NOTTINGHAM BUDGET COMMITTEE MINUTES
FEBRUARY 5, 2009
PUBLIC HEARING
APPROVED BY THE COMMITTEE MARCH 5, 2009
PRESENT: ABSENT:
Mr. John Decker, Chair (Arrived 7:15pm) Mr. Chet Batchelder (Excused)
Mr. Peter Bock, BOS Representative Mr. Gene Reed (Excused)
Ms. Amy Plante, School Board Rep.
Ms. Charlene Andersen
Ms. Scott Curry
Mr. Kyle Barry
Ms. Gail Powell
Ms. Donna Danis
Mr. Michael Koester
OTHERS PRESENT:
Mr. Charles Brown, Town Administrator
Ms. Mary Bonser, Board of Selectmen
Ms. Kelly Tivnan, Budget Committee Secretary
Mr. Gunnar Foss, Police Chief
Mr. Jaye J. Vilchock, Fire Chief
Mr. John Fernald, Road Agent
Ms. Rhoda Capron, Librarian
Ms. Laurie Legard, Library Board of Trustees
Ms. Janet Horvath, Recreation Director
Mr. Thomas L. Sweeney
Ms. Heidi Seaverns
Ms. Susan F. LeClair
Ms. Sandra J. Vilchock
Mr. Joshua Boyle
Mr. Bob Desrosiers
Ms. Tara Mayo
Mr. Wayne Purington
Ms. Heidi Carlson
Ms. Marge Carlson
Ms. Traci Chauvey
Mr. Chris Albert
Mr. Curry began the meeting filling in for Mr. Decker. He called the meeting to order at 7:05pm.
PRESENTATION OF TOWN BUDGET:
Mr. Brown said that there had not been any huge changes to the proposed budget from when he had last presented it to the Budget Committee. He said that the salaries had been increased by a cost of living raise of 1.5%. He said that the line for employee performance awards had decreased to $5,000. He said that they were expecting an increase in postage so that had been included in the proposed budget. He said that the town would need to increase their network hub so they had some money in the budget for that. He said that the total budget for the Board of Selectmen's office was $145,665 which was a decrease from the previous year.
Mr. Brown said that there was a slight increase in the total proposed budget for the Town Clerk. He said that the line for fees and salaries had increased. He said that the Town Clerk and the Deputy Town Clerk had been operating at the same salary for a number of years and so this year they had asked for some additional money.
Mr. Brown said that the proposed budget for voter registration had decreased significantly because there were going to be fewer elections during this budget year.
Mr. Brown said that the proposed budgets for service agreements and software support had increased. He said that the budget for mortgage research had increased to reflect the amount spent in that line. He said that they were expecting an increase in the number of property liens and they were expecting an increase in the amount of work required of the Tax Collector. He said that the proposed budget for the contract assessor had decreased and the proposed budget for data verification had also decreased. He said that their proposed budget for legal was the same as it had been the previous year.
Mr. Brown said that the proposed budget for personnel administration had decreased. He said that their costs for Blue Cross Blue Shield had decreased. He said that employee copays had also been increased.
Mr. Brown said that the proposed budget for the Planning Board had decreased. He said that the line for the services of a Planner had been reduced because there had not been a lot of activity over the past year. He said that the proposed budget for the Zoning Board of Adjustment had increased slightly because the Secretary had started after the beginning of the previous year. He said that this budget reflected a full twelve months of pay for that person.
Mr. Curry said that he had been approached by a member of the public who had requested that he ask if there was a way to defer the painting of the Grange Building and whether there had been a call for volunteers from the community to help paint that building. Mr. Sweeney said that the building should be painted by a professional and it should be done sooner rather than later. Ms. Bonser said that weather was getting into the building and causing serious damage. Mr. Bock said that they were removing paint with lead content from the Grange Building. He said that would create a liability if volunteers were to get involved.
Mr. Brown said that the town had locked in a price of $4.11 for Number 2 heating fuel. He said that they had gotten a bargain by locking in a heating fuel price in the past but he said that this year they had lost money in the deal.
Mr. Brown said that the budget numbers were staying about the same for workers compensation, property liability insurance and deductibles.
Mr. Brown said that the costs for Regional Association paid for their membership in the Strafford Regional Planning Commission.
