Minutes
Town of Greenfield
Greenfield Town Offices, 7 Sawmill Road Greenfield, NH
Selectboard’s Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, July 16, 2014 – 4:30 PM
Selectboard: Selectwoman Karen Day, Selectwoman Margaret Charig Bliss
Staff: Administrator Patt, DPW Foreman Neal Beauregard
Public: Jon Manley State Representative, Myron Steere School Board Representative
The meeting was called to order at 4:30 PM by acting Chairwoman Day.
Documents for Approval/Review/Signature
The Selectboard reviewed and/or signed the following items:
§ A/P Invoices
§ Payroll
§ MS-5 – Financial Report signed by Auditor
§ Vacation Request
§ Granite State Children’s Alliance – Request for donation
§ Minutes of July 2nd - public and non-public (2)
§ Used Oil Collection Grant award letter
§ Recycling Ordinance update
§ Meeting House Rental – Pie and Ice Cream Social
§ Meeting House Rental – Baby Shower
§ Current Use Update – R5-09
Acting Chair Karen Day opened the meeting at 4:30pm. The Board signed Payroll, AP invoices, and two Meeting House rental agreements.
4:30 PM: Review Approval of Documents / DPW update
Acting Chair Day welcomed Neal Beauregard to the meeting. Mr. Beauregard came in to provide a DPW update while Supervisor Murray is on vacation. Selectwoman Day noted that the Board had received a written letter with a complaint about South Francestown Road and that both Selectwomen were interested in holding additional discussion about the complaint. In order to further discuss the complaint Selectwoman Day suggested that the Board hold a non-public under RSA 91-A:II c, Reputation. Selectwoman Day moved to enter into a non-public meeting. Selectwoman Charig Bliss seconded the motion. On a roll call vote the Selectboard voted Selectwoman Day, Aye; Selectwoman Charig Bliss, Aye. At 5:35pm the Selectboard voted to exit non-public session on a vote of 2-0. The Board noted that no decisions had been made and no votes taken in
the non-public meeting.
5:35 PM: State Representative Jon Manley
At 5:35pm Representative Jon Manley came before the Board of Selectmen. Mr. Manley introduced himself to the Board and outlined three items that he wanted to share with the Selectboard. The first item is a conversation that he had with a resident about new Department of Transportation (DOT) signs that have been installed to provide motorists notice of upcoming streets. The caller had said that the South Francestown sign was reading “Francestown”. Mr. Manley wasn’t sure if DOT had been called but wanted to let the Selectboard know about the conversation. The second item was that the Conservation Commission in Bennington had recently asked if they could use Timber Cut revenues for Conservation Commission projects. The law currently does not allow revenues such as Timber Cut funds to be appropriated by the
Conservation Commission (or any other board). Mr. Manley outlined that the Timber Cut funds are deposited into the municipality’s General Fund. Representative Manley is going to propose enabling legislation to allow municipalities to use Timber Cut funds “by warrant and a vote of the town for other things”. Mr. Manley clarified that the enabling legislation would allow the use across Town(s) in general. In advance of promoting the change to the existing wording of Title V, Chapter 79, of the Timber Tax law, Mr. Manley felt it was important to meet with the Selectboards in his jurisdiction and outline the reason for the Bill. Mr. Manley then explained that the last item of interest was to share with the Selectboard that the summer months are a good time to put forward Bills as it’s an ‘off period’. Selectwoman Day asked what the deadline was for advancing bills through his office. Mr. Manley explained that the process can take a long time so
January would be a good cut off. The Selectboard expressed their thanks to Representative Manley for taking the time to speak with them.
