diff --git a/.env.example.admin b/.env.example.admin
index f4334c8..8b36830 100644
--- a/.env.example.admin
+++ b/.env.example.admin
@@ -3,8 +3,10 @@ L2_NODE_WEB3_URL= <rpc>
 POLLING_INTERVAL= <interval of service refreshing>
 #interval of randomness generation (in seconds); default = 3600
 RAND_GEN_INTERVAL= <interval of randomness generation>
+# UTC time for starting producing randoms, e.g., 2024-07-18T12:00:00Z
+RAND_GEN_START_DATE=<date to start producing randoms>
 ZK_RAND_ADDRESS= <contract address>
-ADMIN_PRIVATE_KEY= <pk of admin account>
+ADMIN_PRIVATE_KEY= <private key of admin account>
 NODE_ONE_ADDRESS= <first node account address>
 NODE_TWO_ADDRESS= <second node account address>
 NODE_THREE_ADDRESS= <third node account address>
diff --git a/.env.example.deploy b/.env.example.deploy
index 46847a8..5a60c3d 100644
--- a/.env.example.deploy
+++ b/.env.example.deploy
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
-L2_NODE_WEB3_URL=http://localhost:7545
-ADMIN_PRIVATE_KEY=0xac0974bec39a17e36ba4a6b4d238ff944bacb478cbed5efcae784d7bf4f2ff80
+L2_NODE_WEB3_URL=<rpc>
+ADMIN_PRIVATE_KEY=<private key of admin account>
 THRESHOLD=3
 NUMBER_OF_MEMBERS=5
 DEGREE=18
 DEPLOY_NO_HELPERS=false # optional
-HALO2V=0x26Aa5a7c4CA7D0F81943ea9CbDf97D80c560D6Fa # optional
 HALO2VK=0x63311f167b6B07fd0D3d83310c16512701B4Cb2d # optional
+HALO2V=0x26Aa5a7c4CA7D0F81943ea9CbDf97D80c560D6Fa # optional
 GPP=0xbB9a8f4c3662b6EF4b512E5f358289d1Db63fc81 # optional
 PSRAND=0xAecFC1cc68dD9664F2fCF5f2958d5277c5385123 # optional
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.env.example.node b/.env.example.node
index 62b151f..e938830 100644
--- a/.env.example.node
+++ b/.env.example.node
@@ -2,4 +2,4 @@ L2_NODE_WEB3_URL= <rpc>
 #interval of service refreshing (in milliseconds); default = 12000
 POLLING_INTERVAL= <interval of service refreshing>
 ZK_RAND_ADDRESS= <contract address>
-NODE_PRIVATE_KEY= <pk of node account>
\ No newline at end of file
+NODE_PRIVATE_KEY= <private key of node account>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/services/admin.ts b/services/admin.ts
index 01a1e8e..361f7e9 100644
--- a/services/admin.ts
+++ b/services/admin.ts
@@ -110,6 +110,7 @@ export class AdminZkRandService extends BaseService<AdminZkRandOptions> {
             )
         }
 
+        let threshold = await this.state.zkRandContract.threshold()
         let memberCountFromContract = await this.state.zkRandContract.memberCount()
         console.log("memberCountFromContract", memberCountFromContract)
         let currentIndexFromContract = await this.state.zkRandContract.currentIndex()
@@ -176,7 +177,6 @@ export class AdminZkRandService extends BaseService<AdminZkRandOptions> {
                         // random generation starts from 1
                         await this.initiateRand()
                     } else {
-                        let threshold = await this.state.zkRandContract.threshold()
                         let submissionCount = await this.state.zkRandContract.roundSubmissionCount(currentRoundNum)
                         let roundToRandom = await this.state.zkRandContract.roundToRandom(currentRoundNum)