Littleton, New Hampshire

Approved Special Meeting Minutes Mar 14, 2011

TOWN OF LITTLETON
BOARD OF SELECTMEN’S MEETING
MONDAY, MARCH 14, 2011
5:00 PM
COMMUNITY CENTER HEALD ROOM

Present: Town Manager Chuck Connell, Chairman Ron Bolt, Selectman Marghie Seymour, Selectman Mike Gilman, Executive Secretary Ceil Stubbings

Others Present: Jan Mercieri, Paul Vialle, Ed Boynton, Karen Noyes, Bryan Hadlock, Bill Latulip, Sherri Latulip, Chad Stearns, Heidi Hurley, Joe Mercieri, Todd McKee, Paul Smith, Ryan Glass, Kayti Burt, Todd McKee, Judy White, Robert Blechl, Tony Ilacqua, Casey Hadlock

Bolt called the meeting to order at 5:00 PM and announced this is an organizational meeting dealing primarily with administrative issues. At the end of the meeting they will most like go into nonpublic session to talk about some personnel matters. The first order of business was to swear in Mike Gilman.
George Michael Gilman was sworn in by Bolt at this time.

Bolt said the first order of business is the election of officers and asked for a nomination for chairman and vice chairman. Gilman said it has been traditional for the chairman to rotate. Gilman nominated Seymour as chairman and Bolt as vice chairman stating that he hoped nobody would consider for either position. Seymour said that Bolt took the position because Boynton had not been well. Seymour said that this would be Bolt’s normal year to be chairman. Seymour would like to do it next year. Gilman withdrew his motion and made the motion to nominate Bolt as chairman. Seymour seconded the motion. Motion passed 3-0. Gilman made the motion to nominate Seymour as vice chairman. Bolt seconded the motion. Motion passed 3-0.

Bolt advised the board they should divide up their focus areas. Bolt provided a list of areas that Seymour and Gilman might be interested in taking on. Gilman was assigned with organizing the next Town Meeting and designated as the go to person regarding legislative issues. He would also be in charge of labor issues. Bolt said they need someone who is interested in economic development and can assist the town with that. Gilman agreed to take on the task. He was also assigned to represent the Board on the CIP Committee when it was formed. Bolt also assigned Gilman to take on the research on Littleton’s from of government regarding having a Town Manager versus a Town Administrator. Bolt assigned Seymour to continue with the Town Building and Opera House issues. Based on the results of Article 37, Bolt asked Seymour to send a letter off to the North Country Council. Seymour was also assigned to look at options in regards to the Transfer Station. Bolt said they need someone to be the ex officio member to the Planning Board. Seymour agreed to take the position. Bolt said that he sees his immediate duties as working with the Town Manager making sure we are up to speed before he departs. He would also work with whatever they come up with in the area of a replacement for Connell whether it is on a temporary basis or long term. He has an interest in policies and procedures and would continue on those. Bolt said that there has not been a lot going on with emergency planning but that he would like to continue on the Hazard Mitigation Plan. They will have to figure out something if we are going to try and open up negotiations with the unions. Bolts said he would be gone for a block of time and miss two consecutive meetings. He will be gone on the 18th of May through the 6th of June. There is a meeting scheduled for the 8th of May and the 1st of June. June has five Wednesdays so we could skip one Wednesday. Gilman said that generally Wednesdays are good. Seymour said she also has some dates she will not be here. May 4th is a selectmen’s meeting she will not be in attendance. Bolt said another possibility would be to hold the meetings on the 11th and the 25th of May. They all agreed with the date. The meeting times will be 5:00 PM.

Bolt advised Gilman the selectmen are also the Board of Assessors. They meet to make decisions on abatements. Typically those meetings are held in the middle of the day. Mike asked if they could be held at noontime. Bolt also recommended that they should also be a part of the Board of Health. In the last two years it has not been a problem. They have had a dedicated health officer and a deputy health officer. Both people are gone as of the first of July and they need to find a replacement.

Bolt told Gilman they would bring him up to date on the budget cuts they have made and would do so in public. One of the first acts the board has to do is to make the appointments to boards and committees. On Wednesday they will announce those openings. Ceil has already posted those positions on the webpage. On the 6th of April they will make the appointments. Bolt said that is usually a wildly popular meeting so we are planning on having it in the Opera House because the Annex is not available on Wednesday evenings. Bolt asked for a motion to go into a nonpublic session. Seymour moved to go into non public per RSA 91-A:3 II (a) to discuss personnel matters. Gilman seconded the motion. There was then a unanimous roll call vote taken. The Board entered the nonpublic session at 5:37 PM.

Present: Town Manager Chuck Connell, Chairman Ron Bolt, Vice Chairman Marghie Seymour, Selectman Mike Gilman, Executive Secretary Ceil Stubbings.

