Coordinator Report - February 27, 2014

Since the previous meeting was postponed and little was added to the
agenda much of what follows is derived from my report two weeks ago. 
Overtime as it relates to highway department has been questioned by town
accountant who seeks Selectboard guidance. The personnel policy states
that, "OVERTIME Time in excess of the normal work week of forty hours
during periods of normal highway maintenance.  During snow removal,
overtime begins after eight working hours per day and as in FLSA".

The issue is that a part-time employee may work an extended shift and I
don't think because that snow plowing shift straddles two calendar days,
that the employee should be denied overtime, so we have been paying it. 
Our legal counsel feels this is logical and the intent. He also says
that an interpretation of our policy would support the strict 24 hour
period though it is "not a reasonable interpretation".

Counsel says the FLSA reference is "misplaced" and is willing to review
our policy to make it consistent with Fair Labor Standards Act.  I have
forwarded the policy for his review.  In the mean time I recommend you
vote to permit overtime for snow removal for over eight hours in a
shift. Accountant is not in agreement and plans to attend to argue her
view.

Patricia has suggested WiredWarwick governors need to meet regarding the
FY15 WiredWest assessment.  Broadband committee chair Reck says that the
committee annual appropriation can take care of the cost.  Two
Selectboard members, myself, and a finance committee member attended the
WiredWest meeting in Wendell on 2/24. We can talk about what we learned
and I've invited Reva to attend.
Pursuant to the Hampshire Power residential aggregation agreement, their
counsel has submitted for our review the Warwick draft aggregation plan
for review as part of the consultation process. It is long but reads
like English.  Please give it your attention.

Two weeks ago Warwick Broadband doubled its "backhaul" purchase to 30
Mbps. Last we  implemented a link to Fitzwilliam adding an additional 50
Mbps. That has more than doubled our connectivity and once the MBI fiber
is installed and provisioned with service this wireless circuit to
Fitzwilliam will serve us as a backup.  The cost is within our budget
for this line item expense in the current budget.