DUNBARTON BOARD OF SELECTMEN

MINUTES OF MEETING

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29,  2005

TOWN OFFICES – 7:00 P.M.

 

The regularly scheduled weekly meeting of the Dunbarton Board of Selectmen was held at the above time, date and place with Chairman Charles (Chuck) Graybill  presiding.  It was noted that the meeting was called to order at 7:11 p.m.  The following were present:

               

                Charles (Chuck) Graybill, Chairman

                Mert Mann

                Les Hammond

                Janice VandeBogart, Town Administrator

               

The Selectmen reviewed correspondence and signed checks prior to the Public Meeting was called to order.

 

The Selectmen signed and approved the minutes of the previous Selectmen’s Meeting of  December 22, 2005 prior to the opening of the meeting. 

 

PERAMBULATION OF TOWN LINES:

 

Fred Mullen delivered the official perambulation document for Weare and Dunbarton Town Lines which were performed by Fred Mullen of Dunbarton and Margo McLeod from Weare.

 

The Selectmen want to extend their appreciation for his continued services for the perambulation of the Town Lines. 

 

DON MAYO, TOWN ENGINEER:

 

1.        Stated that he will work on a list of what developers’  responsibilities are at the time of signing for the bond, etc. for road work.  Developers should be aware of what is expected of them at the beginning of the project.  Selectmen stated they would appreciate his developing a list of items and felt it would improve the process considerably.

 

2.        Stated that he would recommend returning all but $5,000 of the Cim-Ray $20,000 Bond for Jay Drive. 

 

MOTION:

 

Les Hammond made a motion that the Town of Dunbarton return the money to Cim-Ray which is in escrow ($20,000) with the exception of $5,000 which would be held until spring of 2006 when snow recedes and a visual inspection can be taken by Town Officials for final approval and return of the remaining escrowed funds.  Mert Mann seconded the motion.  The motion passed unanimously. 

 

PATRICK (WOODY) BOWNE, TRANSFER STATION:

 

1.        Patrick (Woody) Bowne appeared before the Board and presented the schedule of hours for the Transfer Station. (attached)   He noted that he has given all the paperwork to Jim Williamson for a Commercial Hauler.  He noted that Commercial Haulers can only dump on Tuesdays.

 

2.        Stated the new truck has had some problems.  There are three recalls on it which are being taken care of. There will be no charge for the recalls.  In addition, it needs tires.  The Selectmen noted they have already paid over $900.00 for inspection. 

 

3.        The Compactor problem still has not been corrected.  The problem is in the Phase Converter.  They are coming out on Tuesday to try to repair it.  They feel the problem is in the Single Phaser.  When there is no load, it is fine.  When there is a load, it does not operate at capacity.  They are going to change the capacitors.  Woody stated that he has contacted another repair company which will be coming on Tuesday.

 

FRED WESTON, TUCKER HILL: 

 

Fred Weston, Stillwater, Kenneth Swayze, Jeff Crosby, Road Agent, and Don Mayo appeared before the Board of Selectmen to discuss the return of the $25,000 letter of credit to Fred Weston. 

 

1.        Don Mayo, Town Engineer, presented a letter stating what roadwork was not complete which included the following:

 

a.        Property Bounds – Reset or replace damaged or missing bounds.

b.       Clean culverts and catch basins as required.

c.        The catch basin at the intersection of Tucker Hill Road and Everett Road appears low (approximate Sta. 22 + 40 right of Everett Road). 

 

Kenneth Swayze noted there are a couple of culverts plugged up which went onto the wetlands.  There has been no CO’s issued on those particular houses.  (Flagstone Properties) This has nothing to do with Fred Weston.  The catch basins are the main issue.  We need them clean to start with and then we will do the maintenance. 

                These are not the developer’s responsibility.

 

Ken Swayze stated he would suggest between $750 and $1,000 at the most be set aside in cash or check from Fred Weston after releaseing the $25,000 letter of credit.  He would suggest releasing the entire $25,000 letter of credit in return for a check in the appropriate amount of $1,000. 

 

Jeff Crosby, Road Agent, agreed with the $1,000 figure.

 

MOTION:

 

Mert Mann made a motion that the Town of Dunbarton.  release the total $25,000 Letter of Credit in Full and accept $1,000 from Fred Weston to hold by the Town of Dunbarton until spring and the completion of the three items listed on Don Mayo’s list.  Mert Mann stated that the Town of Dunbarton was very satisfied with this solution because Fred Weston has done everything he has said he would do when requested.   Les Hammond seconded the motion.  The motion passed unanimously. 

