Selectmen’s Minutes 02.04.19

February 12, 2019 Karen Hambleton Minutes, Select Board 0

Board of Selectmen Meeting

February 4, 2019

Pledge of Allegiance

Meeting called to order at 5:30 pm

Roll Call- Jim Bibbo, Chairman, John Pfeifle, Michael James, Karen Hambleton, Town Administrator and Marilyn Gordon, Treasurer, were in attendance

Appearances: 

  1. None scheduled

Regular Business: 

  1. The Selectmen conducted a final review and voted on the General Budget for 2019. Items without a unanimous vote were:
    1. 4130- Executive: John Pfeifle motioned in favor of $181,000 for account 4130. Jim Bibbo second; 2-1 in favor. Michael James did not support, he would like to see salaries for Selectmen reduced.
    2. 4312 – Highway Department: John Pfeifle motioned in favor of $520,000 for account 4312. Jim Bibbo second; 2-1 in favor. Michael James did not support. He felt there was opportunity for savings in overtime and would like to see what the new Road Agent is able to accomplish with a budget similar to the previous few years. Steve Hall, Road Agent, stated there are items that have not been addressed and that he needs additional funding to clean up work that was missed over the last 5 years.
    3. 4324 – Solid Waste Disposal: John Pfeifle motioned in favor of $21,000 for account 4324. Jim Bibbo second; 2-1 in favor. Michael James did not support, he felt the Budget Committee recommendation of $22,500 was more appropriate.

Motion: John Pfeifle motioned in favor of a 2019 General Budget submission totaling $2,033,193

Second: Jim Bibbo

Decision: vote 2-1; Michael James voted no.

  1. The Selectmen conducted a final review and voted on the Warrant Articles for 2019:
  1. John Pfeifle motioned in favor of raising $10,000 for a Non-Lapsing Revaluation Fund; Jim Bibbo second; 3-0 in favor.
  2. John Pfeifle motioned in favor of raising $24,000 for the Highway Expendable Trust; Jim Bibbo second; 3-0 in favor.
  3. John Pfeifle motioned in favor of raising $35,000 towards the Fire Track Cap Reserve account; Jim Bibbo second; 2-1 in favor; Michael James did not agree.
  4. John Pfeifle motioned in favor of raising $39,600 for Lease/Purchase Payments for the Loader, Dump Truck & Police Utility vehicles; Jim Bibbo, second; 3-0 in favor.
  5. John Pfeifle motioned in favor of raising $2,750 for the Bradford, Newbury, Sutton Youth Sports fund; Jim Bibbo second; 3-0 in favor.
  6. John Pfeifle motioned in favor of raising $6,000 for the Lake Massasecum Lake Host; Jim Bibbo second; 3-0 in favor.
  7. John Pfeifle motioned in favor of raising $30,000 Road Shimming; Michael James seconded the motion by proposing the $30,000 be moved to the new Road & Bridge Repair Trust that is being requested. John and Jim agreed provided the new account is structured in a way that the Highway Department is able to access the funds in the current year to address immediate road and bridge repairs. Vote 3-0 in favor.
  8. John Pfeifle motioned to raise $30,000 for work on the Town Hall. After discussion Jim Bibbo motioned in favor of raising $60,000 for continuing work on the Town Hall; Michael James second; 2-1 in favor. John Pfeifle did not support due to a concern about the impact to the tax rate.
  9. John Pfeifle motioned in favor of raising $45,000 to purchase a new Police Cruiser; Jim Bibbo second; 3-0 in favor.
  10. The Budget Committee had recommended supporting the Capital Improvement Plan recommendation to raise additional funds for the West Main Street Sidewalk project. John Pfeifle motioned that the Board not pursue raising any money in 2019 as the Sidewalk Grant was not awarded to the Town and savings was needed to minimize tax impact; Jim Bibbo second; 2-1 in favor. Michael James did not support.
  11. The Budget Committee had recommended supporting the Capital Improvement Plan’s recommendation to raise additional funds for the Salt & Fuel Capital Reserve account. John Pfeifle motioned that the Board not pursue raising any money in 2019 stating the fund has $10,000 in it today and hasn’t been used in 3 years. Steve Hall commented that his annual spend as part of the General Budget is approximately $15,000; Jim Bibbo second; 2-1 in favor. Michael James did not support.
  12. John Pfeifle motioned in favor of raising $5,000 for the Communication Equipment Fund; Jim Bibbo second; 3-0 in favor.
  13. Jim Bibbo motioned in favor of raising $85,000 for Road & Bridges Repair if structured as an Expendable Trust; John Pfeifle second; 2-1 in favor. Michael James did not support structuring the fund as an Expendable Trust. He would rather see the Town save for specific projects that have a communicated plan prior to funds being made accessible. This amount was raised to $90,000 – see item p below.
  14. John Pfeifle motioned in favor of raising $11,000 for a New Plow; Jim Bibbo second; 2-1 in favor. Michael James did not support and felt this could be funded from the Highway Expendable Trust. John felt it should be a separate request to provide transparency on what is being purchased Steve Hall commented that the plow in question had been repaired multiple times and was at the end of its life.
  15. John Pfeifle motioned in favor of raising $5,000 for a LED Lighting for the Highway Garage; Michael James shared comments from Jason Allen that indicated the ballasts that existed were pretty efficient and a LED upgrade wouldn’t result in much savings. Steve commented that lighting was poor and about 50% of the ballasts were out. He expressed concerns with how to fund replacement bulbs as the General Budget had also been reduced considerably from his request. John Pfeifle motioned to move the $5,000 request to the Road & Bridges Repair account. Jim Bibbo second; 2-1 in favor. Michael James did not agree.
  16. John Pfeifle motioned in favor of raising $3,500 for Mold Remediation at the Highway Shed; Jim Bibbo second; 3-0 in favor.
  17. John Pfeifle motioned in favor of raising $38,000 for Culvert Repair; Jim Bibbo second; 3-0 in favor.
  18. John Pfeifle motioned in favor of raising $10,000 for Exterior Repairs & LED lighting at the Bradford Area Community Center; Michael James second; 3-0 in favor.
  19. John Pfeifle motioned in favor of raising $20,000 to allow for the purchase of the Masonic Property; Michael James second; 3-0 in favor.
  20. John Pfeifle motioned in favor of raising $19,000 to support hiring oversight for the Fire & Rescue Squads; Jim Bibbo second; 3-0 in favor.
  21. John Pfeifle motioned in favor of raising $7,500 to Fire Department Stipends; Jim Bibbo second; 3-0 in favor.

