Minutes
Town of Greenfield
Greenfield Town Offices, 7 Sawmill Road Greenfield, NH
Selectmen’s Meeting Minutes
Thursday, December January 12, 2012 – 6:30 pm
Board of Selectmen: Chairman, Aaron Kullgren; Selectwoman, Karen Day; Selectman, Robert Wimpory
Staff: Town Administrator Patt, Police Chief Giammarino
The meeting was called to order at 6:30 PM by Chairman Aaron Kullgren.
Documents for Approval/Review/Signature
The Selectmen reviewed and signed the following items:
A/P Invoices
A/P Manifest / Checks
Approval of Selectman’s Minutes of September 5th
Town Report Greenfield Recycling
Land Use Change Tax form
Vacation Request form
City of Keene Recycling Commitment letter
Selectmen’s Advisory Meeting Conval January 18th
Tino Enterprises Letter to State of New Hampshire
ARRA Addendum to HIPAA Bus. Associate Agrmt. (3) copies
LGC Flexibile Benefits Plan Adoption Agreement
FSA Administrative Services Agreement
PPACA Amendment to FSA Benefits Plan
6:30 PM: Document Signing and Review of Correspondence
The Board of Selectmen reviewed correspondence and signed documents.
Before the first meeting a short discussion of the budget took place including the proposed use of fund balance to offset capital reserve funds. Because of rescheduling and inclement weather that caused changes to the schedule, this discussion continued until 8:15 PM.
Supervisor Burgess stopped in and provided a short update on the electrician’s work at the Recycling Center. An issue was found during the course of the work on the lights, which the electrician indicated was outside of the original quote but could be corrected at a cost of $100 to the Town. The issue was a couple of overloaded circuits that came to light when the wiring was being traced. Supervisor Burgess indicated she approved this work. The Board noted that this would need to be billed from the 2012 budget.
The Administrator asked the Board to approve paying a legal bill that contained Planning Board hours, and which was received after January 10th, the last day before the books close for outside vendors, from the 2011 general legal budget. As background, the Planning Board budget was encumbered to pay for Master Plan updates in order to bring the Plan into compliance with new regulations. However, as a result of the timing of two invoices, including a much larger than anticipated clerical invoice, the Planning Board budget would exceed their 2011 budget if this legal bill were paid from the Planning Board legal line item. In order that the encumbrance of funds for the Master Plan be preserved it was explained that the Board could look at paying the legal bill entirely from the general legal
budget. A brief discussion followed. The Board asked if the legal budget for the Planning Board could be tracked and it was indicated that the Planning Board Chair had assured that a paper trail would be created to track this one time event and to make sure that the cost of the AT&T cell tower was available and transparent in the future. The Board held a roll call vote to approve the payment as outlined, which passed on a vote of 3-0.
A discussion of the Town’s employee healthcare program was briefly held. As previously communicated the current provider, Primex, has decided to leave the health care market. In this discussion the Administrator was tasked with compiling the information on the available pools. The Administrator indicated that he had held a meeting with LGC at the office to discuss their offer in detail. He had also called Schoolcare and Al Jones of the Interlocal Trust. The Administrator reported that LGC is the largest pool provider of healthcare and the provider is Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield. LGC provides healthcare to municipalities in the State of New Hampshire as part of its pool of municipal and SAU employees. In conversation with Al Jones, the New Hampshire Interlocal Trust was outlined as a non-profit
organization that was being set-up in response to Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare’s interest in maintaining its NH presence after the decision by Primex to exit the market. The Interlocal Trust was reported to have 5 sponsors (the requirement is two) and would have their paperwork completed at the State level in the next few weeks. A primary difference between LGC and the Interlocal Trust was that LGC was a non-profit administering a healthcare plan provided by a for-profit health care company (BC&BS) while the Interlocal Trust was a non-profit administering a healthcare plan for a not for profit healthcare provider, Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare. Schoolcare is a much smaller pool, which carries three product options. The representative from LGC said in the meeting that if Greenfield chose to switch to an LGC plan that it would likely be a simple switch for the employees since Anthem Blue Cross has such a large number of doctors in their network. The Board discussed the timeline
for the availability of the Interlocal Trust and the Chair suggested that the Administrator contact the Conval School system and inquire what plan they have available.
