TOWN OF BRADFORD
SELECTMEN’S MEETING
WITH BACC
OCTOBER 19, 2010
4:00PM
Call to Order and Roll Call:
Peter Fenton, Chair, Jack Meaney, Harry Wright, Cheryl Behr, Administrator, Marilyn Gordon, Treasurer and Marge Cilley, Secretary were present.
Attending the meeting which was held at the Community Center at 4:00pm was Sue McKevitt, Citizen, Tom Wilkins, Citizen and Friend of Community Center, Ona Ruchti, BACC, John Bruss, BACC, Dawn Rich, BACC, Kate Dobrowski, BACC, Ellen Brownson, LSRVNA/BACC Advisory, Karen Hambleton, Kearsarge Area Preschool, Bruce Edwards, BACC Governance Board, Debbie Flinkstrom, Parks & Rec, Margaret Raymond, Parks & Rec Fred Hubley, Citizen, Edythe Craig, Volunteer, Jim Valiquet, Police Chief.
John Bruss, Governance Board Chair:
John Bruss, Chair colored a plan and displayed it to the attendee’s showing the use per room, and explained what each color represented from the common areas, which he explained every building needs to be a building. This display also showed the Pre-school area as well as the CAP Senior room and kitchen. Downstairs was mentioned as the Director’s office, Health and Human Services office, the other CAP office and the other two rooms that contain computers and gaming room. Then there is one more room across the hall for use. John Bruss advised he had heard and questioned the building only being used 30% of the time. Cheryl Behr, Administrator had a breakdown, showing actual usage, which she advised was from information she was given from the Director. This included activities in each room from 7:00am to 7:00pm five days per week, 12 hours a day for 52 weeks per year. Cheryl Behr, Administrator stated she did not include the Pre School or the CAP room as they are used nearly full time, with the exception of the CAP room being used 6.5 hours a day, so there are extra hours available there. No weekend activities were taken into account, per Cheryl Behr.
John Bruss advised the Senior Room is scheduled for 1999 hours and the adjoining kitchen is used a lot. The two rooms downstairs are used 344 for one and 642 for the other. John Bruss gave Cheryl Behr, Administrator a spreadsheet of breakdown of how he had calculated the percentage of usage for the Community Center, which showed a larger percent. The Health and Human Service Room is used for Fuel Assistance and was not calculated in per John Bruss. The Youth room is used more in the summer. Much discussion and comments for ideas of how to rent more rooms ensued.
Peter Fenton, Selectmen advised if the rooms were occupied more, then they would not persue trying to find more use for the unoccupied rooms. Based on information that was presented, they felt the rooms downstairs were not getting the use they might have. Peter reiterated that they are not interested in closing the Community Center and feels the upstairs, the pre-school and the senior room are used quite efficiently.
Tom Wilkins questioned that if the two rooms were used more downstairs do they still want a Director, a Community Center? Peter Fenton, Selectmen advised they definitely do want the Community Center, and also feel that the Director could go back to a part time basis like was done before. It was stated that the Community Center and Parks and Rec departments were joined into one position by a vote of the Town, and questioned if the Selectmen have the authority to un-join the position, or does it have to go back to a vote of the town? Cheryl Behr, Administrator advised they have talked with Town Council, and it is not required to go before the voters. Cheryl Behr, Administrator advised the Board of Selectmen are the hiring and firing authorities of the town, and they can staff it as they wish within the budget and do not have to go to town meeting. Peter Fenton, Selectman advised it is not an easy task to reduce someone’s hours from full time to part time, but it is the Selectmen’s decision. Peter Fenton also advised that the position in question is not a full time Community Center position as it also includes Parks and Rec. It is the intent to remove the Parks and Rec portion of the position, and the Selectmen still need to talk with Parks and Rec about the decision. In reply to a question from Sue McKevitt, Peter Fenton, Selectmen advised you cannot discuss a position with a group prior to the person holding that position has been notified of a change.
Much discussion ensued regarding the way in which the decision was made.
It was stated that Kate Dobrowski, Director was invited to a Non-public Selectmen’s meeting and was not able to come, nor did she make another appointment with them.
Kate also advised that the Selectmen are apparently looking at their sheet which indicates the Community Center is used only 30% and she was never consulted about this, and anyone knows you can manipulate numbers however to make them say what you want.
