WEBVTT 1 00:00:03.480 --> 00:00:16.969 Town of Plainfield: Good evening, and welcome to the May 26th, 2026 Plainfield Select Board meeting. We have, 2 00:00:17.750 --> 00:00:20.939 Town of Plainfield: Any changes to the agenda? 3 00:00:24.450 --> 00:00:28.699 Town of Plainfield: Hearing none, are there any announcements? 4 00:00:31.720 --> 00:00:36.230 Town of Plainfield: No announcements. Is there any public comment? 5 00:00:37.650 --> 00:00:41.609 Town of Plainfield: And we have a hand up. Is that… who's that? Betsy. Betsy? 6 00:00:43.640 --> 00:00:58.309 Betsy Ziegler: Hello, hi. I am just… Hi, I just wanted to give, an update on town beautification, and I just want to say thank you so much to Peter Young, who has recently had 7 00:00:58.310 --> 00:01:12.650 Betsy Ziegler: Bellavant's clean up the, leftovers from the flood that were around, the Heartbreak Hotel, and also on the opposite side on our, little park, and, on the, 8 00:01:12.660 --> 00:01:17.889 Betsy Ziegler: At the property, sorry. 9 00:01:18.710 --> 00:01:22.369 Betsy Ziegler: It's amazing. It's been an amazing change to have that all 10 00:01:22.830 --> 00:01:41.869 Betsy Ziegler: cleaned up by Bella Vance. Thank you, Peter. I want to also thank Lauren Geiger, who has just put up some flower boxes. And I also want to thank the… whatever, the seed ball distributors. I haven't seen any seeds… I mean, flowers yet, but I'm hopeful. And Laura Ziegler… 11 00:01:41.900 --> 00:01:47.500 Betsy Ziegler: And the PAC, group, myself and others who are 12 00:01:47.620 --> 00:02:05.149 Betsy Ziegler: maintaining the church garden, so we have some things happening that really make a… I hope will make a difference in how the village looks this summer. And, just encouraging others to go ahead and put in flowers. I did clean up, the old fire hall. 13 00:02:05.210 --> 00:02:10.829 Betsy Ziegler: section on Route… on School Street, that property, it was… 14 00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:28.700 Betsy Ziegler: Covered with a bag of trash after clean… after Green Up Day, and there's still a large antenna down there. And I'm trying to cut down on the… cut the tree down that was growing in the Opera House garden that's across the street from the Opera House. 15 00:02:28.800 --> 00:02:34.590 Betsy Ziegler: And, I don't know, maybe, maybe, 16 00:02:34.720 --> 00:02:53.520 Betsy Ziegler: was a garden that was put in after the building had been removed, a small garden. Anyway, it needs maintenance. There are tires over the hillside there, I don't know if anybody's aware of that, but the hillside, right beyond the guard… the parking lot. 17 00:02:53.970 --> 00:03:03.109 Betsy Ziegler: Between… next to the, whatever, that little garage, or, out, you know, little building, we have. 18 00:03:03.320 --> 00:03:09.359 Betsy Ziegler: And then there's tires left at the rock field. So I do hope there's some plans. 19 00:03:09.360 --> 00:03:11.140 Town of Plainfield: Did you say hard? 20 00:03:11.140 --> 00:03:11.950 Betsy Ziegler: Tired. 21 00:03:12.230 --> 00:03:16.000 Town of Plainfield: Tires. Tires, tires. Car tires. Thank you. 22 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:19.989 Betsy Ziegler: In those areas. We don't… we don't want those to go down the river. 23 00:03:21.140 --> 00:03:39.279 Betsy Ziegler: Anyway, thank you, everybody, for doing what they have… what you've done, and, thank you, Laura Ziegler, who's maintained the garden around the town office, too. So, those things need these support. I guess I have a hope that we're gonna have some crosswalks in the village. 24 00:03:39.680 --> 00:03:48.279 Betsy Ziegler: I don't know if that's on the, on the list, but they really need to be put back, painted back on as soon as possible. 25 00:03:49.910 --> 00:03:51.449 Town of Plainfield: We're talking about that. 26 00:03:51.940 --> 00:04:13.030 Town of Plainfield: Thanks, Betsy. Okay, thank you, Betsy. Very nice, thanks to the folks who are doing a lot of work around town, and I was down at the rec field meeting with the rec committee the other day, and came out and could see that work that had been cleaned up there with that debris pile and the neighboring park and stuff, and yeah, the visuals make a huge difference after a couple years, so… 27 00:04:13.810 --> 00:04:15.339 Town of Plainfield: Thanks, everybody. 28 00:04:15.730 --> 00:04:17.740 Town of Plainfield: Yes, go ahead. 29 00:04:17.890 --> 00:04:24.870 Town of Plainfield: This Saturday, the 30th, is the cleanup. 30 00:04:25.320 --> 00:04:42.659 Town of Plainfield: at the church, the Grace United Methodist Church on the corner. This is kind of an all-day affair. It's their tag sale. So help is desired, at kind of any stage, starting at 6 in the morning for a setup. 31 00:04:42.770 --> 00:04:59.360 Town of Plainfield: No need to come that early if you don't want to, because it goes till 4pm. So, come any time. They are receiving, sign-up statements of intention if you want to help the organizers, clarify needs. 32 00:04:59.760 --> 00:05:18.699 Town of Plainfield: We'll try to make sure that all the shifts are covered. But this is toward helping the church become ever more usable by the town. The church has been so gracious. You know, community dinners held at the church every… 33 00:05:18.700 --> 00:05:20.030 Town of Plainfield: traminate sex. 34 00:05:20.080 --> 00:05:23.209 Town of Plainfield: And so this involves potentially, 35 00:05:23.550 --> 00:05:30.160 Town of Plainfield: Making possible the use of not just the dining room, but the next room over. 36 00:05:30.840 --> 00:05:39.919 Town of Plainfield: And also, this is, kitchen cleanup as well. There'll be food, there'll be fun, there'll be people. This Saturday, all day, 6am to 4pm. 37 00:05:40.050 --> 00:05:47.560 Town of Plainfield: Where can people sign up? Where can people sign up? You can, check Punkworks forum for the link to the sign-up. 38 00:05:48.270 --> 00:05:51.630 Town of Plainfield: Oh, there's a short leg. 39 00:05:52.210 --> 00:05:59.420 Town of Plainfield: I'm not here, I'm not here. Okay. Michael, public comment. 40 00:06:00.110 --> 00:06:06.329 Town of Plainfield: Michael Benson, I just wanted to add a few things, endorsing what Betsy said. 41 00:06:06.330 --> 00:06:25.500 Town of Plainfield: Peter Young did not just arrange for the cleanup of the Washburn Park and behind the Hartford pretty often, but as a gift to the town. So, it felt important to me to make that distinction, that, he covered everything. He paid for it. He covered everything that was involved with the cost of it. And, 42 00:06:25.510 --> 00:06:29.269 Town of Plainfield: with respect to the church coming up, which I'm very glad to hear about. 43 00:06:29.270 --> 00:06:49.060 Town of Plainfield: A lot of the stuff that is there actually brought to the church at the 2024 flood. It was donations of clothing and all kinds of goods that were brought there by everyone in the community in the spirit of generosity, and so what's there is… actually goes back to 2024. It had to do with that event. 44 00:06:49.170 --> 00:06:52.820 Town of Plainfield: Thank you. 45 00:06:53.610 --> 00:06:55.810 Town of Plainfield: Okay, anything else? 46 00:06:56.610 --> 00:07:01.340 Town of Plainfield: If not, our next item is the Road Commissioner's Report. 47 00:07:01.540 --> 00:07:13.080 Town of Plainfield: And I see Carl… you're here. I'm here, I, take the mic, Clark. You can use the handheld if you want. Thank you. Actually, I have to give you some pictures. 48 00:07:13.390 --> 00:07:20.959 Town of Plainfield: Peter and I met Sunday to try to get some answers on some of the 49 00:07:20.960 --> 00:07:39.030 Town of Plainfield: questions regarding the, bond bank and the budget for the… for the, highway department. I'm gonna give you the bond bank. There's… Okay. You would ask for some things in there. Yeah. For example, how many… how many feet when you have the paving is going to be? 50 00:07:39.230 --> 00:07:46.639 Town of Plainfield: for the baby pond. So we, we work that out. So he should have our Janine there. 51 00:07:47.300 --> 00:08:02.879 Town of Plainfield: And then I, michael Bingham had done quite a long, extensive review of the issues on the budget that was presented to him with errors, for example, showing sold trucks. 52 00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:08.999 Town of Plainfield: Things like that. So he was able to correct that. He sent that out to you, Peter, I believe. 53 00:08:09.210 --> 00:08:11.709 Town of Plainfield: With his comments. 54 00:08:11.950 --> 00:08:22.919 Town of Plainfield: Yes, I saw that, and I think he also sent it to Cynthia. Yes, he did, too. Okay, yeah. And I sent… I sent to you a review of the, 55 00:08:23.720 --> 00:08:27.980 Town of Plainfield: The, auditors. 56 00:08:28.130 --> 00:08:33.770 Town of Plainfield: items. There was some… a number of those items were really in the… shouldn't be in the highway, but… 57 00:08:34.409 --> 00:08:47.749 Town of Plainfield: And we've identified those. I sent you an email. Oh, where it says auditor at the end of the budget sheet that Cynthia sent us, yes. Yeah, yeah, so there's a number of things that are showing up there, because nobody knew where they went, but… 58 00:08:47.930 --> 00:08:50.100 Town of Plainfield: They should go to the highway entirely. 59 00:08:50.380 --> 00:08:57.749 Town of Plainfield: Just other than that, we're planning to, grade Middle Road, and then next week, or this week. 60 00:08:58.640 --> 00:09:04.610 Town of Plainfield: We put in one culvert on Main Street, replaced one, and we're trying to get the second one 61 00:09:04.830 --> 00:09:12.129 Town of Plainfield: which is near the intersection of Maple Hill and… and, East Hill Road, the Fort Payne. 62 00:09:13.490 --> 00:09:20.940 Town of Plainfield: It sounds like page may be a little ways off, even if we get the documents in. 63 00:09:21.320 --> 00:09:27.979 Town of Plainfield: Mike is… Michael's gonna take, 2 weeks off, starting the 6th of June. I'll be… 64 00:09:28.150 --> 00:09:31.900 Town of Plainfield: working with, with John and, Lance. 65 00:09:32.150 --> 00:09:35.040 Town of Plainfield: If they need help with things. 66 00:09:35.380 --> 00:09:38.439 Town of Plainfield: But they certainly can grade and… 67 00:09:38.580 --> 00:09:43.049 Town of Plainfield: Hopefully put in the radar that we got, the radar signs. 68 00:09:43.690 --> 00:09:45.230 Town of Plainfield: I can help open that. 69 00:09:47.350 --> 00:09:55.219 Town of Plainfield: But not much else to report, I guess. That's it. We have a comment from Cynthia, and then I have a question for you after that. 70 00:09:55.220 --> 00:10:02.859 Cynthia Stoddard: I just wanted to just make a quick comment about the budget stuff that you were talking about that was noted where there were mistakes that were made. 71 00:10:03.100 --> 00:10:22.960 Cynthia Stoddard: Those have all… I would say probably 90% of them have all been adjusted based on the research that Michael did. I have to give him… going through that the way he did line by line, and then creating a PDF for me to make comments on was one of the best things I've seen in a while, so kudos to him on that. 72 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:26.580 Town of Plainfield: But I… It was… 73 00:10:26.580 --> 00:10:36.680 Cynthia Stoddard: It was exactly what I needed, and I was able to move some things around. We talked about some other sections of the budget, which you're talking about, where you're seeing the audit at the end. 74 00:10:36.850 --> 00:10:53.219 Cynthia Stoddard: That section of the budget are leftover old chart of account numbers that existed prior to us doing this change, so that audit isn't necessarily in the highway budget, we just need to move some of those highway numbers over to the highway budget. 75 00:10:53.220 --> 00:10:58.570 Town of Plainfield: Right, and I think I've identified those. 76 00:10:58.570 --> 00:11:04.539 Cynthia Stoddard: Yeah, we're pretty much done with everything that he came up with, so I think we're good on that front, and then I'll send him another report. 77 00:11:05.210 --> 00:11:13.160 Town of Plainfield: Great. Well, thanks for the comments. Yeah, I'm noticing that we have all the key players here who seem to talk about 78 00:11:13.300 --> 00:11:23.539 Town of Plainfield: handicapped parking space downstairs, here at the Opera House. This is a unique open meeting moment to try to solve this problem, because it's persistent. 79 00:11:24.560 --> 00:11:34.140 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, I've been, I've been in touch with Michael and, Elise about that. We're… the, the plan now is going to be to, 80 00:11:34.640 --> 00:11:39.170 Town of Plainfield: Roto-tail out 2 more feet of the parking spot. 81 00:11:40.490 --> 00:11:44.030 Town of Plainfield: And I got a… or tell her I could borrow, and I'll do that. 82 00:11:44.400 --> 00:11:52.010 Town of Plainfield: We need to put gravel, we need to compress it, put gravel down, and then the, paver will come back and pave it. 83 00:11:52.930 --> 00:11:58.780 Town of Plainfield: So, that's where we're at. I thought we were going to be able to take off the… or skim off the… 84 00:11:58.960 --> 00:12:01.010 Town of Plainfield: Stone wall, it's there. 85 00:12:01.210 --> 00:12:12.660 Town of Plainfield: Which still needs to be done, but that… that can't be used as any kind of access for a wheelchair. It's too bulky. So, we have to go back to the first plan. 86 00:12:13.040 --> 00:12:14.389 Town of Plainfield: But that's where we're at. 87 00:12:15.270 --> 00:12:26.940 Town of Plainfield: We hope to get it done by the 12th, within, July, is it? Yes. Yeah. Because there's a meeting that may have folks who need that assistance. 88 00:12:27.300 --> 00:12:28.785 Town of Plainfield: are here, so… 89 00:12:29.600 --> 00:12:48.310 Town of Plainfield: Thank you. Thank you, Paul. And I want to publicly thank for arranging this. And I want to thank Francis Rose for helping me put in what I call my kid catcher on the bridge, which is a fence that also goes underneath, so… 90 00:12:48.410 --> 00:12:53.069 Town of Plainfield: If something falls off the road, it'll be caught, and 91 00:12:53.420 --> 00:12:59.540 Town of Plainfield: I think it'll be fine. It's only for a couple years, so… Anyway… 92 00:12:59.620 --> 00:13:24.580 Town of Plainfield: It's patent pending. Yeah, so Carl, I wanted to follow up on the bond bank application. I did have a conversation with Ken Lingy at the bond bank this morning, and we also have the, water line alone, which will ultimately go through the bond bank. It goes to the 93 00:13:24.830 --> 00:13:36.470 Town of Plainfield: the state for review there first, for their revolving loan fund, but then comes back to the bond bank to manage. But for the, paving loan. 94 00:13:36.470 --> 00:13:48.469 Town of Plainfield: We are required by their bond bank regulations to have a professional audit completed for either 2025 or 2024, and we have neither of those. 95 00:13:48.480 --> 00:14:04.080 Town of Plainfield: I did talk with, or send an email off to, Bonnie Batchelder this morning to find out where Sullivan and Powers was with the 2025, but I don't think we're going to have that by the bond bank's June 17th 96 00:14:04.310 --> 00:14:21.440 Town of Plainfield: date where they have to send it out to their board, so that means that we will miss the summer pool, and the workaround for that, according to Ken, is to take a loan out with our local bank, our depository, which I think is Northfield Savings, correct? 97 00:14:21.440 --> 00:14:43.620 Town of Plainfield: Right? And then that would be a bond anticipation note, a BAN, they call it. The interest rate is, I think, a little bit higher, but we could convert that then to the bond bank loan once we have the audit done, and we would enter their winter pool. So there might be a few bucks extra in interest. 98 00:14:43.740 --> 00:14:57.740 Town of Plainfield: Between now and then, but that would allow us to get the funds to do the paving this summer. That'd be great. And as we know, the bid came in quite a bit less than our bond that was approved by the voters. Right. 99 00:14:57.740 --> 00:15:11.180 Town of Plainfield: If it's a little extra. Yeah, we approved $250,000, and the bid came in… the one we picked was $197, so, you know, quite a bit, quite a bit lower. So, he encouraged us to continue to, 100 00:15:11.330 --> 00:15:21.589 Town of Plainfield: transmit this as much as possible, but understanding that there are some things that they ask for that just don't exist, and so we said, you know, so what's our… what are our options here? So… 101 00:15:21.590 --> 00:15:40.990 Town of Plainfield: There's a little bit more flexibility on the other one. They don't require an audit for the other one, but it takes the state longer, because their money comes from the EPA, and so they have to go through a whole bunch of environmental stuff before they give it back to the bond bank. So, but we're going to try and get that one done, by the end of next week as well, so… 102 00:15:40.990 --> 00:15:42.939 Town of Plainfield: Well, if you need any more info, focus. 103 00:15:42.940 --> 00:15:47.019 Town of Plainfield: Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Thanks, Paula. 104 00:15:47.330 --> 00:15:57.710 Town of Plainfield: All right. Thank you, Road Commissioner. All right, the next couple of items, is going… are going to involve. 105 00:15:57.710 --> 00:16:21.489 Town of Plainfield: Cynthia Stoddard, who was with, joining us by Zoom, and she is our consultant from the, Northeast Municipal Resource Center, NEMRIC. And, she has been working with us since January, steadfastly on, a lot of stuff dealing with our bookkeeping system, our budgets. 106 00:16:21.490 --> 00:16:44.730 Town of Plainfield: our policies and procedures, etc. And we have, about 40 minutes set aside for the next session here, dealing with standard operating procedures, our accounts payable. You sent us some documents, the budget summary. You heard that we've already taken some of that, and we did a big chunk on transportation. I know Andy has, 107 00:16:44.730 --> 00:17:00.790 Town of Plainfield: he and I met in working with Emergency Management. I met with Carl and Colin to Dan Fingus about the Town Hall Opera House. I met with the Rec Committee, but there are other segments of the budget where we need to do more. 108 00:17:00.800 --> 00:17:14.330 Town of Plainfield: The town office has a copy of the 79-page detail, so hopefully that'll get worked on as well, so. But a huge, huge step, in the right direction, so… 109 00:17:14.329 --> 00:17:22.460 Town of Plainfield: So, Cynthia, we'll turn it over to you, and I'm sure lots of people will have questions and comments as we go through. 