APPRO-2025-30 : An Appropriation from Free Cash (account 01-324001) in the amount of $20,000 to HR (#152) to fund costs associated with physicals and advertising.

Transcript (~14 min @ 1:04:15)

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▶ 1:04:14 Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you.

▶ 1:04:17 Mark Garipay: Next up we have ID 1, 2, 6, 4, 8, and appropriation from free cash account zero one dash 3 2 4 0 0 1 in the amount of 20,002 HR to fund costs associated with physicals and advertising.

▶ 1:04:34 Speaker 1: Good evening. Good evening.

▶ 1:04:36 Speaker 7: So, um, this is a, a brief one.

▶ 1:04:41 Speaker 1: So I'm here tonight to request a free cash appropriation in the amount of 20,000 for advertising and pre-employment exams. Normally this is funded through the operations budget, however, due to the budget, cons, constraints, and the unknowns of what the override, uh, holds,

▶ 1:05:03 Speaker 1: we are looking just for the next fiscal year to shift that funding through to, uh, free cash and kind of reduce the pressure on the operating budget.

▶ 1:05:16 Speaker 5: Council Aldi,

▶ 1:05:18 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Aye. Hi. Um, so what is, uh, usually, uh, the amount that is allocated for, um, advertising and all the other stuff on a yearly basis?

▶ 1:05:32 Speaker 1: 8,000 for advertising and 12,000 for pre-employment exams.

▶ 1:05:36 Maya Jamaleddine: So it's the same, so same amount we, we allocate every year, 20,000, but instead of including it in a budget, we are gonna, um, request it from free cash this year.

▶ 1:05:48 Speaker 1: That's correct. We're simply shifting it to free

▶ 1:05:50 Maya Jamaleddine: Cash. And, um, can you explain to us, um, what is the use like for advertising? What are specifically like, you can just give us examples.

▶ 1:06:02 Speaker 1: Sure. Um, we advertise using various recruiting sources. Um, some are free, um, but some do cost money. So we use the Mass Municipal Association for more specialized municipal jobs. We use, indeed, we use various

▶ 1:06:19 Speaker 1: specialized professional organizations and it costs money.

▶ 1:06:24 Maya Jamaleddine: Okay. And is there, um, are these, um, like a membership or is it based on

▶ 1:06:32 Speaker 1: It's, it's based on the particular, um, vacancy particular job ad.

▶ 1:06:36 Maya Jamaleddine: Okay. So some one year you may use more than 8,000 Yes. And one year you may use less than that, right? That's, That's correct. So we

▶ 1:06:47 Speaker 1: don't just have a membership to MMA and then we can post X number of jobs.

▶ 1:06:55 Speaker 1: It's all based on, um, the individual ads that we, um, have.

▶ 1:07:00 Maya Jamaleddine: Got it. Mm-hmm. And you usually use all this amount, like based on the posting and the use for that? It, this is their amount? Depends on,

▶ 1:07:10 Speaker 2: Depends on the year.

▶ 1:07:11 Speaker 1: Uh, last year we had, um, increased it because we had seen, um, higher utilization depends on the vacancies we have,

▶ 1:07:19 Speaker 2: which is exactly why we're looking to shift it to free cash

▶ 1:07:21 Speaker 1: because we are not anticipating to fill, um, really many any vacancies or it, it all depends. Um, right now we have a freeze on hiring unless the positions are required by law or there are key positions we have to fill,

▶ 1:07:41 Maya Jamaleddine: Which is, and, and that, I'm sorry to interrupt, but that leads me to the question. Since we, you know, we don't have the capacity for hiring, how are we manage, like how are we for forecasting that we are going to use that $8,000 in advertisement if we are really mm-hmm.

▶ 1:08:02 Speaker 1: I mean, we, we are simply shifting it from operating budget to the free cash.

▶ 1:08:10 Speaker 2: It's really hard to forecast for fiscal year 26

▶ 1:08:15 Speaker 1: because we, I, we don't know what the future holds. We don't know if the override's going to pass or not.

▶ 1:08:22 Speaker 7: Um, so it's really hard to forecast.

▶ 1:08:23 Maya Jamaleddine: That's why it's in, in free cash. Yeah. And was everything used from last year, like the 8,000, was it used in

▶ 1:08:32 Speaker 1: The majority? Majority, yeah.

▶ 1:08:35 Speaker 2: Okay. Okay. Thank you. Mm-hmm.

▶ 1:08:40 Speaker 5: Councilor Kati and then Council Stewart.