Kate questioned when did anyone ever come to her or the Governance Board to discuss these numbers? Peter Fenton, Selectmen advised she had not come to that non-public meeting she was asked to attend and Cheryl Behr, Administrator stated that Kate made a public statement at the Budget Committee meeting prior to discussing the situation with the Selectmen. It was suggested that Parks and Rec could have been invited to a Non-Public session to discuss the situation prior to the decision. Also discussed was the part Robert Manchester had in his input, which was stated it was all done at a public meeting.
John Bruss advised we have a building that has approximately 3,000 hours per year and right now, if the Director’s hours went to 20 hours, then the Community Center would be open approximately 2000 hours with no one in the building to see what is going on. It was pointed out that the Director is there about 2/3 of the time now, the other 1/3 is covered sometimes by Bruce Edwards, BACC Governance Board, Edythe Craig, volunteer and other volunteers. Originally, the hours were divided by the Director of the Community Center having 20 hours and Parks and Rec15 hours, making a total of 35 hours per week, and that is how the Selectmen divided it back.
The original Grant does require information containing documentation of use, nature and number of hours and supporting documents are lacking.
Dawn Rich advised there used to be birthday parties, receptions, showers etc held there, but then the problem of insurance arose, on anything that came into the building. Bob Stewart used to go over applications whether it was feasible or not. Unfortunately, we lost Bob, and as a result, there is no more like activities to bring in additional revenue. Many things cannot be accounted for, but PR is important to have in the building, and coverage should be more than 20 hours per week, and there must be a way we can get a full time director.
Mr. Wilkins questioned if they could get together and backtrack with all the committees getting together and reevaluate. It seems that decisions have been made when everyone has not been brought into the situation. Peter Fenton, Chair advised he would be willing to check this out, but is not sure if the Selectmen would be allowed to do that if they are discussing personnel. They are talking about the total of each of the committee’s involved getting together.
Cheryl Behr, Administrator advised people cannot fund raise to pay for salaries. Fund raising should be done for improvements that can be seen, however, we are now at a position where Parks & Rec have four major projects a year, and a Community Center that is used upstairs with CAP who comes in around 8:00am, the pre-school comes in around 7:00am and Kate gets in around 9:00am which means they are there for a couple of hours by themselves. Edythe Craig volunteers for three hours a day, three times a week. If Parks and Rec are taken out of there as a regular 15 hour a week job, and allow them to go back to volunteers or part time seasonal it does not leave enough hours here for full time work. Cheryl Behr, Administrator also advised Robert Manchester stated he has problems with CAP which is being identified and reviewed at this time.
Reports on the above should be readily available for the Selectmen’s office. Up until this year, Robert Stewart was instrumental with all the leases, and Kate was also involved.
Peter Fenton, Chair reiterated the Selectmen are very concerned with this, and if the public would like, they will check with Town Council and see if the information can be discussed with the Committees involved. John Bruss, Chair advised as the Governance Board they should be made aware of things that are happening. Cheryl Behr, Administrator advised that at a point a few years ago, the Selectmen agreed they are the hiring and firing authority in town, and everyone was notified that the Community Center’s Director position is controlled by the Selectmen. This is a personnel matter, and does come before the Selectmen. Cheryl Behr, Administrator also advised she did not make up the numbers she used, also that she needs to know what is happening, as the only way we can help this place run continually is if we can do it efficiently.
It was discussed when Kate Dobrowski, Community Center Director was at a meeting when the Selectmen advised they were reviewing the use of the building and the staffing.
This has been discussed since August.
Karen Hambleton, Kearsarge Pre School questioned why she was not contacted regarding the problems prior to receiving the letter. Cheryl Behr, Administrator advised there is going to be another letter going out stating they will be accepting proposals at the first of the year. The process is trying to be followed that was set up in the contract. It is going to send out an RFP (Request for Proposal) later, and a three year block is being considered as a possibility. Peter Fenton, Chair advised the town is looking for getting more income from this building. Karen questioned then why not go to the people that are currently there first? The reply is that the Selectmen have been approached by two others, and the existing pre school has just as much opportunity to speak to the Selectmen as they do.
Fred Hubley brought attention to Page 3 of the Selectmen’s October 5, 2010 minutes when he was discussing the rental space of the Pre School and Jack Meaney stated the rents had never been increased. Fred advised he would like those minutes to be changed, not in the minutes, but the fact. The Kearsarge Area Pre-School has had a contract for a number of years with the Town of Bradford, and the rent has increased 40% over the past three years from $3,000 in 2008 to $3600.00 in 2009 and $4200 in 2010. Fred also stated that he can understand why the town is doing what they are doing, commends them for trying to find ways to raise more money however does feel the pre-school has served the town well, and there have been no problems.
