Minutes
Town of Greenfield
Greenfield Town Offices, 7 Sawmill Road Greenfield, NH
Selectmen’s Meeting Minutes
Thursday, December 05, 2013 – 4:30 PM
Board of Selectmen: Chairman Rob Wimpory, Selectwoman Karen Day, and Selectwoman Debra Davidson
Staff: Town Administrator Patt,
Public: Neal Brown, Mike Kavenaugh, Ken Paulsen, Karla Allen
The meeting was called to order at 4:30 PM by Chairman Wimpory.
Documents for Approval/Review/Signature
The Selectmen reviewed and/or signed the following items:
§ A/P Invoices
§ Payroll Checks
§ General Fund transfer request – Forest Fire Savings
§ General Fund transfer request – Conservation Account
§ General Fund Reimb. Request – Oak Park Fund
§ Economic Development Committee – Appointment
§ Health/Dental Payment in lieu of Benefit
4:35 pm: Karla Allen, Town Forester
The Board of Selectmen met with Town Forester Karla Allen. Allen outlined a Stewardship program available through the United States Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation program. The stewardship program would provide detailed conservation information on town owned properties, which could be used by the Selectmen when they make decisions about the use of the natural resources. The Selectmen asked that the Conservation Commission meet in order to review the program and send their recommendations forward to the Selectmen. The Selectmen requested that Allen attend the December 19th meeting to review the Conservation Commission’s recommendations.
4:50 PM: Tim Murray, DPW Supervisor
Supervisor Murray outlined a recent invoice from Danforth Environmental Consulting. The invoice is from work started in 2012. The Selectmen requested that the Administrator follow up with Mr. Danforth. Mike Kavenaugh joined Supervisor Murray and asked that the Selectmen assess several trees along Swamp road and make a determination to allow the DPW to remove or prune back the trees as they present a hazardous condition on the road. Chairman Wimpory indicated that he was free to meet with property owner and Supervisory Murray on Tuesday, December 10th at 8AM. The other two Selectmen were unable to make that time.
On a motion by Selectwoman Day and a second by Selectwoman Davidson the Board voted 2-0 with one abstention to provide the Chairman with the authority to make a decision regarding the trees on Swamp Road during the Dec. 10th visit.
Next the Selectmen and DPW Supervisor entered into a conversation about the pine trees that have been laid down along the edge of Oak Park. Asplundh has gone through along RT 136 and cut back a great deal of the trees in the right-of-way. The Administrator indicated that a fire department member had asked if the pine logs could be donated to the fire department as they can split it and sell it as firewood to Greenfield State Park visitors. Neal Brown was recognized by the Selectmen and asked if any hardwood cuttings could be donated to the Givers.
On a motion by Selectwoman Day and a second by Chairman Wimpory the Board of Selectmen voted unanimously (3-0) to have the pine logs brought to the fire department and the hardwood split with DPW and the Givers, with the Givers donating their time to split the wood in exchange for their half.
5:30 PM: Public Hearing – Acceptance of Unanticipated Funds
At 5:30 PM Chairman Wimpory opened the public hearing. The Chair made opening remarks: “We will now conduct a hearing on a Petition accept unanticipated funds, namely the Contoocook Valley Regional School System’s LGC refund monies.
Chairman Wimpory read the public notice in its entirety:
TOWN OF GREENFIELD, NH PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE
The Greenfield NH Board of Selectmen will hold a public hearing on Thursday, December 05, 2013 at 5:30 p.m. in the Meeting Room at the Town Offices, 7 Sawmill Road, Greenfield NH, pursuant to the provisions of RSA 31:95-b, for the purposes of accepting unanticipated funds, namely the Contoocook Valley School District LGC refund monies. Those individuals who are not able to attend the meeting may send comments to Selectmen’s Office.
The Selectmen held a discussion regarding the use of funds. Several priorities such as the furnace at the Meeting House were discussed; however the priority was felt to be the tax rate. It was agreed that the funds would be used in the 2014 year to offset taxes through the use of fund balance, unless there was a winter emergency. The Chair asked if anyone in the audience had any comments. There being none the Board closed the public hearing. After a short deliberation the Board of Selectmen voted to accept the unanticipated funds and to use those funds to offset the 2014 tax rate.
On a motion by Chairman Wimpory and a second by Selectwoman Day the Board of Selectmen voted unanimously (3-0) to accept the LGC refund from ConVal School system in the amount of $43,426.94.
