Littleton, New Hampshire

Approved Not Sealed Nonpublic Minutes Mar 9, 2011

TOWN OF LITTLETON
BOARD OF SELECTMEN’S MEETING
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2011
9:00 AM
TOWN OFFICE CONFERENCE ROOM

Present: Town Manager Chuck Connell, Chairman Ron Bolt, Vice Chairman Ed Boynton, Selectman Marghie Seymour, Executive Secretary Ceil Stubbings

Others Present: Police Chief Paul Smith, Fire Chief Joe Mercieri, Public Works Director George Chartier, Transfer Station Manager Jackie King, Finance Director Karen Noyes

Chairman Bolt called the Special Meeting to order at 9:00 AM. The meeting was held at the Town Office Conference Room. The purpose of the meeting is to finalize the first round of cuts that will occur as a result of the Proposed Budget passing on Town Meeting Day. Bolt announced they would go into nonpublic session for that portion of the meeting.

The board will meet again at 3:00 PM that afternoon. The meeting will start out with a press conference and a press release providing the specifics of where the first cuts will occur. They will entertain any questions and comments from anyone who comes to the meeting. Bolt asked Connell if he had any contact information for Mr. Gilman. When they have that information they need to set up an organizational meeting for the newly seated board. Seymour said that she had talked to Mr. Gilman and was advised that because he has a regular job he cannot attend select board meetings until 5:00 PM because he works until 4:30 PM. Bolt said that Gerald Winn had made an offer to attend and facilitate the meeting. This offer is to help the board get off to a start and to bring forward any issues if there are any. Seymour said that with thanks to Mr. Winn she was not going to assume they would start off on the wrong foot. Seymour made the motion to go into nonpublic session under RSA 91-A:3, II (a) to discuss the dismissal, promotion, or compensation of a public employee or several. Boynton seconded the motion. A unanimous roll call vote was taken to go into nonpublic session at 9:10 AM.

Bolt said the board had discussed four categories of cuts. Subsidies such as the Library and Parks & Recreation, a list of non-labor items, labor related items such as possibly going to a thirty-five hour work week and then lay offs. Seymour thought they should add a fifth category for using some of the budget surplus at the end of the year. Bolt asked the department heads if they had thought of anything else they wanted to put on the table they have not already discussed over the last four weeks.

Joe Mercieri said there has been a lot of talk outside about a $611,000 surplus. There has been a flyer distributed in the community stating the cuts are not necessary because the surplus could be used to offset the lay offs. Mercieri asked what are the actual specifics of how that could be done. Bolt said the number is $611,000 and can be used in any number of ways. It can also be used to offset the tax rate. By DRA standards you are supposed to have 5% set aside in your fund balance and for Littleton that would be a little over a million dollars. Seymour said it is not a requirement it is just a recommendation by the DRA. Seymour said the board has had discussion regarding this and Ed Boynton has said all along he would like to use it to off set the tax rate. Seymour and Bolt have been more in favor of keeping a fund balance in there because it takes the spikes and dips out of budgeting. It saves the town from having to take out TAN’s (Tax Anticipation Notes). Seymour said they were using about $65,000 to cover two warrant articles leaving a rough balance of around $580,000. She said they were in a damned if you do and a damned if you don’t situation. It was very clear from Brien Ward’s amendment that he wanted heads to roll. They need to make sure that any changes they make are on their absolute best understanding on how they are going to keep the town running efficiently and safely. They will have to make a combination of labor cuts; operational changes and rely on some of the surplus funds to fall back on.

Connell told the board that as of last night they had a $7.4 million budget. Connell said they are not talking about off setting the tax rate. If they are going to use the unreserved fund balance to deal with the shortfall in the $7.4 million dollar budget it would take DRA approval. Connell said the selectmen don’t choose to do it they have to ask to do it. Seymour asked Connell when they would ask the DRA. Connell said it depends when they need the funds. Seymour said the way she was looking at it is that they make some cuts now and review the situation on a monthly basis. Connell said they should make the request sometime in September before the tax rate is set. Connell said the DRA does not have to give the town approval. That is one area that needs to be explored to find out if they have guidelines. Karen Noyes said she had experience with this a few years ago. Noyes said you have to start the process a few months before you know you will have a deficit and we asked to over expend.

