ࡱ> %` bjbjNN .,,`0 0 0 0 0 0 0 D FFF8FFTD ,O8G8G"ZGZGZGZGZGZGNNNNNNN$PhZSbN0 LZGZGLLN0 0 ZGZGN]N]N]NLp0 ZG0 ZGN]NLN]N]N_N0 0 oNZG,G $ >FLcNNN0,OiNSMpSoNS0 oN ZGHH]NIHJZGZGZGNNNXZGZGZG,OLLLLD D D 'D D D 'D D D 0 0 0 0 0 0  New Durham Board of Selectmen Minutes of Meeting ~ January 4, 2010 Town Hall Members Present: Ron Gehl, David Bickford, Theresa Jarvis Others Present: Town Administrator April Whittaker, Road Agent (RA) Mark Fuller, Police Chief Shawn Bernier, Fire Chief Peter Varney, Building Inspector/Code Enforcement Officer Arthur Capello, Robert Craycraft, Mike Davenport, Skip Fadden, Barbara Hunter, Debbie Jelley, Kevin Jenckes, Dwight Jones, Cathy Orlowicz, Paul Raslavicus, Susan Raslavicus, Peter Rhoades, members of the New Durham Fire Department, members of the public, Billy Perkins, Ryan Noonan 1. Call to Order Chairperson Ron Gehl called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. and led the Pledge of Allegiance. 2. Citizens Forum Chair Gehl announced his resignation, effective January 19, 2010. He read the following statement: It is with a great deal of sadness and some difficulty that I must announce my resignation from the Board of Selectmen, effective January 19th. Time is precious, and quite simply, I need to spend more of it with my wife and children (ages 9 and 11), and focus more on carrying my business through these challenging economic times. I have enjoyed the challenges that have come with the positions I have held, and the relationships I have developed with townspeople, board members and employees. For the past 13 years, I have done my utmost to impartially serve this Town with an eye toward the future. I hope that a tradition of managing town affairs in a professional and business-like manner will continue. Some may see recent disagreements with my fellow board members as a reason for my departure, but the truth is that I have been contemplating this for quite some time, as 80-hour work weeks and missed homework sessions with my kids have added up. While I would have liked to have remained until Town Meeting, I must vacate my position by the beginning of the candidate filing period January 20th in order to allow the voters to decide in March who my successor should be. I hope to be available to assist in whatever capacity I can. Thank you for the opportunity to serve. Peter Rhoades stated that after that bombshell, he was speechless. He asked if Chair Gehl preferred that he hold his comments on compensation issues until that matter came up on the agenda, and Chair Gehl replied that he would. 3. Department Reports Police Police Chief Shawn Bernier announced the recovery of equipment stolen from Dave Roberts garage valued at $8,500. He said there were pending arrest warrants. Training Chief Bernier reported on training: he has completed his second training at PRIMEX, Jason LaMontagne, his animal abuse and fire arms instructor training, Reggie Meattey, his domestic abuse protocols, as well as other officer training. Highway Road Agent Mark Fuller reported one compactor container needs to be rebuilt at the Solid Waste Facility. He said Waste Management will check it out and provide the Town with a loaner if they can fix it. He said the hydraulic pump went out on the skid steer, and repair cost is $3,000 minimum. Selectman Terry Jarvis asked when the container was scheduled for replacement and RA Fuller said he did not know. He said the skid steer was to be replaced this year, but it would cost more to rent one before Town Meeting, so the money would need to be put into the repair. He asked for a non-public session regarding the Solid Waste Facility. Fire Fire Chief Peter Varney reported four new EMT-Is and four new Level II firefighters. Chief Varney verified for Selectman Jarvis that the ladder test report indicated all repairs needed were minor. Building BI/CEO Art Capello said the junkyard case would be in court tomorrow. He said eight permits got in under the wire of institution of impact fees, so they did not have to pay that fee. 4. Administrative Review Cocheco Valley Humane Society Town Adminstrator April Whittaker provided the Board with the renewal contract and said Chief Bernier recommended supporting it. Chair Gehl said Chief Bernier pointed out the changes in the contract. Motion by Selectman Jarvis to accept the contract with Cocheco Valley Humane Society and authorize the chair to sign it; second by Selectman David Bickford. The motion carried unanimously. Census Bureau TA Whittaker said the Census Bureau wanted to meet with the Board to get the word out that jobs with the 2010 census are available. She recommended meeting with representatives at the first February meeting, and the Board agreed. Next Meeting The Board scheduled its next meeting for January 18, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. at Town Hall, despite it being a holiday. 