6:00 pm: Planning Board Capital Improvements Plan (CIP)
At approximately 6:00 PM the Selectmen and Paul Renaud of the Planning Board along with Bob Marshall met to go over the recently adopted Town of Greenfield CIP. Mr. Renaud went through the CIP and explained each of the spreadsheets. While there are items in the spreadsheets that may not occur, the CIP planning group included items or possibilities if they were discussed in 2013 and/or in prior years. As such the CIP was not an exact guide for expenditures but a roadmap for reference by the Selectmen when they are preparing yearly budgets. The Selectmen thanked Mr. Renaud and the Planning Board members for their thorough review of departmental priorities and their due diligence. Mr. Renaud pointed out that this version of the CIP incorporated the Selectmen’s three year plan for the roads. He suggested that the CIP
guidelines require there to be six years of planning incorporated into the spreadsheets. The Selectmen remarked that this CIP was closer to the actual projections as opposed to previous years where there was five million dollars in the budget for the roads. The 2013 CIP was felt to be much more helpful as a result. There was further discussion about the Capital Reserve Funds, and Chairman Wimpory noted that the CIP showed how needed they are for the health of the town. A discussion also touched on whether there should be a Parks and Recreation coordinator.
Mr. Renaud brought up a final subject; under RSA 79:E the Community Revitalization Tax Relief Incentive. He suggested that this would be reported on to the Selectmen at a future meeting.
7:08 pm: Bob Marshall, Master Plan update
Planning Board Chairman Bob Marshall came before the Board of Selectmen to discuss the Master Plan. The Selectmen and Mr. Marshall discussed the growth of the town since the early 1940’s and Mr. Marshall provided census metrics that showed a significant population growth following the war followed by a much slower pace in growth for all the remaining collected census data. The Selectmen and Mr. Marshall discussed the need of the Master Plan to incorporate the residents’ feedback as the Planning Board looks at different opportunities to put ordinances, zoning amendments, and planning guidelines in place for future generations.
The Selectmen and Marshall discussed the opportunity of regionalization with respect to the Planning Board. Larger towns are able to afford full time planners that can support the work of the Planning Board. Full time planning staff can do research, map out specific districts, and provide the legwork to help the Planning Board determine the types of zoning and ordinances that will preserve the character of the village. Marshall is interested to see if this is something that smaller towns could work together on.
Regionalization of services such as town planning was discussed by the Selectmen and Marshall. The Selectmen discussed their meetings with selectmen from surrounding towns. Last year the Greenfield Selectmen met with five other towns’ selectmen in order to see if the towns as a group could have an impact on ConVal’s budget process. Chairman Wimpory acknowledged that the towns are so different that it takes an effort over a period of time before people become comfortable with regionalizing services. In certain instances a department that you thought might be something that could be combined with another town may not be what was finally regionalized. Chairman Wimpory gave an example and asked that it be put into the minutes; it was reported that Myron Steere had a conversation with a Hancock Selectman where
Steere suggested that the Town of Greenfield would be interested in regionalizing recycling services with Hancock. Steere then requested that the Selectmen follow-up on his discussion. When this was discovered by the Greenfield Selectmen they were concerned. Steere didn’t have any authority to promote this question and it may not be in the best interest of Greenfield. Discussions about regionalization should come from the Selectmen or, in the case outlined by Marshall, from a board or committee tasked with certain deliverables to the residents. It could then be vetted properly, shared and discussed with the other town, and ultimately after many steps, could be brought to residents at Town Meeting to be voted on.
The Board and Marshall concluded their conversation and the Selectmen thanked Mr. Marshall for attending the meeting.
Selectwoman Davidson having a prior engagement left the meeting.
7:30 pm: Bob Brown, Resident
At 7:30 PM Mr. Bob Brown approached the Selectmen to say that the petitioners had discussed their petition and the request for a special meeting. The petitioners had decided not to withdraw their petition. Chairman Wimpory indicated that the Selectmen were more than willing to call the meeting based on the petition. After some discussion the date of Saturday, January 18th, 2014 at 9AM was chosen. The meeting will be held at the Meeting House.
7:45 pm: Non-Public meeting
At 7:44 PM Administrator Patt suggested the Board of Selectmen review and discuss personnel compensation as part of the 2014 budget review; specifically the departments’ requested wages. Chairman Wimpory noted that this should be done in a non-public session.
On a motion by Chairman Wimpory and a second by Selectwoman Day the Board of Selectmen voted, on a roll call vote 2-0, under RSA 91-A:3 IIa Compensation, to enter into non-public session. The Administrator was not present during the discussion from 7:50 PM on.
The Board exited non-public session on a vote of 2-0 at 8:35 PM. It was noted that after a review of the 2014 Wages and Compensation spreadsheet, the Board had made several suggestions regarding the 2014 wages of Town employees and forwarded them to the Administrator for updating in the 2014 budget.
Adjournment
On a motion by Chairman Wimpory and a second by Selectwoman Day the Board voted to adjourn. The motion carried 2-0. The meeting adjourned at 8:17 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 office.
_____________________ _____________________ _____________________
Rob Wimpory, Chairman Karen Day, Selectwoman Debra Davidson, Selectwoman
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