 Meeting of the finance committee for February 11th to order first order of business is the minutes Do I have a motion on the minutes Second second, okay. Is there any corrections all? Okay, IT Okay, is there any other corrections on the minutes Okay, the motions have been made Seconded to accept the minutes as corrected for all those in favor. We say aye opposed Now I just remind you again about the conflict of interest certificates You know once you once you've taken the Course that you've got for all the information from Gloria's emails earlier. This was in January Please remember take it leave some time. This is not like that piece of cake. We had two years ago It was very frustrating I found because you all of a sudden they gave you the information you took the thing you answered it You thought you had it right and they said no, it's incorrect because of this exemption So it's like the problem has been all the exemptions that have accumulated over a period of time So it'll take a little time or maybe I'm just getting slow on my old age. So let me have them As soon as you get them, I think it's early April like April 5th. You're supposed to have these in To me and then I'll take them nice and put them in my file cabinet and somebody asked through there Did anybody not get a finance committee handbook? Yeah, this is new this fall anybody else Could you send that over anybody else? Okay Gloria did everybody get this the hearing schedule, okay now we've lost two days already because of the snow and I Have a feeling that next Monday is going to get canceled. Anyway, I would usually not have it because it's a holiday But I was thinking of it, but now we're going to get more snow So I want to keep the idea open Of taking one morning in on a Saturday in March so If Alan could you put out to the committee? three days March 4th March 11th Oh That's wrong times March 7th March 14th And March 28th is going to doodle you all and go online and tell them what days you can make I'm thinking of like starting at 8 o'clock and finishing up at 1 or 2 And you know just one of those days if we need it we might not need it But if you could let Alan know I'll get back to you with a date that if you could save And then if we need to we can do that Because I hate to go back and break the merry ronin rule of you know going to 11 o'clock every night That is always a drag for that Okay, everybody has the warrant we'll deal with that later Okay retirement articles So this would be in your warrant articles 37 38 and 39 Article 37 appropriation pension adjustment for former 25-year Accidental disability employees. This is the one we do every year. We've got a couple of new people this is mr. Greco from the Retirement Board if you could give a brief summary of what this article is Thank you, Mr. Chairman again. My name is rich Greco. I'm the retirement administrator for the town of Valentine I'm here representing the boy and we've put three articles forward First one is article 37, which is the appropriation pension adjustment for former 25-year Accidental disability employees in real, so what this is is if you serve the town for 25 years and you retire With this passage each year We're able to monitor the retirees to make sure they don't wobble over 50% of what the job they left is paying So if you think retirees only get 3% of 15,000 is the maximum raise So the regular employees get into 3% or whatever the gap grows on the longevity And that's what this is designed to do is to try to keep the person at a Income that is fair and keeps up with inflation There's no money theoretically involved in this because we voted every year and then it's worked into the actuarial study So we don't ask for any additional funds So in other words, I worked four years at the state if I retire with 25 years and I have 21 years in Allenton I am not eligible because I did not put in 25 years with the town You have to put in 25 years with the town so in order for me to be eligible for this benefit I would have to work 29 years for in the state 25 here If you are an accidental disability You are eligible right away because you were hurt on the job You can't perform your essential duties to no fault of your own you came to work that day and you got hurt So 25 year is is waived so 90 a is accidental 90 C is a person that has a straight pension 90 D is an ordinary disability Which is if you put in 25 years and let's say you get cancer or something outside of working out of police of fire You are eligible and 90 E just gives us the ability of If the job is eliminated Let's say at one time DPW had a streets we but literally swept the streets and that person retired They didn't fill it while we match it up with the job code that that was like an entry-level DPW person And that gives us that ability to to match that up with what the job classification was Is there any questions? Especially for the new people you see there's a date there in the middle May 1 2010 John billifer the chairman of the board and I were sitting having coffee in my kitchen and Going through a lot of this and we just came to the sort of realization That what this is designed to do is prevent people from falling below the 50% level But what it actually could do is people could actually this could actually bump people up to the 50% level So if you're here for 25 years and you start when you're 20 and you retired You would only be eligible for a 25% pension and Without that date in there This would bump you from the 25 to the 50 and that was certainly not the intent of the retirement board On that so what we did back then is put in a date anybody after May 1 2010 Who retires is not eligible for this for this provision on West they were eligible for at least 50% at that time They retired so it was there just to prevent a Somebody taking advantage of this of this article On that so anyway, that's why the dates there. Do you have any sense of how many? You know how how many people or how much you have to put into this each year? I know it gets put in the crew but It's The 620 20 is so retirees and survivors okay in the system that we pay I would say roughly 200 of the retirees are probably 25 year people 200 to 225 people probably 60 people last year got bumped up and it was probably an increase to the overall payroll Somewhere between 10 and 15 thousand dollars total total for the for the pay you know prop payroll to go up You know depending on the raises you get a 1% raise that's less you get a 3% raise It's more because the employee is going up higher in the 50% Just so you know too in the cost it keeps this down a little bit too is the cola is paid for us So first we give the person the cola if the cola brings them about 50% Then obviously they don't get this additional benefit if the cola doesn't bring them up to the 50% Then the extra benefit cuts in and the cola all colas in the coca-welt and all the actuaries that do it Have the cola built in so that cost is already there so this is just the additional out of the cola So that's another reason You know and stuff as far as the cost goes Okay, are there any are there any questions on this article? Okay, let's go on to article 38 appropriation post other post Employment benefits OPEP. Okay, so the OPEP is other post-employment benefits and Basically health insurance the idea was set up Through gas be to start funding the health insurance very similar to the way the retirement bullets were in 1988 made to be funded What goes on though with the OPEP is you're not required To have the funding schedule the same way so this funding schedule We get an appropriation and start funding it which helps out bond ratings and so forth because we are addressing but the amount it is That we're giving as much is is it going to be this this year is going to be around a little over $660,000 if we were following the funding it would be ten million dollars so Unless the town's playing powerball, I don't think we're going to see that ten million and stuff's come in anytime soon so This is a way to fund it it keeps the gas being happy that there is something being addressed with it We're ahead of a lot of communities many many communities by the fact that just we're addressing Right