection was very very critical yes you know for the needs and the yes we we have three finalists so we are moving forward with the process um now we're at the point where we will be scheduling an interview at both the convenience of the board and the and and those three
finalists. So, oh that that's what we need to do is to put out some dates, multiple dates so that um we we can uh get that done and maybe if we get a couple of time frames um so that way, you know, if one person can't make it on one night, you
know, we we I I would suggest to put out a couple of times for for that and then we can uh provide those to Susan and then Susan can then uh work back with the candidates to get a night. I would prefer to have all three in one night. That would be my preference whether or not with that that's uh you know we're
we're able to uh you know get that in with everybody in our time frame that's good. So what um so we are officially ready to go. Um so now it's a matter of scheduling. Um I unfortunately I am away
Monday through Thursday next week and the following week I am away Monday through Wednesday. Um, so I am very limited on time on the the following two weeks to be present.
Okay. I think Erica, do you have all of that schedule information? I know you were working on just general board schedule over the next couple of months. 57. Yeah, I just have to join or I can just
Yeah. So, I have it up right now. Um, quickly just the restrictions just to see if these are still the same. So, I have Paul cannot do an inperson meeting from October 23rd to the first week of November. So, if Paul if the plan is for Paul to be in person at the
interviews, um, it would have to be before October 22nd or after the first week of November. Um, Rich, I have you unavailable starting Wednesdays in November. Bob, I have you unavailable on Thursdays. There is a
Yeah, Erica, I I will not be available the 6th through the 9th, nor the 13th through the 15th. Would you be available on October 16th? I I can. Yes, I can be. Okay. So, it looks it it seems like
we're at like October 16th and maybe October 20th, 21st as potential dates and and and the and the 22nd, right? Because we could we could just use that meeting.
Yeah. So, the 20 So, back to the 22nd. Um Paul will not be here is unavailable that day. Um, at the very least, as far as a board meeting goes, we need to get a bid approved. So, I do have that meeting as
still running. Um, again, it's between you and Paul if you want Paul in person for that. But if, um, so if you do want Paul in person, October 22nd will not work for interviews. But I would still like to have a board meeting to get that boiler bid approved.
If if if it's if it's just a bid approval on the 22nd, we that could take literally two minutes, right? So, um, and unless there's some rules around, uh, Paul needing to be there, I think we'd be okay having a representative
from procurement or otherwise on the 22nd. Any objections? Um, I I'm I'm not available on the 22nd. So, I would assume then that is just going to be a bid meeting and not an
interview meeting. It's kind of what I'm going for. Okay. Um, but I am available on our original 20 on the 15th. Um, wait, maybe I am available on the 22nd. Let me see. So, as far as just the bid goes, um, it
will not be ready in time for anything before the 22nd because they have to do the analysis, etc. But um we do just want to get it done, which is why I'm thinking even a quick Zoom meeting like the last time we did a bid just to get that on boiler order to heat station
one. Okay. Okay. So that it sounds fine for October 22nd to at least target the bid approval and then I just realized I'm traveling the 20th and 21st. So um I don't October
16th. Can I just re is that an option for folks? And I think yes. Okay. And then um I know Thursdays are tough. Are they always tough for you beyond that? Um Bob, like if we did the 23rd?
Uh so if we did I could do the 16th to the 23rd. Okay. And also the and and if if again goes back to the 20th 21st but it sounds like you're traveling on those days so that's not possible. Yeah unfortunately.
All right, that brings us we even talk about the week of the 27th uh 28th um again that Monday, Tuesday, 27th, 28th I'm not available but the 29th and 30th I am which is sounds that's a long way
out from today three weeks but yeah it is and I want to be clear you're that would mean Paul will not be attending in person just yeah and and unless we open up a Friday, which No, I think I think that So, yeah, 16th
or 17th, you know, potentially if folks are willing to do a Friday or 23rd, 24th potentially. So, maybe we we prioritize 16th and 23rd as options and we check candidates availability for those days
and if um if we can find one that works for all, we we pick one th one of those two Thursdays and it's just a long night. Um and Fridays as backups. Yeah. Or even the 30th possibly, right?
