Minutes –
Allenstown Budget Committee
Members Present: Jennifer
Morin, Carol Merrill, Robin McAfee, David Eaton, Larry Anderson, Phyllis
Parker, Dan Howe, Jason Carrier, Sted Holton, Peter Viar, and Dennis Carmichael
Excused Absent:
Unexcused Absent:
Others Present: Terry
Kenney, Peter Aubrey, Tom Irzyk, and Betsy Stebbins
Jennifer called the meeting
to order at 7:00 p.m.
Jennifer asked if any
Committee members had any questions about the School Budget.
Phyllis asked why the
plowing line had doubled. Tom stated
that the rates had gone up, not only the cost for fuel but the added parking
area at AES they also have to bring in a loader to get the snow out of there
because there is no place to plow the snow.
Phyllis noted that it also
doubled at ARD. Tom stated that as far
as ARD was concerned, it was just the rates that had gone up and with the fuel
going up.
Larry stated that at the
last School Board meeting he had attended, they were going to check into having
someone else plow the snow, has that been done?
There were several other people who have been contacted but we have not
received any other bids or prices yet.
Carol noted that on page
eight there were four lines for custodial service. Tom stated that there are two custodians
full-time during the day, one in each school.
We have a line for a substitute custodian incase we have to call someone
in and then the contracted service for each school.
Carol asked why they needed
so many. Tom stated that the service is
because they could not keep people to have employees here at night. We were constantly not having people here at
night and paying the day custodians to try to keep up with the stuff at night. The schools were not getting clean, we made
the decision, that since we could not keep any employees and we could not find
anyone to hire, then we contracted it out to a cleaning service.
Carol asked what the
custodians do during the day? Tom stated
that they still have their regular duties, maintenance and repairs to do, they
have lunchroom duty each day, they clean the floor of the gym, snow blowing,
yard work.
Betsy stated that there is
about 2 hours of cleaning before the kids get to school.
Dennis stated that on that
same area, it says “See attached projected use”. Where is that, Tom stated that it was on a
spreadsheet. Peter A. stated that he
will look to see if he has a copy of this, if not, he can e-mail this
spreadsheet because it really outlines where that money is being spent.
Carol asked what the
custodian travel is all about. Tom
stated that it is to pay the day custodians to run errands to pick up things at
the hardware store, go to the dump, and the SAU.
Carol stated that ground
maintenance also went up quite high. Tom
stated that the $7,000 increase is because no work has been done on the
athletic fields for about 6 years. Most
of that is a maintenance contract to get someone to take care of it
better. It was being overgrown; the
person who was doing the work with a small riding mower did not really have the
proper equipment to do the work. The
kids would go down there and the grass would be over their ankles so they could
not play ball or soccer. We contracted
with a new maintenance contract to take care of the lower field and then there
is a fee in there to resurface both ball fields.
Dennis asked if the Health
teacher will have a classroom or work from a cart. Betsy stated that it will be a cart. Dennis asked if this is at both AES and ARD.
Tom stated that the teacher will be able to come into a vacant classroom and
hold the class during the day. They will
not have a classroom of their own, but they will go to the students. Tom stated that they will not be in the gym
or cafeteria, they will be in a classroom, but that teacher will not have a classroom
to call home.
Dennis asked what the
General Supplies line covers. Betsy
stated that these are the supplies that the office buys, paper, pencils, white
out, they also supply teachers and students with scissors, classroom paper, pencils,
pens, and markers.
Dennis stated that there are
supply lines for art, music, English, etc. and each have a dollar figure
attached to it, would these also not include office supplies such as just was
indicated? Betsy stated that no this
would be books, for music it would be consumable supplies such as music
workbooks, for science it would be chemicals.
Terry stated that these also cover student supplies, workbooks and
folders, not office supplies.
Dennis noted that there is a
“new activity modules based upon the education best practices for physical
education” it looks like it is only at ARD, is this going to be expanded to
AES? Tom stated that they have been
sharing most of their stuff between the two schools. This is based on Junior High PE education
class, then they can give the other equipment back to the elementary
school.
Dennis noted that the
purchasing at AES is being increased, but not at ARD. Tom stated that it could be just this budget
cycle, what they need at each school.
Each budget cycle is different, a year ago it could have been
reversed. It all depends on what the
supplies are, what they are teaching towards and what they need to supply that
year. It may be more at one school one
year, it may be a combination of both, it tends to come in trends.
