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Select Board Meeting

Video

All right, at 6 o'clock, good evening everybody, I'd like to call the meeting to order.
Could you stand for the Pledge of Allegiance?
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for
which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
All right, we do have a non-public this evening, it's starting right now, so I'd like to make
a motion to move into non-public for RSA 91-A, colon 3, section 2G, and section A.
Do I have a second?
Second.
All in favor?
Aye.
Aye.
All right, I'd like to make a motion to reconvene to public session.
Do I have a second?
Second.
All in favor?
Aye.
Aye.
We are back in public session at 6.30 p.m.
I'd also like to make a motion to seal the minutes of the non-public meeting for a period of 10 years.
Do I have a second?
Second.
All in favor?
Aye.
All right, we are back in public session.
So, Cameron, would you like to do the consent agenda?
Sure.
There's nine topics for the consent agenda for the 15th today.
Three payroll warrants, three account payable warrants, 14 personnel action forms, one proclamation,
one gravel tax warrant, one timber tax warrant, one PA-9 certificate of yield taxes assessed,
four event license applications, and one health officer and deputy nomination form.
I move that the board approve the consent agenda for today.
I will second.
All in favor?
Aye.
Aye.
Okay, we're going to open the floor to first public comment.
Any?
All right, we will close public comment section.
Item number one for appointments, Police Chief Steve Case should review the proposal for leasing
versus purchasing police groomers.
Good evening, Chief.
Good evening.
So, because of the default budget, we started looking at other options instead of outright purchasing our cruisers,
which we have done in the past.
The way we've done it is we rotate them on an annual basis, so once our car reaches about five, six years old,
that one is phased out of the rotation, whether it's used only for a detailed car or if it's sold outright,
and then the new car is brought in.
So it's a cost of about one car per year is what we've tried to budget for.
I will say our current vehicle line at $35,264 is significantly underfunded.
To put that in perspective, just the vehicle alone, the 2026 Explorer is about $45,000.
That does not take into account the equipment that needs to go into it and the decals on the outside of it.
In total, we spend approximately $57,000 to $62,000 annually on a car,
and that includes the entire process of updating the radios, lights, equipment, and prisoner cages in each one of the cruisers.
So we started exploring the potential for a lease program.
Essentially, we looked at three- and four-year lease options.
These weren't very similar to anybody else turning in their cars at the end of the four-year lease.
However, these programs, one of the things I wanted to check into, my concern was the mileage,
and my concern was the wear and care of the vehicle because any police car,
you're going to go over on the mileage or you're eliminating our patrols,
and the wear and care is just inevitably going to be there with some of the wear and roads and everything that we have.
So the costs I have broken down, I shared those with the select board for you guys to look at those.
The other thing I did find is that the board, regardless of what dealership you go through,
we have looked at the pony.
They are an excellent dealership.
They will always try to sell you the extended warranty.
I think the extended warranty is a good idea in these cases because what we've been seeing is increased costs
for the type of attraction, a lot of computer chips, a lot of electronics,
that a computer chip goes and all of a sudden you're not willing to start, won't even move, becomes immobile.
Now, I looked into the warranty coverages offered through Capone.
They, for example, for a four-year, 125,000-mile bumper-to-bumper, it was just under $5,200.
I had personal knowledge of a third-party company that sells the same exact warranty coverage,
and I was able to find the same warranty, same amount of year, same amount of mileage for $21.30.
So my suggestion is that we ask Capone to take the warranty coverage off of the lease option
and repurchase the warranty coverage elsewhere to save a little bit of money on that.
Again, breaking down the cost a bit, obviously this year the cost associated with purchasing a new cruiser,
through the lease program.
I think the four-year lease option is the best, and that will cost us between $27,000 and $32,000 this year,
and that cost includes the annual payment for the car and the upfitting costs
and decounting of the cruiser for this year.
We'll pay for that over the course of years, and then hopefully we can get our entire fleet onto this program
because overall for eight cars, it ends up costing us less annually.
It won't seem like it because the cruiser line does need to increase once we reach six, seven cars onto that lease program,
but we have to keep in perspective we're paying for eight cars annually.
I estimated the cost to be about $114,000 for eight cars.
It would cost us the same amount of money to outright buy two and a half cars.
So I think that program is the best way to go.
We're also going to save money with a warranty on some of the maintenance costs, the routine maintenance,
tire changes, oil changes, brakes.
We can still do here in town and on shareholders where we get our work done.
He's phenomenal.
He always works with us.
He saves us a lot of money, and he was just recognized by the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Department
for the work he does in their cruisers.
He's phenomenal.
So that is my recommendation to the board that we move forward with a lease program
for our entire fleet one year at a time.
So when we're done, when we get to the fourth year of that lease?
Yep.
So if we've got a residual on that vehicle, and what we usually do is municipate and sell
the vehicle that we've spent $60,000 on, how much do we usually get for those?
$4,000 to $5,000 is usually what we get.
I don't know what the residual will be when we trade these in.
I think it still depends on wear and tear to the vehicle and the mileage.
I know that in the quote, they itemize it at $1, just to say there's a number there, but
it will be different each year depending on the cruise.
So say if we, we, the vehicle goes away, gets turned back into the dealership for, say we owe $10,000 on it and it's worth $12,000.
That other $2,000 comes back to the department, correct?
Yeah, well, so I'd say at the end of the four-year program, we're not going to have the payments on that.
We've reached the end of our lease on it.
So whatever residuals left there should get applied to the next cruiser that we're leasing from that.
I did speak with Sheriff Newcomb over the weekend on Saturday, and they're in the lease program, and he's like, it's a no-brainer.
It really is more efficient, too.
When we talk about we've got a cruiser right now that we've decommissioned it out, but we can't sell that until one of us takes the time to rip all the decals off of it.
That takes easily two to three days to rip all those decals off, and then we've got to list it for bid, and then we've got to work with, I think somebody came from the Midwest of the United States last time, flew here to come get the car,
and the profit margin, you know, minimal compared to trading in this, and the lease program.
That's my fault.
It's a time saver as well.
We know where the car's going.
We can easily work with Profoni.
They will set up with our outfitters to, right when the car's in, they deliver it to our outfitter.
We don't have to touch the process until it's ready to be driven.
Yeah, I think it's a great idea.
Thank you for doing the delivery done, especially with the premium care.
And for what it's worth, when I was reading this, I was drawn to the four years as well,
because if we can get a warranty to cover the four years, then we're amortizing the cost of the outfit and the decals
over four rather than three years, and putting it off for another year, having to redo that on another vehicle.
What's the interplay with the fund that the PD has, that I know is used sometimes to offset some of the cost of the vehicle?
How does this interact?
Are we talking about the vehicle line or the detail revolving fund?
The revolving fund.
Yeah, so the detail revolving fund, we do utilize, that's what I was suggesting to utilize this year
if we were to purchase a car, because the vehicle line is underfunded.
You said that in here.
I'm sorry.
I missed that.
No, I'm thinking of my original December memo.
So the vehicle line is underfunded.
So what we've done in years past, and I think it's good information for the taxpayers,
is that we use the detail revolving fund.
So whenever you see a new Boston officer working in detail for Asplend or Eversource,
we charge an hourly rate for that officer.
It's his hourly rate, plus administrative fees, plus cruiser fees on top of that.
So sometimes they're paying an excess of $125 an hour for the officer to be out there.
The officer doesn't get all of that.
That excess money goes into the detail revolving fund, and we've used that in years past to supplement the vehicle line
to help pay for that.
The only difficult part with that is that it's very dependent on how many of our officers cover the details,
because we have years where guys will pick up the details, and we have a good amount of money in there,
and then we'll depleted buying a car, and then we'll have the next year where they're just not picking up details.
And I can get into the whole thing about that, but a lot of it has to do with the retirement system.
The retirement system for my generation and younger no longer counts because it supports our retirement.
So officers are not as many ways to pick things up, regardless of what they're paid and how they'll see it occasionally.
But it's usually, you know, it's in Tier 1 and Tier 2 that are picking up those details because it counts so it's over time.
So one of the things that no folks worry about when they get a lease is when they turn it in if there's damage to the vehicle.
And the warranty makes me feel a lot more comfortable.
And if I didn't already say, the stability to the expenses to the town, I think, is a really important piece of what you're doing
is you're stabilizing issues to the tax rate, which makes you feel more confident, I think.
Yeah, I think so.
But what about damage? So is that covered by the automotive vehicle?
What would happen if something happened to the vehicle at turn and time?
We'd be responsible, I gather, for repairing the vehicle.
So we're talking little scratches and dings.
I think that's covered under their wear and tear.
And as far as the policy's been explained to me, they're not going to hold us liable.
There's no wear and tear as part of the lease, and there's no mileage count as part of the lease.
Anything more significant than that, we're going to have a bumper, that's our insurance policy.
We're going to pay to have it replaced, but hold it down.
We're going to be a little comprehensive on the car, if you know.
Great, thank you.
I did just want to clarify, just in case there's any confusion, that the numbers that I have written down there
are not all part of the lease.
So the cost associated with putting decals on the car and updating the car, that's not worked into the lease price.
That's in addition.
That's why I give you the totals there at the bottom, what it would cost.
The only thing financed over that many years is the cost of the car.
So it would be the, I think it was...
How do you finance the lease?
Well, that's part of the lease payment.
Sorry, I thought you said something.
I misspoke.
That lease payment would be separate from the cost of the car and the cost of decal.
I just wanted to make sure those costs were in there so that we can look at it as a whole.
So it's the 12 to 16 plus the 1,000 for the decals is separate from the lease amount.
Yes.
That makes sense.
Awesome, good questions.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Can I make a motion of it?
Yeah.
Do you have a contract that we can have to set up?
Schedule 106-0.
I'll make a motion, but I just need to make sure we're in motioning the way.
Point of order on this, I was just going back and reminding myself that you're requesting a four-year lease program.
It makes perfect sense.
Additionally, I'm requesting this be a reoccurring annual cost moving forward from 27 to 33.
I don't know that we, I'm not sure we're able to, are we able to do that?
That's another budget here.
That would be the next budget cycle.
Yeah.
Correct.
Okay.
As long as we can maybe just get the.
I don't know that we can preemptively say it's good forever.
Yeah.
I just think that we'll run into issues if we have two or three cars on a lease program and then we're trying to purchase and bring in the other cars other years.
That's why I put that language in there, but it doesn't look like we understand the overall feeling of it.
It's just the direction we should be going.
I think this is the way we should be going, for sure.
Thank you.
Steve, what are you asking us to approve tonight?
The $17,781 from Cucone?
Before you look at that exact number, I just want Jeff to verify it because we're going to take out the warranty cost.
I think that number is the warranty cost there.
So we'll just make a motion to go with a four-year contract but then finalize the numbers?
We could.
We'd have to sign off as a consent agenda item.
Okay.
So I'd like to make a motion to move forward with the lease program provided to us from Cucone's board as discussed.
The final numbers to follow and we'll approve it as a consent agenda item.
Do I have a second?
Second.
All in favor?
Aye.
And what about the up-fit and the decal?
So that's the up-fit and the decal kind of is already in the budget, isn't it?
I mean, can we budget on that?
Yeah.
If we enter into the lease program, there should be enough money in the vehicle line for this year's payment on the lease.
And then it'll be close if we do have a little bit of extra money in the decal revolving if something's to be covered.
All right.
Thank you, Steve.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Did we vote and I just said it unconsciously without even thinking?
Did I say aye?
You did say aye.
All right.
Item number two, continued discussion of Dan McDonald's portrait and plaque.
So, Jeff, I'll let you start discussion on this.
So, we've had a lot of discussions back and forth with KB and the fire ward and Chief Dugger to come up with the best options and came up with some good options and we finalized an idea how we wanted to do it.
You know, the hardest thing, I know a lot of people are here tonight, that, you know, hey, the town voted for this and we did, but the warrant didn't explain the ins and outs of how, where's the funding coming from?
What is it going to say?
You know, it really needs to define that.
So, it left a lot of questions on how we were going to do this, which was the delay and the, you know, really everybody needs to be part of the decision as far as the firehouse, the select board and such.
You know, so, I think that we came up with the right resolution.
So, I'd like to hand it over to Brandon Marin, who's the chair of the fire ward, to describe how we're going to do this.
Brandon?
Oh, sure.
So, we've got quotes on letters.
