Town of Pittsfield, NH
2015 Budget Committee
Meeting Notes
11-19-14
Meeting called to order at: 7:02pm
Members Present: Chairman Louie Houle, Vice Chairman Robert Schiferle,
! Secretary Faith Whittier, School Board rep. Ray Ramsey, !! ! !
! Selectmen rep. Gerard LeDuc, Helen Schiff, Helen Schoppmeyer, ! !
! Jo Anne Ward, Mary Thorpe, Fred Hast, Mark Riel, Cedric Dustin,
! Jacob Kitson
!
Guests/Presenters: None Fire Chief Unable to attend
! ! ! ! ! email with updates from Town Administrator
Reading & Motion to approve minutes of 11-12-14:
! ! ! moved by Cedric Dustin
! ! ! seconded by Ray Ramsey
! ! ! minutes approved
Town Budget: Gerard LeDuc, Selectmen rep., told us that the selectmen
made no changes to the proposed 4130 Executive Budget. This includes the
proposed part time Office Assistant (page 1 line 7) that will be combined with
the part time Welfare Director position to create a full time position that includes
benefits. Question: Should it be a full time position or two part time positions
that don?t include benefits? What about a payroll service instead?
In the 11-19-14 email from the Town Administrator, he addressed the following
questions and provided electronic copies of the selectmen approved sections
of the budget. He answered the 4150 Financial Administration question, from
last meeting, regarding page 3 line 56, Auditing Services. $30,000.00 is being
requested because we spent $31,517.50 in 2013, and the expenditure for the
current year is expected to be approximately $28,000.00. Cara believes
$30,000.00 is a safe estimate for 2015. Waste Water Treatment Plant, p. 32,
the selectmen approved the proposed budget with one amendment. They
changed line 70, Sewer Fund 15% of Budget, from $45,992.00 to $35,000.00
and will be drafting a warrant article to try and establish a capital reserve fund
at the March Town Meeting. Question: Where did the money go that was set
aside last year? (Was it spent or returned to the general fund?) Gerard will ask
about it. We discussed the 5 year contracted services, waivers/upgrades, and
the option to renew or cancel the contract yearly.
The committee discussed 4194 General Government Buildings, page 7 lines 98
and 100. Is it better to have two part time positions or one full time position
created by combining a part time facilities maintenance supervisor and a part
time position in the Highway department? A full time position would need to include
benefits which adds to the cost.
4195 Cemeteries, page 9 line 134, Repairs and Maintenance cost was mostly
to cover water bill. Gerard indicated that the select board would be proposing
a warrant article for the March Town Meeting to see if the town wants to purchase
Floral Park Cemetery for our town cemetery. It is required by law that
every town have a town cemetery.
4210 Police, page 10 line 149, discussed, and will ask the chief when he
comes to discuss his budget, about uniform replacement. Do they all have to
be changed to the new more durable material this year or can they do several
over the next few years? Line 138, Administrative Assistants, consists of two
part time positions and Gerard does not believe there is any plan to make that
one full time position. He will check. Line 152, Hiring Expenses, are they
used? Discussed page 10, line 162 and 163, Part Time Police Officers. Page
11 line 191, Radio & Radar Maintenance and line 195, was this used for the repeaters
they wanted last year and/or the video camera? We discussed page
11 lines 195 -198, New Equipment, Electronic Communications, Computer
Maintenance Services, and Software Maintenance Services. Are they now going
to use tablets instead of laptops in the cruisers? Is line 198 for cards for
tablets? Page 12 line 202, Heating Fuel question; Should we go to electric for
summer hot water like they are now doing at the Town Hall?
4220 Fire, page 13 line 218, Secretary position is just a budget place holder
because the full time fire chief does the paperwork. Line 240, do they need the
full $5,000.00 for training? Page 14 line 249, Apparatus Repairs & Maintenance,
we discussed having the new maintenance person do regular oil
changes instead of having it done by local garages, this would save some
money in this budget line. The highway department already does its own oil
changes. Page 15 line 286 Water Charges question; why are the water
charges up? Page 15 line 289 Copier Lease & Maintenance question; Why is
this line up? Didn?t we purchase new copiers last year?
4240 Building Inspection page 16 the committee has lots of questions; lines
294,309,300,305 and 306. Why is the Building Inspector not certified but the
Housing Inspector is? When the people were hired for these positions weren?t
they expected to become certified within a specific time frame?
4241 Housing Standards page 16 line 315 discussed Housing Standards Inspectors
role, rental properties inspection. Line 323 Office Equipment, Cedric
explained that it was for setting up and buying supplies for the new office for
the Housing Standards that is located downstairs at the Town hall.
4290 Emergency Management & Forest Suppression page 17 the budget
committee was wondering what had happened so far with the proposal brought
forth last year. It would be helpful if Rob Freese was invited to our meeting and
to explain the plan because he did most of the work on the proposal.
4311 Highway Administration page 18, 4312 Highways & Streets page 19, and
4316 Street Lighting page 19, the budget committee decided to save all discussions
until Superintendent of Public Works, George Bachelder, is able to be
here to present his budget and answer questions. Specific questions on page
20 line 410 Salt and page 19 line 377 Line Striping. Final thought, can the new
maintenance man do trash removal and eliminate the cost of dumpsters or
dumpster pickup on call? Can town bring trash to the dump at no cost and/or is
sorting a problem?
Other Business: No meeting next week, we will meet on December 3,2014 at
6:00pm. School and Town budget should be ready. We would still like to meet
with the department heads if possible. Louie will email us and let us know
about the next meeting.
Motion to Adjourn:! moved by Fred Hast
! ! ! seconded by Ray Ramsey
! ! ! ! meeting adjourned at 8:05pm
Respectfully submitted,
Faith Whittier, secretary