001There we go. All right. Sorry about that. Uh, good morning everybody. Special Dair Board of Education Finance Committee meeting. It's Thursday, March 20th, and it's just about 8:00. Next meeting is April 10th. Uh so first we're going to start with the normal review of the February 2025 financial report. Oh, Dr. Adley's not here today. He's at a conference. So we have Rich sitting in the uh main seat, right? Yep. Uh so this is the financial report through February. Uh we are showing a projected surplus now of 462,859. Uh this is an improvement of $510,557 from January. Uh so the largest change is um the state did pass an additional $40 million appropriation for excess cost. Um so based on the December 1st submissions that would amount to an additional $53,762 from the previous forecast. So
002that is the bulk of the change. We did include in the packet a breakdown of all the communities um adjusted reimbursement rates. And so depending on where the town wealth lies, it could be anywhere between 78.8 and 72.8. So for Darianne it's 72.8%. Um again this is based on the December 1 submissions. We did make another submission March 1st. So as the state calculates all the school districts March 1 submissions this could change slightly uh based on that submission. Is is there a bias to which way it typically shifts or uh typically districts have more expenses. So I would imagine it might tick down a little bit. Okay. Um, so we did receive the first reimbursement of the 60% uh claim, which is about $1.7 million in February. And so typically the state reimbures the
003balance in May. And so I would imagine we would get the balance of the new adjusted rate towards the end of May. And well, we're just there. Um, when we when we receive the money, like how is it received? Does it go through a go to directly to the town? Does it come to an account? So, it goes uh so we have a shared bank account with the town. Uh so, it gets deposited into the town as an a um and then we recorded in our books in the excess cost line item and then the town has a we do a board of ed town reconciliation and so the town books so automatically goes right to the board of ed. Okay. Got it. Okay. Thanks. Um so we do have a positive uh balance of
004124,161 and added district tuition. We did have a student return to district. Um we got a small reimbursement from Kerma for workers compensation for just over 4,000. Um high school inter murals similar to the previous years is not running and so that's a balance of 4,000. Um we have a small savings in uh building substitutes for 3,50 and that just has to do with some unpaid days. Um we had a vacant custodial possession at Darian High School um which ended up getting filled a little bit later than we anticipated and so that's an additional savings of a little over $1,100. uh gate receipts ended up being slightly short than uh estimated by $617. Uh ELP tuition, we had a few more identified uh students and so uh we won't collect tuition on that and that
005is a deficit of 30,975. And then uh we have a deficit of $98,000 in special education provider services uh mostly for behavioral services and that'll be another transfer that we'll discuss. Um overall general education RC's are positive 26,939. the special education RC's a positive 435,9119 for that total of 462,000. Again, the bulk of that $462,000 has to do with the additional excess cost revenue the state appropriated. Um, just going through the RC's real quick. As I mentioned, Darian High School, the custodian account shows a positive balance of $3,500. That is salary savings from a vacant position, but it has been filled. Now, moving to RC11, uh, Darian High School open gym is not running. And so that's a savings of $4,000. Uh gate receipts fell short by about $600. Uh basketball fell short by short
006of expectations. And then uh moving towards RC24, tuition is showing an overall surplus of 348,439. We had two students return to district and another student will need a new out placement, which is what we talked about last meeting. Consultant services shows a projected deficit of 98,000. businesses for services needed for those returning students as well as a district BCBA BCBA who's out on medical leave. Um so as I mentioned earlier, the state uh did issue its estimated revenues. So originally we were at 59.96% for access costs. The governor did sign um an appropriation bill for an additional 40 million. So that 40 million as I mentioned provides an additional 53,762 with a reimbursement rate of 72.8%. Then in RC25 workers comp, we did receive a a credit of 4,18. And then ELP tuition, again a
007deficit of 30,975 as we have four students who have been classified. Okay. Um before we move on to any of the grants, any any questions? Go. Uh Rich, just one question on the detail of the excess cost by town. I I was looking at it and it I just was wondering there they rank like the towns like by wealth and you can see whatever the fifth and sixth ranked aren't listed. Is there a reason for that? I was just curious. I mean a lot of the duray towns are within the one to 10 kind of but is that people that don't submit anything? So there are districts that don't submit anything. Some of the very smaller towns don't submit anything. uh some choose not to submit because uh they're so small that the time consuming
008of submitting isn't worth it or they actually might not have anybody who meets that threshold. Typically, when you're a smaller district, your per pupil is actually higher uh because you have some of those costs that don't spread out over a number of students. Um and so when you see some small districts, they actually might have a per pupil of $30,000 per student. And so then that four and a half multiple Oh, I see. Okay. Thank you. Go ahead. Um thank you. Uh so the uh out out of district tuition um so the student came back and another couple students that come back earlier does that get readjusted for next year as well? So uh when we open up the budget for fiscal 26 we'll have to do a transfer um in the early stages of
