Hello. Oh, been a long time. I know. Oh, it's good to see people. Good to see you, Ann Veronica. This is her last concert tonight.
You're you're muted. There you are. There we are. No, I have one more next week. But um so I will like at 10 six I will probably log out and get out because I have to conduct part of the concert tonight. So
I kind of have to be in place. Okay. But, uh, I mean, I've I, you know, like this is all kind of new to me, but I've been through the whole thing and I have a few questions on the, you know, and whatever. So, as we
um, I'll do what I can. That's all we can ask. And and one thing I I don't know how to screen share. Um, so I don't know if if Hayden I can do that. Yeah, that would be great. I take a lesson in that.
Okay. Yeah, I can do that today. And then um so Nate, I spoke with Nate earlier. He wanted to make a public comment. We don't have it on the agenda, but you do have the ability to just have it um without violating open meeting law.
That sounds fine to me. So everybody's here. Yeah. And just before we start, I just wanted to say hello to Haley and Veronica because I haven't you yet? Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Yes. Okay. So, let's call the meeting to
order at 501. Um, and so let's have a a moment of uh public comment. Take it away, Nate. Thank Thank you, April. Um
so uh I I came here because uh you know there there was just you know recently a uh you know there was like a like a procedural item that was missed um with a uh
you know with one of the processes that's handled by the uh land use clerk. And you know, I don't mean to uh you know, I mean, we love uh the you know, we think Matteo is doing a fabulous job. I just want to be clear about that. But I uh you know, the I and the board are
interested in uh you know, exploring ways to improve our processes, right? And you know, with the land use clerk that I was wondering if that might if the personnel board might be a good place to to go. I understand that you're doing some policy stuff. Uh I think that
might be you know your your your focus there might be a little bit high level but I'm wondering if at some point maybe we could uh you know get you know a representative from the planning board on the agenda to uh come to another meeting maybe and and discuss this
further. uh just you know basically there's uh you know we're interested in just kind of having some formal process around some of what the uh land use clerk does you know like memorial memorialized and
writing somewhere and you know uh I think job description yeah things like that and then you know different kinds of uh responsibilities and things like that and you know there's you know there's been some talk of uh you making, you know, an amendment
to the bylaw that kind of references this kind of thing. And um yeah, I mean that that might be fine, but you know, the land use clerk uh works with three different boards, right? So, you know, I was wondering about uh talking to you about it and I I'll leave it at that and if you want
to, you know, ask any follow-up questions now, we can do that or or we can just get on this later. Nate, apologies. Um, Ann, could you just clarify? So, you're part of the planning board. Is that Yeah. Yeah, I'm on the planning board.
Yes. Thank you. That's a good clarification. Yeah. My name is Nathan Murphy and, you know, I'm on a planning for that. They they uh they just elected me chair again for this be my third stint as chair. So, I'm just trying to do a little bit of uh leg work on this question we have.
And uh if you're open to uh having us on the agenda sometime in the future, that's good enough for me for the time being. That sounds perfect. We right now our main focus is getting this personnel handbook done. And that's our goal is to get that done by September 1st. Um so
I'd say after September 1st, why don't we come back to this? You know, we've certainly reviewed job descriptions before and and one of the the tasks that we have um sort of on on on the list is getting all of the current job
descriptions online so people can see them. Um because I think there is a description, but it's probably outdated at this point would be my guess. So, can we invite you back? Yeah. No, that that would be absolutely uh wonderful. And uh you know, we're
meeting Monday, so I can let everyone know that we've got this avenue to explore and that'll be great. And I just want to thank you for all the work the planning board does. It's it's I just wanted to point that out.
Oh, you know, um and my pleasure and likewise I I see, you know, I know there's a lot of people here on this board that are, you know, doing this and other things. I know. Yeah, everyone's doing a lot of work. So, uh keep up the good work. I'll let you guys get to it. Uh, thank you again. Oh, thank you.
Thanks, Nate. Have a good night. Good night. So, shall we review the uh minutes from our last meeting which was in July?
Um, is it possible to put those up online so we can look at them? Um, I don't have a copy. If someone can send it to me or does anybody else have that ability to pop it up online? Oh, I wish I wish I were that techsavvy.
Um, I'm not there yet. Did you send out Did uh Who did the minutes? Did they send them out to us? I did. Kathy did. I sent them. Kathy, do you have them pulled up on your computer? I can get them pulled up. I'm looking.
I know. I can find them too cuz then you just have to hit share screen and I can't be that complicated. Oh, it is for me. Oh, it is. No, it is for me, too. That's right. Oh,
I have them. Yay. Hold on one second. So, Haley, you might have to You're the host. Oh, no. I can't. I found I'm sending Who's hosting? Haley, are you hosting? Me. Yeah. So, I'll allow you.
Thank you. Thank you so much. Okay. Fine. Wow. So many things. Okay. So, uh let's see that there. It's two pages. So tell me when you want me to
scroll down. Well, first of all, I want to ask does anybody ha h have any anything they wanted to change or add or comments about these? I no I kind of liked having it in
categories, you know, you were asking about the format. So um I kind of liked the format. So, well, I have to say, um, I feel like I cheated because AI did most of the work and I just went in and kind of cleaned
it up a little bit, but, um, I do see a couple of little, you know, spaces here. We should work smarter, not harder. I know. Well, I I did. Are there any Oxford commas? That's That's our thing.
Yeah. You know, I didn't see any, but Oh, I see one. No, no, never mind. It's not one. Well, if there's no comments or questions, I did I hear a motion to accept the minutes from What's the name? What date is that?
Oh, the 17th 17th of July. Oh, wow. A long time ago. Second. Okay. Roll call vote. All in favor. And it one what we do in the the finance
committee is we do it by alphabetical order. And so that's a trick. It's smoother. It's smoother. Okay. So it gives Oh, Ann would be first. April, I don't think I can vote because I wasn't here. No, you can just vote. Abstain. Abstain.
Yep. That's good. You weren't you weren't there, right? Uh yeah, it's fine to abstain. Yep. Um make O'Neal. I RTOR I Salvador I and Stein I we got it.
