Allenstown Budget Committee
Minutes –
Members Present: David Eaton,
Karen Gendreau, Henriette Girard, Gabby Daneault, Gene Vallee, Jennifer Morin,
Colin Egan, Robin McAfee, Art Houle, Lois Gagne, Don Bergevin, Tom Irzyk
Excused Absent: Carol
Angowski
Unexcused Absent: Jesse Rodger
Dave Eaton called the
meeting to order at
Dave introduced Tom Irzyk to
the committee. Tom is the new School
Board Representative to the Budget Committee.
Dave wanted to finalize the
subcommittee assignments. They are as
follows:
School: Henriette, Dave and Karen
Sewer: Gene, Gabby and Dave
Fire: Gabby, Lois, Colin, and Gene
Police: Jennifer, Robin, Colin, and Don
Highway: Gabby, Colin and Lois
Parks and Rec: Jennifer, Don
Municipal: Jesse and Gene
Karen is now a Parks and
Recreations Commissioner. Will try to
get Jesse and Carol involved in some of the subcommittees.
Dave indicated that he would
like to finalize the assignments at next month meeting and then send a letter
to each department head explaining there will be subcommittees for each
department and who volunteered for their department. Also asking the to notify the members of the
meetings.
Karen made a motion to
accept the minutes of the March 21, 200 meeting, Art seconded. Colin then made a motion to amend the minutes
due to the fact that he asked Jim Rodger when they found out that they had to
pay for the bridge, and Jim stated that he assumed that the State was going to
pay for the bridge up to that point, Gene seconded. The motion passed by a vote of 8 yes, 2 no
and 1 abstaining (Tom).
Dave stated that he will not
ask if anyone abstains. He will ask for
yes or no votes, if someone wants to abstain, they have to volunteer that
information.
Jennifer stated that last year;
the committee decided that abstaining would have to be for a specific reason,
i.e. not being comfortable with voting because a person was to close to the
situation, or were not at the meeting.
Colin stated that we are on the committee to make decisions, i.e. have a
conflict or were not at the previous meeting.
If someone does not understand something, they should ask questions, not
abstain from voting.
Art stated that he has
explained to people that there is a provision in the law to be able list things
as a majority vote. So if there is a
majority vote, there are some people who did not want something to pass. The same thing was done on the Selectmen’s
level.
The committee then voted to
accept the minutes as amended. The
motion passed unanimously.
Gene mentioned that he spoke
with the Fire Chief this week and he will notify the members of the Budget
Committee who are on the fire department subcommittee of a meeting at the end
of this month or the beginning of next month.
Dave explained that on
Wednesday, April 17, the School Board subcommittee met with the School
Board. There was discussion on ways to
open up communication, what the Budget Committee is looking for as far as
expense reports is concerned and getting the budget sooner. The School Board has a plan to make sure that
there will be a representative at each meeting.
Tom will be the main representative.
If Tom cannot make the Budget meeting, he will call Lou Conley, if Lou
cannot make it, then Evelyn Guilbeault will be the representative.
Dave sent out an amended
Budget Committee Roster with the names of the three school board
representatives on it. The School Board
will be meeting the second Tuesday of each month starting in May. They will be meeting a week before the Budget
committee and they will have time to review the expense report and Tom will
have all the answers for the Budget Committee.
Dave stated that last year’s
concerns were discussed and the School Board was concerned about giving the
Committee a detailed expense report because they did not want the Committee to
micromanage their budget. Dave stated
that that was not his concern. He stated
that he wanted the Committee to be able to see how the flow of the expenses
during the year.
Art stated that is basically
all the Budget Committee can do. They
can look at the expenditures and if something looks out of place, then they can
questions it.
Colin stated that the
Committee has the power to make recommendations. Tom stated that in year’s past and what the
Committee will see is that the surplus has always come from Special Education
and high school tuition. Colin stated he
is not trying to criticize and thanked Tom for supplying the information. Tom stated that hopefully we can start on an
even keel and get everything squared away and avoid some of last year’s
problems.
Dave stated that at the May
meeting, the Committee will get the latest report, in September; they will
receive the June report (which is actually the end of the year report). Then another report will be given out in
November because there is not much activity at the beginning of the year.
Currently the plan is for
the School Board to present the budget to the Committee on December 7 and then
the Committee may meet on a Tuesday night with the School Board to ask all
their questions. Gene stated that if
they supply the Committee with monthly figures, it will make things easier for
the Committee.
Tom explained that the first
part (the Administrative part) is when Tony sits down with the SAU board and
presents his budget to them. The SAU is
compiling our school budget. As that
process moves forward, the School Board then reviews it and work with Tony and
the SAU to come up with the final budget.
Colin asked if there was a
time line for the budget process. Tom
stated that the Board usually gets the budget toward the end of November and
then spends four to five weeks reviewing it.
