Selectmen Budget Meeting Minutes 12/10/2008
Our Selectmen met 12/10/2008 in a” budget workshop”. In a continuing effort to not just provide the information, but also bringing to the forefront issues and concerns we present the following from this meeting:
- Possibly eliminate the public pay phone ( saving $750) and the bottled water ( $3,000) per year.
- Fee structure/application fee ( for out of town users not residents or property owners) for boat launches.
- Recreation department made a request to convert the cell phones to a reimbursement policy similar to the Police department. Study group to be formed to look at this across all town offices. We would like to know the cost difference and the Police policy.
- Recreation questioned whether some programs that are not utilized would be cancelled. Some may and some may not. ( Which ones we don’t know) . It was suggested that they may need to continue to run losses on the senior trips until it becomes better subscribed. How much?
- It was discussed by the Town Administrator to save money by reducing the advertising budget by 1/3 by not publishing items not required by law to publish. ( Granted there is a web site that will provide much information, but we continually find it difficult to get basic information from our elected officials. )
- A proposal was made by the Town Administrator to create an Office of Development & Inspectional Services (ODIS. This would bundle together CEO, Planner, and Land Use accounts. Per the minutes “…the CEO felt strongly he should only report directly to the BoS”.
- Town Clerk is proposing and increase in her office from 53 hours per week to 70. Does this mean we will have a full time Town Clerk?
Minutes follow……
OFFICE OF SELECTMEN
Selectmen’s Workshop December 10, 2008
MINUTES
Present: Karel A. Crawford, Edward S. Charest, James F. Gray, Joel R. Mudgett, Betsey L. Patten;
Carter Terenzini, Town Administrator.
Also Present: Advisory Budget Committee: Jean Beadle, Gary Haracz, Ed Marudzinski
The Chair called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m....
The Town Administrator ran through his various recomemndations, the reasoning for them, and distributed a handout with all the budget notes put together as “Accounting Notes at a Glance”. The Consensus was to submit something to the BoS ASAP for review and possible action on Recommendation #3 (A fee for certain uses of the public boat launches should be implemented.) The submission should cover (a) formalized application, (b) insurance or hold harmless provisions, and (c) a fee for FY 2009 commercial launches (to be refunded if the effort is abandoned). The Administrator pointed out that, in lieu of a boat launch fee, an application fee could also be imposed.
Assessor: B. Jones reviewed his request noting that the main change was in re-organizing items that have been in various other locations all into his one single budget. There was a discussion of whether or not to proceed with completing the current use mapping or to await a full review of how we were going to approach our overall GIS efforts.
Administration: H. Davis reviewed the personnel reclassification requests with the Administrator discussing the request for a Compensation & Benefit Study. He believed this should be completed before any variations from the current Grade and Step plan and the employee handbook outlining howthat was administered, were made. He said this was a common theme throughout a number of departments. The Administrator pointed out he recommended abandoning the pay phone (savings of $750) and a study of our current phone arrangements (similar to our lighting analysis). TA to investigate if we are required to have a public phone in a public building. There was discussion of the $3,000 for bottled water with an end result being a consensus to terminate this service effective January 1, 2009.
Recreation: D. Kuethe reviewed the personnel reclassification requests and supported the study mentioned above. A question arose about whether or not the overtime request would be sufficient. In discussing beach maintenance it was asked that B&G look at what attachment(s) (i.e.
the TA suggested that we look at this collectively across the organization before acting so we could develop a uniform policy. The consensus was to support that approach and the TA will convene a working group of staff. There was question of whether or not certain programs are cancelled if they are not fully subscribed. The short answer was a number of them are. However, the TA and Ms. Kuethe suggested we may need to run some losses on the senior trips for a while until we build up a user base. In reviewing the request for the study of the States Landing weed and siltation problem the need to exhaust other possibilities was discussed and the staff will address. It was also pointed out there might be funds available under the proposed federal infrastructure program and we will need to have a variety of projects ready to go if the money does come down to our level of government. The group recessed for lunch at 12:15 p.m. and reconvened at 1:05 p.m.
