Town of Greenfield
Selectmen’s Meeting Minutes
Thursday – September 28, 2006 – 5:45 pm
Present: Selectmen - Chairman, Conrad Dumas; Selectman, Aaron Kullgren; Selectman George Rainier
Selectman Dumas called the meeting to order at 5:45 pm
Debra Davidson, A.A. taking minutes
Appointments:
5:45 – Planning Board Chair, Dario Carrara – Chairman Carrara came before the Board looking for directive regarding the re-submittal from Landmark for a proposed subdivision of the Hugh O’Brien property on Gulf Road. Chairman Carrara asked what the Board of Selectmen’s comment was on the Landmark situation. Before Selectmen answered this question, Chairman Carrara gave a brief synopsis of what has transpired.
The first application to subdivide the O’Brien property would have created a non conforming lot. There was not adequate frontage, the Planning Board denied the application.
The second application was for an open space development plan, there were issues with access and frontage, debate about wetlands, steep slopes etc. were concerns, this application was also denied.
At this time, Landmark Development has filed a lawsuit against the Greenfield ZBA & Planning Board.
There has now been a third application for a minor subdivision submitted by Landmark, they would like to subdivide the O’Brien Homested from the remaining land, creating two lots. They have asked the Planning Board to allow them to upgrade part of Gulf road to a Class V from a Class VI in order to facilitate this subdivision. Chairman Carrara stated it is his understanding the Planning Board cannot authorize this, Landmark must come before the Board of Selectmen first.
Chairman Dumas concurs with this, this proposal must first go before the Board of Selectmen before any road improvements can begin.
Carrara asked if Landmark Development has approached the Selectmen?
Selectmen all agreed that they have not, there has been absolutely no communication with Landmark Development.
Carrara asked if the Board of Selectmen had any question, comments, advice etc. about the lawsuit? Carrara has spoken to Town Counsel about the most recent (3rd) application, there is a statute that protects communities from having the same application(s) being submitted.
Loren White stated he questions if the Board should even accept the application, whereas a court proceeding has already been filed.
Carrara stated he questioned this with Town Counsel and was instructed this is a topic that has been considered, the lawsuit should be considered separate from the application per town counsel.
Selectman Dumas instructed Carrara that it is his practice that once a lawsuit filed, everything goes directly through the Town Counsel.
Selectman Rainier suggested that the town boards should get together as a whole to discuss this.
Action: Administrative Assistant was instructed to arrange a meeting with the Chair & Vice Chair of the Board of Selectmen, Zoning Board, Planning Board, ConCom & Town Counsel.
Motion by Selectman Dumas to revise the personnel policy – page 13, section 9.7; to accept the revisions as written, seconded by Kullgren. Discussion followed, this was at the advise of counsel to follow the Family Medical Leave Act.
All in favor: Voted: Kullgren, Yes; Dumas, Yes; Rainier, Yes – Unanimously voted
6:00 - Key Staff Meeting - Selectman Dumas opened this portion of the meeting by discussing the Selectmen have prepared an agenda to be followed on their part; he read the agenda and reiterated, if time allows they will then let the different departments speak to their departments, but the Board had a few items they wanted to review with staff.
· Changes to Benefits: Dumas discussed there are additional vacation days – Selectman Dumas read the changes (attached); Selectman Kullgren explained a day is equal to 8 hours, a week is 40 hours. Selectman Dumas explained the 8 hour day and 40 hour work week, explaining if an employee works 10 hours/day a sick day or personal day is only equivalent to 8 hours, if the employee is expecting pay for the entire 10 hours, two hours will have to be made up. Sick & Personal time, increased from 5 to 8 days.
Linda Dodge asked if vacation time can be taken consecutively? And does their need to be coverage? Dumas stated that it is up to the dept. head to run their dept. how they see appropriate.
· Wage & Benefit Committee update: Selectman Kullgren explained that the Committee has been working on various job descriptions, he further explained that the committee is working on establishing an employee self evaluation, as well as, having Department Heads and the Board of Selectmen evaluate employees. A document was provided for everyone to review; a “how to” guide is also available for review. Kullgren explained the most important aspect of this is the opportunity for goal setting.