Okay. I don't know when I've ever been like third in the alphabet. So I've never been second. You know life is changing. So, why don't we pull up the the uh handbook and
Okay. You know, any any guidance and help and how we can streamline this process is is much appreciated. There's a lot of material. Um, and I have to say I did not have time to get as much done as I
had wanted to. Um, so I thank everybody who did. Um, and I guess we should just scroll down and see what's up. Okay. We've been really efficient though, April, at going through job descriptions
and stuff kind of, you know, page by page. I think we can do this. Yeah, it works. It has worked in the past for us. Maybe the last thing we correct is this the table of contents. Yeah.
Yeah. Sorry about that. The first few pages, but the last thing to Exactly. Yeah. Melissa, I might need you to do it. Okay. My computer's being super slow.
I know. I can see your I'm gonna stop sharing. Sorry. Um, okay. You want to let me pause? You shared it with us and I've been in it a few times. I just have to find it. So, Haley, clearly you're not able to
access Shootsberry's highspeed internet for No, that's true. I have to make do with Comcast in South Deerfield. So, is hold on one moment. I'm just going to the link that um
and I also have to say I I I met with Haley and you know asking her about the process of how she was able to pull this together. Um it's it's fascinating to me because this is not in my generation at all. The use of AI and sort of how you
you pull things together. So it so I'd say that the sources for this are many and varied but they're certainly focused on certain communities I believe and yes adapted to this one.
So I can sum up so I I definitely chose Ammerst. I was in a class on municipal HR taught by the deputy town administrator in North Andover and I loved her class. So I I put a lot of that in and then you know I went through
and I looked at like Harvard Business School, what do they recommend for different employee practices and couple other smaller communities that were more similar in size to Shootsberry. um you know some YouTube videos and I just kind of threw it all together and you know said hey make a draft
you sent us you sent us was the was the PDF did you send us the um I shared it I'll share it again yeah sorry you know we can't Oh it's okay I have to say this product does not look
like something you just took a bunch of pieces and threw to threw together it's really well put together and professional looking and covers covers all the bases. So, thanks. Yeah, like you said, smarter, not harder.
So, it definitely helped um with a lot of the revisions. And you know, if you know what to ask and if you know what you're trying to get as a result, it makes it a lot cleaner. Thank you. And that's okay. I'm Yep. Hold on.
That's coming from a professional. Would you want me to open the application? Um that's part of it. the Google doc, right? Yeah. Yeah, I see that part. I don't have the handbook, only the PDF version. Um, I shared it with you. So, maybe if
you go in like your drive might be in the shared. Okay. Oops, wrong thing. Go into my drive. I can also forward you the email. Alyssa, I get so many emails in this world. Uh,
current I found I got it. Haley, when I put your email in, when put your name in my computer, your Ammerst address came up and I'm like, what? And it's because I dealt with you at Bangs when I brought the clarinet. Oh.
Oh, hey. Oh, sorry. I didn't put the pieces together on that. I didn't. I didn't either. Tell That's so funny. Yeah, we do love music at the bank center. Okay, I now have it up. I think you can see it. Yeah,
my thing moving on the screen. Okay, I have two screens going. So, um I have you guys on one and then let me see something out there. Let me just And this is the the the Google doc that we can work on. Yeah. Can you share the the comments, Melissa?
I think that should come up. Show the comments. Oh, okay. I was going to go to the first thing. Okay, hold on one second. I know you guys can see everything I'm doing. Uh, share the comments. Where do I find
that? If you scroll up to the very top. Uhhuh. That little like text icon on the left. Right. Yeah. Keep going. You're so close. There. I I
I personally do not use Google Docs. I use Word and anything needs to go in, I slide it up into it and then I put it back down into Word because I'm much more proficient even though they are similar. Okay. Um let me move these over.
Increase. Okay. Let me move them over. Can I make them bigger? Can you um close the tabs on the left there, Melissa? That should give you more room. Oh, that should be able to pull it over.
It's weird. Yeah. Um try this. Let me stop share real quick. Let me see if I can adjust it. Maybe sharing is not allowing it to work. Oh, I know how I can do it. Give
me one second. I can zoom it out. All the platforms are just different enough that you can't totally I mean literally using Google. True. Yeah. Um okay. So maybe I'll just ask a
question then we can and somebody maybe can answer it while we're waiting for the document that first page where it came where it says classification plan now is is there a present one or only the one that April is working on. I know
you said you were working on one. Yes. And and this is something Ann and I have talked about doing for many many months and we will get this done. Um we have a a classification plan that's different than the one that we had used
for many since the 90s I believe. Um and it's uh loosely based on something that Ammerst had developed and it's it takes into account it weighs things a little differently. So things like you know in
in more traditional uh methods like physical strength is given a lot of uh points and sort of the ability to and need to supervise not so it's a way of kind of balancing
um different qualities that people bring to their job. We will get this done. Okay. I just wondered if there was one in place, that's all. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, it's it's in place but not done.
But thank you for asking. Want to see the comments. What do I do here? Hold on one moment. This way. I don't know what I touched, but it worked. Oh, wow. It's a miracle. Don't touch
anything, Melissa. Um, I will figure out what that was later. Technology is not my friend today, just so you guys know. Um, okay. So, I guess our process should be let's
just keep scrolling down and we can tag in comments when we reach that part. Yeah. Yeah. So, scroll it on down. Okay. Unless anybody had something. No, that looks fine.
That looks fine. Okay. This all looks fine to me. This did too. Tell me too quickly. No, this all looked good to me when I read it. And then the definitions looked fine as well, I think.
Yep. Yep. I appreciated um Haley the inclusion of the um s Yeah. Right here at the moment you mentioned it. So, I appreciate that.
Okay, let's see more definition. You know, I had one question go up just a hair where it talks about permanent employees. Um, in my experience, no employee is permanent. We always refer to them as regular.
I don't know if that's a municipal thing or or what. I saw it in a few other ones, but I don't think I don't think it would be We could definitely change it. And I would ask, you know, that we have our labor
attorney look at it. Sure. Sure. But we can change it now if you want. I know a lot of a lot of employers use permanent. It's been in place for a lot of years, but um I forget when we when I was still
working when we decided that employees were not permanent, none of us. And we changed to regular and there may might be another alternative um term that fits, but don't want anybody to get the sense that they're
Supreme Court justice or anything. We can we can put Well, Kathy, that makes sense, too, since there's the whole section on people being um at will employees. Yeah, permanent doesn't fit. Contradictory, right? Okay,
that sounds like that. Did we like do we like regular? Do we like um um Yeah. Okay. So, what are regular regular full-time employee?