Ed Boynton said they should deliver pink slips to everybody and then they would have the opportunity to consider other avenues. It might not be necessary to lay off a bunch of people. Seymour said she would still like to have an idea of where we think cuts can be made. Seymour said they were not laying off eighteen or nineteen people today. Seymour further said she did not want to be pushed into a corner by people who do not have any responsibility for making the cuts or dealing with the repercussions. Seymour told Boynton that he had not been there for the last round of meetings and he had not been dealing with all of the issues that she and Ron had been dealing with. Boynton said he had not received correspondence about any of the meetings. Boynton said he had not been able to attend due to health reasons. Bolt said he felt sending pink slips out to everybody is a gimmick. Bolt said the board was ready to make decisions today. Boynton said he was not ready. Boynton said that by giving pink slips to everybody they would have the option to not have to lay off the last hired. It might end up that they only have to lay off four or five people instead of ten. Seymour said they were ready to lay off four or five people today.

Bolt then moved the meeting onto a discussion regarding the cuts in the subsidies. He is suggesting a $50,000 cut for the Library and the Parks & Recreation each. Seymour said that was also her recommendation. Bolt recommended the Chamber of Commerce be cut by $15,000. The Community Center will take a cut of $5,000. The Conservation Commission will take a cut of $1,000 and the cemetery $3,000. Bolt said that came to a total of $124,000. Seymour asked if the numbers were based on a percentage. Bolt said they were based on their requested amount.

Bolt then moved onto non-labor items. The first was to eliminate the sewer reserve fund by $32,000. Bolt asked if there would be any savings if they took money out of the Special Detail. Karen Noyes said the Special Detail is part of the total gross appropriations. When the budget is cut in special revenue funds it reduces overall the gross appropriations. Bolt said there would be no savings so they would forget about cuts in this line. Bolt said the next item was to reduce the sewer fund budget. Noyes said that when she works with George on the budget he puts in for supplies that he feels they need to have on hand. Noyes said some of the supplies could be reduced and replaced on an as needed basis. Connell pointed out that when you reduce the expense you also reduce the revenue so it is also a wash.

Bolt said that Noyes had recommended a $1,000 and a $7,000 cut in the finance department and personnel administration. Bolt asked her if she was comfortable with the cuts. Noyes said it just means very little training and mileage reimbursement will be minimal. The personnel administration is eliminating the DOT drug and alcohol testing. It also reduces the physicals or anything else that would be needed for new hires. Bolt said there was $1,000 in Emergency Management. The Employee of the Year for $500 would also be eliminated. Bolt recommended they cut $7,000 out of Channel 2. All Planning and Zoning Board hearings would no longer be taped along with Budget Committee Meetings. Bolt said there were three departments that have an events line. The departments are the Transfer Station, Police Department and the Fire Department. Bolt asked if there were any justification to leaving the monies in there. Paul Smith said that police work is not just catching bad guys it is community service. He did not want to be chastised publicly for not providing those services. Smith said they could cut it. Connell reminded them that there was also the DARE fund. Smith said there might have already been some expenditure on that line. There is $1,000 for events and DARE is for $500. Bolt asked Joe Mercieri if they could take a reduction out of his events line. Mercieri said he had already cut his event line by $999 in the hopes of saving one more firefighter. Seymour said she hates to be the bad guy but she thinks they should cut all of the funds used to buy things for people. Smith disagreed and said it is important in police work when they are out dealing with kids. Smith asked if they were making a $1,400 deduction. Seymour suggested they leave events alone for now. Bolt said that patriotic events had a budget of $1,300. Seymour said that the things they were discussing did not need to be discussed in a non-public session. Boynton said the $1,300 was to purchase the flags for the cemetery. He was adamant that this item would not be cut. Seymour told Boynton that he was on the record as opposed to making the cut. Bolt then asked George Charier about the signs in his budget. The board then went back to the events line. Smith said he had $900 total in events and outreach in the budget. Seymour suggested they cut $900 from the fire and police and $900 for patriotic purposes. Connell advised that they had not looked at the Transfer Station or the Town Office. Connell said the Town Office has $1,825.00.
George said there was money in the budget for signs and he would be willing to give up $1,500 of it. Connell said he had already cut some of it because some was in personnel. Karen Noyes said there was $200 in the Transfer Station. Jackie King said it was used for the coloring contest for the schools. Bolt said they would have to do without that this year. Bolt then asked about tuition assistance. Seymour wanted to know the exact amount for the tuition assistance. Noyes said there is $2,700 in the police line and $1,000 in the fire line for a total of $3,700.