 

SIGN ORDINANCE: 

 

Selectmen requested that Janice VandeBogart, Town Administrator, schedule a Public Hearing sometime in January for the Temporary Sign Ordinance. 

 

TRANSFER STATION:

 

Janice VandeBogart, Town Administrator, reported that Patrick (Woody) Bowne has requested that he be allowed to carry over four (4) days vacation into the next year.

 

Mert Mann clarified the point that they could be carried forward.  Charles Graybill stated the choice is Woody’s. 

 

MOTION:

 

Charles Graybill made a motion that we carry over four days of vacation time of Patrick Bowne to be used in the year 2006.  Les Hammond seconded the motion.  The motion passed unanimously.

 

LETTER RECEIVED FROM CHCUK WILLIAMSON, DECEMBER 28, 2005:

 

1.        Charles Graybill stated he would like it to go on record that the Town of Dunbarton

received a letter dated December 28, 2005 from Chuck Williamson outlining questions regarding certain policies and overtime issues, etc.  (This letter is available at the Town Office for Public Review) 

 

At this point, Les Hammond stated that he and Chuck Williamson had discussed these issues for over an hour recently.

 

Charles Graybill stated the Town of Dunbarton tries to schedule the first budget hearing as soon as possible.  We have to wait until the last date for petition articles.  Then we make the presentation and don’t get the budget together until the night before.  We are open to the public.  The budget is in the Town Report.  We do know that the Board is being measured on expenditures on a bottom line number.  We are trying to hold the budget within whatever the Town approves at Town Meeting. 

 

2.        With regard to the question about overtime, and having heard all sorts of inuendos and negative comments with reference to certain employees, we would like to thank Chuck Williamson for bringing the charges up to our attention. Nothing has been brought forward until now.  Charles (Chuck) Graybill stated he would like to explain from the Town’s position as follows:   

 

Chuck Graybill stated that back in 2002, we became aware of a tremendous amount of overtime by a certain individual.  The Board of Selectmen, when we put together expenses, addressed this issue and budgeted a 40 hour work week in 2003.  This particular employee took that as the “letter of law”, and what we have found is that in 2003, he was just working 40 hours on his time sheet.  At the end of the week, he didn’t submit any overtime hours but he had worked overtime hours which did not show on the time sheet.  This person performed these functions.  We, as a Town, have the responsibility to pay him for his overtime hours.  We tried to reimburse the number of hours that he should be paid for overtime.  I think this is where the $900 came from.

 

At this point, Janice VandeBogart, Town Administrator, stated there is a letter to the file in Patrick Bowne’s personnel file which explains the situation.   This was done after we went through the Auditors.  We do know that the Auditors have accepted the books by the Town in 2003.  We tried to manually come up with what this individual had worked and pay him for the correct overtime hours.  I don’t think he was on vacation that week.  We tried.  We reconstructed and paid him in a one week time frame.  We took all the overtime and added it together. 

 

The letter stated as follows:

 

MEMO FOR FILE

MAY’ 2003

 

“After reviewing time sheets from January 1st to May, 2003 with Patrick Bowne, it as come to our attention that his time sheets were not filled out properly.  In order to avoid having the town pay him overtime pay, Mr. Bowne filled out his time sheets weekly, stopping at 40 hours even if the time ended at 40 hours before the week ended.  In other words, whenever his hours reached 40 hours, he would hand in his time sheet.  This was not the correct way to report his weekly hours worked.

 

When this was finally discovered in our office, we spoke to Mr. Bowne and told him that the town had a legal obligation to pay him these overtime hours.  We could not end his week when convenient for him.

 

Examination of time sheets were made, going back to the beginning of the year 2003 and calculating each week from Sunday – Saturday, it was determined that the town owned Mr. Bowne a total of 58 hours in overtime pay.  A check was written on May 15, 2003 to bring this account up to date.

 

 

This record is for the personnel file for future reference and clarification.

 

Janice VandeBogart

Town Administrator”

 

 

Mert Mann stated he was not a Selectman at this time of this happening.  He would like some time to go over the situation before making any decisions. 

 

MOTION:

 

Mert Mann made a motion that we table this discussion this evening to give us time to look at it with fresh “eyes”.  Les Hammond seconded the motion.  The motion passed unanimously.

 

COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC;

 

                None

 

MOTION:

 

Mert Mann made a motion that the Dunbarton Board of Selectmen adjourn at 8:30 p.m.  Charles Graybill seconded the motion.  The motion passed unanimously.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Alison R. Vallieres

Recording Secretary

 

 

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Charles (Chuck) Graybill, Chairman

 

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Mert Mann, Selectman

 

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Les Hammond, Selectman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GENERAL BUSINESS: