BOS-BC-S_20120412 Not Approved

NOT APPROVED

TOWN OF PELHAM

JOINT BOARD= MEETING

Board of Se= lectmen / Budget Committee / School Board

MINUTES

April 12, 2012

CALL TO ORDER – approximately 7pm=

PRESENT:

ABSENT:

Board of Selectmen - Mr. William McDevitt, Mr. Edmund Gleason= , Mr. Robert Haverty, Mr. Doug Viger, Mr. Hal Lynde

Budget Committee – Mr. Larry Hall, Mr. Dan Guimond, Mr. Dave Cate, Mr. David Cronin, Mr. Ken Dunne, Mr. Greg Farris, Ms. Daryle Hillsgrove (arrived after the meeting commenced), Mr. Bob Sherman

School Board – Mr. Brian Carton, Ms. Deb Ryan, Mr. Andy Ducharme, Mr. Rob Hardy, Ms. Megan Larson

Also Present – Town Administrator Tom Gaydos, School District Business Administrator Adam Steel, members of the public

Mr. Greg Smith (Budget Committee)

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

Areas of current School Board / Board of Selectmen cooperation

Review activities to date
Economie= s of scale and future areas, if any
Future meetings and activities (see end of meeting for discussion)
Coordina= tion of communications (PTV, web, signage, etc.)

Mr. Gaydos began the disc= ussion by outlining the areas he and Mr. Steel were working together, such as purchasing fuel, shared landscaping contract and bulk electricity purchase. Mr. Steel commented= that the Town and School were working together on projects such as connecting th= eir networks via fiber optic cable (between Memorial School and Town Hall). They would sh= are information acting as a disaster recovery site so data could be backed up in each other’s location. = They would also like to extend this sharing to allow the Police Department to ma= ke use of the network access. Wh= en the fiber optic cable has been completed, the greater band width will give the Police Department the ability to tie into the security cameras throughout t= he schools to watch in real time, should a situation arise requiring their intervention. Mr. Steel comme= nted that the Town and the Pelham/Windham School District did a joint bid for fu= el oil and propane each year for a bulk purchase which had been a benefit for = all. He said the most common conversati= ons the Town and School had took place on the life safety side. At least once a week there were conversations between the school and the Fire and Police Departments to wor= k on issues on a continual basis. = Mr. Steel stated there was a strong working relationship on the operational sid= e between the School District and Town that worked= to all of their benefits.

Mr. Gaydos said PTV enjoy= ed supporting the school through taping events and replaying them on television. They were looking= to expand that function any way they could as long as it kept within the budget.

Mr. Sherman asked where t= he school bus fuel would be stored. Mr. Gaydos said the location being reviewed by the bus company had a 2,000 gallon underground tank for diesel.&= nbsp; The mini buses would use the gasoline pump at the Transfer Station.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Mr. Sherman asked if the bulk electricity purchase was currently done by the Town and the school would now join in. Mr. Gaydos said it w= as presently the Town, School District (Pel= ham & Windham) – SAU#28. Mr. Steel noted that the Wind= ham School District (be= ing with PSNH) realized an approximate 25% reduction in their supply cost, wher= eas Pelham had had a reduction of approximately 10%-15%. Mr. Sherman wanted to know if ther= e was any cost sharing for trash and/or recycling. Mr. Gaydos said it was ‘on t= he back burner’ because the logistics would need to be worked out, but as bigger issues were dealt with, it would be brought back forward. Mr. Sherman asked what was happing= with the water system. Mr. Gaydos replied he had a lot of connections at Pennichuck and had offered to work on behalf of the school to make those contact; it had not yet been worked out = but they were ready to work together should the program take off.

Mr. McDevitt understood t= hat Pennichuck was working on = Sawmill Road and questioned if they would be extending= to other areas. Mr. Steel commen= ted there was a warrant article to add a sprinkler system at the high school an= d in doing so would connect to Pennichuck. He said at first they thought about going down Marsh Road until they realized it w= ould be much more cost effective to extend their private underground main system from Pelham Elementary to Pelham High.&nbs= p; At this time the plan was to stay on the private property to locate water.

