Meeting transcript
Board Of Finance Regular Meeting Part 2
February 28, 2024 · Watch on YouTube · All meetings
Okay,
thank you everybody. This is the Ton of Andover Board of Finance meeting for Wednesday, February 28. We'll go ahead through our meeting agenda. The first is the call to order and Pledge of Allegiance. We'll say the Pledge of Allegiance. Betty, pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the Republic, which stands one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Move on to agenda item two, which is public speak. We do have some visitors today. I think they are mostly our candidates. Linda, we also have you. Does anybody have any members of the public would like to speak? During the public speak portion. Of course, the candidates will get an opportunity to speak once we get to that point in the agenda. Okay, hearing none, guess we'll move on. Agenda item three is changes or additions to the agenda. Does anybody have any suggested changes or additions to the agenda?
Mark, I had one. Did we receive any late communication today by email at all? I wasn't able to check after. Okay. I haven't, no. Okay.
That's more of a question. No, I don't have any changes. I'll wait till open discussion at the end. It's a quick thing. Thank you. Okay.
Joanne, after that, I did send everybody out just before this meeting what the Board of Selectmen is passing on to you for the budget. Not anticipating that we talk about it this time, but so that you have it for next week's budget discussion. Thanks, sir. Okay. Thanks, sir. Okay. Is
that their recommended budget? They're not gonna meet on that anymore? Everything's good? Far as I know, pretty much approved it.
Okay, very good. Thanks. Okay, well, else have any comments or questions about the agenda? All right, we will move on to agenda item four. 4A is the vacant position on the Board of Finance. As all of the members are aware, we have three people who have expressed interest in the open position on the Board of Finance. One is Stephen King, the second is Kimberly Persson, and the third is Adrian Mandeville. And I don't see Adrian connected, but we do have, looks like Kimberly and Stephen. So what I would propose is that we give each of the interested parties an opportunity to kind of say hello, introduce themselves, tell us why they're interested, and give us a little bit of their background that they think would be relevant to this position. And then any of the board members can ask further questions if you have any. And we can do one of two things. We could either go into executive session to discuss the appointment, or we could table it to the next meeting some other time. So I'm good with either. I do think we want to get somebody on the board sooner rather than later. We haven't really started our budget discussions, but that's going to happen awfully quickly as everybody knows.
So we'll go ahead and start. First on the agenda is Stephen King. Stephen, can you hear us Okay. I can hear you fine. And we can hear you. So welcome. I appreciate the opportunity to talk to you and your interest in the position. So we don't always often get multiple people interested in open positions. So it's a nice opportunity for us as well. So again, why don't you just tell us a little bit about yourself, why you're interested in the position and give a little bit of your background, if you would. I know you did include a resume with your your letter of interest, which is helpful.
I've been in town living here for now about fourteen years. I married a lifer who grew up town and, we live over on Barnett Brook Road. Yeah, in the past year, I've, had some interactions with the town and it's kind of caught my interest in, getting involved in some of the town politics. And I recently got involved with the RTC in town. And, speaking with Jeff Murray, he mentioned that, the Board of Finance had an opening. It'll be a good opportunity to get my feet wet, in getting involved in the management of the town and, in town politics. So I figured I'd reach out and see what it's all about and, you know, meet everybody and, you know, see if it's something I'd be interested in doing and you'd be interested in, you know, my qualifications. I'm graduate of, Central Connecticut State University and and the University of Connecticut. My I currently work full time for the state of Connecticut supporting cell and genome science over at UConn Health, which is we support about $350,000,000 in grant funded research and manage four data centers throughout the state, and we support the entire UConn community of PIs, affiliates, and collaborators.
So it's somewhat of a stressful job. But the Benny's are pretty good, and I've got a good department and a good bunch of people I work with, so that helps. On the road to retirement, hopefully in another three or four years, so I see light at the end of the tunnel. But, you know, I've been involved with business all my life, managing people, managing resources, and, been very successful at it. I I run a successful business, out of my home, and I think, I think I could, you know, possibly contribute to the Board of Finance.
Okay, thank you very much, Steven. Does anybody have any specific questions for Steven? Anyone on the board?
