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Wallingford Fire District No. 1 MINUTES OF THE PRUDENTIAL
COMMITTEE MEETING Called
to Order: Chris Rabtoy called the
meeting to order at Visitors:
Jeffrey R. Allen, Warren
Allen, Charlie Gauthier, John West and Dale Whittemore Part-Time
Sewer/Water Operator Appointment: J.
West and M. Breznick made their recommendation to the board to hire D.
Whittemore. J. West has worked with
D. Whittemore for many years and comes with years of experience.
C. Rabtoy made the motion to hire D. Whittemore with a 90 day
probationary period. R. Regula
seconded the motion. Motion carried
(2-0). Questions
for Fire Chief: R.
Regula addressed W. Allen for clarification as to why their electric bill was so
high. He said that the fire
department holds meetings, bingo and training sessions and nobody is at the
station after C. Gauthier interjected to
say that there was a fire one evening and a truck was out of the fire station
within 1.5 minutes. R. Regula stated that there is too much congregation going
on down there. That’s the opinion
of one board member. R. Regula asked about
another bill for $40.00. W. Allen
responded that they were for maintenance for their radios.
R. Regula didn’t like the use of word that W. Allen used on a recent
radio call “h_ll”. W. Allen said
that the message was made on the departments own channel not on state dispatch
and apologized for it. W. Allen said
that he’s not the only fire chief that has used that word and he’s heard
worse. C. Rabtoy said that R.
Regula also had questions about what the fire department is doing with their
money from yard sale, bingo and how much the fire department had.
He said these are the fellows to talk too, because she had asked him and
he didn’t have the answers. R.
Regula responded by saying well, that money goes into the incorporated aspect of
it when you have a yard sale and bingo. W.
Allen said yes and it goes towards bills that the Fire District doesn’t cover
(i.e. separate phone line, training, paper products, etc…) She asked what the
telephone was that we pay here? It’s
the fire phone, emergency back up to 911. W. Allen said a bid in
writing for the proposed fire truck would be on its way.
C. Rabtoy said that hopefully we will be able to present something to the
voters in the very near future to let them make the decision whether we proceed
or not. W. Allen said that they
were in the process for the preparation for Wallingford Fun Day and the fire
house would be very active. The clerk checked with R.
Regula to see if she had any questions for the fire departments treasurer
regarding seeing their books. R.
Regula said that she’s still checking on it.
C. Gauthier commented by saying that she could see his books any time she
wanted too. She said well, there’s
a lot of discussion going on at a meeting the last meeting where the fire
department said they didn’t have monies to put down on towards the fire truck
and there are rumors or certain people that say they do have the monies and just
don’t want to disclose. W. Allen said that certain
people don’t know what their talking about.
C. Gauthier said first of all he’ll disclose any figure that you want
to know about, give you all of the records of the checks that he has written.
C. Gauthier asked why the fire department had to come of with the money
for a fire truck when the fire district owns the trucks.
C. Rabtoy said that it was asked at the information meeting whether or
not the fire department had any money to put down for the down payment for the
truck. The fire department has a
meeting on the second Tuesday of every month and the public is welcome to
attend. R. Regula asked if they were
a corporation or non-profit. They
are a non-profit corporation C. Gauthier said.
She just wanted clarification, because she’s a taxpayer.
C. Gauthier again reiterated that the books are available to anyone that
would like to see them. Management
of Bio-Solids: J. West explained the
process for the recertification of our drying beds for sewer operations.
A notice will be published and notices will be sent to residents that
abuts the sewer plant. The
certificate will be valid for 5 years. R.
Regula had a question on drying beds and we noted that there is a pile of sand
on The discussion led up to
inventorying the sewer plant’s scraps. J.
West and C. Rabtoy will make arrangements to meet to inventory materials that
are on hand. There maybe items that
can be used and some that may not. J. West mentioned programs
that read meters that save time and eliminate human error.
