Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout5_23_2020 Transcript Special Meeting05-23-2020.mp3 Supervisor McGee ​[00:00:00] ​Morning. Councilperson Mehaffey ​[00:00:01] ​Good morning. Supervisor McGee ​[00:00:03] ​I am going to call the meeting to order. This is a special meeting of the Enfield Town board. Saturday, May twenty third at nine thirty a.m.. I have a request to have a couple of additions first as well, I guess we don't have a whole bunch of people here for privilege. So we can do privilege. And I was gonna ask if Brian could speak before the candidate for bookkeeper is with us today and he has to be at a family event shortly after 10:00. So. And the other is I'd like to add a conversation about a new development, apparently, that we're not accepting credit cards and echecks. That's what we need to have a conversation about that. That wasn't something that was approved by the board. So if we could put that under new business, that would be great. Anybody else have additions or changes? Mimi? Councilperson Mehaffey ​[00:01:19] ​I just want to say you may want to mute me because the phones are kind of busy here. Supervisor McGee ​[00:01:23] ​OK. Councilperson Mehaffey ​[00:01:23] ​Then I can just raise my hand if I want to say something, and you're not going to hear all the background stuff. Supervisor McGee ​[00:01:28] ​So go ahead and mute yourself, because if I mute you, you won't be able to unmute yourself. So go ahead and mute yourself whenever you need to. OK. Does anybody have anything they'd like to say for the privilege of the floor with privilege? I don't know who Jane Smith is. If you could please type your real name there, if that's not your real name. So we know who is in attendance here or if you'd like to speak for privilege of the floor, you could use the raise your hand feature in the participants option. But I am going to go ahead and unmute all right now, in case somebody would like to speak. OK. Everyone is unmuted. If there's anyone who'd like to speak for privilege, please let me know. OK, so Virginia, Bob, Steffanie, Brian and Alice also and Mimi just on yourselves when you're when you're ready to speak. Patricia, I think the first thing on our agenda is the cemetery bids. But I really wanted to have us ask Brian any questions before we have this conversation, because he has to leave early on. But this is Brian McIlroy and I sent here his information to all of you last week, I think maybe late the week before. Brian is the candidate that I would like to appoint for the Town bookkeeper. He is currently that I know of, the bookkeeper for the towns of Scott, Solan, Cayuta, Katlin and Southport. Also, he was an auditor with the Comsky's Duter Hagan, a group that was in Stero. The auditor that audited us for this last year was formerly known as I did. I was I did reach out to our auditor, Leslie Spurgeon, and she did give me information about Brian and also referred me to a Town Clerk that works with him as well in Southport. So I had some great conversations with all of these Town supervisors and heard their experiences about working with Brian as well as the Southport Town Clerk. So I guess what I would do now is I'd like to open it up to Brian and let him explain to you how he does his work and the things that we've talked about. I did meet with Alice, who is Alice Linton, the confidential secretary, and Stephanie Redmond the deputy Town supervisor and Brian, last week and we talked through some procedures and processes and how we might make those streamlined, more efficient and official even so, Brian, would you want to open up and talk a little bit about yourself and the services that you provide. Brian McIlroy ​[00:05:06] ​Oh, gotcha, you unmuted me, I go. Yeah. So I would like Beth said, thank you and that's nice, virtually meeting everybody. Beth, Alice and Stephanie and I had his meeting earlier this week. And Beth and I have had several conversations about the bookkeeper position, how things run in the town of Enfield and Beth and I think we've come up with a game plan as to how to work things with the flow of information and duties and responsibilities of different parties, and even explored a few tweaks that we might be able to implement to streamline some things, make different peoples duties and jobs a little bit easier. So everything is, you know, proposed at this point until you appoint me and if there's further discussions about exactly what everybody is comfortable with. But in a nutshell, I would be doing all the bookkeeping responsibilities, soup to nuts. I would be doing payroll. I would be assisting with the abstract, which we've talked about that. And there's a little bit of discussion as to exactly how the abstract and checks will be done. But we'll be finalizing that, doing the month end reporting, the month on reconciliation, creating all of the month end reports that the board and Beth would see or need, including the bank reconciliations. I would do the year end, the annual report and so on. And I would know that Beth does certain things and takes great pride in, you know, doing the budget process in the tax cast filing. But of course, I would absolutely be available to assist Beth or whoever the supervisor is with the tax cap filing, answering questions with the budget process. I have to do certain things using the Williamston software anyways. I have to import and do all the data entry and stuff like that. So I would be working with Beth with that as well, showing her the Williamson reports versus the Excel and other Excel sheets that I have to help with tax cap or tax rate levy, that kind of thing. So I would definitely be OK with assisting with the budget and whether that would even mean coming to one of the first budget meetings with the Town board. I typically do that so that if they have any questions, concerns don't quite understand what fund balance is, what reserves are, that kind of thing. That's a perfect time to help try and, you know, explain and understand how that stuff works. By doing all the payroll, the bank transfers, all of that kind of stuff. So like I said, you know, everything payroll accounting related, I would be handling except for what Beth does. And, you know, we'd be working with the Town Clerk, with