I do, Mark. So Steven, clearly looking at your resume, you're so qualified for a position in the town and everything like that and in business. Have you followed? I know I've been in town probably just a little bit longer than you, and I got involved for the same reason, following along and of wanting to participate and become part of the community. Have you followed the last couple of years, things that have been happening? I've watched them. With budgets and, you know, with all of the, you know, the trying to move the town forward or, you know, that kind of thing.
Somewhat followed. I followed the construction of the senior center. Again, I mentioned I watched the mill rate go up and, you know, taxes go up and things of that nature. You know, I hear, you know, rumblings about spending and, you know, people dissatisfied with how money's being spent. And I just thought it'd be interesting to get a little more intimate with how we or how the town uses our tax money, our tax dollars. You know, it's just some of the questions you ask, lot of people don't have the answers. It was interesting. I was at an RTC meeting on Tuesday and, representative Weir was there and they were talking about, taxes and spending and all the the proposals that are happening in Hartford. I said, well, let me I'm brand new here. Forgive me my ignorance, but I have a question for you, representative.
I said, you know, I was never a proponent for, illicit drugs, and the state has approved, you know, this marijuana use, and we're selling all this stuff and there's tax revenue coming in. Where's that money going and how's it being processed? Because it can't be funneled through a bank because that's a federal institution. And he didn't have an answer for me. He said, well, me ask. I'll find out. So I guess the only way to find out this stuff is to get involved. So, you know, in a nutshell.
No. Clearly, you have the interest, so that's that's good. And and I agree. I kind of got involved the same way that you did, balancing spending versus taxes and mill rate and the whole thing and making sure. And I'm not trying to preach at you or talk to you. I'm going to let all the other board members ask questions. But I think that's good. I think more people should get involved to balance it. Just like a household, we've always say, every year you can't fund every single thing. You've got to pick and choose, come up with a plan. Like Mark said, we'll be getting into the budget soon. I personally, just because of the stage of life I'm at, kind of like you, been involved. I've listened to every single town, board of BOS budget meeting, you know, kind of to see what they have in mind for the spending and the taxes and all of that kind of thing. So that's great. No, thank you for answering my questions.
You know, one one other point in passing, you know, my wife and I are here for for life. I I intend to die here. So, and you know, the town's gonna be important to me and the success of the town is important to me. And for those, if you didn't read my resume, I've been involved with, and I don't know if this is a good thing or bad thing, maybe a bad thing for some, but the Andover Sportsman's Club. I've been involved with the board of directors now for, since I joined back twelve years ago, and for the past five years, I've been the chairman of the board and the chief range safety officer. And I like to think of, we've had some great accomplishments at the club. We're very strong financially and done a really good job. I got a really good group on the board, and I think that's a testimony to how I run my business.
Nice.
I have a question. Sorry. Go ahead, Louise. Yeah. I got it. Thanks.
Steve, what do you feel the biggest challenge is for Andover?
I know it's a broad question. A broad question. I think I think an interesting one is understanding demographics, housing, and schooling, and and and the and the the costs associated with that. The demographics have changed, the housing has changed, and I know that we have several towns pooling all these resources into the school budgets, and I know that's always been a bone of contention, as far as a strain on budgets. And that's, you know, certainly something I'd I like to understand better. But, you know, the the the demographics is an interesting one, especially with the rise the the shortage of housing. There's not a lot of construction going on. I was I was just having a conversation with this with this with somebody last night. Not a lot of construction in Andover for new housing, so there's a a huge shortage, so it drives up the prices. But as opposed to some other towns where, you know, there are is construction and a little more housing available. So but, and I guess the question is, you know, the the the people moving in, do they have young children? Is that gonna cause a strain on the school systems? The grammar I know we have a grammar school here. And then how does how do those dynamics work as they progress through the school system,
through the years? So, I guess a lot of it has to do with looking forward, not just, you know, you know, looking at the immediate expenses, but looking down the road four, eight, twelve years down the road, which is important. Something that I I always try to do is look forward. Thank you. Questions or comments from other board members?