now, there's about eight point two million dollars as of December 31st in The the OPEP fund We have about Let's see we're going to get four hundred thirteen thousand dollars Based on the difference of the non-contrip budget the last four non-contrips and five hundred thousand dollars and then there's a hundred fifty five thousand dollar figure that comes into it also because When retirees insurance went up there was a deal made that some of that increase would come back into the old have come back into help the benefit that they're paying for so our Article would call for $68,000 Carolyn and I have been talking back and forth yet It looks like the town is going to kick in an additional ninety two thousand eight hundred and make the total appropriations Six hundred sixty thousand six hundred and seventy seven dollars So if you're if you have your Your budget with you turn to page two thirty four you can see the old numbers and I'm going to hand out a new one Okay, this is on the The whole this is the whole OPEP No, that's okay So we have a consultant named Makita investments out of Westwood and they've invested it into the Is basically the van God funded so it's similar to a pooled find you've got some exposure in US equities Actually, I can tell you exactly what's that Were you asking what board or Pensions Not by the state by print no the as you know prim is the pension reserve Administration management, that's the board and the fund is called the print fund people get confused because they're so close But it's got it's in domestic equities Developed markets International tips high yield and short term So it's it's spread out in a broad base Unfortunately the return last year on that was only about three point six As far as that went the three-year average though is ten point two percent on it So we shoot similar to the retirement fund of a seven-and-a-half percent discount What's the name of that again rich to have it that's our hobby that's my health insurance The van God fund Just a bad card fund Yeah Just double check if there's an official name Is all the money in that one fund? Yes, it is. Okay, so it's a balanced fund. Yes, it is It's speed up as they call it bull funds, you know, it's full of my school together It is this for two and this is the van God funded Something else this comes up. I'll email it to you guys and stuff, but that's what we refer to it It's referred to in the report Okay, is there any other questions team I was getting worried you had to say anything, you know I remember we have the money with The retirement board because if we had it with the treasure he doesn't have the same options of investing because he has all sorts of investment standards not to say that you're not It was also GASB in the state when this came out the state felt that the retirement boards were used to being in the larger funds and so forth and the Expertise on that. So that's why all the Retirement boards oversee any OPEP funds in the community In terms of so this is sort of the big one, right? The pension fund has a legal Funding date by state law, right? Yeah It's 2040 now Originally when it started in 1988 they did it for 2028 and then 2008 happened and it became unrealistic and it went to 35 and then to 40 so it's 2040 now we're scheduling the pension fund to be Funded in 2032 Kind of going along you'd be surprised how many communities I mean, I know Wellesley need them along with us and a few other places that are funding it But most of them I haven't addressed it Brookline addressed it But not as a consistency that Arlington has even though they may have put in more at times They haven't consistently done it like we have which my understanding with the treasurer helps with the bond and stuff and The discount rate that we use when we're looking at the unfunded liability because we are addressing it Is that the home on high education Worse No, and I think I think it's a little ahead of the curve because we are addressing it That's my understanding third person don't quote, you know what I mean, but that's that's my understanding is it's because If you weren't Using it you'd have to use a lower discount rate, which would make your unfunded liability larger and all that so where we're addressing it We get to use like a 4.4 percent And you know if we were using 7.5 it would be the arc would go down and stuff right now Like I said if the arc I think would be like $16 million right now if we were to fund it and stuff Funding strategies Because it's going to be another 208 I mean you know I mean it's tough and so if you went to 2004 do you leave yourself no wiggle room? That's that's just not prudent to do it's not fiscally responsible in my opinion Yeah, well before 2008 John and I had discussed and maybe with you know, maybe You've been here a while on the familiar faces on here because I've been doing this for 14 years so We talked about you know when we were 65% funded before the crash You know we were like oh, maybe we could slow this down a little bit and take some of that money So still appropriate 10 million dollars, but maybe instead of putting on the pension maybe eight pensions and 2 million to OPEB and start cranking that up a little bit But the world changed on that yeah, you know and stuff and now we got a scramble just to get because we're down to 49% Funded on the retirement side We're still not I know all these local People liked print, but we're still not at the hundred and forty million. We were at the crash We ended about 134 million last year so You know we still got work to do and we were after the override getting a six percent increase on the appropriation We just negotiated that in December to 5.5 Increasing, you know down the road and stuff so yeah, it'd be tough to take away from the pension You know it's up because we are legally mandated OPEB. I Yes, it's once it starts making enough money. Could you start drawing on it? You know what I mean? But when is that date? I mean that's dangerous, you know and stuff that there's no date to say one should be funded by and There's no date when you stop pulling the assets out so It's just a slow run My last thing is more common today, I did notice in our five-year plan this year that the Rate of increase per year of the young Of the pension is going down. I think it used to be as safe for as many years as you get five and a half so I would like to thank you and the retirement board for your continued cooperation with Larger time. We're all in this together and that's the thing. I mean, it's you're not gonna, you know Take from somewhere and stuff. We want to work with it, but you know, we do got to catch up because We're all in this together, but the state still gives you guys legal autonomy to not be in this together So I do think it's that I am appreciative of you know, they continue to support the retirement board to be able to look past Their own desire on funding and realize that there's a larger enterprise and services That would have to be No, it's you know, and it'd be kind of hypocritical because the people would be caught and we're all our members You know what I mean? Yeah, it's kind of except for teachers I just the new people the retirement board does not have the teachers we have everybody else I have school employees, but I don't have teachers So those are those that's what makes up the the system Are there any other questions on the open? Yes Seven and a half percent Well this year's appropriation is going to be roughly ten million dollars But it's not all from the town the housing authority puts a piece in and the town puts a piece of it And the majority is the town. Okay, probably about 97 percent of it And a few percent from the housing authority because the housing authority employees are part of us Okay, so they have to pay an appropriation also towards it So it's up to it's ten million dollars roughly this year when you get to that party of budget that It'll probably nine something from the town nine point eight nine point seven something Sixteen million is on the old pebble. I'm sorry. So that's a confusion the ten million is the Pension plan. Okay, which the funding we have a funding schedule going out to 2032 the old pep is where Dean