Bolt said he was ready to move into category three which was labor related. Bolt said they talked about cutting the Town Clerk’s overall budget by about $20,000. Connell said he only looked at $15,834. Connell said that would be eliminating two part time positions. Pointedly Faye White and Pat Clark. That would leave her with one part time person Marilyn Knowlton. Bolt asked if Judy and Bonnie’s hours would stay at 40. Connell said they could not change Judy’s hours. The board could not change any exempt persons hours. You can make reductions in their salaries. Bonnie’s hours would be cut to 35. Connell believes that amounts to $3,500. Bolt said that would be approximately $18,500 by dropping the two part timers and reducing the hours to 35.

Bolt asked what recommendations were being made for the other departments going to 35 hours. Connell said the Transfer Station would not have a lay off because they are leaving the vacant position open. Seymour asked if they were going to change everyone else to 35 hours. Connell said yes. There seemed to be a problem with the calculations of the savings for the Transfer Station so Seymour suggested they move onto the departments they had the numbers for. Connell said it was $12,433 for the Transfer Station. Bolt said that was for three people going to 35 hours. Bolt then asked about the Highway Department. George Chartier asked why they were doing the Highway Department third. Chartier said the spirit of the amended warrant named Fire and Police first. Seymour said they were going through departments to figure out where the cuts can be made. Bolt said it was worth it if by going to 35 hours a week they could save a position. Chartier said he always turns in responsible budgets and now he is paying the price. Seymour asked if they were looking at two layoffs at the Highway Department. Bolt said they agreed on three at the last meeting. Connell said the department would save $16,803 if they go onto a 35-hour workweek during the summer months. Connell said the savings in the police department involved just one employee and would save $4,055. Bolt then asked about reducing the non-essential overtime. They had set a goal of about $10,000 at the last meeting. Connell said he would have to tell them the definition of non-essential overtime was. Bolt said the non-essential overtime would be training and events. Smith said they have certification requirements and could not do away with training. Connell said they should make everything effective April 1st. Bolt said in the fire department they have staff meetings and drills. Joe Mercieri said he had already taken them out. Mercieri said there is another $4,244 that he took out to save a position. Mercieri said his position is try to make the fifth position as a floater to absorb some of the overtime. Mercieri said there is 168 hours in a week that they need to cover. Mercieri said to avoid the overtime they have to close the firehouse.

Connell said he was recommending a 10% cut on all exempt employees. George Chartier asked him how much money that would save. Connell said it would save $40,000. Connell said a 10% cut applied over the exempt employees is a reasonable cut according to Mike Elwell. Bolt said this was a new item and suggested they wait on this. Seymour agreed.

