Minutes - 01-02-2023
Town of LeicesterSelectboard Meeting MinutesMonday, January 2, 2023*Unapproved*** See subsequent minutes for any changes Members Present: Diane Benware, Brad Lawes, John Rouse, Tom Barker Members Absent: Diane Randall Others Present: Julie Delphia, Arlan Pidgeon, Robbie Devoid, Sandra Trombley Call to Order: Meeting called to order at 6:30 p.m. by Chair. Pledge of Allegiance: Review of Agenda: Approval of December 19, 2022 Minutes: Motion by Tom and second by Brad to approve minutes of December 19, 2022 as written. All in favor. So, approved. Review/Authorization to Pay Bills: Motion by John and second by Brad authorizing Julie to pay the bills. All in favor. So, approved. Reports from Town Officials, Committees: Road Foreman: Arlan reported all he had to report was the eighteen or more hours working the snow storm. He stated he cut trees that GMP hadn’t gotten to. Animal Control Officer: Robbie reported the lady he visited about her dogs came in and registered her dogs. Robbie stated some things popped up on Facebook and someone through his name out. Board confirmed that Robbie should ignore Facebook and only go out on a call if he receives an official phone call. Town Clerk/Treasurer: Julie reported there have been inquiries about the tree that is down on the Town Green. Arlan stated he was waiting until the ground hardened a little bit so as to not make a mess on the lawn. Arlan will cut and clean up and get rid of the smaller stuff. Brad will send a truck up to get the bigger pieces. Julie informed the Board that they received their Equalization Study results from the State. Leicester’s Common Level of Appraisal is 78.97 and Coefficient of Dispersion is 22.56. Leicester has gone from 100% correctly assessed in 2020 to now being under assessed at 79%. Julie stated that because of this, they will now be required to do a reappraisal. Places have been selling for crazy prices. Julie is going to try to challenge this, but may not be able to challenge it. She’s going to have NEMRC look at it. Reappraisal will be very expensive. There are funds in the budget for reappraisals. OLD BUSINESS: 2023 Budget Review: Julie provided a new preliminary budget for review. Board reviewed the budget line by line with actual 2022 expenses and made some minor changes for 2023. Arlan requested an increase for him and Scott to $30 per hour. Arlan stated they do not receive benefits. Board was in agreement with the $30 per hour for Arlan and Scott. The others remain the same. Brad provided the information about the legislatively approved on-line course for municipal employees to obtain their CDL’s. Julie explained that a few things might change with the auditors a little bit, but for the most part budget is done. They need to come back on January 16th and approve the budget and approve the warning. Any changes to the budget affect a lot of things; so, if anything changes, get to her right away. Julie’s starting to do the Town Report and the Warning. Julie will email the Board a copy of the revised budget. Diane asked if Julie has seen a petition about spraying. Julie has not seen anything to date, but they have until January 13th. Executive Session: Motion by Tom and second by Brad to go into Executive Session to discuss possible legal matters at 7:31 p.m. All in favor. So, approved. Motion by Tom and second by Brad to come out of Executive Session at 7:39 p.m. with no action taken. All in favor. So, approved. NEW BUSINESS: Selectboard Report for Town Report: Diane provided a draft of the Selectboard Report for the Town Report. There was discussion about the paragraph about the ARPA Funds. The Board decided to leave the information about the ARPA Funds out of the Selectboard Report and Julie will find a spot in the Town Report. There was discussion about the paragraph about the delinquent tax sale. The Board decided to leave the information about the delinquent tax sale out of the Selectboard Report and should go under the Tax Collector’s Report. There was some tweaking of other areas of the report. Diane mentioned a subcommittee is updating the Local Hazard Mitigation Plan. In addition, the Town Plan and Zoning Regulations are coming up for review. Julie asked if Regional Planning could help with that review. Diane will check into that with Regional Planning. Motion by Tom to adjourn at 8:11 p.m. Next meeting: Monday, January 16, 2023 Respectfully submitted, Sandra L. Trombley, Secretary