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.