APPROVED
TOWN OF PEL= HAM
BOARD OF SE= LECTMEN MEETING
MINUTES
September 4= , 2012
APPROVED – = September 18, 2012
CALL TO ORDER – approxima= tely 6:30pm
|
PRESENT: ABSENT: |
Mr. William McDevitt, M= r. Edmund Gleason, Mr. Doug Viger, Mr. Hal Lynde, Town Administrator Tom Gay= dos. Mr. Robert Haverty |
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE – Lead by Cub Scout Pack 610
MINUTES REVIEW
August 21, 2012
|
MOTION: |
|
|
|
VOTE: |
(4-0-0) The motion carried. |
OPEN FORUM
None.
ANNOUNCEMENT(S)
Mr. McDevitt acknowledged= the sadness from the passing of George Harris of Harris’ Pelham Inn.
New Hampshire Primary Ele= ction is Tuesday, September 11, 2012 to be held at Pelham Memorial School, 59 Marsh = Road between the hours of 7am – 8pm.
The 2013 Town and Budget Committee site walk will be held Saturday, September 8, 2012. They will be visiting the Pelham Public Library, New Fire Station, Transfer Station/Recycling Center, Town Hall Annex. The site walk is open to the public and will commence at Sherburne Hall.
APPOINTMENT(S)
Dorothy Marsden, Town Clerk/Tax Collector – Regarding “EREG”
Mr. McDevitt said during = the Selectmen’s last budget discussion they made some changes for “EREG” without having a full discussion. They had= to do the budget number prior to having a full discussion.
Town Clerk/Tax Collection= Dorothy Marsden explained that “EREG” was a New Hampshire on-line service for the renewal of motor vehicles. It was = a low cost, simple and effective service to the community and would reduce office traffic and increase local website visibility. The department expected to receive fewer phone calls for quotes on n= ew vehicles. Access to EREG is 24 hou= rs per day, seven days per week. There is= no cost to the Town. Credit cards wil= l be accepted, the customer pays 2.9% / $1.50 minimum and $1.50 transaction fee. This would reduce return chec= ks coming into the department. Renewa= ls will be able to be done on-line. F= or the Department to utilize the EREG system Pelham would need to become a one-che= ck town with the state of New Hampshire; the paperwork has been submitted and = will take approximately 4-6 weeks for processing. They hoped to have the system in place the first part of November, 2= 012 and begin on-line registrations early January, 2013. Having the system will also allow the department to do dog renewals and vital statistics on-line. The cost for the system is $300 per yea= r and the state monthly data fee.
Mr. Gleason clarified tha= t $300 would be the Town’s cost. Ms. Mars= den answered yes. Mr. Gleason said the system would enable people to register their vehicles from home using a cre= dit card. He understood once the syste= m was in place people wouldn’t be required to fill out two checks. Ms. Marsden hoped to start the one-check process in early November. The on-= line registration, dog renewal and vital records process would begin on-line by credit card in January, 2013. The Department would transfer the state’s portion each morning.
Mr. McDevitt questioned w=
hen
property taxes would have the ability to be paid on-line by credit card.
Mr. Gaydos stated they re= viewed the security of the system carefully. The Town of Pelham will never capture credit card information; it is captured completely by the EREG company. ER= EG has a very secure system they use. It = was noted that the Park & Recreation department, who also accepted on-line credit card payments, also used a company with their own security. Mr. McDevitt stated that the Town had established as a requirement, that they don’t/won’t keep credit card number= s on their system. Mr. Gaydos said the = system would be a convenience for people who work out of Town and were unable to c= ome into Town Hall while they were open, even with the extended office hours on Tuesday evenings.
Mr. Gleason outlined the = positive aspects of using EREG for the Town and residents as submitted to the Select= men by Victor Danevich (Town’s Technical / Information System Security Advisor)=
Mr. Lynde questioned if t= he state authorized the system or had a verification process for the company being used. Mr. Gaydos replied that the company was currently working with the state. There was no licensing with the state, but the industry had certain security requirements and certificates; the proposed company held the highe= st level of such.
Mr. McDevitt asked how ma= ny other towns were using the system. Ms. M= arsden said there were 91 other towns using the system.
The Selectmen thanked Ms.= Marsden for joining them and discussing the EREG system.
