Members Present: Robin McAfee, Carol Merrill, Jennifer Morin, William Barnett, Gabby Daneault, Dan Howe, Thomas Gilligan, Tom Irzyk, Larry Anderson and Peter Viar

Excused Absent: Brian Duchesne, Mona McCready and David Eaton

Unexcused Absent: Robin Pelletier

Others Present: David Jodoin, Marcella Ingel, Chief Jim McGonigle and Lt. Shawn Mulhulland

Jennifer called the meeting to order 7:00 p.m.

Dan made a motion to accept the minutes of the November 4, 2004 meeting, Gabby seconded. The motion passed with one abstaining vote (Tom I.)

Peter stated that if the Committee looked at the current year to date Welfare budget they will see that the salary is already over expended from what was budgeted. But she is saving significant money in other areas of services. The Board of Selectmen have decided to spend the money on salary because we are getting in back two fold on her utilization of other services, like Community Action and sending people to Concord.

Although the salary number is well over budget, the extra hours were approved for this year because she is not spending the kind on money on the lines as in the past.

Tom I. asked what the salary line will be at the end of the year. David stated that it will probably be $25,000 to $26,000. There will probably be more people coming in during the winter months for fuel assistance, also the Christmas Gift program, these two things will up the salary because it take time to administer these programs.

Peter stated that they are trying to spend money on hours more than services because she is very good at finding other ways to satisfy people without having to just give them benefits from the Town. Her savings on that side more than offset the salary side.

Tom G. asked if this position was a part-time position. Yes, it is 30 hours per week. David stated that this position was originally budgeted for 20 hours per week and then the Selectmen upped the hours to 30. It looks like a large gap, but the calculations were for only 20 hours a week. Tom G. asked if the pay rate was the same for the 30 hours, yes. Peter stated that the calculation for the 2005 budget was for a 40-hour week. Tom G. stated that there is more than an impact in just upping the salary, there are also benefits. What is the dollar amount of these benefits to the bottom line of the Town’s budget? Tom I. stated that it should be included in the salary line. David stated that medical would be $3,315, dental would be $300, Social Security/Medicare would be about $765, and the Town’s portion of retirement would be about $1,500.

Tom G. asked if there were any vision or life insurance. David stated that the vision is part of the health insurance plan and the life insurance is about $500 or $600.

Jennifer stated that this position was never a 40 hours position before. David stated that this position was one of the confusing ones because it originally was part-time and the Town paid benefits. Then it got rolled in with the Tax Collector and Health, and then all of the positions became semi full-time with benefits.

Tom G. stated that the total impact of the benefits was about $6,300. Tom G. asked if the last line of 26 weeks at $15.76 and hour is the 2.5% increase. Yes.

Tom I. asked what the Dues and Publications increase was for, from $30 to $250. Marcella stated that the publications were updates to the RSA’s on state benefits and welfare. Peter stated that they also worked with the attorney to create a whole new set of guidelines.

Tom G. asked how the heat line could go down from $4,000 to $3,000. Peter stated that it was based on Marcella being able to use other resources other than the Town’s.

Tom G. asked if the electricity decrease from $6,000 to $4,000 takes into effect that the fund from Help your Neighbor is now defunct. Should this line item be dropped? Chief McGonigle stated that he had read in the paper that they are not accepting any new applications because the program is funded by the rest of us who voluntarily pay extra on our electric bill. The amount of money coming in statewide has not gone up this year as it has in previous years. So PSNH made an administrative decision that they would not be accepting any new applicants, but the people who were already enrolled in the program would continue to receive assistance.

Marcella stated that there are other programs that offer assistance for electricity payments.

David stated that at this time last year, the medical assistance line was over budget.

Marcella stated that she tries to spend more time with each person to help walk him or her through the system.

Peter made a motion to accept the Welfare bottom line of $72,212, Larry seconded. The motion passed with two no votes (Tom G and Tom I)

Jennifer asked if the $500 in this budget was because of the default budget. David stated that there originally was $10,000 in this budget.

Peter stated the money in this budget was originally for survey, plot layout and to do some fencing. The Selectmen made the decision that we would forgo the fence this year and try to do it next year. But we really need to lay out the plots and figure out the boundaries for the land.