110 00:17:22.460 --> 00:17:28.529 Cynthia Stoddard: So, do you want me to start with, like, my workflow, the action plan that we had first, and then go into the different 111 00:17:29.150 --> 00:17:32.359 Cynthia Stoddard: Operating procedures, or how do you… what do you want the flow to be? 112 00:17:32.360 --> 00:17:49.040 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, I think the workflow would be great, because I think it'll give everybody a picture of, like, the whole workload, and particularly when you get to the end, the prioritization and why that's important. What has been done, what still needs to be done, etc, so… 113 00:17:49.040 --> 00:17:53.980 Cynthia Stoddard: So, I'm gonna make a small confession, because I'm a town… 114 00:17:54.400 --> 00:18:11.619 Cynthia Stoddard: town, municipal government nerd, I watch board meetings. And so I did watch your last board meeting, and what I just want to say as an outsider looking in on this process you guys are going through, and the growing pains, and the shift in… 115 00:18:11.760 --> 00:18:27.619 Cynthia Stoddard: personnel, and from elected to appointed. Like, you have a… and then you have floods, and then, I mean, you guys have just… you guys… if there was a checklist of everything that you needed to go through, you're going through it. So let's just give everybody, the town, the… 116 00:18:27.710 --> 00:18:39.429 Cynthia Stoddard: town office employees, the select board, the kudos for, like, working their way through this process. So, what I'm hearing is I think, the same exact 117 00:18:40.470 --> 00:18:51.080 Cynthia Stoddard: Question, just being asked different ways. Like, where are the tasks being divided? Who does what? 118 00:18:51.380 --> 00:19:04.880 Cynthia Stoddard: And it's a question I've been asking since I… since I started. It's a question the staff asks, it's the question that the board is asking, and it's a question that the townspeople are asking, and… and just so that… 119 00:19:05.380 --> 00:19:13.509 Cynthia Stoddard: The public knows it's a question that I am asking, and we are working through task by task by task, and trying to figure out who should do it, what is. 120 00:19:13.510 --> 00:19:15.309 Town of Plainfield: the best process. 121 00:19:15.310 --> 00:19:23.079 Cynthia Stoddard: Come up with an operating procedure for that process, and then naming who the person is, or the… not the person, but the 122 00:19:23.950 --> 00:19:30.550 Cynthia Stoddard: the job, whoever is assigned to that job, right? So… If you look at… 123 00:19:30.670 --> 00:19:39.399 Cynthia Stoddard: the workflow that I gave you guys, these are just snippets of things that I know need to be done. These are not… 124 00:19:40.480 --> 00:19:51.410 Cynthia Stoddard: These are by no means the entire list of all the different tasks, and if anybody wants to see the list that I came up with, I think I shared a spreadsheet with you guys, which was a generic 125 00:19:51.630 --> 00:19:54.419 Cynthia Stoddard: This is what all town offices have to do. 126 00:19:54.550 --> 00:20:08.189 Cynthia Stoddard: And so we're kind of working our way through that, but while we're working our way through that, there was a lot of work to catch up, and I think the last time I was here, I kind of gave an overview, so I just want to kind of go through those things, see if anybody has any questions. 127 00:20:08.190 --> 00:20:15.389 Cynthia Stoddard: Bank reconciliations. They hadn't been done for the entire year, except for water and sewer. Carol had been keeping up on those. 128 00:20:16.590 --> 00:20:25.519 Cynthia Stoddard: They were a little bit behind, but not much, it was just a couple months, so her and I worked through those together. The general fund bank reconciliation has been done. 129 00:20:25.530 --> 00:20:37.479 Cynthia Stoddard: But we still have a discrepancy that I need to figure out. I'm hoping maybe the work that Bonnie's doing might answer my discrepancy, because remember, she's working on last year while I'm working on the current year. 130 00:20:37.840 --> 00:20:46.320 Cynthia Stoddard: So she may be finding something in last year that will affect the beginning balance going forward for me. So we're… I'm kind of waiting for some of that to be done. 131 00:20:47.190 --> 00:20:57.380 Cynthia Stoddard: And during that work, I discovered that there was a large transfer that was made in November, I think it was $269,000. 132 00:20:57.930 --> 00:21:09.069 Cynthia Stoddard: Took a lot of time in researching it, understanding your bank statements, and what that was, was transfers to some reserve funds for appropriations that you guys vote on in your annual budgets. 133 00:21:10.740 --> 00:21:24.750 Cynthia Stoddard: I can't… you guys are gonna have to give me an example, I can't think of them off the top of my head, but what I found out during those transfers was that it wasn't just FY26, which is the year that I'm working in, it was also FY25. 134 00:21:24.990 --> 00:21:28.870 Cynthia Stoddard: So, the FY25 transfers hadn't been recorded. 135 00:21:29.510 --> 00:21:36.669 Cynthia Stoddard: Bonnie will be working on those. I've recorded the FY26 ones, but the physical money has been moved to those reserves. 136 00:21:36.670 --> 00:21:37.650 Town of Plainfield: Yay! 137 00:21:37.650 --> 00:21:40.269 Cynthia Stoddard: There's still a little bit of work to be done. There were some 138 00:21:40.410 --> 00:21:50.740 Cynthia Stoddard: Some of the money was converted to CDs that I need to get those statements, but I feel much better about where we are as far as me at least understanding what you have for bank statements, or… 139 00:21:50.970 --> 00:21:52.960 Cynthia Stoddard: bank accounts. 140 00:21:53.870 --> 00:22:01.159 Cynthia Stoddard: who's looking at them, and what more we need to do, and there's still some more work to be done. Does anybody have any questions about those? 141 00:22:02.680 --> 00:22:03.570 Town of Plainfield: Nope. 142 00:22:03.570 --> 00:22:04.140 Cynthia Stoddard: Okay. 143 00:22:04.690 --> 00:22:10.109 Cynthia Stoddard: The trial balance… so a trial balance really shows you an entire 144 00:22:10.470 --> 00:22:23.499 Cynthia Stoddard: snapshot of your financial position. So, it gives you your balance sheet accounts, which would include your bank accounts, any asset accounts, any liabilities, those are payments that are going to be going out. 145 00:22:23.630 --> 00:22:26.990 Cynthia Stoddard: It shows your revenues and your expenses, so… 146 00:22:28.710 --> 00:22:38.120 Cynthia Stoddard: The FY25 is not finalized yet, that's why you haven't been able to get an audit. So, some of the things that I'm doing… 147 00:22:38.790 --> 00:22:43.870 Cynthia Stoddard: are difficult to complete because that's not done. Like I said, it's like having a checkbook. 148 00:22:43.900 --> 00:22:45.980 Town of Plainfield: That at the end of the year. 149 00:22:45.980 --> 00:22:50.910 Cynthia Stoddard: you have $100,000 in it, and then I think you have $100,000, 150 00:22:51.120 --> 00:23:01.909 Cynthia Stoddard: but someone looks through it and finds that you missed something, and you really only have 50, it carries forward to the next year. That mistake carries forward. I'm not saying that's a mistake we're going to find. 151 00:23:02.070 --> 00:23:11.109 Cynthia Stoddard: I'm just saying that's the kind of thing that I'm kind of waiting for to make sure there's not that kind of mistake. I understand that Bonnie's really close. 152 00:23:11.240 --> 00:23:14.740 Cynthia Stoddard: To being done with her work, which she'll then pass on to 153 00:23:14.930 --> 00:23:18.210 Cynthia Stoddard: the CPA firm to do the FY25 audit. 154 00:23:18.360 --> 00:23:25.720 Cynthia Stoddard: I have, with the help of one of the people that works for me. 155 00:23:26.450 --> 00:23:36.439 Cynthia Stoddard: One of the biggest jobs we've had to do is convert your current chart of accounts in your general ledger, which is where it shows your revenues and expenses. 156 00:23:37.150 --> 00:23:38.920 Cynthia Stoddard: We've had to convert 157 00:23:39.470 --> 00:23:55.790 Cynthia Stoddard: those numbers to new numbers that match the budget that you guys have presented to the town at town meetings, so that the two look like each other. The bottom line numbers are no different, like, the budget that you voted on isn't different, it's just how it's organized and the look of it. 158 00:23:55.990 --> 00:23:57.070 Cynthia Stoddard: Okay? 159 00:23:57.170 --> 00:24:16.220 Cynthia Stoddard: That was a massive undertaking to try to understand which account numbers went with the way the budget was created, because the budget was created in a spreadsheet, an Excel spreadsheet, but it was never converted to your financial system. So coding issues that came up 160 00:24:16.360 --> 00:24:26.269 Cynthia Stoddard: As an example, there was a lot of different, I think I did 25 journal entries today in the highway budget of just things that were just not in the right expense account. 161 00:24:26.680 --> 00:24:35.719 Cynthia Stoddard: Part of that was because of the chart of accounts wasn't matching what maybe Michael had, because he was using the spreadsheet one. 162 00:24:35.960 --> 00:24:42.450 Cynthia Stoddard: The emergency management section, I went through with… is it Michael Billingsley? Is that his name? 163 00:24:43.700 --> 00:24:48.569 Cynthia Stoddard: Yeah, he sent me an email today, I went through some of his today, and… 164 00:24:48.690 --> 00:24:57.989 Cynthia Stoddard: At the time that we had the chart of accounts to choose from when people were coding the bills, there were two line items. The budget and the town report has, like, eight. 165 00:24:58.700 --> 00:25:08.439 Cynthia Stoddard: So no matter what it was, it was being posted to this one line item, and I had to reclass it, so the phone was being posted to Emergency Management Coordinator line. 166 00:25:08.760 --> 00:25:13.769 Cynthia Stoddard: So it's all those little, like, we gotta move things around to make it match where the budget is. 167 00:25:14.040 --> 00:25:23.930 Cynthia Stoddard: That work has been done, and everybody has been super helpful with going through those, kind of, like I said, I… if there was award given out for the 168 00:25:24.170 --> 00:25:31.830 Cynthia Stoddard: the PDF and the highlights and the notes that your road foreman did for me today to do that, he's gonna get the award, because I was super impressed with that. 169 00:25:35.080 --> 00:25:37.319 Cynthia Stoddard: I might make a little certificate or something. 170 00:25:37.320 --> 00:25:41.300 Town of Plainfield: You should totally do that. 171 00:25:43.280 --> 00:25:53.249 Cynthia Stoddard: Okay, so that's the chart of accounts, and I think probably in your packet, and I think you've distributed it so the public can see it, both this work plan 172 00:25:53.360 --> 00:26:06.269 Cynthia Stoddard: that I've had, and the updated budget status report for the general fund. I believe those are out there. If anybody has any questions, if the public has questions, please go to someone on the board. Don't come directly to me. 173 00:26:06.980 --> 00:26:15.770 Town of Plainfield: Cynthia, I would just mention that those are posted on the, on the Select Board website within the public documents section, so… Yep. 174 00:26:16.470 --> 00:26:25.919 Cynthia Stoddard: Remember, I have no, like, personal stake in somebody finding a mistake that something's in a wrong line item, and nobody should. Nobody should be concerned 175 00:26:26.150 --> 00:26:42.339 Cynthia Stoddard: we don't need to be concerned with who made this mistake, why the mistake was made, we need to get it right, and we need to come up with a procedure so it doesn't happen again. That's our goal. It's not to figure out who did things wrong, it's not to point fingers, it's like, let's just get it right so that you guys and the public. 176 00:26:42.340 --> 00:26:45.040 Town of Plainfield: Can understand what they're looking at. 177 00:26:45.610 --> 00:26:46.160 Town of Plainfield: Okay? 178 00:26:47.670 --> 00:26:57.439 Cynthia Stoddard: I have not done anything with water and sewer, and I haven't spent a lot of time on the reserve funds, because I feel like I need to get general fund done first. 179 00:26:58.360 --> 00:27:06.409 Cynthia Stoddard: And then I need to make sure general fund is right, that way I know if anything's misclassified, then I can put it in the correct fund. 180 00:27:07.190 --> 00:27:16.719 Cynthia Stoddard: The other big item was the W-2s and 941s for 2023 and 2024. 181 00:27:17.500 --> 00:27:26.120 Cynthia Stoddard: We have completed… The upload to the Social Security Administration for both of those years, they were missing. 182 00:27:26.780 --> 00:27:33.889 Cynthia Stoddard: I'm hoping that employees now have a record of their wages with the Social Security Administration, because those have been uploaded. 183 00:27:35.340 --> 00:27:45.939 Cynthia Stoddard: Peter sent an email to the IRS about the 2023, I think, and 2024, just explaining the situation here. That's been done. We got a certificate, didn't you. 184 00:27:45.940 --> 00:27:48.459 Town of Plainfield: Certified letter, not an email. 185 00:27:48.460 --> 00:27:52.520 Cynthia Stoddard: Yeah, oh, that's right. Certified, and then you got the receipt back that they received it. 186 00:27:52.620 --> 00:27:54.199 Town of Plainfield: Right? Right. 187 00:27:54.200 --> 00:28:00.410 Cynthia Stoddard: Since then, we have gotten information from the 2024 W-2s. 188 00:28:00.630 --> 00:28:07.700 Cynthia Stoddard: That says we were gonna get a refund, and today Carol called me, and you guys got a $13,000 refund check for 2024. 189 00:28:08.480 --> 00:28:09.080 Town of Plainfield: Right. 190 00:28:11.740 --> 00:28:23.610 Cynthia Stoddard: So I think what happened was, once I uploaded those 2024 W-2s, I was able… they were able to match up the quarterly reports with what was reported, and it just… it was overpaid. 191 00:28:24.280 --> 00:28:28.069 Cynthia Stoddard: I'm not gonna research to see whether they're right, but I'm just gonna let it be what it is. 192 00:28:28.070 --> 00:28:36.180 Town of Plainfield: It's better than a penalty from me. All goodness, all goodness, I'll take it. 193 00:28:36.180 --> 00:28:42.509 Cynthia Stoddard: They did send another small $1.70 check, I don't know what that's for, but we'll deposit that one, too. 194 00:28:42.960 --> 00:28:43.900 Cynthia Stoddard: But… 195 00:28:44.020 --> 00:28:56.210 Cynthia Stoddard: That's good news. That was weighing on me heavily, mostly because people didn't have wages in their… you know, looked like they hadn't earned any wages, and it's just a hefty penalty if it doesn't get done. But I think… 196 00:28:56.210 --> 00:28:56.620 Town of Plainfield: I. 197 00:28:56.620 --> 00:29:06.729 Cynthia Stoddard: I think we're going to be okay in that area. And 2026 is on track. We're not having that, that type of issue now. So… 198 00:29:08.960 --> 00:29:20.359 Town of Plainfield: Cynthia, just on that point, so are we completely current to date in our quarterly 941s and the annual tax returns? We're current at this point. 199 00:29:20.360 --> 00:29:25.190 Cynthia Stoddard: Yep, the other ones that we had to do, I had to straighten out all of the Vermont 200 00:29:25.420 --> 00:29:39.019 Cynthia Stoddard: income tax withholding, reporting. The state was really helpful. They helped me move things around and made sure that was done. That's all up to date and been paid. The quarterly unemployments hadn't been done. 201 00:29:39.020 --> 00:29:52.260 Cynthia Stoddard: Some of them went back to 2023. We got all those filed. The Department of Labor was really helpful with that. And Veeamers, the retirement is always done. They're always on top of it, so they… if you don't get it done, they haunt you down. 202 00:29:52.970 --> 00:30:03.829 Cynthia Stoddard: So… but no, we're… payroll is completely up to date, and then the first bi-weekly payroll, because we're changing the cycle from weekly to bi-weekly, will be June 12th, so that's moving along. 203 00:30:03.860 --> 00:30:15.660 Town of Plainfield: Cynthia, I have a question. This is Francis Rose. I'm hearing that we're caught up, now current with the IRS. Are we still at the discretion of the IRS about whether 204 00:30:15.750 --> 00:30:24.280 Town of Plainfield: were penalized for past, like, non-submissions or late submissions. Yes, I… We might hear from them, yeah. 205 00:30:24.450 --> 00:30:32.759 Cynthia Stoddard: You might hear from them again. I'm hoping that Peter's letter for the 2023 letter that we received talking about a potential penalty 206 00:30:32.910 --> 00:30:46.729 Cynthia Stoddard: has been addressed. I don't think the IRS is advanced enough to know that we might have a penalty, and send… they sent us… I mean, you would think if we were going to have a penalty, they wouldn't send us a refund, but I… 207 00:30:46.730 --> 00:30:48.990 Town of Plainfield: I don't think you… 208 00:30:48.990 --> 00:30:53.989 Cynthia Stoddard: I don't think you can take the refund as a, oh, we're good, right? Because that was. 209 00:30:53.990 --> 00:30:59.850 Town of Plainfield: You don't think the refund is a net, right? No. 210 00:30:59.850 --> 00:31:11.349 Cynthia Stoddard: No. If I do know one thing about them is they work in quarters and years. So the 2024 is the year they refunded for, 2023 is what you got that potential penalty letter for. 211 00:31:11.560 --> 00:31:16.969 Cynthia Stoddard: Which Peter addressed in an email that hopefully they'll… 212 00:31:17.160 --> 00:31:19.420 Cynthia Stoddard: Have a little bit of heart, I don't know. 213 00:31:20.140 --> 00:31:21.370 Town of Plainfield: Alright. 214 00:31:21.670 --> 00:31:22.670 Cynthia Stoddard: Okay? 215 00:31:22.840 --> 00:31:23.890 Town of Plainfield: That's work. 216 00:31:23.890 --> 00:31:30.710 Cynthia Stoddard: So, at the last meeting that I was at, George came, the delinquent tax collector. 217 00:31:31.440 --> 00:31:37.530 Cynthia Stoddard: And he had quite a few questions about delinquent taxes, and he was absolutely right. What we had in the system was 218 00:31:38.740 --> 00:31:58.510 Cynthia Stoddard: different than what he had, and we found some mistakes. Tim and I met, we have updated, everything matches, we have a schedule of when we're going to be calculating interest, and in June, he will be coming… well, him and I will work together. He is going to use the NIMRIC system to post payments. 219 00:31:58.750 --> 00:32:08.200 Cynthia Stoddard: instead of turning the money in and having someone at the office do it. So that task for delinquent tax collections will be taken out of the office hands. 220 00:32:08.330 --> 00:32:15.989 Cynthia Stoddard: And the only piece they'll have to do is verify that the amount of money he's giving them matches what he entered into the system. 221 00:32:17.600 --> 00:32:19.400 Cynthia Stoddard: So, that was… 222 00:32:19.660 --> 00:32:25.730 Cynthia Stoddard: That was, you know, him and I will work together. I don't think he's gonna have any problem maneuvering the system. He seems like he's… 223 00:32:26.200 --> 00:32:31.439 Cynthia Stoddard: He said he was actually kind of excited to do it, so we'll work with him on that. 224 00:32:31.680 --> 00:32:41.809 Cynthia Stoddard: The education tax. So, we collect money on behalf of the education taxes, we pay the school. 225 00:32:42.030 --> 00:32:59.769 Cynthia Stoddard: And then at the end of the year, or, well, April for the end of the year for the Education Department, they do a true-up of what you originally paid versus what you have to pay, and they ended up, over… we ended up overpaying, so they sent us a check today for $26,000. 226 00:33:00.220 --> 00:33:01.080 Town of Plainfield: Yay, more money. 