October 11, 2021 | Town Admin TOWN OF SUTTON Pillsbury Memorial Town Hall 93 Main Street Sutton Mills, NH Sutton Mills, NH 03221 Select Board October 11, 2021 @ 4:30 p.m. Selectman William I. Curless, Chair, opened the meeting at 4:00 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance. Present at the meeting were William Curless, Chair; Dane Headley, Selectman and Walter Baker, Jr., Selectman; Timothy Hayes and William O’Connell, Cemetery Trustees; Robert DeFelice, Budget Committee Chair; Gail Guertin, Budget Committee, Vice Chair; Evan and Patricia Janovitz; and Elly Phillips, Town Administrator. APPOINTMENTS: At 5:00 p.m., the Board met with Timothy Hayes and William O’Connell, Cemetery Trustees to review the Cemetery 2022 proposed budget. Mr. Hayes discussed the Mastin cemetery site. Mr. Hayes is in the process of obtaining an estimate for the site work but provided a rough initial estimate of $150,000 for the sitework. Mr. Hayes recommended establishing an expendable capital reserve to cover site work, engineering, design, fencing and landscaping to be funded over the next three years with an appropriation of $60,000 per year. The final appropriation may need to be revised depending on current economy. Mr. Hayes stressed the imminent need for a new cemetery noting that the North Sutton Cemetery is almost full and Millswood will likely reach capacity within the next ten years. Mr. Hayes recommended having a road through the Mastin Cemetery. There is no change to the 2022 operating budget request which will remain level funded at $14,000. Mr. Hayes discussed ongoing maintenance efforts at the cemeteries and asked the board who was responsible for clearing downed trees. Mr. Hayes asked if the Highway Department could assist with cleanup. The Board will follow up with the Road Agent. Trustee O’Connell offered his services to assist with clean up. Phillips will review legal volunteer/compensation requirements and whether or not there would be a conflict if a trustee assisted with these efforts in either a volunteer or paid capacity. Establishing the capital reserve for the Mastin Cemetery will be a warrant article at the 2022 Town Meeting. Mr. Hayes emphasized the importance of designing an aesthetically pleasing cemetery. At 5:30 p.m. the Board met with Robert DeFelice, Budget Chair and Gail Guertin, Vice Budget Chair to discuss the 2022 Budget review process. The Select Board expressed interest in facilitating the process for Department Heads. It was noted that certain line items are determined by the Select Board’s office such as telephone expenses or custodial services. For these types of expenditure line item detail and rationale can be obtained from the Select Board staff. The duties of the Ex-Officio representative were also discussed. It was emphasized that any fiscal item that was not under the purview of the Budget Committee should be referred back to the Select Board for discussion/consideration. If Budget Committee members are interested in specific line-item detail, the Select Board’s office will provide this information upon request. Lines of communication between the Budget Committee and the Select Board were discussed at length. Mr. DeFelice recommended listing the highway equipment by type age and mileage in the Annual Report as requested at the 2021 Annual Meeting. Those present agreed that additional analysis of capital project costs would be beneficial to the budget process. Capital planning was discussed at length. The budget committee’s role and process for budget review was discussed. The Budget Committee meets with each department head to review their budget. A question was raised as to whether the Select Board could present a department head’s budget on behalf of the Department. Phillips was instructed to follow up with Counsel. Mr. DeFelice requested that the department head recommendations be provided to the budget committee prior to their meeting to facilitate preparation. Selectman Headley proposed having a joint meeting between the Select Board and the Budget Committee and there was support for that idea. Mr. DeFelice felt that having the Select Board attend a Budget Committee meeting would be beneficial. Scheduling for the joint meeting was discussed. The joint meeting to be conducted prior to 11/17/2021. The minutes from October 4, 2021, were approved as written. The Board reviewed and approved the following manifests: Vendor Manifest: $324,389.76 Payroll Manifest: $ 10,334.28 The Board reviewed and approved the following building permits: Evan and Patricia Janovitz, 01-248-391, Eaton Grange Road East, for a new home. Ian and Melissa Pollard, 05-948-405, Pound Road North, for a garage. Crown Castle, 03-406-095-A, Eaton Grange Road, replace antennas, upgrade equipment, no change to antenna height. NEW BUSINESS: The Board reviewed the 2022 insurance rates noting the following: health Insurance rates are down 8.1%. Dental insurance rates are down 1.5%. There is a base rate adjustment 0.7% for short term disability There is no change for long term disability or life insurance rates. The Board approved the rates and authorized Phillips to execute the 2022 agreement on behalf of the Town. The Board discussed 2022 projected electric rates noting that rates are skyrocketing and expected to continue to increase. The Town is exploring avenues to lock in at the most favorable rates. The Board discussed the cable franchise audit performed by DTC. The Board will review the audit and provide responses to the audit questions regarding franchise fees, free services and public access programming. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Elly Phillips Town Administrator