Month: December 2018

By S.D. Plissken | December 6, 2018

At the most recent Milton BOS meeting, the “Financial Policy Regarding Town Deposits” agenda item turned out to be much more involved than simply raising the ceiling on amounts of cash that may be held in town hall.

To set the scene, the Town Clerk had earlier in the year sought to expand the hours of her assistant. This came up during the departmental budget reviews. The BOS seemed about to wave this expansion through, as they usually do with nearly all additional expenses, but stopped at the brink. They appeared to realize finally that they had already spent like drunken sailors. They drew back from downing this last tankard.

At this meeting, the Town Administrator explained that the Town Clerk had notified the BOS, and the Town Treasurer that, due to budgetary constraints, she found herself unable to continue to be the agent and central repository for all of the Town’s financial transactions. She had “involved” the Town Treasurer, who was called to explain the issue.

Chairman Thibeault: Next up, Financial Policy Regarding Town Deposits. Heather?

Administrator Thibodeau: I believe the board got an e-mail about the Town Clerk wished to change the plan of several deposits, and she involved MacKenzie [Campbell], our Treasurer, who is here tonight, and she really wanted him to handle this discussion with the board. So, he’s here to talk about it a little bit more. I’ve also given you and I guess you’ve already gotten that and made copies of the plan that’s in place in our current financial policy. We really need to have a plan as to where go from here. Both MacKenzie and I have looked into this, extensively. We need the board’s directive as to what we need to do. And, so, I would ask that MacKenzie come forward and help us with this discussion. Basically, we have the policy in place is one central depository for the Town now. All departments bring all deposits and that is the Town [process]. And then the Treasurer handles … has handled the deposits from there …  how they get to the bank. Our auditor, our attorney, and everybody is in agreement with what needs to happen, but MacKenzie …

Treasurer Campbell: Essentially, the way it is set up right now is that most of the Town monies flow through, in and out, of the Town Clerk’s office. They come into the office through our department heads and our departments. So, monies – deposits – coming in have to go through the Town Clerk, where they are recorded, and set up for transfer, which I check. At that point I transfer that money from an escrow opportunity, from a holding escrow, to a distributary escrow. Some of these escrows you may have heard of, or know off the top of your head, you know, Rec. Revolving, etc. The Town Clerk has since requested to not to perform these duties, saying that it’s beyond her budgetary constraints. Personally, it’s something that I disagree with – moving a depository location. That’s going to yield unnecessary risk, time, money, constraints to the Town. I’ve confirmed this through our financial partners, TD Bank. They’ve suggested as well looking at other Towns. Pretty much every other Town in the State has this flowing through their Clerk’s office.

Thibodeau: Our financial advisor …

Campbell: Our financial advisor is concerned about this move as well. She’d prefer [our not moving this] out of the Clerk’s office, especially where we just have it set it up this year. It’s really full that way, ultimately. Everything is properly recorded the way it is now. And it’s a change I would not suggest moving forward with. The previous policy was enacted by a previous board. So, I don’t know what power we have to change it.

Thibeault: Alright, so, I guess …

Campbell: The power is with them …

Thibeault: I guess I have a question then … if the other board members are alright with that. So, I get our policy … I guess I’m confused between the e-mail I’ve received, from the Town Clerk, and the policy. So, the e-mail – if I understand this correctly, correct me if I’m wrong – we have two issues here. One issue is the actual delegation of the deposits, …

Campbell: Correct.

Thibeault: Which is bringing the money to the bank, …

Campbell: Correct.

Thibeault: And then where the money is going to be deposited  and how …

Campbell: We don’t have a problem with taking up more of that … depository … bringing it to the bank. There’s never been an issue there. Simply contact myself and I delegate the authority. Make sure that happens. Today, for example, our deputy took it.

Thibeault: So, in the email, the way I’m reading this, it’s basically say that the Town Clerk no longer wants to do the deposits. It doesn’t say anything about actually taking the money in the office. But, I … obviously, conversations you guys have had with the Town Clerk that’s …

Campbell: She hasn’t identified to me particularly … anything other than actually bringing the money to the bank, which there is an issue.

Selectman Lucier: My interpretation was that was the issue, it wasn’t, it …. so, what … give me the Reader’s Digest version.

Thibodeau: She has indicated that she doesn’t have the staffing or the time to do … to be the central depository for the town and I believe she’s ….

Campbell: Which would encompass both. Both duties.

Thibodeau: Right, both duties. And to do that … and there’s a lot of paperwork involved with that. So, that is what she has indicated to both me and to others, I believe …

Thibeault: So, part of it, essentially, is already resolved – the part of actually bringing the deposits to the bank. That could be … you can resolve that without … fairly quickly without …

Campbell: Yes. And anytime anyone is working that long, we come up with a solution …

Thibeault: And that also isn’t a concern with Town Counsel or anybody else you guys have spoken with.

Thibodeau: We can make sure that person is bonded. His deputy … and somebody he has … it has to be in writing …

Campbell: It has to be a bonded employee.

Thibodeau: It has to be a bonded person, … and it has to be somebody he has delegated to in writing, and we have to have that on file. And eventually that has happened.