6:00 PM: School Board Representative, Myron Steere
At 6:00pm School Board Representative Myron Steere came before the Selectboard. Mr. Steere updated the Board with information about the current School Board year. There a number of new people on the Board so the votes are “pretty balanced”. The Board will be considering a teacher contract, separate from the budget line items, which could have an impact on the overall budget come fall. Mr. Steere is the Chair of the Budget and Property sub-committee. This year he is pushing to have the Food Service budget put out to bid. Mr. Steere expressed concern that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) could undermine any savings that they might hope to glean from the Food Service program. The Board won’t know the impact of the ACA (also known as “Obamacare”) until late in the year. Mr. Steere is hopeful that
the budget won’t go up very much. He said that the population of the student body has been declining and this should be reflected in the budget. Selectwoman Day asked if there have been any cuts commensurate with the falling student population. Mr. Steere said that there have been two administrative assistants cut and a technical administrative position as well.
Mr. Steere talked about the class sizes and how the district has a ceiling for class sizes that causes additional teachers to be hired. The class size limit is 20 children in ConVal. Federally the limit is 30. Rather than add a third teacher when a class reaches 21 students, he says the district should look at letting the class size rise to 25 if needed. He has been focusing on the policy around classroom size as this dictates the staff size. Mr. Steere said that in addition to policy measures the Budget Committee is looking at line items where growth has not been balanced against the declining student population. The declining population and the increased use of technology should allow the district to work with fewer teachers.
Mr. Steere then discussed the warrant articles from last year that failed. He said that he was counseling people to focus on funding of the track, but not to bring up the parking lot as he thinks people will vote that down again. He discussed the districts use of bonding. Selectwoman Day said that the district should not bond the purchase of computers because of the obsolescence factor. Steere indicated that leasing might be a better option. A discussion of solar opportunities outlined the potential for cutting back the energy bills at the high school.
Next Mr. Steere touched on the subject of the recent article about Temple that ran in the Ledger Transcript, outlining their revaluation. Greenfield is in the process of its revaluation this year as well. Mr. Steere said that “the more we can lower our overall valuation, even if the property tax (town tax) goes up, it will save us a lot in payments to the district”. Greenfield dropped to fourth overall in tax contribution last year among the neighboring towns, and that helped reduce the contribution payment. He said that for the next budget the District is going to focus on getting information out to people including the Boards of Selectmen in order to help people understand the budget. The District is also looking at the potential for rebidding healthcare and he discussed the potential for looking at the
contribution rate of the employees.
Selectwoman Day asked why cursive writing was no longer being taught in school. She said that printing is not writing. Children should be able to write in cursive. Selectwoman Charig Bliss asked if the math programs were teaching times tables so that students can do the math without a calculator. Selectwoman Day suggested that Civics should be taught so that children learn how their municipal and state government works. Mr. Steere said that he had been talking to someone else recently about this very subject. Mr. Steere said that he would carry the board’s comments back to the School Board.
Mr. Steere said that he recently found that there are only a few companies that make tests used across the country. He thought there were only three test making companies. He said he has been telling people “what works” is a better judgment than test results. The administrators are focused on test results standardized across the country, but in fact this doesn’t give a good sense of what is working because ‘teaching to the test’ is not the same as teaching critical thinking. Mr. Steere finds the same issue when reviewing the budget for the district. The declining enrollment can be predicted from the size of the younger graduating classes as they move up a grade. As the lower grade populations are smaller, the trend line for the total population is also lower but this isn’t taken into
consideration when budgets are forecasted. The budgets are forecast with a percentage increase over the previous year, without accounting for the impact of the lower population. For instance the supply line items keep going up even though population is getting smaller by 10%. This should be left the same as the previous year, not increased.
The conversation closed with remarks about the next election cycle. The Selectboard encouraged Mr. Steere to run again and continue fighting to keep the budget down.
6:35 PM: Review/Approval of Documents contd.