Question was asked by Chief Valiquet if the RFP called for any priorities given to non-profit organizations, to which the reply was, not at this time. Chief Valiquet asked if this could be requested? He stated that as a member of the Bradford Area Community Board he felt it is consistent with the program and Community Center at heart and we would support non-profit as opposed to private enterprise. To rent out public places to a private enterprise appears to be counterproductive. It would certainly take away the mystique that the Community Center currently enjoys. The Community Center enjoys a good reputation serving the entire area. James Valiquet, Police Chief advised he would like to see some priority in the RFP given to non-profit, not in just the pre-school, but Boy Scouts which he’d rather see there than Bruss Construction. Point taken with laughs…..
If we do not take this into consideration, we might just as well shut down the Community Center, and rent out space, and make it commercial.
Cheryl Behr, Administrator advised when the Community Center first opened, it was supporting a kindergarten which became later in the State of New Hampshire part of the public school system. At that time, there was a lot of question whether or not the pre-school fell under the grandfather charter, I’m not talking about the non-profit charter, the arrangement with the town for the space and the kindergarten. And, the Selectmen who were here at the time decided it would stay as a pre-school operating in the building.
Kate Dobrowski, Director questioned just what do the Selectmen want to charge for renting out the rooms. She stated she had been doing the best she can under what she was advised from the previous Director’s recommendations four years ago. Kate also advised she has all the records and money that has come in and did not appreciate the comment about not knowing where the money is going. Cheryl Behr, Administrator advised she stated they do not have a lot of records. Kate stated that it would have been nice beforehand to know what they want to do with the rooms that are not being used much, and I could have been working on it. In reply to a question about income, Cheryl Behr, Administrator advised the current budget is $69,000 of which $11,000 is paid for.
Cheryl Behr, Administrator has received a sheet with rental rates, however what is collected do not match. It was stated that obviously the way the process has worked has caused some consternation, and to get away from it, back up and talk the way you have been talking today, get the information that you need to have to make a really well informed decision.
Cheryl Behr, Administrator advised the Budgeting process begins in mid September, and this is all part of how this comes together. The Selectmen reviewing what the expenses are here, what the budgets are going to be. The Budget Committee has come through requesting consideration of a 5% decrease in your budget. The Selectmen are checking to see if we are doing things efficiently. Perhaps there needs to be a revaluation of how the scheduling is done. Cheryl also advised the intention of the Selectmen was to give the Director as much advanced notice as possible. The job is full time until the end of the year, going on as it should be, responsibilities the same as they were, show up number of days, number of hours you are supposed to be here, do the tasks you are supposed to be doing. This is not your performance we are talking about we are talking about the requirements of the Community Center, and had we waited until December, it would have been terribly unfair to the Director.
Edythe Craig advised this is a Bradford Area Community Center and questioned if any help has been requested from area towns that use the facility. Edythe advised the towns of Contoocook, Henniker, Sutton, Newbury, and Warner use this facility. Jack Meaney stated that some money does come from CAP, from the people from Warner, and that is being looked into further.
Chief Valiquet suggested more communication and greater accountability is needed, which has been lacking. More forms documenting who is coming in, what is being charged and even breaking it down to peak hours/non peak hours, more advertising to reach out for other programs to promote a more wholesome community.
It was suggested a Systems Manager may be needed to which Cheryl Behr, Administrator advised the Town is operated without a Systems Manager. Cheryl Behr, Administrator also advised that CAP run programs do collect fees from attendees and it goes to them to help off-set the rent they pay, which is natural. However, CAP was spoken to by the Selectmen to approach the other towns for assistance and CAP did not like that idea at all.
Again, Cheryl Behr, Administrator advised information could be set up on a spread sheet, which is not difficult to do.
Emergency Management involves basically contiguous towns, using the facility.
Harry Wright suggested that if a room is used in the am then perhaps another function could be used in the afternoon, dovetailing the usage. Also a contract for more than a year sounds feasible as to bid again next year is extremely difficult for a business. Rather than a formal proposal, a statement of what do you think works may be feasible. Also, Harry Wright pointed out that Fred Hubley brought up non-profit for the Pre-School at a Selectmen’s meeting and it should be a considering factor also.
Peter Fenton, Chair thanked the BACC for coming in and all their input, and advised they hope they can work something out, and will be in touch with them as soon as they have contacted the Town Attorney.
Bruce Edwards will set up another meeting with the Selectmen.
Meeting Adjourned at 5:35pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Marjorie R. Cilley
Secretary