Selectboard Minutes
Minutes
Town of Greenfield
Greenfield Town Offices, 7 Sawmill Road Greenfield, NH
Selectboard’s Minutes
Tuesday, April 04, 2017 – 5:30 PM
Selectboard: Chair Margaret A. Charig Bliss, Selectman Stephen Atherton Jr., Selectman Robert Marshall
Staff: Aaron Patt, Town Administrator; Katherine Heck, Treasurer
Public: Adele Hale, John Hopkins
Documents for Review/Approval
- A/P Check Register(s) – Dated 3/30/2017 & 4/5/2017
- Payroll – 4/7/2017
- Wastewater Check Register – 4/7/2017
- Change of Wage Worksheets – P.T. Transfer Station(1) & Library (3)
- Re-Hire Worksheet – Head Lifeguard
- Minutes of Selectboard Meeting – 3/28/2017
- Meeting House Rental
- Oak Park Rental
- Current Use Application(s) - R10-13, R10-13-1
- Intent to Cut – R9-30, R9-36
- Abatement Request - Eversource
5:30 PM: Public Forum
At 5:30 pm Chairwoman Charig Bliss opened the meeting. It was noted that no public were present for the public forum. The Chair motioned to accept the Consent Agenda. Selectman Marshall seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
5:45 PM: Katherine Heck, Treasurer
At 5:45 pm, Katherine Heck, Treasurer came before the Board to discuss the town’s current banking relationship and possible market opportunities. Mrs. Heck reported that it has been five years since the town went out for bid on its banking. She asked if the Board was interested in looking at other service providers. Currently there are only three banks that the town can realistically look at for banking services due to the geographic limitations and the requirement in the RSAs to deposit $1,500 within 48 hours. The potential banking partners in this geographic area are the town’s current bank, People’s United Bank, followed by TD Bank, and Lake Sunapee Bank. Lake Sunapee Bank has only recently begun providing municipal banking services. People’s Bank has only eight municipal clients left in its governmental banking unit. The governmental banking division of Peoples Bank (rated BBB+) is staffed by the same people that are providing support to their commercial banking relationships. The amount of interest income that People’s was willing to provide was very minimal, but they waive fees associated with the services. TD Bank (rated AA-) provides nearly double the amount of basis points (interest) on deposits but has fees associated with their services. A lengthy discussion about banking services followed.
There are some benefits to comparing the services. Some of the observations that the Treasurer collected are: People’s Bank has an average daily balance requirement; TD Bank has an average quarterly balance required. The town would benefit from a quarterly balance requirement due to the way it collects its revenues. Lake Sunapee Bank shares the municipal banking services with its commercial division. TD Bank has a dedicated municipal banking customer services center.
At the end of the discussion the Selectboard indicated that it would like to revisit the discussion when there is more information from Lake Sunapee Bank. Treasurer Heck said that with just the three banks in the immediate area it doesn’t make sense to go out to bid on banking services. She said she can provide a soft RFP to each of the banks and then the Board can compare services based on the results. The Board agreed to review the material after the information was collected. The follow-up meeting will take place on April 18th at 5:45.
6:30 PM: Adele Hale, Resident
At 6:30 pm, Adele Hale came before the Selectboard with several items to review. Before she discussed her questions, she said she wanted to ask about the baseball storage shed at Oak Park. A discussion followed regarding the fact that the shed was considered a loss by the insurance company. The Selectboard said that while the building looks OK on the outside, the interior is severely damaged by smoke, which is very expensive to remediate. As a result, the Board agreed to demolish the shed and is looking at options for the future. John Hopkins, Oak Park Committee Chair stated that he was in support of the town replacing the building. He suggested that the Board review the possibility of using Oak Park funds to add a metal roof and composite siding to a manufactured shed in order to keep maintenance to a minimum.
Next Mrs. Hale said that she is interested in having a business exposition at the Meeting House, and wanted to know if the Selectboard had any reservations to renting the facility to showcase local businesses. The Selectboard indicated that the Meeting House is a public building that is rented for functions and that they were happy that someone was interested in promoting local businesses. Selectman Marshall suggested that Mrs. Hale could contact the Economic Development Committee, which is focused on promoting businesses in the area, to see about their interest in being part of the program.
Mrs. Hale then asked about whether a farmer’s market could be held in town. A discussion followed regarding where a farmer’s market could be set-up and the best parking lot to use for parking and farmer’s market booths. The possibility of using the parking lot across from the Harvester Market was discussed.