It's basically going to be, I think it's eight feet.
I sent that to you, didn't I?
Yeah.
It's eight feet long, six-inch letters.
They're brushed aluminum, so it matches what's on the building now and will be put above the museum cable ad.
And we did get a price, but there is, from my understanding, there's no monies to cover that, so it's going to be privately funded to put that up.
So, and I guess after tonight, once we make the final decision, we'll get the letters ordered up.
So, I have questions.
Oh, go ahead.
So, my first question, is there a design that's been created that we can improve, that we can look at and vote on?
Because I just, I can't just vote without something in front of me.
Yeah, that picture that Brian.
Brian, you can.
Yeah, you do.
I can, if you'd like, I can put a computer on there and capture the picture.
Yeah, I put that in the green.
Is it the right size?
I know one of them was a little bigger than the other, but I wasn't sure what.
Yeah, I gave you two different sizes.
The last one that you approved is the one that I got a price on.
So, give me some.
How's it going to be a fix?
I know we had a concern about the one.
So, above that window is a wooden part.
We didn't want to penetrate the metal part of the bread.
So, these will be stub mounted?
Yes, they're stub mounted.
That's probably one of your questions, Bill.
Sorry, if I can't.
That was the second question.
And then there will be also Katie Hawk's painting, if nobody has seen that yet.
It's beautiful.
It's amazing.
Absolutely amazing.
She's got some truth out.
But there will also be a painting hung in the lobby.
Yeah, to be determined.
We haven't done that far yet.
The most important part is covering the Tom Warren article.
That's the living.
So, the painting was something that came afterwards.
Yes.
And we'll address that.
Certainly.
Okay.
So, I'm not going to do that.
I'm just going to do that.
I'm just going to do that.
I'm just going to do that.
I'm just going to sell the television and then I lost the television.
I'm just going to do that.
I'm just going to do that.
I'm just going to do that.
I'm just going to do that.
I'm just going to do that.
I'm just going to do that.
I'm just going to do that.
I'm just going to do that.
I'm just going to do that.
I'm just going to do that.
I'm just going to do that.
I'm just going to do that.
I'm just going to do that.
I'm just going to do that.
I'm just going to do that.
I'm just going to do that.
I'm just going to do that.
I'm just going to do that.
I'm just going to do that.
I'm just going to do that.
I'm just going to do that.
I'm just going to do that.
I'm just going to do that.
I'm just going to do that.
There was one.
Did y'all get that?
I don't know how to get rid of it.
This is trying to do it.
Maybe click the bigger picture.
This guy?
Just the side picture or something.
So what we did is we went to the same sign company that put all the lettering on the building and asked them to add this to this location.
So I believe there are six-inch letters.
Brandon, you said it was seven inches long.
It's the same, again, the same color, same area.
So it matches.
It looks a little more white there.
that took us from the first.
Yeah, that was surrendering.
Yes.
That's the one that has to go back and forth.
That would be the one that's shooting for the station.
All right, I do have some questions.
Brandon, the fire wards, do you have a unanimous decision
or is it a majority vote on the decision on this?
Yeah, well, we briefly talked about it at the last meeting,
but we haven't had an official one prior to this.
I'm just trying to get this taken care of.
But at least three of us discussed it, and we were all in agreement with it.
And I believe the other ones would be okay with it,
but I figured we'd get past this, and I'll bring it up to them.
Okay.
And my other thing is if this is going to be a donation,
just when the time comes, it has to come before the board,
just to accept the donation.
Sure.
So I get the one here.
Kevin, do you have any questions?
I got a doozy here.
Oh, no.
All right, so the current lettering on this building now is way over-coded to begin with.
With that said, there is a workaround.
We can approve these letters, which I personally don't have a problem with.
I'm fine with it.
I would assume the other board members are fine with it.
However, in order to put any additional signage on a municipal building that doesn't follow local code,
per RSA 64, that falls under governmental land uses, we have to have a public hearing on this.
And that would mean the public comes in, they get to voice their opinion.
At that point, we would formally call a vote for it afterwards.
And again, I have no problem with this, but I'm following procedures.
So we're going to have to do a public hearing, and you have to have a Maryland two-week notice to have a public hearing.
It's one week, but it takes time to get it in the newspaper, so it takes us two weeks to get it done.
Okay.
So we do have to have a public hearing on this before we can vote on this.
Can we have that happen right away?
If you get it posted tomorrow, that would be, what, two weeks from now?
Yeah.
We have three to the next meeting.
We've got three.
Can this wait for three weeks, or is everybody in a rush to get this done?
That'd be the point.
Well, I think that, you know, to have what we were talking about, we were going to do in September, correct?
So just to allow, we didn't want to put people outside in June, standing outside to go through the dedication and such.
So we sat down and we talked about, I brought up September.
It's where, you know, it starts to cool off.
The weather's a little nicer, a little more tolerable outside than we landed on a, you know, 90 or 100 degree weather.
You're referring to the official dedication in September, yes.
So I think that we have a little bit of time as long as the town knows what we're doing and what we proposed and how we're going about it.
Is it just for these letters, Bill, or is it for?
Anything exterior, because we have now, we're way over code to begin with.
Yeah.
So anything on this building.
So that hearing is going to be about what's on the building currently as well?
No, because that was already proven at a public hearing for approving the grant and what was involved in the grant and the designs.
Another option would be, and we could just, we could go through the motions and have our bearings on this.
I don't think we want to do it.
I think we want to put this on our laps, just hold the public hearing, and we vote on it right afterwards.
Now it's going to keep this thing in motion.
Is that because of the vote last year didn't specifically say that there was signage on the building?
Well, you still have to go through the motions.
So something like this, the design has to be presented to the public.
So this is the first time I'm seeing this design.
So this is the first time this particular design is being shown to the public.
Once that happens, if we were not over code and we were well under code and our sign code, which I have here, allows for that,
we would not have to go through that motion.
But because we're over code, we have to follow this RSA 674-54 to override local sign code.
So I do have something to say as well.
Brian, does this need to happen before the 30th?
No, because the funding isn't coming from the grant program.
At this time, I will open the floor to the public if there's any comments.
Again, we will have a public hearing on this in three weeks.
Is that July 6th?
On July 6th.
But in the interim, if there's anybody here in the public that would like to speak for or against this, the floor is yours.
Yes, just take your name and address.
Hi, Kelly Sosher, 26 South California.
I just want to thank everybody who's been involved in this back and forth.
I realize it's been kind of a headache to ensure that the Warren article matches what I think people expected when they voted on it
versus the actual wording of the Warren article versus the RSAs and the zoning code.
So I really appreciate everybody's input and time on this, and obviously I support it.
Anyone else?
Yes.
Amy Rindu, 36-speed road here in New Boston.
A couple things that came to mind as you were speaking.
So as this humongous building and everything, everything that goes into it, the wiring, the connections, the colors, the paint,
where did we miss out when all the other lettering was being discussed, approved, appropriated for?
How did we miss out in not including that this had been and would be dedicated as the Dan McDonald's fire station?
Let me try to touch in, and I'll ask if I can have Brian, you may be able to speak on that.
Yeah.
These plans were drafted and sent to the grant, or for the federal government, to grant prior to this vote for the people to have Dan McDonald's station.
So it was a timing matter.
Am I correct on that, Brian?
Correct.
Yes.
Okay.
That was...
Do you want me to elaborate a little bit more?
Cut me dry.
Do you want me to elaborate a little bit more?
Hi, Amy.
I'm Brian.
I can go up front, too.
So I actually sat down today to see if there was any money left, if I could find some sort of savings somewhere.
Unfortunately, I'm actually over, and if you recall, we had soft costs that we were raising for a period of time to offset some of the costs that weren't covered under the grant at the beginning.
We have a small amount of that left over, and that is going to go to pay the architect and the clerk of the works and the engineer who have been working for free since January, believe it or not.
They want to see the project through.
This project was supposed to be completed in October.
In March, by the time the vote passed to have these letters put on the building, I was out of funding.
At that point, I had every ounce allocated to every project in this building.
So unfortunately, time went by.
After March, someone actually jogged my memory and said, hey, what are we doing about the Dan McDonald's station?
I said, great idea.
I have no idea.
I actually called Dan.
I said, what do you want?
And he was like, well, you know me.
I want a neon sign.
He was obviously joking.
I went back to Katie and said, Katie, you wrote it.
What do you want to say?
What's the intent here?
And where's the funding coming from?
She said, well, I think I kind of wanted like the bumping station, right?
A sign on the station.
I said, okay, because it doesn't say that.
And how do we best honor Dan, right?
So we went round and round.
And she said, well, I do portraits.
And I do one.
And if you've seen it on social media, it's beautiful.
I mean, it's amazing.
So we said, okay, great.
We'll do that.
It doesn't cost any money.
And she was kind of involved.
And everything seemed great.
So I thought I had kind of bridged that gap between everybody.
And we were in great shape.
Fast forward to where we're at now.
That appears to be not the sentiment of the public.
So because of that, we've been scrambling to come up with ideas.
We discussed plaques with an explanation of who Dan was so that when you walk in, you can
understand all the wonderful contributions he's given to the community.
We talked about lettering on the building and, you know, different sizes and how we do it.
These are just some of the renderings.
How to please the entire public here in New Boston is kind of a tough thing.
Everyone has their own perception of how we were going to meet that Warren article.
So, you know, a lot of the people in this room have really scrambled to try to meet that
need for everybody.
And that seems to almost change monthly, unfortunately.
So, but yeah, as far as funding goes, I know I kind of ramble a little bit.
Funding goes, the grant funding is gone.
There's nothing left to that.
So, unfortunately, that's...
What's that?
Yeah, $2,100 and...
$2150.
Yeah.
That was an install price, like I said, from the signed vendor who's familiar with the building.
Brandon, I have a question.
Jeff, you had a larger version on the screen.
Is there a reason why you went with the smaller version?
Well, we...
So, Brandon and I were discussing it out front during Cliff's retirement.
And since I think that we were coming together to try to spearhead the ideas of what to do,
we looked at the full length and it just looked awkward.
It just didn't seem to fit.
And then Brandon had the idea, hey, look at the middle of both windows.
And it kind of showcases the name rather than spreads it across.
And literally, the other rendition was the M was above the left-hand corner and the N was above the right-hand corner.
And it just honestly looked awkward.
And then we're like, well, now we don't even have enough room to play.
If I'm going to put it a little bit higher, it's got to be right over the white silver.
It's going to look nice when it's up.
That was just questioning what...
Of course, we tried to keep the letter size because we knew size was going to be an issue.
Yeah, okay.
Who's working with the vendor to get their layout approval and whatnot?
Mark and I will work with the vendor.
Could you, Brandon, when you get their layout,
I'm sure they're going to have a layout with sizes and stuff before you guys approve it.
I would like to see if we could get that before the public hearing.
Sure.
We may be able to get that along with their layout on it.
I can send you the quote that we got.
Well, I have the quote.
They probably just didn't give you a layout, though, right?
Yeah, right, right.
It's actually on their middle and bottom.
It gives you dimensions and letter sizes and all that.
On that form?
It's all on that form, yeah.
Perfect.
So if we have that for the public hearing, we'll be good to go.
Yeah.
All right.
Anything further?
No.
That is...
Thank you, Brandon, Mark, Brian.
Any other questions?
Can I...
How are you going to go about the private...
I'm sorry.
I'm Jackie Filio.
I live on Buckery Hill Road.
Yeah.
How are we going to go about the private funding?
How are we going to solicit for them?
Well, I have...
The campground offered to actually pay for the whole thing.
Oh, yes.
But I'm crazy how all my companies are going to pitch in.
I think that Byron Auto will pitch in.
There will probably be like four or five of us that will contribute to take care of this.
So no matter what, it will get done.
It will get done.
So...
All right.
Well, thank you, everybody.
And I hope to see everybody here as a meeting on the 6th to discuss this so we can approve this
and we can move on.
What time are you going to have that at, like, 6?
Probably 6.30.
I'll have to figure out the firework meeting at the same time.
Okay.
Yes.
Is this going to take the majority to vote?
How many people have to vote in the room?
Ultimately, no, at a public hearing, the...
Actually, first, could you say your name and...
Oh, Denise Kilmer, Dr. Melrose, Boston.
So the way a public hearing works, and we open the floor to everybody to discuss this.
They get their opinion, but at the end of the public hearing, we will stop public comment.
