Still didn't get it on the first try, but I'm gonna get my microphone on before the meeting one of these times.

Um thank you everyone for being here tonight.

I just wanted to say the committee of finance and property is comprised of counts um counselor houseman, myself, and um President Flowers is also on finance and property, but she did have a pre-existing conflict tonight uh for the high school.

So that's why we I knew she couldn't make it, but um but we're a good team.

We got up here, we got the whole committee of the whole, and um looking forward to hearing from veteran services, council on aging, and the board of health tonight.

So with that, we will go right into it, I think.

So um Mr.

Pan and Chief, would you would you want to present first?

We'll go in that order too, just for everyone following along at home.

All right, good evening, everybody.

Um, as you know, we're here about um some issues with adjusting some of the spending that's already been allocated for the veterans department in terms of Mr.

McKay.

Um, just to get everybody up to speed, we did have a sit down with the mayor's office um recently and with Bryant, and we were able to um reduce other budget line items in order to keep Mr.

McKay's position intact.

Um any further you know, follow-up on that, I'm sure uh Mr.

Ayles will be able to explain that.

So there's a few items that I'm gonna go over just so that you can understand the gravity of his position and why it's needed.

So the first one is I provide you all with a financial sheet of our office's performance.

Um since 2016, when we really when I really started getting my hands on the budget and understanding the position, our budget was in at a $630,000 on the Chapter 115 budget line.

Since then, that budget line has been reduced year over year down to 410,000 with the um review that Bryant will probably be able to reduce it down to 400,000 for this next fiscal year.

So we've brought the city 230,000 in savings with that budget line.

Every year we've never fully used that budget line because of the tight controls and regulatory followings that I used to make sure that we were not just giving anybody and everybody just handing out blank checks to people.

Um I provided you that so over the last 10 years, you know, the city had allocated and you had allocated their amounts in 10 years.

We used $4,552,597.

Of that, we we returned over 10 years $1,081,341, which was then able to go back into free cash or whichever this whichever other budget lines the city needed.

We had the 75% reimbursement from the state because we maintain our proper uh positioning in to meet those standards.

So there was 3,428,956 returned to the city from the state of Massachusetts at the same time reimbursement, equating to after the 25% that the city then ends up being responsible for.

We came in at 1,143,641 over 10 year period.

Then we shift over to the VA.

So yes, the federal money is not going directly to the city of Beverly, but what it is going it is going to the hundreds of veterans living in the city.

So the numbers that were provided for you were VA monthly totals.

What's the monthly amount that's brought in for people on benefits starting back in 2016 when the state began providing that to us, and they provided every year.

There's three years in here missed because we didn't receive it, but I'm sure you can all get the gist of that.

As of right now, from the last year from 2019, there's 938,554 dollars per month coming into the city of Beverly through the VA program.

Since Mr.

McKay came on board, his return on investment for us, um, he provided $8,13,600 in VA claims work.

That's his share because I was able to pass off the more simplified claims to him so I would be able to work on the more s severe claims, aid in attendance, end of life, catastrophic injury, serious cancers.

Those cases are much more in depth.

So he was able to take on the smaller ones, still bringing in a lot of money through the VA federal program.

Over the last 10 years and VA federal money that has come to the city of Beverly, we're at $55,316,988.

That is money that is coming to your residents, to your veterans.

That is that is bills, that is gas, that is that is housing, that is being able to pay their kit for their kids' college.

That is strain that is not put onto the other city services.

So following through that, as of right now, I obviously can't do the, I can't provide you the information due to legal reasons, Mr.

Housman would understand due to HIPAA, but this is the our claims packet.

It's just filed C L, then the number.

We currently have 1,026 claims in the system that the state utilizes.

We have 748 active reoccurring rolling claims of the 516 that have been adjudicated.

A claim does not end when the veteran is provided his benefit.

The claim can roll over to the spouse, it can then roll over to the children.

We have a number of special needs children that are now receiving VA benefits and are not on the Chapter 115 rolls because we got them onto the federal side, helping reduce the city's overall cost.

From there, I provided it in the budget book, but I'm going to reiterate it.

9,018 answered phone calls last year.

I'm going to say it again, 9,018 answered and returned phone calls.

15,000 minutes in communications with your constituents.

Not I'm going to call you back, not I'm going to put you on hold.

That is in-person communications, ensuring that they are taken care of.

Ken and I have learned that quick, efficient, fast response saves hours on the back end.

6:30 at night, we see the phone ring, we pick it up, it's a three-minute phone call versus putting them on hold, coming back later, and having to go over it again and then reiterate or hopefully getting them or playing phone tag.

This is this is the pair-up that he and I have working through this.