Tom G. asked how big the property was. Peter stated that he did not remember. David stated that it was between a half to an acre. Peter stated that the State does require the Town to have a cemetery, but that they had gone to the church a few times and they have allowed them to use their cemetery.

Tom I. made a motion to accept the Cemetery bottom line of $3,910, Dan seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Dan made a motion to re-open the Police Department budget, Robin M. seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

Chief McGonigle informed the Committee that the Town’s insurance company had come to inspect the Police Station and stated that they need to get out of their present location ASAP. There is a lawsuit waiting to happen.

As part of the Department’s efforts to prevent this from happening, the building needs committee has unanimously voted to pursue the purchase of the Allenstown Tractor Building. The cost to do this and to do it properly will be somewhere in the area of $730,000. This includes the cost to acquire the building.

Other plans have been looked at and continue to be looked at, but this is the cheapest and best buy for the Town at this point in time. If we wait for the school and they are successful in getting the Town to vote for a new K through 5 or K through 8, we would not be able to be in there until 2007. This would mean that we would need to put significant money into downstairs, would not be a real sound use of tax dollars.

Some things that need to be done and the reason to ask that the Police budget be reopened is to ask that money be added to the budget in some areas. One of the things that is needed is a cell block area. Lt. Mulhulland has done all the research and has asked if we could place high-risk prisoners in surrounding facilities and was told no. They do not want to take on the added responsibility or cost. So the decision was made that effective January 1 we will implement a plan that if a person is arrested and is either combative at the time they arrive there or impaired, then the Officer will be directed to bring this person directly to the Merrimack Country House of Correction.

This will obviously create some overtime cost. We have a plan where we think we can minimize the overtime cost. We are requesting and the Board of Selectmen has approved an increase of $13,000 in the overtime budget. If there is only one officer on duty, then we must call in someone else to cover. If the arrest occurs when an officer is about to go off duty, we will have to hold this officer over and he will be paid for his time.

If an officer has to be called in from home, then he will be paid for a minimum of 2 hours at time and a half.

Tom I. asked if it would be better to move the unruly prisoners to the Merrimack County House of Correction now instead of waiting until January 1. Won’t they end up there eventually? Chief McGonigle stated not necessarily, when someone is arrested, they are booked then given bail. Each person is entitled to be released on his or her own recognizance. So if they are docile, compliant and cooperative then we usually release this person to somebody. We don’t have the capacity to hold them, if we can’t release them to somebody, then we have to take them to the County jail. Then you are looking at a minimum of a 35-minute drive up and 35 minutes back.

Tom I. stated that his concern is to spend all this extra money on something that has been going on for 10 years, is it prudent to do it now. It seems to have become a run in the press to get the Police Station moved into a new building. Tom totally supports the fact that they deserve to be in a new building. Is it a good idea to go through all these added expenses until this building is secured? This is really nothing different that what we have been doing in this Town forever.

Chief McGonigle stated that Tom was right on target. He would have preferred that the Insurance investigators report was not made public. But unfortunately, they are public documents, like the minutes of your meeting, you may say things that you wished you hadn’t said, but if it is on the tape and then transcribed, it is part of the minutes. He would have preferred not to have received such media attention. However, that is the down side, the up side is that the attention is generating a great deal of discussion in the community and a lot of support of undoing years of not doing what a lot of people thought should have been done.

Part of what we need to do is create a mitigation plan, which Shawn has already done. He must write a letter to the insurance carrier outlining what steps we have already taken. If we do nothing until we are in a new facility, and we get sued, the report is the plaintiff’s first line of offense against us. You knew you had these problems, your insurance company said you had these problems, and you did nothing. Secondly, by doing nothing, the rates will go up significantly.

If we have a plan in place to mitigate the concerns that are in this report, little by little, at least we have shown a good faith effort that we are attempting to do something. We can’t do everything overnight, they understand that. We need to have a plan and forward them a copy of that plan, then this gets attached to their report showing that we are doing something.

Chief McGonigle stated that for non-public safety people there is a minimum of 2-hour call back. Public safety people are exempt, you do not have to pay them. But that is not very fair. He is not comfortable calling someone back in and they are here for 15 minutes, paying them for only 15 minutes.

Tom I. stated that the school could bring in their insurance company and write up this big report and make things look worse and show everyone how liable we are but we don’t feel that is the proper way.