Then it will move back to us, and we, the three of us, will vote yes or no on it.
Great.
Can I say, where will it be held?
Will it be held here?
We can come back here.
Yeah.
As long as this room is available, we can do it here.
The notice should go up on the website pretty quick.
Yeah.
It's firework.
Firework.
Can we do the library?
We can do the library, absolutely.
Yep.
Yep.
Hey, Megan.
Yes.
Will the firework meeting divide citizens, or is the firework meeting just between a few
of you folks?
What do you mean the fire?
Well, the firework meet on the 6th.
We meet the first Monday after the first Wednesday.
That's our normal scheduled meeting.
So I'll have to discuss it with the firework.
July 4th would have happened.
Yeah.
If the firework want to move it to a different night or do it immediately following the hearing,
which we could probably do, and then come back here.
So discuss it with them.
I think that would be helpful if the firework was there.
Yeah.
We'll just do it immediately following.
We'll come back here and do our meetings.
So good.
Okay.
Without a unanimous decision from all the firewards, could that potentially trick things up?
No.
Yeah.
Because it's a town on buildings.
Correct.
Okay.
It's ultimately the three of us making that decision.
Okay.
We just like their input and public input on it before we make a final vote on it.
Absolutely.
How do you like your brownies?
All right.
You good?
I'm good.
Kevin, you all set?
All set.
Thank you.
All right.
Thank you, everyone.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Appreciate the information and the kindness.
We'll roll one around in the bathroom for a while.
That's always good.
It's our government operates very slow.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All right.
Next item, item number three, about a new business.
Acceptance of fire chief resignation.
Brian, sir, I have to say, I'm very upset about this, and I'm being honest about it.
You are...
I'm not having money here.
You're great to work with.
Thank you.
You will be truly missed.
Thank you.
Appreciate it.
Is there an elaborator just as a family matter?
Or do you not want to...
Yeah, so I think we've accomplished a lot in a real short period of time.
We've built this fire station.
We ordered a new fire engine.
We ordered a new utility truck.
We had a lot of projects, a lot of irons in the fire over the last year.
And because of that, unfortunately, my family life has suffered, and there's been some other
issues going on, so at some point, you've just got to kind of stand back and say, okay, I've done
everything I can do at this point.
It's time to let someone else take the reins and move forward.
So it was a tough decision, but it was a decision that my wife and I made together, and, you
know, we're going to move on.
You're going to stick around in town?
Yeah, I'm definitely going to stick around in town, move around the fire department to
assist with the transition, you know, help the next chief move up and become successful.
So I'm not disappearing.
I will certainly be here to help.
Okay.
That's it.
All right.
Joe?
Yeah, well, we talk.
You know what I am.
We talk.
No, definitely going to miss you in that spot, you know, except the little time I had
really gets to know you, and it's a bummer, but I totally relate to family first, you know.
Kevin?
Is there anything you wanted to say beyond what you already have?
I think so.
Okay.
Oh, ditto.
Thanks.
So I regrettably will accept your letter of resignation.
Yes.
I would just like to say thank you for your service here.
It's been nice working with you when I have questions.
It's been nice working with you when I have questions.
It's been nice working with you when I have questions.
It's been nice working with you when I have questions.
It's been nice working with you when I have questions.
It's been nice working with you when I have questions.
It's been nice working with you when I have questions.
It's been nice working with you when I have questions.
It's been nice working with you when I have questions.
It's been nice working with you.
It's been nice working with me.
It's been nice working with you.
It's been nice working with you.
It's been nice working with you.
It's been nice working with you.
It's been nice working with you.
It's been nice working with you.
It's been nice working with you.
It's been nice working with you.
I thank you as well for all the service that you've done here.
And I do hear about all the good things that you've done.
And we were just talking about you today at Epstein's.
And you will do that.
Thank you very much.
I like to think you're leaving the place better than when you first came.
And I think I've done that.
So I feel pretty good about this.
That was a tremendous job.
Thank you.
And thank you for everything you've done.
All right.
All right.
Back to Brian.
And Bill, we will be, Brandon Maron, Firework.
We're going to be posting his position probably this week.
Okay.
So we'll start that whole process.
And the Fireworks will be going to plan together.
You know, like it happened the last time when we had to, when Dan left
and we had the chief came in, the Fireworks will kind of break up everything
to kind of take the load off of whoever.
So it won't be just one specific.
Everybody's just going to take a little.
We'll take a little.
In the interim.
In the interim until we can find a suitable chief.
So, you know, we'll put a board together.
I'm sure one of you would invite it to be on the oral boards.
But it's going to be a slow process, I'm sure.
But it's going to be tough to replace Brian.
Absolutely.
All right.
Thank you.
All right.
Item number four.
Review proposal for a town dumpster contract.
Thanks, sir.
Okay.
Kathy, you want to just kind of give us a synopsis of this.
Yeah.
So it was brought to our attention.
Currently, we have two different companies that have been servicing the department in Boston
that use a dumpster service.
And currently they're paying $387.64 a month to come have the waste removal.
So we checked around and called both companies to get a quote.
And the new pricing would only be $282 a month.
There would be a one-time delivery fee of $50 per dumpster.
And instead of a two-yard, it's going to be a four-yard dumpster.
So the recommendation is that we would go with one company who's offering the $282 a month for a larger dumpster picked up every other week.
And the new company that we're looking to go with is MDs.
And that's currently -- their PD is using MDs right now.
Is that correct?
Correct.
So there would not be --
So no change with them other than a reduction in price because we're --
We're multiplying.
Yeah.
Okay.
Did you speak with the department heads?
Do they have any issues switching over from Casella to MDs?
I mean, they get a bigger dumpster?
No.
Actually, he said, yeah, if we're paying less and getting more, then I'm in.
Who said that?
Brian.
Okay.
Anything from Highway?
Highway's fine with it.
Okay.
So I just had one question and just a recommendation and it may not go anywhere.
But is there any chance for Highway PD to share a dumpster?
And the answer may be flat out no.
But they're right there.
You know, put it -- I would recommend putting the dumpster -- I can't -- just -- it's an option.
Either leaving a PD and Highway takes their trash or vice versa.
With the PD -- they were down to two dumpsters.
So it's just a thought.
I don't -- I haven't been up there to look at exactly where the dumpsters are.
It's not -- I don't think -- out of the question.
The only thing going from Casella to MDs -- I use MDs -- the issue I have is in the winter
is when you have snow and it melts, goes to the bottom of the dumpster because it's a rear lift.
Casella is a front lift.
So you've got two solid panels.
You've got four panels on a four-yard dumpster.
Water gets in.
Freezes your garbage to the bottom.
And I literally have had them come and dump the dumpster and I flipped it open in all my trashes.
So then because it got wet and it froze.
So that's something that they're going to have to be conscious of.
Either throw a tarp over the top of it during a snowstorm where it's supposed to get warm.
Because when we fluctuate with the weather, it'll melt off and then refreeze that night.
And if it's dump night, most of it's going to stay stuck in there.
So is PD going from -- are they at four yards now or two?
They're at four.
Okay.
So it's not --
Highway and fire right now are at two.
Right.
And there's no additional charge for the weight of the refuse?
It's just a pickup and delivery charge.
That's it.
Yep.
Is it once a week?
Any other week.
Any other week.
So we could approve this tonight and we can have Kathy see if Highway and PD are willing to share a dumpster.
And logistics of driving from one building to just dump your trash.
The only thing that I wouldn't want is it being put up kind of in between them up towards the road.
No.
No.
Which highway is now?
It's behind -- what's the second entrance?
Uh-huh.
Actually not too far in.
Okay.
So I would recommend not voting even one of them, just eliminating one and seeing if that's an option.
That's going to save us quite a bit of money, too.
Yep.
So I would recommend instead of voting on this tonight, see if we could have them talk to two department heads, see if they're willing to share a dumpster.
How full are the dumpsters getting now, by the way?
Well, PD's got four.
I can't believe every two weeks I think it's full.
Yeah.
I have a four.
The highway you're getting -- you have a four, right?
Yep.
The highway's doubling their size.
So right now I don't think there would be an issue.
So I guess availability of space and accessibility of the unit are the two things.
And maybe check with PD if they experience the same kind of --
We have janitorial services for both buildings.
Correct?
Mm-hmm.
So part, you know, the janitor's dumping the trash at night.
I don't know.
They can always just drive their car to the -- one driveway down and dump it in the dumpster.
It's worth asking.
It's worth asking.
If not, just come back from the next meeting and we can improve as this.
All right, review proposals.
Excuse me.
Oh, yes.
Is it possible to put a dumpster in between?
There's a gully there.
And they're actually putting -- yeah, there's a gully there.
And they're actually putting the sand and salt for public use in that general area.
I wouldn't want some -- yeah, I don't -- I wouldn't want it.
Okay.
I hear what you're saying.
I hear what you're saying.
.
Oh, okay.
Any little difference.
All right, review proposals to -- oh, yes.
Is it possible to put a dumpster in between?
There's a gully there.
And they're actually putting -- yeah, there's a gully there.
And they're actually putting the sand and salt for public use in that general area.
I wouldn't want some -- yeah, I don't -- I wouldn't want it any further -- I hear what you're saying.
Okay.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
A review proposal to implement record retention committee.
So, recently, the company that does the disposal had an appointment to come in and pick up some of the records that were going to be destroyed.
And it started us thinking that we need to make sure that everything is recorded and gone through and labeled before that happens.
And we do have the committee of the record retention that is supposed to be helping to do that.
We lost some of the members over the last couple of years.
Per RSA, it's supposed to be the town clerk, a select board member, an assessor, and a tax collector to help with the record destruction.
And then, per our policy at Boston, they added the police department records clerk, the finance director, and the town's IT vendor to label what's going to be destroyed.
So, I'm hoping to get approval from the select board to get that committee together and to see and schedule a run for them to come and dispose of the old records that we no longer need.
How quickly can we get this committee together?
And are we way overdue for any...
There's old records up there that could have been done before now.
Yeah.
But I think it's also cost-effective to kind of wait to have enough to make it worth it.
So I could ask a question on the retention part on critical records of we scanning and having a database?
They have records that are scanned.
Okay.
I know that there's certain records that have to be kept legally.
Absolutely.
Physical.
Yeah.
But the other stuff can be scanned and then we can dispose of according to the RSA.
Okay.
Which I gave you guys coffee.
How many people do we have left on that committee?
Well, we have a town clerk.
We have an ascensor.
I mean, the positions are there.
We can put it together.
Yeah.
We can get it together.
The statute is mandatory.
Those positions shall constitute the committee.
Yeah.
The only thing that we added was the police records.
Right.
Because they have a separate system from what I understand.
I think so, yes.
Yeah.
Because of 91A and there's other things that they deal with all the time.
That they do.
Mm-hmm.
Criminal convictions, for example.
A lot of the different.
A lot of confidential stuff.
They're going through that right now.
Yeah.
I have no issue with that.
That happened.
No.
So.
Kevin, you want to make the motion on this?
What are we moving to?
What are we moving to do?
No.
It was the police records.
It was the police records.
Right.
Because they have a separate system from what I understand.
I think so, yes.
Yeah.
Because of 91A and there's other things that they deal with all the time.
That they do.
Mm-hmm.
Criminal convictions, for example.
A lot of the different.
A lot of confidential stuff.
They're going through that right now.
Yeah.
I have no issue with that.
Can we get the motion on this?
What are we moving?
Just as it says action requested.
I move that the town administrator gather the retention committee as designated by statute
and as revised by internal workings in our town to pull the retention committee together
to verify, mark, record, and group qualified files and to set a date for the document shredding
vendor to pick up and destroy documents.
I'll second.
All in favor?
Aye.
Aye.
So, Kathy, just a point of order I guess it would be.
Is there a written policy of how records are dealt with in town?
I'm relatively new.
I don't know.
Do we have a policy?
We do have a policy.
I mean, we have a statute.
I'm saying do we have a separate policy as well?
Yeah.
In the, in the.
We actually do have a couple.
There's actually a copy of it that was signed off.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Yeah.
All right.
Last September.
So it was you, Carrie, and I signed off on it.
Yeah.
I just, I just found it.
I forgot to remember this this morning.
Okay.
Um, just, you know, one of the things I mentioned before I think when we were talking about this
policy last year was that if there's original documents, so I'd like to make sure that something's
in place that we know what's going to happen with certain documents, such as original document feeds and things like that can't be disposed of.