5. Old Business Fire Department Budget Chair Gehl clarified that no matters other than compensation needed to be taken up. He said the submitted fire department budget is in line with the system that has been in place for two years. The Board discussed line 21-190 with Chief Varney. Selectman Jarvis noted the numbers are lower than seen on the last payroll. Chief Varney explained that these figures used the certification levels. Chair Gehl said he expected Chief Varney would need to modify it or adjust the hours in his estimate. Chief Varney said he could adjust the hours. Selectman Bickford asked if the department could roll back coverage. Chief Varney said Jon Roy is on eight hours two days a week to do administration duties and go out on calls. Chair Gehl advised the number of hours listed is an estimate. He asked Chief Varney if he was comfortable with the $80,725 budgeted and Chief Varney said he was. Selectman Jarvis commented that it was a lot of hours for station coverage. Chief Varney said the department pays a stipend of two hours when a member is available for a 12-hour period. He said it was called shift coverage. Chair Gehl pointed out that that was 12 hours of coverage for two hours of pay. Selectman Jarvis said she was not seeing that outlined in the policy and recommended the department revise its policy. Chair Gehl read from the policy that officers shall be compensated for extra duty. He said worded that way, it afforded flexibility to the chief. Chief Varney said the department provides shift coverage on storm nights and holidays. Selectman Jarvis said her issue was that she could not find what he was telling her in the policy, and that it should be in there. Chief Varney said he did not want to set that up 24 hours a day for seven days a week. He said shift coverage needs to be set up at the discretion of the commanding officer, and that would fall under Section E of the policy. Chair Gehl said Selectman Bickford wanted to carve back the compensation line by $5,000. Chief Varney said older compensation lines represented a mixture of duties, and were geared more to firefighters when there were only about a dozen on the roster. Chair Gehl said the department had gone several years without an increase. He said the wording provided the chief with latitude, nothing existed close to abuse, and it was a reasonable way to propose the coverage. Selectman Bickford said his asking for a cut would be the same as asking the highway department to cut back on sand. Chief Varney requested that Selectman Bickford ask him to cut back on equipment, then. Chair Gehl said the number of hours needed was incredibly unpredictable. Chief Varney said he already cut $2,000 out of his training budget and that was going to hurt. Selectman Jarvis noted he was increasing the secretarial line and decreasing the compensation line. Chief Varney said the administrative costs rose just over $1,000 due to training an additional person and the additional workload of breaking down the payroll. He said Mr. Roy began doing that in December. He listed Mr. Roys other duties, including the payroll, maintaining the firehouse, checking prices, ordering supplies, working with Comstar, etc. Chair Gehl said that considering the amount of record keeping the department undertakes, it was a modest investment. He said the broader issue to discuss was that the chief had a dollar figure he felt he could work with, keeping in mind that this is the second year in a row the fire department has reduced its budget. He said there were too many variables to sort through and that Selectman Jarvis and Selectman Bickford needed to agree to a bottom line. Chief Varney said he reduced his budget and cut $2,000 from training. Selectman Bickford suggested matching last years expense, rather than budgeted amount, on compensation. Chair Gehl said it was reduced by $7,000 from what was budgeted last year, and last year had a low call volume, something one could not count on happening again. Selectman Jarvis suggested reducing the secretarial line to $12,330, which was for 900 hours at the maximum rate. Chair Gehl asked if that was cutting it close, as the department was bringing on a new person. Motion by Selectman Jarvis that the fire department secretarial line be funded at $12,330; second by Selectman Bickford. Gehl nay, Bickford aye, Jarvis aye. Motion by Selectman Jarvis that line 42-2910 be funded at $80,725; second by Selectman Bickford. Selectman Bickford asked why that number would be budgeted. Selectman Jarvis pointed out that it was down from last year. Selectman Bickford said it was down from what was appropriated, but not from what was spent. Chief Varney said he knew it is a bad economy and he trimmed his budget before bringing it before the Board. Chair Gehl said it was dangerous to get it lower. He said if the amount is based on what was expended last year on a service such as a fire department, there could be problems. The