was talking about that has no real mandate But if we were following a mandate and a funding schedule to get it funded within 30 years like the pension system We would have to put in 16 million dollars a ship Assuming Okay, so any other questions on the old pep fund That's a seven and a half if that's four point four, that's where we as a And the last article is Article 39 acceptance of legislation increase Survivor benefits, so I'm going to make this real easy for you We're going to have to withdraw this article at this time because of everything going on with old pep and stuff The act where I was not able to give us numbers I'll give you a brief one on it because it's going to come back next year Members that retired on an accidental disability Before 1996 were not allowed to pick a continuing benefit for their spouse They get what's called and I apologize for the women in the room the system was set up in 1939 a widow's benefit I could be a widower, but it's called the widow's benefit and right now those members Are able to get nine thousand dollars a year. Okay The legislator moved it up to 9,000 we voted it in 2011 from six to nine thousand dollars Legislature came back and said, you know, there's people that are paid to stay at home to get a thousand dollars a month for different reasons within the Commonwealth It's a it's a small universe because it can't add to it Number one number two. It only goes to spouse. It doesn't go to kids or families. It only goes to a spouse So just so you know what we're looking at there's about 37 members There would be eligible still for this which is down from 49 when we talked about it a couple years ago Four of them are not married so that they have nobody to give the benefit to and 13 them have aren't a presumption Which means they were a police of fire and they either had a high condition or a cancer and If they die of what they went out on they get a different benefit So they would even be taken out of this pool of money So the number we're doing is a worst-case scenario and it could go somewhere else So we don't have the figures for that so we agreed that we would hold off for here because the legislation allows us to adopt it at any time So we'll probably come back with more stronger figures and stuff for you The concern is the jump last year from six four years ago from six to nine People had gotten coal is so it wasn't a full three thousand dollar jump to put on the end fund the liability Where it hasn't been that many years right now All of the people we jump into night from nine to twelve and it could be much more expensive benefit So Okay, so It's going to be withdraw your vote no action on it Yeah, you could give us a more full explanation next year next year. I have not much case. It could be fewer members Unfortunately, yeah, that's part of the field I work in the numbers The numbers go down Stuff but is there any other you know, I always want to be accessible. Is there any other questions regarding me time in a rope? Have I can answer while we're here? Okay Thank you very much for coming Okay Human Rights Fund article Article 33 appropriation Human Rights Fund executive director, so Stephen you want to take a seat up here sure Okay, so if you could Give us how much you think This will be forward and why okay, so it's um five years ago was the first time I came from you guys that was from to whoops no from the sidewalks on mass It was a fourteen thousand dollar year appropriation according to the town of Lexington Lexington Winchester Some of all came to jail do it and here we are five years later. I wish But that said, you know, I'm I'm here tonight about the Human Rights Commission and I don't really have a big presentation. I find that you know, it doesn't really work anyhow so what I've done is I sent to Gloria just sort of a threat And what it starts off is I ask For the contact information of the executive director of the Human Rights Commission and the response back was from Christine Carney who was the Chair of the Human Rights Commission and she says to me that there hasn't been an executive director for ten years and So she fulfills the role I guess But then I look at the bylaw and some of you all time is up Some of you are well experienced people probably know that in 1993 town meeting created the Human Rights Commission And so some of you probably were around for that and in 1993 Then if you look at the bylaw, it's very clear It says there shall be an executive director and why that matters is because that's the person you make complaints to You don't make complaints to some appointed political body and that Executive director will be a town employee who reports to the town manager and So it's important that there's an executive director for the Human Rights Commission and it's become very important personally I care because I had a complaint and there's no one to make a complaint to and So Christine, I believe you know was very honest and you know That there is no executive director So the time manager was out on vacation at that time well attorney leave or whatever family leave And so the assistant time manager got on and he blames you guys He said the town meeting hasn't made an appropriation and you can read all this, you know But you're leisure and so I guess I'm not here to tell you how much you should do I'm here to ask some questions Because what happens is then after you know, they made that statement It turns out that supposedly Christine Bonjono the Health and Human Services director Well, she fulfills the role of the executive director when there's not an appropriation made and You know, I almost bought into that except she's never gone to a meeting And even when I approached her after this about you know a complaint You know, she's not really doing it and I don't blame her She's actually probably not qualified if you look at what the bylaw said by law has very specific qualifications One of which is to be appointed by the board of select which They've never done that either and so here we are in a situation where there's a legitimate serious complaint and there's no one to ask and I'm being told by the town that you guys haven't put together a Appropriation in ten or more years or a town meeting which is me guys as well hasn't put together or approved an appropriation in ten years and That I asked, you know, what with the budget what requests have been made and there was no response You know, they said that they'd work with me to get that and after about, you know certain length of time I went out and I said well, you know, let's put an appropriation So I have some questions for you guys. You're the budget people you're the ones that you know help educate guys like me on Tom meeting about you know Issues would have to do with appropriations so my first question to you all and I'm hoping someone can dig it out of their memory is Where in the budget is there an appropriation for a human rights executive director Well article 35 last year is the appropriation for committees and commissions and under 35 F Who's the Human Rights Commission? And the appropriation was forty five hundred dollars approved by town meeting so Within that Is the money to hire whatever people they can and nobody's Gloria has anybody ever asked for anything So every year we asked the Human Rights Commission, you know, do they are they satisfied with the appropriation from last year? And if they want some more then we'll set up a hearing for them and every year they say the same thing No, the forty five hundred dollars is fine So the forty five hundred dollars I imagine since it's coming from the Human Rights Commission as you stated is actually for you know, probably you know Materials, you know Because if you recall the bylaw specifically says that it's a town employee Which knowing the Human Rights Commission is a town employee that will work for the town manager So I can't imagine that it would be in a budget that wasn't under the town manager's control So I think that forty five hundred now that you're referencing is actually for incidental costs of printing and things of that nature What I'm saying is that that's all they've ever asked for No, I understand yeah And I don't