227 00:33:01.080 --> 00:33:02.299 Cynthia Stoddard: That came in today, too. 228 00:33:02.300 --> 00:33:27.279 Town of Plainfield: This is like refund week. It's a good week so far. It's only Tuesday. Cynthia, a question about the education taxes, and looking at the budget summary and the budget detail you gave us. When we put next year's budget together for fiscal 28, I guess it'll be, should we show the receipts, the revenues. 229 00:33:27.280 --> 00:33:31.560 Town of Plainfield: Expense for the education tax in our budget. 230 00:33:32.320 --> 00:33:32.860 Cynthia Stoddard: No. 231 00:33:33.960 --> 00:33:41.189 Cynthia Stoddard: So, what I am going to be recommending, and I think, Karen, this goes to a question you might have had about the 232 00:33:41.300 --> 00:33:59.049 Cynthia Stoddard: Why is the revenue in the budget status report and taxes so much more than what it should be? And then, what is this expense? So, what has happened in Plainfield in the past is all of the money you collect goes into your revenue account for the general fund, right? 233 00:33:59.170 --> 00:34:05.220 Cynthia Stoddard: Then, whenever the check gets cut to the school, it hits an expense account. 234 00:34:05.520 --> 00:34:11.480 Cynthia Stoddard: So you're seeing this huge number in your revenue, and this huge unbudgeted number in your expenses. 235 00:34:11.750 --> 00:34:19.849 Cynthia Stoddard: That's how it's been done. My recommendation is going to be that at the beginning of the year, we set up a liability. 236 00:34:20.080 --> 00:34:30.490 Cynthia Stoddard: For this is how much you're going to owe the school, and as you pay it down, it… and then… so that keeps your revenue in your general fund just your revenue. 237 00:34:31.230 --> 00:34:38.589 Cynthia Stoddard: So that you have a better picture of how much revenue you have for just your general fund. We'll take those school taxes right out of there. 238 00:34:39.460 --> 00:34:40.529 Cynthia Stoddard: If we don't do it that way. 239 00:34:40.530 --> 00:34:42.179 Town of Plainfield: Nonsense. 240 00:34:42.870 --> 00:34:43.650 Cynthia Stoddard: Boza? 241 00:34:43.659 --> 00:34:50.779 Town of Plainfield: We're all saying yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, excellent, good, great, wonderful. 242 00:34:50.780 --> 00:35:07.700 Cynthia Stoddard: That's on my… that's on my radar, to… to set that… that process up, because it won't happen again now for another 6 months, 4 months, and so whoever you get in that seat next, or whoever's there, I'll… I'm gonna… I'm going to be writing up a procedure for that. 243 00:35:08.880 --> 00:35:19.610 Cynthia Stoddard: Let's see… so… oh, under the accounts payable, Bonnie had needed something for FY25. She… she got it, the AP schedules, before I even… 244 00:35:19.770 --> 00:35:30.330 Cynthia Stoddard: could get to it, so that was done. Karen and I talked a lot about booking revenue for grants when a grant is 245 00:35:30.720 --> 00:35:43.389 Cynthia Stoddard: when a reimbursement request is made. So, you guys spend some money, and Karen or whoever's involved with a grant sends to the grantor a request to reimburse. 246 00:35:43.530 --> 00:36:01.859 Cynthia Stoddard: And to immediately put it on the books so that we know that it's coming, but it comes in as a receivable. So we've… we've done a little bit of that. I think there's a couple more that Karen's asked me to do, but it should be done for all grants, and… and that's something that we'll have to talk about, but I have booked some of those, so that if you look at the FEMA 247 00:36:02.250 --> 00:36:04.950 Cynthia Stoddard: If you look at the FEMA fund, you'll see… 248 00:36:05.330 --> 00:36:08.309 Cynthia Stoddard: not FEMA, your flood fund, you'll see… 249 00:36:08.720 --> 00:36:09.880 Town of Plainfield: grant… 250 00:36:09.880 --> 00:36:17.670 Cynthia Stoddard: money received, but on the balance sheet, you'll also see a receivable, so it shows that the money just hasn't come in yet, okay? 251 00:36:17.960 --> 00:36:19.880 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, and the, the, 252 00:36:20.250 --> 00:36:30.859 Town of Plainfield: The best part of that is that by booking it when we're expecting it, we're labeling it like we're putting it in the right place, so we know this is for this project. 253 00:36:30.950 --> 00:36:47.019 Town of Plainfield: or this section of the road, or this bridge, and it goes in at that point as a receivable, so then when the money comes in, you're not wondering, oh, that was a big lump from the state, what was that for? You know, you're not having to track it back, so it's like, it will make everything much easier that way. 254 00:36:47.020 --> 00:36:51.189 Cynthia Stoddard: Yeah, I often… I often go into town offices, and they… people… the town… 255 00:36:52.130 --> 00:36:54.090 Cynthia Stoddard: They get really mad, they're like. 256 00:36:54.700 --> 00:36:57.429 Cynthia Stoddard: Is there feedback coming in there? 257 00:36:58.080 --> 00:37:00.760 Cynthia Stoddard: They get really upset that the state was… 258 00:37:01.230 --> 00:37:01.990 Town of Plainfield: not… 259 00:37:01.990 --> 00:37:03.849 Cynthia Stoddard: labeling it properly. 260 00:37:04.090 --> 00:37:07.319 Cynthia Stoddard: And I'm like, they shouldn't have to, you should know what's coming in. 261 00:37:07.810 --> 00:37:21.799 Town of Plainfield: Yeah. A lot of the challenge with this round, since the monies have started coming in, is that they came in in lumps, and they were combined, and we didn't know 262 00:37:22.220 --> 00:37:41.810 Town of Plainfield: what was it for? You know, it came from the state, so was it… was it for Federal Highway and Agency of Transportation? Was it for some other account? Was it… you know, and there were other grants that were in play for other departments and committees that we didn't know, about, so… 263 00:37:41.810 --> 00:37:57.879 Town of Plainfield: those landed in those checks as well, so it's been a lot of, like, pulling apart, like, where did this come from, and what was it for, and which grant? But I think when we put this process in place, it'll make everything easier on the revenue side for grants. 264 00:37:58.010 --> 00:37:58.770 Town of Plainfield: Yeah. 265 00:37:58.770 --> 00:38:04.489 Cynthia Stoddard: And the other thing I want people to take note of while we're talking is we're talking a lot about coding. 266 00:38:04.660 --> 00:38:16.180 Cynthia Stoddard: where do things land in your budget, and what funds do they land in? Because Karen and I spent 2, 3, 4 hours between the two of us, together and apart. 267 00:38:16.400 --> 00:38:16.970 Town of Plainfield: Nikki. 268 00:38:16.970 --> 00:38:22.910 Cynthia Stoddard: apart expense line items. Is this the right line item that the expense should be in? 269 00:38:23.170 --> 00:38:34.749 Cynthia Stoddard: And so, we've talked about it today with the highway budget. I did 25 entries to reclass expenses, so keep this in mind when we talk about the AP procedure. 270 00:38:36.950 --> 00:38:52.190 Cynthia Stoddard: So… because it really is about the point… either the point that you receive money, or the point that you spend money. You have to understand your chart of accounts, you have to understand your funds, so you make sure that things get posted to the correct place from the very beginning. 271 00:38:52.620 --> 00:39:03.029 Cynthia Stoddard: Because the last thing that an auditor wants to see, a CPA firm, is hundreds of journal entries reclassifying or correcting mistakes. They get really cranky about that. 272 00:39:03.570 --> 00:39:06.490 Town of Plainfield: Gosh. 273 00:39:06.490 --> 00:39:07.330 Cynthia Stoddard: Mom. 274 00:39:07.500 --> 00:39:11.090 Town of Plainfield: As they should. 275 00:39:11.090 --> 00:39:29.609 Cynthia Stoddard: So, the other thing on here is the Revolving Loan Fund. Bonnie has been compiling some information. Carol put her in touch with somebody that could help her with that, so that is something that is not currently in your NIMRIC system, and there's not a place to track it, but we will be adding that once she… I think I created a fund for her to use. 276 00:39:30.980 --> 00:39:40.110 Cynthia Stoddard: I think payroll and human resources section, we talked about everything there. First biweekly payroll is June 12th. 277 00:39:41.420 --> 00:39:55.059 Cynthia Stoddard: Oh, we did a workers' comp audit between Kayla, who works for me, and, Carol and Jamie, helping get paperwork together. That workers' comp audit has been completed through VLCT. 278 00:39:55.920 --> 00:40:05.420 Cynthia Stoddard: If there was any missing paperwork on any vendors, you guys just have to be aware they may add it to your payroll, which actually increases, possibly, your… 279 00:40:07.040 --> 00:40:19.559 Cynthia Stoddard: your rate that they charge you for workers' comp insurance. So, as an example, if you paid somebody out of accounts payable, but didn't have a contract, or didn't have insurance paperwork, or didn't have their W-9, 280 00:40:19.560 --> 00:40:27.639 Cynthia Stoddard: They add the amount you paid them to the payroll total. Payroll is where they determine what your rate is for your workers' comp. 281 00:40:29.520 --> 00:40:39.070 Cynthia Stoddard: So that's going to speak to what we're talking about with the accounts payable procedure as well, that will help eliminate this type of stuff happening in the future with an audit. 282 00:40:41.150 --> 00:40:51.490 Cynthia Stoddard: Let's see… Towards the end, we're talking a little bit about, writing up some policies. 283 00:40:52.070 --> 00:41:02.130 Cynthia Stoddard: like I said earlier, I haven't really dug too much into water and sewer, but I feel like that is the next area that I really need to dig into, which I know 284 00:41:02.380 --> 00:41:06.229 Cynthia Stoddard: Is not really your oversight, but… 285 00:41:07.120 --> 00:41:16.509 Cynthia Stoddard: It's part of the town, and we need to make sure all of the policies are going across everything, because you don't want different policies and different ways of doing things. 286 00:41:16.850 --> 00:41:26.130 Cynthia Stoddard: from one fund to the next. That… then that just becomes too confusing. Right now, the water and sewer is… is billed out of 287 00:41:26.220 --> 00:41:37.649 Cynthia Stoddard: the utility billing program in NEMRIC, but I don't believe it's linked to the financial system. A lot of things are done manually, so that's an area I want to work on. 288 00:41:40.700 --> 00:41:48.170 Cynthia Stoddard: I think the immediate priorities, we've pretty much dealt with, those are at the bottom of the page, and then the other stuff is really just procedure stuff, like… 289 00:41:48.450 --> 00:41:56.019 Cynthia Stoddard: Let's go through this accounts payable operating procedure and talk about a credit card policy, and I think there was something with cash receipts we might be talking about. 290 00:41:58.430 --> 00:42:07.639 Cynthia Stoddard: So, does anybody have any questions on where we're at? And, like, I think somebody said, it might have been in the meeting I watched from the last time, or even earlier, is… 291 00:42:08.810 --> 00:42:19.119 Cynthia Stoddard: new tasks and new challenges come up every day, and we're kind of on the fly deciding who's doing it and how it's going to get done. So, my main goal is 292 00:42:19.230 --> 00:42:29.230 Cynthia Stoddard: Is kind of getting the task done, figuring out who should be doing it in the future, and coming up with a procedure for it, so we know who's responsible and who 293 00:42:29.360 --> 00:42:32.690 Cynthia Stoddard: How it gets done, and when it gets done. 294 00:42:32.980 --> 00:42:41.569 Cynthia Stoddard: I think it's really hard right now for the Select Board, for the people in the office, to really tell who does what. 295 00:42:41.830 --> 00:42:51.369 Cynthia Stoddard: Because, like I said, we're coming up with new things every day that we're finding out, whoa, this didn't get done, we need to… we're… we're light years ahead of where we were a month and a half ago. 296 00:42:51.370 --> 00:42:54.870 Town of Plainfield: Oh, great. Oh, yeah. 297 00:42:54.870 --> 00:42:58.110 Cynthia Stoddard: So, that's kind of where I'm at. 298 00:42:59.280 --> 00:43:17.049 Town of Plainfield: Cynthia, this is Andy. My question for you, I have several, but I'll give you one to start, which is, up to this point, you had said, don't hire a treasurer until we have systems in place that they can embrace, adopt, learn. Are we there yet? 299 00:43:17.050 --> 00:43:25.190 Cynthia Stoddard: I think, I think, actually, I probably would say yes. There's a lot of things I could say, yep, this is what needs to be done, this is when it needs to be done. 300 00:43:25.800 --> 00:43:43.969 Cynthia Stoddard: Yep. So, I mean, one of the big examples is payroll, right? We're all caught up. That person's not gonna have to do… play catch-up. They can just start right in. Bank reconciliations, they're not going to have to play catch-up, they can start right in. So yes, I feel much better about the position now than I did the last time I was here. 301 00:43:44.770 --> 00:43:57.849 Town of Plainfield: Oh, it's such a good news. That's wonderful news. Andy, you had other questions. Oh, yeah. No, I don't want to hug the mic, because I… Go on, you had questions. You good? I'm good. Good. Okay. Go. So, second question then is, 302 00:43:58.180 --> 00:44:11.529 Town of Plainfield: Based on where we are, and the work you've done… by the way, you're amazing, whatever we're paying you is probably not enough. So, thank you for your nerdishness in this space. We see your nerdiness if you like it. 303 00:44:11.960 --> 00:44:20.349 Town of Plainfield: What's the weakest link at this point? Or maybe it's plural, what are the weakest links in the system that haven't been corrected yet, are going to be the hardest to correct? 304 00:44:21.960 --> 00:44:25.480 Cynthia Stoddard: I think that the… 305 00:44:26.490 --> 00:44:38.119 Cynthia Stoddard: I think they're links, not a link. I think it's kind of, you know, I've said it a lot in the last few weeks. I haven't… I haven't done a project like this in a really long time, like, really dumb, you know. 306 00:44:38.330 --> 00:44:42.329 Cynthia Stoddard: Headfirst into really getting into every piece of everything. 307 00:44:42.610 --> 00:44:51.680 Cynthia Stoddard: And I think for me, the biggest challenge I've had is what I said at the beginning, is that it's been very hard for me to understand who does what. 308 00:44:52.160 --> 00:44:57.639 Cynthia Stoddard: And I don't think that's anybody's fault. I think it's because you've had this enormous 309 00:44:57.930 --> 00:45:06.910 Cynthia Stoddard: task of trying to figure out yourselves who does what, and then you've had the challenge of people… the turnover, right? And… and… 310 00:45:07.470 --> 00:45:14.899 Cynthia Stoddard: you know, different people having different things. So, that would be my main thing. If we could really focus on who's doing what. 311 00:45:15.690 --> 00:45:21.990 Cynthia Stoddard: And so that would be helpful. And then it's just really… 312 00:45:22.590 --> 00:45:27.790 Cynthia Stoddard: I think the other… the other hurdle right now is getting that audit done. 313 00:45:28.570 --> 00:45:30.750 Cynthia Stoddard: is because, like I said. 314 00:45:31.320 --> 00:45:43.409 Cynthia Stoddard: I don't anticipate that once Bonnie is done with her work, and that the auditors can start doing their work, I don't anticipate any huge changes to what Bonnie's done. 315 00:45:44.570 --> 00:45:46.150 Cynthia Stoddard: But you never know. 316 00:45:46.630 --> 00:45:52.449 Cynthia Stoddard: And so, what they do affects what happens in the year we're working in now. 317 00:45:53.380 --> 00:46:00.870 Cynthia Stoddard: So, I'm always battling with that. Am I missing something because something wasn't done correctly last year that I'm not looking at? 318 00:46:02.660 --> 00:46:12.469 Cynthia Stoddard: So, those things. The other things, I think, are just daily, let's check these things off the list, and make sure people know who's responsible, and give them a plan on how to do it. 319 00:46:15.050 --> 00:46:24.289 Town of Plainfield: Cynthia, Peter, I wanted to ask about… you mentioned auditor, and you and I have had a couple of emails and talked a little bit about… 320 00:46:24.310 --> 00:46:38.149 Town of Plainfield: our local elected auditors. We supposedly have three, I think we actually have one. And, you know, what do they do? How do they fit into this new system? 321 00:46:38.150 --> 00:47:03.070 Town of Plainfield: when I go to the League of Cities and Towns, and I look at the handbook and what auditors are supposed to do, we don't come close to doing what is outlined there. And I'm wondering, given, you know, the world we live in these days, and the requirements of the bond bank for professional audits, whether we've outlived the elective auditor 322 00:47:03.070 --> 00:47:21.520 Town of Plainfield: position, and should go to a professional audit on an annual basis. I mean, we're currently going to pay Sullivan and Powers for FY2025, FY2026, and FY2027. 323 00:47:21.520 --> 00:47:25.070 Town of Plainfield: So, what happens in FY2028? 324 00:47:26.200 --> 00:47:27.410 Cynthia Stoddard: So… 325 00:47:28.050 --> 00:47:41.349 Cynthia Stoddard: I… most towns that have… a lot of towns are in this situation, right? They… it's been… it's a rare occurrence for me to run into a town where they have local auditors that are extremely active. 326 00:47:41.380 --> 00:47:49.949 Cynthia Stoddard: I can think of a couple right now, they do a good job, but they do very different things in each town. And so, 327 00:47:50.110 --> 00:47:54.710 Cynthia Stoddard: I think that there is a place for local auditors. 328 00:47:54.890 --> 00:47:58.669 Cynthia Stoddard: But it's very different than what, 329 00:47:59.360 --> 00:48:02.970 Cynthia Stoddard: An audit firm will do for your annual audit. 330 00:48:03.130 --> 00:48:11.339 Cynthia Stoddard: I… we had local auditors in the town that I was the town manager, and what I had them do was I had them come in and do some testing. 331 00:48:11.480 --> 00:48:13.950 Cynthia Stoddard: Like, come in and pull. 332 00:48:14.260 --> 00:48:24.509 Cynthia Stoddard: 4 or 5 invoices, and some payroll, and backtrack it all the way through the policy. Did it get coded? Did it get posted to the right number? Did it get approved by the department head? 333 00:48:24.630 --> 00:48:36.270 Cynthia Stoddard: Look at the credit card statement. Are the credit card statements backed up with receipts? Are there any personal charges on it? So they were doing, like, auditing of transactions. 334 00:48:36.410 --> 00:48:51.729 Cynthia Stoddard: Because if you're going to have a local auditor, like, that's something that they could do that's extremely, like, to me, it makes everybody kind of be like, oh, somebody is really checking, you know, some of the procedures that we're using. 335 00:48:52.100 --> 00:49:02.220 Cynthia Stoddard: I have other towns where local auditors just really put the town report together. They take whatever, you know, the information is that's given to them, and they organize it, they work with the 336 00:49:02.390 --> 00:49:15.149 Cynthia Stoddard: with the printer, they put it in a form, but they don't really audit the numbers. So, when there's a local auditor involved, it's really, like, where is the need in the finance office that will help, that will really 337 00:49:15.420 --> 00:49:17.339 Cynthia Stoddard: Help them, right? 