Selectmen’s Board Meeting
December 21, 2015
Present: John Allen, Chairman; Bob Thompson and Bill Lockard, Selectmen
Visitors: Town Office Administrator Julie Atwell, Town Administrative Assistant Julie Hoyt, Police Chief Doug Jette, Fire Chief Jay Henry, Building Inspector Kevin Bennett, Town Clerk/Tax Collector Karen Burton, Treasurer Kathleen Dougherty, EMD Tom Grieg, Videographer Hank Benesh, Bea Davis, Bob Davis, Stan Weiss, George Howard, Joyce Allen, Huntley Allen, Gino Funicella, Nancy Davis, Pat Kelley, Sarah Clemons, Roger Aubrey, Penny Miller, Gil Forest, Brian Walker, Denise Sachse
Chairman John Allen called the meeting to order and opened the Budget Hearing at 5:36 p.m. The plan is to review the budget packet and take comments.
The discussion at the first Budget Hearing left off in the middle of page two of the handout however, updates were reviewed for those who were not in attendance at the first Budget Hearing.
The Highway Department has a reduction of seventeen thousand four hundred thirty three dollars, including the four percent increase, due to a reconfiguration of the Fire and Highway Department budgets.
The Ambulance budget is increasing for training. These folks must complete the class and continue working to be reimbursed. By providing Advanced EMTs for calls the Service can take calls that don’t require paramedics.
Sarah Clemons noted at last week’s meeting there was a discussion about having a full time Fire Chief and she’d like to reiterate her comment that the Fire Chief should be an EMT; also she’s learned there is no Job Description for a Fire Chief. She was informed that the Job Description is being worked on currently. It’s not possible to mandate that the Fire Chief be an EMT. Sarah noted that everyone says “as compared to other towns” when talking about changes and reasons for increases and there are many other towns that believe their Fire Chief has to be EMT trained. The Fire Chief is now full time, the town is paying his way, NH Retirement and benefits; if he’s going to be first on the scene he should be an EMT.
Bea Davis asked how many Highway employees the town will have; it remains the same as it was with three full time employees and one part time employee. It was pointed out that Gerald has been considered part time at thirty two hours but with ACA thirty hours a week is now considered full time. It was agreed that Gerald would be considered full time but it won’t impact the budget as he doesn’t take benefits from the town. Overtime should be a lot less as well. There will be four full time employees; there were five full time employees at one time.
Penny wants to know how the town is going to hire a Road Agent at seventeen thousand dollars less than Fire Chief/Road Agent Henry was making. Chairman Allen noted this is common practice, just like with teachers; the person leaving is replaced by a person at a lower rate. Penny wants to know if the new hire is going to need to be paid more, is this going to keep being bumped up. Selectman Thompson noted the seventeen thousand dollar reduction reflects two personnel moves. Penny wants to know if the Highway position is going to be advertised. Chairman Allen noted the Board hasn’t made that decision. Selectman Thompson noted previously the Board posted for internal candidates for the Police Department to see if there was someone internally qualified; if not then it would have been advertised
externally. It was clarified that any employee can apply for the position.
Joyce Allen wants to know how folks will know when the position is posted. Selectman Thompson noted it would be posted to the board at the Office and in the Enews. Fire Chief Henry noted word of mouth among employees has worked; everyone knows about the opening. The Board would like to have a notice of opening in writing for the board at the Office.
Bob Davis wondered if the Highway Department is going to have to get another truck. Fire Chief Henry noted the plan is to make do with what the Department already has. Selectman Lockard noted he has made it clear that a new truck will come in “over his dead body”. Bob noted he saw the town’s dump truck in North Conway the other night; he doesn’t think the town needs to use a dump truck to haul a man to North Conway. Selectman Lockard reiterated the decision has been made to make use of the vehicles Jackson already has. Bob feels the town shouldn’t have to give this person a vehicle to use if he’s making the salary quoted.
