May 10, 2010
Work Session
Present were Mayor Grenier, Councilors Evans, Landry, McCue, Danderson, Remillard, Cayer Rozek and Poulin.
Others present included: Corinne Cascadden, Andre Caron, Patrick MacQueen, Blandine Shallow, media and public
Councilor Danderson moved to alter the order of the agenda to do agenda items 2 & 3 first; Councilor Evans seconded and the motion carried.
Engineering Contract for East Milan Road
Mr. MacQueen explained that this contract covers the construction phase of the East Milan Road Sewer Project. This is a standard State Department of Environmental Services contract between DES, the City and Wright Pierce. The project will get a gravity sewer line from the prison to a pump station and from there to a force main across 12th Street Bridget to the west side of the river.
Councilor Danderson asked if there is bonding in the contract where the City would not be held liable if they act on Wright Pierce’s advice. Mr. MacQueen stated that this is the standard DES contract where the engineering company has to carry insurance for errors and omissions.
Mayor Grenier confirmed that the State DES has reviewed and approved the plans. Councilor McCue commented that the resident project representative is there on behalf of DES to be sure things are done according to the rules. He asked who is watching out for the city in this process and Mr. MacQueen noted that Mike Perreault and Henry Noel are looking out for the City’s interests.
Councilor Danderson moved to accept the contract as presented; Councilor Remillard seconded and the motion carried.
Building Permit Ordinance
Mr. MacQueen reported that the ordinance is being updated to remove the 1987 BOCA Code and to adopt the 2006 IBC Edition which has been adopted by the State. There is a new set of fees which don’t raise a lot of money. Joe Martin feels strongly that raising the building permit fees too much will encourage building without a permit. The amendment to the ordinance adds that a structure needs a certificate of occupancy before being occupied.
The amendment will create a Board of Building Appeals so that people who have some building expertise can be appointed to be the appeal board to decisions made by the inspectors. Currently the ZBA serves as the appeal board and it never gets used.
Mayor Grenier confirmed that the intent is to have people nominated by the Mayor subject to Council approval in 3 year staggered terms. Councilor Cayer asked if there would be a conflict with the appeals board being people in the building business. Mr. MacQueen noted that the same process would be used to declare a conflict.
Councilor Remillard commented on the ordinance giving 30 days to comply indicating that at times 30 days is ok but there are situations where 30 days would not work. She suggested, “shall have up to 30 days and after a max of 30 days….
Councilor McCue questioned the term “may appeal to superior court.” Mr. MacQueen clarified that the ZBA would no longer have the building code issues as part of their work. Councilor McCue commented that in most cases the ZBA is the first line of appeal. Mr. MacQueen indicated that he would check with the City Attorney
Councilor McCue asked if there would be a representative of the Mayor and Council on this board and Mr. MacQueen said that it can be added if that is what the Council wants. Councilor Landry asked if there are costs associated with adding this board and are we adding a layer of government where it is not needed? Mr. MacQueen explained that the board is called for in State law and there is no plan to pay anyone to be on. He noted that there may be the cost of doing minutes of meetings. The board would meet as necessary. Mayor Grenier said that if the ordinance passes he would like to run an ad in the newspaper for people interested and there would be a small cost to that. The Council approved the proposed fee schedule. The ordinance will be on the next regular meeting agenda.
Council Decision to Publish the Budget
School Department
Mayor Grenier stated that the school budget was next to be discussed. He said that he’s heard the request from the Board of Education and he’s also heard the direction of the City Council for no tax increase. He asked if there has been any advancement o the retirement incentive in the schools and Ms. Cascadden stated that $10,000 over severance has been offered and they have four letters of intent with the final commitment needing to be made by May 21. Councilor Danderson confirmed that there are two new retirees from this offer.
