Office of the Board of Selectmen
2 Town Hall Road, Newton, NH 03858
Tel: 382-4405 ext. 10 * Fax 382-9140
NEWTON BOARD OF SELECTMEN
DATE: TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2016
TIME: 6:00PM
LOCATION: NEWTON TOWN HALL, 2 TOWN HALL ROAD
PUBLIC MEETING
- Call to Order, Roll Call Vote
Chairman Doggett called the meeting to order at 6:04PM, moved by Selectman Foote and second by Selectman Burrill with a unanimous vote. In attendance were Selectmen James L. Doggett, Chairman, Matthew A. Burrill, Vice Chairman, Robert S. Donovan, Jr., Lawrence B. Foote, Lisa L. Gonyer, Town Administrator Nancy J. Wrigley and Office Manager Mary B. Winglass. Minutes of the nonpublic session were prepared by Office Manager Winglass under Code Enforcement and by Town Administrator under Employee Matter. Public Meeting minutes were prepared by Office Manager Winglass.
Burrill moved to go into Nonpublic Session under RSA 91-A:3 II (c) – Code Enforcement; (a) & (c) – Employee Matter. Second by Gonyer with a unanimous roll call vote: Doggett – aye, Burrill – aye, Donovan – aye, Foote – aye and Gonyer – aye.
Burrill moved that the Board just came from a nonpublic session and to keep all discussion confidential until in the opinion of the majority of the members the circumstances no longer apply. Second by Gonyer with a unanimous roll call vote: Doggett – aye, Burrill – aye, Donovan – aye, Foote – aye and Gonyer - aye.
- Pledge of Allegiance
- Introduction of Guests
- Approval of Minutes (Review prior to meeting)
- Selectmen’s Public and Nonpublic Meeting minutes dated January 26, 2016
Burrill moved to approve the Selectmen’s Public and Nonpublic Meeting minutes dated January 26, 2016. Second by Foote with a unanimous vote.
- Selectmen’s Public and Nonpublic Meeting minutes dated February 2, 2016
Gonyer moved to approve the Selectmen’s Public and Nonpublic Meeting minutes dated February 2, 2016. Second by Foote with a unanimous vote.
- Scheduled Business
- Proposed Update to the Personnel Policies and Procedures Re: Annual Review
The Board reviewed a memo from Chairman Doggett with a written proposal to replace the original wording regarding the annual review policy in the Town Personnel Policies and Procedures. Doggett read the proposal as follows;
All Department Heads will review the performance of their staff on or by the employee’s anniversary date utilizing a format approved by the Board of Selectmen. (Amended November 3, 2003)
The completed review shall be presented to the Board of Selectman for acceptance and for pay raise consideration.~ After the Board has signed the review, the employee shall be given a copy of said Annual Review and a copy shall be placed in their personnel file.~ No department head shall offer a pay increase to any of their employees without prior approval from the Board of Selectman.
Doggett added that with this change to policy will remove the amended date of November 3, 2003 and to add to the end of the second paragraph, amended with today’s date. This amendment shall require the Board of Selectmen to approve all pay increases prior to the department head offering it to the employee.
Burrill offered a friendly amendment to the last sentence: “No department head shall offer or discuss a pay increase to any of their employees without prior approval from the Board of Selectmen.”
Gonyer moved to adopt the proposed language to change the annual review policy with Selectman Burrill’s amendment. Second by Foote with a unanimous vote.
Doggett requested for the Town Administrator to send out an email tomorrow to the department heads with the change to the town’s annual review policy.
- Accept Letter of Resignation from Planning Board Member Robert Miller
Chairman Doggett announced that the Planning Board received an email from Robert Miller giving notice of his resignation as a Planning Board member for he will be moving out of town.
Burrill moved to accept with regret and thanks a notice of resignation from Robert Miller from the Planning Board. Second by Gonyer with a unanimous vote.
- Notice of Intent to Cut Wood or Timber, PID#7-6-6 and PID#6-8-6 18.48 acres.
Foote moved to accept the Notice of Intent to Cut Wood or Timber for parcels ID# 7-6-6 and 6-8-6; 18.48 acres. Second by Donovan with a unanimous vote.
