Budget Committee

Minutes

April 13, 2011

Official as of May 17, 2011

Chairman Daniel McNally calls the meeting to order at 6:58 p.m.

PRESENT: Chairman Daniel McNally, Vice-Chairman Jim Vaillancourt, Selectmen Representative Robert Holden, Betsy Colburn, Tim Jandebeur, Mark Boucher, Nona Holmes, Kate McNally, Ginger Dole, John Difeo, Muriel Johnson, Herb Johnson, Board Administrator Linda Smith.

ABSENT: Water District Representative John Jacobsmeyer and Robert Bailey. Excused: School Board Representative Ken Witham.

TOWN MEMBERS PRESENT:
Town Administrator Brent Lemire

Election of Officers
Chairman:
Mr. Johnson nominates Dan McNally as the 2011-2012 chairman. Second by Mr. Vaillancourt. With no additional nominations, motion passes unanimously.

Vice-Chairman:
Ms. Dole nominates Jim Vaillancourt for vice chair. Second by Mr. Johnson. With no additional nominations, motion passes unanimously.

TOWN:
Mr. Lemire provides the committee members a packet containing information regarding SB2. He reviews this information and explains the timeframe for postings and public hearings; as well as deliberative session dates and times.

Mr. Lemire reviews RSA 40:13 and explains that the petition warrant article that was approved by the voters will keep the March town meeting dates. He explains that RSA 32:10 contains the “No Means No” provision which prohibits any expenditure on a warrant article that was defeated by town meeting. He suggests that the committee include some items in the operating budget as scheduled replacements rather than presenting as warrant articles. He references items such as a cruiser which may be on a yearly replacement schedule to be placed in the operating budget rather than a warrant article.

He notes that a change occurred this year in state law to prevent an open language warrant article such as “To see…” that would leave a warrant article “open”.

Mr. Lemire refers to the Technical Assistance for SB2 handout and states that this is provided for the committee members’ information and review.

Mr. Lemire states that a default budget will also need to be prepared should the main operating budget not be passed by the voters. Mr. Lemire also provides a additional explanations regarding the process of the deliberative session. Mr. Lemire explains that there needs to be one public hearing held by the budget committee prior to the deliberative session, no later than January 17, 2012. He states that there only needs to be one public hearing, not two as Northwood has done in the past.

Further explanation and discussion is held relative to dates and potential scenarios for holding the hearing such as the Thursday or Friday night prior to the deadline date and leaving a window of time in case of snow.

Ms. Dole asks about the default budget, noting that the BOS will do it but there are towns that present warrant articles to allow the budget committee to create it. Mr. Lemire states that this would require access to the budget and a lot of time to complete it.

Mr. Jandebeur states that Mr. Lemire has suggested to him that there be a contingency fund and he requests an explanation. Mr. Lemire replies that this would be a good way to handle the emergencies.

A discussion is held relative to the timing of meetings and creating a work schedule for the budget committee. Lengthy discussion ensues on potential work schedules with the final projection being that the budget committee would review town and school budgets the weeks prior to and following Thanksgiving so to be completed prior to the Christmas holiday. 

Ms. Colburn suggests that a press release be done in the early fall regarding the new schedule for SB2. She asks about hosting another LGC presentation for the SB2 process, similar to what was done last year for regular budget sessions.

TOWN
Robert Holden, selectmen representative, is present to provide an overview of the town’s budget. Mr. Holden reviews the key points of the town’s budget and begins by stating that there are no surprises from the first quarter. He states that he believes that the snow removal line should be okay.

Ms. McNally refers to 41501-330/Contracted Services for finance as well as 41504/390 contracted services for the town clerk/tax collector. She also notes 41941/330 contracted services for the town parade buildings.

Ms. Colburn states that she feels that advertising in Concord Monitor over a number of days for beach attendants/life guards seems like a lot of cost compared to local advertising which was always used in the past. Jim Vaillancourt states he feels this is an operational decision, not a budget committee matter. Ginger Dole states that the committee needs to understand why they need the money for requests they are recommending and this type of information is helpful.

Mr. Boucher asks about contracted services lines in general. A discussion is held regarding the items associated within the contracted services lines throughout the budget.

Mr. Boucher asks if there is a contract with the town for gas suppliers. Selectman Holden explains there is a vendor contract.

Ms. McNally notes that the budget committee sees figures on a single year to year basis and has appreciated Mr. Vaillancourt’s comments and input, which provide overview of spending costs by line/or department over a number of years. Additional discussion is held relative to these projections.

Mr. Holden addresses contracted services for the library and reads from a list of the items included in the detail they had provided.

