Selectmen’s Meeting Minutes
The Board of Selectmen met this evening at
Chairman Corona opened the meeting with a Pledge of Allegiance to the flag.
Martha White introduced the Board members to the MIIA training videos on employment practices and conducting public meetings, which the Board then watched.
School Budget:
William Simmons, Supt., told of a 4% increase in state aid, whereas it
had only been 1.2% in past years. They
will level fund the services budget; there will be no additional staff, but no
lost staff. Retirement positions will be
filled. No increase in supplies or if
so, not more than 2%. Haederle asked how
many retirements will take place and Mr. Simmons said there will be eight and
all will be replaced. Charles King
mentioned that the natural gas utilities have increased by 45K. Gerry Marsan asked what is the vision for the
next 6-7 years? Mr. Simmons stated the immediate
challenges are the ninth grade at the high school and the sixth grade to the Jr.
High and “Teaming” is more expensive teaching. Next fall, the accreditation bureau will come
to survey the schools. His priority for
resources is to have more advanced placement and enhance the honors
program. Also to reintroduce the
gifted/.talented program for K-6, which was a casualty of
limited resources. Proficiency in foreign languages should start in the
grades prior to high school. They lost
the Title I grant which was $300K.
Lastly, he wants to move away from extra fee schedules as the sports programs
are currently heavily reliant on Booster programs. A woman resident in
attendance mentioned that four years ago
Selectmen’s Meeting
Minutes :
Caroline O’Neill stated the DOE figures for
Ambulance
Division Budget
Chief Tom Stone presented this budget. He stated the
offset receipt account has more than $19,376 assuming the costs of the
ambulance fees from the Treasurer’s office.
Martha White had no overview comments.
Fire Alarm Budget
It is 3/5 of last year’s and 3% COLA has been added into
salaries. The reason is that there is the lack of bucket truck and they have
curtailed maintenance. King asked about going to a wireless system and Stone
said that since January all new alarms are wireless. King motioned at accept; Haederle seconded and the Board voted unanimously.
Ms. White next introduced Chris Kone, Planning Board
member and Michael Boyle, ad hoc committee member, who spoke on the sign by-law
and the CVS digital sign. Article 26 is
the citizen petition and proponents feel the proliferation of signs is changing
the character of the town and the CVS sign presents a safety issue with the
blinking strong graphics and that it is not in keeping with the town and
contrary to the spirit of the town meeting by-law that was enacted ten years
ago. After approaching the planning board, it was felt the CVS sign may be a
violation of the by-law.
Selectmen’s Meeting
Minutes :
strongly about this issue. Marsan
suggested there may be a successful model being used elsewhere? Mr. Boyle
replied that the industry now uses other gases than neon. Marsan advised a public hearing on this and
Mr. Kone asked if one had been held and was told yes and the Planning Board
voted favorably on it. Marsan motioned
to recommend the article; Haederle
seconded and the board voted unanimously.
Library Budget
Donna Richman, Chair of the Board of Library Directors,
Annalee Bundy, Library Director, Joe Murphy, Treasurer and Kevin Paicos,
member, were present. Ms. Bundy stated the salaries are the major factor and
that their health insurance costs have gone down. Payroll taxes have gone down
so there have been no layoffs. The
expenses at the Whistle Stop branch go up slightly each year. Telephones that
were donated five years ago need to be replaced as it costs $200 each time a
repair is needed. There are mandatory federal audit costs and snow removal
expenses due to the cutbacks in the DPW budget they need to contract out. SAILS is the regional computer services used by libraries
and previously they were able to use a portion of the cable tv monies but this
money had been taken away. The materials line item is required by the state to
be open certain hours. In answer to King’s question about the funding, Ms. Bundy
replied that they get $29 per capita of which the town pays 50% and compared to
the state average, that is a low figure. The library endowments help
significantly. The state requires 2% of the municipal budget go to
libraries.
Martha White stated the Board will need to go into executive
session regarding real estate negotiation. Marsan
moved to go into executive session and then to return to open session. Haederle seconded and all Board members voted in favor by roll call
vote: Marsan yes;
The Selectmen reconvened open session at
Recreation Budget
Craig Muscato presented his department budget. Ms. White
stated this is one department with one employee that is off the budget – is
funded directly from fees. Mr. Muscato said there is a change from last year as
the pool is included and is no longer an off-set receipt. Budgeting for the
pool is tricky because the fiscal year ends just before the
pool opens. There is a profit of $500 from 2000 and 2003.
