MINUTES of the
BOARD OF SELECTMEN MEETING
Wednesday May 19, 2010
Board Members Present: Sherman Tedford-Chairman; Roberta Fraser; Gustave Ruth; Theresa Sepe; and Kenneth Gardner. Also present Bob Gray, Town Administrator and Ellen Cole, Executive Assistant. The meeting convenes at 7:00PM.
1st Order of Business: Open Meeting and Acceptance of Minutes
Minutes of the May 12, 2010 regular minutes: Selectman Fraser makes a motion to accept the minutes. Selectman Gardner seconds the motion and it passes 5-0.
2nd Order of Business: Other Business
The Winchester Community Band would like to use the Town Hall on Saturday, July 31, 2010 at 6:00PM, in case of bad weather. Weather permitting-the band will play on the green at the gazebo. Selectman Fraser makes a motion to allow the band to use the Town Hall on this day, if it rains. Selectman Ruth seconds the motion and it passes 5-0.
Fire Chief Barry Kellom is seeking permission on behalf of some residents to host a car wash on May 28, 2010 at the Fire Station. The proceeds are to benefit Jack Marsh, Sr., who is receiving medical treatments for cancer. Barry has offered to use the Fire Association’s fund (separate from town funds), to pay for the water usage at an estimate of $10.00. Selectman Ruth makes a motion to allow this benefit to be held at the Fire Station, with no expense imposed by the Town. Selectman Sepe seconds the motion and it passes 5-0.
On May 6, 2010, the Board voted to tax deed six properties, and Bob asks the Board if they wish to proceed with auction, or wait. Counsel advises the Town not to keep them longer than needed, unless it is vacant land. Three of the 6 properties are located in the campground and coop, and the Town is responsible for rent, if the former owner does not pay. Selectman Sepe is not familiar with this procedure and asks what the Board’s options are, to which Chairman Tedford responds the Town can hold onto the property for 3 years and be liable for rent, or sell to auction in 90 days. Bob advises the Town needs to abide by the laws provided under RSA 80:89, properly notifying the former owners 90 days before the auction. Chairman Tedford makes a motion to proceed with the tax sales. Selectman Gardner seconds the motion and it passes 5-0.
Selectman Sepe asks if the River Court water leak situation has been resolved, to which, Bob responds, the owners have made arrangements with Marvin Smart to repair the leak tomorrow morning, under the supervision of the Water Superintendent Gary Puffer.
3rd Order of Business: Open to the Floor (15 minutes)
Billie Jo Knoll encourages the Board to purchase tickets for a spaghetti feast on Sunday, June 6, 2010 at the VFW, to benefit the Winchester Historical Society. Ms. Knoll and Ted Whippie are selling tickets, and a flyer is on the bulletin board in the Town Hall with contact information, as tickets are limited.
Kim Gordon asks the Board if they are in receipt of a letter dated April 5, 2010 from Chris Brison at the DES regarding erosion control on the Van Dyke property. Ms. Gordon informs the Board that Van Dyke had until April 20, 2010 to comply, which he has not. Ms. Gordon believes that Van Dyke’s alteration of terrain permit has expired. Most members have read this letter, but Selectman Sepe is not familiar with it, and will check the reading file for review. The Board understands that they do not need to take action on this item; the matter is between Van Dyke and enforcement by the DES.
4th Order of Business: Office Documents
* Permit authorizing the Sale of Raffle Tickets for the Winchester School’s Talent Show held at Town Hall on May 22, 2010. Selectman Fraser makes a motion to give permission for said displays and to sign. Selectman Ruth seconds the motion and it passes 4-0, 1 abstention. Selectman Sepe is not comfortable to vote on this matter because she does not what know what the prizes are.
5th Order of Business: Non-Public Session under RSA 91-A:3II (a) and (c)
Selectman Fraser makes a motion to enter non-public session under (a) and (c). Selectman Gardner seconds the motion. A role call vote is taken and all members vote “yes”, and the Board convenes in non-public session at 7:15PM (after a 5-minute break).
