Selectmen Meeting Minutes –August 7th, 2006
Present: M. Genest, R Haggett, and B. Pratt
Also in attendance: W. Prokop, L. Henderson, G. Graham, M. Casey, A. Mellon, R. Bethel, M. Beauchamp, M. Gale, P. Lovering, B. Beauchamp, A. Johnson
The selectmen approved the minutes of the July 17th, 2006 meeting.
Chairman Genest then explained the purpose of the meeting which was to discuss the Safety services of the Town and the needs of each service and the plan to up-date the Town’s Emergency Management Plan.
W. Prokop gave a brief overview of the status of the current Hazardous Mitigation Plan and explained how FEMA was using it as it guide to determine some of the funding for the flood damages that Antrim sustained in the past year. The plan will be further reviewed in the next few months to see what up dates if any are necessary.
M. Gale than gave an overview on the Water Resources and ISO improvement plans that are being coordinated by the Fire Department. The major goals are to improve fire protection for the entire town and at the same time to achieve a better rating from ISO so as to lower the Town’s insurance rating, which should result in lowering the cost of homeowners insurance for all residents. The overall program is well underway and it is hopeful that we will have everything in place to request a new ISO inspection by year end.
R. Bethel than gave an overview of the current plans going on with the State Department of Safety and Homeland Security. He advised the selectmen of the schedule for up-dating the current Emergency Management Plan. Antrim was awarded a grant by the Department of Safety to have the plan up-dated with the guidance of Southwest Region Planning Commission. He then introduced, Mr. Arnie Johnson, representing SWRPC who will be overseeing our completion of the new plan. Mr. Johnson gave a brief overview of the steps that will be taken and explained how SWRPC has been working with several towns in the area to up-date their plans. Mr. Bethel will be heading the up-date and the first meeting of the group will be held at the Antrim Town Hall on Tuesday morning, August 22nd at 8:30 a.m. The meeting will include members of
the Fire Department, Police, Health Officer, Citizens Corp, Highway Department, and administration. The goal is to have the plan completed and approved by the Department of Safety by Town meeting next year.
Mr. Genest advised everyone that the Police Chief sent his apology but a situation had arisen that required him to be there and he would not be able to attend this meeting.
M. Beauchamp and P. Lovering gave an up-date on the training activities that have been going on with both fire and ambulance training. They were very pleased with the outside services that have been engaged to provide training. Training will continue and is being adjusted as is necessary.
W. Prokop asked M. Beauchamp how the fire department wanted to handle random drug testing. M. Beauchamp responded that this is something his members are upset and concerned about. He sees no reason why volunteers should be subjected to drug testing, if we require this we could lose many members. B. Beauchamp stated that she has been a member for 22 years and has never been asked or heard of such a requirement. W. Prokop responded by stating that he was under the impression that this was a common practice and is one of our standard personnel practices. After some discussion the selectmen agreed to look into this further and to investigate what other communities are doing and will then advise the Fire Chief. Further discussion then took place regarding physicals for all Fire and EMS personnel. M. Beauchamp will provide a
list of 12-15 members to the Town Administrator, who will arrange for them to have physicals this year. The physicals will be different for EMS personnel vs. the requirements for Fire fighters. This will begin the town’s program of providing physicals every 3 years. Physicals will be done at Monadnock Occupational Health and Safety in Peterborough.
Chairman Genest reminded everyone of the upcoming Master Plan visioning session that is scheduled for Thursday, August 24th, at 6:30 P.M. at the Town Hall. He felt it is very important to have the input at this session from all our Safety Services, and encouraged everyone to attend. He also, stated that in September planning will begin for the up-date of the Capital Improvement Plan. He asked everyone to really think through the long term needs and to be prepared to express and document the needs to the committee.
Chairman Genest than asked what the major current concerns were from each service: Fire, felt that at the present time he had no real major concerns. His staffing is good, his equipment is in excellent shape, he is hopeful that the furnaces will not need replacing for at least another year and that they can soon complete the upstairs area which is 95% done and is in great condition. He further expressed his thanks to the Board of Selectmen for all the support that they have given to the Fire Department. P. Lovering on behalf of the Ambulance expressed the same feelings and only asked if the selectmen would allow $8100.00 to come from the Revolving Fund to go towards the equipment need to complete the new ambulance. The board took a vote and approved the use of funds from the Ambulance Revolving Fund. In addition, P.
Lovering will be submitting an addendum to the Fire Department Rules and Regulations that will pertain to EMS personnel and their specific S.O.P.’s. Emergency Management, R. Bethel, expressed his major concerns as finishing the up-date of the Emergency Management Plan and the drying up of Federal funds for small town use. The general feeling was that all services are happy with their current plans, budgets, and staff and that the important part is to keep the communications open between all services, as we have now.
The selectmen voted to award the Fuel Oil contract to JB Vaillancourt of Hillsborough for the 2006/2007. The fixed price for the town will be $2.42/gallon.
W. Prokop advised the selectmen that the Hillsborough Youth Services Director has been able to obtain a grant from the county to be able to continue the “Diversion Program” for youth from Antrim. The selectmen expressed their sincere thanks to Mr. Brigham and to Mr. Coffey and to the selectmen from Hillsborough for all the cooperative efforts that have been put forth this year. W. Prokop also advise the board of selectmen of a new program that our Welfare Director will be starting with Monadnock Hospital regarding a way for our welfare recipient’s give get the needed medicine. This will be a test program for the region.
W. Prokop advised the board of selectmen that the switch to clear bags at the Recycling Center has saved the Town approximately $2700.00 in fees since the beginning of May. This is an elimination of more than 10 tons of waste that has come out of the system and gone into recycling. Furthermore, he advised the board about the fact that people can stop “Junk Mail” by sending the address label to Mail Preference Service-Direct Marketing Assoc.-P.O. Box 643-Carmel, NY 10512 or Abacus – P.O. Box 1378 – Broomfield, CO. 80038. This is another easy way to help recycle and prevent waste.
W. Prokop advised the board of selectmen that he has received a scholarship to cover the cost of his attendance to the International City Managers Association conference in San Antonio, Texas in September. The award was from the NH Municipal Management Association and Primex.
The selectmen reviewed general correspondence and approved payroll and A/P for the week.
Meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m. The next meeting is scheduled for 08/28/06.
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