FinCom & Selectmen January 23, 2018 FY19 Budget Hearing Meeting Minutes
Present: FinCom- Chairman Marshall Carroll, Vicki Divoll, Rob Hannemann, Susan Murphy,
Eric Glasgow and Adam DeBettencourt. Bruce Golden was not present.
Selectmen: Chairman Bill Rossi, James Malkin and Warren Doty. Others; Tim Carroll,
Melanie Becker, Jennifer Christy, Harriett Otteson, John Flender, Sally Cook, Richard Osnoss
Diana DeBlase.
At 7:00 PM Chairman Carroll called meeting to order in the Selectmen Meeting Room
Minutes:
Draft minutes from the FinCom meeting to review and recommend the Special Town Meeting warrant held November 15, 2017 were reviewed. Ms. Murphy said to add considering annually rotating the chairman of the FinCom as discussed at the meeting. Adam DeBettencourt moved to approve the minutes with this addition. Ms. Murphy seconded the motion. SO VOTED: 4 Ayes
2 Abstain Divoll & Glasgow as they were not present at 11/15/17 meeting 1, not present Golden
Consideration was made to rotate the chairman position of the FinCom annually discussion ensued. No change was made at this time, members agreed to return to this suggestion.
491 Cemetery:
Cemetery Commission Chairman Harriett Otteson, Commissioner Sally Cook and Commissioner John Flender were present for the Cemetery budget hearing. Ms. Otteson pointed out that the Commission increased line 5241 the Buildings/Grounds Maintenance. Ms. Otteson said this increase is to do some much needed catchup in the cleanup of the grounds. Mr. DeBettencourt asked if this would be a onetime catchup or a continual financial need. Mr. Glasgow asked if this would be better as a warrant article. Ms. Murphy who not only is a member of the FinCom is also the Cemetery Superintendent said this line would cover hiring a contractor to manage the spring and fall cleanup rather than count on the inmates from the jail as all they do is rake leaves into piles and leave it. Mr. Glasgow recommended that hauling away leaves
should not cost $6,000.00 dollars. Ms. Otteson said there are dead trees to be removed.
Chairman Rossi recommended requesting an $8,000.00 to $10,000.00 warrant article for the catchup work to be completed and to revise the maintenance line request. Discussion turned to the interest on the Perpetual Care and Floss Mayhew Memorial Trust to be utilized in the warrant for this request. More discussion ensued. Ms. Otteson will discuss these recommendations with the Cemetery Commission and return a written request for the FinCom to consider later during this budget hearing process. Chairman Carroll thanked the Cemetery Commissioners for coming.
175 Planning Board:
Chairman of the Planning Board Richard Osnoss presented this budget. Mr. Osnoss said this budget is flat other than the step and COLA for Administrative assistant Jennifer Christy. Mr. Osnoss added that Ms. Christy has been indispensable in helping the board and also subcommittee. Ms. Christy supplied a clear graph to illustrate the expenses for legal counsel since 2010 she also prepared line for line description for entire budget.
Mr. Osnoss said he wanted to commend the sub Committee (Janet Weidner, Joan Malkin & Peter Cook) for the hundreds of hours they have worked on the Master Plan updates, this is saving the town thousands of dollars we would be paying consultants. Mr. Osnoss also wanted to let the FinCom & Selectmen know we (Chilmark) have been receiving some really good services from the Martha’s Vineyard Commission during this Master Plan work. Chairman Carroll thanked Mr. Osnoss for presenting.
161 Town Clerk:
Town Clerk Jennifer Christy presented her budget. Ms. Christy explained that her budget is driven by the 4 year elections cycle. Ms. Christy supplied complete supportive documentation for this budget:
- line for line budget analysis
- postage expenditure analysis from FY2009 to FY18
- cost of election officials at all elections
- voting trend chart
Ms. Christy also included the letter to the Selectmen notifying of needing to purchase the software update for the elections Auto Mark. Ms. Christy said that we have never utilized the Auto Mark but that it is a requirement that the town supply this option at all elections. The cost of the required software update is $995.00. Ms. Christy has requested adding a budget line for the auto mark rather than a warrant because she expects annual updates being required. Chairman Carroll and Chairman Rossi thanked Ms. Christy for this superb budget presentation.
152 Human Resources Board (HRB):
Jennifer Christy the administrative assistant for the HBR presented this budget. Ms. Christy supplied a line by line analysis report and explained the modest increases are actual cost if a member were to attend the professional development course and the membership dues have risen $4.00. There were no questions concerning this budget. Chairman Carroll thanked Ms. Christy for this very concise presentation.
Tim Carroll recommended continuing through some more department budget reviews with the time allotted. Chairman Carroll agreed to continue reviewing more budgets.
114 Moderator:
This budget remains unchanged at $100.00 there was no further discussion.
122 Selectmen:
Tim Carroll presented this budget. Mr. Carroll said that the Town Reports that we have formatted and printed locally on the island are continuing to go up in cost. Line 5310 is increasing by $2,000.00. Discussion turned to negotiating with the company to see how many reports we can get for $6,000 which is what we budgeted last year. Discussion turned to offering the budget book electronically. Mr. Doty said he recommends keeping the reports the way we have.
Mr. Doty pointed out Executive Secretary salary line 5102 at $130,000.00 for discussion
Mr. Carroll explained that figure was used because that was the figure the Selectmen budgeted for the Police Chief hiring process and without finalizing his contract that was the figure he is using. Mr. Glasgow asked why the Selectmen are negotiating a contract with the Executive Secretary and not using the pay scale we have in place.