They have to be retained indefinitely, maybe offered back to the people whose records they officially are or something like that.
It's, I think the tendency is to say this is from this year, you know, XYZ year, and the statute says it can be destroyed after seven years.
Let's just destroy it.
And I think it needs to be more precise than that.
You'll have to actually look at the records.
And then if it's ongoing, once we get into the habit of doing the storage that way, I think it's much easier.
Okay.
Good to go?
Yep.
Okay.
I don't know if it's considered the artificial intelligence policy.
Well, we don't currently have one, the IT or the AI.
I do have a meeting tomorrow with Tanya, with Emertech, to start going over and figuring that out.
My recommendation is other communities that have an IT policy.
Is that a base that we can work from, we can build from?
I do have a few, already, to come and present with Tanya.
All right.
Yeah, go over this time and see what her thoughts are on it.
And present it at the next meeting.
All right.
Perfect.
And that's the same with the IT policy.
So there is something in the works that we're already working on.
Yes.
It's just not finished yet.
Okay.
Do we have any, can you ask her tomorrow when you think that will be finished up?
It's kind of it all.
Okay.
Sorry for my ignorance, but what are we talking about when we're talking about an IT policy?
What does that mean to whoever's doing this?
It's how?
Policies and procedures, security measures.
Okay.
Not use of IT or anything like that, or is that part of it?
Security?
Well, not really.
I mean, it's security measures.
Okay.
Primarily.
Okay.
So a technical.
Correct.
So we should have an update at our next meeting on both of those.
The 6th, yeah.
All right.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All right.
We review and approve personnel policies.
So the first one is just voting.
So you've given us what it currently exists.
Yep.
And what you're recommending, what it should look like, and how it should read.
Yep.
Yep.
This comes from the policy committee.
Okay.
And we kind of combined them all, and we met last week.
Correct.
And they just told me some of my bullets were long, and they said to come.
Some of these bullets were long, or some?
Oh.
The original.
And they told me to consolidate them a little bit.
So.
Kevin, I want you to start first, because I do have a question about this.
No.
It might lead into where...
No.
I just made a comment that I thought we had talked about hair style.
And there's so many thorny things that around the country people struggle with on these policies.
But tattoos and hair were something that constantly comes up.
Is that something we're going to deal with here, or some other way?
Do you know?
So, tattoo policy, the only policy I know that we can deal with right now is P.D. has a little tattoo policy.
Do we want one?
I think we're asking for trouble if we put one in place.
I'm not looking for it.
I'm just noticing we don't.
Okay.
Yeah.
I...
Me, personally, I'm fine without one.
What do you think, Kathy?
Well, there was a lot in it before, and they had me consolidated.
They said that it was too detailed on the policy committee.
So, I can bring it back and have it on staff.
No, I'm just wondering what your thoughts are.
I think if the town wants a professional image and they don't feel that a tattoo that cannot be covered,
then maybe that should be put into the policy to make it clear.
What do you think, Jeff?
You're thinking like facial.
I don't even know.
I know this comes up in legal situations all the time.
A lot of times if you can cover it with sleeves or pant legs or whatever.
I don't think you can do that.
I just think that you can set yourself up for basically if a person has gone and got a tattoo on their neck,
as long as it's not offensive, we can't tell them how to look.
You can't tell them you can't have green hair.
You can't tell people that.
Or you can't have a beard.
It's to try to keep a professional.
And that's your managers selecting people at the time of hiring.
But if they go out and they get--
What if I dye my hair green tonight?
That's your prerogative.
I'm not going to tell you that you can't do that.
Oh.
But if you get an offensive tattoo that's displayed and you can't cover it up,
I don't think you can go--
Well, then you have grounds to say something if it's offensive.
If it's somebody's name, you know, if Marilyn came in tomorrow with a big sleeve down her arm,
we can't tell her if she can't display that.
Or if she wears a long sleeve to cover it and there's a little on her hand,
I don't think we can invite a policy to cover something like that.
I think we may have the right to do it.
It's more about making a choice to not do it that I'm asking about.
So if we don't want to do it, I'm perfectly fine with that.
But I want to raise it as something we're not talking about.
I want to make sure we've thought about it.
And if we reject it, we reject it.
I'm not necessarily in favor of it at all, honestly,
because I think it's almost impossible to enforce.
Trust me.
The only one PD has--
They have the upright.
They currently--
They currently have no facial hair and no tattoos.
We could do the same thing, honestly.
You know, we can make that a policy.
You've got--
What's his name with facial hair?
Mustache and beards.
Oh, beards.
So, along with that, J.R., I have a problem with you.
Looking at the current policy.
You know, when I was looking over this over the weekend,
it seems much more detailed.
There were a lot of details on the original policy
and that's just not listed on the new policy.
in sending it to Primax.
They liked the fact that the new policy is not gender-related.
Okay.
Let me see the old one.
All clothes should be clean and neat in appearance.
with tight-fitting clothing, tank tops, bare midrub.
Jerry.
Shirts with bare backs and short skirts or dress eyes.
So maybe they have the issue of the skirts or dresses.
I don't know.
So is Primax seen the new one, the new version?
The longer one.
And then I condensed it.
But she thought it was great.
So they like this?
Yeah.
They said it was gender-neutral.
All right.
Jerry.
So I'm Jerry Cornett,
I'm also on the committee.
I think part of our,
a big part of our discussion for the first committee meeting was
if you make your policies too long,
people aren't going to read them.
That was a problem.
And if you have,
each department has such different safety,
is foremost.
The police with a beard.
You don't want somebody to be able to grab the beard.
Each department has its own specific.
And if you try to write a general policy that's in the general book,
it's going to be so long that nobody's going to really pay attention to it.
So I think pushing responsibility back on the department head
to come up with a good policy, good SOP,
and then enforce is their responsibility.
And I just think looking at all the policies,
they're so long, they're so in depth,
that it doesn't affect everybody.
So you're saying you have a concern with a general statement
when an employee gets hired at the town of New Boston,
they're required to sign this document.
Once they get to their duty station,
workstation...
They also go through their orientation there.
There's an SOP book up I have,
and everybody signs.
You understand these are safety policies.
I'm just going to use the beard as an example.
They come in, they accept employment.
Nothing says about a beard.
They sign this.
They go up and check in with you to start work.
The guy's got a beard.
And you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
You can't have a beard here.
It could get caught in our equipment.
You just can't have that.
I don't know how that would fall.
First of all, I'm going to be the one hiring the guy,
going through the process of seeing what they are,
who they are, where they come from,
what they stand for.
We don't have anything against the beard.
It's nothing that's going to affect us.
It was just an example.
I understand that.
But I think we're putting the responsibility
back on the department manager
to pick the right person
that's going to look at that manual and say,
yes, I can live with this.
I think this policy book was trying to do a cover-all.
And you can't do a cover-all.
You're going to get yourself in trouble with a cover-all.
I would agree with that, Jerry.
Because each area is going to be a little bit different.
Just like you were in a large manufacturing facility.
It's the same thing.
And that's where I've written policies for McCurlin nursing home chain,
where we hired people to come in and help us.
And they'll get it down to one page.
Get your primary policy down to one page.
Each division has their specific duties.
And your department is responsible to make sure that happens.
So should we put a disclaimer on this document?
I would say no.
I would say no.
Is there a disclaimer on that?
The old one?
For the old, all the policy manual?
Any questions concerning dress code should be directed to your department manager?
Absolutely.
Departments who issue or provide clothing/uniforms will be worn as instructed without alteration.
That's the only thing that really department related.
So in the administration, it says department heads and supervisors are responsible for administering this policy consistently and reasonably.
It could also say are responsible for drafting and enforcing department specific policies beyond these general requirements or something like that.
I think that should be its own policy in general.
What should be?
Is that what you just said there?
I like what you just said.
I think with each policy that's in a book, we write a general policy.
In that statement, you just said it becomes its own policy over each employee, each department manager or supervisor is responsible to make sure that the employees are covering and doing what they're supposed to.
It's what it's supposed to be.
What you just said is perfect.
I think that should be its own policy.
I don't know what you mean by it should be its own policy.
Yeah, I'm not following.
So when you hand a policy book out, you're writing the basic policies for the town, what we want.
But there should be a policy stating that each department will have its own SOPs and policies, which like you just said,
it's the responsibility of the department manager and/or supervisors to ensure the policies are following.
All policies.
I think that's a perfect policy.
Simple, short, direct.
The only policy established for the town was.
Yeah.
So what I was thinking was nothing is objectionable here, and I find it hard to believe that any of these things.
It's talking about wearing uniforms, protective clothing, and not interfering with safety, sanitation concerns, et cetera,
are broad enough that each department head could then also fill in for their department consistent with those goals.
Right.
Here are the specific things that apply in our department.
I don't know why it would be narrowed down to just that sentence basically, it sounds like.
I think overall we're also looking at, on the far end of the spectrum, the rec department.
What do we allow our summer people to wear?
Right.
So you're trying to, in the coverall, you're trying to cover all these different things.
No, but this isn't.
This is, I think this is broad.
I take your point.
Yeah.
That we can't, we're going to have a 30 page policy.
Right.
If we try to hit every single department, rather than just come up with a broader statement.
Right.
And I think it can include, it should always be safe.
It should always be professional.
I don't think you get to waive those things in a department irrespective of what the department does.
Right?
Right.
And so those things can be said.
And then each department head can be responsible for digging in and drilling down on what's actually
okay in their department because of safety, because of professionalism.
Because I think there is an expectation.
It's sad that we have to put everything in policy, but.
Well, it helps protect the managers for enforcing it, too.
Correct.
And it keeps the administrator to make sure the, if it's not being enforced.
Yeah.
So, it's just got to be an overview for the town, but you guys still make your own rules per department.
Correct.
And you can enforce those rules based on proper PPE and clothing and whatever section they're working in.
So.
So if an employee has an issue, it ultimately falls back on your general statement.
And then with that statement that you're adding, it covers less.
Yeah.
So there's no, the employee can't come back on the town.
It's clearly stated.
I think my job in this circumstance where I'm sitting is to establish a general policy.
And I think all these things are right about a general policy.
And then Jerry's point is also correct that it's going to vary how we meet those goals in
each department based on safety, presentation, professionalism, all that stuff.
And so I think putting that in for each department, and I think they should be responsible for generating their own standards.
But I think these are broader.
I don't see how anybody's, I mean, if there's something in here that I'm missing, I read through this pretty carefully.
I don't see that there's anything, any department, any professional appearance, neat and clean.
Is that the original one?
No.
This is the new.
The new one.
Right.
Clean and good repair, suitable for interaction with the public.
This is very broad.
Yep.
Say it's appropriate to the employee's duties.
It's very general.
I like what you're, I think that was the idea where you're trying to approach with all
of the, restarting with rewriting all the policies, is simplify and make it more readable
and hold the department that's accountable.
Well, we just talked about an example is PD has its own rules about tattoos and beard.
Perfect.
And it fits within this broader concerns of the town.
It's like what goes out in that one sentence maybe.
So I went in for a foreign tattoo.
So, alright, so this is the first read.
So why don't we just add that statement and we can bring it back to the next meeting and
no objections, we'll let it go in a second.
So, department heads and supervisors are responsible for, so it already says this, I'm just adding
in after that, after four.
Are you writing this down anything soon?
Mm-hmm.
I'm speaking as I'm thinking about it.
Generating is probably the wrong word.
Establishing.
Establishing.
Establishing.
Establishing.
Department-specific requirements for personal address and appearance and for administrating,
etc.
And I suppose I could default and just say this.
And I keep saying administrating.
It's administering.
So, we're responsible for establishing department-specific personal address and appearance requirements,
or standards, or however you want to say that word.
And it will continue for administering this policy consistently and reasonably.
And I suppose I could default and just say, no, this is fine for me.
This is as specific as I need it to be.
That makes sense, I don't know.
I kind of like what you were adding.
I like where you were going with that.
Okay.
So, yeah, let's add it.
And then we'll just bring it back to the second read and just add objects as we can.
Okay.
Does that work for you, Jeff?
Yeah.
Okay.
All right.
The next section.
We good with that one, guys?
I know.
Yes.
Paid time off policies.
Second.
Okay.
Okay.
So, what you have in front of you is the personal leave.
