Minutes
Town of Greenfield
Greenfield Town Offices, 7 Sawmill Road Greenfield, NH
Selectmen’s Meeting Minutes
Thursday, March 07, 2013 – 4:30 pm
Board of Selectmen: Chairman Rob Wimpory, Selectwoman Karen Day, and Selectwoman Debra Davidson.
Staff: Town Administrator Patt,
Public: Ken Paulsen
The meeting was called to order at 4:30 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
§ Crotched Mountain School – raffle application(s)
§ LGC Appeal Cost Share invoice
§ Release of Liability – Volunteer agreement
§ Abatement request – Tax Collector R4-45
§ Meeting House rental
§ Minutes of 2/14 & 2/28
4:30 PM: Review and Approval of Documents
At 4:30 PM Chairman Wimpory opened the meeting. The Board signed A/P invoices, A/P Checks, raffle applications from Crotched Mountain School, a meeting house rental agreement and the minutes of 2/14 and 2/28, 2013. The Board reviewed abatement requests from the Tax Collector and was advised that the Administrator had set an appt. for an abatement applicant meeting on 3/14 at 4:30PM.
5:00 PM: Informational Meeting: Forest Road adjacent to Greenvale Cemetery
At 5:00 PM the Board opened an Informational Meeting regarding the use of Town property adjacent to the Greenvale Cemetery for gravel processing. Margo Charig-Bliss, Chair of the Greenfield Trustee of Trust Funds and Cemetery Trustee, joined the meeting. Trustee Bliss is currently acting Cemetery Trustee Chairperson. The weather outside being snowy and the roads in winter conditions it was noted by the Board of Selectmen that attendance was limited. Participants in the informational meeting were the Board of Selectmen, DPW Supervisor Murray and Trustee Bliss. The representatives of the Town discussed the use of the property adjacent to the cemetery as a materials yard where gravel and sand could be dug starting in 2013. It was agreed that the Administrator would draft an agreement that DPW, the Cemetery Trustees, and the
Selectmen would sign onto that would provide for 75’ tree buffers around the cemetery, an additional building buffer zone to prevent future building along the boundary of the cemetery itself, and agreement by DPW to work with the Trustees and keep noise levels low when services are provided. The agreement will be made available early the week of the 11th prior to Town Meeting so that it could be shared with residents at Town Meeting. It was also agreed that the Town Administrator would create a handout for Town Meeting that would provide background information about the DPW materials yard proposal. Lastly it was thought that the warrant article was confusing and would have to be explained in more detail at the meeting because, as Trustee Charig-Bliss explained that it was not clear that the article was actually meant to open the property because of the use of the word “feasibility” in the article, which sounded like a study to see if the site could be
used as opposed to actually opening the site up for use. The Selectmen thanked DPW Supervisor Murray and Trustee Charig-Bliss for joining them in the discussion.
6:00 PM: Transfer / Recycling Center Supervisor Burgess
At 6:00 PM, Supervisor Burgess joined the Board of Selectmen to introduce Bill Robbins, a local man who has applied for the part-time transfer station attendant position. Supervisor Burgess indicated that Mr. Robbins had passed the background test and an orientation at the Recycling Center. Supervisor Burgess indicated that Mr. Robbins had also worked for a day at the center and had performed the tasks well. Supervisor Burgess requested that the Board of Selectmen extend an offer of employment to Mr. Robbins. The Board of Selectmen talked briefly with Mr. Robbins and on a motion by the Chair and a second by Selectwoman Davidson voted to extend an offer of employment to Mr. Robbins. Mr. Robbins accepted the position. The Board requested the Supervisor Burgess provide Mr. Robbins with the ability to be certified in solid
waste management as part of the employment agreement.
6:30PM: Chief of Police Giammarino
At 6:30 PM Police Chief Giammarino came before the Board of Selectmen to discuss the hiring of a person as a public employee. The Board, on a motion by Chairman Wimpory and a second by Selectwoman Davidson, voted in a roll call vote to enter non-public session under RSA 91-A, II b, hiring of any person as a public employee.
At 7:12 PM Fire Chief White was included in the non-public session.
At 7:40 PM the Board of Selectmen voted 3-0 to exit non-public session. It was noted that there were no decisions made or voted by the Board of Selectmen during the non-public session.
7:45PM: Fire Chief White
At 7:45PM Fire Chief White requested that the Board consider entering a non-public session to discuss a separate matter of hiring a person as a public employee. On a motion made by the Chair and a second by Selectwoman Day, the Board voted 3-0 on a roll call vote to enter non-public session under RSA 91-A, II b, Hiring.
At 8:14PM the Board voted 3-0 to exit non-public session. It was noted that there were no decisions made or voted by the Board of Selectmen during the non-public session.
At the resumption of the public session, Chief White discussed the potential Appt. of Michael Borden as Fire Ward in order that the Mr. Borden conduct inspections of buildings when the Fire Chief is not available. After a discussion and check of the RSAs the Board advised Chief White that the best solution was to have him make that appointment.
Chief White then advised the Board that he was interested in making a recommendation that employees of the Town be allowed to be a member of the fire department and have the ability to answer calls for service. The Board and Chief White discussed the pros and cons of this idea. The Board noted that this topic mirrored the conversations that had occurred with the selectmen from surrounding towns. The primary issue being that there are few people who work in town that can respond to fire calls during the day. All of the surrounding towns were grappling with this same issue and the Board indicated that are probably several ways to address the problem. Chief White noted that while there may be some concerns about having a paid person take time from work to respond to a call, it was much less expensive at the end of the day
compared to having to hire full time firemen.
The Board outlined their recent conversations with other selectmen and explained to Chief White that it was their intention to reach a consensus with the other selectmen and then request that the Fire Chiefs speak to each other about the rules in each town and share ideas that would increase the availability of fire department personnel possibly by providing the ability of fire fighters from other towns to answer calls. This would occur when the number of fire fighters in Greenfield (or if the fire was in another town; that town instead) was too few to mount a response. Chief White indicated that he had already spoken to the Fire Chiefs in Francestown and Bennington to see what kinds of things they could address to allow this happen.
Adjournment
Chairman Wimpory moved to adjourn the meeting at 9:20 PM. Selectwoman Day seconded the motion. The motion carried 3-0.
The meeting adjourned at 9:20 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
| 
