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Attending: Barb Rainville, Brian Goodro, Elwin Isham, Tim Thompson, Sally Ober, Will Clark, Katie Banks, Ann Kensek
Barb brought the meeting to order at 6:30 pm.
Discussion on Employee Personnel Rules.

• The most recent copies were not available because Elwin was having trouble with his email. He’ll try sending again.
• Sally Ober wondered about the new Personnel Policy and if employees would have a chance to weigh in before it is made final. Questions on insurance changes. The Selectboard indicated that the new policy would not go into effect until July 1, 2012. Sally said she thought it would be a good idea to have any employee who wanted to be able to attend the online meeting with VLCT about insurance on Nov. 10. Barb said it would be like last year, where employees are present.
• Discussion on HSA’s- Last year they were fully funded up front. This year they would be funded in percentages or quarterly so that in the event an employee leaves only a partial year HSA money would go with them.
• Discussion on VLCT negotiating rates for towns.
• The Personnel Policy is not finalized yet.
• Establishment of wage rates for road crew classifications:

            Level 1- $10 to $14 range
            Level 2- $14 to $18 range
            Level 3- $16 to $20 range
            Level 4- $18 to $22 range- probably won’t get used.
            Foreman- $20 to $24 straight pay, not including benefits

• Guidelines for time or job experience helps determine what the rate will be. Barb felt the numbers are consistent with what the Town has been paying and there is no need to deviate from this. Brian agreed that the rates are generally in line with research and Tim felt they were pretty cut and dry.
• Barb Rainville moved to establish wage rate ranges based on figures given, effective immediately and to be reviewed periodically as needed.  Further discussion. Brian seconded, vote called and passed.

Discussion with Will Clark on wage rates, etc.

• The Selectboard agreed that Will would come in as a Level 2. He’d have a review at 30 days, 60 days and prior to six months for a final review and possible wage increase. Discussion on the process. The board talked about how the culture of the road crew has changed since Will was last employed here. Discussion on the rate to pay Will, and general wage rates of current employees. Discussion on offering Will $15.50 an hour. Tim said that if road crew members take classes in the spring it will help their wage rates as well.
• Discussion on insurance for Will- He doesn’t need the Town’s insurance and receives a reimbursement now from his current job. The Town might pay his extra insurance premium because he doesn’t need our insurance.  Further discussion. There are six paid holidays and one week paid vacation year one, with 2 weeks’ vacation after that. The Town also gives sick time, three days bereavement leave and compensates for jury duty. Over -time is now paid and doesn’t go to comp time like it used to. Normal workdays are 6-2, with a little over-time right now because of the extra work from the flood.
• The Selectboard offered Will $15.50 an hour and will pay premiums on his insurance if he comes on. All new Road Crew employees need a drug test prior to hiring. Discussion on how soon the Board would want Will to start- two weeks or whatever works best for Will.
• Will agreed to call the Barb in the morning and let her know whether he’ll accept the position.

Solar Array Discussion-

• The Board discussed ways to solicit opinions of the Townspeople. A survey will be done with info and a stamped postcard. Discussion on sales pitch for solar array and getting other Town entities on board. There must be a complete package agreement and it could create new layers to Town government. Fred Baser called Barb this week and said the numbers don’t add up right, and that at best the Town would break even. All Earth is pulling out of the business.
• The Selectboard said there’s a company in Waitsfield that did a study on this and talked Waitsfield out of it. The contract is written for businesses, not municipalities. The Selectboard does understand the “feel good” aspect of the array. Discussion on All Earth’s description of the location of our array as not being the best.  Also, this system shuts down when the power goes out. Preferable to use a system that uses batteries. The Selectboard said All Earth is getting paid a premium to get these systems out.
• Discussion on alternative energy and how best to put it in the Town of Lincoln. Further discussion on the pros and cons of this system. There are some issues that Lincoln faces that Starksboro doesn’t. Lincoln gets a lot more snow and high winds.  Two of the new panels in Starksboro were struggling to move in a 30mph wind. They have had to shovel their array out, and because it was a stormy year their returns were not quite as predicted.
• Discussion on why to have a town-wide survey. People at the informational meeting were in favor of the array, but all the information was not available. The Selectboard feels the Town needs something that can store our energy and this system doesn’t allow it. Elwin said that engineers are advising people to wait a few more years because of rapid changes in technology.
• For the survey- very simple info on a two -sided sheet. Burnham, the Fire Company and the Library are all on board.  CVPS’s rates are going up 4.8% in January.

Discussion on part-time road crew position.

• The Selectboard said  that with winter coming, the needs of the town are changing. Hours are variable and depend on storms.  
• Elwin presented a document called an Employee Interview Record and the board discussed changes that needed to be made in the document.  Barb moved to accept the Employee Interview Record as presented with date and hour corrections. Elwin moved to change Alfred Churchwell’s status from 20 hours per week to call-in status for 8-20 hours a week effective December 4, 2011. Barb seconded, vote called and passed. Elwin will amend the document and give it to Tim to present to Alfred.
• Elwin said they are going to keep road crew info, Personnel Policy, etc. in the Selectboard file.

Other Business

• Katie Banks is going to ask the Selectboard for a resolution to fix a certain area of the road. She passed out pictures of her area of Gap Road. Discussion on debris that needs to be removed and culverts that are plugged.  General discussion on bringing excavators back into town because we need more help. Culverts that failed because of Irene should be replaced. Barb will call Dick Hosking in the morning and will let Tim know when he is coming.
• Katie said she feels it is unfair that changes will be made to Old Downingsville Road when other places that need repairs are not being fixed. She feels her road needs to be made right. The Selectboard said they have courses of action to pursue and they are working on it.

Budget Planning

• Paving on Quaker St. - very expensive. The roadbed needs to be repaired before any paving is done.
• The Town also needs to consider the corner by Bill Finger’s house which was very bad last winter and will also need to have the road bed worked on.  These two areas need to be looked at.
• Culverts- work will continue. When Les was working for the town he suggested that Zeno Bridge needs work.
• Money needs to be set aside for the Town Office and Truchon Bridge. Hall Road Bridge might be a candidate for mitigation. Dick Hosking said the Town could put in for structures.
• Gravel needs to be budgeted. Katie asked where the gravel has been coming from. She said there is still exposed blue stone. It is used as a base because of the mud and other gravel is placed on top. Discussion on size of the gravel/stone. Since Irene good gravel is hard to come by.
• Roadside mowing- Melvin’s two-year contract is up, will need to put out to bid.  The job will be advertised in Feb. or March so the Town can time mowing around the poison parsnip blooms.
• New Truck- the Mack is very old and has been pushed as far as it can be. Maybe get $20,000 to $25,000 for trade-in.
• Transfer Station monitoring- It has been cut down as low as possible. Only two more years and it won’t have to be done annually anymore.
• Signs- Town will need to replace all signs by 2015; money will be budgeted so the Town can swing it when it is time.
• Town Treasurer- Need to hire outside auditor to do the books. VLCT said we need to get policies written- financial policies will help eliminate the potential for fraud. They’ll come help out. The cash drawer with the new system will help.
• Discussion on Treasurer’s pay and changes from Larry to the new treasurer.
• Fuel costs were discussed.
• Ann will ask Larry to make up a budget sheet for the next budget year like he did last year.

Minutes taken by Ann Kensek

*Please note that these notes are minutes of a meeting and should never be construed as a transcript.