Chichester Board of Selectmen
Minutes of Meeting
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Members Present: Jeff Jordan, Richard DeBold, Michael Paveglio, Town Administrator Jodi Pinard
Others present: Mike Williams, Don Peterman, Marlene Hammond, Norm Larochelle, Ed Millette, Matt Cole, Alan Quimby, Jim Plunkett
Call to Order: Mr. DeBold called the meeting to order at 6:00pm
Budget Discussion:
Highway – Jim Plunkett
Mr. Plunkett discussed the excavator and the issues with it being extremely expensive to repair and the wait to get parts is anywhere from 6-8 weeks. He informed the board he had spoken to CAT a heavy equipment distributor and they have a municipal lease purchase program. He would like to lease purchase a backhoe/loader either this year or plan for it next year. He reviewed the rough estimate he had received which was a 10 year lease with a payment of $11,700 per year. This also included a 7 year 4000 hour warranty for the machine in regards to the powertrain and the hydraulics. He also stated that the rough trade in value of the excavator would be between $8,000 -$13,000.
Mr. DeBold asked if there would be an issue with the limited things the backhoe/loader could do.
Mr. Plunkett stated he was extremely comfortable with moving in the direction of the backhoe/loader. He stated that this machine will be more versatile and that if they needed a bigger machine they could rent one for the amount of time it is needed. He also stated he is still waiting on a quote from John Deere. He stated he will gather more information and bring it back to the selectmen.
CIP
Mr. DeBold thanked the CIP committee for their hard work.
Darren Tapp informed the board the committee did the best they could. They did not want to go against what happened on town floor last year so they decided against putting the roadways in the CIP. He stated the committee did what they thought was best and moved forward with that recommendation.
Wage Increases
Mr. DeBold completed a salary analysis regarding employees and a possible market adjustment. This would be an adjustment so employees are being paid the median in our population. It was asked that the town administrator find out when the last time employees were given increases.
Road Reconstruction
The discussion of funding the entire $373,000 road project RAC recommendation was discussed as last year the recommendation was only to fund half. There was also discussion of placing it on the warrant.
Consensus was to place in the budget the repair of Horse Corner #7 and Bear Hill #1 in the amount $218,000 in the budget. As last year the recommendation was half it was felt to stay with what was recommended last year. This way the town could make the decision as they had done last year.
Fire Department
Deputy Chief Cole and Chief Quimby reviewed the budget. The vehicle maintenance has been budgeted for preventive maintenance items. Larger repairs that were discussed were Rescue 2 which will need to have 2 leaf springs replaced prior to inspection in March. Also on Rescue 2 the ac unit is not working but it is scheduled to be replaced in 2015 so that repair can be held off on. But if the truck is not replaced in 2015 it will need to have the ac unit replaced and the estimated cost of that item would be $14,000. Another major repair is Forestry #1. The water tank needs to be replaced and the estimated cost on that is $10,000.
The Forestry #2 warrant article was reviewed. The fire department is looking to replace the 1977 Dodge. This has serious corrosion problems and is in need of replacement. They are looking to purchase a 1 ton pickup/work truck with a plow. The reason a plow request is to plow out cisterns in the winter as well as in case of emergencies plow areas for the emergency response vehicles to get to.
Being no further discussion, a motion was made by Mr. DeBold and seconded by Mr. Paveglio to adjourn the meeting at 9:30pm. Motion passes.
Respectfully submitted,
Approved January 21, 2014
Jodi Pinard, Town Administrator
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Jeffrey Jordan Richard DeBold D. Michael Paveglio
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