338 00:49:17.730 --> 00:49:28.909 Cynthia Stoddard: If you don't have elected local auditors, you have to have a CPA audit every year. So, that's the other thing. Now, with the amount of money, and the amount of… 339 00:49:29.070 --> 00:49:34.719 Cynthia Stoddard: grant money and the, the activity you guys have going on, I would want… 340 00:49:34.970 --> 00:49:37.730 Cynthia Stoddard: I would want a CPA audit every year. 341 00:49:37.870 --> 00:49:43.000 Cynthia Stoddard: But I would… It's a requirement for a lot of these borrowing 342 00:49:43.750 --> 00:49:49.599 Cynthia Stoddard: we've already noticed it tonight. There's one you might miss because you don't have it done. So, 343 00:49:50.840 --> 00:49:52.390 Cynthia Stoddard: You know, and then it's… 344 00:49:52.670 --> 00:50:06.299 Cynthia Stoddard: I always ask the auditor, do you feel like you're making a difference? Like, like a local auditor. Like, I worked with one town, they're like, I don't even, like, I just check things off the statement. I don't even know what I'm checking them off for, I just know they're there. And so… 345 00:50:06.530 --> 00:50:10.660 Cynthia Stoddard: You know, it's up to each individual town what they want, 346 00:50:10.810 --> 00:50:16.670 Cynthia Stoddard: If they want a local auditor, I think probably most towns have outgrown that system. 347 00:50:20.330 --> 00:50:40.240 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, thank you for that, and I would just say, from my perspective as the grants administrator, wearing that hat, that, I would be far more comfortable having a CPA firm doing our audits and making sure that we are, doing everything correctly, you know. 348 00:50:40.240 --> 00:50:40.569 Cynthia Stoddard: I'm getting. 349 00:50:40.570 --> 00:50:46.220 Town of Plainfield: all the money we're supposed to get from all the places we're supposed to get it, and tracking it correctly, and… 350 00:50:46.320 --> 00:50:58.800 Town of Plainfield: And doing, the single audit and all of… because there was so much money coming in, and I… I would just be much more comfortable if we knew that we had professional eyes on our books every. 351 00:50:58.800 --> 00:50:59.130 Cynthia Stoddard: the end. 352 00:50:59.130 --> 00:51:00.740 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, yep. 353 00:51:02.810 --> 00:51:20.459 Town of Plainfield: Thank you, Karen. And we're fiduciaries, right? That's literally our job, so we have to rely on professionals to keep us on the straight and narrow. Cynthia, my other question here is, and I don't know if you can answer this, because I'll ask it two ways. 354 00:51:20.520 --> 00:51:38.179 Town of Plainfield: The one way to ask it is what percentage of the cleanup is done? Are you 80% done, 70%, 90%? Or another way to ask this question is how many more months of squeezing the errors out of the system until we get to the place where we're more or less error-free? 355 00:51:39.790 --> 00:51:41.539 Cynthia Stoddard: Well, that's a tough one. 356 00:51:42.280 --> 00:51:46.859 Cynthia Stoddard: I don't know that I want to answer that. 357 00:51:47.070 --> 00:51:47.830 Town of Plainfield: Okay. 358 00:51:47.830 --> 00:51:50.779 Cynthia Stoddard: I mean, like I said, I feel so much better than I did 359 00:51:51.080 --> 00:52:08.399 Cynthia Stoddard: Six weeks ago. And I feel like we're now working on the minutiae details. Like, to have somebody go through every single line item in their department, and they have multiple line items, and he went through and highlighted everything that needed to be moved to a different 360 00:52:08.620 --> 00:52:18.419 Cynthia Stoddard: That's the minutiae stuff. Like I said to Peter the other day, I really… I know you guys care, but I don't care if it's under sand or salt. 361 00:52:19.180 --> 00:52:27.809 Cynthia Stoddard: Because the bottom line is the bottom line. I want to know, did we post a transaction to a highway that really should have been posted to… 362 00:52:28.900 --> 00:52:30.839 Cynthia Stoddard: a federal grant. 363 00:52:31.530 --> 00:52:40.339 Cynthia Stoddard: Or… or did we post something to, like, the emergency management department that should have been paid out of the shelter reserve? 364 00:52:40.650 --> 00:52:45.459 Cynthia Stoddard: Like, those are the things I'm concerned about, because that changes fund balance within a fund. 365 00:52:45.940 --> 00:52:51.620 Cynthia Stoddard: If I have a $99 charge in sand, and it should go to somewhere else, I, I know. 366 00:52:52.090 --> 00:52:56.450 Cynthia Stoddard: Do I want it right? Yes, but it's not as important to me, so… 367 00:52:56.780 --> 00:53:00.460 Cynthia Stoddard: I feel like we're more in the details than we were. 368 00:53:00.860 --> 00:53:08.900 Cynthia Stoddard: So that makes me feel like we're getting close, and then it's really going to depend on the capacity of the person that you get to take the job. 369 00:53:09.880 --> 00:53:14.929 Cynthia Stoddard: Because if you find somebody quickly that I can say to them, okay, this task. 370 00:53:15.080 --> 00:53:21.750 Cynthia Stoddard: is done this way, and they grasp it, and they do it, or I say, you know, these are the things that I see. 371 00:53:21.880 --> 00:53:27.930 Cynthia Stoddard: and they… they run with it, there are people that have that skill, so… 372 00:53:28.110 --> 00:53:31.089 Cynthia Stoddard: And then if there's two of us working on it… 373 00:53:31.370 --> 00:53:38.670 Cynthia Stoddard: So there's a lot of variables that could change the answer to that question pretty quickly, but we are light years ahead of where we were. 374 00:53:38.930 --> 00:53:46.089 Town of Plainfield: I just wanted to add, in terms of, you know, we have started, and, you know, Michael Bingham did a great job, and thanks, Carl, for 375 00:53:46.090 --> 00:54:00.769 Town of Plainfield: meeting with me and taking that and getting that done so quickly. You know, we still have a number of departments to go through. We have the office itself to go through, and there's a lot of stuff in that end audit section that are… 376 00:54:00.770 --> 00:54:07.610 Town of Plainfield: really should be in the municipal office, but, you know, so we have to do that, and just… 377 00:54:07.610 --> 00:54:20.140 Town of Plainfield: you know, a request to anyone who liaises with somebody to liaise on this to get it done as quickly as possible. I'm happy to help you walk through that. 378 00:54:20.140 --> 00:54:25.159 Cynthia Stoddard: Yeah, I'll… I'll just give you a quick example of, like, what I'm… what I'm… what's… 379 00:54:25.260 --> 00:54:32.789 Cynthia Stoddard: what's really eating at me to be able to tell you guys, like, this is what I think your fund balance is, okay? So, Karen, I think you had a question of a rev… 380 00:54:32.790 --> 00:54:33.560 Town of Plainfield: No. 381 00:54:33.740 --> 00:54:35.330 Cynthia Stoddard: Oh, am I okay now? 382 00:54:38.060 --> 00:54:42.770 Town of Plainfield: You're back. You're good. Go ahead. Try again. You're back. 383 00:54:42.770 --> 00:54:50.560 Cynthia Stoddard: So, so I don't know what you heard, but Karen, you asked a question about a revenue, and it was labeled a grant, like ER or something. 384 00:54:50.780 --> 00:54:51.440 Town of Plainfield: Yep. 385 00:54:51.440 --> 00:54:53.230 Cynthia Stoddard: And it was in the general fund. 386 00:54:53.600 --> 00:55:02.779 Cynthia Stoddard: And it was… the description and the number are there because there was a grant that I didn't know where it was supposed to go, so I just made up that number. 387 00:55:03.010 --> 00:55:15.660 Cynthia Stoddard: So you're right, it shouldn't be there, but with the work that you and I did, going line by line through the grants, I was able to move it out of the general fund, but that was a $30,000 grant that would have shown as revenue to the general fund that was not. 388 00:55:15.660 --> 00:55:16.060 Town of Plainfield: Right. 389 00:55:17.300 --> 00:55:18.120 Cynthia Stoddard: Right? So… 390 00:55:18.120 --> 00:55:18.480 Town of Plainfield: Yeah. 391 00:55:18.480 --> 00:55:20.580 Cynthia Stoddard: So those kinds of things are what we're clearing up. 392 00:55:20.580 --> 00:55:24.919 Town of Plainfield: Great. Tammy's got a question? 393 00:55:26.750 --> 00:55:36.070 Town of Plainfield: So, I have a question. Are you… I guess because I was posting payments, I was looking at vendors, 394 00:55:36.070 --> 00:55:54.019 Town of Plainfield: and going through it that way. I can honestly tell you, obviously, I saw a lot by looking up a vendor, but there was a lot of vendors that we were dividing payments up, such as Casella's, for example. Because of the way the system works, is if you had 395 00:55:54.260 --> 00:56:13.640 Town of Plainfield: 3 or 4, chart of accounts listed automatically, they would divide, so if the bill was $400, they would say these chart of accounts are $100 each, which wasn't correct. So, are we going to… I guess that would be the first, I guess, a quick 396 00:56:13.640 --> 00:56:24.909 Town of Plainfield: Because I know, like, Mike Bingham isn't going to notice Castella's, which should have been, you know, $80 over here, and I think that's where you're gonna get a lot of your, 397 00:56:24.910 --> 00:56:49.239 Town of Plainfield: I agree, like, whether it's under salt or, you know, sand or whatever, I think I had made the comment to you, it doesn't matter if it's yellow or blue, right? But it does need to be in the right, budget. And I think that we do need to look at those AT&T, Casellas, all those ones that are in multiple budgets, because Mike Bingham's not going to notice that, or, you know. 398 00:56:49.240 --> 00:56:57.939 Town of Plainfield: my billing always isn't going to notice those, so that would be another recommendation as we start looking at AT&T, Casella's. 399 00:56:57.940 --> 00:56:59.009 Town of Plainfield: Anything else? Nope. 400 00:56:59.330 --> 00:57:06.480 Cynthia Stoddard: Any of those that you guys run up against, just start making a list, and I can show you in the software where to change it. 401 00:57:06.920 --> 00:57:14.129 Cynthia Stoddard: Because we can set it up that the defaults don't default to any amount, it's just zero, and… but they're… the account numbers are there. 402 00:57:14.630 --> 00:57:24.030 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, I think that you're gonna find less errors at this point, if we could change that, just because I was seeing a lot of errors in reference to that, so… 403 00:57:24.030 --> 00:57:24.669 Cynthia Stoddard: Okay, thank you. 404 00:57:26.300 --> 00:57:51.249 Town of Plainfield: Cynthia, I wanted to maybe make a point and hear your comment on, while we straighten all this stuff out, and this will be very helpful for us, just in terms of the town overall, the select board, and the citizens understanding the full budget, but having the proper coding done at the front end also means that those department heads 405 00:57:51.250 --> 00:57:56.740 Town of Plainfield: We'll be able to track their budgets during the year, and know 406 00:57:56.820 --> 00:58:16.439 Town of Plainfield: what they have left. They kind of know what projects may be coming, but what's left in the account, and we have been sorely lacking in the ability to do that. At the town level, much less at the department level. So, I think there's, you know, multiple benefits of this exercise. 407 00:58:16.440 --> 00:58:24.659 Cynthia Stoddard: Yes, I totally agree. And when boards and department heads start getting a report on a monthly basis. 408 00:58:24.830 --> 00:58:38.240 Cynthia Stoddard: we can easily catch a mistake when it's made, too, instead of trying to look at the whole entire year and then spend, you know, I took an… it was an hour and a half that I took today just reclassing expenses in that highway budget. 409 00:58:38.510 --> 00:58:52.519 Cynthia Stoddard: You know, and then another 45 minutes of doing the emergency management reclassing. So, that upfront work is going to be the key for you guys to be able to have really good financial reporting on a regular basis. 410 00:58:52.820 --> 00:58:55.490 Cynthia Stoddard: So… 411 00:58:55.610 --> 00:59:02.470 Cynthia Stoddard: Yeah, so I think everything we're putting together is… I know there's growing pains, I know people are a little bit… 412 00:59:04.470 --> 00:59:14.339 Cynthia Stoddard: Worried about the layer of work it might put on them individually, or it's a change from what has been happening. And, 413 00:59:15.400 --> 00:59:26.950 Cynthia Stoddard: But there's just a necessity for some consistency and for some procedures that will help cut down on some of this. You guys, we're all human. Somebody's gonna make a mistake, but… 414 00:59:27.200 --> 00:59:30.350 Cynthia Stoddard: It's a matter of, are we gonna catch the mistake? 415 00:59:30.550 --> 00:59:35.449 Cynthia Stoddard: In 6 months after the end of the year, or are we gonna catch it in the month that it happened? 416 00:59:36.120 --> 00:59:38.470 Town of Plainfield: Right. You know? Yep. 417 00:59:38.470 --> 00:59:43.639 Cynthia Stoddard: I mean, and I want to go back… I want to go back to the question of, like, how close are we kind of question. 418 00:59:44.280 --> 00:59:47.690 Cynthia Stoddard: Well, we only have a few weeks until the end of the year, again. 419 00:59:47.690 --> 00:59:48.630 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, right. 420 00:59:48.630 --> 01:00:06.399 Cynthia Stoddard: So, there is a little bit of urgency on my part to try to get it as clean as I can, but it's a… it's a cha… the next challenge that I will have, or whoever's going to be in that office, will have, is we are going to have to keep two years open, because once we close in June. 421 01:00:06.840 --> 01:00:13.690 Cynthia Stoddard: or mid-July this fiscal year, we can no longer post to FY25, which is the year you're having audited. 422 01:00:13.940 --> 01:00:21.599 Cynthia Stoddard: So if there are changes, I can't post to that year, once I close. So I have a strategy to deal with that, but it is another layer of… 423 01:00:21.900 --> 01:00:26.770 Cynthia Stoddard: of complication, That someone's going to have to understand. 424 01:00:28.620 --> 01:00:28.940 Cynthia Stoddard: No. 425 01:00:30.300 --> 01:00:45.289 Town of Plainfield: So, given what you know about how money moves through the office and the people who handle it, do you have any concerns or recommendations about financial controls, chain of custody, that sort of thing? Are you seeing what you're seeing is okay? 426 01:00:45.800 --> 01:00:51.120 Cynthia Stoddard: I mean, I haven't really witnessed it, like, firsthand. I've been, you know, kind of told, like, how it happens. 427 01:00:51.900 --> 01:00:58.179 Cynthia Stoddard: I… would like to see, and I think Jamie and Carol and I have all talked about this. 428 01:00:58.420 --> 01:01:07.320 Cynthia Stoddard: Is a system where when money comes in, so this is just receipts, you're receiving money over the counter, is what we say, or from 429 01:01:07.320 --> 01:01:18.589 Cynthia Stoddard: taxpayers or whatever, is to have one point of sale for that. We have a system set up, it's called the Cash Receipt Module. You can use it as a cash register, it will give a receipt if you need to. 430 01:01:19.540 --> 01:01:33.269 Cynthia Stoddard: And during busy times, we can set it up in two locations, so somebody can be doing, you know, the mail for taxes, and somebody can be taking over-the-counter. So it's not going to always be restricted to one person. 431 01:01:33.380 --> 01:01:48.110 Cynthia Stoddard: And I think probably, for the most part, that is what's happening, it's just, logistically, I don't know in the office, like, I mentioned putting… putting that system, like, right at the window. 432 01:01:48.250 --> 01:01:58.439 Cynthia Stoddard: So that they didn't have… they didn't have to run back to their office to type the… the entry, and I think, Jamie, I don't know, you can let me know if that has changed, or if we've made any changes in that area. 433 01:01:59.580 --> 01:02:05.540 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, I think the consent vote, right? 434 01:02:10.530 --> 01:02:13.930 Town of Plainfield: Okay. So, yeah, we're all 435 01:02:14.110 --> 01:02:22.940 Town of Plainfield: on board with that idea. I think we're trying to negotiate the physical space, just right now, where we have 436 01:02:23.570 --> 01:02:27.649 Town of Plainfield: The, the window counter, 437 01:02:28.130 --> 01:02:41.070 Town of Plainfield: set up, there wouldn't be room for the, computer, so, like, yeah, it's a little bit of a, like, there's a couple barriers to that, but we've got that on the horizon, I suppose. 438 01:02:41.690 --> 01:02:54.019 Cynthia Stoddard: Yeah, and I think that the chain of custody is someone's bringing it in, they're cashing it up, I guess, lack of a better term, but cashing it up, making sure that the deposit 439 01:02:54.260 --> 01:03:10.849 Cynthia Stoddard: that they put in the system matches what they got for money, and then it's turned over to Carol for Carol to deposit. You guys stop me if I'm, like, saying something that's completely not happening, but, I think we've had some hiccups with it. Sometimes the cash wasn't balancing. 440 01:03:10.850 --> 01:03:20.159 Cynthia Stoddard: But I think for… I… in my mind, that was kind of a logistical thing, and that's why I came up with the suggestion of this space, of having, you know. 441 01:03:20.270 --> 01:03:23.860 Cynthia Stoddard: And inputting when somebody's standing there. 442 01:03:23.880 --> 01:03:39.580 Cynthia Stoddard: You know, I use the example of you don't, you know, you don't just go into a grocery store and throw your money on the counter. You have to wait for the person to go through the process, and… and if that means people have to wait when it's busy. 443 01:03:39.580 --> 01:03:47.380 Cynthia Stoddard: people have to wait. I don't know what to tell you. I mean, I don't… I don't… you just have to start really… you don't have to be… 444 01:03:47.460 --> 01:03:48.270 Cynthia Stoddard: like… 445 01:03:48.940 --> 01:03:58.050 Cynthia Stoddard: mean and nasty about it, but if there's 5 people in line, and your process is to post the payment while they're standing there, and especially if they have cash, give them a receipt. 446 01:03:58.900 --> 01:04:05.969 Cynthia Stoddard: they have to wait, or they have to come back. I don't know what to tell them. I don't know any other place where you can just give money to somebody and not have them record it. 447 01:04:11.140 --> 01:04:30.279 Town of Plainfield: Just to follow up on the internal controls, as part of the, loan application for the bond bank, it references the internal financial control checklist for municipalities from the state auditor's office, and, you know, we have to answer these questions. 448 01:04:30.280 --> 01:04:38.020 Town of Plainfield: for this, and I'm just wondering, you know, I know you have a copy of this, it's like, you know, a status report on… 449 01:04:38.230 --> 01:04:42.650 Town of Plainfield: You know, how well we do with this, so we can answer these questions honestly. 