Board of Selectmen Meeting Minutes
April 1, 2019
Meeting called to order at 7:00 pm
Roll Call- John Pfeifle, Michael James, Jason Allen, Karen Hambleton, Town Administrator, and Marilyn Gordon, Treasurer were in attendance
Pledge of Allegiance
Appearances:
- Melissa Cloutier, Town Clerk/Tax Collector appeared to request the Select Board appoint Laurie Colburn to the role of Deputy Town Clerk/Tax Collector.
Motion: Jason Allen motioned to appoint Laurie Colburn to the role of Deputy Town Clerk/Tax Collector.
Second: John Pfeifle
Decision: vote 3-0 in favor
- Melissa also presented the Board with an update on the Trustee of the Trust Fund position that had resulted in a four-way tie based upon write-in votes. Bliss Dayton was selected in a random drawing previously but declined the role. Melissa spoke with the other write-in candidates and Tandy Hartford indicated she would be willing to fill the role for a one-year period.
Motion: John Pfeifle motioned to appoint Tandy Hartford to the role of Trustee of the Trust Fund for a one year period.
Second: Michael James
Decision: vote 3-0 in favor
- Brooks McCandlish appeared to discuss the open Timber Monitor role for Bradford. He provided the Board with a summary of responsibilities he felt the role would encompass based upon his experience serving in a similar role in other communities.
Motion: John Pfeifle motioned to appoint Brooks McCandlish to the role of Timber Monitor.
Second: Jason Allen
Decision: vote 3-0 in favor
Public Input:
- Marlene Freyler informed the Board that Terry Knowles, from the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office Charitable Trusts Unit would not be able to attend the April 8th Selectmen’s meeting as previously scheduled and would instead like to meet with the Board on April 29th at 5:30pm. The Select Board agreed to the change in the schedule.
- Sue McKevitt asked the Board to consider restructuring the Selectmen’s meeting hour to 6:00pm to 8:00pm as discussed at the previous meeting. The Board stated they were still discussing the request. Sue also asked about a reported decrease to the Transfer Station budget. This was done during the budget development phase and the budget stands as approved at Town Meeting.
- Steve Hall appeared on behalf of the Highway Department to discuss the process of establishing a Road Committee as outlined the previous week by Jason Allen. Jason and Steve had handpicked members to invite based upon their professional knowledge and experience with road and bridge construction. Andrew Pinard asked why a general request for volunteers hadn’t been conducted. The response focused on the timeliness to get the Committee established and the desire for members who have the appropriate level of expertise to be effective. Michael felt it would be a good idea to solicit volunteers and then select the best members from that response. He requested a notice be placed on the Town website and in the Bridge seeking volunteers. Chris Frey commented that the membership selections should be based upon professional expertise rather than political influence.
- Karen had been able to locate a software program previously utilized for Road evaluations. Michael will meet with Steve at 7:30am on Friday, April 5th, to review the software and data.
Regular Business:
- Account payables and the payroll manifest were approved and signed. John suggested the Selectmen review the invoices prior to the meeting and utilize the meeting time to focus on invoices that they had questions about rather than reviewing each payable item during the meeting as several items are routine.
- Town Hall Update: Michael updated the Board on a discussion he’d had with Nate Kimball to confirm he was still planning to support the septic and landscape work as previously indicated by his “Gift in Kind” donation. Steve asked about the timeframe to begin this work and what decisions had been made regarding the excess rock at the site. Michael outlined a decision should be made in the next week or so. Karen asked about the status of installing the permanent electrical service. Michael will be reaching out to Michele Halsted and the Rural Heritage Connection to review the scope of work and priorities.
- Jason asked about the status of the Granite work. According to the information provided to Karen by Trumbull-Nelson the granite work is expected to take place in May and needs to be completed prior to any backfill activity.
- George Cilley commented on the existing septic conditions, which basically runoff into a cistern. The septic design will need to be resubmitted to the State as the permit has expired for the design previously approved. Sue asked where funding for the septic and landscape would be sourced from. The labor to install the septic was offered as a donation to the project. Any funding needed for parts etc for the septic system would be funded from the 2019 appropriation of $60,000 and the landscape activity would be funded from the previously authorized Town Hall fund.
- Trumbull-Nelson has provided a high-level scope of work that remains to be done from the “Button Up” activity. The Board requested Karen have them provide a more detailed list of activities with costs.
- The Board was asked about the status of rejuvenating a Town Hall Committee. Michael indicated this is still planned and John suggested reaching out the original members to see who may want to still participate. Sue McKevitt suggested the Board use the same process as with the Road Committee, publishing a request for volunteers on the Town website and in the Bridge.