The clerk mentioned going to postcards for bills rather than using full
size envelopes, stamping and stuffing them to save money.
J. West said that we do not
need a comprehensive report from the state giving us feedback on a system that
is not very old. J. West said that as a
municipality that we are allowed to take up to 15% of our operating budget and
raise that to put in to a capital fund. At
this time the clerk said we are only collecting enough to cover the budget with
no extra money being put aside for the capital fund.
J. West said that every asset is accounted for such as a pump, building
and the year it was built or bought and in order to replace it, we need to put a
certain amount of money aside. Every
year it would change because things get older and things change.
J. West offered to send a whole program show how a breakdown is done.
He has one that comes out to about $200,000 a year that should be set
aside every year. C. Rabtoy would
like J. West at the annual meeting to explain than.
J. West also suggested M. Breznick and J. Ingalls meet to discuss the
maps that identify all of the water/sewer lines and to update them as needed.
J. West said that the
planning commission is happy to hear how cooperative the fire district will be
as far as working with them and letting them know how much gallonage is left.
When construction is going on, the fire district needs to be aware,
because there is an application and fee that need to be satisfied.
The owner of the property/contractor is responsible for notifying the
district. The fees will be reviewed
by the committee, since they have not been updated for over 20 years.
R. Regula had a question on
a reimbursement for an expansion tank. The
clerk said that there were two residents that had come forward and the bill was
for the 2nd resident applying for reimbursement (note the money was
under the $150.00 cap). J. West
mentioned that he had spoken with the states plumbing inspector about the
expansion tanks. The plumber said
that as soon as you put in back flow prevention, it’s so that the water can
not go back into the town water, the state law says that you have to have an
expansion tank inside the building, because there is no place for it to go.
Once the water is heated it can not go back and the fire district
mandated the back flow preventions, R. Regula interjected and said yes they did
she remembered that. C. Rabtoy
mentioned that we have a cut off date of July 1, 2007 the district will not be
reimbursing for expansion tanks. C. Rabtoy said that we are
required to install and maintain the pressure reducing valve, because our water
pressure is above 100 psi. J. West
said that because there is one big pipe to go up and down and that’s how that
happened to safe money. C. Rabtoy
asked if it was a requirement for all municipalities.
J. West replied yes. Approval
for Minutes:
C. Rabtoy made the motion to approve minutes for May 9, May 23 & Prudential
Committee Pay Order: C. Rabtoy made the motion
to accept the orders as presented. R.
Regula seconded the motion. Rabtoy
said No further discussion. Motion
carried (2-0). Old
Business: - Status Bid Information
from Phil Baker (Bill Cobleigh Project – C. Rabtoy spoke to P. Baker about it
3 weeks ago, since this was put out for bid and awarded to have P. Baker do the
project and but because of financial constraints the project was not done.
Since then P. Baker will resubmit the bid again with the minor changes
that have taken place regarding the cost of fuel and labor increases.
At that point we will decide whether we can do it.
-
Status of tree limbs at J. Haley’s residence – C. Rabtoy has someone
taking a look at it this coming
weekend then he will place a call to the committee members with the cost.
-
Curb stop replacement for -
Update on the New
Business: A brief discussion ensued
regarding the damage fee from past renters and the expectation.
Public
Comments: No comments. Other
Business/Announcements: R. Regula said she had an
issue about last Thursday and the clerk out of the office to read meters.
If we need a meter reader you know…. The clerk said that you have her.
It was either going to be $15/per hour or $31.50/per hour and you got
some of the readings for nothing. So
the clerk didn’t think that someone would argue with that.
She was trying to help M. Breznick out and didn’t know that there was a
need to have an explanation. R.
Regula said that he and her husband have read the meters before and would want
to be considered in the future and be paid $15.00 per hour just like J. Shaw
was. C. Rabtoy said that’s kind of
a mood point right now since they’ve hired someone to do it.
