BC20121025

APPROVED

TOWN OF PELHAM

BUDGET COMMITTEE - MEETING MINUTES

Thursday, October 25, 2012

APPROVED – November 5, 2012

CALL TO ORDER – approximately 7:30pm

PRESENT:

Mr. Larry Hall, Mr. Daniel Guimond, Mr. Bob Sherman, Mr. Greg Farris, Mr. Dav= id Cate, Mr. Dave Cronin, Mr. Ken Dunne, Mr. Greg Smith, Ms. Daryle Hillsgro= ve, Selectmen Representative Doug Viger, School Board Representative Brian Carton<= /o:p>

ABSENT:

None.

Also Presen= t: School Business Administrator Adam Stee= l

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F= iscal Year 2014 School Budget Review – In Total

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Mr. Steel provided the Board with information and highlighted the changes made within the budget, such as insurance and co-curricular salary lines (to match CBA) in each of the schools, and sever= ance payments were separated in the District budget.

Pres= chool / Pelham Elementary School –

Mr. Dunne discussed the iPads and commented if t= hey were purchased in bundles of ten units, there is a savings of $200. In total with thirty units being propos= ed, the school could save $600. Also, = he noted they could save $120 on the iPad cart. He will provide Mr. Steel with the price and contact information.

Mr. Hall commented about the salaries. He felt it was a dilemma to ask the Boa= rd to have positions in the budget (especially a reading specialist) that hadn’t = gone to the public in the past. He said= the public voted no twice for an assistant principal. Mr. Steel understood the history and the Board’s vote. He commented that the proposed budget showed a reduction of one teacher from their current infrastructure; removing a position would be a net reduction of two positio= ns from where they were today. Mr. Ca= rton understood the desire to put new positions in front of the voters. He didn’t know if they did anyone a ser= vice by placing exact job titles onto the positions. He said all they were looking to do was move people within the Distr= ict, not for additional head count. He = said they would need freedom in future years to adjust the budget to move the sc= hool into the twenty first century having different people doing different jobs. Mr. Farris understood the sc= hool’s position. He previously asked Mr. = Steel about the two positions in the elementary school and was told if the need c= ame back those positions would be put back into the budget because they were positions previously in the budget.

Mr. Guimond commented that the library software = wasn’t working. He was told that people couldn’t check items out of the library. Mr. Steel was under the impression that it was working.

With the cost of fuel oil decreasing, Mr. Guimond asked if the proposed increase would remain. Mr. Steel said he couldn’t predict the winter weather or what fuel prices would be next year. Ms. Hillsgrove asked if the price was locked in for a year. Mr. Steel said they did a fuel bid in t= he summer, typically in August when prices were at the lowest for the year. Fuel purchase is staggered (to be eithe= r in the summer or the fall) so the prices can be reviewed and a determination c= an be made as to when to fill the tanks. The budget number is based on a three year average plus 25%.

Pelh= am Memorial School -

Mr. Dunne asked if the cost of items (such as Ep= iPens) in the supply budget that were donated were taken out of the budget. Mr. Steel said if they were to receive a donation for something that was already in the budget, they would still nee= d to budget for that item. They had to = do gross appropriations budgeting for both the expenditure and the revenue; the net of that is what affected the tax rate. He used the food service budget as an example and explained that it = was offset by projected revenue, but they still budgeted on the expenditure side. Mr. Dunne asked where money = went that was budgeted for items they received as donations. Mr. Steel stated any revenue received t= hat wasn’t spent went to offset the tax rate in the following year.

Ms. Hillsgrove asked if the increase of postage = was taken into account. Mr. Steel said postage was based on what was spent in the past. Increases in postage are adjusted over time.

Pelh= am High School -

Mr. Hall asked for an explanation of the teacher (split classes) being proposed with the Athletic Director position moving.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Mr. Steel discussed the current scenari= o, with the Athletic Director teaching one class per semester; a normal teacher teaches three classes per day. Pel= ham was the only school (in the student enrollment rate) in the State that didn= ’t have a full-time athletic director. He said the need was very apparent. In moving a teacher from Memorial to the High School, instead of adding three additional classes to what they had, the teacher would take the one class f= rom the Athletic Director so they could become full time. The High School would then gain two classes per day having the teacher move schools. It was a desperate need that was being = solved through moving a (currently existing) teacher position from one school to a= nother. Mr. Carton noted that the teacher movin= g from the middle school would result in three teaching blocks, one being dedicate= d to the replacement of the Athletic Director’s one block. The other two classes may not necessari= ly be the same title because there were needs to be addressed for infrequently run classes, or electives etc.

Mr. Guimond felt the tax payers should have a ch= oice with any new position. Mr. Farris recalled there was a possibility of hiring part time people and questioned = if those part time people would be hired in a couple years because of need. He asked if those positions would be pu= t in the budget or a warrant article. <= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Mr. Steel assumed if they would add on t= o what they already had, it would be a warrant article, unless it was a position b= eing moved from another school like they were doing this year.

Mr. Guimond asked what the Athletic Trainer did.= Mr. Steel said they were required by regulation to have a trainer on site during certain sports and practices (i= .e. football). They service the needs of students with injuries or recovering f= rom injuries. They coordinate the concussion policy and associated tracking. He said they were contracted though a c= ompany that provided service to them directly. <= /span>

Mr. Steel described the Academic Team and will p= rovide information as to what changes the group helped to implement.