With regards to job descriptions, the committee is reviewing all job descriptions, and will present them to the Selectmen and encourage the Selectboard to provide their input. The board should review them before providing them to the respective departments. This will be a moving target and will most likely continue to change throughout time. Dumas stated that it is his opinion, this is a committee that was voted on at town meeting, the BOS is working with job descriptions that were presented in 2000 by the Local Government Center.
· Break time – Selectman Kullgren discussed the fact that there has been confusion regarding break times. Kullgren reviewed RSA 275;30-A which refers to days off & days of rest. The Federal Law does not require a lunch break, it is within the boards pervue to review and determine if employees can eat on the job, it is the boards authority to allow the choice to forfeit a lunch break if they choose. This will be tabled and reviewed more thoroughly before a policy will be put into place.
· Personnel Policy Revisions – Selectman Dumas again discussed the evaluations, he explained that the Board of Selectmen are going to ask 5 employees to complete the evaluation on themselves within the next two weeks, the self evaluation should be place in the sealed envelope provided and then returned to the selectmen. The 5 people who will be asked to evaluate themselves will be Deb, Brian, Frank, Duffy & Molly. The Selectmen will then review the self evaluations and then while in a non-public session discuss the evaluations with each employee, the Board of Selectmen have already reviewed these 5 employees among themselves.
· Time Cards – Bookkeeper, Catherine Shaw explained that if salaried employees take a week off, but it includes going through the weekend, it becomes more complicated if you don’t normally work on a Monday or a Friday. She further explained while tracking time off, you would put time off if you took Wed. – Tue, it would be recorded Wed., Thur., Fri., Mon., & Tues., you would not include the weekends.
She discussed the clock time, people seem to be confused if you work until 5:15 – you don’t put 5:15, you put 5:25 it is 5 and ¼ hours. The Town utilizes 15 minute increments, .25, .50, .75 etc.
Lastly, as department heads submitting time cards, they need to be sure the addition is correct before it gets to the bookkeeper, if it is incorrect we have to get everyone to sign their time cards again, it can be time consuming and has held up completing payroll in the past.
· Budget Time line – Selectman Dumas reviewed the time line for town meeting, he asked that any warrant articles that may be proposed be presented as soon as possible. This helps with presenting an accurate budget, the less surprises the better. John Halper asked if he could have an extension in presenting the Capital Improvements Plan, as the hearing is October 16, ; then the CIP needs to be voted on by the Planning Board, Mr. Halper asked if November is an acceptable time for this to be presented? Selectmen support Mr. Halpers request to submit the CIP at a later date. Selectman Rainier suggested that if budgets are not in on time, the
Selectboard will utilize the 2006 budget. No decision was made regarding this.
Linda Dodge commented she likes the meeting room re-arranged.
Fire Chief, Loren White asked if the Board had an opportunity to review the e-mail he had sent to them? Selectmen all responded that they had. Chief White further discussed he intends to present a warrant article to replace the fire truck in 2007. The Fire Dept. has applied for a Federal Grant in hopes of paying for the truck, we need to assure we are awarded the grant before the truck can be purchased, however if they do not receive the grant, the Fire Dept. will be asking for a new truck in 2008.
7:00 – Albert Burtt, Trustee – Mr. Burtt stated he had several things he wanted to discuss.
· Statistical Appraisal: First he wanted some clarification of exactly what a statistical appraisal is, he stated he is curious does everyone’s base change or just his? Administrative Assistant reported everyone’s increases, no single resident can be changed.
Mr. Burtt wanted to know why then they did a statistical on the neighbors and her assessment when up, his went down? He would like this clarified, Deb will discuss this with John Duhamel and report back to him.
· Votes: On another note, Mr. Burtt wants to know why when a vote is taken it isn’t reflected how each Selectman voted, particularly on the appeals. All they say is it either denied or approved, he would like to see a roll call vote.
Bruce Dodge commented that not sure if when complying with Roberts Rule of Vote a roll call vote is required. This will be looked into.
· McKenna Fund: Mr. Burtt stated he will have a check from the McKenna fund on Monday, he further stated it won’t be much, but it will be something.
· Resignation: Mr. Burtt presented a letter of resignation from all boards he serves on, to Selectman Dumas. Selectmen regretfully received his letter of resignation. Selectman Kullgren will send a letter of reconsideration to Mr. Burtt. Administrative Assistant was instructed to look into what our options are at this time for replacement.
