March 15, 2007
Attendees: Doug Gagne - chairman, Jeff Snow, Nancy Bell, Chris Buzzy and Scott Fisher
Jason Ekstrom, Ekstrom Lawn Care
The meeting was held in the Lower Town Hall and was called to order at 6:30 pm.
Minutes
Nancy moved to approve the minutes of February 15, 2007 as submitted. Doug seconded and the motion carried unanimously. Chris and Scott abstained
Old Business
Doug recommended deferral of the signage, stonewall and rubbings discussion until next meeting so that the Trustees could focus on the lawn maintenance bids. The Trustees agreed.
New Business
Scott asked if it was customary to invite bidders to Trustee meetings. Doug and Jeff responded that all meetings were open to the public. Bids were opened at 11am that morning and all who attended were notified that they could attend the meeting later on that evening.
Doug mentioned that last year a spreadsheet was created to help them review the bids but time did not allow the secretary to create the document this year. Jeff recommended going through the bids one by one to identify the positive and negatives. Once they completed their review of pricing they reviewed the bids for completeness. The Trustees noted that in the future they must require referrals as part of the bid.
Ekstrom, Start to Finish, Ramage, and Einstein had complete bids. JP Lawn was missing a certificate of insurance. Nashua Lawn was missing an equipment list. There was some discussion to determine how incomplete bids were handled in previous years. The trustees agreed that in previous years incomplete bids were eliminated.
Chris moved to accept only the bids that were complete. Nancy seconded and the motion unanimously passed.
Scott questioned the separate hourly rate for general landscaping. The purpose of the line item was explained to him. Jeff summed up what remained and wanted to determine if they should drop the two highest bids. The Trustees had to decide if they wanted to stay with Ekstrom or hire the company who was approximately $600 less in price. Nancy mentioned that Ekstrom did an excellent and responsive job last year.
Jeff moved to hire Ekstrom for Cemetery Lawn Maintenance for 2007. Nancy seconded and the motion unanimously passed.
Scott stated that Ekstrom had an excellent reputation and was impressed that he attended the meeting. Nancy volunteered to be the primary contact for Ekstrom again.
Jason Ekstrom stated that he would do his best to limit the total number of mowings this year to fifteen. He would try to keep under the Trustees budget this year. They discussed spring clean up and the Trustees stated that they did want spring clean up completed this year. The Trustees asked Ekstrom to clean up the periphery of the cemeteries as part of the spring clean up.
Doug reviewed the details of the Churchyard stonewall with Scott.
Jeff moved to nominate Doug as chairman. Chris seconded and the motion unanimously passed.
Interments (February and March)
0 Burials performed
Lots Sold (February and March)
0 Lots Sold
Next Meeting will be held April 19, 2007 at 6:30 PM in the Churchyard Cemetery.
Jeff moved and Nancy seconded to adjourn. The motion carried unanimously.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Chris Buzzy and Kimberly Dogherty, secretary