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Selectboard Minutes

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Meeting date: 
Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Minutes

Town of Greenfield

Greenfield Town Offices, 7 Sawmill Road Greenfield, NH

Selectboard’s Minutes

Tuesday, March 21, 2017 – 5:30 PM

Selectboard: Chair Margaret A. Charig Bliss, Selectman Stephen Atherton Jr., Selectman Robert Marshall

Staff: Aaron Patt, Town Administrator;

Public:

 

5:30 p.m. The meeting was opened by Selectwoman Charig Bliss.

  • Documents for Review/Approval
  • Payroll
  • Minutes of Selectboard Meeting
  • Lease/ Purchase Finance Quotes – Police Cruiser
  • MS-232 Report of Appropriations
  • PILOI – (2)

 

5:30 PM: Selectboard Work Session – Consent Agenda

At 5:30 pm Selectwoman Charig Bliss opened the meeting with a quorum. It was noted that there was no public present for the public forum and that Selectman Atherton was running late.

The Board reviewed the Consent Agenda and signed the MS-232 report of appropriations following Town Meeting.

Fire Chief David Hall stopped in and advised the Board that the Jaws of Life were being delivered to the Fire Station later in the evening. He thanked the Board for encumbering funds from the 2016 budget to purchase the extraction tools. Selectwoman Charig Bliss asked about the ambulance that was recently purchased from the town of New Boston. Chief Hall reported that the ambulance paperwork is completed and the ambulance is registered in Greenfield. The department is in the process of getting quotes to remove the old ‘New Boston’ lettering and replace it with Greenfield’s lettering.

At 5:45 pm Selectman Atherton arrived.

Chief Hall outlined a recent conversation with the DPW Director of New Boston that stemmed from his visit to pick up the ambulance. New Boston’s DPW Director is interested in Greenfield’s tanker, which is permanently out of service as a front line fire truck. New Boston has a brush truck/fire engine that holds 1000 gallons of water, which is currently being used to spread water on gravel roads. Their DPW is interested in the Greenfield tanker due to its potential ability to handle more water. Chief Hall said that while the pump is failing and the repairs to the tank would cost more than the value of the vehicle, as a gravity-feed non-emergency vehicle the truck has some value. Selectwoman Charig Bliss asked if there was a cost associated with the proposal and the Chief replied that at this stage the two departments are contemplating an even-trade swap of the two vehicles. After some additional discussion Selectwoman Charig Bliss made a motion to authorize the Chief to explore a trade of the tanker in exchange for a brush/engine truck from New Boston in an even trade. The motion passed 3-0.

At 6:00 pm Dave Martin, Emergency Management Director stopped in and offered to provide an update to his discussion about the use of emergency notification services. To date he has spoken with:

  • ESRI
  • Blackboard
  • Spotted Dog
  • IAmResponding
  • Code Red

There followed a lengthy discussion about the capabilities that exist with notification services, including the ability to leverage social media; provide notifications to cell phones including via text; and provide notifications via the website and email. Mr. Martin said that after reviewing the notification services that he was leaning in the direction of re-activating Code Red. The cost is significantly lower at $2,500 compared to the $4,211 that the town was paying a few years ago. This option was discussed in more depth, and the Board requested that a comparison of the costs of each of the programs be provided so that they could compare the capabilities and price points. The Board also requested that Mr. Martin put the discussion of the emergency notification service on a future agenda in case there were members of the public that would like to attend the meeting.

At 7:05 pm the Board returned to the Consent Agenda. The Chair suggested that the request by Adele Hale at Town Meeting for a renewable energy committee be added to Old Business on the agenda so that the Board can revisit appointing a committee.

The Board discussed Town Meeting and some of the feedback they received. One of the requests was to add the page numbers for the 2 yr. comparative budget to the Fast Facts document. The Board received seven responses (from the Fast Facts tear-off sheet) from the public. All were very positive regarding the Fast Facts document. It was determined that this would be included as part of the 2018 Town Meeting. The question was raised regarding whether to include the document in the report or keep it separate. That question was continued.

The Board discussed the need to organize the 2017 Selectboard. Selectwoman Charig Bliss explained to Selectman Atherton that she called the meeting to order as she was the outgoing chair. Selectwoman Charig Bliss said that if the previous Chair is no longer with the Board then in the past the Town Administrator has opened the meeting and the Board has voted a new Chair. Selectman Atherton said that while the chairmanship has rotated in the past from one member to the next senior member, he felt that this year his work schedule would make it very difficult to focus on the additional duties that come with the Chairmanship. There followed a discussion regarding the upcoming year, after which Selectman Atherton nominated Selectwoman Charig Bliss to be the Chair for 2017. Selectman Marshall seconded the motion. The vote was called and passed 3-0. The Board discussed 2017 goals and asked that LCHIP be placed on the agenda for discussion on 3/28.

Adjournment

The time being 8:30 pm, Selectman Marshall moved to adjourn. Selectman Atherton seconded. All were in favor, and the motion carried 3-0. The meeting adjourned at 8:30 PM.

The minutes are final when approved and signed by the Selectboard. A signed copy is on file in the Selectboard’s office.