Select Board 1-17-08

Weathersfield Select Board Minutes January 17, 2008 Present:        Henry C. Cobb             Daniel Boyer             Patricia Daniels             Norman John Arrison Others Present:    Larry Melen, Town Manager             Lisa Sargent, Recording Secretary Edith Stillson             Chief Spaulding             Deb Ostrum, SAPA TV             Julia Lloyd Wright, Eagle Times             Jeff Locke             Tammy Locke             Wes Hazeltine, Road Superintendent             Chief Brown 1. Call to Order by Chairperson: Mr. Cobb called the meeting of the Weathersfield Select Board to order at 7:02 p.m. at Martin Memorial Hall.     Mr. Melen noted the Upper Falls Road covered bridge should be open to traffic at the end of next week.   2.  Review Minutes from Previous Meeting(s): Mr. Boyer made the motion to approve the minutes dated December 27, 2007, Mr. Arrison seconded the motion.  Corrections were noted.  Motion passed 3 – 0 with one abstention.     Mr. Arrison made the motion to approve the minutes dated January 3, 2008; Mrs. Daniels seconded the motion.  Corrections were noted.  Motion carried unanimously. 3.  Comments from Citizens: Mr. Locke asked how the feasibility study at the Elementary School was coming.  Mr. Cobb said we did not have any response from the first round of request for proposals so we are mailing them again (certified mail).       Chief Spaulding said Engine 2 is in the shop and the “damage” is greater than originally thought.  He showed the Board a piece of steel that was corroded.  He said there are also an electrical problem and possibly a transmission problem.   Chief Spaulding said he has looked at the warranty again and feels the body corrosion should be covered under the ten-year warranty that came with the truck.  Mr. Cobb asked Mr. Melen to have town counsel review the warranty.   Mr. Hazeltine said someone could take the truck to Rockingham to have them take a read on the transmission.   Mr. Arrison made a motion authorizing to pay Dingy Machine a sum not to exceed $1,000 for repair of the wiring on Engine 2, Mr. Boyer seconded the motion.  Chief Spaulding said there is a problem with one of the pumps leaking too, should they look at that at the same time.  Mr. Cobb asked Chief Spaulding to come back to the Board next week with an estimate of repairs.  Motion carried unanimously. 4.  Fire Commission:     A.  Emergency Dispatch Communications Services Agreement: Mr. Boyer said the Fire Commission is kind of waiting for the Repeater Association’s decision.  There was discussion on the fee Town of Hartford will charge us, there was a difference of opinions as to if it was on a per call basis.  Mr. Cobb asked when we needed to sign the contract agreement.  Mr. Melen said they would need sixty days to set up technology so this should be signed at one of the March meetings.       B.  Vermont 2008 Rapid Response Plan: Mr. Melen said this is the annual notice and asked the Board to review it for accuracy. Moved to #8 8.  New Business A. Police Crime Reports, Law Enforcement Services (committee formation), Volunteers: Mr. Cobb said he had asked Mr. Melen to provide statistics on crime over the last few years.  Chief Brown said Marty Morse has pulled Weathersfield Police statistics together but the State Police keep their own statistics.  Mr. Cobb said looking at what has been provided the last three years have been pretty consistent – 2005 604 incidents, 2006 633 incidents and 2007 622 incidents.  Mr. Cobb noted these are incidents not crime.   Mr. Cobb said he thinks we need to go back 8 to 10 years and we need the same time frame from the State Police.   There was discussion about the meeting that the State Police attended and why they indicated that crime has increased substantially in Weathersfield.  Chief Brown said that he thought the State Police were coming to meet with the Board because they no longer are going to provide coverage for Weathersfield due to their budget but it seemed like they were here to say there is too much crime and they don’t have enough time to cover our town.   After discussion Mr. Boyer made the motion to set up the study committee to comprise of one Select Board member, one School Board member, one citizen, Chief Brown and two representatives from the State Police.  Mr. Arrison seconded the motion, which passed without dissent.    Mr. Boyer made the motion to appoint Tom Heiser as the citizen representative to the police study committee.  Mrs. Daniels seconded the motion, which passed without dissent. Mr. Boyer made the motion that the police study committee should be chaired by the member of the Select Board that is on the committee.  Mrs. Daniels seconded the motion, which passed without dissent. Mr. Boyer made the motion to nominate Henry C. Cobb as the Select Board representative to the police study committee.  Mr. Arrison seconded the motion which passed 3 – 0 with one abstention. Mrs. Locke said she saw an article in the paper that indicated we were replacing a police cruiser and asked where the money was coming from.  Mr. Cobb said one cruiser is unsafe and a replacement vehicle will be an article on the Warning.  Mrs. Daniels said the newspaper article said it was for $45,000, it is really for $28,000.   Mr. Cobb told the Select Board at the first meeting of the Police Study Committee he would try and get a definition of the problem, a time line and review VIBRS.  He asked Mr. Melen to schedule it for Tuesday, January 22, 2008.   Back to #5 5.  Monthly Reports A. Departments Constable: Report submitted Highway: Mr. Hazeltine said he talked with the grader sales representative from CAT, Jeff Slade, and told him he is concerned with getting the new grader delivered during mud season and the operator not having time to get used to the new controls.  He was told, if needed, CAT would give us an older model to use in addition to the new one during mud season.  He said the new grader should be in the end of February.   Mrs. Daniels asked the status of the 2003 truck, Mr. Hazeltine said it is back together.   Mr. Cobb asked how our sand was holding out, Mr. Hazeltine said we’ll have to watch the next three weeks, we may need more.   