November 17, 2025 – Trust Fund Commission – Video & Transcript
November 17, 2025 - Trust Fund Commission
We will call to order in a moment, just procedurally pursuant to an act relative to extending certain
COVID-19 measures adopted during the state of emergency as signed by Governor Laura Healey
on March 28th, 2025. This meeting will be conducted via remote means in accordance with the law.
And we will start on the call to order and review the agenda for the public.
So that is our first topic. Second topic will be public comment, followed by a third topic of the update from all of you and companies. Thanks for joining Kathleen. We will then review and vote on dispersal requests from the Gossels Human Dignity Fund, Thea Hopkins' performance at Whalen Public Library. Item number five is reviewing and potential vote on the minutes from the meeting on September 29th, 2025. Item number six is commissioner's reports and concerns. Item number seven is topics not reasonably anticipated 48 hours before meeting and item number eight will be to adjourn. So Jaylen, Lily, do we have anyone from the public on for comment? I do not see anyone. Okay. Thank you. So we'll move right into the update with Baratholomeo and Company and Kathleen, I'll give you the floor. Great. Can you hear me okay? Start with that. Okay, good. Great. Well, thanks for having me. I'm sorry, Brian had a little last minute meeting, but that's why we're a team. So I guess, you know, that works. But it's great to see you all. So can you see my screen? Okay. Usually Brian's the driver. Okay, great. Right. Yeah. So I'll, I'll jump right into it. Obviously, if there are any questions interrupt me, but I'll go, you know, pretty speedy. I know you are very familiar with this and we update it frequently, but yeah, if there's any questions, of course, let me know. So everything we have here, we like to bring as up to date as we can. So everything is as of 10 31, 2025. So you can see the total trust funds portfolio is just under 5.7 million. It's 5.69 million. Again, as of the end of last month. This page here, as always, some people like it, some don't, but it's showing you visually how the allocation has changed over time. So we just like to remind, you know, everyone that the allocation hasn't been how it is right now since the beginning. So right now, this is a 70 30 risk profile. So 70% in equities, 30% in bonds with an ESG mandate. So environmental, social and governance kind of overlay of that risk profile. So in the beginning, you know, of course, a little more conservative over time, things adjust. And that's just your visual representation of that. Okay, so page three, if this is hopefully, you can see this a lot of numbers on here. But as always, you know, left hand side, since inception, you can see all activity in the account, changes of position, contributions, withdrawals, all of that. So a total gain, since 2013, up until the end of last month, of 3.47 million. So an annualized returns, that means, you know, year over year return net of fees of 6.83%, which is great, honestly, for a 70 30. ESG, you have alternatives in here, that's pretty much in line with what we want to see. Of course, some years are up a lot more, like this year, for example, some years are down, you know, like 2022. But on average, this kind of six to 7% range is great. That's really our target. Right hand side is the fiscal year so far. So just a few months of activity. But you can see even over those of just a few months, the portfolio has done really, really well 4.39%, which honestly is surprising to me, I think, because maybe I'm the, the Debbie Downer of our firm, but I'm just surprised that the market has continued to do well. So I'll, I'll touch on some of that. But it's been great. And then visually here, you can see, of course, the gold line is what you've put into initially, and of course, take, you know, drawn down these funds. And the blue line is the market value. So, you know, some variation, of course, but even more recently, a pretty, pretty strong up in this market value, which is really great. Here on this page, we oops, sorry, this page, we show this portfolio against some benchmarks from a trailing perspective. So again, as always, your portfolio is this top line, and then your best benchmark, as it stands right now, is that second one down 55, 25, 20 equities, bonds and liquid alternatives. And so you can see kind of interesting, even though this portfolio wasn't always managed this way, it's pretty much exactly in the long term, right in line with this benchmark, we see some variation over time, of course, because this is an ESG portfolio. So again, we kind of compare to traditional benchmarks, just because we like to see, you know, does it really matter when you add in some of those mandates? Does it hurt performance? That's what, you know, we get that question. And it really doesn't over the long term, everything, you know, at least as far as up until now is concerned, has pretty much been in line. But like I said, you'll see those slight variations in performance, but in the long run, things have been really great. And I'll show this page too, I like this better from a calendar year by calendar year perspective. So this portfolio, of course, the first column, and then you can see, you know, a little bit of underperformance in 2025. Again, the ESG can sway can change that the other thing I'll say, and this is on us in a way, to be honest, for 2025, we have been higher quality in our investments than the rest of the market. And believe it