450 01:04:43.180 --> 01:04:47.370 Cynthia Stoddard: Yeah, I was… I read it today. I was a little bit uncomfortable. 451 01:04:47.370 --> 01:04:49.769 Town of Plainfield: Yeah. Cool. 452 01:04:49.770 --> 01:04:56.129 Cynthia Stoddard: Yeah, I was a little bit un… I mean, I'll review them again and have a discussion, but I've got to review them and really, like… 453 01:04:56.130 --> 01:04:57.400 Town of Plainfield: You know… 454 01:04:58.170 --> 01:05:06.119 Cynthia Stoddard: I think some of them, about 4 months ago, we would have said no to a lot of it. I think there's a lot now we can say yes to. 455 01:05:06.120 --> 01:05:19.349 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, yeah, or, or, or we have a substantive, a substantive alternative that gets to the, to the right function, if you will. 456 01:05:19.350 --> 01:05:26.429 Cynthia Stoddard: I did want to mention the whole cap… so in U… you guys have a financial… what is it called? 457 01:05:26.640 --> 01:05:33.760 Cynthia Stoddard: It is called a financial policy that you guys adopted at some point, or somebody did, maybe not this particular board, but… 458 01:05:33.760 --> 01:05:36.470 Town of Plainfield: Last fall, we adopted it, yes. Yes. 459 01:05:36.470 --> 01:05:45.819 Cynthia Stoddard: There is a section on cash receipt, petty cash, and return check, and there is a section that says if someone gives cash, they have to get a receipt. 460 01:05:45.980 --> 01:05:55.700 Cynthia Stoddard: So, there was a point we were talking about that, and I was going to create, you know, maybe write something up, but I feel like that section of your policy covers that. 461 01:05:57.440 --> 01:06:05.370 Town of Plainfield: Yeah. Right. Yeah, we had to adopt that to submit the Community Development Block Grant. What we did was we went to… 462 01:06:05.560 --> 01:06:17.640 Town of Plainfield: League of Cities, I think it was Dan Fingus, went to League of Cities and Towns, took the model policies, brought them back, we basically adopted them. What we didn't do was the procedures 463 01:06:17.640 --> 01:06:32.580 Town of Plainfield: to implement various sections of it. So, you know, the question is, you know, do we stick with those policies? Do we tweak them in places? And then, you know, putting the protocols in place to implement them. 464 01:06:32.930 --> 01:06:50.099 Cynthia Stoddard: Yeah. I get… I tend to get a lot of pushback from smaller towns when I tell them what my recommendations are for a cash receipt policy, basically what you're bringing into the building every day, because I prefer a daily cash up. I like to pick a time in the afternoon. 465 01:06:50.110 --> 01:07:07.140 Cynthia Stoddard: Cash up. What I get for feedback a lot of times is sometimes we don't have any money. Well, you don't do a cash up that day, or I only sold one dog license. I just like people to get into the mode of cash up every day. I don't care if you have to go to the bank with 5 deposits for the week, or have to run it 466 01:07:07.330 --> 01:07:16.429 Cynthia Stoddard: I… I tend to be a little… I get… I don't get on my high horse and be like, you have to do it, you know? You have to pick the schedule that works for you as a town. 467 01:07:16.430 --> 01:07:17.340 Town of Plainfield: But… 468 01:07:17.340 --> 01:07:33.890 Cynthia Stoddard: it just makes for easier backtracking when you're looking for something. So, if it's not going to be every day, be consistent. It's every week, or it's every other day. Like, don't do it willy-nilly, like, every two weeks, or whatever, so… 469 01:07:36.340 --> 01:07:38.830 Town of Plainfield: I have a question, Ms. Michael. 470 01:07:39.240 --> 01:07:47.980 Town of Plainfield: I had, worked out a system with Josh, which I think might still work, but where this is on the invoice side. 471 01:07:48.450 --> 01:07:52.190 Town of Plainfield: We could provide a invoice 472 01:07:52.350 --> 01:08:11.139 Town of Plainfield: to the email address called Invoices. It would arrive at Josh's office along with an accompanying email, which would say what the expense was for, and under, which of the major accounts, emergency management or hazard mitigation or, or, 473 01:08:11.850 --> 01:08:13.300 Town of Plainfield: shuttle Reserve Fund. 474 01:08:13.790 --> 01:08:15.359 Town of Plainfield: That it was intended to come from. 475 01:08:16.529 --> 01:08:25.300 Town of Plainfield: Is that still going to be approximately the way it works? I mean, we still will be generating invoices, and I want to make sure that we do that part correctly. 476 01:08:26.910 --> 01:08:33.659 Cynthia Stoddard: When you say you will be generating invoices, you mean receiving them from vendors, or you're generating an invoice yourself or something? 477 01:08:34.840 --> 01:08:36.100 Town of Plainfield: The first one. 478 01:08:36.229 --> 01:08:37.880 Town of Plainfield: Okay. 479 01:08:37.880 --> 01:08:43.480 Cynthia Stoddard: So the… operating procedure that I wrote up for accounts payable. 480 01:08:43.830 --> 01:08:51.509 Cynthia Stoddard: I don't want to say that it's exactly like what you're describing, but it should cover what 481 01:08:51.930 --> 01:08:55.309 Cynthia Stoddard: Needs to be done to achieve what you just said. 482 01:08:55.740 --> 01:09:06.040 Cynthia Stoddard: So, I mean, to be honest with you, and somebody there can correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like invoices, it has been a struggle to put town invoices in, because there's been… 483 01:09:06.120 --> 01:09:22.350 Cynthia Stoddard: different people trying to help get them in, to get them paid, and sometimes you just don't know what code to use. So maybe for your stuff, it's been a little more clear, but I just think that that's not… and you guys can correct me if I'm wrong, but that's kind of the sense that I got. 484 01:09:22.680 --> 01:09:31.700 Town of Plainfield: It has not always been clear, because first I asked every vendor to send a copy of the invoice to me so I could track the ongoing costs of things. 485 01:09:31.700 --> 01:09:32.050 Cynthia Stoddard: Yup. 486 01:09:32.050 --> 01:09:47.150 Town of Plainfield: And also, as I explained in another email I'm sending you, that, the chart of accounts under emergency management has many subcategories that weren't intended to relying on us. They were something that was taken by our former town treasurer and 487 01:09:47.160 --> 01:09:55.190 Town of Plainfield: as part of a budget narrative that I created for the select board, and acted as if they were actual accounts for spending money from it. 488 01:09:55.220 --> 01:09:56.929 Town of Plainfield: We're not. So, I wanted. 489 01:09:56.930 --> 01:09:57.280 Cynthia Stoddard: well. 490 01:09:58.740 --> 01:10:04.449 Cynthia Stoddard: Well, that's the way it's presented in the town report, as individual line items with their own individual budgets. 491 01:10:05.160 --> 01:10:10.550 Cynthia Stoddard: So, we don't have in the NIMRICS system what you describe as a subcategory. 492 01:10:11.110 --> 01:10:23.099 Cynthia Stoddard: We have… we have individual expense lines within a department, but they're not called sub… if you're used to looking at, like, a QuickBooks, that's a different system than this. 493 01:10:23.870 --> 01:10:24.300 Cynthia Stoddard: So… 494 01:10:24.300 --> 01:10:31.559 Town of Plainfield: If you were to look at what then you would call expense lines under emergency management. 495 01:10:32.060 --> 01:10:39.229 Town of Plainfield: There are many categories there that we are not actually spending money in that way at all. In other words, they were things that… 496 01:10:39.490 --> 01:10:59.320 Town of Plainfield: emergency management… emergency management coordinator doesn't spend money at all. And there are things that were broken apart as if they were the Emergency Operations Center, but it was just to show the support how we intended to spend money. It wasn't supposed to be expense lines. And when it got turned into expense lines, there was no match between what we were spending 497 01:10:59.380 --> 01:11:09.940 Town of Plainfield: in terms of how we knew it was being stacked, and the line that it should be assigned to, because that line either didn't exist or was wrongly stated. So I'd like to just revise that at some point, if we could. 498 01:11:09.940 --> 01:11:13.140 Cynthia Stoddard: Did you… did you see the email I sent you tonight before this meeting? 499 01:11:13.840 --> 01:11:15.539 Town of Plainfield: Not yet, no, I was… 500 01:11:15.540 --> 01:11:18.999 Cynthia Stoddard: Okay, so take a look at that, and then you and I should talk. 501 01:11:19.750 --> 01:11:20.940 Town of Plainfield: I appreciate that, thank you. 502 01:11:20.940 --> 01:11:30.410 Cynthia Stoddard: Yeah, it might help clear up your question, or it might help me understand how it should be seen, but I did it exactly the way it was presented in the town report. 503 01:11:30.550 --> 01:11:39.700 Cynthia Stoddard: And that is the budget that the voters voted on, and so I moved some expenses, like, if it was an AT&T bill, I moved it to the phone line. 504 01:11:40.210 --> 01:11:43.070 Town of Plainfield: Okay, well, the total would be the same in terms of… Yep, the total. 505 01:11:43.070 --> 01:11:44.099 Cynthia Stoddard: It's the same, yep. 506 01:11:44.100 --> 01:11:47.979 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, but the actual way it's categorized underneath that is the… 507 01:11:47.980 --> 01:11:51.470 Cynthia Stoddard: Take a look at that email I sent you. I answered some of your questions, I think. 508 01:11:51.470 --> 01:11:55.600 Town of Plainfield: I saw your first email, so I think that that gives me clue. 509 01:11:55.710 --> 01:12:01.649 Town of Plainfield: Okay. Michael, I have some stuff to show you, too, so we should talk. 510 01:12:02.700 --> 01:12:06.349 Cynthia Stoddard: So, I just… do we want to have a quick… how much longer do you have for me? 511 01:12:07.370 --> 01:12:22.019 Town of Plainfield: You're coming to the credit card policy moment, but, you know, we have any space in this agenda, this is a precious moment for you to offer this. 512 01:12:22.020 --> 01:12:25.340 Cynthia Stoddard: I would like to go through that accounts payable procedure. 513 01:12:25.770 --> 01:12:28.580 Town of Plainfield: Yes. Go ahead. 514 01:12:28.580 --> 01:12:32.129 Cynthia Stoddard: Because I think that will help answer maybe a question Michael had, and… 515 01:12:32.220 --> 01:12:33.260 Town of Plainfield: So… 516 01:12:33.260 --> 01:12:35.590 Cynthia Stoddard: What seems to… 517 01:12:36.280 --> 01:12:53.050 Cynthia Stoddard: Work best in the towns that are not having a lot of reclassifications because things are coded incorrectly, or having an issue issuing 1099s at the end of the year because they don't have the proper documentation. 518 01:12:53.130 --> 01:13:00.489 Cynthia Stoddard: The best system I've seen is the one that I sent you the draft of a standard operating procedure for accounts payable. 519 01:13:01.820 --> 01:13:18.799 Cynthia Stoddard: So, I'm suggesting that the town… and now, in this, this is water and sewer bills, too. So, I know you guys are not the overseers of those budgets, but the town is receiving bills for town, water, sewer, and whatever else, right? 520 01:13:18.820 --> 01:13:26.639 Cynthia Stoddard: So, my recommendation has been to gather invoices when they come in. Someone should be the point of. 521 01:13:26.640 --> 01:13:27.010 Town of Plainfield: with guests. 522 01:13:27.010 --> 01:13:40.200 Cynthia Stoddard: the mail. I don't know who that person's going to be, but someone needs to pick the mail up and distribute the mail to whoever needs it. That's a task. You guys are going to have to figure out who that person or who that position does that. 523 01:13:41.030 --> 01:13:56.300 Cynthia Stoddard: They open the mail, and when they find an invoice, I sent you guys a picture of a stamp that you can purchase that actually gives you an approval line, a GL code, the date you received the invoice. I sent it in an email right before this meeting. 524 01:13:56.300 --> 01:14:01.570 Town of Plainfield: Cynthia, is this… you're saying this is the function of the person who picks up the mail? 525 01:14:02.420 --> 01:14:03.889 Town of Plainfield: And opens it. 526 01:14:03.890 --> 01:14:04.420 Cynthia Stoddard: Yep. 527 01:14:04.590 --> 01:14:10.290 Cynthia Stoddard: It's really just picking it up, and if it's an invoice, put that stamp on it, because somebody's gonna have to fill it out, right? 528 01:14:11.210 --> 01:14:17.380 Cynthia Stoddard: Then, within the office itself, you have a location that has mailboxes. 529 01:14:18.020 --> 01:14:19.130 Cynthia Stoddard: Road foremen. 530 01:14:19.530 --> 01:14:24.280 Cynthia Stoddard: water… I don't know what the water guy's official name is, but. 531 01:14:24.280 --> 01:14:25.080 Town of Plainfield: Corporate. 532 01:14:26.850 --> 01:14:33.659 Cynthia Stoddard: town clerk, emergency management, grants, whatever, right? Whoever these… 533 01:14:33.870 --> 01:14:45.549 Cynthia Stoddard: And if there's an invoice for that particular person, position, whoever's in charge of the budget that this falls under, and then there's one that's kind of like a free-for-all, like, we don't know, right? We get an invoice, we're not quite sure. 534 01:14:46.770 --> 01:15:00.770 Cynthia Stoddard: On a regular basis, either these people stop by the office that are in charge of that section of their budget, or it's done through electronic, you can scan the invoice, send it to the department head, whatever. I don't know how you guys will figure that out, but 535 01:15:00.970 --> 01:15:06.639 Cynthia Stoddard: That person has a copy of their budget with the account number codes on it. 536 01:15:06.860 --> 01:15:14.640 Cynthia Stoddard: they approve the invoice, because they're the ones, they know they ordered it or not, you know? They were billed for 10, well, I only got 3. This isn't right. 537 01:15:14.850 --> 01:15:25.680 Cynthia Stoddard: Or, this is the town of Pittsburgh, not Plainfield, you know, those kinds of things. They're gonna know if they… So, and then that gives them the… 538 01:15:26.360 --> 01:15:28.459 Cynthia Stoddard: Ownership over their budget. 539 01:15:28.700 --> 01:15:31.550 Cynthia Stoddard: They see what they have left, they see the account numbers. 540 01:15:32.850 --> 01:15:44.249 Cynthia Stoddard: put the account number on it, okay it, and then send it back for a cycle of paying bills, like, every other week. Usually, towns do it on meeting week, so I… 541 01:15:44.250 --> 01:15:54.650 Cynthia Stoddard: I can't tell you how many towns call it a warrant day. They sit down, and they put their bills in, because their select board's gonna meet in 2 days, and they want to get it done for that meeting. 542 01:15:54.650 --> 01:15:55.930 Town of Plainfield: Ready? 543 01:15:55.930 --> 01:16:01.580 Cynthia Stoddard: So, that's easy to do. You guys have regular scheduled select board meetings, and probably the water commissioners also do. 544 01:16:01.700 --> 01:16:09.210 Cynthia Stoddard: just have that schedule of, this is the day I'm going to do AP, okay? And then… 545 01:16:09.960 --> 01:16:17.450 Cynthia Stoddard: the person that is inputting the invoices have the bills from the… they're already coded. That person inputting invoices 546 01:16:17.560 --> 01:16:24.039 Cynthia Stoddard: Which, in this case right now, is Carol, with probably a little bit of help, but Carol has been assigned that task. 547 01:16:24.400 --> 01:16:30.390 Cynthia Stoddard: And they don't have to make judgment calls on where the bill should be posted. 548 01:16:31.320 --> 01:16:36.649 Cynthia Stoddard: Right? So this… this helps eliminate those mistakes that are being made, because 549 01:16:36.830 --> 01:16:48.320 Cynthia Stoddard: the poor person putting in the bill knows they're on a deadline, they just pick a number. Like, this looks close enough. And so then that… that helps with that. 550 01:16:49.040 --> 01:16:59.479 Cynthia Stoddard: and then enter those, print the checks, create a warrant. Now, remember, Treasurers cannot sign a check 551 01:16:59.740 --> 01:17:05.410 Cynthia Stoddard: to pay any vendor, I don't care who they are, without select board approval. 552 01:17:05.650 --> 01:17:10.150 Cynthia Stoddard: So no one should, in between these two weeks, should be asking for a check to be cut to them. 553 01:17:11.290 --> 01:17:16.039 Cynthia Stoddard: There should be a policy that you will not… unless it's an absolute emergency. 554 01:17:16.640 --> 01:17:19.479 Cynthia Stoddard: Right? Then you can call a special meeting for the board to sign. 555 01:17:19.960 --> 01:17:27.219 Cynthia Stoddard: But by statute, a treasurer is not able to sign a check without select board approval. That's just the law. 556 01:17:27.510 --> 01:17:38.930 Cynthia Stoddard: That's what this whole process in our, you know, in our history was set up to, is that the treasurer was, was, was ordered, we used to call it orders, was ordered to pay these bills. 557 01:17:40.380 --> 01:17:47.519 Cynthia Stoddard: But then they sign it, and then, somebody mails in and stuffs the envelopes and sends the bills out. 558 01:17:47.910 --> 01:17:48.510 Cynthia Stoddard: Now. 559 01:17:49.200 --> 01:17:59.830 Cynthia Stoddard: The network system has the ability to send things ACH. They can still be signed for before they go out. So we have some other electronic means that can be bolt in that would help with some of this. 560 01:18:00.720 --> 01:18:12.880 Cynthia Stoddard: And then somebody has to be, you know, staple the check to their original invoice, put them in vendor files so that they're easily, able to… to be found. You can… 561 01:18:13.490 --> 01:18:20.849 Cynthia Stoddard: and invoices into the Nimrick system so that you can recall them in the NIMRIC system instead of having to go to a file cabinet. 562 01:18:21.670 --> 01:18:28.580 Cynthia Stoddard: And, you know, it's just that… that control over your own budget. 563 01:18:29.850 --> 01:18:42.999 Cynthia Stoddard: And it takes the onus off of the treasurer to do the coding. Now, I've been told before that that's the treasurer's job. It is not the treasurer's job to code bills. The treasurer is not responsible for the budget. 564 01:18:44.010 --> 01:18:46.090 Cynthia Stoddard: They may help create it. 565 01:18:46.690 --> 01:19:01.259 Cynthia Stoddard: They may help, but they don't… they're not… that's not their job. It's the Select Board's fiduciary responsibility to take care of the budget, and it's the department head's responsibility to understand what they're asking the town for for money, and how it's being spent. 566 01:19:02.660 --> 01:19:08.859 Cynthia Stoddard: The first part of this operating procedure talks about making sure you get proper documentation before. 567 01:19:09.110 --> 01:19:09.660 Town of Plainfield: You mean… 568 01:19:09.660 --> 01:19:19.889 Cynthia Stoddard: You can pay a vendor, which is an IRS Form W-9 if they're an independent contractor. Sometimes they need contracts, certificates of insurance. 