Mr. Brown said that the total proposed budget for the Police Department had decreased. He said that they had taken out the line for the new cruiser and they had added money to the cruiser maintenance line.
Mr. Brown said that the total proposed budget for the Fire Department had also decreased. Ms. Bonser said that their newest fire truck would be paid off this year. Mr. Brown said that the costs of radio maintenance had increased because they had bought some new equipment in the past year.
Mr. Brown said that the cost of the ambulance was covered under a warrant article.
Mr. Brown said that the proposed budget for Code Enforcement had decreased. Ms. Powell asked whether the Building Inspector also did code enforcement. Mr. Brown said yes. Ms. Powell noted that the number of building permits issued had decreased because of the struggling economy. She asked about the other duties of the Building Inspector. She said that she wanted to know whether he was fully utilized. Mr. Brown said that the Building Inspector looked at specifications, did inspections before demolitions and many other things. Mr. Bock said that the Building Inspector also knew a lot of information about fire codes and able to accompany firefighters to offer support in code enforcement when necessary. He said that the Building Inspector was a big help in a lot of areas.
Mr. Brown said that the proposed cost of Emergency Management had decreased. He said that they had hired a new Emergency Management Director. He said that the new Emergency Management Director was the Police Chief and his assistant was another officer. He said that the Police Chief was more local than the previous Emergency Management Director had been.
Mr. Brown said that the proposed Highway Department budget had decreased. He said that the Highway Department had done a great job keeping their department under budget the previous year. He said that they had struggled because of fuel and salt prices. He said that they expected the costs for equipment parts and maintenance to increase in the upcoming year. He said those lines were regularly overspent so they had increased their budgeted amounts to try and make them more accurate. Ms. Powell asked why they rented uniforms for the Highway Department. Mr. Brown said that if they owned the uniforms they would have to maintain them. Mr. Fernald said that it was cheaper in the long run for them to rent the uniforms. He said that the uniform company would replace rented uniforms if something happened
to them. Ms. Andersen asked if they used the same company for all the uniforms used by town employees. Mr. Brown said yes. He said that the proposed budget for shim and seal coat had increased because the prices to do the same amount of work had increased.
Mr. Brown said that he was very concerned about collection fees. He said that he had kept the amount the same from the previous year but he was concerned that it would not be enough. He said that there were serious problems in the commodities market and some of the things that the town used to get revenue for, they might have to start paying to have someone come and collect. He said that the cost of testing would decrease and he said that he had changed the proposed budget for Hazardous Waste Collection to reflect the decrease that the Budget Committee had requested at their previous meeting.
Mr. Brown said that the total proposed budget for animal control had decreased. He said that the stipend for the Animal Control Officer was remaining the same. He said that the cost of fuel had decreased but the amount of mileage had increased.
Mr. Brown said that they had not made any changes to the proposed budget for General Assistance. He said that they had already received more requests for assistance in 2009 than they had received for all of 2008.
Mr. Brown said that the proposed budget for the Recreation Department had been modestly increased. Ms. Andersen asked about the theater program. Ms. Horvath said that they were doing a spring performance. She said that they would take the money from the school fund. She said that the program was in transition from a school program to a Recreation Department program. Ms. Powell asked if the staff lines were mostly used to pay for lifeguards. Ms. Horvath said that for two years in a row the Recreation Assistant had not worked for the town a full year. She said that she expected the current one to work all of the upcoming year. She said that they had a summer office person but that the person had not been able to work the full ten weeks that she would have liked the person to work. She said
that she would like to leave enough money in the budget for a person to work ten weeks.
Mr. Brown said that the Budget Committee had previously heard a presentation on the library budget. He said that the total proposed library budget had decreased.
Mr. Brown said that the total proposed budget for the Conservation Commission had decreased.
Mr. Brown said that the total proposed operating budget for the town was $2,856,743 without taking into account debt service. He said that was a 2.86% decrease from the previous year. He said that the total proposed operating budget for the town with the debt service taken into account was $3,104,959. He said that was a decrease from the previous year of 6.18%.
WARRANT ARTICLE DISCUSSION:
Mr. Brown said that Article #13 was to see if the town would vote to raise and appropriate $200,000 to fund construction of a new Highway Department Salt Storage Facility at the Town Gravel Pit off Smoke Street.
