Chichester Board of Selectmen
Minutes of Meeting
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Member Present: Jeffrey Jordan, Richard DeBold, Michael Paveglio, Town Administrator Jodi Pinard
Others Present: Donna Chagnon, William Briggs, Charles Ladd, Philip Hitchcock, Tom Houlne, Alan Quimby, Patrick Clarke, Jon Martell, John Freeman, Lucille Noel,
Call to Order: Mr. Jordan called the meeting to order 7:00pm.
Appointments:
Department Heads:
Police Department:
Chief Clarke stated I only have one thing tonight and that is the lease for the copy machine. I have an invoice to be signed. It is a 1 year lease payment of $600 and $295 for the maintenance agreement. I would like to pay it out of the Police Department Office Equipment Capital reserve fund.
A motion was made by Mr. DeBold and seconded by Mr. Paveglio to pay for the lease payment in the amount of $600 and maintenance agreement in the amount of $295 out of the Police Department Capital Reserve Fund. Motion Passes
Emergency Management N/A
Fire Department:
Chief Quimby stated the update on Eng. 3 is we looked at the truck last week and they were schedule to start the frame rails. It will take 2 weeks for each side roughly. Continuing the lease as a month to month with Loudon and they are in agreement. It looks like the end of March we will be able to return the Loudon truck as we should have out truck back. The additional quote for the additional work I was just going to take the lights and the pump suction holder out of my budget. My plan was to take it out of the operating budget. Eng 3 is the scheduled to be replaced in 2019.
Consensus of the board was to move forward with the light replacement to be paid out of the fire department operating budget.
Highway – n/a
Building Department:
John Freeman stated that for the year we have had 6 permits and a new home on Carpenter Road. I also received the septic plan for the concrete plant. Looks like the building will be substantial. I have been speaking with one other person regarding a building permit.
Library:
Lucille Noel stated that on 2/14 they are showing a kids movie and parents can drop off their children. The meeting room downstairs has gotten busy. Every Thursday night it is booked. Three Wednesdays out of the month it is busy. We have found that the electric heaters are tripping the circuit breakers. We would like to use the money from the reserve fund to extend the heating ducts down stairs. It is not terribly safe to have those heaters running.
Chief Clarke stated that the propane heater is not being used at the PD could be used over there at the library.
Mrs. Noel stated that this Wednesday we are going to a trust to see how we can best utilize the money left by the Shirley Waters Estate. It is meant to be used for something really important. We want to find out how to be good stewards of that money. The school library is not be funded. This is a big cut. We will have to update some of the research materials to assist the students with projects.
Shaw Field:
Mr. Jordan stated the board has heard from both sides.
Mr. Marden stated I just wanted to say that Mr. Briggs has always taken care of my fields and he does a really good job.
Mr. Colbert stated Mr. Briggs has taken care of some fields for us and he really does a good job. The fields are very well maintained.
Mr. Briggs stated that they did do a soil test and the field needs some attention. You need to feed a crop in order to grow a crop.
Mr. Hitchcock stated that he believes a taxpayer should be given priority.
Mr. Paveglio stated that he does not remember Mr. Briggs asking while I was on this board to use the fields.
Mr. DeBold also stated that he too did not remember Mr. Briggs coming before the selectmen.
Mr. Jordan stated that he remembered Mr. Briggs coming before the board a long time ago.
Mr. Ladd stated that he did not get to finish all of the work as he did not get the field until August and I need to finish the work I started.
Mr. DeBold stated the process was started very late and he is not arguing for or against. This is funny this little decision I have been struggling with. I give Mr. Ladd a lot of credit he has done a great job. Mr. Shaw also said the same thing. We gave this man half a chance and to knock him out now does not settle well with me. But the taxpayer issue also weighs on me. But I would like to hear from the other board members.
Mr. Paveglio stated that he is happy to hear from taxpayers on the issues.
Mr. Colbert stated that he was on the board when the field was sold to the town and we ended up having a year to year agreement with the sheep grazers. All I can speak for is the land on Bear Hill Road and Mr. Briggs did a really good job.
Mr. Paveglio stated I looked up at the trees by the stonewall and they are pretty big that’s a lot of work. Are we asking too much on the getting the walls cleared? But I believe that these are the least of worries. I believe it is more important to get the crop growing.
Ms. Noel stated that the stewardship of the fields is important as well as the stone walls, as they are the historical features. I would like to hear what the stewardship plan is from both of these men.
Mr. Ladd stated that he started working in the stonewall with nippers and chainsaw so to be gentle and not damage them. The major thing I will be using the field for is growing hay.
Mr. Briggs our main interest is a crop. I think the stonewall should stay there and stay intact.
Mr. Jordan stated that he believes that a taxpayer should be given the first chance to use the fields I believe Mr. Briggs would do a great job with maintaining those fields.
Mr. DeBold asked what is the expectation from the board as to what will be asked of the person who is granted use of the fields.
Mr. Paveglio stated that before we actually sign an agreement he would like the board to meet up at the site and give the expectations that they must follow.
Mr. Jordan stated that I thought he was going in to just cut the larger branches and some brush not as in depth as he was doing.
Mr. DeBold stated that he believed that we could hire someone to just brush hog the field and leave it at that.
A motion was made by Mr. Paveglio and seconded by Mr. DeBold to enter into an agreement to grant the field to for a one year period to Mr. Briggs. Motion Passes.
Mr. Briggs stated that he would like to meet with the selectmen as soon as possible to get that brush pushed up and burned.
General Business/Board Discussion:
Employee Performance Evaluation Policy Draft
Mrs. Pinard presented a rough draft of an employee performance evaluation to be reviewed by the selectmen. The Property Liability Trust can we get training for the performance evaluations.
Consensus was for the board to review and discuss in a few weeks.
Proposed Sign Ordinance:
Mr. DeBold stated that he has read the entire ordinance I had a few concerns but nothing that would change my support for the ordinance.
Mr. Paveglio stated that he had one thing that about signs being on the residential property but would not affect his support of the sign ordinance.
Consensus of the selectmen was to fully support the sign ordinance.
Outstanding Items:
Sander Rack
The sander rack plan was reviewed.
Consensus of the selectmen was to have CLD prepare the RFP for the sander rack.
Frost Heaves:
We need to send a request to the road agent to drive the town and post frost heaves warnings where necessary. The following roads have been noted to have frost heaves on them King Road, Bear Hill Road, Carpenter Road, and Horse Corner Road.
Purchasing Policy:
Consensus was to review the policy next week.
Raises to Road Agent:
I think that there are some issues with giving a raise I think I may be support of them there have been some issue and I wanted to give you a heads up to let you know that this is coming.
Mr. DeBold to me this is not a merit raise this is a market adjustment and we are just giving these adjustments to keep the position competitive in the market.
Mr. Paveglio stated that this is an elected position.
Mrs. Noel stated that she believes that the road agent job is a thankless job.
Public Input:
Mr. Jordan stated that the loggers were here on Sunday morning revving the chainsaws. I felt that was in poor judgment.
Mr. Houlne stated that he was unhappy that the school meeting was the same day as the Planning Board meeting.
A motion was made by Mr. Paveglio and seconded by Mr. DeBold to adjourn the meeting at 8:40pm. Motion Passes
Respectfully submitted,
Not approved until signed
Jodi Pinard, Town Administrator
Jeffrey Jordan Richard DeBold D. Michael Paveglio
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