Budget Committee Meeting

                                                         Non-approved Minutes

                                                                  June 25, 2006

                                                Roxbury Town Hall, Roxbury, NH

 

Members present: Jane Fortson, Eric Stanley, Richard Bauries, Neil Moriarty, Norman Dion, Andrew Bueckner, George Tremblay, Jim Ells, Robert Mitchell, Robert Smith, Don Arguin, Thomas Parker, John Tommila, Stephen Russell and Jonathan Kenyon. Absent:

Administrators Present: K. Dassau, Superintendent and D. Hodgdon, Assistant Superintendent.

 

1.      Approval of the June 27, 2006 Minutes: MOTION: J. Fortson MOVED to accept the June 27, 2006 Minutes as presented. SECOND: E. Stanley. DISCUSSION: J. Ells was not present at the June 27, 2006 meeting. VOTE on the amended motion: 10-yes, 1-abstain. Motion passes.  

 

2.  Public Comments: None

 

3.  Budget Committee Policies: J. Fortson explained the policy change to the committee. MOTION: D. Arguin MOVED to accept the change to the Membership Policy as presented. SECOND: A. Bueckner. DISCUSSION: N. Moriarty said that he would not accept the proposal. MOTION to amend: N. Moriarty MOVED to add that “alternates for members would not be accepted.” SECOND: R. Bauries. DISCUSSION: N. Dion commented that the second “should” be “will”. E. Stanley commented that the alternates should be accepted but not allowed to vote. N. Moriarty commented that in his opinion anyone is allowed to speak during Public Comments. J. Kenyon commented that a liaison to the Budget Committee would increase communication with the Board. The Budget Committee complained about the lack of communication. He said to go ahead with the amendment but don’t complain. E. Stanley commented that the intention is to avoid an alternate that is not here when it comes to voting. J. Kenyon said that the alternate would probably be at every meeting. D. Arguin commented that some of the Budget Committee members miss and still vote. R. Bauries said that you could not stop elected people from voting. Appointed positions are not as strong as elected. J. Ells said that there should always be a Board Member and would agree with D. Arguin. E. Stanley commented that the Budget Members should have alternates. VOTE: J. K.-no, R.M.-no, A.B.-no, E.S.-yes, J.F.-no, R.B.-yes, N.M.-yes, D.A.-no, J.E.-no, G.T.-yes, N.D.-yes, S.R.-no. Motion fails. Vote on Main Motion: Unanimous for those present. Motion passes. N. Moriarty commented that the motion does not change the vote taken at the last meeting.

 

     b. Public Release of Information: R. Mitchell commented that the public would feel that it is the opinion of the Budget Committee no matter what the disclaimer. He said that he felt that the person should not sign with an official title. D. Arguin said that he would agree with R. Mitchell. It is misleading to put your name and title there. J. Tommila and T. Parker arrive.  R. Bauries commented that the policy should stay the same. The public should know what side of the fence you are on. J. Kenyon said that he attended that First Amendment Conference and this topic came up. The law states that you can include your title in the body of the letter not in the closing. J. Ells said that he would agree with J. Kenyon. J. Tommila said that he felt it is okay as long as you have the disclaimer. T. Parker commented that he writes articles for his town paper and states that he is a MRSD Budget Committee Member. D. Arguin asked if anyone had the letter and is there a disclaimer. J. Fortson said that she saw a disclaimer. N. Dion said that we are making artificial boundaries and we need to let the president speak. R. Mitchell commented that the public looks at the name and the title of the person that wrote the letter to see if they are going to read it. People feel that this is the official statement and it creates confusion. R. Bauries said that this is unenforceable and no one will tell him what to write. Common sense should be used and to move this conversation. J. Tommila commented that we as members should not be held back from what the public will read. J. Kenyon commented that they are missing the point. There is no gage order. Write the letter, just don’t sign it with a title put it in the body. N. Moriarty commented on three letters that where in the Sentinel and were signed with titles. He said that he would consider the comments heard tonight.

 

4.   Detail Budget for July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007: The budget was passed out to the  members.

 

5.      A. Default Budget: N. Moriarty asked that anyone wanting to be on the committee let him know. 

 

B. Savings Committee:  

 

C. Budget Oversight Committee:

 

6.      Other Discussion as desired: The motion on the not accepting of alternates actually passed. J. Kenyon asked that he would like to change his vote on the main motion because of the amendment. VOTE on the amended motion: Should a vacancy occur in the school board appointed position, the school board chair will appoint a replacement to serve until the next annual term. Alternates for members will not be accepted. J.K.-no, R.M.-no, A.B.-yes, J.T.-yes, E.S.-yes, J.F.-yes, R.B.-yes, N.M.-yes, T.P.-yes, D.A.-no, J.E.-yes, G.T.-yes, N.D.-yes, S.R.-no. 

 

7.       Superintendent’s Comments: K. Dassau asked about the Budget Committee policies regarding the date, if finalized and if a copy is available. J. Fortson said yes. N. Moriarty said that it has been passed out and updated. S. Russell asked if a copy could be emailed to the members.  

 

8.      Chairman comments: N. Moriarty said that he would take the comments of tonight under advisement. J. Tommila asked about the budget. K. Dassau said that we are one month into the new budget and on track. The auditor will be coming in August. There are no new surprises. R. Bauries said that he spoke to K. Chambers and that everything should be okay.

 

9.      Public Comment Period: C. Dreyfuss asked that the minutes and the agenda be emailed to her.

 

K. Cota said that the minutes and the agenda should be available at every meeting for the public. J. Fortson informed N. Moriarty that she had made copies for the public when she was chair.

 

10.  Set Agenda:

1.      There will be no meeting in August.

 

11.  Motion to adjourn: R. Smith MOVED to adjourn the meeting at 8:00 PM. SECOND: J. Tommila. VOTE: Unanimous for those present. Motion passes.

 

 

Respectfully submitted, 

 

 

Laura L. Aivaliotis

MRSD Recording secretary