TOWN OF FARMINGTON
BOARD OF SELECTMEN
PUBLIC MEETING MINUTES
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
356 Main Street, Farmington, NH
(revised)
Selectman Present: Chairman Paula Proulx, Joan Funk, Gerry McCarthy, Gail Ellis and Charlie King.
Town Staff Present: Town Administrator Anthony Mincu, Fire Chief Rich Fowler, Public Works Director Joel Moulton, Water Superintendent Dale Sprague, Police Chief Scott Roberge, Sgt. J. Drury, Lt. Kevin Willey and Park & Rec. Director Rick Conway.
Public Present: Ed Leonard of Wright-Pierce
Chairman Paula Proulx opened the meeting at 5:30pm.
1. Discussion with Wright-Pierce:
Ed Leonard informed the Board that he received confirmation from Rural Development that the Town of Farmington was awarded the expected substantial grant. They also opened the three bids received for Phase One and they range in price from $591,000 to $1,397,000. The current low bidder is SUR Construction out of Rochester and their figure came in way under Wright-Pierce’s estimate. Mr. Leonard explained he will evaluate the bids and forward his recommendations to the Board for the August 10th meeting. He will also provide the Board a Notice of Intent to Award document for this meeting that will have to be accepted and then sent to NHDES for approval. Right now the Town is looking at ground breaking for Phase One in September. Gerry asked who will do the oversight for the
construction and Mr. Leonard replied that Town staff and his firm will.
Mr. Leonard also informed the Board that he was able to speak with NHDES in regards to the peak flows to the river and they have moved forward with recommending to the EPA to allow this. The Town now needs to await a response from the EPA.
Paula asked if the CDBG grant was submitted and Mr. Leonard replied yes but the Town probably won’t hear anything back for 60-90 days. He then explained that he will be working with Tony and Dale to strategize how to best utilize and maximize the grants the Town has received. Gerry asked if the ratio of the Town money to the grants will stay the same if the project comes in under budget and Mr. Leonard replied yes.
Dale explained that he is going to be submitting requisition forms to be reimbursed from the ARRA grant fund and would like the Board to authorize Tony to sign them to stream line the process. Joan Funk motioned to authorize Tony Mincu to sign the requisition forms for reimbursement from the ARRA fund for the affluent disposal design Phase One, 2nd Gail Ellis. Discussion followed in which Charlie asked where the funds will go when they come in and Dale explained a separate account will be created. Tony will forward copies of the summary and cover sheets of the requisition forms to the Board. Motion carried with all in favor.
Mr. Leonard reminded the Board that now that they have a commitment for funding of the Engineering and Design Phase they could now sign the Wright-Pierce contract for Phase 2 for a total of $535,170. Joan Funk motioned to authorize Tony to be the agent to sign the Engineering Design Phase 2 Wright-Pierce contract for professional services, 2nd Gail Ellis. Motion carried with all in favor.
Joan Funk motioned to authorize the Chair, Paula Proulx, to act as the Board agent and sign the USRD grant paperwork to be submitted in the next few weeks, 2nd Gail Ellis. Motion carried with all in favor.
Gerry asked what the policy is going to be on change orders during the construction. Mr. Leonard replied that it would depend on what the Board sets as thresholds to allow the Town Administrator to authorize, though the Board would know about every change order. Mr. Leonard will draft a change order policy with Tony and forward to the Board.
2. Town Vehicle Policy:
The Board asked the Department Heads for their comments on the draft policy. Scott then informed the Board that he responded to work nine times in the last few months from home and since January 1st over thirty times. Sgt. Drury added that the Chief is able to support and control a scene over the radio while on route to a call from his home and Lt. Willey added that the ability for the Chief to respond directly from home is invaluable to their department.
Dale asked where he would be classified in the document and questioned if one of his employees, who is on overnight call, would be able to take a vehicle home. Paula then read Rich’s memo that stated he has responded from home sixty-six times from home this year plus he attends night and weekend meetings and trainings. Then Joel explained that he is also on call 24/7 and has responded from home over thirty times since January.
Joan commented that she feels emergency vehicles are a necessity not a desire and she doesn’t believe all the vehicles should leave town. Charlie noted he was firmly against the take home use of any town vehicle but after hearing the arguments he is leaning more towards permitting emergency vehicles to be brought home. Gail stated she likes the policy as written except she would rather have the vehicles in Town and reimburse for mileage. Gerry then stated he feels only the emergency vehicles should be allowed to go home and in his opinion a policy should be created that any new hire department head should be required to move into Town within one year.
Dale asked if the Town would be liable if there was an accident when an employee was responding to a call in a personal vehicle. It was discussed if an accident occurred while on route to Town in response to an emergency call the Town would be liable, though the liability does not continue on the way home or during any commutes for scheduled work hours.
Paula stated she is not convinced that any vehicles should go home because all departments have dependable 24/7 coverage and she doesn’t feel the Board should differentiate between fire and police and the other department heads. Charlie commented that if a vehicle is taken home it is not available for use. Rich explained that if he is not available to respond he leaves the vehicle at the station and Scott stated he does the same thing.
The Board decided they will consider all the information brought forward tonight and discuss in the near future. In the mean time, Dale and Joel will provide the Board with documentation on how many times they have responded to Town in off hours.
