Selectboard Minutes
Minutes
Town of Greenfield
Greenfield Town Offices, 7 Sawmill Road Greenfield, NH
Selectboard’s Minutes
Thursday, May 10, 2018 – 5:30 PM
Selectboard: Chair Robert Marshall, Selectwoman Margaret A. Charig Bliss, Selectwoman Karen Day
Staff: Aaron Patt, Town Administrator;
Public: Katherine Heck
Documents for Review/Approval:
- A/P Check Register – May 9, 2018
- A/P “ACH” Check Register – NH Retirement
- A/P “ACH” Register – QB Desktop Payroll Renewal
- New Hire Worksheet – Library
- Land Use Change Tax – R7-5-2-2
- Minutes of Selectboard Meeting – 5/1, 5/3
- Meeting House Rental (2)
- Welfare
5:30 PM: Public Session
At 5:30 pm, Chairman Marshall opened the meeting. The Chair recognized Katherine Heck. Mrs. Heck indicated that she was there as both a resident (member of the public) and the Treasurer and wanted to speak about her experience with the back office. She stated she wanted to recognize the hard work provided by Office Manager Catherine Shaw and Town Administrator Patt. Mrs. Heck said that she has witnessed big changes over the past twelve years and there is much more work for the Town Office staff. She stated that workload has grown significantly over time and the office staff have worked tirelessly every day at providing a high level of care and detail to everything from the accounting to the assessing. Mrs. Heck stated that when compared to what neighboring towns are going through, she thinks that there should be some kind of ‘Thank You’ and acknowledgment expressed. She noted that the back office provides shared services to all the departments and that the services have continued to grow. There followed a discussion with the Selectboard about what to do about the workload. Mrs. Heck stated that the issues that the town faces are bigger than they’ve ever been and the staff is still polite, nice, and positive; they still take time to have a conversation. Mrs. Heck stated that she isn’t sure what the solution is but she wanted to start the conversation. She suggested that as a starting point the Board could ask the other department heads to take more care in their dealings with the office.
Chairman Marshall thanked Mrs. Heck for providing the direction. He stated that the Selectboard needs help in arriving at a solution. Mrs. Heck stated that best practices associated with segregation of duties precludes her from offering help with payroll or accounts payable so there is not much she can do to help the workload as her role is defined by statute – “we can’t always help even if we know how to do it [the tasks]”. But she said the squeaky wheel gets the grease and “they’re not squeaking so they are not bringing it to your attention”. Chairman Marshall said that he appreciated having this brought to the Board’s attention.
The Selectboard reviewed Consent Agenda items prior to Old Business items.
5:45 PM: Richard McQuade, Buildings & Grounds Manager
Mr. McQuade met with the Selectboard and provided a short presentation on the current status of the MT Trackless sidewalk machine. The MT is a 1998 model. There have been recent repairs that have kept the MT running “fairly well”, but the machine is twenty years old and is ready to retire. Mr. McQuade presented an update on a proposal to use a compact tractor for sidewalk snow blowing, and make use of 3 point hitch implements.
Mr. McQuade reported that the sidewalk north of the Library has been severely affected by the winter. He will be meeting with a Department of Transportation engineer to discuss replacing, or, repairing this section of the sidewalk. The meeting will be on Weds. May 16th at 9:30AM.
6:21 PM: Police Chief Brian Giammarino
At 6:21 pm, Chief Giammarino approached the Selectboard and asked for a non-public session. After a brief discussion regarding the request, the Chair made a motion under RSA 91-A:3 II, a and c to enter into non-public session. The motion was seconded by Selectwoman Day. On a roll call vote of 3-0 in favor, the Board entered into non-public session. At 6:49 pm, the Selectboard voted to enter into public session on a vote of 3-0. While in the public session, Selectwoman Charig Bliss made a motion to seal the non-public minutes to preserve the integrity of the discussions under RSA 91-A:3 section IIa and any decisions that the Board makes that may stem from the discussions in the meeting. The Board recognizes that there is an element of reputation associated with any conversations under RSA 91-A:3 III, which they also intend to uphold by sealing the minutes (RSA 91-A:3 IIc). The motion was seconded by the Chair and the vote passed 3-0 in favor to seal the minutes.
