So, they're actually going out to bid um in the next month or two. Um and they'll have it out for about 30 days, I believe. So, they're looking to get started this the end of the summer fall. Nice. Nice. I know we were really close to signing off on the ML. Yeah. Is that the lease? The lease. You mean the lease is all signed? Yep. That's all done. I think I know that Jen was trying to get that done before she left, but I wasn't. She did got it right under the wire. Um, and uh, it's not on the agenda, but I did review the dog parkou um, sent that over to Beth. I think we're in good shape to move that one forward. Um, Pawn Street. Um, so, uh, I was able to hop on a call recently with uh, Dennis Gianetti uh, from Senate President Scopa's office as well as MASDOT.
I know uh Beth, you probably were on the coordinating call on Wednesday with uh with some of our team, but you know they so they're continuing to do the work um you know along various parts of the corridor. Um they had anticipated getting done I believe it was in August uh but Eversource u needed to do some work just inside of or Pine Street and going inside of Alangquin which was going to take about a month. So instead of doing having them come in after the roads paved and all of that good stuff going to go ahead and have them go in and do that work believe at the end of May. That's that's what they're anticipating. Um and so that would push the project out to September. So it would still be be a month, but at least we wouldn't be they wouldn't be cutting into the pave the new pave.
Well, that makes sense. Makes sense. Good. So that's uh that's still scheduled to be completed. Every time I drive on it, there's something else a little bit different. Something else cleaned up. There's something else changed and moved. And that is still seeing progress that Dennis and I did uh um put some um pressure on for uh was just the cleanup in the me. You know, I understand Northern Construction, which is the contractor, hasn't mobilized, but that doesn't mean that we should have to live with that, right? Um, that's good because I I was asked a question about Pond Street specifically and like when is it going to be finished and people haven't seen a lot of act activity, so I think they're wondering what the timeline is. I I can understand that. So, so yes, it's still anticipated to be done in 25. So, I mean you I mean we have we have a number of projects that could potentially be done in 25.
Cadillac paint, the Warren Barn, Pawn Street, um Dog Park, dog park. So, um yeah, we could we could have a pretty productive 25, the second half of 25. Okay. And so, just an update on open positions. Um so I will start first with uh the director of planning and economic development. We have been interviewed interview after interview. Um so it has been a lot of time spent interviewing candidates for some open positions. I will have to say though we've got some really good candidates and it's been great to hear why they're interested in applying and they'd like to know how busy we are. They appreciate that. Um but um we hope to finish up the interviews for the director of planning and economic development this week and hopefully extend an offer to somebody. Hopefully uh they would accept. Uh and that would be great to get that done this week.
Um very good. So uh and on the assistant HR director position um we have interviewed a number of candidates um and extended an offer to uh one and she has accepted and her start date and temporarily kind of still working all of that out is Tuesday the 27th. Oh my gosh. Wow. That's right. You did say the 2. Yes, it is next week. Uh, unfortunately it's too late for that. Oh, that's right. Yeah. So, um, so yes, here's the notification. Um, and well, we just found out today. Uh, so, um, unless you Well, if you just found out today, then we could say based on that, we could handr write it and add it and approve it, right? For sure. Okay. Um, I would like a motion that would allow us to vote in a 14-day waiver for the new assistant uh HR. And what is this person's name?
Yeah. Katie Cool. Katie Cool. Yes. C O K O L. K U HL. K. Okay. So, a motion to wave the 15-day waiting period. Uh, on that. So, moved. Okay. And a second. I'll second that. All those in favor? I I um we added that to our agenda because we just found out. So, this is definitely where items might be added that were not expected. Correct. Absolutely. And it's important to get that. It's very important. We want to be able to start. Wonderful. Okay. And u so we are also interviewing for the assistant town planner as well with uh with the hopes that if everything line up right, we'll have a director of planning in economic development at least accepted and potentially could do some interviews as well. Second round. Nice. Nice. Okay. Great. Um and then um you yes we also has have the open open position of director of prevention and human services.
Oh update on that. Sure. So we have started interviewing uh for that position as well. We interviewed a couple weeks ago and then the director was out of the office for a couple weeks. So we're going to start that back up um hopefully within the next week or so. And this is replacing someone who's leaving or French and there's an over there's planning to be an overlap right before she officially leaves. Yes. So Kristen is staying on um a part-time capacity to help us and also to help us with the interviews as well. Um and then hopefully there'll be a little bit of overlap and then and then um I would love to bring our newly constituted finance team in to meet the board um at a future meeting soon. Just u that'd be great. They are it's uh it's again internal promotions and we did uh hire uh Paul a new new employee uh Bill Stephanie's assistant town accountant role.