Bolt suggested they go to the layoffs. Bolt said at the last meeting they talked about one cut at the Transfer Station and two at the two at the PD. One is a part timer and one patrol officer. They had discussed two at the FD and three at the Highway Department and two in the Town Office. Bolt asked what was the grand total for the ten layoffs. Connell said he did not have the total. Seymour said she wanted to talk about some unpleasant things. Seymour said that Paul had brought up at their last meeting that they would not get the savings they thought they would get if they did not have a person to deal with the parking tickets and other things. There would be a loss of income. Seymour said they would have to offset the savings by the amount of revenue lost. Seymour asked if anyone has done the calculation. Connell asked if the person were laid off if the parking meters would not be emptied and that no one was going to do the accounting. Smith said the meters would be emptied but no one would be doing the accounting. Connell said if the money is collected the accounting has to be done somehow. Smith said that last year they made approximately $50,000 between meter and violation revenues. Connell said that in his original recommendation that they move all of Jamie’s salary into the parking meter fund. Bolt asked how much of this was a part of her job. Smith said it was approximately 75%. Connell said they could begin budgeting her salary into the parking meter fund. Karen said she saw a problem with that because they are a gross appropriation. Connell said they were not changing anything other than where the money is coming from. They are not changing the bottom line and they are not affecting the gross appropriation.

Seymour said she wanted to discuss Joe Wiggett. To the best of her understanding she was told that Joe was planning on retiring later this year. She would like to make the suggestion that they talk to Joe about taking an early retirement and leaving a space available so they can save a couple of people. Seymour said she was sorry but she also wanted to know what would happen if Chuck went back to Moultonborough. Connell said that was not a good statement. Seymour said they should talk about it. Connell said he could tell them where Joe Wiggett is. Connell asked when were they going to lay Joe Wiggett off. Seymour said the first of April. Connell said that was right before we do the first tax bill with nobody trained to do the tax collection. Seymour said it was her understanding that Amy knew how to do the tax collection. Connell said he was sorry but she has experience in tax collection but she has no experience of collecting taxes in Littleton. Connell said his suggestion would be to do that layoff on June 30th. That way you do the adjustment and start to bring Amy up to speed. Connell said they would have to cut her off from the assessing part of it. Connell said she could not get into the programs yet but she could observe how the tax collection process occurs. Seymour asked how different could it be collecting taxes in Whitefield or in Littleton. Connell asked Seymour what experience does Amy have that you know of. Seymour told him that is his job. Connell said he did not know but that she is competent as an Assessing Clerk. Connell said he was strongly suggesting they get through the first billing process. Connell said they could do an arrangement with Joe as a consultant if they needed to. Seymour asked Connell if he had talked to Joe about the possibility of leaving early. Connell said he had told Joe that could be an outcome of this meeting. Connell said they still need the brick wall between assessing and tax collecting. Connell said the assessing could be done through an extended contract with MRI. Connell said he agrees to do it this way but he thinks they are making a serious mistake right before the first tax bills go out. Bolt said he agreed. Boynton said he was only going to be here until Friday and thought they should hold off on making a decision without Mike Gilman being involved. He is going to have three years of being on this board and he should be included in the decision. Seymour said it would take time for him to get up to speed. Connell said it would be $70,000 if Joe Wiggett continued for another 39 weeks. It looks like there would be something in excess of $40,000 of savings. Connell said if he is laid off he would work with the board so that half of his annual salary remains. Connell said that is about $60,000. Bolt said they could shuffle jobs for the tax collector but he did not think they could shuffle the town manager position. Bolt said they would have to get an interim. Connell said there are some alternatives they could employ. Connell said the only person who has the time to do the town manager’s job on the board is Ron Bolt. He would have to step down from the board temporarily and the two remaining selectmen would have to name a replacement for that period of time. Connell said the provision is in the RSA’s. Connell said he had five possibilities. Seymour said one is to name one board member to take on the position. Connell said number two was to contract with MRI. Number three was to invite Jason Hoch back. Number four, Larry Berg has matriculated into an MPA program and has expressed a sincere interest in getting into municipal management. Number five is there could be a retired CEO who has the private sector experience and the wisdom to listen to the staff he has to keep him out of trouble. Seymour said she had a sixth alternative. She had a call a couple of weeks ago from a former town manager and has recently left the job he has been at for the last eleven years. His name is Fred Moody. Seymour was thinking of interim help on an hourly basis. Seymour said she knows they are going to have to deal with whether they need a town manager or not. That will be something they have to discuss over the next year and to vote on at the next Town Meeting.

