Minutes
Town of Greenfield
Greenfield Town Offices, 7 Sawmill Road Greenfield, NH
Selectboard’s Work Session Minutes
Wednesday, December 2, 2014 – 5:00 PM
Selectboard: Chairwoman Debra Davidson, Selectwoman Karen Day, Selectwoman Margaret Charig Bliss
Staff: Administrator Patt,
Public: David Blumenthal, Monadnock Ledger Transcript
The meeting was called to order at 5:00 PM by Chairwoman Davidson.
Chairwoman Davidson opened the meeting at 5:05pm.
5:00 PM: Budget Work Session
At 5:00 PM the Board received copies of the 2014 and 2015 detailed budget comparison, and a copy of the 2014 and 2015 individual department budget comparisons, printed separately. The Board reviewed a copy of the Peterborough Ambulance Contract and requested that the municipal escape clause be strengthened.
After some review, the Board reached a consensus that all computer/IT related equipment and support line items should be rolled into one line and put into the executive or operating budget. The Board took up the budget line by line, making changes to revenue lines to bring them closer to actual incomes, and to the expense lines based on the 2014 budget. Several changes were made to the Building Inspector budget. A discussion regarding the wages was brought forth on examination of the Executive budget. After a lengthy discussion the board determined that it would need to have a full discussion at a later date once the rest of the budget was finalized.
Several questions were raised about the budget, including:
· A comparison between Vital Records expense vs. revenue appears off, with expenses greater than revenue
· The Chair questioned: “Are registrations being renewed by mail?”
· The Town Office copier budget appeared high. The Administrator reported that a new contract for the copier has resulted in significant savings so the 2015 projection can come down.
· Health Agencies have not been sending in invoices.
· The bids for the Meeting House electrical panel replacement needs to be resolved
· The Meeting House is not served by the company that replaces the mats in the Town Office. How much would it cost to enroll the Meeting House?
· The telephone accounts when aggregated appear high
· Board indicated that the Fire Chief position should be a warrant article for Town Meeting to change to an appointed paid position, with a range associated with the Wages line item based on experience.
· The Board discussed but did not vote on the question of aggregating employee health and insurance lines into one personnel administration line, rather than breaking them out across departments.
· The Board determined that it would begin the process of employee evaluations starting in January.
Other decisions including holiday scheduling were covered. There will be no meeting on December 24th. A meeting on December 22nd or 23rd would be scheduled later in the month. There may be a meeting on December 30th instead of the 31st.
Adjournment
On a motion by the Chair, and a second by Selectwoman Charig Bliss, the Board voted to adjourn. The motion carried 3-0. The meeting adjourned at 7:37 PM.
The minutes are final when approved and signed by the Selectboard. A signed copy is on file in the Selectboard’s office.
______________________ _______________________ ______________________
Chair, Debra Davidson Karen Day, Selectwoman Margaret Charig Bliss, Selectwoman
| 
