2026-10-19 - Board of Representatives Personnel Committee

Great. Hi, my name is Carl Weinberg. I'm the chair of the Personnel Committee for the 32nd Board of Representatives. I hereby call tonight's meeting to order. We will start with calling up the role.

Hewlett, can you please do that? Yes. Representative De La Cruz. Present. Representative Gross. Present. Representative Hill. Present. Representative Kaby, I don't see him on yet. Representative

Pollack. Present. Representative Salas. Present. And Chair Weinberg. Present. Thank you. I hereby declare, we have six of seven members present. I hereby declare a quorum. Tonight we have one item on

our agenda, P32.016, approval of an agreement with Concentra for occupational health and random drug testing. I see we have at least one invited guest with us, Director of Human Resources, Paula

Russell. Paula, good evening. Thank you for joining us. Good evening. Is Rose, is Rose attending or? She indicated that she was, she's just not here yet, I don't think. Okay. Okay. But why don't we

just try to. Attorney Rose is here. Oh, good. Thank you. So why don't we get started. Paula, I'm going to turn the gavel over to you. Sure. Good evening, committee. Thank you for having me on this

evening. Sorry, Paula. Do we need to make a motion to take on the item? No, it's on the agenda. It's already good. My apologies. If we decide to vote on it, we'll do a motion. Thank you. Okay. HR

director Russell. Thank you. So I just also wanted to mention we do have our purchasing manager here, Eric Larson, as well in attendance. Great. Thank you for joining us. So before the committee this

evening is the city's proposed three year agreement with the with Concentra and for occupational health and random drug testing services with the option for two additional one year extensions. These

services include pre-employment physicals, drug and alcohol testing, fitness for duty and return to work evaluations, as well as annual firefighter physicals. We did conduct a rigorous and competitive

RFP process, also known as request for proposal process. We did receive six proposals. And then following our evaluation, we interviewed three finalists, Concentra, Hartford HealthCare and Yale New

Haven Health. Overall, I would say our evaluation did consider qualifications, the experience, staffing capacity, the understanding of the city's needs, our unique needs at times, and also the

pricing. But ultimately, Concentra was determined to offer the best overall value, considering both the cost and the ability to provide the comprehensive services that we require. The agreement was

approved unanimously by the board of finance back in March 12, 2026, and now it's before this committee for consideration. Thank you. With that, I'll open the opening up to questions. I have a few,

but be interested to hear from you folks first. Well, I've made it. It seems like they covered everything in the contract. Good. Representative Gross. Thank you. So I'm looking at I don't know what

sheet this is the local data, the name of the sheet. That was exhibit B. And yeah, I think exhibit B with the sort of cost of the individual services for a firefighter. You got that, Dr. Russell. I'm

going to pull it up right now. I did have paper copies. Sorry, environment. Great. Yes, I'm just wondering under the additional services. So those are those are, I guess, just like based on if people

need them, they're not sort of provided on a regular basis. It's just extra potential costs. Wait, is the exhibit B on the screen now or is it the packet that says proposal for occupational? I'm

referring to the graph that's projected. I don't know. Got it. OK, so this graph here, yes, this would be like as needed, but no under services per firefighter, that's covered for their their annual

physicals. I see. So the the sort of OK, so all of those are what is provided essentially in the in one physical. Yes. OK, and so the additional services are just if an individual needs those.

