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1977/01/24 MINUTES EXECUTIVE BOARD' January 24, 1977 The meeting was opened at 7:00 p.m. by Mayor Arthur B. Powers. Lanzoni and Dickinson were present. Deputy Mayor~ Also present were: (part of the'meeting) Paul Ohanesian, representing the Berlin Eagle; Susan Brown, representing the Hartford Courant; Diane Kozlowsk/ an observer; Philip D. Doran, an observer; Ronald Griggs, an observer ,and member of the Board of Public Health Nurses; Mrs. Jean Conway, Nursing Super- visor and members of the Board of Public Health Nurses; Eugene Devlin, Phili~ Bergstrom and Robert Orcutt, representing the Peck Memorial Library; Morgan Seelye, Town Engineer, Richard Howard, Assistant Town Engineer, Joseph Pas- kiewicz, Deputy Director of Public Works and Donald Prue, Highway Superinten- dent. On motion by Mr. Lanzoni, seconded by Mr. Dickinson, it was voted to accept the minutes o£ 1/17/77. MOTION CARRIED. Mayor Powers advised that this morning (1/24/77) Mr. Philip D. Doran present~ to the Town Clerk petitions for a Town Meeting io reject the Teacher's con- tract which was filed with the Town Clerk on 1/19/77. Mayor Powers said he spoke with Mr. Doran and told him that the petitions should be presented fir~ to the Executive Board. The' petitions then came to the Mayor's Office and the Mayor in turn gave them to the Town Clerk with the request that she chec] the validity of the signatures~ Mr. Doran asked for, and was given, a re- ceipt for the petitions. There were 23 filled and partially filled pages containing 332 signatures. The Town Clerk certified 528 signatures. On motion by Mr. Lanzoni, seconded by Mr. Dickinson, it was voted to call a Town Meeting on Monday, 31 January 1977 at 8:00 p.m. at the McGee School for the ~otlowing purpose: 1. For the purpose of rejecting the contract entitled "1976-78 Agree- ment Between the Berlin Board o£ Education and the Berlin Education Association", which was £iled with the Town Clerk of Berlin on 19 Jan- uary 1977. MOTION CARRIED. 'On motion by Mr. Lanzoni, seconded by Mr. Dickinson, it was voted to accept with:'regret the resignation of Donald G. Paris from the Park and Recreation Commission and to extend to him the Town's thanks for his past service. Mr. Paris' term would have expired on 1/31/78. MOTION CARRIED. On motion by Mr. Lanzoni, seconded by Mr. Dickinson, it was voted to accept with regret the resignation of Donald G. Bates from the Park and Recreation Commission and to extend to him the Town's thanks for his past' service. Mr. Bates' term would have expired on'1/31/78 MOTION CARRIED. On motion by Mr. Lanzoni, seconded by Mr. Dickinson, it was voted to accept with regret the resignation of Raymond Paradis from the Park and Recreation Commission and to extend to him the Town's thanks for his past service. Mr. Paradis' term would have expired on 1/31/79. MOTION CARRIED. Executive Board Minutes 1/24/77 '2-' On motion by Mr. Lanzoni, seconded by Mr.'Dickinson, it was voted to appoint Mr. Clifford A. Landry, Jr. to the Route 72 NOW Committee being sponsored by the Bristol Chamber of Commerce. They have asked for two delegates, however, Mayor Powers felt we should have Mr. Landry attend a couple of meetings to see how this will benefit Berlin before naming another delegate or committing the Town to any contributory funds. MOTION CARRIED. The Board went over the Administration's budget (Executive Board's budget) and found that items such as insurance, pension, health insurance, social security, unemployment compensation, etc. all went up considerably. However, Mayor Powers said these are the areas that we cannot control to any great extent. The Mayor's Office is asking for a copying machine. Mr. Clinton is going to get a price. The Mayor's Office asked for no capital items this year. Mr. Haber, Chief Mechanic, had provided figures for his budget and th~se were approved. He is asking for only 2 capital items, plus a third which will com out of Revenue Sharing if the Board of Finance sb wishes. This item is for 3 electric door openers 'at $1500.00 Mayor Powers said any capital items ove~ $500 should come out of Revenue Sharing. It was decided to wait for'one more week before final approval of the Exec~ti Board's budget, in order that the members of the Board may look it over in greater detail.. PECK MEMORIAL LIBRARY BUDGET Representatives of the Peck Memorial Library met with the Executive Board to discuss their budget for fy 1977-78. Under salary and wages Mr. Devlin~said all increases were held to 5% with the exception of Mrs. Nelson. Mrs. Nelson is a graduate librarian who has been putting in time at $2.76 per hour. The library is very anxious to keep her on so they are requesting an increase to $$.50 per hour. Even at $5.50 per hour she will still be receiving considerably less than professional librarians in the school system. There were the usual increases in utilities. Mayor Powers said he felt the one place wherea cut must be made in Account 2241 Books and Periodicals. The request is for $12,000. The Executive Boar8 agreed to cut this amount to $9000, a reduction of $5000. Ail other items were acceptable to the Executive Board. PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING SERVICE BUDGET Members of the Nursing Board and Mrs. Conway, Supervisor met to present thei~ fy 1977-78 budget to the Executive Board. Account #1551 is Mrs. Conway's salary. added. With an increase of Two more hours per week have been Account #1532 Staff