BC20110919

APPROVED

TOWN OF PELHAM

BUDGET COMM= ITTEE - MEETING MINUTES

Monday, September 19, 2011

APPROVED – October = 6, 2011

CALL TO ORDER – 7:30pm

PRESENT:

Also Present:

Mr. Larry Hall, Mr. Dan= iel Guimond, Mr. Gregory Farris, Mr. John Lavallee, Mr. Dennis Viger, Mr. Rob= ert Sherman, Mr. Joe Puddister, Mr. David Cate, Mr. Ken Dunne, Selectmen Representative Edmund Gleason, School Board Representative Meghan Larson =

Fire Chief James Midgle= y, Fire Department Office Manager Maureen McNamara, Town Finance Director Cindy Kelle= y

ABSENT:

None.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

2012 BUDGET REVIEW AGENDA

Fire Department, Ambulance, Emergency Management<= /b>

Fire Department – Fire Chief James Midgley and Office Man= ager Maureen McNamara came forward to discuss the 2012 Fire Department budget.

Fire Department

2012 Selectmen approved=

2012 Budget increase/(d= ecrease)

Salaries:

1,512,452

   26,878

Supplies:

Telephone:

Gas/Oil

Equipment Repairs:

Equipment Rental:

New Equipment:

Expenses:

Misc/Specials:

     44,801

     17,256

       20= ,650

       76= ,111

       48= ,516

       53= ,752

       37,908

       21,196       &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;

    (1,899)

      3,492

       &nbs= p; 863

      3,513

       &nbs= p; 506

   (18,447)

      5,423

       &nbs= p; 284

Salary - Chief Midgley ex= plained that the salary line items were listed by position, not by person. He noted most of the increases were contractual. Currently the Department had a full staff, excluding injuries (there were long-term injuries). They were hiring a= temporary full-time position (full salary with benefits); the feeling was that the pe= rson out on long-term injury wouldn’t be coming back so the temp. full-time would roll into that position.

Mr. Viger questioned what= would happen if the injured person came back.&nb= sp; Chief Midgley said the temp. person was fully aware they would be terminated if the injured person came back to work. Mr. Viger asked if there were any = start up costs. Chief Midgley state= d the people they were looking at would have no start up costs other than uniforms.

Mr. Sherman asked if the = Town had a paramedic on duty 24 hours. Chief Midgley stated there was a scheduled paramedic on every shift; one shift had two paramedics. If someone ha= d a sick day or requested a day off, the Chief couldn’t deny them based on the fact that the Town wanted a paramedic on duty; there were days the Department ran on minimum level of EMT Intermediate. Chief Midgley’s goal (over t= he next few years) was to get back to the minimum of eight paramedics.

Mr. Lavallee asked how ma= ny call firefighters the Department had. Chief Midgley said there were twenty; they were trying to boost the number up.

Mr. Farris said there had= been a lot of controversy in Boston regarding firefighters covering shifts, gettin= g hurt and receiving a higher pay rate (because they were covering a shift). He asked if the Town’s firefighters had a similar thing in their contract. Chief Midgley answered no. The plus rate was not a set rate of their salary. It was a plus r= ate only when they are acting in that position. Workman’s Comp reviews six m= onths of salary. Mr. Viger asked if= it was paid as a stipend, or a salary increase. Chief Midgley said it was a stipen= d plus rate check paid quarterly. Mr. Viger asked if it was included in the payroll check. Ms. McNamara said it was included = in payroll and taxes. Mr. Viger = wanted to know if an employee was hurt, if they would get the check as salary. To clarify, the question was if an employee was injured, while covering a shift at a higher rate of pay, would= be entitled to collect that higher rate of pay while out. Chief Midgley answered yes, but no= t the way Workman’s Comp. calculated out the rates. He said they don’t use the specific rate of pay, the compensation is determined by what the employee m= ade over a six month period of time.

There was a brief discussion/explanation of the Cooper’s test (physical agility test), which is included in the union contract.&n= bsp; Seventeen employees are eligible; twelve were anticipated to take the test and pass. An employee wh= o does not pass the test does not receive compensation.

Mr. Dunne questioned if t= here was a specific number of firefighters recommended per a specific population number. He asked if Pelham ha= d the appropriate number of firefighters. Chief Midgley replied the Town should be striving for five fire figh= ters per shift; currently that number was not met.