The Board reviewed and signed the minutes from July 2nd. The Board reviewed documents in the reading file and approved a resident’s current use update. The Board reviewed and tabled a request from Granite State Children’s Alliance until the full board reconvenes. The Board reviewed and tabled an update to the Recycling Center Ordinance until the job description for the Senior Operator is included with the ordinance. The Board reviewed and signed the MS-5 provided by the Town Auditor, Roberts & Greene, PLLC. The Board signed a two day vacation request that had been provisionally approved, following personnel policy guidelines, by the Town Administrator for DPW Supervisor Murray. The Board voted on the Payment in Lieu of Benefit rate. The payment is outlined in the updated employee personnel
policy previously voted on 4/6/2012, however the rate was not set at that time because there were no qualifying employees for the option. This payment is an option for employees who can prove they have healthcare from another qualifying source and not the Town offered health insurance. On a motion by Selectwoman Day and a Second by Selectwoman Charig Bliss, the Board voted 2-0 to set the payment in lieu of benefit reimbursement rate at one thousand dollars annually.
A discussion of the non-public session was held. Selectwoman Day said that upon reflection, the Board did not discuss the complaint in as much detail as she anticipated before running out of time due to all of the information that Mr. Beauregard reported, and as such the meeting should have been in public session. Selectwoman Day noted that no one was excluded from the meeting until the very end when Representative Manley arrived for his appointment. Selectwoman Charig Bliss indicated that the information provided by Mr. Beauregard was very valuable and she would like to see the non-public minutes opened to the public too. On a motion by Selectwoman Day and a second by Selectwoman Charig Bliss the Board voted 2-0 to make available the non-public minutes as an attachment to the public minutes.
Adjournment
On a motion by Selectwoman Day, and a second by Selectwoman Charig Bliss, the Board voted to adjourn. The motion carried 2-0. The meeting adjourned at 8:30 PM.
The minutes are final when approved and signed by the Selectboard. A signed copy is on file in the Selectboard’s office.
______________________ ______________________
Karen Day, Selectwoman Margaret Charig Bliss, Selectwoman
Attachment
Begin Non-Public Minutes from 4:35 PM:
Non-Public Minutes
Town of Greenfield
Greenfield Town Offices, 7 Sawmill Road Greenfield, NH
Selectboard’s Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, July 16, 2014 – 4:35 PM
Selectboard: Selectwoman Karen Day, Selectwoman Margaret Charig Bliss
Staff: Administrator Patt, Neal Beauregard DPW
4:35 PM: Selectboard voted Non-Public Session
The Selectboard, on a motion by Selectwoman Day and a second by Selectwoman Charig Bliss held a roll call vote to enter into a non-public session under RSA 91:A –II c, Reputation. Karen Day, Aye; Margaret Charig Bliss, Aye. The motion passed on a roll call vote of 2-0.
Mr. Beauregard, DPW Foreman is filling in for Supervisor Murray who is taking approved vacation time.
The Chair outlined that the non-public meeting was for the Board and Mr. Beauregard to discuss a recent complaint letter that the Board had received from a resident on Francestown Road. The letter was in regards to the condition of the road and the performance of the DPW. Selectwoman Day said that the Board was interested in gathering background information.
Selectwoman Day asked Mr. Beauregard to provide some background on the process Greenfield DPW uses to grade gravel roads.
NB: We use the grader to pull in material from the sides and fold it in to the middle. The proper way is to ditch it and haul away the material. Francestown Road material is not good. It’s poor material. I have heard criticism that DPW should create water cutouts in the road, but water cutouts can’t be put anywhere. They are like culverts and you can’t just put water onto the side of the road on anyone’s property. We have so many things going on because we are a department of public works, not just a highway garage. It takes four guys to ditch a road; one each in the dump trucks, one in the backhoe, and one in the grader. When we ditch we have dirt we need to get rid of. We can’t just dump dirt onto homeowner’s property (the Town has a Waste Dirt policy and homeowners can receive dirt
on a first come first served basis). We have to be careful when we provide dirt to homeowners. In New Ipswich it’s not allowed to provide dirt to homeowners anymore because everything is so litigious; what if the truck collapsed a private septic system? Also we don’t have room at the highway garage to store the waste dirt. So we have only a couple of locations where we can bring it.