Nurses. There has been an increase of 5% for each nurse. One nurse has been given additional, hours, plus in the $56,454 figure is an additional 18 hours on top of that. Account #1559, Contracted Services is 100%, plus, reimbursable. EXECUTIVE BOARD MINUTES 1/24/77 Account #1541, Office Clerk. The clerk, who works 20 hours per week, is presently receiying $4.29 per hour. The Board was upset last year in that she received onya $57.00 per year increase. They are now asking for an increase of $4,680 or $4.50 per hour. Mayor Powers suggested that Mr. Clinton check into this. Account #1542, Ass't Office Clerk, is increased from $600 to $3,276.00 on the basis that the billing for contracted services has increased and they wis to give the part time clerk 18 hours per week, but not to guarantee that each week will be used to the entire 18 hours. The remaining items were all acceptable to the Executive Board. Under Capital Items, The Dental Program is a 100t School Item. Mayor Powers feels this could be put in the Board of Education budget. Mrs. Conway said that the Board of Finance felt it should be in the Nurses Budget. A new program being requested is a School Health Aide at a cost of $2,268.00, Mrs. Conway said that clerks in the schools.have been forced into helping out but they are not qualified to make decisions in medical emergencies when the nurse is not present. Mayor Powers said this again is a school item. It was decided by the Board to cut this item out. MayOr Powers asked Mrs. Conway how much of the nurses time is spent in the schools. She replied by saying that 50% was spent in schools. Mayor Powers said it was a well'presented budget and a well run nursing ser- vice. PUBLIC WORKS BUDGET Salaries were filled in from the new wage schedule. Engineering Supplies, Account #710, was cut from $1700 to $1500, a cut of $200. Account #720 Refuse Disposal will have to be adjusted, depending on what happens with the proposed plans for disposal of solid waste. This will be adjusted, hopefully, before the budget meeting in May. Account #722, will also be adjusted. Mayor Powers said we may be able to negotiate with Albreada again this year. This item will also be adjusted be- fore the Annual Meeting. Mayor Powers said that we may have to think about'going into separation as we did some years ago, until we find just where and who is going to handle waste disposal. This would reduce the tonnage. Under Capital Items, Mr. Seelye is requesting a van-type vehicle for the survey crew. Mr. Howard said a compact station wagon would probably not be big enough for three people plus the necessary 6' surveyors' rod. The Board left this item in but it will have to come out of Revenue Sharing funds Also requested were 2 portable receivers. The Executive Board felt these were not needed at this time and the $350 item was cut. Mr. Seelye had listed the rebuilding of Norton Road or Lower Lane at $12~,000 to come out of Revenue Sharing monies. This will be considered. All other items were acceptable to the Executive Board. Executive Board Minutes -4- HIGH~AY DEPARTMENT BUDGET Salaries for Highway Superintendent and foremen were put in in accordance with the new salary schedule. Account #502, Labor; Mr. Seelye and Mr. Prue were asking for 2 additional employees, in that two years ago they had two employees dropped and they now feel they would like to be back where they were. The Executive Board cut the $15,000 they were asking for for these two employees, feeling that this is not the time to be hiring additional employees. They do have some CETA personnel in addition to the thirteen employees presently working on the crew. The $12~,000 figure represents the thirteen employees salary in- cluding the locked in.union contract increase of $520 per year per employee, granted as a transfer in 1975 plus the $520 per year per employee for fy 1977-78. Account #606, Materials, was cut from $22,000 to $21,000. Account #607, Small Tools, was cut from $2,000 to $1,500. Account #509, Tree Removal and Maintenance, was cut from. S6800 to $2000. Mr. Seelye had wanted to.use the services of a company in Vermont which sprays maple trees which are close to the road and are dying because of the road salt used in winter snow plowing. Mayor Powers felt that we could do without it this year. The Mayor also felt that there may be other companies doing the~same thing at a cheaper rate. Mr.-Seelye said the material:::used is gypsum. Mayor Powers said perhaps we could even do this type of thing ourselves. However, for this year we will cut it from the budget and operate on the original $2000 appropriated last year. Account #615, Drainage was also cut back to the original $42,500. had requested an increase to $4S,000. Mr. Seelye All of the items under Capital Rxpenditures mre to be considered with the other capital items to come under Revenue Sharing. All other items were acceptable to the Executive Board and will now be sub- mitted to the Board of Finance. Mr. Philip DOran spoke before the Board saying that there is a definite pre- cedent been set that if the Executive Board chooses to call a Town Meeting with the vote to be taken by referendum it can do so. He said that it would give a lot of character to the Executive Board if it would agree to this. Mayor Powers said he would discuss the matter with Corporation Counsel and then the Executive Board would make a decision. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:20 p.m. Respectfully submitted, ~atricia A. Casella Secretary