parts ok so thank you mr chairman members of the board appreciate taking the time tonight to meet with me this is a very humbling opportunity and i look forward to presenting to you department fairly large population of almost sixty thousand working under mayor bob newnes at the time you folks may recognize the name as the former deputy commissioner of the department revenue and director of division a local  services during that time i was recruited for a new opportunity with cambridge college to serve as the college's first director of operation safety emergency management it's a good opportunity professionally for me to build a program from the ground up as the first person in that role to serve as director i oversaw the college's real estate portfolio risk management leases capital planning projects in both cambridge as well as eight regional sites throughout the country unfortunately  with the economy in recession in two thousand and eight i was let go as the second phase of a three phase of layoffs as well as they also close to regional sites so if at that time i was able to was approached  in picked up a job with them as a adjunct professor serving in the school of management where i taught in the graduate program of management there did that role for three years and also during that time i was a consultant for several communities in massachusetts looking for full time work again fortunately nine years ago was hired by the town to meet and i've served as the town ministre for the last almost five of that time since my time we've made a significant number of  major accomplishments that i think will directly relate to the issues that are facing belmont both currently and you know the near and long term future that being during my time i was part of the dead exclusion process to building construct a new high school i served as the chief executive working with the s b a on the reimbursement process as well as through the through the duration of the full construction to now a and open school as well as several other construction projects and initiatives for the last eighteen months of service member of the fine fire station building committee where we've been working on developing a an assessment as well as a capital plan to put forward for a new station building as well as the working on the speed of a real trail through design and construction which is currently underway and i led a controversial fifty eight acre development it's a process that passed our meeting overwhelmingly it was approved ten to one by the town meeting voters and pleased to say today that it's a major revenue intice a patient for the town were able to develop negotiate a favorable development agreement for the future beyond my professional experience i may seem a credential manager just one of twenty eight in the commonwealth of massachusetts the their credentials manager status essentially shows a commitment to professional development as well as a certain level of executive level experience combined with education i hold a several graduate degrees including master of public administration with a concentration in financial management and of served on several  committees boards appointed i've been appointed by the governor to serve as a commissioner on the four ninety five metro well suburban edge commission and economic development driven commission i've also been appointed by the secretary public safety to serve as a  we went through the m s b a process in a commitment from the m s p i have to actually funding fifty two percent of the project the we had to go through a process in we met with about nine communities to look at possibly regionaliz the biggest thing was exploring all of the options that were available to the community as i said we had to show that we we actively reached other reached out to other communities to put it potentially look at a regional solution that process had to be explained in provided there was multiple community forums for folks to be informed and understand the process much like you guys had the other evening with your you're building committee and ultimately works was that i participated on the as a member of particular at that time on that building committee but as a contributor certainly into the planning design and ultimately town meeting approval and support was overwhelming meet x number of years as executive experience it's specifically eight years you have to show that you have have had in the eight years of executive level experience you have to show that you provide you have enough graduate education education that's correct so you have to maintain a a plan a professional development plan a commitment to the profession and identifying every five years you take an assessment take identify where i want to number of major cities that determine your or skill sets based on that and you develop a commitment over the five year plan to the professional development everything from citizen engagement to fiscal budgeting to you know leadership management styles as well the challenges that there will be ensuing there needs to be a strategic plan process to engage those residents in harness the energy and expertise that those residents and volunteers both committees and volunteers bring last night with you with your vote in approval moving forward on a twenty seven million dollar community community path in town so all of these initiatives over the next several fiscal years are going to  require community support and community involvement you know ultimately you know i think ultimately you know with engaging with those folks in the process working with the board of selectmen is as they described earlier with providing an opportunity in forms for citizen input so that they can be informed and educated about what you know what the ultimately we'll be looking for the community you know with those projects on the horizon over the next several fiscal years you're going to ultimately be looking for a town meeting to take a vote related to debt exclusions it's fairly apparent that you're potentially going to be looking at a operational override and within the next maybe overstated but somewhere around one hundred seventy million depending on you know how the how the read the return has been and some of the other variables but ultimately you know that that long term liability that's services that the residents are used to both in town even with the school system make up a strategic plan the if have considered have taken initiatives underway want to being the financial