Board of Selectmen, March 21, 2016 (5:30 p.m.)
HOLDEN BOARD OF SELECTMEN
SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES
MARCH 21, 2016
5:33PM Starbard Building
Present: Chairman Jeremy Kurtz, Anthony Renzoni, Robert Lavigne, Kenneth O’Brien, Tim Ethier
Others Present: Jacquelyn Kelly, Town Manager
Liz Fotos, Town Recorder
Chairman Kurtz called the meeting to order at 5:33PM. He stated that there were two agenda items that the Selectmen were there to discuss: Town Manager’s Performance Evaluation and FY 17 Budget Goals. He stated the Board wanted to discuss the current Town Manager’s objectives and to see if it made sense to update or modify them based on the current finances.
Ms. Kelly passed out copies of the “Board of Selectmen FY 2017 Budget Goals” and “2016 Annual Review” to the Board.
Chairman Kurtz gave the Board time to read through them.
Sel. Renzoni suggested two corrections to page four; the addition of the word “not” and a typographical error.
A motion was made by Sel. Renzoni to authorize the chair to issue the review with corrections to the Town Manager. It was seconded by Sel. Ethier.
Sel. Renzoni congratulated Chairman Kurtz on the review; he stated that these reviews were hard work and he thought that the Chairman had done a good job on it.
Sel. Ethier agreed.
Sel. Lavigne stated that he felt the same way and that every year he feels as though the Town is lucky to have Ms. Kelly and she is doing a good job. He stated he was happy with the review as well.
Sel. Lavigne stated that he agreed with Sel. Renzoni; that the review is difficult to do. He suggested that the Board had spoken about reformatting the review previously and that he is still concerned with the portion of the evaluation that discusses “employee relationships.” He stated that he doesn’t know how to handle it exactly but that he does not like to grade people on something that they do not know about.
Chairman Kurtz stated that his one recommendation to the new Chairman would be to have them look at the review process early, possibly as a subcommittee and come back to the Board with a change.
Sel. Lavigne stated that he did research on line and that there is almost no industry norm in terms of Town Manager evaluations. He stated that they could possibly reach out to MSA for guidance.
Sel. Renzoni told Sel. Lavigne that they had.
Sel. Lavigne stated that it was one of those things that you know when the Town Manager is doing a good job but it is hard to quantify it. He said he likes the style that they use with the Chair writing comments out.
Sel. Renzoni stated that it worked. He said that if the Board does not hear from employees, they can assume that Ms. Kelly has good relationships with them. He said that they could cut some stuff out but that the narrative is the best way to do it and that Chairman Kurtz did a good job with it.
Sel. Lavigne agreed and said that he liked the narrative but that if there is one thing they could do better it would be this.
Ms. Kelly pointed out that the Board had made changes to this in the past.
Chairman Kurtz stated they were not quite there yet; he said that it was a lot of work juggling between the pages and data. He said there is a better easier way to gather the input.
Ms. Kelly stated that if you’re a manager in a business, you are in contact with employees daily or weekly. She stated this relationship was different because they only really touch base every few weeks so it is not as observable from their perspective.
Chairman Kurtz stated that he did contact a few corporations to see how Board Members and Board of Directors worked. He said that many used a narrative and up and down vote. He said that the Board probably needed to tweak it a little.
Sel. O’Brien stated that Ms. Kelly is doing a great job and an easier review compared to years prior. He said that he has nothing but good things to say. Sel. O’Brien stated that regarding strategic planning, the only issue he has is with the DPW Building. He stated that Ms. Kelly is one of the only Managers that he can go into and talk about a concern and that policy reflects on her very well. He said that Ms. Kelly was doing a great job.
Ms. Kelly thanked the Board.
Sel. Renzoni moved the question.
Motion by Sel. Renzoni, seconded by Sel. Ethier, it was UNANIMOSLY VOTED TO AUTHORIZE THE CHAIR TO ISSUE THE CORRECTED REVIEW TO THE TOWN MANAGER.
The Board discussed the tax rate.
Ms. Kelly replied that she was working on keeping it down and consistent with the goal, and that she was going to revise the FY 2017 resource profile based on the School budget number.. She stated that there was a substantial increase with the School District and a revision to the borrowing for Mountview in addition to some other changes.
Sel. Lavigne stated that he understood that the increase was because Mountview but that they should work to keep the rate down as much as possible. He said that a lot of people that he has spoken with were concerned about the tax rate but that when he reminded them that it was because of the school they agreed it made sense. He said that if they were able to pare it back it would be beneficial; he said that it was one thing to vote for the increase but another to see it.