Mr. Brown said that Article #14 was to see if the town would vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $360,000 to purchase a new fire engine for the Fire/Rescue Department and to authorize the withdrawal of $106,000 from the Fire Department Vehicle Capital Reserve Fund. He said that this article allowed the Board of Selectmen to enter into either a lease or purchase agreement for the new truck because they wanted to leave their options open in order to get the best price. Ms. Bonser said that for every $25,000 that the town spent, it would only increase taxes by $.03. Ms. Andersen asked how much money would be left in the Fire Department Capital Reserve fund after this truck was obtained. Mr. Vilchock said that there would only be cents in the fund.
Mr. Brown said that Article #15 was to see if the town would vote to enter into a lease/purchase agreement in the amount of $141,000 to get a Loader for the Highway Department. He said that the language in this article regarding lease/purchase was for the same reason as in Article #14. He said that the actual price of the Loader would be $134,000 so he said that he would make that change to the article. He said that manufacturers did their own leasing and he said that approach had worked well for the town in the past. Mr. Koester asked whether the Highway Department Capital Reserve Fund was for trucks only. Mr. Brown said yes.
Mr. Brown said that Article #16 was for the operating budget.
Mr. Brown said that Article #17 was to see if the town would vote to raise and appropriate $192,690 for the highway construction and reconstruction of Deerfield Road. He said that Article #18 was to see if the town would vote to raise and appropriate $171,000 for the construction and related construction engineering services to replace the bridge over Back Creek, located on Deer Field Road. He said that Article #17 included the money to pay for paving of the bridge being built in Article #18. He said that he had already sent in the paperwork to get the grant mentioned in Article #18. Mr. Curry asked where the reimbursement money from the grant would go. Mr. Brown said that the reimbursement money would make the project a wash as far as money collected through municipal property taxes. He said that the
grant included $5,600 for administrative fees. He said that the town had been approved for the grant. He said that he expected that the town would receive the money soon.
Mr. Brown said that Article #19 was to see whether the town would vote to raise and appropriate $489,432 to fund the construction and construction related engineering services to replace the Mill Pond Bridge over Little River. He said that they had gotten a one year extension from the state funding program. He said that it was supposed to expire in October of 2009 because the work had not been completed in eighteen months but he said that with the extension, they had until 2010.
Mr. Brown said that Article #20 was to see whether the town would vote to raise and appropriate $5,000 for the Highway Department truck Capital Reserve Fund. He said that there had been $109,000 in that fund in mid September of 2008.
Mr. Brown said that Article #21 was to see if the town would vote to raise and appropriate $11,125 for the costs of running the ambulance.
Mr. Brown said that Article #22 was to see if the town would vote to raise and appropriate $5,000 for the Fire/Rescue vehicle Capital Reserve Fund. He said that if the town bought the new fire truck requested in Article # 14 this fund would be reduced to almost nothing.
Mr. Brown said that Article #23 was to see if the town would vote to raise and appropriate $44,000 for the purchase and installation of a standby power system for the Community Center and Police Department. He said that this article had been put out to bid and they had received four proposals. He said that they ranged from $24,000-$65,000. He said that the two most positive bids were in the range of $44,000. He said that the Board of Selectmen had not chosen a bidder yet. He said that the Town Office Building had a really outdated electrical system. He said that it was an 800 amp system. He said that one solution would be for them to put in a transfer switch but he said that would cost over $10,000. He said that another option would be for them to set up a new electrical service. He said
that it would be very labor intensive for them to take out the old system though so it would be least expensive for them to have the new electrical system installed but to leave the old system in place.
Mr. Brown said that Article #24 was to see if the town would vote to raise and appropriate $20,604 to fund Social Service Agency requests. He said that the Board of Selectmen had voted to level fund the social service agency requests.
Mr. Brown said that Article #25 was to see if the town would vote to raise and appropriate $4,000 for conducting courtesy boat inspections at the state boat launch.
Mr. Brown said that Article #26 was to see if the town would vote to raise and appropriate $10,000 for the stabilization of the river bank of the North River that is adjacent to the ball fields at the Community Center. Ms. Capron asked for more of an explanation. Mr. Albert gave a brief explanation of the article. He said that he wanted to try to deal with the erosion problem on the river.
Mr. Brown said that Article #27 was to see if the town would vote to raise and appropriate $13,000 for the purpose of contracting a professional Planning Consultant with expertise in the area of impact fees to perform an impact fee study.
Mr. Brown said that Article #28 was to see if the town would vote to require that all votes by a town Budget Committee and the governing body relative to budget items or warrant articles shall be recorded votes and the numerical tally of such votes be printed in the town warrant next to the affected warrant article. Ms. Danis asked if this article would also apply to the school votes. Ms. Bonser said yes. Ms. Plante said that according to the Department of Revenue Administration, it would not. Ms. Danis asked about the items on the warrant article with the bold lines. Mr. Brown said that the items with the bold lines required that the Budget Committee recommend or not recommend them. He said that the other articles did not need any recommendation from the Budget Committee.
Ms. Andersen asked whether the Assessing Committee had submitted the petition that they had discussed at a previous Budget Committee meeting. Ms. Bonser said no.
Ms. Plante said that the School Board had voted for a warrant article that would allow them to receive any money that they could get from the federal economic stimulus bill. She asked whether the town needed something like that as well. Mr. Brown said that a rule allowing the town to accept outside money had already been put into place in a previous year. Ms. Bonser said that the Board of Selectmen would schedule an emergency meeting to discuss this.
Ms. Danis said that she was speaking as a member of the public. She said that she wanted to stress the importance of Article #25. She said that she was a member of the Pawtuckaway Lake Improvement Association. She said that the money had allowed the members of the group to provide more coverage in their boat inspections. She said that they had made two saves the previous year. She said that Milfoil could destroy Pawtuckaway Lake. She said that one of the cases where they had found Milfoil had been after Labor Day. She said that the money from the town had helped the group extend their season. She said that they were working to control some weeds in the lake and the Department of Environmental Services was helping them to eradicate harmful weeds which could destroy the lake. She said that
because of a good relationship with the state park the group would be able to broaden their education efforts to explain to boaters about the harm caused by certain plants. She said that they were also learning the peak hours when boaters launched their boats during the day. She said that because of the economic problems they did not know if they would be able to get any money from the state to help them with this project. Mr. Curry said that he just wanted to comment that he was in favor of this. He said that the lake near where he had grown up had turned into a swamp within fifteen years after Milfoil had started to grow in it. Ms. Bonser said that she was also in favor of this article. Mr. Albert asked whether this amount could be moved to the Conservation Commission line of the regular proposed budget. Ms. Bonser said no, because the sponsoring organization, the Pawtuckaway Lake Improvement Association, was a private organization.
After asking if there were any further comments from the public, Mr. Curry closed public comment at this time.
BUDGET COMMITTEE DISCUSSION:
Mr. Curry asked whether Article #12 had financial impact. He read Article #12 out loud, "Are you in favor of eliminating the Board of Assessors as elected officers?" He stated that this was a petitioned article. Mr. Brown said that he did not think that this article would have financial impact beyond what was already normal from year to year. Mr. Sweeney asked if the idea was to elect the Board of Assessors which had been voted on the past year and then eliminate them with a vote this year. Mr. Bock said that the Board of Selectmen felt that the Board of Assessors would be unnecessary bureaucracy and he felt that they had been vidicated in this matter by the decision of the Department of Revenue Administration.
(Ms. Powell wanted it noted that she learned this information for the first time as a Budget Committee member during this discussion and she felt that the Board of Selectmen had a difficult time with communicating this issue.)
Ms. Andersen made a motion that the Budget Committee recommend Article #13 (to build a salt storage facility) as written. Mr. Koester seconded the motion.
Mr. Decker said that he knew the town needed this but he asked whether they really needed it. He noted that this was a tough economic year for people. Ms. Plante said that they needed to build it to minimize the environmental impact from the current system. Mr. Decker said that he was most worried about the town's liability with the current system. Mr. Curry said that everyone needed to make sacrifices in tough economic times. He said that he thought they should wait on this. Ms. Andersen said that the town could not keep putting things off. She said that they needed to spread out their projects and if they put things off then the projects would move closer together and that would make them even more difficult for people to afford. She said that if they were not responsible about these
projects, they would put themselves into too big of a hole to climb out of.