the confidential secretary, dealing with abstracts and checks and that kind of thing as well. Supervisor McGee ​[00:08:33] ​Just to clarify, when Brian mentions payroll, the information that we receive from Paychex. Well, first of all, the bookkeeper needs to enter the payroll anyway before it can be completed. But also, anything that comes back from Paychex then has to be put into our system with Williamson and kept track of as far as well as benefit time and that sort of thing. So. So really, the amount of work for payroll isn't really reduced on the bookkeepers end other than quarterly reporting or tax reporting tax payment. So Paychex is handling all of that. But he still needs to track that information. So,. Brian McIlroy ​[00:09:19] ​Yeah, Beth and I discussed that and payroll takes pretty much the exact same time, whether you're using the Williamson payroll program or an online provider, because there are differences with who does what. But I still if it's Williamson accounting and payroll, there's, you know, beautiful municipal reports that tell me transfers, it populates the retirement report, it does all the coding I have to manually do those things if you're using an online payroll provider. So I'm not saying one's better or worse than the other. I actually prefer an online payroll provider, mainly because in January it makes my life a lot easier with W 2s. But there's more of the day to day payroll with the coding and the retirement report. And retirement is, you know, adding more and more to their reporting as well. So, you know, even though you're using a payroll provider, it still does the same time commitment, whether it's a payroll provider or Williamson, it's just a little bit different of what duties you're doing. Supervisor McGee ​[00:10:29] ​Does anybody have questions for Brian? Deputy Town Clerk Patricia Speno ​[00:10:35] ​I'm Patricia... Councilperson Lynch ​[00:10:35] ​What is your commitment in terms of hours per week in serving the Town? Brian McIlroy ​[00:10:44] ​It's really hard to estimate hours per week because the work ebbs and flows, on a payroll week obviously, there's going to be, you know, two, three hours with payroll. It depends on how many, you know, questions and stuff like that. The abstract, the way that you guys do, it's going to take a little bit more time than I'm used to. But also, without doing it, I don't know exactly how long that will take. And, you know, the workload is ebbs and flows, months and takes, you know, half a day to a day, depending on how much activity is going on. But when it's not a payroll week or I'm not dealing with month end it might just be, you know, some emails, some looking up, some information, working with the supervisor and for the Town Clerk, answering questions to say how many hours or whatever per week it averages out. And especially like year end with roll in the accounting year, preparing the annual report. There's a lot more time involved with that process as well. So it's it's really hard to try and give you an average. And because it's every week is different. It's not like it's four hours every week. It might be two hours. One week, it might be eight hours the next week. It really just depends. And the other thing that Beth and I were talking about is also when we we didn't come to 100 percent finalized on it. But I believe the expectation is that probably monthly her and I would sit down at town hall and, you know, go through stuff, answer questions and all that kind of thing as well. So whether that's, you know, two hours, four hours or so, the time commitment, it's really hard to put an hour on it, you know. Councilperson Lynch ​[00:12:40] ​Thank you. Brian McIlroy ​[00:12:41] ​Welcome. Supervisor McGee ​[00:12:45] ​Patricia, you have a question? Deputy Town Clerk Patricia Speno ​[00:12:47] ​Well, I was just curious if you are familiar with Paychecx if you had worked with them? Brian McIlroy ​[00:12:53] ​I've I have used Paychex once before, but only for a short time, for a couple months until they transition to a different online payroll provider that I worked with. But from what Beth was saying, she's got some contacts in that are helping her with it that are really good. So, I mean, I'm sure that I'll be able to work with them. No problem, in figuring out, you know, what reports I need and that kind of thing. So I'm not very concerned about that. Deputy Town Clerk Patricia Speno ​[00:13:27] ​Right. Thanks Councilperson Mehaffey ​[00:13:31] ​Brian,. Supervisor McGee ​[00:13:31] ​Actually. Oh, sorry, go ahead, Mimi. Councilperson Mehaffey ​[00:13:34] ​Are you planning on working mostly from the office or remotely? Brian McIlroy ​[00:13:40] ​Most would be remote. Like you said, you know, we would probably have at least a monthly in person. But the majority would be done remote. And that's the easiest way for me to work. And, you know, with all the technology, with the accounting program, with being able to print bank statements, scanning and emailing. The majority would be, you know, back and forth remote. Councilperson Mehaffey ​[00:14:06] ​With all the security you have on your systems, on your routers, and everything is sufficient to take care of us in terms of any outside. Influences? Brian McIlroy ​[00:14:20] ​I believe so, yes. I've never had any issues, and I you know, then everything's password and things are encrypted and so on, so forth. So, yes, I believe it's set up properly. Supervisor McGee ​[00:14:34] ​I will say the other municipalities, the supervisors just have glowing reports about working with Brian. One thing that I am actually looking forward to is that our former bookkeeper was really wonderful. And there were times when we had challenges with trying to where we'd be racking our brains about why the software wasn't doing something correctly or where some, you know, one where some figure came from or why it wasn't staying put or whatever. And Brian has seen the bookkeeping of municipalities on both ends. So he's been the auditor of them for a couple of years and also the bookkeeper for several of them. So his ability to kind of suss out challenges and things that we might be missing or even to make recommendations about how to do things properly, I think will really benefit