Minutes
Town of Greenfield
Greenfield Town Offices, 7 Sawmill Road Greenfield, NH
Selectboard’s Minutes
Tuesday, May 24, 2016 – 5:30 PM
Selectboard: Chairwoman Margaret A. Charig Bliss, Selectman Stephen Atherton Jr., Selectman Robert Marshall
Staff: Aaron Patt, Town Administrator; Neal Beauregard, DPW Manager; Brian Giammarino, Police Chief; David Hall, Fire Chief; Mike Borden, Code Enforcement Officer
Public: Katherine & Andrew Heck, Kathy Seigars, Bruce Dodge, Karen Russell, Dorene Adams
5:30 p.m. The meeting was opened by Chairwoman Charig Bliss.
Documents for Review/Approval
- A/P Invoices and Checks
- Wastewater Checks
- Selectboard Minutes
- Order for Removal – 12 Slip Road (V3-10)
- Merrimack NH – ZBA notice
- Abatement – R$-50
- New Hire Worksheet(s)
- Intent to Cut – R9-30, R9-36
- Intent to Cut – R9-60
- Cemetery Lot
- Sewer Tax Abatement V3-10
- Fire Dept. Asset Sale – Fire Truck Bid
- Timber Tax Warrant – R6-3, R9-60
5:30 PM: Public Forum
There were no members of the public present for the public forum. At 5:40 Karen Russell and Kathy Siegars were in attendance.
5:45 PM:
Noting that no public was present, Chairwoman Charig Bliss opened the Selectboard session of the meeting at 5:35 pm. The Board welcomed Neal Beauregard, DPW Roads Manager to the meeting. Mr. Beauregard outlined some of the issues that are occurring on Russell Station Road. The road material is poor and is not ‘setting up’ despite DPW applying nearly 4000 lbs of calcium and a great deal of water. Even with rain, the road is not binding. Loose rock is being raked to the sides and will have to be removed before the road is paved. After some discussion the Board approved an application of crushed gravel to the road. On a motion the Chair and a second by Selectman Marshall the Board voted to approve an application of crushed gravel and to arrange purchase according to the purchasing policy.
Selectman Marshall addressed Mr. Beauregard and said that he wanted to note that the excellent work on the DPW drain tank. He said that Mr. Beauregard’s work has saved the town a lot of money. There followed a discussion on the tank and whether it was better to replace it at this point as opposed to continue using it. Mr. Beauregard said that he wasn’t able to locate any leaks in the tank. A discussion followed on what it would take to have the sludge on the bottom removed and processed. It was determined that this could be expensive and as the tank was not showing any signs of wear, that it could continue to be used in place.
The Chair noted that several people had come in after the discussion with DPW had commenced. She asked if anyone was there to speak publicly. Bruce Dodge said that he would like to introduce himself as the new Chair of the Library Trustees. After introductory remarks, Mr. Dodge then asked if the Board was up to speed on the new Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) laws. There followed a brief discussion about the most recent updates, which go into effect on December 1st of this year. The most impactful will be the increase from $23,660 a year to qualify for salaried exempt status to $47,476. The Board and Mr. Dodge discussed this federal change and agreed that there would be a presentation on FLSA for the Selectboard and The Library Trustees in June.
There followed a brief conversation about the library basement and the consensus was that Greenfield DPW would dig the test pits for the Trustees as part of the engineering study, and that the town would coordinate with Ray Cillery, Library Alternate Trustee to complete this work.
