Selectboard Minutes

Meeting date: 
Thursday, April 5, 2018

Minutes

Town of Greenfield

Greenfield Town Offices, 7 Sawmill Road Greenfield, NH

Selectboard’s Minutes

Thursday, April 05, 2018 – 5:30 PM

 

Selectboard: Chairman Robert Marshall, Selectwoman Margaret A. Charig Bliss, Selectwoman Karen Day

Staff: Aaron Patt, Town Administrator; Ken Paulsen, Trustee of Trust Funds Chair

Public:

Documents for Review/Approval

  • A/P Check Register(s) – 4/04
  • A/P “ACH” Register – NH Retirement
  • Payroll Register – 4/06
  • Current Use Application(s) R10-13,13-1
  • Minutes of Selectboard Meeting – 3/29/2018
  • Non-Public Minutes
  • Oak Park Rental – 6/10/2018
  • Welfare(2)

Other Business:

  • Road Name – Request letter to E911
  • Mileage request – Mileage Policy review
  • Land & Water Conservation Fund Program letter

 

5:30 PM: Public Forum

At 5:30 pm, Chairman Marshall opened the meeting. It was noted that there were no public present. The Selectboard briefly discussed the minutes of March 29th. The minutes from the previous meeting were five pages long. A question was posed about how long the Selectboard’s minutes should be? The Selectboard would prefer that minutes be concise.

At 5:35pm, the Selectboard began working through the Consent Agenda.

5:45 PM: Selectboard Work Session 

At 5:45 pm Chairman Marshall reviewed old business items. It was noted that at the last meeting the discussion on the Fire Department tanker truck was tabled and was slated to be the first item of discussion tonight. The Selectboard took up a conversation of purchasing a tanker truck. The Town Administrator noted that the New Hampshire Department of Revenue had approved the appropriations that were made at Town Meeting. After a discussion it was agreed that there was a 2-1 consensus to purchase a new tanker truck this year among the selectboard members. A motion was made by Selectwoman Day to purchase “a new tanker truck as soon as possible”. The motion received a second from Selectman Marshall. A discussion followed on the purchase price and an amendment was offered to have the motion include the language “in an amount not to exceed $250,000”. Selectwoman Day agreed to include the amendment in her motion. The motion was called and passed 3-0 with Selectman Charig Bliss concurring on purchasing a new fire truck given that she had promised at Town Meeting that the Selectboard would purchase a tanker this year.

Next the Selectboard took up a discussion of the Town of Greenfield Purchasing Policy. The question was raised whether the Selectboard would require three bids as outlined in the purchasing policy or whether the Selectboard would waive the purchasing policy requirements on the tanker purchase. Selectwoman Day indicated that her preference is to purchase the tanker as quickly as possible because the lack of a tanker constitutes a public safety liability. Selectman Marshall stated that his preference was to have a good process and to move forward prudently. Selectwoman Charig Bliss concurred and stated that the Board needs to uphold due process; “this is not the time to abandon the process”, she stated. Selectman Marshall agreed and said that upholding the process shows the Selectboard’s diligence. Selectwoman Day countered this line of discussion, stating that fires happen in the summer too and cited the old grain mill, which burned down in the month of June. Selectwoman Day stated that the “School is getting our cash flow and we are held hostage” to the school payment. Selectwoman Charig Bliss stated that the Selectboard should purchase a tanker “the sooner the better, but we don’t want to abandon our finances either”.

Chairman Marshall stated that the Board should get three bids and then see how we move forward with our cash flow. There followed a discussion on next steps. Chairman Marshall made a motion, at the conclusion of the discussion to gather three bids. Selectwoman Charig Bliss seconded the motion and the Board voted 3-0 to gather three bids. Chairman Marshall stated that he wanted to ensure that the Selectboard move forward prudently to the financial discussion with bids in hand. Ken Paulsen, Trustee of Trust Funds explained the time frame associated with moving funds and making funds liquid. It will “take some time to move funds” he advised. It was thought that the process could be resolved in a two-week window.

At 6:15pm the Selectboard took up a discussion on the mileage policy. Selectwoman Day stated that the mileage policy should have an exception for first responders separate from other employees. There followed a discussion about departments that are considered first responders. Selectwoman Day noted that these are the Police, Fire, and DPW departments. There followed a discussion about whether to have a part-time or a volunteer fire chief. No action items resulted.

At 6:30pm the Selectboard took up a conversation about road renaming on Gulf and Dodge roads. Selectwoman Charig Bliss said that she thinks that the Selectboard should hold another informational meeting with the residents that live on these roads. Chairman Marshall stated that he would like to have the residents provide suggestions on new road names for a portion of the two roads. At the conclusion of the discussion the Selectboard reached a consensus that a letter to residents explaining the decision by the E-911 Board and providing the date and time of the informational meeting should be drawn up. The Selectboard intends to take feedback and suggestions on names, and then make a decision shortly after the meeting is concluded. If there are no acceptable suggestions from residents the Selectboard will supply names that will meet with the E-911 Board’s approval. Chairman Marshall cited the Swanzey NH lawsuit and stated that the Town of Greenfield has a responsibility to ensure that the road names are not creating issues for first responders according to the law.

At 6:37pm the Selectboard discussed the 2018 Groundskeeper program. At the conclusion of the discussion it was agreed that the Selectboard would hold a special meeting to meet with the DPW Buildings and Grounds Manager and Jeremy Gagnon on Tuesday April 10th at 9:30 AM.

Next the Selectboard discussed perambulating the Greenfield/Bennington Town Line at the location of the railroad tracks. It was agreed that the Selectboard Chairman and the Town Administrator would perambulate the line looking for the monuments on the ‘Carkin Pasture’ survey.

The Selectboard discussed Oak Park and asked that Oak Park be placed on a future agenda for discussion.

The Selectboard agreed to a request from DPW to switch to a four 10 hour-day schedule. The consensus was reached 2-1 with Selectwoman Day against this change.

The Selectboard discussed a request to have an engineering report for the Dunklee Hill Road culvert drawn up. The consensus was affirmative.

The Selectboard discussed a recent request by Edith Sleeper, Town Clerk for a payment of fees from the Town Clerk’s budget. It was noted that the Clerk is not processing the registration and the Selectboard had earmarked the fees as funds to offset the cost of having municipal clerks cover the office. The Selectboard asked the Town Administrator to follow up with Town Counsel for advice.

Chairman Marshall cited an interest on his part to have the town explore the possibility of joining the ambulance service in Wilton. Chairman Marshall stated that the cost of the Peterborough ambulance service is very high. The consensus was affirmative and the Board will request proposals from other sources.

Selectwoman Day brought up the question of employee retention and raised concerns about changes made by the Selectboard. Selectwoman Day suggested that the department heads should write Spirit articles for every edition of the Spirit.

The Selectboard discussed their next meeting and asked that the annual schedule/operations calendar be moved to the first discussion item for the next meeting with a full board – April 19th.

Adjournment

The time being 8:40 pm, Selectwoman Day moved to adjourn.  Selectwoman Charig Bliss seconded. All were in favor, and the motion carried 3-0. The meeting adjourned at 8:40 PM.

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