Okay, so what you have in front of you is the personal leave.
In the situation.
And the situation.
And the situation.
Okay.
So, what you have in front of you is the personal leave and the situation.
So, what you have in front of you is the personal leave and the sick leave and the vacation leave to make sure that we're following what they found.
Okay.
So, what you have in front of you is the personal leave.
And the sick leave and the sick leave and the vacation leave to make sure that we're following what the town is looking to do.
Okay.
So, what you have in front of you is the personal leave and the sick leave and the sick leave and the vacation leave to make sure that we're following what the town is looking to do.
So, what you have in front of you is the personal leave and the sick leave and the sick leave and the vacation leave to make sure that we're following what the town is looking to do.
Okay.
So, what you have in front of you is the personal leave and the sick leave and the sick leave and the vacation leave to make sure that we're following what the town is looking to do.
Okay.
So, what you have in front of you is the personal leave and the sick leave and the sick leave and the sick leave to make sure that we're following what the town is looking to do.
Okay.
So, what you have in front of you is the personal leave and the sick leave and the sick leave and the sick leave to make sure that we're following what the town is looking to do.
Okay.
Mary Lynn also said there was more that we haven't done yet.
I don't know if you wanted to try to attempt some of those tonight or not.
It's all part of the meeting?
It's all part of, yeah, time, right, time off and everything.
Okay.
So, um...
Are we getting section by section?
Okay.
Go ahead.
Go ahead.
is looking to do.
Marilyn also said there was more that we haven't done yet.
I don't know if you wanted to try to attempt some of those tonight or not.
It's all part of the meeting?
It's all part of, yeah, time, work, time, and all that.
Okay.
Are we getting section by section?
We'll cover personal, cover second, or vacation.
Mm-hmm.
I looked over the personal.
Honestly, I had no issues with that.
So this is a review of the existing 24 policy, correct?
Yes.
Okay.
So can I jump in?
Yeah.
So the second paragraph, the second sentence,
however the town recognizes circumstances beyond employees' control,
I didn't understand those two sentences.
In recognition of that, the town would offer.
So I wouldn't have a policy to say that we would offer something.
I think I'd reorganize the sentence,
because I'm not sure what we're trying to say here.
I'm not trying to be nitpicky.
I just honestly don't get what we're trying to do here.
I think it's meaning to say employees with at least two years of full-time service
may convert up to 10 hours of unused balance, et cetera.
Is that what that's saying?
That was the proposal in 24, yeah.
Okay.
And they also changed the hours from 15 to 30.
The hours?
The number of hours per calendar year.
Where is that?
I see it now.
Yep.
Thank you.
Okay.
So I just reorganized the way that second sentence, third sentence reads.
I think it should lead with employees with at least two years of full-time service.
That's the qualifier, right?
This is, you get to go on in the sentence if you're one of those people,
and then say what is available to them.
I wouldn't say the town would offer.
I'd just say all regular full-time employees have the option of converting
and just tighten that up a little bit.
Because, and again, not just to be nitpicky,
I just didn't understand where we're going with that.
Do you want me to restate that?
No, I think I can work on that.
Okay.
My question is, is that something that you are in favor of leaving in?
I've not heard of that term before,
so that's why I focused in on that sentence so much,
and I wasn't positive what it was saying.
But it sounded like before I was on the board,
people thought that this was a benefit we should be offering people,
so I took it in that light.
But if we're talking about should we be doing this,
then I'd like to think about it a little bit more
and make sure I understand what it is we're saying.
It's basically saying if there's a hardship for somebody,
they can convert 10 hours of their unused balance towards them.
I don't even think, sorry, I don't understand what it's saying.
I think it means to say you can convert vacation time to personal time?
No, personal time to vacation.
Personal time you get 30 hours a year,
and it will go away at the end of the year.
Right.
So what was brought forward was because you cannot take the time off
and personal time gets eliminated at the end of the year
that they're going to offer that you can take 10 hours from personal time
and either get paid out
or you can change it into 10 hours of vacation time.
Okay.
And so in companies where I've talked about this before,
there's a big discussion,
and I'm not necessarily advocating one way or the other,
but about whether personal time is meant to be compensable.
In other words, is it just a benefit you offer in case people need it,
and if they don't need it, that's great?
Or are we making it into an additional benefit
that can be converted into monetary value?
And it sounds like that's what we talked about,
and folks agreed with that.
Okay?
Yes.
Then if that's what we're agreeing to,
then I'd just reorganize the way the sentence is stated.
We're only talking 10 hours that you can cover up to 10 hours.
And it doesn't say up to,
and it doesn't say up to in the sick leave either,
so I'll bring that up again later,
but it should say up to,
because you don't know that they have that.
Right.
I mean, if that's a policy decision,
it's fine with me.
Okay.
Jeff, anything on that one?
Nope.
All right, I'm looking at a second.
Question.
Oh, yes.
So does that mean after two years,
instead of getting,
as I read this,
instead of getting
the vacation time
that's allotted to them,
for the two years,
they would actually get,
instead of 80 hours,
they would get 90 hours?
Correct.
No.
Maybe 110.
Yeah, because you get 30 hours
of personal time of year.
You can only convert 10 over,
so personal leave at the end of the year,
it's a use or lose.
You don't have,
if you don't use them,
you lose them.
However,
we're giving the town employees
an option to convert 10 of those hours,
if they have not used them,
to convert that to vacation time,
because vacation time does not,
you don't lose vacation time.
That's been a policy
for quite a while in this town.
Does that make sense?
The only part that was the policy
for a long time was 15 hours.
Right.
We moved and convert 15,
we changed for 15 to 30.
And then they made it
so you can fly back.
Correct.
And then how much vacation time
are they allowed
to just continuously carry over?
We haven't gotten
to that portion yet.
We're doing section by section.
I think it's two weeks
so there is a gap.
It's double.
Yeah,
it's double what you're allowed
to carry over 10 weeks.
Correct.
Okay.
You're allowed to carry over 10 weeks.
Yeah.
Any further questions?
No.
So, Kathy,
I just want to add
one other point.
So if you look
at that second paragraph,
it says,
personal days cannot be carried
over 10 calendar year
to the next.
However,
the town recognizes
that circumstances
beyond an employee's control
could prevent our employees
from utilizing the standard.
I mean,
that's really saying
if nobody gets sick,
they don't get
the personal time
and it seems like
an odd way to say that.
I would just take that out.
Well,
you have sick time
and you have vacation time
and then this is just
personal time
for the other things
that come up.
Maybe.
Oh,
I see.
Okay.
My apologies.
I get it.
And there's short-term
and long-term disability
to help with anybody.
I got you.
I got you.
Sorry about that.
All good.
Yeah.
Sorry.
All right.
So let's move on
to sick time.
So in the accrual,
I'll jump in.
It's about the middle
of the page or so.
It says at least five years
but less than 10,
100 hours.
It reads as if that's
the amount they will get
and I think it's meant
to say up to.
So it's,
you know,
it's not a defined amount.
So it says employees
who voluntarily separate
shall receive payment
of unused balance
of sick leave
based on their employment
following criteria
shall be applied
at least five years
but less than 10 years,
100 hours.
But I gather
what if they've used
all their sick time?
Shouldn't that say
up to 100?
So it'd be the balance
of their sick time,
right?
Yeah.
That's the note
I made on there too.
Oh, okay.
And then up above
minor point
but in accrual
the first paragraph
third line
payment of the sick leave
benefit shall be
based upon the normal
hours worked by
employee during
a regular workday.
It should be EG
not IE
if an employee
is regularly scheduled.
It's an example
not in other words.
and then in
do folks have a
do you want me to hold up Jeff?
Oh, okay.
Do you want me to read?
No, no, go ahead.
So
I know this is something
people do all the time
but in the
second to last paragraph
in accrual
so right under the
indented paragraphs
of up to $100, etc.
It says when employment
is terminated
by the town
for gross misconduct
or just cause
and
I think it
you know
I know people say that
all the time
and I don't understand
why gross misconduct
is in there
is I guess my point.
It's really if it's
just cause
if there's just cause
and it can be
it can include
gross misconduct
it's not either or.
so I have a question
and that was one
of my questions
about this
so my prior employers
vacation time
is your time
when you leave
that's your money
they pay you
for vacation
they do not
legally have to
pay you out
and I
correct me if I'm wrong
they don't legally
have to pay you out
for sick leave
I don't think so
so my question is
A we're allowing
our employees
to
carry up to
six weeks
of sick time
which I think
that's a little steep
but even more so
that
when they leave
that we pay up
to
a 20 year employee
those six weeks
of sick time
15 to 20 year employee
200 hours
I just think
I think that's a high number
it's a high liability
financial liability
on the town
when somebody leaves
I guess
I'm not in favor
of
you know
personally
I wouldn't
advocate
for cutting back
on an existing benefit
but I think that
should play
into any discussion
down the road
of increasing those hours
or increasing the time
and just say
I think it's already
pretty generous
I mean I don't want
to take something
away from the boat
that's right
but I would agree
that's not
I don't want
to add to this
I think this is
pretty high as it is
Jerry
question came up
when one of my employees
left
if you're in your
between one to five years
one of the benefits
you collect
is it at the completion
of your fifth year
or when you enter
your fifth year
it should be completion
because it says
at least five years
but less than ten
so you have to have
already completed
five years
completed five years
I think it needs
to stipulate that
clearly
so you say
an employee
who worked
four years
eleven months
says I'm entitled
they say
I'm in my fifth year
I'm in my fifth year
it's not I'm in my fifth year
it's upon the completion
but this does say
at least five years
should I say
upon completion
I personally do
but I'm open to
anything people think
I'm surprised somebody
would argue
that's something
otherwise
honestly
but people argue
all sorts of things
they do
do you guys
want to change it
I'm fine with
the way to do this
myself
Jeff did you have
any issues
with sick leave
why wouldn't
why wouldn't
you say
you know
instead of saying
at least
why not
at five years
but less than ten
because
you've got to be
at five years
right
that's fine with me
so get rid of
the word least
least
okay
tell us no
so the other
it's a little gray
it's a little gray
to me
because I'm in
I'm in my
twenty-fourth year
and yours is fine
it says twenty years
and more
but I'm just saying
so you're saying
in my example
say there was a change
at twenty-five
yeah
you could try to
challenge that
I'm in my
twenty-fifth year
but my anniversary
for my twenty-fifth year
I've completed
my twenty-fifth year
that's great
but that was
out of the category
how can you say
that when it says
at least
because it's
who's applying
it I guess
yeah
I'm applying
either way
or who's getting
I see it go
either way
and it shouldn't
I think
I think
I think
just getting
the word
leaked out of there
I think
what Jeff said
is fine
at your fifth year
less than ten
at your ten year
or completing
after completing
five years
if we're going to say it
let's just say it
after completing
five years
yeah I like that
all right
I'll go with that
so just
there's also a bio
for this time
yeah
I had the up to
comment on that one
as well
the credit you mean
yeah
yeah
so it should be up to
because you don't know
what they'll have
and then you're saying
the at least
thing should be
at completion
of two years
after completing
two years
or at completion
yeah you're right
yeah
any other changes
on sick leave
no
Jeff you good
I'm good
all right
Kathy you got any notes
I just had the one
question
sorry wait a minute
it's under part time
so second page
of the policy
middle of the page
the rate
.0385
is then multiplied
by the actual
hours worked
how does this
dovetail with
our other policy
about actual
hours worked
is this
because the next
policy
where is it
vacation pay
yeah
this is it
right
no overtime
with our overtime
policy