Campbell: And we have multiple safeguards in place to make sure that the money will reach the bank, even that night. So, there’s no rush to specifically have it done during the day, as long as we’re following the RSA, which is to deposit the monies once it hits $1,500.

Thibodeau: And we’re following the policies and making sure those things happen.

Thibeault: And that’s in line with our current Town policy, as well.

Campbell: Yes, the one enacted by a previous board.

Thibeault: It follows the RSA.

Thibodeau: Here’s the issue with it as of January 1st. We need make sure we have a place that Town deposits can be deposited to. If it …

Thibeault: Well, I guess I would request that the board … we need to meet with the Town Clerk.

Thibodeau: I can do it. [inaudible]. I need you to request her presence.

Campbell: It needs to be ironed out. Anything that the Town can help towards her department, as a team. We should look at, other things, you know, until the budgetary constraint is resolved. We need to be able to make sure that the money is flowing in and out of that office.

Thibeault: Okay. I’ll make the motion that we, the BOS, request that the Town Clerk be present at the next BOS meeting, so that we can discuss the Town deposits.

Vice-Chairwoman Hutchings: Seconded.

Thibeault: All in favor?

Whole BOS: Aye.

Thibeault: Obviously, I’ll ask MacKenzie to be here …

Campbell: Yes. What’s the next?

Thibodeau: The 17th.

Campbell: Excellent.

As you may see, the BOS is a bit slow to grasp what is happening. Some might say that they are almost gormless.

For those of you that have had some union experience, you will recognize immediately that the Town Clerk is engaging in a Work-to-Rule slowdown: she proposes to perform her job, according to its exact requirements, but to do nothing that might lie outside her job description, such as being the Town’s central depository.

Why might she do this? Aah, the extra “lot of paperwork,” “the staffing,” and her “budget constraints.” Think back. You would not give her the extra hours for her assistant when you reviewed her budget. Now, she feels that those “budget constraints” make it difficult, for she and her part-time assistant to do all the extras that you have “just set up this year.”

It sounds as if you “just set up” a great big new stack of Quid for the Town Clerk, but did not provide her with any Quo. Now, if her assistant had those extra hours … Well, you get the picture. Then it might be an entirely different story.

All the BOS needs to do is expand the Town Clerk’s budget, to include those hours, maybe add another insurance policy too, and expand taxes, yet again. And they will. They set this in motion when they “just set up” the extra duties. It is almost as if they cannot help themselves. It is almost as if they were feckless.

Maybe they should review what Ms. McDougall told them about cross-training.

References:

Town of Milton. (2018, December 3). BOS Meeting, December 3, 2018. Retrieved from www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0_0zA8v7go&feature=youtu.be&t=533

Wikipedia. (2018, October 11). Work-to-Rule. Retrieved from //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work-to-rule

 

By Muriel Bristol | December 4, 2018

The Milton Board of Selectmen (BOS) have posted their agenda for a joint BOS-Budget Committee meeting to be held Wednesday, December 5, 2018.

The BOS intend to begin their joint BOS-BC meeting at approximately (*) 6:00 PM.

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Its agenda is described in the single sentence:

Be advised the Budget Committee & Board of Selectmen will conduct a joint meeting to discuss the Town Budget.

Two follow-on meetings are scheduled for Tuesday, December 11, and Tuesday, December 18, also at 6:00 PM.

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A series of three joint meetings held in November of last year ran through departmental budgets. The first meeting, that of November 8, 2017, reviewed the departmental budgets or budget items of the Town Administrator, Insurance Benefits, Moderator, Cemetery. Planning & Code, Planning Board, Zoning, Sewer, and Conservation. The second and third meetings reviewed other departmental budgets.

A fourth joint meeting, held December 4, 2018, was the one in which problems with the “recent Tax Assessment” were first mentioned. From the minutes:

BOS questioning how this process occurred without prior knowledge or notice. A current total of 747 properties increasing between 1-14.9% and 1189 properties increasing up more than 15% of a total 2719 total properties. Average change was over 14%.

The BOS of that time consisted of Chairman Rawson and Selectman Thibeault. Despite what is said in their minutes, it emerged later that, in fact, the BOS did have prior knowledge and notice, and had themselves approved the assessment.

That fourth joint BOS-Budget Committee of 2017 dealt also, as Old Business, with the BOS Approval of 2018 Default Budget and the Budget Committee Review And Recommendations of Town Budgets.

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References:

Town of Milton. (2018, November 30). Joint Budget Committee Meeting Agenda, December 5, 2018. Retrieved from www.miltonnh-us.com/uploads/bos_agendas_850_1906353652.pdf

 

By Muriel Bristol | December 2, 2018

The Milton Board of Selectmen (BOS) have posted their agenda for a BOS meeting to be held Monday, December 3.

There is no Non-Public session scheduled. This would be the first BOS meeting in quite a while that does not have a preliminary Non-Public session scheduled.

The BOS intend to begin their Public BOS session at approximately (*) 6:00 PM.

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Its agenda features New Business, Old Business, and housekeeping items.

