DRAFT
Town of Charlotte
Board of Selectmen
Minutes
Monday, January 5, 2004
7:00 PM, Charlotte Town Hall
Jennifer Steele Cole
Eleanor Russell
Francis Thornton
OTHERS: Dean
Bloch (Select board Assistant)
Stephen
C. Brooks
Peter
Demick
John
Hammer
Clark
Hinsdale III
Robert
Mack
David
Miskell
Jocelyn
Bolick (clerk)
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm.
The items on the agenda were as follows:
Amendment to Open
Space Agreement – Clark Hinsdale III / Budget Work Session / Adjournment
Amendment to Open Space Agreement – Clark Hinsdale III
Clark Hinsdale said
there is an east/west spur road that will serve four lots which will be part of
an upcoming application. The proposed
name of the road will be Burdock Lane.
Motion made by
Francis Thornton, seconded by Eleanor Russell:
“To name the North/South Road off
of East Thompson’s Point Road as Palmer Lane”.
Vote: all in favor.
Palmer Road is 1500
feet east of the intersection with Route 7.
Clark said they are looking
at an open space agreement for the Kingsland Farm subdivision - it was going to
increase the open space to include 10 or so more acres. The Planning Commission issued a permit on
December 31st approving the subdivision. The current open space totals 29.4 open acres, while the proposed
open space is 39.3 open acres.
With the open space
agreement, there is some concern about the transfer of the density. Essentially, Clark is trying to bring the 9
lot subdivision down to 3 lots. The
town attorney is concerned about creating some liability to the town in
association with the Planning Commissions’ decision to pull the density to
solve the Carol Aube-Hinsdale problem.
His concern is that you still have the density but not a defined
footing. Clark is thinking of making it
a 2 step process – deal with the land use issues in the first application and
then reapplying for the density transfer to the adjacent properties to solve
Carol’s problem.
For a variety of
reasons, it needs to be solved in January.
The subdivision permit has been granted, and if there are ambiguities,
they must appeal within 30 days. Clark
would like the select board to approve it before the Planning Commission and
sign the Mylar.
Budget Work Session
EXPENSES spreadsheet:
Selectmen
Category: At the “Legal Expense” line
item, Ellie suggested increasing the amount, since you’re never sure what’s
coming down the road. It was raised to
$40,000 for the 04-05 budget (from $25,000).
Current year expense (as of 12-1-03) was $24,300. Making the number larger doesn’t mean that
more money will be spent; it is just trying to make the number realistic. It was suggested to raise the unanticipated
expense to $10,000 for the 04-05 budget.
Town Clerk Category: Done by exception. As for the “Seminars/Training” line item, Mary is going to take
an accounting class; the select board would like to budget for the entire cost
of the class plus $200.
Treasurer Category:
No comments.
Elections Category: No comments.
Planning and Zoning
Category: Under “Computer” line item, they
would like a new printer; the current one is working fine but you can’t get
parts for it anymore. Under the “Planning
Consultants” line item, the approved 03-04 amount was $15,000, and the budgeted
04-05 amount is $5,000. There is a
grant for the by-laws, according to Dean.
It will pay for some, but not all of it. A “Village Planning” line item will be added, with a budget of
$10,000 for 04-05.
Lister Category: The “Appraiser” line item jumped from
$12,000 (Approved 03-04) to $28,000 (budget 04-05). That’s because in 03-04, $15,000 was taken from the state’s
reappraisal fund to lower the tax burden.
It’s back in the budget now. It
was suggested that a footnote be added to explain the apparent jump in cost. Robert Mack wondered if $250 for legal was
enough money.
Delinquent taxes
Category: No comments.
Employee Benefits
Category: Mary said there is over a 20%
increase in the health insurance.
Francis noted that (since salaries are going up) social security and
retirement will too.
Fire and Rescue
Category: Stephen Brooks asked if the
board was going to incorporate all the expenses and income for Fire and Rescue
so that people can get a clear picture.
Ellie said they were switching this year to GATSBY 34 – accounting for
municipalities. Under that format, a
lot of this will be more clearly demonstrated.
Also, Yacavoni will be auditing their special funds. Stephen suggested that a sign be put on the
front of the fire house. Jennie said
they had an estimate – the design is done, but it has not been
constructed. Charlie stated if it were
to be done, it would come out of the capital fund – however it shouldn’t be
discussed in the budget discussion.