Dennis noted that he was
looking at a three year history, and he did not see hardly anything being
purchased for ARD but there are a lot of dollars being spent at AES. Phyllis asked if a lot of it is that AES has
to have workbooks for the kids that can’t be used year in and year out and they
have to be replaced every year.
Betsy stated that younger
grade levels tend to consume more immediate supplies, paper, paste, workbooks,
and the older kids don’t do these things.
They use a textbook, and computers.
The little kids are more hands on.
Dennis stated that he sees
the trend only in math, reading and language at AES where we spend a lot of our
funds. Terry stated that the math
program is a consumable run off type of program, it is not a textbook, it is
program where the teacher gets a stack of run off and they copy them each
year. Each one is broken down into grade
level as far as what they need and what they order. There are a lot of things ordered for reading
and language arts and spelling for the primary grades (1, 2, and 3). Most of the day is spent with language arts,
learning how to read, how to write, etc.
Dennis asked how often they
purchase 6th grade books, because it says here that they are from
1990. Terry stated that she and Betsy
discussed returning to the 5-year cycle for textbooks in the district. In the past it was not done that way. Betsy stated that if you look at the 6th
grade team over the last couple of years, there have been many teacher changes
as the class size changes and teachers move and come and go through the
district. They are not part of the
buying cycle, they come and inherit the textbooks and they do not know who will
be there next year. We finally decided
that this needs to be done.
Betsy stated that next year
it will be social studies and the following year math, then science, etc. Terry stated that way we are not buying new
textbooks for two big disciplines because the textbooks are sometime $35 to $40
each.
Dennis then asked what A/V
was – Audio Visual. Terry stated that
this might be tapes, DVD’s, videotapes, etc.
Dennis then asked why there
were two lines for New Equipment – General.
Tom stated that there is a line for each school. Dennis stated that both of these lines are
101. Terry stated that one is for new
equipment and the other is if something breaks and needs to be replaced. Tom stated that the 737-101 line is to
replace teachers furniture (desk, cabinets) in 1st, 2nd
and 4th grade and replacing them.
This is to continue what was started at the school when we did the
upstairs.
Dennis then asked about the
New Equipment – Computers (5 new computers and then below that it states 10
Teacher ibooks). Tom stated that 101 is
for five new computers. These new
computers are replacements, the five new ones is to expand what we have, the
102 – 10 teacher ibooks – this is to give each teacher in the building an ibook
to go along with the technology that we have in this school.
Dennis also noted that they
are replacing 20% of the computers. Tom
stated that is for the computer lab for the kids. Betsy stated that it is a buying cycle, every
five years, every computer should be replaced.
Dennis asked if the computers were upgradeable? Betsy stated that they can be upgraded, but
five years of any computer in a school, no matter what it is, it is getting
old. Dennis asked if it was the outside
that is deteriorating, not the inside.
Peter V. stated that it becomes compatibility with the product. Motherboards have a shelf life of two years,
it is extraordinary to keep a computer for five years. You can’t upgrade them anymore.
Tom noted that it is not
like the home PC, these are being used by 300 kids a day. Betsy stated that even the software is no
longer compatible.
Dennis asked about the note
on page 3 regarding Moving SPED testing supplies from line 2123, which line is
that. Betsy stated that we used to
account for special ed testing in a testing line that was not special ed, so we
just decided to place these funds under special education. This is just an accounting change. We have been accounting for testing for
special education in a section of the budget that is not special education, so
we just took the request for these funds and moved them into special
education. Tom noted that these funds
were moved to page 5 of the budget.
Dennis asked what a Conex
box is under Other Instructional Programs.
It is a big steel box, Tom stated that they are putting a shed in the
ball field for supplies and all the equipment because all that equipment has to
be moved for every game from ARD to the ball field. This box is more secure, than a shed.
Dennis then asked about the
Tractor & Field maintenance equipment for $2,307, but yet we have
contracted out this service. Tom stated
that we have contracted someone to do the maintenance of cutting and mowing and
maintaining the field. The tractor is to
use for work details, dragging the fields after every game, because the
in-field never gets dragged and it looks like the ocean when you are playing
ball there when it rains and puddles up, so if we have a tractor there that we
can drag those fields, and line the fields, it will be helpful.
Dennis noted on page 9 that
there is a line to replace the locker room stalls, are these currently being
used? Betsy stated that the bathrooms
are being used and these are for the walls of the toilets.
