2003/01/22 TC Minutes

TOWN OF BEDFORD

TOWN COUNCIL MINUTES

JANUARY 22, 2003

A meeting of the Bedford Town Council was held on Wednesday, January 22, 2003 at the Bedford Meeting Room, 10 Meetinghouse Road. Present were Councilors William Greiner, Kevin Keyes, Thomas Riley, Michael Scanlon, Bruce Searing and William Van Anglen. Also present was Keith Hickey, Town Manager. Chairman Scanlon opened the meeting at 7:05 PM. Councilor David Danielson arrived at 8:30 PM.

Mr. Scanlon announced that BCTV will hold their grand opening and open house on Saturday, February 1 at the station from 10 AM to 4 PM.

Mr. Riley said on page 33, 2^nd paragraph, last sentence, he made that statement facetiously, and he would like it to be asterisked and indicated it was said facetiously.

Mr. Searing said on page 4, second paragraph, last sentence, it should be “he will vote to continue the right turn only,” referring to the Hardy Road/Route 101 intersection.

Mr. Searing said on page 6, at the end of the long paragraph, 4^th line from bottom, clarification on that sentence, he believes what was said was “you don’t want to jump from $2 million to $4 million. Jim Stanford feels it is better to increase a million in the first year.”

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Mr. Scanlon introduced Head Coach Pam Robert, of the Junior Midget Spirit Squad and Assistant Coach Laura Spector. Ms. Robert said they had a wonderful season and focused on fun, physical fitness and learning about the sport of cheering.

Mr. Scanlon read the proclamation for the Bedford Jaquars Junior Midget Spirit Squad who won the NHPWFC State Cheerleading Competition in 2002 and introduced the cheerleaders: Jacy Howard, Meaghen Kenney, Shannon O’Brien, Stephanie Green, Alyssa Haselton, Kaitlin Carlson, Ryan Greenwood, Ashleigh Scipione, Molly Dugan, Rebecca Griswold, Alaina Patsos, Jessica Bennett, Michelle Bisson, Christina McCarthy, Molly Andreo, Ashley Haskell, Melissa Kilburn, Amanda Constant and Taylor Harrington. Mr. Scanlon also recognized Cassandra Chester, Assistant Coach; Tiffany Constant, Team Mom; and Keli Barnett, Spirit Coordinator.

Mr. Scanlon introduced Jim Astarita, Head Coach of the Bedford Jaquars Jr. Pee Wee Football Team, who won their Conference Title and went on to the NHPWFC State Championship in 2002; Steve Hall, Assistant Coach; Pete Ewing, Assistant Coach; David Bundy, Assistant Coach; Greg Feehan, Assistant Coach; Randy Skelley, Coach Trainee; Kerry Brooks, Team Mom; Michael Dillon, Equipment Manager; and John Belviso Administrator.

Mr. Scanlon introduced the team members: Patrick Burke, Nicholas Astarita, Kendall Sawyer, Michael Marinelli, Mark O’Neil, Gregory Skelley, Beau Brooks, Sidney McLoud, Christopher Russell, Robert Kelliher, Matthew Bayne, Eric Feehan, Michael Bennett, Ryan Dunn, Christopher Kujawski, Adam Hall, Samual Grande, Nicholas Belviso, Christopher Prothro, Kevin White, Mathew Woodmansee, Sean Van Anglen, Dylan Gibbs, Joseph Maher, Jameson Ewing, David Bundy, Matthew Beaulieu, Brad Devoe, Kyle Hanaway, Kyle Boisvert and Sam McClain.

Mr. Astarita said their goals were teamwork, sportsmanship, leadership, fun and to try and make the playoffs. They accomplished all those things this year. He thanked everyone who helped the program – Town Council for help with field space. He presented the Council with a football autographed by the team and a team picture. He also thanked Parks & Rec for field space and practice space, the School Board for use of Preston Field, their sponsors, the football board, the parents, the community, the cheerleaders, the assistant coaches, team mom and the players.

Fire Chief Scott Wiggin introduced the 2 new firefighters/paramedics – Jeff Humphrey and Michael Jolin. Captain Mark Klose explained the process they have been through. First was the rough and long state test, then the oral interview with Bedford, and they are currently going through a structured 2-week orientation program to get oriented with the Fire Dept. and the Town. Then they will both go through an EMS preceptor program with 2 paramedics on the department.

Mr. Searing said two weeks ago was the first budget hearing, and in that hearing the Council presented an $8 million road bond and went through the details and the ramifications of the tax impact, and also showed an alternative bond for $7 million in the event that the initial bond was voted down. Based on feedback that night and feedback from a variety of people over the following days, the Council met last week and voted to just go with the $8 million bond and not with a bond alternative. One of the main reasons for making that change was as much as we felt we understood the rationale behind it and the creativeness fiscally, it was confusing to the majority of people. The second reason is the other items that were tied into issuing the $8 million bond, it became confusing that these issues were tied in with the road bond when in fact they weren’t. Now in going with one $8 million road bond without the $7 million choice, the other issues we feel it is appropriate to address are going to be separate line items in the operating budget, and they will stand on their own and be voted on by themselves. People at the Budgetary Town Meeting will have a chance to vote on each of these issues on its own merits.

In addition, the major change from last meeting, we talked about $600,000 being put into the Parks & Rec budget for fixing the pool and pool building, adding to a reserve that is already present. The Council voted to reduce that number to $430,000. The main reason for that reduction is there is still some uncertainty in terms of getting a good comfortable feeling what that work will cost.

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The other items, the $300,000 will be under Parks & Rec for increasing field capacity and $100,000 for paying off an equipment lease one year early. Those will be in the budget under separate line items. The net result is the tax rate instead of being up 9 cents would be flat from last year.

Ann Hoffman, 64 Cider Mill Road, asked what is the annual cost for that bond. Mr. Hickey said the first year 2004, the cost to repay principal and interest will be $1,112,000. One million in principal and $112,000 in interest. The interest number will decrease by approximately $35,000 to $40,000 annually over the life of the 10-year bond. Ms. Hoffman asked why does the tax rate go up in 2006 by over 50 cents. Mr. Hickey said in 2006 it is proposed to increase because we are proposing to increase the road reconstruction budget back to $2 million from $1 million that you would have in 2003, 2004 and 2005. In 2006 the Council would be able to bring back to the public if they chose, the ability to bond a second time to do additional road projects in the future. The 3 years would allow the public to see the progress we have been making and make a judgment that we are going a good job with the money and could bring back a second bonding proposal to do additional road work. If they did do that, they obviously would have the ability to adjust the $2 million road reconstruction budget up or down depending on how they saw fit. That’s the major increase. Going from $1 million to $2 million is approximately 50 cents. Mr. Searing said if the Council comes back to the Town, and the Town approves another bond to continue the long term road management program, if the Council and Town feels there is still a lot more work to go, the Council at that time could continue to just have $1 million in the operating budget which for 2006 would subtract out that million just like you don’t have it in 2004 and 2005, but then the next year is when you would have the jump in the tax rate because the following year is when you would have principal and interest due on the second bond.