Mark, I just wanted to, I know you talked about how we're handling this tonight and then you went right into the candidates. I like that we're speaking. I just wanted to voice that I like that we're speaking to the candidates themselves, being able to ask them questions like we've done in the past. I would hope that we would go into a brief executive session if you thought and discuss if we think we know what we wanna do or if we want time. Again, like you said, not necessarily making a decision since we're probably gonna have three qualified candidates and we're gonna wanna think about, you know, so that's my only input that I wanted to ask at the beginning, you know, that would be the way what I'd like to see. I don't wanna keep the candidates on hold forever tonight. Yeah, yeah. I would like to go that way if we could. Yeah, I think that's reasonable.
Yeah, I'd second that. I'd like to go to executive session, just have a quick conversation amongst ourselves. All
right. Thank you, Stephen. I think the one thing I would mention that if Jeff Murray told you getting into the Board of Finance was just getting your feet wet, he may have been underplaying the role. It's, it can get a little bit interesting, during budget season. It's a Have a good set of waiters. Yeah. You may need a, you may need a scuba to that still. But no, it's, I appreciate the, the interest. We definitely need people involved in the town. It, it, it just makes us all better if we get people who are interested, involved and committed. We definitely appreciate all of your participation tonight. So thanks very much.
Okay. So if nobody else has any questions for Steven, we will go ahead to Kimberly Persson. And am I saying your last name right, Kimberly? So Yes, you are. Can you all Yeah, hear
we can. Yeah. Thanks. Okay. Perfect. I've heard it pronounced that way, but I don't wanna make any assumptions.
No, it's fine. So I'm Kimberly Persson. I grew up in Andover actually on Pine Ridge Drive. I have seven siblings, four girls, four boys. Wonderful neighborhood to grow up on Dead End Road. I went to Andover Elementary School, had a couple of kids. They went to Andover Elementary School. I was a children's librarian here at Andover Public Library. I ran a very successful nonprofit here in Andover, where I learned a lot about budgets, money in, money out. I learned a tremendous amount of our community here and what needed to happen to grow that program into a very, very successful nonprofit. I listened to the community, grew the program, and ran it for about twenty plus years, eventually decided that I had left it the best that I could and went to work at UConn Health. I think that I can offer a lot to your group. I'm a very good listener and I just think that can sprinkle some common sense on what can be very complicated. I've attended budget meetings. I've listened to a lot of Board of Education meetings, a lot of Board of Finance meetings.
I have a ton of friends in the town of Vandiver because I've been here for so long. So I'm very interested in the position. I think I can help. Is there anything else you'd like to ask me?
I'll open it up to the board and ask if anybody has any specific questions.
Go ahead, John. Kim, I just wanted to Did you try to run for the Board of Finance this past year, if memory serves me correctly? I did not. Okay. And I'm trying to remember and forgive me. I knew there was a you probably saw me on the ballot to run for the Board of Education. Oh, okay. So you were on the board. I knew Yes. It may seem familiar. And I may be getting you confused with one of your siblings who I thought was appearing appearing today like many in town.
Yes, was unendorsed, but I was extremely interested in sitting on the Board of Education as well. I actually sat on the Board of Education for a while. And I ended up having to leave the role because of my position running the nonprofit in town. The two of the positions were a conflict. So I had to give up my seat on the Board of Education in order to run the nonprofit. Just the experience that I gained there
pardon me? Sorry. I didn't mean to cut you off. Why don't you finish? That's okay. What was that nonprofit? That's okay. COOL, community organized and operated latchkey.
Yeah. My kids went to COOL. Okay. Got it. Mhmm.
K. Mhmm. A wonderful, wonderful program. I mean, started out. So when I took COOL over, it had a state grant, and there were only eight kids in it. At the time that I took it over, they had lost the grant. And I was left with this program with virtually almost no money. And, oh my gosh, what am I going to do? So I started listening to the parents that were there, started advertising this program more and more. And quite honestly, I grew it to a program where there were 30 kids in the afternoon, 30 kids in the morning, taking in tuition, it was run completely on tuition only. And I then added in a preschool endorsement to it. Then after that, I left it to get a full time job. Very proud of that. Very wonderful, wonderful experience. And that taught me a lot about budgets, our community, and brings me here.
Great. Thank you for that. Yeah, it's a necessary program for sure. Good job on doing It's extremely, it's huge. It's getting bigger in childcare.