009the budget and you'll see a reduction in out of district tuition and an increase in probably consulting. Okay. So it but it doesn't affect what the book board of finance has now. No, there won't be any savings but it will be a line item. Okay. Thank you. Um, back to ECR. So, can we hearken back to last year late in the budget cycle, we made an adjustment downward on ECR? Just remind us what we went to the 70% from. So, originally we had budgeted 75%. Um, the expectation from the state was that they were going to start spreading out excess costs based on town wealth. Um, with the wealthier towns getting 75%. So, that's what we had budgeted. Then uh when the claims came in for that year, it was lower than anticipated. So we
010recommended bringing it down to the 70% in large part because the state didn't put any additional money in their budget for excess costs. So when the um claims played out, instead of being 70%, it ended up being really about 60%. So then we had this shortfall. Um claims spiked across the state of Connecticut. Um so there was a lot of outcry in terms of a lot of districts being short in terms of their excess cost revenue. the uh government did end up putting $40 million back in and so $40 million based on the December 1st pool gets us to about that 73%. Again, that could fluctuate up or down depending on how March 1st claims come. Um you know, the the difficulty with excess cost is you're relying on what all hund potentially all 169
011communities are filing if all are filing. And so depending on, you know, our reimbursement rate is impacted by what Danbury's, you know, put in or Bridgeport puts in or New Canon puts in. And so all those factors play into what we'll get. That's a literally a threedimensional model. Um, okay. So, and again, my recollection is right late in the budget cycle for the fiscal year 25 budget. This current year budget, we made a downward adjustment on the assumptions to 70. Okay, perfect. Um, any other go. Um well on follow up on that is that something that happened when you got the May reimbursement was that when you found out that then we would get lower than what we had expected. Correct. So when we got the uh the first reimbursement at the end of February
012it looked like it was trailing down and then it was confirmed right usually we find out early May but don't get the money till but this time because of the additional money they put in is your expectation that it would come in at the around the what? So the additional money put in, so if uh no claims change, it would be that 72.8. Um if claims go up a little higher, you know, you might be in that 71 to 73% range. Um so this 40 million is a one-time allocation. Uh the governor's budget that hasn't passed yet has another 40 million, but not for next year, but for the following year for fiscal year. So there's actually a gap now for fiscal year 26. Although as I've been told they they maintain the vessel if
013you will or the mechanism in which it can be funded but it just hasn't been funded. Yeah. So there's like it's okay unknown. Okay. Then another maybe related question with the federal government moves regarding the department of education. Does that impact anything with ECR reimbursements? So not for ECR or grants for federal grants. We do get a little over a million dollars between primarily IDA which is special education grant and then we have a small amount for title two about $30,000. So um it is about a million dollar. So depending on what happens it could go away. It could turn into a block grant um which means money just goes to the state and then the state dives it out. Um that could change the allocation but not necessarily make it go away. Um so
014that's unknown. We do have about um about 12 staff members I believe in the IDA grant. um primarily par professionals, a couple special education teachers, but there's been no indication that going away. Okay. So, that's just a general concern based on some of the uh cost cutting efforts at the federal level. Okay. Thank you. Um anything else on this or Okay. Um maybe just quick grant update. Um so, no changes in the grant. Um I will mention it'll likely be on the uh March report. Greg Darren, who is a teacher leader for teched, did apply for a Perkins grant, and we have been awarded $34,000 for a Perkins grant. Um, and so we'll see that on the, uh, next report. What is a Perkins grant? Uh, so Perkins grant is school to career and so,
015uh, Greg applied for funding to enhance like video broadcasting, woodworking shops, things like that. And so it's primarily to fund some materials related to that. Very cool. Look forward to hearing about that. Okay. Um, sorry. is does that when does the what does the timing of that look like? So, uh the money is actually available starting in April. Okay. And so we do have to spend it down between April and uh June 30th. Um so we can't carry it forward, but uh the items that Greg is looking to fund are like um like equipment and things like that. So they're one-time purchases that is is that a restriction of grant or just our budget? It's a restriction grant. Okay. Got it. Interesting. You don't need a special meeting or anything be to get that moving
