Finance Committee Committee
Town of Bellingham – Municipal Center
Monday, May 12, 2008, 7:15 p.m.
1. FinCom Present: Toni Picariello, Raymond Szczepan, Henri Masson, Gary Maynard, Joseph Collamati, Roland Lavallee, Carol Dill.
2. FinCom Absent: N/A
3. Meeting called to order: 7:15 p.m.
4. ARTICLE 15, STREET ACCEPTANCE STONEHEDGE ROAD (Douglas & Doreen Porter)
Appearing Peter Gabrielle of 6 Stonehedge Road; Steven Kohler, of 26 Stonehedge Road and Douglas Porter of 3 Stonehedge Road.
The residents are requesting that the Town accept the road, so they can receive services, such as repairs to the road, etc. Toni Picariello had emailed the letter from the DPW outlining the DPW concerns. The petitioner has not spoken to the DPW since last fall. The DPW did not have a cost for all the repairs.
Planning Board is making their recommendation on the Town Meeting Floor – Why? Toni Picariello will call the planning board.
School buses from Franklin go down Stonehedge, but Bellingham buses will not go down the road.
The FinCom would like more information and a recommendation from town Counsel regarding this Article.
Anyone can use a public way, but a private way can be used by the owners and emergency vehicle.
In order to use the road for the Franklin development, Mr. Mayewski owned frontage on the road. He went to Land Court and was allowed to use the Road for the development, there was a Court Order. The concern is the private road in Bellingham and the private condo complex in Franklin. The FinCom requested a copy of the Order.
The three residents attending stated that they owned out to the middle of Stonehedge Road.
The FinCom will continue the hearing until Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 7:00 pm at the High School (before Town Meeting).
5. ARTICLE 9, AMEND ARTICLE 1 (Board of Selectmen)
Department/Account |
Amount requested |
Funding from/Transfer from |
Comments: |
FinCom Vote |
|
|
|
|
|
020 Water Expenses |
$15,000.00 |
Water Salaries |
|
7/0 |
030 Sewer Expenses |
$9,000.00 |
Sewer Salaries |
|
7/0 |
122 Selectmen – Expenses |
$25,000.00 |
Debt Principal |
for Legal service re: contract issues & cable licenses) |
|
161 Town Clerk Salaries |
$2,575.00 |
Debt Principal |
part-time employee |
7/0 |
189 Municipal Buildings |
17,000.00 |
Debt Principal |
Repairs to South Fire Station |
7/0 |
422 Highway Expenses |
$14,000.00 |
Highway Salaries |
|
7/0 |
423 Snow & Ice Expenses |
$485,000.00 |
Stabilization Fund |
|
7/0 |
543 Veterans Expenses |
$2,000.00 |
Debt Principal |
|
7/0 |
610 Library Salaries |
$3,500.00 |
Library Expenses |
to cover union wage increase |
7/0 |
Raymond Szczepan/Henri Masson motion to recommend the above items for Amend Article 1 as listed. VOTE: 7/0
6. BOARD OF HEALTH (“BOH”), ARTICLE 17 – UNPAID BILL
Vincent Forte and Guy Fleuette appeared. Amount requested: $800.00
The reason the previous BOH hired an attorney was to clarify the rights of the BOH. They also wanted to know how things were managed in the Building Inspector’s office.
Marilyn Mathieu informed us that they had the $800 left in their budget, but the bill was submitted after July 15, 2007. If the bill was submitted before June 30, 2007, it would have been paid because they had listed legal fees under professional services.
To reiterate (discussion at the FinCom April 7, 2008 meeting).
The BOH has an unpaid bill for legal services from Robert Ciampitti, Jr. for $800.00 (3.2 hours @ $250/hr). The BOH used him regarding the Health Agent issue. These services were for FY2007.
The BOH has a current bill from Attorney Ciampitti for approximately $1,500 for FY2008, which will be paid from their current budget.
The FinCom will take no action on this unpaid bill until May 5th meeting.
Toni Picariello will ask Denis Fraine what the policy is on department seeking legal services when Town Counsel or labor counsel can not help.
Roland Lavallee stated that since they did have the money in their budget and the town would have paid the bill anyway, then it should be paid, but as of this Town Meeting, it will be stated in the Article that “Legal services” will not be allowed in their budget. All departments must go through the Town Administrator or Board of Selectmen and the town’s process of obtaining legal counsel.
Joseph Collamati/Roland Lavallee motion to recommend paying this bill in the amount of $800.00. (see below). VOTE: 7/0
7. ARTICLE 17, UNPAID BILLS (FinCom)
Payment to Department |
Amount Requested |
Funding/Transfer from |
FinCom Vote |
Robert Ciampitti, Jr., Esq. (Board of Health) |
$800.00 |
Free Cash |
7/0 |
Deutsch Williams Brooks DeRensis & Holland PC (ZBA) |
$9,621.42 |
Free Cash |
6/1 |
Susan Barrett, MD (On-Job-Injury) |
$1,179.97 |
OJI Account |
7/0 |
Milford Regional Medical (On-Job-Injury) |
$27.75 |
OJI Account |
7/0 |
BWPO d/b/a Department. Of Primary Care (On-Job-Injury) |
$250.00 |
OJI Account |
7/0 |
Donald DiMartino (DPW) |
$199.10 |
Highway Expenses |
7/0 |
Provident (On-Job-Injury) |
55.97 |
OJI Account |
7/0 |
|
|
|
|
Total Unpaid Bills |
$12,134.21 |
|
|
A. Zoning Board of Appeals
Jeffrey Scornavacca appeared for the ZBA regarding their unpaid bill to Deutsch Williams Brooks. This is an additional bill in regard to the Fafard 40B project. The bill was submitted late. Amount requested $9,621.42.