Mr. Lavallee asked for information regarding the Fair Labor Standards Act (‘FLSA’) that was contained in the budget (request of $7,870). Ms. Kelley explained that the FLSA= was the act that governed how the Town paid overtime. When an employee receives a non-discretionary bonus (i.e. longevity, education, Cooper’s Test) it= has to be added to that employees base pay, which in turn alters their hourly r= ate for the year (this only affects overtime and those who have incentives). Mr. Gleason asked if it was Federa= lly mandated. Ms. Kelley answered= yes. She noted that it had been paid si= nce 2002. Mr. Farris asked if any= stipend (one time payment) would become part of an employee’s salary. Ms. Kelley answered yes. It was noted it only effected the calculation for overtime; it was a non-recurring accounting procedure. Last year the total for the Town w= as $17,000 (of which $16,000 is Fire and Police the remaining $1000 was split between 12 people). Not all stipends qualify for the FLSA. Ms. Kelley stated only Education, Position incentives, physical and longevity qualified; the employee also needed overtime to qualify. She will send the Committee a spre= ad sheet showing what qualified.

Mr. Guimond asked the dif= ference between Earned Time Buyback and Earned Time. Chief Midgley said Earned Time Buy= back was where an employee could buy a portion of their time at 90%; however, it could not count toward their minimum usage (employees were essentially able= to sell their vacation)

The supplies budget was r= eviewed. Mr. Viger recalled last year the F= ire Department was working on a process to deal with a hospital for the materia= ls that were stored (coming up to being out dated). Chief Midgley said the deal went g= ood on some things. He said the EMS supply officer worked with one of the vendors t= o get at 15% buyback on drugs that were going to be out of date; he preferred to = get the 15% back and apply it towards the accounts. This was the reason the EMS supplies didn’t go up by very much last year. He discussed some of the other supplies that went out of date, such as iv supplies. He said they were able to cycle th= em with the medical control facility. <= /span>There was a discussion regarding the pandemic supplies; Chief Midgley said the go= al was to take care of our Town’s people. Pelham had the supplies where they= could do life saving support measures. The Town would not be able to set up a hospital-type environment in = the event of a pandemic. There we= re certain supplies that could be used for the Town as preventative measures, = such as masks, gloves, etc. as well as basic life support that could reasonably = be used.

Mr. Lavallee asked how ma= ny ambulance and fire calls had been made in during the year. Chief Midgley replied they averaged about 600-700 ambulance calls and fire calls averaged about 1350-1400 (appr= ox. 80% were EMT).

Mr. Dunne asked if there = was a reason they replaced glucose meters every year. Chief Midgley stated they had two glucometers that were currently in use.&nb= sp; The strips were not inexpensive. The meters were necessary to replac= e; they were used on multiple patients.

Chief Midgley commented t= hat the Department had received a grant for $35,000 for mobile data terminals (computers within the vehicles). They received five units; as a condition of accepting the grant, they were required to keep them online. <= /span>The contractual increase for keeping the systems was included in the budget. The system had shown to be very us= er friendly and worked well during the recent hurricane. Mr. Sherman asked if the Departmen= t could easily communicate between the fire engines and a Police officer on duty. Chief Midgley answered yes. He said they had the ability to sp= eak to everyone (truck, cruiser, dispatch) and to link those calls together for a simultaneous chat to relay information.&nb= sp; Mr. Viger asked if there had been an improvement of communication in= the Keyes Hill area since the new tower came on line. Chief Midgley said he noticed a li= ttle bit, but not tremendous; calls were still dropped when coming through that area. Mr. Puddister asked how= many computers were received through the grant.= Chief Midgley stated they received five through the grant, but had t= wo previous making it a total of seven. Mr. Puddister noticed there had only been one unit in the 2011 budget. Chief Midgley said th= ey ‘ate’ the cost of one during the year and then increased by five from the grant.

Chief Midgley reviewed the Vehicle Maintenance items. He= said they noticed significant increases in repairs due to the fleet getting older. One repair (in the next week) could run the Department approx. $4000 and would put one of their tru= cks down for about a week. He sai= d some of the vehicles would need replacement, such as a pumper/rescue that could = cost approximately $560,000-$600,000.

Mr. Farris asked what the Department had for staff cars and their ages. Chief Midgley said they had the inspector’s car purchased last year, Chief’s car purchased three years ago and car three was handed down from the Police Department. Mr. Farris asked who used the SUV.= Chief Midgley said he used a three= year old SUV and the inspector had a brand new SUV.

