MONSON FINANCE COMMITTEE MINUTES MARCH 30, 2009
Present: Joel Keller, Peter Ross, Bob Finnegan, Bob Margerison, Jim Pennington,
Gerry Brayton, Peter Fimognari, Christine Edwards, Brenda Payette (Administrative Assistant)
Also Present: Deb Mahar (Finance Director), Gretchen Neggers (Town Administrator), Nancy Morrell (Town Clerk), John Morrell (Highway Department)
Absent: Maureen O'Sullivan
The meeting was convened at 6:47pm
A motion was made to accept the minutes of the 3/9/09 meeting; with the following change from Mr. Ross questioned that he sees no cuts in administration to Mr. Fimognari questioned that he sees no cuts in administration; it was seconded and SO VOTED.
CORRESPONDENCE:
Copy of the letter Gerry Paist gave to Ms. Mahar from Pathfinder
Three letters from Mr. Fimognari
MEETINGS ATTENDED BY MEMBERS:
None
OLD BUSINESS / NEW BUSINESS:
Discussion with Nancy Morrell, Town Clerk:
The Finance Committee invited Ms. Morrell to come and talk about her budget and to discuss the impact on her department with the potential cuts FinCom was looking at. One of the potential cuts discussed was reducing assistant hours to 5hrs a day. Ms. Morrell stated her concern regarding this. She said the assistant only works 33 hrs a week now, not 37.5 hrs. To cut her hours anymore would be detrimental to the office. They are barely doing it now with having to put in extra time.
Mr. Pennington asked Ms. Morrell where she thought she could cut. Ms. Morrell said it would have to be in her line items budget, not out of her salaries.
Ms. Morrell stated a few state mandates that she has to comply with:
If a voter doesn’t return a census form she has to send out a confirmation notice which costs money for postage
She needs to budget $1,000 for maintenance for the handicap voting machine for the hearing and sight impaired. In the last six elections it has only been used once.
Mr. Pennington asked her if she could cut enough expenses to cover the cost of keeping the assistant. Ms. Morrell said yes.
Mr. Fimognari asked if she could take on anymore work to help out other departments
Ms. Morrell said she would like to say yes, depending on what the task is, if it is simple yes but she doesn’t know all the programs the other departments use.
Mr. Ross thought it interesting that Ms. Morrell has the ability to cut expenses enough to help keep the hours of the assistant.
Ms. Morrell said she will do what she can to keep the assistants hours.
Mr. Ross asked if the admin work is being absorbed into the Town hall, Ms. Mahar and Ms. Neggers said yes.
Ms. Morrell said that her office is open Monday-Friday and they deal with the public. She works with other departments and has deadlines she must make.
Mr. Finnegan asked her if she could close the office to the public for a particular day to catch up on work. Ms. Morrell said they tried that before and people got upset that the rest of the Town Office was open and she was not.
Ms. Mahar commented that now the Clerk’s office is not open to the public from 8-9 on Monday, but they are in the office working.
Discussion with Ms. Morrell ended at 7:25pm
Discussion with John Morrell, Highway Department:
The Finance Committee began discussions with Mr. Morrell regarding the Highway Laborer position. Mr. Morrell stated that this is a truck driver position.
The Finance Committee asked Mr. Morrell about the potential cut of the highway clerk position to 7hr days. He said it used to be 40 hrs it was cut back to 37.5 hrs. It is very important for the clerk to be in the office especially during a snow storm to dispatch plow drivers.
Mr. Morrell listed his top three priorities:
Not to cut hours
Not to cut help
To hold the roads together.
He has six employees now, he used to have eleven, no other department has been cut like this.
It is essential to have the people to maintain the roads. He is not asking for more staff he is only asking to keep what he has.
Mr. Pennington said that he knows certain seasons are harder like the winter. Does the work load drop off in different seasons. Mr. Morrell said no, he always has work to do. Every season has its own work load, it doesn’t really slow down.