So he started last week. Lot of faces. A lot of new faces faces faces in new positions. Um a lot of lot of new energy. Anything else I miss Katherine? But it's all budget neutral. Remind people that yes, there's new people sitting new places, but we have not added to the actually. So yeah, actually a little bit less. So um great and uh so we'll move on to the internal organizational development plan and I will turn it over to Katherine to discuss that. Thank you. So back in spring and summer of 2024, the management team had started receiving some feedback from staff, department heads, u regarding workload equity, burnout, communication. Maybe it wasn't always so clear. Um and then professional growth. People were looking for opportunities to grow. So, uh, we got together, we brainstormed ways to get to get at what we could do to make things better for the entire team.
Uh, and so we started planning out a staff retreat. So, it turned into two staff retreats and, um, we invited all staff to both retreats. We had about, I would say, 50 employees at each um, in the fall of 2024. We held the retreats on Fridays so that way we had some um space for employees to come and and hopefully have some time that was uninterrupted as much as they could uh to participate in this. So in September of 2024 we worked uh with employees again there are about 50 attendees uh both small and large group settings. Uh we discussed and ranked our top five of the following. So we talked about why we do the work that we do. our top five workplace values and how we know our values are being met. And um and so that was that first meeting. We spent about two and a half hours working on that.
And then in October of 2024, we came back together as a group again, had approximately 50 employees attend. Again, we worked in both small and large group settings um on translating the value statements from the September session um and put those into actionable goals and implementation steps to come up with a plan. And so from there, and I can't take credit for all of this plan, uh Jen and I worked really closely um on this and we spent a lot of time sifting through all of the data that we collected from both sessions. We really tried to be mindful of all the voices that were heard, all of the um statements that were made to make sure that they were included in this plan because again this is this is our organization and so we wanted to make sure that everybody's voice was heard. And so that's how we sort of put together this uh draft plan and then also an action plan which you should have in your your packet.
It's I think we called it an activity chart. And so our intention uh back in the fall was to or I should say winter was to present the plan to staff earlier in the spring of 2025. However, we had some changes pop up um and some larger projects going on. So we weren't able to meet with the staff until May 16th, which was this past Friday. And so we invited all staff once again to get together uh and meet to present the draft plan. And again, we worked in small and large groups to collect feedback on the plan as well as the action items that we presented. Um and so we collected that data. We're going to go through that data because we want to make sure that again all of those ideas are incorporated into the plan and the activities chart. Um, and then this morning after staff that attended the meeting on 516 had some some time to sort of live with the plan, read it and review it a little bit more, we asked for feedback again just to see if there were, you know, any further comments um that they had.
And so, uh, I think as of this meeting, I think we have four, you know, four people have responded with some some additional feedback. So, that's great. Um, and then we'll also be sending out the draft to all staff who were not able to attend with a different type of feedback form just to collect uh their feedback once they've reviewed the plan and action steps. So, in addition to their internal input that we've collected from the staff, we'll be using recommendations from um external sources. So, we're working with the Collins Center on a staffing study. Michael and I have a call tomorrow to talk to them about sort of where we're at with that study. And then we'll also be looking at community input um once the comprehensive plan is complete. Uh and then the goal is to have this organiza organizational development plan to be a living document that will evolve with staff feedback, expert guidance, and community needs so that we may build a comprehensive sustainable organizational development strategy.
that will help us attract and retain um talented staff to convin to continue to provide high level services to the community. Yeah. And I'll just add I think um you know Katherine and Jen did a great job on the plan. Um I think uh also you know Katherine and Beth worked with me to you know facilitate things as well as uh Cindy Livingstone like our small groups. But you know, I think just it is really really special to get the group together. We don't have an opportunity to do that as staff a lot. But and gosh, a lot of things we take for granted just in our positions because we do know everybody is believe it or not, not everybody has opportunities to know and interact with anybody. So the benefits we get out of these um just go far beyond the reports and what you see on paper.
uh the camaraderie that's built, the teamwork that's built, um the things we learn about each other. Uh we had some some fun trivia uh games as well to uh do some ice breakers um or not ice breakers, but uh just to get to know our colleagues better. But, you know, I will say um there were some some very um serious uh um points that were brought up uh during the meeting. Uh things that uh we do need to address and things that we um we need to I don't want to say address quickly, but uh we need to show progress that we're working on them in order to maintain I think staff morale. um ma maintain or improve staff morale um and then also en ensure that um you know people are fulfilled coming to work again you're not going to be fulfilled all the time you think that's that's and I don't think anybody's asking for that but um it is uh it was a very interesting conversation but overall very very positive I think people uh do enjoy the work that they do.