Enfield. So hold on one second. Ellen? Did you question? Town Clerk Ellen Woods ​[00:15:39] ​Yes. So. So I do have a few questions. So as. A with considerable financial responsibilities in the Town. I'm sort of disappointed to find out that I was not included in the zoom meeting, so I'd definitely like to talk about how he feels about working with Town Clerks. I had an excellent working relationship with the former bookkeeper. And then I I something I'm thinking about is Williamson versus the software B.A.S. So I would be interested hearing using those two softwares? Thank you. Brian McIlroy ​[00:16:16] ​So that the whether you were included or not, that's definitely a Beth question. I can't speak to that. B.A.S. I've seen them at the different conferences with their software. I believe they're pricing and everything like that is similar to Williamson. I will tell you that I have not personally worked with their software. I had a pretty bad experience where through my business, I went to help out a county and they weren't familiar with the software. So I struggled to help them out. I know Williamson lawbooks in and out, up and down. You know, I can go behind the scenes and stuff like that. I mean, not not as quite as far as the tech support ted can go, but definitely further than your normal bookkeeper running the software. So personally, I can tell you exactly what's wrong with the Williamson software. And I sent them an email about six months ago questioning and asking where some of the updates I've been asking for are. And, you know, some tweaks that need to be made. I know the good and the bad about the software. I know exactly what it does. Do it it doesn't do. And honestly, the Williamson law books software is built for municipalities. So everything down to what I print out for the abstract has the legal lieze with the signature at the top. The budget cover page has the New York State legalieze that the Town Clerk just needs to sign it, certifying it. So it's a bill for municipalities. It's built with its own checks and balances and the and it's got an audit trail and behind the scenes paper trail. So if somebody who doesn't know exactly what they're looking at, like the tech support or the auditor could go behind the scenes and see the audit trail. So if I have a brain fart and I do a general journal entry backwards, I can't go back behind the scenes and just delete that out and put the correct one in. I have to do a Converse entry to, you know, change back and correct what I might have done. You know, if I debited and credited backwards or something. So Williamson has its pluses and minuses. I know the software in and out. I do not know the BAS software. I have talked to different people who have used it. The cost of the software, the cost of the training, they're all very similar to Williamson. I mean, I would never suggest that somebody switched accounting software just because four thousand dollars might not be a big dollar figure. But if you've got the Williamson and it works properly and you're happy with it, I wouldn't suggest switching. I mean, recently, probably a couple of years ago, I believe that the village at Trumansburg switched to Williamson, I believe from. I forget who was from, but Williamson is probably by far the most common software. And they've got their suite of products from code, water, sewer, Clerk, Highway, all the programs gel together and work well together. So I would never suggest you switch from Williamson. And I'm not affiliated. I just like the software. Town Clerk Ellen Woods ​[00:19:59] ​No, I, I hear you, know, I guess I just upgraded to take on an online dog license and there's things I think it should be able to do that it can't. So I was it's, you know, investigating options, and then I was told by the Town of Ithaca that a US makes tax entry a lot easier. So, you know, I mean, Williamson is easy enough, but I just had gotten some advice that was better software. So I can see what you said, what you had say about that. But I'd also like you to weigh in a little bit about how you feel about working with Town Clerk's, and you're working relationships with Town Clerks. Brian McIlroy ​[00:20:36] ​Honestly, I've always had a really good relationship with Town Clerk's. I'm gonna be honest, I. There's a new Town Clerk she's been in the position just over. Well, almost a year and a half now and we're struggling her. And I don't see eye to eye. And we've got issues. But her predecessor, who was there for before I was there, I've been there, I think six or seven years got along great. I I work well with a bunch of different Town, Clerk's, Town supervisors, highway superintendents and typically don't have any problem. Some Town Clerk's don't like my answer because I am a firm believer in teaching a person to fish versus giving them fish. So if the you know no one there's no stupid question and I won't get mad at you for asking a question unless you ask the same question five or six times, then, you know, I'll get a little annoyed. But if you ask a question, I'll give you the answer or I'll point you to where to go. A lot of times my answer is, please look at the budget. I'm a firm believer that the Town Clerk's should have the budget within arm's reach at all times in the office because the budget drives everything. And, you know, what's this code? As long as it's labeled properly nine times out of ten. Just looking at the budget will give you the answer. But, you know, if the Town Clerk ever has a question about vouchers or how to do something, I have no problem with the Town Clerk emailing to me and asking me questions. Supervisor McGee ​[00:22:22] ​Also, the conversation that I had with Carrie Renko in Southport. She's the Town Clerk there, and she had great things to say about working, you know, how things work with Brian there. And also that she would be willing to be available for Ellen, for our Town Clerk if she wanted to check in with her about anything. Another person that is very familiar with Brian is Karen Ketterson and Newfield. So they have they know each other well. And so she might be a good resource as well. And I know that is I think that Alan is comfortable with her at that because they've been working together in the last month or so. Brian