| 0:01:45 | Opening | Rapp: "It's been a month and a half. Yeah. About a month and a half since we last met." The mayor notes the weather "is not the best". | |
| 0:02:01 | Stabilization grants: the 4% cut | Mayor: under existing law "the stabilization grants were going to be reduced by 4% on an annual basis", creating "an impossible burden for the tax base that we have here". At the last joint meeting both bodies agreed she would draft a letter supporting legislation to stop the reduction; it is printed "on the back of your agenda". | OBS |
| 0:03:35 | HB 525 hearing that morning | Mayor: "HB 525, which addresses this decrease in education stabilization grants, was going to be heard by the House Education Committee today"; she and the superintendent testified. The superintendent: "Claremont has had a loss of almost $400,000 for this fiscal year." By 2020 "The reduction will be over $1 million" and over 18 years "a reduction totaling 5.8 million. That's a sixth of the school budget". Without the bill "there will be horrific consequences". | OBS |
| 0:07:15 | Delegation support | Mayor: "Representative O'Connor came in and indicated his support of the bill. He didn't speak on the bill." The letter was finished "at about 430 this morning". | |
| 0:08:20 | Joint letter read | The mayor reads the letter "on behalf of the Claremont City Council and the Claremont School Board": "Though we are independent governing bodies, we are dependent upon the same tax base"; "Claremont lost approximately $110 million in valuation, increasing our tax rate over $5"; "These factors have contributed to Claremont holding the highest tax rate in New Hampshire"; the city is "considering a 5% budget decrease for the upcoming year" and "Currently, the Claremont School Board is making cuts to its budget so that there will be no impact to the tax rate in FY 18." | |
| 0:10:42 | Other communities; the lottery | Mayor: other communities report insurance increases of 21%; "We had on the city side, we had 23.1%, I believe." House Education chair Rick Ladd said "This is just the beginning"; the bill goes next to House Finance. A Department of Education staffer said "the lottery brings in about $75 million in revenue" against a "price tag is about 1 billion". | |
| 0:14:10 | Representatives respond | Gauthier: "I'm looking at this bill as a as a life support for now". An unidentified representative: "I'm a Democrat" and once "I defied my own party to support the bill" on special education funding; he co-sponsors "House Bill 597" on adequacy aid. O'Connor: "we're either going to all survive together or we're going to perish together." | |
| 0:18:25 | Notice of hearings | Mayor: "Usually we have a day or two notice." The representative: the House calendar comes out Thursdays and hearings are jammed together. The superintendent offers to forward New Hampshire School Administrators Association bulletins: "I could send it to the school board as well as to the members of the city council". | |
| 0:23:23 | Councilors' questions | Damren: the lost stabilization money "becomes our new normal". Temple asks whether the governor would veto. Gauthier: "it's a Republican effort" and "the odds are it'll pass". Adrian asks whether "we would have his support". | |
| 0:26:27 | Governor and commissioner | Rapp notes the governor has "vocalized support for, the state paying for full day kindergarten" and asks Gauthier to sound him out. Irish asks that someone press the governor's nominee for commissioner of education: "you got to find a way to cross the line and shake hands and come out with the middle." A representative calls school-funding fights "a battle of the spreadsheets" and urges contact with "our Senator Martha Hennessy". | |
| 0:32:10 | Spreadsheet of gains and losses | Councilor Pope: "is there a town by town spreadsheet of gains and losses out there". Gauthier says he has the legislative budget office's spreadsheet; Irish asks him to send it through the superintendent. | |
| 0:33:45 | Vermont comparison | Temple: the Vermont governor that day asked Vermont school boards "to freeze their budgets". | |
| 0:35:22 | Resident comment | Fulton proposes that "if the city of Claremont and the Claremont School District shared a communications person, say, half time", one duty could be legislative tracking for both bodies. | POS |
| 0:38:26 | Stabilization action steps | Mayor restates the steps: she will share the NHMA bulletin with the board, the superintendent his association's, Gauthier will forward the spreadsheet, and the senator and governor will be invited. She, the chair, the superintendent and the new city manager will work with the delegation on a meeting with the commissioner (0:40:18). | POS |
| 0:40:49 | Lead screening figures | Mayor: screening rates had been "in the 57% tile for one year olds and 29%, I believe, something like that in the two year olds." After a hospital lunch-and-learn, "in the last 12 months, the hospital pediatricians screened 137", of which "46 was a part of the 137" in December and January. The hospital is receiving "a lead testing machine that's valued at $2,500" with "about 144 free tests". | |