KD: So would it be helpful if the Board could identify a place to put the dirt?
NB: Yes, that would be very helpful. I’ve been driving all the roads due to the rain. Every road needs ditching. There is no denying it. Both paved and gravel roads need it and the grader is not always the best machine to ditch with. In the past I’ve used a rubber tired excavator with a ditching bucket to ditch paved roads.
KD: “What do you call that?”. Phrase repeated “rubber tired excavator”.
MCB: Do you straddle the ditch?
NB: No, you can stay right on the road. You can do a nice slope or swale. When you use the backhoe you have to put your landing gear down, turn the chair, and then you can only do 15’ at a time.
Mr. Beauregard provided an explanation of rolling the roads after a question by the Administrator. It had been stated by a resident that Road Agent Duffy Fox used to roll the roads. Regarding Francestown road, the road could be rolled with a vibratory roller and prior to that you would use a tow behind York rake. A brief explanation as to the difference between a tow behind and a push rake was provided. Tow-behind rakes are much better at smoothing out the road and taking out imperfections as well as picking up stones.
NB: A York rake and a vibratory roller complete a proper road program. Ditching depends a lot on winter sand usage.
KD: Do we still have a roller?
NB: Yes, but the one we have does not do a good job. It’s filled with sand, and the sand always has moisture in it so it causes the sand to fall (shift all at once) as it rolls. This creates washboards due to how the sand moves within the roller.
KD: Do we have a rake?
NB: We do but it is a rake that is pushed instead of being pulled and it doesn’t do a good job.
KD: I thought we had one that was pulled.
NB: Not since I’ve been here.
KD: How long will the ditches hold up once they are done?
NB: Again it depends on winter sand usage but you should get two years if you have done a proper job.
KD: Have all the roads been graded this year?
NB: All the roads except Brooks Drive (Brooks Drive is a narrow road shared with the Town)
KD: They just don’t look like it in many places, especially where it’s overgrown along the edges
NB: We could pull all that stuff in if we had a York rake. to cut down on roadside material.
KD: Some roads are too wide
NB: Can you provide an example?
KD: Old Bennington Road where I live is up to 32 feet wide in some places. It certainly is between Forest Road and County Road. For years, before this DPW, the road kept getting wider. There used to be a stone wall on the left going in and that has been destroyed. The one on the right is perched now because it has been undercut by the ditching.
NB: That was well before this DPW….
The Administrator asked Mr. Beauregard to explain his thoughts on the grader and its size compared to the wider as well as narrower roads.
NB: The grader we have is very underpowered for this town. The mow board is 13’ feet wide and I think it should be 14’. The motor is underpowered for the size of the grader. The roads narrow in spots and have to be pitched to one side because it’s very difficult to get a crown, but once the road widens back out you can go back to crowning. Typically we use a 5 pass grading process in order to put in a good crown. We also use 7 pass grading but for some reason you don’t get as good a crown.
A short discussion of grader passes was held. Mr. Beauregard said that the DPW will only use one pass grading if they are fixing a trouble spot. “it’s a Band-Aid; we only do one pass when we have to fix a bad spot”.
Mr. Beauregard was asked to talk about ‘windrows’, which was a concern expressed in the Road Commission gravel road report of 2013.
NB: I call them “false ditch lines” and they are evil. We are very aware of when they get left and it really is an operator thing.
A discussion of windrows was held. There are two people on the crew that can grade and not leave windrows. Another person with extensive grader experience was trained to not worry about them because the grading was for parking lots and they get cleaned up by another part of that process. The fourth person doesn’t have a lot of time on the grader.
NB: Grading is one of those things, you either have it or you don’t. Our fourth guy needs more seat time….he just doesn’t have enough seat time (so he doesn’t grade for the town very often as a result).
