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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1991-01-31 Board of Selectmen Minutes Minutes of the Board of Selectmens Meeting January 31, 1991 The meeting was called to order at 7 : 06 p.m. Present were Chairman Russ Graham, Vice Chairman Dan Ensminger, Secretary George Hines , Selectmen Sally Hoyt, Town Manager Peter Hechenbleikner and the following list of interested parties: Gary Demopoulos, Tim Twomey, Tom Stohlman, Jonathan Edwards, Joan Y. Nickerson, Camille D. Anthony, Stuart S. LeClaire, Irving E . Dickey, Tony Fletcher, Bili Robertson, Ted McIntire, Bob Keating, Joyce Miller. The Town Manager presented the Board of Selectmen with a copy of the Real Estate Valuation List, and a yellow ribbon with an American flag donated by Arnold Berger to the employees at Town Hall. The Town Manager presented the Community Development budget. It included a reduction of the Building Inspector's time to 8/10 time, and other staffing levels left as they currently are. The Town Manager talked about the concept of sharing services with other communities, and taking advantages of economies of scale by doing this. With the building inspection reduced to 8/10 time, there would be a reduction in services to the Town, but the Town Manager pointed out that there was reduced building activity. The Building Inspector presented to the Board of Selectmen a chart showing current building activity. 1989 reflected 10% less permits then 1988. The Board talked about a fee base system for plumbing and wiring which would be "off budget. " The Town Manager pointed out that the revenues would also have tobe "off buffet" and therefore there would be no savings. The Director of Community Development indicated that his recommendation was to keep the Building In- spector full time and reduce clerical staff to 8/10 time. The Town Manager felt that this was unworkable, and the Community Development Director felt that this was not desirable but the preferable of the options in order to bring the budget in under guidelines. The Board indicated that they preferred to keep the full-time Building Inspector. The Cemetery Director and Chairman of the Cemetery Board dis- cussed the Cemetery budget with the Board of Selectmen. There was discussion that we need to make a decision on the fourth cemetery site in the Town this spring. The Public Works budget was discussed. In the Engineering Divi- sion, Bill Robertson indicated that 27% of the time of the two and one half people in the office was spent on general office duties, 14% for work for other departments, 11 and 1/2% for bond requirements, plan review etc. , 4 and 1/4% for small drainage projects, 3 to 4% for bids and contracts, 3 to 4% for street ac- ceptances, and 4 to 5% for road reconstruction. The other staff members in the Engineering Division are doing outside work in- cluding inspections. In addition, CDM is doing a contract for the Town to put the entire sewer system on the CAD system. This is taking two weeks. The survey crew is spending time relative Selectmens Minutes - 1/31/91 - page 2 to the Water Treatment Plant, layout of Haverhill Street, layout of South Street. Major inspections upcoming will be Haverhill Street, small drainage projects, and small sewer projects. The Engineering budget shows an allocation of the portion of the costs to Water and Sewer. The Public Works Administration budget also shows an allocation to Water and Sewer for an estimate of time spent. Bud Dickey requested the Selectmen to consider increasing the Parks and Forestry budget by $2, 100 so that $3, 100 can be spent on purchase of materials for turf maintenance. This is important in order to maintain the Parks system. This will require the purchase of a spreader in the amount of $2,200. Mr. Dickey also expressed concern about eliminating the trees and shrubs area. He requested $1,760 to purchase seedlings in a shade tree nursery so they can grow up and be used. The Public Works Department was asked about the line item budget and what problems it has created. Public Works will respond with a list. The question was raised as to whether or not .the reductions in supplies have reduced the effectiveness of the the staff. It was also asked whatmthe Highway staff does. Examples of work are sign installation, repairing potholes, street sweeping, drainage maintenance, catch basin cleaning and general repair and main- tenance of the roadways in the Town. The question was asked how - management keeps track of what is done. It was indicated that the Highway Supervisor schedules the work and fills out detail sheets for each employee as to what work was done. We do not have a performance standard based system. Such a system would be very time consuming to institute and implement. The question was raised about the possibility of every other week recycling, and it was commented that the current pattern of every week recycling is part of what makes the program successful, and with plastics recycling the bins may not be large enough to wait to recycle every two weeks for many residents. The Town Manager was directed to write to the School Committee and indicate that because of the problems we are having in sidewalk plowing this might have an effect on the School Department's school closing policy. George Hines suggested that Highway Maintenance, Building Main- tenance, Parks and Forestry and Cemetery overtime should be reduced 15% and the dollars could be placed in Community Develop- ment to increase the clerical staffing. The Board requested that we look at transferring $2, 100 to turf maintenance as Mr. Dickey had requested. The Board also dis- cussed the possibility of a single overtime line item. Selectmen Minutes - 1/31/91 - page 3 The Town Manager reviewed areas of concern that the Board had identified to date. These include: 1. Keeping the Building Inspector full time 2. Turf improvement 3. Increasing Veterans' aid by about $4,000 4. Increasing mileage in Health by $250 5. Increasing fuel for the Council on Aging van 6. Increasing general fuel costs 7. Modifying the Assessor's salary downward 8. Eliminating the Head Dispatcher position 1 One of the members asked about the possibility of abating the water charges for School and Town commenting on what the impact would be on the rates. On motion by Hines, seconded by Ensminger the Board voted to ad- journ at 12:11 a.m. by vote of 4-0-0. Respectfully submitted, iV Secretary