NOTTINGHAM BUDGET COMMITTEE MINUTES
JULY 24, 2008
PUBLIC SESSION
APPROVED BY THE COMMITTEE SEPTEMBER 11, 2008
PRESENT: ABSENT:
Mr. John Decker, Chair Ms. Gail Powell
Mr. Kyle Barry Ms. Gail Mills
Mr. Philip Fernald
Mr. Bill Netishen (Board of Selectmen Representative)
Mr. Michael Koester
Ms. Charlene Andersen
Mr. Chet Batchelder
Ms. Amy Plante (School Board Representative)
Mr. Scott Curry
The Chair called the meeting to order at 7:10pm.
RESIGNATION:
Mr. Decker stated that Ms. Mills had sent in a letter of resignation from the Budget Committee.
Mr. Curry made a motion to accept the resignation of Gail Mills with regret. Ms. Andersen seconded that motion. The present members of the Budget Committee voted unanimously in favor of the motion. The motion passed 9-0.
Mr. Decker said that he had asked the town office to post that there was an opening on the Budget Committee. He said that he hoped the Budget Committee could appoint a replacement member at their next meeting.
MINUTES:
Mr. Decker said that there had been previous discussion about the minutes from the February 7, 2008 Budget Committee meeting. Ms. Andersen said that there had been a reference to a test at the dump that the Town Administrator had said he was able to scale back. She said that she thought it would be important to put the name of the test into the minutes. Mr. Curry suggested that the Committee just eliminate the reference. Ms. Andersen said that she would prefer to find out the name of the test. Mr. Netishen explained that there was a policy in the town contract with Waste Management that they would scale back testing of the landfill after doing each test a certain number of times produced results with lower than dangerous levels of toxins. Ms. Andersen asked whether the Town Administrator would have to ask
to have that testing scaled back under those circumstances. Mr. Netishen said that he thought it was done automatically because it was a part of the contract. Ms. Andersen suggested that they ask the Town Administrator which test he might have been referring to when he had spoken in February. Mr. Decker stated that he would email the Town Administrator about this matter.
Ms. Andersen made a motion that the Budget Committee table the approval of the minutes from February 7, 2008 until they could get more information. Mr. Curry seconded the motion. Mr. Decker, Mr. Barry, Mr. Fernald, Ms. Andersen, Mr. Batchelder, Ms. Plante and Mr. Curry voted in favor of the motion. Mr. Koester and Mr. Netishen abstained from the motion. The motion passed 7-0 with 2 abstentions.
Mr. Curry made a motion that the Budget Committee accept the minutes from their meeting of April 24, 2008. Ms. Andersen seconded the motion.
Mr. Batchelder said that according to his notes, those minutes had already been approved. Mr. Decker realized that he had written down the wrong date in the previous minutes and that the minutes from the meeting in April had already been approved. He fixed the error.
Mr. Curry withdrew his motion to accept the minutes from April 24, 2008. Ms. Andersen withdrew her second.
Mr. Curry made a motion that the Budget Committee accept the minutes from their meeting of June 5, 2008 as amended. Mr. Barry seconded the motion. Mr. Decker, Mr. Barry, Mr. Fernald, Ms. Andersen, Mr. Batchelder, Ms. Plante and Mr. Curry voted in favor of the motion. Mr. Koester and Mr. Netishen abstained from the motion. The motion passed 7-0 with 2 abstentions.
TOWN FINANCIAL REPORT:
Mr. Netishen said that the town financial report looked great. He said that the only areas where they would be overspending their planned budget were in the Police Department, the Fire Department and the Highway Department. He said that the Highway Department would exceed their planned budget unless there was no snow at all in November and December. He said that the biggest problem for these departments staying on budget was that fuel costs were very high. He said that the town had been focusing on energy costs because they were looking to meet their budget and not exceed it. He said that they had been looking for places where they could cut back on spending to make up for overages. He said that the Department Heads had been working on an energy and fuel savings plans. He gave examples including that
the Police Department would shut off the engines in the cruisers when they were not in use but there was still a need for the lights. He said that it was cheaper for them to run down the battery than to use fuel. He said that the entire town government was making every attempt to save fuel and be more energy efficient. He said that they were also looking ahead towards the winter months. He said that they were sending out requests for bids for heating. He said that the town buildings had oil heat and the school had propane. He said that hopefully the winter weather would be favorable. He said that other than the fuel costs, the town budget was on target.