Yeah, I I like regular part-time down below, right? That's what I I like that. That's what I was just going to say. It already says regular two below. So, so number of hours here and this is
addressing the the the um um the at will uh yeah the at will and then then the period of time right so um yeah so regular employee is fine there at will employee or no
no have that definition that looks Okay. Okay. I do I do think um Oh, sorry. This is a work call. Um light up just a little bit.
Sorry, I have to take this. Go ahead. And the dog has decided to keep us safe from bikes. Okay, we're safe. Okay. Okay. So,
well, maybe we could sort of put a come back up to this when when it runs off. The rest of that section looks good to me. Looked fine to me, too. Yeah. Hold on. Got find my highlighter.
Um, sorry. No, no worries. What's the color for the personnel board? That's a nice color. Really? Actually, when you're looking on the screen, I don't know about you guys, but it jumps out at me. It sure does.
Says, "Hello, I'm here." Okay. Um, so Haley, the question I was going to ask you, like it's regular employee and temporary employee, but then it's regular part-time employment and seasonal employment.
Should they all be employees or all employments, or is there a reason that two of them? I think they're both saying the same thing. Um, so I mean I just Kathy I defer to you on this but it's
like the more consistent the languages. Yeah, I' I'd change both places to employee. So all employee part okay so regular part-time employee and seasonal employee and then they're all
uniform right because in the description it says employment so that's fine right that makes more sense and these are minor things but we're knit picky perfectionist. So,
okay, I like it. It just I feel like anytime you have a legal document, you know, it should be clean. That was another question I had. No, the the legal advisors haven't looked at this at all yet, right?
Okay. In my experience with doing something broad like this, you want to get it as close to what you want it look so that you're not asking them to do it several times. Right. Right. Right. Yeah. We're setting a higher bar in
Shootsberry. April Stein setting the bar. That's right. I see the thumb. All right. The rest of that page looks okay to me. Okay. Oh, this is where I I liked Ann's
comment. Instead of using his her using their Okay. Mhm. That just makes it cleaner, I think. Good catch, April. I didn't catch that till later on.
I I You're in my head. So, Melissa, we could probably You're I can't believe you're back to being the editor again. Um you could probably just make a note maybe and then we could go back and do a search and replace. Sure.
So, you don't have to do it all now and thank you for doing these again. So I make just a comment. One would think I know how to do that. Aha. Look. What am I suggesting? I'm suggesting
add comments. I don't know where they went. Yeah. Oh, there I I'm a little too fast. That was so weird. You're a clicker. Clicker. Never mind.
If you want, I can go back in and do it. There we go. There we go. Nice. Um All right. Um I don't think you need to say is voluntarily entered into. I think you can just say employment with the town is
voluntary, okay? Okay. Oh my goodness. Oh, it's recording what I'm doing. Okay, let's try that. Voluntary
comma. Wow. So, it's recording. It's going to leave the edit in there. Um, you'll go back and fix that. Okay. Oh, yeah. I'll clean everything up. Thank you. And apologies. Oh, no. Thank you for hosting. I
couldn't do it. So, you're going to take out entered into. Oh, there you go. Nice. Okay. Okay. That looks good. I mean if I'm going too slow or too
fast. No, it looks good. I have a comment there with the if you click on the process Melissa my comment should come up. I don't I didn't see a reference for what process this is talking about. Um
vacancy determination maybe. Yeah. And like the posting of the job itself or Yeah. Well, I guess I meant like the hiring. Yeah. It it needs some sort of qualifier because the
the item before doesn't refer to a specific process. So hiring process Haley is that what you meant? Yeah. In this section too, I kind of wanted to discuss more because I don't know like
I think I base this off of some bigger communities where like the personnel board has a sort of a different role, but here I don't know if people want to customize it a little bit more to the fact that we're a smaller community. Maybe maybe what you're trying to say in
that and two is that the personnel board uh will review the job description, but I'm not sure the hiring of the the details of the hiring process is not something that we had done before. I don't believe.
No, but I do think someone from the personnel board should be on like the committee. There should be a little bit more embedding. Yes. In that way. And the whole job description thing is under one anyway input on the job description
under the little number one. So maybe it should just say the personnel board will be involved in the hiring process and will make recommendations to the select board. But who does coordinate the details of the hiring process? Maybe that's what
should be changed is the subject. True. Well, I think technically that's I guess where I'm the most confused as to what my role as human resource officer is versus personnel board or like where we overlap because I think technically most of that
should be overseen through me. Yeah, I think that uh what does it say above? Sorry, Haley. How do you how do you you refer to yourself in that or you're the human resources?
I'm the everything town administrator and human res. No, I know. But but for this if we were going to change from personnel board, what do we I I know you refer to it later. Is it like human resources officer or are you like human resources only? Okay.
Yeah. So maybe that should be the town administrator will coordinate the detail um in maybe in conjunction with the personnel board. Yeah, that works. Yeah, the town
Oops. Hold on. It's thinking process. You just you know you just signed on from work, April from work. keyboard decided to say in conjunction with the personal board
I do any numbers or hold on my keyboard hold on one second no we're still on is this one working I cannot type in this anymore H.
Okay. What happened? Battery up. No, it just all of a sudden stopped. Hold on. Let me see if I get a message here. I'm going to just bang on it. Right. I gota I got to move you guys. Oh, no. Cancel. Okay. Maybe that's why.
All right. Now, will it let me see? No. Okay. There we go. All right. We had a momentary the town administrator.
Okay. You said the town administrator will in conjunction will coordinate the details of the hiring pro process in conjunction with the planning board. Personnel board. I mean I wrote PB. So my brain is okay.
Perfect. If you if you want, you could just leave it like that because I'll know. You'll know what we mean there. Okay. Haley, put an end. Yeah. Okay. All right. Sorry about that lapse of
work. All right. Okay. Is this your dinner time? No. Yeah. I haven't eaten anything all day because they went That's what I figured. number.
