001like to call the school board meeting to order. First item on the agenda is roll call. >> Member Bellowos, >> present. >> Member McGawan, >> present. >> Member Smith, >> present. >> Member Papis, >> here. >> Member Horn, >> here. Member Anderson >> present. >> Member Colberg >> here. >> Member Grassi >> here. >> Member White. >> Member Oliver >> here. >> Member Campo >> here. >> Member Battis >> present. >> Member Gregoire >> here. >> We have a quorum. >> Great. Um do you want to >> Yeah. So uh this evening we're very fortunate to uh bring before you a candidate for our position as business administrator. Uh as folks know he granted a tenor resignation and so we have posted that position. We had a uh candidate apply that we that I have
002met with uh that the facil the finance department rather has has met with uh Katie has met with them. We've brought in other administrators to meet with them u and so this evening I'm going to invite him to to come up and and join us. This is William Roy >> uh not for the interview for the discussion afterwards. >> Yeah. Um and then uh you are this evening uh meeting Bill Roy and uh getting an opportunity to get to know him, ask him some questions. Um but first I ask Bill, can you just start off by just kind of getting us back into that kind of mode by tell us about yourself, where you're coming from, what you're and how your journey lends you to being here in front of us project. >> Sure. Okay.
003I got to pause because our our policy says we have to do a pledge of allegiance first. >> Oh yes. Yes, we should do that. Excellent. You're right. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisibley and justice for all. >> There is public comment. >> Is there anyone from the public wishing to address the board? >> See none, we'll pause that for now. All right. So now we got the formalities away. Okay, I know how it goes. Um, so I'm Bill Roy, right? Currently I am the assistant business administrator in Portsouth. Um, before that I worked for the town for a short amount of time. Um, the reason for that was is I was in Nottingham as a business
004administrator before that, but my mom was sick, so I had to step back and then she ended up passing away. So after a little bit of time, I was like, you know what, I want to I want to go back into the school side. It's a municipality. I like the school stuff, just, you know, kids and everything like that. It's fun. And then uh before that I was in dairy for five years at Derry Cooper School District as the district accountant. So that's kind like a brief history of me and backwards. So now we all have some questions in front of us. Um ask question. >> Um so welcome. Thank you for being here. What what's your interest in Rochester? Why Rochester? Why now? Why here? >> Uh, well, it's growing. Like the the way
005when I say growing, I mean I don't know about the community wise because I haven't researched that, but I meant like the direction of where the schools the school department's going. Um, they you know, obviously they went through some bad times, but now after talking with everybody, it's very the vibe is great. Everybody's super friendly. Um, there's I don't get a bad like that person is going to be difficult. Everybody seems like they're eager and they want to move forward. They want to improve. So, I like that. I think that's very very encouraging because if you get that at the administration level, you get that the central office spreads out. So I like that. >> Sure. Thank you. >> Hi, I'm Samantha. Nice to meet you. >> You too. >> What is your process for
006position control to ensure the district does not go over budget and also to ensure we strategically utilize projected unused funds? is timely. >> So when you say position control, do you mean personnel? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yeah. So you know I guess one of the things you do is kind of look at the schools like okay what do we have at the school? Like I when I was in Derry or Ningham Nottingham was one school. So that's not a great example but what I would do is I would reach out to the schools and ask who's your current staff like I'll ask maybe about a month in after school starts and I have that list and we go through to make sure that everybody is getting paid from the right account line. So, I'm
007a fan of budgets being spent from where they're supposed to be budgeted from. So, if this is done by the school, you know, everybody who's working in that school should be coming out of that school line. Um, they shouldn't be hitting. So, if they're in an elementary school, they shouldn't be coming out of middle school and vice versa because people move. So, we just want to make sure everybody's right cuz if you underspent on one area, you could be overspending on another area, but maybe it's the same. Maybe it's like this person should just be here. So, that's why it looks like it's under versus that one's being over because you have that extra person. maybe they don't have that extra price anymore. So, that's one thing I would do. Um, also monthly reports, you
008know, I'm big on that for the budgets. Yeah, you look at it, you incumbrance, comers, incumbrances, purchase orders, whatever you want to call it, those are great. Uh, purchase orders also incurring uh funds for staff in terms of salaries, benefits, everything like that. So, you know where the money's going. So, if you have open positions later on, that could be a surplus of money later on. Uh maybe you had somebody move in for the student services side that needed an extra position. So you're like, "Okay, we know that's going to offset here." So I'm a fan of that because it's it's transparent. Um you know where the money's going now. You look at your budget like, "Hey, this was budget for this." Well, you know the reasoning for that is because this went over budget
009because we had a pair of professional come in. Um so looking at it that way. So >> Mr. Go ahead. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um hi Bill. >> Hi fellows. Um, what would be your top priorities in the first 90 days as director of finance? >> Oh, so I met with the finance department earlier. um working sitting down with them and going through what like stress points or pressure points from them that happened to them for outside of their scope of their job like maybe they're not getting timely invoices on time if it's or you know if it's in the AP side or maybe we have a delay in getting checks mailed to us because people aren't send uh submitting their documents in soon enough so we can get the reimbursement for federal grants.
