Advisory Committee Present: Randy Dinjian
January 22, 2013 Robert Czekanski
Connie Benjamin
Mike Zelenkov
Naveen Rohatgi
Brad Cote
The Advisory Committee met at the Town Hall at 7:00 p.m.
Advisory Committee Analysis: The Advisory Committee reviewed the weekly analysis spreadsheet prepared by Mr. Dinjian.
Mr. Czekanski would like to have a discussion with the Advisory Committee regarding the existing BANS and will come to the next meeting with more detailed information for this discussion.
ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER (292)
Present: Susan Latham, Animal Control Officer
The requested budget for FY14 is $18,918 and there were no revisions to the budget.
Ms. Latham informed the Advisory Committee that currently Bolton is charged $15 per day to use the Stow kennel for stray dogs. State law now allows kennels to charge $40 per day. If Stow decides to increase their fees per day, Ms. Latham stated she may need to increase her budget. The Advisory Committee informed Ms. Latham that if additional funds were needed they would be favorable to approving a transfer from the reserve fund.
ENERGY COMMITTEE (199)
Present: Ryan Prucnal
Given the expenses over the last fiscal year the Energy Committee felt that they could decrease their budget from $1,800 in FY13 to $1,000 in FY14. There were no revisions made to the budget.
The mission of the Energy Committee this year is to publish a request for proposal to place solar panels on town-owned land.
TOWN ACCOUNTANT (135)
Present: Julie Costello, Town Accountant
The requested budget for FY14 is $86,664. The Supplies line item was reduced from $1,000 to $800.
COST OF LIVING ADJUSTMENT
The Advisory Committee was in agreement that all non-union employees receive a 2% cost of living adjustment (COLA). During review of some of the budgets the Advisory Committee found that there were some inconsistencies with the application of the COLA to some of the non-union and stipend employees. The Advisory Committee discussed these inconsistencies with Ms. Costello and how she differentiated between those employees receiving and not receiving the COLA. Ms. Costello will review the budget spreadsheet again to be sure all non-union, non stipend employees receive the COLA, and provide the Advisory Committee with a list of the non-union, non stipend employees receiving the COLA and those not receiving the COLA.
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
Present: Thomas Moses, Emergency Management Co-Director
The budget was level funded at $2,400. Mr. Moses stated that he has achieved the needs of the Emergency Management Department by receiving grants but the budget is useful to show matching funds are available when applying for grants.
Mr. Moses would like to work on improving communication with the public which has been the biggest challenge and will be looking at new technology that will allow us to send a text that will auto dial a voice message. It was agreed that the requested $2,400 will be placed in line item 5251 Web Services.
LIBRARY
Present: Kelly Collins, Library Director, Leigh Shanny and Pam Czekanski, Library Trustees
Ms. Shanny reviewed the annual highlights of the library noting that using the library continues to save people money.
Visits to the library in calendar year 2012 showed an increase of 14% over calendar year 2011 and registered borrowers in calendar year 2012 showed an increased 3.8% over calendar year 2010.
The budget requested for FY14 is $381,994. The budget includes step increases; an increase in the C/W MARS assessment based on increased holdings and circulation; a reduction in the heat and electric line items and the books and materials line items being calculated at 17.5% which represents an overall .04% increase over FY13. With the change to the salary and wages line items to reflect the 2% cost of living adjustment, the books and materials line items will be adjusted by adding $872.
The library is open 41 hours per week and Ms. Collins stated that there has not been any negative feedback because of the one hour reduction to open hours this fiscal year.
Ms. Shanny stated that staffing is limited and at some point they would like to increase their staffing to make covering the open hours easier.
Mr. Brown, DPW Director who is responsible for town buildings has submitted an article for repairs for the lighting, electrical, trim, sign and roof at the Library. The amount has yet to be determined. Discussion regarding this article has been deferred.
On a motion made by Czekanski and seconded by Zelenkov, the Advisory Committee voted to adjourn at 9:30 p.m. (Dinjian – yes, Czekanski – yes, Benjamin – yes, Zelenkov – yes, Rohatgi – yes, Cote – yes)
Respectfully submitted by Linda L. Day
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