Exactly. Yes. OK, OK, that's all I have. Thank you. OK, other questions. OK, well, I have a please one representative help. Yeah. What happened with the with the police department? They have a

separate contract. Yes. And there and there is is not through this through concentra. Well, I guess this follow up question. So it is why were they why were why didn't we consider one company for

both? For that, I would have to defer to Rose. She's the HR liaison for police. I'm not familiar with the history as to why it's split up. And I am texting her right now to see where exactly she is

at. But we will work on a response to that question. But the the analogous testing for police is handled through their collective bargaining agreement. Is that correct? I believe so. But I don't want

to answer definitively. I would defer to the HR liaison from the police department. Sorry. Other questions. Oh, I'm sorry. Virtual Representative Dale Creek you have before. Thank you, Chair. Hello,

Paula. Hello, Eric. The memo that was posted to the legislative history this afternoon answered a lot of my questions, but there are a few remaining. Just to follow up on River and Hill's question,

are there other departments beyond the police that are handled separately from what this contract covers? I don't believe so. No, I see. So there are only two contracts for this type of service, this

one and one that you're getting information on for the police. OK, the estimated expenses based on information that Eric provided is about one hundred and forty four thousand. The funding sources that

were provided is about one hundred and five, ten thousand. How is the shortfall made up? Is there a shortfall? So I know there's like three charts in that memo that I sent out earlier this evening.

Which one are you referring to? Well, the one that Eric provided is one hundred and forty four thousand nine nine one. Then there are a few additional ones with a caution not to add them to what Eric

provided because there could be overlap. And then the funding sources add up to about one hundred and ten thousand, I believe. So there is a shortfall between the apparent shortfall between the

funding sources and the expected expenses. So I was trying to understand how was that gap built with. So I'm I'm just trying to understand where you where you see the shortfall because. OK, could you

go back to what you had before and all right, scroll up, please. Continue further. It's a little. Can it be made bigger? Let's see. Go go to where it says funding sources and it's jumping up one more,

please. More up one more. No, it's going down up. OK. Oops. Calm back down, please. The one that says funding sources, if we could stop there. OK, there you see two anticipated costs and funding

sources. Right. So the H.R. professional Medicare medical care account. That's the budget right now estimate the current for the first for the current fiscal year is sixty three thousand. We're OK.

There's no shortage or anticipated shortfall there. So we're OK there. I thought the information that Eric provided said one hundred and forty four thousand. Am I misreading this? So that's that was

the historical expenditure. And that's in section one. That was for fiscal year twenty five, twenty six. So we expect that for the for what this contract covers is the expenses would be a lot less. So

like I broke down in the memo, this is just the H.R. professional medic medical care line sixty three thousand. If you scroll down to the third page, it's right at the tippy top for the right there.

Perfect. Where it says funding information. Our budget request was for one hundred and eighty six thousand nine hundred dollars. And right now we're only at one twenty five around. So we're OK. I said

my apologies. I missed. I was looking at the bottom thinking that was the total. Oh, OK. I don't know where we should be, OK. Thank you for that, Paula. And my last question is a three year agreement

with a two year extension option. Yes, that's five years. It's a long time. Approving this contract for the three year term. Does that automatically approve the extensions as well without further

approval from the board? In other words, we're approving a contract for three years that includes two year extensions. Does approving the contract also approves the two year extensions without further

involvement with the board of reps? Yes. Eric, I see you nodding. Is that your interpretation? Yes, sir. Yes, representative. I see. So we will not hear from you for five years on this matter. Is that

correct? Technically, yes. But please know that once we hit our third year mark, as with other contracts, we do have a very vigorous internal discussion before we decide to go with a one year

extension, just to make sure, you know, our needs are being met and the relationship is still good. OK, thank you, Paula. Thank you, Eric. Chair, I have no further questions. Thank you. OK, thank you,

Virgil. Paula, I have a few questions. So I want to follow just follow up a little bit on the on the term and on the the termination for convenience clause, so so we so we understand that. So, you

know, as you pointed out, you've answered Virgil's question at the end of three years, the administration, whoever that is, whoever is mayor at that point and at the end of has the option to extend

for another year and at the end if they do so at the end of four years, they have the option to extend for one more year without bringing it back to the Board of Representatives for approval. Eric, is

that the is that the standard extension clause that that applies to these types of these types of agreements for the city? Yes. I mean, typically we do anywhere between three and five years, depending