McIlroy ​[00:23:12] ​And I, I, I've been texting Karen and talking with Karen. And, you know, we're very good friends that, you know, she knows her job. She's always willing to help. And actually, I'm surprised that, you know, of course, Carrie, you know, probably wouldn't want to say much negative about me, but she would definitely back me up on, you know, me, say, you know, look at the budget. You know, you should be able to figure this out. Carrie is through my business. I'm sure they do things a little bit different. I do very limited things there as the Town Clerk's. She actually does all the abstracts. She does, you know, all the normal Town, Clerk duties, the dog licensing and stuff. But she also runs the payroll herself. So she's a pseudo bookkeeper at Town Clerk where per state guidance, Shasti need Sagana, which is now in share of my ex employer. You know, they brought me in as an additional check and balance where I'm doing the month end and stuff like that so that I'm kind of helping in assisting and, you know, making corrections and, you know, a little higher levels. And she's capable of like she's great and we work well together. But, yeah, there's you know, like I said, she's I've heard about several of the conversations that she's had with the different supervisors. And I'm glad that everybody gave me good reviews. Supervisor McGee ​[00:24:42] ​Brian was also born in Enfield and he grew up in Newfield. So and he owns properties in Newfield as well. So. So he has close ties to the community. And. And again, I had several people that I reached out to seven or eight people, I think, for references for him. And so are there any further questions? Councilperson Bryant ​[00:25:10] ​One statement that, you know, I'm listening to this and knowing about his references, I think it does step right into the 21st century for Enfield to have someone with that, those qualifications to help us. Councilperson Lynch ​[00:25:26] ​I have one question. There was some concern by the highway superintendent late last year, early this year, as to some financial inconsistencies between the reports that were coming out and what the actual expenditures by the highway department were. It was traced, as I understand it, to some inadequacies in the Williamson software program, some some situations that it wasn't calculating the figures correctly. Are you? You said that there were some tweaks that you would like to make to what Williamson does, that you see some problems, Brian, in that. Is that something that you would work out for all the numbers agree? Brian McIlroy ​[00:26:10] ​Absolutely. You know, I don't know Beth and I didn't really talk about that. I mean, she said that she makes all of the reports available online. Typically, I make sure that the highway superintendent has the detail of expenditures because they should be tracking their numbers as well, comparing to mine. And if they don't match, then we you know, I can work with them to figure out in a most of time. That's just a timing issue of when a bill got paid to when it shows up on the report. And I believe you're probably talking about the encumbrances Beth explained to me that you guys definitely had some issues in even Williamson. They didn't know what was going on or they there was some finger pointing as to who was to blame. That's and I didn't get too far into the encumbrance discussion. Personally, I think that that word should be deleted from the English language except for tried and true bookkeeper's, because everybody thinks about encumbrances improperly. But if they're true encumbrances. There is a way to do them. There's easier ways to deal with them. Encumbrances are very confusing for most people. And honestly, they're not used that often. But from from what Beth was describing and what you're saying, I've got no problem working with the highway superintendent and it's very easy to print every single ledger to give to them to say check these off against your expenses and see what's missing or what I have that you don't have. They're not going to know about unemployment payments. That has nothing to do with them. Realistically, they're not going to be paying attention to that budget line anyways. But there are some budget lines where I might code and expense to hit one of their budget lines that they're not aware of. And so then they might say, oh, of course, I didn't know about that. So that's why we're off. So I've got no problem working with a highway superintendent to make sure that we both are in sync with the expenses. Councilperson Lynch ​[00:28:19] ​One further question. There was some discussion in Enfield earlier this year about budget officers responsibilities. And this is a question probably for both Brian and Beth is the plan to retain the Budget Office's responsibilities with the supervisor or will the supervisor be delegating that to the bookkeeper? Brian McIlroy ​[00:28:40] ​Like I said earlier, Beth takes great pride in how she does the budget in Excel, and we did talk about that and the plan is not to port that over to the bookkeeper. Like I said, I have to enter the budget information into the Williamson budget program so that it loads into accounting when I roll the year. And that's a good check and balance as well to make sure that revenues and expenses and you know that there's not an error in the Excel spreadsheet. So I'll be assisting, but Beth would still be doing the majority of the budget work. Like I said, if the board required, I could come to a budget meeting just to be available to answer questions, that kind of thing. But I don't think the plan was to switch it. Supervisor McGee ​[00:29:29] ​No, it wasn't. And actually, one of the benefits is that no matter who the supervisor is, not not everyone may feel savvy about doing the budget or even running Excel spreadsheets, who becomes a supervisor in the future. So a bookkeeper that can help maybe make recommendations, look at past expenditures, make projections and understand those things for a supervisor. That doesn't necessarily delve into those things themselves. I think it could be a really key benefit to Enfield just for some real consistency. Brian McIlroy ​[00:30:10] ​Unfortunately, my wife let me know that I've got to get going. So it was