7:00 PM: Informational Meeting on Road Names for Dodge and Gulf Roads
At 7:00 pm, the Chair opened an informational meeting with residents of Dodge and Gulf Roads. Six residents were in attendance. The Chair provided an overview of the road name public hearing, which occurred in October of 2017, where the road names were discussed with residents and land owners of the two roads. Chairman Marshall outlined the subsequent notification by the E-911 Bureau that the alternative names offered by the residents did not meet the requirements of the RSAs. The Board is therefore offering residents this additional meeting to provide input, before the Selectboard moves forward with decisions on the roads, and provides the E-911 Bureau with new names for portions of both Dodge and Gulf Roads. There followed a discussion on each of the roads and their historical backgrounds. Residents asked questions and provided feedback to the Board. Chairman Marshall explained that the Selectboard has to act so that the town is not held liable for issues with emergency response to either end of the roads. Two questions came out of the meeting for the Selectboard to finalize before making a decision on the road names. The first is will the house numbers change if Gulf Road residents are added onto Slip Road. The second question is whether there will be house number changes if a road is renamed to a new name.
The Informational Meeting ended at 7:27 pm.
7:30 PM: Selectboard Work Session
The Selectboard reviewed the Consent Agenda. At the completion of the Consent Agenda review, the Chair made a motion to accept the Consent Agenda items. Selectwoman Charig Bliss seconded and the motion passed on a vote of 3-0 in favor.
Next the Selectboard took up a discussion on the meeting with the department heads to discuss the groundskeeper budget. The meeting will take place at 12:30 on Tuesday May 15th. The Selectboard requested that a pizza lunch be provided for the department heads.
The Selectboard took up a discussion on the fire department tanker truck. An updated purchase and sale agreement was provided based on the vote of the Board on 5/3/2018. The Chair brought forward a purchasing policy waiver for review. The purchasing policy, Section #4 indicates that for purchase over $15,000 “the formal sealed bid is often used for major purchases. Where applicable, an invitation to bid must be publicly advertised in the legal paper of record at least ten (10) days prior to the date set for opening.” The waiver recognizes the due diligence on the tanker that has been underway since 2017 and includes the 2018 budget hearing, and 2018 Town Meeting. The waiver lists the due diligence related to the purchase, included the review of three comparable tankers from Rosenbauer South Dakota LLC, Danko Fire/Rescue/EMS, and Midwest Fire Equipment and Repair Company. The waiver outlines that the purchasing policy is adopted according to the authority of the Selectboard. In waiving the policy, the Board indicates that it is satisfied with the due diligence conducted over a period of months, starting in 2017, and they are satisfied that they have been transparent and open during the process. The Selectboard members reviewed the waiver and made one edit. The corrected copy was agreed upon and signed by the Board members. Selectwoman Charig Bliss noted that “we believe we’ve acted in the best interest of the town.”
Chairman Marshall asked the Board members if they were prepared to purchase the tanker. A discussion followed. It was noted that the delivery date was based on a build date of 11/13/2018 and that delivery would be arranged closer to December 1st. The Board discussed the options for taking delivery of the tanker following that date. There followed a discussion on paint and lettering in the quote. An email from the company outlining the paint and lettering that the company provides was reviewed. The Selectboard discussed the truck radios, which are to come from the old truck. The Selectboard noted that if additional radios and any additional lettering are required then the Fire Department could look to the Fire Department Association for further funding. At the conclusion of the discussion the Board voted on a motion by Selectwoman Day and a second by Selectwoman Charig Bliss to purchase the tanker. The vote was called and passed 3-0 in favor. Chairman Marshall signed the purchase and sale agreement on behalf of the Town of Greenfield.
Next the Selectboard took up a discussion of changes to an article they had been working on for the upcoming edition of the Greenfield Spirit.
The Selectboard reviewed a request from the Checklist Supervisors for a pay-raise in 2018. The Selectboard discussed and noted that this is part of the Town Clerk budget and would have been included in the Clerk’s budget. Unfortunately as the Clerk has not been in communication with the Town, the Selectboard has no way of acting on the request.
Adjournment
The time being 9:23pm, Chairman Marshall motioned to adjourn; Selectwoman Charig Bliss seconded and the vote was unanimous 3-0.
The minutes are final when approved and signed by the Selectboard. A signed copy is on file in the Selectboard’s office.