on the nature of the service. So, yeah, I would say so. I mean, yes. So that's so that the way that works, where it's the administration's decision whether or not to extend is is kind of old news

because that's been in other other contracts that we've seen both in both in this field and elsewhere. Correct. Yes. OK. And then let's talk about the termination for convenience. My understanding of

that clause is, you know, if if the if the administration has concerns that certainly don't rise to the level of a termination cause that the administration has the power under this contract to

terminate the contract. There is a short notice period. But essentially the administration can do that. It can do that. So if for some reason service levels are not satisfactory and so forth, they're

not we're not on the hook for the full three years. Is that do I understand correctly? I'd like to phone a friend. But yes. OK. OK. So this isn't the case as we see, for example, in employment

agreements where where the city's ability to terminate for convenience is or not for causes. It's far more limited. OK. Thank you. And our current vendor for these services is Greenwich Hospital. Is

that correct? Oh, you're you're muted. I'm sorry. Sorry about that. Yes. So it's Greenwich slash Yale New Haven Health. OK. Good. Greenwich is part of Yale. And the reason they they were not invited

for an interview. Is that primarily driven by the fact that they don't have a facility to provide these services that are that are within the city limits? No, we were there were the part of the three

finalists that we interviewed. OK. And was was that one of the drivers for changing for changing vendors here? The lack of a facility that was immediately convenient to, you know, to the employees? I

think there were multiple factors, not only just the lack of the satellite location that they originally had with us. The fact that our fire apparatuses are not they're not able to house the fire

apparatuses when we do the annual exams and the annual fit exams as well. That was that played a huge factor into it because we need a spot to test our firefighters. So there were some clauses there,

too. OK. Thank you very much. And it's time for a little levity. Can you confirm that in additional in the additional services and exhibit B that members of the board of representatives are not

eligible to be tested on the Echworth sleepiness scale? Especially given your lovely night meetings, I don't know if you should take that test. All right. That's my question. Yes, represented, perhaps

he wants to be tested. I'm wondering, so location is, you know, a factor in sort of switching vendors. I mean, where where are the services going to be offered by this new vendor? They actually have

multiple sites, which is very good, both on the New York side and then also the CT side as well. But they have they have multi multi locations. I'm sorry. Are they do we have do they have facilities

in Stanford? So, yes, there's about 11 locations in Connecticut. It's Hartford, New Britain, New Haven, Norwich, Stanford, Stratford, Torrington, Wallingford, Waterbury, Windsor and Springfield.

Right. Springfield is Massachusetts, but I think Stambard is on the top of the set. How about every state has Springfield? I don't think that is. OK, so it would be relevant. It's it's going to be

pretty easy for for firefighters to get the I guess their physical done. Definitely. And then even just, you know, potential employees as well. We don't have to make them travel further than necessary

now that we have we will we will have access to multiple locations. Right. Do you have any data on like, I guess, where Stambard firefighters live? No, I could get that information for you that way.

Hold on. Rose is on. She is just it's a phone number. So she may be able to answer that question because she is a liaison for fire as well. Sheila, can you make sure that there's just one number? So I

made that first there. I think she's going to talk. Rosie, I think it's 5 9 5 1. I'm sorry, I didn't hear that, Carl. Rolly, are you are you at the number ending in 5 9 5 1? I am, yes. Great. Were you

able to hear Theo's question? So you were a little muscled. So can you repeat it? Yes, I was just wondering if you have any like general data or stats about where Stambard firefighters live. Not off

the top of my head. I know that we we do have a firefighters that live local and we have some that we probably have a good number that lives out of town. I see. Okay. Is there a number that live in

New York? Even probably would have to run that data and don't have it ready readily available. Okay. I'm just curious about mapping up the service locations with where people are. So, so for

awareness, so there is, I think, by city charter, they have to live within a certain radius. And I think I want to think it's 50 mile radius. I'd have to go back and look, but they do have to live

within a certain radius of Stambard. I see. Okay, that's all cool. Great. And then so I'm wondering, so I guess first off, I mean, how many firefighters are employed by Stambard? Over 200. I can

quickly tell you if I can, part of the reason why I'm not on camera, so you're aware, it's because I'm having a tough time logging into my computer at home. Okay. But I think there's a minimum man and

