Coordinator Report

May 27, 2010

Cemetery Commission has reorganized and they request the Selectboard
appoint Jeffrey Joyce Burial Agent.

Warwick among other towns voted to participate in the WiredWest fiber
project. The Broadband committee requests that Reva Reck be appointed
our representative. We have yet to identify a nominee as alternate.
Suggest we take a first step by appointing Reva.

The Town closed on the purchase of the Moore's Pond beach this week. The
Open Space committee requests that the Selectboard declare the two old
wooden sheds surplus property so they may be removed from the lot. Once
this is voted I will auction them on eBay and require a deposit for
their removal by a date certain.

Also need a surplus property declaration of a multi function HP printer
scanner that quit working on the BOH.

I am selling donated satellite Internet modems on eBay to benefit the
Library and Historical Society. So far about $200 has been raised from
this.

Building and Energy Committee have prioritized addressing the town hall
chimneys as the next step. I am seeking quotes on removal and consequent
carpentry of the one chimney as separate from the pointing and flashing
of the "live" chimneys. Once these are done we can replace the roof and
then add the solar array.

The Open Space committee asked for phone poles and guardrail to help
define the boundaries of the Moore's Pond beach and a need for some fill
is anticipated. Highway Dept. has the old poles and has straight
guardrail available but not curved. Fill is not a problem. Tim had to
acquire Jersey barriers to secure the guardrail that was damaged across
box culvert. He is investigating repair options for that box culvert
which most of us would call a bridge.

I have ordered Selectmen's and Finance Committee handbooks from MMA. 
Rick Abbott has joined the Finance Committee. They will meet prior to
the Special Town Meeting to make recommendations on the three warrant
articles.

Cabot Risk Management has proposed an acceptable coverage for our
"McNamara" police and fire accident coverage in line with our budget and
with higher levels of coverage. The premium is going from $3825 last
year to $4,206.  The death benefit increases from $250k to $500k.  We
budgeted for a $900 increase.

Broadband borrowing STM articles are to rescind the original borrowing
authority because the recording of the vote was flawed and replace it
with a proper vote. This time the amount of borrowing is lowered to $30k
as we have paid off $10k from revenues generated.

Truck purchase was approved by Town Meeting. I regret the over-ride
article caused some confusion among some votes who either believed this
was their chance to nix the purchase or supported the acquisition and
weren't aware of the vote. The vote to buy the truck was not a
contingent vote as some prior truck purchases were structured. The
over-ride was only to give the Town some "room" with the levy limit in
future years. The truck is ordered.

Forest gate project is nearing completion. Posts are in place and gate
will be in place in a few days.

Solar on landfill - we were contacted by a firm investigating sites for
solar electric on closed landfills. They are to contact me for more
information. Also a company has been looking around for sites to locate
wood mono pole cell infrastructure to extend NH cellular phone networks.

The mounting base on one of the solar lights on Memorial and flag was
damaged. The lights are heavy and have been falling off the bases and
now one appears to have been hit by a vehicle, mower or vandalized. I
capped the electrical connections. One of the two still functions and
lights the monument. I'll repair or get the other light repaired.

Notice of Special Town Meeting is being provided by mailing postcards to
all households and the warrant and a piece I wrote on subject of
additional WCS sprinkler system borrowing was included in the June
newsletter. It reads as follows:

Overview - in 2006 the sprinkler system failed, froze, thawed and caused
extensive water damage to the school.  After some wrangling, the
contractor agreed to repair the system. The town hired an engineer to
oversee the repairs.  Once restored, the system failed on several more
occasions. The school had it repaired several times but eventually all
but the portion serving the gym had to be shut off to prevent further
property damage. Our insurer preferred this to more property damage.

Do we really need to fix it? The Selectboard asked that we seek a waiver
from having to have a system since had we built the school a year
earlier we wouldn't have been required to have one and the design with
exterior doors in all classrooms met earlier code. After a lot or
research we learned that there is no appeal process available to us. We
have a system and it has to work.

Can't we get the contractor to pay for it? The contractor took a turn at
fixing it and has since has gone belly up. Insurance covered the water
damage but not the installation.

Where are we now? The Town voted $70k which is our best estimate of the
cost to repair what was installed. Unsure of exactly what is the best
way to address the problem we sought technical proposals through a
public bid process. After studying the proposals and interviewing the
firms involved everybody agreed that repairing the leaking branch piping
was a bad bet.  The price proposal for the preferred solution came in at
$196k and does not include carpentry repairs to the walls and ceilings.

What are our options? 1. Accept the Simplex Grinnell proposal and try
and negotiate the price down. Using plastic pipe which has a ten year
warranty would lower the cost about $20k. If they want the work badly
enough they might lower their price on a steel pipe installation.  2. We
contract with them to do design and create biddable documents and then
price bid the job for construction next summer.  3. Spend the $70k on
having the existing piping systematically gone through, properly
pitched, and the leaks patched. This work would come with a one year
warranty.  4. Use the voted $70k to make piecemeal repairs starting now
until the money is gone in a few years.

Why are we being asked for more money? Substantial replacement of the
branch piping is the best solution. The Selectboard is reluctant to
spend a portion of the $70k the voters approved with an expectation of
completing the project when that can't happen.  So we are coming back
for additional borrowing authority before we take a first step.

What happens if we wait 'till next summer to build? Competition by price
bidding might bring down the cost. However the price of metal fittings
and pipe is going up 5% a month. So far plastic, though more expensive
isn't. Plastic pipe lowers the labor cost.

What if we vote this down? We are under an order to repair. We have to
address this. Town Meeting and the electorate have given the go ahead on
$70k. If we can't do it the best way we have to make repairs in a short
sighted manner.