BOARD MEETING MINUTES
October 1, 2003
Selectmen Present: Mrs. Silverman, Mrs. Knight and Mr. Clukey
At 7:00pm Mrs. Silverman convened the meeting.
DISCUSS PERSONNEL ISSUE; NON-PUBLIC SESSION (7:09pm – 7:14pm.) Mrs. Silverman made a motion to go into Non-Public Session under RSA 91 A:3 II (a). Mr. Clukey seconded the motion. The motion passed 3-0. Roll Call Vote; Mrs. Silverman - yes, Mrs. Knight – yes. Mr. Clukey – yes.
No votes were taken.
At 7:14pm, Mrs. Silverman made a motion to go out of Non-Public Session under RSA 91 A:3II (a). Mr. Clukey seconded the motion. The motion passed 3-0. Roll Call Vote; Mrs. Silverman – yes, Mrs. Knight – yes, Mr. Clukey – yes.
Mrs. Knight brought in a copy of the town of Jaffrey’s CIP request form. The selectmen like the format and questions asked on this form. They would like to recommend to the Planning Board that they consider adopting this form. Mrs. Knight will bring this to their next meeting.
The board voted 3-0 to approve the FEMA application. Mrs. Silverman signed it.
7:15 MEET WITH CHIEF BRUCE NEWTON
Mrs. Silverman asked about the status of Richmond Road in regard to placing the speed board on the road. When the Richmond Road residents were here in August it was agreed that the speed board would be used. Chief Newton said they haven’t used the speed board but they have been providing more actual police presence. The officers are actually making motor vehicle stops and issuing tickets and warnings. He feels the best way to combat the problems with speed is to be out there in person. Mr. Clukey said that the few reports didn’t show a lot of stops on Richmond Rd. Mrs. Knight asked if they are there at different times of the day. Chief Newton said that Cory has been out as early as 6am and an officer has been there for the busy commuting times. Over the last few
weeks Richmond Road has received more attention than other roads. The road is patrolled daily. Susan asked how much the speed board is being used? Chief Newton said that it is not used much. Part of the problem is that the speed board has to be hooked on a patrol car that means that the car has to be driven to the location and the officer needs to get a ride back to the station. The alternative would be to have a trailer for the speed board to be on like Troy’s. The trailer has the power source (solar) on it for the speed board and costs $8,000. Andy questioned if you could just put a battery on a trailer and run the speed board off that. Susan would like Chief Newton to look into this. He will talk to Gene and see if someone in the highway department could fabricate one.
Mrs. Silverman said the board has some issues with the scheduling. She asked if the full time officers were still working three day a week. Chief Newton said they are. One officer works 3 days (Fri. – 14 hours, Sat. 13 hours, Sun. 13 hours) and the other works 4 days (Mon. 10 hours, Tues. 10 hours, Wed. 10 hours Thurs. 10 hours). They alternate every other week working the three days and four days. Mrs. Silverman asked if Cory or Lenny have a second job. Chief Newton said no but they may pick up a detail here and there. Chief Newton said that with this schedule, however, he doesn’t have anyone out during the early morning commuting time. He would have to take them off something else to cover that time. Mrs. Silverman asked if he notices that the officer working
the long shifts is less effective toward the end of that shift. Chief Newton stated that he sees no real difference. The hours are Friday from 10am to midnight and Saturday and Sunday from 11am to midnight. For the last two weeks Chief Newton has been working ½ days (noon to 5pm) because of his back problems. Mrs. Silverman said that the selectmen thought that his schedule was coming in at noon and working longer. Chief Newton said it was but now that Cory’s back the schedule has been revised. He went to this schedule in order to utilize 3 full time people to cover 7 days a week. Jeremy can only work on Mon or Tues days and maybe a Saturday night shift. Kenny just completed field training and is now on his own so he is picking up some additional shifts.
Mrs. Knight asked how “on call” is handled? Chief Newton said he is basically the only officer on call. The only other person eligible is Cory and Cory told the Chief that he didn’t want to be on call – that he has a problem going to sleep waiting to be called out. Officer Tommila also said that there is a disruption when the phone rings at all hours of the morning and it wasn’t worth it to him to take on call. Mrs. Knight said that taking call is part of the job and if you don’t make your officers do this then you have the employee picking and choosing which parts of his job he wants to do. Chief Newton said that the total number of call outs is infrequent.
Mrs. Silverman said that there have been things that the board has asked him to do that have not been done – parking plan, garage plan (under the impression that he would start to work on this project right after town meeting). Chief Newton said that he thought his presentation of the garage project last year was the best presentation at the time.
Mrs. Knight said that sometimes the board feels that they have to pull information out of him and that they don’t always know – really know – what’s going on. The board would like to know more so they can answer questions regarding what our police department is doing. There isn’t a lot of confidence that things are happening. She suggested that the Chief and the selectmen meet more often. Chief Newton said that was fine with him. They decided to meet twice a month.
Chief Newton has brought up statistics for September. There were 77 general service calls and 8 new cases (1 burglary, criminal mischief, theft, 3 DWI, 1 conduct after accident, 1 operating after suspension).
The chief said that he has a potential person interested in a part-time position who is almost through all the testing. The Chief may be introducing this individual to the board. In the event that this happens, he would want the board’s approval to offer one of his part-timers a full time position. Adding a fourth full time would drastically reduce the number of shifts for part-time officers. They discussed how much this would increase his budget for next year. Chief Newton thought that it would be at least $250,000.
