Brentwood board votes at April 1 meeting: consent agenda, staffing change, Grange lights, stop sign move, finance review, nonpublic session

At its April 1 meeting, the Brentwood board approved several motions affecting town operations and infrastructure.

Votes at a glance

- Consent agenda: The board approved the payroll and consent agenda for the week, including payroll of $40,553 and payroll taxes of $9,852, and noted accounts payable and purchase details (loader purchase and HealthTrust payments). The motion to accept the consent agenda passed by voice vote.

- Fire/EMS staffing: The board voted to eliminate stipend coverage and replace it with per-diem staffing for overnight coverage; implementation will use $95,309 from the 2025 budget and the board directed staff to include an estimated $98,616 in the 2026 budget. (See separate article for full discussion.)

- Grange building lighting: The board approved up to $1,600 to replace interior fixtures at the historical Grange museum and to add an outdoor motion detector light; the motion was approved by voice vote. The Historical Society presented quotes and said fixtures would be upgraded to LED.

- 3 Ponds Drive stop sign and advisory sign: The board approved moving one stop sign within the 3 Ponds Drive development and the installation of a yellow "hard left" advisory sign; the board added a condition that Chief Doty determine any advisory speed that should accompany the sign. The association will cover sign costs and the work will proceed at the association's expense unless otherwise arranged.

- Finance reconciliation contractor: The board approved contracting a finance consultant (Cheryl, specialist in municipal reconciliation) for an initial 40-hour engagement at $100/hour, up to $4,000, to reconcile trial balances and prepare journal entries to bring records up to date through March. The motion passed by voice vote.

- Nonpublic session: The board voted to enter nonpublic session under RSA 91-A:3 II (personnel, hiring, reputation and real-estate acquisition matters). The motion passed by roll-call.

Where details were not specified in the meeting record, the board directed staff to follow up: the consent agenda covered several checks and a loader purchase but some item-level allocations were described as "not specified" in the transcript and will be clarified in subsequent staff reports.

Formal actions recorded at the meeting include motions to approve the consent agenda, the staffing change, the Grange lighting, the stop-sign move, the finance contractor engagement, and the move into nonpublic session. For each motion, the transcript records the motion and the board vote; exact roll-call tallies were not always read into the public record.