010So I would look at stuff like that with the team. Then I would also meet everybody. That's one of the bigger things, you know, know their names, know what they do, know where they are. You know, I'm a face tof face kind of guy or a phone call guy. Email's great for recapping or hey, real quick. Um, but I think having that conversation is always greater. So, I think building that rapport in the first nine days is number one. You >> welcome Gracie. >> Bill and Graassie. Is is the um Portsmith school department a department of the city or is it in independent of the city? >> It's a it's a department of the city but they're charted as an independent school district. So basically is how that works is the city takes care of
011a lot of stuff like legal is in-house with their city for the majority of it, right? Sometimes you have to reach out for outside counsel based on the importance. Um, health insurance is paid by the school department, but it's managed by the city side. So, there's a lot of intertwining there. >> That's my basic question is um how strong are you? How how do you feel about getting involved with the city finance person and the city council? Because we're a totally dependent school district. >> Oh, I I think that's I I have no problem with that if that's what you're asking. I think it's good. you know, they're they're >> I was looking more for experience or >> Yeah. No, I talked so I do talk to the uh city side. Um there's a group
012of counselor down there down there that I talk to. There's one in particular cuz she's like the liaison for the city to the school and I'm the liaison from the school to the city kind of deal. So, she and I work well together. Um she's helped me in some binds like hey we were told we were going to get this money for this and then she'll go talk to her boss and I would go talk with her and vice versa where she'll come to us and say hey I need to have this report. Can you explain where this payroll is coming from? So, we work together that way. >> Hi, I'm S. Horn. How are you today? >> Well, how are you? >> Good. Very good. Thank you. Um, I'm going to actually read one
013of these questions because as I was looking quickly over these, it jumped out at me because it's something that's very important to me and I would like to uh know what is your process for position control to ensure the district does not go over budget and also to ensure that we strategically utilize projected unused funds timely. >> I think that was the >> one. Oh, I didn't hear that. >> I'm sorry. Okay. Well, sorry. Sorry. That's okay. >> My bad. I really did want to hear all that. I apologize that I didn't hear that. So, >> okay. >> We'll come back to this. >> Okay. >> Hey, Bill. My name is Sam. Welcome. Thanks for coming. >> Yeah. Every other person here is named Sam. >> I've learned that. Learn that. >> We jokingly call
014it the Sam's Club. We're the cool ones on the board, just letting you know. Um um so coming from Portsouth it's a little bit different um with financially than Rochester. I'm sure you've been um at least >> I've researched it. Yeah. >> Yeah. I'm sure you've read. Um so I'm just curious in previous roles, have you or how have you approached um long-term financial forecasting when state adequacy funding increases were uncertain or insufficient to cover growing needs? Um, and what multi-year strategies did you implement to prepare for those tight budget years? >> Um, so there's not really a multi-year forecasting that I've done because that's that's a hard one because it's changing. Uh, you know, 90, you know, the the equation is always changing. The people qualify change, you know, maybe they change their income,
015stuff like that. So stay up to date. I I've just emailed Mark at the state like, "Hey, I need to understand this a little bit more." I'm not afraid to ask questions. If I don't know, I want to find out why. So I've done a lot of that in terms of the forecasting. Um, and then regards for that one-year forecast, that that's more realistic you can do. Um, I've I double check my numbers. I I look at it, then I'll put it to the side. I'll go again tomorrow. I'll look at it, and if something's changed, I figure out why. Or like I said, I reach I just reach out to the state like, "Hey, this is this is what I'm looking at for adequacy. Is that correct?" They say, "Yeah." And then maybe two
016months later say, "Hey, it's changed another $20,000 more, $20,000 less." Okay. So how can we account for that if we've already planned that in our budget and it's already gone through certain phases. Um try to try to be proactive in my thinking not reactive but it's always reactive but proactive is where I want to go. So if I'm saying hey you know I notice there's a trend that's changing so maybe I'll give myself a cushion like okay I'm seeing this number as my adequacy right this is my spend number over here. Um and then I would say okay well you know last year it changed you know the year before that looked like it changed again. So it looks like it's probably going to change again this year. So let's, you know, plan ahead that
