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December 04, 2023, Finance Committee Meeting - Virtual Meeting. Minutes
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Canton Finance Committee Minutes Voted on: 1/10/23
801 Washington Street Vote: 7-0-0
Canton, MA 02021
Meeting Minutes
December 4, 2023
Finance Committee Members Present: Dave Clough, Dan Cole, Karen Foley, Emilio Mauro, Tim McKenna, Reuki
Schutt and Cindy Thomas.
Finance Committee Members Absent: Maureen Menconi and Kristin Mirliani.
Guests Present:
Ellen Jones, Finance Committee Recording Secretary
Randy Scollins, Finance Director/Treasurer/Collector
Call Meeting to Order: Ms. Thomas called the Zoom virtual meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
Review of the Agenda - Chair Cindy Thomas – Ms. Thomas reviewed the agenda items that included the review and
voting of minutes and a discussion of the assignment of liaison roles.
Approval of Minutes
A motion made by Mr. Mauro to approve the October 25, 2023, Finance Committee minutes as written was
seconded by Ms. Schutt.
Roll Call Vote:
Ms. Thomas Aye Mr. Cole Aye
Mr. Mauro Aye Ms. Foley Aye
Ms. Schutt Aye Mr. McKenna Aye
Vote: 6-0-0.
The October 25, 2023, minutes were approved.
A motion made by Ms. Schutt to approve the November 1, 2023, Finance Committee minutes as written was
seconded by Mr. Mauro.
Roll Call Vote:
Mr. McKenna Aye Mr. Cole Aye
Ms. Schutt Aye Ms. Thomas Aye
Ms. Foley Aye Mr. Clough Abstain
Mr. Mauro Aye
Vote: 6-0-1.
Mr. Clough joined the meeting at 7:02 p.m.
The November 1, 2023, minutes were approved.
A motion made by Mr. McKenna to approve the November 13, 2023, Finance Committee minutes as written
was seconded by Mr. Mauro.
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Roll Call Vote:
Mr. McKenna Aye Mr. Cole Aye
Ms. Schutt Aye Ms. Thomas Aye
Ms. Foley Aye Mr. Clough Abstain
Mr. Mauro Aye
Vote: 6-0-1.
The November 13, 2023, minutes were approved.
A motion made by Ms. Schutt to approve the November 20, 2023, Finance Committee minutes as written was
seconded by Mr. Mauro.
Roll Call Vote:
Ms. Thomas Aye Ms. Foley Aye
Mr. Cole Aye Ms. Schutt Aye
Mr. Mauro Aye Mr. Clough Aye
Mr. McKenna Aye
Vote: 7-0-0.
The November 20, 2023, minutes were approved.
Discussion of the Role of the Finance Committee Liaisons and Assignment to Departments
Ms. Thomas discussed the vagueness of the Liaison roles in the past and she stated that it would be useful to have a
conversation on what the liaisons should be doing and to “tighten” up the process. She stated that the opportunity the
Finance Committee members have is to make sure the liaisons understand their assigned Department’s budget. When
the department managers have come before the Finance Committee in the past, it has been only general in nature.
Going forward, the liaisons should endeavor to reach out to their assigned departments to discuss their budget prior to
those departments coming before the Finance Committee. The liaison should spend time trying to understand and get
an overview sense of their budget and to also work to identify any particular concerns the department manager may
have about their budget for the year.
Mr. Scollins referred to the budget timeline to answer Ms. Schutt’s question as to when the members should be reaching
out to department managers to discuss their budgets. The deadline for capital budget requests has already passed
and those requests have already been submitted and have been reviewed by him and the Town Administrator. The
Select Board (SB) is scheduled to hear from the requestors regarding their capital requests at the SB meetings on
December 5 and December 19. Capital Request binders are scheduled to go out to the Capital Planning Committee
(CPC) who will then meet with the requestors at their meetings in January through March. The operating budget
requests are due back to the Finance Department by January 3. The operating budget binders will be distributed to
the Finance Committee within 2 weeks of January 3. The Town Administrator and the Finance Director will review the
operating budget requests with department managers, which will then be presented to the SB.
The capital requests will be reviewed in detail and vetted by the CPC. While it would be beneficial for the Finance
Committee members to understand each department manager’s capital requests, those requests will be vetted by the
CPC and there is a Finance Committee liaison to the CPC. The operating budget binders will be distributed to the
Finance Committee members mid to late January for the Finance Committee members to reach out to the department
managers to discuss their operating budget requests.
Mr. Cole inquired if there was an opportunity for meeting with the managers at an earlier time in the process to discuss
operating requests, such as additional staff, since it seems that by the time the Finance Committee receives the
information, requests have already been decided. Mr. Scollins suggested that for any Finance Committee member that
would like to be ahead of the process, as opposed to being on the receiving end of information, that they should
probably reach out to their respective departments now in order to understand what the managers are thinking about
putting forward for their budget requests. Mr. Scollins stated that department managers are required to respond, and
to interact with, their Finance Committee liaisons. He further stated that the Finance Committee is the “vetting body”
and the “recommending body” of department requests and it would be in the department manager’s best interests to
respond to the Finance Committee liaison.
Ms. Thomas stated that in the past the liaison’s role has always been to ask “is there anything your department needs?”
or “do you have any questions?”. Ms. Thomas suggested that when the Finance Committee members reach out to the
department managers, they should state to them that the process this year is to know the needs, the priorities and
requests being put forth and ask “when can I meet with you” to discuss them. Mr. Scollins stated that if any Finance
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Committee liaisons are having difficulty receiving a response from a department manager that they should reach out to
him and he will assist them with getting it resolved.