Others Present: Todd McKee (AFSCME Union Rep), Karen Noyes, Judy White.

Judy thanked the Board for moving the meetings to 5:00 PM. Bolt started with Judy to talk about her budget and the cuts. Bolt said the conversation is mainly in regards to her part time help and the number of hours and dollars she needs. Judy said she received an email from Bolt over the weekend asking what would happen if they did away with license plates. Judy did some research on what would happen if they no longer did any of the state work. Last year we took in $23,000 for the Town. Judy said they would lose that revenue. Anytime they do state work they get a $3 fee. It is not just the loss of $23,000 it is the loss of customer service. Seymour said every department in town feels what they do is really important and no one wants cuts. At this point what we really need to know and need to talk about is does the cut lose money. Judy said she has dropped one person that did her dogs if she does not have that help then we are not going to be able to provide that service. So instead of saving $19,000 we lose $4,000. Bolt asked Judy if she was dropping her $19,000 to about $15,000, which is about an $8,000 savings. Seymour said the income stays the same as it was before but we would have to find $7,000 somewhere else. Judy took most of her vacation time when she had coverage. Seymour said she was curious to know how much more does it take to do the plates too. Judy said it is about a fifteen-minute transaction. Seymour said the thing that is so difficult to make these cuts is that she cannot figure out based on Judy’s presentation how much time she would save if she didn’t do them. What she needs is an assessment of how much time the staff spends on this. Judy said she could not tell her. Bolt said what he was hoping to get out of the office was somewhere in the amount of $20,000 with a combination of fewer part time staff and Bonnie going to 35 hours. Seymour asked Judy how she could cut $20,000. Bolt asked Judy if in the space of a week or so could she come back to the Board. Judy said that if she drops some state work she has to drop all of it. Seymour said she was sorry but it is very emotional for all of us. The Board thanked Judy for her time.

Todd McKee who represents the AFSCME union said he has come to the board with various concerns. Todd said he came here today to understand the cuts a little bit better. Todd said that he much like Judy was trying to not be emotional about this. He represents twenty-one individuals. Todd said he has a group of members that are trying to make a concession and that group is taking the highest hit. We are emotional about that. Bolt said the other union is the SEA and they have ten or eleven members. Bolt said the union members have been issued notices, three at the highway department and two at the fire department. There was only one out of the police department and that was for a vacant position. Gilman said the town is reimbursable and when someone is laid off the town pays dollar for dollar. Bolt said he would tell Todd in all honesty they did not look at who was union and not union. Todd said this was going to pit department against department. They have a member from the highway department who has special circumstances that they are trying to figure out what to do. Seymour said they have so little time to do this and they still have another $185,000 in cuts. Todd said he has been a town employee for almost twenty-three years now and he thinks it is too bad the way this all played out. Bolt said they are still looking to save as many jobs as they can. They are also looking at approaching both unions. Todd said he does not want to see anyone laid off. Seymour thanked him for coming. Todd said he is not asking for blanket changes and he does grasp that they are dealing with people’s lives. Seymour said it is painful for all of us. Gilman said that is what happened at the state level.

Bolt had a technical question for Karen. Is there a point in time when we need to send a copy of the revised budget to the DRA. Karen said she has to send the MS2 form by the 28th of March. Connell said that is not the end of it. She has that requirement but there will also be an adjustment to the expenses and the revenue in October. The adjustments have to be sent in by September 1st and then again in October. Bolt said they are at $7.6 million today and if we don’t make any more cuts before then she would send a note stating that there would be more reductions. Connell said this dovetails with a letter to the DRA simply stating the amendment that was passed and the request to take money from the undesignated fund balance. Seymour asked Connell if he has already written the letter. Connell said he was working on the letter. When the letter is done he will forward it to the board for their approval and signature.

Connell said that he can say in three instances where department heads have said if you don’t give me this much back we can’t do it. Connell said it isn’t that they can’t do it. The issue is they can do the work. Connell said it is his opinion the Town Clerk does need some part time help.

Bolt then moved onto the subject of the town managers contract. The terms of the severance is six months paid leave and other items. Bolt said that Connell has indicated that he is willing to compromise. He and Connell have been working on this and Connell has agreed to half of the package so he would get three months of pay with one exception. Connell would like to extend the health coverage for a full six months. Gilman asked what would that come to. Connell said his total package is about $120,000. Bolt said he thinks it is fair. Gilman said it is reasonable. Gilman said he would contact some of the staffing agencies to begin the search for a temporary town manager. Seymour said Fred Moody who lives here in town and was a former town manager about twenty years ago has contacted her. Connell said that MRI is the only temp firm that provides special services. Gilman said he thinks that Moody could do it through an agency. If he is retired he might want to jump into it on a part time basis. Connell said they have a couple of other considerations to consider. His suggestion is to authorize one of the selectmen to sign contracts. Bolt nominated Marghie to have the authority to sign contracts. Bolt wanted to end with letting everyone know what else is on the possible menu for cuts. Connell said that was not appropriate to discuss in nonpublic. Seymour moved they don’t seal the minutes. Gilman seconded the motion. Motion passed 3-0. Seymour moved they come out of nonpublic. Gilman seconded the motion. Motion passed 3-0. The came out of nonpublic at 7:10 PM

