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Selectman: DES permit approved for proposed highway garage; committee to review pay-raise structure
Summary
Selectman David Kelly told the Budget Committee the Selectboard secured a DES permit for the proposed highway garage and plans to break the project into separate bid packages; the committee discussed employee pay-raise structure and whether the road agent should be elected or hired, and scheduled a joint Selectboard meeting for Sept. 14, 2026.
Selectman David Kelly told the Budget Committee on April 13 that the Selectboard has secured the Department of Environmental Services permit required for the proposed highway garage site and that Road Agent MacDuffie will obtain a figure for driveway access costs.
Kelly said the Selectboard plans to hold work sessions after Wednesday meetings to draft and finalize procurement materials and will advertise the bidding process. He said the intent is to break the project into separate bid packages for paving, framing, concrete and related trades to encourage competitive bids and better manage procurement timelines.
The meeting also focused on employee pay raises. Vice Chair Marcia Murphy said the joint meeting with the Selectboard was intended to discuss the town's pay-raise structure; Town Administrator April Rollins offered to provide examples from other towns and to share what the state has used. Committee members flagged a personnel confidentiality constraint: if raises are performance-based the Budget Committee may not have access to the underlying personnel evaluations. Rollins clarified that raises for elected positions can be discussed by the committee but that personnel files for hired employees remain confidential.
Committee members also asked whether the road agent would be an elected position once the highway department is established. Ashley Langevin asked about this question and Chair Brett Walker said the town would need to vote on the matter and indicated an intent to make the road agent a hired position rather than an elected one; no final decision was recorded.
The committee set a joint meeting with the Selectboard for Sept. 14, 2026 at 7 p.m. at Academy Hall to continue discussions on pay raises and related topics.
No dollar amounts or procurement timelines beyond the plan to advertise and separate bid packages were provided during the meeting.
