Coordinator report
August 14, 2014

Board needs to sign State Primary election warrants so I can get them
posted. As well need to appoint election workers. Rosa will have a
revised list by meeting time. Current list is supplied.

Town counsel Pollard has reviewed the Seaboard Solar re-contract which
he noted is cumbersome and in some respects has failure of consideration
since there are no penalty clauses for non-performance. On the other
hand it was reviewed by other law firms including KP and Seaboard's
funder is going to want this form. He agrees with me that there is no
reason not to sign it and we need to sign in order to get the future
payments for being the net meter host. Recently an article on the town's
solar projects was in the Recorder.

Preliminary end of FY14 financial data shows:  Broadband collected
$99,084 in revenues and had expenses of $89,955.  The voted budget was
$92,000 and net income was almost $10,000.  The Transfer Station had
$30,113 on the revenue side and expenses of $28,975 leaving a surplus of
a bit more than $1000. Town meeting had appropriated $38,000. If the
revenue isn't there we try not to spend it. If the revenue is there and
town meeting didn't authorize that amount we only can spend what was
voted.

While the snow and ice deficit totaled $39,756, the highway department
had $15,478 unexpended in the expense line and $13,224 in the wage line
which will be used to offset the snow and ice deficit. I expect the net
snow and ice deficit, to be raised by taxation in FY15, to be about
$12,000.

There is by my calculation about $50,000 unexpended from FY14 to
contribute to free cash. This amount includes about $20k from general
government, $16k from insurance and debt service, and $4k from public
safety.

The PVRS most recent district assessment letter reduced our FY15 cost by
a total of $9,500 from what was voted at ATM.  Some folks from the
Northfield Taxpayer's Association concerned about their town's over-ride
irregularities and the increased regional school assessment wish to
present to the Warwick Selectboard. I told them the assessment and a
possible, though not likely, special town meeting article would be
discussed at this meeting. A letter was submitted signed by some
Northfield residents. I have been speaking with Bernardston Selectboard
member Bob Raymond about the fiscal implications of the school budget
and invited him to attend to contribute a perspective from our fellow
district town. Since we funded the school by zeroing out a contribution
to our capital savings we won't really feel the effect of this
expenditure until future years when this new school spending basis,
payments for the new WCS roof, and payments for District technology hit
us. The tax rate is going from $18.22 in FY14 to $19.61 in the current
year. Unless we stop saving for capital expenses, the impact of this
year's school operating increase, payment on the new school roof, and
school computer / technology spending will total $85,000 more to fund
which is $1.10 additional to the tax rate. A tax rate of $20.70 in FY16
will not be well received. One does not need to be prescient to say that
taxpayers will revolt. The questions for the Selectboard are 1. Is there
sufficient new information to warrant reconsideration of the voted
school budget at the upcoming special town meeting and 2. If there is,
do we have the stomach for the strife this will occasion?

I am beginning work on the next CDBG planning documents including the
project list and community development strategy. I sent my draft of the
latter to Pat at the FRCOG for update of planning documents. I'll host
some informal planning discussions and then will hold a hearing on the
content to date. Besides housing rehab we are looking for some sort of
planning activity under the public social service heading. One idea I
have advanced to HRC is a planning activity to see how future CDBG funds
or USDA Rural Development loans / grants could be employed to fund
building fiber to the homes of low and moderate income Warwick
residents.

We took delivery of a "proof of concept" package of a new line of
Internet radio gear from Cambium called ePMP which has very high
through-put. They discounted the initial offer by 70%.  Once we figure
it out I plan to install it to provide line of sight service to the
Moores Pond area. It will only work where sites can clearly see a tower.
The cell tower is now MBI fiber served and Mt Grace tower will be
switched to the MBI123 fiber in the next week. The radio link to NH will
be reconfigured to provide fail-over service. I haven't heard anything
about the proposed fiber interconnection of Warwick to Winchester and
Richmond NH.

The planning board hearing on the by right solar zoning for the Allen
Lot is scheduled for 7:30 pm August 14.
Most of the school roof is now done with work focused on the gym. Today
half of the gym roof was stripped and the plywood deck removed.  You can
stand inside the gym and see sky between the roof panels. Workers are
foaming the cracks and then will tape them. Plywood will be nailed and
glued to the panels and then additional insulation panels applied to the
existing making a total of 9 inches of foam insulation that is air
sealed. The race is on to complete by the first day of school.