6:05 PM: Code Enforcement Officer Michael Borden
The Board met with Dorene Adams who provided a background on the 225th Anniversary Committee’s plan to host fireworks in conjunction with the Siegars family on their property. A discussion followed that included questions from the Board to the Police Chief and Fire Chief in order to address any safety issues and to ensure risk management procedures were in place. Code Enforcement Officer Mike Borden said that he has been in contact with the State Fire Marshall’s office and that they updated their forms two years ago. He said that it’s now possible for a private party to open their event to the public. Kathy Siegars said that she has held fireworks in the past on her property and has worked with the Fire Marshall’s office before. She said that she intended to get event insurance for her property. She
said that whether the town combines the 225th Anniversary celebration with her fireworks program, or not, that her family intended to have the fireworks either way. A discussion about the type of fireworks was held and concluded that they were consumer grade fireworks that were being donated to the Seigars family. The Police Chief had questions about parking along the side of the road and Dorene Adams replied that the committee intends to post the roads with no parking signs to ensure that people don’t park along the side of the road. Selectman Marshall stated that the planning efforts that went into the 225th event were greatly appreciated and that the Board needed to understand all aspects of the event to evaluate risk and liability. He then asked the Fire Chief if he had any concerns about the event. Chief Hall noted that the Fire Marshall forms are to be signed by the local chief so he expected to have a say depending on weather conditions when the
day arrives, which is part of the forms that the Fire Marshall uses. Kathy Seigars said that she has filled out the forms before. After some further discussion, the Police Chief said that he would need three officers on-site at the event in order to deal with parking and safety, and a fourth officer at the Police Department to handle calls around town. There followed a discussion about where the fireworks will be set-off and where they were likely to come down. Chief Hall said that he wasn’t sure about putting a fire truck on-site at the event. He expected that the Fire Department would respond as needed. Kathy Seigars said that no alcohol would be allowed. It was agreed that Chief Giammarino would walk the property in order to get a sense of how best to make the space safe. At 6:50 pm the Chair thanked the Committee Members and said that the Board would take up the conversation later in the evening and make a decision.
At 7: 00 pm Town Administrator Patt outlined a recent letter from Town Counsel regarding the 12 Slip Road property. It was noted that the town had been given permission by the court to remove the building pending a 15-day waiting period from the 12th of May barring any objections by the previous owners. Mr. Borden agreed that he would contact the vendor to schedule removal of the building after June 1st. The vendor fee had been accepted in 2015 and the funds were encumbered for this purpose, so there would be no impact on the 2016 budget.
7:05 PM: Documents for Review/Approval
The Board took up the question of the fireworks at the 225th Anniversary. It was noted that the TULIP program, an alternate event-insurance company available through the town’s association with Primex, the town’s insurance provider, was not available because fireworks are an excluded activity under the TULIP program, therefore the town would not be able to purchase supplemental insurance for the 225th fireworks program. After some additional discussion about the insurance, there followed a discussion about whether it was a good idea to have a 225th town event on private property, along with a privately donated fireworks show. It was noted that there were issues beyond just the insurance requirements. There would be an expense associated with having part-time police details when there
is already one person out on disability. The cost of four officers for the time period was not budgeted. It was also a question of the precedent of underwriting a private event with town funds. The risk associated with fireworks could not be assigned to a third party as the fireworks are donated. At the end of the discussion the consensus was that this fireworks event was best held as a private event, hosted by the Seigars family, and that if they wanted to open the event to the public that was incredibly generous of them.
At 8:30 pm the Chair opened two sealed bids for the 1985 Hurricane Fire Truck. The first was from Peterborough Collision in the amount of $2,000 and the second was from Moto Maguire in the amount of $505. After a brief discussion the Chair made a motion to accept the bid for $2000 by Peterborough Collision. Selectman Atherton seconded the motion. On a vote the motion was approved 3-0 in favor.
At 8:47 pm the Board took up a non-public meeting under RSA 91-A;3 IIc Reputation. At 8:55 the Board exited non-public session with a note that a welfare issue had been discussed and resolved.
It was noted that the Board wanted to schedule a work session on the Town of Greenfield Purchasing Policy on June 9th. It was also noted that the T.A. job description should be finished by that date.
Adjournment
The time being 9:00pm the Chair Charig Bliss moved to adjourn. Selectman Marshall seconded. All were in favor, and the motion carried 3-0.
The meeting adjourned at 9:00 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, Stephen Atherton Jr., Selectman Robert Marshall, Selectman
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