016beforehand? No. Okay. Okay. Uh anything on uh food service or uh so the food service account is essentially flat. Um as I mentioned uh previously we are operating food service budget to effectively be a net zero. Uh so it's right now at 2148 deficit effectively flat. March. Uh, so you'll see in the next month, March is typically our most profitable month. Uh, in large part because there are no breaks in March. There's no spring break or February break, things like that. And so there are March serving days. Um, and then as that profit grows, that'll fund the lunch monitors and the operating budget and that food service subsidy. Okay. Any questions on food service, guys? Uh, so budget transfers. So we do have two transfers uh recommended for the board. Uh the first is for
017$98,000 to RC24 consultant services with the balance taken from uh tuition and again these are for student services for students returning to district. Then the second is for 30,975 to ELP tuition with the funds taken from tuition. Um we do have a couple students classified with IE. Okay. Uh very straightforward and I would recommend them to the board. Agree. Agree. Got it. Okay. Uh okay. consideration of your end and accelerated expenditures. So just um this is like an initial discussion related to and we asked staff to create a memo. If we were to uh end the year with a you know meaningful surplus as we just discussed are there items in which we should consider for purchase that fit within the constraints of um you know this fiscal year 25 budget. Um, so I'll let
018Rich describe the memo and then we'll we'll discuss next steps. Um, so as we just mentioned, we are forecasting a positive balance of just over $460,000. So in the past, the district has um occasionally taken some surplus dollars and voted to expense things prior to June 30th. Um, it does have to be an item that would be expensed prior to June 30th. So typically it would have to be like a piece of equipment, maybe a repair or a textbook, something along those natures. it can't be something that would carry forward to the following year. Um, we did provide a history of some of those expenses in fiscal year 20. The board did vote primarily for technology items be pre- purchased and so we did put forward a couple of buckets in which the board could
019consider if they wanted to. Um, there were some items that were deferred or reduced from the fiscical year 26 budget including the Bonics at the high school which are 15 years old and originally were slated on a four-year replacement cycle. And so year one was the current year we're in. Year two was intended to be next year. That's been pushed back. Um middle school lab uh desktops uh for 23,000 that was reduced as well. Um we did move that athletic uniform cycle to a four-year cycle. Um you could consider moving that to a three. Um in speaking with Dr. atly it likely would be better to focus on technology items as opposed to maybe athletic uniforms just because uh when you do these manipulations um it does create volatility in future years and so if
020you were to let's say buy uniforms you might see a spike in the athletic budget in the following year that's kind of artificial um while you'll see a spike in technology if you do pre- purchase we do typically look at the equipment and the hardware items on an individual basis um the board could also consider looking ahead even further at the fiscal 27 budget so not the budget that the board just approved with the following year's budget. Uh the V sonics are slated for funding in uh fiscal year 27. As again I mentioned it was supposed to be a 4-year replacement cycle. Uh there are office desktops at the middle school that were slated for uh replacement. Wireless access points throughout the district that is in the replacement cycle. Administrator laptops are also in the
021replacement cycle. Uh the last item in that bucket is something we just learned of. Um the ABS which is the company we use that monitors our HVAC system at all of our schools with the exception of uh Middle Sex is ending the life of the software used for the building management system. So it's kind of similar to like when Google end all life's a Chromebook. It's you know their way of putting out pushing out a new software and so uh HHR is slated to upgrade um to this new item. So it really affects Oxbridge um which is unfortunate even though the building's relatively new uh token uh a high school um uh to get a building management upgrade. Uh I wouldn't necessarily say it's like an emergency. So while uh the benefit of having that
022EMS system is you can remote in and address an HVAC issue. Uh the issue here is we would have to actually call the company in pay time and materials for them to do it. So the lead time to adjusting something if something were to fail is a lot longer. And so it is something at some point that will have to be paid for um and upgraded. If the board were to get a reduction to their budget um you could pre- purchase the elementary teacher laptops and the grade five Chromebooks. That would be something similar to what happened in fiscal year 20. Um so as I mentioned earlier, we don't actually get the excess cost money until May. So, if the board were to choose any of these options, it would be beneficial to wait until
023May until we actually have the money in hand so we're not spending something that we don't get and there's nothing that happens at the state level where maybe they change their mind. Um, so the recommendation would be to wait until the May finance committee to decide if board wants to do any all or none of these items and then vote at the May I think it's the May 27th meeting. Um, so it gives a little bit of time for the board to consider the items and then also ensure that we actually have the money in hand. And and I would just add and we will have the benefit of uh being beyond the April 8th or 10th date in which board finance will set its appropriation for the fiscal year 26 budget. So I we
