Capital Improvement Committee

Meeting date: 
Wednesday, June 3, 2020

CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM
APPROVED MEETING MINUTES
June 3rd, 2020

*Due to COVID-19 this meeting was conducted virtually via Zoom*

 

Location: Zoom Meeting ID# 841 4319 1071
Present Michael Genest (ex officio), Bob Holmes (Chair), William Bryk (Member), Neal Pattison (Member), Michael Redmond (Member), and Victor Rosansky (Vice Chair)
Staff Present: Ashley Brudnick-Destromp (Assistant) and Carol Ogilvie (Planning Consultant)
Absent:
Others in Attendance:
Donna Hanson (Town Administrator)

CTO:  Chair Holmes called the meeting to order at 4:09 PM.

*Each member stated their name, and why they were participating virtually per the SWRPC best practices. All votes will be conducted by a roll call, and each member will state their name prior to speaking.*

  1. Organization of the Committee for 2020:Motion: Mr. Bryk made a motion to appoint Mr.Holmes as Chair, Mr.Rosanksy seconded it.

Discussion: There was none.

Vote: By a roll call vote, all were in favor.

 

Motion: Mr.Holmes made a motion to appoint Mr.Rosanksy as Vice Chair, Mr.Bryk seconded it.

Discussion: There was none

Vote: By a roll call vote, all were in favor.

  1. Approve Minutes from 10/30/19:

Discussion on 10/30/19 Minutes: There was none.

Motion:  Chair Holmes made a motion to approve the minutes from 10/30/19 as written, Mr. Rosansky seconded it.

Discussion: There was a brief discussion if a Chair could make a motion, it was determined that it was acceptable.

Vote: Mr. Redmond, Mr. Genest, and Mr. Bryk abstained. The rest of the Committee were all in favor.

  1. Review of 2018 and 2019 CIP:

There was a brief recap of 2018 and 2019 CIP, and how 2018 was the first year that the CIP decided to meet with department heads, and how beneficial it was. There was also discussion on how the spreadsheet was changed from 2018 to 2019 to show the tax impact, and the formatting was changed. Each member from the previous year gave comments on how much CIP had progressed.

  1. Discussion of 2020 CIP Plan with COVID-19:

Mr. Rosansky spoke on the spreadsheet, and how it is important to be able to understand it.

Mr. Genest commented on the summary of the CIP from last year, and how it was focused on the needs as opposed to the wants. Mr. Genest had questions about the Fire Department in regards to the use of North Branch Fire Station. He also mentioned how the Police Department does not have a capital reserve account, and needing clarification on the town portion for the numbers of the Water and Sewer Department. Mr. Genest said there is a lot of information on the spreadsheet and summary and  he would like it condensed by department.

Mr. Holmes suggested possibly removing the fixed CIP obligations from the spreadsheet since they were already accounted for in the budget, and if that would work.  Mr. Genest said to keep it included. Ms. Hanson commented as well. Ms. Ogilvie commented that as far as capital reserve spending goes, it should be reflected if looking at the tax impact of CIP projects. She added that it is still funds going out every year, so it should be included to reflect over time.

Mr. Bryk wanted to know if anything had been achieved on the new gym floor costs being shared with Conval. Mr. Genest said they are still working on an agreement on the usage of the gym floor, so it is still in the works. It was mentioned that a new gym floor would not be needed for several years.  

Mr. Pattison spoke on Mr. Genest’s inquiry regarding the usage of North Branch Station. Mr. Pattison is also on the Fire Department, and North Branch is the station he works with. He commented that North Branch responds to about 80-90% of the calls, and that they participate in mutual aid to towns such as Stoddard, Hillsborough, and Washington. Mr. Genest said he would like to see the logs. The Assistant will gather stats from Fire Department for both stations.

  1. Review Letter to Department Heads:

This year will have a cover sheet, worksheet, and vehicle form to check on the life of the department vehicles. Chair Holmes expressed that a 2 page document is too long, and 30 days is too much time. There was a discussion, and it was decided that with the November 1st deadline to the Board of Selectman, the CIP Committee will send out a letter by Friday of this week to Department Heads, giving them notification that they will be receiving their worksheets this year starting the week of June 15th, and that they will have 2 weeks to complete and return back by July 1st.

Mr. Redmond is new to the Board, and asked for some clarification on the process of CIP. Ms. Hanson explained that CIP gathers the information and guides the Department Deads to what is presented to the PB and then the BOS.

Mr. Redmond had questions about how vehicle life is determined by the Police Department. Chair Holmes explained that the police chief discusses that with them when it is time for a new vehicle.

  1. Schedule a date for the next meeting:

Next CIP meeting will be Wednesday, June 10th at 4pm. The Assistant will try and figure out how to do an in person meeting with the CIP, but this meeting might still be done by Zoom with it only being a week away.

  1. Set a Deadline for Department Heads for 2020:

Deadline for worksheets to be completed is July 1st.

Adjourned:  Mr. Bryk made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 5:02 PM, Mr. Pattison seconded it.

Vote: By a voice vote, all were in favor.

Next Meeting:  The CIP will be meeting again via Zoom on Wednesday, June 10th, 2020 at 4:00PM.

Respectfully submitted,
Ashley Brudnick-Destromp
(Assistant to the Land Use Boards)