8:00 PM Meeting Resident Jeff Wing:
Mr. Wing was unable to meet the Select Board due to the inclement weather
8:15 PM Police Chief Brian Giammarino
This meeting was rescheduled from 7:00 PM at the request of Chief Giammarino earlier in the day. Chief Giammarino came before the Select Board to discuss his vacation time. Before the discussion started the Board asked the Chief how things were going in town. Chief Giammarino said that there had recently been some troubling burglaries in town that had resulted in the theft of high value jewelry. He indicated that Greenfield residents should be told to take caution in light of the burglaries, to lock up their homes when they go out and to take precaution with their valuables. There followed a brief discussion of Chief Giammarino’s time management skills as it relates to handling resident issues. The Chief explained that he would be instituting some changes for follow-up on certain calls for service.
This would include setting appointments with individuals to ensure that the office is available for all residents in town. Chief Giammarino said that the department has two full time police officers including the Chief and as a result investigations and follow-up have to be managed carefully to ensure efficiency going forward. Chief Giammarino went on to explain that the primary reason for his visit with the Board was his desire to carry-over some vacation time from the previous year. The number of calls per service in 2011, including those from Crotched Mountain, and the amount of shifts that the Chief covers prevented him from taking his vacation time. The Board reminded Chief Giammarino that they were serious in all their previous discussion that he needs to ensure that he schedule his vacation and to take it. Chief Giammarino assured the Board that he would take a vacation in 2012. On a roll call vote the Board allowed the carry-over of vacation time from 2011 to 2012 for Chief
Giammarino.
Budget Discussion for 2012
The Board reviewed the 2012 Budget Meeting. The Board also reviewed the vacation schedule and asked the Administrator to look at the non-public meeting minutes for corrections and to advise of any further requests for vacation carry-over. The 2012 proposed budget was examined at length with the Chairman suggesting several changes to the budgeted revenue amounts. The timeline for the Town Warrant was discussed. During the conversation there were several questions posed about the DPW budget for road reconstruction. As a result of these questions it was requested that the DPW supervisor attend the meeting on the 19th to explain the cost of buying gravel for road construction versus making the gravel from a gravel pit here in Town. It was explained that in past years the Board had been told that
there was plenty of gravel in Town for the foreseeable future. The Administrator explained that the Forest Road site had not had a topographic profile made up yet but that the proposal from Meridian Engineering for the proposed Salt Shed would cover this for the Forest Road property that lies next to Greenvale cemetery. Once this was completed it would be possible to determine how much gravel was available on the site. The Board wanted to know for example what the cost of buying 500 yards of gravel from Francestown gravel was compared to the town making the gravel on-site on some location in town. The further indicated that they wanted to know the cost with any carrying costs embedded in the total number of truckloads and not upfront in the first load. The Board asked that Tim Murray attend the next meeting so that they could discuss the feasibility of the Town making its own gravel.
The Board discussed the generator warrant in 2011 that was not met and discussed bringing the warrant to Town Meeting again in March. It was agreed that the warrant would appear but the work must be completed in 2012.
Adjournment
Kullgren moved to adjourn the meeting. Day seconded. The motion carried unanimously.
The meeting adjourned at 10:17 PM
Respectfully Submitted:
Aaron Patt
Town Administrator
The minutes are final when approved and signed by the Board of Selectmen. A signed copy is on file in the Selectmen’s minutes.
_______________________ ________________________ ______________________
Aaron Kullgren, Chairman Robert Wimpory, Selectman Karen Day, Selectwoman
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