Motion: John Pfeifle motioned in favor of raising $2,472,243 by Warrant Article.

Second: Jim Bibbo

Decision: vote 2-1; Michael James voted no.

  1. Karen reviewed other Warrant Articles that were received by Petition or were not financially driven:
    1. Wording needs to be updated for the Revaluation account which currently references the 2010 revaluation. Approved 3-0.
    2. A Petition warrant article was received requesting $35,000 to hire a Part-time Fire Chief and provide on-call compensation.
    3. Jim Bibbo had originally requested that a Warrant Article be established to see if the Town would approve Keno. John Pfeifle motioned not to include a Warrant Article for this. Michael James second. Vote 2-1 with Jim Bibbo disagreeing.
    4. Jim asked whether there would be support for writing a Warrant Article to harvest some of the Town owned land. More research will be done to determine if this should be pursued in the future.
    5. A Petition Warrant Article has been received to change the status of Chestnut Hollow Road from a private to public road. Steve Hall voiced concern that if this Article received Town support it would need to be clear that the road would need to be “up to spec” prior to adoption.
  2. Accounts Payable and Payroll Manifest were reviewed and signed.
  1. The Board signed a mapping services contract.
  1. An Intent to Cut was signed for Map 9/Lot 47-1.
  1. Minutes from the January 28th meeting were reviewed.

 Motion: John Pfeifle motion to accept the minutes.

Second: Michael James

Decision: vote 3-0 in favor

  1. Karen shared that she had received a proposal related to past taxes. The Board asked that she invite the party involved to meet with the Selectmen.

Motion: John Pfeifle motion to adjourn to Non-Public Session.

Second: Jim Bibbo

Decision: vote 3-0 in favor

The Board adjourned to Non-Public Session per RSA 91 A:3II e at 7:03 pm.

The meeting adjourned to Public Session at 7:10pm.

There was further discussion about adjusting the amount going into the Fire Dept Equipment Trust Fund, but there were no changes made.

The Board adjourned the meeting at 7:20pm.

Motion: Jim Bibbo motioned to adjourn

Second: Michael James

Decision: vote 3-0 in favor

The next Selectmen’s meeting will be held on Monday February 11th, 2019 at the Bradford Area Community Center.

Minutes submitted by Laurie Colburn, Recording Secretary