The ZBA has another bill that will be paid once Marilyn Mathieu researches the amount and figures out what is actually owed. This bill will be paid from (a) amend Article 1; (b) Reserve Fund transfer; (c) or by end of the year transfers.
Raymond Szczepan/Joseph Collamati motion to transfer $9,621.42 from free cash to pay the bill. VOTE: 6/1 (Roland Lavallee)
B. ARTICLE 17 – UNPAID BILLS
Joseph Collamati/Henri Masson motion to recommend paying the unpaid bills and transfers as listed above. VOTE: 7/0.
8. ARTICLE 1, ITEM 610, LIBRARY (Change in Budget)
Bernadette Rivard and Michael Carr appeared.
The Library Trustees want to increase the salaries by $2,000 and decrease the expenses by $2,000. The director’s salary will be increasing by $2,000.
Joseph Collamati/Henri Masson motion to recommend the Library budget as below: VOTE: 7/0.
Stipends: $600
Salaries: $296,599
Expenses: $182,590
$479,789
9. ARTICLE 1, REMAINING BUDGETS
A. Police Department Computer Program (Marilyn Mathieu)
To reiterate (from FinCom’s April 28, 2008 meeting)
The Police Department would like to install IMC software for their record management). They are unhappy with Pamet & Biokey. Both the Fire and Police Departments would use it and the Fire Department is in agreement with the change.
This will not cost any additional money. If this fits in with the MIS budget, Marilyn Mathieu would need to seek authority to enter into a 10-year lease at Town Meeting. Town Meeting needs to approve any lease over 3 years.
The police department would like to enter into a 10-year lease with Information Management Corporation (“IMC”) for software. The police and fire departments would benefit from this change. Once set up, they would be merged with all computer systems using the IMC software and would be connected to a lot of other towns.
Joseph Collamati, being a former police chief, thinks this is a good system.
Bottom line figures are: $12,929 lease payment per year for 10-years and the maintenance cost would be $14,755 the first year with a possible 5% increase each year. The maintenance costs would need to be budgeted as long as Bellingham uses the IMC system.
Marilyn Mathieu mentioned that a statement needs to be voted indicating the 10-year lease.
Joseph Collamati/Henri Masson motion to recommend the MIS budget (Item 154) as follows: Salaries: $65,604 and Expenses: $165,335 for a total of $230,939, with the comment the maintenance increase not-to-exceed 5%, but preferably 3%. VOTE: 6/1 (Roland Lavallee).
B. ARTICLE 1 – BUDGET
Roland Lavallee/Raymond Szczepan motion to recommend the budget as printed in the draft (attached), with tonight’s changes being included. VOTE: 7/0.
Marilyn Mathieu will get the funding figures to Toni Picariello.
10. MILEAGE
Henri Masson/Carol Dill motion to keep the rate of mileage as $.40 per mile. VOTE 5/0/1 (Gary Maynard abstained)
This will discourage employees from using their personal vehicles. The town has quite a few town vehicles to use.
11. GENERAL DISCUSSION
Marilyn Mathieu had good news to tell us. Bellingham’s bond rating went up. Standard & Poore upgraded our rating to “AA.”
A. Master Plan Review Committee Member (per Planning Board’s request)
Roland Lavallee volunteered to be a member to the Master Plan Review Committee. Toni Picariello will let the Planning Board know.
B. DPW Culvert issue (per Joseph Collamati request)
The Road Committee met and it was agreed that the DPW would replace the entire culvert on Lake Street. They will only replace the water main that runs under the culvert. This work can be done within the budget.
C. Accept Minutes for April 14, 2008, April 22, 2008, and April 28, 2008.
April 28th’s minutes will be acted on at the next meeting.
Joseph Collamati/Carol Dill motion to accept the minutes for April 14, 2008. VOTE: 7/0.
Raymond Szczepan/Henri Masson motion to accept the minutes for April 22, 2008. VOTE: 7/0.
D. Toni Picariello stipend for February, March, and April.
Joseph Collamati/Roland Lavallee motion to submit Toni Picariello’s clerk’s stipend for February, March, and April for $695.01. VOTE: 6/0/1 (Toni Picariello abstained)
There will be a CIC meeting in June and a FinCom meeting in June for end of year business.
Adjourned: Raymond Szczepan/Joseph Collamati motion to adjourn. VOTE: 7/0. 9:30 p.m.
(Accepted July 14, 2008)
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