The Board may schedule extra meetings to be able to get the budget to
the Budget Committee sooner. So if the
budget is presented at the beginning of December, then the Budget Committee and
School Board can meet again to answer any questions the Committee may have.
Dave stated that the other
thing that was offered was to send an agenda to the subcommittee members so that
they will know when the budget will be discussed. This way they will not have to attend all the
School Board meetings.
Colin asked how hard it
would be to make available minutes to the subcommittee. Karen stated that the minutes are on the SAU
website. Henriette stated that she
checked the website and the minutes are not up to date. Tom stated that David will check on
this. Dave stated that the website
address is www.sau53.org and there is a
link to Allenstown. Art stated that the
Budget Committee minutes can be posted on the Town website.
Each of the School Board
members will receive the same packets are the rest of the Budget Committee so
that they will all be prepared for the meeting.
Sewer Rate change – Gene and
Dave attended the Sewer meeting, but Dave had to leave early. Dave asked Gene to give the Board
information. The rate will be going to
$3.64. The rate started at $4.25, but
the Sewer Department was able to use some reserve money and brought the rate
down to $3.64. Colin asked how many
ratepayers were at the meeting. Gene
stated that there was Dave and himself, the Commissioners and Dana at the
meeting. The meeting was posted a few
days before.
Colin stated that Dave could
get a password for the Town website and then upload the minutes directly to the
web page.
Art stated that they have
received a resume for the Building Inspector position. The Selectmen met with this person on
Monday. It was decided to give this
person a try for the remainder of the term.
This person is Ken Field. He has
been in the building trade for many years and he knows the codes. Today (April 18) was his first day.
Don asked if the Fire
Prevention officer could also do the Building Inspection work? Art stated that usually this is two separate
positions. Colin asked how long the
remainder of the term was, Art stated that it was until 2003. Colin asked if there was a test given, no,
it was from word of mouth. Colin stated
that before Lissa came, Chappy was the building inspector. Ken will work only the amount of hours needed
for the job. Lissa used to work 30
hours, Ken will work 20 hours. He will
attend meetings required of the Building Inspector, Planning Board meeting when
required by the Planning Board. The
Building Inspector must attend all Zoning Board Meetings. He will be paid $12.50 per hour. Colin asked if it was a wise move to state
Ken at the same salary as a seasoned Building Inspector. Art stated that you have to start
somewhere.
Colin asked why Lissa
left. Art stated that she quit. Her hours were cut and she did not want to
work less hours. She was very busy up
until last year, then the Selectmen noticed a decline in business hours of the
Building Inspector. Each person wrote
down how many hours it took to do their jobs.
Colin stated that it should have been brought to the attention of the
Budget Committee last year that this was being done. Art stated that he thought he mentioned that
they were evaluating the jobs. It will
be easier for the board to do evaluations with this information.
Colin asked if there were
any other changes. Art stated that
changes can be made at any time and the Selectmen will be looking at each
position. Gene asked why the Building
Inspector was going to get a salary of $15.50 when the Budget Committee did not
approve this last year. Art stated that
this was going to be making with the adjusted hours (reduced to 20 hours). The amount of money was still in the
budget. Gene then asked if Lissa was going
to be losing any money. Art stated
no. Only the hours were being cut
down. So she was going from 30 hours at
$12.50 per hour to 20 hours at $15.50 per hour but she was going to lose her
benefits. Jennifer asked why this
opening was not advertised in the paper.
Art stated that they only advertise for full-time positions.
Colin asked how Ken knew
about the open position. Art stated
that someone told Ken about the opening and he sent in his resume.
The committee then reviewed
the expense reports. Dave then read
comments from David
Executive – Dues and
Subscriptions are over this year because he is charging the cost for the Town
Web page here. It was originally
budgeted in supplies, but to make things cleaner, he is reclassifying it in
Dues and Subscriptions.
Colin asked how much the web
page is, Art stated that it is $19.95 per month for the Internet service. Colin asked if the fee is $19.95 per month,
why would you pay for the entire year.
Art stated that this would give us a better rate. Gene asked why a non-resident was doing the
work. Art stated that he volunteered to
do the work. Jennifer stated that we
should give residents an opportunity to help the Town.
Gasoline – credit of $1600 –
this is an in and out account. It shows
a credit balance because the readings were charged to each individual account,
i.e. highway, police, fire at the time the report was printed, there were two
invoices for gas that will decrease the credit.
Tom stated that it seems
that we are spending a lot of time talking about who was hired and why the
person was hired, it that why we are here?
Dave stated no, but there are times when the conversation gets off track
and it is his job to get it back on line.
Police Detail – must put in
a figure, but this brings in revenue for the Town.
Civil Defense Maintenance –
This line is over because of the maintenance problems on the old generated
before the Town meeting allocated $22,000 for the new generator. Dave asked why this line item did not have
the $22,000 in it. Art will ask David
about this.