Dennis asked if the lockers
that will be replaced with baskets are in the hallway? Betsy stated that they are also in the locker
room as well. Dennis asked if these
facilities are being used. Betsy stated
that they are used every day, the kids change for gym and then are also used
for sports after school.
Dennis asked what was
covered under other contract maintenance.
Betsy stated that they have contracts with the heating company,
Honeywell for the security, contracts for the sprinkler systems and fire
systems, elevator, fire extinguishers, boiler, etc.
Robin asked what the new
Health teacher will be teaching? Betsy
stated that the health teacher in the middle school will begin in 5th
grade with peer relationships, how do you make friends, how do you interact
with other people, peer, sibling and family relationships, how do you get along
with your parents during Middle school.
We talk about nutrition, eating disorders, and general health. They only go for about 30 days per year. You also get into sex education, as well to
an extent, whatever the Board approves that should be covered.
Dave asked if parents have a
right to take their child out of this, Betsy stated absolutely, anything that
is discussed of a sensitive nature information is sent home and parents have a
right. We just remove the child and they
read a book or do homework. We already
do this in the 7th grade science curriculum that involves health.
Betsy stated that conflict
resolution is another big part of the Health curriculum.
Jennifer asked if a lot of
this is covered under the D.A.R.E. program.
Betsy stated that some of it is but that is only done in 5th
grade and they have started a new program in 7th grade. This is very much police oriented and handled
in a very different manner.
Dennis asked if the Health
teacher is also going to be teaching abstinence in this curriculum. Tom stated that they will not be handing out
condoms. Betsy stated that it would be a
number of things, the final curriculum does get approved by the School
Board. It would be very balanced and
again parents will always have the option of removing their child from the
class.
Betsy stated that the Health
teacher is part of the minimum standards from the State and we currently do not
have one.
Larry made a motion to
accept the School District bottom line of $8,763,442, Sted seconded. The motion passed with one no vote.
Tom then distributed a rough
draft of the School warrant article.
This paper has the figures from the Bond bank for 10, 15 and 20-year
bond for the project. The School Board
has not made a decision yet at which way they will go for this project. The tax rate impact is shown on each sheet.
Jennifer asked if this is
the same plan as before, yes. Jennifer
asked how much of an increase in the price of the project from last year. Tom stated that the original price was just
over $3 million, now we are at just about $3.5 million. This is due to the increase price of steel,
wood, and cement.
Jennifer asked if the State
will still reimburse 60% of the cost, Tom stated that they had been approved
for that also. Jennifer asked if we were
still working with the same architect and building manager, yes.
Tom stated that they will be
having bond hearings and will come back to the Committee with a formal
presentation on the bond.
Peter asked if they had
checked into banks as well as the bond bank.
Tom stated yes, Peter stated that they did that with the police
department and got a better rate at the bank.
Peter Aubrey stated that they can clearly do either the bank or the bond
bank. Peter V stated that he just would
like this to be looked into when the time comes.
Peter Aubrey stated that the
one thing that they had not provided for the Committee was the breakout of the
Custodial Service. He will provide this
information.
Larry made a motion to
accept the December 8, 2005 minute as typed, Dan seconded.
Jason wanted to clarify a
statement on page 9 which stated Their attitude was that if it goes through, he
just wanted to clarify that it refers to the School expansion project that the
School Board intents on putting forward.
The motion passed
unanimously.
Jennifer indicated that
Kelley had provided the Committee with an updated spreadsheet showing where
everything stands so far. Larry noted
that Zoning was missing on the sheet.
Peter will let Kelley know that.
Jennifer noted that on the
bottom that the finance budget is lumped in with Tax Collector and
Treasurer.
Peter informed that the
Assessing Contract increase is due because DRA no longer provides a service to
communities where they would be our assessor.
DRA now only oversees assessing, every five years they come out to every
Town and review the entire assessing process.
They basically look over your shoulder to make sure you are doing the
job right. So the spike is the contract
number from Cochran Associates, they do the conventional assessing on homes,
commercial properties but not the utilities.
We expect a significant increase in site visits next year as a
by-product of the certification process.
The good news is rather than looking at a $250,000 or $260,000 for a
complete revaluation, which happens in most Towns every 6 or 7 years, because
of the way we do assessing now we have a program that updates based on sale
activity, so we keep up with it much better than we used to.
The increase is primarily
for all the on-site visits that we will have and the additional work that will
be done for us to get certified. If they
don’t certify us, they will force you to revaluate. We would really like to avoid a $250,000
bill.