▶ 1:08:43 Manjula Karamcheti: Um, just to clear. Hi, how are you? Good, how are you? Hi. Good. Nice to see you. I, I, I think I would, based on Councilor Laine's questions, I just could use a little clarification. So you are requesting free cash of $20,000, like proactively for what you may or may not need in the 20 25, 20 26

▶ 1:09:14 Speaker 2: budget cycle, which as a council, we haven't gone through

▶ 1:09:18 Manjula Karamcheti: yet in terms of what's been, what's in that budget. So, but am I understanding correctly, like this isn't free cash to pay for something that we owe. This is possibly something that we might need in 20 25, 20 26,

▶ 1:09:38 Speaker 2: but you're proactively taking it out of your budget for 20 25, 20 26 and moving it to free cash. Yes. It's for fiscal year 26.

▶ 1:09:45 Speaker 1: So this has nothing to do with the current fiscal year

▶ 1:09:50 Speaker 2: 25. Right. So starting July one, July is for first. Yeah. Yes. Okay.

▶ 1:09:57 Speaker 2: I'm just slightly confused by that strategy, but mm-hmm. Maybe it's just me

▶ 1:10:06 Speaker 5: All set. Yep. Council Stewart.

▶ 1:10:11 Speaker 4: Thank you, Mr. Chair.

▶ 1:10:16 Robb Stewart: So, but we're pulling from, we're pulling from this fiscal year right? On the free cash?

▶ 1:10:24 Speaker 4: I, Right. I

▶ 1:10:26 Speaker 2: Just, yes. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Just one

▶ 1:10:29 Robb Stewart: clarification on that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

▶ 1:10:32 Speaker 5: President Elli,

▶ 1:10:33 Speaker 2: Um, just through the chair, I, I think this is the practice of using free cash to, To allocate for the,

▶ 1:10:42 Leila Migliorelli: the next following fiscal year isn't all that uncommon. It's just that I think in this situation, what's giving me not, not pause for necessarily not approving it, but it's because unlike the, let's say the chief's car, you know, you know that you're going to buy that and maybe you will buy that in FY 26. And so I think maybe the point of slight confusion here is that we are trying to, um, well, it's a, a trust issue. You know, you're saying that you will need $20,000 because you have used $20,000 in past years and to pull this out of the operating budget, um, because it's a, a like a fixed cost. Mm-hmm. It's not a, it's not a salary, it's not, um, something built into the budget. I mean, the only thing that I, I would just sort of agree with counselor, Jamal Dean's point, um, physical exams aside, I'm actually looking at the FY 26 budget, which shows FY 24 spend and FYI 25 year to date. And it seems like physical exams is something we always spend money on advertising. I, I do agree that if we, even with the over, I mean, it's a override isn't, we haven't even voted on putting that on the ballot yet. So I, I would just assume that under a hiring freeze, you wouldn't be advertising for as many positions year to date, you spent like 5 50, 400 on advertising. Um, so we would likely spend that much, or maybe a little bit less. I think just the council's vote is to, whether we feel confident in giving mm-hmm. That money and allocating it for that purpose.

▶ 1:12:25 Speaker 2: Um, $8,000. So just, I, I dunno, hopefully that clarified some things for some people. But Thank you.

▶ 1:12:32 Speaker 5: Council Williams. I just threw the chair.

▶ 1:12:34 Ryan Williams: I want to, um, make sure that I understand this clearly. The free cash doesn't live in the operating budget, right? It, it, it's outside the operating budget. So we, you know, the free cash is the free cash. We can put it in the operating budget, which is what we're kind of starting to do a little bit of here. And it's showing the cracks in the, um, you know, in, in the city's ability to maintain operations without an override. Um, but I appreciate that that's the position that we're in. So, uh, that's what we gotta do. And that's a small amount, thankfully, we're not taking, you know, millions of dollars out of free cash to pay for salaries or anything crazy like that. Like some communities have done. Um, yeah.

▶ 1:13:14 Speaker 5: Thank you. Thank you Councilor Ro

▶ 1:13:16 Cal Finocchiaro: I guess, um, my only question would be if the funds don't get used, you know, in the, in the upcoming year, do they just sit in account for with the HR department or, Um, I don't believe so. They don't sit with the HR department. Okay.

▶ 1:13:31 Speaker 1: It's just for this fiscal, for the upcoming fiscal year. If they don't get used, um, I believe they just go back to free cash.

▶ 1:13:40 Speaker 5: Council Vandiver.