or not, the lower quality investments have done better over 2025. Because there's just been this continued really, really strong market. For example, you know, stocks in China have been up quite a lot. And so we tend to be less exposed to those, those types of not picking on that specifically, but those types of lower quality investments. We're just more interested in protecting when that eventual downturn comes, you know, I'm sure I've said that a million times to this group, kind of a broken record, but that doesn't change, you know, where we're seeing some of the data. It's so mixed, you know, for, for earning season of over 80% of the S&P 500 companies have posted earnings that were above their expectations. So you have these companies that are really just thriving, all things considered. But then on the flip side of that, you're seeing some issues on the labor market. Inflation has kind of plateaued, which we don't love. We want that to keep coming down. It's still above the Fed's target. The Fed has started to reduce interest rates. So we're in this kind of strange environment where the market's doing really well. We think the economy is maybe starting to turn. But how does that reflect itself in the market going forward? Not sure. That's just some vague commentary. And, you know, with the government shutdown, didn't seem to affect people's decision making or, you know, again, the stock market is companies. So things looked a little maybe volatile. But honestly, this year, even through this month have been really fine overall. So that's a lot of talking, but just for some of the updated things. And then I just like to point out these last three benchmarks. This is your whole investable universe. So hopefully you can see my cursor. But the third to last one is the stock market. So here you can see over 20% of domestic and international stocks. That's what's been interesting about this year. International stocks have done better than domestic pretty significantly. So we and we have exposure there. So that's been really great. That's the whole stock market overall. And then you have bad bonds, quite strong. You know, as interest rates come down, the values of those bonds go up. So a pretty strong year so far. And then alternatives. That's what they're there to do. Hopefully be stable, behave a little bit differently. And again, if there is a downturn in the market, your alternative exposure should help. So that's some commentary on that. And then really, everything else are just all of the holdings. I won't go too deep into the weeds here. But we're just as always broken record again, just rebalancing. Um, you know, with some of the things going on and the geopolitically, um, the investment team, you know, has been talking a lot to our international, um, holdings here just to understand what we own, where we own it, um, and if we're comfortable with that. And, and we are very, like I said, very high quality. Um, and then otherwise, you know, really just rebalancing, um, domestic bonds. We've been long term on domestic bonds. You've seen rates start to come down. So your bonds have actually done quite well. Um, so really overall, you know, like I said, we, we have some concerns definitely in, um, the market that should affect the stock market at some point. It's just, you know, we wish we had that kind of crystal ball, but, um, for now, it's really just trying to monitor the data, the data that we didn't have in the shutdown. That was a concern was what's really going on in the economy. Um, and so some of that is still a little bit foggy. Um, so anyway, I'll pause with that. If there's, um, any thoughts or questions or changes, obviously I should start with that. If there's any, um, major changes to the funds that would require us to do anything or recommend anything as well. Thanks Kathleen. I'll start with, uh, no major changes suggested this meeting. We're just looking for an update. So, uh, really appreciate that rundown. Um, just one question from me, I think you kind of covered this, but just to confirm, um, given our mandate on our side, as the commissioners, um, the higher quality investments, um, and comfort with our international exposure should position us relatively well, should there be in the downturn that you're worried about? Um, so in terms of us protecting, are you helping us protect the funds health? Um, we're in a relatively healthy and, and, uh, conservative, um, set of investments that should position us for that downturn should it come? Yeah. Yeah. I would say so. I mean, that's kind of to that point, we've been a little bit, I think early to some of the quality moves, um, which isn't a bad thing. It's just, you know, we, I guess early is better than never, um, or missing it, I suppose. But yeah, I mean, I would say from what we own, it is higher quality. I will say, you know, this portfolio is still primarily in equities. So I, I definitely wouldn't say, and I'm sure this is obvious, but maybe for the public or anyone watching, um, you know, I, I wouldn't say if the market's down 20%, you're not going to be not down, right. Obviously this is still a lot in equity. So, um, if, you know, just keeping that in mind, I personally wouldn't change the 70, 30 balance because long-term it's benefited you. It will continue to, but you know, there is that component, even if we own very high quality investments, you know, if the market goes down sometimes, unfortunately, everything goes with, um, but, but yeah. Yeah. Great. Thanks. Barry, Adam, any questions from you? None on my end.