Jason asked when DRA stopped
doing this work. Peter stated that it
was about a year ago. Jason asked if
there was only one company who does this type of work or are there multiple
companies. Peter stated that we have
gone to bid a couple of times on assessing and this is not a good year to
change. We did have a discussion about
potentially changing because we have not been thrilled with every aspect of it,
they are a very busy company. We did
pick Cochran out of a group of 12, there are a number of companies that will do
this work and they charge similar rates.
We did not feel it would be a good year to change since we will be
getting certified this year.
Jason asked if there was a
reason why we assess every year. Peter
stated that we do not assess every year we just update on an annualized basis,
we really do it on the fly. Based on
sales activity we target a certain section of Town and we kind of cut the Town
into pieces and then each year we do a section of the Town.
Peter stated that the Board
has already agreed on the contract with Cochran.
Peter made a motion to
accept the Finance bottom line of $88,181, Jason seconded.
Larry asked if this was part
of the $125,000. Peter stated that it
was part of the $125,040. The motion
passed unanimously.
Jennifer noted that there
were insurance increases. Peter noted
that the one adjustment was worker’s comp, we agreed as a Board Monday night to
sign a three year commitment because they give you a 5% discount if you make a
three year commitment. The original
increase from $26,413 to $32,000 was not due to any cases. Worker’s Comp is not just related to your
Town, it is related to worker’s comp cases that the particular carrier
handles. If Pembroke was in our group
and they had five cases, it would affect our rates.
Jason asked if the Town was
going through a broker for the health insurance. Peter stated that you can do one of two
things, you can go through LGC or we can go out on our own. We typically run two to four bids a year.
Dan made a motion to accept
the Finance bottom line of $393,602, Phyllis seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
Peter stated that we got the
number for the Disposal on Monday evening.
It went up a little, the tonnage rate did go up and the Town raised its
rates that is charged to people to bring in.
Any of the companies that haul out of Allenstown for commercial use, we
pay for it, but we bill them back, we charge them $44, we were paying $38. Our rate went up to $41 and we moved there
rate to $47 or $48. Our increase was
passed on to them. We don’t get rich on
it, but we do make a little bit of money.
The only increase is on
part-time salaries. We have had a
growing problem at the landfill with people who don’t have stickers. We made a conscious decision to ask Richard
to go back and manage the landfill on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and
Saturdays. He was doing janitorial work
at the PD, but frankly he would rather be outside. On the first three days he worked at the
landfill, he turned 87 people around – they either had to buy a sticker or they
had to leave.
There was a man from
Barnstead who said he had been coming to the landfill two days a week for a
year. He was very candid, he said he
thought it was an open landfill.
Peter stated that he went to
the landfill on two Saturdays and counted 13 trucks on one day and 11 trucks the
next that did not have stickers. With
two guys there is no way that you can be everywhere. So you need a guy at the entrance.
We are losing a lot of money
and we are also talking about hazardous waste that gets dumped because nobody
can watch. Dick will look through the
trash to make sure you are not throwing away something that you should not be.
Jason asked if Dick was
included in the full-time salary line for the Highway. Peter stated that he was not.
Jason asked that after you
take into consideration the new person coming in, what percentage increase is
it for the full time salary line. Peter
stated it is 6%.
Peter wanted to make sure
everyone understands how the salary increase works. You start paying the budget in January but
the new budget does not kick in until June.
When you are doing the calculations, you have to calculate ˝ the year at
one rate and ˝ the rate at another rate.
Jason asked what the reason
is for the increase in Paving and Reconstruction. Peter stated that it really is doing projects
that he has been put off. Larry asked
that since they were not going to do Library Street why couldn’t he have taken
this money and done another street. Peter
stated that he did two other streets, West Street and another one. Peter stated that the problem this year is
that we were going to have a problem with the bottom line so it was a place for
the Town to save some money.
Peter stated that the
$90,000 is to cover other Street, such as Turnpike (which was put off because
of the bridge project).
Larry stated that there is
still $60,000 in the line that has not been spent, therefore why does he want
an additional $30,000 if he has not spent the $60,000 that he already has. Peter stated that he does not have that much
in the budget. We paved two streets and
it cost more than $4,800 to pave two streets, therefore, Kelley has not coded
this yet. West Street was just done at
the end of September.