6th Order of Business: Reconvene Public Session
The Board reconvenes in public session at 8:30PM. The non-public minutes under (a) were not sealed; and the minutes under (c) were sealed.
7th Order of Business: Adjournment
The Board thanks Ellen for her service to the Town.
Selectman Fraser makes a motion to adjourn. Selectman Ruth seconds the motion and it passes 5-0. The meeting adjourns at 8:50PM.
Respectfully recorded,
Ellen A. Cole
Executive Assistant
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28 comments:
Once again the BOS shirks it's duty to enforce town regulations and ordinances as mandated. Why do they think they were notified by the DES about the issues in regards to run-off from the Van Dyke site? Why didn't they send Leroy out to cite him as they did when they blamed Ron LeClaire for this problem when it was Van Dyke all the time? Why are they protecting him and giving grounds for another lawsuit? It is against the law to allow run-off from his site to pollute abutting properties. It is clearly stated in the Town's subdivision and PRD regulations. They have been notified and still they sit on their hands. Why?
They are in Lala land! They were happy to give the responsibility to someone else instead of dealing with it themselves. What kind of back bone does our town have?
The selectmen you voted in will not go against the "B" downstairs. The question we should be asking is. How much is Van Dyke paying the "B" so we could all pitch in and match it?
Ellen resigned because she could no longer stand the illegal activities going on behind closed doors by our selectmen. In fact she stated if she could sell her house and leave Winchester she would. Pretty bad when someone as nice as her has to give up her job because of unethical corrupt scumbags like we have in office in this town. What's wrong with you fools who voted these people into office and now stand by and do nothing?
You can bet your last dime that Sharra has something to do with this failure to act on a DES notice. I can see another $20,000 - $30,000 cost in legal fees to the town coming. No wonder those abutters are so upset with the town I wouldn't want the problems associated with run-off from someone else's property either. Aren't our officials compelled to act to protect the citizen's of Winchester against just this sort of thing? Oh, and Rod got cited twice by Leroy and for no reason other than a little soil running down a spillway to the highway. What's his excuse for not taking action on a guy who has clogged the drains so bad the highway flooded and the woods across the street and drains on others property are filled with sand and gravel from his mess?
Notice how many houses Roberta voted to allow the town to put up for auction for lack of taxes?
One would think she would recuse herself on matters such as this.
Flagrant abuse of power.
"I haven't paid my taxes, but no one can touch me because I am a selectman!"
I bet you would find that the town stopped reporting who pays their taxes in the annual report when Roberta became involved with politics?
Check out the Sentinel on line, June 3rd under reader opinion-letters to the editor. Title, When was dissent outlawed in Acworth?
RE: Sounds Familiar
It just shows the amount of small minded, little thinking that goes on in this state. This thinking stunts growth for these towns and breeds corruption.
Individually, these towns are too small to make a difference and so backwards that even the AG’s office looks the other way.
Town after Town rights are violated, people and groups are held down and held back and selectmen become Hitler’s if they chose to run their town in that manner, with little resistance and no help when reported.
It’s a disgrace really that this is allowed to go on, even when credible, truthful things are brought to light.
NH is probably 20 years behind the times and the Southwest corner is still living in the 50’s.
That’s not really surprising when you realize that the archaic town governments are run by retired archaic thinking people.
It’s all about personal agenda and not about the whole.
Take the Town of Winchester, how many more lawsuits do we need?
We are letting the selectmen spend our paychecks.
We are not telling them how to spend our paycheck, they are telling us how we will spend our paycheck.
The time for moaning and complaining has long come and gone.
We need to get involve and not let the selectmen or any other group bully us down and bully us out.
If we can work together we can have leadership that truly works for our needs instead of the needs of a few.
There really is strength in numbers because the burden gets shared and the weak get carried if need be until they can regain the strength to continue the fight.
The selectmen like to frazzle, distract and confuse issues so that they are hard to follow.
That is why this blog and the new blog are so important, they keep us informed.