Under New Business are scheduled seven agenda items: 1) Extension Request for Salvage Yard Permit (Roger Libby), 2) Financial Policy Regarding Town Deposits (Heather Thibodeau), 3) Public Hearing: No Thru Trucking Ordinance (Heather Thibodeau) *7:00 PM, 4) 2019 Warrant Article Discussion (Heather Thibodeau), 5) Silver Street/Dawson Street Intersection (Pat Smith), 6) Review of Building Permit Fines & Appeal Process (Heather Thibodeau), and 7) Approval of Contract for Cemetery Trustee (Heather Thibodeau).

Mr. Libby appeared at several BOS meetings early in this administration regarding his salvage yard permit. At that time, he seemed quite concerned to find himself pinned between a State requirement that he have one and the Town’s rather dilatory approach to signing off. It then disappeared off the agenda. He now returns seeking an extension.

Earlier BOS meetings brought up the Financial Policy Regarding Town Deposits. At that time it was said that a limit on the amount of money that could be held on hand at the Emma Ramsey Center was compelling more frequent trips to the bank than might be necessary. This agenda item likely seeks to increase that limit.

The Public Hearing: No Thru-Trucking Ordinance is the first of two hearings that the BOS shall have before implementing their No Thru-Trucking Ordinance. It is intended to forbid tandem logging trucks from passing and repassing on Governors, Hare, and Nute roads to Middleton Lumber (on NH Route 153 in Middleton). This is one of the items remaining on Selectman Lucier’s bucket list.

The 2019 Warrant Article discussion returns from last time, when it turned out to be merely a formal presentation of the draft Town-originating Warrant Articles. Likely, an addition to or revision of those previously submitted to the BOS is now desired.

The DPW director seeks to address some issue with the intersection of Silver and Dawson streets.

Next comes the Review of Building Permit Fines & Appeal Process. It would be difficult to imagine an elimination, or even reduction, of Building Permit Fees, or any simplification of the Appeals Process. This is likely an increase in fees and processes, but who knows? Life is full of surprises.

We have seen this year contract approvals aplenty. Their contents and terms have not been mentioned to date. This will likely be another perfunctory unanimous vote to approve on our behalf whatever it might say.

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Under Old Business is scheduled four items: 8) Discussion of Town Report Process (Heather Thibodeau), 9) Recreation Revenue & Office Discussion Follow-up (Ryan Thibeault/Andy Lucier), 10) TPPA 2017 Encumbrances Discussion (Heather Thibodeau), and 11) Health Insurance Budget Line Discussion (Heather Thibodeau).

Here reappear several more items from Selectman Lucier’s bucket list. The point of interest being that the BOS might have adopted suggestions that prior items remain on the agenda until resolved.

The Town Report Process would be Selectman Lucier’s hobby horse regarding publication of tax assessments for all properties within the Town Report, as well as publishing there a list of tax delinquents. He has stated that a tax delinquents list serves to “shame” taxpayers who are in arrears. It is for you to decide who actually bears the shame of taxes that have risen too high.

Recreation Revenue & Office combines two issues from prior meetings. It has proven difficult in the past to glean exact information from Recreation Department accounts. The difficulty has arisen mostly in determining how much money derives from boat ramp fees, as opposed to beach admissions and other sources. The Office component of this has been another of Selectman Lucier’s concerns. He has expressed formerly a desire to close the Beach office during the winter to save heating expenses.

The Three Ponds Protective Association (TPPA) has not spent all of this year’s money in the Town account for that purpose and will want authorization to roll the remainder over into next year’s accounts.

The Health Insurance increase proved a surprise at a prior BOS meeting. How its increases could be a surprise, is itself a puzzle. They have likely increased nearly every year, if not absolutely every year, for a very long time. Federal revisions to health care (ACA), and their inevitable cost increases, were designed as a sort of balloon payment: small costs to be more palatable up front, with the actual vastly increased costs “ballooning” in later years. These are those later years.

The Health Insurance Budget Line item might reflect actual insurance changes in budgets over the amounts projected and approved in those budgets. It might even incorporate some alteration in the way insurance appears in those budgets.

Finally, there will be the approval of prior minutes (from the BOS Meeting of November 19), the expenditure report, Town Administrator comments, and BOS comments.

The new secondary Public Comments is not listed in the agenda.

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Mr. S.D. Plissken contributed to this article.

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Ms. McDougall has rescheduled the third meeting of her Milton Advocates group from its original time to a new time of Saturday, December 8, at 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM, in the Nute Library’s Community Room. All town residents are invited. Bring your best manners. (Not her words).

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References:

Our Milton Home Facebook Group. (2018, November 13). Lynette McDougall Posting. Retrieved from www.facebook.com/groups/OurMiltonHome/permalink/1971690139591941/

State of New Hampshire. (2016, June 21). RSA Chapter 91-A. Access to Governmental Records and Meetings. Retrieved from www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/VI/91-A/91-A-3.htm

Town of Milton. (2018, November 30). BOS Meeting Agenda, December 3, 2018. Retrieved from www.miltonnh-us.com/uploads/bos_agendas_852_3089392928.pdf