November 8, 2005
Selectmen Meeting Minutes –November 7th, 2005
Present: M. Genest, R. Haggett, and B. Pratt
Also in attendance: W. Prokop, C. Craig, J. Parsons, P. Vasques, K. Vance.
The selectmen opened the meeting at 7:00 P.M.
The selectmen approved the minutes of the October 24th, 2005 meeting.
K. Vance representing the Grapevine Family Resource Center reviewed the programs offered by the Grapevine and asked for the Town to financially support their programs. They are asking the four towns serviced, Antrim, Bennington, Francestown, and Hancock, for support. The request of Antrim is for $5,250.00. The selectmen advised K. Vance that they support the Grapevine and its programs and that this request would have to go to the voters in the form of a warrant article to establish the funding. It was agreed that Antrim and the other towns involved would attempt to have the same wording for the warrant article. The selectmen will consider this request and this years budget process.
W. Prokop then up-dated the board on the status of the downtown projects. (see copy attached). He also advised the selectmen of the press release and recruiting efforts for our Police Department and made the selectmen aware of the plan for submitting our cost claims to FEMA for our flood damages. The Town will be seeking funding for nineteen (19) different projects. Representatives from FEMA will be visiting Antrim to review our claims within the next seven days.
Budget requests were then heard by the board of selectmen from the following departments:
ARTS: C. Craig –He was asked to look further into his salary and
equipment request.
Building Inspector: J. Parsons –He is requesting more hours of work
per week and felt that the fees need to be increased. Some discussion was
held on the amount of time being spent on Inspection vs. Code
enforcement and Health Officer duties. The Board asked J. Parson to
track his time for the next few weeks and to come up with a new fee
schedule. They will then review the request in more detail.
Planning & Zoning: P. Vasques –He requested an increase in personnel
and consulting fees. These were both significant dollar increases and the
board felt that the consulting fees needed to be reduced and the purpose to
be discussed with the entire Planning Board. P. Vasques felt that the
residents are asking for better “Planning” and that increased staff was
necessary to accomplish this. The selectmen are concerned with the cost
that are incurred with this and the need to balance cost vs. benefit to the
entire town. They will review this budget further after P. Vasques
discusses this with the Planning Board.
The selectmen were advised that the Bryers Lane (Tucker Brook Builders’Cluster Housing Association) have voted, per their by-laws to go ahead with the “Betterment Improvement Plan” for Bryers Lane. The selectmen voted to hold a Public Hearing on Monday evening December 5th, 2005.
The selectmen reviewed general correspondence and approved payroll and A/P for the week.
Meeting adjourned at 10:30 p.m. The next meeting is scheduled for 11/14/05.
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