think that it should be actually coming from the Human Rights Commission if it's an employee of the town manager So I'd expect to see it in the town manager's budget. I mean do you agree? He's never asked They are considered town employees. Oh the special municipal employees. Yeah, I don't think they are actually I bet you if we looked that they've never been approved by the board of select them as special That there's special municipal employees I think you know, there's a specific process that has to be undertaken and I will put dollars of donuts They have never been approved as special municipal And well if we could go through the whole process, but the bylaws very clear No, but the bylaws very clear the executive director So for instance after I went to the Human Rights Commission I wanted to know you know I asked them to set up a subcommittee and they did I went to the school to happen They set up a subcommittee. So I asked, you know, when are you gonna meet and you know, what's going on? and I asked Christine and born-journal and You know, essentially there's no response. She's not acting as the executive director. She's not Working with the people making the complaint and if you read the bylaw That is the role of the executive director Christine Connie I didn't say that sir So so the only thing I was no one to go to well hold on hold on I Also, I asked what was who the executive director was and Christine Connie was kind enough to say there hasn't been That's it Correct and that's true and still the case. There's no one to take the complaint What why do you not believe that that's the case I don't know Frankly, I went to I sat with the Human Rights Commission But I don't know if there's a plane. There's no one who's got a complaint open You'd expect that I would have heard a response which No, I did not file a complaint form procedures. I did not file a complaint for You have not Well, I haven't filed a complaint form So there's so you have nothing before the human rights That's not the case. No, what did you get that because just initiate the complaint process You need to file a complaint with the Human Rights Commission. Oh, you know more about it than I do when here I went to the Human Rights Commission and sat with them. I do know. Yeah Great So, why do you think they wouldn't have asked me to file a complaint form? If I went there in front of me indicated that you wanted to file a complaint They would have sent you a complaint form to fill out. Hmm. So they did now I also know that that $4,500 Most of it is spent to pay for an administrative position Hmm and that person there was their job. His or her job is to During the hours that she is working or he is working to answer phones and send out complaint forms And that's the executive directive position you're saying is as an administrative position So it's not the executive directive. There is no formal executive director, but it is an administrative position So though but there is in the bylaw that set up the Human Rights Commission But there is When that person is not available Human the Responded to So then we agree that it's really an administrative $4,500 for administrative not for an executive director who is someone who's a time employee It's administrative cost, yes administrative cost, it's not the executive director position No, but this is what I think you and I were talking past each other there is The 1993 bylaw clearly states that there's an executive director position So there is there is one just and we agree it's just not being funded Yes, I went to the Human Rights Commission and met with them No, they didn't say any such thing We had a long-ranging conversation The result of it to answer I guess you and Dave is that they formed a subcommittee That meets with the school department school committee that also formed a subcommittee that are trying to look into this But I think we're going into the next warrant article The complaint the complaint which apparently never happened because it was no form given What you're asking for that is the part of the complaint process So they did it without a form You know something you'd like to think maybe from that perspective that it worked but from my perspective and that's why I'm saying it It doesn't work Because the complaint was made five months ago. I Haven't heard anything So so five months ago the complaint was made. I haven't heard anything. So I don't think it's working at all I googled it was on the town's website Well, you know, it's funny I didn't do this until after I met with them, of course, right first I met with them It's not like it was some like Process it, you know, it's clearly written down if you went to the town's website, for instance They didn't even have the current members There was no information at all about how to even contact them. It took over a month To get down to actually meet with them. So it wasn't until after I met them Okay, so I missed one of them I get the next one and so after I met with them That's when I started to look into well, how does this work? And that's when I looked up the bylaw So the human rights commission does not support that Oh, I've haven't asked them if they have or not. Have you asked them? You have not asked them to support this article before you submitted it? Um, I had a number of them sign it Has the commission itself indicated it supports this one or not? I haven't asked them So I have no idea if they support it or not Okay, are there any other questions? Well, I have a couple more because we don't know how much it's budgeted for Apparently the town manager is not in his budget. Is that a correct assumption at this point? The The human rights commission along with the other commissions are funded under a separate appropriation for committees and commissions So it's you're saying that it's not in the town manager's budget It's okay. That's what I just want to make sure that we're well the manager submits budgets Submitted budgets as items at the back. I haven't checked but usually has money for different commissions and committees In the book but whatever it's in the finance committee report And we report to town meeting But pristine just said as a founding member of the human rights commission That's $4,500 that you mentioned is for administrative costs not to fund the executive director position So I just want to make sure that we're on the same page as far as I can tell at this point There is no budget or funding for the executive director position That's called for in the bylaw Is this that's not well if if there is an administrative position there That's paid out of this that provides administrative services Working a few hours a month Uh in that position was called executive director Oh now that's that's that's a great use of semantics because if you look at the bylaw, it's very clear It's someone who reports to the town manager. This administrative assistant doesn't report to the town Manager, it's someone who has background in human rights It's not an administrative assistant position It's someone who takes complaints and monitors them and contacts the complainant That's not an administrative assistant. So I I you know respectfully disagree It's not in the budget And so that's why I'm here. I just want to fund it Town meeting this is a town meeting committee. This is something town meeting was concerned with This is something that's important That the town of island can get right would become more and more diverse of a community We should have someone who is funded To do this job It's in the bylaw And so that's why I'm here tonight you tell me how much it should be And so that's the next question what the 93 I imagine when it was passed that it was actually funded And so maybe someone's got to do some forensic accounting to find out what was the intent Of town meeting and how much was it funded the first decade of its existence Because I think that will answer the question of how much it should be I'm happy to do that analysis, but you know, I won't probably come back yet That's what I bring to town meeting. I think it's important that we fund What town meeting has For a commission that Is very important Don't you agree? Okay You said