Chichester Board of Selectmen
Minutes of Meeting
January 4, 2011
Members present: Jeffrey Jordan, Richard DeBold, Mike Paveglio
Others Present: Nancy Tanner (Town Administrator), Donna Chagnon, Jamie Pike, Lucille Noel, Barbara Frangione, Michele Plunkett, Jim Plunkett, Pat Clarke, John Freeman, Thomas Houle, Bruce Dyke, Steve MacCleery, Norm LaRochelle, Scott Marsden, John Martell, Ed Millette, Jason Weir
Chairman Jordan opened the meeting at 7:00PM.
Department Heads
Fire: Ed Millette reports Engine 2 had a major airline failure, which was repaired in-house. Rescue 2 still needs the light tower replacement. Engine 3 needs to go back to the manufacturer in Mass. Ed inquired about funding for an expensive repair. Hopefully, the quotation will be in before Town Meeting.
The Fire Department will be having a work detail to address some issues that came up during a recent inspection by the Fire Marshall’s Office. There was a brief discussion regarding the inspection.
Library: The Library is having an open house on 1/8/2011 with the artwork of Judy King. The new blinds will be installed tomorrow. The book store is open on Saturdays with staffing.
Highway: The highway department continues to be burdened with discarded items along the roadways and on town property. Jim Plunkett did a calculation of the recent 7 inch storm that we had and the cost for fuel, labor, and materials was $950 - $1,000 per inch of snow. This calculation does not include the regular full-time labor expense. Mr. DeBold asked if other Towns have calculated their costs – Jim will research.
Mr. Paveglio received a phone call with concern about plowing that occurred during a recent “dusting”. Jim asked why he was not contacted directly. He explained that he made the decision to remove slush from the gravel roadways due to icing. Jim provided a copy of the winter policy. He suggested that it be reviewed and revised. Mr. Jordan asked Jim to draft a new policy for review.
Durgin Road
Jamie Pike has a copy of the specs Jim Plunkett is asking for on the head walls. Mr. Pike has no problem making the headwalls to spec. He is questioning the timeliness of the request. There was a discussion about the timeliness and whether Mr. Plunkett gave suggestions as the project progressed. Jim said that other than the headwalls everything is fine. The ditch line is now ok. Mr. Jordan and Mr. DeBold still need to inspect the road. They will inspect it this week.
Budget Committee
Highway: Jim Plunkett was asked about line 4312-62. Jim said that line was in case one of our trucks went down and he needed to hire a contractor to plow roads. Line 4312-61 was also discussed. Jim thought that line was used to hire a person with a small truck. The budget committee felt that when the Town purchased an additional truck that line item was supposed to be eliminated. Jim said that happed before his tenure and he was never made aware of that. There was a discussion about contingency funds and what a reasonable dollar amount for a “what if” scenario would be. The consensus was $4,000. Nancy will research line 4312-62 to see what the 2008 and 2009 expenses were.
Line 4312-66 winter fund labor was discussed. Nancy would like to see all the labor lines moved to part-time labor under administration. Jim agreed.
Steve MacCleery would like to see the ditching category put back into the summer fund as the ditching project should be complete by now – agreed.
Police: Chief Clarke needed to add a line for SOU dues in the amount of $2300. He explained that we have been paying the dues out of the drug forfeiture money; however there is not enough money this year to cover it. The Special Operations Unit was discussed. Line 4210-81 was decreased by $225 to $1,070. Chief Clarke explained this dollar amount is for actual quotes and there will be no extra money in that line if needed. The vehicle maintenance lines were decreased by $130 to $1870. Chief Clarke does not have a solid number for the new cruiser, but he is hopeful it will come in less. Fuel was discussed and year end usage will be looked at.
Other: The Library Assistant position was discussed as well as the cemeteries. No changes were made at this time. The Budget Committee and the Selectmen will look at those again.
Mr. Jordan made a motion seconded by Mr. Paveglio to eliminate the Planning Board Chairman stipend of $1,000. There was a discussion regarding the email from Mr. Jameson and how the position has changed over the last few years. Motion passes.
Salary Studies: Mr. DeBold completed his survey of other Town’s salaries. It was found that our Police Officer Salaries are on par. The average for F/T Officer was $19.91 and P/T Officer was $16.08.
The average for Police Secretary was $16.28 and we are currently paying $16.00. Mr. DeBold would like to ask Donna Stockman next week whether Welfare and Police Department time overlap at all.
The average for the Administrative Assistants position is complex. Our AA performs both Bookkeeper duties and Planning Board duties. The average for Bookkeeper was $17.87 and Planning Board Secretary was $15.21. Our position is low since the majority of the AA duties involve bookkeeping and we currently are paying $16.00.
Mr. DeBold made a motion seconded by Mr. Paveglio to increase the Administrative Assistants pay to $16.75 per hour. Motion passes 2-1 (Jordan voted no). Town Clerk/ Tax Collector and the Deputy were found to be in the average range. The Highway Department was found to be within the average range.
The budgeting of salaries was discussed. It has been the practice to only budget the pay raises from April – year end since any increases do not take effect until April. This causes an automatic increase in the following year’s budget. The increases proposed will be placed in the budget for the full annual amount.
Jason Weir is still concerned that a flat budget is not enough. Even a flat budget will create an increase in the tax rate due to the use of surplus in prior years to lower the tax rate. He proposed to decrease the operating budget by another $50K. There was discussion about where to find the $50K. Jason offered to come up with the amounts by department using a formula that would take into account % of total budget and % of cuts already made. Once Jason has computed the numbers Nancy will give each Department Head their amount and ask for places to make the necessary cuts. The reductions will be discussed next Tuesday.
Other Business
The Selectmen signed a letter to the bank that will require only the Treasurer’s signature on the checks. This will enable the Selectmen to go to a manifest system for approving expenditures.
Accounts payable and payroll were approved.
A motion by Mr. DeBold and seconded by Mr. Paveglio to adjourn the meeting at 10:59pm. Motion passes.
Respectfully submitted,
Approved
Nancy Tanner
____________________________ ________ __________________ __________________________
Jeffrey Jordan, Chairman Richard DeBold D. Michael Paveglio
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