Paul Smith conveyed how important a Town Manager is to the town and to the employees. The board reviewed Connell’s layoff savings. Bolt said that basically Connell would get half of his severance package. Karen Noyes stated that some of the options Connell suggested would probably not sit well with some people. Seymour suggested they go back to the Town Office budget. If they were to have Joe Wiggett go on July 1st and save $40,000 Connell for $60,000 that would be $100,000 in savings. They would have to offset that to pay for someone to take the interim position. Seymour asked if they should just throw a number out there and then look at the town office budget later. Bolt said he did not think there would be any savings for the Town Manager and they were potentially talking twelve months. Bolt said that if the town votes to do away with the Town Manager form of government then it would not happen until next March. Bolt said that for this budget year they would have to come up with nine months of someone working as an interim.

Connell said that by his leaving it would save the full time and part time position in the office. Seymour said she was worried about cutting the Planning and Zoning position. She was worried about no one being there to send out notices and keep track of the paper work. They would end up spending more in legal fees then they would save which is stupid. Connell said there would be some responses either way that you go. Connell said that Nicole has expressed an interest in increasing her hours and she could balance her time between finance, human resources and land use planning. If you take Joanna out of the office then the boards would have to be responsible to do their own minutes. Seymour said she was not too concerned about minutes but all of the rest of the work. Connell said that if Nicole is laid off Sue knows the job but not to the depth that Nicole knows it. There will have to be adjustments due to the lay offs. Connell said they don’t have fat and they don’t have extra people. They have a job they have to do and legal responsibilities they have to meet.

Connell said that Jackie was asked if she lost one person what would be the effect. Jackie said they could do everything they do now other then the Wednesday night if they cut back to thirty-five hours per week. Seymour said they have been given this goal that they have to reach somehow. She would like to avoid getting rid of more people than they have to get rid of because she does not want to be in a position of bringing people back if we can make some kind of other cuts.

Paul Smith asked what is the procedure for renegotiating loans. Smith referred to the parking spaces behind the diner and asked if they could change that to save some money. Connell said no they had already looked into that.

George Chartier suggested they end all nonbinding contracts to save time and money. Bolt wanted to get back to some closure. The Transfer Station will have one lay off which is a vacant position. Seymour asked what was the savings there. Bolt said it was $31,000. Bolt said that in the PD they are going to save Allaire’s job for this year by moving her salary to the parking meter fund. There is also one patrol officet lay off that is also a vacant position. That will save $47,000. Bolt said they were talking about two lay offs at the FD. That amounts to $81,000 between the two. Three lay offs in the Highway Department and that is about $100,000. At the Town Office they will lay off the Town Manager and the Tax Collector. Saving the Town Office approximately $50,000. Seymour said the question was do they stop at this point and wait to see what happens over the next few months and be prepared to make more cuts later.

George Chartier said the way the lay offs were being done is not in the spirit of the amendment. He asked if they have put it to counsel. He wanted to know that it really is the last hire is the first fire or can that not happen. Connell said that under the collective bargaining agreement it is lay of the land within the classifications. George asked what happens if they don’t follow the lay of the land. Connell said it would be a breach of contract and you would end up giving up a lot more than you would gain through renegotiation. There would be additional legal costs if they don’t honor the contract.

Bolt said that if there was something they could give up such as health benefits that would help us get closer to the goal. Seymour said another thing they still need to think about is that we might have to get rid of the Transfer Station completely. Connell said they could make that decision throughout the year. Seymour said the Transfer Station has a net cost of about $120,000. Connell said the question is will the DES allow you to close the Transfer Station. Seymour said they don’t make every town have a Transfer Station. Bath and Haverhill do not have one. stopped at 2:13 on the tape.