motion carried unanimously. Chair Gehl said the total fire department budget was $161,697, which was $5,000 less than last year. Compensation Mr. Rhoades said he watched the DVD of the December 21, 2009 meeting. He brought up that Chief Bernier discussed equity versus other towns in relation to his salary. He said that it was a good idea to keep it a discussion of position regarding police chief and town administrator, etc. He advised the Board to look at all elements regarding the position of police chief, such as the total police department budget in the comparable towns. He indicated a higher salary might be due a chief with few officers and more administrative duties, or a lower one if there were more officers and someone to handle administrative duties. He said the same need for consideration held true for the town administrator position, which Selectman Bickford proposed to reduce by $10,000. He indicated TA Whittaker also serves as Welfare Officer, saving the Town the cost of that salary. He said the Board may hire a new town administrator at a lower rate, but would have to hire a part-time welfare officer. He said the Board also needed to consider what it costs to run Town Hall under TA Whittakers administration. He urged the Board to have TA Whittaker determine the budgets under the referenced positions, as he couldnt justify basing a pay raise solely on what other towns pay. Chief Bernier said the Local Government Center conducted the job study and determined what the wage should be. He said the figures he submitted to the Board were in that study. Chair Gehl said he understood. He said that he would concur that the survey is one factor in considing compensation. Cathy Allyn noted that the study specifically did not include level of experience or particular skill sets, and was discussed at the time as a jumping off ground. Custodial Chair Gehl said there were separate janitorial lines for each department. He said it would be difficult to equalize it as each custodian has different responsibilities. Selectman Jarvis noted different rates of pay. Chair Gehl said it was a large task to bite off right now. He said the Town was getting good rates for those positions. Selectman Bickford brought up a part-time situation. Selectman Jarvis said there were three custodians with different rates. Chair Gehl reminded the Board that some have served for decades so it would be difficult. Town Administrator Selectman Bickford said he was willing to go to $66,000 for TA Whittakers salary. Chair Gehl asked what that was based on and Selectman Bickford said the LGC information. TA Whittaker confirmed that the figure she provided to the Board was for a contracted position for two or three days a week, not for a full-time administrator. Selectman Jarvis said she would like to reserve discussion on the town administrators salary until the Board completed going through the budget lines. Chair Gehl said this was crunch time and the Board needed to wrap-up issues. Robert Craycraft associated Selectman Jarvis idea with an incident at a Town Meeting, when an individual tried to move discussion on the operating budget to the end, by which time many attendees would have left. He said he was concerned that the interest in the bottom line meant the qualifications of the person were being disregarded. Selectman Bickford said it was not uncommon to come back at the end. Chair Gehl said Selectman Jarvis was suggesting that the town administrators salary was the only compensation issue, and that was unfair. Barbara Hunter stated each position should be looked at according to merits and qualifications, rather than leaving it at the end to see whats left on the plate. She said leaving it to the end was an unprofessional, unbusiness-like way of dealing with the matter. Chair Gehl said this position, more than any other, needs to throw out the rule book. He said TA Whittaker was hired knowing shed be compensated a bit more than her predecessor, but that she brought an extraordinary range of capabilities to the job. He said she easily saved the Town over $100,000 after the budget had already been completed. He said she also saved money by her better organization of the Welfare department and by maximizing revenues. He said she leveraged her capabilities to bring the Town an amazing amount of grant money to do projects that had been put off for years. He said it was a business decision to get things going. TA Whittaker added that she has concluded that by what she brought in and saved, she has not cost the Town one penny of her pay. Selectman Bickford said according the LGC study, her salary was high, and it was incumbent upon him to bring this forward. TA Whittaker explained that when Barry Cox figured the amount for the town administrator, he did not realize she also served as welfare director and part-time custodian. Selectman Jarvis said there was $5,000 in the welfare line. TA