| 0:44:56 | Proposed school policy | Mayor: the board could "set a school board policy in place, so that you're ready to get 100% screening of children entering kindergarten". Rapp: "just like we have." "People have to be vaccinated." and "it should be a policy that we have that all kids that come in had to have been screened to be able to register." LeClair: "the Valley Regional Hospital nursing staff supports the school district with the kindergarten registration process". The mayor asks for the policy "by the beginning of the next school year"; the superintendent: "This is a top priority." | OBS |
| 0:50:40 | Lead-safe training for tech students | Mayor: the state program would train tech students in "perhaps eight hours over two school days training" and "there would be no cost to the school district". Sprague asks about industry pushback if lead were found "coming home on workers clothing". | |
| 0:53:40 | State response thresholds | Mayor: a state protocol starts "if the blood level is 1010 ML" [as transcribed] or above; later, "the CDC is recommending five ML or higher" (1:09:51). | |
| 0:59:39 | Landlords, contractors, reporting | Raymond: "it's a very expensive to do the cleanup", so owners hire uncertified workers. An unidentified speaker: "Shouldn't we have some sort of inspections on rental properties?" Irish asks whether a contractor must report lead found; Raymond: No. Irish: "If you make a mandatory reporting, they can't get the pass anymore. It's a simple fix." Rapp: "Could that be a city ordinance?" Raymond: "That's what we're working on now". | |
| 1:11:09 | Lead action items | Mayor: "the school board will be working on a policy to be in place by the beginning of the next school year", an education campaign, and the delegation to track the bill once numbered. The superintendent: "The school district is definitely on board." Members willing to serve on the joint committee are to contact him or the mayor. | POS |
| 1:12:31 | Budget calendars | Mayor: "the school board, in order to be compliant with state law, had to have one of their budget hearings on the same night as the city council". Rapp: the board has "worked very hard to to find the money without affecting children's education"; the administration's latest reductions follow in the board's own meeting. | |
| 1:14:48 | City budget outlook | Departments are preparing "a level funded budget as well as a budget that had a 5% decrease in it". The council will take up "elderly tax exemptions, which haven't changed, 1999". One retired owner's taxes rose "in 14 years, her taxes increased by 61%"; two others rose 63% and 57%. "We can't cut our way out of this". | |
| 1:20:04 | Capital plans | Mayor proposes sharing capital improvement plans and to "stagger the capital improvement projects". The superintendent: deferred maintenance once meant "we'd have over 20 buckets in that public school"; FY18 maintenance money is being cut. | |
| 1:22:08 | Contracts on the ballot | Irish: "all of our agreements are done"; "those will be a separate Warren [warrant] articles" in March, and "it's crucial that we approve those". | |
| 1:23:47 | Grand list | Gauthier puts the grand list near "$790 million?"; the mayor: "I think it's 690." Gauthier: "what we need is 1.5 billion in assessments". The mayor: "North Country Smokehouse will come online around August", a "67,000 square foot facility". Gauthier proposes a natural-gas manifold for the industrial area; the mayor refers him to planning and development. | |
| 1:28:02 | Leasing and adult education | Nicholas asks about joint vehicle leases and adult tuition programs at the tech center, which "would seem to me that would solve our workforce issue in the city". The superintendent describes "creating another high school schedule for the fall of 2018" to improve student access. Damren recalls the center "ran a very successful EMT training course here". A councilor: "The person who runs the adult ed programs in the evenings is Amy Hood." Pierce proposes a personal-care-attendant program. | |
| 1:37:11 | Shared revenue ideas | Adrian: new district policies let school groups partner with outside organizations "in order to generate some of their own revenue", such as field signage. Irish: field lighting costs "roughly $125 an hour", and in the school's name "E-Rate would then rebate roughly 75% of that cost". The mayor refers both to the superintendent and the city manager, who "will start on February 1st". | |
| 1:41:16 | Next joint meeting | The representative: the House will vote on the state budget "either April 5th or April 6th"; meet before then. The mayor: "I would probably say end of March." | |
| 1:44:08 | Adjournment | Rapp: "Motion to adjourn." A second; Aye. The school board's own meeting followed. | |