Oh, no. That's Paul. Paul's not available then. That's right. Sorry. Yeah, he wouldn't be available the 23rd or 24th to be there in person anyway. Um uh but uh I think it also is really running late. Um so we want to try to prioritize
closer to the middle of month. thing. I don't I have to check I'll have to check with the open meeting law. Our building is closed on Friday, so I don't know if we can do an in-person meeting. I just would need to triple check that's how to go about that with open meeting law.
Okay. Well, um All right. Well, another reason to prioritize Thursday, October 16th or 23rd. We also could meet offsite um elsewhere. So, if the building is closed on the 23rd, just because it's not open,
24th would be when it was closed. 23rd it should be open or I'm sorry. Um I mean, couldn't we open the doors for the purchase of Oh, I would think so. Yeah, think so. I mean, we'll take we'll take the logist like
the location offline. Again, like I don't think any prioritize Friday anyway. So let's let's again unless any objections October 16th and 23rd priority would be one of those two days having everybody for in one evening um with Fridays those that those two weeks
as backup. Good. Okay. Um excellent. All right. So anything else on the search process? Sorry, one more. K. You're probably going to need two meetings. So, we probably should book two because I don't
know if you'll be ready to announce the same day you interview and you'll have to announce in public. Um, okay. We the 17th, that type of thing. If you did it 23rd, you know, we could announce the next day if needed. I thought last time we voted right on
the spot uh the last meeting with um that was an interim position. We I with with Greg, didn't we vote on the spot? No, for the last GM1, you took a day. We we took a day.
I didn't I don't I I think we could vote. I mean that my opinion I think we could just vote that night as long as we have a voting a voting procedure in place. Um
and then um I I that I get my my opinion I think we could vote that night. Well, why don't we just do this? Let's let's let's set that as the objective. If we the sooner we can start the process, the better. Um let's all hold
the 16th and the 23rd evenings. Um if I think it would be helpful if we if the search committee um we probably need a little bit more details on the process. So you know we're going to need to align on questions um time amounts order of
interviews what's happening with the candidates uh while the others are being interviewed um and then our voting process. Uh so it's it we may need to just book those two and then um have our our process review and then decide if we
need to have an additional day uh for the official like kind of vote deliberation or vote. One more small sorry I apologize little log on the fire is just that even if we did it at the same night the vote
is move to enter contract negotiations with X. That is I think the proper way to do it. And then then there's going to be whether it's that night or probably another night is to have that executive session to hammer out any details. This
segus with the upcoming uh second half of this meeting of making sure that we're all aligned on those details and after that it becomes a higher Paul. Yes, correct. And I think that's that's
part of why we're trying to make sure we get through the process um and get the the interview process done before end of October so that we leave ourselves uh space for those sessions.
Um one one thing u Susan did mention was we have we have questions we have um that were created. Um we've we've uh went through a series of eight questions with each candidate. We approximately had an hour. You know, for the sake of
this, we would have to say 45 minutes, right? Three interviews at 45 minutes with some transition. Last time we did a random draw of the three candidates, one, two, or three. Um the other candidates weren't allowed to listen um
to the interview from another you know they were on premise but uh in in another room not allowed to to listen um to the other person's responses. Uh so that was the mechanics of that. Um I you
know we could look at those you distribute those eight questions um that we had and if there's any desire to um expand or retract those we you know we we could we could do that but you know eight questions you get you know
basically five minute intro five minutes per question and and and then some some and and a follow-up. We'd have to we would have to have it you know stay on time with you know for respect for the other candidates in respect of total time. So
okay. Yeah. So it sounds like uh maybe we can uh appropriately distribute those questions um to the board just for review. Um y and then uh sounds like the rest of the the protocol is pretty well ironed out.
So, um, it's essentially we're talking about a three-hour meeting, um, one of those evenings, um, with with those time slots defined for candidates. So, let's, uh, once the
candidate list is available um, for our HR team, have them reach out um, and get their availability on October 16th or 23rd. And then Erica, let us know um what the uh what the date looks like. Perfect. Uh what one suggest could we start at
5:30 that night? So it would be a little bit earlier. So we do like 5:30, 6:30, 6:30, 7:30, 7:30, 8:30 some conclusion. Um that would, you know, I'm I'm that time works. Is that I don't know if that is
available for everybody at 5:30 on that night. Well, either one that that would work fine for me personally if does anybody have any issues with that? No, it's fine. Okay.
