MEETING MATTERS
WESTMINSTER BOARD OF SELECTMEN
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 6, 2008
Compiled by Caitlyn Kelleher Journal Reporter

Top Story:

Selectmen voted to appoint Patricia Glover to the Board of Health after she interviewed with Selectman John Fairbanks.

Glover, a medical doctor, was appointed to fill the position vacated by Daniel Ervin in November. Ervin resigned because he moved out of town.

Glover will fill the position until the town election in April, when someone will have to run for the position. She has attended two meetings before seeking the appointment to the board.

"She will be a great asset to the board," Board of Health member Pete Munroe said.

Selectman Nick Hay was late to the meeting so the board voted after an executive session. Selectman Tom O'Toole recused himself from the vote because his restaurant is inspected by the Board of Health.

In Other News:

• Juliette O'Brien, one of the organizers of the PTO's Annual Christmas Tree Lighting, approached the Selectmen to try to pull more the town into the organization of the event. She said that over the last couple of years the event has been sponsored entirely by the elementary school's PTO. She said she would like to make the event more permanent.

"I'd like to spread it out because it is a town event," she said. "We try to make it a holiday event."

She would like the permission to submerge the electrical wires for the tree's lights into the ground on the Town Common. The expected cost is between $600 and $700, and she would like the town to pick up the one time cost.

The group also discussed adding the cost of the tree shaping and the electricity to the town's budget so that the annual event won't disappear.

O'Brien said the PTO would still hold responsibility for organizing it.

Also attending the meeting was Kelly McGee, a member of the Oakmont Regional School Council, who wanted to combine the school's annual Memory Tree with the Westminster event.

"We would be able to have the ceremony and the tree lighting," McGee said.

The Memory Tree is usually held on a tree in front of the Ashburnham Town Hall, but this year because of the renovations of that building it was held at the Forbush Memorial Library.

• The Board also discussed the proposed budgets of the Fire and Police departments with the respective chiefs.

Fire Chief Brenton MacAloney discussed his concerns about the new fees from the DPW for water and sewer usage because of large amount of water the fire department uses in the line of duty.

The Selectmen asked MacAloney to compute the amount of money collected by the ambulance service from Westminster residents beyond that collected from the insurance companies.

The fire department is legal required to bill the residents for those costs but Advisory Board member Vance Butterfield said he doesn't think it is fair that residents are billed beyond the costs insurance.

"My feeling is that we shouldn't have to pay that amount of money, if we're town resident," Butterfield said.