Peter stated that he would be surprised if they were not automatically visiting the school without being invited. They are not doing their job if they are not visiting the school, this is a different issue, this creates as much of a liability as when then come in and find the things that they report to us and then we have to do something about. No one in this building or downstairs had anything to do with the insurance company all of a sudden writing up a report. We get a schedule, they talk with David about buildings and they visit building periodically on a regular basis. For them to do a "complete inspection" of a building, they make that decision to do it when they feel it is necessary.

Chief McGonigle stated that this is the first inspection done by the Municipal Association since he has been Chief. David stated that there is a safety plan that must be filled with the State of New Hampshire Department of Labor, once this is filled; you need to have an active Safety Committee. When you have a Safety Committee, that is when the insurance companies come in and go through, they pick a building, they did the Highway Garage, the Fire Station, they did the Police Department, they will do the Library. Tomorrow he is going through all the buildings owned by the Town for insurance purposes. Now there is a new audit pronouncement that needs fair market value on all buildings.

Lt. Mulhulland stated that the only change was that the Town Hall was supposed to be done before the Police Department. He asked them to do the Police Station first so instead of September, the inspection was supposed to be done in October. That was the only input we had on this schedule. It was scheduled long before his return.

Peter stated that the building committee was well on its way to doing something before the inspection ever happened.

Tom G. stated that the bottom line is that there is a very serious problem that is a huge liability, no matter how it came out, nobody here can understand the cost of a lawsuit again the Town. Because if you have the right attorney, we won’t be living here anymore, someone could come in with this report, that is now public and sue the Town for hundreds of millions, not a million or three millions but hundreds of millions.

Tom G. stated that the cost to the Town could be a serious detriment to the Town. Besides the cost, we have deplorable conditions for Town employees downstairs, for the people who work there; it is a safety hazard to their health and well-being. Not only because it is musty, moldy, or tight and cramped, but because you could have serious offenders come in and a bench is going to hold them down.

Tom I. stated that he is not disputing any of these problems, his problem is to spend tens of thousands of dollars at this point if this is where we are going. Everyone has known this for 10 years.

Peter stated that they are being very selective on what work is being done. Anything that is being done to mediate, we will take with us. Alarm systems, evidence lockers and other things, those are all portable things that when we are done can be taken with us and those things take items off the liability list that is staring us in the face.

So what we told the Police was give us a mitigation process where we can 1) show good faith to the insurance company that we are making a concerted effort at trying to resolve the issues; 2) lets try to do as many things as we can that we know are portable, so that when we end up someplace eventually, we want to be able to take it with us; and 3) when you look at the dollars, other than the overtime dollar issue, the rest of this stuff is all cost that we will bear in the new building.

We have to put these expenses in the operating budget because that is where they belong. It is not necessarily money that we will spend because 1) the building must pass and if it doesn’t pass, this money will not be spent. However, when we look at the Government Building budget you will see a number in there of about $50,000 and the reason it is there, if the warrant article for the building doesn’t pass and the warrant article to take money from surplus to offset the cost of the building doesn’t pass, then we are faced with mitigation downstairs that has to be done.

We can’t sit here for a year and leave the liability things staring at us. We are putting money in that operating budget because if those two warrant articles fail, the only place we can put money to mitigate those issues downstairs is in the building account. We won’t put it in the Police Department’s budget because it does not belong there.

We won’t spend tens of thousands of dollars to mitigate as we work our way through into the March session and we go vote, however, if we get to March and the articles don’t pass, we will spend $50,000 to $60,000 in order to mitigate those issues because we don’t have a choice. He no longer wants the conditions that exist down there or the hazards for the receptionist or the officers when they are booking someone.

Tom I. stated that he is not making these claims to point out displeasure or not show support for the Police Department. As he said before, he supports everything they do and supports the new building. He just questions how we get to that place.

Chief McGonigle stated that he would not, nor would anyone who works for him, do anything that would take the target that we have on our chest and have had for the eight years that he has been here, and turn around and put another target on our backs. Tom I. stated that that is what he wanted clarification on. Chief McGonigle stated that they did not start this ball rolling down this hill. Because he would have been 100% content if the only people who knew about this was in a non-public session.