Okay. So that's so the they there wherever there's yellow there's I have a comment there since you mentioned both a department head and the select board I think you need a noun not they because it's unclear who the reference is who's generally providing the personnel
board. Okay. So the department head is that who it is April. I wasn't sure if it was the So like here I was thinking you know say
say you know they're the highway superintendent and maybe somebody quits and you decide we don't need that person anymore. So, this was trying to find a way where, you know, the department head could work directly with the select board since
their hiring authority and just say, you know, maybe we don't need to fill this. But now that I'm kind of talking it out with you guys, I don't know if that needs to be formally in the personnel book. M but
maybe what this should say is when the department head becomes aware of a vacancy um uh they will communicate with the select board about filling it. They will um
make the select board aware. Yeah. I wonder if that becomes the town administrator. They Yeah. Yeah. Good question. So, where is that is what's the process
now? Is that how it would work, Haley? It would go through you pretty much or Yeah. So, they would say to Haley, "We have this uh vacancy." Then Haley would advise, not advise, but let us know the select word no. And then
yeah, and then we'd probably just want to check in about the departmental needs, you know, do you need a laborer or do you need somebody who can operate the machinery, right? And that's more the town administrator function. Yeah, I like
that. Um, but it always it comes back to us to review the job description. Always does. Yeah. Yes. Always does. Okay. So, this other the next day
I have to compare evidence that Sleburn decides to fill a day. General Wait a minute. Is this That's the same thing. Yeah, that are you making a note that you're going to change that to you? Yeah, I can see her scribbling there. I can Yeah. Okay.
Yeah, I like that. Did anyone want me to change anything on here? Haley, do you have that note or do you want me to change Oh, no. I got a note. I can change you. Hope the rest looks okay. My laptop so we don't have overheating.
All right. Um, so then the rest looks okay. So what does that first the select board may wave strict adherence to search procedures. What procedures are you referring to? Say for example
a committee makeup. you know, maybe the select board wants to wave someone from the finance committee and have, you know, an additional person with technical experience or, you know, maybe they just want the
candidates to go directly to them. It's I just put it in there kind of as like a catch all to like give options if we needed it. It's kind of something that where I envision, you know, you don't know until you need something like that in there and then or maybe they want to promote
somebody and then Right. So maybe that That's right. Is that is that how we got our new highway department superintendent? Was that that was a promotion from within?
No, he actually applied with others. Uh we had we did a full search committee. Oh, right right. Okay. Or for example, if it was like a maybe a temporary employee, right? And you you don't necessarily need to go through the whole thing for someone who's just going
to be like a seasonal, you know, doing like the mowing. Great. Okay. The next one looks fine. Right. Three is good. Four is good. Five looks okay.
Yeah. Six looks good. Yeah. Okay, that looks seven. Looks good. No, actually is this where we can start? We've got the new job application
form and that would end up being part of this and we haven't looked at that yet. Um, but that should part of the Yeah, we probably should. Yeah, we should. Uh, anyway,
and you go to your next tab, Melissa, on the right at the very top of this over here. Yeah. Oh, thank you for adding I couldn't figure out how to add that in on the line on the Corey.
So, I I have a question. This is only from my experience and what we've done prior. We don't usually have not anyway had the practice of doing it pri on candidates unless they were recommended.
Oh right. We haven't done it that way. Uh so it would be a change um ahum from that process slightly. How is that usually done? Don't have practice only after I mean I
had to have a very thorough background check from my current employer, but it didn't happen till after I got my offer letter. Um, and I know in the past we haven't done background checks until after they've been offered and it's it's contingent on a successful completion.
That's a very good point. But Haley, I mean, have things changed? Is it would it be worth it to check like state of Massachusetts best practices to I can definitely check um you know now that you're saying that
Melissa it does it would be better if we had like a department you know if we wanted to do you know what I'm trying to say like if say if you get 10 candidates and we do that for all of them it is a little bit more so let me check on that if that is
less practical but you have in here offer are required for all candidates after a conditional offer. So you're saying that it happens after an offer. Oh, I read that as as I'm sorry. I read that as application candidates. No, not as no
employment. You may have it worded correctly, I may be reading it incorrectly. Oh, that's okay. Conditional. So that's only one Corey check. You know, it's not one at a time anyway. Veronica,
right? But for but for police and fire that's much more the houses and such it is very deep background. Yes. That um information is uh completely confidential. So the search committee
doesn't get it. The select board can read it. So on number one that it's saying candidates should that be more specific? You know the once a candidate has a job a candidates
a candidate who has had a job offer or how would you say that? Oh good candidates. So it's not everybody. No right I was reading it as it's everybody candidate being someone candidate for
the position. Um but I think I think it's worded okay here that uh they quy checks are required for all candidates after a con after a what kind of test what kind of testing
would a candidate be required to undergo without like mean like the fire chief or the police chief or just say highway we can we can we can um have all or select employees, whoever we a drug
test, maybe if Yeah, I think the uh highway department has that maybe police or fire. If you're in the financial realm, you may do a credit check to see where their credit um yeah,
I had to have all of this. Mhm. So yeah, that's what I was thinking. Okay. So it is specific a little bit specific to the the I'm sorry back to back to my question. Uh in one, what kind of testing would a
candidate be required to undergo that hadn't received a conditional offer? M well I guess that's because I'm envisioning it candidates as in like the final batch you know whoever where we've narrowed it down not all like the
initial applicant is there a better term for that like finalist well I think I think the word may finalist only because candidate can go either way so it could
go either at application right? Or submission of res or or or even appropriately said here as as the person that that was recommended or is the one that is um a finalist or chosen, right?
And it does fit. Kathy, am I understanding your question correctly that you're wondering if any testing occurs before someone is made a conditional offer? Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So if no testing occurs before
someone's made a conditional offer, then seems like that one should use the same. After a conditional offer, a candidate may be required to undergo testing. Yeah, that's a little that's new there. still at the top here.
Um, I mean, Haley, it might be worth it for you to review all of these and if all of them are after a conditional offer, you know, you could just start the category with after a conditional offer
colon and then you could list all these. Okay. So, instead of like pre-employment requirements due Oh, yeah. You could do it that way, too. Yeah. After offer. Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. But I could think just make sure it's true.
What do you say? You happen to have two good candidates for something you I I mean I can't think of a job right now off the top of my head, but that you that would be testing ahead of time, but um you know,
but if you had two two people and you hadn't made your decision yet, you might want to have Oh, definitely. So, so I I I don't think one it says may it's not, you know, I don't know. I think it's ambiguous
enough. So, it's okay. But, well, if we had uh two candidates for police chief, I I think we would want to be able to review their Corey check and the uh background check.
