Town of Pittsfield, NH
2015 Budget Committee
Meeting Notes
1-07-15
Meeting called to order at: 6:04pm
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, Josh Roman
!
Guests/Presenters: Superintendent SAU 51, Dr. John Freeman
! ! ! District Administrator/ Grant Project Manager, Tobi Chassie
! ! ! Director of Student Services, Donna Lehman
! ! ! Community Liaison, Ross Morse
! ! ! Dean of Instruction, Danielle Harvey
! ! ! Dean of Operations, Derek Hamilton
! ! ! Director of Interventions, Kathy LeMay!
Reading & Motion to approve minutes of 12-17-14:
! ! ! moved by Fred Hast
! ! ! seconded by Ray Ramsey
! ! ! minutes approved with one correction on page 2 to delete the !
! ! ! line regarding budget increase in food service of $330,000.00.
School Budget: Superintendent Freeman answered questions from our last
meeting. The bus contract doesn?t contain a provision for the cost of fuel going
down. The person hired for the new second grade teacher position started after
the holidays and it has not been decided if she will work in the two classrooms
or if they will split the second grade into three sections. The school
board looked at larger class size research, heard parent input, heard teacher
input, and looked at classroom space. The school board felt it wanted to maintain
the cap of 20 students per classroom in grades K-4. As far as next year, if
the new kindergarten and second grade positions move up to first and third
grade will have to be determined by revisiting the data on student population
changes and needs. The question was asked about student population trends
in the state and nationwide. Dr. Freeman stated that it varies even within the
state, but smaller districts, such as Pittsfield, feel a bigger impact even with
small increases and/or decreases.
A question was asked about the accuracy of the Personnel Payment section
(p.1 of 13). This section contains personnel breakdown for the period 9-1-13 to
8-31-14 and not the current 2015-2016 budget year. The budget year is not
aligned with the teacher contract year, thus the discrepancy.
Dr. Freeman addressed the question of generating income from the sustainable
initiative. The Nellie Mae Grant didn?t fund the sustainable initiative, but he is
optimistic the school will continue the work of being a model and mentor for
other schools. He felt other public schools would be interested in this model
because not many are doing this work now. Dr. Freeman mentioned that the
initiative did not take time away from the students daily learning. School board
rep, Ray Ramsey said that the school administration is in the process of looking
at generating income from mentoring.
Questions about school issued ipad use; in school, out of school, improvement
to student learning, and liability were discussed. What if students don?t have
internet at home or parents aren?t comfortable with the use of ipads? Parents
can opt out of using ipads and the school will make accommodations. What is
the schools liability coverage if ipads are not used appropriately resulting in
parents suing the school? Parents and students sign an acceptable use form
and the school has overall liability insurance. Students are also trained in the
appropriate use of the devices. Some members of the budget committee questioned
if this was enough and that maybe another layer of security would be a
good idea.
Page 12, Media and Technology is up by 6%. Dr. Freeman and Dean of Operations
Hamilton will get back to us with why Property Services, Other Services,
and Supplies & Materials are up. The equipment budget is down because
it was cut by the school board to save costs.
Page 14, SAU Administrative Services Property and Equipment line is up because
they had to replace a server.
Page 16, Building Maintenance, with all the improvements (siding and roof)
done to the elementary school last year will this budget decrease? No, because
there is still the issue of boiler replacement for the elementary school.
The school board will have a warrant article regarding the Biomass heating
system. They will not be having warrant articles to add to the building reserve
fund or disabilities reserve fund as they have in the past. Building fund has
$200,00.00 of which they could use $100,000.00 towards the boiler and still
have $100,000.00 in reserve for emergencies.
Town Budget: Highway Department budget has been reviewed but not yet
voted on by the select board. Page 27, Line 500 Capital Outlay $17,500.00 for
General Government Buildings Generators was discussed. Police will get a
generator for $10,000.00 and Highway Department will get a large capacity
used generator, that was replaced at the pump station last year but is in good
shape, and it will be refurbished for $7,500.00. Town shed is already set up to
accommodate the generator.
Page 28, Capital Reserve Funds were discussed regarding fund balance and
apparatus replacement. Maybe it would be helpful if someone from this committee
attended meetings on apparatus replacement schedules and purchases.
Discussed job descriptions and accountability, the use of activity logs for accountability
for mileage and services rendered, and who is responsible for accountability.
Question was asked, why don?t things show up in the selectmen?s meeting
notes, but then show up as warrant articles? Discussed the importance of
open communication and empathy. !
Other Business: February 18th, we need to have our budget reviews to the
select board.
Budget Hearing at 6:00pm on Feb. 4, 2015 with a snow date of Feb. 5, 2015,
Superintendent Freeman will reserve the Lecture Hall at PMHS.
Chairman Houle will request a further breakdown of EMS calls from
10:00pm-6:00am from the fire chief, not just a breakdown by EMS shifts.
Selectmen rep., Gerard LeDuc will bring up the proposal of all departments addressing
the issue of employees keeping Logs of their activities/mileage to the
select board.
Superintendent Freeman will get the Warrant Articles and answers to questions
to Chairman Houle.
Next Week: We will review and discuss, with the Town Administrator, the Town
Budget, Town Warrant Articles, job descriptions and accountability, and the
proposal that employees keep logs.
Request for guest speakers Ted Mitchell from Economic Development Committee
and Rob Freese regarding Emergency Management.
Meeting Ended:! by Chairman Houle at 7:50pm
Respectfully submitted,
Faith Whittier, secretary