Town of Greenfield
Selectmen’s Meeting Minutes
Meeting held at the Greenfield Fire Station
Tuesday – September 23, 2008 – 6:00 pm
Present: Chairman, Aaron Kullgren; Selectman, Jarvis Adams, IV; Selectwoman, Karen Day
Minutes: Administrative Assistant, Deb Davidson
Call to order: Chairman Kullgren called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm
Appointments:
Tour of the Fire Station by Chief Plourde
6:15 – Treasurer, Katherine Heck – Mrs. Heck attended the meeting to discuss budgets, financial standing, the revolving account etc.
· Treasurer Report - Mrs. Heck provided the Board with a report of the Town’s financial standing, as of August 31, 2008 for review.
· Warrant Articles – Mrs. Heck would like a warrant article to be on the March warrant authorizing the closure of the 200th anniversary account and the Forest Fire Fighters savings. She further recommended using the Forest Fire Fighters money to add to the Fire Dept. CRF.
· Public Deposit Investment Plan – The current PDIP does not reflect the Blue B Que funds yet. Those funds are in a higher yielding account until and will be closed in March.
· Certificate of Deposits – A 30 day CD was opened on July 24th, 2008, with a $300,000 balance. Interest year to date is $2,122.00; this offsets TAN interest we will pay. We have only borrowed $37,000.00 from the current TAN. Town funds are being utilized, as frugally as possible, actual cash on the end of August was $9,000.00. Mrs. Heck is borrowing TAN money rather than using the CD for keeping the town checkbook flowing. In 2007 $40,000.00 was borrowed in August, so the Town is doing a little better.
· Bonding - As far as bonding is concerned, until some bonds are paid down Mrs. Heck does not recommend bonding anything else. Taxpayers need to be educated, as far as if bonds are paid down, and then borrow again how/why tax rate will increase.
Chairman Kullgren asked Mrs. Heck who she is discussing this with, Heck responded she has been speaking to with George Dow from TDBanknorth and Barbara Reid, of the LGC regarding the Town of Greenfield Bond standing.
Selectwoman Day asked about timing for bonding.
Heck stated she would like to see the bond status go back up before encouraging the Town to vote to bond anything.
Gene Mitchell asked about capital reserve funds, and stated that would be a good way to offset any tax increase.
Everyone agreed.
Discussion followed regarding bonding, CRF, Savings, Tax Rate and more. Kullgren discussed if Katherine wants to be on the agenda next week, we can discuss other matters that she wants to discuss.
6:30 – Town Forester, Karla Allen – Karla met with the Board to inform them she has taken a new job and leaving NEFP. She is relocating, however she will be traveling and will be in the area quite often. She would like to remain the town forester. She knows she can logistically handle the position still. Selectmen stated they are fine with keeping Karla as the Town Forester, they wished her well with her new adventure.
6:35 – Police Chief, Brian Giammarino – Brian discussed statistics regarding calls to CMRC – Giammarino provided the Board with a report he received from dispatch, the report goes back four years. Each call is broken down by roads at the Mountain. Giammarino is working on preparing the number of hours that the calls have required. The calls from dispatch are exactly that, only calls that are dispatched, the report does not include calls that are made to the police station, radioed or that the police come across by doing routine patrol.
After some research it should be noted that calls to Crotched Mountain only, for the last 4 years are:
2005 – 145 calls
2006 – 189 calls
2007 – 202 calls
2008 – 186 calls to date
Giammarino stated that the police respond each time rescue is called out as well. Giammarino went on to give examples of calls received, and further explained the Hillsborough County report.
Gene Mitchell asked how many calls are made to the police department? Giammarino stated a lot, if people see the cruiser they call.
Selectmen would like to meet with Chief Giammarino again in a week or two. They thanked Brian for coming to the meeting and updating them.
7:14 – Gene Mitchell – Mr. Mitchell was not on the agenda, however wanted just a minute of the Boards time. Chairman Kullgren stated that would be fine. Mr. Mitchell wanted to discuss a fax the BOS received from Silas Little regarding the ZBA. Kullgren read the letter aloud. The letter is requesting the decision recently made by the ZBA be vacated due to the fact that there were no minutes available for reference. Mitchell discussed the ZBA required the fire pond, the plan originally called for a cistern. Mitchell commented that he doesn’t feel the zoning board is being chaired properly, minutes are not timely and decisions seem to be prejudiced. Kullgren stated that the Selectboard would ask questions of the zoning board and get back to Mr. Mitchell.
7:20 – GCCC, Michael Sparling & Mike Borden, GCCC Leadership Team – Mike & Mike met with the Board to discuss extending the lease for the GCCC. The current lease is ready to expire April 2009; they would like to request the current lease be extended by approximately two years. Mike Sparling discussed how the lease came about originally.
Action: Deb will look into how to extend the current lease two more years. She will get a letter off to Mike Borden as soon as she is advised how to proceed.
Mike Sparling commented that they would like an escape clause written into the document for the purpose of in the event something happens and they come into some means of moving forward faster.
