Town of Greenfield
Selectmen’s Meeting Minutes
Tuesday – Sept. 11, 2007 – 6:00 pm
Present: Chairman, Aaron Kullgren; Selectwoman: Karen Day; Selectman: Jarvis Adams, IV
Debra Davidson, Administrative Assistant taking minutes
Call to Order: 6:00 pm
Appointments:
6:00 – Fire Chief, Jim Plourde –
· Personnel – Chief Plourde asked to address a personnel matter that has previously transpired between himself and one of the Selectmen. He wanted the board to know, he has been advised by his attorney not to speak to the particular board member alone at any time. Chairman Kullgren asked if Chief Plourde would like a non-public session at this time to address the matter with the board as a whole. Plourde responded by stating at this time he does not want a non-public and does not want to address the matter again right now, he may at a later date.
· Trash – Chief Plourde asked why the recyclables have not been picked up for two weeks at the Fire Station. He has mandated the members of the fire dept. recycle and the bins need to be emptied. Administrative Assistant will contact Mr. Sousa and see why he hasn’t been to the fire station. Kullgren asked Plourde to apologize to the fire dept. as a whole, and the central office will take care of this.
Maintenance – Selectman Adams wanted to address a couple maintenance matters.
· Lighting – The light at the town office on the flag is still not working – Deb will have Mr. Sousa look into this again. Also the lights on the entryway need to be replaced, Mr. Sousa will have to address them as well.
· Streetlights – Adams mentioned that the streetlights go out whenever there is a power outage – Plourde stated he is aware of this and is responsible for taking care of them.
· Spider nests – Adams reported there have been complaints about the number of the spider nests on the town office building – Davidson was instructed to have Mr. Sousa take care of this as soon as possible.
Recycle – Selectmen wanted to discuss the recycle center with Mr. Plourde while he was available
· Personnel - Assistant Davidson wanted it noted that she has had a lot of good feedback about the friendliness & helpfulness of Jim, Chip & Gary while they were filling in at the recycle center. Deb thanked them all for their support while Frank was out. Jim said he really enjoyed working at the recycle center.
· Demo Dumpster - Selectman Adams stated that some other matters he would like to address are that the demo dumpster has been having items disposed in it that should not be in the dumpster. There has to be better policing of what is being disposed of, this is the responsibility of the supervisor and he needs to be more cognitive of what is being disposed of. Adams also noted that items have been being dropped off at the recycle shed that shouldn’t be, this also needs to be addressed. The flow of traffic was also discussed.
· Loading Dock – Selectmen & Plourde discussed the progress being made on the loading dock. The land is very rocky, making it hard to dig in. But the project is coming along nicely.
Other Matters –
· Banking – Plourde asked if the banking glitches that took place this week were taken care of and further asked if this will happen again. Assistant Davidson explained to the Board of Selectmen some recent banking problems the Town had this week. The first issue was regarding electronic transfers. The new Treasurer, Katherine Heck went to make an electronic transfer, to her amaze she gained total access to the accounts for Greenfield, Mass. Mrs. Heck addressed this issue with several members of TDBanknorth, with only minimal satisfaction. The second problem was the direct deposits for payroll did not get released properly; this error did not
allow employees with direct deposit access to their funds until Tuesday. Davidson & Heck took care of the problem, however neither is satisfied with the resolution. RFP for banking services will be mailed out shortly, as it is agreed it is time to revisit our banking needs and decide if TD Banknorth is servicing us adequately.
Chairman Kullgren would like the bank to send all employees with Direct Deposit letters of apology and assurance if any errors are made in their accounts TDBanknorth will make it right.
· Lyndeborough Mtn. Road – Plourde reported that while he was up on Lyndeborough Mtn. Road taking photos of the culverts, road etc., Mr. Nadeau commented to Plourde that he feels that if the fire pond on the Nadeau property is not being filled by the stream that he was going to let the pond dry up and fill it in. Plourde indicated he responded to Nadeau the he (Plourde) believes the town has an easement for the water rights to the pond and Nadeau cannot fill in the pond for this reason. Plourde also stated that DES would have something to say about filling in wetlands. Several people are reviewing various files for verification of this easement.
Discussion followed - No decisions were made at this time.
6:30 – Waste Disposal Bids – The Selectmen received two bids for the Waste Disposal, the bids were submitted from GW Shaw & Monadnock Disposal they are as follows:
· Monadnock Disposal - $115.00/ton – includes one 30 yard roll off for demo material; Compactor box for the town compactor; (both containers are free of charge) No fuel surcharge, price good for 3 years
· G.W. Shaw – $90.00/ton - $50.00 rental fee; $175.00 hauling fee; compactor box demo container; container for plastic co-mingle if needed.
At this time the Selectmen began to discuss the two proposals. Assistant Davidson got the previous 12 months invoices and they all reviewed the tonnage. Prices reviewed and compared pretty closely
Proposal by Kullgren to accept the bid as submitted by MDS as it includes a 3-year pricing lock. Jarvis wanted to discuss this further.
Decision: No decision at this time, the Board will make a decision at the meeting scheduled for Tuesday, September 18th.