Whittaker said that was for the clerical assistant. Chair Gehl said TA Whittaker receives no compensation from that line. TA Whittaker said Mr. Cox could not equate longevity in the study he conducted, otherwise it would have cost the Town more. She said she was at 25 years. Mr. Rhoades suggested the Board look at the pay of the average towns welfare officer. Chair Gehl noted the Town paid $30,000 plus, a few years ago for that position. TA Whittaker said she does not have an assistant, like other department heads. She said if the Board wanted to be discriminatory and reduce her salary, then get her an assistant. She said she also does not claim any mileage. She said the only time she ever did is when she and the Financial Assistant attended a conference, and the Financial Assistant insisted that she claim it. She said she would not nickel and dime the Town to death, and told the Board that when first hired. TA Whittaker stated she has saved the Town the $30,000 from the welfare department over the years and has brought in a million dollars. She asked that the Board pay her fairly. Kevin Jenckes said no one is upset with the job TA Whittaker has done. He said people expect to be paid fairly. He said, as a taxpayer, he recognized and appreciated the money she has saved us and the grant money she has brought in. He said the Board would be insane to argue for a reduced rate for her salary. He said he would bring to everyones attention those on the Board who voted to lower her salary. He said to fire her but not insult her. Selectman Bickford said Mr. Jenckes was wrong. He said the LGC study indicated the Town could pay her less. Mr. Jenckes said he should not hang his hat simply on that, rather than weighing benefit loss and gains. Selectman Bickford said it was better than a guess. Mr. Jenckes said the Town knew the performance of the person who held the position before her, and it knew what it had with her. He said people should be rewarded for their performance. Selectman Jarvis reiterated that she wanted to see the bottom line. Paul Rasclavicus said what Selectman Jarvis was saying was erroneous. He said the problems of the Town could not be tied to the town administrators salary. He said it was a unique position and should be evaluated on its own merits. Selectman Jarvis pointed out that Chair Gehl was willing to revisit the idea of employee raises after knowing the bottom line. Mr. Rasclavicus said that was dealing with an entire employee group, not one person. Michael Davenport said he agreed with the people in the room. He said you cant go solely by reports and studies when dealing with staff. He said you get what you pay for. He said if you find a keeper, thats good. He advised the Board it would be foolish to step over a dollar to pick up a nickel. Selectman Bickford said TA Whittakers salary could be kept at the same level it has been. Skip Fadden addressed Selectmen Bickford and Jarvis that tax problems could not be solved by cutting the pay of good people. Executive line 57980 Selectmens salaries Motion by Selectman Jarvis that the salary lines for selectmen be cut in half from $3,000 to $1,500; second by Selectman Bickford. The motion carried unanimously. Community Access TV Chair Gehl said the costs were offset by the cable company. He said the station had excellent coverage and noted Ryan Noonans manning of the video camera at meetings. Selectman Jarvis said she would like to see more frequent presentations of New Durham meetings. She said she wrote, asking for consistent presentation times, but did not get a reply. (During a break later in the meeting, Mr. Noonan indicated he had responded to her email.) She said she did not know how to find out when things air. Selectman Bickford said the information was available through the Towns website. Town Report TA Whittaker indicated she already reduced the Town Report printing line, even though the report has won awards the past two years. She said residents could go to the website. Chair Gehl said the bottom line for Executive is $136,356, $9,607 less than last year, which is a 6.6 per cent decrease. Selectman Jarvis said part-time positions were raised to be consistent. Motion by Selectman Bickford to approve $136,356 for the Executive Office budget; second by Selectman Jarvis. The motion carried unanimously. Assessing 4152 TA Whittaker said the increase is due to the statistical update. She said the Town needed to get another license for another computer. Motion by Selectman Bickford to approve $136,356 for the 4152 budget; second by Chair Gehl. The motion carried unanimously. Legal Account 4153 Motion by Selectman Bickford to approve $40,000 for the Legal Account, which is 4153; second by Selectman Jarvis. The motion carried unanimously. General Government Buildings 4194 TA Whittaker said this account was $69,992 last year and $67,637 this year. Chair Gehl said the energy audits will provide opportunities for energy savings. Motion by Selectman Jarvis that the General Government Buildings budget, account 4194, goes forward at $67,637; second by Selectman Bickford. The motion carried unanimously. 