Select Board Meeting Minutes
March 12, 2022, 8:30 – 2:30 PM
Community Room, Downstairs, Town Hall, 39 South Street, Hinsdale MA
(calendar posting updates on 3/10/2021 at 12:15 pm)
AGENDA
Call to order
Budget Discussions with various Department Heads
Any other business not reasonably anticipated
Public Comment
Adjourn
FINANCE COMMITTEE & SELECTBOARD JOINT BUDGET MEETING MINUTES / March 12, 2022, at 6:30 pm
Community Room, Downstairs, Town Hall, 39 South Street, Hinsdale MA
Posted at 1:12pm on 4/13/2022
Members:
Shaun Galliher Jim Chivers Bob Graves, Town Administrator
Mary Rice Ray Bolduc, Select Board
Russ Parks Dick Scialabba, Select Board Chair (remote)
Bonnie Conner
Chris Pike
Heather Brown
The meeting was opened at 8:43 am.
Dan Kaufman, Cemetery Committee, gave a slide presentation of his budget request for the Maple Street Cemetery. He showed us the old maps he located; the old file boxes with information on who is buried there and if they paid for their lot; some of the folks that are buried there; and what he would like to do going forward. With the donation of a flag by Wayne Walton, and the expertise of Jeff Bolduc with his truck, it was recently installed, with a solar light. Mary Rice, Historical Commission Chair, has been helping to identify everyone buried there and he has created a spreadsheet with all that information. His request was for funds to restore the roof on the mausoleum and point up the stone exterior, clear the overgrown vegetation, fix the fence that someone hit recently, digitize the maps, purchase software, repaint the sign and install a new bulletin board.
Ralph Cormier, Fire Chief, presented the request for his department. The cost of the yearly physicals has increased in his expense account. He included salaries, stipends, expense items, repair front apron, but most important to him and his department is the purchase of a new tanker. Purchase new or used, lease to own, or any other options were discussed. The cost for a new one is approximately 475K. We also discussed regionalization with other Towns down the road as we are all facing staffing shortages and higher costs.
John Murray, Highway Superintendent, went over his budge requests. They included wage increases, replacement of old equipment, maintenance and repairs of existing equipment and his top priority is replacing the 1 ton truck. The new truck is on it's way and has encountered delays due to parts. We also discussed Water/Sewer and noted that we are still lacking a dedicated employee for that position.
Monica Montferret, Lake Management, presented their budget requests. We discussed the Plunkett Lake Dam and spillway, water level at Plunkett Lake, the public beach area also at Plunkett, retention pond issues, and chemical treatments of both lakes.
Jim Manning, Library Board of Trustee Chairman, Introduced Jennifer Cummings Director, and gave a brief presentation of where our Library is today with several improvements made to date. Jennifer presented her budge request that included wage increases, Book Club, rejoining CWMARS, summer reading program and staffing levels. She reported that she has weeded out old unwanted books and recycled them to various organizations. Jim reported that the Trustees are paying for an engineering study and once completed he will be looking into how to fund the much needed repairs such as the The Community Preservation Act.
Dawn Frissell, Town Clerk, presented her budget requests along with her assistant, Mary Lou Galliher. Elections are up simply because of the need this year for primaries and elections. She is caught up on her records archives and the Committee suggested allocating $1,000 each year as ideally we should have it done every two years. Town Clerk salary was brought up and it was suggested by Finance, that it be increased each year. Currently it is so low that we could never replace her for that cost not to mention included in that is her assistant Mary Lou. They have done an excellent job of taking care of all inquires to that office, especially Mary Lou who would go over day, nights and weekends, if needed to take care of any requests. We all agree they are invaluable to our Town and deserve an increase in wages.
Viv Mason, Assessors, presented her budget requests for that office. She pointed out that she is not going to be running again for office and that Dick Scialabba will be done as well. We discussed staffing issues, our Town Charter requirements and what we do going forward if no one runs for that office. Currently, RRG is our Assessing firm with Viv and Dick as resident Assessors. RRG has hit staffing issues as well and it has been a difficult few years. The are keeping up with all requirements but customer service has been lacking. They are looking to improve in that area. Ideally, there should be a Town resident staffing that office on a regular basis.
Bob Graves, Town Administrator, went down the rest of the Town Departments requests item by item. Some of the major issues are (but not limited to); new development at the old Camp Ashmere now called Berkshire Lake Camp including change of use and permitting; consolidating all software to be under the IT account and control; Tax Titles; bids for the old Ashmere Nursing home; new website; office equipment and software; fuel increases; Police department contract; School Budget, Vocational transportation and tuition, miscellaneous other accounts and the Capital Plan.
We all agreed that we should invite our School Superintendent, School Committee Chairman, our school reps to attend a meeting with our Finance Committee and the Select Board, to review the current School Budget.
A motion was made and seconded to adjourn at 2:40 pm. The motion passed unanimously The next Budget meeting of this Committee is Thursday, March 24, 2022 at 6:30 pm in the downstairs Community room at Town Hall. The next regularly scheduled meeting is April 7, 2022 at 6:60 pm also in the downstairs Community Room at Town Hall.
Respectfully submitted, Mary A. Rice, Secretary