017it's going to go up or go down based on what they start, you know, history looks like. So that's how I approach that. >> So you work in cities, you've worked in towns, the budgeting process a little bit different for for each entity. How much your what's your starting process for uh getting the budget rolling? We'll say >> for the planning part. uh salaries, you know, unless because that's that's the biggest one, but it's also the easiest one because if you have your contracts are all set, you know, what people are going to be getting, you know, for the most part right now, what they're going to get for health insurance, that's always different because lifestyle changes. I don't know what's going to happen there. But I usually try to plan for what they're currently
018on unless we know advance like, hey, we know they're this person is going to get married. Let's try to plan the health insurance that way. Or hey, and we know that this, you know, this person is going to be leaving us at the end of the year. So, how do we plan for that? Right? So, let's just assume someone comes in to fill that role. I'm going to assume that they're going to be, you know, they're going to have a family plan because it's easier to take out than it is to add during the budget process. Especially once you see one number and that number's changed and it's higher, it's like, woo, why I want to get you the right answers. You know, it's always that way. Um then after that I I meet with
019the you know the staff you know I send in Nottingham what they did is they sent a Google sheet out to all the staff members asking basically here here's your list of wants. Then I sat down with the the principal like okay what's realistic what's actually needed you know like art was like oh art's always so high while they have clay clay can be expensive they need uh you know replace the kilum you know stuff like that. So, and then we just go I just go piece by piece, you know, then one one section is done, I let them know like this is my deadline. Like I'm asking this by this date. It's not because I want you to get all your stuff in. It's because I need to make sure all my numbers are
020right. That way if anything changes later on, it's a lot easier. So, by always I do give them like a dead like a end date or deadline. That's the word. Deadline. Sorry, escaped me for a second there. Um, someone say, "Hey, so we start I start in September. I know the process for cities and stuff can be later on depending on where it is. But, you know, let's work on it. It's easier to go, you know, a couple hours here and the rest of the day do my other stuff, couple hours here tomorrow. Instead of doing it like, oh, all day is just budget because by the end of the day, your head's swimming. So, I do salaries, I do supplies. Um, anything that's contracted, you know, that those are pretty easy, too. um we
021know that we're going to have x amount of dollars for, you know, maintenance because we rent this equipment every year, you know, so we know what kind of if we're in a five-year contract with a copier machines, we know what we're looking at there, too. So, that's how I kind of approach it. >> What What do you find is the most challenging part of developing that budget, >> building the budget, the supplies, everything's need, everything's want. I need this, I need that. Do you like like do you need all this colored paper? Like, I don't know. I mean, other kids use crayons. I I don't know. You know what I'm saying? But that's that's what I always be the finest. Hardest one is always the supplies. Um, especially with anything that direct directly affects the
022students or the children or the kids, whatever you want to call them. I call them kids. Um, that's always the hardest one because they advocate hard for that. We need this for the students. Granted, yes, that's a we all need this. We're in a school. This is a business of education. It's a school. We all need this for the kids. But it's like what's realistic? You know, what's your plan? So, especially my hardest part with the budgeting is when they try to spend all the stuff this year for stuff next year that's already budgeting. That's a whole other conversation, but yeah, that's it's be tough, but that's I think that's usually the hardest one. >> Thank you. >> Hi, I'm Lisa. >> Hi, Lisa. >> Could you give us a little background which ERP systems
023you're familiar with? >> Sure. Uh, school ERP Pro, which was Infinite Visions and I think budget sense before that. It's a Tyler Tech product. >> All right. So it's similar to MUNS. I've never used MUNS which means I have no bad habits but I have no good habits but I have no bad habits. Right. Um so Tyler Tech was the easiest one right now. I'm using E Finance. Um that's it feels dated. Um I'm actually learning how to use more of it which is great but it's it's an older system. Need some I think in my opinion need some revamping. Um so those are the two systems that I've used after that. Quickbooks. I know that. But >> thank you. >> You're welcome. >> I have a question for you. Uh what kind of experience
024do you have um in being involved in contract negotiations with the labor unions? What's your involvement? >> Um my involvement has been on the finance side part of it. Like, okay, so if we add a position, we take a position, if we give a x% raise, what's that going to look like? Um if they're going to start paying, hey, we'll just say they're paying 10% for their insurance, but they want to drop it down to 9%. what would that look like, you know, based on the current year with the projections that we're going to get. Um, so that's the side I've been on. I've never been in the side where it's like um what's inside like oh extra duty, you know, like what they're going to be responsible for because that's always been on the
