Wellfleet Finance Committee
Minutes of Meeting of May 9, 2012
Town Hall Hearing Room, 7:00 p.m.
Present: Sam Bradford, Janet Loewenstein, Stephen Oliver, Sylvia Smith, Robert Wallace
Regrets: Liz Sorrell, Stephen Polowczyk
Also Attending: Town Administrator Paul Sieloff
Town Moderator Bruce Bierhans was present to name an interim chair. He appointed Sylvia Smith as chair pending his additions of new members and pending a quorum at the next meeting when the Finance Committee will be able to elect a new slate of officers.
Smith called the meeting to order at 7:07 p.m.
Minutes of 3/14/12 & 4/23/12
Bradford moved to approve the corrected minutes of March 14, 2012. Loewenstein seconded, and the motion carried 5-0.
Loewenstein moved to approve the minutes of April 23, 2012. Bradford seconded, and the motion carried 4-0.
Review of Town Meeting
Smith had a number of items of concern from Town Meeting and the Warrant. Finance Committee recommended better headings for the budget pages. FinCom agreed that Steve Oliver will speak to the Town Accountant about improving the budget page headings. The Committee discussed keeping all department head requests in the Capital Budget listing. There was also discussion of the possibility of including the 10-year Capital Plan in the Warrant. The Capital Plan could be posted on the website, FinCom said.
Another suggestion was to match the wording of motions to the wording in the Warrant Articles unless something unexpected has changed the Article. FinCom discussed the possibility of announcing at future Town Meetings that some motions are worded differently from the Articles.
There was a discussion of projects that are put out to bid. Paul Sieloff said the figures that were given for some of the projects like the bathrooms and sidewalks had been estimated by engineers. FinCom discussed the sidewalk and paving presentation at Town Meeting and the promise to reimburse property owners who would be affected by the project. People would have to give easements or the Town will have to grant easements for each of the properties, Paul Sieloff said.
Rehabilitation of an alternative building for the Building and Health Department offices was another Warrant Article that Sieloff discussed.
Other Business
FinCom had a number of other issues for consideration. Smith quoted the payments to Environmental Partners Group (EPG) on the Water and Wastewater projects. The Executive Assistant’s salary increase of over 2 1/2 % was discussed. FinCom members said they have been receiving questions about this and discussed the rationale behind it with Paul Sieloff. Smith asked to reactive BOS Goals with Paul Pilcher and the Selectmen with an offer to work with them. The Auditor’s Management Letter had recommended further accounting reports from the Recreation Department. FinCom will follow up on Recreation’s accounting practices and keeping a regular roster of participants in Recreation programs. They were interested in the job description, procedures and fees used by Truro.
Paul Sieloff affirmed that purchases over $5,000 are put out to bid. He also discussed the proposal for using Barnstable County IT services when the present IT contractor leaves in mid-summer. FinCom suggested investigating other IT contractors who might be available.
FinCom and Paul Sieloff discussed problems with Town buildings. The Fire Station, Library and DPW building all have issues that need to be corrected. Paul Sieloff discussed plans for the old COA building and the South Wellfleet Fire Station and possible use for the offices at the DPW building.
The proposal for changing the position of the Town Clerk/Treasurer from elected to appointed was discussed. There was another way to approach a change through State legislation, Sieloff said. Another idea was to initiate a change when the Collector position would also be open to a Charter change.
Agenda for Next Meeting
Agenda for the next meeting to be held May 23, 2012 at the Senior Center will include: Reorganization, New Members, Minutes, Mail and Other Business.
Adjournment
Oliver moved to adjourn. Wallace seconded, and the motion carried 5-0. The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
____________________________ _________________________
Mary Rogers, Committee Secretary Sylvia Smith, Acting Chair
Finance Committee approved these minutes at the meeting held 5/23/12.
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