- Andrew Pinard asked whether a list of activity, associated costs and a priority order existed. Michael indicated Trumbull-Nelson would be providing a list which would also show what has been accomplished. Michael is working on a proposed list of activities and priorities and will reach out to the RHC and former committee members for feedback. Andrew would like to see more visibility around this process and wider input. He felt that defined scopes of work and liability agreements need to be in place for future activity. Michael stated he would bring all decisions to the Board and their meetings would provide visibility although not necessarily all the details. Marlene Freyler suggested Michael reach out to Beth Downs as Beth had been very involved in the project previously. Michael stated he would be reaching out to the entire RHC organization.
- Karen shared an update on consulting with Municipal Resources Inc. (MRI) related to hiring a Part Time Fire Chief. Karen did reach out to several other Town Administrators seeking leads on similar companies to obtain competitive consulting bids from. MRI is the dominant company available in New Hampshire and no other recommendations were made beyond comments that indicated the service was costly and the Town could manage the process internally.
- After speaking with MRI one key component they recommended establishing is an interim reporting agreement with the Fire Department as the Warrant which transfers oversight of the Fire Chief role to the Selectmen does not become effective until March of 2020. John would like to setup a meeting with the Fire Department to discuss this and the Board discussed getting input from legal counsel on setting up a reporting agreement. Chris Frey noted this was the reasoning behind the wording amendment raised during Town Meeting that focused on including the Fire Department in the process.
- Andrew commented on perhaps going through the existing process of having the Fire Department conduct the hiring rather than the Select Board and also asked what the details are to expend the per diem funds for the fire fighters. Michael indicated the Board is working on the details of how the per diem will be managed.
- The Selectmen reviewed the Purchase Order/Contract Policy and Michael commented that he felt like it wasn’t always being followed and should likely have some adjustments. The Selectmen will review in detail and follow up with recommendations at the next meeting. Karen will research and share existing policies from other towns to try and identify suggestions and best practices.
- Chris Frey noted that the Police Department should manage all firearm disposals as they determine appropriate. He also commented that some equipment is unique, such as a CASE Loader, and would provide more value as a trade-in rather than selling it at an auction. Michael commented that he would like to see Bradford run its equipment until the end of its useful life and in doing so the equipment would have no value to the department to consider using in trade. John had concerns about running equipment until failure. He felt the replacement of equipment at the end of its useful life may affect productivity and that it would be better to replace equipment before it begins having repeated failures.
- Andrew Pinard would like to see the Town develop an End of Life/Asset Disposal policy and mentioned the availability of sample policy’s on the school’s website. Karen commented that the discussion’s focus on transparency and perception may need to be extended into activity regarding the Town Hall work and that concerns had been raised about Michael’s involvement with the project utilizing his business partner Mike Bauer as an advisor which hasn’t been widely discussed.
- Michael outlined utilizing Mike Bauer as a trusted resource with expertise and that all decisions would be made by the Board and that Mike provide a “gut check” to validate information. A lengthy conversation ensued with the public encouraging transparency into the process of determining priorities and the scope of work to be implemented at the Town Hall. Andrew Pinard ultimately asked whether either of the other Selectmen had any concerns about a conflict of interest with the approach Michael was taking and both John and Jason stated they did not have any concerns. Marlene Freyler asked about the warranty for the heating system that was installed and how that system would incorporate the demands for the 2nd floor. Michael will follow up on the question. She also commented on concerns between the dollar figure she’d heard about to complete Town Hall for of $325,000 versus $1,300,000 provided by Trumbull-Nelson. She felt the lower number didn’t compare to the investment other towns had made doing similar projects and would like to make sure the Town doesn’t end up taking shortcuts that result in greater maintenance demands in the long run.
- The Board signed an Intent to Excavate for Map 7/Lot 26.
- A contract with Cintas for Highway Department uniforms was signed.
- The Board asked Karen to setup a meeting to discuss the Masonic Hall purchase.
- A driveway permit was issued for Map 5/Lot 36-2.
- A renewal contract was signed for the Assessor.
- The Board signed abatement requests as recommended by the Assessor.
- John asked that the Board be careful with the scope of the weekly agenda to keep the meetings to a respectful timeframe.
- Additional policy reviews were deferred to a future meeting.
- Minutes from the March 25th meeting were reviewed.
Motion: John Pfeifle motioned to accept the minutes.
Second: Michael James
Decision: vote 3-0 in favor
The Board adjourned to Non-Public session per RSA 91-A:3II(a) & (l) Personnel reviews and Legal discussion at 9:15pm.
Adjourn to Public Session at 9:59 pm
Motion: John Pfeifle motion to adjourn at 10:00 pm.
Second: Michael James
Decision: vote 3-0 in favor
The next Selectmen’s meeting will be held on Monday April 8th, 2019 at the Bradford Area Community Center.
Minutes submitted by Laurie Colburn, Recording Secretary