Town of Greenfield
Selectmen’s Meeting Minutes
Thursday – September 21, 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
Debra Davidson, Administrative Assistant taking minutes
Appointments:
7:00 – Recycle Attendant, Frank Pelkey - Mr. Pelkey opened the meeting by apologizing for the letter Recycle Committee Chair, Neal Brown sent to the Selectmen.
Selectman Dumas commented on behalf of the board, that they would like to deal with Department Heads, rather than committee members.
Pelkey discussed why he thinks he needs to have a port-a-potty is because there are now several volunteers that we should provide a toilet for.
Pelkey indicated he has funds in his budget under vehicle maintenance. Selectman Dumas asked why hasn’t the vehicle maintenance money been used? Pelkey stated he would like to not use the vehicle maintenance funds to repair the fork lift. He discussed the fork lift does not have breaks and rather than spend the funds for repairing the fork lift, he would rather only use the fork lift if necessary and replace it with a skid steer in March.
Selectman Dumas asked where Frank would like to put the port a potty?
Pelkey stated he would like to have it at the corner of the building.
Selectmen were all in agreement, they do not want it at the corner of the building, they would prefer to have it out of sight.
Resident Lee Leblanc stated that she would like to see a porta potty because of the times residents that are special needs are at the recycle center. She further stated, often they cannot or do not appropriately relieve themselves, she believes a porta potty could help deter this.
Pelkey also discussed he would like to spend some of his building repairs funds, he would like to put up some wafer board on the interior of the building. The expense is approximately $300.00, Selectmen are ok with this.
Administrative Assistant pointed out that there is only $600 +/- remaining in the part-time wages line item.
Pelkey stated that would be plenty of money for the last ¼ of the year.
7:30 – Road Agent, Duffy Fox- Fox wanted to discuss the bid submitted from Francestown Sand & Gravel for hooking the Old Town Office into the waste water sytem. Selectmen reviewed the one bid from Francestown Sand & Gravel, the total bid is $21,000.00 - Fox stated this bid is about ½ the cost of the original bid.
Selectman Dumas motioned to go forward with the hooking the old town office into the waste water system; utilizing funds throughout the budget where available. Seconded by Selectman Rainier. Discussion followed, the budget was reviewed – funds can be allocated for this project through General Gov’t. Bldgs., $12,000.00; Welfare, $5,000.00; Hwy., $5,000.00; TAN Interest $1,000; Parks & Rec. $2,000.00; Recycle $1,000.00; no further discussion
Voted: All in favor – Unanimously voted in the affirmative.
6:00 – Open bids for ramp – Selectman Kullgren opened & read the bids –
· Bid #1 – DSL Concrete floors, new ipswich; $4,400.00
· Bid #2 Park Place Properties; $7,235.00
· Bid #3 West Rindge Builders; $15,820.00 – A second bid from West Rindge Builders if rails changed to primer and not galvanized steele rails, $11,420.00
Discussion followed, Selectman Rainier read from the IBC book referencing hand rails.
Administrative Assistant was instructed to contact Scott Johnson regarding the time frame for the remaining RD Grant funds. Can we utilize the RD Grant and have the DPW do the work?
Ask other bidders to bid on a handicapped rail. Discuss with Peter the preparation for lights, conduit & rails on both side of the ramp.
Resident Dario Carrara had discussed how much it would cost for a galvanized railing, the cost is approximately $182/foot. He spoke with American Steel about this cost.
Peter Hopkins attended the meeting at this time, Selectmen discussed the bids with Hopkins. Though the advertisement did not specifically indicate IBC Code, Hopkins stated that state statutes allows for the contractors to know the codes to follow. Hopkins suggested we ask the two bidders who did not quote IBC Code to requote the bid.
Selectman Rainier asked Hopkins about the soils scientist map availability, could Karla review the map? Hopkins stated yes, it was in the file.
Bruce Dodge asked a question regqarding the rails on the ramp, does the ramp need two rails? Hopkins stated yes they do to be code compliant.
Hopkins reported that he and FD\ire Chief, Loren White recently attended a meeting discussing the importance of inoculations in the event of some catastrophic happening. Hopkins further discussed that if the need comes to be a reality, Greenfield, Francestown, Bennington and Antrim are all one pod. If the need for inoculations comes about, we will need to have 20-30 volunteers available to coordinate the procedure. Once we get a notice we only have 48 hours to get this going.
Selectmen thanked Hopkins for his input.
On-going Business:
Church Lease – Administrative Assistant reported the Church Leadership group met on Saturday – Sept. 16 – it will be a few weeks before they are prepared to meet with the Board to continue with discussion on the lease.
Other Business:
· P/R – Selectmen signed P/R checks
· Minutes – Selectmen accepted the minutes of 9/14/06
· Boston Post Cane – All set for Sat. Sept., 23 @10:00 am, the presentation will be held at the Historical Society Building
· Wage & Benefit meeting – Selectman Kullgren reported to the Board of the meeting held on 9/19/06. Greg, Deb, Karen & Aaron were all present, they reviewed the Recycle Attendant & Administrative Assistant positions. At next session we will step through the remaining job descriptions, they will review the Police & Parks & Rec.
· Land Use Change Tax – Selectmen discussed considering waiving future LUCT if tax is less than $10.00? Brief discussion, this will be tabled until a later date.
· Abatements – Timber tax; $817.30 (Harriet Russell); Property Assessment; $1,017.40 (Timmons)
· Selectmen – Personnel Evaluations
· Audit – Mason & Rich should have our preliminary management letter available for Selectmen to review next week. Selectman Dumas asked why an audit is necessary. Administrative Assistant explained without one, banks could deny lending to us. An RFP will be sent for next week.
· Budget Time Line – Selectmen reviewed & discussed the time line for the 2007 Budget Cycle
· Meeting changes – With regards to a previous discussion of holding a Tues. meeting, this is no longer necessary. The meeting will still be held on Thursday.
· Blue B Que – Selectmen discussed the Oak Park financials; Selectmen were all in agreement to waive the $126.00 fee for Police overhead expenses for the Blue B Que.
· Annual Report - Selectman Rainier was approached by a resident for an idea of the cover of town report. Photo was provided – discussion followed – no decision at this time.
· Selectmen’s Invitation – Selectmen received an invitation to a gathering at Crotched Mtn. Selectmen will need to check their schedules, Selectman Dumas cannot attend.
Action for Administrative Assistant:
· Export budgets to Excel to create a budget worksheet to be distributed to Dept. Heads.
· Prepare agenda for the BOS for Staff Meeting
· Evaluation sheets & Envelopes to be provided at staff meeting for Dept. Heads.
· Contact Scott Johnson
With no further business the Selectmen adjourned the meeting at 8:30 pm. The next scheduled meeting will be Thursday, September 28, 2006 at 5:45 pm
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