sorry
I missed it
okay
so in our overtime
policy
when somebody
if we give them
credits for actual
time worked
or times
they don't
actually work
correct
there's a circumstance
when that happens
okay
does this work
with that
or is that
part time
doesn't get
doesn't normally
get overtime
good point
and it's
prorated
gotcha
good
that answers
my question
that was all
I had
do you have
to judge
anything
so the only
thing I kind of
wanted to look
at and talk
about
I think this
is fine
the way the
policy
is fine
so
say
you have
40 hours
of vacation
on the books
and you want
to take
a vacation
like a European
vacation
that's a
three week
vacation
so it's
going to require
60 hours
of vacation
but you only
have 40
on the books
how do we
we should
nothing in here
is saying that
about fronting
time
I think we should
add that
I think it's a good
perk for an employee
to have that
but I think
it needs to be
identified
and put a cap
on it
guys I didn't
see it in here
yeah I'm just
looking again
quickly
sorry
yeah I don't
see do there
I thought there
was something
there
so where is
that
time of
scheduling
about two
thirds of the
way down
yep
so it requires
department manager
or town
administrator
oh and
town
administrator
all eligible
may take up
and not exceed
40 hours in advance
of approval
if they wish
to take that
access
oh in access
so it doesn't
require approval
to use up
to 40
but if they
want to take
in access
of 40
it requires
prior approval
from department
manager
and the
TX
what makes
you eligible
what teams
are eligible
full time
employee
say somebody
just came
on board
and they're
here for
four weeks
and then they
want to take
a week's
vacation
I don't
think that's
identified
I would
think you
have a
minimum
year
amount
of years
before you
can do
that
but it's
not stated
here
and I think
that needs
to be
clarified
is it
three years
five years
before you
can do
that
right
I wouldn't
want a new
employee
doing that
so what do
you think
is the right
term
honestly
five years
after five
years
it shows
you
here's the
thing
because of
liability
if we
front vacation
for somebody
say 40
hours
say 60
hours
whatever
the number
is
they come
back from
vacation
and they're
out of here
so we
just lost
money
but you
know
a five year
employee
it could happen
to anybody
it could happen
to a 20
year employee
but I
think a
five year
employee
shows that
they're in
they have
skin in the
game
they're probably
not going
to take the
tax
I think if
you have
five year
employee
they're going
to have
a balance
of sick
time
and if
they do
take off
on you
you've got
your sick
time
you've got
to write
a policy
on that
because you
don't pay
them back
up the
direction
yes
my only
statement
was going
to be
what you
just said
that if
they go
on vacation
and you
give them
extra time
and then
they come
back
stay whatever
and then
they leave
they just
gain all
that
there's nothing
to do about
it
well we can't
do something
about it
but you're
right to
say we
don't have
a lot
of leverage
to do
something
about it
and they
have
if I
my thing
would be
you're
allowing
them
to get
personal
carryover
they get
all this
personal
time
they get
sick leave
done
that's a lot
of time
well I think
there's going
to be
circumstances
where I
think this
benefit could
come in
handy
yeah if
they're sick
or they've
got personal
issues but I
don't understand
why it would
be a vacation
is a planned
event
do you think
it's too
high
if you put
in there for
a five year
a minimum
five year
employee
I don't
think that's
unreasonable
for a five year
employee
well it's in
excess
of 40
yeah
I'm not saying
it's too much
I'm just saying
that's a big
amount already
the world
that I came
from if you're
going to take
extended vacation
or such
and you're
a 15 year
employee
you've got a
huge accrual
anyways
and if you've
got to go
40 hours over
that it was
40 hours
unpaid
it was
that's just
a decision
of
you know
are people
using more
than 40 hours
advance
40 hours
in advance
so that's a
week
that's what
we have
that's a lot
of time
but then again
if there's
an
ex-stimulating
circumstance
that would have
to be approved
by us
and the
county minister
and the
department
manager
and I think
that should
be a lot
important
could they
take it on
leave
yeah
that's what
we used
to do
in the world
that I came
from
if you were
going to
take a month
vacation
you know
and you
had
three weeks
worth
and you
wanted another
week
took it
unpaid
I mean an
employee over
five years
gets 120
hours as it
is
so now
you're going to
give them
another week
and then
we get
extra
what's the
current rule
current rule
on what
going over
yeah
it's supposed
to be only
40
is there a
written policy
on that
this is the
active policy
right here
right
I thought
this was a
first read
no this is
the active
this is the
current policies
that we're
looking at
then we've
already given
the benefit
yeah
but is that
the attention
of
the extra
week
pardon
but I think
we're looking
so we've got
the benefit
of 40
but somebody
put the
scenario
of three
weeks
I'd be okay
with an
unpaid week
that way
you're not
getting yourself
too deep
I mean this is
40 as a
matter of
right basically
I'd say it is
and then
if you want
to do another
40
if you want
to do more
than 40
you have to
get advance
approval
and that's
what the
policy is now
so I'm
trying to
figure out
what are
we debating
are we happy
with that
40
I wanted to
make sure
we were
covered
it's just
good to look
at these
every once
in a while
see if there's
any thoughts
on changing
you know
sorry
so you're
okay
if somebody's
got
120
hours of
vacation
time
and they
want to
take
160
and they
don't have
any sick
time or
personal time
to eat
and everything's
been burned
up
yep
they want
to extend
30 personal
hours
well that's
what I'm saying
everything's been
burned up
on your sick
time
personal time
gone
he's setting
up a hypothetical
where there's
no other
means to
subsidize
we're just
going to let
somebody go
40 hours
over that
who's already
utilized all
of that
and then pay
them for it
I get a
problem with
that
so if you're
currently
you get paid
they have to
pay this
back to
town
by their
earnings
right
one week at
time
until you get
back at
zero
and then you
start moving
the plus
rate
so
it's kind
of like
one of
those
payday
loans
yes
you're
fronting
you know
how hard
it is to
pay back
a payday
loan
which is
why
they're
making
millions
well
and again
I question
it
because
we do
offer
a whole
lot
I agree
are you
saying
we should
eliminate
this whole
program
I
I think
the world
that I
came from
if you
had 120
hours
and you
wanted to
go beyond
that
you did
it
unpaid
and not
frankly
there's no
fronting
there's no
fronting
or anything
like that
it's
you know
you
accumulate
your 120
hours
you utilize
that
plus
whatever else
your
you know
your personal
days
your sick
days
and then
it's like
so you take
all that
time off
and you go
yeah
I want
more
I mean
you want
more
it's going
to be
unpaid
I'll give
you more
that's being
gracious
but it's
going to be
unpaid
that's what
I've always
done
I've never
had that
so if we
were establishing
this policy
for the first
time today
I think you
have nailed
it
how I would
establish this
from the corporate
world I came
from
but we've
already given
this benefit
and I think
that says
we should
keep the
benefit
otherwise
we're taking
the benefit
away
I don't
think that's
right
what about
moving forward
with new
employees
cabinet
employees
in-house
now
that's true
I like that
I like that
idea
a lot of
these policies
I think there
should be a
cabinet now
and re-look
at some
of the benefits
I'm generally
not
if these
benefits are
so great
people would
be flocking
to New
Boston to
work and
we know
that that's
not necessarily
true
can I
get an
application
please
Karen
did you
have something
we wanted
to add
what was
that
I'm sorry
I agree
of eliminating
it
I think it's
crazy
that's a lot
of hours
so
I like
what Jerry
said
if you're
in it now
great
any new
employees
we need to
address this
that's really
hard as a
manager
that's hard
to put a
place
then you
have to
get the
new people
that come
in
and why
there's so
and so
get that
because we
keep getting
to all
budgets
and we
can't
afford
I think
it's the
right policy
ultimately
if it was
in a
vacuum
but it's
not in
the vacuum
that's my
only concern
and so I
think that is
addressed by
saying going
forward
we'll do
something
maybe it's
not the
easiest thing
to do
but if
folks are
talking about
changing a
policy
can I just
ask how
often is that
utilized
how often have
we been
burned by
right isn't
that the real
question
that's why
I think that's
why hourly
per week
you earned it
because when I
first got hired
your anniversary
date boom
you got your
vacation on the
books
and we've
had people
exit stage
left right
after their
anniversary
or waiting
to leave
until just
after the
new year
I think we're
putting all
things in
place that
are protecting
the town
more
but again
something like
this as a
manager
I would have
it very
difficult for
some of you
to use all
their sick
time all
their personal
time to take
an extended
vacation say
hey I want
to get paid
for a week
or two on
top of it
where's reality
coming in
I think if
you haven't
accrued the
time and
it's an
advance you
don't get
paid for it
I'm not sure
where I don't
think it says
that and I
definitely don't
I'm not in
favor of that
like if somebody
comes back you
say and
they've run
over their
allotted time
they got the
extra time
advanced to
them and
then they
don't come
back
I'll see
you later
they haven't
accrued that
time they've
got a paycheck
that's coming
it comes out
of the paycheck
because that's
the offset
but we need to
cap that at
40 hours
anything over
40 we
wouldn't be
able to
collect
because they
get a 40
hour paycheck
that final
check would
be 40
hours
so that
would cover
us
but we
cap it
at 40
hours
so there's
a couple
things
rolling around
in my mind
one is
was this a
smart policy
to begin
with
I don't
know
I don't
think it
was
but here
we are
do you want
to take
some time
to digest
it and we
can bring
it forward
again
I'd like
to think
about this
a little bit
so in
my mind
when you
have an
employee
that's
dedicated
five years
of their
life
to the
job
I think
that that
should be
rewarded
and keep
I would
say anybody
below that
five year
mark
if they've
been here
a year
two years
or three
years
then
that's
not going
to be a
benefit
that they're
going to be
able to
you know
what I mean
that applies
to any
advance
then right
exactly
I think
for new
employees
that probably
makes sense
correct
but that's
why I
started out
with this
you've got
to have
somebody's
got skin
in the game
five years
of their skin
in the game
I'd say
anybody
below that
they're not
going to get
the same
benefit
as the
person
that's
been here
five years
ten years
now the
grandfather
again
and again
as a
department
head
you're going
to censure
your employee
if they're
going to
chew and
screw
you're going
to know
something's
not right
they're
burning up
all that
time
and all
sudden
hey
I want
to take
a vacation
I'm going
to take
two more
weeks
yeah
you can
sense it
I'm not
going to
argue that
very
same
table
this
we'll
come
back
to
the
next
meeting
any
other
changes
discussions
on that
on
on vacation
on vacation
on vacation
so can
I just
ask a
quick
question
about
the
birthday
okay
so
I just
I'll read
you
the
current
I don't
think
it
happened
so for all
full-time
and regular
part-time
employees
a birthday
leave
one day
will be
granted
annually
this day
may be
taken
any time
within 30
days of the
employee's
actual date
of birth
before or
after
and will be
paid out
based on
the
employees
regularly
scheduled
hours
not to
exceed
10 hours
as with
any time
off
other than
regular
holidays
department
manager's
approval
is required
in advance
I just
would like
to add
that this
must be
taken
as a
day
off
without
working
so that
doesn't
accrue
toward overtime
you mean
because
yeah
seems
right
is that
what you're
trying to
dress
is if
somebody
says
plug that
in
so I can
gin up
my overtime
I'm working
anyway
so I'm
just going
to take
my birthday
and
it's got to
be a date
off
does that
make sense
thank you
all right
the other
one we
had
is
storm
leave
those
so my
only
question
is
for all
employees
who are
required to
work when
another
department
or facility
is closed
to everyone
those employees
shall be
provided
full time
for their
normally
scheduled
hours
on the
day
of
their
closure
the last
paragraph
seven
dash
three
yeah
okay
all right
so float
hours
shall be
counted
towards
the
40
hours
of
regular
work
calculation
credited
float
hours
shall be
added to
the
employees
personal
time
accrual
and shall
be used
within
the
calendar
year
in
which
the
hours
were
accrued
so
we
closed
town
hall
because
of
a
snow
snow
PD
is
still
required
to
work
because
we
don't
close
PD
this
float
day
they get
it
because
they
have
to
work
they
are
given
a
float
day
so
Marilyn
gets
Monday
off
because
of
a
storm
but
Jerry
has
to
work
it
so
Jerry's
entitled
to
a
day
off
is
what
this
is
right
inside
exactly
what
did
you
say
exactly
what
it
he's
entitled
to
the
same
I
heard
what
so
what
I'm
having
a hard
time
digesting
is
this
float
hour
shall
be
counted
towards
the
40
hours
of
regular
work
calculation
I don't
quite
understand
how
that
fits
in
here
honestly
makes
no
sense
why
it's
in
they're
going to
take
his
day
off
he's
going to
take
wednesday
off
because
everybody
got
monday
off
but
if
he