Keep up the good work. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. I like that. Yeah. Thank you very much, Kathleen. Um, I appreciate getting organized and, um, give Brian our best, but, uh, appreciate all your updates and thanks for joining today. Yeah. And I don't mean to, you know, throughout your personal life, but I hope you're actually getting some sleep these days. We are. Yeah. She's getting, last night, she slept through pretty much the whole night, which is kind of alarming. You know, if you have kids, you're kind of like, she okay. She's just, you know, snoring, but yeah, everything's great. Thank you. Congratulations. It's good to see you all. And if you need anything, you know, Brian and I are both around. So yeah, let us know. Thanks, Kathleen. Thank you. All right. Um, excellent. So next item on our agenda is reviewing and voting on the dispersal request, um, for Native American singer songwriter, Thea Hopkins, um, just to perform at the public library on November 2nd. Um, the request is for $350 from the Gossels Human Dignity Fund. Um, so I will open Barry and Adam, any questions or comments on this one? Barry? Um, I guess, uh, my usual question is, uh, what have we given, uh, through this fund in the last year? And it doesn't sound, it's a pretty strong fund, I think, and it doesn't sound like a lot. So I'm doubtful we have any issues with this, but, uh, just want to know if we have, uh, made it. Yeah. But yeah, Barry. So, um, we did $1,000 in the September meeting. Um, and in the September meeting, the latest trailing quarters, three and a half percent, um, um, distribution number was $1,800 and a few cents, I believe. Yeah. Well, it was $1,855. So if, if you knock down the thousand, cause that was, uh, for Dr. Eden Renee Hayes, we did, we split it, I think 2,500 from the Draper Fund and a thousand from the Gossels Human Dignity. So we could still approve this 500 and we'd still have about $300 and change that would still be within that 3.5%. And Adam, just to, uh, to clarify the board of library trustees had approved up to 500. The fee ended up being 350 and they didn't do refreshments, which is why they had asked for the buffer. So the request, uh, the request for dispersal is only $350. Oh, great. It still, still fits well with them. Um, I have Amy Conway from the library raising her hand. Do you want me to promote her as a panelist? Yes, let's do that. Thank you. Hi, Amy. Thanks for joining. Oh, you are on mute. Hello. Can you hear me now? We can. Thank you. Okay, great. Um, I just wanted to clarify one thing. Like the trustees actually have not received a letter for this fiscal year stating like the recommended spend for these funds, and they were hoping to get those amounts sometime in the near future. So this is just a, like the amounts that you're discussing. We, we actually don't have visibility into that at this point. And, and B, if that's something you could discuss and let us know, that would be appreciated. So I I'll jump in on that. So my understanding is that we get from Bartholomew a document that provides the 20 trailing quarters. Um, if that has not been shared, cause I know that the library gets the monthly reports. If the library is not getting that 20 trailing quarters document, then I would recommend that, that we just provide that because any letter that we're providing is coming from that document and it might just streamline things. And bearing in mind that the letter we provide is not a, um, it is not definitive that we wouldn't approve anything above that amount. It's, it's only guidance, it's sort of best practice. So, so I don't want the library to take that to mean that if gospel, if a human dignity fund had expenditures of $2,000 for this fiscal year, that we would just outright refuse them. I think that that's another concern that that's how it was being taken by the board before. I'm not, I can't speak to that, but, um, I can ask them for clarification. Um, but I do know that they like, they were anticipating the letter. I think the letter is just how it has been done for quite some time. If, if you want to switch it to that, that 20 trailing quarters, um, document, I think I did receive it. I'll have to go double check in my email. I think Lily did send it to me. Um, so I can use that to, to generate, like, I basically put the amounts in a report that they, they get on a monthly basis so that they understand what they've spent and how much has been recommended. I do believe that they understand that their recommendations and not like restrictions. Um, but I can be sure to clarify that when they have their meeting on Wednesday. I think before we weren't getting an actual document from Bartholomew with the 20 trailing quarters, they were just sort of telling us during a meeting and, and we, and by we, I mean, I would nervously, furiously write them down. But, uh, but, but in the past, I'd say a year or two, they've started to send us that document and really all that, that Lily was doing. So the backing up some history, Lily's predecessor for some time was sending that letter without, um, the commission knowing that it was being sent. Uh, and then we had previously, I think when Barry joined, we had voted about approving the treasurer, sending the letter on an annual basis. Lily then