task force document which is which was you know a great start you know as a still work to be done there i know the advisory group has has asked to stay stay ahead of the you know continue working on that you know there's there's a multiple number of committees and groups that have been working on components of what could be a strategic plan and ultimately i think you know working with with all those groups in the documents in the good work that they put in you know try to develop a strategic plan that you know that this board and has always been one that's very collaborative an open door policy particularly related to the department heads and staff i've always looked at my department as a subject matter experts and of empower them to run their departments and make decisions while providing them with the support and tools that they need to carry out that mission i think it with that what that being said subordinates would you know would probably identify my management style as as inclusive and fear as well as a clear visible leader that they you know that they have been able to in some cases look up to and provided some you know mentor  opportunities for for staff members my superiors or supervisors the board of selectmen level i would say would probably probably categorize me as a forward thinking in looking  kick you know look at a collaborative i think it will fit my management style would fit well here because i would you know my measure style is to treat similar to you know the way we deal with the community which is a collaborative team approach and you know that being said i have my style is you know i'm not afraid to delegate and i'm not afraid to make decisions when appropriate but i don't make decisions in a vacuum and try to collaborate in in general you know belmont as a potential community back in april during that time i've had my eye on the community i've been actively from afar watching the actions of the board of selectmen you know and no doubt have seen several of your meetings not just at the board of slogging level but other televised meetings as well as personally of you know looked into each board member as individual interest through whatever is public meaning there you know your campaign sites and your individual interests and visions for moving belmont forward and you know i have all been i've been impressed by all three of you i had an opportunity to spend a little more time jim with you know unanimously but in general it appears to be that you know you respect each other as votes one way or another and and that process which i think is healthy so i have a little bit of experience working with conflict amongst board members i think you know as a i seem a member as a code of ethics i follow working with elected officials and you know for me always try to remain neutral and provide the same level of communication to all board  members shortly after i took over as a town administrator one of my members took ill and i for all year long process had dealt with a two to split board making it very challenging and difficult to progress forward on any real issues there was a lot of tension that i had to facilitate among the board members and in an attempt to try to take the personal personality out of it and focus on you know that the town issues at hand not the easiest year that i had you know but if i have that experience and you know i try to facilitate where those conflicts exist while maintaining you know my role as a neutral party it's not easy in my case currently i things move but it doesn't happen but i think from my observations of this board is you know you guys at least fear the present yourself as you know respectful of each other and i think that's important  sure i think you know the biggest challenge for me is is i've you know worked with multiple boards and city councils and i've never directly worked for a board of three you know i think that you know that uniqueness will be a full communicating with each member i think the way to effectively be able to manage conflict is really working with the chair oftentimes i found of you know the chairman who is as you know you guys are equal in the sense that you know sometimes if you can know to address some conflicts amongst other board members they can then work with their fellow colleagues you know obviously you can be difficult in you know in the minister manages role with you know three bosses with all with equal say no say individually you know a long those lines so i think you know it's it's a it's one of those things that you know you have to kind of know your place and understand the  dynamics of of the elected officials but as i said i've been able to navigate through that for a year time frame in the you know it in bed still happens from time to time now and you try to stay positive and focus on the issues and you know working effectively and as you say there's turnover and there's a new direction that comes on with what that change over and different ideas and in a different direction i think you need to as a manager be open minded  you know that that we talk about in and discuss how do to best facilitate that and you know the board changeover can certainly you know have a major shift in dynamics within the role you know my job as a town minister is to provide the board with as much information as much detail as much analysis as possible on an issue so that they can make an informed decision in the best interest of the community  at that time and you know if i provided them with the tools and you know the analysis and breakdown to make that decision effectively and ultimately you know it's a different decision than i would have made you know i understand as i said earlier  know for me at the end of the day we can do much like a monk's yourself we can disagree as long as the relationship is one of respect and you know ultimately if i felt that i've provided you with all the information that you need in the tools that you need to make informed decisions and he or different direction then then i would have you know i certainly you know have had that experience and would expect to throughout my career but you know ultimately it's the of that's the i think it is as i said earlier i think it's important in my job to provide the board with all of the alternatives when available and effectively the the potential results of those decisions so that they understand the implications of potentially voting one way or another so yeah absolutely try to always break down and analysis in any time there's