569 01:19:20.220 --> 01:19:30.729 Cynthia Stoddard: We can talk about the details of those and how they need to know when they need them. It's also recognizing if somebody's being paid as a vendor, but really should be paid as payroll. 570 01:19:31.020 --> 01:19:32.739 Cynthia Stoddard: You guys have a few of those. 571 01:19:33.340 --> 01:19:38.329 Cynthia Stoddard: That there probably should be considered payroll, not an AP vendor. 572 01:19:39.320 --> 01:19:48.700 Cynthia Stoddard: So, that's my suggestion. I know that there's a little bit of pushback on department heads not wanting to code bills. 573 01:19:49.600 --> 01:19:53.989 Cynthia Stoddard: I think we can make it as painless as possible. 574 01:19:54.830 --> 01:19:59.800 Cynthia Stoddard: I don't… I think once they see it, things are hard to understand until you actually do it. 575 01:20:00.050 --> 01:20:18.459 Cynthia Stoddard: Like, it's really hard to understand how, how much time it's going to take. But I think that that answers the question of, was it Michael that was talking about the… what Josh and him had set up? It's not the same, but it gives you the control over your line items to know where your bills are going to be paid from. 576 01:20:26.400 --> 01:20:39.449 Town of Plainfield: So I want to start by thanking you. I think this is something that, obviously, you know, we're small, and when you're small, this seems like a lot of work. But if you go to any large company, I think we've all worked for them. 577 01:20:39.450 --> 01:20:41.250 Town of Plainfield: That's… this is how it works. 578 01:20:41.250 --> 01:21:04.460 Town of Plainfield: So I think it's great. I think having the checks and balances in place is always a positive, so thank you. I… in perspective of what Mike had said, I know I've dealt with the email, that comes in, but would it not make more sense for those emails to start going to the head 579 01:21:04.590 --> 01:21:13.419 Town of Plainfield: People of their budgets, they then approve it and then submit it on, so that we're not kind of doing that back and forth. 580 01:21:13.420 --> 01:21:14.180 Cynthia Stoddard: Yeah, however. 581 01:21:14.180 --> 01:21:31.239 Town of Plainfield: I don't know, that might be a suggestion, is to start with sending those there. Like, for example, if he's getting an email, and then he just forwards this on, he authorizes it, he puts it on there electronically, and maybe we can save the whole paper 582 01:21:31.240 --> 01:21:36.200 Town of Plainfield: paper world, I guess, because we're just at the town office, we're just printing things. 583 01:21:36.200 --> 01:21:41.110 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, I also want to just hop on this, because… 584 01:21:41.170 --> 01:21:50.850 Town of Plainfield: I've been using the invoices at, email because I'll get invoices from the consultant we're working with on the FEMA stuff, right? 585 01:21:50.890 --> 01:22:04.450 Town of Plainfield: And I approve it, but I send it over via that invoice account saying… saying, this is okay to pay, and it comes out of this account, you know, it's for the Flood Recovery 509 account. 586 01:22:04.450 --> 01:22:11.640 Town of Plainfield: That's been working, because… because I'm not necessarily in the office, or there wouldn't… so I think sometimes… 587 01:22:11.640 --> 01:22:20.579 Town of Plainfield: things come into the office by mail, that's one way, right? And otherwise, we sometimes also get invoices sent to us for things we've been working on. 588 01:22:20.580 --> 01:22:31.379 Town of Plainfield: So the process needs to be able to accommodate, like, both of those situations, so that it gets… it all gets in the same system there, yeah. 589 01:22:31.380 --> 01:22:43.550 Cynthia Stoddard: Yeah, I would take this draft that I have, and I would put in what you guys know about your individual situation. Let me just caution you about email invoices, though. 590 01:22:44.960 --> 01:22:49.589 Cynthia Stoddard: If you have invoices going to either several email accounts. 591 01:22:49.950 --> 01:22:50.470 Town of Plainfield: Or… 592 01:22:50.470 --> 01:22:54.390 Cynthia Stoddard: Are individual email accounts within an office. 593 01:22:54.910 --> 01:22:59.709 Cynthia Stoddard: I have been involved in many towns when turnover happens. 594 01:23:00.090 --> 01:23:10.999 Cynthia Stoddard: all of a sudden, invoices are lost, bills are not being paid, and so that control over where the invoices are going. 595 01:23:11.180 --> 01:23:19.489 Cynthia Stoddard: is very important. So, in one town, they were using individual, like, it would say, say, C. Stoddard at whatever, it's plainfield Dot, right? 596 01:23:20.160 --> 01:23:30.369 Cynthia Stoddard: I… that person had been getting emails of invoices to them, and then they left, and their email was shut off. 597 01:23:30.780 --> 01:23:35.699 Cynthia Stoddard: But not shut off that they couldn't accept emails. Nobody could get to it. 598 01:23:35.840 --> 01:23:52.389 Cynthia Stoddard: So, in that case, we ended up setting up an email that said AP invoices at whatever town. Every invoice, if they were going to sign up for an electronic invoice, came to that, because that was a shared email for people doing accounts payable. 599 01:23:52.940 --> 01:24:01.450 Cynthia Stoddard: So you've just got to be careful when you've got invoices coming to an individual, that if that individual, if that chain ever breaks, for whatever reason. 600 01:24:01.450 --> 01:24:08.930 Town of Plainfield: Right? Yeah. Yeah? So, could heads have… so when you're saying that… Microphone. 601 01:24:09.020 --> 01:24:26.799 Town of Plainfield: So when you're saying that, can you have had people, like, for instance, I know Karen's on that email, and she does that, so could we do the similar thing so that everybody's having to approve those? But I agree, I hear what you're saying in reference to that, but I just feel like… 602 01:24:26.800 --> 01:24:29.300 Town of Plainfield: Doing some electronic versus passing papers around. 603 01:24:29.300 --> 01:24:30.240 Cynthia Stoddard: Oh yeah, I totally agree. 604 01:24:30.240 --> 01:24:31.589 Town of Plainfield: It's more efficient. Yeah. 605 01:24:32.060 --> 01:24:32.610 Town of Plainfield: Yeah. 606 01:24:32.670 --> 01:24:40.240 Cynthia Stoddard: I mean, I talked to your road foreman today, I was telling him about this, I was gonna have this discussion about coding invoices. Is he there? Like, I keep talking about him, and I'm… 607 01:24:40.240 --> 01:24:43.220 Town of Plainfield: He's not here. 608 01:24:43.220 --> 01:24:52.249 Cynthia Stoddard: And he, you know, his comment was he wasn't sure when he was gonna have time, which I totally understand, but if he was gonna have to go and pick up a… 609 01:24:52.250 --> 01:25:06.569 Cynthia Stoddard: you know, look in his mailbox in the office, he would need access earlier in the morning. And I said, well, they could probably scan the invoices to you. Like, we don't… it doesn't… like, the way I'm saying it doesn't have to exactly be done this way. Like, whatever 610 01:25:06.570 --> 01:25:12.570 Cynthia Stoddard: I don't care, just get the bills paid and coded right, and these are some of the ideas to get it to that point. 611 01:25:13.800 --> 01:25:15.910 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, thank you. 612 01:25:16.430 --> 01:25:25.159 Town of Plainfield: I just wanted to offer an update about that. So I talked to Michael Bingham probably right after he did, and… 613 01:25:25.320 --> 01:25:28.779 Town of Plainfield: He asked me to set up, 614 01:25:29.840 --> 01:25:49.300 Town of Plainfield: like, a highway at playingfieldbt.gov email, and also, like, a highway invoices at plainfieldbt.gov, so he could receive his department stuff, and then forward them to our invoices at whatever. Oh, good. So that, that feels, like, really nice to me. I feel like that'll be just, like, a huge… 615 01:25:49.560 --> 01:25:50.840 Town of Plainfield: Shoot, can he… does he… 616 01:25:50.840 --> 01:25:53.670 Cynthia Stoddard: I'm telling you, he's getting an award from me this week. 617 01:25:53.670 --> 01:26:10.259 Town of Plainfield: Yes. We need to throw them apart. Yeah, yeah. Oh, sorry. On the technical, logistical question, I mean, hearing the highway invoices that then need to be forwarded to invoices for the town, 618 01:26:10.590 --> 01:26:14.949 Town of Plainfield: forwarding to be set up? That seems like, Well… No. 619 01:26:15.810 --> 01:26:32.900 Town of Plainfield: It would go to him first, just for the coding. Yes, yes, the code. And then, I don't know, I was imagining the forwarding part, but probably what's more realistic is, like, I don't know, printing them out, or… I don't know where he's going to be doing that work, I know he's going to be doing it early. 620 01:26:32.900 --> 01:26:35.880 Cynthia Stoddard: So listen, this is what I know, is that… 621 01:26:36.310 --> 01:26:53.249 Cynthia Stoddard: Everybody, especially when you get people that are really used to starting to use shared drives and that kind of thing, we're always talking about email, and we're always talking about, like, just a mailbox in the office and that kind of thing, but at Nimerick, we've really started to embrace using Google shared drives. 622 01:26:53.270 --> 01:27:07.200 Cynthia Stoddard: Where everything just gets uploaded to a shared drive when it's about a client. So, like, Plainfield has one on our shared drive, and if I ever have to have somebody take over, they are going to know exactly… they have access to it on… from… 623 01:27:07.260 --> 01:27:23.759 Cynthia Stoddard: my staff has access, so if I say to them, can you reconcile this bank account for me? They just go there and do it. So, that's the other… you guys will come up with something. Once you get this down where people are coding, you might come up with another way to even do it that's even more streamlined. 624 01:27:25.060 --> 01:27:39.939 Town of Plainfield: So, I'll also add, I heard that you said Nemerk actually has the ability to attach a receipt or an invoice to a transaction. So, again, by doing the email, you'll be able to take that 625 01:27:39.970 --> 01:27:57.160 Town of Plainfield: invoice right from the email, and bring it over to the American system for a time to scan it, so it is a time saver there for efficiency, and having those attached to transactions will make it so that if Bonnie needs a copy of an invoice showing that we purchased the vehicle. 626 01:27:57.190 --> 01:28:01.999 Town of Plainfield: It's there. She can just look in our system, and Carol won't have to go through the 627 01:28:02.000 --> 01:28:18.340 Town of Plainfield: Which was amazing, and time efficient. We're gonna be so good. So, Mr. Chair? Yeah. Shall we move to the, credit card authorization? Is it time? Yeah, can we? Yeah, we can do that. 628 01:28:22.300 --> 01:28:44.460 Town of Plainfield: You throw the party for Mike, and we'll come. Yeah, he's away on vacation for two… starting two weeks for two weeks. Alright, so we have a Town of Plainfield, Vermont credit card use policy, and Cynthia, you sent us this too, right? That was one of your… 629 01:28:44.460 --> 01:28:48.279 Cynthia Stoddard: So this came up as a result of a discussion 630 01:28:48.350 --> 01:29:08.160 Cynthia Stoddard: that, when some credit card… when the credit card bill came, there was some receipts missing. Like, they didn't have the receipt to attach to the bill or understand what it was, and so I… at that point, I said, well, I have a sample credit card policy that, you know, every town should probably have, and 631 01:29:08.840 --> 01:29:26.770 Cynthia Stoddard: anything I say is not telling… I have no suspicion of this whatsoever, but I can tell you the… the fraud that I've run into in the last few fraud cases I've had in towns have been surrounding the credit card, where they've used it for personal expenses, or, yeah. 632 01:29:27.090 --> 01:29:43.410 Cynthia Stoddard: And it's just not being tracked as well as it should. So, that is why this policy is important, is just to put the rules right out there. Whoever's using one from the town, they sign this, they acknowledge this is what they're accepting as a responsibility. 633 01:29:43.410 --> 01:29:51.939 Cynthia Stoddard: And then it helps the person that's putting in the bills to pay the credit card later be able to track it without having to track down receipts and stuff. 634 01:29:51.940 --> 01:30:00.640 Town of Plainfield: Can I ask a question? Yeah. Sure. So this is a process question. What's your recommendation about, 635 01:30:00.910 --> 01:30:07.329 Town of Plainfield: you know, how we institute new policy. You know, is it… 636 01:30:07.670 --> 01:30:18.340 Town of Plainfield: Is it from the board, in an email to the department heads, etc, and the people who would be involved? Is it something that the town clerk would do? Is it… 637 01:30:18.340 --> 01:30:20.079 Cynthia Stoddard: No, I think it comes from the board. 638 01:30:20.080 --> 01:30:35.980 Town of Plainfield: has to come from us, and is it… is it an in-person, kind of, let's have a talk about this and explain it and why? Or is it an email to everyone saying this is the new policy and the way we're doing it? Like, what have you found that works, I guess, is what my question is. 639 01:30:35.980 --> 01:30:39.850 Cynthia Stoddard: I am a huge believer in 640 01:30:40.040 --> 01:30:47.690 Cynthia Stoddard: sitting down, especially when you don't have… I mean, you only have a handful of staff. It's not like you have 50 people you're trying to… 641 01:30:47.810 --> 01:31:00.740 Cynthia Stoddard: And just say, this is what we're exploring, this is what we're… what are your questions, how are you feeling about it? And I… and I always say up front that whatever you're telling me doesn't mean that I'm gonna change my mind that we're not going to do this. 642 01:31:01.150 --> 01:31:05.560 Cynthia Stoddard: But I want their input, because nobody likes to get something 643 01:31:05.740 --> 01:31:09.190 Cynthia Stoddard: Just slam in an email, this is what we're doing. 644 01:31:09.300 --> 01:31:12.459 Cynthia Stoddard: With no context of why it even came up, right? 645 01:31:12.460 --> 01:31:13.930 Town of Plainfield: Yeah. Yep. 646 01:31:13.930 --> 01:31:18.960 Cynthia Stoddard: But then, you might come across a policy that you know is so non-controversial. 647 01:31:19.190 --> 01:31:25.740 Cynthia Stoddard: That you don't have to. I don't… I mean, you know… you know, it was like… it was like back when I was a manager in Putney, I would be like. 648 01:31:26.230 --> 01:31:40.910 Cynthia Stoddard: if I was going to have a zoning meeting, a development review board meeting, I knew if I needed the fire station for the crowd, or if I could just do it at my office. Like, you just kind of know what's going to be controversial and what's not. 649 01:31:41.280 --> 01:31:51.090 Cynthia Stoddard: So, that's not to say you shouldn't always kind of put it out and say, hey, this is what we're talking about, do you have any feedback? But it might not always mean you're face-to-face and having this big, huge discussion. 650 01:31:51.510 --> 01:31:59.700 Town of Plainfield: Okay, thank you. Cynthia, I actually don't know how many credit cards the Town of Plainfield has. 651 01:31:59.710 --> 01:32:09.780 Town of Plainfield: I don't know if Water Wastewater uses them. I don't know if any department heads have their own. I know you and Carol were doing some stuff today and got rid of 652 01:32:09.780 --> 01:32:21.500 Town of Plainfield: one in the office. But, in addition to credit cards, we have, local businesses where the town has a charge account. 653 01:32:22.490 --> 01:32:37.269 Town of Plainfield: like, I'm thinking of the co-op hardware store, you know, the lumberyard in East Montpelier, that various departments use. Where does that fit in with… it seems to me that's, like, the same thing as credit card. 654 01:32:37.890 --> 01:32:39.620 Cynthia Stoddard: Yeah, I mean, I… 655 01:32:39.620 --> 01:32:40.740 Town of Plainfield: coded. 656 01:32:41.000 --> 01:32:53.009 Cynthia Stoddard: Yeah, I'm not really familiar with how the local business tracks who, like, do they have a name on file? Do you guys… someone would have to tell me that, or they just know you, so they just know that you can. 657 01:32:53.340 --> 01:32:55.410 Town of Plainfield: They'd have to bring a receipt back, though. 658 01:32:55.410 --> 01:32:55.740 Cynthia Stoddard: Yeah. 659 01:32:55.990 --> 01:33:12.470 Town of Plainfield: But there's no way to identify, so if somebody doesn't bring that receipt back, there's no way to identify. So typically speaking, sorry, I don't… Yeah, well, I mean, I give an example, I went… A credit card, right, you were one of… but typically with a credit card, everybody is given a separate, like. 660 01:33:12.470 --> 01:33:22.190 Town of Plainfield: digits, for your credit card. So at least we can track it back to say whose credit card is this, and request credit card… receipts from them. 661 01:33:22.190 --> 01:33:39.080 Town of Plainfield: But you can't do it with the store credits. So, there was many receipts… when I was processing, there was some receipts missing, or people that didn't write it on there. I know you wrote something on there, I think, but that's what we were… Look, the example is, 662 01:33:39.080 --> 01:33:49.480 Town of Plainfield: this happened a few months ago on a weekend, the toilet seat broke, right? And so, Carol was 663 01:33:49.480 --> 01:34:13.930 Town of Plainfield: freaking out, and I said, alright, I'm gonna do a good deed here. So I went to the hardware store, got a toilet seat, got bought back and replaced it, and I went to the counter, and I said, okay, should I buy this myself and get a receipt? Or I said, I bet the town has a charge account here. And so I did. Now, I'm the former general manager of the co-op, so they know me, right? And so they said, yeah, the town has an account, so we'll put it on that. 664 01:34:13.930 --> 01:34:24.050 Town of Plainfield: Right? I'm thinking that probably shouldn't have occurred. We were gonna go test it to see if I could do it. You know, but… 665 01:34:24.050 --> 01:34:24.410 Cynthia Stoddard: Sweet. 666 01:34:24.410 --> 01:34:39.540 Town of Plainfield: or the co-op should have some formal communication from the town that says the following people… These are approved lists. These are approved lists. You know, we have an approved list of people in our purchasing and procedures… 667 01:34:39.540 --> 01:34:41.009 Cynthia Stoddard: Yeah, I mean, I agree. 668 01:34:41.010 --> 01:34:41.500 Town of Plainfield: You know. 669 01:34:41.500 --> 01:34:44.589 Cynthia Stoddard: I agree, I think that, that it is… 670 01:34:45.020 --> 01:34:45.630 Town of Plainfield: It… 671 01:34:45.630 --> 01:34:49.099 Cynthia Stoddard: It's open to an issue, right? There could be an issue. 672 01:34:49.860 --> 01:34:57.399 Cynthia Stoddard: But then, there is this part of me that this is why we love Vermont, right? 673 01:34:57.690 --> 01:35:00.720 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, yeah. 674 01:35:00.720 --> 01:35:06.450 Cynthia Stoddard: But… but it does open up… so I would want the store to have… 675 01:35:06.860 --> 01:35:13.879 Cynthia Stoddard: some type of list. I can tell you in all the years I've done this, I've never run into an issue in that realm. 