That program was created for parents who had nowhere to bring their children in Andover for childcare. There was no place to do it. Yeah, it was wonderful. It was a wonderful experience. And my time at UConnell, worked for a neurosurgeon, that was my first program, is wonderful too. But yeah, my roots are pretty deep in Andover. I'm here too for a long time. Okay.
Other questions from the board, Bill? Sorry. I would just repeat the question that was asked earlier. What do you see, Kim, as number one priority for you in joining the Board of Finance? For the town, I guess I would say. What would my priority be for joining this? No, I said, I guess what do you think the number one priority for the town is when you join the Board of Finance? What are the things that you see in town as one of our top priorities? Or are you most interested in, I guess?
I think my biggest priority listening to all of the meetings that we've had in the last four or five years is listening to the town members and communicating with them openly, and trying to maybe get them to understand why we're spending this money and what we need it for. I think there's probably a general misunderstanding of where the money is going and what has to happen with it. So for me, it's communication and it's listening.
Great, thanks. If that's a good answer, you know? It is a good answer for me.
That's that's that's what I I tend to sit, listen, think, and then communicate after I've I've heard, I have to think a little bit about how I'm going to respond to people. Sure. Thank you. I think it's communication. Okay. You're welcome.
Other questions from the board? Luiz, you had your hand up. Are you gonna ask that same question? Was. It's a good question.
Okay. I do wanna ask him, what do you do with the neurosurgeon at UConn? This was an interesting program. He was starting a brand new neurosurgery residency, and I was fortunate enough to get picked for the position. I worked for him for two years and I ended up actually having to take over the administration of the entire department as well as run his residency. While I was doing that job, I was working on continuing medical education programs for him in another department and I was recruited out of neurosurgery. Now I am in the continuing medical education program at UConn Health and I administer the entire program for UConn Health, which is basically how doctors keep their licenses. They have to achieve so many credits. That's now where I am at at UConn Health. Neurosurgery program was huge. He grew that program while I worked with him 300%. It was brand new. Wow.
Big deal. Yeah, it was a lot of work. Thank you.
Other questions or comments from the board? Okay, hearing none. Thank you, Kimberly. We appreciate your willingness to serve and thanks for You're welcome. Talking to the board and letting us know who you are. Okay, and I see Adrian's joining us. Adrian, same opportunity to introduce yourself and tell the board a little bit about why you're interested and your background. I don't know. Is my mic still open?
Adrian, we can't really hear you. We're barely hearing you, Adrian. This sounds muffled.
Let me see if I can make this stuff running. How's that? It's a little better, but still muffled.
My communication is a little glitchy on this side. I'm not sure if it's the storm we're having. Yeah. It just sounds like you're talking through a pillow.
Yeah. Do I wonder if you have a, like, the a laptop folded up or something or the the microphone obstructed.
I'd set. Let me see if anything. I apologize. I can't set it anyway.
If it doesn't get better, I wonder if you tried to call in with a cell phone with the with the numbers. We could always try that. But Yeah. Take your time. We're fine. Take your time.
Well, he's working on that. My video off. Mike offers some more bandwidth.
Yeah. I think it's probably on his end. Most people you were you were slowing down a little bit, Kimberly, but I I think and we were getting a little bit of a little bit of glitching and I'm gonna mute my my iPad. That might help.
For those who are new on the board, you may not know, but, you know, Adrian served before. He was on the board of fans for a number of years. He was on the board when I joined. Went on to Boris Lechman and a brief stint, at least I don't know how brief, but a stint on the board of Ed as well, I believe. So he's been around. Yeah. Yep. But Anything, Adrian? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's muffled.
Yeah. It's really bad, man. I'm sorry. We can barely hear you. I'm gonna try to turn it.
Alright. So, yeah, Adrian was on as Rob said, he was on the board of finance before I joined, was elected to the board of selectmen and that's why he moved on from the board of finance directly. I served on that role until last fall. How often you meet monthly? How often do we meet? Yeah. A minimum of monthly. Minimum of monthly? Okay.
During the budget season, we'll we'll meet three, four times a month. Hold on. Adrian, we're still you're still kinda muffled.
