GILFORD BUDGET COMMITTEE MINUTES
PRE-PUBLIC HEARING
January 10, 2008
5:30 p.m.
Gilford High School Auditorium
Members Present: John O’Brien, Bob Brent, Sue Greene, Dick Hickok, Bill Phillips,
Margo Weeks, Gus Benavides, Dale Dormody, Terry Stewart,
Phyllis Corrigan, Skip Murphy, and Doug Lambert
Members Absent: None
Also in attendance was School Superintendent Dr. Paul DeMinico, Assistant Superintendent for Business Scott Isabelle, Town Administrator Evans Juris, Assistant Town Administrator Debra Shackett and Recording Secretary Melinda Ferreira.
Several School District, School Board and staff members were also present in the auditorium.
The Budget Committee recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
Chairman Hickok welcomed the Committee to this evening’s early meeting to make some final school recommendations before the public hearing at 6:30pm.
School Warrant Article IV for the relocation of the SAU office in the amount of $58,000 was first brought up for discussion. Margo Weeks stated that the School Board had met Monday evening to review the need. Town Administrator Evans Juris had indicated he’d like to see the SAU office move sooner rather than later due to town department space constraints. She also stated the Board discussed swapping Article V- Boiler Replacement for Article IV- SAU Relocation to GES; and given the pending need, they agreed to do so. Doug Lambert stated it was an excellent idea and motioned to recommend Article IV with the stipulation that Article V be removed. Bob Brent seconded the motion. After brief discussion, motion unanimously carried.
Citizen Petition Warrant Article for Robotics was then brought up for discussion, with Margo Weeks informing the Committee that Jackie Drever & Mr. Young had come before the School Board Monday evening to discuss the $6,000 article. The group was still to do a significant portion of the fundraising themselves; and the School Board had voted unanimously to support the article.
Phyllis Corrigan motioned to recommend the Robotics Warrant Article and was seconded by Skip Murphy. John O’Brien was worried about the last sentence of the article as he felt its’ language was overly broad. Bob Brent agreed. Discussion ensued. Margo Weeks indicated it would be included within the School Budget the following year under ‘Student Activities’, while Assistant Superintendent for Business Scott Isabelle further explained the language of the article, which could not be changed, as it was a ‘citizen petition article’ and not the School’s. He added that Town Counsel had reviewed it and found it to be okay. Doug Lambert spoke in favor of the program, but also didn’t understand why it didn’t fall under the proposed school budget. Bob
Brent agreed. Chairman Hickok spoke to the timing aspect of the article. Further discussion ensued. Jackie Drever explained she was not informed NASA wouldn’t fund the program until November 30th; therefore, the School Budget had already approved by the School Board. Bill Phillips spoke in favor of the program. Discussion ensued over whether the program would fall within the default budget next year to which Scott Isabelle replied it would. Dale Dormody & Sue Greene spoke in favor of the article. After further discussion, the motion carried. Terry Stewart was opposed.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:20p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Melinda N. Ferreira
Recording Secretary
| 
