Littleton, New Hampshire

Approved Minutes Aug 26, 2010

TOWN OF LITTLETON
BOARD OF SELECTMEN'S MEETING
THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 2010
3:30 PM
TOWN OFFICE CONFERENCE ROOM
Present: Town Manager Chuck Connell, Chairman Ron Bolt, Vice Chairman Ed Boynton, Selectman Marghie Seymour, Finance Director Karen Noyes, Executive Secretary Ceil Stubbings
Bolt called the meeting to order at 3:32 PM. He advised the purpose of the meeting is to talk about a variety of budget issues and personnel matters.
Connell advised the board the MS1 form is one of the forms we provide to the DRA. We have asked for an extension until October 1st due to the reval. We need the extra time in order to input the new reval numbers. Seymour asked if this was unusual. Connell said he believes it should be done on time but when there is a reval the extension is very common. Connell then provided the board with a brief update on the following. He has received a price for asphalt for this year. The Grafton County Economic Council will be happening in September and the NHMA will also meet in September for the Legislative Policy Vote. Connell asked for the board's approval to approach the Coop and ask for them to contribute to the cost of the crosswalk. Seymour said she wondered about Safe Routes to School and if they could assist with the sidewalks, crosswalks and lights. Connell said the program was not set up to raise money for sidewalks or other infrastructure.
Connell said that one of the provisions of the lease at the Town Building was for the Chamber and the Historical Society to install meters so they could pay their own utilities. They were not able to do so at this time. The Chamber has agreed to pay 5% of the utilities and the Historical Society has agreed to pay 4% of the utilities. Connell said he would like to continue to talk to the entities so we can start collecting on the utilities. Connell then reported that they have overspent on the Highland Avenue project. Seymour asked how they were going to come up with the $17,685.83 difference. Connell said they would have to find it somewhere.
Seymour said she is struggling with the fact that the Chamber is using 90% of the utilities there and the Historical Society is using a dehumidifier that doubles the bill. Seymour said she would like to readdress the amount they pay later. Connell said it is a one-year lease for now and then we will take it to town meeting as a warrant article for a five-year lease. Connell said Water & Light looked at the potential and they determined we were unable to come up with a way to meter the individual spaces. The percentage was based on the percent of occupancy. Connell said that right now we have no method of collecting electricity because it is not in the lease. Seymour said there is also a possibility we will have no one else in the building. Connell said they would be heating the performing venue and can recover some of it that way. Seymour said she is just uncomfortable with no way out for six years. Connell said there are escape mechanisms in the lease. Seymour said she is ok with it as long as she understands what happened and why.
Bolt said he asked for this meeting to answer some of the questions the budget committee might ask. Last year the only area that could be cut was labor. Bolt said that one of the questions he had is who is a town employee. Bolt said he had thought Parks and Recreation were town employees but then found out we have no authority over them. Bolt said he comes up with about 48 to 50 full time employees. Bolt asked if the Parks & Recreation Department should be considered as employees. Connell said they integrated into the Town and we only contribute to their operating expenses. They make up the difference with recreation fees and so on. Seymour said there are legal ramifications to being separated that way. Seymour referred to the librarian who had run for selectmen. There were a lot of people who tried to classify her as a town employee because there was a law that said town employees could not become selectmen. She took it to court and the court deemed she was not a town employee. Seymour said the Parks and Recreation Department would be treated the same. Connell said the Parks and Recreation Department fall under our Workmen's Comp and we do their payroll and accounts payable. Connell said they do not do that for the library. Connell said it was muddled. Connell said that if we were to redirect them we would hear from the Commissioners for doing so. Connell said he was surprised the town is not doing the same for the library. Bolt said that it makes sense to him that the Library Trustees and the Parks Commission should be defending their portion of the budget to the budget committee.
