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Town of AmherstBoard of SelectmenNovember 13, 2007
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Vice Chairman George Infanti called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Selectmen present: Thomas Grella, Brad Galinson and Reed Panasiti. Also present Town Administrator Gary MacGuire and Executive Assistant Sharon Frydlo.
Bill Belvin, 231 Boston Post Road, asked who is responsible for maintaining the Civil War Memorial Statue and thought perhaps it was the Historical Society. Mr. MacGuire advised he will have an answer by next week or sooner.
Tax Collector Gail Stout met with the Board. She advised her 2009 budget was presented prior to any adjustments to health insurance. There is a 1.2% increase over the current budget. There was an increase of 1.95% COLA in wages; a decrease of $250 in Longevity due to it being overstated in the 2008 budget. The lien process has not decreased; education increased slightly, but was offset by a reduction in the Computer Supplies line by $200.00. Postage was kept down, but put in an increase for certified mail for the lien process. The Board thanked her for coming in after Mr. MacGuire reported he could have explained this budget without her coming in.
Town Clerk Budget Presentation
Town Clerk Nancy Demers met with the Selectmen. She advised that Office Supplies, Computer Software & Supplies, General Supplies and Printing had no increase. There was no increase in Postage because she had requested residents to send in self-addressed stamped envelopes with their vehicle registrations. She also explained about the cost of a Presidential Primary where she had over 1000 requests for absentee ballots. Mrs. Demers hoped to get a headset for her Deputy as they work very well. She advised that printing of ballots increased because of their length between Town and Zoning. She briefly spoke of the number of elections coming up as well as Town Meeting.
Mr. MacGuire mentioned that Part Time Wages were down. Mrs. Demers further explained that she had cut back on her part time help needed. They were dealing with a new system and the program itself had gotten a lot better and, therefore, was able to cut back most of that time. She again remarked about the elections especially the Presidential one that will be a problem because of the number of absentee ballots. Mr. MacGuire reported a reduction in the budget to the Ballot Machine Programming line.
Mrs. Demers spoke about revenues. She felt that it would not go up but remain fairly flat as it is now. She ran the numbers from July 1 to November 1, 2007 with Auto Registrations and Titles being down and this all has to do with the economy - residents were not buying expensive cars and vehicles not economic to run. The Town can now register vanity and moose plates. She spoke about not being online v. being online and her ability to accept $2.50 Municipal Agent fees. Mrs. Demers had talked to the State about registering boats and they are not taking on Agents currently, but will try to accommodate the Town sometime.
In response to Mr. Panasiti’s question about Veterans Plates – Mrs. Demers advised she could renew the plates in Amherst, but could not issue them as a new registration. In response to Mr. Panasiti’s question, Mr. MacGuire advised that no one had a copy of the Town Clerk’s revenue sheet. Also in response to his question, Mrs. Demers spoke about the biggest months for lease cars being in February and April and that currently they were at their low time of the year insofar as lease cars. She advised she did not think they would have a big increase because of the economy. Mr. MacGuire thought they may be ahead of their projection. Mr. Galinson commended Mrs. Demers for taking people out of her Department that she did not need and he thanked her.
Mr. Grella asked that the Town Clerk go through the absentee ballot process. Mrs. Demers spoke about residents being away from home or Election Day or residents having a disability. Currently no one knows when the Primary is going to be and if residents will be out of town. Postage costs for a State election will be .58 cents and a Town Meeting election will go up over $1.00. In the 2004 Election Primary, she had over 1000 requests. She also spoke briefly about having to scan absentee ballots for Town Meeting. Much of this was paid for by the State. She spoke briefly of the timeframe of the residents marking their ballots and making sure they were in her hands to be counted.
Mr. Infanti reiterated what Brad had said about the wages in her budget and it was considerate of her in not asking for more hours. Mrs. Demers remarked that the program itself was getting better and it was more familiar. Mr. MacGuire added that to continue on this path, Nancy had made this decision approximately one month ago and obviously at the cost of the part time employee.
