SEL20100810

APPROVED

TOWN OF PELHAM

BOARD OF SE= LECTMEN MEETING

MINUTES

August 10, 2010

APPROVED &#= 8211; August 24, 2010=

CALL TO ORDER – 6:00pm

PRESENT:

Mr. Douglas Viger, Mr. = Edmund Gleason, Mr. Robert Haverty, Mr. William McDevitt, Mr. Harold Lynde, Town Administrator Tom Gaydos

ABSENT:

None.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

MINUTES REVIEW

July 20= , 2010

MOTION:

(Gleason/Lynde= ) To approve the Ju= ly 20, 2010 meeting minutes as amended.

VOTE:

(4-0-1) The mo= tion carried. Mr. Viger abstaine= d.

July 27= , 2010

MOTION:

(Gleason/McDev= itt) To approve the Ju= ly 27, 2010 meeting minutes as amended.

VOTE:

(5-0-0) The mo= tion carried.

August = 3, 2010

MOTION:

(Gleason/Lynde= ) To approve the Aug= ust 3, 2010 meeting minutes as written.

VOTE:

(5-0-0) The mo= tion carried.

OPEN FORUM

None.

DISCUSSION – Senior Center Addition Pro= ject

Mr. Gaydos commented that= a bid went out for a document that Roland Soucy put together. There was a low bidder (Stallion) = and in an effort to clarify their bid, Trident was asked to meet with them. Mr. Mermelstein of Trident put tog= ether a breakdown to easily review each of construction categories and their cost= s to make sure nothing was missing. Mr. Mermelstein met with Stallion who indicated they would not complete that ty= pe of paperwork, but later agreed they would submit the paperwork by Friday (<= st1:date Year=3D"2010" Day=3D"6" Month=3D"8" w:st=3D"on">August 6, 2010);= however paperwork had not been received to date.&n= bsp; Mr. Gaydos was concerned about Stallion’s reaction, especially= it is prior to them becoming a customer. He asked Mr. Mermelstein to attend the Board of Selectmen’s me= eting and answer any questions the Selectmen may have.

Mr. David Mermelstein of = Trident Project Managers came forward to answer questions.

Mr. McDevitt asked if the= point of the discussion was to determine if the bidder should be rejected. Mr. Gaydos commented that initially Stallion informed that they weren’t going to supply paperwork, and th= en informed that they would supply paperwork, but didn’t. His recommendation was to no longer consider Stallion as a qualified bidder based on their performance to date. He noted that this was = the only bidder that bid within the price range.

Mr. Mermelstein suggested= in the interest of time, that the Town work with the people that had provided proposals and ask them for more information on their bids. There was a detailed cost estimate= sheet to ensure that a complete project was being bought. It was recommended to send this sh= eet out to the second through fourth bidder and request that they provide furth= er information about their firm and pricing.&= nbsp;

Mr. Gleason stated it see= med they would have to re-design the existing structure to get within an affordable price category.

Mr. Gaydos asked Mr. Merm= elstein would work with Mr. Soucy to cut back the size of the building, but maintai= n certain items, such as the removal of the existing bathrooms and have the new build= ing abut the old building. Mr. Mermelstein replied he would. Mr. Gaydos stated that the Council on Aging had indicated they would like a lar= ger cost buffer between the finish numbers and have funds available to have a margin= for error.

Mr. Lynde noted that ther= e was a number that was not to be exceeded. He questioned if the bidders could be asked what they could provide = for that price and then rank the bidders based on what they provided. Mr. Gaydos said during the initial meeting with the Council on Aging, there were some goals they had for the building. Mr. Mermelstein said another alternative would be to work with a selected contractor in a construction management format so they would know what dollar was being spe= nt on what line item.