Selectmen’s Meeting
Minutes :
could be raised more to make sure
there is no deficit. Swimming lessons
are still $25 per student and Muscato wants to keep the prices low to ensure
success. He wants to invest in sand,
painting, improvement to the pool and is looking to break even. He has some surplus in revolving account. Haederle asked if there are any expansion plans? Mr. Muscato wants to install vending machines for
water and juices to reduce labor costs of hiring someone to run the
concessions.
Council on Aging
Del Kent, COA Director, presented this department and
stated the senior population grows each year and the budget is shrinking due to
personnel changes. Staffing is maxed out and the new person coming in at the
low salary end keeps the funding level. Grants and donations make up the
difference and there have been no service cutbacks. Martha White said there is
an added 20K available to COA; the Town pays 80% and 20% comes from donations
and state grants. There are now more than 2800 newletters mailed.
Selectmen’s
Budget
The proposal to include a Personnel Director was brought up by Martha White. The FinCom is opposed to it as the money available is only 54K and that would not attract quality people. Less stated the quality of the applicants is an issue. There are lots of attorneys who now specialize in human resources and there may be a model of in-house counsel with this specialty. Maybe we could hold off and this person could give the Town Administrator’s office the legal help and reduce the current legal fees. She clarified this to say a human resources person with a law degree could lessen the costs for Town Counsel.
Haederle noted the salary constraints and asked if it would
be possible to get a sample of the hybrid idea?
It might work to get a lawyer with the added component of human
resources knowledge. Ms. White asked if
this would be a full or part-time position? King
replied that a part-time could be an alternative.
Selectmen’s Meeting
Minutes :
discussion centered around the
salary issue and the skill that is needed in employment practices. Marsan wants
to make strides towards accomplishing this goal. Haederle then stated he could
see both sides of this tough issue. He
supports Marsan’s idea and maybe a charter change should be followed through to
send a message to the public. Since the current town manager spends 40% of her
time on personnel issues, we should not wait another year. We could appropriate the money now and then
think it through. Less thought the HR Board would be volunteers to handle
certain issues or would they just do a salary study? Ms. White responded that the Town
Administrator was never consulted about the HR Board or how best to achieve
that goal. Their primary function was to
create a wage/salary report. Marsan’s proposal was to amend the charter to
create a HR Board with specific charges and the Town Administrator still having
authority. White stated she needs help day to day to allocate time for
confidential personnel issues that would not be appropriate for such a board
and the HR Board would not be able to help in those ways. King said the
authority of the HR Board would be limited and responsible to the Town Administrator. Marsan thought they could overview the
landscape and report to the Board of Selectmen; they could bring the manual up
to date; but not getting involved in resolving confidential employee matters. Less questioned rushing into adding a
position since
Wendy Nightingale stated that the position had paid around $58K. Marsan thought that funding was critical and it would force the board to address the model. Haederle agreed that if the appropriated money was not used for the position it would back to the free cash. White wants the model created to be entirely successful for a successful candidate selection. King recognized that department heads have been advocating for this for years.
The Board then discussed the requested funding for Goals
and Objectives. Jeff Tufts’ idea of a facilitating team could be used and that
it is important to establish. Haederle noted that most of the $2K for off-site
meetings could be cut by $500 or eliminate it.
Selectmen’s Meeting
Minutes :
subscriptions and offered a
motion to set the Selectmen’s budget at $281,413. Also money could be saved in the employee
incentive program or training. White noted it is difficult to accurately
project the financial needs ahead of time but that any department needs some
“wiggle room” and shaving the money too closely limits the way to respond to an
urgent matter in a timely fashion.
Debt and Interest
Budget
The Board asked about the line items and Wendy Nightingale said they represented debt payment that the Town was obligated to pay. There is some new debt, capital budget items for FY’04, etc. There will be no new bond issues this fiscal year and the exempt debt service will increase for the $1.9 million bond issue for the school construction project. Less motioned to accept; Haederle seconded and a unanimous vote of the Board followed.
Land Use and Permitting
Department
Martha White relayed that this budget is not funding the Assistant Town Administrator but rather the Town Planner. The office renovations are under way and the funds would be encumbered from 04 to 05. The acquisition was paid out of 03 funds that were not needed. She proposed not buying the copier so the total would be $436,934. Less asked about the Town Planner position? White explained that this is an essential position given that her participation has been greatly reduced as she is essentially filling two positions already.
Haederle motioned
to approve; King seconded and the Board voted unanimously.
Selectmen’s Notes
Marsan and King mentioned the Habitat for Humanity event was a pleasure to attend. They had met the Mann family and congratulated them.
White mentioned the next Board meeting would be at
King motioned
to adjourn the meeting; Less seconded the motion and a unanimous vote of the Board followed. The meeting was adjourned at
Respectfully
Submitted,
Linda Paquin ____________________________________ Approved
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Date