3. Purchasing Policy:
The Board asked the Department Heads for their comments on the policy. Scott commented that he is concerned with payments going out late on “normal” fixed monthly bills and he is not sure why these bills wouldn’t be exempt from the policy. He would like to see Pam be able to pay these purchase orders and then have the Board review them to see if they want to make changes in the future. Charlie replied he feels it is his responsibility to review the bills to ensure we are being frugal with Town money. Gerry suggested putting all the exemptions back into the policy except 9 and 12 (professional services and state bids). The Board and the Department Heads agreed, noting that this will allow Pam to issue a check after Tony signs the Purchase Order (PO) but before the Board
reviews it.
Paula asked if the bills (credit cards, etc.) come to the Municipal Office or the departments. Scott replied his bills come to him first and then he forwards them and Rick explained he changed all his billing addresses to the Municipal Office when he received the memo months ago. Scott stated he would change his billing addresses. Charlie then suggested changing the credit cards to debit cards so that there would be no interest or late fee charges.
Gerry noted that under A, section 4 “most responsible” needs to be removed and Gail added the same needs to be done for C, section 5. Dale commented that under C it requires RFPs to be at a minimum advertised in the newspaper and a lot of times it doesn’t make any sense to advertise in the paper. The Board agreed to add “unless waived by the Town Administrator” to this section. Then in D, the same addition needs to be made except it can only be “waived by the Board of Selectmen.” Gail then noted that under both C and D the Town website was supposed to be added as a place to advertise.
Joel asked if he seeks proposals and only receives one can he call around to vendors who did not bid. The Board agreed that department heads should contact vendors prior to the posting of an RFP and then if they only get one or two proposals they should provide the Board with a list of vendors they initially contacted. Joel then asked if the Board would like to see qualifications for RFPs and the Board replied yes for any proposals over $7500. Tony will make the final changes made tonight for approval at next week’s meeting.
Charlie King motioned for a recess, 2nd Gail Ellis. Motion carried with all in favor.
The Board reconvened at 8:43pm.
4. Time Clock Policy:
Scott asked if there is a reason this policy is being suggested. Paula replied no, Pam has been asking for such a thing for years because it would be easier for auditing purposes. Scott then stated that he feels this will cost his department $6-8,000 a year in overtime that his officers do not currently ask for. Charlie replied that the figures shouldn’t change much because personnel can pencil in after the fact if were involved in a direct response and in instances were employees come in early or stay late to finish up something it will still be their choice to do so, they will just have to punch in at the regular time. Lt. Willey questioned if this policy is a reflection of not trusting the employees to be honest and Paula replied no it is an accountability issue and all department heads
should relay it as such.
Joan commented she does not feel time cards are necessary because the Town gets 100% from its employees and she thinks this policy will cost the Town in overtime. Charlie disagreed and stated it should be a town wide policy to make accountability and record keeping easier and less time consuming. Dale asked why salary employees would punch and The Board replied they haven’t reviewed that section yet. Joel explained that the time cards have simplified the process for him and they allow him to notice many trends and they are great for FEMA when needed.
Scott asked if overtime would have to be paid if it was punched but not approved by a supervisor. Joel replied that he does not pay overtime unless it is approved. It was decided that Tony should check the labor laws on this and at what increments overtime is paid at whether it be 6, 10, 15 minute or so increments. Rich then asked the Board to consider his volunteer staff with this policy, noting it would be difficult to utilize. The Board then decided that they will not have salaried/ exempt employees punch a clock for attendance purposes and that they will continue to write time sheets. Also “ghost punching” still needs to be defined.
5. Other:
A. The Board received a request to dispose of debris from a house fire at no charge. Gerry McCarthy motioned to allow Joe Walbridge to dump house fire debris at no charge at the landfill, 2nd Joan Funk. Motion carried. Joel will contact Mr. Walbridge and explain how the materials will need to be separated.
B. Tony informed the Board that the sprinkler system at the Town Hall will be tested tomorrow but the engineer can not sign off on the system until it is linked to the fire alarm system. Tony shared several proposals with the Board to connect the sprinkler system to the alarm system. Joan Funk motioned to authorize Tony to enter into a contract to update the fire alarm system at the Town Hall not to exceed $2500, 2nd Charlie King. Discussion followed in which Charlie offered a friendly amendment to waive the purchasing policy for this contract due to the immediate need; Joan would not accept the amendment because she did not feel it was necessary. The Board also decided they did not want to subscribe to the monitoring service because the
fire department could monitor the system and the funds for this would come from the Opera House Renovation Fund. Motion carried with Charlie King and Paula Proulx opposed because they felt the purchasing policy should have been waived before accepting a proposal.
C. Joel informed the Board that he was reviewing the NHDOT maintenance agreement proposal and he does not believe it is favorable to the Town. The Board was in agreement that Joel should contact NHDOT and renegotiate the agreement.
Joan Funk motioned to adjourn, 2nd Gerry McCarthy. Motion carried.
Meeting adjourned at 9:36pm.
Respectfully Submitted,
Brandy Sanger
Recording Secretary
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Chairman, Paula Proulx Vice-Chairman, Gail Ellis
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Gerry McCarthy Charlie King
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Joan A. Funk
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