Board of Selectmen
Meeting Minutes
Town Office Building December 22, 2014
Selectmen’s Conference Room 5:30 P.M.
First Selectman Mailhos called the meeting to order at 5:30 P.M. with Selectmen Kowalyshyn & Blessington and Business Manager, Donna Latincsics.
Donna presented the current year budget. She noted that the Departments budgets are due back by the end of the month and the Selectmen will begin discussions on January 5th at the next workshop.
Fuel, oil & Diesel are locked in until July 1st.
The Region 19 budget is targeting a decrease. First Selectman Mailhos added that she believes the projection might be a bit lower than what we are showing. The K-8 budget looks good, She added, but Superintendent Harding has cautioned that he cannot keep absorbing some of our costs in his budget.
Donna stated that the (Health/life/dental) insurance companies are currently out to bid. The worst case scenario would be a 9% increase. She is adding one place holder in the insurance line item (as she does annually) at the 9% rate. She added that she has also added a part time place holder as well, as she believes P&Z might be requesting a part time employee again.
First Selectman Mailhos asked Donna how the Compensated Elected Official Salary Study is doing with their report, and if they have found anything that might affect the budget? Donna replied that so far all of the salaries are in line with other Towns and there is no support to increase yet, however they still have not reviewed all of the positions. They have not discussed benefits yet.
The union employees are tracking at a 2.5% salary increase as per the union contract.
Selectman Blessington asked Donna if she factored in any of the MS4 required increases to the budget, if it goes through? First Selectman Mailhos clarified that it wouldn’t be for this coming fiscal year; the changes still need to be presented, which might take several months; it could be dragged out for quite some time and perhaps see it in January of 2017.
The budget for the Willington Word was discussed. The Selectmen had received notification of an increase after this year’s budget was approved. They requested a transfer to cover the summer issue (from last fiscal year). First Selectman Mailhos asked Donna why this line item is still over budget. Donna stated that the money was transferred at the end of the fiscal last year to cover the summer publication. We have already paid for two issues; leaving a $600 shortage. She believes we can find other money to cover the summer publication (from the summer help line item, for example, which has $500 left in it as well as the office supply line item).
She added that she would like to request the other departments (who use the publication – Town Clerk, Revenue Collector, Parks & Recreation & the Library) to chip in towards the publication costs, and have the Selectmen cover the postage fee (which is $1,500). She cautioned that we do not have prices for the 15/16 FY and warned it could be more than the originally anticipated $3,000. Selectman Blessington asked how important this publication is? He then suggested that First Selectman Mailhos be firm when negotiating the cost of the publication, not to go any higher, and perhaps we should omit the publication entirely.
Donna cautioned that the Town Engineer’s line item should be looked at closely, as it is almost entirely spent. She reminded the Selectmen that the BOF had transferred the money from that line item to cover the cost of the Old Town Hall renovations as it had gone over. She added that the Land Use Engineer line is tracking favorably, and the money might be able to be pulled from that there. First Selectman Mailhos noted that the items that the Town Engineer is working on should be tracking on the various projects that we have him budgeted for (such as the Polster Road Bridge, and Turnpike Road projects.) She added that she does not have control over the Land Use Engineering budget, and cannot plan on using money out of that line. The Selectmen asked Donna to make sure that the various
projects are being billed for the Town Engineer’s usage as it should be, rather than taking from his line item and see what else he is charging us for.
First Selectman Mailhos noted that our Public Works Director has suggested making changes to his budget; one being the way we are chip sealing and instead of shimming and sealing in the same year, give the asphalt time to set. His budget will be discussed on January 9th.
First Selectman Mailhos noted that she is still waiting for an updated contract from the Town of Bolton, for Building Inspector services. Bolton might be changing the process as they have taken on the town of Columbia as well and will be hiring another part-time employee. The document is forthcoming. She does not expect too much of a change in the way it is currently.
Lastly, First Selectman Mailhos noted that we need to add in a line item for the sewer and septic at the Senior Center and Senior Housing. A meeting will be held in the beginning of January with key personnel to go over the situation and new process. In addition, we will be able to charge a yearly fee and the maintenance costs to the A.S.H.O.W, who manages the Senior Housing complex.
Selectman Kowalyshyn moved to adjourn the meeting at 6:30 P.M.
Selectman Blessington seconded the motion.
Vote: 3 Yes (Mailhos, Kowalyshyn & Blessington) 0 No.
Respectfully submitted,
Robin Campbell
Robin Campbell
Administrative Assistant
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