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Town of AmherstBoard of SelectmenAugust 28, 2006
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Chairman Bruce Bowler called the meeting to order at 7:04 p.m. Selectmen present: George Infanti, Thomas Grella, Reed Panasiti and Jay Dinkel. Also present Town Administrator Gary MacGuire and Executive Assistant Sharon Frydlo.
There were no comments or questions raised by the audience.
Present from Ways & Means were Neal Foley, Chairman, Robin Warren and new Alternate Shelly Stamma.
Mrs. Stout gave the Board a quick overview of her Department that is staffed by herself and a part time Deputy whose major time was spent in the Assessing Office. The last tax billing cycle was 96% collected, which was excellent. She was seeing an increase in bankruptcy filings and foreclosure notices that could affect their collection in the future. She continues to be the central depository for the entire Town. She received an inquiry from Barbara Robinson of DRA about their deposit policy who was impressed with it. Relative to her budget, she did not foresee any increases. There were positive changes - one was the Town Hall renovations that were being enjoyed by the employees and residents and that they have a building to be proud of. Secondly, was the appointment of Mr. MacGuire as Town Administrator who values and appreciates the employees and their capabilities.
In answer to questions relative to the re-valuation, Mrs. Stout told the Selectmen that they will have a great deal of explaining to do because of the increases if everyone falls within the average curve. If she was not out straight with collecting, she will try to answer questions and if busy she will refer people to the Assessing Office. Being the central depository works well with their schedule it was a good double check and she did not see it as a problem. Most people are agreeable to the policy which was approved by the Auditors.
Mr. Bowler announced that this item was moved up on the agenda from 8:30 p.m. Mrs. Stout advised that she had talked to Mr. Dinkel about this and the Board was interested in a basic review and placing something in the “Amherst Quarterly”. Mr. Dinkel explained they had decided to hold off putting something on the Elderly Exemptions until the next publication – not the one they were working on. Mrs. Stout elaborated that taxpayers could not apply for exemptions until they filled out the 2006 tax returns. Mr. Bowler asked about comparisons of surrounding towns. She spoke briefly about the criteria and handed out a summary sheet containing comparative information from Milford, Hollis, Merrimack and the State Minimum. The memo she prepared contained information on elderly exemptions by age, exemption amount and annual tax reduction along with the qualifications. She advised these numbers were the increased new exemptions recently passed by Town Meeting.
Mrs. Stout briefly spoke about the Elderly & Disabled Tax Deferrals and explained she had checked with Mrs. Frydlo and everything has been paid off and there was nothing outstanding on these types of liens.
On the State level, there is a low and moderate income homeowners property tax relief, and she had many people apply for it.
In response to Mr. Panasiti’s inquiry on exemptions, Mrs. Stout advised any adjustments on exemptions had to be voted on and they can increase asset or income levels. Mr. Dinkel pointed out the last time the Town made this change was at the last re-valuation. Mrs. Stout added that the next change may be four to five years away. Mr. Bowler commented that Mrs. Stout had an inquiry on exemptions for the disabled. Presently the Town does not have this and he suggested that research be done on what other towns in the area are doing. Mrs. Stout will put some numbers together.
Mrs. Demers advised her Department handles, auto registrations, marriage licenses, dog licenses, parking fines, dog fines and voting registrations. One of her goals is to have new chairs for her office and the old ones replaced. Her staff consists of two part time employees Linda Rossi and Lavern Fucci, who became part time in July. Once the Deputies were trained, they will begin online registration and dog licensing. This was supposed to be done in July, but she needed the Deputies trained before going online with the State - when online, the Town will receive agent’s fees. She mentioned current fuel charges as they related to new vehicles being purchased and was similar to the same thing that happened in 1991. She also talked briefly about State voter registrations.
Mr. Dinkel asked if online registration was separate from e-reg and hoped it could be accessed soon. Mrs. Demers explained the consumer could still go online and do renewals – the cost would be between $1.50 to $1.85. She did not know if E-Reg would be easier than mail on her end. Relative to the question of how much the additional fees might be, Mrs. Demers indicated it was hard to say – they will be doing conservation and vanity plates and her guess might be $15-20,000.