I think it's probably a little over 200. It's over 200. Okay. And so essentially what we're paying the vendor, is it essentially like the cost of the physical times the number of firefighters that we

have? Is that essentially going to be our yearly cost? Right. So I think like Paul said earlier, I mean, based on a big portion of, let me rephrase that. So based on the NFPA standards, firefighters

have to have an annual physical to determine that they're face for duty. And we work with the vendor to do that. It happens over like a three month period because we have to make sure that people are

able to go and it does impact the operational side of firefighting. So, like I said, that happens over a three month period. There are apparatus that's brought on site that they are tested on and

other exams that they do. That's the largest portion of what we do, but we do also have pre-employment physical, fitness to duty exams that the vendor is going to do. We have part of police as a part

of the accountability bill is that they're required to undergo serial testing for recertification. So that's a pretty costly. So those are our biggest cost fitness for duty exams that when an employee

when we have concerns that an employee is not able to continue performing essential functions of their job that we send them for fitness to duty. The theory testing that's mandated for recertification

for police and the firefighter exam. Those are the largest portion of the occupational services in terms of cost. And then we have general fitness for duty pre-employment physical. That's required for

all new hires. Okay. So the physicals are just one component of what we would be paying this vendor. Physicals to fire is one component. Yeah. And then we have pre-employment physicals that we do for

all our employees that are that come on board. Okay. So do you have an idea of what the total cost for firefighter would be then beyond just the physical? Um, not, um, not right off the bat. No, I

don't. Okay. Um, I'd be curious to see that number since, uh, you know, we have the data on the physicals but not other data, I guess. Um, so if it'd be possible to follow up with that, I'd be

interested in that. Um, isn't it, isn't it difficult because, um, not every firefighter, um, if, if, if it varies significantly from firefighter firefighter, what other exams besides fitness exams and

the annual physical, they actually, they actually need, um, need to take in a given year. Isn't that correct? I'm sorry. I think I missed that. So my, my understanding and tell me if I understand

correctly, um, is that there are certain, um, certain exams that every firefighter has to take every, has to take every year. But there are other exams that some firefighters will take and for a

variety of reasons and others and others will not, um, not, not that I'm aware of. So the only exam that I am aware of, uh, that all the firefighters have to do is the, um, the physical, um, exam

that's mandated by, mandated by the NFPA standards of firefighters. Um, the only other exams we send firefighters for is that if we have concerns, we might send them for a fitness for duty. Um,

depends on what the concerns are and fitness, fitness, fitness for duty could be psychological. It could be, you know, um, just to see if they're able to continue performing as a firefighter. Um, but

those are the only exams, um, we don't send them for any other, I mean, that I'm aware of. Right. But those other exams besides the annual physical are done on an as needed basis. Correct? Yes. Yes.

You're absolutely correct. Yeah. Right. So it's the, you know, so I'm thinking that the, um, you know, that the total STEM, uh, which seems pretty stable from year to year, um, gives, it gives us

better sense because for an individual firefighter, it's just, it can vary significantly. The stand on an individual firefighter can vary a lot. You can still get an average for a firefighter. Well,

if there's roughly 200, you can divide it by 200. Right. Um, pretty close. Um, can I just interject and say that, um, I did run the numbers. We have 170 firefighters on staff and 59 fire captains and

fire lieutenants just for the record. And question for you. Uh, sorry, sorry, 170, what was the other number? 170 for firefighters. And then for, um, there are 59 fire captains and fire lieutenants.