John Hammer asked if they explained why they reduced the “EMT” line item
by $19,000. In reality, the approved
03-04 line item was incorrect on the spreadsheet - it was really an increase of
$4,381. The “Capital Fund Transfer”
line item has the approved numbers based on 3 cents of Grandlist; the “Actual”
number is what was spent out of the reserved fund during the year. One number represents the estimated tax
burden; the other is what was actually spent out of that fund.
Highway Category: Stephen asked whether there’s more money for
gravel roads or paving the beach parking lot.
Charlie said during mild winters, extra money gets funneled to the
gravel roads; he doesn’t want to increase the amount right now. Last year, Junior spent $38,000 more on
gravel roads than was budgeted – the mild winter allowed for the diversion of
money. Ellie suggested putting another
$5,000 toward that line item now.
Charlie feels that’s a miniscule amount of money, and Junior can divert
extra money when needed. Also, line
item “Bike Path Maintenance” was renamed to “Bike Lane Maintenance”.
Town Lands Category: Francis asked why the town is mowing the
school grounds. Charlie explained with
Act 60, it makes sense to offload items from the school budget – that way you
pay $1.00 instead of $1.50 for the same service. Jennie asked if there should be any money in here for Thorpe
Barn. Dean asked if trails belonged in
this category also. Charlie asked if
the select board policy of bidding out any contract over $5,000 could be
adjusted for inflation. Charlie asked
about a 2% increase for the following line items: Land Maintenance, Cemetery Maintenance, Park Maintenance, Town
Beach Mowing, Berry Farm Ballpark and Lake Field Ballpark. Add “Bike Path Maintenance” line item under
Town Lands. Add “Trail Maintenance” line
item under Town Lands with a budget of $2,000.
Add “Thorpe Barn” line item under Town Lands – this could get folded
into “Park Maintenance” line item.
Library Category: “Library Salaries” line item is going up – 5
more hours per week for the director.
The library is getting busier and busier.
Donations Category: Lewis Creek asked for $550. The board decided to leave it at $500.
Recreation Category: “Intramural Sports” line item – Charlie
would like to break it out into intramural coordinator salary and intramural
sports equipment line items. Then, have
corresponding revenue line items showing the rec fees coming in to balance out
the $8,000 expense. The board decided
it was a good idea, and will express to the recreation department that these
items should be zero summed. A
suggestion was made to move the ball field maintenance under recreation, but
after discussion it was decided to leave it under town lands. Add “Rec Path
Planning” line item under Recreation budget.
Conservation Category: No comments.
Town Hall Category: A suggestion was made to pull 3 different
telephone line items (from selectmen, town clerk and town hall) and put it all
under town hall as one line item.
Change maintenance from $7,000 to $10,000. It was suggested that the “Fuel Oil” line item could be better
served as one contract for all the town buildings.
Senior Center
Category: The big change is adding 5
hours per week to Ann’s time. Robert
asked if the Senior Center program revenue can be added to the Revenues
spreadsheet. Currently, the revenue and
the “Program Expenses” line item should zero sum on the Expenses spreadsheet.
Miscellaneous
Category: No comments.
Government Tax/Dues
Category: No comments.
REVENUES spreadsheet:
Robert asked about
the $500,000 budgeted for Thompson’s Point rent. Charlie said they are reappraising the land; Mary came up with
the estimate, but she was uncertain about it because the reappraisals are not
finished. Charlie said they will have
better numbers soon. Stephen asked
about raising beach fees. Fire and
Rescue has not given the select board a revenue number for 04-05. Change Court Fines from $4,000 to
$1,000. Change “Miscellaneous Inc.”
line item from $2,500 to $3,000.
Interest income is $1,140 year-to-date, so $7,000 budgeted seems high. Change “Ag. Lease-Char. Park” line item from
$0 to $500.
Selectboard Updates
Ellie has drafted a
report for the select board for the town report. She would like everyone to read it and let her know of any
suggestions.
Charlie would like to
have the rec people in next week to talk about intramural sports.
Motion made by Jennie
Cole, seconded by Francis Thornton:
“To hire expert witness Jim
Donovan (Wilbur Smith Associates) as an aesthetics consultant for Charlotte on
VELCO issues not to exceed $1,000”.
Vote: all in favor.
Francis wanted to
note that Mary King died last week; she was on the select board 10 years ago.
Dean said Harley
Allen resigned; they would like to have a ceremony next Wednesday around 6:30-7:00
PM to recognize his efforts.
Adjournment
Next
meeting: Monday, January 12th
at 7 PM.
Motion
made by Eleanor Russell, seconded by Jennifer Cole:
“To adjourn the select board meeting”.
Vote: all in favor. Meeting adjourned at 9:45 PM.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Jocelyn Bolick.