025superintendent side or the admin side. So that's where I fallen in with that. I had a spreadsheet for it and it it was going and I was open with the um the uh NEA spokesperson with them. There was back good back and forth to make sure my numbers match with his numbers. I thought it was a good experience, but I it can always be tense. >> That was sort of my next followup is is uh you know you're able to get the changes of numbers relatively quick and accurately. >> Yeah, it's all basically how you set it up. Like if I have the right good data in, good data out, that's how it is. So, if I have the right number of people in the beginning, like I know the people's names, I know where
026they're at, I know what they're looking at right now, then a spreadsheet does wonders like, hey, let's add one position. If we know, we're going to say step three, all right, for a pair of professional or something like that. Okay, we'll put them at step three. This is what the salary is. Let's assume what the insurance will be, so on and so forth. So, that's usually pretty simple because, you know, click of a number and it just changes everything and then the formula works out. I've not had any bad experiences with it. So, but time takes time. I I say that. >> Sure. >> Hi, Shnie. >> Can you tell us about your experience with audits and their outcomes and what that experience has taught you? >> Sure. Uh, number one thing I've learned, auditors
027want to help you. It's if I if we can do our job right, it makes a lot easier for them. So, if we're doing something wrong, I want to know about it from the auditors. I'll ask questions. I ask for examples of what they got in the past. That's usually a good one because it's usually the same things they ask for every year, but every once in a while they'll ask for something maybe differently or maybe they'll use a different word like can you give me example of what you got last year or how give me a little bit can you give me a little more detail on it. I'll ask that. Um when I was in Derry, we had great audits like it was no errors, no findings, no nothing. um Nottingham I walked
028into a difficult situation because they were their own school district um for their it was in their second year but they already went through like three BAS um so I was like piecing things together but same with the auditors even the even the um auditors for the state for the federal grants they just they want to help you so I just ask them and it was great I've had great experiences with their auditors so I I don't know I can't speak for everybody else's experiences they don't scare me you know because I know they know stuff that I don't know and I stuff they don't know. We're going to work together as a team. So, if I can get their stuff faster, turn it around, it's better for us. >> Thank you. >> Welcome. >>
029I have a question. >> Yeah. Um, you know, I've spoken obviously to other superintendents that have worked with you. I know that other superintendents have invited you in uh to meet with them. So, and these board members that you will certainly work with a fair bit, but the reality is you will work more closely with the superintendent and the other central office staff more than than than these folks here. Tell me what that was. Tell me what that's like. What's it like working with Bill on a dayto-day basis? But if I called the Queen of Portsouth and and asked them about you or if I called Derry or one of the other districts, what would they tell us about Bill about what it's like working with you on a day? >> I I'm I don't
030stress. I mean, everything's fixable. Everything's figure outable. That's not a word, but I use it. Um so I I don't stress about that stuff. Um you know, the answers are there. If we don't know the answers, we're going to figure it out. Um, you know, like I said, you know, if you want something right now, like if I'm on the computer, you want to report, I'm going to tell you it's un audited, you know, like print here's the paper for it. It's going to be black and white. There's going to be no graphs to it. I don't know what the makes up what makes up those numbers because you wanted it right then and there, but I'm going to do my best to find out what's in those numbers. You'll ask questions. I'll write down
031the, you know, write down your questions and I'll give it to you, you know, next time we meet or I'll follow up in an email. Whatever the best protocol is, I'll do it that way. um team player, easygoing, you know, nobody I don't feel like anybody doesn't like me. I might rub people the wrong way cuz I try to be positive, but that's what it says more about them than me. Um so I feel like people say good things and like that I'm easy to work with and approachable. That's a big one. >> Mrs. >> Yes. I was just wondering what in your years working with the schools, >> what was one of your most difficult situations that you ran up against? >> Yeah. >> And how do you how do you handle that? How
032do you get out of that to a positive ending? >> Sure. Um, let's see here. I can tell you one this is not a big one. It's big because of the person. He was a MIT professor and he was on the fiscal committee. So we asked a lot of detailed questions. So that was intimidating. I got on his good side. It was great after that. And we built spreadsheets together. We work together. And he would just call me up like, "Hey, you know, I've got the meeting coming up. You know, I want to can you ask me, sorry, not ask me this, but can you find out what this is because I'm going to be asking that." So it was great because we had the information ahead of time. It wasn't trying to figure out