Mr. Tiedemann told the Board it was his opinion that they were seeing a fundamental change in the way land is being subdivided. This type of thinking can be beneficial to the Town and were seeing less children in the school systems. The average cost of homes is skyrocketing. Things were happening along Route 101A due to Lowe’s which was drawing people into the area. Relative to the Master Plan, the Planning Board received two bids one for $100,000, the other $130,000. In his budget and warrant article, they only have $50,000. He talked about additional funds being budgeted in the upcoming budget process. He said having Heather Seitz has worked out well and much better than anticipated when they wrote the job specifications and she will do extremely well in the coming years.
The Board and Mr. Tiedemann discussed briefly the 2006 Mid-Year Permit Analysis compared to 2005 for the same period. Relative to the Planning Board’s meeting on August 30, 2006, he explained it was called to discuss how they were going to handle the two finalists for the Master Plan. Mr. Dinkel did not think they were actually hiring a $100,000 firm this quickly and remembered a 3-4 year plan to get to this number. Mr. Tiedemann believed he was correct and the planning process was for several years. No one said it was going to cost $100,000 – the two proposals were about $40,000 apart and were similar in many ways. The Board has to look at them very carefully – one is from Massachusetts and the other Southern New Hampshire. The process was sent out to four firms and one proposal was from a firm that will buy information from NRPC who couldn’t take part in this process. Regarding the timeframe, Mr. Tiedemann informed the Board that one of the two firms would be chosen by early October. When selecting the firm, they will have to let them know how much money the Town has available and if the money does not come in, they will not go forward. From what he has heard, a Master Plan can take anywhere from nine months to two years to finalize because they need to get townspeople input.
Mr. Dinkel asked that since they were starting to look at warrant articles and ordinances, was this an appropriate time to put a new sign ordinance together. Mr. Tiedemann advised he has reviewed it, put together some ideas and will present them to the Planning Board. Mr. Bowler requested a copy be given to the Selectmen for their “read file”. Mr. Panasiti echoed Mr. Tiedemann’s comments on Mrs. Seitz and has seen her in action on the Stormwater II Committee.
Mr. Panasiti asked about the landscaping around Lowe’s – Mr. Tiedemann explained it was part of the site plan review regulations and it was quite detailed. There was no plan to put plantings in the median strip because 101A was a State road and was under their jurisdiction. He also briefly spoke about the Lowe’s complex and the status to date. Mr. Bowler asked about the part time clerical position in order to utilize Mrs. Seitz’s expertise more and did he have any potential costs in the budget. Mr. MacGuire advised this was a bit premature – three of them had talked about this and the details of reallocation of money and resources will be ironed out soon and they will discuss the matter in the near future. The employee is seeking certifications from the State. Mr. Bowler supported this measure and felt keeping an engineer in-house, rather than doing clerical work, should be done.
Emergency Medical Services - Brian Gleason
Mr. Gleason told the Board that two weeks from that night he will be celebrating six years with the Town and spoke of the wonderful group of folks that makes the Department great. The ambulance division has had 700 responses between Amherst and Mont Vernon during the 05-06 fiscal year compared to six years ago when they responded to 450 calls. The needs of the Department continue to rise. Mr. Gleason announced that the on-duty crew of Scott Smith, Dave Shaughnessy, Rick Istvan, Kevin Maier and Greg Castillo had a cardiac arrest call that day and saved the patient. They were working with the Highway Department to make sure they have accurate data on fuel costs. A request for a cost of living increase for his folks may be in the form of a warrant article. There is a change in the industry and six years ago they paid the volunteers an annual stipend. EMT’s are currently paid $7.82 per hour and Paramedics $11.15 per hour and are $2.00-3.00 less than what surrounding towns are paying. He would like to work with the Town Administrator in his taking an objective look to match the current rates to keep his medics in Amherst and he would like to educate the public through a warrant article.