takes
wednesday
off
that
counts
to
that's
the
whole
work
hours
thing
right
it's
work
it
says
credited
flood
hours
shall
be
added
to
employees
personal
time
within
the
calendar
year
and
which
hours
were
through
so
what's
the
concern
again
it's
work
hours
so
they
take
it
a
day
off
so
they
worked
a day
when
somebody
else
didn't
have
to
work
they
worked
monday
but
they're
not
going
to
use
it
that
week
they
can
use
it
whenever
they
want
but
that
day
is
work
hours
classified
as
work
hours
because
they
did
work
but
that
was
taken
care
of
at
the
time
of
the
incident
but
now
they
get
a
floating
gang
that
they
only
use
four
weeks
later
they
think
oh
hey
you
remember
I
had to
work
that
day
so
I'm
this
friday
hour
that
counted
towards
work
hours
and
I
think
I
have
that's
where
I'm
having
a hard
time
adjusting
that
because
we
just
went
through
this
on
the
holiday
policy
right
we'll try
to clean
that up
oh
I think
you're
seeing
her
wrong
somebody
explain
this
she
works
monday
let's
keep it
within the
week
she
works
monday
or she
gets
monday
off
because
of the
snowstorm
I
plowed
for my
regular
shift
if
I'm
plowing
14
hours
that
doesn't
mean
I
get
14
hours
off
it
means
my
regular
shift
for that
day
so
that
Wednesday
I decide
I'd like to
take the
day off
for exchange
for monday
it's an
even spot
that's not
what I'm
questioning
that's
the no
break
so what
are you
questioning
I'm
questioning
your day
off
your
Wednesday
is
counting
towards
worked
hours
absolutely
because
he worked
when
he worked
his
work
hours
right
but
the other
people
didn't
work
that
Monday
that
shouldn't
be
counted
towards
worked
hours
they're
being paid
for the
day off
they're being
told
they're being
paid but
when you put
it under
worked
hours
that
falls
under
the
overtime
that's my
issue
so don't
call it
worked
hours
call it
personal
time
sure
that is
what it's
credited to
but it's
calling it
worked
hours
under
personal
time
so maybe
we shouldn't
be defining
it
I just
don't want
to see it
counted
towards
something
because
they get
accrued
this
and again
we go
back to
the
overtime
policy
worked
hours
is
counted
as
it
applies
towards
your
overtime
it has
to be
a day
taken
off
because
again
here we
go
I want
to take
Wednesday
off
it snows
again
now I'm
making
double
time
and a
half
correct
that's
my point
to this
so I think
if we just
get rid
of the
40 hours
of regular
work
and
reword
something
personal
time
yep
can be
used
as
personal
time
at a
later
date
my
issue
goes
away
within
the
calendar
year
I think
that 40
hours of
regular
work
calculation
it's
going to
come
back
and
bite
us
yes
so are
you saying
if there's
a storm
like
you can
choose
to take
the day
off
or are
you saying
no if
this is
if we
mandate
the facility
is closed
not
essential
okay
so you're
saying
so you
mandate
that
because
there's
a storm
town hall
closes
so does
that mean
everybody
on the
fire department
the PD
and highway
get a day
off
yep
that's
that's
their job
it's
an emergency
services
they
signed up
to work
it
24-7
365 days
a year
it's
their job
sorry
haven't
haven't been
in EMS
for 25
years
it's
your job
to go
to work
when you
you're a
plow guy
you're plowing
you're not
plowing when it's
sunny out
i don't understand
i don't know if i agree with that
i do agree with
if you're giving all non-essential
departments off
library
recreation
town hall
employees
that's half the employees
of town
the other half are working
to make sure the town
stays safe and open
i do agree with
giving a personal day off
later
i think it's a fair
trick
that's it
why didn't you give the
bonus to the plow
coach
for trying to do
what you're
having
so i've got a
problem
in the place
do you want me
i think we
this
i don't have an issue
with giving them
if
if department a
gets to take the day off
then department b
is entitled to a day
i think
but
just for the record
i am a believer
in
as long as i'm sitting
at this table
and the chair
i believe
in government
does not close
government only
closes
if it is a
if the governor
enacts a
state of emergency
state of emergency
that's the only time
government should ever
close
so
the chances of this
ever happening
at least under my
watch
are still
enough
however
they could reduce
staff change
and i think we just
need to be
enacted here
i'm fine with
as it is
other than
the work
the regular work
calculation
let's kind of
bite us
that's my
that's my
sticking
i would add
something from
the beginning
if we could
so
employees
would generally
expect to report
to working
in climate
weather
in the event
of severe
inclement
weather
snow
extreme flooding
weather
do we want to say
snow storm
or something
or we have
extreme flooding
and then just
snow
extreme weather
event
sure
and then in
paragraph three
the employee may
elect to take her
in vacation time
or personal time
who's got a
semicolon
in the event
of place
so it either
is a semicolon
with fewer spaces
and a lowercase
i or it's a new
sentence
so i think
it should be
in the sentence
if employees
call out
because they're
unable to get
to work
the department
and the department
is closed
to public
only
the employee
may elect
to take
her own
vacation time
or personal time
in the event
the employee
has no vacation
or personal time
approved
and the day
would be
recorded as
leave without
paying
yeah that's
definitely
two sentences
i think it was
just a typo
so do we want
to make any
change in the
storm leave
on the fifth
paragraph
or do you want
to think about
this
you just
thinking that
we don't
close
no
because there's
a state of
emergency
well that's
that's a different
thing
it snowed
three or four
inches
and it closed
because
it won't
happen
yes it won't
happen on the
watch
the state of
emergency
does pd and fd
keep going
yes
essential
essential
please
what's your
pleasure guys
i i'm struggling
with it may not
have been a great
policy to pass
but we passed
it and now we're
taking it back
and i don't love
that and i i hear
resistance and
saying that it's
crazy i don't
know whether it
is or it isn't
but some past
board approved
this and now
we're changing
the rules
it has nothing
to do with
whether i think
i would have
agreed with all
of what you
say in the
first instance
i probably
would have
but i'm
influenced a lot
by the fact
that this is
kind of the
promise we
made to people
and now we're
changing the
deal
but you're
two to my
one so i'm
happy to be
in the minority
on this
i'm fine with
everything the
way it is
other than i
just it should
not go towards
calculating for
overtime
if you took
the day off
it doesn't
count towards
overtime it's
that simple
you took it's
personal time
it even says
personal time
it may be
extraneous
yeah right
i'm
personal time
i'm not sure
why it says
both i guess
is one
correct so
that needs to
get correct
well i think
i have an idea
where it came
from
we can sit
on this
and we want
to think about
this we can
come back a
couple weeks
and just
take the line
out
take the line
out
float hours
shall be
counted towards
the 40 hours
of regular work
calculation
if you remove
that line
the problem
goes away
and it still
talks about
personal time
credited float
hours shall
be added
to the
employee's
personal time
or pool
and shall
be used
within the
calendar year
in which
the hours
were
the only
thing that
changes
it doesn't
count towards
overtime
calculations
day off
should never
count towards
overtime
calculation
they work
the original
way
right but
they get
they're getting
that time off
at some point
within that
calendar year
that means
we're going to
need schedules
because how
do we know
whether the
day off
is
well that's
the department
had to
initiate that
information
to provide
it to you
my vote is
I would be
in favor of
just removing
that line
I don't even
know if it's
ever come into
play
has it ever
been utilized
I don't know
but I've
been closed
not since
I was going to
say not since
you became
part
because wasn't
there a
previous person
who used
to shut
down
three years
ago
that's crazy
well again
we're not
shutting this
down
anymore
this doesn't
shut down
unless there's
a state of
emergency
or town halls
flooded
like we did
back in
47 or
something like
that
even that
will provide
votes
so I'd be
afraid of just
removing that
line
Jeff
box
no I
agree with
that
Kevin
want to
keep it
want to
keep it
yeah
all right
well I guess
we voted
I guess we
should strike
it
I just
think that's
I think
that's
I don't
think it's
ever been
utilized
so we
should
open it
fair enough
okay
approval of
public meeting
minutes on
June 1st
2026
I have a
couple
corrections
first one
being
line
item
111
so the
way it's
worded
I don't
believe I
said this
but if I
did
it should
be
corrected
don't look
bad and
stated that
managers
should be
able to
clock in
from any
location
I don't
like that
one location
it should be
town facility
because that's
your geo
tracking
right
it's the
fencing
issue
I remember
talking about
right
so Jerry
comes to
town hall
at 6am
he should
be able to
punch in
at town hall
because he's
actually starting
his work
so I just
think any
location
I could be
in Los
Angeles
line item
243
his name is
Jeff
not Jiff
and line
item 302
Tammy's last
name is
spelled
B-I-R-O-N
not B-Y-R-O-N
what is that
it's correct
those are the
only corrections
that I found
where did
you say
it was wrong
302
Tammy's last
name is
spelled
B-I-R-O-N
yeah
it's right
on 292
as well
correct
I had
just a
very small
typo
first of all
these are
getting
these are
really well
done
so I
appreciate
the effort
somebody puts
into this
yeah
Kristen was
awesome
line 30
there's an
extra space
between
the second
yeah
7000
and 7000
and 743
exactly
and then
I guess
I just
raised
on line
286
he asked
the hold
up
I may
have said
what's
the hold
up
it just
seems like
a weird
way to
say it
but he
asked what
the hold
up was
maybe
it was a
complete
thought
and
I had
something
on this
line
I don't
know
what it
is
345
oh
has
the town
has
approximately
7 million
in deferred
maintenance
it says
it is
968
should be
fire station
oh
the new fire
moving
now many other
changes
one per minute
good job
with that said
I'd like to
make a motion
to approve
the
meeting minutes
from a
June 1st
meeting
as amended
do I have
second
second
on paper
all right
okay
item number
10
review
and prove
holiday
day
policy
so I've
looked it
over
I think
it works
I think
we've
batted this
around
a million
times
I think
this summarizes
things
we've taken
extra
wording
I don't
think
it would
be there
I think
it
encompasses
the intent
according
to my
conversations
with you
I'm fine
with this
as it's
written
all right
I'd like to
make a motion
to approve
the holiday
pay
policy
as presented
to us
on June
15th
2026
do I have a
second
all in favor
all right
do you have a hard copy
you want us to sign
to sign up
thank you
and I will
put this away
in the closet
for a couple
of weeks
and we'll
come back
all right
item number
10
so an update
so an update
on the 2024
audit
they're going
to be coming
next week
and they
explained that
when the
single audit
of 2024
is done
they will be
able to
complete
the town's
2024 audit
so it will be
coming shortly
what they do
to get it to us
this week
or was it
always next week
so they have to
complete one
they go together
so they need to
complete one
in order to do
speaking of that
before we move on
on our desk
there's a
questionnaire
we have to fill out
I've answered my
question
if you guys
want to add to it
they need that
when they come in
so we can squeeze it
in sometime
this week
do you want me
to email it
to you
sure
I didn't see
I was in there
sorry
that'd be great
if you don't mind
thank you
I'm finally
going to finish
my certificate
program
for the
finance
that's going to be
completing next week
congratulations
the week after
I'm meeting with
Tanya tomorrow
on the
new policies
we've been working
on UKG
questions and
quirks
and
I
registered
for the
women's leadership
in November
all right
thank you
Kathy
you're welcome
move on to
selectors report
Jeff
you want to go
well
I
worked
pretty close
with Steve
on the whole
lease
thing
vehicles
he took over
and did a
good job
with it
also
you know
getting through
this
the
station
review
was
free
intents
to say the least
there's a lot
in between
I
have a chance
to sit down
and write it
today
I'm still
busy
Kevin
I do not
have anything
out there
all right
so I
continue to have
weekly meetings
with Kathy
I think it's
working out
well
thank you
thank you
thank you
yeah
we've met
solid waste
met on 6-2
the
food waste
program
is a massive
success
we're also
trying to put
together some
informational videos
about the
transfer station
how it operates
for residents
to view and
learn
so I think
it's a great
idea
so we're
working on that
it's in an
infancy
but we're
going to get
it posted
social media
website
so I
don't know
this is the
time we can
talk about
the rock
wall
I don't think
it needs to be
a non-public
there's nothing
non-public
about it
no
so
there are
residents
on East
Lone Place
that has a
rock wall
I think
everybody
you guys
did everybody
accomplish
these walls
yeah
Jeff you
went to the
site today
yep
you want to
just give
everybody
an update
on it
yeah
so
it's a
very
it's a
neat
way
that you
did it
but it's
built
it's
really a
hand-built
rock wall
that
and
we
still
really need
to verify
you know
the post
to get it
right
to go back
and talk
with the
property
but
it looks
as though
the way
that the
road
is
that's
the road
right there
so the way
where his
house starts
and comes