Mr. Jandebeur asks about the ACO (animal control officer), Dept. 44141 as well as the Health Agencies-Children, Dept. 44151. Selectmen Holden states there currently is no one in the position of ACO, and that the health agencies request the funds when needed.

With no other questions on the town budget, Chairman McNally closes the review of the town budget.

Mr. Holden asks that the minutes reflect that the school board representative was not present until the end of the meeting in February the final public hearing on the budget in February. Mr. Vaillancourt requests that when people leave any meeting of the budget committee that the time they leave be noted in the minutes.

Ms. Dole makes a motion, second by Mr. Johnson, that a meeting be scheduled for reviewing all minutes and quarterly school report. Mr. Vaillancourt recommends that, in the future, the quarterly meetings be scheduled on the last Wednesday of the next month following the end of the quarter. He also recommends that a substitute be chosen for the representative members (town or school) should someone not be able to make the meeting. Mr. Jandebeur states that there is a lot of angst between the school board and the budget committee and feels that it should be addressed. Next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 17. Motion passes unanimously.

Mr. Johnson makes a motion, second by Mr. Difeo that the next quarterly meeting is scheduled for July 27, first half for town and end of year for school.  Motion passes unanimously.

A lengthy discussion is held relative to the budget committee minutes. Ms. Smith explains that the Northwood budget committee minutes are quite detailed and would like the committee’s input on their minutes. She states that last year there was a lot of edits that were done to the minutes, none of which were substantive (relating to dollar amounts or line numbers) but were to clarify discussions that were held. She notes that due to the timing of receiving suggested edits, it requires a fair amount of time to go back over the complete set additional times. She adds that Ms. Weaver provided copies of minutes from other towns for comparison, noting they are very brief and these minutes are available if any members would like to review. Ms. Smith suggests that the board could choose to reduce the information in their minutes or stay with the detail as they have it. If the latter is preferred, she asks that the committee set up a process for review. Mr. Vaillancourt states that he would like to see the minutes on the website as soon as possible. Mr. Holden notes that the minutes are not placed on the website until approved. Members of the committee express an interest in keeping the minutes with the level of detail that has been done. Discussion is held on how review and edits will be completed. After further discussion, it is agreed that Ms. Smith will e-mail the minutes to Mr. Vaillancourt, Ms. Dole, and Ms. McNally as soon as they are complete and the three volunteers will provide any edits back to Ms. Smith within 5 days. These edits will be made, along with edits of Ms. Smith into a first draft for the board to review for approval at their next meeting.

Chairman McNally notes that there is a vacancy on the EDC (Economic Development Committee) for the budget committee representative due to Mr. Ash choosing not to run for another term.
Ms. McNally makes a motion, second by Mr. Johnson, to nominate Mr. Boucher as the budget committee representative to the economic development committee. The motion is approved unanimously.

Mr. Holden asks if the process for collecting questions for the representative members prior to the meetings will continue to be followed in 2011. Mr. Vaillancourt states that he agreed to do this for the committee and notes there was a question of this information being provided without the full board participating. He adds that he did provide his personal questions to the representatives.

Mr. Holden notes that the recreation staff is in the building and may be willing to answer questions on the Easter Egg Hunt. Ms. Boudreau and Mr. Vaughan enter the meeting. Recreation Director Kathy Boudreau states she is planning to have two Easter egg hunts this year. One will be a flashlight egg hunt during the evening on Friday for older children. The other Easter egg hunt will be a regular hunt. She is planning to have 500 eggs in one event and 600 eggs in the other. There are going to be 3 golden eggs in each group with prizes being large chocolate rabbits. The Easter egg hunt will be held Saturday morning with 3 age groups participating. This particular event is free and other events are by donations.

Ms. Dole asks about members not being excused absent and the number of times the statute allows before a member is removed from the committee. Discussion is held on attendance and it is agreed that Ms. Smith will check on the attendance records to be sure that no one has exceeded the number of unexcused absences allowed.

Mr. Jandebeur informs the committee that the school board is holding a meeting to see if there is interest in forming a committee to withdraw from the SAU. Discussion is held on the matter and the process of the vote and setup of the committee. Mr. Jandebeur expresses an interest in serving should the need arise.  Mr. Johnson makes a motion, second by Mr. Vaillancourt, to appoint Mr. Jandebeur as the budget committee representative should there be a vote to create this committee in the coming months. Vote to approve the motion is unanimous.

Ms. McNally makes a motion, second by Mr. Jandebeur, to adjourn. Motion is unanimously accepted at 9:07 p.m.

Respectfully submitted
Lisa Fellows-Weaver
Board Secretary