Dublin Budget Committee
Minutes
March 16, 2006
Present: Nancy Campbell, Charles Champagne, Judy Knapp, Rich Scheinblum – Chairman, Tracey McTague, Ken Woods and Michael Walker – Selectmen’s Representative
Also Present: William Raymond
The meeting was called to order at 7:15 pm by Chairman, Richard Scheinblum. The minutes of the February 14, 2006 and March 2, 2006 Budget Committee meetings and the February 14, 2006 Public Hearing were approved as written. Chairman Scheinblum passed around an email, just received, in response to our questions from State Geologist, David Wunsch.
Selectman Walker received a phone call from Selectman Anable, advising him of the need to not go forward with the warrant article for water testing. It seems the State will be tied up with Hollis in 2006, so they won’t be able to do Dublin.
Discussion on our recommendation on the Bedrock study. Committee members expressed their views and concerns as follows:
Tracey McTague - the Committee has been provided with enough detail and the cost is not high; the benefit outweighs the cost. Tracey would vote to recommend.
Mike Walker agrees with Tracey. The accuracy of the map would be greater than 10 years ago. Mike would vote to recommend.
Charles Champagne – Needs to know the benefit to the Town vs. the cost. He can’t tell the benefit to the Town from information given. Charlie feels that the tools are in place to control growth now that the Town has voted for the zoning changes. Charlie would vote to not recommend.
Rich Scheinblum - The Master Plan needs to be updated first and in place in order to give a clearer direction to how the bedrock study would be used. The Committee needs to know the pros and cons of this issue and they haven’t been given. The Committee doesn’t know what the rest of the Planning Board thinks of this study since none of them spoke on this issue at the joint March 2, 2006 meeting. Rich feels the State should pay more of the cost of this project if they want it done. He also has problems with paying for a map that the State owns. Rich would vote to not recommend.
Judy Knapp – The Committee received no answers to questions at the joint March 2, 2006 meeting; she also has concerns about the Master Plan not being updated; the Town is helping developers at town expense. Judy would vote to not recommend.
Ken Woods – Concerned with the cost of the project and recovering the cost. Ken would vote to not recommend.
Nancy Campbell – Concerned that there is no ordinance to require developers to use the bedrock map, there is no information in the Planning Board minutes that indicates the Board approved this project and concerned that if we did this study it would sit on the shelf and not be used like the Prime Wetlands Study that was done by the Conservation Commission in 1999. Nancy would vote to not recommend.
Motion made and seconded to recommend funding the bedrock study. Motion failed 2-Yes; 5-No. The original vote to not recommend this article stands.
Selectman Walker requested to re-visit the areas where the Selectmen and Committee had differences. He explained that the Selectmen had consulted with the departments heads to arrive at the figures that he is presenting for compromise. The following budgets were looked at again:
1. Planning Board - Education & Training line (4191.1-290), motion made and seconded to fund this line at $750, up from $580. The Selectmen thought we could split the difference. Motion failed – 2-Yes; 5-No.
Master Plan (4191.1-394) – motion made, seconded and passed unanimously to fund this line at $10,450, an increase of $5,450. The Committee agreed this project was of the utmost importance.
Postage (4191.1-925) – motion made and seconded to fund this line at $1,000, an increase of $400. This increase is necessary because of postage already spent. The Committee would still like to see alternative methods of informing the population of Planning Board activities that don’t need to appear as official notifications. Motion passed, 5-Yes; 2-No.
2. Police Department – Office supplies (4210.1-610) – motion made, seconded and passed unanimously to fund this line at $1,570, an increase of $70. This increase is to help with more costly printer cartridges (new printer).
Gasoline (4210.1-635) – motion made, seconded and passed unanimously to fund this line at $8,000. Mike explained that this line was underspent in 2005 because of injuries to two police officers.
3. Fire Department – Training (4220.1-291) – motion made, seconded and passed unanimously to fund this line at $2,800. Mike explained that training that was done at no cost in 2005 is now having to be funded by the Town.
Medical & Physical Exams (4220.2-292) – motion made, seconded and passed unanimously to fund this line at $2,750. Mike explained that this is because we have 2 new fire fighters, 5 others need physicals and 10 need flu shots.
4. Building Inspection (4240.1-110) – motion made and seconded to fund this line at 15 hours per week, instead of 10. Discussion on accountability (why are Dublin’s hours 3 times more than comparable or neighboring towns), this can get out of control. Motion failed 2-Yes; 5-No.
Discussion on what to present at Town Meeting. Rich thought he needed to defend the Highway truck, but the Selectmen will do that. There needs to be a motion with a new dollar figure for the operating budget after tonight’s actions. The Selectmen plan on moving the Highway truck article before the Budget article because the polls have to be open for an hour on this vote.
Meeting adjourned at 9:45 pm
Respectfully submitted,
Nancy E. Campbell, Co-Secretary
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