up
he follows
not this
line
but comes
off
and then
you'll see a
picture of a
large pine tree
where this
comes in
directly
and he's
talking about
40 feet
and you can
see where
the mulch
was pushed
on top
of the
stone wall
this stone
wall
is not
field stone
your typical
stone wall
it's all
river rock
round
small
about this
big
and he's
made
you know
cute little
stone
creatures
or
people
in these
windows
and I'm
sure he does
have a lot
of time
and effort
but there's
a lot
of personality
put into
this
the big
thing in
question
is in
the right
of way
without going
up there
and doing
proper
measurements
Shannon
would have
to pull
one of the
archived
plans
that's going
to take
a while
to find
he looks
like he
starts
out of
the right
of way
but then
his wall
comes into
the right
of way
at the end
of that pine
tree
like I
said
these are
a couple
of the
maps
so can
I draw
on this
if I
absolutely
so you're
saying the
rock wall
starts out
great
or actually
even in a
little bit
wrong
but then
it works
its way
out
correct
and the
way that
it works
its way
out
so
right here
on the
second
page
this
pine
tree
instead
of
going
behind
it
which
he
wouldn't
have
had
any
problems
we
wouldn't
be
having
this
conversation
he went in front of it
but he carried that line
in front of the tree
he didn't come back with it
and he may be on his property
but we need that
through way right there
or the
you know
it's
even
with the mulch that he's putting down
he's well
on to the side of the road
so a lot of that
that we see
where it looks like
damage
is just
thrown up
so it's really not
it's just
the
muck
yeah
it's just all
and I
get that
you know
that we're going to go through there
and I see
again
both sides
are trying to be
understanding
but
you know
I would never
put mulch
on the side
of my
yard
because I know
it's going to get pushed
I mean that's just
you know
so
so I think the question becomes
we need to confirm
and I think maybe we have to go down
this road
and confirm if it's in the right of way or not
and we can take it from there
the problem we found
one post
but couldn't find the next
to make that measurement
to calculate
the center of the road
to
where he's supposed to be
on the edge of the road
so we
we look for
you can go by
the telephone poles
that are up
that way further
you know
across the street
that are
way off the road
so
at the end of the day
this went to Primax
because it was
there was plow damage
over the winter
for people watching
and listening
there was plow damage
over the winter
rock wall
had some damage done to it
we went to Primax
and Primax came back
and said they
they can't cover it
because there's no confirmation
that this is in the right of way
if it's in the right of way
then there's no way to cover it
correct
so
and I guess the next step
is this resident
is just simply asking
hey what can the town do
and I think
you know
do we
possibly send some highway guys
out there
to try to fix this
but I think
before we do anything
we need to verify
that this is in the right
of way
I agree with that
and
that's
my intentions
I was going to go to Shannon
tomorrow
and I don't want to give her
a lot of
extra work
but
down here
where it's saying
that all this damage happened
after
oh I would say
this second
small tree
there's no rocks
so I couldn't find
any rocks
to repair there
it was just all
this stuff
that's pushed up
unless it's under it
which is on ground
it's a very unique wall
that's
got this wave
pattern in it
and it's just something
custom
and
you know
he built it
I understand that
he's not the happiest
that it got treated
like that
but
you know
and I know
Benji has addressed
the water hole
at the end here
and the last time
I believe
when they were grading
last year
last year
that they
they sloped it
and tried to
address it
because this isn't
the first time
I was complaining about it
so Benji actually
sent an email
and did anybody
print that out
right now
yeah
I read it
I read it
I didn't print it
it gives this out
of the story
thank you very much
so if you want
I can read this aloud
if you want
do we need to
I don't know
if we
I don't know
if we need to
it's just his
point
we already know
this
he's been up there
he said he has
spoken
for the
talking
or not
yeah
and
how the damage
happened
so I don't know
if this is much
more to add
into the record
we haven't
applied
but
my recommendation
is
because
let's get
this
let's find out
where we are
with the right
of way
find out
how much
we're going to
take to
get this guy
here's my problem
if it's illegally
placed
right away
this road's
already now
as it is
with a truck
it's potential
if we go out
and fix this thing
for this resident
there's a potential
that it could get
destroyed again
next week
the
yes
and it probably
will
so the big
pine tree
at the end
is rotten
so
I know
Benji's
working with
maybe
Ashland
or Eversource
or whatever
to
get it
taken down
but
we just
have got to
verify
the measurements
and
you know
if
he is not
on the right
of way
and he's
within
that distance
like what
he thinks
he is
then
you know
we'll see
what it's going
to take
to
we'll see
what it's going
to take
to get it
done
if we can
set a couple
of guys up
for a day
and help
assess
I think
that
you know
it's got
to be
cleaned up
probably
pressure washed
back in
towards the road
cleaned up
but
I just
couldn't find
the stones
but I don't
want to
commit to
any of this
until we get
more nuts
and it's
just
the reason
being
is
this road
used to be
like a T
up here
and we've
also got
complaints
from other
people living
there that
not at this
house but on
the road
that when
they come
out and
they're towing
a horse
trailer or
something and
they take
that corner
that corner
actually jolts
that way
so to make
that corner
they may
possibly hit
the tree
or something
like that
because there's
not much
road
so it is
an odd
spot
a lot
Kevin
anything to add
on this
one
yeah I
mean I
think there's
several pieces
of this
I want to
make sure
we get
them all
obviously this
was damaged
we're going
to figure out
whether it's
in the right
way or not
and he was
making comments
to include how
he was treated
when he complained
about this
and I'm wondering
what if anything
we should be doing
about that
and then
second of all
third of all
rather
I read
in Benji's
response
that
and combined
with the
citizen's report
there used to be
a small plow
truck that went
up there
and is it
that we can't
make that work
anymore
because this is
going to happen
again
I mean let's
say that is
out of the
right of way
or he moves
it back a little
bit
it seems like
it's too
small a road
for that big
of a truck
and I wonder
if that's
something we should
be thinking
about too
or do we
just not have
the manpower
to operate
the truck
do you have
any answer
for that one
yeah
well they can
slowly replace
things with
it's really
for 10 minutes
but are we
talking
trying to get
regular pickup
truck with a
plow
is that what
you think
so that's
that's what
used to happen
up there
that's what
he said
from both
strong
or down
strong
I don't think
so
yeah it was
a one time
so I guess
you know
however it
shakes out
I'd love to
just be able
to resolve
the issue
completely
agreed
right
so it doesn't
happen
yeah
and it won't
matter
yeah
I mean
there's really
not a huge
difference
in wing
span
from a
six wheeler
to a
ten wheeler
I think
I think
the comment
we got
back
was that
he didn't
have the
manpower
to do it
wasn't that
what he said
in that
it's roots
especially
this year
he was down
a guy
so everybody
was like
assisting
different routes
I mean it stinks
you know
there would be a complaint
that you have to wait
longer to get your road cloud
I mean there's
trade-offs too
it definitely wasn't
somebody that wasn't
seasoned either
so
it sounds like
it's a problem
to use that
truck there
generally
but the
road
isn't that
specialized
where you
shouldn't
be able to
you know
use a ten wheeler
down that road
but there's no
turnaround
isn't that the issue
it doesn't matter
you're going out
that way
so when you
come in
you're not even
pushing snow
towards families
when they get
down to the end
turn around
and they're
waving that back
and coming out
that point
comes up like this
so they're not
making a right
hand turn
down there
they're going
left to get
the other side
of the road
so they come
up that road
no I get
what you're saying
yeah
so
I don't know
the biggest
thing is
verifying
whether he's
on a spot
that he shouldn't
be
I get it
so
and then at that
point we make
decisions
but we can't
just
he seems to
be of a mind
that he's
because he's
five feet
off the road
that's outside
of the easement
for the town
so the road
is right there
so that's where
we're going to have
to go up there
with him
probably
I'll go up
with Benji
yes
so you take
posts on either
side
and then you
split the difference
and that becomes
the center of the road
you move out
two rods
the roads are
33 foot road
I thought it was
32
two rods
so it's a two rod
but it's listed
on the map
as 33
oh
I thought they were
defined as 32
feet
well it's supposed
to
nothing
that's why
she has to
but I mean that
matters to the
right of way
right
so we've got to
take
we've got to
measure it
and verify
all right
well I mean
I'd love to
try to resolve
this
yeah I don't
want this
I don't want
this
I think it's a
fair complaint
your other issues
I'd like to
discuss in non-public
other issues
you can have
okay
so you'll
stay on top
of this
that's all
I have
for myself
can we
go a couple
steps
no
we could
actually
talk about
so
I've been
working with
Kathy
Steve
myself
Jerry's
got involved
a little bit
Jerry's got
a probably
cheaper
alternative
to
replacing
the steps
just as a
PD steps
and
you know
we'll discuss
further off
about the
costs
and stuff
like that
but he's
got a
three to
five year
plan
to
repair
the
steps
for
cost
effectiveness
I think
long
term
we want
to
replace
those
with
granite
I've been
working
with
Swenson
to get
a
pricing
on
steps
because
they do
have
them
reducing
the size
down to
8 feet
or 13 feet
right now
so
Steve's
okay with
the 8 foot
we just
can't get
a measurement
because
the very
first step
isn't
like
Steve and I
both agree
that it
goes
7 inches
into the
ground
that makes
it flush
so those
steps need
to come out
that's not
code
so those
those
just those
steps
need to come
out
it's all
poured
you know
it's actually
hollow
underneath
it's a precast
it's a precast
there's a way
to tie that in
because the
handicapped
access comes
apart too
so if we
have to
replace
the whole
thing
I don't know
if you saw
it but that
whole large
precast
that 12 foot
is cracked
so that
whole thing
might need to
come out
but we have
a patch
solution
that will
work for five
years
that makes
more sense
fiscally
than to
just go out
and spend
25 grand
on it
than it is
I think if
we're going
to do that
we're going
to go to
a grant
it should
probably
go out
we want
to spend
that amount
of money
on it
I don't know
so you're
saying that
up until
March
the next vote
the thing
off limits
no
we need
to fix
it
it's rough
so right
now
I know
it's a bad
shame
it's fix
yep
is there
a quote
from your
guy
there is
he said
that
structurally
it's fine
they're going
to remove
the
corroded
rebar
epoxy
and form
the steps
back
after that
cures
two coats
of
color seal
and not
to exceed
$4,000
so
that's very
reasonable
yep
I'm not going
to question
Jerry or
anything like
that
I've worked
with a
local
professional
and because
we use
the
chloro
whatever
calcium
that embeds
into the
concrete
those stairs
were
repaired
last year
when the
addition
went on to
the police
station
in the same
spot
yes
wow
so
and that's
what happens
you see the
rebar
is rusted
and you see
seepage
coming out of
the cracks
in the stairs
and I
haven't had
the local
professional
go up there
and look
at it
he's just
seen close
up pictures
I was on
FaceTime
with him
walking through
the steps
and
you know
I just
wanted more
information
it's not my
wheelhouse
my background
it is now
but
you're welcome
thanks for
the invitation
but
I think
that's where
we're at
I think
if we're
looking to
get them
repaired
right now
I think
that we
should be
because of
the safety
issue
I think
Jerry's
probably
way to go
how much
money do we
have in
the facilities
in this land
can you
do that
once you
work with
Jerry
if the money
is there
I think
we should
proceed
with this
this is
an issue
plus it's
getting worse
and not
only that
Steve is
trying to
do everything
he can
to save
money as
well
by hosting
other police
departments
and training
events
and everything
so that
it's not
costing us
any money
but it's
kind of
embarrassing
for the
if we don't
have that
money
can you
actually
let me
know
the other
way
we might
have to
go elsewhere
so they're
not to
exceed
or is he
pretty comfortable
with that
he's very
comfortable
but I
think he's
going to
be
probably a
lot more
than that
not to
exceed
ok
so what
comes
all in yards
they do
it right
all right
second public
comment
seeing none
we have
closed
second public
comment
we do
have a
non-public
this evening
actually a couple
items that fall
under
section C
so with
so with that
said
I don't
believe we're
voting on
anything this
evening that
would come
out and
requires to
vote in
public
so
the meeting
will be
adjourned
after this
so I do
make a
motion to
move in
non-public
for RSA
91-A
call 3
section 2C
do I have a
second
second
all in
favor
all right
thank you
everyone
good night
good night
good night
good night