additional options and recommendations provide a recommendation but also provide the board with multiple options you know as as they move forward you know one example of that would be you know setting the water the water sewer rates for our community right there's a few options with ultimately  the rain increasing the shift you know it by a few options and the implications of of how those you know those shifts would be breaking broken down and affect certain blocks of of ratepayers  understanding you know the board's direction for the and you know ending of the upcoming fiscal year working with the board in all of those committees with throughout the budget process in you know kind of developing understanding with all those folks as well as town officials their priorities both short and long term expectations that they'll need to fund their budgets and as well as carry out  the excellent services that they've been able to provide i'm sorry adam what was the second part of the orders of oh for sure so i think   for the last five years as the town ministry here in maynard to develop a balanced budget every year and you know my my educational background as i said with a concentration of financial management was really focused on the the effect of technical aspects of development financial management following the g f o a standards and process so regardless of the  the few additional zeros i think the process behind gaining the steps taken to develop that budget remain the same my budget process starts early on with communication with the board of selectmen to u nderstand in in agree on conservative revenue projections and estimates at that time and take that opportunity to paint a a a picture of the ensuing fiscal year anticipation of  what the what the upcoming fiscal year might look like as well as impacts that you know that are facing the community whether it be in health insurance assessment on a vocational school like the f y committees and boards to develop their budget so i think the principles in and steps taken are similar regardless of the size of the budget i would you know i would still you know working closely with the selectmen you know working with the war committee working with town officials as well as a school committee preparing a you know a budget that's inclusive a budget that addresses and takes into account all of every one individual's  driver in the community we work throughout the entire year talking about those things so there's no surprise come budget time one of the things that we do is actually hold a town school leadership meeting which is made up of myself and the board of selectmen chair and the school superintendent and the and the school committee chair and you know this is a very important effective meeting because there's a lot of times you've mentioned jim multiple times the cameras on and know a budget one of the and one of the things just as an example for two and a half years in those leader town school leadership meetings i had said an opportunity to lay out a plan meet consistently to gain the support amongst the four of us on combining town school facilities ultimately now for three years late town school facilities management is on the under the town side  property that school property and in the only way we're able to get to a point where that happened is because of those discussions and working collaboratively with the school superintendent the school committee and i  think you know so that those conversations don't happen you know in january when budgets are do those conversations are happening throughout the year and you know you end it in in that form as well as other forms as a whole earlier i follow the code of ethics as a member of the i c made as a credential manager as well as a member those code of ethics they take i really take to heart and follow them that they're hanging up on my unpopular than untrue what that being said you know it you know as as far as honesty integrity no i don't think that there's been a situation where that is it ever embarrass me or me because i always try to operate under those premises and actually questions that have kind of led up to this i think as i said i bring a both the necessary professional experience in financial management in public safety management public works infrastructure a strong background in local government management and i think if i bring that to the community you know in closing you know i would just i would like to reiterate that you know would be my intent my family's ultimate plan would be to relocate to the belmont area i think you know i would look to be active a visible leader in the community engage in the community and  you know be a peep participant ideally i'd be looking to make a commitment to to belmont you know for hopefully a long period of time as i said with you know relocation and dedication the community think you know belmont has has a lot to offer for me professionally and i feel like i have a lot to bring to the table bring to the community not looking at this job as a as a next step opportunity i'm moving as i said to make a know capitalize on the energy experience and you know overwhelming you know capabilities of its residents very highly educated community and i think you know they have a lot to offer and just say you know for me you know i'm not i'm not one that you know will tell you today that i have all the answers but i promise you that if selected as a town minister it all work tirelessly to to get those answers you so again thank you for having me in tonight yes my name is patrice garvin i also want to thank the screening committee and the department heads that i met with on  saturday i am currently the town minister in the town of shirley and i have been there for four years in my time and surely i have learned a tremendous amount of learning about local government the will of the people winning and losing setbacks progression and belmont will only benefit from all that i have learnt and experience i was recently asked a question of why why do i why am i in the profession of town minister and what is it about it that i like i think it really harkens back to when i was young i've always wanted to find a career where i would make people's lives better from early ages from high school i was the president of my social awareness and responsibility club in college i volunteered at adult literacy programs in boston i volunteered at community center in mattapan i worked in non profit i always wanted to make sure i was in a place where