OTHER BUSINESS
Mosquito Spraying
Mr. Gaydos said there wer= e fewer towns testing, so the batches tested were less than last year; however, they were coming up with more West Nile Virus positives than last year. As of now, one human had tested positiv= e for West Nile Virus in Manchester. He = noted positive tests had shown up in surrounding communities. He said the company working with the To= wn indicated that October was the end of this year’s threat season. The company indicated they would be hap= py to apply one spraying application at no charge, to the schools and Town parks = in the areas of the ball fields. He a= sked if the Selectmen wanted to authorize the spraying at this time. This spraying would last approximately = four weeks. The spraying wouldn’t allev= iate the need to use insect repellant and proper precautions. Mr. Gaydos stated he contacted the scho= ol who had no objection.
Mr. Gleason asked if ther= e was an environmental concern regarding what would be sprayed. Mr. Gaydos replied what would be used w= as accepted by the state as not being hazardous to children. Mr. Gleason asked how the spraying woul= d be done. Mr. Gaydos said it would be manually applied, not done by aircraft. <= /span>Mr. Lynde suggested waiting a week to allow for public comment. He questioned if the areas being treated would have timeframes during which they shouldn’t be accessed. Mr. Gaydos didn’t believe there would b= e any problems. He explained that the sp= ray adhered to the plants without harm. He believed it was just during the time spraying was occurring that the areas would need to be clear. The locati= ons of spraying would be direct and concentrated, not wide spread. Mr. Lynde wanted to know why the company offered to spray at no cost. Mr. G= aydos said the Town had been a good customer for a number of years. There were two companies in the state t= hat did spraying. A number of communities = had dropped out because of cost, but Pelham had stayed with the company. The company indicated because they appreciated the Town’s business they would do a spraying one time for free.
Mr. Gleason asked if ther= e was a timeframe the Town would have to decide about the spraying. Mr. Gaydos said the company indicated t= hey could schedule the spraying quickly.
The Selectmen discussed h= ow they would like to proceed. Mr. Gaydos suggested having PTV run information and post information on the Town websi= te to obtain comments. Mr. McDevitt a= sked that a link to the company’s website or the state’s website be included for information and to answer questions people may have. Mr. Gaydos stated that the company was = very good at responding to public comment. Their e-mail and website would be included as a link.
The Selectmen will solicit
comments and inquiries from the public for one week. Mr. Gaydos will have a ‘green light’ af=
ter
that time period unless there were a lot of negative responses received.
Transfer Station Open Position
Mr. McDevitt preferred to= have a discussion with a full Board. Mr. = Viger suggested determining the type of candidate they were looking for and creat= e a job description from there and post in the typical media. He was unsure if they wanted to keep the objectives from the past or add new items.
Mr. Gleason would prefer = to step back at this time given Mr. Gaydos was trying to pull things together. It was his understanding that the prese= nt staff was doing a creditable job and handling the situation well. He felt they should wait until the cont= racts were determined and the facility had stability before bringing someone into= the position. It was his impression th= at they were down a man and asked if it was the intention of the Board to supp= lement the position with part time help. = Mr. Gaydos said they were currently using part time help. Mr. Gleason didn’t want the current sta= ffed to be overburdened. Mr. Gaydos dis= cussed how the Highway Department had helped cover the Transfer facility.
Mr. McDevitt asked that t= he Selectmen be given copies of the job description. They may be in a better position to ass= ess the situation at their next meeting (in two weeks). He also would feel better if they had a= full Board during the discussion.
Discussion – Budget Review Process
The Selectmen discussed t= he budget books and the process by which they were updated. Mr. Lynde made notations on his budget = pages and didn’t want them lost when updates were inserted. Mr. Gaydos agreed that old budget pages should be left in the budget binders. It should be the Selectmen’s responsibility to manage their own notebook. He discussed the process he used of cli= pping old pages together when inserting new budget pages. Mr. Gleason believed once the budget was submitted to the Selectmen for review it became a quasi-official document; = any changes to that document should be shown. A log of changes should be included on the front of budget pages indicating the date the change was made. He believed this process should also be followed when the budget wen= t in front of the Budget Committee. The= re was a brief discussion how changes could be tracked. Mr. Gaydos suggested each department ha= ve a log sheet, similar to the Selectmen’s action item list. Mr. McDevitt asked Mr. Gaydos to speak = to the Finance Director Cindy Kelley to implement the process given that the budget would be going in front of the Budget Committee.
Discussion – 2013 Warrant Articles
Mr. Gaydos told the Selec= tmen that there had been discussion of possibly having a Supervisor in Police dispatch. This would be a non-union position. A copy of the proposed W= arrant Article would be provided to the Selectmen.
Mr. McDevitt said the int= ention of the discussion was to find out if any departments would be coming forward with warrant articles. He asked th= at Mr. Gaydos contact department heads to request that any warrant articles be submitted for review.