Councilor Danderson questioned teacher to student ratio saying that dividing the number of students by the number of teachers comes to 12.5 students per teacher. Ms. Cascadden explained that teachers have classes based on their teaching certification. When there are specialty classes offered based on a teacher’s certification, it may be that the class cannot be taught by other teachers. She added that they continue re-shift and reallocate. There is a push for career technology and the schools are looking at a curriculum where math science and engineering would be structured to compliment a computer technology class.
Councilor Danderson asked if we are bound to the block system and Ms. Cascadden noted that the block system was done to offer more to the students. She did not rule out going back to regular scheduling. Mayor Grenier encouraged the schools to come to the public hearing and show what it will take for the schools to remain accredited.
Councilor Danderson indicated that he likes the fact that the schools are looking for tuitions saying that it is one way to handle the low ratio. Councilor McCue questioned the telephone account and whether $20,000 still needs to be in the budget seeing that last year, it was half of that. He questioned out of district placements and Ms. Cascadden noted that the out of district placements change constantly.
To a question about having the 7th and 8th grades at the high school, Ms. Cascadden stated that it is not being pursued for the next school year. The building committee had recommended reconfiguring the high school to accommodate the change and there is a significant cost. Mayor Grenier thought the figure was $1 million of capital associated with the move.
Councilor Danderson asked where the money for the airport dump truck is going to come from. Mayor Grenier noted that it would be a separate line item in the capital budget and will be funded when the budget is passed.
Councilor Danderson moved to publish a budget of $15,775,124.00 for the schools; Councilor Evans seconded and the motion carried.
Debt service
Mayor Grenier asked for bond payment schedules for each councilor. He confirmed that the landfill bond will be done in 2017.
Councilor Danderson moved to publish a budget of $2,723,790.00 for Debt Service; Councilor Evans seconded and the motion carried.
Councilor Evans confirmed that the reason for the increase in debt service is the capital bond the Council took out.
Capital Improvements
Councilor Danderson affirmed that the paved parking area 01-420-932-0012 was eliminated in favor of radio equipment.
Mayor Grenier asked why Police Severance is in the Capital Improvements and Mr. MacQueen noted that because it is a large amount but he agreed that it should be in operations.
Mayor Grenier asked if the City has figured out its exposure to unused sick days and vacation. Ms. Shallow explained that the number has been calculated and is on the balance sheet. Our auditor has said to pay as we go and calculate what the liability is.
Councilor McCue asked for the amount of bonding in school projects so that it could be reported at the public hearing. Mr. MacQueen reported that $567,000 of school projects was funded.
Mr. MacQueen explained that an issue has developed with the $1.2 million for street rehabilitation in the bond. That money was put aside for Hutchins Street which is a $2.3 million project with $800,000 of Federal grant money included in the total. It has become clear that project will not happen this year due to possible contamination of soil. There is $480,000 not allocated in the bond resolution and that could be used on streets this year leaving $1.2 million for Hutchins Street next year. Councilor Cayer asked what happens to the Federal money and Mr. MacQueen confirmed that it could be held for ten years or more. Councilor Landry noted that he voted for the bond based on being able to leverage other money and he would support holding $1.2 million to next year.
Councilor Landry asked how much could be done on the roads with $480,000. Mr. MacQueen indicated that he would come back with a more detailed plan.
Councilor Danderson wanted more detail on the PD severance. Mayor Grenier stated that there have been two years of funding two cruisers and this year, the rotation calls for one.
Councilor Evans moved to reduce the capital line for PD cruisers to $27,000; Councilor Danderson seconded and the motion carried.
Councilor Danderson made the point that a contract worker like the Chief should be providing his own vehicle. Councilor Landry again questioned the PD severance. It was noted that in 2009 the severance was in the operations budget at $8,150. There was some discussion about cutting the amount in half and Councilor Remillard asked for more of an explanation on the severance before voting.
Mr. MacQueen established that the Council talked about housing and putting up serious money to take down buildings. Councilor Evans asked if we could use bond money for that and Mr. MacQueen stated that if we change the purpose of the bond, it can be done.
Mayor Grenier asked that all proposed additions be put into one document for budget night.