Ms. Hoffman asked what the interest is in the first year. Mr. Hickey said $112,360. Mr. Searing said all these numbers were run based on an average 4% interest rate on the 10-year bond. Currently the average interest rate is 3.3% to 3.4%, so if this bond is approved, that 4% would be high. Mr. Riley said if someone takes 3% times $8 million, they come up with $240,000; that isn’t how you do it. He asked Mr. Hickey to explain. Mr. Hickey said it is calculated based on the outstanding debt at the time the debt is being retired. Ms. Hoffman asked if it is only a partial year. Mr. Searing said it is one interest payment for 6 months. Ms. Hoffman asked if that $112 is only 6 months of interest. Mr. Scanlon said correct that is for 2003.

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Ms. Hoffman asked in 2004 if it will be less than $224,000 because we will have that much less principal. Mr. Hickey said in 2003 we only have an interest payment due. We won’t have a principal payment due because we aren’t taking the money until the second half of 2003. That interest payment for 2003 alone is $164,400. Ms. Hoffman asked in 2004 is it $112,000. Mr. Hickey said $112,360. Ms. Hoffman asked if that is for a full 12 months. Mr. Hickey said it is $312,000. Mr. Searing said we will be paying $800,000 in principal in 2004 and $312,360 in interest in 2004. Ms. Hoffman asked if citizens of Bedford can buy that bond. Mr. Hickey said they can bid on it just like anyone else. Mr. Searing said that depends on who the underwriter is. Citizen’s Bank is who we have used in the past. Not a lot of the bonds that Citizen’s Bank underwrites gets into the retail or public hands. He does not know if we could request that the bonds become available for the public. Crystal Dionne, Finance Director, said we can request that they go on the open market. Ms. Hoffman said in light of today’s interest rate, a municipal bond even at 3.3% would be very nice to have. Mr. Searing said we are talking about a 10-bond, but you would have bonds available maturing each year for 10 years. Each year it would have a different interest rate attached to it. Ms. Hoffman requested the Town Council at least request the bond be on the open market.

Ms. Hoffman said now that we are down to one bond issue regarding the roads, she encouraged the Council to put this bond issue on the ballot. She feels it can pass both ways. There is a sentiment in Town that by keeping it at the Town Budget meeting on a Wednesday night in the middle of winter, a great number of people cannot come to vote who normally are very religious about voting. This includes people commuting to work in Massachusetts, people who have to travel on business, and senior citizens. She said there is a strong movement to move the Town to an SB 2 if you insist on putting this bond at the Town Budget Meeting and not give the voters the opportunity to speak.

Mr. Searing said when the bond for Joppa Hill was in discussion phases, did you have the same passionate plea. Ms. Hoffman said she was not as aware of the process as she is now. Mr. Riley said that went on the ballot. Ms. Hoffman said we are dealing with a large bond. She said the Library bond garnered a lot of support across the town, but it was only a $2.2 million bond. This is a much more sizable bond. She thinks it will pass, but don’t disenfranchise the people just to put it in a town meeting. Mr. Searing said there is a very specific and well thought out reason to have it at the Town Budget Meeting. We are looking at having an $8 million bond, and in the operating budget for the roads we are looking at having $1 million. If we go to Town Budget Meeting, which is where we vote on the budget, we are going to vote on $1 million for road construction. If we go to ballot with the $8 million bond and that gets voted down, we will have $1 million to do road work in 2003 down from $2 million in 2002.

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That is not a situation we want to get into. If we have it at the Town Budget Meeting, we have the opportunity, the bond will be voted on, if it is rejected then we have the opportunity to put $1 million back in the road operating budget. Mr. Scanlon said because we have a bottom line budget, the night of the Budget Meeting could we not say that if the bond fails the next week, our intention would be to move X dollars out of these points and put them back in the road budget. We could do that as long as we are up front at the Budget Meeting. Mr. Hickey said we could.

Mr. Hickey said we have identified 3 areas where we would take the million dollar savings by reducing the road budget from $2 million to $1 million, and we put that money into pool renovations, future field needs and paying off some leases. He thinks Mr. Scanlon is saying at the Budgetary Town Meeting we would say that if the ballot vote fails, that we want to make people aware that those 3 items will be transferred back into the road budget. Mr. Hickey said with what you are proposing for a budget now, would only allow you to increase the road budget to $1.83 million, so you are going to be short $2 million. If the road bond failed and someone wanted to increase it over $2 million, you lose that ability. He understands where people are coming from in wanting to have it on the ballot, he just wants to caution the Council that they are going to lose some of their flexibility with the appropriations if you go the ballot way.

Mr. Searing said you are assuming that at Town Budget Meeting those line items are approved. They might not be approved. If they’re not approved, then where do you get the $800,000 or $1 million to bump the road budget back up above the million dollars. You don’t have it. Ms. Hoffman asked what happens if you have the $2 million in the road budget and you do only a $7 million bond, how does that impact the tax rate. Keep the road budget at $2 million which is what it was this past year. Mr. Hickey said it would increase the tax rate by about 54 cents, which is the same amount you are decreasing the tax rate to help pay for the bond in future years, so you are not going to enjoy that one-year savings. You are also not going to be able to try to do some of the other capital needs like the pool and the field needs with that money you had saved. You would have to appropriate that money in future years and increase the tax rate to do that.

Ms. Hoffman said to get it on the ballot, would it make sense to have the $2 million in the road budget for the Town Budgetary Meeting and have a $7 million bond for the ballot. Mr. Riley said what Mr. Hickey stated is true if we continue with the shifting, the performa he gave shows the tax rate could go to $3.40 or up 9 cents if we left the million dollars in the budget. Ms. Hoffman encouraged the Council to consider it because a number of people couldn’t make it tonight, but they are very upset. They do not want to be disenfranchised, and they are willing to start a petition for an SB 2.

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Andy Egan, Joppa Hill Road, said the night he attended the budget meeting at which the road bond was unveiled, there was some deliberation about limiting the number of road dollars given to Jim Stanford (Director of Public Works) in a given year, particularly his first year. Based on the earlier discussions about the tax increase in 2006, if he does a stellar job this year, does he not get more money for the roads until 2006. Mr. Scanlon said he gets $3 million next year, and in 2004 and 2005 he’ll get $4 million. It would be $11 million over 3 years, $3 million raised through taxes and $8 million through bond proceeds.

