Town of Aquinnah

Finance Committee Meeting
Minutes of Meeting 3-22-19

Aquinnah Town Hall Selectmen’s Meeting Room

Members present: Chairman Allen Rugg, Tom Murphy, Mark Foster

Also present: Town Administrator Jeffrey Madison (via phone), Selectman Gary Haley, Selectmen Julie Vanderhoop, Town Accountant Emily Day, Town Treasurer Sibel Suman, BOH Chair Jim Glavin, BOH Sarah Saltonstall, BOA Elise LeBovit, BOA Adam Wilson, Liz Witham, PB Chair Peter Temple, BOH Assistant Phoenix Becker, Lucas Thors

- The meeting began at 9:39am

- First on the agenda was the review of minutes. The Committee deferred review of the 3/8/18 minutes to the end of the meeting. Tom moved to approve the 2/22/19 minutes as presented. Motion was seconded by Mark. The Committee voted 3-0, the motion passed.

- The Committee met with Liz Witham to review her proposed web master budget. Considering the transfer to a new website platform, Liz recommended that her FY20 budget remain at the $600/month services fee and an additional $3,000 to be allocated as an “as need basis” amount for the website transfer period. The Fin Comm found that the proposed budget would be a considerable increase from FY19. Liz felt that the work of a web master would continue into the future because the new website proposal only includes a platform setup and would not replace other duties that she does as the web master but could be revisited in the future if town employees become efficient enough. Web master duties currently include the following: maintaining the town website and the lighthouse website, updating the town Facebook page, addressing any URL and email issues. Given that the Fin Comm has not heard from Jeffrey or the Selectmen on the matter, they requested that Liz meet with Jeffrey to discuss how to proceed then return for review.

- Next the Committee met with Peter Temple, Planning Board Chair. Peter informed the Committee of his resignation as Chair and member of the Planning Board. With his departure, it became evident that the Committee would not be able to find another chair or volunteer to do many of the things that Peter does, which are done in every other town by paid staff. Peter presented the following changes that potentially affect the budget:
- Changing the job description and paygrade of the Board Admin Assistant and to Planning Board Assistant: currently the job is not an all-encompassing position for the Planning Board and covers other administration duties. The Planning Board would like to add more duties such as consulting with town counsel and Martha’s Vineyard Commission (these changes would take the job position up one pay grade - 17% increase of $4,996);
- Creation of a Zoning Administrator (via the Zoning Bylaws) to decrease the amount of applications and decisions that come before the Planning Board (duties/issues delegated by the Planning Board). This position will require competency and knowledge and would be paid $150 to $250 per decision, depending on credentials and time per application. The proposed budget for this position is $5000 but would be used on an as need basis (similar to the town plumbing and wiring inspector operation). A fee would accompany the application as well and would sit in a revolving account;
- Compensation for the Tree Warden (currently does not receive any payment but does a tremendous amount of work for on behalf of the Board). The Planning Board felt that in compensating the Zoning Admin it was only fair to compensate the Tree Warden.
With the job description changes of the Planning Board assistant and the addition of the Zoning Administrator, Planning Board is looking at a $5,000 overall budget increase (this takes into account the $17,000-$18,000 that was held in the budget when the current assistant was hired). Lastly, Peter suggested that the town consider adequate financial preparation for maternity leave for the Board Admin Assistant and coverage while the employee is gone this coming summer. Emily noted that the Planning Board should go to the Personnel Committee to finalize the increase in pay and job description for the Planning Board Assistant. In addition, they should get approval from the Selectmen and then return to Fin Comm for budget review.

- The Committee met with the Board of Health to review their proposed FY20 budget. There was discussion concerning the 19hr/week compensation of the BOH employee as presented on the budget and Fin Comm’s expectation that the hours would return to 18hr/week. Jim Glavin, BOH Chair, informed the Committee that BOH had reviewed all of the duties within the past year and felt that the 19hrs/week was sufficient for the position. The 19hrs/week would break down as follows: 40hr/week in summer and 14hrs/week in winter. Jim noted that the town has indicated to the BOH that they expect a certain amount of services from the BOH. In addition, BOH has certain State mandates and requirements to fulfill. The Fin Comm stated that, in reviewing all of the department FY20 budgets, they need to be vigilant because of the override. Elise LeBovit questioned if the BOH will be in charge of documenting the short-term rentals in town. Fin Comm noted that they didn’t believe the town had any procedures in place at this point. There was discussion on the $6,700 nursing care line item (contract with Island Health Care and not an assessment). Jim stated that the Council on Aging line item may be a number that can be tightened and is less crucial than the BOH employee hours. He further noted that the town will eventually need a health agent to work more than the 19hrs. There was question on whether the BOH employee hour increase and job description were reviewed and finalized by the Personnel Com. Jim did not have an answer. Phoenix noted that the BOH had gone before the Personnel Comm and Selectmen last year to review the hour increase and the Personnel Comm had asked that the job stay below 20hrs/week. Fin Comm thanked the BOH and noted that they will consider their input on the budget and formalize their own comment for the Selectmen. Jeffrey will send the final budget to Jim. Sarah Saltonstall, BOH, expressed concern with the Council on Aging assessment and requested that it be further analyzed.

- The Committee discussed the town debt budget: shared debt is down to $620,000 between CPC and the town. For FY20, Sibel proposed that $95,228 be budgeted for debt payment: fire truck payment of $50,000 on principle and $10,600 on interest and the remining on condensed CPC debt with a $30,000 payment on principle and $4,628 on interest. There was discussion on payment and the life of the fire truck. Emily and Sibel confirmed that with the fire truck debt payment, the override will not increase per Prop. 2 ½. Fin Comm requested that the debt budget be revisited with Jeffrey in the coming meetings.

- Jeffrey briefly spoke about planning for the Board Admin Assistant maternity leave. Currently, town policy is that an employee in entitled to 8 weeks unpaid maternity leave. Jeff was not sure how this will be addressed yet but wanted to make the Fin Comm aware of the matter. Fin Comm noted that this should be a discussion concerning the policy and not the individual employee. There was discussion on a potential warrant article to address compensation absences in general (not just temporary leave but separation leave as well). Emily and Jeff plan on presenting additional warrant articles when some of the budgets have been finalized. The Fin Comm reviewed agenda items for their next meeting on 3/29: warrant articles, debt, Planning Board budget, DPW, Police Dept (vehicle warrant article), Library, Harbormaster, and Board of Assessors.

- Under new business, Elise LeBovit made the following budget review suggestions: $7,000 line item payment to the MV Museum for publicity that doesn’t serve the town and a suggestion that the town hire a marketer for the Lighthouse, she also noted that Jeffery’s salary had been increased by $10,000 to deal with the running of the lighthouse and she didn’t find that he addressed it at all; 4th Library employee; Tax Collector hours: 20hrs listed but only comes in for 8hrs; the $12,000 that the town approved for a grant writer where grant writing had been added into Jeffrey’s salary increase; Lighthouse Keeper’s hours and job duties need to be reviewed. The Committee thanked Elise for her comments and suggestions.

- With no other business to discuss, a motion was made and seconded to adjourn.
The Committee voted 3-0 in favor. The motion passed.

- The meeting ended at 10:48am

Respectfully submitted,
Sophia Welch
Board Administrative Assistant