KD: The windrows are not a good thing…
NB: The edges and the crown are important. I try to put a 2-4% crown on dirt roads. The grader has a slope gauge built into the grader so you can see it. 4% is probably the perfect pitch. If you go much over 4% you start to form water channeling that travels down from the crown and that causes washboarding. As we get close to winter I try to put a slightly flatter crown into the road, more like the 2%, because in winter when you are out there with the trucks if you have a lot of ice you can’t keep the (Town) truck on the road if you have a 4% or higher crown. You still want water to shed but….
KD: Are there residents that don’t want ditching?
NB: All the time. Especially if the driveway doesn’t have a culvert. (an example on Cornwell road was sited). We got a call that water was going onto the resident’s driveway. The driveway is lower than the road and there is no driveway culvert. They need to put in the culvert to bring their driveway up higher.
Mr. Beauregard explained that he was asked to install a culvert by the homeowner but he explained that driveway culverts are the responsibility of the residents not the Town.
NB: That may not have been the explanation she wanted to hear but it’s the correct explanation so that’s what I told her.
KD: What time of year do you clean culverts?
NB: Right now. For instance I plan on cleaning culverts over the next three days. In the Spring you have to keep an eye on them but it’s (the weather) too unpredictable.
KD: How do you prioritize the roads? Worst first?
NB: Traffic volume and current conditions are the two most important. For instance if I have a road with four houses on it that’s washed out and I have a highly traveled road like Old Bennington that is about to wash out, I will send the crew out to Old Bennington because of the traffic volume.
KD: So it’s worthwhile to know how many houses are on each road?
NB: Traffic follows “cut throughs”. They contribute a lot to traffic.
KD: It would be nice to have traffic counts for all the roads
NB: Agreed.
A discussion followed of the steps to maintain the gravel roads.
NB: I would ditch it, raise it, add material and then shape it. It’s expensive but add crushed gravel if needed. State specified gravel is expensive and eventually it all ends up on the sides….it’s gone.
KD: What’s the alternative?
NB: The rake – it fixes imperfections…preferably adding ¾ inch gravel. I don’t think the 1 ½ gravel compacts as well.
KD: How much does one (the rake) cost?
NB: Around $5000 new.
MCB: Tell us about the calcium chloride.
NB: It’s pricey but it bonds everything together. The road becomes very hard. My road where I live is black like Rt. 32. It’s 1000s of gallons that are needed.
MCB: Do you sub-contract that?
KD: What about rainstorms?
NB: It keeps it smooth, it’s subcontracted…
MCB: So it resists channeling
NB: Yes. You know you’ll always have something but it can reduce the number of grading times on the roads. Maybe you do three or four, or more, and you can cut that to two.
KD: Is it environmentally safe?
NB: It’s the same as what the State uses. It’s a large cost but in the long run it will hold up better.
KD: I view ditches, all of them, as a system, and they’re not working.
NB: Agreed. And drainage is a huge factor.
KD: The Road Commission may have a point on that.
NB: I don’t disagree with some of the things they said but I do have some disagreements with them.
KD: Ditching is most important
NB: Agreed. You can have a perfect road but if water can’t get off……
KD: How much for the rental of the roller and the rake?
There was a discussion in which gravel road ditching is compared to paved roads. Everything is ok for the gravel roads (the Town has everything it needs to ditch gravel roads).
NB: We don’t have a rake or a roller. On the paved roads I would rent the rubber tire excavator I mentioned.
KD: How many roads can you get done in a short period of time?
NB: We could work 70 hours and not get it all done….
NB: Part-timers could help with the DPW stuff so we could concentrate on the road maintenance.
At 5:35pm the Selectboard voted to end the non-public session on a vote of 2-0.
The minutes are final when approved and signed by the Selectboard. A signed copy is on file in the Selectboard’s office.
______________________ _____________________
Karen Day, Selectwoman Margaret Charig Bliss, Selectwoman
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