Bill Foote, 14 Pheasant Run, said over the past couple of years they were talking about a $25 million problem. How does $8 million fix anything; it is more of a bandaid approach than resolving anything. Mr. Searing said when you issue a bond, you have to spend it in 3 years. We can’t issue a $26 million bond and spend it over 10 years. Last year we had a Councilor propose a $26 million bond, totally unrealistic, you can’t spend that much money. Mr. Stanford has indicated that he feels a very comfortable number in terms of money to spend total for 2003 is $3 million. He’s also comfortable with $4 million in the 2 following years. Could he 3 or 4 years from now spend $5 or $6 million, let him answer that.

Mr. Foote said you are talking about another bond in 2006. Mr. Searing said let’s say you came back with a $9 million bond in 2006, continue to keep a flat operating budget of $1 million right on out. You have been taking $3 million in the second 2 years of this bond, so let’s say you continue to take $3 million, $3 million, $3 million in the next bond, and you continue to do $4 million a year. Now you’ve spent over the course of 6 years a total of $23 million. In a secure period, you have taken a pretty good chunk out of the problem. Does it end there? You can’t tell. Mr. Foote asked if $25 million is still the magic number. Mr. Searing said it is a very rough number. He said one thing we found on the 2002 program is that there were 2 different projects that we had estimates on, and they weren’t real tight, and those roads ended up costing more to do. You have to take into consideration that over time the costs are going to rise. If we had no more additional work over the $26 million, it’s a real rough estimate in terms of what needs to be done, and it’s probably on the low end by the time you get it done. That $26 million is going to grow at whatever the increase in road construction costs are on an annual basis over that 6-year period. Mr. Foote asked if $3 million is enough to do like Wallace Road, or are you going to break it down in pieces and do it in segments. Mr. Searing said that would be up to the director. Mr. Hickey said we talked about breaking it down south of 101. We have talked about doing some of the major collector roads, and rather than

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piecemealing those into 3 and 4 years, we try to do them in a maximum of 2 years to help stop the disruption for a shorter length of time, but also there is some savings that can be had by doing a larger chunk of those roads at one time. He said we could go out this March and ask to borrow $25 million, $30 million or $50 million, and we would have the authorization at that point to spend up to whatever was authorized. We could go out and borrow 3, 4 or 5 times until we get to the $25 million, but the concern the Council had was how much can we physically spend in a 3-year period. And also to give the community a feel of confidence that in 3 years we’ve done a good job spending $8 million, and hopefully will come back and be willing to potentially bond more in the future to continue to try and improve the problem. Mr. Foote said his fear is that the roads are in such shoddy shape now that you come back in 3 or 4 years, and people would be, for whatever reasons, just won’t do it again, and this $8 million will be spent for nothing because those roads will just go into decline like they have for the last 10 years.

Mr. Hickey said that was discussed. Our issue is we wanted to be able to take a look at what we were borrowing and see what we can do in 3 years. Mr. Riley said this bonding was the last portion of a long process. Approximately 2 years ago we hired an engineer to evaluate all the roads, and he came up with $24 million to $26 million. On top of that, the Council has completely revitalized all the road standards making it more stringent to build a road. This year the new Director of Public Works has put in a process where we are going to completely study the full drainage program. And, we are going to do a much stronger maintenance program. Even if we get new roads and don’t maintain them, they are going to fall apart. With all of this, he thinks we have a pretty good handle on where we are going. The question has never been what do we need to do to the roads, it has been how much and how soon. This isn’t something we just pulled out of a hat and have been working on this year. It would be very difficult to try to get all the roads done in 3 or 4 years because the town would be in total gridlock. We have to try to spread it out.

Mr. Greiner said it is important that we try to get some of these roads before they lapse to the point of disrepair or that we have to rehabilitate them from scratch. Mr. Foote said it is too late. Mr. Greiner said there are some roads that are close, and every road that you save becomes substantial. If you look at what we have done in the last 3 years, we have spent under $4 million, and we feel comfortable where we are in terms of our plan, and the first bite of the apple is $11 million over 3 years.

Mr. Scanlon asked if the recommendation is that we are not going to propose a second $7 million bond; we are going to go with the one $8 million bond.

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The Council took a 5-minute break. Councilor David Danielson arrived at this point in the meeting.

Mr. Scanlon announced that the Bedford Men’s Club will be hosting a Councilor forum (Candidate’s Night) on Sunday, February 9 from 1 to 3 PM at the Meeting Room, and a School Board Night on Sunday, February 16 from 1 to 3 PM. Anyone with questions can e-mail them to President@BedfordMen’sClub.com or call Ken Hawkins at 472-8270.

Mr. Scanlon reopened the public hearing. He said Ms. Hoffman did bring up the point of putting it on the ballot instead of Town Meeting. Mr. Riley said when we voted on putting the bond on the budget, he voted against it because he was hoping to put it on the ballot so the majority can vote on it. At the time the Council wanted the flexibility of going between a $7 million and an $8 million and moving funds around. The way Mr. Scanlon suggested tonight that we still do have the right to move things around, he wishes the Council would reconsider putting it on the ballot. He thinks it has a very good chance of passing.

Mr. Hickey said if the Council decided to have it on the ballot, the way the budget is set up now, if you wanted to bring that road budget back up to $2 million, you only have $830,000 right now in potential adjustments that you can make, keeping the tax rate at what it is if you chose to make those adjustments. Mr. Searing said Mr. Hickey’s warning is predicated on those items that he is referring to passing. If they don’t pass, we don’t have that money. If the bond fails at ballot, we don’t have that money, and we’re back to a $1 million road budget. Some people may be comfortable with that, some people may feel that doing work above and beyond $1 million on the roads is a want and not a need. He thinks it would be a disservice for us not to move forward with this in a way that if that bond is defeated, we still have an opportunity to have at least $2 million in the road budget to work with because if we don’t we run the risk that we will not have that. He thinks that’s too big of a risk; he thinks that would be irresponsible for us to go down the road where that risk could become a reality.

Mr. Danielson felt when we left the last meeting we left with the understanding that the $8 million bond was going to leave us with $3 million of road repairs in a worst case scenario. Mr. Hickey said it was $1 million. Mr. Greiner said the issue is having it split, you lose the flexibility, and if what we voted on at Town Meeting changed, it wasn’t as we presented it, and the bond failed a week later, all that flexibility which we may have enjoyed having them discussed at the same time, was gone, and therefore we would be left with that $1 million in the operating budget. Mr. Danielson asked why would we have put ourselves in that position. Mr. Keyes said we are not in that position if we do it at Town Meeting.