5:30. I'll be here. 17:30 it is. Um, I know it's maybe a little bit late, but um it if we wanted to review questions,
could we? But I I'm thinking I could probably do it next Wednesday, like we want to do something five o'clock. Um, if if that would
give them to the board in an executive session, right? We have the questions if there's any questions about it. Um, maybe we could do that or um I think we have to I I believe we have to talk about the questions in public
if we're going to talk about the questions, but maybe a a a meeting to go over them. If if we could always just schedule something for next Wednesday and then not use it, but that that might be
time slot open. So, why don't we do this? Um maybe the uh the search committee chair and the um HR uh lead could have a conversation about the best way to um facilitate review of questions if
that's possible. Um and then we can we can set up time if we need to. Uh Wednesday the 9th is tough or no, Wednesday the 8th. That would be tough for me, but we can we can figure something out. Um Okay. And you know, worst case, we
received the questions at the beginning of the meeting and maybe uh leave 10 or 15 minutes at the beginning of the qu the meeting just to have a final public board review um and make any last minute edits to the questions before we jump into the interviews. That's a good idea.
Okay. Okay. Um anything else on the selection process? research committee. No, I just wanted to I think Ray reiterated the thanks for everybody that
was involved and uh to Susan and to Patty as well for the time commitment they put into that. So much appreciated. Echo that. Absolutely. Thank you very much to everyone. That's a lot of hours, a lot of effort, and I know everybody
put um a very serious effort into that um and and takes that responsibility seriously. So, thank you all for that contribution. I have a question. So, what's going to happen on the ETH? We're going to review the questions. So, yeah. Yeah. So, so I think on the ETH, what
we're trying to do is settle on the questions that we'll ask the candidates before the board so that we are giving each candidate the same questions. and and while we've had eight that we worked with at the pre-in, we want to see if those are the same questions or we want to tweak them for the final. So, it's
just a so talk about the question you're going to ask the candidates on on the eth. Yeah. So, did we pick a time for that? Sorry, I didn't I didn't hear anything about a meeting on the 8th. I heard that there are eight questions that are have
been um compiled and recommended by the HR lead and that um the chair of the se search committee and the HR lead would have a conversation about those questions and the best way to gather input from the board and worst case is
we just leave the first 15 minutes of our interview meeting to discuss and finalize the questions before we jump into interviews. All right. But so we're not doing the eighth, but but yes, it um
the idea is we put forward questions that we'll use for each candidate. The board will Yeah. The question is that we I think the the idea is not to have the questions necessarily be public until the night of the interview.
Um which is tricky. So, um, we want to make sure we're following the right steps there. Okay. Um, let's move to uh the contract committee.
Rich, do you have an update? Yeah, so the contract committee has met a few times. Um our first meeting was essentially to review some existing contracts uh that we yeah we reviewed a few of them and we
continued to do that kind of through the course of our uh meeting. Um the most recent meeting we uh brainstormed and eventually sort of distilled a few recommendations
and those are the recommendations that we're going to talk about a little bit in executive session. And can you share a little bit about the um process that you'd like to uh take from here in terms of the the timeline
of when we would have a draft um contract ideally to share with a candidate or candidates? Yeah, I mean I think uh the you know the timeline that we've just talked about I think will work uh depending on you know the outcome of the executive session.
Um, but essentially I think we should be able to have a contract uh that the candidates could review, you know, before uh probably not weeks before, but you know, at least days before their open interview on the 16th
or whatever day we were just talking about 17th. Okay. So, our just to confirm, our goal would be to provide them with that draft to review before the interview. Yeah. Are we are we giving them time to review it
uh before we post names of interview candidates? I don't know when the names would be posted. Uh but we would be able to give it to them by the 16th at least that you know according to our current plan we'd be able to do that. So, at a minimum, I
think we would and and folks can correct me on this, but we would need to post their names um at least 48 hours in advance when we post the agenda for the meeting. So, I think I think so. I think that we would be able to have a contract for
them by the 14th for sure. If the availability is the 23rd instead, October 23rd, we would be able to have uh contract ready for them on the 21st. Okay. Do do we want to consider giving
the and again this is uh perfect world enough time, right? So understand there may be time constraints, but do we want to give them at least 48 hours with the contract before um uh just to so they can confirm before their names are
posted in an ideal world. Yes. Uh I mean I I think some of the process we need to sort of talk about a little bit based on the recommendations that we're
making. So, um, hopefully we'd be able to, you know, hopefully we'd be able to do it maybe 24 hours in advance of the of their names being posted. We have to post their names 48 hours
before the meeting. See? Yeah. So, so Pam's question is, can we give them the contract 24 hours before we post their names? And my answer is hopefully. Can I ask a question of the historians
in the room which might be Paul and Erica in in I don't remember giving not that we didn't how that worked the last two times of did we give somebody a contract like we Erica is shaking your head no I don't believe so I believe what
happened was once the person I do not think anyone saw a draft contract before going into negotiating I think that once you picked somebody then the contract negot negotiations happened. Yeah, that that's my memory, too. And I'm I was here for the last two 13
years. So, I get I get the spirit of this, but also that's not what we did before. So, I don't know that although it's for executive session, I don't anything is all all that uh you know.