And that does not include the volunteers. Right. So we don't manage the, so right. So we don't, we have volunteer houses, but we don't man, they're not considered employees. I mean, we don't manage

the volunteers. Sometimes I think we do have, um, yeah, we don't manage the volunteer houses. And I'm sorry, oh, I'm sorry. Okay. So we're not providing healthcare to the volunteers. Is that right?

No, we don't. Okay. So they don't have to have the annual physical learning. I guess they just do it on their own at once. That I'm not sure of. Um, as far as I know, it's our fate paid firefighters

that, um, yeah, I'm pretty sure they are, but that might be managed separately under the volunteer fire chief, um, or whoever. Yeah, but not, I mean, but I can get that information Carl, if it helps,

um, fire just for full fire is new to me. My, uh, coworker did fire in the past. So I've only been doing this for a short time. Um, so I'm not as familiar with the volunteer houses. I just know that

they're not a part of our firefighter head count and we don't offer them benefits or any compensation. And we do have a volunteer, they have a volunteer fire chief. Okay. Um, okay. Maybe I'll have one

question. But, um, so, and just, uh, so clarify then, so I mean the service that, um, concentra is providing is they're going to, they're doing the annual physical and they're doing, you know, all

other health care essentially that's needed by the firefighters. They will be. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. So I guess that makes it conceptual. Okay. Thank you. Representative Salas. Well, I think, uh,

when I was about in here, actually I did it for four years for tunnel river. Uh, we were like, it's about in tears and we were required to have the exam every year for physical and every day it was

over all the time. And, you know, we were placed in a different place. It's even in Stanford event, parts of New York, it depends the time that we want to go for physical, but we never pay for what

always every year we have to mandatory get a physical and, uh, it didn't came out of packets. That's what I'm concerned that it's not covered now anymore. So that might be the case, but I know that

our HR department doesn't manage the physicals with a volunteer firefighter. So that's probably, so the city probably does pay for it, but it's, there's a volunteer fire chief. So I'm pretty sure he

probably would coordinate it. With the, um, paid, um, with chief, uh, rela or one of them, but it doesn't come through us. So what I hear you saying is that if I can, if I can reject what I hear you,

what I hear you saying is that it's, it's quite likely because of the requirements because of the standards that volunteer firefighters are required, um, to pass the same physical exams. Um, and it's

likely that the city, that the city pays for them or, or the fire or the volunteer department, the volunteer firehouses pay for them. Uh, but in any case it comes, it is not, does not come out of,

those physical exams do not get paid out of these budget lines. Correct? Not that I'm aware. No, not that I'm aware of. Okay. That makes sense. Thank you. How often do they do drug testing? One per

year. Thank you. I had a hard time going through this document. Can you help explain to me on, it seems to be the second to the last page where it says exception to the city of Oxford. And it looks

like for number four, it says a consultant request to amend the following. And then it has crossed out that whole section for the indemnifying, full harmless to the city. I'm asking Carl if you could

go to the very last page of our agenda. So I don't know where it's at. What was it? On the agenda of the very last page of what was submitted. So the last page will say fire annual physicals and then

one more page back. So if you could just help me understand why this page they're requesting for things to be crossed out. And I thought I saw that early on in the agreement. Um, so I think that's a

better question for, um, attorney Larson. So attorney Larson, if you, um, I, I appreciate the promotion, but, uh, not an, not an attorney. I just like to play one periodically, but, uh, not to, uh,

but no, um, so very briefly, I believe two are the exceptions that are listed on page 60 of 62 of the concentric proposal. Uh, that's not uncommon. The beauty of the RFP process is the ability to

negotiate. Um, so oftentimes you'll find someone that will say, Hey, you know, you gave us a sample contract, you gave us, um, documents and they will say, you know, we've got some exceptions and we

may or may not agree to accept those exceptions, but, uh, those were addressed in the contract process. And this is where I will hopefully be able to turn it off to the real attorney, um, who can

speak to how we manage that through the, uh, the, the process of the, uh, developing the agreement. Um, thank you. Hi, Liz Turner in the legal department. How are you? Good. You get a fine job. I, you