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Mr. Riley asked what is the total percentage we can increase the bottom line at Town Meeting. Mr. Hickey said anything you want. Mr. Riley thought someone said $800,000. Mr. Greiner said what he is saying taking the $830,000 that we moved around, if you did that, assuming that those all passed and the bond failed a week later, then the Council could say we think we need to spend more than $1 million on the roadwork, so we’ll move this money, this money, this money, that’s still totaling less than the $2 million which we feel is minimum. This year we spent a little more than that. So we would be spending less, and to get to that $2 million minimum level, we’d have to rethink some personnel issues and open up the budget or accept spending less than $2 million on the roads.

Mr. Searing said that’s assuming those things pass, and if those things pass, what you are talking about is voters approving those items: $430,000 for the pool and pool building, $300,000 for increasing field capacity, and $100,000 for paying off an equipment lease early. He knows it is a bottom line budget, but if they pass it, and then we take that money away from there……… Mr. Scanlon said we could clarify that at Town Meeting. Mr. Riley said wouldn’t the assumption be that if they see there is $1 million in the budget for road repairs, and they see there is an $8 million bond, and they say they don’t want the bond, wouldn’t the assumption be that they are happy with the $1 million in the road budget. Mr. Van Anglen said they won’t see that; they’ll see the bottom line budget amount. Mr. Greiner said some might say they want less than that. Mr. Scanlon said you are voting on the $1 million first. Mr. Riley said you still have the flexibility to do it at Town Meeting. Mr. Hickey said the Town Meeting is going to be held March 5 before the bond. Mr. Scanlon said people at the Town Meeting might vote for the $1 million because they thought the $8 passed. Mr. Riley said if they did, do we have to spend it. If they say we are going to increase this $1 million and if the bond passes, you do not have to spend it. Do we have to spend that other $1 million. Mr. Hickey said you don’t have to spend it, but you have to raise it. Mr. Riley said if we raise it and we don’t spend it, it goes back to decrease taxes. Mr. Hickey said the tax rate will go up for that one year.

Mr. Van Anglen said the March budget meeting is at night at 7 PM. The procedure would be to open that meeting, talk about the bond first and then have people vote on that bond. Mr. Hickey said typically the polls are open for 1 hour. Mr. Van Anglen asked is there a way to open those polls longer and earlier as part of the Town Budget Meeting, i.e. come in at 4 PM, open the meeting and the polls, and then we would know the result of the bond vote when we looked at the line item budget afterwards. He wants to know if we can do it.

Mr. Hickey will double check. He thinks you could open the meeting at 4 PM. Mr. Van Anglen said you could hold the meeting at 9 AM if you wanted. Mr. Greiner asked then how would you explain it to people. Mr. Hickey said we could leave the polls open longer than an hour. That is the Moderator’s discretion. Mr. Van Anglen said if you do a ballot vote, you don’t have the option to discuss it. Mr. Searing said what we are suggesting is not different. The precedent is all over our town, the state and New England in terms of these types of things being done at a town budget meeting. It has only gone to ballot once in our town.

Ken Hawkins, 1 Barrington Drive, asked if it is possible that when we do the budget meeting on the 5^th, you recess it to the 12^th and see how the bond issue comes out. Mr. Riley said we did that in the past and recessed a meeting. Ms. Hoffman said she was going to suggest that as an alternative. Have some faith – you have done your homework on the road budget and people want the roads to be fixed. She feels if there is an explanation in the newspapers she thinks you will have the support if you put it on the ballot. The Town has supported those bond issues that they know are a need, and they recognize the roads are a need. The more people who vote the stronger the Town Council will be in proceeding.

Mr. Van Anglen said depending on what happens at the election, we could have new Councilors. Mr. Scanlon said they don’t get sworn in until the following Monday. Mr. Van Anglen said if there were new Councilors you would have to go through the whole explanation.

Roy Stewart, Hickory Lane, suggested having the Town Meeting after the election. We have done that in the past, so you know the results if you put it on the ballot. He said 6,000, 7,000 or 8,000 voters voting is going to be much more representative than 100 or 200 or 300 at Town Meeting.

Mr. Hickey said the Charter, Section 1-5-4 Final Date for Budget Adoption, it says “the budget shall be brought before the town meeting on the second Tuesday of March unless another date shall be fixed by the Council.” So that gives the Council flexibility to move it. Mr. Scanlon said so we could do it on the 12^th.

Jerry Johnson, Weymouth Drive, agrees with Mr. Hawkins, Ms. Hoffman and Mr. Stewart. He said reasonable people know that this is a need and not a want, and if this is presented properly, the town will vote for it because we need to get the roads fixed. The one thing the ballot vote will help is the fact that a lot of people travel and will have a chance to cast an absentee ballot. Then if you hold your meeting after a ballot vote, then you know the results, and you can proceed however you feel is necessary.

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Mr. Keyes asked what would the process be if we were to recess rather than reschedule. The advantage to recessing would be that we could get as many people as possible together and have the meeting and explain it in a lot greater detail so then they could vote on it the following week as opposed to people just going in to vote. Mr. Greiner said the flip side of that is we could do that and advertise in the paper, and we can have a session like that a week before so people can see it on TV, and then reach a broader number of people. The goal is to educate people and get them comfortable with what we are trying to do. Mr. Searing would support one budget meeting instead of two.

Mr. Keyes asked if can do this without the Moderator being involved in this. Mr. Greiner said it is up to the Council. Mr. Greiner moved the question.

Mr. Scanlon said the $8 million bond will be on the ballot and Town Meeting will be March 12. That will be with this Council because the new Council doesn’t get seated until the Monday following the election.

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There is no tax increase in the Town portion of property taxes to support the 2003 budget. The Town portion of the tax rate will be $3.23 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. Highlighted below are the projects and/or equipment included within departmental budgets that will continue to allow for the quality service that the residents of Bedford have come to expect. Additional costs in the budget are funded through cost savings elsewhere and new revenues.

· The Town Council budget includes $200,000 that is offset by revenues to be deposited in a Capital Reserve for future land needs. Also included is $314,410 for principal and interest payment as well as an additional principal reduction of $400,296 for the Joppa Hill Farm parcel.

· The Finance Department includes $10,000 Capital Reserve deposit for future software replacement.

· The Information Systems Department includes $16,000 for computer file server replacement and $10,000 Capital Reserve deposit for future computer needs.

· The Assessing budget includes $495,000 to fund a town wide Revaluation. This appropriation will be totally funded by a combination of the existing Revaluation Capital Reserve Account and a withdrawal from Unreserved Fund Balance. The Assessing budget also includes a new assessing technician position for one third of a year. This position will allow for periodic valuation updates to be completed without the need of a future town wide revaluation.