great meeting all of you. And I hope that I am appointed and I get to work with everybody and have a great Memorial Day weekend. Councilperson Lynch ​[00:30:23] ​Thank you. Supervisor McGee ​[00:30:24] ​Thank you, Brian. Councilperson Bryant ​[00:30:25] ​Thank you, Brian. Brian McIlroy ​[00:30:26] ​Thanks. Supervisor McGee ​[00:30:33] ​OK. All right, so the next thing on the agenda is cemetery requests for bids. Do we have those bids available? Town Clerk Ellen Woods ​[00:30:54] ​So this morning, there was a thorough check of every avenue by which I can get mail. So the drop box in front of my office was checked the there was a final check on both the Town supervisor and the Town Clerk's mailboxes. And there we have only received one bid that came in via email. It has not been opened yet. It has been emailed this morning to all board members. So if all of you should have a word, Doc, in your email. Is that not? It went to the Town board of the town of Enfield. Supervisor McGee ​[00:31:40] ​I don't have that. Town Clerk Ellen Woods ​[00:31:44] ​OK. Mean check my send box. Supervisor McGee ​[00:31:49] ​Does anyone else have it? So. Councilperson Lynch ​[00:31:54] ​I don't see anything. Town Clerk Ellen Woods ​[00:32:10] ​Yeah, it's. You know, Robert discussed this at the last meeting, but this email program just it's still sending. And I sent it like an hour ago, so I will send it via another message. Hold on. Supervisor McGee ​[00:33:21] ​All right. Well, while we're waiting for that, do we want to move on to the appointment of the bookkeeper? [00:33:29] ​I would like to. Supervisor McGee ​[00:33:31] ​OK. All right. So I will move the appointment. Whereas the position of bookkeeper is an appointed position serving at the pleasure of the Town supervisor of the town of Enfield, and well... Be it resolved that the Town supervisor, Beth MeGee, hereby appoints Brian McIlroy to the position of bookkeeper to the town of Enfield to be compensated in the amount of ten thousand dollars paid monthly. Councilperson Bryant ​[00:34:02] ​cSecond. Supervisor McGee ​[00:34:11] ​Any further discussion? Councilperson Lynch ​[00:34:14] ​He's a strong candidate. Supervisor McGee ​[00:34:19] ​Well, I think it's great. Councilperson Lynch ​[00:34:21] ​And I don't know. We're staying within our budget line. Supervisor McGee ​[00:34:28] ​OK. Supervisor McGee ​[00:34:30] ​Who? Ellen, are you serving as clerk today, or is Patricia I taking minutes and. Town Clerk Ellen Woods ​[00:34:37] ​We're both doing this today. So I'm having connectivity problems. Supervisor McGee ​[00:34:43] ​OK. So. Deputy Town Clerk Patricia Speno ​[00:34:44] ​I'm taking notes and I'll probably be transcribing it and then we'll work together on the minutes, hopefully. Yeah. Supervisor McGee ​[00:34:53] ​OK. So will someone Call the vote. Town Clerk Ellen Woods ​[00:35:00] ​OK, so Patricia, you could call the vote. Deputy Town Clerk Patricia Speno ​[00:35:03] ​Oh, I think you could, yes. ok...And start with Virginia? Town Clerk Ellen Woods ​[00:35:09] ​Start with Councilperson Bryant Deputy Town Clerk Patricia Speno ​[00:35:10] ​Yes, Virginia? [00:35:11] ​Aye Deputy Town Clerk Patricia Speno ​[00:35:15] ​Bob Councilperson Lynch. Councilperson Lynch ​[00:35:19] ​Aye. Deputy Town Clerk Patricia Speno ​[00:35:21] ​Councilperson Mehenney. Town Clerk Ellen Woods ​[00:35:23] ​Mehaffey. Deputy Town Clerk Patricia Speno ​[00:35:28] ​Mehaffeys. Councilperson Mehaffey ​[00:35:29] ​Yes Supervisor McGee ​[00:35:29] ​Well, she's got to say it I have to have that recorded. So one Second Mimi. Supervisor McGee ​[00:35:34] ​OK. Yeah, go ahead. Councilperson Mehaffey ​[00:35:36] ​Aye c Supervisor McGee ​[00:35:38] ​Thank you. Deputy Town Clerk Patricia Speno ​[00:35:38] ​ great. Deputy Town Clerk Patricia Speno ​[00:35:40] ​Councilperson Redmond. Councilperson Redmond ​[00:35:42] ​Aye Deputy Town Clerk Patricia Speno ​[00:35:43] ​Supervisor McGee. Supervisor McGee ​[00:35:45] ​Aye Deputy Town Clerk Patricia Speno ​[00:35:46] ​Thank you. Supervisor McGee ​[00:35:47] ​Thank you. Do we know what that number is? Town Clerk Ellen Woods ​[00:35:51] ​This is a resolution. Supervisor McGee ​[00:35:52] ​Hm hmm. Town Clerk Ellen Woods ​[00:35:54] ​It should be forty six. But it may not be. I've got to check it. Supervisor McGee ​[00:35:59] ​I think we did. Forty six at the last meeting. Supervisor McGee ​[00:36:04] ​So if you could get that number to me, that would be good. Town Clerk Ellen Woods ​[00:36:07] ​And then we can do that. Supervisor McGee ​[00:36:08] ​Thank you. ts Town Clerk Ellen Woods ​[00:36:10] ​We just voted. Sorry, I was having connectivity issues. What is. Did we just vote on. Supervisor McGee ​[00:36:14] ​The appointment of the bookkeeper? Town Clerk Ellen Woods ​[00:36:16] ​Awesome. Supervisor McGee ​[00:36:18] ​All right. Thanks, everybody. So we'll begin working together and talking through some processes and steps. Like a lot of the things that we do are redundant and trying to streamline those things. And also incorporating the Confidential Alice, Alice is a confidential secretary, having more firm duties going forward that kind of keep her providing some checks and balances, as was intended initially. I think this will be a good opportunity to do that. OK. So do we have the bid? Town Clerk Ellen Woods ​[00:37:00] ​And itc just went out again. And so it should be in all of your inbox. Supervisor McGee ​[00:37:04] ​ got it. tt Councilperson Redmond ​[00:37:05] ​Yeah, I got it. Councilperson Lynch ​[00:37:06] ​Yeah Town Clerk Ellen Woods ​[00:37:11] ​What did you say the fix was, the idea at the previous meeting there had been mentioned them a fix for the email too. Supervisor McGee ​[00:37:19] ​Oh, there was just a correction in their spam filter that they have. So we changed the settings and actually since then, I mean, my emails actually working really well. So I haven't had any problems with it. Town Clerk Ellen Woods ​[00:37:33] ​And maybe that's it's the fix I have to do. All right. Supervisor McGee ​[00:37:38] ​So everyone seeing the bid? Councilperson Redmond ​[00:37:40] ​Yeah. Councilperson Lynch ​[00:37:40] ​H hm Supervisor McGee ​[00:37:42] ​So this is Matt Lincoln. sstsAnd I don't think that this is any higher than last year. So for the