my efforts were helping the people i found my way to local government and what i like most about local government really is the fact that not only can i help people but i can see my efforts and my work in a very short period of time and really that's what i always go back to is why i love this profession i love making people's lives better who i am as a professional and what i've done i would say is most reflected in the challenges that have faced and the country people i always look for common ground and i build up from there i make sure people don't leave my office without seeking some form of a resolution and surely surely being a small town i wear many hats and it is given me an in depth understanding of municipal government and surely i had when the town after one time revenue built up the reserves to over seventy percent of the operating budget i got millions in state and federal grants i restructured offices to better serve the community and vested in the employees and i've been very successful in my collective bargaining efforts and i feel that if  want the best example i can given charlie is when i first when i first arrived we had we had an on call ambulance department and we weren't getting people out during the middle of the night and on weekends to respond to get you know to get into the ambulance and roll out to a call all of our calls were going out to mutual aid every second every minute of those types of calls matter when when lives are on the line the able instructor came to me and i he mentioned the problem and we decided to sit down with him the fire chief and we crafted a plan to bring to the slackman and finance committee to institute around the clock e mail and service and what that would mean is paying people to be on call during the week and staffing the fire department with fire even trees on the weekend we called them pretty how we were able to sell it to the finance committee was what we said was all the revenue that we were losing by the mutual calls going out we would be able to retain in town we changed that program from ninety percent of the call's going out to mutual aid to ninety percent of the call staying in the us decreasing response time and i believe potentially saving lives that to me was one of the biggest accomplishments so far and s n said you're here because you love the town you love to give back belmont was for my research recently did some both a town meeting to set up building committees for the library and the d p w and you have a lot of major capital projects coming in the future so with those big projects come big price tags and to get a community on board behind those types of projects that they know are going to affect them financially you really need to start motivating the volunteers in the community after the action the town meeting what i saw is now you have a high school building committee i would do that is it kind of gets everybody on the same page everyone's working on separate projects but the goal is the same which is to make the town better i would want to put them in into the room to talk about what they've been talking about with their communities think some of the challenges are going to be once they do bring it out into the community you know some of these projects that you're opposing are really large and really going to affect the tax rate so i would make sure that that is something that i would try and do in surely i did something similar when i got to surely one of the only in use boards and committees like the planning board in the zoning board they didn't know what they each other was doing i instituted a meeting of the chairs once a month we was chair came into those meetings and what i found after every meeting is everyone seemed to walk out of there knowing a little bit more than they had had previously and what i could do is implement something like that here i think the other thing is we can start to talk about in those types of meetings is how to roll this out to the community how to how do they think given that you know i would be new and i wouldn't know the community as well as they would what they think would be the best strategy also given some of the recent issues of the planning board i think what i would do is utilize meetings like that because before something come bubbled up to the surface you know you might be to catch it before it kind of gets away from me and it's really a way to kind of work with it before before then legacy said i think i would hope that i would have been having those committee meetings so i would have been aware of it earlier then later i would have been able to jump on it it would have been something that maybe i could have been a bridge between the planning board and the  sometimes needs that bridge between the two to build that consensus i think i think when the other thing if the since we're talking about the playing ball and that isiah tommy ting was your unanimous unfavorable for right off the bat the thing i think most people say about me is i'm pretty even cross the border department heads boards i treat everyone the same my management style is open to a policy my door is really shut and people just kind of can come by it anymore i mean mondays are usually on my busiest days because people know that they just can come by and talk and we talk about if there's any issues or people want to talk just to touch base so i'm i'm someone that's constantly communicating with the people that are in and out of my office when i met with the department heads on saturday i really hope that i convey to them  manage the town i don't micromanage i let department heads run their departments i'm not interested in controlling or running their departments they are the professionals i don't hold things out for the sake of hold because i need to you know do the big check to make sure it's to my satisfaction i like to be kept in the loop when i have my department had meetings and i go around the room and everybody is speaking to you know up the i mean usually if something comes out where i wasn't really in the loop on i kind of that to my signal to touch base with that farm and head but usually a jelly no ever an idea with what everyone's working on  i think roles are really important for the employees i think for an employee to be effective they have to know what their role is and when i would first come in if selected i'd come in and i would sit down and speak to the department heads and because the employees and ask them ok what is your role what do you think your role is