June 21

June 21, 2010 City Council Meeting Minutes

City Council Meeting
Minutes
June 21, 2010
City Council Chambers
7:00 p.m.

Mayor Bouley called the meeting to order.
Roll Call. Councilors Bennett, Blanchard, Mayor Bouley, Councilors Coen, DelloIacono, Grady, McClure, Nyhan, St. Hilaire, Shurtleff, Stetson and Werner were present. Councilors Bouchard, Keach and Patten were excused.
Agenda overview by the Mayor.
June 21, 2010 Public Hearings

A. Resolution fixing and determining the amount of money to be appropriated by the City of Concord for the fiscal year 2011 ending June 30, 2011. (6-13) (Public testimony attached)

Action: Mayor Bouley indicated that public hearing items A through G are all regarding the budget and asked whether there was any Council objection to holding the public hearing for all of these at the same time. There being no objection by Council, the Mayor opened the public hearings for items A through G.

Public Testimony

Jennifer Kretovic, Public Transit Subcommittee of the Transportation Policy Advisory Committee, indicated that the request to hire a mobility manager and the additional allocation for that position comes from their committee and that CAT agrees with the recommendation. She noted that their request is for $98,000 for CAT to fund the fixed route system and hire a mobility manager. Ms. Kretovic’s full public testimony is on file at the City Clerk’s office.

Councilor Shurtleff asked what the split would be with the State of New Hampshire with the additional $8,000. Ms. Kretovic responded that it would be an 80/20 percent split based on their 5311 funding which is their standard funding that they receive from the NH Department of Transportation. She explained that it is a little over $531,000 per year and that CAT typically returns over $100,000 because there isn’t enough local match to cover that fund.

Chuck Douglas, Concord resident and co-chair of the Concord Taxpayers Association, spoke in opposition of the proposed 2.6 percent increase in taxes. He noted his concern with the continuing rising of taxes and the people that are on fixed incomes, the elderly and people on social security. He expressed his concern with two specific points including the benefits going from $8.8 to $10 million, a 13 percent increase; the overtime budget for the Fire Department for $472,000 and that the city should be sure that when overtime is available it should go to the most junior people and not that most senior because the senior people are looking to bulk up their last 3 years for the NH Retirement System. Mr. Douglas handed out a taxpayer petition not to increase taxes. This petition is on file at the City Clerk’s office.

Mayor Bouley stated that Council has tried to deal with the rising cost of healthcare and it is something they all struggle with.

Roy Schweiker, Concord resident, noted that he has one continuing contention which relates to the Deputy City Solicitor position. He indicated that he did receive an email from the Mayor explaining that this position did indeed save the city 25 percent over and above the salary of this position. He expressed his concern that it appears to be additional services that the city received rather than cutting previous expenses. Referencing a graph, he explained that if the outside services are added up, the numbers have not gone down after hiring this position and in fact spending 20 percent more than in 2009 in the 2011 budget. Mr. Schweiker asked that Council reduce the three outside services budgets by $50,000 this year. He further expressed his concern when, at a previous meeting, somebody had said that to hand out fuel assistance, they really need more money from the city because the amount that the federal government isn’t enough and asked whether the City Manager has looked into whether other communities need additional money to distribute fuel assistance or whether they can do it within their ordinary budgets.

Jim Baer, Concord resident, commended the City Manager and all the departmental staff on their professional and competent presentations. He noted his discouragement with the lack of public attendance by the residents of Concord. He spoke in opposition to raising taxes presenting some alternatives including putting many capital expenditures projects on hold until the economy improves. These suggested alternatives and Mr. Baer’s full public testimony is on file at the City Clerk’s office.

Alan Linder, Concord resident, spoke in favor placing additional funds back into the library and additional support for police and fire. He strongly endorsed these explaining that it is important that the community and the Council support these entities.

Richard Croak, Mountain Road resident, spoke in support of the Police Department explaining that without a very strong department a lot of the other qualities of life of Concord suffer. He spoke in support of the community resource officer and noted that he is a strong believer of the program and feels that the city may even need more than one. He asked that the Police Department be put back to what was originally presented to Council.

Carl Soderstrom, Concord resident, noted his support of keeping the budget at the same level that it was last year if not reducing it if all possible. He indicated that many people are not seeing pay increases and feels that the taxes should not be increased either.

Barbara Chellis thanked Council for their support of the Community Action Program over the past years and look forward to working with the city for years to come.

There being no further public testimony, the Mayor closed the hearings for items A through G.

B. Resolution amending the amount of money to be appropriated by the City of Concord for the fiscal year 2011 ending June 30, 2011. (6-14) (Not previously distributed)