Ms. Andersen, Mr. Barry, Ms. Danis, Mr. Koester, Ms. Powell, Mr. Bock and Ms. Plante voted in favor of the motion. Mr. Decker and Mr. Curry voted against the motion. The motion passed 7-2 in favor of the recommendation.
Ms. Andersen made a motion that the Budget Committee recommend Article #14 (for the new fire engine) as written. Mr. Barry seconded the motion.
Mr. Bock said that the Fire Department needed a vehicle. He said that ultimately the town would decide on this. He said that the Fire Department would have to convince the voters. He said that the Board of Selectmen thought this was something that the voters should make the decision on. Ms. Danis said that this was going to come down to a matter of timing. Mr. Bock said that the case had been made and the research had been done on this. Mr. Koester said that it was his understanding that due to changing laws, it would be cheaper to purchase this engine this year than it would be to put it off until the future.
The present members of the Budget Committee voted unanimously in favor of the motion to recommend the article. The motion passed 9-0.
Ms. Plante made a motion to amend Article #15 (for the Highway Department Loader) to $134,000. Mr. Decker seconded the motion. The present members of the Budget Committee voted unanimously in favor of the motion. The motion passed 9-0.
Ms. Plante made a motion that the Budget Committee recommend Article #15 as amended. Mr. Curry seconded the motion. Ms. Andersen, Mr. Barry, Ms. Danis, Ms. Powell, Mr. Bock, Mr. Curry and Ms. Plante voted in favor of the motion. Mr. Decker voted against the motion. Mr. Koester abstained from the motion. The motion passed in favor of the recommendation 7-1 with one abstention.
Mr. Bock made a motion that the Budget Committee recommend Article #16 (the operating budget) as written. Ms. Andersen seconded the motion.
Mr. Bock said that the Board of Selectmen had worked very hard to reduce the town budget.
Mr. Decker made a motion that the Budget Committee recommend reducing the Building Maintenance Line for the Old Town Hall from $16,000 to $200. Ms. Andersen seconded the motion.
Mr. Brown said that they needed to leave enough money in that line to pump the septic tank at the building. Ms. Danis asked whether the Old Town Hall and the Grange Building both needed to be painted in the same year. Ms. Andersen asked who used the buildings. She said that both buildings needed to be painted but the question was whether they could be saved. She said that there needed to be a bigger picture plan for the future of those two buildings.
Mr. Decker withdrew his motion.
Mr. Decker asked what needed to be done on the Grange Building. He said that the buildings did not get much use and they were using town resources. Ms. Powell suggested that they ask Mr. Sweeney about this. Mr. Sweeney said that the work on the Grange Building was never done right and the building was not stable. Ms. Powell asked what work needed to be done on the building besides painting it. Mr. Sweeney said that it needed a floor and a foundation. He said that the building would crumble if they didn't do something about it. He asked whether the town wanted to salvage their historic buildings. Ms. Powell said that the town needed to invest in themselves for their future economic development. She said that she would be willing to cut the line but not to $0. Mr. Koester agreed.
He said that he would suggest they do some maintenance on the building to keep it viable until a decision was made on what the future should hold for it. Mr. Bock said that this matter was something that the Board of Selectmen, the Building Committee and the Historical Society all needed to put on their agenda. He noted though that there was a five year plan for the Old Town Hall and Grange buildings. He said that it was a very new plan so he would get some more information about it.
Mr. Koester made a motion that the Budget Committee recommend reducing the line for highway salt to $51,000. Mr. Decker seconded the motion.
Mr. Koester said that he would like to encourage the Highway Department to be more selective on how much salt they used and where they used it. He said that they did not need to use salt on straight roads. He said that he thought salt should only be used on curves, hills and intersections. He also noted that there were environmental issues with salt. Mr. Decker agreed and he said that he would like to see the Highway Department change their sand/salt mix to more sand and less salt. Ms. Plante asked about safety issues. Mr. Brown said that he got a lot of calls where people complained that they did not use enough salt on the roads. Ms. Bonser said that it would be irresponsible to cut that line without having the Road Agent available to ask about it. Mr. Brown noted that small snowstorms were
more difficult because they needed to use the same amount of resources to clean the roads after a small storm that they did after a large storm. Mr. Koester said that he did not think it was necessary to use salt on flat straight aways. Mr. Bock said that he had mixed feelings on this issue because he grew things and he saw the impact that the salt had but he also drove on the roads. He said that he did not know the answer to this. Mr. Brown noted that even if the line were reduced, it did not necessarily mean that the Highway Department would use less salt.
