Select Board Minutes
Groton Community Building
January 18, 2007
Present:
Select Board: Leonard Doscinski, Debra Tinkham and David Spencer
Listers: Laurine Grant
Treasurer: Roberta Dana
Highway Commissioner: Brent Smith
Guest:
Carol
Curtis, Brenda Powers, Tom Page & Gary Lamberton (BMU School Board)
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Leonard called the meeting to order at
7:00 PM.
Carol Curtis handed out pamphlets and
asked if there were any questions?
Dave questioned about the payment for
the use of the Groton Gym. Carol Curtis said it is in there.
Dave questioned Insurance for the
Business Manager along with questions on the speech pathologist.
Dave had concerns with all the red minus’
that they were cutting too much.
Tom Page said they hoped they weren’t
cutting too much.
Gary Lamberton expressed they would
like to hear concerns or comments from more people. Gary said the people that
have contacted them want to hear more on the long term projects.
The Selectboard and the School
Directors talked about getting more information out to people by the use of web
sites and newsletters along with the use of the Journal Opinion and the Bridge
Weekly/Sho-Case.
Brenda: the Caledonian Record puts
things in also. More apt to if they
need a filler.
Carol Curtis waited for an answer
regarding Paul Foley’s request for the use of the Groton Gym for an hour three
or four times during the week for a one on one student. The Selectboard agreed
on a trial period with a five dollar an hour charge.
Laurine explained about the meeting the
Listers and the Treasurer had with Steve Trombley concerning Martin Cherry’s
work.
Laurine explained that John
Westinghouse had been in to work on the Town’s equalization study with the
Listers and has given Kitty some helpful ideas on putting together a land sales
booklet.
Dave made the motion to have the
Listers go forward with sending out an RFP to find someone to put together a
land schedule and model and to forego the Martin Cherry case.
Leonard seconded the motion Debra
agreed. So moved.
Laurine: Kitty has finished her 90-day
trial period and is doing an excellent job. Debra made the motion to increase
Laurine’s hourly wage to $10.50 and to increase Kitty’s hourly wage to $8.00 effective
1/15/07. Dave seconded the motion.
Roberta
requested the Selectboard and Brent to look over the Town Property
inventory list so she could finish her reports for the Auditors as it goes into
the Town Report.
Roberta spoke with the insurance
company about breaking out the coverage figures for each department. The additional
insurance coverage cost for the Library contents is $286.00 per year.
Dave: did the Auditors budget need to
be reviewed again? No the Selectboard had taken out some things as they didn’t
need to be put in the budget.
Debra made the motion to present the
budget figure of $644,366.00 to the voters. Dave seconded the motion and
Leonard agreed. So moved.
Leonard brought up the question about
adding Martin Luther King Day to the list of holidays for the employees. This
was discussed along with suggestions of updating the Town’s personnel policy
handbook. This was tabled until more
input is obtained from the employees.
Brent would like to be able to use sick
time for personal time also. Linda and
Roberta agreed.
Brent had some questions about
subcontractors regarding liability insurance and whole harmless.
Roberta explained the answer to Brent.
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Brent: another thing the Town of
Ryegate town office is doing is they have their regular office hours then they
have hours they are there working but they are closed. Maybe this would work
for Roberta and
Linda as they are always being
interrupted during their regular hours which makes it difficult to get their
work done.
Roberta: people would see us here and
still want us to help them and if we are here we try to help them.
Linda: if I don’t help them here they
call or come to my house anyway so I don’t mind.
Brent: will work on the Town Property equipment
values but will need to pull out some figures.
The Selectboard needs to review the
Warning for Town Meeting and if it’s all right it needs to be signed.
Linda gave the Selectboard copies of
the 2002 warning and 2003 minutes report concerning the reserve Bridge funds so
this doesn’t need to be put on as an article this year.
Leonard: Linda questioned if there
needs to be copies of the Selectboard minutes made for each Selectboard member
for each meeting as it causes confusion.
Debra: if we are going to have just one
copy at the meetings then they need to be e-mailed to us ahead of time so as be
able to read them, but would like three agendas at the meetings.
Dave: a letter went out to Labries
concerning the ditch on their land.
Labries and the Selectboard can
communicate until lawyers get involved.
Dave: the Building Committee is working
on RFP but wants to meet with the Fire Department before going any further. The
committee will meet with the Fire Department Tuesday, February 6th at 6:00 p.m.
Dave: will be meeting with Tim Ruggles
concerning the septic plans. We will meet him in St. Johnsbury to help save
money.
Dave: (grapevine news) with the potential
move of the fire station the building committee will be contacting some
property owners just to talk at this time.
Dave: an ancient roads committee will
be reading the land record books to define the old roads.
Dave: Linda will have a file folder for
old roads that are found.
Brent: the railroad bed deed says it is
to be used for public use.
Dave spoke with Selectman Andrew Smith
from Ryegate about purchasing the radar system from the Town of Ryegate. Andrew
said nothing would happen until town meeting. Andrew said Jim is free to use
the equipment.
Dave discussed with Linda about the
building permits. Dave tried to call William Putnam concerning the permits that
are over 30 days old.
We are continuing doing something to
get someone into the store area.
Leonard: when you get dates and times
of events give Marilyn Hatch-Ruiter a call and give her the information.
Leonard: Heard (may be rumor) that
Brian Johns is taking a job in southern New Hampshire. There has been discussion of Jon Bouffard
filling Brian’s position.
Dave and Andrew Smith from Ryegate have
talked concerning the Fire Departments and FAST Squad.
Dave: discussed the way Ryegate and
Groton share the bills with both the FAST Squad and Recycling.
Leonard: explained about R1 being out
of service and having it repaired on Tuesday. Tristan Vaughan did the repairs
but Roberta will be getting an invoice for the parts.
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Orders were signed in the amount of $
3,309.98.
Debra made the motion to adjourn;
Leonard seconded the motion. Dave agreed.
Meeting adjourned at 9:30 PM.
Groton
Selectboard
_____________________________
Leonard
Doscinski
______________________________
Debra
Tinkham
_____________________________
David
Spencer
Respectfully submitted by Linda Nunn
Not
Valid Until Signed By The Selectboard