Legislative Council

Municipal Operations Committee Meeting Minutes 27 March 2017 - Meeting Room 3 CALL TO ORDER 7:33 PM SALUTE TO THE FLAG ROLL CALL D. Wiedemann P. Carroll G. Ferguson D. Honan C. Eide Also Present: P. Llodra VOTER COMMENT None COMMUNICATIONS None NEW BUSINESS Motion to Accept Minutes from previous meeting on 20 March 2017 Made by G. Ferguson. Seconded by P. Carroll. Approved 6-0. Discussion began on email from R. Tait regarding the status of 2016-17 budget. (See attached) Committee talked about balances in 2016-17 budget that could be used to offset operating costs in the 2017-18 budget. Parks and Rec has a fund balance that could be used to offset operating costs in the next fiscal year. J. DeStefano moves to reduce Parks and Rec Line Item by $52,000. Seconded by G. Ferguson. Discussion about addition of a maintainer in current budget and possibility of postponing hiring. P. Llodra speaks about reductions made in the budget making process to make room for maintainer and the value that the position brings to the town. Discussion moved to other parts of the Parks and Rec Budget. J. DeStefano moves to amend the motion to be to reduce the Parks and Rec “Capital” line item by $29,000. Seconded by C. Eide. Motion was made to decrease in capital expenditures with the rationale that Parks and Rec could pull from capital funds rather than funding through the budget. Question to amend called. Motion failed 3-3 (D. Wiedemann, D. Honan, P. Carroll voting no). Motion to reduce the Parks and Rec line item by $52,000 called. Failed 0-6. D. Wiedemann asks to look at the $250,000 line item for road maintenance. D. Wiedemann moves to reduce Highway “Road Improvements” line item by $250,000. Seconded by P. Carroll. The result would be that the line item would stay at $1,500,000, rather than increasing to $1,750,000. J. DeStefano thinks it could be a good proposal to consider, but worries that we are bonding to play catch up while talking about cutting from road improvements. C. Eide echoed concerns that this could be once again “kicking the can”. Notes that 20 years bonds have been issued for roads that likely won’t last 20 years. P. Llodra expressed that the town has worked hard to bring the road account back to where it needs to be to properly maintain the road. Motion called. Motion passes 4-2 (C. Eide and D. Honan voting no) D. Wiedemann motions to reduce Highway “Winter Maintenance” line item by $50,000. Seconded by P. Carroll. P. Llodra speaks to best practices as the town currently uses a five-year rolling average to set the winter maintenance budget. Underfunding the account would drain an already slim contingency fund. D. Wiedemann expresses that he would like to find something that could give without having a large impact on the overall budget. Motion called. Motion fails 3-3 (C. Eide, D. Honan, and J. DeStefano voting no) D. Wiedemann motions to reduce Library “Contributions to Outside Agencies” line item by $60,000. Seconded by P. Carroll. D. Wiedemann says that it would be a $16,000 cut (since there is a $44,773 increase listed in the line item currently). Motion called. Motion fails 1-5 (D. Wiedemann voting yes) D. Wiedemann motions to reduce Parks and Rec “Contractual Services” line item by $20,000. Seconded by G. Ferguson. D. Wiedemann says that since there is an additional maintainer, this could reduce the amount of contractual services. P. Llodra asks to look at detail for contractual services to try to identify which of those items could be offset by a new maintainer. Motion called. Motion fails 3-3 (C. Eide, D. Honan, and J. DeStefano voting no) D. Wiedemann motions to reduce Police “Contractual Services” line item by $20,000. Seconded by P. Carroll. Motion called. Motion passes unanimously. VOTER COMMENT None ANNOUNCEMENTS None ADJOURNMENT Motion to adjourn made by J. DeStefano. Seconded by D. Honan. Approved unanimously. Respectfully Submitted, Chris Eide Appendix I - Table of Motions Motion Outcome Motion to Accept Minutes from previous meeting on 20 Approved unanimously. March 2017 Made by G. Ferguson. Seconded by P. Carroll. J. DeStefano moves to reduce Parks and Rec Line Item Tabled by $52,000. Seconded by G. Ferguson. Motion to table motion until P. Llodra arrives made by Approved unanimously. D. Wiedemann. Seconded by P. Carroll. Motion to take from the table the motion to reduce Approved unanimously. Parks and Rec line item by $52,000 made by C. Eide. Seconded by J. DeStefano. J. DeStefano moves to amend the motion to be to Motion failed 3-3 (D. reduce the Parks and Rec “Capital” line item by Wiedemann, D. Honan, P. $29,000. Seconded by C. Eide. Carroll voting no). Motion to reduce the Parks and Rec line item by Failed 0-6. $52,000 called. D. Wiedemann moves to reduce Highway “Road Motion passed 4-2 (D. Improvements” line item by $250,000. Seconded by P. Honan and C. Eide voting Carroll. no) D. Wiedemann motions to reduce Highway “Winter Motion failed 3-3 (D. Honan, Maintenance” line item by $50,000. Seconded by P. C. Eide, and J. DeStefano Carroll. voting no) D. Wiedemann motions to reduce Library Motion failed 1-5 (D. “Contributions to Outside Agencies” line item by Wiedemann voting yes) $60,000. Seconded by P. Carroll. D. Wiedemann motions to reduce Parks and Rec Motion failed 3-3 (D. Honan, “Contractual Services” line item by $20,000. Seconded C. Eide, and J. DeStefano by G. Ferguson. voting no) D. Wiedemann motions to reduce Police “Contractual Motion passes unanimously Services” line item by $20,000. Seconded by P. Carroll. Motion to adjourn. Motion passes unanimously.