Yeah, that's and that's fine. I'm just trying to confirm what we want the process to be. Um because I I I thought that there had been other conversation at prior meetings. maybe I'm not remembering correctly about, you know, giving candidates visibility to the contract before they go public. Um,
I don't know where originated from, but um, it has I've heard it, but it's not something that I said or that Rich said. No, I I I said that I I Yes. And I I would my perfect world scenario if we had a contract ready
that then we hand that contract to somebody they can um review it and if there were certain items in there that they um did not or you know didn't like you know at that at that point you know that would be we could have it we could
have a preliminary discussion as to whether or not they they would continue. But so two things about two things about that Bob. One is that we're kind of starting a contract negotiation before we've even Absolutely. You know, and that seems a little awkward to me. Yeah, it very very true, Dave. David. So
maybe it would just be um uh just a here here's here's what we have as you know our our contract, right? And no negotiation. Yeah, no negotiation. Right. That's a very good point. Certainly that would be going
above and beyond what we've done in the past and I guess that's good to do there. It does you know doing negotiations before you've said we want to enter negotiations with you seems a little fraught to me and and also there's always the option that I mean
not that we've done this before at RMLD and I don't I don't think we would do this but not everybody has an employment contract and I think even some GMs in the state like in some situations may not have one. Paul will correct me. I'm not aware of any that would step
into that call. Sure. Sure. Of a contract. Understood. But I think there might be some where like certainly ones where it's a town department. It's a different setup. And then there's a few like that. Um yeah. So Danas is that way. Conquered is that way. Hall is that way. I know Hull
has he has a contract. I don't know Danver. And I think Conquered did also, but I'm not certain. And then Norwood is another one which is part of the town. Correct. I believe they have one. He has one, right? I mean, so and again to your
point and to your reaction of alarm it. Yeah, probably nobody would but there is that option. You can have a job without a you anyway. Not that that would maybe that would be an absolute deal killer. just to say I mean it's it's a very nice thing to get and um you know I think
everybody's reasonable but I I promising that they're going to get to review and approve something before we enter negotiations maybe we don't have to be doing that almost feels like the cut before the hall a little bit okay um I mean if let's let's keep it
consistent um with with prior years um or prior situations Um we are moving toward with the assumption that they will have a contract um and we can hold that contract to share with the selected
candidate for negotiations only after interviews complete. I mean I think so. Yeah. All right. Most sense to me. Yeah. Okay. Clear. So sounds like then either
October 16th or 23rd would work for that purpose as well. Yes. Okay. Excellent. Uh is there anything else from the contract drafting committee
before we move to executive session? No, not from me. Uh may maybe just a quick report that the contract committee has been me uh and Dave and VC. Thank you all for your extra time and
effort on this. Um it is much appreciated. Uh would anyone like to read the motion to move us to executive session? Oh, I'd love to read it. Thank you, Ray. Move that the RMLD board of commissions go into executive session pursuant to
mass general laws chapter 164 section 47D exemption from the public records and open meeting requirements in certain instances under the purpose number two to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with
non-unit personnel in return to open meeting session for the sole purpose of adjournment. Second. Well done. Um, let's do a roll call. Swanson. Yes. I reporter I.
Did we lose Bob? Okay. Daskcalak is eye. We might have lost Bob. Yeah. Yeah. Bob and I. Okay. Thanks, Bob. All right. Thank you all. We'll see you shortly. See you on the other side. Recording stopped.
We going into a