if you have any questions is there something you like is it something that you don't like is it something you think can be better is there training that you know you haven't been offered that you're interested in  encouraging surely people exploring their interest even if it's not in their designated little department to define walls i encourage that i want them to seek out other opportunities because maybe they just don't know that they're they could be really good at something they just don't know it so i do conduct monthly monthly department meetings during budget season have weekly finance team meetings i have public safety meetings i've also grown as a manager in my time and surely whenever anyone interested job they want to do the best they can and the biggest mistake i've seen tony ministers do is they come in and they start changing everything and i think that they pretty much are dead in the water at that point what i like to do is i like to listen i like to absorb i like to understand and then slowly as i move forward kind of curry and you know bring all those pieces together and kind of form a vision that i can then bring part of the solution i'm not interested in taking all the credit you know i i feel that one person does not make something successful it's a team and i feel that i'm as i'm only good as the team that i lead i would say that my board passed previous idea i would say that they would say that i am in tune to pretty much everything but at the same time i let my departments from the department that i don't get involved and micromanaging them that  we have department need had meanings and that i have a very quick google friendly relationship with pretty much everyone i work with i'm very professional i don't let my own personal opinions affect my sure that's so pretty much from an early age i've been able to work with all different types of people by being from a very large family you learned early age that there are a lot of different types of people  necessarily it kind of goes beyond the person that happens to be sitting in that seat at that moment i think for a lot of time ministers where they get stuck is if a new member gets elected in and there's a personality clash they can't seem to get over the personality clash and i've always been able to put the position in the role ahead of the person that's sitting in it and it has me to it made it for me just really easy to work with anyone that occupies that seat because i know the reason they're there is to do that good for the town and that's what i want that's my goal so that's where we start and that's where we go from the biggest challenge i would say for any two new town administrator is to gain the trust and respect of the board that they're working for it takes some time to get into a rhythm with new board members but i have no doubt that given my experience i'd be able to do that here in belmont i have three rules when it comes to the selectmen i think i mentioned to them to you guys before always you are as informed you're never surprised i never want somebody walking up to you on the street and saying something that you didn't know and that one of you won't know something the other two does don't know it's the board of selectmen you set the destination point and it's my job as time mistreated to figure out how to get there and i think that my understanding of that role is really how i see that relationship working you set the destination i figure out how to get or well that's what i would say based on what i saw it especially you know town meeting i think there was a citizens petition to put a million dollars in stabilization and i don't believe you all and you know i'm a supporter right so based on that you all gave strong arguments as to why you thought one way or to support it or not but it was respectful it was professional it's conflict that i think i can handle because it's  there's going to be times where i disagree with you but when that happens for me i check myself i have to make sure for me and i disagree because of my personal opinion or do i think it's not in the best interest of the town if it's not in the best rooms of the town i will tell you why i don't think it's in the best chance of the town and i will probably go through with maybe some consequences that the board member hadn't considered i would absolutely give you  alternatives i would give you alternatives with also consequences i think could happen from that the other thing i would do depending on how strong the opinion is i'd ask for more time i'd ask for time to go and seek other alternatives that could be in better interest to the town you know i think for me i can't go to bed at night without knowing that i did something for the best interests of the town and not for my own personal  other board members apprised of those alternatives if i'm having a discussion with one board member i would then you know make sure everyone's in the loop on it so it will because sometimes you know because the open meeting law you guys can't really talk about it if you bounce it off for me it can i can be that filter and maybe collectively we can come up with something and i think collectively if we come up with something that is in the best interest of the town and that's really the ultimate goal i've had new mobile members come in and they kind of tell me you know we have a discussion and i just then go ahead and do my job and i let my work speak for itself i think every site member worked with or worked for once they see my work product we're all good and i think that's how i deal with it i just kind of dive myself more into the work and i think it's always kind of worth it that's how i deal  it absolutely has happened in my experience i just i work i think how i look at that is the board of selectmen sets policy in the town it is my job to implement that policy i just what i do all we are required surely is required the same as belmont we have to do pretty much what obama does we have to have a plan but we have to have police department you know we have to provide those services to the community is what it is i will also say you know i was the chairman of the finance committee in terms heard and they have a pretty relatively big budget i think it's comparable to yes yes so i'm used to working with all sides but it's actually at the time i was there about one hundred and ten around that and yet it was using there are many capital needs that you have discussed that are coming down the pike and you're also looking at a