Councilor Evans asked for clarification on the audio books line item for the library. He thought that the Council unintentionally created a line for audio books when there is already one. Councilor McCue clarified that the Library needed to join an organization or service that they were not able to subscribe to without the funding. No changes were made.
Mr. MacQueen commented that there have been a lot of questions about telephones and Mr. Caron was asked to comment. Mr. Caron explained that two years ago the city went out to bid for telephone services and ended up with Seg Tel. Some lines got caught up with a reseller and have not been changed to the new carrier. The City has a PBX system that is old and was bought through a vendor that no longer supports the product. When equipment breaks, we go to Ebay for replacements. Mayor Grenier asked if capital would reduce the operational cost and Mr. Caron stated that the equipment is expensive and it would likely take long time to make up the expense in savings. Councilor Poulin asked if there are too many lines. He thought the numbers were very high.
School Special Project/Food Service
Expense and revenue neutral.
Trustees of Trust Funds
No change.
BIDPA
Councilor McCue commented that when the Council approved accepting the donation of Bickford Place it wanted to get it back on the tax roles as soon as possible. He felt the goal may be getting lost and wanted to remind BIDPA that it was not to remain a city property for any length of time.
CDBG
Mayor Grenier asked if there should be $500,000 in that budget for the gas line project. Ms. Shallow stated that she usually waits until we know if the grant has been funded.
Mr. MacQueen clarified that when the funds are appropriated they should be put in the budget.
Sewer Department
No changes were proposed; the budget will be adopted when the whole budget is adopted. Mr. MacQueen indicated that we may try to go to quarterly billing. Councilor Remillard asked about two telephone accounts and it was explained that the plant and sewer crew have separate accounts.
Landfills
Mayor Grenier commented that monitoring fees for the landfills do not show in the budget. Ms. Shallow noted that they appear on the balance sheet because a grant was received ahead of paying the costs. Mayor Grenier wanted to be able to show anyone who asks what the costs are. Ms. Shallow will research.
Airport
No contribution has been budgeted this year. The AV fuel was increased to 28,000 gallons for a total airport budget of $185,127 and operating equipment was changed to $3,625.
Councilor Poulin questioned the credit card processing fees and was informed that the Berlin Airport Authority asked for a report from the airport manager comparing other credit card processing companies.
Councilor Danderson moved to publish a budget of $185,127 for the Berlin Regional Airport; Councilor Landry seconded the motion carried unanimously. Mayor Grenier indicated that the revenues will reflect the change as well.
Courthouse
The courthouse budget is at $11,567. Mr. MacQueen confirmed that there is a potential renter for the courthouse; however the details are still to be worked out. City offices are the only ones at the courthouse and there is no revenue at this time. Councilor McCue stated his understanding that the costs related to the custodian are still reported here though the employee is working in other departments as well as part time at the courthouse.
Councilor McCue asked if we need to carry that much in utilities and Mr. MacQueen stated that heat needs to be kept on in the basement offices. Mayor Grenier indicated that the City got the courthouse building for $1 from the County but if we were to sell, the City would have to split the profit less expenses with the County.
Non-Public Session
Councilor Danderson moved to enter into non-public session per RSA 91-A:II (d) Consideration of the acquisition, sale or lease of real or personal property which, if discussed in public, would likely benefit a party or parties whose interests are adverse to those of the general community; Councilor McCue seconded and the motion carried by roll call. Councilor Rozek voted against.
Councilor Evans moved to come out of non-public session; Councilor Danderson seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
Councilor McCue moved to seal the minutes of the non-public session as releasing them would render the proposed action ineffective; Councilor Remillard seconded and the motion carried.
Councilor McCue moved to enter into non-meeting per RSA 91-A:2 I (b) Strategy or negotiations with respect to collective bargaining; Councilor Evans seconded and the motion carried unanimously by roll call.
Respectfully Submitted,
Susan Tremblay
Administrative Assistant
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