Um but but not necessarily for the Cy check. been done in a prior situation. Yes, April. That was done in a prior situation. If you remember, you were on the I remember. So, wouldn't you select the best candidate, do the Corey check, review
it, and decide whether whether or not to make an offer at that point? You Yeah. You know, Yeah. So, I think that's that's how it went. We had two candidates. The background checks or a preliminary background check was done on both of them. Yeah.
We were able to review the back. Yeah, background checks to have an executive session related. Then we couldn't vote in the executive session, but we came out and voted. Um, and so yes, in a in a that was a police chief one. So in that
correct, that's a very specific um type of employee. Oh, Dixie, stop. Oh, um, sorry. Is there a bike rider outside? No, there's a dog barking next door.
Oh, of course. Which So, Melissa, I'm sorry. Did you say that you did do checks on two candidates? We did. We we did the the full security screening and background check on we had
two candidates for chief of police um and and had run the the checks on both of them. Okay. So maybe maybe the issue is with the after a conditional offer phrase because it sounds like those checks happen
before a conditional offer, right? I'm not even sure I know what a conditional offer is. An offer with a contingency that they pass a background pass the test. Okay, that's okay. Thanks, Kathy. We I don't think we are um to hire you upon
completion of a successful background check but given the experience April and I had it was important in that case maybe maybe it's at at finalist or after maybe we do it like well how about this how about I try to
parse that into two separate things like if it's what's pre-employment and then what's going to come after the conditional offer and then we can kind of see I'll come up with maybe a couple versions of that and see what we like. That sounds great. That's a good idea.
Yeah, because what is premp employee employment versus a conditional offer? I mean, yeah. Anyway, it's a good question. Yeah, because there are positions that a conditional offer, you haven't
negotiated a contract yet. So that's another thing that happens after, you know. So, right. Hang on one second, guys. I got to handle something for like two minutes. I'll be right back.
Go ahead. Okay. So, any anything on final offer? That looks good to me. Yeah, looks good. and the equal employment opportunity. Um, that looked fine. That seems pretty
standard. I just pulled that from the state. That's basically state law. So, oh, Melissa's the one who can move it down. That's great. Yes, I know.
It's not moving. That's right. But I, you know, I have to say as we're going through this, I I think I I love our process, you know, I I I just I I this is going to take some time, but I think we're going to create a really
good document or recommend a really good one to have it recommended. Yes. What helps is we're starting with a solid document. Yes, that makes a big difference. Yeah, thank you, Haley. No problem. How many hours did this take you? About
um I don't know. I didn't really count. I like to kind of do things like I'll start a project really early and then I'll procrastinate and thinking about in the back of my mind and then I kind of come back to it and you know so it takes
longer but I feel like I like to mull things over a lot. Yeah. Then you come back with fresh ideas or a new perspective the next time you're reviewing. That makes perfect sense. That's a good way to do it. That's how I do my tax return.
Yes. Do I have to? Yes. Oh god. Yes. And Kathy, is this a thing that you and when your position when you used to do that thing called work? Yeah. Does this is this bringing back memories?
Oh, it's bringing back nightmares. Nightmares. So calm. Well, I we didn't have AI and um I mean struggled. I mean, I I come from the world of work without even a personal computer on my desk back in the day. So,
yeah. Yeah. We didn't get a whole lot done back then. I I I think of the things that can be done today with technology and it blows my mind. But this is all very familiar. Yeah.
Well, yeah. And then as you know you have to implement it which is a whole other part which is a whole other story and then you have your you're somebody who's always going to look for that tiny little loophole in your policy to take
advantage of. Yeah. That's why I liked some of her wording. I I was looking um like the things that she had to get done in a relatively time timely manner. Um, I can't remember the
word that I that I found. I marked it here. But anyway, it just it uh I said, "Oh, well, that's good." They can't really call her on that. That's right. There she is. Drive. That was
Sorry about that. That's okay. We were all trying to scroll and realize we couldn't really I do that a lot when I'm on a meeting. I'm like, "Okay, go up. Go up. Go up." That's right. The word was strive. I thought that was
strive too. Yeah. Okay. That all this all seemed pretty and then that section just above what we're looking at that one. Yes. That that seemed that seems pretty
standard. There's a place in here I I read this such a long time ago that you refer people to the state's um um what what's the acronym like the Mass Commission Against Discrimination? Um yeah,
that that's is that further on in the document? Yeah. Okay. Yes. Yeah. And the disability accommodation seems pretty it lines up with the laws. Mhm. Yeah.
Yeah. Business ethics and conduct. Keep going. Okay. That's part where where the uh social media part is not fair. That's in another Yeah, that's later in the movie. Yeah, I like that.
Yes. I think this is very important to have. Our last one did not have this in there. Yeah, it alluded to it, but it didn't have it in there. Oh, yeah. Well, that's all right. Basically, from the Yeah.
state laws anyway. Oh, that's good. ethics commission. So um I just want to mention something here that I think may be helpful. Um Haley or and everybody on the board.
I think I wonder if we can create a confidentiality form. So when a new employee starts, it's specifically called out in that way. Have them sign a form saying that they agree to confidentiality. They're a little bit depth. Um
I don't know if it's just me, but Melissa, every once in a while you you cut out Yeah. Oh, let me hold on. Yeah, I know what the problem is. Give me one second. Okay. It's the fan on the laptop. Oh. Oh. So, let me just move my other laptop so
it gets more air. There we go. Oh, that's warm, too. Um, is that better? That might be better. That's better. Yep. So far, the fan won't be turning on and hearing itself. Um, what I said was a
confidentiality form um when when a new employee starts that is part of like an employment on on boarding part. um so that it that it's something that's really pulled out and because most employees deal with so many different matters and a some of them can be confidential.
It's okay. So just a separate one. Yeah. Justice kind of like the code of conduct, you know, that they agreed that they read the policy and you know they will abide by. Yeah. Was there anything in here that we thought needed changing? I think it's
kind of standard. It is to me. Yep. Very standard. Yeah. I did write a comment in this next section only because in a small town um you know it's it's hard you know
because you have couples that both want to be involved in whatever it's it's a little different than a a city but I mean I think we do a good job at it but um it it just as I was reading it I was like oh small towns really this is
this is a lot tougher you Yeah. Well, it's interesting where where do all the the herds of volunteers fit into this? You know, is this something
that we all should be signing or or do we need a separate document for that? Well, you need a separate I think. Yeah. That's funny you ask about that, April, because I was wondering that myself. There are so many volunteers. Yeah.