Office of Development & Inspectional Services (ODIS): D. Cahoon, B. Whitney, & J. Ryerson: This account was proposed to replace the CEO, Planner, and Land Use accounts. A question arose whether, with Don having 4 weeks vacation should we boost the Alternate CEO time? The TA suggested that
there are probably enough dollars within the $5,000 of the three line items. Joel asked if (like Fire, Police, and Highway) there was merit to us exploring a similar mutual aid. Don said he wasn’t opposed to it at all.
The TA had moved the water testing dollars from ODIS to B&G so that expense followed function, but the consensus did not support that. TA will move the $1,000 back. There was a substantial discussion on the truck which the TA proposed to transfer elsewhere and go back to a mileage system. There were
questions about visibility when the CEO was out in the field with the TA suggesting we could buy magnetic-snap on signs for him to use. There were questions about whether or not we had enough alternate uses for it if we followed the TA’s recommendations with some saying that, if we had to buy a new one, they would probably not support a new purchase, but wondering if we shoudn’t just run its life out in the Code Enforcement Department.
The advertising budget was reviewed at considerable length as the TA had recommended cutting it by 1/3 by ceasing to publish many of the items we were not required by law to publish. This would continue to be available on the web and bulletin boards within the Land Use office advertising for about a month in advance of the discontinuance. The Planning Board & Zoning Board may have to amend their rules for this, but from the Planning Board’s perspective; Ms. Ryerson did not see any major objections. Hearings required to be advertised by law still would be. There was a substantial discussion as to whether or not the CEO should be included in the proposed ODIS office or remain independent. The CEO felt strongly he should only report directly to the BoS while the TA presented his arguments of why the development services units needed to function as a team and someone needed to be able to “quarterback” the effort. The end result, without any position on the organizational structure being settled, was to draft a pro-forma job description and a table of organization (as the TA recommended it) to compare to current practice.
Human Services: R.M. Davis & K. Lancor reviewed their various increase requests and the overall economy. There was general discussion of if and how to assist people with mortgages (being sure not to disrupt the process which often required someone to be delinquent before a lender would step in to help
them) while avoiding the risks and higher costs of a family ending up in a more expensive “shelter/hotel” type arrangement and the need (if possible) of preserving community property values thorough fewer foreclosures. The TA pointed out his proposal that we have an inspection program for housing units where we are “forward paying” (i.e. not eviction avoidance). The consensus was for the staff to develop a protocol for consideration by the Board.
Visiting Nurse Services: D. Peaslee reviewed her requests, the proposed Point of Care software replacing paper records and improving time on care measures and the need to look at the future of the organization. There were questions on how to most cost effectively train everyone including how much we shoud invest in training of per-diem(s). Ms. Peaslee described who would be trained and how it would be a “Train the Trainer” type of approach.
Town Clerk: B. Wakefield provided a handout of the many functions her office performs and her request for increased staffing (from 53 hrs/wk to 70). The TA suggested his recommendation was based upon (a) this was an office where staffing could be increased incrementally annually (53 hrs/wk to 56
hrs/wk in FY ’09) and a desire to avoid increasing any staffing level to a benefit eligible position. Ms. Wakefield felt strongly that these benefits were needed to keep part-time help while the TA presented his arguments that full time benefits should require full time work. While this triggered the retirement contribution, the per hour “burden rate” (ie. benefits value) would probably be the same.
Recap: The Administrator reviewed his “homework” for coming work and business sessions:
1. TA to investigate if we are required to have a public phone in a public building?
2. TA to inform all we are terminating large jug (ie. water bubbler) water effective 1/01/09.
3. B&G to investigate attachment(s) (i.e.
4. TA to review reducing Rec. Vehicle maintenance to $1,500 w/$500 moved to mileage.
5. TA to move $1,000 water testing from B&G back to ODIS.
6. TA to draft Moultonborough specific Planner description & potential organizational chart.
7. Staff to develop a collective communications policy re: phones and reimbursements.
8. Staff to develop Draft Fishing Tourney/Boat Launch Application/fee policy.
9. Staff to develop draft housing inspection protocol for Human Services
The TA asked if the two bodies might be able to set their future meeting dates, so he can notify staff to “save the date”, when they reconvene on 12/12.
A Motion was made by Jim, seconded by Joel to adjourn at 3:50 p.m. All in Favor.
Respectfully Submitted, Approved: December 18, 2008
Carter Terenzini, Town Administrator Karel A. Crawford, Chairman
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