Ms. Schutt stated that it was not really the role of a Finance Committee member to “advocate” for the department
manager, but she inquired that if the managers had concerns about something, how would that be communicated to
the Finance Committee. Mr. Scollins stated that after the liaison has had a discussion with the department manager
and the request appears in the Operating Budget Request Binders, the Finance Committee liaison could “weigh in” with
their understanding of the requests during that department’s appearance and presentation before the Finance
Committee regarding their operating budget requests.
Mr. Clough requested a digital version of the Operating Budget Request Binder. The Finance Committee Recording
Secretary confirmed that the budget will be available on the Town’s website. Members should reach out to the
Recording Secretary to confirm if they prefer a digital version of the budget. Ms. Thomas thanked Mr. Clough for
reminding the Committee of the availability of the online version of the budget.
Ms. Schutt confirmed that if liaisons are scheduled to be absent from a particular meeting where their assigned
department is scheduled to appear, if that department for which they are responsible for could be rescheduled for
another date to ensure the liaison is present.
Discussion of Finance Committee Liaison Assignments
Ms. Thomas reviewed the liaison list. With regard to the Building Renovations Committee, they have a list of town and
school projects for which they are tracking, including the Library project. Mr. Scollins explained that the Galvin Middle
School project would not be going through this year’s budget process but he believes the timeline is somewhere
between November 2024 and January 2025 to have a Special Town Meeting and an election vote on the funding. The
election vote would take place mid-Fiscal Year 2025. Mr. Clough stated, as the liaison to the Building Renovation
Committee, that when dealing with a project of a large size, such as the Middle School, it would be beneficial to have
additional support as a liaison. Ms. Thomas stated that while the Building Renovations Committee has an important
role with projects, there is a structure in place to deal with those large-scale projects and there is usually a Clerk of the
Works/Project Management group that would manage a project of that size.
Departments / Committees FinCom Liaison FinCom Alt. Liaison Contact Name
Assessors Dave Clough Carolyn Floyd, Director of Assessing
Blue Hills Regional School Kristin Mirliani Jill Rossetti, Supt.-Director
Board of Health Tim McKenna Barbara Reardon, BOH Director
Building Department / Zoning Reuki Schutt Ed Walsh, Building Commissioner
Building Renovation Committee Dave Clough Dan Cole Bob McCarthy, Chair
Capital Planning Committee Emilio Mauro Dan Cole Dave Emhardt, Chair
John McSweeney (Housing Authority
Community Preservation Committee Kristin Mirliani Emilio Mauro
Designee)
Conservation Commission Dave Clough Regen Milani, Conservation Agent
Department of Elder and Human Services Karen Foley Diane Tynan, Director
Department of Public Works Tim McKenna Mike Trotta, DPW Superintendent
Randy Scollins, DOF; Allyson Podgurski,
Finance Department (DOF, Accounting, Town Accountant; Sue Desjardins, Asst.
Treasury/Collection, MIS) Karen Foley Treasurer/Collector; Louis Jutras, MIS.
Fire Department Reuki Schutt E. Wendell Robery, Fire Chief
Historical Commission Maureen Menconi Sepp Bergschneider, Chair
Human Resources Karen Foley Jody Middleton, HR Director
Library Kristin Mirliani Davd Clough Andrea Capone, Library Director
Parks & Receation /Rink Dan Cole Tyler Radicioni, Recreation Director
Planning Board Emilio Mauro Dan Cole Taylor Torres, Town Planner
Police Department Dan Cole Helena Rafferty, Police Chief
School Department Cindy Thomas Karen Foley Kendall O'Halloran, Chair
Select Board Emilio Mauro Karen Foley Charlie Doody, Town Administrator
Town Clerk Tim McKenna Tracy Kenney, Town Clerk
Veterans Services Maureen Menconi Arafat Knight, Veterans' Agent
Water & Sewer Rate & Policy Committee Dan Cole Mike Trotta, DPW Superintendent
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Next Meeting Date: The Committee discussed meeting in person on Wednesdays this budget cycle with Mondays
as a backup day. The Auditors will be invited to the next Finance Committee meeting, tentatively scheduled for
Wednesday, January 10th.
Mr. Scollins reminded the Committee of two key important dates:
March 22, 2024 - Finance Committee to submit draft of all Town Meeting Article motions to Town Counsel.
April 10, 2024 – Finance Committee submits all Article discussions to the Finance Department.
Meeting Adjournment
A motion made by Mr. McKenna to adjourn the meeting at 7:36 p.m. was seconded by Ms. Foley.
Roll Call Vote:
Mr. Clough Aye Mr. Mauro Aye
Ms. Foley Aye Mr. Clough Aye
Ms. Schutt Aye Ms. Thomas Aye
Mr. McKenna Aye
Vote: 7-0-0.
Minutes reviewed by: Emilio Mauro
Respectfully submitted,
Cindy Thomas
Chair, Canton Finance Committee and
Sub-Committee to Review Compensation of Elected Officials
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Finance Committee
Meeting Documents
December 4, 2023
Please note: Some meeting documents may be found on the Town’s website under the Posted Minutes
section (Laser Fiche).
Agenda for December 4, 2023.
Finance Committee Liaison List.
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