Ms. Kelly stated that at Town Meeting, they were not taxing to the maximum allowable and she had gotten criticism from Fin Com that they should be taxing more. She said that she has mixed signals and she is trying to balance the interests as they are expressed to her.
Sel. Lavigne stated that he thought last year it was more political and Ms. Kelly was caught in the middle. He said that there seemed to be more willingness to work together.
Sel. Ethier asked if the tax increase could all be pinned on the Mountview project.
Ms. Kelly stated that in the original resource profile there was an estimate that each household would be paying an additional $600 in taxes per year. She stated that about half of it was attributed to Mountview borrowing. She stated that there was a placeholder in for DPW planning. The DPW Committee asked for $300,000 in seed money to prepare for a future Town Meeting. The revised Resource Profile would show a lower increase in taxes in FY 2017.
Sel. Ethier stated that $300,000 would not hit a home to hard.
Chairman Kurtz stated that in addition to the Town Managers Annual Review; they wanted to look at the goals as for FY 17 as well.
Chairman Kurtz stated that Sel. Renzoni had asked for the agenda item to see if the Board wanted to revisit any of the goals. He stated that the goals were not written in stone and that they were able to change them if necessary.
Sel. Renzoni stated that he and Sel. O’Brien had been to the Fin Com meetings and that they had been pretty friendly and asked for input. He stated that they had asked the Selectmen for input and he has had the opportunity to give a lot of input. He stated that Fin Com had asked the Selectmen to drop the FY Goal for that Town Manager regarding the plan to dissolve the Infrastructure Investment Fund (IIF) and put together a working group to look at the IIF. Sel. Renzoni stated that he was going to ask the Selectmen to table this goal for a year after establishing a working group that could study the IIF further.
Sel. O’Brien stated that contrary to what Sel. Renzoni says, he is not recognized at the Fin Com meeting and they do not allow him to speak. Sel. O’Brien asked about the IIF giving money towards the DPW building. He stated that the whole idea is to bring fiscal transparency. He stated that he does not see Fin Com cooperating with the Selectmen with much of anything and he gets a much different read than Sel. Renzoni. He stated that he does not think that they will support a lot of any of the Selectmen goals and he is for liquidating the IIF.
Sel. Renzoni stated that there was a lot of progress and good discussion. He stated that he could look Fin Com in the eye and has had some good conversations with them. He stated that Ms. Kelly will present a new resource profile this week and he thinks Fin Com will be open to it.
Sel. Lavigne stated that the Chairman of Fin Com did say that he would recognize any Selectboard member that wanted to speak.
Ms. Kelly stated that she is not going to ask the IIF for money for the DPW building at this time. She stated that she feels it would cause further hard feelings to do so.
Sel. Ethier asked how much was in the IIF currently.
Ms. Kelly replied $1.3 Million.
Sel. Ethier asked how much she would need for the DPW project currently.
Ms. Kelly replied around $350,000 but she has not received anything from the Committee yet.
Sel. Renzoni replied that they were leaving it to the Committee’s discretion. He stated that they could not borrower this particular money from the IIF anyway because this money is for a study and the IIF can not fund that.
Sel. Ethier asked if that was by statute.
Chairman Kurtz replied that according to the enabling legislation, the IIF can be used only for something we can borrow for.
Sel. Ethier asked if most of IIF was also in Fin Com.
Sel. Renzoni stated that it was a very similar group. He stated that regardless of law or request, they would not fund it. He stated that IIF may entertain buying property for a DPW facility, but that his suggestion is to drop the goal of abolishing the IIF from the Town Manager’s FY17 goals and he thinks that Fin Com will drop their petition article for the IIF at Town Meeting as well. He stated that Fin Com has some ambitious goals that they want to bring forward with regards to asking for money. He stated that he thinks that if the Selectmen table their goals, Fin Com will table theirs as well.
Chairman Kurtz stated that he is for getting rid of the IIF but that he is not opposed to tabling the discussion for a year to have a joint meeting but that he wouldn’t table the objective if Fin Com doesn’t back off.
Sel. Ethier stated that they should not fund IIF if there are questions regarding it.
Sel. O’Brien stated he is very much for abolishing the IIF. He stated that it was a complicated instrument that lost its value because it is qualified as a sinking fund. He stated that he doesn’t want to fight Fin Com at Town Meeting but the reality is that they have been talking about doing this for a long time and what is to say they are going to kill the effort again. He stated that he wants to dissolve the fund and to have the conversation at Town Meeting. He stated that this was a complicated fund that confused people. He stated that the Selectmen wanted to dissolve it and put some into an Open Space Fund and some into Stabilization.
