Minutes
Town of Greenfield
Greenfield Town Offices, 7 Sawmill Road Greenfield, NH
Selectmen’s Meeting Minutes
Thursday, November 8, 2012 – 4:30 pm
Board of Selectmen: Chairman Rob Wimpory, Selectwoman Karen Day, and Selectwoman Debra Davidson
Staff: Town Administrator Patt, School Board Representative Steere, Treasurer Heck, Transfer Station Supervisor Burgess
Public: Ken Paulsen, Candi Fowler, Mary Anne Grant, Neal Brown, Diane Boilard, John Matthias
The meeting was called to order at 4:32 PM by Chairman Wimpory.
Documents for Approval/Review/Signature
The Selectmen reviewed and signed the following items:
§ A/P Manifest
§ A/P Checks
§ A/P Invoices
§ Payroll Manifest
§ Payroll Checks
§ Acceptance of private donation: RSA 31:95-b
§ Advertisement for Part-Time recycling help
§ Minutes of the Greenfield Roads Commission
4:30 PM: Avitar – Log Home Assessing & Noticing
Loren Martin and Mark Stetson of Avitar Associates of New England Inc. came before the Board to discuss recent assessing practices for interior walls of log homes. The Board of Selectmen in the October 18th Selectmen’s meeting had reviewed the assessment cards for log homes in Greenfield and had questions about the assessment of interior walls, which had been forwarded to Avitar. Avitar provided copies of the tables in the software that are used to establish the values on the assessing cards. A discussion of the market value for log homes outlined that in Avitar’s experience log homes bring a premium and the market drives the assessing practice. Wood walls carry a premium in the point system that the Avitar software uses to calculate assessments. Loren Martin, Senior Assessor explained that to
remove the designation would create a discrepancy unless all the properties were treated uniformly. However, to remove a designation for an interior wall and leave it blank would not accurately reflect the market value of the property. Avitar therefore, was suggesting that the Board should promote the most accurate assessments possible and retain the interior wall designation as outlined in the software. The Board and Avitar then discussed the process for noticing residents of the Assessors visits. Currently Avitar visits the properties that are selected as part of the random computer generated listing each year. Once the assessor has visited the property Avitar then sends out notices to those households that they were not able to reach on the initial visit, in order to schedule a time for a walk-through. The Board and Avitar discussed this process and the Board asked Avitar to provide a proposal that would outline the costs to provide advance notice of the initial visit in the
mail and then a subsequent mailing for those people that were not available during the first visit.
5:30 PM: Review and Approval of Documents
The Board reviewed the AP Manifest and signed AP checks. The Board reviewed the Payroll Manifest and signed Payroll checks The Board reviewed minutes of 11-1-12. The Administrator noted that the Agenda had noticed a private donation for the Town Office lighting project per RSA 31:95-b. It was noted that the Town had voted to allow the Selectmen to receive and expend funds from private donations in the past; both in 1992 and again in 1994 at Town Meeting. The Selectmen voted to receive funds of $4500 from an anonymous donor on a motion by the Chair and a second by Selectwoman Day, the motion passed 3-0. The Selectmen discussed the need for the donation to be expended in the 2012 budget season and voted 3-0 on a motion by the Chair and a second by Selectwoman Davidson to expend the funds to purchase lights that are to be
installed along the walkway, and along the front and side of the Town Office parking lot and help fund the installation of the lights to alleviate the winter time safety issues with the pitch black parking lot.
6:00 PM: School Board Representative Myron Steere
At 6:00 PM the School Board Representative Steere asked the Board if he could give a quick update on the ConVal budget. A report was provided that outlined nearly a dozen areas of expenditures. These included a new traveling nurse, full day kindergarten, an elementary schools computer technician, curriculum materials, and Ipads for all 6th grade students. A short discussion was held in which the increase to the 2012 ConVal tax rate was examined in light of the future budget requests. A question as to whether a town can withdraw from the SAU was asked and this question moved to a discussion on shared services among local towns. School Board Rep. Steere pledged that he would be working with the School Board to try and reduce some of the requests since the ConVal tax rate had such an impact on local
towns.
6:35 PM: Treasurer Katherine Heck
The Board of Selectmen had requested that Treasure Heck come before the Board to discuss a recent letter written to them by the Treasurer. In a previous meeting it was expressed that while the Treasurer had indicated that she was not satisfied with certain cash receipts practices, the Board had felt that the Treasurer’s letter had not provided any solutions or outlined in specifics what issues the Town was experiencing. Treasurer Heck brought before the Board suggested changes to the cash receipts policy that would help the Tax Collector, Town Clerk, and the Town Administrator make better use of the Treasurer’s ability to make deposits in Peterborough. This included making a formal deposit schedule part of the policy. The Board of Selectmen asked that a copy of the cash receipts policy be made available at
their next meeting.
7:00: PM Transfer Station Supervisor Carol Burgess: Budget
At 7:00 PM Transfer Station Supervisor Burgess came before the Board of Selectmen. The Greenfield Recycling Committee, with a scheduled meeting upstairs, decided to join the meeting. Supervisor Burgess presented a preliminary budget for the 2013 year. The budget for 2013 comes in at $104,335 down from a revised 2012 budget of $106,239, a difference of $1,904. The largest savings in the budget is the result of a re-negotiated Monadnock Disposal Service hauling and disposal contract. In 2012 the hauling and disposal fee was based on $115 a ton. For 2013 the hauling fee has been negotiated to $95 per ton. This provides a savings from $35,000 in the 2012 budget to $31,540 in the 2013 budget. Other line items are up, to reflect actual costs. These include the electronics recycling line item from $1000 in 2012 to $1500 in 2013
based on volume. Heating fuel is up by $199, Electricity is down by $200 and Part-time Wages is up from $12,486 to $14,421 based on estimates for part-time help, which the Town did not have in 2012 due to turnover of part-timers. One change was a savings in the Hazerdous Waste line item. In previous years the Town of Greenfield had enrolled in a program that allowed Greenfield residents to dispose of hazardous waste in Keene. Going forward the Town would not enroll and residents would pay to dispose of their waste. This reflects in a line item of $788 down from $1780 and in 2014 the line would be $0.
7:50 PM: Selectwoman Deb Davidson left the meeting.
8:00 PM: Review of Water Cooler contract and Recycling Center Ad
After Selectwoman Davidson left the meeting the Board reviewed two final items. The first was the water cooler contract for the Town Departments. Currently the Town has an individual contract in place for each department. Under the State of NH water cooler bid the Town can combine all departments and pay half the cost for the bottles and the cooler rental. It was noted that three of the four departments do not have potable water. The Board agreed that saving money and combining the contracts into one was the best way to move forward.
The second and last item of the night was a request by Supervisor Burgess to run an ad for a part-time transfer station attendant. The Transfer Station’s part-time person had recently quit his position. The Board approved the advertisement for noticing the opening.
8:15 PM: Adjournment
There being no further business, Selectman Wimpory moved to adjourn the meeting. Selectwoman Day seconded the motion. The motion carried 2-0.
The meeting adjourned at 8:15 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.
_____________________ _____________________ ______________________
Rob Wimpory, Chairman Karen Day, Selectwoman Debra Davidson, Selectwoman
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