· The Building Maintenance budget includes $25,000 for new office construction at the Town Office Building.

· The Compensation Adjustment budget includes funds to adjust non-union salaries to a more competitive rate.

· The Police Department budget includes funds to hire an additional police officer and a School Resource Officer. The Police budget also includes $112,000 to replace the dispatch radio console, offset by $77,000 from a Capital Reserve.

· The Fire Department includes the balance of $143,000 for the purchase of a new Engine that will replace the existing Engine 2, $70,000 to refurbish Engine 3 and $35,000 for the replacement of a command vehicle. The command vehicle is offset by a withdrawal from an existing Capital Reserve. Also included are funds for one new firefighter.

· The Public Works Department budget includes funding for a town engineer position, the purchase of a pickup truck, a six wheel dump truck, a loader, chipper and an all purpose tractor. All of these equipment purchases are partially funded by Capital Reserve withdrawals. Also included are deposits into various Capital Reserve accounts of $76,000. The road operating budget is $1,000,000 for the reconstruction, rehabilitation, and resurfacing of town roads. (The Town Council would recommend increasing this amount if Article 3 were not approved.)Article 3 is the $8 million road bond.

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· The Solid Waste budget includes the annual Landfill Closure principal and interest payments. Also included is an increase in tipping fees of $54,927 to offset the increased amount of trash dumped on an annual basis. Also included is $25,000 for an engineering study for expanding the facility as well as installation of a scale to weigh vehicles.

· The Recreation Department includes continued funding of the Pool and Pool Building Capital Reserve in the amount of $430,000 and the establishment of a Playground Replacement Capital Reserve for $10,000. If Article 3 were defeated, the Town Council would recommend the Capital Reserve deposits for the pool and pool building be reduced to $170,000. Also included is $25,000 for the future lighting of the Riley Field, $30,000 for fencing and $12,000 for new field mowing equipment. Also included is funding of a new position for field maintenance, field scheduling, overseeing the fields in town, and running the programs.

· The Conservation Commission budget includes $210,000 towards purchase of conservation land if any becomes available. This amount is offset by revenue.

Mr. Van Anglen said the handout did not include the sentence if the bond failed. Mr. Hickey said that was a revision that was made. Mr. Keyes suggested the last sentence in the opening statement “or revenues created by property tax increases”, take that out and say “additional costs in the budget are funded through cost savings elsewhere and new revenues.”

Mr. Hawkins asked on Information Systems, in the original handout there was $18,000 for file server replacement, and this time it is $16,000, but the overall budget didn’t change. Mr. Hickey said there was a typo.

Mr. Hawkins asked about the $357,000 for Joppa Hill principal that was not in the previous budget. Is that coming out of current use, is it now just going to be set aside as conservation land, or is that money coming from someplace else so we can use it for fields and other things. Mr. Hickey said that money was end of the year money from current use revenues the Conservation Commission has pledged towards the paydown of that bond.

Ms. Hoffman asked if the $400,296 is current use money that’s paying down principal and $314,000 of principal and interest is tax revenue money or current use money. Mr. Riley said both is current use money. Mr. Scanlon said we are paying off $714,706 total. The only payment that is due is $314,410; we are making extra capital payments of $400,000 because we had the extra revenue. Mr. Hickey said we are paying $230,000 on the principal that’s due, an additional $357,706 is principal reduction. The difference of $42,590 is the interest due on the bond.

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Mr. Hickey corrected that the $42,590 is also principal reduction. Ms. Hoffman asked if we are paying off about $600,000 in principal. Mr. Hickey said $630,296. Ms. Hoffman asked when can we expect a conservation easement. Mr. Scanlon said when the land is completely paid off so we know exactly how much was bought by conservation. Ms. Hoffman asked what is the remaining balance. Crystal Dionne, Finance Director, said $1,265,000. Mr. Riley asked if any money came from the recreation impact fees. Mr. Hickey said no. Mr. Scanlon said as of right now we have $180,000 from recreation, $500,000 from Town Council from sale of Amherst land, and everything else has come from conservation. So roughly $700,000 has come from other sources, and a little under $2 million from Conservation.

Ms. Hoffman said they are planning an informational meeting about the value of open space on February 17 from 7 to 9 PM in this meeting room. The State Commissioner of Agriculture will be speaking along with representatives from the Forest Society and the Audubon Society, and UNH Extension Service for Wildlife.

Ms. Hoffman asked under legal if the Council was able to follow up on the status of the Erie vs. Candyland decision, and do you have the final bill from Devine, Millimet for legal services in the minimum attire ordinance. Mr. Scanlon said we do have the final bill from Devine, Millimet. The Candyland statute was the Supreme Court decision that we were using to base the ordinance on, so that decision came before our decision. The Candyland decision was the one that said we had the right to do what we did. Ms. Hoffman said it was just turned back from the US Supreme Court to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court threw it out since you passed the ordinance. Mr. Keyes said that doesn’t change anything as far as our ordinance is concerned. Ms. Hoffman asked how much was the total bill. Mr. Hickey said $36,131.

Ms. Hoffman sees a reduction in building maintenance but understands the HVAC for the Library was going into the building maintenance budget. She asked for a breakdown. Mr. Scanlon said in last year’s budget we had money to refurbish the meeting room and $40,000 to remove the Butler house and the house at Joppa Hill. Those were one time expenses so that would have reduced the budget by roughly $65,000. Mr. Hoffman asked him to confirm that the HVAC for the Library is under this building maintenance budget. Mr. Scanlon said it is. Ms. Hoffman asked how much is allocated for the Library. Mr. Hickey doesn’t have a breakdown, but said whatever the Library had budgeted we transferred that money into this budget. Ms. Hoffman asked if we are going to change the filters twice a year. Mr. Hickey said we are going out to bid and do all scheduled maintenance on all town buildings. Shirley Barron, Library Director, said they will look at the filters.