joined and Lily, in my opinion, rightfully said, you know, I think it would be best that this is something that is approved on an annual basis by the commission. Uh, I don't think it's something we took up and it may have just been lost in translation that, that we thought, oh, okay, cool. Well, if the library's getting that document, then that's sort of the, the same thing. I mean, if, if the library wants something a bit more formal than that document, we can discuss that. Um, but it's the same information. I personally am fine with it. Um, whether or not the board is, is a different question. So I, I will report back to them and see what they think, but I can at least give them the information they're looking for, um, in the meantime. So, um, so I will let you know what they say. Um, I think that's, I think that's it though. Okay, great. So Amy, you'll, you'll confirm that you have the data you need. Um, I do. Okay, great. I will confirm and, and if I, if I can't find it, I will reach out for it. So, okay, great. And then you'll let us know whether it's, uh, just the data is getting enough or whether you need a formal or something more formal and can sort through it. Will do. Yes. They meet on Wednesday. So I should be able to tell you that pretty quickly. So. Excellent. Okay. Thank you, Amy. Thank you. Okay. Um, so, so the disbursement request is for $350, not 500. Okay. Um, I will move that the commission approve the board's request for a disbursement of $350 from the Gossels Human Dignity Fund to pay for the November 2nd, 2025 performance of singer-songwriter Thea Hopkins. I can second. Second. All right. Uh, we'll take a roll call vote. Let's start with Barry. Yes. Adam. Yes. And I vote yes as well. So that disbursement request is approved. Thank you. And thanks for doing it. Thanks again for joining me. And let us know if, if they need something different. Okay. I will, I will let you know if I, if I find something strange, but thank you so much for watching. All right. Excellent. Um, all right. Our next topic is reviewing in potential vote on the minutes from the meeting on September 29th, 2025. So draft minutes were distributed by Adam to the commissioners. Um, any questions or comments on those meeting minutes? They'll get to me. No questions or comments. I don't have any, I wrote them. Uh, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll move to, uh, approve the, uh, the minutes, uh, for the September 29th meeting. I will second. All right. We'll take a roll call vote. Start with Barry again. Yes. And Adam. Yes. And I vote yes. So those meeting minutes are approved. Um, all right. Item number six is commissioners reports and concerns. I have none. Um, any concerns, Adam or Barry? Um, I have a report is that a heads up of something that I, I have been toying with, um, that I might just do in my individual capacity. I might bring it to the commission, but one of the things I I've been floating and researching is the creation of a new trust fund for, uh, supporting the rec department in the maintenance and upkeep of athletic fields. Um, but I'm trying to ensure that that's something that can be done legally. That doesn't constitute a separate appropriation or gift fund, and it could actually be used and dedicated for that purpose. So, uh, if I, if I'm able to wrap my head around it in a way that is legally sound, it's something that I intend to bring to town meeting as an article. Um, which would be something that I think would have to be done in an individual capacity, not something done by the commission itself, because otherwise it would be a conflict for the commission to administer and oversee a trust fund that it submits to create. But I, I wanted to let you all know full disclosure that that's something that's in the works. So, and presumably if it gets approved and gets funded, it might be the type of thing down the road I would recuse myself from considering. But I think that we're many, many ifs and buts away from that ever happening. Right. But wouldn't, um, wouldn't the town either a town meeting or the select board have to vote to, you know, if there, if there was a hypothetical gift for, for, for that purpose, it would be. Right. That's, that's, so that's what I'm researching to see, like, like what happened with the millennium fund, where it was a special act that allowed it to be a, a, a trust from which the library could pull as opposed to it being a gift fund, which was our legal, you know, the legal opinion we got, which I think made sense at the time. But then when you get a special act, it can be different, but I don't know if wreck is a whole other can of worms. So anyway, since it touches on the commission and there's something new I've been looking into, I wanted to, was it sunlight's the best disinfectant? So I figured I'd give you all the heads up. That's something I've been looking into. That's all. Yeah. Appreciate the heads up. Best of luck. I'll need it. No doubt. Um, all right. Uh, item number seven, any topics not reasonably anticipated 48 hours before the meeting? Our, our last agenda topic is adjourning. Do we have any, uh, move to adjourn? I move at 1234. I'll second. All right. Vote Barry. Yes. I'm sorry. I'll vote yes as well. Um, so we'll consider this meeting adjourned. Thank you very much.