At least they can’t stop these blogs from keeping us informed. As the women in the Sentinel said, you don’t own Freedom of Speech, that right was guaranteed to us, by the US Constitution, long before all you people in office came into existence and the reason it came into existence was to protect the little people from groups like the selectmen from infringing on our rights in the first place.
How ironic is that?
Assembly, speech, property. Those Constitutional rights that seem to be all to non-existent, certainly in Winchester.
Instead of ballot voting maybe the next election should be a book report on the US Constitution and the NH Constitution, to be graded by the people and the 5 best reports, the ones with thought behind them would have their author placed in office.
Why do the selectmen go to non-public when at least three of them meet on a regular basis outside of the town hall. They can deny it but you can bet they are discussing town business and making town policy.
It's just a smoking break!
Great example for the children in school. Especially to see policemen smoking....
I just found the new blog about corruption
http://winchesternhcorruption.blogspot.com/
There you can see 2 different conversations one of our police officers Nate Jette was having while at work. One lasts about an hour and one makes nasty, racial slurs about Mexicans.
If my Uncle Freddie of Mexican decent comes here is he going to be targeted by him? Is he going to treat him the same way as somebody from up here or is he going to be prejudiced?
Everyone should read about how this town is allowing us taxpayers money to be spent and is part of the reason why our taxes are what they are.
This is what I had to say.
In this post ALONE Jette screwed around on our time for an hour.
Hey, selectmen!
Don't you guys have some sort of control over this type of shit going on?
You turn your back when you don't want to deal with something but this is crazy. You have proof right under your noses.
Jette is wasting my tax money, my neighbors tax money and everyone else’s tax money.
You don’t have a right to squander our money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
His supervisors are letting him do these things with open arms? You know your chief Phillips and the second in command Lt Roberts. Then they want to hire more officers? Why so they can all goof off and do nothing and collect the paycheck and have the benefits?
How do we know Jette will even know enough to get out from behind his computer and be paying enough attention to go to a call?
If Jette is on his computer screwing around will he blow off my call because he's too busy doing something else that isn’t work related?
It seems he ought to be reading the book about being a police officer, The one that says the police are supposed to uphold the law not break it.
Stealing my hard earned taxpayer money is no different than stealing my TV.
Sherm is it true that Mr. Puffer messed up a new tared road in Ashuelot to fix a leak that has been leaking for some time? This man is amazing, where is Rick when you need him. Wonder what would happen to this guy in the real world.
Rumor has it that this is the same guy who signed an invoice to be payed to a vendor for #80,000+ that was already paid. Good work Mr. Puffer we need more employees like you.
Didn't Dale pitch the 4 day work week for hwy by saying it better when they are paving? Well today its raining and tomorrow it sunny and no one is working, how in the h--- is that a good deal for the town? I bet you folks working 6 or 7 days a week can appreciate that.
Hey do you think they don't appreciate having their minutes posted here for comment. We haven't seen any all month....guess Roberta doesn't know how to do it!
Give her a break, she only has 32hrs to get everything done. In the real world that would be enough time but we all know it takes longer in the municipal world, especially in Winchester.
Their just using Roberta as an excuse to keep the truth from those who can't go to the meetings because we work.
If the Town of Winchester wants to save money they should require the employees to work on Friday and have Monday off. This would save the town money by not having to have pay for a majority of holidays that fall on a Monday. Also, they should follow what big businesses do regarding holiday pay which is to require the employe to work the day before the holiday and they day after the holoiday in order to receive holiday pay.
Question: When there was a five day work week the town employees cashed their check on Thursdays on town time. Now that they are off on Friday and the bank is now open seven days a week why do they still use town time to do their banking?
Regarding accountability: All town employees should be required complete detailed daily logs and Bob Gray should be given a vehicle, radio and the authority to conduct random and unannounced spot inspections/visits to ensure employees are doing their jobs.
This would allow for him to spot areas for employees who are not where they shoulde be.If Gene Park can get a radio at the town's discount, which Gary Phillips approved,it shouldn't be an issue for Bob Gray to have a radio also.
Regarding Food for Thought -
I do not believe that the town can prove that they have saved any money by going to four days. But I do believe that they enjoy the three day weekend with the four day holiday weekends. Wouldn't we all? It has cost us MORE money to give them a four day week.
