SHERWOOD FOREST ROAD MAINTENANCE DISTRICT

Prudential Committee Meeting

April 16, 2005 Minutes

Committee Members Present: Bill Brownhill, Vice Chairman; Gerry Grondin, Bob Ronzio, David Bonney

Staff Present: Maryellen Lake, Clerk/Treasurer

Public Present: See Sign-In Sheet

The meeting was called to order at 10:38 a.m. Reading of Minutes: The minutes of the April 2 meeting were distributed and read. Two typographical errors were corrected, and the last line on page 1 was corrected to omit the words “and therefore will not be included in the budget.” Bob moved to accept the minutes as corrected; Gerry seconded; motion passed.

Treasurer’s Report: The Treasurer’s Report was distributed and read. David moved to accept the Treasurer’s Report; Bob seconded; motion passed.

Road Superintendent’s Report: Absent

Reading of the Warrant: Warrant #19 was read with total expenses $560.73. Bob moved to pay the bills; Gerry seconded; motion passed.

OLD BUSINESS

Letter to the Attorney General re District service to the community. Bob volunteered to write the letter. Bill contacted Dick, who said he had not yet heard from our attorney.

Contract for summer roads: Bill read a fax received from Dick, which included a note that a request for quote for grading 22 miles of road. If over $10,000.00 it must be bid. We will also need state forms completed by the Contractor for payroll verification of payment of the prevailing wage. Dick included a draft of a request for price quote for demand service contract and a draft of other required items to be included in the bids.

Bill spoke to Bill Elovirta and received the following information: The Town doesn’t have to pay prevailing wage because the workers are town employees. If the town hires an outside contractor, they do have to pay prevailing wage. The reason we can’t get around it is because we have to put out for bids anything that is $10,000.00 or over. Bill suggested that the Road District should have its own employees and equipment. There was a brief discussion of the cost effectiveness of having our own employees and equipment against paying prevailing wage. No decision was made.

Discussion of Road Conditions: Bob noted that a situation on Sherwood Drive came up on a Saturday. Chuck and he looked at the problem, got in contact with Egee. Stone was put down. He noted that the road didn’t look any worse than other places. The situation was taken care of on Sunday. Bob noted that the problem with Little John is that the culvert is more on Dragon Way than Little John. Bob noted that there are a couple of culverts where water is seeping down and eroding the culverts. The upper side needs to be dug out. Maryellen noted that she had notified Chuck of washouts on Prince John.

There was a lengthy discussion of possible options to the necessity of having the contractor pay prevailing wage. Bill noted that we have no choice but to put the contract out for bids. The people who will bid on it will have to conform to the law. However, we can’t do anything until we hear from our lawyer. After a discussion of the urgency of this issue, it was generally agreed that the bids should go out as soon as possible.

There was a brief discussion of the timing of grading.

Maryellen asked permission to acquire call waiting service from peoplepc because the computer is connected to her home telephone.

NEW BUSINESS

Audit: It was generally agreed that an audit is needed which would cover the past three to four fiscal years. Maryellen will check sources to see if an accountant is available and get costs. Blanche noted that we should have an accountant of record. Maryellen noted that we can also request an audit from the DOR.

2006 Budget: Bill suggested that for December through February it would be sufficient to meet once a month. He also suggested that we get an attorney who will be more responsive to our needs. He recommended that the Committee schedule a workshop session to deal with the contract and the 2006 budget. Maryellen reported that she was told the town automatically raises their budget by a certain percentage. She will ask the town for that figure.

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

David Boomsma introduced himself as a representative of Craig Willis of White Wolf. There was a discussion of the conflict between the Road Superintendent and contractor, and a lengthy discussion regarding whether to choose to grade only those roads that need grading as opposed to grading all roads.

Mike McEnerney asked if there was something about non-residents - namely contractors - attending District meetings, with reference to their presence when the bids were opened. Bob commented that meetings are open, but the Chair doesn’t have to recognize everyone. The Open Meetings Law forbids exclusion of any member of the public, except under specified circumstances.

ADJOURNMENT: Bill moved to adjourn the meeting; motion seconded and passed. The meeting was adjourned at 12:10 p.m.

True Copy Attest

Maryellen Lake, Clerk/Treasurer