So that is our first topic. Second topic will be public comment, followed by a third topic of the update from all of you and companies. Thanks for joining Kathleen. We will then review and vote on dispersal requests from the Gossels Human Dignity Fund, Thea Hopkins' performance at Whalen Public Library. Item number five is reviewing and potential vote on the minutes from the meeting on September 29th, 2025. Item number six is commissioner's reports and concerns. Item number seven is topics not reasonably anticipated 48 hours before meeting and item number eight will be to adjourn. So Jaylen, Lily, do we have anyone from the public on for comment? I do not see anyone. Okay. Thank you. So we'll move right into the update with Baratholomeo and Company and Kathleen, I'll give you the floor. Great. Can you hear me okay? Start with that. Okay, good. Great. Well, thanks for having me. I'm sorry, Brian had a little last minute meeting, but that's why we're a team. So I guess, you know, that works. But it's great to see you all. So can you see my screen? Okay. Usually Brian's the driver. Okay, great. Right. Yeah. So I'll, I'll jump right into it. Obviously, if there are any questions interrupt me, but I'll go, you know, pretty speedy. I know you are very familiar with this and we update it frequently, but yeah, if there's any questions, of course, let me know. So everything we have here, we like to bring as up to date as we can. So everything is as of 10 31, 2025. So you can see the total trust funds portfolio is just under 5.7 million. It's 5.69 million. Again, as of the end of last month. This page here, as always, some people like it, some don't, but it's showing you visually how the allocation has changed over time. So we just like to remind, you know, everyone that the allocation hasn't been how it is right now since the beginning. So right now, this is a 70 30 risk profile. So 70% in equities, 30% in bonds with an ESG mandate. So environmental, social and governance kind of overlay of that risk profile. So in the beginning, you know, of course, a little more conservative over time, things adjust. And that's just your visual representation of that. Okay, so page three, if this is hopefully, you can see this a lot of numbers on here. But as always, you know, left hand side, since inception, you can see all activity in the account, changes of position, contributions, withdrawals, all of that. So a total gain, since 2013, up until the end of last month, of 3.47 million. So an annualized returns, that means, you know, year over year return net of fees of 6.83%, which is great, honestly, for a 70 30. ESG, you have alternatives in here, that's pretty much in line with what we want to see. Of course, some years are up a lot more, like this year, for example, some years are down, you know, like 2022. But on average, this kind of six to 7% range is great. That's really our target. Right hand side is the fiscal year so far. So just a few months of activity. But you can see even over those of just a few months, the portfolio has done really, really well 4.39%, which honestly is surprising to me, I think, because maybe I'm the, the Debbie Downer of our firm, but I'm just surprised that the market has continued to do well. So I'll, I'll touch on some of that. But it's been great. And then visually here, you can see, of course, the gold line is what you've put into initially, and of course, take, you know, drawn down these funds. And the blue line is the market value. So, you know, some variation, of course, but even more recently, a pretty, pretty strong up in this market value, which is really great. Here on this page, we oops, sorry, this page, we show this portfolio against some benchmarks from a trailing perspective. So again, as always, your portfolio is this top line, and then your best benchmark, as it stands right now, is that second one down 55, 25, 20 equities, bonds and liquid alternatives. And so you can see kind of interesting, even though this portfolio wasn't always managed this way, it's pretty much exactly in the long term, right in line with this benchmark, we see some variation over time, of course, because this is an ESG portfolio. So again, we kind of compare to traditional benchmarks, just because we like to see, you know, does it really matter when you add in some of those mandates? Does it hurt performance? That's what, you know, we get that question. And it really doesn't over the long term, everything, you know, at least as far as up until now is concerned, has pretty much been in line. But like I said, you'll see those slight variations in performance, but in the long run, things have been really great. And I'll show this page too, I like this better from a calendar year by calendar year perspective. So this portfolio, of course, the first column, and then you can see, you know, a little bit of underperformance in 2025. Again, the ESG can sway can change that the other thing I'll say, and this is on us in a way, to be honest, for 2025, we have been higher quality in our investments than the rest of the market. And believe it or not, the lower quality investments have done better over 2025. Because there's just been this continued really, really strong market. For example, you know, stocks in China have been up quite a lot. And so we tend to be less exposed