deficit and twenty twenty so these are all concerns that we're currently looking at your school enrollment is increasing which obviously is going to have budgetary impacts for you one of the first things i would do is sit down with the superintendent i know you did the pods at the special town meeting but what a what other impacts is the superintendent identified that that increasing moment is going to impact and where in the budget and how much and things like that so that's one of the things i would i would do and the other thing is in regards to the major capital items  you know we had talked about this a little bit at our meaning that when you kind of put stuff off for a long period of time it canna you have to play catch up so like unsurely we had to play catch up with our philly now the town volman has to play catch up with their facilities and that constrain a budget one of the first things i would do is sit down with the treasurer and the accountant and i'd like to get my ten year that schedule i want to see what that looks like want to see that looks like with major capital projects without major capital projects how that's going to impact tax rate i kind of want to get a visual picture of what that looks like i think then from that point it's really just communicating all of that cost analysis and i heard somebody a town meeting mentioned that this could be a possible solar development i have a lot of experience with solar developments and surely negotiated for oil leases for town on land that's going to net over twenty years three hundred thousand dollars in leas taxation so that's something that is very familiar to me that could be a revenue source for some of these building projects so diversifying revenue as the case would be for the solar would be an option but really it's just diving into the budget looking at it line by line seeing you know where there could be potential savings in the budget if that if any exist that's really working with the finance team on a regular basis to get all that information sure so when i worked so right now i just started working on the budget for nineteen and charl know so for example last year when i was doing eighteen i had been consistently working on regional dispatch and there is some savings in this country if we went to it so i knew when i would be working on eighteen and working on the communications budget it probably was going to be the last year that budget because i was already thinking in one thousand that budget is going to dramatically reduced so whenever i'm working on a budget my mind is not in the current fiscal year it's a year ahead and what's going to be happening in this department that's why when i mention to the department heads what i like to do is i like to hear their wish list because what i do is a new make a note of it and then the next year's budget discussion it will come up because i'm thinking about it all year is this to you to do it is this for you to do it so for surely for example i believe that some of those savings for the regional dispatch i think one thousand is the year to potentially add another fire firefighter so those are the things you know i'm constantly working on because i know that's on the fire chief so in surely it was an evolution when i first got to surely they had just entered there i think second year of a regional school and there was there was husband i would say a little bit animosity on both sides for the people that were arrived and i asked the selectmen ok would you think and they said when you think i said well maybe we should just give them a number and see if they'll stick with it and they did so the second year i said ok maybe i'll go to the neighboring town will come up with a number present at the school committee and they'll stick with it and they did and then the third year i said ok i'm just going to budget them really high so anything that they comes in under will be gravy for the budget they totally surpassed that number so the fourth year which is last year's budget i can only finally figured out how to do this i went to i kind of just said ok to superintendent mary malone i said just give me a number figure it out and after that it was all the fighting between the finn com and the selectmen all that stopped everyone kind of calmed down and we were able to get to a number and actually they shaved off about twenty thousand from the original asked assessment i think when people stop fighting and start listening to each other you get some progress and you know for sure early because they had entered a regional school it just took some time to kind of get that rhythm but now that they're in it i don't really perceive any problems sure well i work with the superintendent in charlie quite often we have a great relationship working relationship i pod i suspect i know i would have a similar relationship where i wouldn't feel uncomfortable calling the superintendent and asking him ok what's going on what about this number about this budget things like that and the school committee as well i mean school committee members call me on a regular basis to  and yeah so being at town administrator i would say that you challenge your honor and integrity is challenged on a semi regular basis i think for me my integrity is very important  when i say something i do it and i want people to know that about me in respect to the three pieces public i think community employees so for an example with the public we were in open meeting it was public comment session and the suttons meaning we had recently received a lot of public information requests coming in for information on  parameters of public records request you know the best way i planed it to them is everything that comes into a town is a public record its exact exemptions that you place on them keeps them from being distributed and there are time limits and there's only so much time you have to get this information out or you get you know dying by the state so people really couldn't understand that they were convinced that i was releasing the information to because i wanted to publicly the person which is not the case and it was really hard to kind of sit there and listen to a lot of employees challenge me and my integrity but again i just i was professional and i tried to explain to them that i presented health insurance plan to the selectmen and one of the pieces of that plan was to eliminate health insurance for elected officials and i was tasked with going to tell the elected officials  so i went into a public