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Home My WebLink About2017-12-13 Board of Selectmen Minutes OF Ri F Town of Reading ti VYaa/ r t � Meeting Minutes TOWN CLERK fHco n F� Er' DJHG' mt%SS. Board - Committee - Commission - Council: Board of Selectmen 1010 JAN 10 A 1[= VIA Date: 2017-12-13 Time: 7:00 Building: Reading Public Library Location: Conference Room Address: 64 Middlesex Avenue Session: Purpose: Budget Meeting Version: Attendees: Members - Present: Chair John Arena, Barry Berman; John Halsey, Dan Ensminger, Andrew Friedmann Members - Not Present: Others Present: Town Manager Bob LeLacheur, Town Accountant Sharon Angstrom, DPW Director Jeff Zager, Facilities Director Joe Huggins, Assistant Facilities Director Kevin Cabuzzi, Library Director Amy Lannon, Police Chief Mark Segalla, Deputy Police Chief David Clark, Fire Chief Greg Burns, Deputy Fire Chief Paul Jackson, Town Treasurer Endri Kume, Finance Committee Members-Pete Lydecker, Marc Moll, Mark Dockser, Paul McNeice, Anne Landry, Paula Perry, Vanessa Alvarado, Executive Assistant Caitlin Saunders, George Kachen, Todd.Merkle, Linda Phillips, Michele Sanphy, Sherri Vanderakker, Pat Shannon, Linda Snow Dockser, Elaine Webb Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Topics of Discussion: Chair John Arena called the meeting to order. Finance Committee called to order. FY19 Budget Review Library Director Amy Lannon was present,to give the Library's budget overview. Currently.they have 20.8 regular FTE's with 9 substitutes. The Library also gets about 20 .hours of volunteered time per week. The library has minimum standards it must meet including being open for 60 hours per week and have a materials budget allocation that equals 13%. The library is asking for a 6.6% increase with their main goal being to restore Sunday hours and grow their digital services. Their overall circulation is up 3%. They had 90,248 electronic uses in 2017. Ms. Lannon noted that reference interactions have become more complex due to the digital world we have entered. Visitors are up 24% from last year and they average 109 new members a month. Meeting room usage is up 75% but that is mostly because once they moved into the new library they simply have more meeting rooms to be used. However, having more meeting rooms comes with more work when they need to be set up and broken down for specific meetings. In FY17 the library had 600 programs that were used by 17,797 people. All programs are funded externally (about $35,000- 45,000) and they could really use some help with funding programs from the Page 1 budget. In the future the library would like to see an increase of an extra .5 FTE for a paraprofessional (about $22,000) and a new .25 FTE professional at about $13,500. Fire Department Chief Burns and Deputy Chief Jackson were present for the Fire Department budget overview. The fire department budget has a 10% increase in salaries because they are asking for four new firefighters and an administrative secretary that will be shared with the Police Department. That would be a 17% increase in their expense budget mostly to outfit the new firefighters. Currently the department has 48.5 FTE and they are asking for 53 FTE. Mr. Burns explained the importance of having a deputy chief and noted he has a hand in everything across the board which is a big help. The department currently is on the lower staffing level compared to our peer communities but with a higher population. Within our peer communities we are ranked 9 out of 25 in population but fall down to 15 when it comes to staffing levels..We are currently staffing 1.78 firefighters per 1,000 citizens. The call volume is up 40% since the late 80's due to our increase in housing, yet our staffing remains the same. The 'over 55' population accounts for most of their calls. The chief showed a graph of the types of calls they receive. He then explained emergency management and dealing with storms and other related natural disasters. If a storm is declared a Federal disaster then the department can try and collect reimbursement of costs related to that storm. A question was raised asking about the ability to close the Woburn Street station and if that would help save more money. The Chief answered the Woburn Street station is very helpful to the Main Street station because of its location, it helps split up the town better when calls come in to get the closer engine out. He also noted if they closed that station it would not save any money because they would have to make the Main Street station bigger to fit all the engines and staff they would bring over from Woburn Street. Elaine Webb inquired about the square footage of the town compared to our peer communities. She also asked if, because the fire trucks-are considered ambulances too, if they get more wear and.tear than if they were not. Mark Dockser asked if the overtime would diminish if we hired four new firefighters and the Chief noted it is hard to say because you cannot predict when someone may get hurt. Paula Perry asked if hiring four new firefighters would raise their`minimum staffing level' and the chief noted it would add one more to each shift.' Police Department Chief Segalla and Deputy Chief Clark were present to go over the Police Department's budget. The Police Department is requesting an additional five officers bringing them to a total of 46. This would be a 13.9% increase with most of it being in wages and expenses to outfit the new officers and train them. Three of the new officers would be for the night shift, one to fill the day shift and one new school resource officer. Much like the fire department, the population has increased greatly with no change in staffing in the police department. Mental health calls are up. Drug related calls are up. Plain and simple, they need more coverage on the streets. The department is below average in officers per 1,000 citizens compared to our peer communities and they need to be proactive before it's too late. The legalization of pot has resulted in more calls to the high school. Linda Phillips asked about using 'flaggers' instead of police officers for details to alleviate overtime costs but the Chief noted they are not used anymore and would cost just as much. She also then asked about the cost of the School Resource Officers and if there's any possibility of splitting the cost with the schools. It was noted the original use of school resource officer may have been funded with a grant that the schools received; however, since the grant ended the police department pays the salary of the officer. Anne Landry asked if there is any mental health support for our officers and it was noted yes there are various ways an officer can get support including a large support group of the officers themselves. Page 1 2 Dispatch The FY19 budget for dispatch is up 5.4% compared to last year. Most of this budget is spent on personnel; they have 11 FTE's. Wages are up 5.9%. Dispatch is currently staffed with 10 dispatchers and one head dispatcher who also oversees the administration of the dispatch center. The department receives a 911 grant that helps fund some of the salaries but the grant is not always.guaranteed. Dispatch is a very technical and involved job and they will eventually need some technology upgrades. RCASA (Reading Coalition Against Substance Abuse) Director.Erica McNamara was present to give us an update. The coalition was formed in 2006 as a collaborative community program to prevent substance abuse in town. The board meets monthly with their goals to establish and strengthen local collaboration in support of local efforts to prevent youth substance use. They have regional collaborations with Mystic Valley Public Health Coalition, Eastern Middlesex District Attorney's Opioid Task Force and Regional Police Risk Assessment Team. Ms. McNamara noted currently they are funded under a 5 year grant that will be expiring in the fall of 2019. The staff is currently 1.6 FTE and have an office in the Police Department. The coalition collects old Rx bottles to help keep those unused medications from getting to the streets and they have collected over 6,000 bottles. They also have many other programs that include referral services to help place individuals to get the help they need. The board than everyone for being there to hear these budget updates and requests and noted they will continue on with their budget process next week. Mr. Ensminger made a motion to adjourn at 10:39 PM, second by Mr. Berman and approved with a 5-0-0 vote. Page 3