676 01:35:15.700 --> 01:35:22.480 Cynthia Stoddard: I have… I have… the credit card has been the issue for me, you know? I did some bills for a town once, I'm like. 677 01:35:22.660 --> 01:35:26.100 Cynthia Stoddard: Why are there cigars on this… on this credit? 678 01:35:26.100 --> 01:35:33.499 Town of Plainfield: It's the same cold room. 679 01:35:33.730 --> 01:35:42.589 Town of Plainfield: I do want to say, in the midst of all this, I just got an email from one of our contractors working on one of our projects, that we have again overpaid. 680 01:35:42.590 --> 01:36:02.260 Town of Plainfield: This is twice in a row that we've overpaid them, and they're applying a credit for the next invoice. So this has happened now two times. So all of what we're talking about tonight is, like, real time, this is happening, and we need these systems, you know, we really, really, really need them. So I just came in and just… 681 01:36:02.260 --> 01:36:09.220 Cynthia Stoddard: It sounds like what I heard… it sounds like what I heard today is that they've… the invoices that were in the office are caught up now. 682 01:36:09.870 --> 01:36:18.680 Cynthia Stoddard: Right? So, this is a good time to implement this, and I feel like it's a good time to implement even having the 683 01:36:18.800 --> 01:36:25.289 Cynthia Stoddard: coding done by department heads, because I do have the chart of accounts to mostly what it should be. 684 01:36:25.620 --> 01:36:30.579 Cynthia Stoddard: Right? So, it's a good list for them to start using it. 685 01:36:30.800 --> 01:36:49.730 Town of Plainfield: Well, and I think, given that we're almost at June 1st, and our new fiscal year starts July 1st, we can use the month of June to basically try it out, and people can fumble a couple of times, and, you know, whatnot, but, you know, we should really start the new fiscal year doing this all right. 686 01:36:50.180 --> 01:36:51.930 Town of Plainfield: Yeah. And I'm happy. 687 01:36:51.930 --> 01:37:09.669 Cynthia Stoddard: I'm happy to work with people that need to look at the chart of accounts to show them, you know, what number we're talking about and how to code. I feel like, Tammy, I feel like there's people there that can do that too, so I don't know that you need me, but I would take that… that procedure that I put in place, and I would refine it to the way you guys want it. 688 01:37:09.680 --> 01:37:16.270 Cynthia Stoddard: And with all the things we said tonight, and you can implement it. It's really not that… it's really not that major a change. 689 01:37:16.270 --> 01:37:24.919 Town of Plainfield: Andy and Tammy, did you want to bring us back to credit cards? I was going to make a motion. Back to credit cards, okay. Yeah, let's nail this first. 690 01:37:24.920 --> 01:37:49.529 Town of Plainfield: So just, some financial advice. In the sense of credit cards, typically if you get the right credit card, you get some points. So instead of using Plainfield Hardware Store, get some points for the town and save up some money. Yeah, but they want to transact and go take a vacation. I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Don't write that down, Eric. 691 01:37:49.530 --> 01:37:58.050 Town of Plainfield: I didn't mean it. So, I'm gonna move to accept the credit card use policy as submitted by number. 692 01:37:58.360 --> 01:38:14.970 Town of Plainfield: A second tab. Friendly amendment? Yes. There are some fill-in-the-blanks about the policy… That's true. That we need to fill in before we can approve it, I believe. So, set monthly limit, single purchase limit. 693 01:38:15.110 --> 01:38:31.899 Town of Plainfield: naming the approval from, you know, department head, etc. So there… I don't need to go through them all, but there's some fill-in-the-blanks here. So then let's… I will withdraw my motion, and let's look at that, and do it at the next meeting. 694 01:38:32.100 --> 01:38:38.510 Town of Plainfield: Okay. I think that we have some, in our… 695 01:38:38.510 --> 01:39:00.980 Town of Plainfield: purchasing and procurement policies, there are some dollar limits, and there are some named, officers, so we want to take a look at that and see if there are any additions, and we might need to amend that policy in order to do that. Yeah, I think that's right, so there's a little more work on this. And then also, I think on the accounts payable policy, if we want to massage that a little bit and get that to where it makes the most sense 696 01:39:00.980 --> 01:39:04.989 Town of Plainfield: For us. And then bring that back to the next meeting for… 697 01:39:04.990 --> 01:39:21.449 Town of Plainfield: adoption. We could do that. I'm sorry, what is… Sorry, the accounts payable. Okay, so bringing back both the accounts payable and the credit card. Right, for June 8th. Okay, thank you. Does that make sense? Cynthia, did you give us, 698 01:39:21.550 --> 01:39:24.650 Town of Plainfield: Did you give us one for cash, also? Was there a… 699 01:39:24.650 --> 01:39:28.219 Cynthia Stoddard: No, because it's already in that financial policy. 700 01:39:28.220 --> 01:39:45.620 Town of Plainfield: Okay. Got it. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, the financial policies that we adopted are on the town website, and as are these documents, now, on the selectford page, the public documents, like that's Jamie put up there, so… 701 01:39:45.620 --> 01:39:49.349 Cynthia Stoddard: The cash side of things is more a procedure than a policy. 702 01:39:49.610 --> 01:39:51.280 Town of Plainfield: Okay. Yeah. 703 01:39:51.790 --> 01:39:56.200 Town of Plainfield: So, in reference to the accounts payable, 704 01:39:56.200 --> 01:40:12.390 Town of Plainfield: I almost feel like doing that sooner than later would make sense if you're trying to catch… because all bills come out at the beginning, so the first two weeks of the month are usually your busiest, so I don't know if we can kind of look at that and maybe throw some stuff in there about… 705 01:40:12.390 --> 01:40:24.339 Town of Plainfield: I don't know, I'm just thinking, if you're trying to get this into play, usually first two weeks were the busiest, putting it in here, both. I wanted to, now that we've gone to bi-weekly payroll. 706 01:40:24.500 --> 01:40:34.190 Town of Plainfield: If we did, what did you call it, warrant a day, or whatever, if we did bi-weekly accounts payable in the non-payroll week. 707 01:40:34.400 --> 01:40:38.060 Cynthia Stoddard: That would be the ultimate… Schedule. 708 01:40:38.060 --> 01:40:56.010 Town of Plainfield: Efficiency. So the other thing to take into consideration is just making sure that we're timing our bills so that… because the post office is taking so long. So I think that's what you're running into, is that we're getting a lot of duplicate bills, because 709 01:40:56.010 --> 01:41:12.639 Town of Plainfield: we're sending it 2 weeks, and then the mail's taking 2 weeks, and then our bills are showing, like, double pay, that we owe more than we do, and I know that that's been a lot of it, is that just trying to figure out what's been paid and what hasn't. 710 01:41:12.680 --> 01:41:14.720 Town of Plainfield: That type of thing. So, just taking. 711 01:41:14.720 --> 01:41:15.710 Cynthia Stoddard: The answer. 712 01:41:15.710 --> 01:41:16.230 Town of Plainfield: Excellent. 713 01:41:16.230 --> 01:41:17.079 Cynthia Stoddard: The other thing is. 714 01:41:18.210 --> 01:41:29.149 Cynthia Stoddard: There might need to be some training on accounts payable, because you shouldn't… if you've paid an invoice and you try to use that same invoice number again, it should tell you that it's been paid. 715 01:41:29.690 --> 01:41:40.410 Cynthia Stoddard: So, I don't know what's happening with that, and then some training on that default, general ledger numbers for, like, phone bills and stuff, we should go over that. 716 01:41:40.550 --> 01:41:43.609 Cynthia Stoddard: But it's really going to be, for me. 717 01:41:43.810 --> 01:41:47.669 Cynthia Stoddard: who is going to do the training? Now, I… 718 01:41:47.670 --> 01:42:05.409 Cynthia Stoddard: The last I knew is that Carol was doing the APs. It sounds like Tammy's been helping. So, someone… I just need the direction of who it is that's going to be trained on this, because I'm happy to sit with them for a couple hours, we'll just do it remotely and say, let's talk about how it's going on, and… 719 01:42:05.410 --> 01:42:10.690 Cynthia Stoddard: And what we can do to streamline some of these things, but you shouldn't be getting too many of these duplicates. 720 01:42:11.540 --> 01:42:17.759 Cynthia Stoddard: payments, because the invoice would be the same, whether it's on a statement or it's a duplicate invoice. I don't… yeah, I don't quite get that, but… 721 01:42:18.630 --> 01:42:37.349 Town of Plainfield: This is Francis Rhodes, and I'm looking at the accounts payable, standard operating procedures that you're proposing here, and there are none of the fill-in-the-blanks, or there are not fill-in-the-blanks as there were with credit card policy, so I'm wondering if the accounts payable is something you could make a motion on tonight. 722 01:42:38.230 --> 01:42:41.999 Cynthia Stoddard: I think that one needs to be refined with what you guys need. 723 01:42:43.140 --> 01:42:47.299 Town of Plainfield: Well, I think we adopted it tonight, and then we refined it. 724 01:42:47.660 --> 01:43:00.529 Town of Plainfield: we could then readopt. I mean, that gets us started, to Tammy's point, right? Yes, that at least gets us… gets it moving, and then we can… We can always amend. We can amend it and make it better. 725 01:43:00.530 --> 01:43:02.039 Cynthia Stoddard: Okay, yeah, that makes sense. 726 01:43:02.310 --> 01:43:03.259 Town of Plainfield: You wanna make the most? 727 01:43:04.030 --> 01:43:11.840 Town of Plainfield: I would make a motion that we adopt the standard operating procedure for accounts payable, as outlined by us. 728 01:43:12.110 --> 01:43:13.470 Town of Plainfield: Cynthia started. 729 01:43:14.070 --> 01:43:15.750 Town of Plainfield: I'll second. 730 01:43:16.920 --> 01:43:20.820 Town of Plainfield: All right, it's been moved and seconded. Is there further discussion? 731 01:43:23.320 --> 01:43:45.660 Town of Plainfield: If not, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? And that passes unanimously. 5-0. Thank you, that's big people. All right. Cynthia's big. And then, the process of informing folks and kind of training folks, we need to work through. 732 01:43:45.660 --> 01:43:48.989 Town of Plainfield: Yep. It sounds like this is a training period. 733 01:43:48.990 --> 01:43:50.979 Town of Plainfield: to work on… 734 01:43:51.160 --> 01:43:58.079 Town of Plainfield: See about adopting this and see where it has to change, and then we'll be revisiting this in two weeks. 735 01:43:58.180 --> 01:44:02.299 Town of Plainfield: And, you know, I'll give you an example. I don't know who the AP clerk is. 736 01:44:03.070 --> 01:44:08.409 Town of Plainfield: It's assigned to somebody, and I don't know who that somebody is, so we need to figure that out. 737 01:44:08.410 --> 01:44:11.060 Cynthia Stoddard: Right now, I would say technically it's Carol. 738 01:44:11.370 --> 01:44:12.220 Town of Plainfield: Okay. 739 01:44:12.220 --> 01:44:19.059 Cynthia Stoddard: Whether she's delegating or having somebody help her, that's different, but the last I knew, the discussion with Carol. 740 01:44:19.540 --> 01:44:20.600 Cynthia Stoddard: Peter? 741 01:44:20.860 --> 01:44:26.899 Cynthia Stoddard: and maybe, I don't know if Francis was involved in it, but it was… Carol was going to do it. 742 01:44:27.260 --> 01:44:28.500 Town of Plainfield: Okay? Yes. 743 01:44:28.840 --> 01:44:33.280 Cynthia Stoddard: So… so… the… it's… to me, that's the… 744 01:44:34.100 --> 01:44:42.420 Cynthia Stoddard: It's a treasurer responsibility. Doesn't mean they're not going to be able to delegate it to an assistant or somebody else, but that's their responsibility. 745 01:44:42.430 --> 01:44:44.490 Town of Plainfield: Got it. Right. Got it. 746 01:44:45.530 --> 01:44:58.310 Town of Plainfield: Okay. Great. Okay, Cynthia. Alright, thank you. So, and we postponed the credit card policy, and so now we're gonna go to fire code violations. So, Cynthia, I think we can let you go, and… 747 01:44:58.310 --> 01:45:02.890 Cynthia Stoddard: What are you talking about? Well, who's the finance director check-in? Is that your, like, your… your… 748 01:45:02.890 --> 01:45:03.260 Town of Plainfield: the interview. 749 01:45:03.260 --> 01:45:04.840 Cynthia Stoddard: Add for the person? 750 01:45:05.020 --> 01:45:07.660 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, that's our hiring process. That's our, yeah. 751 01:45:07.660 --> 01:45:08.710 Cynthia Stoddard: I'll need to be there. 752 01:45:09.240 --> 01:45:13.470 Town of Plainfield: Thank you so much. You're welcome to stay on. 753 01:45:13.470 --> 01:45:16.659 Cynthia Stoddard: My husband… ribs downstairs, and I can smell. 754 01:45:16.660 --> 01:45:21.119 Town of Plainfield: Thank you. 755 01:45:21.120 --> 01:45:21.470 Cynthia Stoddard: Goodbye. 756 01:45:21.470 --> 01:45:30.270 Town of Plainfield: Alright, thank you so much. Cynthia, young woman's work here, thank you. Yeah, seriously. I appreciate it. Thank you. Have a good night. 757 01:45:30.850 --> 01:45:32.379 Town of Plainfield: You too. Thank you. 758 01:45:32.410 --> 01:45:51.040 Town of Plainfield: All right, our next agenda item is fire code violations at the town office. We go up, we go down, we go up, we go down. Alright. So, we did have an inspector come, and we had a number of… 759 01:45:51.040 --> 01:45:52.930 Town of Plainfield: Things written up. 760 01:45:52.930 --> 01:45:54.400 Town of Plainfield: Hmm. 761 01:45:54.410 --> 01:46:01.679 Town of Plainfield: Did you all get a chance to review it? I did not get that. No, I didn't see that. I think Carol sent this out. 762 01:46:01.890 --> 01:46:21.490 Town of Plainfield: Maybe 2 weeks ago? Oh my gosh. A little while ago. I will forward it to you all right now. Thank you. Okay. I posted it in the public documents. Yes, it's in the public documents, okay. The following were noted at the time of inspection. Stairwell doors shall be kept closed at all times and shall be labeled, fire door, keep closed. 763 01:46:21.500 --> 01:46:32.869 Town of Plainfield: And you guys have done that. Yes. I love it. Stairwell doors shall be self-closing and self-latching. 764 01:46:33.010 --> 01:46:44.960 Town of Plainfield: I think what they're talking about is having those contraptions that, like, if you open the door, it automatically closes it sufficiently so that it latches. I guess, and ours do, like, auto… 765 01:46:45.130 --> 01:46:47.969 Town of Plainfield: closed and have you noticed, but I don't know that it… 766 01:46:48.300 --> 01:46:54.440 Town of Plainfield: Some do and some… yeah, apparently not all of the ones in the stairwells 767 01:46:54.440 --> 01:47:08.799 Town of Plainfield: do. So, I don't know which ones do and don't. Remove the storage located in front of the elevator lobby. I think that was a temporary thing, that's all done. 768 01:47:08.800 --> 01:47:11.469 Town of Plainfield: The front door was discussed. 769 01:47:11.960 --> 01:47:19.269 Town of Plainfield: If replaced, it must have a state permit, and the door may swing in either direction. 770 01:47:19.440 --> 01:47:31.999 Town of Plainfield: It doesn't sound to me like there's anything wrong with the front door. Maybe that came about because a lot of people, try to open it, is it out, and then it's really a pole? 771 01:47:32.000 --> 01:47:49.779 Town of Plainfield: Or something? It goes the opposite way of what people are expecting. But is that a fire code violation? I don't think so. Oh, yeah. It says it was discussed. It says, if you replace it, you need a state permit. I didn't know you needed a state permit to replace a door. Yeah. 772 01:47:50.200 --> 01:47:59.639 Town of Plainfield: Okay. They're saying any construction or modification in a municipal building. It's a public building. Okay, alright. And who does that come from? Labor and industry? 773 01:48:02.060 --> 01:48:15.290 Town of Plainfield: Not a clue. We're not planning to replace the front door at the moment. No, okay. We could look over that. Handrails are required on the exterior ramp and stairs. Now, I did go and look at the building. 774 01:48:15.290 --> 01:48:31.010 Town of Plainfield: We have handrails on all stairs. The rear ramp has handrails, on both sides going up, and then all the way up on the inside wall to the back. So I think the only handrail that is missing is on the front porch. 775 01:48:31.120 --> 01:48:56.099 Town of Plainfield: Along the handicap access ramp. There's a railing, but it doesn't meet the ADA standards of going up. I don't know why this has a fire code violation, but that would seem to me the one place that needs something there. The new door installed in… from the lobby into the town clerk's office does not meet code requirements. This is the Dutch door thing. 776 01:48:56.100 --> 01:49:00.409 Town of Plainfield: Or must be able to swing open to 90 degrees. 777 01:49:00.410 --> 01:49:10.589 Town of Plainfield: And the height of the shelf on the door cannot exceed 36 inches above grade, and that's to accommodate someone in a wheelchair. Alright, so… 778 01:49:11.520 --> 01:49:21.469 Town of Plainfield: I don't know what we do there. That door costs, like, 800 bucks or something, right? Oh, man. Yeah, more than that. Yeah, that's a huge bummer. 779 01:49:22.100 --> 01:49:30.809 Town of Plainfield: And I guess I want to clarify that… Grab the mic. Oh, thank you. I'm like, oh, I can hear myself. 780 01:49:31.770 --> 01:49:40.930 Town of Plainfield: So, I… when Carol was first telling me about it, I wasn't clear on whether it needed the, you know, lower shelf 781 01:49:41.540 --> 01:49:42.440 Town of Plainfield: as… 782 01:49:43.240 --> 01:49:55.439 Town of Plainfield: Whether that we needed to replace the higher shelf, or whether we could, like, get away with installing two, because I was like, oh, that would be actually really handy. But this report makes it sound like… 783 01:49:56.290 --> 01:50:05.489 Town of Plainfield: It makes it sound like it shouldn't have been cut in half, it should have been cut in, like, two-thirds or something, but doesn't that make the shelf… 784 01:50:05.590 --> 01:50:14.370 Town of Plainfield: too low food. You can't… A lot of other people… I'm not quite sure what they were getting at here, so… It doesn't sound very versatile. I don't know, I don't… 785 01:50:14.560 --> 01:50:20.720 Town of Plainfield: I don't take research, I guess. I'm wondering if there's an, 786 01:50:20.720 --> 01:50:44.600 Town of Plainfield: I'm wondering if there is an opportunity to make a phone call and have a conversation about the report, and get clarification about exactly what they're looking for? Because it doesn't… we're not clear. If I'm reading this right, it was inspected on April 30th, and they say we're due to comply by June 30th, so we have time to talk. A little bit. 787 01:50:45.300 --> 01:51:01.000 Town of Plainfield: Yeah. So, are you volunteering? No, I'm not. I'm looking at Jamie. This is a staff thing, I think. Okay. I think Jamie can do it. I think so, because, I mean, whatever spending is going to have to come out of the… 788 01:51:01.060 --> 01:51:03.510 Town of Plainfield: Town office maintenance funders. 