Peter stated that if part of
the question is why we don’t encumber what is left, we can’t because we spent
it else where. Jimmy will spend it on
salt, sand and other stuff based on the weather that we are having.
Dan stated that the Highway
department asked for $196,695 for full time salaries and the Selectmen gave
them $205,025 what is the reason for the increase. Peter stated that they had not put in the 6%
increase.
Larry asked what happens to
the full-time salary that is not spent.
Peter stated that it will go to the bottom line, every body’s budget
funnels into one at the end of the year.
If the Highway has $28,000 unspent but the fire department overspent by
$22,000 the net is $6,000 left. Jimmy
had one employee out on disability for 4 or 5 months, therefore this will make
a difference on the salary line.
Peter made a motion to accept
the Highway bottom line of $567,591.74, Jennifer seconded.
Larry stated that he would
like a more current expenditure report before he voted on this budget. Jason asked if we put this budget off for
another meeting what major significance would there be. Jennifer stated that she felt it would not
change anyone’s mind to see it. The
number will still be what it is. She is
getting concerned about the bottom line, we have really spent big and she felt
it is important to get these done so we can see how much we have increased from
last year and we may need to look at these budget again.
Jason stated that earlier in the season we
discussed being very hesitant to reopen some of these with the interest of
wanting to make sure people are here.
Jennifer stated that we would do that.
Jennifer stated that we need
to give ourselves some time and not be in the 11th hour and
wondering if we should look at some things again.
Dave stated that for those
of us who have been on the Committee for a while, Jimmy is very frugal and I
can trust him to handle his budget, Jim is very good with his budget.
The motion passed with one
no vote.
Peter stated that the Board
took out the Memorial Day money because no one can remember what the money is
for and nobody asked for it. For years
there was a Memorial Day parade and there has not been one for a long
time. We could not find any
documentation on this line either. We
have a line for flags and they are basically the small flags placed on
tombstones and gravesites.
Larry asked why they did not
just put $1 in the line. Peter was not
sure why they did not.
Christmas in Suncook sent us
a letter asking for more money. They did
not give a dollar value they just talked about how much is cost to do it. Peter stated that if you don’t ask for a
specific number then I will just pull one out of the sky. We agreed that it is a good event and a lot
of people go, so we added $50 to the line for a total of $300.
175th Anniversary
Celebration – Peter talked about it briefly at the last meeting. He made a recommendation at our meeting to do
this as a warrant article, this was taken back to the committee and they said
that they did not want a warrant article, they would rather have the money in
the budget. After a brief discussion on
Monday night, we put $500 in the budget about this. Then the day after we voted this, the
Committee came back and said that they would rather have the warrant article.
Jennifer stated that she
would rather see this as a warrant article.
Dave stated that Sandy sent out an e-mail to members of the ARA and the
Historical Society asking people’s opinion on this issue and the general
consensus was to make it a warrant article.
Peter also feels that they
have no right to spend people’s money on a party. That is why is belongs on a warrant and then
everyone gets to vote on it and if they think it is a good use of $1,000 of
Town money, remember we supported $1,000 not $500.
Dave stated that as a Budget
Committee we can take it out and ask them for a warrant article. Peter stated that it does not have to be a
petition one, the Board can put it in if we want to. The Board of Selectmen
were going to put it in out of surplus.
Jason asked why they would
not do the same thing for the Christmas in Suncook. Jennifer stated that Christmas in Suncook is
an annual event, the 175th is a one time expense.
Dave stated that back in
1981 the expense was in the Patriotic line but they did $10,000. His recommendation is to go to a warrant
article out of surplus.
Dan made a motion to place
$1 in the Memorial Day line, Phyllis seconded.
The motion passed unanimously.
Larry made a motion to
reduce the 175th Anniversary line to $0, Robin seconded. Jennifer stated that the Committee would
support a warrant article out of surplus and we hope to see one. The motion passed unanimously.
Larry made a motion to
accept the Patriotic bottom line of $2,351, Dan seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
Larry asked if the Committee
was going to review the Health budget.
Jennifer stated that it was already done. Peter stated that the Health and Zoning were
not added to the overview spreadsheet.
Peter will make sure that it is added in.
Peter stated that they
changed insurance, sewer was in there, we are not showing $50,000 because the
Town’s bill is $44,000. We will pass the
cost to the Sewer department and this will be a wash. The extra is not there for the Town to raise
revenue on.
Larry asked about the
Advertising budget. Peter stated that
the Budget Committee had not talked about this yet. The Central NH Planning is
the same as last year. Jennifer stated
that we have not seen the Advertising budget yet.