Mr. Gaydos wanted to know= how the Board wanted to proceed with the bid. To either work with a limited number of people or to open it up agai= n to anyone so long as they came to a pre-bid meeting. There were initially eleven bidders. Mr. Viger would like= the project taken over and run by Mr. Mermelstein of Trident, with Mr. Gleason being the Selectmen Representative and having Mr. Soucy continue involvemen= t to make sure the codes were being complied with. Mr. Gleason stated he had come to = the realization that the structure was bigger than what could be afforded. He felt the cleanest approach woul= d be to reset the drawings to a lesser square foot area, based upon Mr. Mermelstein’s input as to what was achievable, then re-bid the project. He believed if the building was structured closer to the existing budget, better bids would co= me in.

Mr. Haverty agreed with M= r. Lynde. He said somehow there = seemed to be a disconnect between how the drawings were put together versus what t= here was for money. He said that situation should be rectified; drawings should be more realistic in terms of the budget.

Mr. Viger didn’t wa= nt the Seniors to be left out of the process.&nbs= p; He said the Seniors knew how the space worked with their functions.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Mr. Haverty agreed. He said initially every one was on board, but it was proven that a bigger building could not be built with what they had for funds. He didn&#= 8217;t want to fall into that trap again believed re-designing the building and putting it back out to bid would be the cleanest/easiest way to handle the situation.

Mr. McDevitt reviewed the deliberative session minutes which indicated the building would be 1500SF.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> He felt the building should be red= uced in size and rebid. Mr. Haverty asked what size structure went out to bid.= Mr. Gleason said the structure was 3800SF. It was Mr. Haverty’s opinion= that a design should be done for a building size of 1500SF. Mr. McDevitt noted that the minute= s read “about 1500SF”. <= /p>

Mr. Gaydos believed it wa= s fair to say that the area connecting to the building was 99% of what the Seniors were looking for. He discusse= d the other primary aspects of the structure that was desired by the Seniors.

Mr. McDevitt said pre-qua= lification would eliminate some of the tension and issues that came up with the low bidder.

Mr. Viger asked the Selec= tmen if they wanted Mr. Mermelstein (of Trident) to redesign the Senior Center in cooperation with Mr. Soucy, Mr. Gleason and the Council on Aging to come back with something that was more realistic for what they had money for. Mr. Mermelstein noted that they weren’t designers, they would work with Mr. Soucy and the Council on Aging to make sure that the program met their needs.

Mr. Haverty wanted to kno= w once they had a new drawing if it would go back out to bid, or if they would work with the existing list of bidders (with the exception of the non-responsive bidder - Stallion). Mr. Viger= felt it should go out to all bidders, including Stallion. He noted that in the past the Town= had not always gone forward with the lowest bidder, they had gone with the lowe= st qualified bidder.

There was no objection to= Mr. Viger’s suggestion.

Mr. Lynde felt the check = list should be included in the bid package.&nbs= p; Mr. Mermelstein agreed. Mr. Lynde questioned if the Town was going beyond the scope originally outlined= by Trident when they agreed to work with the Town for $1. Mr. Gaydos said Trident had sent an invoice for approximately $39, which was the cost of some phone calls, travel. He said part of the i= nvoice was for $4600, which Trident gave the Town a credit for. He said he was sensitive to the ti= me Trident was spending with the Town.

Mr. Gaydos asked for a vo= te of the Board regarding Stallion’s participation so he could send them a letter indicating the Selectmen would not be accepting their bid, either in= the future, or just the initial bid put together. Mr. McDevitt said any bidder who w= as asked to complete forms to further qualify themselves and refuses to do so (even though later they said they would, but didn’t send them in) didn’t show promise for a future cooperative working relationship. He believed the Selectmen should s= ay thank you, but no thank you. = Mr. Haverty didn’t know if he would be adverse to letting them participat= e in a re-bid and following the process everyone else was being asked to do. Mr. Lynde said the Selectmen shoul= d say that they decided to reject all bids and come back with a re-bid. Mr. Viger was leery of eliminating anyone from the bid process. = He said a strong message could be sent that they were unhappy that the company didn’t finish the procedures for the job, which may effect their qualifications for the next job. Mr. Gleason agreed with Mr. Lynde that all bids should be rejected. He said if the data they were seek= ing was included in the packages that went out, it would be the responsibility = of the company to provide that data.

