Minutes
Town of Greenfield
Greenfield Town Offices, 7 Sawmill Road Greenfield, NH
Selectboard’s Minutes
Tuesday, March 29, 2016 – 5:30 PM
Selectboard: Chairwoman Margaret A. Charig Bliss, Selectman Stephen M. Atherton Jr., Selectman Robert Marshall
Staff: DPW Manager Neal Beauregard
Public: Linnea Stephenson, Charlie Stevenson, Andrew Heck
5:30 p.m. The meeting was called to order by Chairwoman Charig Bliss.
Documents for Review/Approval
- A/P Invoices
- A/P Checks
- Wastewater Check
- Selectboard Minutes
- Dept. Of Public Works Bldgs & Grnds Position - Posting
- Eversource Abatement Application – w/ Avitar Recommendation
- Fairpoint Abatement Application – w/ Avitar Recommendation
- Drummond Woodsum & MacMahon – Fairpoint Litigation Update
- F.D. Purchase Order – Intake Valve
- Road Toll Refund Application
- Employee Vacation Request
- Electronic Signatures - A/P Check Form
- Meeting House Rental – Variety Show
- Extension to Intent to Cut – R7-24-4, R9-76
- Public Utilities Commission – Notice
- Intent to Excavate – R1-1-3-GRVL
5:30 PM: Public Forum
Linnea Stevenson and Charlie Stevenson attended the public forum. Linnea Stevenson provided two documents to the Board detailing her thoughts on the Fire Department training facility on the agenda for 5:45pm, and a print-out of the Town of Sherborn’s Town Meeting minutes showing the cost of their replacement fire-truck as $900,000. Linnea Stevenson stated to the Board that purchasing older equipment comes with higher repair costs and that the Board might want to look at establishing funds for that purpose. Mr. Stevenson asked if the Fire Department was going to get bids on the lettering and painting of the new to Greenfield fire truck.
Andrew Heck attended the public forum. Mr. Heck asked what the time table is for the Fire Department ‘burn building’. There was a short discussion about the time table. Mr. Heck expressed his thanks for the Selectboard’s decision to provide a public forum.
5:45 PM: Recycling Center Project, Gravel Production, Training Facility
At 5:45pm the Chair welcomed Neal Beauregard, DPW Roads Manager, Carol Burgess, Recycling Center Manager, and David Hall, Fire Chief. The Chair noted that there are three separate projects at the recycling center that include using material to crush gravel for use on gravel roads, a subsequent expansion of the open space at the center, and the interest of the Fire Department to locate a training facility somewhere on the town’s property.
The Chair asked Carol Burgess to provide an overview of the Recycling Center’s need for space. Ms. Burgess outlined that her interest in expanding the facility has been formulating for several years. She reported that a committee from the Northeast Recycling and Resource Association (NRRA) will be visiting the recycling center to assess the layout and provide recommendations on how to improve the layout of the space. There are five people on the committee and the assessment and recommendations are free as part of the membership in the NRRA.
Next the Chair asked Neal Beauregard to provide an overview of the gravel crushing program that he has provided to the Board. Mr. Beauregard outlined the town’s ability to rent a gravel crusher and with a combination of bank-run gravel from the Forest Road Sand and Gravel site, some of the tailings left over after screening winter sand, and clay/ground material located at the recycling center, he is confident that he can have gravel made that is equal to the retail product that the town purchases, for a fraction of the price. The retail cost of crushed gravel is $14.50 a yard and the town can make its own gravel for approximately $4.40 a yard. Mr. Beauregard plans to add crushed gravel to the dirt roads in town and to put into place a five-year gravel road plan that will upgrade the town’s unpaved roads. There
followed a discussion on how much gravel could be created in a year. Mr. Beauregard reported that he uses an average of 1800-1900 yards a year and that he can reasonably store approximately 2500 yards at the DPW location. It will take about six days to crush 2500 yards of gravel. The issue that he runs into is that there are only 20 days a year that he can access the Forest Road site. Winter-sand is a priority and the gravel crushing can’t be allowed to take precedence over getting winter sand out. The six day period to crush gravel would also require the bank run gravel being trucked from Forest Road. The amount of material from the Recycling Center used to create the gravel product is approximately 1000 yards.
A discussion followed about whether gravel could be stored and whether the time frame to create gravel would meet the Recycling Center expansion plan. It was noted that using 1000 yards a year would require about 10 years to smooth the hill behind the building. As such it doesn’t dovetail with the more immediate space needs of the center.
The Chair asked Fire Chief David Hall to explain the ‘burn building’. Chief Hall said that the building would be better described as a Training Facility, which will have a regional impact. There are a number of surrounding towns that are very interested in having a local training facility. The building itself will be built from surplus materials provided by American Steel. The size of the building will be dependent on the amount of materials that are donated. Chief Hall indicated that he did not foresee that the town would have to provide any funding for the building itself. There may be some electricity at the building once it’s built and possibly some impact on the town’s insurance, but it would have minimal costs to the town overall. The Fire Department is also pursuing grants for the facility. The building
itself is a concrete box with possibly steel containers used to create a second story.
