Chichester Town Organization Committee
Meeting Minutes
Meeting Date: September 19, 2006
Minutes Prepared By: Bruce Dyke
In Attendance: Lou Barker, Bruce Dyke , Norm Laracelle, Paul Twomey & Allen Mayville
Location: Chichester Grange Hall
- The meeting started at 7:30pm
- Draft minutes from the September 7th meeting were reviewed and approved without change.
- Lou Barker indicated that Heather Barker would likely have difficulty continuing her role on the Committee and offered to replace her spot. The change was approved by the remaining Committee members without objection.
- Requirements specific to the Committee’s meeting format/announcements were reviewed. After checking with the Selectmen’s Office, it was determined that all Committee meetings must be publicly posted at least 24-hours in advance and meeting minutes be made available to the public within 144 hours after the meeting adjourns. Meeting locations can be anywhere, provided they are noted on the meeting postings.
- Committee membership was discussed. Bruce was unable to obtain the original “Sign Up” sheet from the March Town Meeting, but did obtain a copy of the original petition which requested the formation of the Committee. The petition list was reviewed by the group. The Selectmen’s office indicated that Paul Adams, who had signed the petition, contacted them and offered to participate in the Committee. Bruce had left a message for Paul and was awaiting a response. Lou and Allen both had thoughts on possible additional Committee members and were going to try and contact them prior to the next meeting. Any potential new members
will be invited to the next Committee meeting at which time the Committee will consider their request to join the group and take a vote.
- Available external information resources were reviewed. Bruce brought a copy of the Salary and Benefit Guide for all NH towns/cities for review. Paul indicated that he had made several calls to various groups/agencys, but had not had time to check messages or return calls yet. Specific information sources were identified and were going to be pursued as follows:
- Local Government Center (Paul)
- Fire Chief’s Association (Paul)
- Road Agent’s Assication (Paul)
- Office of Energy and Planning (Norm)
- Dept. of Revenue Administration (Bruce)
- T2 Technology Transfer (Bruce)
- “Hard Road to Travel” book (Allen)
- Bruce raised the issue of ensuring surrounding towns were aware of the Committee’s existence and charter, especially in light of the fact that we’d potentially be pursuing various synergy opportunities with them. It will be important to gain an understanding from each town as to whether they have any interest in pursuing possible synergies with Chichester and if so, to provide them with an opportunity to engage their department heads prior to any contact they may have with representatives from Chichester. The Committee concurred that some type of notification would be appropriate. Bruce was going to discuss the issue with the Selectmen prior
to the next meeting, as the Committee felt that any such notification/request to other towns should be between the respective Selectboards.
- Workgroup assignments for the departments selected for review during the Sept 7th meeting were briefly discussed, but no changes were made pending the potential addition of Committee members in the near future.
- The format of the meetings with Department heads on Sept. 21 was discussed. Aside from addressing the specific questions put forth in the Committee’s memo dated Sept. 12, 2006, the general format of the meeting will be kept very informal, with the intention of fostering open, honest dialogue. With respect to the agenda for the 9/21 meeting, Bruce indicated that the Road Agent and a representative who could discuss the Cable Franchise agreement would not be available that night and their sessions with the Committee would be deferred until the next meeting.
- Options for collecting and presenting information obtained from the selected departments during this project was discussed. It was noted that providing data in a somewhat consistent format will be important and helpful during the analysis of different synergy options identified. This should also aid in presenting data to the Selectmen and potentially to the residents of Chichester in the future. Bruce suggested a spreadsheet/grid type approach and was going to create a proposed format template for review during the 9/28 meeting.
- The on-going meeting schedule for the Committee was reviewed and changed without objection from Tuesday to Thursday at 7:15pm, due to anticipated schedule conflicts with one of the group members.
- The next meeting will be held on Thursday, September 28th at 7:15pm. Meeting location will be the Selectmen’s Office Conference Room.
- Meeting adjourned at 8:15pm
| 
