Takin care of business

In a meeting lasting barely 30 minutes, the Board of Selectmen last night briskly dispensed with nine items of routine town business, none of them the stuff of controversy but all staples of municipal government.

The water in Town Hall will taste the same. After inviting bids from six companies and receiving bids from two, the board awarded the contract to Vermont Pure of Bow, the current supplier. The company was not only the low bidder at $2.39 for a five gallon jug and $3.49 a month for hot/cold coolers, but trimmed its price below what the town currently pays.

The board approved a proposal from Dubois & King, Inc. of Nashua to engineer repairs to the Glenn Bridge, the last span on Belknap Mountain Road, for a fee of $26,800. The bridge is among those on the state's "red list" as in need of urgent repair. Dustin Muzzey, operations of the Department of Public Works, told the board that by approving the proposal it could be submitted to the New Hampshire Department of Transportation to qualify the project for state aid, which would defray 80-percent of the cost of the work. He anticipated that the project could be put out to bid next spring and completed before the year is out. The town would fund the work, but would be reimbursed by the state by July 1, 2017, the earliest funds would become available.

Director of Public Works Sheldon Morgan said that once repairs to Glenn Bridge were complete, the town could turn to the bridge on Old Lakeshore Road, another red-listed span, to ensure the quickest possible reimbursement.

On the advice of Plodzik & Sanderson, the town's independent auditors, the selectmen adopted a series of changes to the purchasing procedures, which chairman Gus Benvides said would ensure that in procuring goods and services, the town paid the lowest possible price consistent with high quality and timely delivery.

Timothy "Ty" Wolfe of the Department of Public Works paid the lowest possible price when the selectmen agreed to sell him a boat trailer, found without identification and apparently abandoned nearly the skating rink more than a year ago, for the sum of one dollar.

Wolfe's dollar will not go far toward repairing the department's 2001 JCB 426B Loader. While putting salt in the shed for the winter, the machine abruptly stopped running and spat blue smoke from its tailpipe. Mechanics from Casey Equipment of Kingston stripped down the engine at their shop to find a bolt that shook loose from the engine housing and lodged at the cam shaft under a cylinder lifter.

Morgan told the board that although the engine could be rebuilt, it already has logged more than 10,000 hours and would not be warranteed. Alternatively, a remanufactured engine, with a one-year warranty, could be installed for $20,802, less as much as $4,000 for the old block. He recommended and the board agreed to install a remanufactured engine, paying with funds from the department's fuel account, which stands at $109,410 with a month left in the year.

With the increased costs of both unemployment compensation and workers compensation insurance beginning in the new year, Town Administrator Scott Dunn said that the town would incur unreimbursed costs for police and firefighter special details in 2010 of nearly $5,000. To offset the cost increases, he recommended that the board increase the rates for special details from $46 per hour to $50 per hour for standard shifts and from $56 per hour to $57 per hour for holiday shifts. The board agreed to schedule a public hearing at its next regularly scheduled meeting with an eye to levying the higher charges as early as possible in 2010 to avoid any additional costs to taxpayers.

Dick Waitt, the town's longtime representative on the Lakes Region Planning Commission was unanimously reappointed.

The Country Press, Inc., which printed the town report last year, will do so again in 2009. The firm submitted a bid of $4,137.94 to print 1,600 copies of 170 pages each. A year ago, the 156 page report cost $3,813.60 to print. The 2009 report is project to run longer and cost more because it will include the annual payroll and vendor payment reports in accordance with the vote on a petitioned warrant article at the 2008 town meeting.

Finally the selectmen authorized Fire Chief Jim Hayes to purchase two intravenous fluid pumps, or so-called "Smart pumps," for the ambulance. The pumps are required to administer certain medications to patients with heart conditions who will soon be transported directly to the catherization unit at Concord Hospital.