monthly mowing of four cemeteries is nine hundred dollars. Councilperson Lynch ​[00:37:58] ​That is nine hundred per month, right? Supervisor McGee ​[00:38:00] ​Yep. Supervisor McGee ​[00:38:10] ​So if that is the only bid, then I move that we accept that bid and have met and move forward to the cemeteries for 2020. Town Clerk Ellen Woods ​[00:38:26] ​So just stepping in to confirm that that is the only bit. Supervisor McGee ​[00:38:30] ​OK, thanks Ellen. Supervisor McGee ​[00:38:31] ​Is there a second? Councilperson Redmond ​[00:38:33] ​I'll second,. Supervisor McGee ​[00:38:35] ​Thank you. OK. Could you please Call the vote? Town Clerk Ellen Woods ​[00:38:46] ​I'm going to call this one. Patricia,. Deputy Town Clerk Patricia Speno ​[00:38:47] ​Thank you. Councilperson Lynch ​[00:38:49] ​We have discussion before that. Supervisor McGee ​[00:38:51] ​I asked for discussion. Councilperson Lynch ​[00:38:53] ​I'm sorry. Supervisor McGee ​[00:38:54] ​Did you have something else you wanted to talk about . Councilperson Lynch ​[00:38:55] ​I just had a question? How soon can Matt uh do we know how soon Matt can begin mowing the cemetery? Supervisor McGee ​[00:39:01] ​Well, I did, actually. I think we acknowledge that this would be really tight. I think that two cemeteries are done already. But I can reach out to him this morning and see what his ability is to do to mow it before Monday. cThe remaining two. Councilperson Lynch ​[00:39:15] ​You might want to know that late yesterday afternoon I mowed the western portion of Rolfess cemetery. And I may go back and do that later today or this weekend depending on if it dries out. And so there's we'll have things ready by Memorial Day. Supervisor McGee ​[00:39:35] ​I hope so. Thank you. Presbyterian and Christian were both mowed. Is that correct? Councilperson Lynch ​[00:39:45] ​I wish that Sue might have an answer on that. Sues' participating... Supervisor McGee ​[00:39:50] ​Sue, Hi Sue Sue Thompson ​[00:39:54] ​Yes, the Snyder family rode the Presbyterian cemetery and then the new heart in Sinclair families move mowed the Christian cemetery. And Bob was working on the Rolphe cemetery. But I'm not sure I know Bob cleaned up the Bud cemetery, but I don't know if it was going to be mowed. It didn't look like it needed to be mowed when we look when we put all the flags up. So. Councilperson Lynch ​[00:40:17] ​I will try to mow later this weekend. Supervisor McGee ​[00:40:23] ​All right, so then what I'll have him do is he can go and make an assessment. I'll let him know that. I mean, we might be like prisoners of the weather here. I think it is supposed to be raining today at some point. So we don't know what that will look like. So I guess I will leave that to him to do what he can do as soon as possible. And then Mimi? Councilperson Mehaffey ​[00:40:51] ​That's very. And if we would, we even if he only mowed one, would it be nine hundred dollars for the month of May? Supervisor McGee ​[00:41:03] ​I don't know that cleanup is even included in here. So that was also talked about. So I don't know what the extent of that is going to be. Well, I don't know. I haven't seen the other cemeteries, though, and how they were done. And I know that there were questions about how prior to Matt doing it, whether or not the back of the cemeteries were done, all the ferns and everything all growing around the back. So if we're expecting some cleanup as well, then I don't know. I mean, you can make that offer or you can tell him not to do it for May, but to mow it in June. And to start in June. Councilperson Lynch ​[00:41:43] ​I think be I think probably in May. They're gonna be okay because of the volunteer effort. So maybe in June. And I can attest that Budd and Rolfecs are essentially cleaned because I did them myself. Didn't look like it was too bad at Christian, Presbyterian of course, you got that kind of, oh, wild area to the back. And that would be the only area where perhaps some cleanup would be needed. I think the other cemeteries are probably going to be OK. Supervisor McGee ​[00:42:12] ​All right. So have him start in June. OK?s Councilperson Lynch ​[00:42:17] ​That sounds good. Supervisor McGee ​[00:42:20] ​Great. Supervisor McGee ​[00:42:21] ​I'll let him know today. OK. So we ready to call the vote? Councilperson Lynch ​[00:42:27] ​Yes. Supervisor McGee ​[00:42:28] ​OK. Town Clerk Ellen Woods ​[00:42:29] ​OK, I'm going to Call the vote. Town Clerk Ellen Woods ​[00:42:31] ​Councilperson Bryant. Councilperson Bryant ​[00:42:32] ​Aye. Town Clerk Ellen Woods ​[00:42:34] ​Councilperson Lynch. Councilperson Lynch ​[00:42:36] ​Aye. Town Clerk Ellen Woods ​[00:42:37] ​Councilperson Mahaffey. Councilperson Mehaffey ​[00:42:39] ​Aye Town Clerk Ellen Woods ​[00:42:40] ​Councilperson Redman. Councilperson Redmond ​[00:42:43] ​Aye. Town Clerk Ellen Woods ​[00:42:44] ​Supervisor McGee. Supervisor McGee ​[00:42:45] ​Aye. All right. Thank you. So we want to also talk about you don't have a burial coordinator right now. I'm pretty sure your contract. The contract is up and you would need a new contract for that service. So if you want to talk about that, we talked about it a little bit last time. What the fees were if we were gonna increase the fee. So. Anybody have thoughts on that, because I can put together the contract as well and see if Matt is interested in doing that stuff. Councilperson Lynch ​[00:43:30] ​I think Virginia came up with a good idea at a recent meeting that we have some kind of a financial base whereby Matt Lincoln can be assured that he at least has enough money to get his taxes done for this responsibility. And it would be wise to either have a baseline that he would get a certain minimum amount, regardless of whether there were any burials or not, or whether there still be a baseline that's a little lower. But nonetheless, the burial fees go up. So there's two opportunities that we can discuss. Supervisor McGee ​[00:44:03] ​All right, so someone make a proposal. So I think what is it right now? Is it three? The burial fee right now. The coordination fee is three hundred dollars. Except on weekends, then it's 50 dollars additional. The cremation excavation fee is two hundred and fifty dollars, and that could go to the burial coordinator if they actually