Advisory Committee Present: Scott Powell
January 24, 2006 Christopher Slade
David Lindsay
Wendy Rogers
Burt Shnitzler
Richard Fly
The Advisory Committee met at the Town Hall at 7:30 p.m. Also present was Board of Selectman Panny Gerken.
On a motion made by Powell and seconded by Lindsay, the Advisory Committee voted to go into executive session under 23B(3) at 7:30 p.m. to discuss collective bargaining. The Board voted to reconvene to open session. (Roll Call: Powell – yes, Slade – yes, Lindsay – yes, Rogers – yes, Shnitzler – yes, Fly – yes).
FUEL DIFFERENTIALS
Mr. Brown informed the Advisory Committee that it has just been brought to his attention that MassHighway is paying their drivers a “fuel differential” due to the rising cost of fuel. Mr. Brown provided the Advisory Committee with a memo and worksheet from MassHighway regarding this issue. Mr. Brown felt he should also be paying this differential since he has always used the same rates as MassHighway. It would cost the Town of Bolton approximately $609.71 for the months of November and December. The Advisory Committee was favorable to paying this differential.
ACTON PROPOSAL
Ms. Rogers agreed to attend the Acton Proposal meeting being held on Monday, January 30th, at 7:00 p.m. in Acton with Selectman Gerken. This meeting will consist of a short presentation of the Acton Proposal after which interested parties will have an opportunity to speak of their local circumstances.
Mr. Lindsay expressed his opposition to this proposal, stating that it does not do the Town of Bolton much good. As it now stands it would give Acton $750 more per pupil and Bolton $250 more.
ARTICLES/BUDGETS
The Advisory Committee reviewed the budget binders prepared by Town Secretary Linda Day. The committee reviewed the list of potential articles and requested that all articles submitted be listed as an article and not as part of the department’s budget. Ms. Day will provide the Advisory Committee with a document containing all written articles. The committee spent some time discussing the capital projects and a suggestion was made to have a special town meeting to request the funds for the wastewater treatment plant project. Others felt that the wastewater treatment plant project should be on the annual town meeting but that there should not be any other capital project articles. The committee asked that Planning Board be encouraged to hold their public hearings related to their
articles earlier in the process and before the warrant is signed by the Board of Selectmen. The Advisory Committee reviewed all spreadsheets provided by the Town Accountant Julie Costello. There are outstanding questions and issues that will be addressed prior to the next Advisory Committee meeting.
ADVISORY COMMITTEE SCHEDULE
The Committee set the following schedule for meeting with departments to discuss their budgets:
Tuesday, January 31, 2006 – DPW and Tree Warden
Tuesday, February 7, 2006 – Parks/Recreation, Town Administrator and possibly Conservation Commission
Tuesday, February 14, 2006 – Library and Ambulance
Tuesday, February 21, 2006 – Vacation week
Tuesday, February 28, 2006 – Police and Communications
The Committee will take some time to review budgets and make any suggestions for other departments that they would like to meet with.
APR’s
APR’s are closing on March 15, 2006.
Meeting adjourned at 9:45 p.m.
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