▶ 1:13:41 Kimberly Vandiver: Thank you. Um, through the chair. I think maybe one way we could think about this is basically is putting money into stabilization fund. It's just that we don't have a stabilization fund, but it would be similar to putting money proactively into any of our stabilization funds for future use when we might not have money available. That's how I would think about this. Thank you.

▶ 1:14:03 Mark Garipay: Um, I had a lot of the same questions that Council Jamal Ledine had and Councilor Ache had. Um, I question how much, how, how many individuals we're gonna be hiring, but I do realize that we do have positions that we are going to need to replace that are currently in the budget. Right. That we're potentially are not gonna be cut. So we are gonna have to use that, that money. Um, so yeah, I, I have the same questions, but the more I'm thinking about it, I think we're, it's not the, the best practice, but it's, it's where we are. And, and we had to, we're gonna be presented a balanced budget, I'm assuming, assuming we have to be on Monday. So they had to make cuts where they could.

▶ 1:14:52 Speaker 5: So, council Aldi,

▶ 1:14:54 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Second, this order does not pass. Would you be able, and let's say you needed to fund for a position that you need to post, um, what would be the solution for you? Would you come back to us and ask for specific amount of money? Or how would you, you know, uh, problem solve?

▶ 1:15:19 Speaker 1: I'm sorry, can you just repeat the question? Didn't hear the beginning.

▶ 1:15:22 Maya Jamaleddine: So if this order Yeah. Does not pass, let's say, okay. Uh, worst case scenario does not pass. And let's say next year you, you don't have that budget to post for any position. Uh, what would, how would you problem solve?

▶ 1:15:40 Speaker 1: I mean, I can only use the money that I have available that allocated for a certain purpose. So I will have to come to the city council and request the money. Otherwise, I cannot start recruiting.

▶ 1:15:52 Maya Jamaleddine: So you can always come back and request that amount of money? Right, right.

▶ 1:15:58 Speaker 2: It'll most likely delay the process,

▶ 1:15:59 Speaker 1: but that is, um, my option. Yeah.

▶ 1:16:06 Mark Garipay: Okay. Um, just for the, for the record, they would be able to come back for free cash when it is certified, which wouldn't be until January. Potentially. Or, or November. Or November. So, um, councilor Hamilton for the first time, council Stewart and Councilor m

▶ 1:16:22 Ward Hamilton: Thank you. Um, real quickly, so for this to get before us tonight mm-hmm.

▶ 1:16:29 Speaker 1: Does this ha this has the blessing of the administration. Like, this isn't you on your own, right? It was not my idea. Yes. Yeah. Mm-hmm. It was an administration's idea. Yes. Mm-hmm. Thank you. And I support it. Thank you.

▶ 1:16:43 Robb Stewart: Council Stewart. Thank you, Mr. Chair, Mr. Chair, and through the chair. Um, I agree that it's, it's not, um, it's not ideal for what we do, but, um, I believe that if anybody understands the requirements of hiring, it's gonna be Ms. Lada, um, more than anybody else in the administration. 'cause that's what she does for the, the, the, the whole administration. So, uh, for that reason, I would support this, um, with the understanding that this is not something that we want to do at a greater extent. Um, and, and I understand that we are in a certain situation, so, um, I'll support this. Thank

▶ 1:17:26 Speaker 5: You President.

▶ 1:17:27 Speaker 2: Merely. I'm all set. Thank you. All set.

▶ 1:17:28 Speaker 5: Councilor fro, I'm

▶ 1:17:31 Speaker 1: Not sure if there's a motion on the table. I was just gonna make a motion to recommend

▶ 1:17:36 Mark Garipay: May have motion. Second. Motion to recommend by Councilor fro. Seconded by President Moore on discussion.

▶ 1:17:44 Speaker 5: Roll call. Vote please.

▶ 1:17:48 Speaker 1: Vice chair. Jamine. No,

▶ 1:17:53 Mark Garipay: I'm sorry. Can't. Um, I'm sorry. Could you say that again? Sha No.

▶ 1:17:58 Speaker 1: Okay. Counselor Occhio? Yes. Counselor Hamilton? Yes. Counselor. Karen Chatty. Yes. Councilor Reky. Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Vandiver? Yes. Councilor Williams? Yes. President Moore? Yes. Chair Repe? Yes. Motion passes

▶ 1:18:18 Mark Garipay: Will be recommended to the full council. Thank you, Ms. Lata. Thank you, Julian.