Connell said he could do the lay off noticed today. He could do the letters to the exempt employees today. They could always rescind any part of that. Boynton said they should give it more time before doing this to make sure there are not other avenues. Boynton said it might be that they don’t have to lay off as many people. Seymour told him that if he thought they would not have to lay off so many because they were going to lay off the higher up individuals he was wrong. Boynton said it was still possible. Seymour told him he approved the budget the board presented and then he went and supported the amended budget.

The board and department heads proceeded to have a lengthy discussion regarding the cuts and the amended budget. Joe Mercieri made more cuts to his budget in the hopes of saving one position. His intent is to use the position as a floater to eliminate any overtime in the department. After more adjustments and more discussion the board still had a shortfall of around $180,000. Bolt said they needed a motion to eliminate seven positions and issue seven pink slips. Seymour said it might only be five lay offs if the department heads can find cuts elsewhere in their budgets. Seymour moved to instruct the town manager to issue seven pink slips and direct that the two positions that are now vacant remain vacant. Bolt seconded the motion. Connell said the motion should instruct the town manager to notify seven employees that they are subject to lay offs on March 31st, 2011 with one exception and that is the tax collector on June 30th, 2011. Bolt asked for a vote. Seymour yes, Bolt yes. Boynton said he would vote yes to send the pink slips out. Motion passed 3-0.

Connell asked how they were going to include the non-labor reductions and also encouraged the board to have him send out the letters on the reductions. The letters will go out today and include the affected exempt employees to request a meeting with the BOS to appeal the decision. Seymour said this is not the reduction in work hours this is the 10% reduction in salaries. She feels that the board has not really dealt with this. Boynton asked if it would be fair to suggest a 5% cut instead of the 10%. Connell said his opinion was that the 10% was more fair to the people whose hours are being cut five hours a week. Connell said the notice would state the town manager would reduce every exempt employee’s salary by 10%. Connell said there was one exception; he could not do it to the prosecutor because she is part of the union. Smith said that for the past few years the department heads have not had any increases and they were not current with the other employees. Connell asked the board to let him go forward and that there is the appeal process. Bolt asked if the appeal process was based on an individual basis because in his opinion it would have to be all or nothing. Connell said if there were extenuating circumstances they might have to make a specific decision. Seymour said that she would like to leave this alone for now. Bolt said they would revisit it at a later date. Connell wanted it to appear in the minutes that the board instructed him to leave it alone at this time.

The board then discussed how they would present this at the press release later that afternoon. Seymour listed the budget cuts to Connell for the preparation of the press release. Connell wanted to clarify that at the press conference at 3:00 PM the board will announce the positions but not the people. He said he also has to contact the unions and he asked for the department heads to talk informally with their people.

Connell wanted to bring to the table some corrections that were made to his original product where the reductions in the Parks & Recreation appeared. Connell said the board could not tell them how to do it. It’s up to them. The corrections you received from Karen and Ceil are wrong. You cannot make the Parks & Recreation or the Library go to 35 hours.

Bolt suggested they close the meeting and prepare for the 3:00 PM press conference.
Seymour said that one of the things she wants information on is the possibility of privatizing the transfer station. Connell asked her when she would need the information. Seymour said soon so they have it when they go back to try and find the shortfall. Connell told Bolt that he was not being trite but he hoped that Bolt took a note of that for when he becomes town manager. Bolt said he was not going to be town manager. Connell said it was not a simple call and asking if they were willing to take it over. You have to solicit proposals. Ed Boynton said he did not feel they needed to seal the minutes. Seymour agreed.

Seymour made the motion to come out of non-public session. Boynton seconded the motion. A unanimous roll call vote was taken to come out of nonpublic session. Connell asked if he should summarize what was discussed in nonpublic. Seymour said there was no need because they were not sealing the minutes. Seymour made the motion to adjourn. Boynton seconded the motion. Motion passed 3-0. The meeting adjourned at 12:48 PM.

Respectfully Submitted
Ceil Stubbings

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