Minutes
Town of Greenfield
Greenfield Town Offices, 7 Sawmill Road Greenfield, NH
Selectmen’s Meeting Minutes
Thursday, November 15, 2012 – 4:30 pm
Board of Selectmen: Chairman Rob Wimpory, Selectwoman Karen Day
Staff: Town Administrator Patt,
Public: Ken Paulsen
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
§ Building Inspector / Code Enforcement Officer resumes
4:30 PM: Department of Homeland Security – Generator and Hazard Mitigation Grant
At 4:30 PM Jack Moorhouse of DHS met with the Selectmen to go over the Generator Grant and the award of the Hazard Mitigation Grant. The generator grant expenses have been reviewed and the grant application submitted. Mr. Moorhouse reported on the status of that grant process. Because of the lateness in the year when DHS found out that the money would be available the generator installation would not take place until spring of 2013. The reason is that the grant was originally supposed to be made available in 2011 but was delayed until October of 2012. As a result the rest of the application process, which includes going before Governor and Counsel and having a review by the Preservation Association to ensure that the historical aspect of the building was not being compromised, would take several months. In the past this
had not been the case but recently due to the economic conditions the grant approval process has become quite stringent. Additionally, his office was just coming back from a week in which they were completely focused on Hurricane Sandy. A discussion followed about opening emergency shelters and Mr. Moorhouse indicated that one of the things that small towns have to remember is that if you open a shelter you own any issues that may arise at the shelter. He said that some of the issues can be much bigger than people realize and that some of the problems that can arise can exhaust the insurance capability of a small town. Awards for damages can exceed by many times the operating budget of a town. Mr. Moorhouse gave several examples of his conversations with lawyers and the interpretation of the law and how it puts small towns especially in a bind when it comes to providing emergency services. Towns have to weigh carefully the risks to providing services for residents. Next Mr.
Moorhouse indicated that he had brought with him an application for the Hazard Mitigation grant and that this required the signature of the Selectmen and a notary.
5:00 PM: Brian Giammarino, Police Department
Police Chief Brian Giammarino came before the Board of Selectmen to follow up on his previous budget review. Chief Giammarino indicated that he had done a comparison of several surrounding towns and the wage scales that are in place for part-time police officers. He then presented the Board with a listing of the part-timers in Greenfield for comparison. There was a discrepancy between surrounding towns and Greenfield and Chief Giammarino said that he was respectfully asking the Board to support him in his request to increase part-time wages. The Board and Chief Giammarino discussed the budget at length and the Board agreed that a wage adjustment was needed to ensure that the current part-timers stay on with the Town.
6:00 PM:
The Board reviewed the AP Manifest and signed AP checks. The Board reviewed minutes of 11-1-12. Selectwoman Davidson in the last meeting had asked that it be noted that the minutes did not reflect her previous request to include that several people had called her during Hurricane Sandy and said that Catherine Shaw had handled the calls and questions in an exemplary manner. The Administrator noted that Selectwoman Davidson, who was absent, had requested that the minutes reflect this acknowledgement and thanks from the Selectmen. Next the Selectmen opened and reviewed resumes for the Code Enforcement/Building Inspector position. The Town had received three applicants. The Board had already met with one applicant. After reviewing the resumes the Board indicated that they would like to meet with Scott Osgood and asked the
Administrator to set up an interview with Mr. Osgood.
6:30 PM:
The Board of Selectmen were visited by Lennie Weeks and his wife. The Weeks wanted to explain to the Board of Selectmen that the tax bills coming out so soon in the month of November creates a difficulty for a group of elderly people that receive their retirement checks in the middle of the month. The Weeks have always paid their taxes but the check they receive to pay the taxes comes in the middle of December, which is after the tax due date. As a result they could end up paying interest. The Board and the Weeks were joined by the Tax Collector, Kathy Valliere. Tax Collector Valliere indicated that she did not charge interest for the first week after the due date. Chairman Wimpory calculated the tax on that amount of time to be just over eight dollars and explained to the Weeks that with the Tax Collector not charging
interest during a full week after the due date, the amount that would be due in interest would be very little.
7:15 PM: Adjournment
There being no further business, Selectman Wimpory moved to adjourn the meeting. Selectwoman Day seconded the motion. The motion carried 3-0.
The meeting adjourned at 7:15 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
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