Selectboard Minutes
Minutes
Town of Greenfield
Greenfield Town Offices, 7 Sawmill Road Greenfield, NH
Selectboard’s Minutes
Thursday, January 17, 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 – 01/16/2019
- Selectboard Minutes – 01/10/2019
- Sign Permission Form
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: Boys and Girls Club of Souhegan Valley
The Chair welcomed Rebecca Vasques, Greenfield Extension Site Coordinator. Ms. Vasques introduced Catherine Kendall the Site Coordinator for the Boys and Girls Club Souhegan Valley Early Education program. Ms. Kendall provided background statements about the Boys and Girls Club and the before-and-after-school program for K-4th grades at the Greenfield Elementary School. The hours of the program are 6:30am-8:30am and 3:20pm-6:30pm. The program has children participating from Greenfield, Francestown, and Hancock. Ms. Kendall discussed the program’s licensing requirements from the State of New Hampshire. The licensing requirements include the need for an emergency evacuation plan. Ms. Kendall explained several aspects of the current plan. It was acknowledged that the Boys and Girls Club has provided an insurance certificate to the Town of Greenfield. At the end of the discussion the Selectboard requested that Ms. Vasques arrange to have an updated version of the plan sent to Greenfield for review by Greenfield EMD David Martin.
6:00 PM: Budget Advisory Committee
At 6:10pm the Selectboard welcomed Keith Hickey and Jack Moran of the Budget Advisory Committee. The Selectboard provided an updated budget worksheet of the 2019 Department Head requested funding and the Selectboard’s revisions to the department budgets. The Selectboard’s budget increase over last year’s budget is .076%, or an increase of three quarters of one percent. The increase totals $17,915. The Selectboard discussed the 2019 Groundskeeper contract at $57,240 up from $43,000 in 2018 (and $23,400 in 2017). Next the Selectboard discussed departmental line items where additions or subtractions were made to the budget. This includes changes to the DPW B&G, DPW Roads, General Government Buildings, Police, and Recycling budgets. Budget Advisory Committee (BAC) member Hicks asked about the aggregation of the groundskeeper budget into the General Government Buildings budget and removal of groundskeeper costs from the Cemetery budget. The Selectboard outlined their intention to engage with Town Meeting on a discussion of whether the town should take this contract in-house. BAC member Moran outlined a series of concerns and questions that he has with the budget; Mr. Moran is concerned about the trajectory of the police budget over the last decade; he asked whether the town could look at solar power installations for municipal use; lastly, Mr. Moran discussed whether tax credits could be used as a tax incentive and urged the Selectboard to research this question. Mr. Hickey summarized the conversation by indicating that the BAC did not have any issues with the budget. He discussed the BAC’s question of whether the low increase in 2019 might not be enough to prevent a larger increase in the following year. If that were the case the suggestion would be to smooth outside cost increases in the budget. At the conclusion of the discussion the Selectboard thanked the BAC members for their time and help with the budget process.
7:45 PM: Selectboard Work Session
The Selectboard discussed a furnace issue at the DPW garage with DPW Buildings & Grounds manager McQuade. The town’s vendor has indicated that one of the furnaces in the DPW garage has reached its end of life. The bay furnace is one of two furnaces that heat the truck bay and help keep the trucks warm enough to start, which is critical in winter storms. After some discussion the Selectboard approved the replacement of the furnace. On a motion by Selectwoman Charig Bliss, and a second by Selectwoman Day, the board voted 3-0 in favor to replace the failed furnace at the DPW garage bay.
The Selectboard reviewed a settlement memo from Town Counsel regarding an Eversource lawsuit. Town Counsel instructs the Board to discuss the offer in non-public session. Accordingly, the Chair made a motion to enter into non-public session in order to discuss claims or litigation under RSA 91-A:3 IIe. The motion was seconded by Selectwoman Day. On a roll call vote the Board voted 3-0 in favor of entering a non-public meeting.
At 8:19pm the Selectboard voted 3-0 in favor of entering into the public session. While in the public session, Selectwoman Charig Bliss made a motion to seal the minutes according to RSA 91-A: 3 III, to ensure the effectiveness of the Selectboard’s discussion on the settlement offer and any decisions made thereto. The motion was seconded by Selectwoman Day and the motion carried 3-0 in favor.
Adjournment
At 8:32 pm Selectwoman Charig Bliss made a motion to adjourn the meeting, the motion was seconded by Selectwoman Day, the motion carried 3-0.