VDOE 2020 BUDGET HEARING
February 1, 2020
(CONTINUATION from first hearing held on January 25th 2019)
Approximately 21 people were in attendance (not including commissioners).
Commissioner Adam Leiser, and commissioner Jay Buckley were in attendance.
Adam Leiser made a motion to open the continuation of the public
hearing at 7:33PM; Jay Buckley Seconded.
Adam explained that we would go through the Budgets
(Operations and Water) line by line as requested by Dorothy Wondolowski and
others at the January 25th hearing.
(Executive, Salaries-Offices)
Mike Smith asked if the commissioners would be taking salaries this year. Answer was “yes”
(Administration)
Gloria Aspinal questioned the proposed Employee Policy for hiring and if it prohibited “Nepotism”. Adam explained that the proposed Employee Policy is based on Conway’s current policy and does allow for nepotism under conditions where all other efforts to hire nonrelated individuals has been exhausted.
(Employee Benefits)
Mike Smith brought up that health insurance is a hot topic
and that the VDOE should cover the costs of employees health care.
It was stated that this years health plan changes not only increased the
Deductibles and the employees contribution towards that but also had higher
co-pays, and prescription drug costs. These added costs to employees is not
reflected in the Budgets. Adam states
that the higher deductible 2-person plan saves the district between $3500-$5000
per employee depending on the deductible. The District is paying the first
$1500 of deductible costs per person. Kelly
needs the family plan for his 19 year old son which is the additional cost–
just under $400/month.
John Cancelarich asked why was the Medical benefit line item 1/3 less as a
result of going from three full time employees to two full time employees. It
was explained that the new higher deductible plan chosen for this year has a
lower premium cost.
The exact amount for the 2020 NH Retirement was questioned and the Office
Administrator’s will reach out to NH Retirement to get the exact figure for the
budget line item.
(General Government & Buildings)
John Cancelarich points out the “engineering” amount $4250
for the proposed “Tight Tank” at DPW #1 should be taken out of the Budget and
placed with the overall cost of the warrant article for the tight tank. If this
article fails, then the budget is inflated by the engineering work. Adam states
this tank must be done.
John Cancelarich points out that the total SUM of $26,750 in the line items in
Gen Gov Bldgs do not add up correctly. Will be evaluated.
(Bonds)
Water Tank Loan (re-lining) is discussed. Adam explains that
this was a three-year (Interest only) loan. This is the third year of paying
interest only. Next year interest and principal will be paid, and the amount go
from ~$7500 to ~$40,000 and will impact the water fee next year.
Terri Cancelarich suggest refinancing this loan as it has a high interest rate
of approximately 4.1%.
Commissioners agree to research refinancing to a lower interest rate.
Adam talks about the number of bonds that Eidelweiss has vs.
other surrounding communities. This adds to expenses due to the interest paid
on these bonds. As a percentage of their
budget Conway has 0% in bonds, Tamworth 1-½% and Madison 3-1/2% the VDOE 14%. Discussion ensues about the
size of those reported towns and the tax rate in those towns.
Dr. Marianne Jackson states that
budgets should be based on the life span of the infrastructure. She mentions
that we should be saving money for the next truck, the next building repair,
the next road reconstruction so that we don’ have to borrow but simply take
from savings.
Paula Doyle states that individuals could be better off saving this money on their own and investing it at higher rates than can be obtained by municipalities that are limited to investing in low interest yielding funds.
Paul Doyle agrees to creating a lower – deferred tax rate
using loans at historically low interest rates that municipalities can obtain.
Jennifer Merril points out that if Eidelweiss increases its tax rate any higher
than property values will depreciate even further from where they are. Greyson
Merril states that this proposed 2020 budget articles does not really address
funding for future capital needs.
Mike Smith states that when he was a commissioner that he used Bonuses to offset any financial impact to employees from changes to their medical plan.
Dinah was concerned about having the DPW employees working
as much as 60 hours in one week as a result of snow plowing during/after
storms. She was concerned for their safety. Part time advertisements got no
responses this year.
The $10,000 Administrator “Bonus” should be reclassified as “Severance” under
administration. Adam states that the way
the agreement was structured with the advice of our lawyer the $10,000
payout was mandatory to be paid in 2019. Jay claims that no money was
mandatory. Adam explains that the reasons for giving the employee that amount
was based on years of service and the
value of the hold harmless.