Mr. Gleason advised that within the next few months they will be field testing a database management system similar to what the Police Department uses on IMC. He briefly described what this computer system dispatching can give to the Town while decreasing the amount of air time communications. He mentioned that Americore places volunteers in the workplace through State and Federal funded monies. Both he and the Fire Chief were seeking a one year full time employee who would recruit people for each department and they were anxiously awaiting to hear a response to their application.
Mr. Infanti commended Mr. Gleason for the great job he was doing. In answer to Board questions, Mr. Gleason reported he had 35 members and did not anticipate needing to hire more. He had enough folks on staff but not enough to assist on weekends. Weekends were becoming their busiest times and many cannot make the commitment for this time. They have folks permanently assigned for weekends and this is one area they want to take a proactive approach to. Mr. Gleason talked more about Americore and what he and the Fire Chief envisioned this person could do, if they received the grant and the cost to the Town. Relative to the COLA, he told Mr. Panasiti the Board establishes this and is passed onto the employees. He was looking at a warrant article to make current COLA adjustments for his Department.
He told Mr. Bowler that the wages will be on the same scale for part time, EMT’s or Paramedics. He talked about the hours various folks work and indicated that this has changed their response time to almost immediately. Mr. Gleason explained to Mr. Panasiti that his budget will be based on 650 calls per year. In the past, they used 525 calls and they erred on the side of being conservative. This current budget they set the calls at 625. He told Mr. Bowler that $4000 had been included in the fiscal year budget beginning July 1 for a second part time person for him. He mentioned that if they receive the grant for $6000, the additional money would come from this line item for a person to recruit members for both EMS and Fire.
Regarding the proposed software, it would cost approximately $7000. Mr. Foley remarked he liked the idea of a warrant article and asked if they were prepared if it failed. Mr. Gleason indicated he was as well as his folks. Pertaining to revenues, Mr. Gleason advised they collected close to $240-250,000 and met their projected goals. They see many patients who they fix and stabilize so they can stay at home, but do not receive any fees from the insurance company because the patient is not taken to the hospital. The collection rate from the insurance company is 85% with 15% being tied up in litigation. There are also people traveling through New Hampshire and they can’t track transients. The ambulance billing agency charges the Town 6.5% on what they collect. Mr. Gleason told Mr. Foley that he did not know if interest was charged for a bill that was three years old, but will look into it.
Emergency Communications – Brian Gleason
Mr. Gleason told the Selectmen this was the first time he was before them to give the State of the Emergency Communications Department and thanked John DeSilva who managed the Communications Center before him. He had taken on the oversight of the Center in April and was working in conjunction with the other Departments involved. In his opinion, as well as other Department Heads, they met the goal set out for enhancing the interoperability of Police, Fire, EMS and DPW to meet the needs of Amherst. Staff consists of 3 full time dispatchers, 1 full time supervisor and three part time dispatchers. There is a full time vacancy and part time vacancy – 71 applications had been received for these two positions. The word is out that the Center is “first rate”, their mission is being met and there is a harmonious working relationship between dispatchers. With the installation of the Voter System at the South Station, it will enhance communications in the south end of Town. He spoke about utilizing the Center within the Emergency Management operations and were working on a plan for future floods, etc. that was unique and they couldn’t do it without the staff they have. Within the next several weeks they will announce who will be in these new positions. The first round was finalized down to 15 people and by Labor Day they will have narrowed them down further.
Mr. Infanti commented that what they gave them two years ago was a staff that the Department Heads and Town should be proud of – “they do us proud and do a great job”. Mr. Gleason advised that in addition to Fire and EMS on the Voter upgrade, they will see that DPW has received a separate frequency. After the new equipment comes in, they will be able to operate on their own frequency – this is the final piece of the interoperability and has happened from some of the grants they received and working together within the Departments.
Mr. Bowler echoed Mr. Infanti’s comments – they are a very professional group and he was glad he supported the Center. In response to his question, Mr. MacGuire and Mr. Gleason explained that Bruce Berry has several mobile radios and they were working towards a solution with a little less money they thought they had. This will be a big plus, communication-wise, for DPW employees working outside their vehicles.