to those, those types of not picking on that specifically, but those types of lower quality investments. We're just more interested in protecting when that eventual downturn comes, you know, I'm sure I've said that a million times to this group, kind of a broken record, but that doesn't change, you know, where we're seeing some of the data. It's so mixed, you know, for, for earning season of over 80% of the S&P 500 companies have posted earnings that were above their expectations. So you have these companies that are really just thriving, all things considered. But then on the flip side of that, you're seeing some issues on the labor market. Inflation has kind of plateaued, which we don't love. We want that to keep coming down. It's still above the Fed's target. The Fed has started to reduce interest rates. So we're in this kind of strange environment where the market's doing really well. We think the economy is maybe starting to turn. But how does that reflect itself in the market going forward? Not sure. That's just some vague commentary. And, you know, with the government shutdown, didn't seem to affect people's decision making or, you know, again, the stock market is companies. So things looked a little maybe volatile. But honestly, this year, even through this month have been really fine overall. So that's a lot of talking, but just for some of the updated things. And then I just like to point out these last three benchmarks. This is your whole investable universe. So hopefully you can see my cursor. But the third to last one is the stock market. So here you can see over 20% of domestic and international stocks. That's what's been interesting about this year. International stocks have done better than domestic pretty significantly. So we and we have exposure there. So that's been really great. That's the whole stock market overall. And then you have bad bonds, quite strong. You know, as interest rates come down, the values of those bonds go up. So a pretty strong year so far. And then alternatives. That's what they're there to do. Hopefully be stable, behave a little bit differently. And again, if there is a downturn in the market, your alternative exposure should help. So that's some commentary on that. And then really, everything else are just all of the holdings. I won't go too deep into the weeds here. But we're just as always broken record again, just rebalancing. Um, you know, with some of the things going on and the geopolitically, um, the investment team, you know, has been talking a lot to our international, um, holdings here just to understand what we own, where we own it, um, and if we're comfortable with that. And, and we are very, like I said, very high quality. Um, and then otherwise, you know, really just rebalancing, um, domestic bonds. We've been long term on domestic bonds. You've seen rates start to come down. So your bonds have actually done quite well. Um, so really overall, you know, like I said, we, we have some concerns definitely in, um, the market that should affect the stock market at some point. It's just, you know, we wish we had that kind of crystal ball, but, um, for now, it's really just trying to monitor the data, the data that we didn't have in the shutdown. That was a concern was what's really going on in the economy. Um, and so some of that is still a little bit foggy. Um, so anyway, I'll pause with that. If there's, um, any thoughts or questions or changes, obviously I should start with that. If there's any, um, major changes to the funds that would require us to do anything or recommend anything as well. Thanks Kathleen. I'll start with, uh, no major changes suggested this meeting. We're just looking for an update. So, uh, really appreciate that rundown. Um, just one question from me, I think you kind of covered this, but just to confirm, um, given our mandate on our side, as the commissioners, um, the higher quality investments, um, and comfort with our international exposure should position us relatively well, should there be in the downturn that you're worried about? Um, so in terms of us protecting, are you helping us protect the funds health? Um, we're in a relatively healthy and, and, uh, conservative, um, set of investments that should position us for that downturn should it come? Yeah. Yeah. I would say so. I mean, that's kind of to that point, we've been a little bit, I think early to some of the quality moves, um, which isn't a bad thing. It's just, you know, we, I guess early is better than never, um, or missing it, I suppose. But yeah, I mean, I would say from what we own, it is higher quality. I will say, you know, this portfolio is still primarily in equities. So I, I definitely wouldn't say, and I'm sure this is obvious, but maybe for the public or anyone watching, um, you know, I, I wouldn't say if the market's down 20%, you're not going to be not down, right. Obviously this is still a lot in equity. So, um, if, you know, just keeping that in mind, I personally wouldn't change the 70, 30 balance because long-term it's benefited you. It will continue to, but you know, there is that component, even if we own very high quality investments, you know, if the market goes down sometimes, unfortunately, everything goes with, um, but, but yeah. Yeah. Great. Thanks. Barry, Adam, any questions from you? None on my end.