can take my job anytime. Um, the question that's being asked is, um, is concentra asked for a deletion of the standard, the C standard language on indemnification. And you explain what the, what the

contract itself that's been that they've now accepted, um, says on the subject of indemnification. Yeah, I thought I saw that it was, it was rejected that request. So I was just confused why it's in

here, but I'll let Liz answer it and confirm, but I thought I saw it in there. Thank you. So I can't give you a definitive answer as to what occurred very early on in the contract process is I did

take over, um, this contract from one of my colleagues. So as far as his discussions early on with concentra, I can't shed light on that. But what does happen and where we currently sit is, um,

concentra has agreed to our standard indemnification process indemnification in our contract, which I believe is before, um, you folks. And that's a very broad, but city oriented clause that is, um,

the city that basically says the consultant will indemnify, hold harmless, and at our option defend the city against all third party claims for losses, damages, liability injury. So it's a very

favorable cause for the city. So if they had a problem, concentra initially with the clause, it's not a problem any longer. Thank you. You're right. If I'm just looking, we look at the actual

agreement. It's they asked for it to come out and the city said no. Yes. That's what I saw there. I was just wondering what that why it's in there, but it's just showing the processing, including

everything. Thank you for your time, um, vice chair. Welcome hand is up. You have the floor. Thank you very much. Uh, apologize for being late. Uh, good evening to everybody. Um, and if this was

answered before I got on, um, I just want to ask, and I guess, uh, this would probably go to, uh, this is an illegal department, but I don't know. Are there safeguards that exist to ensure that a

firefighter can't face discipline action, uh, based on a false positive screening result and the drug test specifically does the policy require independent lab confirmation or review by a medical

review officer, uh, or any opportunity for an employee to challenge the findings of the drug test. I can't speak definitively to you or give you definitive answer on that. I would presume, and I,

maybe Dr. Russell can, um, shed a little bit more light on this process. If there is an HR process, I do know I have colleagues in my office who handle, um, a CHRO process. If employees have issues

with anything that may arise in their employment. Um, but in terms of this contract, I'm not aware of any specific remedy for challenging that. So what does happen if they fail a drug test? Dr.

Russell, do you know? Sorry, I was muted. I am pulling up the fire contract now because I have a funny feeling it speaks to that entire, um, or that possible scenario within the fire contract. So I'm

just pulling it up right now to see if I can answer it in real time. Give me one second. Chair Weinberger, are you asking me to share something? Uh, no. Oh, okay. It's, uh, uh, Director Russell who's,

uh, oh, sorry. Okay. In the, um, in the collective bargaining agreement for the fire. Okay. So here it's, there's a nice long appendix in the fire contract that's entitled City of Stanford Drug and

Alcohol Policy. Um, and I'm just going to scroll down to the violations section and what happens. Um, so depending on the offense, like there's different categories. There's alcoholic beverages,

prescription drugs, illegal drugs. Um, there's like different procedures for those three scenarios listed in the contract for me attempt to summarize or no, no, no, no, no, no. I can check that out. I

don't want to waste any time. The subject, Paul, it sounds like the subject has been barred. Exactly. Yes. It's, it's definitely referenced in the fire contract. Perfect. Thank you for that. That's,

uh, thank you. Uh, Representative Pavey, you still, you can still let me talk before because you wish. Um, just don't do drugs, Carl. I'm going to, I yield the floor. Um, Commissioner Weinberg. Yes,

please. Okay. Can we go back to, so I, I checked with, uh, um, Steve Rala about the volunteer firefighters. So they, um, they're held to the same standard in terms of annual physical, um, as we do for

the paid, um, employees. Um, however, they are responsible for covering the cost of their own physicals. And he assumed that part of, part of that comes out of whatever monies the city, um, gives to

the volunteer houses. Ah, okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for following up on that. And, and, and, and just, Rosemary still remembers me from my days on the personnel commission, I think. I do.