meeting and i bad news i deliver it you know i i wasn't thrilled with doing it but you know it was something that really was a hard choice that had to be done to save the town money that initiative saved the town of who a quarter million dollars so it was a significant piece and it was a piece of the savings yeah yeah and then though the employee one i would say for me the employe example that i have really in compass is everything i do from a town mr perspective in the four years i've been in surely you know there have been employees that had to leave employment some by choice some by not by  and there was one in particular that the board did wanted to part ways with i didn't agree with that decision it really challenged me on many levels challenge to me in terms of what conflict the board was not in agreement of this terminations it was two to one i had to mitigate that issue it was costly because we had to come up with an agreement it was financial burden i had to deal with that from a management perspective the person was a fish a department head and he had a lot of people under him that was causing a problem  and there was just a lot of things there that it was really hard for me but what i remember thinking in doing is i had to protect the town from the moment i knew that the town the selectmen made the decision to let this person go i knew everything up to that point and past that point had to be done correctly i didn't want the town to open itself up to a liability but at the same time there's an employee that i respect and like that i disagree so i think for me it was just do my job do my job protect the town and how i felt i knew at some point i'd know if i did the right thing and i i worked that employee knew it wasn't me it that i was doing my job and employ our former employee and i still have a very cordial relationship i knew i was doing i knew i did what i was supposed to do because of his response after they left it's a example that i will carry with me probably throughout my over the rest of my career because of how hard it was to do  but sometimes you're put as a manager into those positions and the job is to make sure everything is done correctly out what i will bring to belmont well i've been in municipal government for a really long time and guess not that long over ten years i have learned a lot in my ten re but i've always had a push to know more my what drives me is my failures as much as my successes i want to learn more i want to do better  of the department heads asked me in the meeting on saturday how i did feel about failure and i remember responding that if you're not making mistakes you're not trying and what i bring to everything i do is my full effort if i don't succeed at one thing i will try another i don't give up until it's done and that's what i would bring to belmont when i first got into surely the  actor wanted i asked him what what was the thing that he wanted the most in town and he said he wanted the bridge that had been neglected for fifteen years don he said that he would retire until it was done i made it my mission to get that thing do e and it is it's almost done and i think you know when i was rejected the first time from aspects grant i went back and i kept going and till i got it i don't stop until i feel that the town is getting what it what it wants to say something now is the time you have such a huge audience tonight as well as you know higher com i didn't think it was a pretty i didn't think it was a i didn't think it was a great idea anyway because it's our meeting and something like this is not something that lends itself to people snapping up to the mike i don't want to limit the scope no negatives you know i mean we just can't have that so forth so here we are so what do you guys want to do preference there still is a possibility that the negotiation on the contract won't oh slim there so you know i think let me just say a word about you know the process before we do this because i think it's clear that both people could could do the job and would contribute greatly greatly to the belmont and i have to say even though we disagree on whether a selectman should be on not number of candidates and because we the screening committee kate here the screening committee had had a great opportunity to review a number of resumes we were able to reduce it and then we lost a few people along the way but we're thrilled to have the so it's been a long process in but a comprehensive one in the in a complete process were voting tonight because of the vagaries of the market you know we needed to move this decision ahead and  so that having been said you're both ready to vote i always like to talk to my colleagues before i decide finally so here we go what what it would what do you want to do and what what are your reasons well i think obviously i think  job i think that patrice garvan articulated a vision which i think is important which i didn't necessarily hear from kevin not that it's a knock on him because kevin is awesome i think he would be fantastic but i think we need you know some vision eye on on what we do here which is as she articulated several times i think was to work for the people belmont and there was not much no talk about micromanagement i think the financial ackman was probably was pretty much a wash between the two of them the both been impressive in doing things in their town i think we need but i think patrice was came across to me as practical forthright persistent i think those are qualities that we need going forward and i think that coming from that right from the right places as she stated i think was came across as very honest and i think was fit was not and the way that she talked and things that she said were not necessarily telling us what we wanted to hear but i think she was telling us who she was and it wasn't just a list of accomplishments i think was a status statement of purpose and motivation and there was a quiet forcefulness there which i think we could use going forward to keep us on task and direction so it's a it's a really tough choice i hate to have to make a choice we can hire a boat to be great because i feel bad about having to make a choice but to be honest it's our job to make that decision and i would go with the trees for those reasons my reacting with a lot of what you said i mean we just com think i think he has strong financial skills i think he's done really well in his town and idea didn't like the fact that he was heavily involved in m m a and some of the credentials