Ms. Ryan said the School Board’s Communication Committee would like to know the limitations of= PTV for what was allowed and not allowed. They wanted to make sure the chain of command was being followed correctly and asked that a refined definition be set forth. Mr. Gaydos said because Mr. Greenw= ood (of PTV) was a department head, if he was asked to do something he wasnR= 17;t sure of, Mr. Greenwood would come to him.&= nbsp; If there was going to be a problem on the budget side, they would tr= y to find an accommodation to share the responsibility. He said they were willing to work = with the school and agreed there should be a protocol for Mr. Greenwood to follo= w. Mr. Gaydos suggested that the Communications Committee meet with Mr. Greenwood and discuss their objectives. If there was a co= ncern, Mr. Greenwood will speak to Mr. Gaydos.&nb= sp; Mr. McDevitt noted if people outside PTV recorded events, they could= be shown on PTV upon request.

The Group will discuss fu= ture meetings and activities near the end of the joint meeting.

2012 / 2013 tax rates and implications

Mr. Gaydos stated that th= e Town had a very successful Town Meeting and asked if anyone wanted to discuss the tax rates.

Mr. Gleason believed what= was experienced in March was a change in philosophy of the voters. He felt it had raised the bar for = the leaders of the Town to maintain that confidence as they go forward. He said the tax rate was a Town is= sue (not Town and School separately) that belonged to everyone. He wanted to discuss what the Town = and School could do collectively to maintain voter support and mitigate the tax rate. He said they had to rec= ognize the higher than expected 2012 tax rate would happen; preliminary estimates indicate an increase of approximately $3.60. He said the voters were expecting = their tax rate to decrease next year. The group needed to recognize this and take measures to decrease the 2012 tax growth by maximizing revenues in the fund balance at the end of the year. Mr. Gleason stated the Town was attempting to ask the departments not to overspend and make sure to tell the Selectmen if they were getting close in their budgets. He felt the second element address= ing this year’s issue by mitigating the tax rate by increasing the fund balance. He stated both the T= own and the School had to control growth in 2013 because he believed the people were expecting a tax decrease. He commented that they had to seriously consider the Capital Improvement Plan (‘CIP’); typically the Town had one for years, but no one paid attention to it. He said if t= hey were serious about controlling tax growth and demonstrating they had a responsible approach to government, they should have a collaborative effort= on formulating a CIP and getting the support of the various committees as well= as funding.

Mr. Hardy stated that the= School Board would have due diligence regarding the tax rate. He said when the warrants came for= ward (for the last Town Meeting) he didn’t remember telling the community = that the tax rate would decrease next year.&nbs= p; He said the community was told it was a one-time line expense. He said he didn’t promise a = tax decrease in the future, but obviously would do everything in his power to do so. Mr. Hardy was thankful to= the voters for their support. He = said the School Board’s job was being an advocate for the children and the schools moving forward.

Mr. Farris discussed the = tax increases for the Town and School. He said when looking at the major projects that were passed, they we= re both basically approximately $1 (on the tax rate). He said there was an additional $1= .37 increase on the school side that may be harder for the School Board to explain. He understood that t= hey couldn’t promise to lower taxes, but he didn’t think the taxpay= ers expected the additional $1.37. He understood that the money went into maintaining the school, and suggested f= rom a public relations standpoint it may help to explain where it went and why = it had to be spent.

Mr. Steel said the Budget Committee supported the school budget increase of 4.9% (prior to the additi= on of the warrant articles). He explained that 92% of that increase came from Special Education, benefits, repairs and maintenance to existing facilities, teacher salaries per CBA, t= he SAU assessment and utilities. Additionally supply budgets were reduced by 8.2% to reduce the effec= t of the budget increases.

Mr. Ducharme believed Mr.= Gleason made good points about rewarding the Town, but felt there were other things that the School Board would have to look at in the upcoming year, such as t= he split of the SAU, (hiring) Superintendent, SAU administration staff and housing. He said there was a potential of obtaining state aid for a kindergarten extension. He noted they would be handing con= tracts for both the PESPA and the school next year. Mr. Ducharme felt the Town had rew= arded itself by stepping up and saying they would support the infrastructure of t= he schools and Town based on the last Town Meeting vote. He hoped they could use it as prog= ress and continue to get the infrastructure into place.

Mr. Viger stated he wasn&= #8217;t surprised that the SAU decided to split; they had spoken about it for two-t= hree years and informed people it would be on the warrant for eight to ten months. He asked what provisi= ons the School Board had taken to be able to move forward. Mr. Steel informed that the SAU wo= uld be split effective J= uly 1, 2013, providing a 15-month transition period.&nb= sp; The SAU budget will be in effect for the next fiscal year as planned. During the next budg= et cycle (this fall) the SAU (Pelham only) budget as proposed will go through = the budget process and be subject to oversight by the School Board, Budget Committee and Town Meeting. H= e said there was a joint committee between the Pelham and Windham School Boards to handle the transition process; that committee would report back to the respective school boards regarding any actions that need to be taken. At this time the Pelham School Boa= rd was first trying to establish what they believe will be the staffing they will = ask for during the upcoming budget process.&nb= sp; From there it will establish a program for a building when they star= ting looking for housing.

