Selectboard Minutes
Minutes
Town of Greenfield
Greenfield Town Offices, 7 Sawmill Road Greenfield, NH
Selectboard’s Minutes
Thursday, January 3, 2019 – 5:30 PM
Selectboard: Chair Robert Marshall, Selectwoman Margaret A. Charig Bliss, Selectwoman Karen Day
Staff: Aaron Patt, Town Administrator
Public:
Documents for Review/Approval:
- A/P Check Register – 12/27/2018
- A/P “ACH” Register – 12/31/2018
- Payroll Register – 12/28/2018
- Selectboard Minutes – 12/20/2018
Items for Discussion in the Public Session:
1) Financial Policies
2) Sportsman’s Club Event Sign Placement
5:30 PM: Public Forum
At 5:30 pm, Chairman Marshall opened the meeting. It was noted that there were no public in attendance for the public forum.
The Selectboard began working on the Consent Agenda. The Board voted, on a motion by the Chair and a second by Selectwoman Charig Bliss to approve the Consent Agenda. The motion was approved 3-0 in favor.
5:45 PM: Mark Stetson, Avitar Associations & Sam Green, NH Dept. of Revenue
The Chair welcomed Mark Stetson and Sam Green to the meeting. Mr. Stetson outlined the revaluation process for all properties in town, which will take place in 2019 according to RSA 75:8-a. The goal of the revaluation is to bring all properties in the footprint of the town up to market value. The Town of Greenfield, through its assessing contractor, reviews a percentage of properties every year, and at the conclusion of the revaluation all properties in town will have been measured within the last five years. Mr. Stetson discussed the market changes that have taken place in the last few years and how that relates to the sales to assessment ratio in Greenfield. Currently the town’s assessments are trailing market values. Mr. Stetson explained that Avitar will conduct a field review of every property. The process for the revaluation includes a hearing process after the revaluation is completed for property owners that have concerns or questions on their property. The goal of Avitar is to have the process completed by October 1st. Mr. Stetson turned the discussion over to Mr. Green. Mr. Green is a representative of the NH Department of Revenue (NHDRA). The NHDRA monitors the revaluation process, provides reviews of the contracts between the assessor and the town, and conducts reviews of individual properties by random sample. The DRA’s reviews are designed to ensure that data is being collected accurately. Mr. Green outlined some of the data points from the town’s contract with Avitar that the State keeps on file. Mr. Green discussed several of the review criteria, including those properties considered Qualified vs. Unqualified sales. Qualified sales for assessing purposes are those sales that are considered arms length transactions between a willing buyer and a willing seller. Qualified sales are those that meet all the criteria for inclusion into sales to assessment ratio study. A discussion followed about sales that do not qualify for assessing purposes to contribute to market data. Unqualified sales occur between related parties, or in circumstances that are not arms length transactions, such as foreclosure sales.
Selectwoman Charig Bliss asked Mr. Green how property values for those things that the homeowner has no control over such as roads (paved or gravel), neighborhood, or other factors. Mr. Stetson provided the Selectboard a map and explained how certain characteristics of the areas in town can translate into a valuation on an individual property card.
Next, Mr. Stetson outlined that Avitar has collected enough field data to include solar installations on property assessments. A discussion followed, in which Mr. Stetson explained that the Town of Greenfield has voted to exempt solar installations from taxation. He further explained that property owners will need to fill out an exemption form and file it with the Town by April 1st in order to receive the exemption for 2019. There are currently approximately 20 solar installations in town. The Selectboard discussed and agreed that the town would notice property owners of the requirement.
The Selectboard discussed the review standards chart with Sam Green. At the conclusion of the discussion the Board thanked Mr. Stetson and Mr. Green for their time.