Tim Carroll said that the Town Administrator / Executive Secretary position in Chilmark is paid 28 % below all other island towns. When the compensation study results were applied to the employees his position was still way off the chart. Mr. Doty said he will follow up with the contract negotiations. Mr. Malkin said that the final figure will be lower than $130,000.00.
131 Finance Committee (FinCom):
Mr. Carroll said there is no increases to this budget, that the two lines consist of the materials to produce the budget book and membership dues. Discussion turned to professional development. Mr. Carroll said the town can receive insurance credits for going to the January MMA Conference and that would offset adding a professional development line. Mr. Bettencourt will be submitting his resignation at the end of the budget process as he is moving into his new home outside of Chilmark. There will be a vacancy to fill on the FinCom. No action was taken at this time the budget as presented will remain.
151 Legal:
Mr. Carroll said he increased the legal counsel line 5305 by $5,000.00 as we have had ongoing cost related to projects in town. Mr. Doty explained that Ron Rappaport is our town counsel and he has always worked hard and extremely professional and continues to give the town a considerable rate reduction but this line increase is to cover expenses when Mr. Rappaport has a conflict of interest and we need to hire outside legal counsel.
196 Selectmen’s Maintenance / Unclassified:
Tim Carroll said looking at this without the accountant here there was a mistake made to budget line 5399 Other Purchased Services he had requested an increase of $2,000.00 not the decrease this line shows. With the increase of $2,000.00 the line will have at total of $30,000.00. Tim Carroll also discussed the collective contingencies in the Department reserves line 5600.
The departments with reserves here are: Beach Department, waste collection and Animal Control to cover boarding costs and medical services.
198 Town Owned Properties:
Tim Carroll said we moved the Peaked Hill ballfield mowing from the Park & Recreation budget to a line (not specified yet) in this budget. The mowing amount is $1,800.00 no other changes were made to this budget. Mr. Carroll explained the Electricity from all departments being located in this budget to track the funds and aid in schedule z assignments and alleviate the library obligation. Mr. Carroll said Ellen Biskis the Town Accountant can better explain (if FinCom or Selectmen have questions) the trapped solar credits and how we are managing them better.
199 Comfort Station:
Tim Carroll presented this budget. Line 5294 Tipping Fees / Waste Disposal to increase by $500.00 with total of $8,500.00. Line 5295 Septic Pumpouts increased by $800.00 due to heavy Seasonal use. Mr. Doty said that in the summer the counter acknowledged over 200 flushes in an hour. Mr. Carroll said this year we will be seeking bids for the 3 year service contract. After review of the market he recommends increasing this line by $9,460.00 totaling $64,000.00. Discussion turned to the cleanliness of the Menemsha area and what the town supplies to the residents and lease holders.
295 Harbor:
Selectman Malkin said he would like to discuss the budget changes made to the Harbor Department and if there are specific questions for the Harbormaster they can be made to him at the scheduled harbor budget meeting night (1/25/18).
Mr. Malkin said he has been working with Harbormaster Jason and Spider Andresen on making this a 0 based budget. Mr. Malkin said it was apparent that this budget needed close scrutiny when they under spent by over $31,000.00 last fiscal year. Mr. Malkin said Mr. Andresen has worked as an Assistant Harbormaster in the past and is currently a Chilmark special police officer and is offering this help to the harbor on a pro bono basis. The Administrative Assistant position is being advertised now and applications are due by February 1, 2018. This position will change in that the office will be stationed at the Menemsha Harbor shack for 30 hours a week during the seasonal work schedule and transition to a 6 hour a week position off season year-round. This line 5108 is being reduced by $1,091.97 with total being
$7,900.00.
The Assistant Harbormaster line 5131 will be reduced by $2,449.00 with total of $32,771.20. Line 5137 Assistant Wharfinger will decrease by $4,524.00 total of $11,973.60. No further changes were made to the expense budget.
Chairman Carroll asked for a revenue report of the harbor. Marshall Carroll said from his observation (running the Menemsha Texaco) the Harbormaster stopped collecting fees before the harbor closed. Ms. Becker said she could run a revenue report for the night the harbor is scheduled for.
Mr. Malkin said there will be a warrant article for an appropriate boat for the harbor.
291 Emergency Management:
Tim Carroll presented this budget (Tim is the EM director for Chilmark).
Line 5108 Administrative Assistant / Deputy Director was increased by $2,000.00 for a total of $3,000.00 Mr. Carroll extensively described the inter-municipal agreement for maintaining an emergency shelter and Chilmark’s practices keeping warming and cooling stations available in town.
With no further budgets to discuss tonight Chairman Rossi requested the Selectmen address a easement issue with the Squibnocket land for utilities. Mr. Malkin confirmed with counsel that this did not need to go to town meeting to approve but that we needed to do this as the utilities company needs this prior to work. Mr. Doty moved to approve easement over town land for utilities. Mr. Malkin seconded the motion. SO VOTED: 3 Ayes
At 9:04 PM Mr. Glasgow moved to adjourn the budget hearing. Ms. Divoll seconded the motion. SO VOTED: FinCom: 6 Ayes, 1 not present Bruce Golden. Selectmen: 3 Ayes
Minutes respectfully submitted by Diana DeBlase
Document list:
- Budget books FY19
- Draft minutes from FinCom 11/15/17 meeting
- FY19 Budget Hearing schedule Minutes Approved 01/29/2018
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