By: Maria Moore

The Board of Finance (BOF) met this past Tuesday, December 8, for their first meeting since the November 3 elections. Following are highlights of the meeting:

Changes On The Board Of Finance

Tom Klebart resigned from his seat on the BOF at the beginning of December to take up his seat on the Board of Selectmen. Dan Charest nominated Ben Witte for the chairmanship of the board which the rest of the board unanimously approved.Tom’s resignation also opened up a full position on the BOF, and that position was filled according to past practice: they accepted the recommendation of the chairman of the political party whose member had previously filled that position. In this case, Bob Kryzs, chairman of the Democratic Town Committee, asked that Laura Sundquist, who had just been elected to an alternate seat on the board, be moved into the full seat, and that Dr. William Rieger fill Laura’s alternate position. The board members voted to approve the changes requested by Bob.

Reggie Smith Jr. and Alesia Kennerson have also joined the board as newly-elected members of the Board of Finance. Alesia volunteered to be the BOF representative on the Capital Committee Task Force, with both Reggie and Laura also volunteering to help that task force, if needed.

Rec Commission’s Upcoming Projects

First Selectman Dan Jerram informed the BOF of the work that the Rec Commission was looking to carry out, that of installing fencing at Brown’s Corner and the replacement of the furnace at Berkshire Hall. Both these projects had been discussed by the Board of Selectmen at their December 7 meeting; see our December 8 report New Board of Selectmen Meets…

After listening to the details of the work to be done, Ben Witte said that it was not the purview of the BOF to approve Rec expenditures, that Rec had the authority to carry out expenditures within their budget. Dan Jerram said he wanted to be sure there were no objections from the BOF, and Ben characterized his bringing the matter to the board as being in the spirit of cooperation between the BOS and the BOF. Reggie said that the fencing should be done, and the discussion continued with whether the existing fencing could be reused. Ben said that he wanted to steer away from a detailed discussion of what the job entailed. “We want to keep the BOF at a higher level, so (we’re) not micro-managing.” He explained.

With that said, the discussion of the Rec Commission projects by the board members was brought to a close. Rec Commission members John Maschi and Dan Eddy, as well as Rick Berneike left the meeting, with no objections having been voiced by BOF members to their plans.

First Selectman’s Report

Dan Jerram gave a detailed report to the BOF. He told them of the meetings he’d attended the previous week, and then he briefly went through the nine municipal grants the town has on-going, including the $300,000 HUD block grant which he’d signed off on that same day. Two grants, both STEAP grants that had been awarded years before, were termed inactive; one for $250,000 for the salt shed, and the other also for $250,000 for the town garage. He said he would be looking into the status of those inactive loans.

Dan went on to say he was meeting with department heads “to see where they’re at.” He’d met with Beth Paul (head of the union at Town Hall) to reach out to Town Hall employees about changing the hours. He also said he’d met with Dan LeGeyt (head of the Department of Public Works) to see how his department is run, and he asked Dan to cut the town into four quadrants so they could ride around and review the work. He’d also asked Dan LeGeyt to develop a mapping system of what’s been done in the last 5 years.

Dan ended his report by telling the BOF that he was trying to be specific with the needs and to keep the BOF updated.

WPCA Report

Bill Michaud of the WPCA was on hand to give a report to the BOF which the BOF didn’t seem to think was necessary. Ben told the other BOF members: “If we want to hear from the WPCA, we should be specific about what we want to hear about.”

Wastewater Treatment Plant Construction Costs

Blake Hall, who was at the meeting, informed the board that all the town money that had been used to make the initial wastewater treatment plant construction payments had now been repaid from the BAN (Bond Anticipation Note) he’d arranged with Bank of America. He said the general fund is whole, and that there are ample funds to cover upcoming construction.

The question was raised of how the repayments for the wastewater treatment plant construction were going to be structured. Town Clerk Donna LaPlante had voiced her concern at the recent WPCA meeting, saying that she had heard talk that the WPCA might look to change the 60/40 split that had been previously agreed to. Roy Litchfield, who had been at the WPCA meeting, told the BOF emphatically: “It will be 60/40″, as originally agreed.

Meeting Dates for 2010

The Board voted to continue meeting on the second Tuesday of the month, making no changes to their schedule.

Executive Session

The BOF ended the public section of their meeting and went into executive session to discuss pending claims against the town.

A view of Steele Road at the intersection with Route 202. Brown's Corner is on the left of the image. Photo: Maria Moore

To read the full minutes of this meeting: Please check out the Minutes section of the town’s municipal website, where the minutes of all meetings are being posted once they are available.

The Agenda: for Board of Finance Meeting held Tuesday, December 8, 2009″

I.Seating of Alternates

II.Adoption/Revision of Agenda
III.Approval of Minutes
a.11/10/09 - Regular Meeting
IV.Opportunity for Public to Speak
V.Reports:
a.BOE/Superintendents Report - Phillip O’Reilly
b.Bookkeeper’s Report - Annie Witte
c.Treasurer’s Report - Gordon Ross
d.First Selectman’s Report - Dan Jerram
VI.Correspondence
VII.Successor appointments - Replacements, 2010 Chairperson
VIII.Setting of 2010 BOF Meeting Dates
IX.Other Items to Come Before the Board
X.Executive Session re: pending litigation
XI.New Board member orientation
XII.Adjournment