David note then stated that
everything else is in good order. The
School may complain about the Town election, having sent an invoice for food,
etc. Tom stated that they were very
surprised. The invoice was for $3.72. There was another invoice for $90, which the
school did not share in. Tom stated that
the School pays a janitor to clean up after each meeting when the school is
used. David further explained that Ed
reviewed the bill and they came to the conclusion that 1/3rd of the
cost of the overall March 12 election was attributed to the School and 2/3rd
to the Town.
Gene stated that Ed has no
say in this, the moderator has the responsibility. Colin asked if the Selectmen could look into
this matter. Art stated that this was
the first that he had heard about this and he would look into it.
Tom stated that due to
everything that went on, it was just one more thing. Colin stated that years ago the School Board
used to charge the Town and there was a lot of problems, and then it was taken
away.
Gene stated that there are
supposed to be volunteers from the school working the polls, instead of that he
has paid people to be there that have nothing to do with the school because he
knew that the School Committee members all worked.
Karen stated that when she
was at the last Zoning Board meeting, they had mentioned that Lissa had done a
lot for them through the Town and they did not know if they would be able to
meet there budget not that Lissa is no longer doing the things for them. Art stated that Zoning and Planning have
offset revenues in their budget. We will
wait and see what happens.
Gene asked Dave how long the
tapes were kept. He stated that as soon
as he is done with the tapes, he brings them back to David. Henriette stated that she has a box and
before each Selectmen’s meeting she takes three tapes from the box and clears
it up.
Gene made a motion to keep
the Budget Committee tapes for two years, Colin seconded. Colin stated that there is a board in Concord
that decides how long records should be kept.
The Town may be in violation of the law if they are recycling the
tapes. Art stated that you do not have
to keep the tape once a hard copy is made.
Lois stated that she has
been on Boards that she wished the tapes had been kept. The transcriber of the minutes may miss
something or put something in that was not said exactly.
Dave stated that the problem
with a group this size is that at times there are multiple conversations going
on and if you listen to the tape, you may not hear something because people are
having too many conversations going on.
Jennifer stated that she never listened to the tape. She took all her notes at the meeting and
used the tape only as backup because she could not stand to listen to it.
Karen asked who would pay
for the tapes. Gene volunteered to pay
for the tapes. Jennifer stated that if
we are going to make a guideline, he should not have to pay for the tapes. Dave stated that the Budget Committee has a
budget and the cost could come out of that.
Henriette asked why Gene
wanted to keep the tapes for two years.
Gene stated that when things are brought up again, someone will say,
well this was said last year. Then we
will have the past year covered.
Jennifer stated that she
found tapes from the Budget Committee that are probably 7 or 8 years old. Dave stated that there was a problem last
year with a tape breaking. Jennifer stated
that there were only used once and are probably good.
Gene stated that he felt it
was important to keep the tapes, just in case a legal issue comes up. Two years is very minimum. Colin stated he questions getting rid of them
at all. Jennifer stated that once the
minutes are approved, you can feel confident there is a good record.
Tom stated that even if a
question comes up in a year, if we are a board have already approved the
minutes, then they are a legal and binding document.
Jennifer stated that if she
had voted no on a particular issue and the minutes did not reflect that fact
and she was not at the next meeting to vote on the minutes, the only way to
prove the fact that she had voted no was the tape.
Colin stated that the civil
process takes three years. So if three
years ago, the Budget Committee was meeting and did not have a quorum to vote
on the budget but voted on it anyway.
Then if everyone signed the budget afterwards, if someone took us to
court. The only legal document would be
the signed document, when in fact it was not signed at the meeting.
Tom stated that he felt that
what is stated in public record is what is approved and typed up and
transcribed. We are not voting on the
tape. Because we as a board had voted
and approved the hard copy.
Tom stated that at the
School Board, he reviews the minutes and if something is not as he stated, he
then asks that the minutes be reviewed.
Henriette stated that as far
as the Selectmen’s meeting as concerned, she types them up and gives each
Selectmen a draft. They review them and
if there are any comments they make them before the next meeting. David edits them after she types them because
he attends the meeting and she does not.
Dave stated that he does
that for Jeannine.
The Committee then voted on
the motion for keep the tapes for two years.
The motion passed.
Gene stated that he just
wanted to thank the School Board for their efforts.
The Board will meet again in
May. Dave wanted to make sure that all
members are clear that they are not taking over the meetings with the
Department Heads, they are only there as observers.
The next meeting will be on
May 16. Tom stated that the School Board
meeting would be on May 21, which is after the next scheduled Budget Committee
meeting. Dave then asked if the first
Thursday in June would be better.
It was decided that the next
meeting will be on June 6 at 7 p.m.
Gene then made a motion to
recess.