W&M Chairman Deirdre Rogusky asked a question about the ballot machine, Mr. McGuire reported there was some confusion regarding the ballot machine and ballot printing with the same vendor and briefly explained what should have been more accurate. John Siemienowicz, W&M, commended Nancy on her budget.
Planning & Zoning Presentation
Planning Director Charlie Tiedemann met with the Board. He advised his budget includes Zoning, Planning Board, Zoning Board of Adjustment and Historic District Commission and is down 4%. A major impact to his budget was the Master Plan that has now been taken out. Postage is up a little with approximately 90-95% being paid by the applicants. Advertising is about the same. Items up were NRPC dues (that the Town has no control over), Supplies, Mileage, Gasoline and Telephone (which they are now paying for and hadn’t in the past). Full Time Wages were about the same with Part Time Wages being up due to having an Assistant that also works for DPW. Also budgeted in this line were wages for a Recording Secretary for the HDC to take their minutes. He did not believe they had any numbers for Health Insurance yet. The remainder of his budget was pretty much in line with what had been budgeted previously.
Mr. MacGuire indicated they were adding together three budgets into one. Mr. Tiedemann remarked they tried to consolidate the bottom line. Mr. MacGuire explained that they were looking to absorb the Planning Board and ZBA into one budget. It was a bit confusing making this transition, but he was sure Charlie will be able to track it. Mr. Tiedemann talked about the part time lines further in response to a question raised by Mr. Panasiti. Mr. Galinson asked if the Meetings line item was for training. Mr. Tiedemann explained the Building Inspector goes to seminars as does the Technical Assistant. Both the Planning Board and Historic District members also attend meetings.
Mr. Infanti commented on possibly having someone review the ordinances for impact fees as a warrant article. Mr. Tiedemann advised that the Planning Board Chairman Gordon Leedy asked him to put together a warrant article for $20,000. He had contacted someone in Maine who has agreed to do it but was hesitant to put that number together. Ms. Rogusky wondered if he was budgeting enough to support the certification for the new hire. Mr. Tiedemann indicated it would not cost the Town anything, but they may pay for his application as they paid for Heather’s. Ms. Rogusky then asked about supplies which appeared to be zeroed out of Zoning and put into Planning Board. Mr. Tiedemann explained it was going into this line because it had the biggest usage. The Zoning Department is the over all umbrella of the various Boards. Ms. Rogusky asked about the entire 4193 ZBA budget being zeroed out. Mr. Tiedemann advised this was the only budget he had been able to zero out.
Assessing Budget Presentation
Mr. MacGuire advised that the bottom line was 2.5% increase. They have one full time employee in the Assessing Office and she will receive a step and a COLA as part of this increase. There were minor changes in Social Security, Medicare and Deferred Comp. The only other change is in the contract with MRI with a projected 3% increase. The Software License from Vision will remain the same. Other than that there were some small changes made by Michele for this budget.
Mr. Grella asked how the contract for Assessing worked. Mr. MacGuire explained that Joe Lessard spends a small amount of time here at Town Hall; there is Scott Marsh as well as several other people who split their time. Mr. Infanti added they do approximately 25% of the revaluation each year. Mr. MacGuire indicated they have a renewal contract with them, but it hasn’t been signed yet. Mr. Galinson, Mr. Panasiti and Mr. Infanti had no questions.
Ms. Rogusky asked about the postage going down. Mr. Infanti suggested that the reason may be because the revaluation is completed and there may not be as many mailings. Ms. Rogusky thought the supply line was extremely high and wondered what was done for this department. Mr. MacGuire felt this was for typical office supplies.
Minutes
Mr. Grella moved to tabled the minutes of November 5, 2007 until Bruce Bowler was present, second by Mr. Galinson. Vote: Unanimous.
Non-Public Session
Upon a roll call vote the Board entered non-public session at 7:45 p.m. under RSA 91-A:3 II(d). While in non-public session the Selectmen discussed land acquisition with no decisions made.
The Board exited non-public session at 8:45 p.m. and voted unanimously to adjourn the meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Sharon L. Frydlo
Executive Assistant