Bedford Town Council – January 22, 2003 – Page 16

Mr. Stewart, under compensation adjustment, asked about the $125,000 increase. Mr. Van Anglen said it is an adjustment to salaries based on analysis for town employees versus other towns and where they stand in comparison. To bring people to a competitive nature, not even above competitive would cost approximately $250,000. The Council decided to spread that out over 2 years rather than hit everything in one year. This is for non-union employees. Mr. Stewart understands that on January 8 you voted to give these increases before the money had been appropriated by the voters. Mr. Scanlon said that’s correct. Mr. Stewart asked if you have authorization that it is a legal procedure. Mr. Scanlon said we do. Mr. Stewart asked from who. Mr. Scanlon said DRA (Dept. of Revenue Administration). He said DRA’s warning was that if we went to Town Meeting and the budget is reduced by $125,000, that we would be forced to go someplace else in the budget to find that money. Mr. Stewart said but there was a warning. Mr. Scanlon said that is true of any part of the budget. Mr. Van Anglen said if we approve that and gave it to people, it would be pretty lousy to take it away. Mr. Scanlon said even if we went to Town Meeting and someone reduced that part of the budget, it would be very difficult for the Council to ask the employees to take a pay cut to subsidize the tax rate. Mr. Stewart agrees. He said always in the past there were never any raises given until after the Town Meeting. Mr. Scanlon said that isn’t true. Mr. Riley said we have given raises and salary adjustments before Town Meeting. What we haven’t done is give one large increase to everyone before Town Meeting. At the last meeting he abstained from this, not because he didn’t think it was justified; he didn’t abstain because he didn’t think it was warranted. He was the one that helped start this whole process. The reason he abstained was because he wanted to make sure we were doing something that we were allowed to do. Since then we have confirmed that we are allowed to do it, although it is frowned against. The $275,000 does not include the total salary adjustments. Mr. Van Anglen said the $275,000 is made up of $150,000 which is the normal merit system and $125,000 this year for adjustments. Mr. Stewart has no problem with that, you do have to have better wages to keep your employees. Mr. Riley said the second $150,000 is not just Town employees, it is all employees. That is a tight number. Mr. Riley said he does think it is warranted and the funds should be given.

Mr. Hawkins said looking at the budget two weeks ago for Fire Dept. operations was $1,388,000 and now it is $1,461,000 which is $72,500 more. What is the difference. Mr.Hickey said the difference you see in fire operations, you will see later in recreation fields and also in Public Works, are the adjustments that were made to the budget with the expectation that the $8 million bond was going to pass, and we were going to use that $1 million to pay off leases, set money aside for future field needs, and to set money aside for the pool and pool building.

Bedford Town Council – January 22, 2003 – Page 17

As we go through the budget, you will see that the pool, the fields, the public works and fire budgets will have been adjusted to reflect those payouts. Mr. Danielson asked if the budget were not to pass, that means these sums would be there anyway because we have voted them in. Mr. Hickey said you have the ability to move monies if you choose.

Mr. Stewart said we spent an hour discussing a bond issue where you said you were going to cut the road surfacing/reconstruction to $1 million even. It says $1,170,000. Mr. Searing said the $170,000 would be interest payment on the $8 million bond if it were passed. Mr. Stewart asked if that goes in the operating budget. Mr. Riley said correct under resurfacing. Mr. Stewart said it is quite a coincidence that it comes out to $170,000, and you had $830,000. Mr. Hickey said historically we put all our bond payments in the departments that they were borrowed for. It is consistent with what we have done in the past. We estimate that half a year’s interest payments would be $170,000. Mr. Stewart said that doesn’t tie in with what you told us earlier it was going to cost. You are off by $6,000. Is this a round figure. Mr. Searing said that is based on a 4% interest rate which could be lower.

Ms. Hoffman asked if the money in winter maintenance is going to be enough in light of the snow and ice we are having. How are we doing on the road budget. Mr. Hickey said we do not have the month end figures for the end of January yet. If it continues to snow like it has, no one is going to have enough money, but we expect it will level off. We do have money set aside from previous years ($400,000) which we can access if we have to. If it is more than that, the Public Works Dept. will have to find the overage. Ms. Hoffman commended them on doing an excellent job to date. Mr. Riley said it has dropped to $348,000 because we took equipment and vehicle repair out. Previously we were trying to split it up between the winter and the summer, but we decided to put it all into one vehicle repair and maintenance under highway. That’s $48,000. If you added that to the $348,000 you are close to $400,000.

Mr. Stewart asked what is the justification for the pool increase from $233,000 to $493,000. Mr. Greiner said last year we put money in a capital reserve fund for the pool and pool building. This year we are putting additional money into the capital reserve for the pool and pool building. Mr. Stewart asked the breakout between the pool and the building. It appears you are going to pay more for a pool building than we paid for the SAU building for the school. Mr. Greiner said that’s why we are not funding as much. The numbers we were given in terms of what the project might cost seemed a little high, $160 per sq. ft. to build a pool building which is essentially a cinder building.

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We know we need to replace the pool building and the pool. Not knowing exactly what that total amount will be, we are putting that money there now. If it was passed we would have the ability to go out to bid with what we have if we chose to. In the meantime we need to get a real solid sense of what it is going to cost. He is not comfortable spending $160 per foot for a pool building which is basically a shell. Mr. Riley said the Parks & Rec Director got estimates that were done by 4 or 5 other communities, and the low was $150 and the high was $180 per sq. ft. to build the bath houses excluding the equipment. Mr. Stewart asked if you are going to be replacing both the building and the pool or just repair. He understands the pool does not need to be replaced; it needs to be fixed. Mr. Greiner said it is replacing both of them. Mr. Scanlon said the pool is more of a refurbish. The pool building will be demolished. $10,000 of the quote was to remove what is there. Mr. Van Anglen said it is actually putting a new shell. Mr. Stewart said we spent substantial money a few years ago fixing the pool. Mr. Searing said also a new kiddie pool. Mr. Riley said we have been fixing this pool since the year it was built incorrectly.

Ms. Hoffman asked for a breakdown on fields, and what is the status on the $10,000 for engineering at Joppa Hill. Mr. Greiner said that is gone. Earlier we talked about hiring an individual to do field scheduling. They took the $10,000 and zeroed out that line item, so there is no money in what used to be engineering services for Joppa Hill. They took the $10,000 out so they could bring on an additional person in the department. Ms. Hoffman asked for a breakdown of the $519,000. Mr. Greiner said $300,000 is for field capacity issues. That can mean fields, lights. Ms. Hoffman said under field capacity we have 1 field coming on at Greenfield Farms and 2 more possibly coming on line. Mr. Greiner said right. There is $30,000 for fencing at Greenfield Farms, $25,000 for lights at Riley Field. As far as the field at Greenfield Farms, we are hoping that will be constructed in 2003. It will not necessarily be on line in 2003. Mr. Hickey said the rectangular field has been seeded, they will reseed in the spring, and it takes a year to have that field grow in and be suitable for playing purposes. That will be used in 2004. Ms. Hoffman heard there are 2 other fields coming on line in the Greenfield area. Mr. Hickey said we are in negotiations with a landowner in that area but have no deal at this point. Mr. Greiner said the $300,000 for field capacity, there has been some concern and comment about people playing on Joppa Hill, not so much playing there but the light impact in the fall. This would allow us to put lights at Legacy so they could move football off Joppa and put them up there. They need a place where they can practice with lights. It would also allow the portable lights to get off Joppa Hill. Ms. Hoffman concurs. We already have those fields, and let’s maximize the usage by putting the lights at Riley and Legacy.