Greyson Merrill asks why the District needed to pay that
amount to an employee for “holding the District harmless” and feels Adam this is false information “Shady” and not telling all. Mike Smith asks, why was
the $10,000 paid when we were already over the budget? Mike Smith brought up
that former boards of commissioners would “Coast” till the end of the fiscal
year if they knew the budget was in jeopardy of being overspent. Mike stated, the
commissioners would not buy sand, salt, and other normal budget items until the
new fiscal year began.
Adam stated that Nancy (Admin) back in September noted that the budget had
approximately $22,000 in uncommitted funds and that it would be tight till the
end of the year but we could possibly make it. Adam noted that we did not have
a snow cover to late this season which gave the DPW more time to get more work
done. Adam stated when you have he
did not want $600,000 of District heavy equipment to be idle when we could
do work with those vehicles, to fix drainage and repair road surfaces we should be able to continue that work.
Mike Smith states that the amount proposed for salt in 2019 2020 budget is wrong.
Mike Smith asks if Kelly (DPW Foreman) was involved in the
2020 budget process. Adam states no, not
in the line by line.
Mike Smith asks if Ian Hayes (Simply Water) water operator was involved in the
2020 budget process. Adam states that he had private conversations with
Ian over the budgets which were reported
to the BOC and the public.
The audience requests that Kelly Robitelle (DPW) will be asked to attend the
next commissioners meeting to get his input before finalizing the Budgets.
Audience members express the need for a 3-person board to be working together
to make decisions and not have one commissioner make them alone.
John Cancelarich and others agree with the urgency/rush to get the number of projects done in such a short period of time. The need to “Prioritize” is requested by the voters.
Adam states that with the snowless early winter, he wanted
to keep the DPW working including the Part Time staff to get things done while
they could at the end of the year.
(Parks and Recreation)
2020 Proposed budget is mainly for the removal of wooden
outhouses. Filling of septic tanks and renting Port-O-Potties next year. Mike
Smith warns that Port-O-Potties are likely to be tipped over by vandals and
potentially cause a hazard to the ponds or beaches. Adam informs the audience
that one or more of the outhouse may be currently leaking now and have been for
some time as they appear to be dry inside. Outhouses
have not been maintained as there is trash in them that the septic companies
are unable to pump out.
Mike Smith Gloria Aspinal suggests leaving wooden out house structure in
place and slide plastic port-O-potties inside of them for esthetics and tip
prevention.
(Water Services)
Adam noted that the amount for “expended” 2019-line item for Water Monitoring may be under stated as the Water Operator did not submit his December Bill until late.
Warrant Articles
Special Projects
Article #4
Dinah asks about the “Tight Tank” article #7 and wants to
know if $15,000 is the exact contracted cost? Adam explains that it is an
estimate from two engineering firms that were contacted for this project. Dinah
suggests getting a real quote before the annual meeting. Kelly mentions that
the state has a similar issue at one of their garages but avoids the cost of
Haz Mat removal by testing the fluids in the holding tank to determine if they
can be pumped out onto the grounds near the garage. This could produce a
significant savings in yearly maintenance for this tank.
Jay states that if approved a line item will need to be added to the budget for
periodic pumping and maintenance of this tank. The engineer will make a recommendation on the size of tank, minimum of
1500 gallons up to 5000 gallons.
Article #5 NEW PLOW TRUCK
Greyson Merrill asks; “do we need a new truck this year”?
Response; we needed it last year. The Ford F550 cost the
district approximately $20,000 in repairs. It was on last years 2019 warrant.
Mike Smith states that Adam and Kathy voted against the truck stating they both
believed it could last longer.
Stan Wondolowski asks if any of the $295,000 grant money can be used to
purchase this new truck. Response; “no”.
Mike Smith asks; “what is the plan if this article fails to
get the appropriate votes?” “No means No”
No plan is mentioned.
Dinah suggests a the warrant article be written to purchase this new truck
using a multi-year lease to lower the tax rate by deferring the payments over
years as has been done in the past. Adam states that he is opposed to financing
the new truck and paying interest.
Jay points out that the district has no Capital Reserve Funds to purchase this
truck and we are forced into buying one this year due to the condition of the 7
year old F550. If we had enough funds should be using those funds but we don’t.
Mike Smith suggests putting two articles on the warrant for
the purchase of the truck. One with financing and one without financing.
The deadline for submission of petitioned articles is Friday and it is noted
that there is no staff there on Friday so the office will be staffed on this
coming Friday 2/7/2020.
Article #7 Burgdorf Culvert Replacement
Paula Doyle notes that overtime in the Operating Budget is
padded to account for the Burgdorf Culvert Project and that the amount of
Article #7 was increased from $15,000 to $19,000 to also account for the overtime.