Mr. Curry asked whether the new Police Chief still used the same policy regarding the new, larger police vehicle. Mr. Netishen said that the new Police Chief used the larger vehicle less often. He said that the use of the larger vehicle was planned in advance more now than in the past. He said that the Police Department had important uses for the larger vehicle but since fuel costs were high they had to change how they did things. He said that the larger vehicle must be used sparingly. Mr. Koester asked about Highway Department overages. Mr. Netishen said that there had been high costs in maintenance. He said that they had to send some of their maintenance problems to outside mechanics. He said that the winter of 2008 in New Hampshire had been long and grueling and that had shown up on their
equipment.
Mr. Decker asked about town revenues. Mr. Netishen said that the tax receipts had been consistent with the past 2-3 years. He said that the revenues were looking favorable for them. He said that the room and meals tax was coming in from the state and that there was nothing at this point that they were unsure of whether it was coming or not. He said that despite those positive reports, they could not judge the year on the first six months. He said that problems in the economy would most likely be more visible during the second half of the year. He said that the number of building permits was down but the Building Inspector was confident that he would meet his revenue numbers for the year. He said that despite the lower number of building permits, the total number of building permits was about the same
as it had been six months into the previous year. He said that the revenues were on target overall. Mr. Batchelder commented that he was surprised by the number of new vehicle permits because overall sales of new vehicles were down in the United States.
Mr. Netishen said that the Board of Selectmen was very much on top of events with the water bottling company. He said that the town had an attorney and they were confident that they would get any money that was still due to them.
SCHOOL DISTRICT FINANCIAL REPORT:
Ms. Plante said that the Budget Committee had an explanation in print of the points in the budget which had the most money left over and the points in the budget where they had overspent their planned budget. She said that it was important the Budget Committee recognize that the numbers in front of them were from the 4th quarter and they were not year end figures. She said that the district would close out their books soon to get ready for their audit. She said that the projected surplus was approximately $300,000. She said that was a pretty typical surplus amount. She said that the previous years surplus of approximately double that amount had been an anomaly. She said that the district had overspent for food service because the costs of food had increased and there had been an increase in the number of
students who were buying hot lunch. She said that the revenues were above what had been anticipated as well.
Ms. Andersen asked if the district had considered raising the prices of school lunch. Ms. Plante said that they had done some research on the price and found that the price in Nottingham was comparable to all the surrounding towns. She said that the School Board had decided not to raise the price of hot lunch. Ms. Andersen asked whether the School Board had done any research on the Farm to School program for New Hampshire. Ms. Plante said that she was not sure if anyone had looked into that program or not. Ms. Andersen suggested that the School Board look into the Farm to School program but she said that she did not know if the program would result in a cost savings for the district or not. She said that she would get the program contact information for Ms. Plante so the School Board could have someone
research whether there would be a cost savings or not.
Mr. Decker asked about the budgeted costs for air conditioning. Ms. Plante said that the district was buying air conditioning for the school server room and one other room. She said that presently the school building did not have any air conditioning in those rooms but she said that due to the sensitive nature of the equipment in the server room, the School Board had felt that air conditioning in there would be a good idea. She said that the Principal was getting bids and talking to contractors about installing that air conditioning. Mr. Decker commented that he felt an air conditioning unit would be a more fiscally sound approach to the project.
Mr. Netishen asked about the timing of the audit. Ms. Plante said that the Nottingham School District was part of a multi district audit. She said that the results usually came back in late August but she said that they could come back later than that.