Bedford Town Council – January 22, 2003 – Page 19

Ms. Hoffman understands there is an agreement with the School District to put fields on Nashua Road on the school property. Mr. Greiner said we had that discussion with the School Board, and they did not see a problem but they needed to engineer that site, and they expected to do that this spring. Ms. Hoffman likes that idea because that is a more central location, and you have a lot of recreational services in that area, and they have walking access from the schools. She asked what is the balance. Mr. Greiner said $10,000 for playground reserve account, $12,000 for mower – those are going in capital reserves. The mower is to be purchased in 2005 and the playground to be constructed in 2006. Salaries and benefits $58,646 plus seasonal wages.

Ms. Hoffman said mowing at the Joppa Hill area in the spring, there are a great number of field nesting birds. That is why farmers don’t mow until late June because those birds are nesting in the field. She encouraged the Council not to mow those fields for playing until after the birds have nested.

Mr. Riley said that $300,000 does not necessarily mean we have to build fields. We could add lights, we could change surfaces to get a longer use. Mr. Greiner said Legacy would be about $100,000 to light it, and if they are going to do Riley Field lights this year, and we had money to do lights at Legacy, he is sure that would allow us to get some savings. Mr. Riley said anything we can do to get additional use of the fields is the Council’s first priority. Second priority is to build additional fields because they are needed.

Mr. Riley saw a tractor in Manchester that they utilize for sidewalks. We put $82,000 in the budget. This tractor has attachments for plowing, for snow blowing, for spreading, for mowing, etc. They only use that 3 months of the year. Why can’t we use the same tractor for mowing the fields at the Landfill, and the fields for the rest of the year. He said it can be done. We have $12,000 going in to the field reserve this year and have $12,000 in there. We have $82,000 for a new sidewalk plow which means we have to raise $44,000 from taxes to buy that mower. If we took the $24,000 that’s in the capital reserve out of Parks & Rec, and the $38,000 that’s in capital reserve in the Highway Dept., give the mower to Parks & Rec all summer, let it go up to the Highway Dept. to be refurbished and used for winter sidewalk maintenance, we would save approximately $24,000 of money that has to be raised by taxes. Mr. Hickey said he talked to Brian Ross, Recreation Director and Jim Stanford (Public Works Director) about whether this can be used. A couple of concerns came up. One is it is between 5300 and 5400 pounds. It could be used for mowing on practice fields and on the Heritage Trail and to do mowing at the Transfer Station. The one concern was because of that weight on some of the better fields is going to cause some damage. Mr. Riley researched that and said they would have to change from regular tires in the winter to turf tires.

Bedford Town Council – January 22, 2003 – Page 20

Mr. Ross said the one Public Works is looking at weighs 5360 pounds; the one he is looking at is 3,380 pounds, and is 50” wide. He would not recommend putting that much weight, even with the turf tires. He thinks it is going to be too much weight. The biggest problem with the fields now is compaction. The wear and tear that we have now. He is afraid if we put that kind of a mower on, it just adds to the problem. Mr. Riley said you can also get the irrigation attachment as well. Mr. Ross thinks there are drawbacks to it for mowing fields. Mr. Searing said if there are drawbacks for using it for that purpose, are we still left with a winter use. Mr. Riley said we still have the winter use. Mr. Searing said it sounds like Mr. Ross is recommending against it. Mr. Scanlon said the tractor Mr. Ross is looking at is to mow the fields. He doesn’t want to use this tractor to mow the fields. Mr. Greiner said his concern is if we are going to spend money to fix the fields, he is wondering if we use up the savings by having to redo these fields. We might save a little money now, but in the long haul are we going to beat the fields up disproportionately. Mr. Riley said it is something we can still consider during the year.

Susan Tufts-Moore, Bedford Center Road, reinforced what Ms. Hoffman said regarding mowing the fields at Joppa Hill. She went to a lecture by a man who manages property in Bethlehem, NH for the Society for the Protection of NH Forests, and he said that because of the endangered status of a lot of nesting birds because of the widespread disappearance of their habitat, there is actually great effort being taken to delay mowing of meadows until the last week of August to allow the ground nesters to stay in their nests. The US Dept. of Agriculture has a program now where they are paying farmers not to mow their meadows until this late date.

Mr. Danielson said on the idea of adding 2 new fields over near Riley Field, 10 years ago we decided to distribute the recreation fields to try to get fields closer to neighborhoods. If you put all that recreation in the center, you are causing traffic on the roads.

Mr. Danielson said relative to Joppa Hill, there has been nothing decided there. There are no fields planned there. It stays status quo. The hayer tries to get 2 yields out of that. It has been that way since they have been haying it. Nothing has changed. They used to start fertilizing that field about now. Mr. Riley said that field has been mowed for as long as he can remember. Mr. Van Anglen said we own that field so we can give some consideration to that. Ms. Moore said the problem is the habitat is disappearing so we have to make some concessions.

Ms. Hoffman said it makes sense to have recreational fields down by Riley Field because it is in walking distance from McKelvie. Yes there will be some traffic coming down there, but also the students can get to those fields directly.

Bedford Town Council – January 22, 2003 – Page 21

Mr. Johnson agrees with the conservation aspects of Joppa Hill, but his concern is there are many non Bedford residents playing in the premiere leagues. Why are we building more fields for people who don’t live here. Mr. Keyes said the number of non Bedford residents playing in the soccer league has been greatly exaggerated. The Soccer League owns 2 fields in town, which if they were to use those exclusively for their premiere teams would be ample capacity. The reason they don’t do that is those are large fields, and some of their travel teams require the smaller fields to practice on, and they in turn allow our town teams to use their larger fields. It is to our benefit as a town. Mr. Johnson asked how many people are non Bedford residents. Mr. Keyes said probably 30 out of 1800. Mr. Ross said there are about 8 classic teams and 30 to 40 non residents.

Mr. Johnson suggested the possibility of new fields behind the SAU building, one at Peter Woodbury School, and 2 at Riddle Brook School. Mr. Scanlon said they are rebuilding the field at Peter Woodbury next year through private donations, so that will be an additional field. Mr. Searing received numbers from the Soccer League indicating 1,840+ players with 78 out of town. Mr. Johnson suggested the possibility of leasing land from landowners who have large fields. Mr. Hickey said we have contacted a couple of them and they are unwilling to let us lease their land. We have looked into this and will continue to look at it. Mr. Johnson said if we get a new elementary school they will have fields with it. Mr. Searing said that is the idea of Nashua Road.