Fire – John DeSilva
Chief DeSilva reported the Department consists of 35 firefighters, 2 full time positions and 1 part time assistant. They responded to 550 incidents. He presented the Board with a pie chart graph showing the past three years from January 1 thru June 30. The chart was broken down into the following categories: Fire, False Alarm & False Call, Weather Related, Service Calls, Rescue & Emergency Medical Service Incidents, Overpressure Rupture, Explosion, Overheating (No Fire) and Good Intent Calls. There was a 40% increase in calls over last year (from 206 to 313) that he could not attribute it to any one thing. His current budget goal is for a warrant article to replace Car I. Three weeks ago the transmission on Car I went at cost of $2-3000 to repair the vehicle which was more than it was worth. Another item he needed was to get the hours increased for the Department Assistant and spoke about the need for having someone in the Station more frequently.
Mr. DeSilva spoke abut the position from Americore and he will continue to work closely with EMS on the subject. Mr. Panasiti asked about false alarms and the problem of responding with all apparatus - was it possible to have a first responder that might be part of the staffing. The Chief advised he usually goes without lights and sirens and holds the engines. In answer to Board questions, he told them what made up the various calls listed on the pie chart. The Board also asked about fees for false alarms. The Chief indicated they have fees in place, but have not assessed any of them to date.
Emergency Management – John DeSilva
Chief DeSilva told the Board the staff was himself and Don Holden as Deputy. He saw a need for a revised Emergency Management Plan after they all got together on Sunday of the Mother’s Day flood. In the room where they will conduct Emergency Management operations, they still don’t have a radio or telephone drop and continue to look at ways to equip the EMS training room. Through the NRPC, they received a grant for a Hazardous Mitigation Plan – the first meeting was Wednesday morning at 10:30 at the Town Hall. Schedule is five meetings and one evening meeting. Mr. Holden has attended a number of meetings since the flood. After the Plan is written, it will be brought before the Selectmen for adoption.
Mr. Bowler did not believe they included Mr. Holden on the Committee. Mr. DeSilva indicated it was an oversight on his part. Mr. Infanti moved to appoint Don Holden to the Hazardous Mitigation Committee, second by Mr. Grella. Vote: Unanimous.
Both EMS Director Gleason and Fire Chief DeSilva were present for this discussion. The Chief advised that approximately a year ago they were charged by the Board of Selectmen to come up with a committee to integrate the Fire/EMS Services. Initially they got a committee together and then it just stopped and they realize that this charge never came to a final conclusion. He asked where did the Board want them to go with it. They could do a “full blown” committee from both departments if they want – whatever the Board wants them to do, they will do it. When he and Brian looked at the situation, they find they are coming together operational-wise. He briefly spoke of various safety scenes where each department supports the other. Both he and Matt Conley were EMT’s, Mr. Gleason was now a firefighter, Rick Todd is a certified firefighter and EMT and they all work well together. They are both supporting the current position, would like to continue operating as it now stands and bring back something to them in a year to see where they stand.
Mr. Gleason spoke about cross training with himself integrating into the Fire Department and was his way of helping John’s Department as he is assisting in his. They now have many firefighters who are certified EMT’s. The third step would be the opportunity to offer Firefighter I Training for EMT’s. They do not feel they have staffing issues and have sufficient staff to meet the needs of the community. They were looking for each department to enhance the philosophies and knowledge of the other department and be creative. Mr. Dinkel commented that a number of years ago people couldn’t do both, but that has gone away and everyone can be associated with both organizations. Mr. Gleason commented that they would like people to know there is an opportunity to belong to both. Mr. MacGuire added there wasn’t anything that was driving this to go more than where they were at. This would be something to keep in mind and revisit. They have integrated and gotten more resources. Between the three of them, they couldn’t see where the Selectmen wanted them to go.
