Minutes
Town of Greenfield
Greenfield Town Offices, 7 Sawmill Road Greenfield, NH
Selectboard’s Minutes
Tuesday, Nov. 01, 2016 – 5:30 PM
Selectboard: Chairwoman Margaret A. Charig Bliss, Selectman Stephen Atherton Jr., Selectman Robert Marshall
Staff: Aaron Patt, Town Administrator;
Public:
5:30 p.m. The meeting was opened by Chairwoman Charig Bliss.
Documents for Review/Approval
- A/P Check Register – October 20th, November 2nd
- Payroll – Dated November 4th
- Selectboard Minutes 10/18 & 10/25
- County of Hillsborough – Tax Warrant
- FEMA Memorandum of Understanding – 2016 Assistance to Fire Fighters Grant
- Welfare Vouchers (2)
- Welfare Voucher – Revised
- Meeting House Rental Agmt. – 11-5-2016
5:30 PM: Public Forum
At 5:30 the Chair noted that the meeting was open and no members of the public were present to speak. The Board reviewed the Consent Agenda. The Board members received budget workbooks that will be updated as new costs for 2017 are received from insurance providers and certain vendors. The Board received a draft vacation policy update for the personnel policy.
6:00 PM: Selectboard Work Session
At 5:45 pm the Selectboard Chair entered into a work session. A discussion of the vacation policy was undertaken. At the conclusion of the discussion the Chair made a motion to accept proposed changes to the vacation policy as presented, based on the changes that the Board included in their previous meeting’s minutes. The motion was seconded by Selectman Atherton. The motion passed 3-0 in favor.
The Board took up a brief discussion of the purchasing policy changes implemented to date. It was noted that the employees could benefit from purchase order guidelines.
7:00 PM: Sportsmen’s Club, Gary Russell
Mr. Russell, President of the Sportsmen’s Club came before the Selectboard and reported that the Sportmen’s Club has 16 members. The Club is anticipating a recruitment drive and expects that it will have as many as 29 members at the conclusion of the recruitment effort. Mr. Russell discussed the insurance requirement. It was agreed that Mr. Russell would provide a certificate of insurance with the Town of Greenfield and have the insurance renew annually. There followed a discussion on hosting a fishing derby. The Board and Mr. Russell discussed the difference between event insurance and the group’s liability insurance. Further discussion was held regarding an open well on the property. Mr. Russell reported he wanted to ensure that the property was ‘buttoned up’ as there are quite a few people who walk the
property. He said that the Club was interested in purchasing a concrete cover to put over the well. A discussion followed about the potential use of funds from the Sayles Fund, which is managed by the Trustees of Trust Funds. Mr. Russell said that at this point the Club anticipates purchasing the well cover from their own funds but that in the future they would like to explore the funds that are held in trust by the town that he believes are for use by the Club according to the original will.
A discussion followed regarding a committee that was set up at Town Meeting in the 70s or 80s that included the members of the Club and ConComm. The discussion of the properties cultural heritage and history outlined the old sawmill, cellar holes, and the recreation that has happened on the property by town’s people down through history. Mr. Russell noted that people inhabited the land over 200 years ago. Selectman Marshall acknowledged that the town does not have a group that is geared to promote cultural heritage. There was a discussion about the cultural aspects of such preservation and that there should be several groups that collaborate on the conversation about such preservation. This includes the Rails and Trails group. The conversation went on to discuss the use of town forests; gates and bars on Savage Road;
and whether all gravel roads are scenic roads in town, or whether class VI roads are not considered scenic. Mr. Russell said that Class V roads that are gravel are automatically scenic according to the vote at town meeting. He noted that the town made a sweeping vote that encompassed “all gravel roads” rather than voting each road individually as a Scenic Road. As a result the vote creates some ambiguity as to whether Class VI roads are included in that definition. There followed a discussion about whether any wood will be cut that would be of interest to abutting landowners. Mr. Russell stated that the club was not interested in any of the wood that comes from the maintenance of the road. The club is interested in focusing on the cleaning out of the stone culvert; brush removal along the sides of the Class VI road, and use of the property.
Selectman Marshall said that he would like to see a plan put together for the overlapping interests regarding the use of the property such as Conservation, Wildlife, and all other activities that promote the public good, such as understanding the safety issues if any associated with the property. Selectman Marshall said that he could envision a committee that includes members of the Club, the ConComm, and the Rails and Trails group.
At the end of the lengthy discussion the Chair made a motion to allow the group to clean the culvert and revitalize the pond area, as discussed, and to seek permission from abutters to allow the Club to maintain the road. Selectman Atherton seconded the motion. The motion passed 3-0. At the end of the motion there was some discussion; the Board clarified that once the Club has received permission from the abutters then they would meet again and discuss the legal opinion of whether the Class VI road was scenic or not. At 8:47 PM Mr. Russell left the meeting.
The Board followed up on several Consent Agenda items and discussed some old business. The Chair and Selectman Marshall each went over several items that were previously discussed and asked for an update. These included the letter received by Linnea Stevenson; the Committee to Preserve the Meeting House; the cost of the ambulance service in 2017; Street signage on Slip Road; Voting day at the Meeting House – and the set-up of the hall and voting booths; an incident management handbook for elected officials, and lastly, digitizing searchable files from town records.
Adjournment
The time being 9:45 pm the Chair moved to adjourn. Selectman Marshall seconded. All were in favor, and the motion carried 3-0.
The meeting adjourned at 9:45 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. Selectman, Robert Marshall
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