4299 TA Whittaker said she was waiting to receive the figure from Lakes Regional Dispatch. Streetlights 4316 Motion by Chair Gehl to approve $5,500 for account 4316; second by Selectman Jarvis. The motion carried unanimously. Health and Other Agencies 4415 Selectman Jarvis asked if there was more information on the Greater Wakefield Resource Center than what was included. TA Whittaker noted the center said it served 55 New Durham residents and was requesting subsidization of the meals. Selectman Jarvis said Meals on Wheels does not come out of Wakefield. TA Whittaker said the center serves meals at its facility and serves seniors. Chair Gehl said he regretted the fact that the Town was not in a position to take on more agencies to contribute to. The Board agreed to contribute the requested amounts of $1,750 from the VNA, $1,000 from CAP, $1,035 from the Homemakers of Strafford County, and $500 from the Red Cross. Motion by Selectman Jarvis that the Health and Other Agencies budget, account 4415, be approved in the amount of $4,284; second by Selectman Bickford. The motion carried unanimously. Welfare 4441 TA Whittaker said the budget is $2,065 less than last year. Motion by Chair Gehl to approve the Welfare budget, account 4441, in the amount of $23,985; second by Selectman Bickford. Selectman Jarvis said the line has increased since the October figures. TA Whittaker said more cases have come in since October, especially due to the colder weather. The motion carried unanimously. Capital Items Chair Gehl said the Board was done with the operating budget, except for the final figure for dispatch, and would move on to capital items. He said the road reconstruction work must be factored in, including contributions to Capital Reserve Funds. Selectman Bickford said he wanted to try to squeeze everything into the road reconstruction. Sidewalk - TA Whittaker said the sidewalk warrant article would be a contingency article, taken up only if the Town receives the grant. If that happened, the Town would be responsible for 20 per cent of the cost. That amount would be defrayed by $10,000 in the CRF and $50,000 from the undesignated fund balance. Chair Gehl said the amount that would affect the tax rate is $21,747. He explained that you shoot for the worst-case scenario in grant applications, and the final amount might actually be different. TA Whittaker said the Towns application came in second out of nine applications at the Regional Planning Level. It is now moving forward to state review level. She said the Town would be foolish not to take advantage if the grant were awarded, as there might not be another year for funds for such projects. Selectman Bickford said it was a big chunk of change to take out of the undesignated fund balance. TA Whittaker said $326,000, which would be the amount of the grant, was a bigger chunk to turn away. Chair Gehl said it was how you got things done for infrastructure projects. Selectman Bickford said Chair Gehl did not want to take from the undesignated fund before. TA Whittaker explained that you dont use that fund to subsidize the tax rates, as it can come back and bite you. She said the sidewalk was an infrastructure project and was the kind of project that favored the use of the undesignated fund in light of the grant funding opportunity. She reminded the Board that she asked if the Board would support the endeavor before she worked on it. RA Fuller said he did not know how much the maintenance of the sidewalk would cost, but he could provide a ballpark figure for that and the cost of sidewalk maintenance equipment, per Selectman Jarvis request, at the next meeting. TA Whittaker said the Town would have to sign that it agreed to maintain the sidewalk, then asked what the point of having sidewalks was if you didnt maintain them. Capital Outlay Equipment 4902 Chair Gehl clarified that this involved equipment to be acquired, not to have contributions made to. It includes the police cruiser and a one-ton truck with plow at $35,000. He said the purchases were offset by Capital Reserve withdrawals. The Solid Waste Facilitys skid steer ticket price of $40,000 would be covered by a $4,000 grant, the CRF, and savings accrued at the SWF, so there would be no affect on the tax rate. The total of $106,450 covers the adjustment to the police cruiser. Motion by Selectman Jarvis to approve the Capital Outlay Equipment line in the amount of $106,450; second by Selectman Bickford. The motion carried unanimously. Land Acquisition 4909 Chair Gehl indicated this reflected the approximately one acre adjacent to the 1772 Meetinghouse property. TA Whittaker said half of the $25,000 needed to repay the Conservation Commission