They do enjoy the team. They do enjoy the people that they work with. So, that's something that to our ears, you know, it it makes us makes us happy to know that at least we have the bones in place. I think you can tell from when you look at the action items that um people are happy and they want they want more interconnectedness, right, with each other. Um that really came through to me. So I think the other thing that really came through is it says under responsible parties person it says K bird a lot does no but uh I do it it comes through that they're just looking for connection and that um that would build pride and in their positions and you know the workplace. So looks really good. Thank you. Other thoughts, comments? Um, yeah, I would uh piggyback on what you said, Claudia.
Couple couple of comments or question. Uh, first off, this is a lot of really incredible work. So, I want to say good job so far, folks. Um, I think it's important uh for for uh our our citizens to to know that, you know, all the work that you're doing here in so far as morale, interconnectedness, and such directly translates into quality of service to the town. Um it is important you know to have those things in a workplace because that makes folks uh not just more motivated but um really uh well yeah more motivated to to do their jobs do them well uh and to continue uh delivering you know high value services. So I think you know a lot of folks may think oh this sounds like a lot of extra stuff and like all the warm and fuzzies it's like well there's a real uh there's a real purpose behind this.
I mean, and yes, the warm and fuzzies are important, too, but but there's also an operational concern around this as well that I think folks need to understand uh for that that will yield positive results for everyone here in Ashland because this work is being done. Um, quick question. I I just uh want to get some clarity on the uh expected deliverables from the your work from the Colin Center. like what is after the engagement like what are you what are you hoping what is the result uh that you're looking for after the engagement and what's the deliverable there. Um so what we're basically it was a a two-stage it's a two-stage kind of process. So first of all we're looking at just some baseline comparable organizational data across departments from a number of different uh communities. Was it 18? And then from there, what we've done is and where we are right now is taking a deeper dive into three communities.
One that um spends, you know, relatively the same size as Ashland, but spends less um than Ashland uh and that would be the town of Milford. Um one the town of Medway that spends comparably to what Ashland does and then one uh the town of Sudbury which does um which spends, you know, significantly more. And so what we want to do is we want to take a look at what services are being provided by the four communities Ashland and those three. And so is it proportional to what's being spent, right? So um you know and I guess probably not the most scientific question, but you know when you're looking at this data, what is each town getting for their dollar, right, in terms of services? Um, and I think I think we want to make sure that, you know, we are we are providing a good value.
Um, and there's a number of different ways you can use that. Comparative data is one method, you know, that you can you can use to help gauge that or triangulate that. So, that's that's that second piece that we're kind of we're kind of stuck on right now. We're trying to figure out the way forward. Oh, who's the town that is the um spends less? Milford. So, uh, is there a completion date for the engagement? Like, we we hope to clarify a lot of that tomorrow, Makita, when we have a a call with the executive director. That sounds like really interesting and useful information for our planning. So, I'm kind of very intrigued to find out what Yeah, same here. Yeah, same here. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. So, quick question, just a followup on that. Like so the Collins Center um plan that we're gonna receive, do they when you say like they spend less, are you talking like total budget?
Are you talking specifically for the municipal side or on a on a per capita basis? I mean, if you look at the total budget, it's not going to be well, I guess, you know, if you did look at the total budget, you'd end up kind of with the same ranking, if you will, but really, this is more like on a per capita basis. Okay. So, it's like, and it does include, I think, uh, schools when we did the calculation. So it's basically like average tax like the amount that the average taxpayer pays the amount that's spent amount that's spent. Okay. Which as you know is made up not only of taxpayer dollars but state aid dollars local receipts. Okay. Essentially take the budget divide the total budget divide it by the number of people. Okay. All right. Because I'm that way you can normalize it kind of equalize.