Selectman Marshall asked if there would be any impact on the Recycling Center. Chief Hall said, “no, we can’t allow that…..the Recycling Center comes first”
Selectman Marshall noted that the projects were a win, win, win, but that the town did not have a plan in place yet. He said, “we need a plan we can work with”.
Chief Hall said that the fire department has a significant amount of work to do and that the earliest that it was feasible to begin working on the training facility is spring of 2017.
There was a brief discussion of hosting informational meetings by the Selectboard to help residents to follow the project. Separately, the Selectboard will post a meeting for 1PM on Tuesday, April 5th and one or more selectmen will be present for a tour of the recycling center.
6:30 PM: DPW Managers Greene and Beauregard
The Chair welcomed both DPW managers to the meeting. The Board had questions about the progress being made on the underground tank that collects snow and water from the highway trucks. DPW Manager Greene explained that he had submitted the application to the Keene Wastewater plant for their review. Samples of water would be taken from the tank and if the samples were sufficiently clean, the water would be pumped from the tanks by one of the center’s transport companies at a fraction of the price from the current vendor, which deals primarily with hazardous waste disposal.
In previous meetings the Chair noted that the tank appeared to be filling up rapidly. DPW Manager Beauregard explained that there may be a problem with the tank, and that once it is pumped out the tank can be examined for leaks. He stated that his preference, once the tank was pumped, was to examine the interior of the tanks, and also to expose the tank using a small excavator to see if there are any issues with the tank’s seal, or, with the walls of the tank. There followed a short discussion on the potential cost to replace the tank if it were discovered to have failed. Mr. Beauregard said that he would look into the costs. He said that as far as he could tell from the plans that the tank was a simple concrete tank and not a hazardous waste tank, which would be much more expensive.
7:00PM: Adele Hale, 225th Anniversary Committee
Adele Hale came before the Selectboard to provide an update on the 225th Anniversary Committee’s progress on the 225th program scheduled for June 25th. She said that the committee is excited about several programs, including the fact that the horse drawn concord coach would be coming to Oak Park. Ms. Hale asked if the company providing the carriage would need to provide insurance. She asked if the committee could use the portable stage that is usually set-up at the Meeting House for Music on the Common. She said that the Givers would like to donate a new flag pole, with solar/LED lighting; the Givers would like to have a dedication ceremony marking the gift to the park. She noted that Oak Park could use some work and asked if the Board would consider bringing back Community Work Days so
that residents could join the committee and provide something back to the community. Lastly she said that the actual birthday of the town is June 15th, and that the committee would like to host a small celebration at the Meeting House, which would include ringing of the bell 225 times.
7:27 PM: DPW request for 10 hour days
After a brief discussion on the merits of having DPW work four 10-hour days during summer months, Selectboard Chair Charig Bliss made a motion to allow the DPW Roads Division to move to four 10-hour days. The motioned was seconded by Selectman Marshall and passed 3-0.
7:49 PM: Non Public Session
On a roll call vote of 3-0, the Chair moved to go into Non-Public session as prescribed by RSA 91-A:3 c to consider a Personnel issue. The motion was seconded by Selectman Marshall. At 8:15pm the Board exited non-public session and noted that no votes were taken and that the minutes were sealed for matters of personnel. It was noted that the consensus of the Board was to provide Patrick Greene with use of two personal days, and two holidays per the Employee Handbook, and to provide him with 40 hours of vacation pay in his last check. Otherwise the Board expected him to work through to his last day, which is April 12th.
8:16 PM: Non Public Session
On a motion by the Chair and a second by Selectman Atherton, the Board voted on a roll-call vote to enter into non-public session under RSA 91A-3:IIa the hiring of any person as a public employee. At 9:50 pm the Board voted 3-0 to exit non-public session and to seal the minutes. It was noted that the Selectboard and the Town Administrator had reached agreement on a new employment contract through June 30th of 2019. It was further noted that the contract would be provided as part of two recent Right-to-Know requests.
9:50 PM: Documents for Review/Approval
The Board signed A/P checks and A/P invoices. The Board reviewed the abatement requests from Eversource and Fairpoint, and on the advice of their assessing company, denied the requests and signed the abatement request forms accordingly. The Chair signed the Road Toll Refund Application; the Board signed the A/P check signature form and agreed on the job description for posting of the DPW Buildings and Grounds position. The Board signed an Intent to Cut extension.
Adjournment
Chair Charig Bliss moved to adjourn. Selectman Marshall seconded. All in favor, the motion carried.
The meeting adjourned at 10:27 PM.
The minutes are final when approved and signed by the Selectboard. A signed copy is on file in the Selectboard’s office.
_________________ _______________________ _________________________
Chair, Margaret Charig Bliss, Selectman Stephen Atherton Jr., Bob Marshall, Selectman
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