Lastly, Mrs. Hale wanted to know if the Board would be willing to allow a traveling carnival to rent Oak Park and provide carnival rides for residents during the summer. She said that she spoke to a carnival company recently and she knows that they have the insurance necessary. The Selectboard was supportive of the request and indicated that an Oak Park rental agreement would be necessary.
7:30 PM: Selectboard Work Session
At 7:30 pm Dave Martin, Emergency Management Director, came before the Board with an update on his search for an emergency management notification system. He said that he had reviewed Alert Media, which has an annual cost of $2,285 for the first 300 subscribers with an additional $35 for each group of 100 subscribers that opt-into the system. After reviewing Alert Media and spending several hours examining their offering, EMD Martin said that he felt that Code Red at $2,500 would be less expensive in the long run, and they have 700 subscribers from Greenfield already in their system. A discussion followed and Selectman Marshall said he wasn’t sure that it made sense to proceed with an emergency management notification system without having an emergency operations plan in effect. The status of the grant for the emergency operations plan that was awarded to the town in March was discussed. Town Department Heads and emergency management providers will begin meeting in April to start the process of re-drafting the EOP plan. The grant will pay for a consulting company to re-write the EOP plan and ensure that it meets the State’s criteria.
EMD Martin stated that having an emergency operations notification system was currently part of the old plan, because it was written when Code Red was in place. The new EOP plan would include similar language to the old plan, but that was only a small part of the plan overall. The Chair summed up their conversation by saying that EMD Martin wants the ability to contact people, whereas Selectman Marshall is looking for the criteria for when people will be contacted. A discussion followed in which Mr. Martin explained that some communities use Code Red to notify residents when DPW has to close a road. In those communities, DPW is the more frequent user of the emergency notification system. Selectman Marshall stated that he was not in favor of having DPW use the notification system for closed roads; he was interested in ensuring that in the case of emergency the town could notify residents of such an emergency but that the notification system should be reserved for compelling issues, like the recent Cavender Road closure that isolated local residents, not for day-to-day road closures. Selectman Marshall urged Mr. Martin to return in September when the new Local Emergency Operations Plan was completed to review the question.
Mr. Martin agreed to put the emergency notification system request on the back-burner to allow the Selectboard some time to weigh the opportunity and discuss the best way to re-integrate a notification system into the town’s plans. Mr. Martin stated that from everything he has looked at so far, Code Red continues to look like the best solution for the town. The Code Red product has evolved, the pricing has gone down, and the integration with other communication platforms is the best in the business.
Mr. Martin thanked the Selectboard for their time and left the meeting at 8PM.
Next, the Board discussed a recent bill that passed the Senate relative to Perambulation. This bill would alleviate the need for the Selectmen to perambulate town boundaries every five years. The Selectboard noted that they recently received a proposal from the Town Forester complete this RSA required task. As a result of SB171 currently in the NH House, the Selectboard felt it advisable to hold off on contracting for perambulation of the town’s boundaries until the bill’s status was resolved.
At 8:10pm Selectman Marshall updated the Selectboard on his progress to date on a review of the materials associated with the Savage Road property that is used by the Sportsman’s Club. He described several issues that he has come across in researching the deeds to the property, the vote by Town Meeting to establish a Town Forest, and the fact that the original property was purchased by the town with the help of Sportsman’s Club monies. After a discussion on these issues it was noted that there has been a substantial discrepancy noted by previous Greenfield Selectboard in letters to Town Counsel; these letters outlined a title issue due to a mistake in the surveying and deeding of neighboring properties. Previous Selectboards had not fixed the issue, and the deed discrepancy persists. After some discussion the Chair stated that the town should solve some of the persistent issues. The Board discussed how best to create a road-map stating the issues associated with the property, and the steps needed to resolve them. It was agreed that the preliminary steps could be brought to NHMA legal for advice, prior to spending additional monies with Town Counsel.
Lastly, the Board discussed a question that was raised to the Conservation Commission about the governor’s request of the municipality to examine water restrictions. Town Administrator Patt said that he would reach out to Conservation Committee Chair, Conrad Dumas for an update.
Adjournment
The time being 9:15 pm, Selectman Marshall moved to adjourn. Selectman Atherton seconded. All were in favor, and the motion carried 3-0. The meeting adjourned at 9:15 PM.
The minutes are final when approved and signed by the Selectboard. A signed copy is on file in the Selectboard’s office.