Lt. Mulhulland stated that the people who will be named in a lawsuit will be himself; Chief McGonigle and the Selectmen will be named. If for any reason I was to look for another position they would ask if he had ever been sued and it would be because we had mismanaged the situation. He does not want that.

Tom I. stated that the reason he brought up this issue was to make sure that no one felt that the Police Department had set this up to get a new facility. He just wanted to hear it from the horse’s mouth as how it came about. Chief McGonigle stated that Tom was the first person to ask this question.

Lt. Mulhulland stated that the Police Department had never contacted Mr. Burbank. Sandy McKenney contacted him because she runs the committee. The day he came was the first day that Lt. Mulhulland had ever met him and then he walked Mr. Burbank through the facility.

David stated that generally when they review buildings, they will then go through the buildings after to make sure the wiring is fine, that they are not running extension cords everywhere, anything that could be an issue for OSHA or Worker’s Comp. Even though the Fire Department is new they went through that building and made an additional list for them of clean up items.

Peter stated that he felt Tom could appreciate the phrase "non funded mandate". Absolutely. When he was selectmen before, the whole Safety Committee came about, we knew when it started that it was nothing more than a bloodhound chase to implement rules and regulations and create a situation where municipalities would have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars because for years everyone went on their merry way.

We felt that we had done a better job than some other municipalities had with the Safety Committee. They meet regularly, the minutes are well kept, and we are following the rule of the law that we have been told to follow. It really helps us on the insurance liability side because we not only have a plan in place but we have a team of people in place, the appropriate department heads are involved and we are doing what we need to do. People really don’t see what we have saved in the last 4 or 5 years as a byproduct of having had that committee and done a lot of what they have wanted done.

We will have having this same discussion either next year or the year after regarding the Highway Garage, it is not going to go away.

Tom I. stated that it goes back to how many years that everything has been turned a blind eye to and we have not addressed these issues when they should have been addressed. It they had been addressed before, it may have saved us a ton of money.

Peter stated that just like the school, you have to pick your spots. You can’t go ask for $5, $8 or $10 million and resolve it all at one time, you pick your fights. It’s like getting the fire guys to understand to ask for one truck not for four. You will spend as much as you can possibly spend.

Tom I. stated that if people had not turned a blind eye and done these things on a schedule and maintained items, you would not need to be looking for two homes for two different departments at once.

Peter stated that he does not disagree. Once we started putting money into a building fund when we did the fire department, I would have liked to have seen us to continue to put $100,000 a year in that fund to be able to be prepared, yes, but it did not happened.

Jennifer asked if there was any thought of not getting a cruiser this year and putting it off to compensate for the extra money in the budget. Peter stated no, because we believe that the new lease program is a god send and we think we have already saved some significant money by going to the lease program.

Tom I. asked if the Selectmen had looked at other avenues within the budget and in other department expenditures to hold back to get part of this focused and on track. Peter stated that has not happened. Many of the budgets were level funded and some came in less than last year. People have asked why they have placed $50,000 in the Government Building budget if they are going to have a warrant article for $125,000 to replace the building. Because if the warrant does not pass, there is no money for repairs, we cannot spend $50,000 to mitigate downstairs that is not budgeted.

Dan stated that if the warrant article passes, the $50,000 is not going to be spent. Peter stated that this was correct. If we do get the building and the extra $50,000 is spent, he hoped someone would ask why the money was spent, but this will not happen.

Tom I. asked if the $50,000 was to cover big issues, Peter stated that they are spending what they can afford to spend within this year’s budget. Jim has done a great job of managing his budget, so there is a little bit of money left over and it will be spent on mitigations items.

Lt. Mulhulland stated that if you take away what has already been spent this year because we bought the weapons lockers that we were required to have and the alarm system has already been installed. This money came from this year’s budget, from the safety fund.

Peter stated that they originally felt that the mitigation would cost approximately $125,000. After we got through doing some of the things that have already been done, we came up with about $44,000 so we made the decision to put in $50,000 so there would be some extra.

Lt. Mulhulland stated that there are five items left. One would to protect the files because they are in the hall and it is in violation of the fire codes. We were told to remove it a month ago, the hall must be clear but there is no place to put the files. These would go into a storage trailer which would cost $15,000 to have heat and lights it in. If it is purchased, it can be used somewhere else or sold.