Bolt proceeded to bring Gilman up to speed on other possible budget cuts in the future. They had talked about mapping which is a $35,000 for each year. Connell said it is $25,000 per year the other $10,000 is to support GIS. Bolt asked if they had to spend $2,500 for the membership of the special operations unit. Connell advised the board to get the chiefs opinion on what happens if they don’t spend it. The chief is looking at dropping the DARE program completely. As for the selectmen’s salaries they were established by warrant article. Bolt said that each of them could go by their conscience bit he is going to take a 20% cut. Bolt said there is a line item for $600 for expenses. Seymour said she would pay for her own courses and travel. Bolt said the non-union employees are going to be cut back five hours a week and not getting the 3% pay increase. The things that have some big dollar potential would be contract renegotiations. Bolt said the unions might be willing to give up the 3% pay raise. Gilman asked what would the amount be for everyone. Connell said it would be about $63,000. Bolt said the might also be willing to give up some health benefits Bolt said that one of the other things in consideration is a deferred payment on a large annual payment on a fire truck that they could just not pay this year. Connell asked if they still wanted him to contact Laconia Savings Bank. Seymour is going to check to see if there are some private companies that would take the Transfer Station over. Connell said Cassella is at their disposal. Connell advised the board they would need to get three proposals. Gilman asked if they went private would they pick up the staff or come in with their own. Connell said they would not be our staff anymore. Seymour said the net cost is about $120,000. One of the things is the transfer station has is a healthy reserve fund. The board then discussed various options they could research to find a replacement for Connell. The Board assigned Marghie Seymour to review and sign any contracts that the Town Manager has signed in the past. Connell asked if they were going to seal the minutes. Seymour and Bolt did not feel there was anything in the minutes that needed to be sealed. Seymour moved they not seal the minutes. Gilman seconded the motion. The motion passed 3-0. Seymour then moved to come out of nonpublic session. Gilman seconded the motion. Motion passed 3-0.

The board then reviewed and updated Gilman on the budget changes that have been made after the vote at Town Meeting. Bolt said that he had discussed the mapping with Connell and that it was budgeted for $35,000 for the year. The $35,000 is an investment for the next five years to get us to a completely digitized set of maps for the Town. Connell said it is $25,000 for the year and the other $10,000 is to support GIS for the existing mapping system. Bolt said his thinking was instead of taking five years it could take six years. Connell said he would be having a meeting with Franco Rossi next week and he would then be able to give them an update. Connell said that he thinks a significant amount of the $15,000 has already been expended. Bolt said the department heads are working on books and periodicals and mileage to see if they can gain some savings there. Most of the contracted plowing has already been spent but if there is anything left they should freeze it. Bolt did not think there would be any money for fire department equipment purchases. Bolt brought up the 3% pay increase for the nonunion workers is $22,000. They did not include that in their announcement so they need to make a decision on that one. Seymour said the nonunion nonexempt workers would be getting cut back by five hours per week and not getting their 3% increase. Connell said it is not limited to the nonexempt it is for all nonunion personnel. Bolt said the exempt pay has not been discussed but has the potential of up to $13,000, which is the department heads that would also not get the 3%. Gilman asked what the amount would be if everyone did not receive the 3%. Connell said it was about $60,000. Gilman said that is potentially one more position. Bolt said there is also a potential for a large savings at the Transfer Station despite the fact that it is our most cost effective department. But even so it costs us over $100,000 net. Bolt said that both he and Seymour are big supporters of the Transfer Station. They both would hate to do it but it would be a savings. Bolt went back to the need for a decision on the 3% for the nonunion. Connell said it was not fair to not give the nonunion the 3% if the unions are getting it. Seymour said they would end up with three unions if they don’t. Connell said they were not cutting the hours on the exempt. Bolt said they have not made a decision on that either. Bolt said they would talk about that later. Gilman said the Transfer Station has a lot of possibilities. Seymour said they could look at a one or two year contract. That way if things come around we could take it back. Connell said he would prefer to see the Transfer Station privatized then to see it shut down. The Board then discussed more efficient ways to hold their regular meetings. Connell said the public should be here to observe but they are not here to participate. Bolt said they have appointments and they have citizen concerns. Seymour said when that portion of the meeting is over they should close ranks and do what they need to do without public interruption. Seymour moved to adjourn. Gilman seconded the motion. Motion passed 3-0. The meeting adjourned at 7:39 PM.

Respectfully Submitted
Ceil Stubbings

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