you had another question for us Like I said, it was the second one is how much has been funded So we know it's not funded today and the second one is how much And so I open this up to you know to the committee How much do you think we should fund an executive director position for? Well Hasn't been in conclusion that we we don't have an executive director We'd have to find out a little bit more information about it To do that you don't have to have a full-time executive director You could have a part-time executive director. That's what I imagine it would be Yeah But certainly one that's a you know real position You know who's appointed by the board of slack On some you know Someone that you know is known to the community So that if you had a complaint you'd know who to go to you wouldn't have to wait a month until the You know political body man Dean so I will admit to being a little Behind for a couple minutes. We're in this hearing until I actually looked up the statue Which I don't know if anyone has it for the by-law tenure I don't know what I did so I just want to read it because I think this is The heart of what we're talking about it says executive director Before appointing an executive director the town manager shall obtain the approval of the board of selectmen and consider the recommendation of the commission The executive director shall be an employee of the town and report to the town manager The prospective executive director shall have demonstrable experience in human and civil rights as well as proven ability to work cooperatively In a diverse community next paragraph subject to the direction of the commission The executive director shall be responsible for the overall administration of the commission's activities and shall Serve as its executive officer The executive director shall have the power and duty to initiate activities designed to educate and inform the town about the effects Of prejudice intolerance and bigotry to receive and or initiate complaints, which I guess is what you meant there In investigations of discriminatory practices is defined by local state and federal law to report his or her findings to the commission And to attempt mediation of any complaint alleging discrimination under applicable local state and federal law When there is a cause for such complaint So is this the statute that you're referencing? That's exactly your dean. Thank you very much And so you can see it's not an administrative role It's not something that's low. It's not something that you just put in there to take calls This is someone who has experience in civil rights and investigating complaints And so There isn't one let's not kid each other We haven't been doing it and the question before you is If you vote no action to do it or you're not going to put it the effort into get it Why don't we have the bylaw at all? And if you look at the bylaw The executive director is the key The human rights commission for all of its, you know, meeting Together has no ability You need to have an executive director or just get rid of the bylaw. Let's not just like Have nothing So is that your recommendation to get rid of the bylaw together? No, I'm here as a Warrantatical to fund it And I'm meeting resistance, which I'm really I think almost feels like snowy move again Mary market. So I just want to make sure I understand what you're saying So you want an executive director? You want to know an official have an official position because you feel like your complaint wasn't Oh, no, no, no, it's it's beyond my complaint because you never do stuff just for yourself I mean, I don't even live on that. So I'm looking for the for the town to fully fund Part of a bylaw that was put in place 20 Eight years ago Or 25 years ago Because you feel like it was oh because of my personal experiences. I actually had a legitimate complaint And so, you know, we could argue whether it's a legitimate complaint The school department the school committee the human rights commission Have all formed a subcommittee. They feel it's a legitimate complaint So there's no question about, you know, the fact that there was a legitimate complaint The the experience I had Was, you know, that there was no one to turn to And when I looked into, you know, who is responsible who would take my call? There was no one there and when I asked the town, well, who is the person The the the response is no one So that's why I put together the warrant article because I think there should be some The and having the human we have very active human rights commission So that wasn't enough and having Christine Buongiorno as the Acting as the executive director Well, I you know, if it was Christine Buongiorno acting as a human rights executive director And she was funded and it was part of her job You know, but that's not what I was led to believe And it's not the truth. I mean, come on. She's never gone to a meeting Never gone to a Never gone to a meeting the board of select were never appointed or they say it's part of her job description. I mean I don't believe it Okay, are there are there any other questions for mr. Harrington Okay, um You do have one article. I was just curious another article on the uh, I'm trying to find it Uh, here it is article nine by law amendment human rights commission to see if the channel vote Uh to update uh human rights commission for complaints against town departments or take any action related there too so Um, is this to expand the human rights commission's Purview to consider complaints against town departments and agencies. Is that the focus? Well, this is um, this article was at number nine. It's nine in this one. Yeah, nine. Um, is it a finance article, right? No, it's not for any appropriation So now, you know, I'd be very generous with my time And you know, you guys I respect this committee and the work they do And so, you know, I'm not here to really like, you know, advocate for it I'm not here. It's not a finance committee article So you don't really have you know, really any purview other than each one of you have a vote Well, two thirds you have a voted down meeting. And so I'd like to you know, ask you This is your chance to give me input Because frankly, I haven't given you a whole lot of thought in the last couple weeks I've been busy with other things But I have two months to really work on this and it's going to come in Like everything else that uh, you know, if you've seen any time meeting it's going to come in You know, well researched And so I'm going to open it up to you To ask you what your input would be given sort of what you know what's going on In the greater world How we could make the human rights commission better Would it make sense even to look toward other communities to see if they have a human rights commission And if they have an executive director And so I can tell you I have done a little get that information maybe what So like some of all some of us a great example Some of all has a what I call a muscular human rights commission And they actually have taken For instance their public safety Um department to task for discriminatory practices and the rest And so so there's absolutely Things it will learn from outside communities and how they handle it And uh, and that's actually going to probably be the basis of what I put forward I think what I meant more specifically How that individual executive directors compensate Yeah, this isn't the same thing as exactly real numbers to come back So I think we're mixing now the two articles and this is what I was a little bit nervous about So the the the executive director is article 33 Yeah, you know, which we sort of closed But so so this would be Well, it's not I mean, I don't want to mix the two even though they're similar The second one is a bylaw. It has nothing to do with funding I absolutely look into other communities to see how they fund it You know to figure out how much appropriation I'm going to ask for And I'd love to have you know, you guys help me with that To actually find out, you know, because there's going to be some leg work And to find out how much we should fund it for what's reasonable to have a person who actually is going to spend enough time To you