Ms. Andersen, Mr. Decker and Mr. Koester voted in favor of the motion. Mr. Barry, Mr. Curry, Ms. Danis, Ms. Powell, Mr. Bock and Ms. Plante voted against the motion. The motion to recommend reducing the line for highway salt was defeated 6-3.
Ms. Powell asked whether they could cut the Recreation Department overall budget line by $10,000 and use less lifeguards.
Ms. Powell made a motion that the Budget Committee recommend reducing the Recreation Department overall budget line to $75,979. Ms. Andersen seconded the motion.
Ms. Horvath said that they had only had their Recreation Assistant for nine out of the twelve months in the previous year. She said that she intended to have that person all twelve months of this year. She said that her Summer Recreation Office Assistant had only been able to work seven out of the ten weeks that she had hoped that person would be able to work for. She said that she wanted to keep the money in the budget so that a person in that position could work ten weeks. She said that as far as lifeguards were concerned they only had one the previous year. She said that the Department used to have two lifeguards and she said her goal was that there be even more lifeguards. She said that lifeguards had to have a certification. She said that to hire a certified WSI lifeguard with experience they
had to be prepared to pay them $15.36/hour. She said that if they hired a less experienced WSI lifeguard they could pay them $8.50/hour. Ms. Plante asked how many children were involved in the Recreation Department swimming program. Ms. Horvath said that if they counted both the camp children and the children who took lessons they were talking about approximately 125 children. She said that in addition they had a possible forty older kids. Mr. Decker asked how the Recreation Revolving fund played into the swimming lessons. Ms. Horvath said that in everything where fees were paid, the instructors were paid through the Recreation Revolving fund. She said that children were charged a nominal fee of $10 for the swimming lessons. She said that was not nearly enough to cover the full costs. Mr. Decker asked whether the program could be supplemented through money from the Recreation Revolving fund. Ms. Horvath said that the
Recreation Department had a lot of expenses coming up in the future. She said that they would need new ball fields. She said that there were more than 300 children who participated in Nottingham sports. She said that the Department was also investigating grants and they needed matching funds. She said that the Recreation Revolving fund contained $94,000 after it had been running for fifteen years. She said that ball fields were expensive. Ms. Andersen asked about sixteen kids from Barrington who played flag football with the Nottingham Recreation Department. Ms. Horvath said that the Nottingham flag football players did not have any teams to play against so the solution had been to invite Barrington kids to participate. She said that the Barrington kids had paid their fee to the Nottingham Recreation Department and their participation came with no additional costs to Nottingham. Ms. Andersen asked why the Recreation Department
could not use the school ball fields. Ms. Horvath said that all the fields in town were constantly in use now. She said that Nottingham had about twenty youth baseball teams. She said that the number of Nottingham kids who participated in sports was huge. She said that the number of fields that were currently available for use was not sufficient. Ms. Danis noted that she had a daughter in the fifth grade who played basketball. She said that her daughter's team was having practices at 7:30pm because it was the only time they could get available gym time. She said that the facilities were always being used. Mr. Bock said that the Board of Selectmen had met with the Recreation Director. He said that a large portion of the community was served by the Recreation Department. He said that the Recreation Department programs were an asset to their community. Ms. Andersen said that they could use the analogy of the fire truck
and think about the costs versus the benefits to the community. Mr. Bock said that they needed to think about the effects of their decisions if they made cuts to the budget. Mr. Decker said that covering program costs during difficult times was what the Recreation Revolving Fund was for. Ms. Horvath asked if that was really what they wanted to use the money in that fund for. She said that she anticipated a loss of revenue in the current year.
Mr. Decker, Ms. Powell, Ms. Andersen and Ms. Danis voted in favor of the motion to reduce the Recreation Department overall budget line. Mr. Barry, Mr. Curry, Mr. Koester, Mr. Bock and Ms. Plante voted against the motion. The motion to reduce the line was defeated 5-4.
Ms. Andersen noted that the budget had been cut by a lot of money. She suggested that further cuts might put the town at risk.