Mr. Ross asked Mr. Morrell about an idea he has of possible pooling the admin positions to handle the clerical work for the majority of the town. Mr. Morrell said that some clerks need to be in that particular building like the Fire Department clerk. Certain things maybe it could work but they need to be careful not to remove people out of the building where they are needed most.
Mr. Pennington asked Mr. Morrell if something needed to be cut what would you do. Mr. Morrell said to give him a number and he will find a place to cut, just not in staff.
Mr. Fimognari asked about any stimulus money. Mr. Morrell said he put in for money to finish Lower Hampton Road, he said he has about a 50/50 chance of getting money.
Mr. Morrell asked FinCom to consider level fund General Highway and Bridges
Discussion with Mr. Morrell ended at 7:55pm
Ms. Morrell asked FinCom what their opinion on the override is. Mr. Brayton said FinCom would remain neutral and not take a stand either way.
Mr. Morrell asked if FinCom will have a meeting with Department Heads once the budget numbers are out, FinCom said yes.
NEW BUSINESS:
Finance Committee discussion regarding budgets:
Mr. Pennington remarked that instead of cutting positions why not consider giving departments a certain amount of money and letting them decide what to do with it.
Mr. Margison said he would like to see the list Mr. Guertin said he came up with at a previous FinCom meeting showing $200,000 in cuts from the budget, to compare with what FinCom has come up with.
Finance Committee discussion regarding email from Town Administrator and Mr. Fimognari letter addressing the email:
Mr. Fimognari made a motion to send a letter to the Board of Selectmen requesting the Town Administrator retract the email and issue an apology to the Finance Committee, motion was seconded with the following discussion:
Mr. Finnegan stated the email was insulting and inaccurate
Mr. Ross remarked that he doesn’t understand why FinCom keeps going back to the topic of the school administrators when they have no control over the school department.
He said he feels the same frustration as the Town Administrator stated in her email especially when FinCom has no control. Ms. Edwards agreed with Mr. Ross.
Mr. Pennington remarked that if things are going to be said they should be addressed here at the FinCom meeting not in an email, it is very insulting and it was sent to two other departments as well.
Mr. Finnegan said that FinCom was accused of being disingenuous. He said the school committee chose to replace a curriculum position when they could have left it vacant until better financial times.
Mr. Keller agrees with Mr. Ross. Every year the Finance Committee has the same discussion regarding the school budget. He doesn’t see them questioning any other department like he sees them questioning the school committee. He suggested FinCom members run for the school committee if they are that passionate about it. He said FinCom doesn’t have control on what positions are hired at the school.
Discussion ended and voting took place with Mr. Finnegan, Mr. Brayton, Mr. Pennington, Mr. Margison, Mr. Fimognari voting yes to send letter and Mr. Ross, and Mr. Keller voting no to send letter and Ms. Edwards voting to abstain.
It was voted yes to send letter to the Board of Selectmen.
Discussion regarding letter from Mr. Fimognari to Mr. Keller:
Mr. Fimognari addressed his concern that Mr. Keller responded to his email remarks regarding the email sent from the Town Administrator.
Mr. Keller responded by saying that he responded to the last email sent and it happened to be the one from Mr. Fimognari, it was not personal. He was trying to minimize any further emails on this topic. He said as Chair of the Finance Committee discussions need to be addressed at a Finance Committee meeting.
Ms. Mahar stated to the Finance Committee that by sending this letter to the Board of Selectmen, that it will become part of their correspondence and they read correspondence on TV.
Mr. Keller asked if FinCom wanted to change their position, members upheld the vote to send the letter.
Mr. Margison said that he wanted discussions noted in the minutes, not through email.
The next scheduled meetings of the Finance Committee are:
Tuesday, April 7, 2009 at 6:45pm
Monday, April 13, 2009 at 6:45pm
The meeting was adjourned at 8:45pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Brenda I. Payette
Administrative Assistant to the Finance Committee
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