Recycle – Davidson presented the Board with an application for the P/T temporary recycle position – brief discussion followed, no action taken at this time.
8:25 – Budget Committee Members - Bruce Dodge & Myron Steere (they were not scheduled on the agenda) Dodge & Steere discussed budgets, ideas for new offices, window inserts and a variety of other items.
Other Business:
2007 Warrant Article #19 – Town Meeting article will not be accepted by DRA – the amendment to adopt NH RSA 72:61-72 (solar, wind & wood energy) involves money, having been moved from the floor it was not warned to the public properly, therefore the DRA notified Administrative Assistant that they are not accepting the article for 2007. Discussion followed, this can be added to the warrant for 2008. Deb was instructed to contact Bob Jennings in morning and let him know this information.
Town Meeting minutes – DRA has again contacted the Administrative Assistant, the Town Meeting minutes have errors, they need to be corrected or the DRA will make changes to our budget reflecting the minutes not the MS-2. Also they will not set the tax rate with the errors. Selectman Kullgren instructed Deb to contact Dee, Dee is to have the minutes in the mail to the DRA corrected, by Thursday.
Resident Letter – Review letter from Mr. & Mrs. Kemp regarding Junkyards – Selectmen appreciate the thoughts and will consider their recommendations. Selectman Adams stated the Planning Board has reviewed the letter as well. It is the thought of the Planning Board the Code Officer has the tools via the State Statutes to enforce the excess vehicles if he chooses. The State recommends, but does not mandate towns to have a junkyard ordinance.
Decision: Selectmen would like the Code Officer to come meet with them to discuss driveways & junkyards.
Planning Board – Adams mentioned the Planning Board would like a separate driveway ordinance - there are currently two situations in town that driveways were not built to spec. The Planning Board has sent letters to the owners involved, the property owners must get the driveways repaired, if the property owners don’t do it, then the town can repair the driveways and send an invoice to the property owners. Adams commented that the Planning Board & Selectmen need to be on the same page with this item.
Lengthy discussion followed pertaining to driveways and the importance of them being properly built. With regards to the importance of having driveways being built properly for safety reasons is an enforcement issue. Enforcement needs to be taken more seriously; it would relieve the property owner’s unnecessary expense if inspections were done as the driveways were being built.
Budget – Review & discuss BOS proposed 2008 budgets –
· Wages
· Insurances
· Needs (i.e. painting, roofs, etc.) Selectman Adams will contact Bob Jennings and discuss the heating source for the Town Office building.
· Selectwoman Day discussed her thoughts about protecting the downtown aquifer. She asked that Deb contact Paul Suska of Francestown who works at the DES; he could offer some good advice. Day feels strongly about budgeting some funds for this in 2008. Adams asked if we get the water tested for the town office, Deb responded that we do not. Selectmen suggested we have the water tested at least once; we can do it at Chemserv in Milford.
Auditor – The treasurer books will be audited up through Sept. 4, beginning the end of next week. This provides a good beginning balance for the new treasurer.
Francestown Land Trust – Deb discussed that on June 26, 2007 the BOS met with the Francestown Land Trust – The decision the board made was Karen would bring the offer to the ConCom to discuss, they in turn would report to the Board their thoughts. To date, we have not heard anything. Day reported the Concom’s recommendation would be to sell the land to FLT. This will automatically protect the property and it would go to a good cause. Adams stated for the record, he would like to contact abutters to see if they are interested in acquiring the property. He believes the Selectmen’s first responsibility is to the taxpayers.
Decision: Letters to be mailed to abutters, tell them the tax amount if deeded
Legal –
· 2008 Budget - Per John Teague he recommended the Town budget $25,000 for the 2008 budget
· Norm Makechnie letter regarding Delay lot – Attorney Teague recalls that we stated we could not commit in advance for future Selectmen with regards to leaving the wastewater hookups open ended. John will review the file & write a letter to Norm Makechnie, copy the letter to the Town. Teague further believes too much time has passed and Delay’s may have a hard time rebuilding.
P/T Recycle Position – Chairman Kullgren reviewed a couple of job applications that have been submitted for the part time position at the recycle center. No decision was made at this time.
Perambulation – Deb reminded the Board of the meeting on Monday, September 17, 2007 at 7:00 pm with Lyndeborough Selectmen. The meeting will take place at the Greenfield Town Office.
8:10 pm in accordance with RSA 91A:II 3 (a) Personnel - motion by Selectwoman Day to enter into a non-public session. Seconded by Selectmen Adams - Voted Unanimously.
8:25 pm – motion by Selectwoman Day to enter out of the nonpublic and to further seal the minutes. Seconded by Adams & Kullgren. Voted Unanimously.
Decision: No decision was made
Chairman Kullgren asked that one-hour be set aside for budget work next week. No appointments other than Mr. Pelkey will be scheduled. Kullgren asked Deb to provide the Board with the current valuation of the town – (MS-1), also he would like to know the current state of the 2007 budget, with less than ¼ year to go the Board may choose to put a freeze on spending.
With no further business the meeting adjourned at 9:00 pm, the next scheduled meeting is Monday, September 17, 2007 at 7:00 pm.
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