Peter stated that he can
make sure that the Overview sheet is updated and then he will send it out to
everyone. He also stated that the
Advertising and Regional Planning is $5,284 – this is a contract.
Dan made a motion to accept
the Advertising/Regional Planning bottom line of $5,284, Peter seconded. Peter stated he would get the Committee a
budget sheet for their records. The
motion passed unanimously.
Peter stated that there is
nothing in General Government Building yet because of the roof. We are trying very hard to get the numbers,
we have approved the engineering firm to come in to do the study. This line will be a last minute
addition. Since we had money in the
general building fund that the money was taken from to fix the mold in the
basement, we agreed to take that money for the engineering work. He would like to have a number for the roof
but if there is not one, he does not want to jeopardize getting the numbers for
the budget. If we have to go without it,
we will.
Jason asked if the Town had
a capital reserve account for building repairs, Peter stated that we do, but
there is not a lot in the account.
Peter stated that the
Committee could also vote on the Revaluation budget. There will not be a line for this it is
buried in the other documentation. Peter
stated that it is the utility revaluation.
We have to revaluate the utilities as well as the homes and
business. There are two choices, we can
either pay our assessor to give us an assessment which means he is supposed to
go out a reassess, count all the polls, or we can take the State’s evaluation
on utilities. Unlike commercial or
residential properties, the State does have a formula for utilities. If we did not have this person under contract
for $15,000 to do the utility revaluation, the State’s value for utilities in
Allenstown is $1,517,614. Our current
value with our assessor for utilities is $4,577,194. If we took the State’s number instead of our
assessor’s number we will lose $62,000 in tax revenue. Our assessor will also go to fight that at
BTLA. Every four or five years the
utilities take Town’s to court to fight their evaluation, even if we lost we
would probably settle for somewhere in the vicinity of $3.5 million or $3.75
million still well above the $15,000 we will be spending. Also, we are not fighting with the
State.
Dan made a motion to accept
the Revaluation bottom line of $15,000, Jason seconded. The motion passes unanimously.
Peter will make sure that
Kelley updates the Overview sheet and gets everyone the couple of sheets that
they need.
Peter stated that the Board
of Selectmen will be reviewing warrants next Monday evening. Jennifer stated that the Committee has the
warrant articles scheduled for their next meeting on December 29.
Jennifer stated that since
the Committee does not know what to expect as far as warrant articles are concerned,
if the PD had a warrant article and we were not aware of it yet, and the Board
will support, if the department head wants to come to our meeting to explain
the warrant article it would be fine.
Peter stated that they are
all invited to come to the Board’s meeting next week to come and plead their
case if they want to. Jennifer asked
Peter to let the department head know that the Budget Committee will review the
warrant articles on December 29 and that they are invited to attend, he will
have Kelley do that.
The next meeting will be
held at the Town Hall.
Peter stated that some
people were not happy with us doubling up the meeting. We have been band standing at the legislature
for four years to expand the window for those meetings and it falls on deaf
ears.
Jennifer stated that if
anyone is asked why we doubled up on the meeting, there are so many days to get
this done and for turnout purposes, there is a potential for a bigger
crowd.
Larry asked what the reason
was for being a SB2 Town. Peter stated
he supported SB2 originally because he thought it was a better way to manage
the affairs of the Town by letting more people vote. His logic was very simple, 35 people come to
Town Meeting and vote, those 35 people dictate what you spend money on year
after year. He was the one who proposed
this originally because he would rather have 600 to 700 people vote on
everything than have 100 people vote.
Last year he was one of the people who petitioned to back to Town
meeting. He believes that the biggest
problem with the Deliberative Session is that people don’t understand that at
the Deliberative Session they can basically do the same thing that they did at
Town Meeting. The Deliberative Session
gives people the ability to make changes.
Dave made a motion to
recess, Peter seconded. The motion
passed unanimously. The meeting recessed
at 8:22 p.m
NOTE: Although these minutes may contain direct quotes, they are not verbatim. Many sections contain a general description of the remarks of the participants as interpreted as both indicated and not indicated by the transcriber and should not be relied upon as the actual intent of the participant’s statement. Additionally, many statements have been omitted, condensed and generalized based on the interpretations of the transcriber as to its relevance, content, specificity, accuracy, and/or conformity to any applicable statute. The transcriber assumes no liability for the content of this document.