033at the table because it was done at the end like this is the result, but then where do we go from here? that was done at the table because that was you guys, you know, they were using the information. He was fiscal so his advisory capacity wasn't no dictating anything but he was respected with his knowledge and stuff like that. So that was intimidating. Um but the biggest challenge that I think ever came from was when people say this is the way we've always done it. That's tough. We got to move forward. We got different compliances. Just because you did it right last year doesn't mean it's right this year. Um, you know, states require Did light just go out? >> Yeah, felt felt darker. >> Like a motion. >> Okay, that was cool. Um,
034>> uh, you know, compliance stuff for federal grants. Um, grants are changing now. They want more detail. They want better narratives. Um, I'm thinking the positive side of it is because now once those activities are approved, it's easier to change the money in those activities because they've already approved the activity. They've approved the money once, but you're just moving stuff around. That's great. But it's when you're getting up and going on a grant that can be really tough, especially if it's like they've never done grants before or things have really changed. So, a lot of it's just the compliance stuff versus we've always done it this way. And that just doesn't go just for grants. That goes for the general fund as well, student activities, food service, anything to do with the money. So, >>
035thank you. And >> uh that leads me to the next question is what is your experience working with federal and local grants? How do entitlement grants influence the yearly budget process? >> Um, my experience with the grants are pretty good. You know, I've done it right at the beginning. So, my experience with grants are the fiscal side. So, I I'll do the reporting to the state. I'll go through your numbers if you were doing the grants, right? I'll go through your numbers to meet with you. I'll meet with you once a month before I submit anything. If I'm the one submitting it, um, to make sure that these numbers match what you're saying, they should match because it's your grant. It should be your responsibility. And if you don't know what's going on, how am
036I supposed to know what's going on? Because I don't know the details. I got the I got the, you know, the five mile view. You got the, you know, on boots on the ground view. So, we're like, "Hey, this how come this PO is still open?" Oh, it was hit the wrong count. Okay, great. Fixable. You know, we just found out that it was just done to the wrong count. Um, or hey, how do you guys hire that staff member? How come this staff member is over? Like they work five extra hours if they're title one or something like that, right? How do we fix that? Right? Because that's you have to revise your grant. you know, we'll go through that way. Um, I won't write grants. That's not my job. Um, because I don't
037know the details in those grants, like who are the people that you're looking to serve. So, that's always a tough one. But, I'll work with someone to get any kind of numbers that they need in terms of staff members. So, I've done that. And local grants, student activities, um, transparency, you know, it's got to be got to be transparent. It's people's money. So, student activities, that's money for the students. It's not for the adults, you know, don't buy anything for the teachers out of that. So, stuff like that is what I do. So, yeah. >> Gamble. >> Hi, thank you for coming in your interest in our school. How do you build relationships with key stakeholders? >> Say hi. You know, I'll go up to them, start talking to them, shake their hand, ask what
038they do. Like, what my biggest question that I always ask people when I'm first meeting them is like, "What do you need from me?" like what is it? What is it you're looking for? You know, stuff like that because then they always tell you like this is what I'm looking for because they tell me what's important for them. If they're a stakeholder, that's what they're going to do. I don't think that's a bad thing. So, and the way I see I'm here to help, you know, make sure everything's correct. Like, I don't have it's going to sound bad. I don't live in this I don't live in this town, so I don't have a stake in the town. So, like if you say, "Hey, we want to cut the budget." Yes, that's going to be
039rough, but let's see what we can do to make it happen because that way I could leave my personal opinion out of it, which I think is very important for me because sometimes it could be hard if I'm in the town to stay stay neutral. So, welcome. And the honesty part, you know, try to be honest with that more stakeholders. What's next? >> So, um over the last five years or so, we've had a pretty significant uh turnover of uh BAS, which is not Unlike many parts of the state, >> it's very cyclical. >> It's, you know, the lifespan of a BA in in the school districts for many places is not very long. >> What is it going to take if we hire you to keep you here for a long? >> Um, patience.