A storage container for hazardous material would cost $826, all the flammable stuff the department has, which is currently under the electrical box, needs to be moved.

Renovation of the Secretarial area to include bulletproof glass, which is also required, which would cost $11,800.

Construction of a new bathroom, currently we all use the same bathroom, which would cost $1,500. Our present lockers would have to be moved to have room for a new bathroom.

The other thing is with the prisoners that still need to be processed here, the dispatch center at 3 a.m. can watch the officer. Right now, no one checks on him, now the Bow dispatcher can watch and see him or her. This will cost $4,000. However, Bow is putting a grant for this service. If this grant is received, it will be removed from the budget.

Lt. Mulhulland stated that one of the things that was not covered by the $13,000 overtime request is based on his rate, since he is the most expensive rate but he is the least likely person who will be used because of that reason. However, if we are down to minimum staff and people go elsewhere where they can make more money, which happens every year, then he may have to be the person that comes in.

Chief McGonigle stated that all overtime must be approved by him in advance, even if it is just an hour to write reports. Lt. Mulhulland stated that people used to take advantage of the overtime and it cost the Town a lot of money.

Chief McGonigle stated that they really don’t anticipate using the entire $13,000. Tom I. asked what the timeline would be from the time of purchase to the time of moving in. It may be June or September.

Lt. Mulhulland stated the lobby area needs to be constructed and the handicap ramp will be put back the way it was. The Sally Port will also need to be constructed.

Chief McGonigle stated that if the two warrant articles do not pass, the $50,000 that is in the Government Building does not include the construction of the Sally Port.

Tom G. asked what a Sally Port was. Chief McGonigle stated that it is just a law enforcement term for a garage. A prisoner is driven into the garage, removed from the car and the slip and fall hazards are eliminated.

Peter stated that the Building Committee is not stopping the process. Shawn still has marching orders on other properties. Lt. Mulhulland stated that the $50,000 does not eliminate all the mitigation issues. It will eliminate some, but some are not even considered.

Lt. Mulhulland stated that they never know who will give them a hard time. Some prisoners have picked up computers and thrown them, stabbed themselves with pencils and have had drunks who have been chained to the bench who have walked forward face down and gotten hurt.

Peter stated that they make a conscious decision that no prisoners will be booked downstairs again.

Peter stated that they are planning a couple of informational evenings, we are working on a pamphlet of detailed information showing what has been looked at, what has been decided, etc. If we don’t educate appropriately, we can talk until we are blue in the face and it will not work.

Tom I. stated that the School Board is talking about doing something similar with the building issue, and whether or not we pool our resources and have one big Town night at the school and invite everyone in and maybe get the APPLE group to have food, etc. and present all the facts. Peter stated that it would be a great idea to do this as a joint effort. Tom I. stated that it also shows the effort that was put together by both committees and the School Board put the plans on hold because they felt it was a strong plan to maybe work together. It is really the first time in a long time that the two groups have gotten together and worked well together. It goes a long way in showing the Town people that everything was done with due diligence to try to come up with the best plan.

Tom G. stated that the Town is divided between health and safety, whether it be fire or police vs school, so if could bring them together and show them that these issues and needs are not competing rather they are needs and they have to happen regardless, then there won’t be confusion.

Tom I. stated that the other aspect for the School, Police Station or Highway Garage it is just something that the Town has to look at and say this is what we need to do. He supports the Police Department and can’t say enough about the good work that is done with the conditions that you are given.

Chief McGonigle stated that is all he had for the Committee. Peter had already stated the other dollar amounts. Eight months in operation in the new facility is $13,500 and for a full year would be roughly $19,500. Lt. Mulhulland stated that the building had lights that stay on day and night, he has already told them that they need to fix and they also have sewer pumps that are at the end of their useful life.

Tom I. asked if the heat and electric was included, because it seemed that it was not in the police budget. Chief McGonigle stated that it comes from the general building fund.