would be taken from the 1772 Meetinghouse CRF and the other half from the Municipal Land Acquisition Reserve. The tax rate would be unaffected. Motion by Chair Gehl to approve the Land Acquisition budget of $25,000; second by Selectman Bickford. The motion carried unanimously. Capital Reserve Funds Chair Gehl said once the CIP was completed, he crunched the umbers to look at the recommended additions to the reserves and plot out how they build against what will be taken from them. He said the balances get high. He said it was a difficult budget this year and the question was if we can still make contributions and have enough to withdraw. He said the examples he provided are only for talking points. The examples are assuming the compounded investment returns will stay ahead of inflation, and he said it was a reasonable assumption that they will. He pointed out that some CRFs are more deficient than others. He said he used the amounts and dates laid out in the CIP to determine if smaller contributions in bad economic years would still allow for sufficient funds available when it was time to withdraw them for acquisitions. Selectman Jarvis said the CIP committee recommended $695,337 be placed in the capital reserves in 2010. Highway Equipment The CIP recommended a contribution of $71,176 for the loader in 2013 and the grader in 2014. Chair Gehl said a $50,000 contribution would cut it close and proposed $60,000. Selectman Jarvis said she leaned toward $40,000 and that the Town may have to push back getting the grader. RA Fuller said it would be preferable that both purchases be shortened up. He advised that the Town would wind up putting those savings into repairs. Chair Gehl said circumstances are considerably different in these departments, and you dont have the latitude in the highway department as you do in the fire department. TA Whittaker said as years go by, the contributions will be less and the effect wont be so bad. She said the Town was playing catch-up because there were no capital reserves before, and they need to be built up. She said it was bad luck that the years of largest contributions fell during a hard economic time. Selectman Bickford suggested $50,000 at least. Chair Gehl said to put in $50,000 for now. Highway Truck The CIP recommended a contribution of $117,000. Chair Gehl said the fund could be met with reduced contributions, but with a low balance. The Board agreed on a $70,000 contribution. Master Plan The Board agreed on a $2,000 contribution. Library Facilities The CIP recommended $10,000 and the Library Trustees requested $6,500. Selectman Bickford said the work outlined was inside, not outside. He recommended $4,000. Selectman Jarvis suggest half of the CIP suggestion. Chair Gehl said he disagreed, but said that figure would be put in. Library Technology The Board agreed on a $2,000 contribution. Municipal Facilities Land Acquisition Chair Gehl said half of the reserve was appropriated for the 1772 Meetinghouse parcel. Selectman Jarvis said the reserve could be utilized any place. The Board agreed on a $15,000 contribution. Vehicle and Equipment Maintenance The Board agreed to establish the reserve with $20,000 to eliminate ups and downs in the Equipment Mechanics budget. It would be utilized to fund the transmission for the grader. Milfoil Committee The Board agreed with the Milfoil Committees request of $10,000. Solid Waste Facility Building Addition The CIP recommended $9,000. TA Whittaker suggested zero funded it and changing the purpose, as the SWF does not need an addition. She said the containers needed to get under cover. She said the purpose could be changed at Town Meeting with a two-thirds vote. Solid Waste Facility Equipment The CIP recommended $24,000 for the skid steer, but other reserves will be used. The Board agreed to revisit this reserve. Police Cruiser The Board agreed on a $20,000 contribution. Smith Ball Field and Equipment The Board agreed on a $0 contribution. Shirley Cemetery Maintenance The Board agreed on a $2,000 contribution. 1772 Meetinghouse Restoration The Board agreed on a $2,000 contribution. Dry Hydrants The Board agreed on a $2,500 contribution, as there is one to go in on Tash Road. Fire Truck Chair Gehl said there was an opportunity to cut back and still have a comfortable balance. Selectman Jarvis said the fire department is pushing out replacing Engine 1. The Board agreed on a $30,000 contribution. Tax Maps The work is completed so no contribution is necessary. Highway Building Expansion The CIP recommended a $30,000 contribution and the Board agreed on $20,000. Road Reconstruction RA Fuller said he spent a lot of work developing the road reconstruction plan and he would let the taxpayers decide on any changes. He said the contribution as is would be $317,000, defrayed by $60,000 in Highway Block money. He said he had to use the other half of the Highway Block money for the hazard