There was a discussion re= garding how line items were shown in the budget.&n= bsp; Mr. Gleason explained that items contained in the budget last year h= ad to be shown in the default. R= eal time increases were necessary to show.&nbs= p; Mr. Viger felt if vehicles kept being replaced in the budget, at some point the citizens wouldn’t have a vote because the default budget wo= uld be better than the operating budget. Mr. Gleason said the default typically represented the previous year’s operating budget; higher one-time purchases were typically tak= en out. Mr. Viger felt one-time = items should not be shown in the default. Mr. Gleason said a lot of items were taken out; typically higher ite= ms were taken out of the default budget. He said there was a matter of judgment on what level things went into the default, which can be reviewed. Mr. Viger wanted to know what had to happen for the Budget Committee= to be able to become a part of the forming of the default budget. He said they could monitor to ensue everything came out so when the default was presented to the people it was a true default budget. Mr. Glea= son said typically when budgets are presented to the Committee the whole budget= is presented, including the default budget.&n= bsp; He said the Committee had the opportunity to review the default budg= et and question certain things, to which they (Selectmen) were obligated to provide response. Mr. Viger a= sked if the Committee could take one evening to review the default budget. Mr. Gleason noted that the Budget Committee had no authority with the default budget; it rests with strictly = with the Selectmen. Mr. Hall discu= ssed the situation. He said there = were items removed from the previous year’s budget and the new budget comi= ng in shouldn’t be spent up against the amount removed. There was a line of much smaller i= tems that replaced a portion of the amount that was removed giving the appearance that the budget was up a small amount, but in actuality it was higher. The Budget Committee should know t= hat information. Mr. Gleason felt= that was an appropriate argument when the economy was good. He felt the situation of the past = three years should be looked at. The departments had been cutting back and trying to hold the line; they had maintained base budgets. Mr. = Hall said it looked as though the operating budget went up “X”, but = in actuality it went up a much higher amount.= He felt people should understand where the number came from.

The Chief continued his r= eview of the budget.

Mr. Guimond believed the Department had a problem (last year) with the defibrillator batteries and a= sked if it had been taken care of. Chief Midgley said he put pressure on the manufacturing company, who held a meeti= ng with him. The company found a problem within one of the circuit boards that was causing a drain on the batteries. There have been no= further issues.

Emergency Management – Fire Chief James Midgley and Office Manager Maureen McNamara came forward to discuss the 2012 Fire Department budget.

Emergency Management

2012 Selectmen approved=

2012 Budget increase/(d= ecrease)

Salaries:

   4,657

       &nbs= p; 0

Supplies:

Gas/Oil:

       &nbs= p; 1

       &nbs= p; 1

   2,834

       (4= 1)

Repairs:             =             &nb= sp;               =             &nb= sp;            = 3,500        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;             6,799

New Equipment:        =             &nb= sp;                650        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;              1,150

Chief Midgley stated that= the Selectmen approved the installation of (72) cistern flags and cistern repair this year; the funds were removed from the supplies and equipment repair li= nes of proposed budget.

There was a discussion re= garding the Department’s ambulances and the schedule for replacement. Chief Midgley stated they would ha= ve enough money (once they collected the $25,000 for the ambulance) to purchas= e an ambulance. Mr. Farris asked a= t time the next ambulance would need replacement.= Chief Midgley replied once the present ambulance was replaced it wou= ld be approximately eight years until they needed to purchase another. Mr. Farris suggested possibly rais= ing the ambulance fund to collect the appropriate amount.

Mr. Lavallee asked how mu= ch was currently in the account. Chi= ef Midgley said they had approximately $175,000. Mr. Lavallee asked if the Selectmen came up with any programs/plans utilizing any funding to add to the Ambulance Capital Reserve. Mr. Gleason said they already had a capital reserve containing $87,000 for funding of the ambulance, but were looking to possibly put it back into the general fund because there was adequate money in the revolving account to cover the ambulance replacement.

Mr. Farris asked how much= money the ambulance generated each year. Chief Midgley said a high year was approximately $242,000; this year would be approximately $220,000.

Chief Midgley told the Bo= ard that his Department had two priorities:

1)&n= bsp;      Repair of Engine 1 – which the Selectmen put = into the budget;

2)&n= bsp;      Put one Firefighter through Paramedic school –= ; a two year commitment (1^st year - $15,800,

2^nd year - $13,998.)

There was a brief discuss= ion regarding the commitment of Paramedic school and the commitment to the Town= . If a person was sent to school they would cover their work shift in addition to attending school. The person would be committed to w= orking in Pelham for two years after completion of school.

&n= bsp;

ACTION ITEMS

Highway Department to submit a vehicle re= placement schedule;

Highway Department to submit a listing of= all roads repaired in the past two years;

Mr. Gaydos to provide a copy of the Treasurer’s report;

Ms. Kelley to provide the Committee with a copy of the FSLA spreadsheet including what qualified;

Mr. Gleason will review to find out if all dumpsters (Town facilities) were with Allied Waste.

ADJOURNMENT

MOTION:

(Lavallee/Guim= ond)To adjourn the meeting.

VOTE:

(10-0-0) The motion carried.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 9:15 pm.

            =             &nb= sp;            =             &nb= sp;            =             &nb= sp;            =          Respectfully submitted,

            =             &nb= sp;            =             &nb= sp;            =             &nb= sp;            =          Charity A. Landry Willis

            =             &nb= sp;            =             &nb= sp;            =             &nb= sp;            =          Recording Secretary