040>> Like if I don't respond well internally if someone's yelling at me, like, okay, you might be just venting and there's a difference, but if you're yelling at me and you're criticizing me, I'll turn off. You know, trust. Trust is super important. If you trust me, I want to trust you. So, that's that's a big one. Um, but that goes with transpar. We don't have to agree, but I have to trust you. You know, that's a big one for me. >> What is it something that would uh turn you away, send you away quickly? >> Um, doing like making having conversations that affect my staff behind my back, you know, and not telling me about it. That's a big one. um or making decisions, financial stuff that you expect me to know if like we
041want to do this. Okay, great. But I had no conversation with that. You just tell me to do this, find a way, and we're going to do it anyway. Well, I don't know what you need. Like, is it planned for is that fair to the budget? You know, stuff like that. So, I like the trust and just transparency. Basically, if it begins with a T. >> Thank you. But when we were talking and I think this goes to Mr. Gregoire's one of the things you had talked about because I asked a very similar question to to Mr. Gregor which is why Rochester why are you here when I know that you've had offers in other districts that you you know were very respected in um in in Portsouth and I know that they wanted you
042to stay there. I know that they also were invited to go to do meetings there. And so I asked you the same question. Why Rochester? What you talked about is that desire to be part of a team and having that that desire to to come to work with the atmosphere. So >> sorry, hold on. 6:30. Time. I'm take my pills. >> Sorry about that. >> You got to like it. >> Yeah, it's it's on mute and everything, too. I don't even know how it got through. Can you can you can you talk about that part of you and that desire to be part of a team and what that would look like? >> Yeah, just you know being being part of a team seeing people grow you know like I said the vibe here is
043good. I like the vibe. Everybody's been super friendly. Everybody's been nice. They look you in the eye. They make jokes right away which I think is very good. Um what but there's an opportunity to grow there too after talking with the finance team here. Like they admit they don't they don't know everything. They want to improve. I think that's great. You know, everybody wants to improve. If you know everything, you should go be a teacher. Teach everything you know to everybody else so they can succeed. So, everybody here is like, I want to do better. I I like that. You know, they they they don't see it as a weakness. They think it as an opportunity. So, I think that's great. >> Had an opportunity to meet any of our financial staff or >> I
044met with the team earlier. >> They were very nice. I like them. other questions. >> You talked about I'm Hey, I'm the third Sam. So, just so >> Hey, Sam. >> Sam, the guy. >> If you throw it around, you'll probably get it, you know, right% of the time. So, um, you talked about your success with the MIT teacher and you talked about, you know, overcoming challenges and stuff. Do you have anything in your just super proud of? you managed to you managed to you know there was some success that really changed the you know saved the day did something big something Bill's like yeah it's a good story you know >> sure you know what little things it's not doesn't have to be big things right little things like right now I got a
045compliment the other day um because I am filling in for as a business administrator in Portsouth right now that my email and my tone like I've worked hard on my emails like I used to like send me an email I just like okay yes no keep it short and sweet right but my tone in my email they said the communication's clearer. Uh not clearer, but it's clear that I'm doing it. Um the communication, the content is relevant and there's a friendly tone like that. You got that from teachers that are saying that not like administration, but teachers like sweet, >> you know, it's a win. Um another thing, a bigger one is I did the student activity handbook for Portsmouth that should be in effect next year. >> Um I worked with well there was
046a Plaza Consenders template online, but then I but that was done for like 2018 19. So to update it with new laws and also what was done for Porsmith in terms of their policies and procedures. So that's that's that was a fun one. So that's that's 145 pages. It's a lot >> but it's compliant. >> Very good. >> You need here proper tonality in email is not that you >> I just take that extra minute for the emails. You know when you're doing emails send it off and go h is Google. Do you guys use Google here? like the Google. Yeah. >> So, what I do in the Google is I set first thing I do is I set my settings like for email send like 30 seconds whatever the longest it will do and