8:00 MEET WITH FIREWARDS
Mrs. Silverman said that the selectmen wanted to bring together the firewards and police chiefs thinking on plans for addition to the building. This came about because Chief Newton has been putting money away for a police garage. When this came to the floor of town meeting this past March, there seemed to be a sense that we should look at the whole building in order to coordinate with both departments. In July the board asked them to get together and come up with something suitable for a garage and perhaps an addition that would satisfy future needs as well. Mr. Mattson said it makes a difference how much money they can spend. He asked if the police department would be in this building 10 years from now. Mrs. Knight said that is a different topic all together. Ms. Carney said that
the existing building was designed to be added on to in the future. They are looking at a 40’ X 60’ addition off the back – with the Fire Department using ½ and the Police Department using the other 1/2 . The police would have two garage doors and the fire department would have one. Mr. Mattson said the fire department needs more storage and a larger training room. He got a figure for just the building of $115,000. This doesn’t include site work, foundation, moving the septic system, wiring and electrical work, heating, finish work inside the building or blasting. Mr. Mattson noted that they have no idea how much blasting would be necessary and this could be very expensive. Mr. Prigge said that the fire department need is not immediate but the police department does have an immediate need. Mrs. Silverman asked how the firewards feel about this project. Ms. Carney said that she felt it would be great
for both departments. Mrs. Silverman said that if they decide they want to put this project before the voters this year the firewards and police chief need to be solidly behind it. Mr. Prigge said it would also be beneficial for emergency management as we have had to house residents in the past during electrical outages.
Mr. Mattson said he would contact Hutter Construction and get an idea of what a good set of plans would cost. We need to have a plan and some realistic proposals to go to the budget committee with. Mr. Mattson will call Mrs. Thompson with the information. He will do this by next Wednesday 10/8/03.
Mrs. Silverman asked the fire department and police department to look at their budgets and see what money they could contribute to pay for the plan.
Mrs. Thompson gave both the Chief and firewards their year to date expenditures.
Mrs. Knight said the plan also needs to include prices for blasting, site work and septic. A figure that encompasses the entire plan is needed for the budgeting process.
DISCUSS PERSONNEL ISSUE; NON-PUBLIC SESSION (9:00pm – 9:22pm.) Mrs. Silverman made a motion to go into Non-Public Session under RSA 91 A:3 II (a). Mr. Clukey seconded the motion. The motion passed 3-0. Roll Call Vote; Mrs. Silverman - yes, Mrs. Knight – yes. Mr. Clukey – yes.
No votes were taken.
At 9:15pm, Mr. Clukey made a motion to go out of non-public session. Mrs. Knight seconded and the motion passed 3-0. Roll Call Vote: Mr. Clukey – yes, Mrs. Knight – yes, Mrs. Silverman – yes.
*** DISCUSS REQUISITION FROM RECREATION
The recreation department budgeted for a basketball hoop. This requisition includes the site work necessary as well as the equipment. Mrs. Knight made a motion to approve the requisition, Mr. Clukey seconded and the motion passed 3-0.
*** DISCUSS ATTENDANCE AT SWPC MEETING
Mr. Clukey would like to attend.
*** UPDATE ON LIGHTENING ISSUE
Mrs. Thompson submitted a memo updating the selectmen on where we are with
resolving the issues created by the lightening strike. The computer consultant was in
today and completed the work on Mrs. Wright’s computer. The only other outstanding
issue was the wireless router which has had to be reset every morning. Mrs. Thompson
talked with Mrs. Massin this afternoon and she has been having the same problem. It
appears that someone in the village with the name “big dog” also has a wireless router
and their cable signal is being broadcast outside their home and affecting both the
systems in the town hall and library. They are working to identify this person in order to
solve the problem.
Mrs. Massin called this afternoon to say that Mr. Black had complained that some gravel
from the library has washed onto his property and he wanted it removed. In addition, he
said that the light in the hallway of the new addition was on all night and it shone into his
bedroom and disturbed them. The library has tried very hard to be accommodating. Mrs.
Silverman would like a letter to be written to Mr. Black asking him to come to the board
of selectmen with any problems he may have related to the library since it is a town
building.
*** REVIEW BUILDING PERMIT COMPLAINT
Mrs. Thompson will ask the Code Enforcement Officer to take a building permit to this individual and have him complete it.
*** WORK ON CLASS VI ROADS
The selectmen would like to work on this next week.
Mrs. Thompson reported that she attended a conference yesterday in Concord that NHMA Health Trust put on. There will be a new health plan option for 2004. The trustees will be voting on rates next week so we should have that information by the middle of October.
· Letter to Alex Walker
· Draft of unbuildable lots
· Homeland Security needs assessment
· Flu shot clinic
· Police weekly report
· Treasurer’s monthly report
SECONDARY:
· Various committee/board minutes
· Newsletters
· Review Police logs/reports
SIGNED:
· Minutes
· Correspondence
· Payroll and Accounts Payable Manifests
There being no further business, at 9:45pm Mr. Clukey made a motion to adjourn. Mrs. Knight seconded and the motion passed 3-0.
Submitted by,
Paula Thompson
Town Administrator
Susan S. Silverman, Chairman
Andrew D. Clukey
Joan Knight
BOARD OF SELECTMEN
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