Paul states that the Overtime for this project appears in two places and is
“double-Dipping” from the taxpayers. She suggests placing the overtime in the
warrant itself so that if it fails it will not be used to pad the budget.
Mike Smith says that more details need to be in place by the annual meeting.
Everyone appreciates Kelly’s suggestion to take this project on using the
Districts DPW and experienced crew to save the taxpayers money.
Article #8 Highway Equipment Capital Reserve Fund
John Cancelarich suggests have a list of existing capital
reserve funds at the annual meeting and listing their balances.
Article #9 Road Construction CRF
The current balance in this existing Road Construction CRF
was asked for and Mike Smith reported that it was currently $7172.
Jay asked where this article came from as the first public hearing listed this
article #6 Paving of Eidelweiss Drive for $80,000.
Jay also pointed out at the previous commissioners meeting on 1/30/2019, that
the actual written quote from Sunday Paving to do this project was received
months ago and was for $69,000.
Adjustments were made to Gravel and Asphalt Line Items to
fund the Eidelweiss Drive Paving project for $70,000.
Kelly was asked if this was the priority paving project this year and he
answered yes.
Adam stated he the commissioners
wanted to determine in the spring what road should be the priority after the
snow melts. The audience questioned if Adam had confidence in the DPW foreman
recommendations. Much discussion ensued on Kelly’s experience and achievements
as a “Senior Roads Scholar” from UNH T2 and why that seems to be ignored. It
was noted that Eideleweiss Drive was “shimmed” with pavement this year in
preparation for the asphalt overlay the following year. Letting Eidelweiss
Drive go unpaved another year will significantly increase the cost of any
repair to that pavement. Adam states that Kelly, Jeff and Tony are “Godsends”
and have contributed greatly to the district.
Article #10 Tree Removal
Tommy Gunn suggests calling the power company to see if they
have scheduled tree removal in the district this coming year so that we don’t
overlap their work. Concerns raised about leaving tree debris off the side of
the roads where the trees are cut.
Article #11 Paving the Intersection of St. Moritz and Basil
Mike Smith stated that any claim of damage that would be
caused by District road drainage onto private property would not be covered and
said the District would not be liable according
to our insurance company.
Adam claims his property situation is very similar to his situation and sees it
differently. Mike suggests reviewing the sealed minutes of a discussion on that
drainage issue as he felt it was political in nature.
Article #12 Little Loop Road Survey
Paula Doyle points out that what was a drainage issue at #4 and #6 Little Loop has been expanded to cover the entire road and that trees where taken down along the entire length of road not having anything to do with the original drainage complaint. She claims left over money was consumed to do work along the whole road that is in conjunction with a much bigger plan for Little Loop Road that was never intended by the voters. Now we need more money to complete the larger plan. She feels transparency and integrity was lacking here. No legislative body approval for the added work and spending.
Article #13 Combine Highway Equipment
Repair and Highway Equipment CRF’s
Mike Smith states that the commissioners want a blank check
to spend on what they want and recommends to the audience to vote this article
down. Adam states that it makes no sense
to have 60K in a CRF for Water Tanks when we could be years away from replacing
any tanks while we may end up paying interest on loans for pipeline replacement.
Article #14 Combine all water system
CRF’s into one
No comments
Article #15 Reclassify Grandval Way into class V from (unmaintained) Class VI
Audience not in favor. Jay points out that the condition of
this section of Grandval is far worse that the more heavily traveled section of
Grandval that was re-classified two years earlier.
No cul-de-sac is pointed out. Backing vehicles up is when most accidents occur.
The commissioners were asked if they were in favor of this article. Jay said he
was not and explained that the residents of that dead end section of Grandval
had access to neighborhood meetings when it was decided by the impacted
residents to leave the dead end section of Grandval off the original warrant to
reclassify two years ago. Adam was undecided
Article #16 Authorization for commissioners to sell the Volvo Grader.
Mike Smith states that the commissioners need to have their hands tied on this. Kelly never reported that the grader has two years left. He claims he stated that the repairs to expensive vehicles are expensive repairs. A John Deere Grader could be serviced locally and with non OEM parts.
Article #17 Dissolve the WLEFETF under RSA 31:19-a
No comments (Procedural)
Article #18 Authorize spending of $50,000 of out of the
WLEFETF for the extending or repairing of water lines.
No Comments (Procedural)
MOTION:
Adam made motion to adjourn the public hearing.
2nd by Jay
Public hearing was adjourned at 11:17 PM
PASSED
BOLD and Strikeouts were amended by
Kathy Koziell on 2/27/2020 after viewing the 4 hour video along with
recommendations.