Mr. Koester made a motion that the Budget Committee recommend Article #16 (the operating budget) as written. Ms. Andersen seconded the motion. Ms. Powell, Ms. Andersen, Ms. Danis, Mr. Barry, Mr. Curry, Mr. Koester, Mr. Bock and Ms. Plante voted in favor of the motion. Mr. Decker abstained from the motion. The motion passed 8-0 with one abstention.
Ms. Andersen made a motion that the Budget Committee recommend Article #17 (construction and reconstruction of Deerfield Road) as written. Mr. Koester seconded the motion. The present members of the Budget Committee voted unanimously in favor of the motion. The motion passed 9-0.
Ms. Andersen made a motion that the Budget Committee recommend Article #18 (for the replacement of Back Creek Bridge) as written. Ms. Plante seconded that motion. The present members of the Budget Committee voted unanimously in favor of the motion. The motion passed 9-0.
Ms. Andersen made a motion that the Budget Committee recommend Article #19 (for the replacement of Mill Pond Bridge) as written. Ms. Powell seconded the motion. The present members of the Budget Committee voted unanimously in favor of the motion. The motion passed 9-0.
Mr. Decker made a motion that the Budget Committee NOT recommend Article #20 (Capital Reserve Fund for Highway Trucks). Ms. Andersen seconded the motion.
Mr. Decker said that he did not believe in capital reserve funds. Ms. Andersen said that she disagreed. Mr. Bock said that they needed to keep the fund active and let people talk about it.
Mr. Decker, Mr. Koester and Ms. Danis voted in favor of the motion not to recommend Article #20. Ms. Powell, Ms. Andersen, Mr. Barry, Mr. Curry, Mr. Bock and Ms. Plante voted against the motion. The motion not to recommend the article was defeated 6-3.
Ms. Andersen made a motion that the Budget Committee recommend Article #21 (for the ambulance) as written. Ms. Danis seconded the motion. The present members of the Budget Committee voted unanimously in favor of the motion. The motion passed 9-0.
Ms. Andersen made a motion that the Budget Committee recommend Article #22 (Capital Reserve Fund for Fire/Rescue vehicles) as written. Ms. Plante seconded the motion. Ms. Powell, Ms. Andersen, Mr. Barry, Mr. Curry, Mr. Bock and Ms. Plante voted in favor of the motion. Mr. Decker, Mr. Koester and Ms. Danis voted against the motion. The motion to recommend the article passed 6-3.
Mr. Decker made a motion that the Budget Committee recommend reducing the amount in Article #23 (the standby power system for the Town Office Building) to $0. Mr. Barry seconded the motion.
Mr. Bock said that it was very difficult for the Police Department to run without power. He said that the price for the generator was not outrageous and he thought they should present this article to the town and let them discuss it. Ms. Powell said that she was not against the Town Office Building having a generator but she thought that the purchase could be better defended in another year. Mr. Koester said that the town needed to have their say on this issue. He said that he thought the town should explore other options besides getting a generator. Mr. Bock said that in tough economic times the food pantry was a vital resource. He said that they needed refrigeration and other services. Ms. Andersen said that she was in favor of letting the people vote on this. Ms. Danis said that she did not
think the taxpayers should invest in two generators in the same year. She said she felt that would be irresponsible but she said that she was in favor of letting the people decide. Mr. Koester noted that they would have more information on this issue after the election because they would know whether the town had agreed to fund a generator for the school or not. Mr. Curry noted that people would vote on the ballot but they would not show up for the town meeting.
Mr. Decker, Ms. Powell and Mr. Curry voted in favor of the motion to recommend reducing the amount in Article #23 to $0. Ms. Andersen, Mr. Barry, Mr. Bock, Ms. Plante, Mr. Koester and Ms. Danis voted against the motion. The motion to recommend a reduction to Article #23 was defeated 6-3.
Ms. Danis made a motion that the Budget Committee NOT recommend Article #23 (the standby power system for the Town Office Building). Ms. Powell seconded the motion. Ms. Andersen, Mr. Barry, Ms. Danis, Mr. Decker, Ms. Powell and Mr. Curry voted in favor of the motion not to recommend Article #23. Ms. Plante and Mr. Bock voted against the motion. Mr. Koester abstained from the motion. The motion not to recommend the article passed 6-2 with one abstention.
