Board of Selectmen      APPROVED Nov 24, 2008
Meeting Minutes
November 3, 2008

Present: All Selectboard members, Kim Leahey, Finance Committee members John Trickey, Fred Vanderbeck, Gwen Hubler, Gazette reporter Mary Carey, Lieutenant Gary Thomann, Diane Shepard, Alice Suprenant.

Meeting called to order by Chairman Martell at 6:02 p.m.

Approval of Minutes:
October 27, 2008 – Ed Martin motioned to accept, Huber seconded, motion passed unanimously.
October 29, 2008 – Ed Martin motioned to accept, Huber seconded, motion passed unanimously

Liaison reports:
Police and Fire Departments: Nothing to report.
School Committee: Huber had attended a Regional School Committee meeting recently and viewed an impressive presentation regarding evaluations.
Library: Nothing to report.
DPW : Martell reported that the Personnel Board had recently conducted interviews for the position left vacant by the resignation of James Kicza but that no hiring will happen before the results of the election – Question #1 in particular.
Town Offices: Running smoothly.

Finance Committee:

• John Trickey reported on his attendance at the Annual Meeting of the Association of Town Finance Committees on November 1, 2008. (His notes attached.)
• He said that there was no “warm, fuzzy news” reported by anyone in attendance.
• He also reported that the general feeling is that the State is “about a year away from recovery”.
• John said that the MMA continues its lobbying efforts in support of the towns; supporting, for instance, the abolition of the “prevailing wage rate”.
• The MMA is looking at ‘revenue enhancements’ to help towns develop and maintain a local revenue stream.
• John also reported upon a seminar that discussed what affects the town’s bond rating. Pelham is currently rated BBB. John informed the board that if the town could “get things in place” that we could increase our rating to AAA and therefore reduce our cost of borrowing.
• John felt that it was do-able but would probably take about a year to accomplish.  
• John also reported that towns are expecting a 7% – 10% reduction in State (Lottery) funds and, therefore, many are choosing to freeze that amount in anticipation of the shortfall.
• 10% of Pelham’s lottery proceeds would be about $20,000.

• Selectmen reviewed the budget and decided to be proactive in protecting the town by freezing the following funds:

Planning Bd Consultant ………… $  750.00           Archivist ………………. $  300.00

Road Detail ……………………..  $3000.00           Police Dept Exp………... $3000.00

DPW Expenses …………………  $3000.00           Fire Dept Exp ………….  $3000.00

Library ………………………….  $1000.00           Recreation Comm……… $  600.00

Tree Warden Exp……………….  $4000.00           Cemetary Comm……….. $ 1000.00

Civil Defense …………………..  $1000.00            TOTAL…………………$20,650.00

Selectman Martin made a motion to ‘freeze’ the aforementioned accounts; Huber seconded; motion passed unanimously.
Selectmen directed Leahey to draft a letter to be signed by all three Selectmen and sent to the heads of the affected departments/committees.

Appointments:

• Huber made a motion to appoint Mary Booth to the Conservation Commission; Martin seconded; motion passed unanimously.
• Huber made a motion to appoint Dan Robb to the Town Hall Committee; Martin seconded; motion passed unanimously.

Public Comment:

• Diane Shepard of North Valley Road informed the Selectmen that, beginning at 38 N. Valley Rd., the road is washing out and “pretty soon we won’t have any road left”. She said that DPW Superintendent Rick Adamcek has been made aware of it but, as of yet, nothing has been done to mitigate the situation. Martin and Martell said that they would visit the site in the near future with Adamcek and assess the situation.

Old Business:

Leahey presented a letter for Chairman Martell’s signature to be sent to J. Jerome informing him of the Selectmen’s intention to have an Executive Session at the next meeting to address his continued 111F benefits.

New Business:

Leahey informed the Selectmen that Shutesbury Town Administrator David Dann had emailed in regards to a proposed meeting to be held in Shutesbury comprised of the area towns’ Select boards, Finance boards and School boards “to share our financial positions as we all begin to craft our FY10 budgets”. Selectmen Martin and Martell expressed an interest in participating and asked Leahey to reply to Dann and ask that he inform us as to when the meeting will be held.

Lt. Thomann let Selectmen know that he would get the appropriate information to the office regarding the old cruiser so that the process of disposing of it can begin.

Selectman Huber expressed concern over the announcement of the Selectmen’s meeting that was sent home with children last week. He wondered if we could set up some guidelines as to what the school can disseminate but the other Selectmen felt that it is the jurisdiction of the School Committee and not the Board.

Huber also wanted to discuss who should be talking to Town Counsel so that there are no overlapping, billable conversations taking place. After discussion, it was decided that Ed Martin would confer with Joe Fair regarding employment issues, Leahey will be the liaison to Jeanne McKnight and Huber will continue to keep in touch with the DA’s office.

Ed Martin made a motion to adjourn; Huber seconded; motion passed unanimously; meeting adjourned at 6:57 p.m.