047then I'll send it because sometimes like uh oh, I'll hit you know undo like sent the wrong email or you know sent the wrong name something like that. So, I just take an extra minute to read that email make sure everything in there is good and I send it. >> I let my controversial ones sit for a day but that's me. Yeah. So, I don't go I don't send anything out in haste. If it's like somebody sends something bad like, "Oh, you heated me up." I will I will just let it sit. I'll star it or make it unread, but I'm not going to I'm not even going to respond to it until I'm like I can clear mine. >> Thank you very much. >> You're welcome. Um, I think that you touched a little
048bit about this on your job in Port Smith, but I'm just curious if any of your experience in the past has um required of you to create relationships with people beyond the school district such as city councilors and, you know, the mayor and everything in Rochester, a big piece of our budget every year is going to them. And I think we all start to speak the same language in this room um and in the district and we start to understand our budget but then you have to sell it to a group of people that don't necessarily understand how everything works. So what is your experience in the past of working with other stakeholders outside of the district? >> Sure. I NAM is a great example because that was a small community so everybody seems like
049they're involved. Um picking up the phone calling the town manager time uh I think it was town manager I don't remember her title sorry. Um I would call and ask questions there. I'm like hey this is what we're looking at. you need this for us for the DRA. This is where we are right now. Just giving you giving them a heads up, being proactive, not an email, but a phone call. I've gone there cuz they were they were in an entirely separate building. We're across the street. We're still different building. I went there and just, you know, introduced myself when I first got there. I said, "Hi." Um, like what is it you guys need for me? What's what is the working style you have? What works best for us? You know, what works for
050you? Um, and then the deliver session. That's the big one. We have all the people like from the town coming in just talking to you. Those those are stakeholders cuz that's SP2 budget, right? So, they're going to be the ones that going to vote on your budget. How do I explain out of district to someone who's like doesn't even have kids in the school district? That's a tough one. Oh, you know, this is this is this is the reason why. Now, they may not agree with the reason why, and that's 100% they're right, but at least I conveyed all the, you know, conveyed the best information to them to help them understand this is this is our stance. And if at the end of the day, they still we don't like it. Okay. you know,
051but I did everything I possibly could, you know, they and they understood it. If they didn't understand, I want them to, you know, ask questions and they did. >> So, thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Anything else? >> Does he have anything? >> Yeah. Do you have any questions for us? >> Well, no. Just like I said, you know, in the middle there, it's like what is it you are all looking for? like what do you like if you like your personal like this is this is what's important to me. This is what I'm looking for. >> I'd be looking for somebody to um for continuity uh for someone who's up there in the business department uh so they feel comfortable over up there and I it's easier to hire people. It's harder. So, I
052want to make sure that we have a team and it sounds like that's what you're bringing. >> I like teams, not Microsoft Teams is speak. >> I was gonna say pretty much the same thing as Jerry, but um just consistency like we want you to stay. It's the route that we're going with because obviously there is the high turnover and it seems like you want like that close-knit teamwork and that's good. >> Yeah. Like I was saying to them earlier, it's like if you're willing to learn, I'm willing to help you. I don't care if you ask the same question five times. Like this is this is what we're trying to accomplish. This is what we're looking to do. But if like they're not getting that one aspect, what can we do to help them
053get that aspect? It's not bad. They're just they just maybe got to think of it a little differently. That's okay. I'm going to take that time. I'll stay late to help somebody out because they want to go better. be longterm be easier for me, >> right? >> All best to that person. >> So, Mr. I think a couple other members touched upon this, but um stability and and just trying to keep we're moving in the right direction. Can we keep keep things stable while we're pointed in that right direction? and then, you know, we're not in a position where we can afford to like waste money or uh miss out on the opportunity that our our budget presents. So, just making sure that we're on top of like this money is available and we got
054to spend it or shouldn't be spending it this way because it's a waste or we can get this money back this way. Just being on the lookout for pretty much any dollar that we can find, >> any opportunity. Yeah. One of the bigger things for me too is I mean you kind of touched upon it in its own way is like say minute meeting this is like my first finance committee meeting like I'm not going to know what you would look for in the past without looking up all the minutes and then taking the time to read all the you know the documents for that but then okay say hey we like to see this or can we see it this way I'll write a note so that way the next meeting you'll get what