Investment Policy as Proposed by the Town Treasurer
Mr. Gaydos said during discussions with the auditors, one of the critiques questioned if the Town had an investment policy wit= h the Treasurer. He said the Town had a policy, which has since been updated and given to the Selectmen for review. The Treasurer has asked th= at the Selectmen review the updated Investment Policy and sign it. Mr. Gleason said he had worked with the Trustees on their investment policy and noted there were a lot of similarities. The state has a lot = of requirements on investing money in New Hampshire. He said the proposed policy seemed to m= eet all the criteria of the state and good business practice; it was prudent for the Selectmen to sign it. He said = it was important to have the policy to ensure safeguards were in place. The Treasurer had prepared and reviewed= the policy.
|
MOTION: |
(Gleason/Viger) To accept the Investment Policy dated September 4, 2012 as generated by t= he Treasurer Charlene Takesian and reviewed on September 4, 2012 by the Boar= d of Selectmen. |
|
VOTE: |
(4-0-0) The motion carried. |
(* see attached for a copy of the Investment Policy accepted by =
the
Selectmen)
2012 July Expenses and Revenue
Mr. Gaydos reviewed the E= xpenses and Revenues through the end of July, 2012. The Selectmen would like to have a cash flow model of the anticipated monthly outlay. This will provide advanced notice of peaks and valleys in the department budgets. Mr. McDevitt said he would assist in pu= tting information together.
Miscellaneous
Mr. Gleason indicated correspondence (from a resident) had been forwarded by Jim Greenwood that w= as received in response to a posting by the Selectmen on the Pelham message board. Mr. Greenwood wanted to kno= w if it was the Selectmen’s intention to not allow responses to Selectmen postin= gs on the message board.
Mr. Lynde felt the postin= gs should be for notices only with a referral to specific departments for questions/comments. Mr. Viger said= there should be a note with postings that indicates there will be no responses/di= alog along with the reference to another method for questions.
Mr. Gleason told the Sele= ctmen that he had a meeting with the Finance Director and Mr. Gaydos on the audit report to evaluate responses and appropriate actions. He recommended that Mr. Gaydos analyze = the information and set up a meeting with the auditor at some point in time to critique those items and determine what the Town’s response would be. Mr. McDevitt said they were process iss= ues and procedures that would need to be fixed. Mr. Gaydos said correcting those items would make the audit less expensive. He said they were curre= ntly providing the critiques to department heads to ensure they knew what it was= .
Mr. Gaydos noted that the= Finance Director Cindy Kelley had done a super job in preparing for the auditor and felt it was one of the reasons the Town was experiencing the progress they = were seeing.
SELECTMEN’S / TOWN ADMINISTRATOR REPORTS
Mr. Gaydos revie= wed the Fire Station expenditures to date. They have spent less than projected at this point. He stated that the binder coat would be put down to help construction work more efficiently over the winter months. He discussed the flooring and the importance of treating it properly. Textured materials are b= eing reviewed and will be chosen soon. =
Mr. Viger had no= report.
Mr. Gleason noti= fied the Selectmen that he would be attending an NRPC broad band meeting on Monday, September 10, 2012 and a Council on Aging meeting on September 13, 2012
Mr. McDevitt rem= inded residents that the State Primary was September 11, 2012 held at Pelham Memo= rial School from 7am to 8pm.
REQUEST FOR NON-PUBLIC SESSION
|
MOTION: |
(Lynde/Gleason) Request for a non-public session per RSA 91-A:3,II, e (consideration or negotiation of pending claims or litigation) |
|
ROLL CALL: |
Mr. McDevitt-Y= es; Mr. Gleason-Yes; Mr. Lynde-Yes; Mr. Viger-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 7:45 pm.
The Board return= ed to public session at approximately 8:05 pm.
|
MOTION: |
(Viger/Gleason) To seal the minutes of= the non-public session indefinitely. |
|
VOTE: |
(4-0-0) The mo= tion carried. |
ADJOURNMENT
|
MOTION: |
(Viger/Gleason) To adjourn the meeting. |
|
VOTE: |
(4-0-0) The motion carried. |
The meeting was = adjourned at approximately 8:05 pm.
= Respectfully submitted,
= Charity A. Landry
= Recording Secretary
BOARD OF SELECTMEN ACTION ITEMS
March 29, =
2011
May 10,
2011
May 24, 2011
July 5, 2011
August 2, 2011
August 16, 2011
September 27, 2011<= o:p>
February 14, 2012
March 20, 2012
April 10, 2012
April 24, 2012
June 5, 2012
July 17, 2012