mitigation projects. He said next year the entire Highway Block grant would be used against the road reconstruction. Selectman Jarvis said it would add 63 cents to the tax rate. TA Whittaker figured in the Highway Block money and said it would be 58 cents. TA Whittaker said that contribution would be $257,000 more than last year. Selectman Bickford said he could not support it. RA Fuller said he understood, but residents needed to know the conditions of their roads. He said even this figure was hard to come by. The Board agreed on $317,000 as a placeholder. Satellite Fire Station The Board agreed on a $0 contribution. Revaluation The Board agreed on a $25,000 contribution. Excluding the road reconstruction, the figure for total CRF contributions is $275,963. Selectman Jarvis said the CRF impact on the tax rate would be 55 cents. With the road reconstruction, the contribution would be $592,963, with a bottom line tax rate impact of 63 cents, eight cents over last years cost. The Board took a brief recess at 10:35 p.m. and reconvened at 10:40 p.m. Expendable Trusts Accrued Benefit Liability The Board agreed on a $3,000 contribution. Office Systems Maintenance The Board agreed on a $1,500 contribution. Forest Fire Control Fund The Board agreed on a $3,500 contribution. Records Management The Board agreed on a $500 contribution. Town Buildings Improvements Recommendations were $40,000 for the fire station exhaust system, $58,500 for the police station addition, and $3,500 to paint the library. Selectman Jarvis proposed cutting the contribution to the addition in half and putting nothing toward the fire station exhaust system. She said we dont have any money and recommended $40,000. TA Whittaker said it might be wise to dedicate the money just for the police station addition, because something else might come up that the trust could be used for. Chair Gehl agreed there was a need to dedicate money to the addition. He cautioned that the Town may run into problems if it didnt take care of the exhaust system. Chief Bernier said two committees have gone through the police station booking room two years in a row, and told him it was a liability. Selectman Bickford said he would call the monies for repairs. Selectman Jarvis said to make a separate warrant article for the addition. TA Whittaker suggested deeming it an improvement. Chief Bernier said his priorities were keeping his officers and getting the cruisers out on the road safely. The Board discussed establishing a Police Facilities Capital Reserve with $30,000. TA Whittaker said that would help with any liability issue, as the Town was showing an effort to rectify a situation. 6. Any Other Business Recreation Director - Selectman Bickford asked if there had been any feedback from the Recreation Director candidate. No one had heard anything. 7. New Business Birch Ridge Conservation project - Chair Gehl noted the favorable vote at last Town Meeting to pursue conservation of the area. He said there would be no bond proposal at this time, but to maximize and enhance chances of receiving grant monies, a sustaining resolution at Town Meeting would re-emphasize residents support of the project. He said a Forest Legacy Grant round was coming up this summer. He offered to work with Mike Speltz of the Forest Society and Town Counsel to develop language indicating strong, meaningful support. Selectman Bickford said the issue needed to be addressed, and the Board agreed to have Chair Gehl work on wording. 8. Approval of Minutes Ms. Allyn presented a transcript of the disputed section of the November 16, 2009 meeting, taken from the recording of the meeting. Motion by Chair Gehl to re-amend the minutes of November 16, 2009 to reflect the language Ms. Allyn researched; second by Selectman Jarvis. Brief discussion ensued. A vote was called. Gehl aye, Bickford nay, Jarvis abstain. The motion failed. 9. Non-public Session Motion by Chair Gehl at 11:10 p.m. to enter into non-public session under RSA 91-A:3 II (a), (c) and (d); second by Selectman Jarvis. A roll call was taken. Gehl aye, Bickford aye, Jarvis aye. 10. Return to public session The Board returned from non-public session at 12:40 a.m., January 5, 2010. Motion by Selectman Bickford to lay off the full time town administrator, effective January 14, 2010; second by Selectman Jarvis. A vote was called. Gehl nay, Bickford aye, Jarvis aye. The motion carried. 11. Adjournment Motion by Selectman Jarvis to adjourn at 12:42 a.m.; second by Selectman Bickford. The motion carried unanimously. Respectfully submitted, Cathy L. Allyn A video recording of this meeting is on file with the Office of Town Clerk, is available for public viewing during normal business hours, and will be retained in accordance with the New Hampshire Municipal Records Board rules established under RSA 33-A:4, or for a minimum of 24 months.     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