Mr. Carton went back to t= he point of the School budget and seeing the increase. He felt Mr. Steel provided a good overview and pointed out within the ‘benefits’ increase, close = to 100% of that increase was due to the involuntary acceptance of retiring cos= ts that the state handed to t he school (as well as to the Town).

Mr. Lynde said there were services provided by the SAU that (presently) only needed one person and af= ter the split each district would need to supply the service. He questioned if there was an abil= ity to set up a contract with Windham= ’s SAU. Mr. Steel said there was= nothing that stated they couldn’t. Currently the Pelh= am School District is = being paid by the Windham School District (se= parate from the SAU) to handle their free/reduced lunch application processing and daily deposits from the Windham Food Service Program. School districts by definition and = RSA are corporations and allowed to enter into contracts with other corporations and individuals. Mr. Steel sa= id there were currently no conversations about sharing assets. He said the transition committee c= ould discuss the topic at their next meeting.&n= bsp;

Mr. McDevitt said the Boa= rd of Selectmen should be informed if there was any assistance they could provide= to mitigate those expenses, they would be willing to have a discussion.

Mr. Dunne questioned if a professional grant writer should be hired, either for the Town or the Schoo= l, to review the available grants from the state and federal government. Speaking for the Town, Mr. Gaydos = said the department heads have been very successful in developing relationships = with granting authorities. He said primarily the money that was available was for the Police and Fire Departments. He commented that flooding was an issue in Town and some surrounding areas and there was Army Corps of Engineers funding and mitigation money that was available. He commented further that there wa= s an enormous amount of work that would need to be done to obtain those grants a= nd he would speak to other towns to see how they were handling it. Mr. Steel stated that the larger s= chool districts had full-time grant writers; SAU #28 (as it stood today) would fa= ll under the category of being a larger school district. Now with Pelham and Windham standing on their own, Mr. Steel didn’t feel that either school district would be large enough to just= ify having a full-time grant writer.

Mr. Hall informed that th= e Budget Committee had historic budget data running back to 2006. He reviewed some of the totals: in= the last seven year the Town budget increased 30.7% (average 4.3% per year) and= the School budget in eight years increased 31.7% (average 3.8% per year). The increases represented virtuall= y no capital improvements. Mr. Hall understood that both the Town and School may have specific needs coming for= ward and felt it might be worth while to discuss those items. He discussed the process used by t= he Town to collect taxes. He sai= d both the Town and the School had capital reserve funds containing $1 that could = be spent for the future. He rhetorically asked if the Town would hurt itself by reducing budgets going forward. Mr. Viger noted that= not all money returned to the General Fund was unused taxes, there were a lot of reductions (i.e. vehicle registrations, healthcare) that provided unanticip= ated revenues. Mr. Steel explained= that the Town, when they have a surplus at the end of the year, can elect to ret= ain some of it when the tax rate is set. He said the School District didn’t have that ability, every unassigned fund balance is returned to the tax payers to offset taxes in the following year. He mentioned there was a bill going through the House and Senate considering whether the School District should have that same luxury. He made it clear that neither the = School nor the Town could spend that money without an appropriation passed by the voters at regular or special Town Meeting.=

Mr. Sherman asked if the = SAU would have a default budget given that it would be its first year being reviewed. Mr. Steel replied a= s they went through their budget cycle in the fall, the School Board would set its= recommended budget which would also be the default budget since there was no history.

Mr. Lynde believed a task= for the Town and School would be to try and project a couple years out what their expenses would be so they could pick a path with the least impact on the taxpayers.

There was a discussion re= garding past budgets and problems that had occurred and what steps were being taken= so those instances wouldn’t be repeated in the future.