Dist= rict –

Mr. Guimond asked why the Superintendent’s salar= y was budgeted higher than the contract the Board was provided. Mr. Steel replied that the School Board intended to hire a mentor for Ms. Lecaroz’s first year of being a Superintendent. Mr. Guimond commen= ted that all the positions (for the SAU) were new positions and they didn’t hav= e to make what they did now. He felt a = lot were over generous and felt they needed to review not only the amount of pe= ople that were there, but also their respective salaries. Mr. Carton said they hadn’t begun to hi= re for the new SAU, other than the Superintendent. He noted that the SAU#28 was in existence and some of the employees would post to keep their existing jobs. He believed they would be looking at a hybrid situation to fill the existing and new SAUs. It was the = School Board’s goal was to not ‘hamstring’ the new SAU by underfunding it at the start. The first goal was to get t= he right people and remain competitive.

Mr. Farris was surprised that the Superintendent= was going to have a mentor. He reviewe= d the contract for the position and felt it was extremely lucrative for someone starting out. Mr. Carton said the contract was in line with contracts offered to other Superintendents in southern New Hampshire.

Mr. Hall discussed the SAU costs and would like = to have more information on the building costs. Mr. Steel believed there would be further discussion during reconsideration in January. Mr. Ha= ll then discussed the sick days contained in the contract and didn’t think the= re was any benefit or reason to have them. He said the contract seemed to be modeled after a teacher contract.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> He said sick days shouldn’t be accumula= ted; a person should just get paid. If th= ere came a point where management felt an employee wasn’t being fair and honest= , it could be dealt with separately.

Mr. Dunne asked who would mentor the Superintendent. Mr. Steel said at = this time a determination had not been made. Mr. Guimond questioned why Ms. Lecaroz couldn’t be mentored this yea= r, with Dr. LaBranche, rather than having it fall into next year. Mr. Carton s= aid it was safe to say she was. He sai= d she was not only a new Superintendent, but was also in a new school district launching a new SAU, which would be considerable more complicated than step= ping into an operation that was already up and running. Mr. Steel stated that Ms. Lecaroz could= do the job; they were taking a conservative approach. He said they wouldn’t find someone bett= er or more equipped to do the job. It wa= s his opinion that Pelham was lucky to have Ms. Lecaroz.

Ms. Hillsgrove didn’t feel that the Board was questioning Ms. Lecaroz’s ability. She said with nine other positions being requested, they wanted to make sure Pe= lham was competitive and realistic in their approach of taking on a new SAU office. She didn’t have ‘comfortab= le’ feeling that all the research had been done. She said there several resources available that indicated what a lot= of the positions were on a national, local and State average.

Mr. Viger discussed the experiences he had from = being a Selectman during the hiring process of a Police Chief, Fire Chief, Transf= er Station Superintendent, etc. He sa= id they used surrounding towns as a base line for the budget, but as they interview candidates, they used their discretion and a person’s experience = in their final determinations. <= /o:p>

Mr. Farris asked if Pelham could find out what W= indham would be budgeting for the similar positions. Mr. Steel said there was no position where Pelham was more than what Windham would be budgeting. Mr. Ha= ll asked about the hiring timeframe. Mr. St= eel said the complication was that Windham wouldn’t have their Superintendent h= ired until mid-late January; that person would need input as to who the staff wo= uld be. Job postings would be listed internally in November for current staff members to give a letter of intent= or apply. In December those applicati= ons would be reviewed by Dr. LaBranche, Ms. Lecaroz and Mr. Steel. Rough recommendations would then be mad= e to the Pelham and Windham School Boards. Support staff would be lined up first; the administrative staff woul= dn’t be lined up until the new Superintendent was in place to consult and be par= t of the process. Mr. Steel spoke about= the proposed positions the importance of their roles. There was a brief discussion regarding = health insurance and employee contributions.

Mr. Steel provided an explanation regarding the Special Education contingency. In = the past the School Board had budgeted based on the students they knew about an= d an additional amount for unanticipated needs that might arise. For transparency, in the proposed budge= t they only budgeted for the students they knew about (in the 564 and 569 tuition lines). Because they had to have a contingency line for those students that may move into Town or may be identified or placed out of District during the school year, a separate contingency line was budgeted. Thi= s will allow easy tracking to see what money (if any) is spent.

The Board continued their review of the District budget. Mr. Cate questioned why the architect/engineering fees weren’t in a warrant article. Mr. Steel said there may be a warrant a= rticle; the School Board was currently having discussions. He said to get a something ballot ready= took some effort, and some work would need to be done with an architect and engineers. Mr. Cate recalled $75,0= 00 was authorized last year and questioned how much of it had been spent. Mr. Steel said approximately $15,000 ha= d been spent; however an additional amount may be spent during the course of the remaining school year. He said the School Board was intent and purposeful about finding a long term for space needs. As they progress they would= need to spend money to review options of what could be done. Mr. Carton pointed out that the current budget began in July and the School Board had a couple meetings coming up a= nd more of those funds would be spent. He believed they were on track to spend a bulk of the money set aside.

There were no questions regarding Food Service o= r the Lunch Programs.

The Board concluded their budget review.

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A= DJOURNMENT

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MOTION:=

(Sherman/Dunne)To adjourn the meeting.

VOTE:

(11-0-0) The motion carried.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 9:05 = pm.

= Respectfully submitted,

= Charity A. Landry

= Recording Secretary