Land Use: Report submitted Police: Report submitted Municipal Assessing Property Service, LLC: Report submitted.  Mr. Melen said they asked to put the whole appraisal on the web site, he declined their proposal.  Mr. Melen said this provides too much information but he said we would be mailing a notice to all citizens that show everyone’s appraisal.   B. Financial General Fund: Mr. Melen said we are in good shape, he said at this time the new budget shows an increase of .8%. Highway Fund: Mr. Melen said this shows an extra expenditure for the grader.  He said the new budget shows a 5.46% increase at this time basically due to fuel prices. Solid Waste Fund: Mr. Melen said we are in good shape and the new budget shows an increase 1.25% at this time.   6.  Highway     A.  Murray Flats Bridge Replacement: Mr. Melen said Daniels Construction is going to give us a proposal and he is still trying to get a third one.  (Miller Construction already gave one). Mr. Arrison recommended contacting BUR from Claremont.  Mr. Cobb asked if he has heard any more on responsibility, Mr. Melen said no.  Mr. Cobb asked if we could get the repairs done, Mr. Melen said yes but the question is how much reimbursement we will get.        B.  Vermont Agency of Transportation     2008 Certificate of Highway Mileage: Mr. Arrison made the motion to sign the Certificate of Highway Mileage year ending February 10, 2008.  Mrs. Daniels seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.     Class II Grant Reimbursement: Mr. Melen said we qualified for $53,396.66 for Stoughton Pond Road. Mr. Arrison made the motion to sign the final claim for reimbursement for Class II roadway reimbursement.  Mr. Boyer seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. 7.  Old Business     A.  Town Energy Audit, Peak Energy Solutions: Mr. Arrison recommended the Energy Coordinator, the Highway Superintendent, the Town Manager, the Martin Memorial Hall Trustee’s and himself (as a Select Board member) meet to discuss the energy audit.  Mr. Melen said there was some money in the budget to do some maintenance to the building.     B.  Calendar Years 2007 – 2008 Priorities Schedule, Self-Evaluation: Mr. Cobb said our strategic plan is on our web site but he has not heard any comments about it.  He said the self-evaluation should have been done a few months ago.   Mr. Boyer said the Fire Commission is working on the policy agreement between the town and fire departments.  He said they are also working a five-year plan for equipment.  Mr. Cobb asked what about ISO rating, Mr. Boyer said he talked to Mike (Thomas) and he was going to get him more information on this.   Mr. Cobb asked Mr. Melen how the personnel policy was coming.  Mr. Melen said he has a model from VLCT and is about _ way through.  Mr. Melen said he would start getting pieces to the Board to review. Mr. Cobb asked about developing a standard operating procedure for the Police Department.  Chief Brown said he is working on one with Mrs. Morse (and the Town of Norwich).   Mr. Cobb said he had great visions and thinks this was worth the effort.  Mrs. Daniels said she thinks this is an excellent idea and we should continue with it. 8.  Already discussed 9.  Ordinances and Polices     A. Solid Waste Fee Assessment Policy: The consensus of the Board was to sign the policy, Mr. Melen will have it for the Board to sign at the next meeting. 10.  Sign Treasurer’s Warrants: Mr. Arrison made the motion to approve the Treasurer Warrants as follows:       General Fund Payroll                    $14,858.65     General Fund Operating Expense                $23,236.94     Highway Fund Payroll                    $19,676.16     Highway Fund Operating Expense                $27,634.69     Solid Waste Management Fund Payroll            $  3,278.63     Solid Waste Management Fund Operating Expense    $  2,505.34     Reserves                            $  6,896.46     Library                            $    360.05 Mrs. Daniels seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. 11.  Next meeting’s Agenda Items: Next meeting is a budget meeting and a report on AVFD Engine 2.  Mr. Melen said we also have to meet on the Rockingham Area Land Trust Resolution.  The next regular meeting we’ll discuss Murray Flats, NIMS, personnel manual, rapid response plan and solid waste fee policy.   12.  Executive Session: Mr. Arrison made the motion to go into Executive Session regarding litigation and personnel.  Mr. Boyer seconded the motion, which passed without dissent. 13.   Adjourn: Mr. Arrison made the motion to adjourn.  Mr. Boyer seconded the motion, which passed without dissent.  The Select Board meeting was adjourned at 10:07 p.m.                                 Respectfully Submitted,                                 Lisa Sargent   Approved by the Weathersfield Select Board on February 7, 2008                                 _________________                                 Daniel Boyer                                 _________________                                 Henry C. Cobb                                 _________________                                 Patricia Daniels                                 __________________                                 Norman John Arrison      Appendix         Name of chairpersons of various committees         Internet policy         Procedure on utility easements         Ancient roads (continue working on)         Sign posting policy         Use of Perkinsville Elementary School         Capital asset inventory         No Parking Signs by Thomas residence         No Parking signs on Route 131 near exit 8 and Tenney Hill         Review and increase of land use fees Martin Memorial Hall/Town Office Building (where one ends and the other begins) 02/27/07    New Map for Town Report 03/08/07    Procedure for handling of complaints and citizen inquiries 05/03/07    Emergency communication 05/03/07    Radio Station designation for emergencies 08/16/07    large gathering permit 08/16/07    Welch – National Historic covered bridge grant 09/06/07    Annual SWMF – waive? 09/06/07    ROW for underground utilities 10/18/07    Economic Depreciation Factors from AMPTA 11/01/07    Designation of Emergency Shelter and Power Supply 12/06/07     Valley Fiber Service 12/20/07    Dispatch Contract    Â