Mr. Cate wanted to know h= ow the SAU split would affect future plans and trying to meet further accreditation needs at the high school. Mr. Carton replied there were still a large number of remaining unanswered item= s on the accreditation list of shortfalls. He said they were currently investigating as aggressively as they co= uld and moving forward with a three-school model. There were still questions about w= hat they could accomplish within the site they owned now. The School Board has asked the SAU= to do solid research on what they know already and to take an imaginative look wi= thin the confines of the existing land. Mr. Carton said no matter how they moved forward, they would need to= do significant rehab on the existing schools.= He said they needed more floor space in order to broaden the curricu= lum to where they felt it should be. In regard to the accreditation, Mr. Carton stated they were on warning until every last item on the list was cleared.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Five years after receiving the war= ning letter they could potentially be placed on probation, which would be in 201= 3, however the Town had shown progress. Mr. Hardy noted that Janet Allison of NEASC and the SAU agreed to wa= it until after the March 2012 Town Meeting to write a progress report because = they wanted to see what the vote result was.&nb= sp; He assumed that the progress report would now be written. Mr. Steel stated the results of the ballot were positive and believed it would allay some of the NEASC’s concerns. He will follow up o= n the status of the (progress report) letter.

Mr. Farris understood tha= t the Selectmen had made it clear that the $1 increase would not be rolled over i= nto the next year. He recalled wh= en the school bond (for the elementary school) came to an end, the amount morphed = into the budget so there was nothing left to use for the next project. He understood that that the School= Board couldn’t promise a tax rate decrease for next year, but hoped that th= ey could have a plan next year for the increase that was shown in this year’s budget. He didn&= #8217;t want to see this year’s increase remain in the budget like it had in = the past with the bond. He said i= f the increase was going to stay in the budget, he would like to see what the sch= ool’s plans were if it was going to be kept for capital improvements. Mr. Viger felt Mr. Farris was focu= sing on the past and commented that the Budget Committee had the ability to cut money out of the budget. He w= anted to discuss how the boards would coordinate their efforts moving forward. Mr. Farris replied that he discuss= ed with Mr. Gleason the suggestion to establish a capital reserve fund out of excess revenues. This would a= llow them to move forward and pay for capital improvements.

Mr. Hardy understood the = past bond issue was prior to Mr. Steel’s tenure. The budget process has been expand= ed, and nothing similar has happened, since Mr. Steel began working with the schools. He stated the school= s had been providing full transparency of their budgets and he would like to move forward in a more positive light. In his opinion, Mr. Steel said in the past, the School District budget had large misbudgeted items. The FY14 budget he would present i= n the fall would not have a large increase; the operational budget will be modera= tely flat, there are potential capital items, the last item will be two collecti= ve bargaining agreements (pending successful negotiations). He believed the last two years had= seen large budget increases and didn’t feel it would continue going forwar= d.

Mr. Gleason felt the meet= ing was productive and method they would have to use going into the future. He said the Selectmen made a commi= tment that the $1 would go away and would do everything in their power to do so.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Collectively he believed the vario= us boards needed to come together and support the CIP and have it budgeted in a manner consistent with their spending plan to mitigate the spikes. He was enthused about the process = the boards were taking by having a joint discussion. Mr. Sherman wanted to know the tim= etable for the CIP, which he believed should be started as soon as possible given = the upcoming budget season. Mr. D= unne stated at the Planning Board’s next meeting they would be appointing = CIP members. Mr. McDevitt explain= ed that the Planning Board had the responsibility to prepare the Capital Improvement Plan. He said the= y were waiting until after the March Town Meeting to get started, and believed at = this time the boards had appointed representatives making it so the CIP would be ready to begin.

Impact of State funding proposals on school district budgets

Review r= ecent funding from State
Review of potential impact of CACR12

Mr. Steel explained in la= rge the CACR12 bill dealt with state funding for education. Currently the Pelham School Distr= ict and Town of Pelham= ’s tax rate benefited from state funding both from a grant from the state and = from local taxes withheld and applied to the local tax rate. Mr. Carton stated that he tried to= watch what happens at the state level because he felt schools were heavily impact= ed by decisions that are made. H= e said there were current and pending decisions happening that he asked the citize= ns to keep their eyes on. He sai= d the Senate and the House had both agreed to return state building aid; however, there was no definition as to the amount of the funding. On the House side they have sugges= ted a cap of $50,000,000 per year, of which, $45,000,000 per year was already obligated. In the coming years it’s not anticipated that any great amount of money would be available. Mr. Carton said the state wanted to move to a model of prioritizing building aid for schools th= at were either over crowded or unsafe, or both. He was very concerned about discus= sions at the state level about state adequacy aid. The Town received a per pupil stip= end from the state that consisted of a base line of approximately $3,450 (plus = some add-ons for the number of children with free/reduced lunch, or special education, or 3^rd grade reading score). With approximately $4000 per child= and Pelham schools have approximately 2000 children, that total is $8,000,000.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Mr. Carton discussed how Pelham= 217;s school funding was calculated; and noted Pelham was not a ‘donor̵= 7; town. He said for the current budget year the cost of the adequate education for Pelham (for approximately 2142 students) was $8.254 million of which $3.345 million was collected with the statewide property tax and the grant was $4,909; however, the grant had been capped for some years. M= r. Steel read aloud how CACR12 would change the statute. Mr. Lynde believed if the constitu= tional amendment passed it would allow the state legislature to reduce the contrib= ution from them to zero. He provide= d a brief history of how costs were passed onto local taxpayers. He felt local governing bodies sho= uld start to holding their legislatures responsible for what they do; they don’t have a realization of the impacts occurring.