Sel. Lavigne stated that he could not agree with Sel. O’Brien more. He said that he did not have a problem with tabling it from a good will perspective but that if they (Selectmen) didn’t like what Fin Com said then it should go forward to Town Meeting. He stated that he is of the opinion that when writing up the articles for Town Meeting they should have one written up in case it is needed.
Sel. Renzoni agreed.
A motion by Sel. Renzoni to table dissolving of the IIF for a year, the motion was seconded by Sel. Lavigne.
Sel. Renzoni stated that articles could be discussed at a different point.
Sel. Ethier asked if it was a simple majority vote to dissolve it.
Ms. Kelly replied it would require special legislation to abolish it.
Motion by Sel. Renzoni, seconded by Sel. Lavigne, it was UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO TABLE THE FY 17 TOWN MANAGER GOAL OF DISSOLVING THE IIF FOR ONE YEAR.
Sel. Renzoni said that the Board should reconsider the goals regarding the money being proposed for the Open Space Fund.
Sel. Lavigne stated that he was okay with that; he stated they were going to fund those with IIF money, not new money anyway.
Sel. Ethier stated that he disagreed. He stated that $100,000 is not going to make a big difference to the individual homeowner.
Sel. Lavigne asked where else could be cut.
Ms. Kelly stated that she had budgeted to put money into the DPW, Stabilization, and Fire Equipment Fund. She stated she could also look to lower the amount rather than not funding it entirely.
Sel. Renzoni stated that this was one of those years that $100,000 could make a difference; he stated that because they are evaluating her on them he thinks that they should give her some room.
Sel. O’Brien stated that it was $100,000 that had been worked into the budget.
Sel. Lavigne stated that they wanted to cut that number back.
Sel. O’Brien said he understood; he stated that they have the money in the budget for it. He asked if they were going to make a sub fund for the Open Space Fund.
Ms. Kelly replied it would be a Special Stabilization Fund.
Sel. O’Brien said that they should look at the budget after they have the school budget. He stated that the school budget drives the rest of the budget so it is hard to determine numbers without it. He stated that he felt very strongly about the Open Space Fund and that a lot of work regarding the parcels is already done. He stated that they should make it a priority to get it done and that it is a way to control development in Town. He stated that there is still a lot more homes that could be built and this is one way that they can help serve the public interest.
Chairman Kurtz stated that the goal had two parts; to establish the fund and to fund the fund. He said they could move forward to establish the fund and then look to see how to fund it in the future. He stated that would continue to support the goal in the future.
Sel. Renzoni stated they can also change the goal to “fund” the fund without allocating a certain amount to it.
Sel. Ethier asked if Fin Com was going to fight with them on this item.
Ms. Kelly stated that Jim Dunn would be at the Fin Com meeting on March 30, 2016.
Sel. Renzoni suggested cutting the goal in half to having Ms. Kelly fund the Open Space Fund to $50,000 instead of $100,000.
Sel. Lavigne agreed.
Sel. O’Brien replied that the Town still has a healthy reserve and they are in the strongest position it has ever been in. He stated that if $100,000 of the funds that were meant to go into Stabilization went to Open Space he didn’t see what the fight would be about.
Sel. Renzoni stated that the capital enhancement for the schools was in at $159,000. He stated that Dr. McCall had briefed the Board on the Chrome book Cart and that the plan was to put wireless into the elementary schools. He stated that Fin Com is probably going to object to this. He stated that all the Board was suggesting was a technology enhancement. He said that it will cost $27,000 to do the enhancement in the 5th grade pods rather then doing it in the whole school. He said that kindergarteners do not need that technology and that by putting it in the 5th grade pods they would extend the ability to use the technology at Mountview. He stated in the future they could look at the 4th graders as well.
Sel. Ethier stated that they should listen to the School Committee’s recommendation regarding the funds.
Sel. Renzoni stated that he does feel as though there is a need for wireless in all the schools and that he is only suggesting taking the number down.
Sel. O’Brien stated that this was going to be money coming back from the Town and it should not affect the budget one bit.
Sel. Lavigne agreed.
Sel. O’Brien stated that he does not see why they can’t do Chromebooks.
Chairman Kurtz stated he thinks that it should be left in there and then they can go to the district with what they can afford and what they want to see. He stated he doesn’t want wireless; he said the schools have wireless now; he wants something where the kids get a benefit.
The meeting was adjourned by consensus, to the Regular Meeting of the Board of Selectmen at 6:30PM at Memorial Hall.
APPROVED: April 25, 2016 (as amended)