Town of Greenfield
Selectmen’s Meeting Minutes
Thursday – July 6, 2006 – 5:45 pm
Present: Selectmen - Chairman, Conrad Dumas; Selectman, Aaron Kullgren; Selectman George Rainier
Selectman Dumas will call the meeting to order at 5:45 pm
Administrative Assistant, Deb Davidson taking minutes
Appointments:
6:15 – Leah Conway, Donald Shumway, Terry Blaisdell – To discuss the Crotched Mtn. proposal to lease the old town office for a day program for some of the students from Crotched Mountain.
Updated Selectmen plans to move forward with the program. They currently have had their contractor checking out the building for renovations & research plans for the building itself.
The Board of Selectmen asked for a plan, they have put together a written proposal and have provided a copy for the board. The program will be a day program; that will be certified for 12 people, however it is more realistic that 6 students at a time will be involved. On site projects will be limited to indoor projects, they would like to incorporate these students into the community. This is a base landing for these students, not a daycare. Day programs usually run about 6 hours, the students arrive and then are taken to their prospective jobs. They want to incorporate these students into projects that the library, gardens, church, town hall etc. might need help with. The students that go into the community have a 1 on 1 staff, the ratio is anywhere from 3-1 to 1-1; and the program manager oversees daily
programs.
Parking was something that needs to be discussed; the 8am drop off and 2 pm pick up times, would be busiest times for traffic.
Possibility of an apartment upstairs is a question they would like Selectmen to consider. The vision is one person that can live alone with limited supervision or a staff member. The needs for the apartment would be a small kitchen, living area, and a bathroom; the construction crew for Crotched Mountain needs access to the old PD. We have not been able to locate any keys; it will be necessary to contact a locksmith to open the office. Items in evidence room should have already been removed; if anything remains it will need to be taken care of.
The exterior of the building will also be updated.
Rainier discussed possibly going before the Planning Board for site plan review – if an apartment is put in then they would be changing use, if no apartment, then site plan review is not necessary, it would still be office space.
Signage was asked discussed, they would like to put a sign on the building, and the name of the program will be Peak Performance. “Peak” to represent the top of a mountain; “Performance” to reflect the high performance for these students.
Selectmen would like to discuss a few items; the heating system needs to be addressed, they need to assess the system, however there is no electricity in the building at this time. Crotched Mountain will have their maintenance crew address this.
Insurance was questioned, the town would insure the building, and the Mountain will insure the contents and interior.
Selectman Kullgren mentioned that the building should be referred to as “the old town office”, not the town hall building.
Selectman Rainier asked about the water testing? Crotched Mountain will be responsible for testing the water from the building, which is supplied through the town office. It was further agreed that Crotched Mountain would incur the costs of the water testing.
Deb asked about the hookup of the waste water system, who incurs the expense for that. Mrs. Conway stated that the Mountain could, we will work out that detail a little later.
Selectman Dumas asked when they plan to open? Leah Conway responded that as soon as possible. A contract needs to be drawn up to allow for clarity for everyone.
The day program is the priority, the apartment is secondary. Discussion of a 3-5 year contract, as was discussed previously and revisited, this is an acceptable time frame for both parties.
Selectman Dumas asked about the amount of rent to be negotiated?
Mrs. Conway stated that hopefully the renovations would be taken into consideration, she understands the electricity would be the mountains responsibility, a reasonable rental amount will certainly be negotiated, with Peak Performance paying utilities, waste water user fees etc.
Selectman Dumas stated that a small rent, yet taking into consideration of the costs for the investments of this building paid for by Crotched Mountain, would be negotiated.
Mr. Shumway indicated they would present a contract and a reasonable plan for the building improvements vs. how does it connect to Peak Performance.
Deb & Leah will work on a draft contract, they will have the boilerplate prepared before any public hearings are held.
Mr. Shumway wanted to update the Selectmen of the changes taking place at the mountain.
· Recently an application was submitted to the State of New Hampshire for financial assistance, placing 1165 acres under a conservation easement; this is still pending, it will be a 3-year process before it will be complete. Part of this includes the shoreline of Sunset Lake and the eastern beaver watershed. This property is inclusive of Bennington, Francestown & Greenfield.
