MONSON FINANCE COMMITTEE MINUTES MARCH 7, 2011
Present: Peter Fimognari, Jim Pennington, Bob Finnegan, Bob Margerison, Maureen O’Sullivan, Christine Edwards, Brenda Payette (Administrative Assistant), Deb Mahar (Town Accountant), Joshua Farber (School Committee)
Absent: Gerry Brayton, William Dominguez
The meeting was convened at 6:45pm
CORRESPONDENCE:
- Expenditure Ledger up to 2/28/2011
MEETINGS ATTENDED BY MEMBERS:
OLD BUSINESS / NEW BUSINESS:
Joshua Farber from the School Committee was at the meeting. He brought with him a handout with some answers to questions that FinCom had the meeting prior. He also discussed the School Transportation budget some more.
He received an informal quote for School Transportation from John Lysek the least amount would be $648,000.00 this was comparing other towns with similar districts.
Currently Monson spends $508,000.00 for yellow buss only, no vans and no special education plus $90,000.00 for pension and benefits, yellow bus drivers only.
A raw indication that it would not be any cheaper if they went out to bid.
A formal bid would cost money.
- Ms. O’Sullivan made a motion that the Finance Committee suggest to the School Committee to put the School Transportation budget out to bid.
- Mr. Fimognari seconded the motion and the following discussion took place:
- Ms. Edwards asked Mr. Farber how much would that cost. He said he did not know for sure but did ask if FinCom would provide the school the money to do so. He said if FinCom suggested the School Committee do a formal school transportation bid process he would take that back to the School Committee, but they have not budgeted for a bid cost.
- Discussion ended and vote took place:
- YES votes-5
- NO votes-1
- Motion passed.
- Mr. Farber will bring FinCom’s suggestion to the School Committee to put the School Transportation budget out to bid at their next meeting on Wednesday, March 16, 2011. Mr. Farber asked Ms. Payette to forward him the motion that FinCom made so he can present that to the School Committee. Mr. Pennington said it was alright for Ms. Payette to do this before meeting minutes were approved.
- Mr. Margerison asked if FinCom could see the bid before it goes out.
- Mr. Pennington said FinCom does not need to see it before it goes out to bid.
- Discussion ended with Mr. Farber at 8:15pm.
Ms. Mahar updated FinCom regarding the Health Insurance. She said the quote from the insurance company is still much higher than expected. They are meeting next week with the IAC-Insurance Advisory Committee.
Ms. Mahar passed along a message from Ms. Neggers that the Board of Selectmen would like to meet with the Finance Committee March 15, 22 or 29, 2011 to touch base and make sure they are both on the same page.
Finance Committee agreed they will meet with the Board of Selectmen on March 29, 2011. Ms. Payette will let Ms. Neggers know this.
Discussion on inviting Mr. Morrell from the Highway Department, Mr. Lovell from the Cemetery Department and Mr. Pascale, from Parks and Recreation to our next meeting on Monday, March 14, 2011 at 7pm for an informational gathering meeting.~ Finance Committee would like to gather input from all three department heads at what it would look like if their departments were combined.~ Some questions the Finance Committee has are: How would the three departments work together to get the jobs done, what efforts would be made to combine resources if you were not allowed to hire anymore staff. Work schedules and seasonal time lines for field maintenance and cemetery maintenance.
Ms. Payette will send an email invite to all three department heads.
Finance Committee will put together information to bring to the Board of Selectmen when they meet on March 29, 2011. |
The next scheduled meeting of the Finance Committee is:
Monday, March 14, 2011 at 6:45pm.
Monday, March 21, 2011 at 6:45pm.
Monday, March 28, 2011 at 6:45pm.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:00pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Brenda I. Payette
Administrative Assistant to the Finance Committee
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