And you know, do we hold them to these policy most of these policies as well? Um I don't know. I I come from an environment where we didn't we had all paid employees, right?
Yeah, I think it's good to have that. I agree. Um, you might want to consider maybe like a volunteer handbook that's like a kind of simplified version of this. Um, yes, the same.
And yeah, I used I mean I worked with lots and lots of volunteers and it's also good to get them all together every so often and a big training day or just them talk. I wonder if the state has a policy on
that, you know, since so many, you know, small town governments are made up of employee of of volunteers or many of them. That's a good point. Okay. So, we'll just add I suppose the one thing
Yeah, I suppose there's one thing where like my husband and I can't serve on this life board together because there's a quorum, right? And then there's also the open meeting law. So maybe the open meeting law is what kind of helps that. Oh, that's true.
We'd be a quorum at all the time. Or at least we're in the same room. A quorum at supper. Yes. I thought your husband was dying to become a select board member. So say that again, April. I I thought that that Chris was dying to
to become a member of the select board. We haven't that that has not come up. No, it hasn't. It was just the first example I could think of, you know, where you'd have the quorum is so small on what you know on on the select board that that couldn't happen because open meeting log
kind of governs it, right? So yeah. Okay. I think that this section looks good. And then the remaining almost done. Yeah. Um, not quite. But not quite. I was going to say, wait a minute. I
thought it was much longer. We were only on like page. It doesn't tell me. Yeah, it's okay. There's a lot of pages. Um, this one I had a question on. So, I like when I worked in Ammerst full-time
was 37 and a half. Most of other places it's 40. So, I didn't really know if if you guys had a preference. Hold on. Look up what the old book said. This might be where we referenced the old one. Hang on one second. Okay.
It's a 37 and a half is assuming a lunch hour, which yes, nobody takes. Unpaid. Well, April, that's not necessarily something practice that continues into the future. That's true.
But it is. I mean, my flag is that up above it does refer to 37 and a half. So, right, we need to have the same number, right? Right. I'm just turning Let's see the
Oh, well, and and um Haley, do full-time employees get insurance? Yes. Benefits? Yeah. vacation actually 20 hours or more gets benefits because I mean it's a larger question I have about this document. it. I mean, I
have to say it I feel like it tends towards the punitive and telling employees like everything you need to do for us and how we can and I just I just wonder if we should have things in here about benefits and I know it won't um
but Melissa if you say 20 hours or more gets insurance like y you know and there's stuff about employee privacy too, right? where you want to make sure that employees know that their information won't be shared. That's the protection of the employee, not the employer.
So, I mean, just something to consider is expanding it to think about those things that are supportive of the employee. Yes. For there's a few sections of benefits in here that just need to have ours um
added to it, I think. Um Maybe. Yeah. Right. But I but I think it's important to note that you know employee privacy. Yeah. You know that that that's a good point. Uh it's not just one way. And is that
possible to add something like that back where we had looked or I think another section benefit section would be good. Yeah. We already have the benefit section so it could maybe get put in
there. I'm looking I'm looking at my employee handbook and it's under workplace um expectations. So Haley, if you want, I'll copy and paste what I have in my employee handbook for you, but it's it's like works workplace expectations and I think
you have that, right? Isn't it? The next we have work conditions and hours of work or Yeah. is a section. Yeah. So it's ours is under there. Um so to to reference um the hours, our old
handbook has um working of Working day for full-time employees will be eight hours and working week shall be 40. Okay. Yeah. If we want to keep it 40, I'll just make a note to go back and update the where it didn't match.
Okay, that makes sense. Let me know if I should go further down. Things are look okay to me. This section here for the deductions. We should add another sentence. Okay.
just above it there's another permanent employee um okay I'll change that oh yeah right here I'll highlight it um this one here they're I'll make a little note next to
it that the deductions from um from pay of salaried workers or the deductions were state Um and then any employment um any employee
um the ones that they that you know for the benefits and stuff. So um and any employee elected uh deductions. Okay. So So is there a a a more a less negative way to say that?
Yeah. Because my when I when I read that, I was I was getting ready to ask, "What kind of deductions would you be taking from a salaried employee, thinking it was like an overpayment or something that was paid to them incorrectly?" But really, we're just talking about
their contribution to their benefit, right? Payroll deductions um payroll deductions uh will be made in accordance with state laws and any additional employee elected
um benefits or something like that or any benefits not make it too soft but to make it less negative we could add you know if there's a if you think there's an issue with you're a pay stop, you know, contact town administrator or
treasurer. Probably keep that just town administrator and okay, not the treasurer. I mean, you would you you would then take it to the treasurer probably
or know off the top of your head. So, is there a reason this is just deductions from pay of salaried workers since it's it's probably to pay for benefits? Wouldn't it be for any employee who is benefit eligible? Yes. Yeah.
Oh, good point. And what is this under? What section are we in? Um, employment status. Employment status. Yeah. Well, it's like, you know, the slipboard gets a stipen and taxes are taken out of that
and and you also get you contribute to the there's a retirement. Yeah. Your the 401k or whatever the retirement option is, right? Do you really have to call that out or is that I know standard?
Probably don't to be honest. And there's also in section five, timekeeping and payroll, there's a subsection called pay deductions. Maybe that lives there. So yeah, it doesn't seem like it should live under employee status. Agreed.
I'm gonna I'm just I think because the one below shoot, no, I lost it. uh says deductions from employee paychecks will be made for legally required withholdings such as federal
and state income taxes and social security and Medicare contributions. That's clearer. Yeah, I'll highlight this in red. Y I couldn't find it too quickly enough.
I'm going to scoot very soon. My only question on my next couple of pages was do we have an employee self-service program? No, but we I mean like Ann said, I mean we could talk more about benefits at some point. I do think there are things that you can do.
It's it's mentioned in section A of C section C here. It's mentioned at the end of it. So that's why I want that's why I questioned it if we had one. But um I'd like to I think there are some
through our insurance provider, you know, that they offer like wellness workshops and things like that. Great. My company uses those things a lot as part of our wellness committee and letting the people know that they're available and I think that there have been a lot of people that have taken
advantage. I mean I won't know. Okay. I hope HR says a lot of people have a little helpful. I'm gonna Oh, very helpful. So, we we'll plan on meeting two weeks from today. Does that Okay. And we could go back to 5:30 because Yeah, that's fine.
Awesome. Have a nice concert. Thank you. I'll watch you. I'll watch I'll save I'll wave as you go by. So, April, two weeks from today, um I'm going to be out of town working at a camp for handicapped kids out in the
Birkshars. And I That's so cool. Yeah, it's a a friend of mine is involved and and we volunteer every year and that's my last day there. Oh, you have to be there. I won't be able to make it. So, what two weeks from today? What day is today?
21st. Yeah. Um, so maybe we should push it to the 28th with our looming deadline. Yeah. I mean, does that work? And I'm sorry Veronica's left, but I we'll see if that works for
her as well. I I can do that. I can do either one. I think it would be really good to have Kathy here. Yes. Um Absolutely. I think the next Thursday putting it on the calendar now, Cindy. Well, wait before you do, Melissa or
Haley, whoever said that. Um the next Thursday is the one before Labor Day weekend. Um it's a little tight for me, but I could I could do that. I know we don't usually meet on Tuesdays, but I could do like Tuesday or Wednesday or even that Monday. Can we
of the week of the 25th? Yeah. Just cuz I have um Tuesday is a regular select board meeting. Okay. But yeah, other days are fine. Yeah. Wednesday I the person who failed
at retirement work until 6. Okay. All right. Retirement. Let's keep it on the 28th and I will um Oh, the other option would be Monday. I'm actually pretty good that week
except for the 26th is a select board meeting. Oh, Monday works. Monday. Monday's good for me. Monday's good for me. What day? What's the date? It's 25th 25th. Okay.
All right. Thank you. Perfect. Don't let me forget. It's like when I take a few weeks off. Don't forget to go back to work. You remind yourself to do that. Don't forget to
I did. It's like don't forget. Are we going to do 5:30 on that date since I think I think Veronica said this was her last concert, right? Yes. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Good.
All right. Good for time. How we doing for time? Did we have a cut off or are we going to just No. Well, generally I was thinking I was hoping we could keep these minutes to 90 minutes or up to two hours. Yeah, I'm fine with that. I was just curious.
I I have a cut off at 6:30 because I worked till 5 and then I came here. So, I need to I need to go. Yes, you do. Yes, you do. But I mean the other thing I hate to say this but about maybe meeting on that Monday is if for some reason we don't
finish it leaves like a little bit of the week left. We could at the end. Yeah. It would be nice to meet the deadline that we have. I mean you also I mean there could be a little flex one more week right. We're
striving. Don't tell us. Don't give us that leeway. Okay. So, we have about 15 more minutes today. Okay, let's go. Okay, so I just had Melissa that first clause that's there just I think you
could just say emergency contacts there. Uh, replace that long. Yeah. So, just emergency contacts. Yeah, I'll put it after.
I mean, I have that in there. So Haley could just Oh, okay. Well, then yeah, if you have it in there. I mean, I have the comment. And self-service. That was nice. I've never heard of that before.
I know. I haven't either. I I know what it is, but I didn't know that name. There's medical ones and then there's the uh EAP, employment others as well. But Haley, that's a section you're looking into developing. Is that correct?
Yeah. So, my I would like to do that. I think for me it was just like let's get I've said this earlier to April. Um like let's get the baseline moved up and then I think we can add on more of like the like the amenities, but we're just not quite quite there yet
in my mind at least. I think you're right. Okay. Okay. So the he she everything else here. Okay. Mhm. Yes. So you you had a question about centralized personnel and that should be
personnel not personnel. Yeah. But that's Yeah. It is it is person. This is your person. I know. It's like oh my god you need the employee privacy. policy in here. Um, what was your question, Ann?
Well, it's that comment about it like there's a there's a an item that says a personnel file will be kept, but it comes after items discussing items to be added to the personnel file. So, I would just suggest moving that item
before being introduce. Hey everyone, you're gonna have a personnel file. Yeah, that's all. It's just a re reordering of the point. Yeah, I like that. I don't know if you have this problem um
in town, but we had this problem um where some managers would keep shadow files on employees, which we tried to train them over and over and over again that you can't do that. It got us into trouble more often than not, but
yeah, that's always uh something to be aware of. So D becomes A. Is that right? Wait, I think so. Yeah. To begin with. Yeah. Yeah.
It's fine. So, when you're going to place something in an employes's file, they've had an opportunity to respond and review it. Do they have to sign it? Um, rece. I haven't always, but maybe that's it's
probably better practice to get the It's a great practice. Sign and date and witness. Okay. But signing doesn't mean agreement. It means No. No. It's just a scene. Yep, that's it.
Yeah, that you don't necessarily agree with it. I bet you've seen it. This is a horribly um done sentence, but I think you have that language somewhere else in here though, Haley. So, you could just I think so.
That some somewhere in here. There's honestly at some point I kind of forgot what some of the pages were. I know. See, you write so many. Yes. And I really feel like we we have the bones of a really good document that
we're we're working with that that it's Yeah. So in resignation you can end uh you can put the comma after voluntary make voluntarily voluntary comma take out entered into again.
Whoa. Kathy, would you put or everybody I I might put resignation right before exit interview, right? Because we have resation and then we have probationary period. Yeah, it does seem like out of order.
Oh, bring bring probationary period up here. Just moving resignation down, Melissa, because it would go down pretty far. Would it resation above termination? Yeah, I think it fits there above
termination. Yeah, I think that better. Yeah, that makes sense. Okay, so that means first you're hired probationary and then you're employed for whatever length of time and you may resign or you may be terminated. But then you have contract renewals
underneath that. That's true. Well, that one, you know, I think obviously we have more to talk about. you know how we want that process to look. What is this all? What's the the big heading for this part?
Employment status. Employment status. Okay. So that could be its own section. Contracts. Yeah. Because it doesn't apply to everybody, right? Yeah. Just a handful. So maybe just that
becomes its own its own living being there section. I kind of scrolled down further than we were. Is this okay for everybody? Yeah. Wait, wait, wait. Sorry. Can you go up, Melissa? Sorry.
that probationary period just this um the employees per performance and suitability I think it's just if you can click on that Melissa I left a comment um I think it's really important to state
how the how the performance and suitability will be evaluated and there's a linear performance review right yeah that's later on and there's there's right but for this
probationary period it just says the employees performance and suitability for the position will be evaluated and as an employee I want to know exactly what that means. So I suggested you something like a performance review will occur at the end of the probationary period that includes an employes self-re
and employer review. Okay, I like that. And then you've got permanent there again in the first sentence in that probationary period. We have about seven minutes and the contract renewal piece I there's
a lot I I I would like to have a larger discussion about it and it may not be able to do that in seven minutes. Okay. Um but I wonder if there's something else if we could flip above that or could we work on something else? Sure.