In response to Mr. Panasiti’s question, the Chief explained what was working out very well now is the cross training and they were getting the first truck out the door within two minutes. He did not see a crisis situation and did not see one six months down the road. He would like to see more volunteers. One area he would like to develop is to have seniors at the High School come during the day. They have a full time Fire Chief, full time Fire Inspector and Brian Gleason and a part time Department Assistant whose duty is to go on calls. Mr. Panasiti felt there was a problem if the Fire Chief has to get in a truck and drive. The Chief agreed and mentioned this was a calculated risk, but did not believe they were in any extreme danger of not having coverage.
Mr. Dinkel commented that after hearing this, they have come very far in the integration of public safety. He saw long term and did not think they can stop and report back within a year from now. They need to identify the next step which was EMT’s who want to become firefighters – what is available to folks for cross training and he wanted to keep this on the “top burner”. The long term trend seemed to be working against them. He suggested they keep the interest forthcoming and keep the plan going. He thanked the volunteers who took part in the call that morning. Mr. Grella asked if everyone was in line with this thinking and was everyone in agreement that everything was going great and things were working. Mr. DeSilva remarked that people may have expressed other thoughts than what was expressed to him. A year ago his folks wanted an opportunity to be heard and he was sure Mr. Gleason’s folks did also.
Mr. Bowler agreed with Mr. Dinkel, speaking for himself, where he had a problem on the committee was not the individuals, but how it was structured. If they do something, it needed to be from top to bottom and “not heavy on the top”, and did not want to loose volunteers. He asked how many of Mr. Gleason’s day time people were cross trained? Mr. Gleason believed he had four folks who are firefighter affiliated. They have to look into not loosing folks that serve on the Ambulance Service. He agreed with what the Selectmen were saying – perhaps within the next six months, they can come back and tell them how many folks have integrated from being EMT’s into the Fire Service. If there is an interest, they should encourage them to take advantage of the training.
Selectmen’s comments: Mr. Dinkel asked to keep them posted and not wait a year to give them a report. Mr. Bowler asked that they continue with the cross training and try and recruit volunteers. Mr. Infanti thought they wanted to see how things were going between the two departments on a merger. Give them updates on how the cross training and everything is going. Mr. Panasiti indicated this would be the end result of a merger. Mr. DeSilva mentioned that several years ago they were facing a shortage of volunteers and it was not going away, but they have stayed with it and in the future they were not going to get a full time Fire Department.
Mr. Gleason advised that one of the pieces they left out was that the Fire Chief and he would be working with the wisdom and knowledge of the Town Administrator. Mr. Bowler spoke briefly how this discussion first evolved several years ago. Mr. MacGuire indicated it was important to recognize they charged forward without receiving direction from anyone - both had done a great job in making this happen. He had no fear this wouldn’t continue and would give the Selectmen tidbits in his weekly reports. They have a plan and demonstrated they can work well together to make this happen. Mr. Grella asked that if they receive information on the grant, they get this to the Board.
There was a brief discussion about placing an article in the “Quarterly” regarding the need for people to participate to continue to sustain the programs for the Fire and EMS Departments. Chief DeSilva indicated that Mr. Gleason reminded him about the Fire Safety Trailer that was available any time Amherst needed it. Towns of Goffstown, Bedford, Milford and Merrimack had signed on and the trailer can come into Town anytime they wanted it.
Assessing – Gary MacGuire
Mr. MacGuire advised the Department is made up of one full time employee and contracted personnel. The ratio is 73% and the current update is due to the rise of commercial sales and values. The update is approximately ¾ complete and going well. Letters are to go out within a week or so and hearings scheduled after that time. A software conversion was done prior to this and it went smoothly. The level of service and efficiency has improved greatly since the last revaluation. Information will be available on the Vision Appraisal website as in the past. The information will contain addresses and map and lots with the owner’s name left out. He believed almost all the data was finished and they were on target for early September. Mr. Dinkel suggested this information be put in the “Amherst General”.
Approve and Sign Recommendations
Current Use Application: M/L 11-1-1 106 Chestnut Hill Road 11.9 acre parcel. After review Mr. Dinkel moved approval, second by Mr. Infanti. Vote: Unanimous.