Mr. Koester made a motion that the Budget Committee recommend Article #25 (for courtesy inspections at the boat launch) as written. Ms. Andersen seconded the motion. Ms. Danis recused herself from the vote. The other present Budget Committee members voted unanimously in favor of the motion. The motion passed 8-0.
Mr. Decker made a motion that the Budget Committee recommend Article #24 (requests from Social Service agencies) as written. Ms. Andersen seconded the motion. The present members of the Budget Committee voted unanimously in favor of the motion. The motion passed 9-0.
Ms. Andersen made a motion that the Budget Committee NOT recommend Article #26 (for the stabilization of the river bank). Ms. Danis seconded the motion.
Mr. Bock said that the cost for this would be minimal because of the work that Mr. Albert had volunteered to do. He said that lots of children used the ball field which would benefit from the stabilization of the river bank. Mr. Koester said that he felt it was important to maintain that river bank. Mr. Curry asked whether Mr. Albert would agree to do this project next year instead. Ms. Bonser said that Mr. Albert had cited concerns about erosion in wanting to do this work as soon as possible. Ms. Andersen said that she did not feel there had been enough information given out on this question. She said that there was no proof that the stabilization would work or that it would be a viable long term solution for the erosion problem. Mr. Decker said that he was concerned that the price would end up
increasing.
Mr. Decker, Ms. Andersen and Ms. Danis voted in favor of the motion not to recommend Article #26. Mr. Barry, Ms. Powell, Mr. Curry, Ms. Plante and Mr. Bock voted against the motion. Ms. Powell abstained from the motion. The motion not to recommend the article was defeated 5-3 with one abstention.
Mr. Koester made a motion that the Budget Committee recommend Article #27 (for a Planning Consultant to do an impact fee study) as written. Mr. Bock seconded the motion.
Ms. Andersen recused herself from this vote.
Ms. Chauvey said that this was about methodology. She said that it would be an in depth study which would cover everything. Ms. Seaverns said that the town was not able to implement impact fees without doing such a study. Mr. Curry said that the RSA's regarding impact fees had changed several times over the past few years. He said that the town could only charge the fair share of the off site impact of the project. He said that there had been several court cases involving impact fees which had severely limited what towns could charge. He noted that the typical fee charged by a town was $3,000 plus and he said that they would need to charge that several times to recoup their money for the study.
Mr. Decker, Ms. Danis, Ms. Powell, Mr. Koester and Mr. Bock voted in favor of the motion that the Budget Committee recommend Article #27. Mr. Curry, Mr. Barry and Ms. Plante voted against the motion. The motion to recommend Article #27 passed 5-3.
Mr. Koester made a motion that the Budget Committee recommend Article #28 (requiring the numeric tally of votes by the Budget Committee be included on the warrant) as written. Mr. Decker seconded the motion.
Mr. Koester said that the article did not have budgetary impact but it did affect the Budget Committee. Mr. Curry noted that the Budget Committee did not vote on other articles that did not have budgetary impact. He said that he felt they should remain consistent.
Mr. Decker, Ms. Andersen, Ms. Danis, Ms. Powell, Mr. Koester, Mr. Bock and Mr. Barry voted in favor of the motion to recommend Article #28. Mr. Curry and Ms. Plante abstained from the motion. The motion passed 7-0 with two abstentions.
OTHER:
Ms. Danis brought up the article she had written for submission to the town newsletter. Mr. Koester said that she had done a great job on it. Mr. Decker thanked her for writing it. The Budget Committee briefly discussed the article.
Mr. Koester made a motion that the article be submitted to the town newsletter. Mr. Decker seconded the motion. The present members of the Budget Committee voted unanimously in favor of submitting the article to the town newsletter. The motion passed 9-0.
Mr. Curry said that the Budget Committee would meet on Thursday March 5, 2009 at 7:00pm to approve left over minutes and take care of any remaining business before town meeting.
Mr. Decker said that he would present the budget at the Town Meeting.
Mr. Curry said that he wanted to clarify for the record that he had spoken for himself as a voter in town at the Deliberative Session and he had not spoken as a member of the Budget Committee.
Mr. Decker made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 10:25pm. Ms. Danis seconded that 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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