SCHOOL ASSESSMENT REPORT:
Mr. Batchelder asked whether the authors of the school assessment report were planning to amend it based on the feedback from the public hearing. Ms. Plante said that according to her understanding the public meeting had just been designed to distribute the report and to start a public conversation about the results. She said that Dr. Joyce had given the School Board the formula he had used in creating the report. Mr. Decker said that at the public meeting it had been stated specifically that the town owned the data used in the report. He said that he had asked the Superintendent and she had said that they did not have that data at the SAU. He said that the school district should ask for that data and they should have a spreadsheet with both the formula and the data on it. He said that the district had
paid for the data and they should get it. He said that some data had been used in the analysis that was not published in the report. Mr. Netishen said that according to the public hearing some of the data needed to be updated regularly. He asked who would be responsible for doing that. Ms. Plante said that the SAU would update the data. Mr. Netishen asked whether the SAU could provide that information to other people. Ms. Plante said yes. She said that she thought it would be useful for the School Board to get more information from the Planning Board such as building permits.
Mr. Curry said that the assessment report had stated that additional rooms were needed in the school. Ms. Plante said that the School Board was waiting for the completion of the second half of the study before they discussed those results more thoroughly. She said that they wanted to look at the current educational program and not just the number of students. Mr. Curry asked whether the School Board would want to develop a consensus before the second half of the report was complete. Ms. Plante said that the School Board had been provided with options. She said that the other study was currently being done and it included assessing the structure of the building. She noted that they might need smaller rooms instead of bigger rooms or rooms for certain purposes so they really needed to look at both studies
before making decisions. She said that the results of the second study would be shared with the School Board at their second meeting in September.
Mr. Koester what the reaction of the School Board had been to the projected numbers. Ms. Plante said that the School Board had not been surprised based on antidotal evidence. Mr. Koester asked if the School Board had looked at historical data. Ms. Plante said yes. Mr. Koester said that he was concerned that this was an overly generous picture of the future enrollment. He asked whether they knew how many kids were home schooled. Ms. Plante said that parents who were going to home school their kids had to report it to the SAU. Mr. Batchelder said that a lot of kids in his neighborhood went to private schools. Ms. Plante said that there were still many unknowns but she said that if the School Board decided to go forward with an addition a Building Committee would have to be created.
GOOGLE DOCS:
Mr. Curry said that when this topic had been discussed at a previous meeting Mr. Bock had expressed some concerns about 91A. He said that he had spoken to the Local Government Center about this idea and the person he had talked to had felt that it was an innovative idea. He said that Google Docs would give the Budget Committee a website which would allow them to edit documents that were of general concern to the committee. He noted those would include minutes but were not limited to minutes. He said that the website would also make any of their documents public so they could be seen by anyone. He said that the person at the Local Government Center had suggested that they make a policy regarding this idea and then give a copy to the center so they could use it to make suggestions to other committees which might
want to do something similar. He said that other tools available through Google Docs were a calendar and separate email addresses for every member of the Budget Committee. He said that he felt it would be more efficient to edit the minutes online instead of spending a lot of time on it at meetings. He said that he would work on drafting a policy if the entire Budget Committee agreed to try using Google Docs.
Mr. Netishen asked whether the Local Government Center had mentioned any pitfalls to this idea. Mr. Curry said that the Local Government Center had stressed that the Budget Committee should not get into any discussions or take any votes online. Ms. Andersen said that she felt this was a good idea but it would require a learning curve. Mr. Netishen said that he felt that the Budget Committee should use caution. He said that local committees needed to be very careful what they used computers for. He said that many towns had gotten into trouble with interpretations of laws. He said that he was concerned about committees getting into trouble unintentionally. He said that Milford was a prime example. He said that some personal computers of local elected officials had been subpoena'ed. Mr.
Curry noted that one of the benefits to this Google Docs system was that nothing would be on personal computers. He said that all of it would only be on the internet. He said that everything would be available for all the world to see and he said that the Budget Committee could have as many attorneys review the policy as they wanted.