Have you read the minutes from last week? Actually, since Roberta seems to have no clue how to post them...you wouldn't have unless you went to town hall. If you had you would discovered that the Selectman (with Teresa as the cheerleader) that the town employees would like to have TEN (10) sick days instead of the current SIX (6) days. They want to implement the policy of getting paid back for the sick days they don't use.
My question to you - how many companies have this policy of unused sick day pay outs? Would you be willing to bet that there are very few. Only Government would come up with this kind of policy? It does not make financial sense. Teresa's take - that it gives people to incentive to work for the town. Did anyone realize that anyone wouldn't want a job here?
To scratching my head post: Do not allow the town to let sick days accrue. This WILL BE a financial disaster. Cap the sick and vacation hours to two weeks. In larger depts they allow employees to accrue sick days with no cap and the city or town buys back up to 3/4 of the unused time. Not a good idea folks. I have known several officer to receive in excess of $ 40,000 for unused vacation and sick time. I do not know of any private company that allows their employees to save their vacation or sick time. In fact, several Fortune 500, 100 & 50companies mandate that you use your time within a calandar year or you lose it. Another example of police officers taking advantage of the tax payer. The Connecticut State Police pay their officers as part of their union contract nearly $ 5,000 per year for their meals.$17.89 per day for meal allowance(as of 07/01/09).
Multiply that by 2,000 troopers.
Thats outrageous. And people wonder why their taxes are so high.
Police officers seem to forget that they are public servants and they are paid by tax dollars and not through a private institution or entity. If its the big bucks police officer want, I say to them get an education and work for private companies who have the payroll to pay high salaries.
Are we to believe that when we see three selectman standing around smoking cigerettes on the back steps of town hall that they do not talk town politics? That they are not hashing out another plot?
I don't think the town saves any money with four days, we keep forgetting this is a service industry. As for paying for unused sick days, I'm in favor of it, but i don't trust everyone to mark of there sick days when they are used.I have never seen such a lack of trust in my life, all towns have some problems but Winchester is extreme. In the past the employees didn't make the money we pay are employees today, and the taxes weren't so high, so we didn't scrutinize the work or lack of work like we do today. All this BS will catch up to people somewhere down the road.
Sick days are for those who are sick. Why pay foe unused sick time it you were not sick? Don't use the song and dance that not using sick time promotes better attendance. Don't offer sick time. Most big companies only offer vacation and personal time.
Increasing sick time promotes what? What a crock of BS. All it does is put more money in the employees pockets PERIOD. To allow them to have input in any discussion when it comes to compensating them was ludicrous. How about granting taxpayers a $25,000 credit for putting up with this fiasco of a town government run by flaming idiots. The concept of sick days is to pay employees when they are OUT OF WORK for reasons they can not control, NOT to reward them for anything. To allow them to accrue sick days and then pay them for it is asinine and anyone who agrees with this crap is a horse's a_ _.
Good idea, lets give people another reward for screwing the taxpayer.
Cleanup the issues with the employees first before rewarding them for their bad behavior.
You don't have to worry about keeping anyone and nobody else wants to work here.
That's the exact mentality that that's been around for forever. Put the cart before the horse.
We'll worry about the consequences if we have any.
BAD BAD POLICY and it's got us in BIG BIG TROUBLE.
The reason that unused sick time is payed is so the productive employees of any co. will not call in sick when they just want a day off. If you have employees that aren't that productive it really doesn't matter. Paying unused sick time is not a issue with me, lack of production is. You cant tell me that employees that are late to work, early to leave, and extended lunch and brakes are productive.
Is the town site ever going to post the BOS minutes again? These 3 and 4 day work weeks are working well!
Another 3 day work week coming up the week of the 4th. Any of you taxpayers working 3 days or getting 10 hr. holiday pay? It works so well that its been a long time since the BOS minuets have hit the town web site. Maybe its not going to be posted anymore, I wouldn't blame them for that, I'd be embarrassed too.
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