7:30 – Fire Chief, Jim Plourde – Chief Plourde started by going over his budget, indicated that he has been keeping good records and is right on track with his 2008 budget.
· Turnout Gear - He has purchased new Fire turnout gear, he actually purchased the gear in May it has been delivered twice and was incorrect so had to be sent back.
· Gated Y – Plourde reported he has ordered the Gated Y, which too was received and had to be returned, as it was not the proper size. The equipment replacement & equipment line items will be used as soon as the gear is in and invoiced.
· Fuel - Gas & diesel are pretty much right on, as is heating fuel.
· Building repairs – Plourde mentioned that if there were enough funds in the building repairs line item, he would like to see about replacing the on demand hot water system. It has been unreliable and needs to be replaced.
· Fire Prevention - Fire prevention will be expended this coming week.
· Expense reimbursement - Expense reimbursement will be expended in November.
· 2009 Preliminary budget - Plourde briefly discussed the proposed 2009 budget, needs to replace tires for the pumper, they are approximately $500.00/tire. He just had the muffler & tailpipe replaced on the new truck – Engine #3. The crew has been doing an excellent job at keeping the trucks clean.
· Fireman’s Insurance - Kullgren asked if there were any funds for the fireman insurance plan that had been discussed earlier in the year. In the event that a volunteer were hurt, this insurance would cover the volunteers when at non-mandatory training functions.
Plourde stated he believes he will have some funds left over in the budget. Plourde explained the subsidy insurance that the State of NH, Firefighters Association offers. Will help pay if anyone is hurt. It is a relatively inexpensive insurance plan. There is a death benefit with this insurance policy as well.
· Memberships - Chief Plourde & Deputy Chief White are going to be doing a membership drive in the fall. Plourde discussed rescue calls during the day and the fact that the manpower is just not available.
· Statistics – Plourde discussed statistics for the last three years, focusing on CMRC he reported that in
2006 – 27.5% of the Fire/Rescue calls were to CMRC
2007 –26% of calls were to CMRC
2008 call volume is down.
Plourde indicated he would like to have CMRC work with the town, possibly have an EMT on site. He explained how they couldn’t roll the truck if a non-medical qualified person does not respond, which then activates the Peterborough Ambulance. Plourde discussed how many medical calls are sent to CMRC.
· Programs – Chief Plourde discussed that the department has discussed proposing a fire alarm activation call program. This type of program would charge for calls above 2/year or some sort of policy to that effect.
· Grant Application – Chief Plourde still has not heard anything on the grant. He has received notice that only three departments in the state have received denial notices. The grant is on round 10 in their process. He may not hear anything as late as March, this s a slow process. Discussion regarding the need for continuing with a CRF followed.
With no further business, the Board thanked Chief Plourde for holding the BOS meeting at the Fire Station. Everyone enjoyed the tour of the station.
Other matters:
Selectmen reviewed the miscellaneous mail.
· Letters - Attorney, Silas Little to the ZBA asking them to vacate their decision re: Sawmill Estates – discussion followed surrounding the water pond. No decisions were made; this will be turned over to the ZBA.
GIVers – The BOS reviewed the proposal from the GIVers requesting their ability to utilize the garden space in the old ball field. The Selectboard would like to discuss this with Duffy & the GIVers before any decisions are made. Set up a meeting with Duffy & GIVers at a meeting, possibly the Oct. 7th meeting, to discuss this. No decisions were made
· PILOT - Selectmen would like to discuss the Ploughshare PILOT among themselves next week
· Appointment - Selectmen signed an appointment as Library Trustee, Alternate for Robert Marshall
· Crosswalks –Selectmen discussed the letter from the DOT. The board will authorize the DPW to maintain the crosswalks in the future. Karen discussed the part of the letter, that if the town takes over this responsibility, are we now responsible for continuing to update the ADA portions as well. Deb was instructed to ask Keith Pratt about the crosswalk by the Delay parking lot and to also contact the DOT and ask about truncated domes etc.
· Library Egress – Selectmen discussed the library & the egress or need for the egress. Selectman Adams spoke with Code Officer, Peter Hopkins who stated that he has a call to the Fire Marshall; they will go look at the situation and make the recommendation. Deb was instructed to let the library trustees know of this meeting between Hopkins & the Fire Marshall.
· Driveway – A resident on Muzzy Hill Rd. had asked the BOS to view his driveway and assess the situation as it has changed since the road has been worked on. Selectman Adams had viewed the situation, discussed the driveway, it appears that the driveway may need a culvert. Adams will look at the driveway with Duffy and get back to the resident. Duffy should contact Adams to set up a time they can meet.
· Cleaning – Adams reported that the men’s bathroom light is out, and the bathroom needs cleaning.
· October 7th meeting – The Selectmen would like to have Chief Plourde & Chief Giammarino available for the BOS meeting on October 7.
Adjournment - With no further business the meeting adjourned at 9:00 pm. The next scheduled meeting will be Tuesday, September 30, 2008 at 6:00 pm at the Town Office.
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