Mr. Dinkel moved approval of the abatement for M/L 8-44-3 Salzburg Square reduced assessment from $1,371,000 to $1,056,000, abatement of $315,000, tax dollars $7,194.60 for tax year 2004 and $7,764.75 tax dollars for tax year 2005, second by Mr. Grella. Vote: 4 to 1, Mr. Infanti opposed.
Other Business
Mr. Infanti indicated that someone had spoken to him about waiting in line at the recycling center for a lengthy period of time with three lines open and then they finally opened a fourth line. This person wondered why all four lines weren’t open to begin with. Mr. Bowler briefly explained the reasoning behind this. Mr. Infanti mentioned there was a Cemetery Trustees’ meeting on Thursday morning. There was also a Planning Board meeting on Wednesday night to discuss the proposals and he will keep the Selectmen apprised of this.
Mr. Grella spoke of re-establishing the Tree Committee. There were strong feelings that when a tree is removed that it should be replaced. The Board briefly discussed the issue. Mr. Bowler mentioned that the large pine tree in front of Town Hall had been hit by lightening and may be a liability. They need to be cutting trees when they are dead and would advocate cutting them down because of safety issues. The RSA’s say they can appoint a Tree Warden and he would recommend Perry Day. Regarding a five year plan, Mr. Dinkel mentioned there were things they can’t foresee in the future. The HDC is feeling this isn’t in their expertise. Mr. Grella advised there was a meeting of the Road Commission the next day and Mr. Berry wanted to talk to him about the Tree Warden in conjunction with the Tree Committee. The Board discussed membership of the Tree Committee that hopefully will include Anne Krantz, Mike Hennas, an HDC member if they wanted to be included as well as Mr. Grella. The Board also talked about having the pine tree, that was struck by lightening, checked to see if it is a hazard.
Mr. Dinkel has learned that the Library recycles. Mr. Panasiti reported that he and Mr. MacGuire have been in constant communication regarding the bidding process for PMEC and the Recreation Commission. They both agree that they were not totally satisfied with what is being presented so far. Both still have some work to do before getting the bids out and proper information to the Selectmen. He also reported that Rivier College was offering several on-line courses, one being Homeland Security for 15 credit hours.
Mr. Bowler reported that last Thursday the Transfer Station received a new box for “mixed paper”. There will be several articles coming up in the “Quarterly” from the Solid Waste Committee. They would like to come in on the 11th with a request to change the name of the Committee as well as their charge since they feel they completed what they were tasked to do. He received a packet from LGC concerning their Policy Conference. He was not sure if Marilyn Peterman attended in the past and suggested that Mr. MacGuire go if he was available. Mr. Dinkel did not think anything in particular jumped out at him for having someone attend.
Minutes
Mr. Infanti moved to approve the minutes of August 14, 2006, second by Mr. Grella amended as follows: Line 40 – Strike “of”; Line 41 – Correct typo to “about”;, Line 44 – Strike “not”; Line 52 –Replace “all get” with “get all”, strike “for” replace with “to the Town for”, strike “back to the Town” replace with “and the remainder to the Trust.”; Line 60 – Strike “them”, insert “do” before “work”; Line 65 – Strike “the”; Line 69 – Insert “from” before “Terry”; Lines 70 & 71 – Strike the last sentence; Line 87 – Change “There” to “This”; Line 95 – Change “purchased” to “used”; Lines 104 & 105 – Strike the sentence beginning “Mr. Dinkel thought … sections of the road.”; Line 135 – Strike “a political nightmare” replace with “more difficult”. Vote: Unanimous
Non-Public Session
Upon a roll call vote, the Board entered non-public session at 10:18 p.m. under RSA 91-A:3 II (c) personnel.
The Board exited non-public session at 10:50 p.m. While in non-public session the Board discussed the Board of Health’s criteria for approving Septitech Systems by the Deputy Health Officer and his role and authority in the process. The decision was made to discuss this matter at the next public Board of Health meeting.
Upon a motion made and duly second, the Board voted unanimously to adjourn the meeting at 10:50 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Sharon L. Frydlo
Executive Assistant