024Bill um Robin I you know we we asked them to create this memo as like a reference document one two for total transparency in what we may consider as a board later in this fiscal year. Um, so you know, anybody with interest over our budget has a view of of some of the options available, but it's really not in I don't believe it's the time to start discussing what we would do or what wouldn't do or prefer because there's so many unknowns, you know, starting with the April 8th date and then as Rich pointed out that number can change. So I you know I think what we'll do as they've outlined is kind of table this if you will till May 15th. We'll have a lot more information as a committee and then as clearly
025as a board and we'll follow that timeline in terms of what uh we'd like to do. I mean, I will say again, as I pointed out, these dollars were actually um in in previous years, we've gone for supplemental appropriations from the town or we're working off just a town of um appropriation, but these are dollars that we had adjusted downward for in the pre this current year budget that are coming in now from the state. So, we got some relief, if you will, from the state. So, um I I personally think it's totally appropriate to talk about some of these items at the right time. Um, you know, we're not just these are all need to have items, too. These aren't nice to haves either. So, but that's the way I envision this going and
026open it up for any further discussion on this front. Um, I don't want to I don't feel like we need to discuss the merits of the items in here. Yes. But, um, you know, the other there is another option, right? Rather than purchasing the now the board of education can do the non-lapsy account like in the other memo. Yeah, we'll talk about that in a second. Okay. So I don't feel like the two things are mutually exclusive. Well, we'll talk about some of the restrictions on the non-lapsing account too. Um so uh yeah, I guess that's maybe we should have talked about the non-lapsing account first. But again, I mean they they kind of go hand in hand and how we would use it. So um when can we move on to that? Yeah. So
027why don't we move on to that then and then we'll just kind of merge in the discussion. Thank you. Yep. Uh so under prior uh law, a town board of finance, board of selectment or another appropriating body, so like the RTM as an example was authorized to create an unexpended education account, a non-lapsing account. Um the requirements were that the amount cannot exceed 2% of a budget. So for us at 119, you know, million dollars and change, you're looking at about 2.4 million roughly. Um and that the expenditures were authorized by the board of education. Um so under uh public act 2425 2445 it now authorizes the board of education to create a non-lapsing account and so you don't necessarily have to have fiscal authority to approve it. Um so if the board were to
028create a non-lapsing account there really are two steps. One you would have to vote to create a non-lapsing account and then the second step is you have to vote to put money into the non-lapsing account as and as long as that money does not exceed the 2% uh then you're within the standard. So typically districts who do have a non-lapsing account are using it for items that are considered non-reoccurring expenditures because the money is non-reoccurring by definition. It's a surplus fund. And so non-reoccurring expenditures could be things that we discussed previously like the technology equipment. Uh it could be a facility repair, furniture, professional development, uh things like that. It allows you to carry that money forward and then draw down as long as that balance does not ever exceed 2% of the board's operating
029budget. Um again for something like this we would recommend that the board consider it at the May committee meeting and then again at the board of uh May board of uh education meeting. Um you know some districts choose to use it some districts choose not to use it. Um in our DUR currently Westport and Weston have a non-lapsing account. Uh New Kanan Wilton and Ridgefield do not. Um that may change with the current law in place. Um it's really how the account works. So, so one question, can we create an account and not fund it? So, you can and so some districts um for example might have a half million dollars left over and they choose actually only put a portion of that money in the non-l account and then choose to give the other
030portion back to the town. It's almost like a split. So, I know uh in Weston as an example, they will put typically about half of the money in the account and give back the other half and they primarily use it for like minor capital items. So minor facility I would say could be things that are unexpected or unexpected. So it could be an emergency repair if maybe you had like a plumbing issue or things like that. It's they typically use it for facility related items. Westport um has had a non-lapsing account the longest within the DUI. Um they primarily use it for facility items or special education shortfalls. Um though they have an MOU with their board of finance in terms of they will actually go to their board of finance. uh once their board
031of ed approves the item to come out of the non-laps account, they will actually go to the board of finance almost like you would with a supplemental to uh let them know we're taking it out for X, Y, and Z purposes. Um that can also change now with the given law. They don't necessarily have to do that. Yeah. So that's interesting. These are all created with their board of finance support or their fiscal authority support because they were created before this law was. Okay. Um so again, I think you know there's a lot of unknowns. I think it's definitely a worthwhile discussion. My bias is if we have the funds and we have directed needs to spend those funds, right? If we have a surplus, but you know, if there's a need to carry over