Selectman Dumas asked if this would affect the ability to build windmills – Mr. Shumway responded by stating that currently they would not be used, however in the future they might be able to used. There are mixed feelings about not using windmills when consideration is given to the next 100 years. It is very complicated; Mr. Shumway wants to assure the knoll where the windmills would be built would not be able to be developed in the future at this time.
· The construction of one home, began 10 days ago and should be completed in the next 10 days; this will be under the supervision of the residential housing project
· Land clearing for the wood chip & technical skills center has begun. All the permitting is complete; there is a very nice red oak grove.
· Working with Underwood Engineers Inc. for the new wastewater system being installed on the mountain. Mr. Shumway thanked the Board for the letter of support requesting financial assistance through a community development block grant. Selectmen support this grant; the same with water supply for public protection, this grant will help to assure the lands protection in the future. The mountain is looking at a $14 million dollar project which puts them in a position to no longer be able to borrow funding, these grants help significantly, and Mr. Shumway and everyone at the mountain appreciate the town supporting their development.
Decision: Administrative Assistant will work on a draft contract; Mrs. Conway will work with contractors to get final plans. We will try for July 27th for a public informational evening to bring residents up to date, however Mrs. Conway but cannot speak for others, who she does not work for.
With regards to the rental agreement, the agreement should read Crotched Mountain Foundation, with Peak Performance being the program.
Selectmen revisited this after Mrs. Conway, MR. Shumway and Ms. Blaisdell left, the would like the Administrative Assistant to speak with Fran Chapman, Marcia Foster and Hampsey & Grenier to get an idea of fair market value for rentals such as this.
On-going Business:
Wage & Benefits – (To remain on agenda until complete)
· Overtime
· Insurances
· Personal/Sick Time
Church Lease – WORK ON LEASE – (To remain on agenda until) Administrative Assistant mentioned she has been contacted and members of the church are wondering the status of this agreement? Should they come meet with the Board?
Discussion with regards to how many Greenfield residents actually attend the church. Is it truly a community based church? What is the definition of a community based church? How does that affect the lease? This should be on the agenda next week, copy the draft lease to town counsel, omitting the section of proptery removal until a later date.
Cupola – Selectmen would like Deb to contact Bill Harper to find out why the project has come to a stand still.
Other Business:
Selectmen Approval –
· A/P checks & A/P invoices
· Minutes – accept 6/22/06 & 6/29/06 as written
Correspondence-
Open Items – Selectman Kullgren asked for follow-up on the following items:
· Proposal from Wakehandyman – It was determined the Selectmen did not want to take this avenue at this time, a letter to Mr. Wakeman will be drafted for next week.
· Cemetery Costs - Molly updated cemetery costs for repair to stones. Selectmen would like something in writing regarding the Trustees are to take care of this, and when will they take care of it
· Letter from Richard Delay – A note to Mr. Delay regarding forwarding the information from his Attorney, Norman Makechnie, for legal opinion.
· Trails Association – John Hopkins will be in at a later date to discuss building a trail out on Town owned property.
· Personnel Policies – This will be worked on next week.
· Purchase Orders – (core tax) Selectman Kullgren would like Peter Hopkins to clarify exactly what he meant by this.
· Trees at Gazebo – Confirming the trees were trimmed and not removed.
· Budget – Kullgren asked of the $41,094, in General Gov’t Building – how much do we have to actually use, can we replace the furnace? This will be double-checked; depending upon the cost of a new furnace this may be able to be complete in 2006. It has been difficult to obtain quotes from anyone who would install a new furnace.
· Library room – have they begun the project? Selectmen would like them to update the Selectmen on this; the funds for this cannot be encumbered, as it was not a warrant article.
Selectmen discussed the 1998 warrant article that motioned no Greenfield children would have to pay for swimming lessons. Selectmen read the article to mean just that one-year, not indefinitely.
With no further business the Selectmen adjourned the meeting at 7:30 pm. The next scheduled meeting will be Thursday, July 13, 2006 at 5:45 pm the meeting will be a working session for the board only, with the exception of Jim Plourde & Loren White briefly, no appointments should be scheduled.
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