Chichester Board of Selectmen
Minutes of Meeting
Tuesday January 16, 2019
Members Present: Tom Jameson, Ed Millette, Richard Bouchard, Jodi Pinard Town Administrator Kristy Barnouski Administrative Assistant
Advisory Budget Committee Members Present: Marlene Hammond, Stephen MacCleery, Doug Hall, Don Peterman, Tom Houle & Michael Williams.
Attendees: Chief Quimby, Chief Clarke, John Martel, Paul Sanborn, Lucille Noel, Ewen McKinnon and other members of the public.
Mr. Jameson called the meeting to order at 6:00pm.
Mr. Jameson made an announcement that the Board did not accept Fire Chief Quimby’s letter of resignation. He also stated that the he and Selectmen Bouchard will be conducting an investigation on the matter of the Fire Department and there will be money set aside in the budget to conduct an independent study on the Fire Department. He asked that only budget items be directed at Chief Quimby and all other questions be directed to the Board of Selectmen.
Fire Department-
Chief Quimby presented his budget and after recalculating his averages was able to reduce the payroll line.
Mr. MacCleery asked what the ambulance has brought in for revenue. Mrs. Pinard stated there is currently $128,000.00 in the fund.
Mr. MacCleery stated that he believes the Town should add a warrant article changing how the existing warrant currently reads to allow for ambulance expenses to be paid from revenues that are deposited.
Chief Quimby stated he would like to see money earmarked for new ambulance and equipment.
Mrs. Pinard stated she would work on a warrant article for this making the Board of Selectmen as agent to expend.
Mr. Hall asked Chief Quimby why his warrant articles were not submitted to the CIP.
Chief Quimby stated that he assumed they had been this year since Deputy Chief Cole is on CIP. He also stated that it is very difficult for items like these to be sent to CIP because they come up over the year and they do not have time to submit. Chief Quimby stated for example that they have had multiple accidents where they were not able to use the extraction cutters to cut a vehicle open to rescue someone and realized they needed a new set.
Mr. Hall wanted to point out that the CIP process is very important and should be followed.
Police Department-
Chief Clarke presented his budget to the Board. Chief Clarke was asked by the Board if the new cruiser would be a truck or SUV. He replied it would be an SUV and will need a new light bar as the current one is old and out of date.
Chief Clarke mentioned the pay study and the officers pay should be updated. He stated that the most important assets in Town is its employees and they should be taken care of. The pay study shows how behind the pay is overall. Chief Clarke is looking for help retaining current employees as well as enticing certified officers.
The Boards discussed the wage study that Mrs. Pinard put together using Towns that were used in an independent wage study done by a firm out of Maine hired by Northwood. Both Boards agreed that something needs to be done about wage increases but they may need more time to put together more data.
Selectmen-
Mrs. Pinard presented the Selectmen’s budget with minimal changes.
There is an increase in the Town Report line for the printing company to do the complete layout. The number ordered was reduced from 550 to 500.
Mrs. Pinard stated that there is $526,680.00 in Fund Balance which puts the Town at 6.23%. DRA recommends keeping it at least 5% so the Town could utilize $103,963.00 which would keep the Town at 5%. No decision will be made at this time.
Adjournment:
Being no further discussion, a motion was made by Mr. Millette and seconded by Mr. Bouchard to adjourn the meeting at 7:54pm. Motion passes.
Respectfully submitted,
Not approved until signed
Kristy Barnouski, Administrative Assistant
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