do the digging. And then the excavation fee for a full site full internment is whatever the prevailing charges from the excavator. Councilperson Lynch ​[00:45:06] ​I had suggested keeping the rates the same, but having a five hundred dollar base compensation for the burial coordinator yearly. That's just a starting point. Maybe others have other ideas. Supervisor McGee ​[00:45:26] ​Well, I do think that this position is quite specialized, and I think that we're lucky when we can find someone who can do it. So I would. I would agree with a base. But I guess that we also need to remember that the Town doesn't pay for the burial coordinator. That money, it comes in from the person with the burial. And it goes to the Town. But then the Town pays it out to the burial coordinator. So that's not something that's on our budget except for the base that you're talking about. That would have to be on our budget. Councilperson Lynch ​[00:46:10] ​I think it's a fair amount. Supervisor McGee ​[00:46:15] ​So. I would suggest bringing that down to four hundred and. Fifty dollars additional for the burial coordination fee. We also we we already pay less than other municipalities for this service. So in cemeteries for the service. So. So I would suggest that that way, the flat fee the Town is covering at four hundred dollars and then there is no additional need for beyond that in the budget. [00:46:56] ​Mm hmm. Supervisor McGee ​[00:46:58] ​And I think, again, I mean, people are paying they paid thousands of dollars to a funeral director. And I don't think that 350 dollars is unreasonable. I don't think that that is unreasonable. But that would be what I would propose. So three hundred and fifty dollars. With a 400 dollar base. Councilperson Bryant ​[00:47:23] ​You're saying it's $350? Supervisor McGee ​[00:47:27] ​Per burial for the coordinator fee. Councilperson Bryant ​[00:47:30] ​As a base? Supervisor McGee ​[00:47:31] ​No. Four hundred for the base. Councilperson Bryant ​[00:47:34] ​Ok. Supervisor McGee ​[00:47:34] ​Then the Town would pay. Councilperson Bryant ​[00:47:36] ​The rest is on them. Councilperson Lynch ​[00:47:42] ​I have no problem with that. Supervisor McGee ​[00:47:46] ​OK. So I'll move. Thank you. Oh, sorry. Mimi. Can you unmute your cell? Go ahead. Councilperson Mehaffey ​[00:47:58] ​So I was just for a point of clarification. The four hundred dollars to the burial coordinator is in addition to or it's a base meaning if he doesn't get any or only gets one. Supervisor McGee ​[00:48:14] ​I would say it's an addition to, it's something we budget. Councilperson Mehaffey ​[00:48:17] ​OK. I just wanted clarification. Whether it's a base, meaning he gets that if he doesn't get enough to cover his taxes. Councilperson Lynch ​[00:48:26] ​Thank you for the clarification. And I agree with that. Councilperson Mehaffey ​[00:48:29] ​OK. Supervisor McGee ​[00:48:30] ​Anybody else? Councilperson Redmond ​[00:48:32] ​It sounds good. Supervisor McGee ​[00:48:34] ​OK, so I move that we add a base compensation of four hundred dollars annually for the burial coordinator and to include in the contract and increase burial coordination fees to three hundred and fifty dollars for the burial coordinator fee. We're not changing the excavation fees. Councilperson Lynch ​[00:49:00] ​I'll second it. Supervisor McGee ​[00:49:09] ​OK. Do you want to call this one Patricia? Deputy Town Clerk Patricia Speno ​[00:49:18] ​Sure. Supervisor McGee ​[00:49:18] ​One second, one second, please I guess I'm going to amend that that I move that we amend to authorize the Town supervisor to enter into the contract with Matt for 20202 to 2021. Upon his acceptance of these terms. Councilperson Redmond ​[00:49:43] ​Second. Supervisor McGee ​[00:49:46] ​OK, Patricia. Would you call the vote on the amendment, please? Deputy Town Clerk Patricia Speno ​[00:49:50] ​Yes,. Councilperson Bryant. Councilperson Bryant ​[00:49:52] ​Aye Deputy Town Clerk Patricia Speno ​[00:49:56] ​Councilperson Lynch. Councilperson Lynch ​[00:49:58] ​Aye Deputy Town Clerk Patricia Speno ​[00:49:59] ​Councilperson Mehaney. Deputy Town Clerk Patricia Speno ​[00:50:00] ​Mehaney,. Supervisor McGee ​[00:50:00] ​Mehaffey. Councilperson Mehaffey ​[00:50:00] ​Aye. Supervisor McGee ​[00:50:04] ​It's hard when it takes everybody a little. Deputy Town Clerk Patricia Speno ​[00:50:08] ​Time in the transcript. I'm sorry. Councilperson Mehaffey ​[00:50:12] ​Answer to a lot of things,. . Councilperson Redmond ​[00:50:14] ​..get confused. Deputy Town Clerk Patricia Speno ​[00:50:16] ​Councilperson Redmond. Councilperson Redmond ​[00:50:18] ​Aye. Deputy Town Clerk Patricia Speno ​[00:50:19] ​And Supervisor McGee. Supervisor McGee ​[00:50:21] ​Aye. Thank you. And now we'll call the vote on the motion. Supervisor McGee ​[00:50:27] ​Ok. Again?You get lots of practice today. Deputy Town Clerk Patricia Speno ​[00:50:32] ​Yes. Mehaffey... Together. OK. Councilperson Bryant. Councilperson Bryant ​[00:50:38] ​Aye. Deputy Town Clerk Patricia Speno ​[00:50:38] ​Councilperson Lynch. Councilperson Lynch ​[00:50:40] ​Aye. Deputy Town Clerk Patricia Speno ​[00:50:41] ​Councilperson Mahaffey. Councilperson Mehaffey ​[00:50:43] ​Aye. Deputy Town Clerk Patricia Speno ​[00:50:43] ​Councilperson Redmond. Councilperson Redmond ​[00:50:46] ​Aye. Deputy Town Clerk Patricia Speno ​[00:50:46] ​Supervisor McGee. Supervisor McGee ​[00:50:48] ​Aye. Thank you, Carried. Thank you. All right. So I'll reach out to Matt today. Thank you. With these items. Thank you. OK, so I wanted to touch based on the echeck and credit card payments and Ellen, I just wanted to clarify. Is it just the dog licenses that we're doing? Town Clerk Ellen Woods ​[00:51:20] ​So, no, it is not. So the dog licenses can be done online. And that is a separate thing. Just like the taxes, you'll now be able to look up your dog's license online. One thing that I amend with Williams and that I'm very proud of is I took away the feature where you could look it up by owner's name?, because I didn't think that was appropriate for privacy concerns. Just because I don't mean I should be out of your animals. So some municipalities do that, but we are not going to. So you'll need the dog's name or the number of your dog license. So as far as credit