Present: Jack Sapia, Paul Sullivan, Fred Childs (Selectmen) and Russell McAllister (Town Administrator).

Mr. Sapia opened the meeting with a moment of silence for the untimely deaths in town. Mr. Sapia spoke to the passing of a young man, Nathan Secher who was 10 years old. Mr. Sapia made the motion to dedicate the tee ball field in the name of Nathan Secher. Mr. Childs seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous and so moved.

The TA reviewed a list of correspondence.

Chief Consentino addressed the Board about a new charitable group "Life is Not Done." The group was recently formed in response to the Vic Geary Center’s loss of a long time tenant whose $600 / month rent helped offset the center’s programming costs. On behalf of the "Life is Not Done" group, Mr. Consentino presented Jack McShea (Executive Director) of the Vic Geary Center with a check in the amount of $1,800 to help offset the Center’s loss of rental income. Mr. McShea expressed his gratitude.

The Board opened the bids. The results are listed in the table below.

The Board requested that Chief Consentino review the bids and provide a recommendation at a later meeting.

Mr. Childs made the motion to approve the minutes of the April 16^th meeting. Mr. Sullivan seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous and so moved. Mr. Childs made the motion to approve the minutes of the April 23^rd meeting as amended. Mr. Sullivan seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous and so moved.

The TA provided a synopsis of abatements outlined below.

The TA read the list of abatement by map and lot listed in the table below.

The TA addressed the Auditor’s draft report inclusive of management letter. It was explained that the auditor’s in smaller towns with limited staff often compile the financial reports from the source material and then render an opinion on the financial reports. Newer accounting standards disallow auditing firms from both compiling the financial reports and forming an opinion based upon their compilation. So, the auditor’s recommendation is to assist staff in developing the knowledge and expertise in the actual process of compiling the requisite information, preparing the draft financial statements (with notes), and the source of the amounts reported in the draft financials. Developing the necessary expertise will address this weakness. The Board expressed the desire to see the issue placed on the area wide Selectmen’s meeting.

The TA briefed the Board on the status of this year’s program budget for mosquito control explaining that costs reflected activities from April 1 through October 31 (if necessary), which represented 30 weeks of control activity. The TA noted that the program was scheduled to begin May 14^th so almost six weeks of costs, or $4,560 had not been used. The table below highlighted the anticipated program costs associated with this year’s activity.

Permit Application = $ 0

Larviciding 30 wks * $910 = $27,300

Monitoring 16wks * $1,000 = $16,000

The Board suggested that the public notice for the program be placed on cable. The TA agreed to do so.

Mr. Stewart addressed the Board relative to hiring summer help and about any decision the Board may have reached with respect to the assistant road agent’s position. Mr. Sapia spoke to a brief meeting the Board held last Thursday at Pope Field to go over the Transfer Station road and gate layout. Discussion turned to installation of a fence running parallel to the field separated by 14 feet so that bleachers and onlookers could stand to watch the games. Another topic of discussion concerned the painting of the pavilion inside and out. Mr. Stewart explained that the cleaning service cleaned the bathrooms on Saturday mornings prior to field opening. Mr. Sapia asked if the Highway crew could check the inside of the bathrooms when they unlocked them in the morning. Mr. Stewart agreed to do so.

Mr. Stewart explained that his previous recommendation for award of the line-striping bids was incorrect. He noted that the low bidder did not offer oil-based paint. He recommended that Highway Safety Systems be awarded the bid. It was noted that there was a difference between the bids of approximately $2,500. Mr. Childs made the motion to award the bid to Highway Safety Systems in the amount of $8,802.82 for oil-based paint. Mr. Sullivan seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous and so moved.

The TA explained that he had queried colleagues about their practices for dual rates of pay. The TA explained that it was a common practice to have a member in the department to serve as the ‘Acting’ department head when there was an absence or vacation. Compensation during those times ranged from 10-30% additional pay. The TA noted that the current highway department was staffed with 3 part-time positions and that made it difficult to carry out work in a timely and safe manner. Mr. Sapia spoke to the long range planning that was necessary. Mr. Sullivan explained that there were many additional roads compared to several years ago and that the range of responsibilities had also increased, but funding and staffing had not increased. He further noted that the starting pay for a laborer in the Windham DPW was $16.80 / hour inclusive of benefits. Mr. Sullivan expressed his view that the position of Assistant Road Agent should be filled by Mr. Dugdale. Brief discussion ensued. Mr. Childs made the motion to adopt a dual rate of pay for Mr. Dugdale of an additional $2 per hour when he fills in for Mr. Stewart. Mr. Sapia seconded the motion. The vote was Messer’s Childs and Sapia voting for the motion. Mr. Sullivan voted against the motion.

Mr. Stewart opined that retention of part-time employees required commensurate compensation, benefits and promotion potential.

The Board briefly discussed the policy. Mr. Sullivan made the motion to adopt the policy with an effective date of June 1^st. Mr. Childs seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous and so moved.

The TA brought the issue of the Library HVAC system to the Board explaining that they were having trouble with it. The TA provided an email from the Library Director. The Board suggested that Difeo repair the problem. The TA agreed.

The Board agreed to check off the applicants that they wanted to interview during the coming week.

Mr. Sullivan reported that he had so far not been successful in finding interested candidates but that he would continue.

Mr. Sullivan explained that the library was issuing an RFQ for qualified builders. Mr. Sapia spoke again to the issue of a strategic plan for the Town.

There being no further business to come before the Board Mr. Sullivan made the motion adjourn the meeting. Mr. Childs seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous and so moved. The meeting adjourned at approximately 9:15pm.

Respectfully,

Russell McAllister

Town Administrator

_______________________

Jack Sapia, Chair

_______________________

Paul Sullivan

_______________________

Fred Childs