know, or to have the ability to spend the time To do that and the problem. Christine Buongiorno. I mean, I love Christine Buongiorno She's really good at what she does. I can't imagine that she can actually drop all of her other responsibilities To be involved in a complaint that's extremely sensitive and time-consuming Okay, paul I think I think that we have heard Mr. Harrington's Arguments at least four or five times now. I think in fact, they're very compelling and I will support some kind of connection But I don't think there's any more information we're getting on it and as far as article nine We have no expertise in this group and we don't have a lot of time this year. So I think we should probably just Finish the hearing Does anybody else have any questions or comments Okay, thank you very much. I appreciate it Okay, that's it for our articles um Why don't we go back to the first ones article 30 now 37 and 38 um Charlie can't be here for these two weeks and he asked That action on those two articles be postponed until he gets back so he can make recommendations on it and I think You know, I've inclined to Let those two go until he gets back and he can come back On the other hand article 39. They're going to withdraw anyway Uh, so it seems to me just to move ahead I'd entertain a motion of no action Second Okay article 39 It's been moved and seconded for no action all those in favor. Please say aye. Hi posed Okay, okay um article 33 christine when you were on the committee, how did a Who would people call how would the process work? Now that existed then I haven't heard otherwise there Is a part-time staff person Whose whose job is to be in the office a certain number of hours every week And there's set hours so People can call in Or or stop in during those hours and then be someone there In the event that a call came When that person wasn't in the office Christine one journal somebody in her staff person in her office Would take the phone call Or the complaint and pass it on to the chair And what happens with the complaint? There's no complaint really that starts until a form is filled out because you have to complain it has to be willing to File a written formal complaint and the complaint comes in then then the chair Um does a committee a subcommittee of three people Enhance the complaint to the the committee and then the complaint process goes the complaint is investigated by that committee a hearing is held Uh this investigation And then that subcommittee makes a decision and comes back to the government's commission and it's the recommendation about what to do Now despite the fact that he apparently has not Filed a formal written complaint seems like the complaint process is proceeding in pace and although he may sounds like he's Unhappy with the speed with which is being handled the committee only needs The full committee only needs once a month and the subcommittee needs maybe once in between Full meetings Maybe more depending on the availability of the subcommittee members to get together So it sounds like The process is as established by the bylaws And the rule in this in the rules and regulations that the commission itself has established seems like his complaint process is working Um, I think the there's a there's the issue of the title There is no executive director. There never has been And who reports to Right The staff person is that they they had census staff. They had staff person reports to christine one journal And presumably to the town manager or her The uh, so there has there has not been an executive director Um, would the human rights commission loves an executive director? You know full-time um director of shore but They uh, I think they're satisfied with the arrangement right now the other thing That you have to consider is that there aren't Scores of complaints coming in They're just they're just they just don't happen And much of the staff person's job is really To get ready for the next meeting To deal with the human rights commission dialogues and book groups and Community events that's really that takes out more of the the commission's time I think that any complaint investigation process So I think that that reason Has been assessed after the arrangement I think I mean it's it's it's Well, David and then carol I'm sitting here trying to I was having to be president town meeting below I've never been a town meeting member of that night that that item would come up In reference to farming the human rights commission Um In the best of my memory says to me it was probably one of the best debates or that i've ever witnessed at town meeting Far and against them and there was other The original human rights commission article was Changed at town meeting part of the article In the article itself it also had subpoena powers It's town meeting voted down at that time in 1993 Having said that My service on the school committee and my service as a police officer When the human rights issue come up Human rights commission Always was worked very well Up to to its present day as far as I know And what I experienced with folks the school system and the police department They worked hand in hand ever since the commission was was formed Now the best of my knowledge is there is there's a chairman of the human rights commission Now christian is right. There's never been an executive director I think if we went back to 1993 In going forward from 93 you find out perhaps maybe that due to economics they could not hire And that's looking for it to work quicker But it's not up to us to say whether the town should have an executive director. I think that That's not out of the bylaw. This is the finance committee will set a fee that I think it's Before it's like when in the town manager I'll let the town meeting folk at job. It's certainly not us to do that It might be Carol I just simply need to know who christine is I'm sorry. What who is christine and what is her title? There's a number on joie that was director palton services and christine carney is On the human rights commission Okay, but it's the staff person so christine bunjuno is I think that This is going to be an issue before town meeting. You know, it's it's not going to go away We're going to have the town manager In here Goria, do you remember if this was one of the issues we listed for him? It was Okay, because I think he stated here that they were in the process of looking for somebody in hiring For this particular position So, um I would suggest that we wait till the manager comes before us. We don't have a date yet. Do we okay And just he knows the thing is there so we ask him Uh, how is this work? Who has the? Greatest responsibility. Have you hired somebody yet? You don't just get all our ducks in an order and then you know vote on this article at that time On that so dean and then john Well, the only thing I would say when for when he Comes in is I think in some ways we're Overthinking that's great. I think this is a clear I don't want to go off. I don't want to get caught if there's statutory issue or a clear issue of law But it's just a pretty simple issue of law as far as I can see that We've created commission 22 years ago wrote a bylaw They've subsequently implemented it and are working and it's actually working in such a way that They don't need the position of executive director. So we just need to clean up the bylaw But I think we're sort of getting past the What we're getting into the administrative practice of the human rights commission With the bylaws the bylaws right there. You need to have an executive director They need to be employee of the town. They need to report to the down manager And it's pretty clear cut the reality of the situation is they don't need that So you should just move it. Okay. That's I know I know that to be part of it But I I hope we don't get into this sort of Discussion of what we're just ignoring the law and trying to No, but I I think the you know the way to do it and you know, it's an appropriation article We're responsible for recommending it if we're going to say yes or no Then you know, we should we should have done all the research We've talked to mr. Harrington now We should have the manager come in explain how the process works and then vote yes or no after that That's all I'm all I'm suggesting On this. I mean the select one can appoint Christine as the executive director of it and You know doesn't have to be a full time or anything like that and And she has their administrative person report to her and go to the meetings and does what she does before So there was a way to deal with it without adding a body On that John How many people on the commission? 13 wow, okay Grant I think it's a couple people have said it's not our responsibility You know to build the budget that comes before us If if the human rights commission doesn't think they need any more money and the town manager doesn't think they need any more money to do the responsibilities required of them in the bylaws then I think if we'd be hard-pressed to say no, we think you do need the money Don't they have to say how much they want they're asking for here at some point They're asking for some of money. They never Mr. Harrington and they never have to say we want x amount Well, they can they don't have to and they submitted the warrant article and it's up to us to take action and If the manager came before us and said, you know, yes, we do need somebody it should be half time I recommend 30 000 dollars To do this Then we'd take action on on that recommendation, but Oh No, mr. Harrington is not have the it's not required of him It would be You know quite often they have a request as you see it in several of the warrant articles, but they don't have to Okay, okay. So, uh Gory it's on the list that we've given to the manager And we'll have him come in probably like early march And there's a whole series of articles we're going to ask him about including art in east man east Arlington On the highway and we'll ask him about this and then we'll take a vote Depending on how you feel about it okay, uh And I I asked the question about the town agencies because Theoretically if it puts a greater responsibility on a town agency to deal with it, then you know, that's that could be a financial I don't think that would be the case in this, but I thought I asked John town manager Okay, um Let's take a look at the I think I need a new watch it says it's a quarter or seven Okay, let's take a look at the warrant and go through and see if there's any art or any other articles that we want to hear Okay page three reported committees page four department was in part system town moderator Men to require that all applications for building Okay, this is the zoning article um This is the article that we um We requested that mr. Loretty come before us to discuss it Uh, and he said no because it really doesn't have any financial impact the manager obviously thought There was a financial impact Uh, I forwarded to you, uh, mr. Loretty's piece on Why he doesn't think there'll be a financial impact and I think this was one of the issues we Asked the manager to speak to okay um It didn't initially strike me as a huge impact if but it depends on how the building inspector keeps his keeps his record, so Uh We'll we'll hear that from the manager Uh zoning bylaw amendment could we Um This is to zoning bylaws reported by the redevelopment board But the finance committee does have the authority to make recommendations or comments on virtually anything it wants to that He thinks has a financial impact so Uh zoning bylaw regulation of posted event notices um I'm going to go through them and if you think we need to hear that you have to speak up Uh bylaw amendment limiting speaking time for announcements and reports by law amendment human rights commission Uh By law amendment description of the mount gilboa That doesn't sound by law amendment establishment of a community preservation act. Well, we thought that one out last year Revision of town 2020 standing committee Uh disposition of real estate 1207 mass app This is inserted by the board of selectmen uh Goria we asked the manager to speak to that didn't he didn't we? Okay, so when the manager comes in now, uh A couple of our members Uh gave comments into the board of selectmen Uh Mr. Foskett wants to use the money uh to help with the stratin school um Alan wanted to use it for a What was the um So, uh, we'll have to ask him to how he what's he's going to recommend again it You know, it's not our immediate recommendation, but it obviously has a financial impact. So, uh Disposition of land in lexing. I don't think that Home rule board of assessors changes. I put that out last time and nobody wanted to hear it uh acceptance of legislation complete streets program I've asked the manager to come and speak to us about what this was all about Uh, acceptance of local option taxes. This is the article we put in every year uh to see if the State legislature actually passes something which we could accept uh either a um To allow us to tack something to put in any kind of fines to just do anything. So it's uh, it just sort of sat there and uh There probably won't be anything but you never can tell these days. So, uh I will probably when that comes up the select one will probably move no action because there's nothing and i'll move to table Until the end of town meeting just in case And then if nothing comes up, we'll It could go no action Uh, cb Well, that's Town matters are supposed to have a grant access through Of a parcel of undeveloped land So it sounds like there's a piece of undeveloped land in lexington Yeah, i'm not familiar with it So it sounds like this is they want some kind of access through town land To develop something I guess is that Does anybody want the manager to speak to that? Okay, gloria could you add that to the list and give the manager a call? We just want to hear what it is And i might have to give him a whole night Okay, acceptance of complete streets Local option taxes cg revolving funds Okay collective bargaining Do we have that down on the list to speak? He probably Okay, add that to the list we want to just find the status. I mean if he's in Uh position reclassification Um Carol that'll be your your bailiwick in three weeks Yeah, maybe two. Okay. I'm meeting with her next week. Sounds good. Okay The budgets will be Starting to hear those hopefully fairly soon Uh appropriation real and personal any uh word on when we're hearing that Okay, so we got that down Uh Yes We don't know yet There's a whole series of articles. We usually ask questions later on so my guess is maybe first week in march Yeah Okay, uh, so 23 we're hearing on the 23rd 24 is capital budget On the 16th 15 uh 25 will be from the uh Town treasurer probably Charlie will have that also so who has the treasurer's budget? Okay Um, okay. Well, that'll probably be in together and one person from the treasurer's office will be there Okay sewer and water Uh That's the manager to give numbers and of course grant you'll be working on that Minute man Have you heard anything back from steven? Okay. So is that that's a that's official Okay, I sent out I got a uh a piece on the budget from um Sue cheffler Our new school committee person. So I sent that out to everybody so that'll give us Uh, you know some indication where this is going uh committees and commissions uh Have you heard back from everybody? Everybody except the historical commission. Um, I have to follow them again But everybody The money they received last year is fine except the transportation advisory committee They got 15,000 last year and they want nothing this year because isn't that wonderful Yeah They said if they want more they have money to draw from and they'll draw from it and then see what happens next year Okay, that sounds good. That was the plan last year. Yeah Yeah, that's right Christine Can we hear from the recycling committee? Because if you remember last year we started to uh Fund a position recycling coordinator and I'm interested in knowing What the recycling committee has been doing historically with your budget and And that now that we have a paid position in town, what will they be doing with your budget going forward? Did we fund that in their? No, exactly. We had a part time. We had a part time. It started as a part time position a long time ago It was funded through the white goods