Selectboard Minutes & 2024 Public Budget Hearing
Town of Greenfield
7 Sawmill Road, Greenfield, NH 03047
Selectboard Minutes
Thursday, February 8, 2024 – 5:30 PM
Selectboard: Chairman Michael Borden, Selectman Tom Bascom, Selectman Mason Parker
Staff: Aaron Patt, Town Administrator; Jim Morris, DPW Director; Brian Giammarino, Police Chief; Caleb “CJ” Hall, Recycling Center Supervisor; Leah Fiascanaro-Conway, Welfare Director; Katherine Heck, Treasurer; Catherine Shaw, Office Manager; Andra Hall, Chair Library Trustees; Jeff LaCourse, Fire Chief; Ella Cademartori, Children’s Librarian;
Public: James Mercier, Kristen Paradise, Jason Duval, Jesseca Timmons, Donna Smith, Bow Smith, Adele Hale, Nick Zotto, Bruce Dodge, Linda Dodge, Cassi Fulton, Ray Fulton, Kathy Seigars, Jack Moran, Linnea Stevenson, Charlie Stevenson, Karen Day, Roger Lessard, George Rainier, Curtis Hamilton, Ginni Plourde, James Plourde, David Gilmore, Devin Morell, Katherine Heck, Robert Heywood, Michael McCann, Janice Pack
Documents for Review / Approval
- A/P Check Register dated 2/07/2024 in the amount of $401,757.45
- A/P “ACH” Register dated 2/26/2024 for NH Retirement
- Notice of Polls Open
- Welfare Voucher – (2)
Other letters/ items for Review/Discussion/Signature:
- Draft Town Warrant
- 2 YR Comparative Detail Budget Summary
- NHDRA Elderly Exemption threshold report
- Draft Town Report
5:30 PM: Meeting Open
At 5:30 pm, the Chair opened the meeting. The Selectboard reviewed the Consent Agenda and signed documents.
5:45 PM: Selectboard Work Session
At 5:45 pm, the Chair discussed the Consent Agenda with the Selectboard. At 5:48 the Chair asked for a motion on the Consent Agenda. A motion was made by Selectman Bascom and seconded by Selectman Parker. On a vote of 3-0 in favor, the motion to accept the Consent Agenda passed. The Selectboard discussed the upcoming public budget hearing and greeted residents who were assembling for the hearing.
6:30 PM: 2024 Public Budget Hearing
At 6:25 pm, the Chair welcomed members of the public, and staff members, to the meeting. Chairman Borden provided opening remarks and explained how the public hearing would run. The Chair will read the warrant articles and then the public will be provided an opportunity to speak to the article or ask questions about the line items in the budget for each article. The Chair provided some additional remarks and then began to read the Warrant.
Warrant Article #2: Community Power Plan. There were no questions from the floor regarding the CPP, which is a non-monetary warrant article.
Warrant Article #3: Recycling Center Budget. Selectman Parker provided guidance on the use of the Comparative Budget Detail in conjunction with the draft Warrant. There were no questions from the public.
Warrant Article #4: There were a few questions about the article and the Administrator suggested putting the amount to $2,500 as this was the amount that the town was hoping to receive from the Used Waste Oil Grant program to help offset the cost of the Recycling Center heater.
Warrant Article #5: Selectman Parker explained that the Selectboard has increased the Capital Reserve Fund savings program significantly over the previous year. This is due in part to the increase in costs to complete projects and purchase new equipment, and partly due to the level of deferred maintenance that has come about due to previous selectboards focusing on the tax rate and not saving enough.
Warrant Article #6: No comments or questions from the public.
Warrant Article #7: Jack Moran asked several questions about the Fire Department budget, including if the Chief could live with a 3% cap. Selectman Parker explained that the Fire Department budget was turned in as a flat budget and the Selectboard has included additional funds in the stipend line item. Selectman Parker explained that the board wants to support its volunteer fire fighters.
Warrant Article #8: Nick Zotto asked a question about the part-time wage line item. Chief Giammarino stated that in the past the department had worked with part-time officers to cover shifts and allow staff to take scheduled time off, there are no part-time officers, or, full-time officers available to hire. Part of the reason is that it’s a difficult time to be a police officer and another issue is that Police Standards and Training shut down the part-time police academy during COVID-19 so there are no certified P-T officers coming out of the academy. Recently, PS&T has reopened the P-T academy. A discussion followed about the cost of electricity at the new police department building. Catherine Shaw pointed out that heating is now under electric and not separate. This is the reason for the increase.
Warrant Article #9: This is a warrant article to make a capital purchase of a new police cruiser using a combination of taxation and funding from Capital Reserve Funds.
Warrant Article #10: There were very few questions about the operating budget.
Warrant Article #11: No questions regarding the DPW Operating budget. Director Morris received applause from those present for his handling of the roads this year.
Warrant Article #12: Selectman Parker explained that the company that Greenfield relied on to deliver cost effective paving is no longer providing paving services in New Hampshire. As a result a smaller company with higher overhead has bid on the project.
Warrant Article #13: This article is for the purchase of a new Caterpillar (CAT) grader. Bow Smith asked a number of questions about the current grader, the number of hours on the engine, the age of the equipment, the reasoning behind the Caterpillar brand choice and whether other options such as leasing a grader had been explored. Director Morris answered the questions and explained that the town has received excellent service from the CAT vendor, which is an essential aspect of the purchase decision. The Administrator explained that the lead time to order new equipment is one-to-two years out. The lease is for ten years and the plan is to pay for the first payment in 2025 with CRF funds and have the first tax appropriation for a lease payment in 2026. This will help keep the overall budget down because the dump truck in the DPW warrant article will be fully paid in 2025 and the grader payment will take its place the following year. The grader payment is $50-$52 thousand dollars a year compared to the Dump Truck at $33,000 but the SCBA payments ($26,000) at the Fire Dept. will complete in 2026. Director Morris stated that he is in the process of reviewing the DPW fleet and is considering moving to dump trucks that are just below the threshold for CDL (commercial driver’s licenses). Some of the surrounding towns have moved to the F650 or similar vehicle, which can be driven by a standard operator. Moving in this direction would reduce future costs for DPW vehicles.
Warrant Article #14: Karen Day asked if the warrant article for a 5th DPW employee will allow the department to have a person focused on maintaining the buildings. Director Morris stated that we have a person for that now but the 5th person would allow help keep the focus on buildings instead of swinging back and forth with the road crew.
Warrant Article #15: There were no questions or discussion.
Warrant Article #16: There was no discussion.
Warrant Article #17: There was no discussion.
Warrant Article #18: There was no discussion.
At the conclusion of the discussion, the Chair asked if there was any further feedback, seeing none the Chair closed the public hearing.
Adjournment
At 8:50 pm, Selectman Bascom made a motion to adjourn the meeting; the motion was seconded by the Chair. The motion carried 3-0.