The clerk said then she guess’ she should have put in for $15.00/per
hour for Friday on her day off and for any other time after 4pm (Note: the clerk
did not get paid extra pay the position is salary), she just thought she was
being part of a team. C. Rabtoy said
that she should be keeping track of her hours.
The clerk thought she would offer to assist to save the district money
and M. Breznick was working at keeping up with his work load along with mowing
lawns. She wasn’t asking for
reimbursement, just trying to be a team player.
Also, R. Regula wanted to
note that the clerk did check into the 5% late fee and it wad been charged in
error. The clerk said that anyone
that had paid the fee would be given credit on the next billing quarter.
R. Regula did bring a statute to the meeting where we could charge a fee.
The fee could be brought forward to the voters at an annual meeting.
C. Rabtoy said that way when someone is late they wouldn’t be charged
the 5%, plus the 8% at the end of the year it could be costly to the resident
for them not to pay their bill on time. C. Rabtoy read a letter
regarding a request for a board of abatement for a property on C. Rabtoy read an e-mail
from the Town Administrator regarding the lodge road and the repairs that they
were doing. C. Rabtoy said that B. Pill
has issues with her water reading, but nothing has been received in writing
requesting a board of abatement. Treasurer
Report: The treasurer reported that
the following monies would be transferred from Water/Sewer collected from the 2nd
quarter billing period: Water Bond
$19,538.25 and General/Fire Fund $16,120.92. Mr. Eddy of The lodge has been updated
with a new stainless steal sink and hot water heater.
It was a donation from the Hayes Foundation.
Additional work has been requested to be completed, such as the floor in
the cooler and some fill along the driveway where the water tends to build up
after it rains. The floor had been
fixed in the past not was not fixed correctly.
The clerk requested that by the next meeting we have some names/numbers
of contractors that could be called for to give quotes for fixing the floor at
the lodge. Also the Hayes Foundation
had brought to the clerk’s attention that they have had to clean the bathrooms
and around the lodge area the first day of their event.
They requested that it be taken care of better and also they asked for
some contact information in case of emergency should be posted at the lodge.
The committee meeting members’ telephone numbers will be posted. Due to the high volume of
usage of propane the deliver days have been increased to 2x a month in season
and back to 1x month on off seasons. C.
Rabtoy mentioned that we are still going forward with changing oil/propane
companies for better rates. A few
issues have been doubled billed, billed tax, applying check to one account and
running out of fuel in some cases more than once. C. Rabtoy said that in his
absence a special meeting was held to pay order and sign a letter for FEMA
assistance. R. Regula replied yes
that she and C. McPhee had come in to handle the above. R. Regula asked what the
outcome was with C. Buffum and clarifying his dates for the Hayes Foundation
using the lodge. The clerk reported
that all was good and she had sat with him and Mrs. Buffum and worked out their
dates up to 2009 for the use of the lodge. The clerk had a request
that by the next scheduled meeting, the board draw up a draft letter outlining
the changes for the Highland Association billing them on one meter and one water
bond starting on the 4th quarter billing cycle.
G. MacLeod will be requested to attend the next meeting and possibly have
him draft a letter to be placed in the 3rd quarter billing envelope
along with the letter from the prudential committee.
C. Rabtoy made the recommendation that the association loan the water
meter reading device until they have worked out a plan to read their meters.
The clerk will order an additional water meter device for the office and
just in case something ever happens to the one we currently have.
Since we won’t be collecting a water bond from each resident from the
association, the cost will be distributed amongst the residences reflecting
approximately a $5.00 per quarter increase to them. Executive Session: None Next
Meeting: The next regularly
scheduled meeting of the Prudential Committee will be held at on Adjournment: C. Rabtoy made the motion
that the meeting be adjourned. R.
Regula seconded the motion. No
further discussion. Motion carried
(2-0). Meeting was adjourned at Respectfully Submitted: Stephanie P. Biagini -
Clerk/Treasurer
Date Approved: |
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