Tom I. made a motion to accept the Police Department bottom line of $571,378, Dan seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

Peter made a motion to reopen the General Government Building budget, Robin M. seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

Tom I. made a motion to accept the General Government Building bottom line of $77,300, Robin M. seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

Peter stated that there was a Building Inspection done on the Allenstown Tractor Building. Shawn wrote a letter back to the owner on all the items that need to be resolved before the Town continues to move forward. There are no big items, there are GFI issues, breakers that are labeled 15, but when you shut it off there is still power. There are a few ceiling tiles with water stains that we want to know where the water is coming from. The only other item is the issue with the pump. We did not know that this existed until we got into the discussion. There are two pumps in the ground in that building that pumps the sewer to the main, because it is uphill. There is no documentation anywhere as to who put it in, where the lines go, etc. The engineer has told us that the pumps are probably beyond their expected life. They are running, so Peter will negotiate this issue with the owner. He would like to negotiate with him that we split the cost, he take it off the price of the building. They will not be replaced tomorrow, but we know that it will have to be done.

The pump is not a deal breaker, our attitude is that if someone digs over there, they call Dig Safe, but the pumps are on the discussion table right now. The other change we needed to make to the P&S is that he wants a $5,000 deposit and the Town does not have $5,000 to give from the General Fund if we have to worry about loosing it. He has already agreed that the $5,000 deposit would be refunded to the Town if the warrants did not pass voting in March.

Tom I. updated everyone on the plans for the School. He brought plans to show everyone what the construction part of the school would look like with the addition that they are looking to put on the building.

At the time that this proposal was first brought to the voters, the cost was $2.8 million. Basically what the increases are is carpentry, steel, and lumber. The steel alone was increased by 25%; concrete has gone up 14.5%. Right now we are looking at a 13.5% increase in the $2.8 million to bring the price to a total of $3.2 million. The price may increase to $3.4 million. The State has approved our plans and we will receive 60% funding from the State. So the Town will only be responsible for 40% of the cost.

Peter asked what the school funding rates would be for next year. Tom I. stated that the projected rates show an increase of about $20,000 but that does not take into effect that we lost $80,000 last year. There was an actual increase of $371,000 with the new funding costs sent to us from the State. The funding operating budget went from $7.5 million to $7.9 million and the funding went up from the State $371,000.

Tom G. asked what the State funding would be on the construction if we wait on the project. Tom I. stated that the 60% funding only came into effect for 2005, it used to be 30%. The State comes up with the funding rate due to the Town, the amount of pupils, etc. Tom I. stated that the new law states that the maximum is 60% with a minimum of 30%. When you bring a plan to the State Board of Education, they review the blueprints, all of the specs, etc. They have a chart with the evaluation cost of the Town, special education services, etc. Allenstown is approved for the maximum rate of 60%.

Tom G. stated that his point is that there is an advantage to the Town now while we have 60% funding from the State and it does not apply forever, there is an end date associated with this passing. Tom I. stated it all depends on the new Governor.

Peter stated that you can’t really use that argument because, it is unlikely, but the potential is that it could go to 80%.

That is why the School Board feels that this needs to pass this year because Tom I. did not think that the 60% will be here for long. He feels that the new governor will change that law.

Peter asked that he had heard that there were no longer funds in this program. Tom I. stated that they had discussed this and they felt that this was a political bouncing of numbers around.

Tom I. stated that the bond that the Town has to float has to be for the total construction cost. Then the State pays that portion of the principal. Tom I. stated that the first payment on the bond is all interest. So if everything goes though and this passes, they will breaking ground during the summer and doing all the renovations to the current space that needs to be renovated before they actually put up the structure. The office space and kindergarten wing has to be rebuilt before the school opens. Everything will be going on during the school year. We could have the kids moving in after the first of the year.

Jennifer asked if the presentation to the Town would show all the actual costs, Tom I. stated yes, they would break it down and show the cost each year and what the tax rate impact would be each year.

Peter stated that one of the important things to bring out at the session will be the increase cost of steel, and concrete. These increases don’t go away just because you put things off. Dan stated that the longer you put things off, the higher the cost will be.

Tom I. stated that he was going to try to get a copy of the School budget for all committee members tonight, but he did not make it to the SAU before they closed to pick up the information. Tom will try to pick one up tomorrow and leave it at the Town office, then people can stop by to pick it up.

Tom I. stated that everyone will notice that in the budget there are some costs to do some repair to the schools. There are funds for sink repair, plumbing and heating repairs. There are many repairs that need to be done and we need to budget for it, it is about $40,000 in general repairs that need to be done. There are leaky pipes, traps that are rotten and falling off, sinks that are as old as the building was when it was constructed that need to be replaced. These costs are in the budget, but they will come out if the building passes. Those moneys will be earmarked to go back to the Town to offset taxes.