Keep up the good work. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. I like that. Yeah. Thank you very much, Kathleen. Um, I appreciate getting organized and, um, give Brian our best, but, uh, appreciate all your updates and thanks for joining today. Yeah. And I don't mean to, you know, throughout your personal life, but I hope you're actually getting some sleep these days. We are. Yeah. She's getting, last night, she slept through pretty much the whole night, which is kind of alarming. You know, if you have kids, you're kind of like, she okay. She's just, you know, snoring, but yeah, everything's great. Thank you. Congratulations. It's good to see you all. And if you need anything, you know, Brian and I are both around. So yeah, let us know. Thanks, Kathleen. Thank you. All right. Um, excellent. So next item on our agenda is reviewing and voting on the dispersal request, um, for Native American singer songwriter, Thea Hopkins, um, just to perform at the public library on November 2nd. Um, the request is for $350 from the Gossels Human Dignity Fund. Um, so I will open Barry and Adam, any questions or comments on this one? Barry? Um, I guess, uh, my usual question is, uh, what have we given, uh, through this fund in the last year? And it doesn't sound, it's a pretty strong fund, I think, and it doesn't sound like a lot. So I'm doubtful we have any issues with this, but, uh, just want to know if we have, uh, made it. Yeah. But yeah, Barry. So, um, we did $1,000 in the September meeting. Um, and in the September meeting, the latest trailing quarters, three and a half percent, um, um, distribution number was $1,800 and a few cents, I believe. Yeah. Well, it was $1,855. So if, if you knock down the thousand, cause that was, uh, for Dr. Eden Renee Hayes, we did, we split it, I think 2,500 from the Draper Fund and a thousand from the Gossels Human Dignity. So we could still approve this 500 and we'd still have about $300 and change that would still be within that 3.5%. And Adam, just to, uh, to clarify the board of library trustees had approved up to 500. The fee ended up being 350 and they didn't do refreshments, which is why they had asked for the buffer. So the request, uh, the request for dispersal is only $350. Oh, great. It still, still fits well with them. Um, I have Amy Conway from the library raising her hand. Do you want me to promote her as a panelist? Yes, let's do that. Thank you. Hi, Amy. Thanks for joining. Oh, you are on mute. Hello. Can you hear me now? We can. Thank you. Okay, great. Um, I just wanted to clarify one thing. Like the trustees actually have not received a letter for this fiscal year stating like the recommended spend for these funds, and they were hoping to get those amounts sometime in the near future. So this is just a, like the amounts that you're discussing. We, we actually don't have visibility into that at this point. And, and B, if that's something you could discuss and let us know, that would be appreciated. So I I'll jump in on that. So my understanding is that we get from Bartholomew a document that provides the 20 trailing quarters. Um, if that has not been shared, cause I know that the library gets the monthly reports. If the library is not getting that 20 trailing quarters document, then I would recommend that, that we just provide that because any letter that we're providing is coming from that document and it might just streamline things. And bearing in mind that the letter we provide is not a, um, it is not definitive that we wouldn't approve anything above that amount. It's, it's only guidance, it's sort of best practice. So, so I don't want the library to take that to mean that if gospel, if a human dignity fund had expenditures of $2,000 for this fiscal year, that we would just outright refuse them. I think that that's another concern that that's how it was being taken by the board before. I'm not, I can't speak to that, but, um, I can ask them for clarification. Um, but I do know that they like, they were anticipating the letter. I think the letter is just how it has been done for quite some time. If, if you want to switch it to that, that 20 trailing quarters, um, document, I think I did receive it. I'll have to go double check in my email. I think Lily did send it to me. Um, so I can use that to, to generate, like, I basically put the amounts in a report that they, they get on a monthly basis so that they understand what they've spent and how much has been recommended. I do believe that they understand that their recommendations and not like restrictions. Um, but I can be sure to clarify that when they have their meeting on Wednesday. I think before we weren't getting an actual document from Bartholomew with the 20 trailing quarters, they were just sort of telling us during a meeting and, and we, and by we, I mean, I would nervously, furiously write them down. But, uh, but, but in the past, I'd say a year or two, they've started to send us that document and really all that, that Lily was doing. So the backing up some history, Lily's predecessor for some time was sending that letter without, um, the commission knowing that it was being sent. Uh, and then we had previously, I think when Barry joined, we had voted about approving the treasurer, sending the letter on an annual basis. Lily then