Still kinda muffled. Alright. I appreciate just wait for Adrian. It's getting better. Yeah. It sounds better. It does sound better. You're you're improving.
I I tried a different microphone. It's still not so nice, I guess.
That's a little better. You can go ahead and give it a shot, I think. Okay.
Adrian, you wanna kinda give us the overview? Can you hear us? Yeah. If you can hear me, I I can't tell if this is working or not. Yeah. That's better. It's better. We can hear you. It's little muffled, but it's not you know, we can understand you. Think at least I can.
Alright. Well, let's so I I'll be honest. I threw my name in kind of last minute believing that you actually at that point had not had anyone put their self forward. So I I have to be honest in saying that I'm excited to see that you had David Neiman. And so I I personally have to say, I think you guys are gonna have a very a very tough couple years ahead of you, whoever's on this board because, you know, as a board of finance, it's not just about this year. It's about the coming years. And you have you have in five years from now, if you look at the population projections and percentages, your big issue is really gonna be RAM. Five years out from now, Ram is gonna need a million dollars more from the time of Andover than they're collecting this year. So that's really your that's really gonna be your struggle. I I have I have talked to I I I know I talked and I have took the time to talk to two good candidates there. And I've been saying for a long time, we really want to get more candidates involved. And we have two new candidates. I think it's good to have new members to the board. I am going to remove myself from the Tennessee, and I would ask you to consider Steve. I think he the best of the the best of the the two that are gonna be left. I I think it's important that that you guys consider all candidates, but I'm I'm gonna remove myself because I I really really really thought you didn't have a qualified candidate, and now I see you do. And I think you've been born again, new blood on these boards.
You know, I did do board myself. I'm the floor. I'm I'm I'm happy to step aside for a minute and let someone else take that lead. I will let you guys make your decision, between those two. And I hope whoever you choose serves serves you well.
Okay. All right. Well, thank you, Adrian. Again, I appreciate your willingness to step in and volunteer when it didn't look like you didn't think there was anybody in. I think you've got a role in this talent in the future for sure regardless. I know you were a good mentor for me when we started,
you know, when I was first put on the board, so I appreciate that. And will say candidly, if there's anything that I can do for this board or, you know, another board at the town can always reach out to me, I'm glad to put some time in. You know, I I think I think you guys will be fine. You got a a pretty good your board has experience now. You got some some fresh faces that can do well, but I think you'll be fine. And I I do encourage you to consider Steven, though. After talking to him, I think, as the personality, I think you're gonna you know, you kinda make dig down on some of these budgets pretty hard, and you guys know that. And then it's always been Okay. Longer Yeah. To do that. So I wish you luck. Alright. Have a good day. Okay. Appreciate it. And good luck to you. Yeah, Sandra. Thanks, Sina. For all the information
along the way. And when I was a newbie, you were quite kind with answering questions and everything and were always a wealth of information. So wishing you the best. Okay. Thank you. Bye bye. Bye. Okay.
So thank you, everybody. So as part of this, before we move on to the next agenda item, I think we will, as suggested or proposed, we'll adjourn into executive session. And Eric, you can kind of discuss those particulars here. But I believe what happens is that members of the public will be moved to a waiting room. That's correct. And
then once we're out of executive session, anybody in the waiting room will be asked back to the meeting. Board members, we can have Eric be part of this. We'd have to invite him, though, I believe, into the executive session. Is that correct, Eric, I'm remembering the process correctly?
Yes. If you don't want me in in the executive session, that's fine. I have no issues with that. I just would have to figure out how to hand over You'd have to hand over control. Yeah. Control.
I'm I'm actually looking at that right now because I thought
he might end up doing that. Personally, I I'd I'd like Eric's input. Yeah. I have no problem with that either. And and if it's logistically easier, let's just do it. Yeah. Let's do it.
I was gonna say, I think it's fine that he comes in with us as well. I think it's gonna be our board's decision. I think we have enough experience and knowledge being a Board of making our decisions at this point, but obviously have Eric be there, of course.
Okay. No objections then. We'll go ahead and continue on that basis. Okay. So, Steven, Linda, Kimberly, you'll be moved into the waiting room.