6:30 PM: Wendy Drouin, Municipal Agent / Greenfield Town Clerk’s budget
At 6:40 pm, the Selectboard welcomed Wendy Drouin, Municipal Clerk to the meeting. Ms. Drouin provided an overview of the Town Clerk’s budget for 2019. The Selectboard and Ms. Drouin discussed several issues with technology in the office. The town has plans to install a new server in 2019. The current server was installed in 2012. There are latency issues with the Interware ClerkWorks program, which the Town Office’s IT provider has identified as stemming from the town current server. The IT provider has indicated that much, or all, of the problem will be solved by moving to a larger server. Other areas of potential conflict include the firewall device that the town uses and the fact that all of the offices share one DSL line. Ms. Drouin indicated that if a new server is not a complete solution to the latency issues, then the Clerk’s office would like to install a dedicated DSL line to the office. The cost for the DSL line was discussed. Ms. Drouin then provided an overview on the printers that the office is using. The printers were provided by the State for use in printing DMV related documents. The State will no longer support the printers after June 30th. The town will have to purchase its own printers and toner once the current printers reach the end of their life.
The Selectboard discussed the wage lines in the proposed 2019 budget. The Board discussed the training and education line item and it was noted that the office received a scholarship in 2018 for staff to attend training but the full amount for the required conference is in the budget for 2019. Ms. Drouin also outlined the need for a new desk and the need to address the folding tables that are being used as a desk by the clerk at the window.
Ms. Drouin discussed the question of whether the Town Clerk’s office should take credit cards. The Selectboard asked that the Treasurer be consulted to determine if this was something that could be provided seamlessly for residents. Ms. Drouin stated that the service is free through ClerkWorks and the first card reader is also free.
At the conclusion of the meeting the Selectboard thanked Ms. Drouin for her hard work and for providing feedback on the credit card solution. The Selectboard will take the credit card request under advisement and look for feedback from the Treasurer.
7:30 PM: Katherine Heck, Treasurer
At 7:30pm the Selectboard welcomed Treasurer Heck to the meeting. The Treasurer provided a presentation to the Selectboard entitled “Strategies for linking Financial Policy to the Capital Improvement Program” (CIP). Treasurer Heck explained that the reason for the presentation is to capture the hard work of the Planning Board’s CIP development, and outline the need to marry the CIP to a financial plan. Treasurer Heck explained that the information in the presentation comes from various resources at the 2018 Capital Planning Conference for New England Municipal Officials, which she attended. The Treasurer proceeded to provide a walkthrough of the presentation, which covers why a municipality should develop a financial plan and also an overview of the Government Finance Officers Association best practice recommendations for capital planning policies. Treasurer Heck explained that the components of the Greenfield CIP are essential pieces of a larger financial plan, which is necessary if the town were to consider bonding in the future. Treasurer Heck explained that the requirements for bonding have increased significantly since the last time the town went out to bond on the downtown revitalization project. In the current market, bond applications require a financial plan that shows the bond bank that Greenfield’s financial planning translates into effective capital planning and purchasing practices with a concrete ability to service long-range debt payments.
At the conclusion of the conversation Selectboard Chair Marshall stated that when he was Chair of the Planning Board for many years, he was aware that CIP planning, which is required as part of the Master Plan, every two years, was not as effective as he had hoped. The Chair stated that seeing how the CIP could be framed as part of a larger financial plan made a lot of sense. Treasurer Heck outlined how she and the Town Administrator could continue with the creation of the financial plan. The Selectboard agreed that the plan should be advanced and requested that the Treasurer and Town Administrator bring a draft back to the Board for review. The Selectboard thanked the Treasurer for her presentation.
8:30PM: Selectboard Work Session
At 8:35 pm, the Selectboard discussed the 2019 budget to date. The Selectboard agreed to finalize wages for the 2019. On a motion by the Chair and a second by Selectwoman Day, the Selectboard voted 3-0 in a roll-call vote to enter into non-public session under RSA 91-A:3 IIa compensation. At 9:50pm the Selectboard voted 3-0 to exit non-public session. While in the public session, Selectwoman Charig Bliss made a motion pursuant to RSA 91-A:3 III for purposes of protection the reputation of those employees whose wages were discussed. The motion was seconded by Selectwoman Day and passed 3-0 in favor.
The Selectboard held a brief discussion on how the remaining budget discussions would be handled. The Selectboard reached a consensus to review the budget on January 10th in a work session and to invite the Budget Advisory Committee (BAC) to a meeting on January 17th to receive input from BAC members.
Adjournment
At 9:35 pm Selectwoman Day made a motion to adjourn the meeting, the motion was seconded by Selectwoman Charig Bliss, the motion carried 3-0.