Tom I. stated that they need to check with the Building Inspector for recommendations and concerns and they will also touch base with the Fire Department to find out what information they need from the School. And if the Town will have any permit or impact fees that the School will be required to pay. We will need to know this in order to budget for these fees.

Peter stated that he will give this task to the new building inspector when that person is hired. Tom I. asked if someone should come to fill out forms for permits? Peter stated that it wouldn’t hurt. There shouldn’t be any fees. Peter stated that all the forms need to be filled out and the guidelines need to be followed, but the fees will not be there.

Tom I. stated that on the ballot should be the budget, the warrant article for the addition and we may be looking to add to some of the capital reserve fund from surplus, such as the technology capital reserve fund and the high school capital reserve fund and the special education fund.

Peter stated before the information meeting, it would be good to talk about this and it is still another number. Tom I. stated that he had informed the School Board that he wanted to bring this up to the Budget Committee to get a sense on how they felt about this matter. Because if you feel that if we overload it will be bad for everyone, if someone goes into the voting booth and they are overloaded with the ballot, then most of the time it is no.

Peter stated that the instruction to the department heads was that he would not approve anything where we end up going to the deliberative session and put zeros on a lot of things. We spent a lot of money on ballots what had zero dollars on a lot of warrant articles. So the goal is to have a very clean and simplistic and easy to understand ballot that you can vote yes or no for without all the nonsense. The more we can do that and limit the verbiage and the number of items, it will be helpful.

Jennifer stated that we will meet at 7 p.m. on December 2 at ARD. Tom I. stated that we can meet earlier if anyone wants. The Committee decided to meet at 6:30.

David stated that the Sewer Department met Tuesday night and finalized the budget. Dana will be putting numbers into the systems and should have something ready by next week.

The Committee will then meet again on December 9 to discuss the Sewer Budget and Personnel. Tom I. stated that there is a School Board meeting that evening.

Jennifer will ask Dave Eaton to e-mail the notices quickly and ask for responses. If we will not have a quorum, then we will need to pick another day.

David stated that the last day to post the notice for the Bond issue for the School and Town is January 11. The last day to hold a public hearing for the budget and the bond is January 18. Jennifer stated that once they finish with the Sewer and Personnel, if they need to meet with the School again then there is time to do this.

Tom I. stated that he had booked the school for January 11 for the Bond meeting.

Jennifer stated that people need to be here to discuss their warrant articles with the Committee so we don’t have any problems with time constraints.

Tom G. asked if the Highway budget had been finalized. No, we are still waiting for the one number. Everything has been discussed, we are just waiting for the final numbers.

Tom I. stated that the School has picked a date for the deliberative session, February 10, 2005. The deliberative session will be at AES in the gym.

Jennifer asked if the Committee could get a new packet with all the approved numbers. David stated that he will provide that for everyone. Jennifer asked if the Building Inspector budget will need to be addressed again. Peter stated that the ad in the newspaper stated that the position will be a 30 hour a week job and will be full time starting July 1.

Tom G. asked if the Committee felt we should revisit the Building Inspector budget. We solved all the issues about the amount of work or work efficiency but did we open ourselves up to added costs. Peter stated that all this information will be in the Personnel budget.

Tom G. stated that if the new building inspector has more experience, will they want more money. Peter stated that this person will be told that the Town can only afford x number of dollars for that position. We need to hire someone under those guidelines. It costs $45 per hour to contract this service out. We can’t ignore the people that have applications and need inspections. We are talking to Pembroke to see if their Building Inspector would be available during his off hours, but there is no guarantee. Our only other option is to contact the Municipal Association and it will cost between $40 and $45 per hour. David stated that this does not cover zoning violations or anything else.

Tom G. stated that he understands the Board of Selectmen’s position, but does not want them to be backed into a situation where the Budget Committee reopens the budget and says this didn’t work and then readjust the number.

Peter stated that if they feel that there is not enough work for 40 hours a week, they have the right to cut the position down to 30 or 20 hours due to the workload.

Tom I. made a motion to recess, Peter seconded.

The meeting recessed at 8:50 p.m.