Chichester Board of Selectmen
Minutes of Meeting
October 13, 2009
Members present: Stephen MacCleery, Jeffrey Jordan, and Richard DeBold
Others Present: Nancy Tanner (Town Administrator), Barbara Frangione, Richard Holloran, Thomas Houle, Jim Plunkett, Michele Plunkett, Alan Mayville and Donna Chagnon, Gil Vien, Lucille Noel, Doug Hall, and Jamie Pike
Chairman MacCleery opened the meeting at 7:00PM.
Jim Plunkett
Mr. Plunkett was present for a progress review and a re-evaluation of his salary. Mr. Plunkett was promised a six month salary review by the Selectmen when he started in March. Mr. Plunkett reported that by the end of the month he will have taken 5 road scholar courses and will have earned 25 out of 100 hours toward a road scholar degree. He will be putting money in the budget for professional development for himself, Gil, and Jaan. Jim reports keeping his budget up to date on an excel spreadsheet. Mr. MacCleery reported that he has seen good reports from Mr. Plunkett. He has seen a lot of maintenance work being done. Mr. Plunkett said that the highway department has concentrated mainly on maintenance this year and he will see where the budget will come out. He wanted to point out that he
inherited the current budget.
Mr. DeBold reported that prior to Mr. Plunkett being elected the Selectmen had approved a wage classification schedule for the position of Road Agent, which was based on the DOT classifications. After Mr. Plunkett was elected the Board reviewed his resume and at that time he met the mid-level requirements. He was to receive a review in six months. Mr. DeBold reviewed the level requirements. He has received good reports about Mr. Plunkett’s work. He feels that Mr. Plunkett meets more of the upper level requirements than he did six months ago; however, he is not at that level yet. Mr. DeBold appreciates that Mr. Plunkett is very cooperative and helpful to the other departments. Mr. Plunkett is thorough in his record keeping and does good pre-planning of work. Mr. DeBold would like to see
Mr. Plunkett go through the winter before moving him on the classification.
Mr. Jordan reports that he understood when Mr. Plunkett was elected that if the Selectmen were happy with his performance they would move him to the next level. Mr. Jordan feels they should stand by that.
Mr. DeBold did not understand it that way and reviewed the minutes, which did not clarify the issue at hand.
Mr. MacCleery feels that Mr. Plunkett was not given clear parameters of the expectations. The Selectmen agreed that the classification needs to be revisited and revised.
Mr. Plunkett was asked what he understood would happen at the six month review. Both Mr. Plunkett and Mr. Vien understood that if the Selectmen were happy with Mr. Plunkett’s performance at six months he would move to the top level.
A motion was made by Mr. Jordan and seconded by Mr. MacCleery to raise the current Road Agents salary to 21.75 per hour or level III. A brief discussion took place as to revisiting the pay classification schedule and making the expectations more clear. The Selectmen also felt that if they go through the winter and are not happy with the Road Agents performance it would be within their power to decrease the pay rate. – Motion Carried.
Mr. Plunkett feels his job description is too vague.
Jamie Pike
Mr. Pike was present to review the junkyard licensing procedures. Mr. Pike put together a packet that includes the steps involved in the process and an application. Mr. Pike updated our current application and added a fee of $250.00. He asked that the Selectmen review the packet.
Mr. Pike had some questions regarding recent zoning issues. Nancy asked if we had a set procedure for handling zoning complaints. Nancy will review laws and required wording for zoning issues and put together suggested procedures.
Other Business
Food Pantry: Mrs. Chagnon asked if the food pantry could use some of the space in the back hallway of the Town Offices. The Selectmen did not have a problem with using the space as long as it did not block the hallway or utility cabinet. Mrs. Chagnon will be looking for cabinets to hold the storage.
Health Officer: John Dever, the Health Officer submitted a request to attend a class.
Mr. DeBold made a motion seconded by Mr. MacCleery to approve expenditure of $45 to send John Dever to the Health Officer training at LGC on October 20. – Motion Carried.
Pursuant to RSA 91-A:3 (e), a motion was made by Mr. MacCleery and seconded by Mr. DeBold to enter into non-public session for discussion of a legal matter. A roll call vote was taken: MacCleery – Yea, Jordan –Yea, DeBold - Yea. Motion passes.
Pursuant to RSA 91-A:3, a motion was made by Mr. MacCleery and seconded by Mr. Jordan to exit the non-public session at 8:26pm. A roll call vote was taken: MacCleery – Yea, Jordan – Yea. Motion passes.
Credit Card Policy: Nancy will change “finance office” to “Selectmen’s Office” anywhere it appears in the policy.
Mr. MacCleery made a motion seconded by Mr. Jordan to approve the credit card policy with the change. Motion Carried.
Now that the policy is in effect all previously secured credit cards must be closed and new ones will be issued that conform to the policy. The Selectmen will grant the department 30 days to bring their cards into compliance. Nancy will work with the departments to have new cards approved and secured.
Revaluation Methods: Nancy talked with David Hines from the DRA regarding the Towns assessing needs. Mr. Hines suggest that we use the data that we just collected for the next revaluation (in five years) and think about doing a list and measure that takes place in a couple of months instead of a cyclical revaluation which occurs over several years for the revaluation after that (in 10 years). During the budget process we need to look at putting money aside for revaluation work.
Nancy will look into the purpose of a mapping fund which has $25K in it. It was established in 2002.
Zoning: Discussion took place regarding the wording in zoning letters. Nancy will consult Mr. Pike for correct language.
Exit Interviews: There was a brief discussion about the procedure when an employee leaves employment. Nancy is unsure if the Selectmen’s Office is notified when someone who doesn’t hold regular hours with the Town resigns such as Fire/Rescue. Nancy will send a memo to department heads reminding them that we need to know when anyone leaves our employ.
Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce: A resident pointed out to the Selectmen that the Chamber did not include Chichester on its map. Nancy will send a light hearted letter to the Chamber letting them know that we are still here.
Accounts payable and payroll were approved.
A motion by Mr. MacCleery and seconded by Mr. Jordan to adjourn the meeting at 9:14pm. Motion passes.
Respectfully submitted,
Approved
Nancy Tanner
____________________________ ___________________________ __________________________
Stephen MacCleery, Sr., Chairman Jeffrey Jordan Richard DeBold
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