Minutes
Town of Greenfield
Greenfield Meeting House, 776 Francestown Road Greenfield, NH
Selectmen’s Meeting Minutes
Thursday, January 24, 2013 – 6:00 pm
Greenfield Board of Selectmen: Rob Wimpory, Karen Day, and Debra Davidson
Antrim Board of Selectmen: John Robertson
Bennington Board of Selectmen: Jim Cleary, Steve Osienski, and Jeff Rose
Francestown Board of Selectmen: Abigail Arnold, Scott Carbee, and Betsy Hardwick
Hancock Board of Selectmen: Carolyn Boland, John Jordan
Staff: Town Administrator Patt, Town Administrator French, Town Administrator Caverly, Town Administrator Branley
The meeting was called to order at 6:10 PM by Selectman Wimpory.
Selectmen’s Meeting Agenda for Thursday, January 24th
Welcome and Opening Remarks – Rob Wimpory, Chairman Greenfield Selectmen
Agenda:
1) Discussion on ConVal
a. Greenfield School Board Rep: increases are coming
b. Greenfield as high as 20% increase
c. Pressure from ConVal budget on local services
d. Discuss the potential for the five towns to write a letter to ConVal
e. Discuss the potential for withdrawing from ConVal
i. Have the other Town’s considered withdrawal?
2) Discussion regarding shared services.
a. Are there services that the five towns can share?
b. Purchasing power of five towns?
c. Other areas that Selectmen have defined?
3) Feasibility Study funding
a. Shared services
b. ConVal withdrawal
Closing Remarks: Rob Wimpory, Chairman Greenfield Selectmen
6:10 PM: Call to Order and Opening Remarks
Greenfield Selectman Wimpory called the meeting to order and provided opening remarks.
The purpose for the meeting, from the Selectboard in Greenfield, was to discuss the ConVal budget and to get a feeling if the other towns are feeling as financially strained by the School budget as Greenfield. The other selectmen nodded and affirmed that they were feeling the strain on local services. The selectmen from Bennington asked what the goal of the meeting was and Selectman Wimpory said that the goal was to reach agreement that the financial pressure had reached a breaking point and then discuss how best to approach the issue; whether it be to put together a message to ConVal from all the towns, and also, whether there were combined services that the towns could look at that might increase productivity and lower costs for those that decide to work together. An example of Police On-Call time was used and Selectman
Wimpory asked if the other towns had 24/7 coverage, because Greenfield could not afford ‘round the clock coverage. This was an example of how the towns might utilize resources and arrive at a better service. Combining the footprint for on-call police coverage might allow the towns to provide 24/7 coverage. Selectman Robertson said that Bennington and Antrim have been trying to combine services for years but that it never gets off the ground. He expanded on their experience and said that every town has its own identity and pride, and this often prevents voters from embracing the idea of combining services. The other selectmen agreed that in the past this has been the case. The most recent projections from ConVal and the fact that the cost per pupil had reached $19,500 compared to other districts where it was reported to be as low as $11,000 per year, however, had people wondering if the tipping point had been reached where the governing bodies might receive support from
voters. Bennington indicated that there had been a study on the demographics over a number of square miles, which indicated that there was significant replication of resources by the towns, and that on a per square mile basis the cost could be much lower if the towns were to adopt more of a mutual aid approach to services. It was noted that some of the counties in the western part of the country highlight the possibility of this occurring. It was further noted that the five towns represented less than 10,000 residents and it’s a question if there was a need for a replication of services at every juncture. It was proposed at this juncture that the topic of conversation should be ConVal as it represented 70% of the tax rate for all the towns present.
A representative from the Selectmen’s Advisory Committee indicated that the School Board was not fazed by the Selectmen’s Advisory Committee request to lower the budget by a million dollars. In fact, it was reported that it was the Advisory Council’s feeling that the School Board is not listening to community leaders at all. It was noted that while the School Board began its discussions with a 5% increase and brought the budget down to a 2.5% increase, the real problem is in the administration, which has grown substantially over the years despite the significant decline in enrollment. It was suggested that residents must attend the ConVal Deliberative Session in order to effect any changes in the budget at this point, and this would require a motion from the floor.