Mr. McDevitt felt the Sel= ectmen were being too nice; the low bidder (when speaking with the project manager) refused to send additional paperwork in.&n= bsp; He felt it sent a clear signal about the unlikeliness of forming a cooperative working relationship in the future. He believed the Selectmen were mak= ing a mistake by inviting someone ‘into the fold’ who refused to answ= er a simple and standard request. =

Mr. Lynde was concerned w= ith taking that approach. He want= ed a letter to indicate that the Selectmen didn’t have the information nee= ded and were therefore rejecting all bids.&nbs= p;

Mr. Haverty suggested tha= t the Selectmen vote to send a letter to the bidder who was unresponsive and state that they have decided to out for re-bid.&= nbsp; He said when they went out with the re-bid if that bidder responded,= the Selectmen could then decide whether to respond.

MOTION:

(Haverty/Gleas= on) To send a letter to the bidder who was unresponsive stating that they would = be discarding all the bids and would potentially go out to re-bid in the near future.

VOTE:

(5-0-0) The motion carried.

Mr. Viger entertained com= ments from members of the Council on Aging.

Senior Center Director Sue Hovling and Council on Aging Chairman, Don Brunelle, Old Lawrence Road came forward to p= rovide comments. Mr. Hovling stated = that their interest was to get the project on the road. She said they wanted to give the S= eniors as much as they could while staying within the budget. She informed there had originally = been two phases, which would have both been taken care of with the project, but = for now they would put phase two on the back burner. She said the most pressing need wa= s to have a hall and eliminate the bathrooms in the dining room. She was concerned about the safety= of the cellar stairs. Ms. Hovlin= g said if the concerns were met, a smaller plan would be acceptable.

Mr. Brunelle agreed with = Ms. Hovling and stated that they would work with Mr. Mermelstein and Mr. Soucy. He thanked the Selectm= en for their support.

2011 TOWN BUDGET REVIEW – All Departments

Mr. Viger said he would l= ike to go through the list of budgets and address any concerns as they went. This would be a review to answer a= ny questions.

Assessor – Mr. Gleason confirmed that the voluntary remov= al of $36,000 for utility assessments would be done.

Budget Committee – There were no questions/comments.

Cable Department – Mr. Viger wanted to confirm that the revenues would match up with the planned expenditures.

Conservation Commission – There were no questions/comment= s.

Debt Service Interest / Principle – Mr. Gleason asked if = the numbers were current and if there were any changes expected. It was Mr. Gaydos’ understan= ding that the interest portion would be going down, the principle portion would remain the same. He wanted the opportunity to review the numbers independently. Mr. McDevitt stated that his notes indicated that the Treasurer had suggested reducing the TAN interest from $= 10,000 to $5,000. He said he wanted = to do so when the time came.

Elections – Mr. McDevitt said he may come back with a sma= ll increase for the Ballot Clerks who had not had an increase in a long time.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'>

Emergency Management – Mr. McDevitt believed that the sand bag filler belonged in a warrant article, not the budget. Mr. Viger said it had been suggest= ed to take some of the FEMA money to offset the price (within a warrant article).= He said it could be discussed further. Mr. McDevitt asked if there was $56,000 in FEMA money. Mr. Gaydos stated there was.

Fire Department – Mr. Viger asked if the part-time fire c= ode inspector would be included in the budget or a warrant article. Mr. Gleason said it was one of the priorities after the budget. = Mr. McDevitt believed there had been some mention (in the Transfer Station bi-weekly report) about possible ways to reduce/eliminate the cost for dump= sters at all the Town buildings. He wanted to know if it was a reality. Mr. Gaydos hadn’t discussed the particulars, but could see how= the Town Hall dumpster could be eliminated.&nb= sp; He had concerns about the fire station and Senior Center because they both had food that needed to be removed on a regular basis. Mr. McDevitt wanted people to know= that the rescue boat outside the station was not the Town’s boat. He suggested seeking a donation fo= r the rescue boat.