789 01:51:03.550 --> 01:51:21.820 Town of Plainfield: Something, I don't know, but… Okay. All right. We have a building and grounds committee. Yeah. So, no action on this tonight, in terms of Select Board, and Jamie will look into talking to the fire inspector to ask and follow up on a couple of these things. Yeah. 790 01:51:22.030 --> 01:51:37.540 Town of Plainfield: May I schedule this to return home on June 8th, so that you'll have the right day, and it can ask us if there's anything that ends in motion? Yeah, totally. Thank you. 791 01:51:38.640 --> 01:51:39.940 Town of Plainfield: All right. 792 01:51:41.280 --> 01:51:48.479 Town of Plainfield: Let us move on to… That's this one. Alright, so the next one is the, request from… 793 01:51:49.960 --> 01:51:57.649 Town of Plainfield: the cable people. Okay. And this was for, a right-of-way permit. 794 01:51:57.820 --> 01:52:11.470 Town of Plainfield: And I know that they were in contact with, Michael Bingham, and I gather they went out and did a field, visit. I haven't heard anything back specifically from him. 795 01:52:11.720 --> 01:52:17.930 Town of Plainfield: He's on vacation, huh? No, June 6th. No, no, June 6th he takes off, so… 796 01:52:19.040 --> 01:52:22.829 Town of Plainfield: Do you know anything, Jamie? I know nothing. Okay. 797 01:52:24.240 --> 01:52:30.770 Town of Plainfield: What? There's a form here that says, right-of-way permit number, right-of-way application number. 798 01:52:31.060 --> 01:52:42.590 Town of Plainfield: Filled in by… It's the Ronan Street number for the right-of-way permit. It's actually, on the map… 799 01:52:43.000 --> 01:52:48.730 Town of Plainfield: It is the property that is, my neighbor, Heather Ritchie, and… 800 01:52:49.160 --> 01:52:53.420 Town of Plainfield: And the next neighbor, Jeremy Bevins, it's along… 801 01:52:53.550 --> 01:52:57.219 Town of Plainfield: that stretch of Country Club Road. 802 01:52:58.300 --> 01:53:12.999 Town of Plainfield: Do they need an approval from us? Why is this on the agenda? It requires a permit from the Select Board. They haven't filled out some of it. It's… they're the applicant, but I don't know if… 803 01:53:13.000 --> 01:53:22.030 Town of Plainfield: I guess this is a standard template that they have, right-of-way permit numbers. I don't know if we have a right-of-way permit numbering system in town, do you, Tammy? 804 01:53:27.900 --> 01:53:34.740 Town of Plainfield: I'm wondering if, again, this is, like, you don't have all the information, so… Yeah, this is… 805 01:53:34.840 --> 01:53:38.949 Town of Plainfield: Underground location. And the right-of-way is, 806 01:53:39.690 --> 01:53:49.720 Town of Plainfield: It's in the road. It is in the road, yeah. It's in the road. Yeah, that's why they went out to look at it, so… Okay, it's from my email, just to update? Please. Mike. 807 01:53:50.340 --> 01:54:06.040 Town of Plainfield: Yep, thank you. We… the last, communication on this was May 14th. There's a placeholder for this agenda item now. Michael, after the ride-around, please let the select board know if you endorse this proposal. 808 01:54:06.340 --> 01:54:21.759 Town of Plainfield: So we've not yet actually heard from Michael, you know, on this. I think that's what we're rooting for. With the go-ahead from the road for them, we could pass the motion under the hearing from Michael, I think we can't act on this right now. 809 01:54:22.110 --> 01:54:25.260 Town of Plainfield: full awareness of autism. Okay. 810 01:54:25.390 --> 01:54:44.550 Town of Plainfield: So usually Mike does sign off on the permit. Yeah. Well, we asked them to. We asked them to go check it out. There's two stretches of road on Country Club that are part of this, so we need Michael before we can take action. Can we approve now, pending Michael's approval? 811 01:54:46.160 --> 01:54:59.639 Town of Plainfield: Well, that would move it along, instead of delaying for weeks. Yeah, I mean… That's okay with me. I do that. Good idea. From our road foreman, is that how I should write this? Yes. 812 01:54:59.860 --> 01:55:04.940 Town of Plainfield: Are you making the motion, Andy? I can move it, hang on. So… 813 01:55:05.420 --> 01:55:15.050 Town of Plainfield: This is a permit, a right of… permit for use of right-of-way for NEK Broadband. 814 01:55:16.860 --> 01:55:20.640 Town of Plainfield: Doing business, DBA and EKCV. 815 01:55:21.410 --> 01:55:24.509 Town of Plainfield: I can edit that. Okay. 816 01:55:26.990 --> 01:55:34.050 Town of Plainfield: So there is an application here, for the… Right-of-way use permit. 817 01:55:37.360 --> 01:55:56.989 Town of Plainfield: Date sent to road form and date. So, yeah. Okay, so I think it's this form and this form that need action once we hear from Michael. Alright, so here's the motion. Motion to approve the permit for use of the right-of-way, and I'll add the name of the company, pending approval from the Plainfield Road foreman. 818 01:55:58.510 --> 01:55:59.800 Town of Plainfield: Second. 819 01:55:59.970 --> 01:56:03.040 Town of Plainfield: Seconded by Francis Rose. 820 01:56:03.140 --> 01:56:05.620 Town of Plainfield: Any further discussion on that? 821 01:56:05.880 --> 01:56:07.140 Town of Plainfield: Sounds deep. 822 01:56:07.710 --> 01:56:21.380 Town of Plainfield: I'm okay with that. Alright, so we need to sign… we need to sign this one, and then Michael needs to sign that? Date sent to… date sent… date… so this is what gets completed. Date sent to the road foreman? 823 01:56:21.550 --> 01:56:31.509 Town of Plainfield: excuse me, to the road commissioner, and then date decision by the Select Board, right? So this gets completed to go with the permit. 824 01:56:32.310 --> 01:56:43.779 Town of Plainfield: Right of use. Use of right-of-way. And does Carl or Michael need to sign it? No, just the dates that went to them, not signing. Okay. No. 825 01:56:44.140 --> 01:56:46.560 Town of Plainfield: We complete this. Okay. Okay. 826 01:56:46.750 --> 01:57:03.909 Town of Plainfield: So the… the… we just need his approval… Yeah. …to effectuate this. Alright. Any further discussion? Who's following up with Michael? I'll be happy to do that and follow up with Michael and Carl. Both of them are named on there. Thank you. 827 01:57:04.050 --> 01:57:08.719 Town of Plainfield: All right. And there are 3, 3 signatures for the Select Board. 828 01:57:09.080 --> 01:57:23.249 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, well, there should be 5. Nice lines. Do that. There you go. Alright, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right, that was approved unanimously, pending approval by the road floor. 829 01:57:23.680 --> 01:57:28.389 Town of Plainfield: Thank you. Okay. Alright, next item. 830 01:57:28.910 --> 01:57:32.540 Town of Plainfield: Financial Director Check In. 831 01:57:34.520 --> 01:57:44.950 Town of Plainfield: Okay, you have a… We have an interview scheduled tomorrow with a very good candidate, good on paper. 832 01:57:44.950 --> 01:57:59.030 Town of Plainfield: We're hopeful. We're very hopeful. Now that Cynthia's given us the green light. Yeah, wow, that was something. I will say, Cynthia has also looked at this person's resume and likes it, so, for whatever that's worth. Great. 833 01:57:59.030 --> 01:58:06.520 Town of Plainfield: And we did have a couple more applicants come in, I think. I forward them all to you. 834 01:58:06.660 --> 01:58:14.649 Town of Plainfield: I guess my question would be, of all of the ones who came in, is there anyone else 835 01:58:15.060 --> 01:58:18.139 Town of Plainfield: That you would like us to interview. 836 01:58:21.660 --> 01:58:32.850 Town of Plainfield: The only one that got my attention… What happened to the president? The guy in Lebanon, New Hampshire, looked like an interesting candidate. 837 01:58:33.060 --> 01:58:50.910 Town of Plainfield: It's pretty far away, and you probably wouldn't qualify for the job. Oh, that was the other one that got my attention. I remember that one. Yeah, I remember that one, too. I guess it got my attention also, if I remember it. That's a self-fulfilling prophecy. 838 01:58:50.910 --> 01:59:13.690 Town of Plainfield: So, the others were not exciting to me. There was somebody in Boston, but they're in Boston. Yeah, there was one in… there was one in Rutland that looked potential. Maybe? That's a maybe? Yeah. But it came through on Indeed, and he was in Rutland, and it said, I'm willing to relocate to Rutland. There was… there was one applicant I thought had… 839 01:59:13.690 --> 01:59:15.680 Town of Plainfield: There was one applicant, and I don't… 840 01:59:15.800 --> 01:59:26.140 Town of Plainfield: remember the location, but someone who was willing to relocate from out of state, Michigan. From out of state, who had the qualifications. My concern was the background. 841 01:59:26.290 --> 01:59:29.090 Town of Plainfield: And the culture of… 842 01:59:29.870 --> 01:59:41.080 Town of Plainfield: there's two things. One would be someone coming from out of state trying to move in here, trying to find housing. Let's talk about that. So that's number one. And then the second being, 843 01:59:41.300 --> 02:00:03.319 Town of Plainfield: well, I'll just name it. This is someone who had a strong military background, and I just don't know, as funky as we are, as kind of quirky as we are as a town, whether that would jive with the personality of Plainfield. That's just honest, what struck me. I just wasn't sure it was a match. 844 02:00:03.320 --> 02:00:08.590 Town of Plainfield: But I did think that he had the right skill set, qualifications. 845 02:00:08.590 --> 02:00:13.689 Town of Plainfield: He was the only other candidate that I would consider, interviewing. 846 02:00:13.730 --> 02:00:31.790 Town of Plainfield: So, I will say, for the record, that we have the best constable ever who has a military background. I get it. And is doing a really good job. I get it, I get it. So I think it's an interesting thing. It's my bias. It's not… and maybe it's not my bias, my son-in-law's in the military, so I'm not… but it was just, like… 847 02:00:31.790 --> 02:00:41.870 Town of Plainfield: there's… it could be… it could be that, and maybe it's not, maybe he's just… not the way one would imagine, but… I would propose is do the interview tomorrow. 848 02:00:41.970 --> 02:01:04.619 Town of Plainfield: see what happens, and then I can certainly empower the two of you to decide if there are additional candidates on this list you want to proceed, if it doesn't work tomorrow. It could be that we do a remote, a remote interview with this person, or any of them. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I'm happy to let you two make that move based on what we learn tomorrow. Okay. 849 02:01:06.160 --> 02:01:07.779 Town of Plainfield: That sounds fine to me. 850 02:01:08.370 --> 02:01:24.670 Town of Plainfield: And hopefully tomorrow goes well. Yeah, the one you were talking about, it wasn't so much the military stuff, but there was no… while he had financial stuff, Treasury and tax accountant, oversaw operations of a village. 851 02:01:24.980 --> 02:01:30.599 Town of Plainfield: And to the village council. It was the village of Sand Lake. 852 02:01:31.090 --> 02:01:36.760 Town of Plainfield: I don't know. I don't know, I thought… I just… let me see. Possible. Let me see. 853 02:01:36.760 --> 02:01:55.049 Town of Plainfield: Let me just interject really quickly that one thing that happened today that you might want to look with is that, and Jenny knows this, is that Alyssa and I cleaned out a second floor office that is now available. Thank you, Michael. Yay! And I also want to thank all of you for using the mic tonight. It's really helpful for me. Great. 854 02:01:55.050 --> 02:02:18.590 Town of Plainfield: Well, you have two mics, you can choose from either. We finally figured out how to make this thing work. It took us 3 minutes. It was a crisis. Bye. Thank you, Michael. Bye, Michael. Thank you, Michael. And thank you for cleaning out the office. We had talked to Jamie and Carol a couple of weeks ago, saying, you know, we're recruiting. 855 02:02:18.590 --> 02:02:42.149 Town of Plainfield: we need a space. I mean, at least get a space where we can put in, you know, a chair, a desk, a lamp, a phone, a working computer, and then they can personalize it, and maybe they'll move to a different space as the talks go forward, but we have to have someplace… It's got an empty file cabinet in it. Thank you, Michael. Thank you, Michael. 856 02:02:42.230 --> 02:02:55.369 Town of Plainfield: Cool. Okay, I think we have our marching orders. Thank you both for doing that. Sure. Oh, sorry. So, let me, let me ask you, let me ask this. So, let's say, 857 02:02:55.440 --> 02:03:20.349 Town of Plainfield: Karen and I really like this person, and they look like they would like to be with us. Okay. Yeah. Do you want to authorize us to do that? Can we make a motion? I think we need to come back and make a recommendation to the board. No, we're going to come back and make a recommendation. I think the whole board has to do that. Yeah, we'll come back to the board and make a recommendation. We're gonna just do this step by step. 858 02:03:20.350 --> 02:03:22.390 Town of Plainfield: Let's just do it right. 859 02:03:22.390 --> 02:03:46.040 Town of Plainfield: A lot of people upset with us. I would also, I would also, I would also point out, excuse me, I would also point out that, we need to go back to, Sarah Buxton at, Tarrant and Gillies, to craft us the, employment agreement. Because they, they have a model that we use for Jamie, and so we want to be consistent with that. 860 02:03:46.040 --> 02:03:50.749 Town of Plainfield: And that's important, because they are, 861 02:03:50.830 --> 02:04:01.250 Town of Plainfield: While our personnel policy says, employees at will, once they're in the position, it's permanent, so, unless we say otherwise. So… 862 02:04:02.810 --> 02:04:23.179 Town of Plainfield: I would also say another step in the process before you bring it back to us is to check references. Yeah, of course. Oh, yeah. So, assume you two are doing that, or do you need help? We will do it. We will do both. Yeah. Unless you want to. I mean, I am not loving that, but if you need help, I will do that. I think we'll be okay. Thank you. 863 02:04:23.420 --> 02:04:39.520 Town of Plainfield: Yeah. Well, I am not loving that, but I will. We'll be passive-aggressive. Thank you. I'll own that one. Okay. That's good. If, if, just a question. I don't have the mic. 864 02:04:39.520 --> 02:04:56.810 Town of Plainfield: If… is there a desire to… if we have a great interview, we check references, and we want to make this recommendation, is there a desire on the board to schedule a special select board meeting to address this, versus waiting till June 8? That's my question. Nice. 865 02:04:56.810 --> 02:04:57.700 Town of Plainfield: Good question. 866 02:04:59.000 --> 02:05:05.490 Town of Plainfield: I, I think it's a good question, and, I would also, 867 02:05:06.360 --> 02:05:23.939 Town of Plainfield: think it not inappropriate if the full board wanted to interview and meet, that that is done in executive session, and then brought out into the public. There may be some negotiations there, and contract negotiations are confidential as well, so… 868 02:05:24.240 --> 02:05:28.159 Town of Plainfield: But we can cross that bridge when we can to it. Yeah, I think that's possible. 869 02:05:31.850 --> 02:05:51.080 Town of Plainfield: I imagine that Sarah Bustin is gonna need a minute to create an appointment agreement. So, you know, the June 8th could be a reasonable timeline to offer Sarah Bustin for that work, if she's able to do that by then. I don't know how much time she's gonna need, but I know it's not instant. 870 02:05:51.420 --> 02:05:55.800 Town of Plainfield: And so, you know, we could schedule an executive session for the June 8th meeting. 871 02:05:56.090 --> 02:06:03.069 Town of Plainfield: To meet this prospective employee, if they meet your mustard. 872 02:06:04.340 --> 02:06:22.490 Town of Plainfield: I'm good with that. It's fine. Yeah, I mean, I don't think it's gonna take Sarah too long. I think she probably also already has it drafted, a template for it anyway, because we were talking about both… both positions, when we, had, Jamie's done, so… 873 02:06:23.250 --> 02:06:30.929 Town of Plainfield: Okay. Yeah. Well, I'm flexible either way. If you want to call an extra meeting, I'm good with that. If you want to wait till June 8th, I'm good with that. 874 02:06:31.040 --> 02:06:45.089 Town of Plainfield: Maybe just figure it out tomorrow. I mean, and at this point, I mean, with Cynthia saying she thinks we're ready, I think that's… that's just huge. That's so good. Cool? Yeah. 875 02:06:45.550 --> 02:06:59.450 Town of Plainfield: Anything else on that item, or can we move on? I will move to approve the draft minutes from March… excuse me, May 11th, May 18th, and May 20th, 2026. 876 02:06:59.520 --> 02:07:13.170 Town of Plainfield: A lot of meetings, that's why we're avoiding the extra meeting part. Well, one of those was the… the 18th was the special meeting on the Brook Road, so that's… and the others were… I would second… 877 02:07:13.240 --> 02:07:17.519 Town of Plainfield: Andy's proposal. Alright, so Andy moves… 878 02:07:18.190 --> 02:07:22.279 Town of Plainfield: And Francis seconds. Any further discussion? 879 02:07:24.250 --> 02:07:40.720 Town of Plainfield: I would just say thank you for the notes on the Zoom problem that we had on the last one, so… Okay. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed? And that passes unanimously, 5 to nothing. And we have warrants. 880 02:07:41.860 --> 02:07:48.590 Town of Plainfield: Accounts payable May 15th, payroll for May 15th, and May 21st. 881 02:07:49.710 --> 02:07:53.870 Town of Plainfield: Motion to approve. Accounts payable and payroll. Dates just mentioned. 882 02:07:54.140 --> 02:08:01.740 Town of Plainfield: Second. Francis Rose and Patty, any further discussion? No. 883 02:08:02.710 --> 02:08:06.850 Town of Plainfield: If not, all those in favor say aye. Aye. 884 02:08:07.430 --> 02:08:09.520 Town of Plainfield: Thank you. 885 02:08:10.350 --> 02:08:20.919 Town of Plainfield: Announced date for next select board meeting. We have mentioned it a few times. Our regular one is June the 8th. 886 02:08:21.290 --> 02:08:34.000 Town of Plainfield: And at the moment, we do have some agenda items that we've pushed till then, and we will have to talk about a couple of these other things, like the subdivision, whether that fits in there or not, so… Okay. 887 02:08:34.030 --> 02:08:57.979 Town of Plainfield: Alright. Take a motion to adjourn at 808. Oh my god! 8.08! It's still light, for those of you who were wondering. I will second. Alright, so Francis Rose moved, and Andy seconded. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. We need your signature. Thank you. 888 02:08:57.980 --> 02:09:03.079 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, don't forget to sign this document. Match it up to this one.