Selectmen’s Minutes 03.18.19

March 25, 2019 Karen Hambleton Minutes, Select Board 0

Board of Selectmen Meeting Minutes

March 18, 2019

Meeting called to order at 5:30 pm

Roll Call- John Pfeifle, Michael James, Jason Allen, Karen Hambleton, Town Administrator, and Marilyn Gordon, Treasurer were in attendance

Pledge of Allegiance

Appearances: 

  1. Melissa Cloutier, Town Clerk/Tax Collector appeared at 5:25pm to swear in Jason Allen as Selectman preceding the Selectmen’s meeting.

Regular Business: 

  1. John and Michael welcomed Jason to the Select Board. John reviewed the structure of the meeting mentioning the need to be orderly, disciplined and organized. Karen shared advice from Sonny Harris who outlined a commitment of 12-15 hours a week needed to fulfill the position and a new Chair was elected.

Motion: Michael James motioned to nominate himself as Board Chair.

Second: Jason Allen

Decision: vote 3-0 in favor

  • Town Hall Update; A decision on which party to award the basement insulation to was requested by Karen. Michael felt all quotes were too high and will provide Karen with the names of other resources to quote the work. Jason will coordinate a site visit with Karen to view the work needed as well.
  • The Selectmen reviewed the Town Meeting results of the various Warrant articles to determine if there were any items that might need funding prior to the receipt of tax revenue. Department Heads have been asked to hold back on the timing of expenditures if possible and no risks were identified. The Board discussed the Masonic Lodge property purchase and Karen will work on insuring the title is clear..
  • The Board discussed establishing specific Selectmen as primary department and Board contacts for the upcoming year.
  1. Michael James – Police, Planning & Zoning, Library
  2. John Pfeifle – Transfer Station, Fire & Rescue, Building/Code Enforcement
  3. Jason Allen – Highway, Budget Committee
  • There were several members of the public in attendance and the Select Board asked for any commentary:
    • Sue McKevitt requested the Selectmen update their commentary going forward to incorporate the term Workers Compensation rather than Workmen’s Compensation. Sue also asked the Board for what, when and how the $60,000.00, added to the General Budget for Town Hall Renovation work, would be utilized. Michael James stated a specific plan will be developed over the next few weeks focusing on how to get the 1st floor usable as soon as practical.
    • Beth Downs, on behalf of the RHC, would like to see the Gift in Kind donations utilized as soon as possible.
    • Marlene Freyler commented that the Town had voted previously to “mothball” the Town Hall and save funds over the next 5 years to complete the renovation work. Michael responded that at the time the Town was looking at a need to raise $1.3m to complete the work. Since then they believe the cost can be reduced substantially and the heating system installation was a proof of concept project where the estimate from Trumbull-Nelson to do the work was 3 times what was actually spent and the potential to reduce to expenditures would allow the renovation work to proceed more quickly.
    • Bob Lincoln asked to look at the plow the Highway Department would be replacing prior to a new purchase. He also commented that he didn’t understand why we would be paying to crush stone at the Town Hall and felt it would be cheaper to buy crushed gravel.
    • Bliss Dayton asked about who the people were nominated for the Trustee of the Trust Funds that resulted in a tie for that position. The complete list is available on the announcement board in front of the Town Clerk’s office.
    • Andrew Pinard asked the Board to support noticing the Town regarding how the Town Hall funds will be spent. Karen suggested getting a larger working group together to ensure plans and ideas are aligned. John thanked Andrew for his work supporting the Town Meeting visual/audio needs.
    • Marge Cilley asked whether the $60,000.00 raised for the Town Hall could be spent in other ways. The Board stated that technically it could but they had all made a commitment at Town Meeting that it wouldn’t be.
  • The Board signed an extension request for Timbering submitted by Dick and Sheila Moore.

Motion: John Pfeifle motioned to grant the extension.

Second: Jason Allen

Decision: vote 3-0 in favor

  • Michael James outlined a desire to move the Town Departments to a goal oriented operating structure. He would like to collect job descriptions and organizational structures along with a description of what the various roles actually do, if it varies from their job description, along with a description of responsibilities. Karen will follow up on providing job descriptions for the next meeting.
  • Michael would like to have a draft agenda available on Thursday to allow more time to research agenda items prior to the Monday meetings. He would also like to have a descriptor word added to explain the purpose of the Non-Public sessions in addition to the RSA description. Jason requested that any corresponding details be included ahead of time as appropriate.
  • The Board requested a copy of the road and bridge plan be provided and discussed pursuing development of a Road Committee.
  1.  Michael requested that any further work by Trumbull-Nelson be stopped until the scope can be reviewed. Karen, Andrew and Jason expressed concern that there may be unintended consequences to issuing a stop work order. Instead a list of any remaining work will be collected and any work to be done by Trumbull-Nelson will be approved by the Selectmen before they proceed.
  3. Account payables and the payroll manifest were approved and signed.
  4. Minutes from the March 11th meeting were reviewed.

Motion: Michael James motion to accept the minutes.

Second: John Pfeifle

Decision: vote 2-0 in favor with Jason Allen abstaining.

Adjourn to Non-Public Session per RSA 91-A3II c & e

Motion: John Pfeifle motion to adjourn to Non-Public at 6:38pm.

Second: Michael James

Decision: vote 3-0 in favor

Adjourn to Public Session at 7:38 pm

  1. Jason brought up the subject of meeting time and requested that it be moved from 5:30 to 7:00. The time change was discussed.

Motion: Michael James made a motion to move the meeting time to 7:00 on Mondays.

Second: Jason Allen

Decision: vote 3-0 in favor

  1. Andrew Pinard asked to share some thoughts and points of consideration. He felt that the tone of Town Meeting could have been more positive and suggested the Select Board listen to the recording of Sutton’s Town Meeting. He expressed concern over the use of non-public sessions and reminded the Selectmen that only the stated non-public topic can be discussed while in executive session. He shared that he felt communication with the public could be improved and hoped the Select Board would consider how best to accomplish that. Finally, he spoke to a sense of disenfranchisement he’s observed in the Town.

Motion: Michael James made a motion to adjourn at 8:07pm.

Second: John Pfeifle

Decision: vote 3-0 in favor

The next Selectmen’s meeting will be held on Monday April 1st, 2019 at the Bradford Area Community Center.

Minutes submitted by Laurie Colburn, Recording Secretary