Mr. Sherman noted that th= ere was a difference between the house and senate versions over the word ‘reasonable’. The senate wants to leave the word ‘reasonable’ in, and the house w= ants to take it out. He said the d= esire of some house members was to take out the word ‘reasonable’ the= n no state legislature or court could then determine what any town would get. There was further discussion regar= ding the impact of CACR12 if it were to pass.&n= bsp; Mr. Carton believed th= e House, Senate and Governor were all on board with having it pass. He felt they would in support beca= use they were resistant to raising taxes in any other way. He said it would be a huge hit for= the Town and didn’t see any way for it not. He commented that there was no pla= n on how to fund it, and when the plan was shaped it would be done by legislatures. He said the dec= ision in November would be critical. =

Capital Improvement Plan

Re-launc= h of CIP
Current = bond rates and opportunities

There was a brief discuss= ion regarding the CIP process in the past.&nbs= p; The various Town boards have appointed members; meetings will begin shortly. Ms. Ryan believed the success of the CIP would be from its promotion. She said if there was support from= all the Town boards, the key would be communicating, educating and having the stakeholders understand the needs. <= /span>Mr. Lynde suggested having the CIP come before this joint group for agreement/approval may give it a “better shot”. Mr. Haverty (who was a former CIP member) believed the prior CIP presented to the Boards was approved. He said plan was properly assemble= d, well thought out and a good plan. He said plan fell down when it was presented to the voters at the poles. He agreed that the key= would be to gain voter support.

There was discussion rega= rding the importance of having a CIP supported by the various Boards. It was noted the items contained w= ithin the report may be dictated by state statute.

Collective bargaining agreements

PEA
PES

Mr. Hardy stated that the= School had two collective bargaining agreements coming forward this year. Both contracts were scheduled to e= nd this year (at the advice of counsel) in the event the healthcare bill came = to fruition January = 1, 2014. Mr. Hardy and Ms. Ryan, who sat in= on the last two negotiations, would be sitting in on the upcoming negotiations.

Mr. Dunne asked if it wou= ld be helpful to hire a professional union negotiator to negotiate on behalf of t= he Town or School District. Mr. Gaydos commented he had past e= xperience negotiating with the teamsters and spoke about the negotiations he was invo= lved in with the Town. He said the= key to negotiations was to have a long-term plan.

Mr. McDevitt said the Tow= n had a professional negotiator in the past. About the time Mr. Gaydos was hired, one of the things that made him attractive for the position was his experience negotiating with unions. The Selectmen discuss the negotiat= ions points with Mr. Gaydos who then proceeds with negotiations. Mr. Hardy spoke about the School negotiations and commented that they were well represented by people who did negotiations for a living.

Mr. Hall noted that there= was no longer a supervisor’s union; the department heads each had employment agreements with attainable goals set out.&= nbsp;

Mr. Gaydos commented when= a negotiation is done and there is an agreement, it’s said that it̵= 7;s not a good agreement until everybody walks out of the room feeling like they lost.

Role of liaisons

Liaison meetings, reporting, etc.

Mr. Carton said he would = like to continue the role of the liaisons to provide the ability to understand the roles of the various boards and possibly brainstorm and identify areas to w= ork together. He felt having futu= re meetings of the joint boards would be advantageous.

Ms. Ryan suggested conduc= ting periodic meetings on an established schedule that were well promoted to the residents. She said timely, measurable meetings where specific topics were discussed would be beneficia= l so items didn’t fall through the cracks.

Budget Committee Role

Mr. Lynde said the Budget Committee was recognized as an important body for both the Board of Selectm= en and School Board. He said it = was critical that they get on the “same page” and felt the Town had= a Budget Committee that would work toward such. He felt if a CIP was put together = it would be helpful and provide guidance to all three Boards (BOS, School and Budget Committee).

Future Meetings and Activities

The Boards discussed how = to proceed. There was a consensu= s of the group to meet again in September.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 9:20 pm.

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

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

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