Sarah asked if the truck that Chief Henry had will leave town for the next Road Agent if he doesn’t live in town. Currently Chief Henry as both Road Agent and Fire Chief has the red pickup truck and it goes to his home every night; when he becomes Fire Chief; is that truck going with the Road Agent? Fire Chief Henry noted there hasn’t been a whole lot of talk about this; the agreement is to make do with what the town has. Sarah noted her question doesn’t make a difference; she wants to know if the new Road Agent will have the truck to take back and forth to home? Chairman Allen noted the plan is for the new Road Agent to use his own vehicle to go home. It was also clarified that the pickup truck was bought for the Highway Department; it only gets used for six months and Fire Chief/Road Agent Henry takes
it home in the winter only.
Street Lighting was changed back to ten thousand dollars.
Ground Water Monitoring is out of the budget for this year but will be back next year.
The Library is up by four thousand four hundred thirty two dollars due to the anticipated increase in wages and the Library had an expense that was being paid through the Friends of the Library that is being incorporated in with the Librarian’s duties; it will add a couple additional hours per week to the Library that was formally paid by the Friends of the Library. This was the website consultant fee which came from the Friends of the Library and now the Head Librarian will do the work. The other staff will be getting a wage increase and the amount budgeted represents roughly four percent. The Library has three employees. Jerry wondered if they are all full time and was informed none of them are full time.
Valley Vision was budgeted for ten thousand dollars; it’s based on Jackson’s time on television so that was dropped to seven thousand.
Chairman Allen moved on to the Warrant Articles; these are preliminary numbers.
The Bartlett/Jackson Ambulance is looking for a new ambulance in three years and Jackson needs to start putting the money aside this year. The current ambulance is seven years old and after five years the trade-in value drops dramatically. Because of good fleet management the Bartlett/Jackson Ambulance Service is able to replace its ambulances every five to seven years; they work hard to maintain it. The anticipated value for the warrant article is forty five thousand dollars for the next three years. Half comes from Bartlett, too; it’s a fifty-fifty split. The Bartlett/Jackson Ambulance hasn’t asked for anything in a long while. At the last meeting the Board heard there’s a lot of maintenance done on the ambulance that saves on repair bills.
There is a warrant article for a police vehicle to replace the 2011 and another to replace the small 2005 Highway 4x4. There will be a sale of these vehicles to offset the costs.
Chief Jette is looking to establish an Expendable Trust Fund to plan for expansion to the Police/Office building. The building is running out of storage; he anticipates a need for secure storage and extended room for processing those coming into the Police Department. Storage currently encroaches on the booking area.
The Bridge Repair Expendable Trust is up by twenty thousand dollars; the Valley Cross Road Bridge has been moved up the waiting list; its walkway has been closed. The work will be reimbursed at eighty percent after the project is done. This is two years out so the town may want to bond this.
The Road Reconstruction Capital Reserve Fund is up by fifteen thousand for the shimming, top coating and reclaiming planned in 2016. Fire Chief Henry recommends taking this out of the Unreserved Fund balance.
The Fire Department Truck Capital Reserve Fund is down by twenty thousand; buying the truck Jackson just purchased will allow changes to the next truck to make it more reasonably priced.
Gilbert Forest asked about the big difference between the actual versus budgeted amount for the State Highway Block Grant (spent $2639 of budgeted $37,472). Chief Henry noted the Highway Department didn’t spend much of it last year but the plan is to use it all next year. The town gets the grant amount no matter how much they spend.
There is an expected increase Revenue from Meals & Room of thirty nine thousand dollars.
Penny asked why the timber tax is projected to be so low; it was ninety four hundred twenty six in 2015 versus a projected amount of two thousand for 2016. 2015 was an anomaly; it, too, was budgeted for two thousand.
Jerry would like to know what municipal property is being sold; both the cruiser and the other town truck are going to be sold. The money from those sales goes toward the purchases.
The Board will also use some of the Unreserved Fund to offset the tax rate.
Chairman Allen reviewed the Variable Capital Improvement List; it runs from 2016 out ten years. The items listed are the things folks need to keep aware of. The spreadsheet will allow folks to get a sense of where the town’s next “asks” are going to be and when the Selectmen will be coming to voters to ask for it.