032for can't get it bought in time for the end of the fiscal year, that would be a good reason to create an account. But that you know in my mind I'm you know I think we should again progress to May see what happens in the uh you know final appropriation for fiscal year 26 and then adjust accordingly to uh what we're seeing what our final number is and what our needs are and what our priorities are at the time. John clarification question. Go ahead. Um, so I'm just trying to So the It seems like the two options are what you just described in terms of like we could we could take all or a portion of the savings from what we just got. We could spend it on Is there a limit on what you
033can spend it on? You just have to spend it on something today that's or does it have to be like a capital expense type thing or could it be like that? That's one question. And then it seems like the other option is you put it into this this other fund structure where then you can hold it and then are there limitations on the types of stuff that you can spend that money on? Uh so if you were to pre purchase items without the non-lapsing count, it does have to be an item that you can expense by June 30th. And so it has to be like a piece of equipment, maybe a book, something that you're going to have received and that you can pay out. Um so you couldn't necessarily use it for a staff
034member salary. You couldn't use it for a study, for example, because that study wouldn't be completed. If you were to do a non-lapsing account, that money can carry forward. And so, um, you could do maybe like a building conditions study. So, uh, in the board's budget for next year's the study for the middle school, you could create a non-lapsing account and then put money in there and use that because that can carry forward throughout the year. Um, whereas spending it down before June 30th, you couldn't do that study because that study clearly wouldn't be done by June 30th. So you understand the distinction, Greg. One, the first option is basically spending the dollars within the current fiscal year budget. The second option is allowing some flexibility in a non non-lapsing account, meaning it carries over
035to the next fiscal year, but there are still restrictions. You don't you don't fund like staff salaries or so you shouldn't because eventually that money will run out because it's a one-time source of revenue and then the staff salaries will continue and you won't be able to fund it forward. Understood? Okay. But and you could you could also theoretically do a mix if you wanted like some some in column A, some in column B. Correct. And that nonlapsing account, it sounds like if it's 2% I mean that's over 2 million bucks of availability. Correct. Yeah. I mean it's unlikely that you would have a surplus of $2 million unless something catastrophic happened. Um like co like Well, we still got an appropriation that year though, too. So, it's likely that you're talking about, you know,
036money maybe in the five or six digits as opposed to the seven. Yeah. All right. Very helpful. Thank you. But it's it's it's a neat tool if there seems to be a specific need for that. Um and uh like I said, you know, I think it's too early to discuss any of this in terms of preferences. But again for complete transparency and as you know uh appropriations are be being considered by the fiscal authority we thought it was important to kind of show the options that are in front of us and and you know some of administration's different scenarios in which they if given the uh approval would uh how they would spend these uh surplus funds right now. So you said that your preference would be if nothing changed at all right now your
037preference would probably be for pre-bying. Yeah. Accelerating purchases I think um on items that are definable and to extinguish the surplus. However, the idea, you know, if right if if there weren't enough, the idea of using it for like that middle sex study would be interesting to me, but I don't think there's enough dollars to kind of carry over. Right. You know, I think what we've tried to do as we've budgeted and as we've eliminated budget control and I look at what the town's been doing on some of their reserve funds, we've been trying as a as a whole unit throughout town is collapsing these layers of contingency funds, if you will, because they start overlapping. They create waste for taxpayers. So my my bias my personal bias is use a non-lapsing account when there's
038a specific need to carry over but to in this case we have defined needs of you know need to haves and my bias if nothing changed would be to and I'm not I'm not going to pick which ones but pick items that made sense but I also have to we have to see what our appropriation is because if it gets reduced that whole list and priorities might change a little you So that's why it's really important we kind of let things play out and then have the discussion of what's most important. Right? I think that as we have cut away any sort of cushion from our budget u the past couple years um I think that we were able to do that because we really understood what was going on in the economy and the