Bolt said that would make it 48 full time employees with 8 part time people. With 23 non-union, 33 union and 10 exempt non-union. Bolt said that in addition to that we have some seasonal employees. Karen Noyes pointed out that Anvari is in the union but she is also an exempt employee. Noyes said that King was now a non-union exempt employee. Noyes said that Judy White is an elected official and not a town employee. Connell said that it his understanding that the town clerk's wage rate was established by a town meeting vote that her salary increased with everyone else. Bolt asked if there are any full time positions that could be done part-time. Connell said the current status is the correct status. Connell said that it is no secret that even Joe Wiggett has talked about shortening his hours but then someone has to pick up some of his responsibilities. Bolt said that is something else he wanted to get to, the double and triple tasking on some people.
Bolt then asked if there is any restructuring we could do at the management level that would bring any benefit in the labor costs. Connell told the board he would start with the departments outside of the town office. Connell said the police chief could not be the fire chief or vice versa. Connell said he knows of no examples where that has worked. Connell said that leaves the highway and transfer. Seymour asked if they were two separate departments at this point. Connell said they were. Seymour said that when she was at the transfer station and she was not the department head at the time, it was the highway manager that was in charge and it was not a good situation. She thought it was very inefficient to do it that way. Decisions were being made solely on the highway department that had nothing to do with the transfer station. Seymour said she knows that there are towns within the state where the highway department is in charge. Connell said it works elsewhere but here it would not work. Connell said that part of the problem is that most do not understand what the supervisor of the transfer station does. 90% of their job has little to do with the operation, but a whole lot to do with playing the markets. Connell said it was important to know what the pricing is and what direction it is going in. Seymour said that is true but the person in that position does not have to do that. The Resource Recovery Association is always available to sell all of that material.
Connell said that on the inside you can shuffle responsibilities but there really is not a lot we can do. Bolt said there is not a lot of wiggle room. Connell said that one of the things we have done over the last two years is to cross train and we have had some fairly good success. Bolt said that another word that has been mentioned is attrition. If someone retires we would not hire again and the duties would be disbursed to someone else. Bolt said they went through that with Tony Ilacqua and it was decided to keep the Transfer Station at the same staffing levels. Connell said the next person to retire is Joe Wiggett. Bolt said that twice a year there is a big surge to get the tax bills out and get all of the checks in. Bolt asked what happened after that. Connell said the tax collector has to get the lien letters and Barrington Notices sent out. Connell said there is also deeding to do. Bolt said Wiggett is also the Health Officer and the Building Facilities Manager. Connell said Wiggett also handles the insurance. Bolt asked if the case could not be made that if he has the time to do all of the other things is the tax collector job a full time job. Connell said yes the case could be made but who is going to do the other jobs. Bolt said he was just playing devil's advocate here but if that came to pass and we hired a part-time person to be the tax collector and advertised for the health officer and shuffled the other duties to someone else could we save on a full time position. Connell said it was possible. Seymour said we have this problem all over the place. Seymour said she thinks Bolt is right in trying to hone in on what the positions are. If the tax collector is not a full time position, when Wiggett retires turn it into a part-time position and save on the benefits that we have to pay a full time person. She received a call from someone this morning upset because they had read we were considering hiring a full time purchasing agent. Seymour said she advised the individual that she was not considering that. Seymour said it makes sense to figure out how to get the jobs done in the most cost effective way. Seymour would like to see an in-depth study explaining each position along with a job description.
Seymour said there is a problem with the zoning officer. She feels this should be looked into to see if we could hire someone part time or share a zoning officer with other towns. Connell agreed to provide a report to the board listing the information they requested pertaining to each position by November. The board then briefly discussed other areas where there seemed to be problems and the issue of pay equity. Seymour said she felt it was a real problem that the union employees keep getting raises and others don't. Some employees go without raises year after year. The board then touched upon the possible need for a code enforcement officer, and an engineer for the roads. Bolt asked if there were any other comments or questions. Seeing none he asked for a motion to adjourn. Seymour made the motion to adjourn. Boynton seconded the motion. Motion passed 3-0. The meeting adjourned at 5:00 PM
Respectfully submitted
Ceil Stubbings

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