How about we how about we highlight it for later? Yeah, we could start there next time. Let's pick a color. Yeah. What color for that? Change the color to contrasting. So, we'll skip by this for now.
Yeah, I did. I maybe I had a question. Um, it was really interesting to just compare this to my own employee handbook, too. And I wondered, we have a section for travel and expense policy
guidelines. And I wonder if um if there's any ever any need for employee shoot employees to travel or have expenses and if you need to have a I mentioned a similar thing. Oh, you did? I just mentioned thing to directly to Haley.
Okay. Yeah. because you know there there's um the MMA, there's conferences, there's workshops, um certification training, uh and I don't know what's what is mileage reimbured at. I think the last
time I was reimbured it was a dime. It was better. I can't remember. It was a dime. I think it was 40 cents when I was working. 40.5 cents or something. We're dating ourselves, April.
It's too late. Proud of it. So, what what what is all this stuff? Negotiation. That's all part of All right. So, let's Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Work conditions and hours of work.
Okay. I wait I have that yellow is my comment. If you can Can you click on that comment to show the whole thing? Oh, there's more. Oh, okay. Let me minimize you guys.
Maybe plus turns into including. Yeah, I say that. Okay. But an UN and then there's also the issue of an unpaid break isn't work. So it Oh, wait a second.
You can't you can't tell people they're working 40 hours a week and then that includes a 30 minute unpaid. It it the it it's just the sorry where' that comment go? Let me go back to let me just glance at our old one here. Um
it's really confusing. I and I don't mean I mean that I you know how to wrap your head around explaining to people how they get um it's just a it's just a tricky thing in general. That's where 37 and a half hours would come in if you were
Yeah. Right. Yep. So I I I said here, are you trying to say that the workday is 8.5 hours comprised of eight hours of work plus a 30 minute unpaid meal or lunch break, or are you saying that the workday is 7.5
hours comprised of I mean 8 hours comprised of 7 hours of work? Yeah. Yeah. So my actual day is eight and a half hours because of my lunch break. Because it because it's not work, I can go anywhere for that 30 minutes. I don't
have to be on work ground. That's you're that's not town of shoot spray. No, no, no. That was that's just to explain how that works for Right. Right. So, but what is the policy for Town of Shoot Spray? Because it's as Kathy said, it it makes it it makes it either 37 like you were
saying Haley 37.5 or it's 40. So, which one is it? I'm looking I'm looking in what we have in our old one and Of course, it's not in any order, but I don't see anything about meal breaks. About what?
I just see the hours are 40 hours a week. Vacation benefits. Well, the state of Massachusetts require you need to have 15 minutes every four hours, right? Yeah. I thought it was Oh, no. The meal break
is after six hours now. Oh, okay. Sorry, I forget how it goes. Kathy, you would know better. I think eight hours is 215s and a half. Yeah. Oh, right. Kathy, I think it's 215s and a half working
hours. Yeah. Yeah. So, that Haley, maybe there's a maybe there's something on the state of Massachusetts website that you could poach. Yeah. I mean, it is again, it's one of those things that clarity for the employee is really important. you have child care
and you need to and then you find out, oh shoot, this I'm expected to work till 5:30, you know, like okay, thank you. Okay. And we do want to encourage people to take a break from their work.
Absolutely. Oh yeah. You know, it's important for their mental clarity and just physical um and sanity. Sanity and eyes and the whole thing, right? It's a little selfcare in their day
as someone who doesn't do it herself, but still. I never did either. No, I always ate at my desk. It was It's oftentimes when I get work done because everybody else is doing theirs. Yeah,
you know, um you know, you refer to lunch, but it's really meals because if you got people who are working off shift, right? Oh, yeah. Lunch sort of implies noon, I guess. Mhm. started to refer to meal breaks instead
of lunch. Especially if they start like at two in the afternoon, right? Yeah. Can you can is it legal to do comp time? I didn't think you could do comp time for any employees. Well, that's always a thing. Some places
do it. It's not. It's very complicated and it's hard to keep up with. And you have some employees who want it and other employees would rather be paid. Yeah. So that to me is something I think we'd have to talk more amongst ourselves
on. You know, I kind of just put it in there as like a placeholder, but I'll put a I'll just highlight this so we can have more conversation. Yeah. Okay. But Kathy, you're thinking that maybe it's something that's
not even I'm not sure you can you can do it. I'm not sure you can offer it, but you know, I' I'm been out of the workforce for a little while. Things may have changed, but that was always the case with us. I mean I know it happened in some cases
with salaried exempt employees um you know who did something extraordinary like traveled or whatever the case may be but um especially for non-exempt employees we didn't we weren't allowed
time to be discussed further. Yeah. Okay. Well that's a good place to end maybe. I think so, too. Okay. So, we got about what was 50 something pages and we got to 22. So, that's good for us.
I'm impressed. Well, we we left out a big section, but other than that, so we have and we have big sections to come, but good on us. But we're fine. So, do I hear a motion? Start, guys. We got a good start. Yeah. Oh, we got a great start. This team
works. This is fabulous. So, do I hear a motion to adjurnn? So second second I'll second it whatever. Okay alphabetical order. This is a test. Uh I
pil. Salvador I and Stein I forgot to say my name. Sorry. I know. I know you. So we'll see everybody Monday, August 25th at 5:30. Sounds great.
And and this this is okay. working remotely like this this this process is because I this feels like it's going well. Yeah. Okay. I know we talked in in the last meeting about we've always done well. Yeah. In everything I know but we have mentioned at some
point having you know in person that that might be a nice thing to do but this is we're going to stay like this for now. Occasionally we could do an inerson one like maybe I don't know the one we go over the final draft for maybe we do it in person. Yeah, we could celebrate and have a
little party. There you go. We'll get comp time. Well, yeah. Well, this is since we get paid so much to do this one.
Exactly. Sometime comes in the form of cake or cupcake. Exactly. It does. Yeah. All right. So, we'll see you guys all in the not too distant future. Okay. Yeah. Thanks everybody. This is fabulous. Thanks.
Bye. Good night. Bye. Bye. Five.