Well, I was there. Director Russell, please. Yes. I just remembered, um, to go even further back, I think Reverend Hill had a question about what do police do. And, um, I, I didn't see that Rose was

actually on. So I don't know if she wants to speak to what happens with the police and why the split. What was the question? I was wondering why the fire department and the police department

physically were not done by the same, uh, uh, consultant. Why their physicals are not done by the same consultant. Yes. So police, um, the police goes through and they are, um, police, police doesn't

have to have an annual physical. They have to have a certain testing for recertification as a police officer, but they're all done by the same vendor. So, um, Greenwich Occupational Health did all the

steroid testing. Um, we use the same vendor for everything. We use the same for pre-employment physical police or any kind of, um, if they are having hypertension or they have any kind of, uh, injury

on the job, um, we use the same process. It's the same vendor. Thank you. You're welcome. Uh, Representative Pollack. Sorry. I have one last question. It may not be relevant to this actual item. Um,

if a firefighter would like to get an outside approved drug testing done elsewhere, are they required to go through this or other options for them to use an approved third party of their own expense?

If they're required to get a drug testing done? No, if they are required to get a drug test, are they required to use this facility or can they opt out and at their own expense use a third party

approved vendor? No, they will go through our vendor because then we get the results. If they choose their own vendor, they don't have to release the results to us. So they're not allowed to even if

they provide the results. So if they use their own private doctor, the doctor doesn't have to provide the results to us, not without the consent of the firefighter. So we require employees to use our,

our occupational service health services for pre-employment drug tests, drug testing on the reasonable suspicion, um, or for any other reason, drug testing in the workplace because, you know, your CDL

holders. So some of our firefighters are CDL holders. So under the federal DOT standards, they're required to have, um, random drugs testing done, but it goes to us because then the results come to

us. They use their own private doctor. They would have to then sign a release to give us the results. If they did sign that release, do they have the option to do that? We've never offered them that

option, no. Okay. Thank you. I think it would just create, it would create issues for us. Okay. Thank you. You answered my question. Are there other questions or comments from commit, from, uh,

representative Taylor Cruz? You have the floor. Thank you, Chair Weinberg. First, I want to thank Bobby for that excellent question. And I want to thank you for getting us off the hook on this, uh,

service. And I have a question perhaps for Liz. Uh, Liz, I haven't had the pleasure of meeting you before. I'm Virgil de la Cruz, rep for District 2 Waterside. Uh, as you know, our charter requires

the board to approve contracts over $100,000. In this contract, there was an embedded, uh, extension, uh, two years extension. Uh, my question is given the charter requirement, do the extensions have

to come before the board for approval in as much as they will most likely be well over $100,000? Uh, nice to meet you, representative de la Cruz. And the answer to your question is the contract

extensions would only come back before the boards. Should we exceed another $100,000? So for instance, if we went through the three years and we came to renew the contract for the fourth year, and for

some reason it was going to increase the budget over $100,000, then I do believe we'd have to come back before, um, the board of representatives. I see. Thank you so much. Uh, I thought that would be

the case, but I just wanted to confirm. Uh, I yield. Uh, thank you, Liz. Thank you, chair. Thank you. Other questions or comments? I can make a motion to approve. If there are no, if there are no

other, uh, if there are no other questions or comments, the chair will entertain a motion to approve. Motion to approve. Is there a second? Thank you. Second. Discussion? Okay. Um, we will take this

by voice vote if that's okay. Okay. Uh, all those, um, voting yes, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Aye. All those opposed, please indicate by saying no. Any abstentions? Thank you. It passes

unanimously. That concludes our agenda. It includes our business for tonight. Thank you to the guests. Uh, particularly want to thank director Russell for putting together a fairly short notice, uh,

the additional, uh, financial analysis, which was very helpful. Uh, and with that, I, uh, uh, I call this meeting. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all. Good night. Good night, everybody.

Turning at 7 50 PM.