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Meeting of 2011-04/04
MONSON FINANCE COMMITTEE MINUTES                                                                                       APRIL 4, 2011


Present:        Jim Pennington, Maureen O’Sullivan, Peter Fimognari, Bob Finnegan, Bob Margerison, Gerry Brayton, William Dominguez, Christine Edwards, Brenda Payette (Administrative Assistant), Gretchen Neggers (Town Administrator), Deborah Mahar (Town Accountant), Richard Guertin (Town Moderator), Kurt Kaiser, Edward Maia
Absent: None

The meeting was convened at 6:45pm

CORRESPONDENCE:
  • Expenditure Ledger printed 4/4/2011 from 7/1/2010 to 3/31/2011
  • Association of Town Finance Committees letter offering three workshops:
  • Thursday May 5-Budgeting 101
  • Tuesday, May 17-State House Round-Up
  • Thursday, May 26-A Primer on Early Retirement and Pension Expenses
  • Ms. Payette asked if any FinCom member wishes to attend to please let her know and she will register them.
  • Revised budget submitted by Lori Stacy, Senior Center Director
MEETINGS ATTENDED BY MEMBERS:
  • Ms. O’Sullivan said she watched the Board of Selectmen’s meeting on March 29, 2011.  She just wanted to comment that the Finance Committee did a good job on presenting their budget thoughts to the Board of Selectmen.
OLD BUSINESS / NEW BUSINESS:
  • Finance Committee asked if the Town has seen any reimbursement from the Palmer Propane Tanker accident.  It was suggested FinCom contact Fire Chief George Robichaud to ask, he was the contact person for Monson during this incident.  
  • Ms. Payette will email Chief Robichaud and ask him if Monson will receive any reimbursements towards this accident.
  • Ms. Mahar updated FinCom and said they have not received any word yet from FEMA regarding Highway Department refunds.
  • Mr. Pennington asked Ms. Mahar if there were any changes to the Pathfinder figures.  Ms. Mahar said no.
  • Mr. Pennington said that Mr. Kurt Kaiser was here to talk about becoming a member of the Finance Committee.
  • Mr. Kaiser addressed FinCom and said that he was on FinCom years ago, he enjoyed it very much.  He has been a bit out of touch and would really like to get back involved.
  • Mr. Brayton remarked that he is in favor of Mr. Kaiser joining FinCom.
  • Mr. Pennington asked FinCom if they thought it would be best to have Mr. Kaiser join now or wait until Town Meeting.
  • Mr. Brayton felt it would be helpful to bring Mr. Kaiser on now.
  • A motion was made to appoint Mr. Kurt Kaiser to the Finance Committee effective April 4, 2011; it was SECONDED and SO VOTED with all Finance Committee members voting YES.
Discussion regarding the Board of Selectmen meeting from March 29, 2011:
  • Mr. Finnegan said he didn’t feel the Board of Selectmen was very receptive to FinCom’s suggestions.
  • Ms. O’Sullivan asked Ms. Mahar where the Director of the Parks and Recreation salary comes from.  Ms. Mahar said it comes from what is voted at Town Meeting, not from fees generated.  The secretary salary-some comes from fees and some from the town.
  • Mr. Pennington said he has received some not so nice phone calls from people.  Especially about FinCom’s suggestion to not fund the purchase of new school busses.
Mr. Pennington stated that he does agree with people and that safe school buses are very important.  But he asks if there is a more cost effective way to provide school transportation?
Ms. Edward’s asked if it was discussed if FinCom and the Board of Selectmen would meet again before Town Meeting to discuss the budget.
  • Ms. Neggers said that the Board of Selectmen was meeting on April 12, 2011 to discuss the budget.  She said they hope to hear next week about the Highway refund from FEMA.  She said if it gets approved by FEMA, the town feels pretty comfortable locking in about $40,000.00 in refund money.
Ms. O’Sullivan asked Ms. Mahar if the budget numbers we have now are pretty accurate.  Ms. Mahar said yes.  Ms. O’Sullivan asked if there were any other accounts other than the Snow and Ice, where unused monies could go back into.  Ms. Mahar said there are no other accounts like the Snow and Ice account.  For example, her budget if there was money left, it would go back into as Free Cash.  Another issue that could impact the budget numbers was Local Aid amount.  Ms. Mahar and Ms. Neggers both said they have not seen anything from the Governor yet.
Mr. Pennington said if some Snow and Ice money comes back from FEMA-he talked about possible putting some money back into the School Transportation to purchase one bus.
Mr. Fimognari talked about the Board of Selectmen not being receptive to FinCom’s suggestion of eliminating a position from the Cemetery Department but he felt they would look at eliminating the Assistant Director of the Parks and Recreation Department.
Mr. Brayton wanted to recap FinCom’s position on eliminating the Cemetery position.  There was a strong indication that the cemetery position person would be getting their CDL license and probably would move to the Highway Department.  Therefore, the town would not have to pay for unemployment.
Mr. Pennington said the Director of the Library stated she could make do with a 10% reduction to her budget if needed.  Ms. Mahar cautioned FinCom and said this could be a very big problem with the waivers she would apply for.
  • Mr. Pennington remarked that the purpose of tonight’s meeting was to discuss the outcome of the Board of Selectmen’s meeting and have FinCom look at things again and ask to meet with the Board of Selectmen again to go over and discuss further budget options before Town Meeting. It was decided that FinCom would ask the Board of Selectmen to meet on Monday, April 25, 2011 to go over and discuss priorities.  Hopefully they will have an update on FEMA and any State and Local Aid figures.  
Ms. Payette will send an invite to the Board of Selectmen to meet on Monday, April 25, 2011 at 7:15pm.

  • Mr. Margerison said he would like to see a revisit on the meals tax.  Ms. Neggers said the Board of Selectmen has put this as an article on the warrants for Town Meeting.
  • Mr. Margerison asked Mr. Guertin if Mr. Kaiser will need to be reappointed at Town Meeting to the Finance Committee.  Mr. Guertin said yes he will need to be.  He said the Finance Committee can appoint in between Town Meetings.
  • Ms. O’Sullivan said she would like to make a motion to add to the meeting agendas a line reading: “Open session for topics not reasonably anticipated 48 hours in advance of the meeting”  motion was SECONDED and discussion took place:
  • Mr. Margerison questioned if this could be used for walk ins attending a FinCom meeting only or could this be used by FinCom.
  • Mr. Guertin questioned if this was something that FinCom could put on their agendas.  Ms. O’Sullivan showed a copy of the Open Meeting Law Advisory Commission meeting agenda that had this written on it.
  • Mr. Maia remarked that the School Committee puts something to this nature on their agendas in case they have a person from the audience ask a question or comment on something.  He said they do not take a vote on the item but they will note it and put it on the agenda for their next meeting.
  • Discussion ended and voting took place, will all YES VOTES, and Mr. Pennington abstaining, motion passed.
  • Ms. Payette will include this line on future Finance Committee agendas.


Agenda items for next meeting:
Continue to review department budgets already received.
Get budget updates that would impact budget numbers.

The next scheduled meeting of the Finance Committee is:
Monday, April 25, 2011 at 6:45pm.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:08pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Brenda I. Payette
Administrative Assistant to the Finance Committee