Date of Meeting: Friday, October 4, 2013
Location: Town Hall, 221 Main Street
Time: 8:00 AM – 9:10 AM
Members Present: Chairman James Wood, Matthew Mecum; Michael May; Martin McNamara, Town Administrator, Lori Esposito, Administrative Assistant (Others as listed on attached sheet.)
The meeting commenced at 8:00 AM.
Highway Department: The Town Administrator has recommended the appointment of Jeff Cathline to the Highway Department.
Mr. Cathline will get the necessary hoisting license within a six-month period. There were several good applicants but the Town Administrator and the Highway Superintendent feel Mr. Cathline is the best candidate. He also has plowing experience. The TA recommends appointment of Mr. Cathline pending results of his drug and physical testing.
Jim Wood asked how many applicants there were. The TA said there were approximately 20 and they narrowed that down to a few. They interviewed two and another two called were unavailable for an interview.
Mike May made a motion to approve the Town Administrator making an offer to Mr. Cathline, as recommended, for appointment to the Highway Department. Motion seconded by Matt Mecum; voted all in favor.
599 Main St. Paving: Aggregate Industries is FedEx’ing the signed contract for delivery today.
The TAS asked the Board to approve the contract drawn up by Town Counsel.
Matt Mecum made a motion to authorize the Chair to sign the Aggregate Industries contract. Mike May seconded the motion; voted all in favor.
Cell Tower Lease: (Re: Verizon co-location.)
SBA agreed to a one-time lump-sum payment of $10K to the Town for the Verizon sublease. The other lessee, MetroPCS, is ending their lease with SBA, so they are interested in replacing that revenue immediately. The Town Administrator feels that if we accept the $10K and let them proceed with Verizon, we can then rewrite or renew the contract beyond the current lease term of 2024 (20-year lease) and add language that allows the Town a percentage of any future subleases.
Matt Mecum asked if, in accepting the $10K, we waive future rights. Marty said we did not; that just allows Verizon to sublease. Mike May said $10K is a small payment to get from Verizon, considering what they were about to spend at the 599 Main Street proposed tower. For future negotiations he would tie a percentage to the income for co-locations. While we have leverage right now, why not negotiate a lease amendment versus accepting $10K. We will be handing the leverage over with accepting only $10K. Marty McNamara said it is a time-sensitive issue and SBA is concerned that Verizon might walk. Mike said he doesn’t believe that. Verizon spent two years trying to get the tower at 599 Main Street. It encourages us to keep leverage and get payment while we can, or even a
conditional approval with a time limit to execute a lease amendment.
Marty said that we are dealing with the company that, in the lease has a right to put additional co-locators with Board of Selectmen approval with no additional money or terms required, and the Board’s “…approval cannot be unreasonably withheld.” Mike said that’s standard business terms. He would like to get the best deal possible.
Matt said we could also negotiate the police/fire colocation as Verizon had planned on the 599 Main location.
Mike said he feels the Board should empower Marty McNamara to negotiate the best deal possible. Ideally get a lease amendment.
Burkhardt Plaque: The plaque is complete and will be mounted as soon as the granite piece is secured and placed.
Assessors: Carl Cravedi is willing to serve interim since Margo cannot legally be appointed interim. One member of the Board did not take the Assessors 101 course for certification to allow him to vote. Therefore, the tax rate, free cash, etc., cannot be voted due to not having a full voting board.
Mike May asked why the Board would not send a letter to this individual stressing the importance of certification. If not, the individual should step down if not able to fulfill the responsibilities. Matt Mecum said we need to take our approach carefully since they are volunteers it is already difficult to get volunteers.
Town Administrator Goal Setting: Jim Wood asked about doing the performance evaluation done in the past: all three Board members complete an evaluation, they are compiled and then reviewed with the individual. Mike May asked if this is tied to an incentive program; no it is not.
Matt Mecum said he looks at it the other way around. The performance evaluation is tied to the base salary; goals are separate, and potentially tied to an incentive program with higher goals being set. Jim Wood said a recent example of Marty going outside of his job description is negotiating with SBA for $10K for the Verizon lease colocation. How would that be evaluated with the incentive program? Matt said an incentive program is above and beyond what was expected, which is then tied to a bonus. Bringing in additional revenue could be a goal and this would be part of that; not a separate goal in and of itself.
Mike May handed out his plan for FY’2014.
- Defined objectives: two involve revenue increase; two involve expense reduction; one is Human Resources issue/customer service improvement.
- Base performance might be a percentage modifier over overall score
- Can earn up to 25% of base salary; each incentive scale is 1% - 5%.
- These are just examples to be considered. Just wanted something on the table to be considered and put something in writing. Conceptually, the TA is paid for a base job and evaluated. To make evaluation, rating should be done for goals.
- Matt said this is exactly what they had discussed. He had more specific goals but they would fall into these general goals outlined by Mike.
- Mike said he is not sure if it is appropriate but the Board needs to address school spending, since the dollar majority is there.
- Matt said perhaps there should be a joint meeting with the school and the Board of Selectmen. His only concern is the only budget we have control over on the school side is the Elementary School. The Regional School is not our oversight. He does not want to micromanage and hurt the Elementary School.
- Mike said he is not saying we need to cut the budget but be cautious with discretionary spending. That’s across the board, not just the school.
Re: Human Resources Administration: Mike May said he’s had some feedback regarding people not feeling valued or welcomed by some of the staff at Town Hall. The TA’s responsibility should be implementing a program to improve this and administration of HR. Marty said he is fine with the concept. He has issues with people in departments who don’t really report to him. He has no authority over department heads. He can attempt to talk to someone about job performance but the Board has control. He cannot force training, etc. The TA is the Personnel Director but he just maintains files and makes recommendations to the Board of Selectmen. His hands are tied with several issues. Even discussing a personnel issue in
open meting is difficult due to OML. Also, he cannot hire or fire without Board of Selectman approval.
Re: MIIA
We get credits toward our premium for any training courses or seminars attended by employees. Retiree insurance is being reduced for next year. How are those types of savings calculated?
Matt said they can be itemized in additional revenue/expense reduction. He said the Board needs to put subsets under each goal. Marty needs to do the same, then they will meet again.
Marty said to remember that there are only six months left until the end of his contract.
Mike said he is aware and didn’t put any dollar amounts in, only percentages.
Jim said his performance review needs to be completed by the Board of Selectmen.
Marty said goals were presented by him to the Board last year and the issue was never revisited by the Board.
At 9:10 AM Matt Mecum made a motion to adjourn. Mike May seconded the motion; voted all in favor.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:10 AM.
Respectfully Submitted,
{11943940-36DE-11CF-953E-00C0A84029E9}
Lori Esposito, Administrative Assistant
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