Mr. Hawkins said when he was on Parks & Rec the idea was to spread fields around town so kids could get there on their bikes. They could go there without having to be driven.

Ms. Hoffman would like to clarify the Library maintenance budget. The railing money was pulled out of the budget, and she encouraged the Council to put it back in the budget. Mr. Hickey said at the last public hearing he said the money had been transferred from the Library budget into the building maintenance budget. That was wrong. It was pulled out because we are looking in the next couple of years of potentially doing something with the Bedford Center Park. There may be some realigning of the Library parking lot, and he thought it was best to do any work to that sidewalk at the same time we realign the parking lot which may be a year or two out. Ms. Hoffman suggested putting a bright yellow sawhorse where there is a sharp drop out. It is very easy for someone to break an ankle by cutting the corner there.

Bedford Town Council – January 22, 2003 – Page 22

Mr. Danielson said on the fields we made a policy decision relative to field usage, and are we still following that. Mr. Hickey said yes.

Mr. Scanlon asked how much the library railing would cost. Mr. Hickey said $3,000. Mr. Scanlon asked if there is a desire to put the $3,000 back in. Mr. Riley asked why such a high cost. Ms. Hoffman said it has to fit in with the architecture. She would recommend a steel bar like in handicapped places. Something to go the length of the opening which is about 6 feet. Shirley Barron, Library Director, said the Trustees have responded to this request and have considered improving that area. They weren’t sure how to do it because there is a huge retaining wall that stops and then there are 2 curbs that come together. The Trustees agree it has to be addressed. Whether it can wait 2 years, she is not sure. They thought the town park was going to happen sooner. Mr. Riley asked about eliminating the curb and slope it . Ms. Barron said it is probably a masonry solution. Mr. Scanlon said if this is something that we need to get done this year, he thinks we can find $3,000 to handle it, or less.

Ms. Hoffman asked about the unexpended, like the Fire Dept. there was $143,000 that was not realized, $150,000 for Public Works, $80,000 under Finance and $56,000 uncollected. What happens to those funds, are they in escrow, and how much do we have in escrow. Mr. Hickey said for the fire truck, we budgeted the entire amount in 2002 and had an offsetting revenue of $143,000. We did that so we could purchase the fire truck in 2002 and lease it for one year with a little creative financing. Because the fire truck was going to take so long to get here, we did not actually buy it in 2002, so we have unexpended $143,000, and we have a revenue shortfall of $143,000 so it is a net impact of nothing. In Public Works, we had budgeted $2 million to be raised by taxes to reconstruct the roads. We then added an additional $200,000 to be spent from monies we received from developers for off-site improvements. We estimated that to be $200,000. We were only able to collect $50,000 so we have an unexpended balance. So we had $150,000 in a revenue shortfall and we didn’t spend $150,000 in the road reconstruction budget, so again that impact was zero. In Finance, we expected a certain number for interest, but because interest rates dropped we had a revenue shortfall there, and we basically didn’t spend some monies. We had some savings in the budget during the year to offset those shortfalls so there was no impact.

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Mr. Scanlon reviewed the revenues. Ms. Hoffman asked if the BCTV money is coming from ComCast, and are we coming up for negotiations. Mr. Scanlon said yes it is, and we are currently in negotiations. Mr. Greiner said we get 4% of the net revenue from basic cable. Ms. Hoffman encouraged the Council to get the second TV station. Mr. Greiner said we are trying for 3 – one for education, one for government and one for sports/etc. He said we have had 2 public hearings. Ms. Hoffman asked when is the next hearing. Mr. Hickey said there are no hearings scheduled. Mr. Scanlon said they will be coming back and it will be posted. Ms. Hoffman encouraged the Council to have a very strong contract.

Mr. Hickey reminded everyone of Winterfest on Saturday from 10 to 12 at the sliding hill on County Road.

Mr. Danielson said this Friday Southern NH Planning Commission is holding a regional conference on Work Force Housing right here in the meeting room. There will be federal, regional and state people present. It will also be taped.

Mr. Danielson said the Council received e-mail regarding Pete D’Amato’s passing. He developed Waterford Green and the Mews, and was a superb soccer coach for 6 years.

Bedford Town Council – January 22, 2003 – Page 24

Mr. Keyes said a Bedford resident has been nominated by the Governor for a high level position – Nick Vailas. He asked if the Council could write a letter in his support. The consensus was to write a letter.

Mr. Searing said 2 weeks ago we talked about how satisfied we were with the work the Dept. of Public Works has been doing with the roads during the storms. He said over the last couple of weeks they have responded very well, very quickly as far the snowbanks which had been built up.

Mr. Searing said regarding the letter from Rick Sherman on recycling waste wood at the Transfer Station. He complimented Mr. Hickey for taking action and going back to using a wood pile.

Mr. Greiner thanked the residents, and Mr. Hawkins started the ball rolling in terms of coming to a good compromise on the budget and the bond.

Mr. Riley said this year there were a lot of new personalities, it was a tough year for the budget process, there were a lot of heated debates, and he thanked everyone. It went well and is what is best for the town.

Mr. Riley said he received a call to help someone get oil to heat their home. He said if anyone hears of anyone who needs heat, or assistance, please call the Town Manager. Mr. Danielson said this is a good time to keep the neighbor watch going, especially for older people.

Mr. Scanlon said there was an article in the Union Leader about Manchester department heads blasting the 2.5% limit the Mayor has asked for. They are talking about cutting and laying people off. He is proud that we have a zero percent increase and are increasing services to the community.

Mr. Scanlon said on Liberty Hill Road at the Merrimack Town Line, the wind has blown snow across the road. He asked if Public Works could look at it.

Mr. Scanlon said tomorrow tonight at 6:30 is the water district meeting. 14 communities have signed the Memo of Understanding to form the regional water district. Tomorrow will be the organizational meeting. They will be meeting every other Thursday. Mr. Scanlon will represent the Town. If he cannot attend, Mr. Hickey will be the alternate and Karen White the third alternate.

Bedford Town Council – January 22, 2003 – Page 25

Mr. Scanlon said the Council has to do Mr. Hickey’s review. Mr. Searing asked if we can do it before a Council meeting. Mr. Scanlon wants to get it done before the end of the month because it is due February 1.

Mr. Riley asked about the wood to energy plant because someone asked about it. He has information on it.

Mr. Hickey asked if the Council can waive the purchasing procedure on the renovations to the Safety Complex in conjunction with the lease with ATF. The purchasing policy requires anything over $100,000 needs to be advertised or it can be waived. We are going to get bids, but do not have time to advertise. Police Chief David Bailey said the bigger companies are not going to bid. The Council will get to review the bids.