by Mary Grow

At their Jan 21 meeting, China selectmen, assisted by town attorney Amanda Meader, continued their discussion of conflict of interest as it relates to budget committee members who are also volunteer fire department members. They added an expansion of earlier discussions of reporting requirements for fire departments spending town funds. Neither issue was resolved.

As at the special Jan. 7 meeting (see The Town Line, Jan. 16), board Chairman Ronald Breton insisted that a budget committee member who is also a fire department member, or has a family member in one of China’s three departments, must recuse himself from any discussion of stipends, donations or other individual reimbursement, under whatever name, for firefighters. He named Budget Committee Chairman Robert Batteese and members Kevin Maroon and Tom Rumpf as those affected.

According to China’s Administrative Code of Ethics, no appointed or elected official can take any part in a decision on an item “in which he or she or a member of his or her immediate family has a financial or special interest, other than an interest shared by the public generally.”

Breton challenged Batteese, the only one of the three named budget committee members present, to declare himself in conflict and recuse himself from any committee discussion. Batteese refused, repeating, as he said on Jan. 7, that he has been in both positions for many years.

“I’m much more interested in keeping the taxes down than in the few dollars I get,” he said.

“That’s not gonna happen,” Batteese, a China Village department member, said, because individual stipend amounts are not public information.

Batteese asked whether the selectmen were in conflict when they voted to add to the 2019 town meeting warrant a request to increase their annual stipends, which voters approved. Meader replied that since only selectmen can approve the meeting warrant to be sent to voters, sometimes they must be exempted from conflict of interest rules. The voters make the final decision, she emphasized.

The attorney added that she regrets the whole “difficult conversation,” which in her view is not about local people “honorably serving your community for a few bucks,” but about possible future problems or current issues in the wider world.

Since Batteese declined to state a conflict of interest, Breton made a motion for the selectboard declaring the three budget committee members cannot vote on anything involving funds to individual firefighters, based on state law and China’s Administrative Code of Ethics. Donna Mills-Stevens seconded the motion so it could be discussed.

Breton insisted the issue was conflict of interest, not the money involved, although when Mills-Stevens called the $40,000 proposed for stipends a “very small part” of the total budget, he disagreed.

Breton voted in favor of his motion, Wayne Chadwick voted against it, and Mills-Stevens and Irene Belanger abstained. Breton demanded reasons for the abstentions. Mills-Stevens said she was confused by the emphasis on one budget item; Belanger agreed.

The motion having failed, selectmen turned to other business before returning to a related issue: when fire department treasurers submit quarterly reports on how they’ve spent town money, Breton said stipend recipients’ names should be listed.

“That’s not gonna happen,” Batteese, a China Village department member, said, because individual stipend amounts are not public information.

South China and Weeks Mills fire chiefs Dick Morse and Bill Van Wickler, respectively, also objected. Morse thought his department was filling out the quarterly form as Town Manager and Town Treasurer Dennis Heath requested. For example, he said, the line for vehicle repairs reports a total spent, but not individual amounts for tires or nuts and bolts.

Breton said without names being listed, the town treasurer can be fined, jailed or both for failing to require proper itemization of taxpayers’ money.

Heath, who had been following the meeting via livestream as he continues to recover from a broken ankle, joined on speakerphone. He said that he does not need to know how stipends are calculated or how many hours each recipient puts in, but does need each name and the amount the person received. Because the stipends are an individual benefit from public funds, the treasurer needs a public record, he said.

Breton recommended selectmen, Heath and the three fire chiefs schedule a joint meeting to seek clarification and consensus. No action was taken on the suggestion.

In other business Jan. 21, resident Anita Smith talked about a planned timber harvest in the China School Forest behind China Primary School, to begin in February. Smith and Elaine Philbrook have been overseeing the forest for years.

Smith is working with forester Harold Burnett, of Two Trees Forestry, in Winthrop, and Tyler Reynolds Forest Products, of China. She expects timber sales will bring in less than $4,000.

Proceeds from the last harvest in the late 1990s were set aside in an account for town forest maintenance, grant-matching and related purposes. Smith would like money from the February harvest to go into the same account.

After some confusion over whether she was asking permission or informing selectmen of the next step in an ongoing plan, selectmen unanimously voted approval.

Selectmen appointed Trishea Story as budget committee secretary until the next local elections in November and Sandra Isaac to the China for a Lifetime Committee.

Their next regular meeting is scheduled for Monday evening, Feb. 3. Before then, they were scheduled for a Jan. 27 review of the proposed 2020-2021 budget in advance of a Budget Committee meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 30.

by Mary Grow

China selectmen will start their Monday, Jan. 27, special meeting at 5 p.m. in the town office meeting room. The purpose of the meeting is to review and make recommendations on the 2020-2021 municipal budget; members chose the early starting time because they expect a long meeting.