In Antrim, the Selectmen and the School Board Representatives would be holding a public hearing on the ConVal budget before March 12th, in order to educate the voters on the issues within the budget. One of the hiden issues is that the decline in enrollment has resulted in cuts to core programs, although the SAU downplays these cuts. It was noted that at the same time there have been three new administrators hired with salary and benefits greater than $100,000 each. The two options for voters are the ConVal budget of $45.5M or the default budget of $44.8M. The difference in the two was $616k, or a motion could be made at the deliberative session, where its possible to change the budget. It was noted that this year is the first year that the benefits line is greater than the programs, and while some of that
comes down from Concord, the School Board is not looking closely enough at outsourcing some of the functions, such as the food service.
The Selectmen agreed that as a bottom line the Administration does not appear to see the connection between their budget and the surrounding Towns’ tax rates. A 2% increase in their budget could amount to a significant increase in the tax rate. Increases on ConVal’s forty five million dollar budget are greatly magnified for homeowners at the local level. With the cost of over $19,000 per child and going up, it raises the question; are the children getting a superior education? Does it make sense to look at withdrawing from the ConVal School District? The report from parents to the selectmen, and from their own experience was that the children receive an adequate education and that there are terrific students in the school system that can receive an excellent education if they know which teachers and
classes to take. Bennington’s Selectman said that before a vote to set aside money for a feasibility study could happen, people would want to know that it’s legal to leave the system. Once that question was answered people would feel more comfortable about exploring the question and making a contribution. Dee French, Town Administrator for Bennington indicated that Bennington’s budget was already finalized and there was no way to go back and put in money for this year.
Because the School Board was reported as not paying attention to the communities one way to make a change would be to vote in a new School Board who will listen to the Selectmen’s Advisory Committee and make an attempt at controlling costs. Francestown’s Selectman pointed out that the whole reason the ConVal District was formed was because parents didn’t feel that they had any say in the previous system. Now history was coming around full circle again. One selectman described how he was able to get 50 people from one town to turnout at the deliberative session last year and encouraged the other selectmen to try and do the same this year in their towns.
There was a discussion about the message needed to turn out fifty people per town. It was felt by some that the message needed to be neutral and that it would still take making phone calls to get the message out and attract people to the meeting. The Board members discussed sending a mailing to each of the residents in all five towns through a bulk mailing. The message would be an outline of the impact of the budget on local tax rates, and to provide the projections from ConVal of the budget impact over the next few years, to provide details on the budget, which is set to grow at an alarming rate. The Boards discussed the tax rate information that would go into the mailing and agreed that it should come from all the selectmen across the five towns. There was agreement that there would need to be follow-up phone calls as
previously stated. It could also be advertised at the local Transfer Stations. The goal would be to get people to the deliberative session that understand the impact that ConVal’s budget will have on the local tax rates and the pressure that will result on local services. The goal would be to support the Selectmen’s Advisory Committee’s proposal to cut $1,000,000 (2.2%) from the budget.
The Boards agreed to meet again using the Greenfield Meeting House as the meeting location. At the next meeting they would follow up with the State Representatives for the five towns to explain how the cuts in education were affecting the local towns. One selectman shared a final thought on local schools, which were described as clearly part of the heart of each community and to have the Administration call them “small schools” was further evidence of their attempt to belittle the local schools that they wanted to close. In fact they should be called “local schools” and the SAC had made it a point to show support of local schools as studies show that they are so instrumental to the heart of the communities. The lack of interest from the School Board and the Administration in working with the local
community leaders was something that needed to be addressed because the budget was greatly impacting local communities. The communities were unable to fund needed projects or take care of their infrastructure due to the pressure from the ConVal budget on the tax rate.
The Boards set a follow-up meeting time for February 12th at 6PM at the Meeting House.
The meeting adjourned at 7:55 PM.
Respectfully submitted:
Aaron Patt
Town Administrator
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