card and echeck payments, that's really it's almost like a no brainer because we already have the ability through Williamson. So it shows you that an icon on my desktop. Supervisor McGee ​[00:52:11] ​So we can't we can't just do that. That has to be through a policy by the board. It has to be authorized by the board by resolution to do that. I mean, we did approve that at the approved dog licenses. I did move that. We go ahead and have you implement the dog licenses. But if we're gonna do a lot of epay and credit card payments, aside from what we'd already established, then we need to start thinking about a policy where that's how that's going to be tracked, how it will be audited by the board as well. So we can't if you'll refer to the document that I had shared in an email this morning, the comptroller's office gives guidance for that. So that, again, that would need a board resolution. And generally what would happen is we would ask the question if this is something that we'd want to do as a municipality and we would have conversations about that, we'd better understand all the implications and risks. And then we'd decide whether or not the governing board would decide whether or not that was something we wanted to implement. Town Clerk Ellen Woods ​[00:53:13] ​So I can definitely retract that post from my Facebook page. But it is something that Williamson always had the ability to do. And it also is something that Williamson will track because it is all done through. And it's also something that other municipalities definitely can already do. Supervisor McGee ​[00:53:34] ​I'm not arguing that at all. I think that and this time I think it's a worthwhile endeavor. I think it would be important for us to explore doing it going forward. I'd just not just because of CoVid,. Councilperson Bryant ​[00:53:46] ​...it has to be in town policy. Supervisor McGee ​[00:53:50] ​We have a credit card policy, but our credit card policy only speaks to employees using credit cards. So if we want to expand on that and if somebody wants to take a look at that and figure out a way to expand that policy and assess what the risks are and how we're going to manage it, what the process will be for doing that. I do think that that's worthwhile. But we can't just implement it like that without the board approval. So I think it's great. It would be great to make things a lot easier and the sooner the better that the board gets on that. I think it's certainly worth it. Town Clerk Ellen Woods ​[00:54:31] ​I can see now. I mean, the only issue with it, as far as I like, aside from privacy concerns, those concerns, I already deal with people's account information pretty right there. Okay. And their privacy, however, is the one issue is the Williamson's fees for any type of credit card transaction, including the ones we currently, accept for taxes, are sort of on the more expensive side. It would be really up to the consumer to decide if it's worth it to them. You know, there are no fees to the Town for it. The fees are on the consumers, but they're higher than you would pay at the convenience store or something like that. Supervisor McGee ​[00:55:15] ​Right. So also through comptroller's office, they also recommend that if we're going to be charging, if the taxpayers are going to be charged for using it, that we owe it to them to find the least expensive, most efficient, effective option. So it may mean that it makes sense to look into other options for doing that outside of Williamson. So that might be a worthy part of that conversation. So just be just providing it and just using what we have may not be the best the best option out there. Mimi? Councilperson Mehaffey ​[00:55:47] ​Brian might have some suggestions, too, since he deals with a lot of other municipalities. Pros and cons of doing that. Having it not integrated directly and might be less secure because there might be more room for some of those payments not making it all the way in. Sure. Councilperson Lynch ​[00:56:04] ​You. We hired a good bookkeeper this morning. Now we're going to give him his first challenge. Supervisor McGee ​[00:56:10] ​All right. So I'll actually I'll talk to him about that. But I guess I know that it we really want to serve the public and we want to get that started as soon as possible. That's why I thought it was important to agree with you, Ellen, to move the dog licensing thing. It's one of the most common things we do. There's no reason we can't do that with online payments. And I do think that if we're going to expand beyond that, that we really need to have a more official process in place and a policy. So, Stephanie, you mentioned do you. Councilperson Redmond ​[00:56:45] ​I don't mind looking into drawing up a policy and trying to find more information about it? Do you want to reach out to Brian or do you want me to reach out to Brian? Supervisor McGee ​[00:56:53] ​I can reach out to him of that. But also, I think that if Ellen can lay out what Williamson does, what the costs are to people, what sort of risk she might see, maybe even reaching out to Williamson and asking them about the risks that might be might exist and how we could mitigate those risks. That would be because, I mean, I Williamson's their help line is really terrific. They can fix anything for you pretty quickly. And they're, you know, they're really responsive, I think. But they would have they have a wealth of information to share. So but yes, I'll reach them. So I'll reach out to Brian about that. Stephanie, if you can look into policies like that and maybe even I can send you the credit card policy if it's not on our Website and maybe figuring out how to integrate that. And then and then, Ellen, if you can provide the information that we just talked about as well. That would be helpful. OK Town Clerk Ellen Woods ​[00:57:57] ​That sounds good. Supervisor McGee ​[00:57:58] ​All right? Thank you. OK. I don't have anything further, anybody else have any announcements or anything further? All right. I'll make a motion to adjourn. Councilperson Lynch ​[00:58:11] ​I second it. Supervisor McGee ​[00:58:12] ​Thanks, everybody. [00:58:14] ​Thank you. Supervisor McGee ​[00:58:15] ​You have a great day. [00:58:17] ​Yes. [00:58:18] ​Thanks. [00:58:19] ​Hey. Great day.