The budget committee is scheduled to review the selectmen’s recommendations on Thursday, Jan. 30, beginning at 7 p.m., in the town office meeting room.

by Mary Grow

The special China selectmen’s meeting Jan. 7, called to discuss the town conflict of interest policy and to give board members their copies of Town Manager Dennis Heath’s draft 2020-21 budget, turned out to be yet another round in the months-long argument between town officials and the volunteer fire departments.

Heath, recovering from surgery for a broken ankle, was absent, leaving board Chairman Ronald Breton the spokesman for the town side. Town Attorney Amanda Meader and Budget Committee Chairman Robert Batteese were major participants in the discussion.

At issue, still, was payment of stipends to volunteer firefighters as a contribution toward their expenses.

At issue, still, was payment of stipends to volunteer firefighters as a contribution toward their expenses. In the current year’s budget, stipends were included in the fire department and China Rescue account. Town meeting voters approved a total fire and rescue budget larger than either the selectmen or the budget committee requested, specifically to cover the amount the departments sought for stipends.

Heath questions the legality of using tax money for stipends for volunteers. Over the last year and a half, he has sought opinions from the state and federal labor departments. State officials approved a plan presented by the firefighters, Heath said in a post-meeting email; federal labor officials have not replied.

The main argument Jan. 7 was over whether members of the budget committee who are firefighters, or whose family members are firefighters, will be in conflict of interest if they vote on whether to recommend voters approve stipends.

China’s Administrative Code of Ethics bars any appointed or elected official from participating in any way in deciding on an item “in which he or she or a member of his or her immediate family has a financial or special interest, other than an interest shared by the public generally.”

Attorney Meader said the wording clearly bars a budget committee member from voting on a recommendation to fund stipends if he (or she) or an immediate family member might get one, even though the amounts involved are small and even though town meeting voters approve. The point, she said, is “to maintain public trust and public confidence.”

Breton defines the situation as volunteers in a nonprofit organization getting public money, disbursed through the fire chiefs without voters knowing who gets how much.

“Benefiting the general public,” Batteese interjected.

Breton said he believes in the proposed 2020-2021 budget firefighters’ stipends are not in the fire and rescue account, but under the community support organizations account, which in the current year includes libraries, historical buildings, some lake protection work and The Town Line newspaper. However, since the budget was not handed out until the end of the meeting, his opinion was not confirmed.

Batteese said he joined the volunteer fire department soon after moving to China in 1984. He was elected to the budget committee in 1987 and has been its chairman since 1995. The committee has made annual recommendations on the town budget, including fire department funding, and he thinks there has never been a conflict.

Breton said if Batteese disagreed with Meader and found no conflict, Breton had the power to overrule Batteese. Batteese disagreed.

Budget committee member Tom Rumpf said most committee members are also fire department members or have relatives who are.

The Jan. 7 conclusions were that there should be some way to help firefighters without using the word “stipends,” even though, Breton said, everyone would know what the money was intended for; and, at Meader’s suggestion, that discussion should be suspended until the budget accounts were available. Breton promised another meeting if needed once selectmen start budget consideration.

A related, shorter argument was over whether a member of the Four Seasons Club – Rumpf is its president – could vote on a town grant to the club. He has applied for funding from China’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) fund for trail work and an equipment storage building.

Meader said conflict of interest applies to individuals, not to organizations. Asked if Four Seasons Club members are paid, Rumpf laughed. But, he asked, would a landowner whose land value was increased by Four Seasons Club trail improvements be considered as benefiting?

On yet another related topic, Batteese objected to Heath’s proposed budget review schedule, which called for the budget committee to make recommendations on Jan. 23 and the selectmen on Jan. 30. The budget committee, Batteese said, is supposed to review and endorse or change the selectmen’s recommended budget.

In past years, selectmen have held one or more meetings to make their recommendations, often including at least one joint meeting with the budget committee; the budget committee has made it recommendations; and selectmen have had a final meeting to approve the town business meeting warrant. If the two boards disagree, selectmen either accept the budget committee figure or put both recommendations in the warrant for voters to consider.

After an exchange of emails, on Jan. 13 Hapgood announced the following schedule: Tuesday, Jan. 21, regular selectmen’s meeting (moved from the usual Monday due to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday); Monday, Jan. 27, special selectmen’s meeting to discuss the 2020-2021 budget; Thursday, Jan. 30, budget committee meeting; and Monday, Feb. 3, regular selectmen’s meeting. The budget committee meets at 7 p.m., the selectmen at 6:30 p.m.