- Announcements
- Candidates Night, Wednesday February 17th at the Town Hall, 7pm.
- Other Business, Sign Manifests, Requisitions, Abatements, Tax Credits, Correspondence and Appointments
Selectman Burrill stated that the Board has run into an employee matter a few times that needs to be clarified; when we have someone with a 40-hour full time position with the Town of Newton and they take on another position outside their current role. If it is a paid position, then the town would be required to pay automatic overtime.
Burrill moved to discourage us from entertaining applications from people who are already employed full time in the town from applying for an additional job thereby causing an issue, in a sense creating automatic overtime. Foote second for discussion.
Gonyer questioned if this applies to a seasonal employee or volunteer.
Doggett offered the wording for the same matter with the following suggested wording: moved that the Board of Selectmen will not hire a full time employee in the Town of Newton for a second position in the Town of Newton. Donovan questioned why only full time positions for we previously had one person working two-part time positions and being paid overtime each week. Burrill responded that sometimes there are legitimate reasons to work over time but it is when you have the two plus two thing going on that needs to be addressed. Burrill talked about retracting his motion if the policy committee is going to address it; Doggett suggested the following wording.
No full-time employee of the Town of Newton shall be allowed to apply for a second position with the Town of Newton which would regularly bring their hours to over 40 hours per week.
The Board talked about the different types of employees such as part time, permanent part time, temporary and on call. Doggett suggested implementing this right now and having two separate motions one for full time and the other for part time employees.
No part-time employee of the Town of Newton shall be allowed to apply for any additional positions with the Town of Newton which would regularly bring their hours to over 34 hours per week.
Selectman Gonyer asked for the policy committee to be the one to find the right spot to place these two revisions in the Town Personnel Policies and Procedures; some wording may need to be removed from the policy and would need approval by the Board of Selectmen.
Burrill moved to accept the friendly amendment by Doggett (as shown above in bold and italics). Gonyer second the amendment. Doggett commented that there are two different policy changes occurring tonight and recommends to the Board, to not print out and sign an updated document with each amendment to the Town Personnel Policy and Procedures but to wait and do it every six months. The effective date of this policy change is this evening. Donovan questioned the word “regularly”. Burrill responded that the Board of Selectmen can make a judgment call on what is regular. The intent of this policy change is to align it with the town policies and to control costs.
Doggett then suggested the following wording: Pursuant to this article, the definition of “regularly” shall be determined by the Board of Selectmen. Burrill accepted the wording as a friendly amendment to the friendly amendment. Gonyer second the friendly amendment to the friendly amendment. Doggett called the motion and all voted in favor, a unanimous vote.
- Burrill recognized all those that worked the polls at the Presidential Primary on February 9th by thanking them all especially the Moderator, Town Clerk and the Deputy Town Clerk. Even though the polls closed at 8pm it was 1:30am before all was counted and they were able to go home due to the requirements of the state. Selectman Gonyer second the thanks, all members were in agreement.
- Burrill talked about the extreme cold this past weekend and thanked the employees at the Transfer Station who worked in the bitter cold.
- Burrill moved to sign the vendor manifest dated 2/16/2016 in the amount of $995,301.01. Second by Foote with a unanimous vote.
- Burrill moved to sign the vendor manifest dated 2/16/2016 in the amount of $321.50. Second by Foote with a unanimous vote.
- Donovan moved to sign the payroll manifest for the pay period of 1/24/2016 – 2/6/2016 with a pay date of 2/12/2016. Second by Foote with a unanimous vote.
- Foote moved to sign a letter to the Bookkeeper regarding the Cable Franchise Fee for the 4th quarter in 2015. Second by Gonyer with a unanimous vote.
- Gonyer moved to change the reimbursable mileage rate to the new state rate of 54 cents per mile. Second by Foote with a unanimous vote. Effective today.
- Adjourn
Gonyer motioned to adjourn at 8:08pm. Second by Burrill with a unanimous vote.
Respectfully Submitted,
Mary Winglass, Office Manager
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