Ms. Andersen said that it should be put into the policy that the revisions to the minutes made online by the Committee members should focus on typos and not questions about the content. She said that it should also be included in the policy that the Budget Committee should review their use of the Google Docs regularly. She said that if it did start to be used for too much than they should shut it down. Mr. Netishen said that it was important to be sure that all the members of volunteer committees were a part of the communication effort.
Mr. Decker said that he would like to see the draft Board of Selectmen minutes posted on the internet. Mr. Koester said that seeing the draft minutes would be a benefit if you had been discussed at the meeting.
Mr. Curry asked if the Budget Committee members were interested in using the Google Docs. Mr. Netishen said that there would be a place for such an idea but he said that there would need to be a very clear policy. Mr. Batchelder said that he would be interested in using the Google Docs. Ms. Plante and Mr. Koester agreed. Mr. Batchelder said that at the state they signed a Code of Ethics regarding online information. He suggested that if there were concerns that the Committee could do something like that as well. Mr. Netishen noted that as a total town government Nottingham had made great leaps in technology.
Ms. Andersen said that the Committee would have to have a cut off date for edits. Mr. Batchelder suggested that they needed a dry run/ field test of the technology. Mr. Netishen asked whether the purpose of using Google Docs would be for the Budget Committee to be more efficient. Mr. Curry said yes. He said that the other purpose would be to save time at the Budget Committee meetings. Mr. Batchelder suggested that the committee just put out any document on the Google Docs as a test. Mr. Decker recommended that Mr. Curry start writing a policy on this. Mr. Koester noted that the Budget Committee could keep editing and revising their policy as long as they had questions about things. He also said that if Google Docs was beneficial to the Budget Committee, the school and town websites should link
to it. Mr. Decker said that they would try to post the working minutes on the Google Docs but that they would also set up a play document for everyone to make changes to.
GRANT DISCUSSION:
Mr. Batchelder said that there had been some discussion about a grant. Mr. Decker asked how the information about the grant applied to the Budget Committee. Mr. Netishen explained that the town had applied for a four phase grant which would be used to do a study. He said that the town had been notified that they had been awarded the grant but he said that 5% of the price of the study had to come from the town. He said that they did not know if they would get the money during this fiscal year or whether they would have to wait until the next fiscal year. He said that getting the grant was a long process. He said that the town must complete each phase of the study before they applied for a grant to help pay for the next phase. He said that each phase was considered independent and just because a town
was awarded the grant for one phase did not mean that they would be awarded the grant for the next phase. He said that the town would pull together the information about housing and conservation. He said that it would be a lot of work. He said that maybe creating subcommittees would create more interest from people of all disciplines. He said that the Board of Selectmen felt that this study was worthy of them taking this first step. He said that they did not see how it could hurt. He said that he envisioned this process would take about two years. He said that during the process there were a number of things that the town would be committed to doing. He said that Phase 1 of this study focused on reliable data gathering.
CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN COMMITTEE REPORT:
Ms. Andersen said that she had received a packet about Capital Improvement Plan Committee information. She said that she would review the packet in August and report on it at the next Budget Committee meeting.
BUDGET COMMITTEE WORKSHOPS:
Mr. Koester asked if there had been any information given about this years Local Government Center workshop for Budget Committee members. Mr. Decker looked through the mail and he said that the workshops would be held on September 23, 2008 at CR Sparks and October 15, 2008 at Loon. He said that the registration deadline for these workshops was September 16, 2008. He said that if members were interested in attending they should talk to the town office.
UPCOMING MEETING:
Mr. Decker reminded the Budget Committee that their next scheduled meeting was on September 11, 2008.
Mr. Koester made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:15pm. Mr. Decker seconded the motion. The present members of the Budget Committee voted unanimously in favor of the motion. The motion passed 9-0.
Respectfully submitted,
Kelly Tivnan
Budget Committee Secretary
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