Collection what happened was Last year, I think there was Okay, uh now we could We could have the manager report on that also Or do you want to hear directly from the recycling in the budget of the recycling committee? I I know what the recycling coordinator's position does And I think we can get information from the BW but But now that we now have this full time rule this almost full time position. Yep What is it that we that the recycling committee Is doing with the money that we had in giving the 3 000 we give to them Okay, gorya, could you ask the recite Sure, peter Okay, gorya, could you call them and On the 18th, that's a week from wednesday uh, why don't you add to the uh We have the tourism committee coming in why don't you see if they could come in right after that the recycling? uh for say, I don't know 8 15 For the recycling and could you then add to that list that will vote on all committees and commissions? So that'll be the one time we're just going to vote on all of them and get that out of the way carol Who has dpw for their budget? I did can can you talk about? About what that person has done in the last year because I remember last year We were told that the reason she needed to go full time was because of some efforts with apartments And I live in an apartment and I haven't seen anything in the last year So my question is what has she done in the last year? I haven't met with the dpw director yet, but that was somewhat one of the many questions Okay, so Next wednesday, we're here for recycling and we'll uh And we'll vote on all the committees and commissions Yes Couldn't slip Which I'm sorry, which member which oh Which committee were you asking about? On the other hand the article here does say and any other town committee or commission There's plenty of room Okay, uh Appropriations celebrations and Appropriations for miscellaneous. So what I'd like to do if everybody could take a look at those three look at last year's warrant I'd like to vote next wednesday on the committees the commissions the several celebrations And the miscellaneous Um And uh, we have the town managers numbers Um I think they're in the back of the budget book And if not nobody wants any more than they were going to give last year. So, uh, but like miscellaneous Okay, uh Okay, the east arlington massachusetts Appropriation for public art east arlington massachusetts avenue corridor Uh process to select in public art Now has everybody seen the painting On marathon street? That is definitely cool They didn't go all the way towards really authentic Greek athletes, but you know Uh, okay, the manager is going to speak about that Uh, human rights commission will wait. Uh, the executive director will wait to hear what the manager has to say on that uh water bodies is Next or the 23rd harry barber Is the 23rd a little bit on this This money is we give that the group that we last had a vision 2020 bar with the tough work to do the work that they Talk whatever year, but if we needed to do other work in the Inspire fund we're not limited to just this article we can appropriate for the dpw, right? And we start throwing I talked to the manager about that already And my feeling has always been that if you put a dollar amount you can't appropriate more than that But you're right You know, we could I theoretically add money to the Public works budget, or if it's an emergency type thing transfer it from the reserve fund So I mean there are other options Yeah, I keep telling people not to put dollar amounts in the warrant articles, but They do it anyway. Okay, so that's mechanics. It has for more than what you put it. Yeah Okay, um 36 is uh Tourism, which is next wednesday Uh article 37 and 38 will wait for trawley's return 39. We just voted on our first article Appropriation, okay, then we got the long-term stabilization and the rest of the Articles I think what I'd like to try to do is next week On uh the 18th is vote on all of our articles Except for the fiscal stability stabilization fund may basically any money we save Or uh We have that we did not with that we expected to do we can increase the stable is a the fiscal stability fund And if we have to appropriate more money, then we thought we did then that number gets down So that's sort of the final balancing number And we'll see what alan spreadsheets finally look at probably in Uh early march, uh, but we can we know what free cash is Uh Do you know at the cemetery? Million okay, so we do that overlay And the long-term stabilization so we could get going to those Okay, we got a resolution on the removal of town meeting members And the master plan endorsement neither of which are really our Articles alan At least you know part of the objective of that was to address structural deficit to remove Revenue sources on a one who might not be worth our time to have sort of a private presentation Of the master plan specifically focusing on fiscal To educate clients committee as much as anything else Yeah, I think Decisively focusing on Of hope just so we understand the actual That specifically being the operative work Okay, people think that's a good idea Okay According with my usual policy alan Could you call the planning director and ask her coordinate it with gloria? To give us a basic summary of those sections Doesn't have to be huge and long but and perhaps uh Well, the master plan has been out for a while, isn't it? I mean we could go on the website A number of drafts of it out. I think they just approved Okay Um, it's on the website. It's on the website. Okay, so if people Uh could take a look at the website on that and alan if you could like I said coordinate with gloria And get her in Okay, well, that's it Uh Any budgets? Okay, finance committee Gotta start somewhere Okay, peter I'm sorry, are we looking at the base or the total So it's 500 500 more A step increase in january Which is By the way, the final step increase gloria has been here now for Eight years, I guess Will have been So this is correct. So I'd like to correct the numbers on page 21 Okay, so it should be 6811 And that's because she had a step this in this past year Last month But isn't that included in the 15? To six to seven four Okay needed to have been The I think probably got the budget wrong last year. You can double check but I talked about it Yeah, but but I'll make sure that we So the salary and wages should be 9861 Okay, I'm sorry. So this Salary and wages is 9861 Bottom line Okay So are you saying this is correcting a prior mistake and then shouldn't the base also be 6811 not just the total These numbers are are difficult because It makes it's easy to deal with the the uh anniversary data at the start of july But when it's january then it's You've got you know Take The average Plus it's a 20% involved Okay, so I'll ask her what that what that base number should be Okay, because peter usually a step is someplace in the four to five percent This is a nine percent Okay The actual last year, okay Okay, so your recommendation is for 12,351 61 12361 And the uh salaries and wages is 9861 Okay Do I have a motion? Second Okay, are there any questions Okay, uh All those in favor of the uh bottom line finance committee total of 12361. Please say I posed Okay Any other budgets? I was afraid you'd say that Okay, uh Okay, review the warrant any budgets Now how many how many people have budgets for next week? You'll have library, okay great Okay, you'll have a bunch Anybody else? Okay, uh a couple of things Since the uh 16th is a holiday and we usually don't meet anyway And we're probably going to get a huge storm uh Coming in And I don't think we have enough to take up an evening. I canceling there's no meeting monday night No meeting monday night gory. Let anybody You know and then on the uh 18th We have the tourism committee We'll try to deal with all the committees and commissions to the extent we can We'll do the library budget. We'll do the budgets uh that peter and dave have And if you have any other budgets even small ones, but just you know move to to uh get them done Uh Okay, is there any other uh any other business before the committee paul Okay, remember that for uh, okay any other any other business Okay, meeting is adjourned