Fire Chief James Midgley = came forward to discuss the type of boat that was needed for a rescue boat and t= he problems that occurred with the previously donated boat.

Mr. Lynde asked if they w= ould be looking to lease a replacement forestry vehicle. Information regarding a lease had previously been provided. Mr. Gaydos said a three-year lease would cost approximately $15,500 per year. The vehicle is listed on the prior= ity list.

Health Officer – Mr. McDevitt asked if the stipend was pa= id every month and if it was contractual.&nbs= p; Mr. Gaydos replied that $250 was paid every month. He didn’t recall that it was contractual; it was an agreement. He provided an explanation regarding the pay.

Health Services – Mr. Lynde wasn’t in favor of the = increase from the Salvation Army. Mr. McDevitt believed the increase was too large. Mr. Gleason said he had questioned= how many residents were involved with the increase because the funding was associated with a daycare operation. Mr. Gaydos said he had informed that he didn’t believe any Pel= ham residents were involved in the daycare program.

Highway Maintenance – There was a brief discussion regard= ing the increases for salt and engineering services. Mr. McDevitt commented that he was leaning toward having the paving specials in a warrant article. Mr. Gleason disagreed and felt the submitted budget was the first attempt to be representative of the costs to take care of the roads. Mr. McDevitt agreed, but felt the timing was off.

Human Services – Mr. Viger believed the salary item was s= tarting to pay dividends by having someone in the position to do the job and follow= up and keep people on schedule by creating plans. Mr. Gaydos said he didn’t pu= t a salary increase in the budget but wanted to speak with the Selectmen regard= ing the amount of time the position took.

Insurance – It was understood that the number was a carry over from last year and not representative of what they might see. Mr. Gaydos said he had an idea of = the numbers because some of the invoices were received. Mr. McDevitt said he would like so= me estimates at the next meeting.

Legal - There were no questions/comments.

Park & Recreation – Mr. Gleason said the Selectmen had requested the total revenue amount for 2009, which was not yet received.

Planning Department – Mr. Gaydos stated that the governme= nt bid price for the Ford Focus was received; the amount was approximately $13,850. The cost would be $4= 500 per year. It was noted that t= he cost of leasing a vehicle would be less expensive than continuing to operat= ing the current vehicle. Mr. McDe= vitt questioned the $302 item for micro cassettes and wanted to know if the Town used, or could use digital recorders.

Police Department – Updated sheet with proper page number= ing will be provided. Mr. Gaydos = asked if there was a priority to replacing the two requested vehicles. Police Chief Joseph Roark replied = that the Animal Control truck would be the priority. There was a brief discussion regar= ding the importance of the Animal Control vehicle and noted that it would have i= ts own lease cycle separate from the cruisers. Mr. Lynde would like to see the fi= gures for the School Resource Officer (‘SRO’), what it would add and = what it would displace. Chief Roar= k said he could formulate the numbers; if they went to an SRO in the operating bud= get they would delete $5000 for D.A.R.E because the SRO would be the primary officer. There would be cost = for carrying the officer. Mr. McD= evitt asked if the Pawn Shop Ordinance would be included on the ballot. Chief Roark said he would like to = see it on the warrant; he was waiting for the Selectmen’s decision. Mr. Viger said the Selectmen would= add an agenda item and discuss further.

Retirement – The Selectmen were given a revised sheet bec= ause the 2010 Operating Budget was in error.&nb= sp; Mr. Gaydos said he the final number was still unknown because New Hampshire Retirement hadn’t come out and informed what the rates woul= d be after June 2011. There was fu= rther discussion. The budget could possibly come in $50,000 higher.

Selectmen – There were no questions/comments.