On-going Business:
Church Lease – To remain on the agenda until the Board meets with the Leadership Group.
Other Business:
· A/P checks
· Minutes – Selectmen accepted the minutes of 9/14/06 & 9/21/06
· Muzzey Hill Road – Rhonda Cilley was present and asked the Board of Selectmen what the process is to get the upgrade they did this summer accepted as a Class V road, they would like to put a warrant article on the 2007 warrant.
Selectman Dumas responded that in the past the road must go one entire year and then to town meeting for vote.
Rhonda stated she understood that is a road; however what they upgraded was not going to be traveled, or even plowed.
Road Agent, Duffy Fox stated that the Town would be plowing the extension. Mostly, to see how it holds up.
Selectman Rainier stated this is an upgrade not a new road.
Selectman Dumas wanted it known that the Board of Selectmen would not have gone this far if they didn’t anticipate accepting the road.
Rhonda again stated they would like to put the acceptance of this upgrade on the warrant in March 2007, not 2008, they would put a warranty bond if the road did go to warrant 2007 March, then the town would take responsibility during the winter months, and if the road wasn’t sufficient the bond would cover the road.
Rhonda asked if the Selectmen will then entertain putting the acceptance of the upgrade on this year’s ballot, providing it holds up this winter and the Road Agent could accept it in the spring.
Action: It will be put in writing that the road will be accepted for a warrant article in March.
A formal document will be written outlining the expectations
The Administrative Assistant and Town Counsel will prepare a “warranty bond”.
Selectmen will write the warrant article in March.
· Website Calendar – Discussion regarding the request from the Samhein Celebration to be posted on the Town Community Calendar? Selectmen unanimously denied this request.
· Spider nests – It was suggested while the lift is here, the spider nests on the top of the building be cleaned. This cannot be done at this time; the town doesn’t have the proper equipment.
· Waste Water Hook-up – Selectmen discussed the transferring of funds from various budgets to pay for the hook up for the Old Town Office. Administrative Assistant was authorized to a send memo notifying the various departments of this decision. The Selectmen have contracted Francestown Sand and Gravel, work will begin on Tuesday October 3.
· Meeting change – Selectman Dumas has a conflict for the October 12th Selectmen’s Meeting, discussion will take place October 5th, either cancel the meeting on the 12th or hold it the 10th.
· Personnel Policies –
Vacation: Selectmen would like to reconsider and review the 3 months – 1-year vacation policy.
FMLA – Page 14, Section 9.7 – Selectmen would like to change if an employee does take FMLA their hire date would be reviewed upon the return of the leave, the date by which vacation would be figured.
Motion by Selectman Kullgren to change Section 9.7 on page 14 of the Personnel Policies to change words the accrued, in all instances, to unused; with the exception of the last sentence, and to further have John Teague clarify this sentence. Seconded by Selectman Rainier, no further discussion. Voted: Kullgren, Yes; Rainier, Yes; Dumas, Yes. Unanimously voted in the affirmative.
7:45 - Fire Dept. – Fire Chief, Loren White & Lieutenant, Jim Plourde – Chief White & Plourde returned to discuss the Fire Dept. has received a check from a manufacturer that recalled an item the Fire Dept. purchased with the grant funding. The question is are they obligated to return the funds to the grant or are they able to purchase additional equipment? Loren hasn’t spoken to the federal government yet to determine how this check should be handled.
Discussion followed, at this time there is no replacement equipment available for the item that was recalled. The check was written to the Greenfield Fire Association, however the grant called for the town to approve a matching 10% funding for the acceptance of this grant, should the funds go back to the town or the Association.
Action: Administrative Assistant was instructed to contact the Local Government Center to determine how this should be handled, she will report back to the Board & to Chief White.
White further commented that when inspections done to homes for fire inspections, donations are often made to the Greenfield Fire Association, the funds are used to purchase safety equipment for the Fire Dept., White just wanted the Board to be aware of this.
With no further business the Selectmen adjourned the meeting at 8:10 pm. The next scheduled meeting will be Thursday, October 5, 2006 at 5:45 pm
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