that he had  terms of improving and then when i asked her for an example she gave a great example on the on the imbalance i also appreciate the fact when asked about the financial question she really has some detailed knowledge and insight on that matter which i greatly appreciate because we are faced with a great deal of a neutral challenges of the future not only from an i prepared for you but also from a capital point of view you know kevin has great credentials as well and i think he would do a fine job i do agree i think patrice from my point you had a big get a sense that  she would have a quite like is quite for forcefulness i think she will be someone that will find ways to bring people together and unify the the community and create that bridge of thought her responses on the committees in particular the planning serve the town the well they offer different how would you say it not backgrounds but different styles that approach y direction that is what you want and i think both of those candidates would do that but i don't think that we can necessarily compare one to the other would focus specifically on somebody who had been a town administrator and secondly a resource that would be open as opposed to a closed system both in terms of managing up and managing down and i think both of these needed to the town and i think both of them would be successful so we should just not necessarily a struggle for me i think either one of them could fit i think they would be different you know you'd have you'd have a saturday both of them is that he he clearly has a larger budget in the fact anything major it's fifty billion truly fifteen and so i thought about that in terms of well you know in terms of the scale up to our size budget which is almost ten times obvious and i'm not speaking to my p c varies from principle you know i really don't think it's it's it's i think it's in the question i don't think perfectly appropriate to say it's that it's a tough call to some extent because  u to me it's it really came down to some you want to see answers to questions that we asked or i mean and up to you as well as to see her interact with the department heads and kevin as well and i liked her interactions in terms of how she sort of listened to them and understood their concerns me kevin was fine as well so it really is sort of gradations and nuances for me that make it a clear choice for patrice it is and it isn't like she was that much better than kevin because i think you're right i think he would be equally successful in this environment clearly both of them this question came up in the apartment had clearly both them have to but i like her interest well because she she when she said she grew up she's grown into the position and surely i think that's exactly what she had to experience here i mean this is a big step up for her and and i think for kevin as well we have been for both of them and you know because they haven't been in the size of a community and it's a very active community as well perhaps they haven't experienced that as much as they will here and so i appreciate her coming in that she said she if it's been an evolution it's going to be a learning curve she's in the community listen to grow into the position that's exactly what both predisposition have to listen to the candidates under a sort of the glare of the lights if you will in a camera and how they are they performed and he performed both of them well for me which is some of the answers that she had to her questions tip scales in her favor for me and i think she thinks their choice and i agree with exactly what you just cited think the answer it was very difficult coming in tonight and it was sort of i could have gone either way after having met them as i enjoyed them on saturday very much but then i thought that i agree with you on camera with some very difficult questions some of that were not prevented that she i think did really really well i thought the answers were very honest they didn't sound canned they sounded like her and i mean i feel like i know what we're getting if we hire her because of that group ok i thought you were both kind with regard to question for when we were asked what have you learned about this execute but if you get the word that she used in terms of the change in boards and she should be dedicated to whatever the you know the board is the decision maker and possibly dedicated to me or what they want to implement i mean given the sort of the very griese of the politics in the change in ministrations you do have to execute on whatever the current board may be even though she did say i don't let i try hard not to get my personal point of view get in the way of what i think is best for belmont although she certainly i think would work and tried to work with us individually we spent a lot of time doing this job but ultimately it's a part time position you know you know in the days much even though we spent a lot of time at home reading stuff we subcommittees going to many of the and i mean you know spend ten or fifteen hours a week perhaps even a full time absolutely and i think what would david was able to do on it that he did a good job in that said you know not always perfect is that he he sure kept the board hidden direction that he felt the board and in terms of policy headed he had to head in there were always an issue that's right because he was here from two the entire time and i think they're portrayed as i do feel confident that show understand me she mentioned that we need an operation over in the future this debt exclusions that we're faced with these are clear clear issues not not direction that we need to go as a community to create positive change and it david did a good job of that with input from all of us of course and i think hopefully pretties will do the same if it is an absolute challenge when board members change pending the pending the successful negotiation of a contract in that regard but if you finish her back right we're going to do a deep background check similar to the ones that you do for police on both intending the outcome of the deed but we've already you know i'm happy to or want to you know i'm happy to talk to you all individually tomorrow ok to get a sense for what an outline of a package would be and talk to patrice and then come back to you again emphasize enough how grateful we are for rick to your process and kate since you're here thank you so much for your work because you aren't on the screen committee jessica doesn't work without you