MEETING MATTERS
ASHBURNHAM ADVISORY BOARD MONDAY, MARCH 24, 2008
Compiled by Caitlyn Kelleher Journal Reporter

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The Ashburnham Advisory Board met with Police Chief Loring Barrett to discuss the four budgets that he oversees for the town. In addition to the Police Department's budget he oversees the animal control officer, the dispatch center, and next year he will oversee the public safety building's budget.

One of the big changes to the Police Department's budget is the addition of a new police officer this spring and incorporating that into next year's budget. A new officer was added because one of the officers is out with a long-term injury. The town's insurance is reimbursing the town 80 percent of the officer's salary because he was injured on duty.

The injured officer is expected to return to work in the late fall and his return would let the department be staffed by two officers 24-hours a day.

Barrett said he is working with Westminster Police Chief Salvatore Albert to develop a regional agreement to offer a combined service for animal control.

Advisory Board members asked Barrett why he had not spent the money that was appropriated last year for an animal control vehicle yet. He replied it was because he hadn't found the right vehicle for the right cost.

Barrett said the first year of the public safety building's budget was relatively low because there are no repairs or inspection costs and the building will still be under warranty.

The building's budget includes heat, electricity and a cleaning service.

Barrett is asking for two warrant articles. One would be for new cruiser and the second would be for $6,000 to continue to fund the school resource officer position. The SRO position has been funded through a warrant article to supplement the operating budget for a number of years.

In other business:

• The board also met with Fire Chief Paul Zbikowski to discuss the Fire Department's budget. Board members did not have many concerns about the operating budget, except for issues on the operation of South Station, which some members of the board expressed concerns about keeping that station open once the new public safety building is open. Zbikowski said three of the department's 13 vehicles would not be able to be housed in the new station.

Advisory Board Chairman Bill Johnson suggested Zbikowski reduce the fleet and then approach voters to replace the oldest vehicles, some of which are military surplus from as far back at 1968. Zbikowski said the older trucks were better at getting into the woods for brush fires.

Zbikowski also addressed the number of call firefighters that were responding to calls in the overnight and weekend hours, so he shifted money in his budget. The department has an approximately 40-60 percent split of EMS versus fire calls.

He said one of the things he might want to look into for future years is to pay someone to remain in town to respond to calls. Advisory Board members did not discount this idea for the future.

• The board also met the library trustees and director. The library, like every other department, had been asked to cut 3 percent of its budget, which Cheryl Paul-Bradley had done by level-funding heating fuel and electricity.

This concerned board members, because they knew this underfunded those accounts significantly.

"Historically, that is an underfunded budget and we just asked an underfunded budget to cut 3 percent," Johnson said.