055you asked for so because I want that information to be clear because if you're understanding it you're you know you talk with the people out there they would understand it you know it spreads a little bit which is is a good thing. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Chair. We do have board members need to get back upstairs. >> I got one real quick for me. Um, you kind of touched on it. I'd want the trust to be there because I'd want you to be able to take a look at our systems. Go, this is working great, but I've done this better over here. Make improvements. I'd want you to, you know, kind of evaluate it. And, you know, I I don't care if that's the way we always done it. Like you said, that's the
056worst reason to keep doing something. So if you've got a great idea, you know, I'd love you to come in and take a look and you know, streamline it, you know, and make improvements if you can is for me personally beyond what's already. >> It's okay to fail, too. Like I might try something like, hey, this I've done differently. This worked great for me that maybe the system here like it won't work with this system, you know, and it's okay to go back, you know, just, you know, we tried it, didn't work. What did work? What didn't work? Y I'm cool with that. >> That said, unfortunately got to those negotiation things. We got to head back upstairs. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you very much. >> You're welcome. >> Suit Sam and I. >> What
057I what I would add is um let's go team. >> Thank you very very much. >> Exactly. And other Sam and Sue. We're going to take one >> but what I would add is um you know we we have a pretty new >> admin for the most part. >> Yeah. >> Um and experienced team. So someone who's going to work well with the team, communicate well not only with um with our team here in the district but also with the city and city council and whatnot. So, working with the city's finance director, you know, communication is going to be key. >> Anything else on that? >> Um, since I'm still so new to school boards and everything, is it normal for the finance director to join the finance meetings and like go like because I
058only know Adriana's experiences and how she would deliver the um like report and everything every month. Is that something that you're familiar with? Yeah, I used to when Nottingham I would do it every meeting, >> you know, then once a month which a little more detail, but I would give them like because it was two weeks like basically every two weeks twice a month. All right, this two weeks this happened. This two weeks this happened, you know. >> That's my only experience. I figured it was worth asking. >> No. Yeah. >> Also is a >> It's funny. It's like what's also better for you too like I'll print a report. I don't like to really waste a whole lot of paper. If I can sum, you know, summarize it on like one sheet or like
059a back and forth. That's great. >> Get like 87 pages on our >> Yeah. Sometimes quite a bit of >> Yeah. And but it's sometimes you have to know like, hey, why did this jump? Like why is this $800,000 difference? Well, >> because this is, you know, tuition or, you know, busing contract or something like we didn't pay for invoic. We didn't pay the invoices for three year three months, not three years. That's a whole different mistake. >> Like say, hey, maybe three, you know, we didn't pay invoices for three months because we didn't get them. They were getting sent to the wrong email. It'll just be like a little footnote. It's however that's however you want to interpret the information or get the information. It's >> Thank you. >> It's flexible. >> Any other
060comments or questions you have for us? >> No. But I like the energy saving lights. It's kind of cool. It's calming. >> You're not moving enough. >> It senses when no one >> I'm just going to stay like this rest of the time. >> Great. Um well, I guess what we're what our process is going to be, we'll get into nonpublic. little little discussion. We'll have the superintendent get back to you. >> Yeah, absolutely. Sounds good. If you have any questions, they know how to reach me. If I have any questions, I know how to reach them. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you for taking the time tonight. >> Thanks for having me. Yeah, >> we need to get into nonpublic unless there's anything else. >> Make a motion to go into nonpublic
061>> under RSA 91A3B. >> What you said? >> So motion by Mr. Gregoire, second by Miss Campbell. A Roll call. >> Member Gregoire. >> Yes. >> Miss Campbell. >> I make a motion to accept the superintendent's recommendation to hire William. >> Second. >> As business administer business administrator. >> Second by Miss Anderson. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. >> Motion passes. All right. >> Anything else on uh that is it? Okay. Is there anyone in the public wishing to address the board? Seeing no one over there. >> Motion to return. >> Second >> motion by Miss Campbell, second by Miss Anderson. Uh, all those in favor say I. >> I. Thank