Senior Center – Mr. Gaydos asked the Sel= ectmen how they felt about the Director position and the amount of money set aside= for salaries. The Selectmen asked= that they be provided with information from the Municipal Association survey for comparable sized towns to review.

Town Buildings – Mr. Gleason noted that the sheet had been changed to add $35,000 for computers.

Town Celebrations – There were no questions/comments.

Town Clerk/Tax Collector – There were no questions/commen= ts.

Transfer Station – The Selectmen were provided with a breakdown of what charges would be if the Town was to accept construction/demolition (‘C&D’) waste. Superintendent Ron Hannon came for= ward to discuss the information provided. He said accepting the C&D would increase the budget, but at the = same time create revenue. He expla= ined the process of how the C&D would be accepted. There was a brief discussion regar= ding the proposed charges and how it compared to surrounding towns. There would be no additional staff needed. Mr. Gaydos discussed = how money would be collected on site. There was further discussion regarding the proposed charges. It was noted that the proposed 2011 budget would accommodate the proposed change to accept C&D. Mr. Hannon said he would need to restructure the budget because of the increased recycling the numbers would need to be ‘juggled’ around a bit. Mr. McDevitt stated that he suppor= ted the idea, but didn’t like the methodology of charging people.   There was no objection to hav= ing Mr. Hannon move forward with C&D collection.



MOTION:

(Gleason/Lynde= ) To approve implementation of the construction and demolition waste receipt at the Transfer Station, effective immediately.

VOTE:

(4-1-0) The motion carried.= Mr. McDevitt voted no.

Mr. Haverty commented tha= t he hesitated to vote yes for the reasons Mr. McDevitt voted no. He had a fundamental problem with charging residents.

Treasurer – There were no questions/comments.

Trust Funds – There were no questions/comments.

Cemetery – The Selectmen did not review the budget becaus= e it is handled by their own trustees.

Library – The Selectmen did not review the budget because= it is handled by their own trustees.

OTHER BUSINESS

Construction and Demolition Debris at Transfer Station – Possible vote to accept

This was discussed while = the Selectmen reviewed the Transfer Station budget. See Above.

Lawrence Property Stone=

Mr. Viger stated that Mr. McDevitt received an e-mail from Norman Lawrence Jr.   In summary, the Lawrence family would like to take a st= one (located behind the fire station that had an American flag painted on it) o= ff Town property to have it re-painted.

Mr. McDevitt said Norman = Lawrence Jr. (‘Butch’) would like to use the stone as a grave stone. He explained Mr. Norman Lawrence Sr.’s involvement with the Town and state. With the Board’s permission = Mr. Lawrence Jr. will arrange to have the stone taken away, under the Town̵= 7;s guidance.

Mr. Haverty asked if the = stone was on Town property. Mr. McD= evitt said the stone was on land formerly owned by the Lawrence family, which was now Town property.

There was no objection to= having Mr. Lawrence Jr. take the stone as long as the removal was coordinated with= Mr. Gaydos.

REQUEST FOR NON-PUBLIC SESSION

MOTION:

(Gleason/Lynde) Request for a non-public session per RSA 91-A:3,II, a (personnel)

ROLL CALL:

Mr. Viger-Yes;= Mr. Gleason-Yes; Mr. McDevitt-Yes; Mr. Lynde-Yes; Mr. Haverty-Yes

It was noted tha= t when the Board returned, after the non-public session, the Board would not take = any other action publicly, except to possibly seal the minutes of the non-public session and to adjourn the meeting. The Board entered into a non-public session at approximately 8:41 pm.

The Board returned to public session at approximately 9:35 pm.

MOTION:

(Haverty/McDev= itt) To seal the minutes of the non-public session indefinitely.

VOTE:

(5-0-0) The mo= tion carried.

ADJOURNMENT

MOTION:

(Haverty/McDev= itt) To adjourn the meeting.

VOTE:

(5-0-0) The motion carried.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 9:35 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