039country. I feel like right now stability is not um the number one thing that we can count on. Um we don't even know if we would get 40 million or however many much in the ECR again next year. So we could end up again with more special ed costs in a deficit next year, never mind what happens federally. So for me, since we can use it for budget deficits, I would want to have that rainy day fund as it were um in case we needed to so we didn't have to constantly go back to the board of finance um you know and and ask them to give us more and more appropriations because I feel like the more we ask them the more it kind of comes across that we're not necessarily budging appropriately when
040we are. It's just the circumstances are so unpredictable. Let me let me push back on that because when we ask for appropriations, they've been well defined and there's been great collaboration especially la in last year's chaos if you will. When I say chaos, there were multiple appropriations last year. Um and so, you know, we and they've all proven especially the bus one has been proven to be a smashing success. So, I'm I just want to dis push back a little on the fact that if we ask for a special appropriation, there's darn good reason for it. Yeah. Um, and we have been instructed by both the board of finance and the RTM to not hesitate to raise our hands when we need a special appropriation and our hit rate on our special appropriations, at least
041since I've been on the board, is a thousand. So, I don't want to create um I don't want to create create, if you will, a lapsing account because we may be um concerned that raising our hand for an appropriation might be pushed back upon. I I don't think that's a good good practice. Now, we can have that philosophical discussion. Okay. But the year last year, we were ba basically in a freeze or what was that? Did you call that a soft freeze? Uh so in May we did a soft freeze. We took some like um we allowed everybody to encumber what they thought they needed through the end of the school year and then anything that was deemed um not encumbered is what we swept, right? We knew we were going to ask for an
042appropriation and we knew from the board of finance that we were going to be helped like we were never never worried that we wouldn't be funded but I think all these other measures that we had to take in the meantime you know put stress on on the staff and and and educators. again I mean last year it was based on ECR um what was the uh what was the shortfall what was the I contracted par professionals and a little bit of tuition okay um so again we can have a philosophical discussion definitely not this morning but we'll see as it all shakes out you know what the preferences are and what the priorities are okay and you know again uh if if uh I do think in the case of the non-lapsing account we do
043get some feedback from fiscal guys uh and the RTM because they're the net uh arbiters of what is appropriated to us. So listen, I mean if we take a a reserve or I think you said rainy day fund and take it, they know it's there. So they're going to make adjustments to our budgets to know it's there if we choose to do that. Right. So in my opinion, I'm not saying what they would do, but if I sat on those, I would make the proper adjustments. So again, not we can sit here all morning and kind of talk about whatifs and but I think it's really going to be helpful as we get past April 8th and into May to have a lot more clarity on what's going on and the final uh appropriation. Yeah,
044just just one comment. I I think in my mind um and we're not there yet, but for longer term planning purposes or things where we might want to make an investment for the future, for instance, if we were going to have some kind of a transportation depot and we might have some capital expenses along with that or anything that might have to do with longerterm investments, for instance, for special education and we would all be talking about this at the board level, but I would think that a non non-lapsing account would be a vehicle for something like those uh potentially which you know instead of having to go for a special appropriation but again I mean we don't have anything defined at this point. Yeah, if we did I think this would probably be a
045no-brainer because then you could say this is what we it will be used for but I that's just up I'm not ruling it out either guys. I was, you know, I was asked specifically about this year and that was my opinion on this year. There could be awesome reasons to carry a non-lapsing account from year to year based on and you could use it for like a longer term study or you could also choose not to establish it this year and then maybe next year decide to establish it. Um it's not like this is your one shot and only shot to establish it. Um or we could establish it and not fund it. Right? I mean there so that you know if you you ask me what my bias was if there were dollars that
046we known dollars that we spend down the surplus I I would vote for creating a non-lapsing account so with the flexibility so when the time came to fund it um for good reason we didn't have to go through the whole process of creating it and we'd define it right policy would define it so it' be well defined ready set up and it would be an empty account until we funded it right so kind of that might a good a good first step. So, all right. Any other comments? Cool. Um I think we're at public comment. Any public comments? Good morning. If anybody in person or online would like to participate in public comment, please approach the podium or use the raised hand icon and wait to be recognized. Once recognized, please state your name and
047address for the record and note that you have up to three minutes to comment. Hey, Greg. I'm sorry I didn't call you out. See if you had any other comments. No, I'm good. Okay. All right. Feel better. No, we have no race here. No. Okay.