Chichester Board of Selectmen
Minutes of Meeting
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Member Present: Richard DeBold, Mike Paveglio, Jeffrey Jordan, Town Administrator Jodi Pinard
Advisory Budget Committee: Don Peterman, Doug Fisher, Jason Weir, Ed Millette, Stephen McCleery
Call to Order: Mr. DeBold called the meeting to order at 6:00pm.
Appointments:
Budget Meeting
Old Home Day – Philip Hitchcock reviewed how the current Old Home Day Committee is being formed. The Grange no longer wanted to sponsor the event. So Ann and myself went and registered the committee with State as a 501(c)3. I believe the $2,000 the Town gives for Old Home Day is usually used for fireworks. This is an expense that needs to be paid upfront prior to all of the fundraising money being received. In January we will be announcing the committee and anyone who wants to join can do so at that time. Once we have a committee it will be at that time that officials will be elected.
Mr. Weir stated I would like to see what the anticipated are expenses for 2015 since we are in the budgeting process.
Mr. Hitchcock stated that he can get those to the committee.
Budget Review
Mr. DeBold stated that I would like to clean up the operating budget tonight and agree on it for public hearing in two weeks.
Mr. Weir asked if the Board has had any conversations with the School Board to reduce their budget especially if we are going to reduce the Town’s operating budget.
Mr. DeBold stated that no we have not. I feel we need to get our house in order before asking another entity to do something that we are not sure about doing.
Mr. Paveglio stated that we need to cut out what we cannot afford and one of the things that we need to look at is the roads. I don’t believe that we can afford to continue to fund the roads with these types of increases.
The operating budget was reviewed and the following cuts were made:
Planning Board Legal Fee reduced by $500.
Forest Fire Control Administrative reduced by $100.
Mr. Jordan made the suggestion of changing following lines:
Road Reconstruction from $440,000 to $120,000
Asphalt increasing from $80,000 to $180,000
Mr. Jordan stated that the reason being he felt more money should be spent on maintaining the roads to reduce the cost of reconstructing them. If the roads are maintained properly with shim and overlay the roads will lasted longer.
Mr. Millette stated that he did agree with Mr. Jordan but he felt the reduction in the Road Construction line was steep. He suggested Road Reconstruction be reduced from $440,000 to $250,000 and the Asphalt line stay at Mr. Jordan’s suggestion of $180,000.
Mr. Weir stated that we have to be aware the Town has put the Road Reconstruction funds back into the budget that were cut the last two years. This could happen again on town floor.
A motion was made by Mr. Jordan and seconded by Mr. Paveglio to have the Road Agent reduce the Summer Fund section of the budget by $220,000 from the proposed $564,601.
Motion Passes Jordan Aye, Paveglio Aye, DeBold Nay
Police Cruiser
Mr. Weir stated that he felt the Police Cruiser should be revisited. We can not only reduce one department we must make these reductions across the board in fairness.
Mr. Paveglio stated that he did support removing this for one year.
Mr. Millette stated that in defense of the cruiser there is a replacement schedule in place. By removing this from the budget it will effect that schedule the Police are following.
A motion was made by Mr. Paveglio and seconded by Mr. Jordan to reduce line item 4210-89 New Cruiser line from $22,692 to $1. Motion Passes
Warrant Articles
Warrant articles were reviewed. They will need to be reordered in the way they were submitted.
Ambulance Warrant Article – Mr. Paveglio stated that I do not support this ambulance and I feel we may want to start considering running with one ambulance.
Mr. Weir stated he cannot support the warrant article because the ambulance cannot be bought out right.
The Board of Selectmen and Advisory Budget Committee request the Police Chief, Fire Chief, and Road Agent attend Wednesday night’s meeting.
Mr. Weir asked the Board of Selectmen to reach out to the School Board and encourage them to do the same as they had done tonight. It is not fair for the Town to cut and the School not to look into doing their part as well. If the School Board does not cut I may request the cuts made tonight go back into the budget.
Budget Portion of the meeting ended.
Food Pantry Donation
A motion was made by Mr. DeBold and seconded by Mr. Paveglio pursuant to RSA 31:95-n, the Board of Selectmen shall accept and authorize the expenditure of unanticipated funds in the amount of $600.00 received from Chichester Photography Group to support the Food Pantry. It shall be the responsibility of the Town of Chichester to maintain accurate record of all funds, detailing their expenditures, and that such records shall be made available upon request. Motion Passes
Humanities Council Donation
A motion was made by Mr. DeBold and seconded by Mr. Paveglio pursuant to RSA 31:95-n, to accept and authorize the expenditure of unanticipated funds in the amount of $250 received from NH Humanities Council to support the Agricultural Commission for presentation expenses. Motion Passes
Abatements
A motion was made by Mr. DeBold and seconded by Mr. Paveglio to grant the following abatement in interest on Map 10 Lot 16 & 13 in the amount of $62.87. Motion Passes
A motion was made by Mr. DeBold and seconded by Mr. Paveglio to accept the Assessor’s recommendation on the following abatement Map 4 Lot 15 which is to abate the amount of $101,400 in assessed value. Motion Passes
Public Input
None
Adjournment
A motion was made by Mr. Paveglio and seconded by Mr. DeBold to adjourn the meeting at 9:00pm. Motion Passes
Respectfully submitted,
Not approved until signed
Jodi Pinard, Town Administrator
Richard DeBold, Chair D. Michael Paveglio Jeffrey Jordan
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