joined and Lily, in my opinion, rightfully said, you know, I think it would be best that this is something that is approved on an annual basis by the commission. Uh, I don't think it's something we took up and it may have just been lost in translation that, that we thought, oh, okay, cool. Well, if the library's getting that document, then that's sort of the, the same thing. I mean, if, if the library wants something a bit more formal than that document, we can discuss that. Um, but it's the same information. I personally am fine with it. Um, whether or not the board is, is a different question. So I, I will report back to them and see what they think, but I can at least give them the information they're looking for, um, in the meantime. So, um, so I will let you know what they say. Um, I think that's, I think that's it though. Okay, great. So Amy, you'll, you'll confirm that you have the data you need. Um, I do. Okay, great. I will confirm and, and if I, if I can't find it, I will reach out for it. So, okay, great. And then you'll let us know whether it's, uh, just the data is getting enough or whether you need a formal or something more formal and can sort through it. Will do. Yes. They meet on Wednesday. So I should be able to tell you that pretty quickly. So. Excellent. Okay. Thank you, Amy. Thank you. Okay. Um, so, so the disbursement request is for $350, not 500. Okay. Um, I will move that the commission approve the board's request for a disbursement of $350 from the Gossels Human Dignity Fund to pay for the November 2nd, 2025 performance of singer-songwriter Thea Hopkins. I can second. Second. All right. Uh, we'll take a roll call vote. Let's start with Barry. Yes. Adam. Yes. And I vote yes as well. So that disbursement request is approved. Thank you. And thanks for doing it. Thanks again for joining me. And let us know if, if they need something different. Okay. I will, I will let you know if I, if I find something strange, but thank you so much for watching. All right. Excellent. Um, all right. Our next topic is reviewing in potential vote on the minutes from the meeting on September 29th, 2025. So draft minutes were distributed by Adam to the commissioners. Um, any questions or comments on those meeting minutes? They'll get to me. No questions or comments. I don't have any, I wrote them. Uh, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll move to, uh, approve the, uh, the minutes, uh, for the September 29th meeting. I will second. All right. We'll take a roll call vote. Start with Barry again. Yes. And Adam. Yes. And I vote yes. So those meeting minutes are approved. Um, all right. Item number six is commissioners reports and concerns. I have none. Um, any concerns, Adam or Barry? Um, I have a report is that a heads up of something that I, I have been toying with, um, that I might just do in my individual capacity. I might bring it to the commission, but one of the things I I've been floating and researching is the creation of a new trust fund for, uh, supporting the rec department in the maintenance and upkeep of athletic fields. Um, but I'm trying to ensure that that's something that can be done legally. That doesn't constitute a separate appropriation or gift fund, and it could actually be used and dedicated for that purpose. So, uh, if I, if I'm able to wrap my head around it in a way that is legally sound, it's something that I intend to bring to town meeting as an article. Um, which would be something that I think would have to be done in an individual capacity, not something done by the commission itself, because otherwise it would be a conflict for the commission to administer and oversee a trust fund that it submits to create. But I, I wanted to let you all know full disclosure that that's something that's in the works. So, and presumably if it gets approved and gets funded, it might be the type of thing down the road I would recuse myself from considering. But I think that we're many, many ifs and buts away from that ever happening. Right. But wouldn't, um, wouldn't the town either a town meeting or the select board have to vote to, you know, if there, if there was a hypothetical gift for, for, for that purpose, it would be. Right. That's, that's, so that's what I'm researching to see, like, like what happened with the millennium fund, where it was a special act that allowed it to be a, a, a trust from which the library could pull as opposed to it being a gift fund, which was our legal, you know, the legal opinion we got, which I think made sense at the time. But then when you get a special act, it can be different, but I don't know if wreck is a whole other can of worms. So anyway, since it touches on the commission and there's something new I've been looking into, I wanted to, was it sunlight's the best disinfectant? So I figured I'd give you all the heads up. That's something I've been looking into. That's all. Yeah. Appreciate the heads up. Best of luck. I'll need it. No doubt. Um, all right. Uh, item number seven, any topics not reasonably anticipated 48 hours before the meeting? Our, our last agenda topic is adjourning. Do we have any, uh, move to adjourn? I move at 1234. I'll second. All right. Vote Barry. Yes. I'm sorry. I'll vote yes as well. Um, so we'll consider this meeting adjourned. Thank you very much.