The Fire Truck ($450,000) will be delivered in April of 2016; this amount is already funded.
The current balance of the Unreserved Fund is around nine hundred ninety seven thousand dollars; these figures aren’t final.
Penny has an overall concern; she’s disappointed at how few people show up for these meetings however she knows folks are holding down three jobs to make ends meet. She noted that maybe folks don’t feel they can speak about the town raising wages four percent. She wondered how many businesses in town gave out a four percent increase. A lot of people are struggling to make ends meet and the budget continues to grow. The Board could be more conservative. This is based on finances; it’s not personal. Penny respects all the work town employee’s do. There are a lot of people in town struggling to make ends meet.
Joyce Allen knows she missed the first meeting but she’s wondering “why am I here?” She wondered what impact she has by being in attendance tonight. Chairman Allen noted the Board takes input from folks in attendance; the bottom line is that in March the voters can amend the amount. By attending tonight, folks will go in to the vote informed. He also noted the Board tries to do only what is necessary; they are not trying to pad the budget.
Selectman Thompson noted tonight is a Hearing where the Board is looking for input; they took the input from the first meeting and made changes to the budget, such as the change to a set stipend of one hundred fifty dollars per election for election officials so the amount doesn’t have to be revisited depending on the number of elections in the year. The Board looks for input at these Hearings as it’s really difficult to lower things at Town Meeting. The bottom line can be lowered but not individual lines.
Jerry noted the legislative body, the taxpayers, have the right to know how much money is spent; last year the legislative body chose to raise the amount spent rather than keep it at the amount the Selectmen offered. The Selectmen and Town Office staff work very hard to keep taxes down. Jackson’s tax rate is one of the lowest in the state yet provides for twenty four hour police service and excellent fire coverage. Very few people attend the School Board and there is a lot of money being spent; that budget was passed in about eight minutes last year. Jackson spends two hundred seventy thousand dollars to send Jackson’s kids to Bartlett; that was offered with very little input from Jackson’s School Board; they are going to negotiate a new rate this year. The folks do a pretty good job.
Sarah would like to know why the four percent figure was chosen for the wage increase. She was informed there was no formula. Sarah really wants to know why the Board chose four percent; it seems they just said four percent across the board; it’s not based on merit. Selectman Thompson noted the Cost of Living Index runs around two percent; as was talked about at the last meeting, four years ago Jackson did a comparison in wages to similar towns and generally, across the board, Jackson’s wages and salaries were below what other towns were paying; grossly so for the Police Department. Their wage increase was set at six percent and at the Budget Hearing it was upped to eight percent. There was no formula, just looking at other towns; a lot of the information is on file for New Hampshire records. There
is work involved and the Board felt at four percent for a few years for the wages to get up closer to similar towns.
Chief Henry asked folks to remember when the Department heads come in and propose budgets they are proposing spending and they have to think about eight hundred people not just the fifteen to twenty people who come in to these meetings.
Joyce asked if Jackson actually has twenty four/seven police protection and Chief Jette noted there is an officer on from seven a.m. to midnight and on call from midnight to six a.m. so in a true sense there is twenty four hour coverage. When asked which officer lives the furthest away; Chief Jette noted he does; the Department has a response time of fourteen to seventeen minutes. Everybody lives closer; he’s measured the time as to when called and when we report; it’s accurate.
Chief Henry reminded folks that when they talk about pay rates they’d like to think about twenty years ago when all town employees lived in Jackson. Today one doesn’t find folks in Jackson that want to work here. Three out of four of the Highway Department employees live out of Jackson and none of the Police Department employees live in Jackson. The town has to pay folks to keep them. Jerry agreed and feels this needs to be looked at seriously; he asked if there’s a way to provide housing for Jackson’s key employees. He wants to know how this can be done. It’ll take better heads and deeper pockets. Perhaps the town could rent a room.
Chief Henry noted it amazes him that there’s all this talk about a thousand or two thousand for an employee but there were no questions on spending five thousand dollars for fireworks.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 6:38 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by:
Martha D. Tobin
Recording Secretary
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