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08.13.25 Algiers Fire District#1 Meeting Final Minutes

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AFD#1 – Prudential Committee Meeting

Wednesday, 8/13/25 at 6:00 pm

Location: Guilford Town Office

Final Minutes

MEMBERS PRESENT: Patrice Pennington, Al Franklin

MEMBERS PRESENT VIA ZOOM: Allie Lambert, Paul Beebe, Jocelyn Fritts

STAFF PRESENT: Elly Majonen, Erika Elder

This meeting is the 2nd meeting of the newly formed Prudential Committee. Any members of the Algiers Fire District #1 may attend. *

Meeting called to order at 6:03 by Elly

1.       Review and approve minutes from 7/9/25
Elly read corrections to minutes. MOTION: Al moved to approve the minutes with corrections. The vote was by roll call. All were in favor, no objections, no abstensions. Motion passed.

2.       Warrants – USDA Sewer Bond, Town of Brattleboro, Town of Guilford

Elly: Will is the only official signer at this time. Describes the latest bill from the Town of Brattleboro, much higher than previous, possibly because of wet weather and sump pump usage. Evan from DPW recommends checking manholes for flow. Town of Guilford financial services quarterly payment. Warrant from last fiscal year for payment to Town of Brattleboro & USDA bond payment. Last payment on that will be 5/2028. MOTION: Jocelyn moved to approve the warrants. Al seconded. The vote was by roll call. All were in favor, no objections, no abstensions. Motion passed.

3.       Financial Reports 

Budgets vs Actuals last 5 years, set FY26 budget for Fund 005 (General) & 006 (Maintenance Reserve). Elly shares budget from recent years and proposed for FY26. No budget for FY25 because the Prudential Committee did not meet. Description of other budget items and Maintenance Fund

·       Year to date customer balances, last billing was July 2025

Discussion about rates. Elly can send to everyone, suggests a committee might want to revisit. Rates haven’t gone up since 2014.
Elly asks if people would like to vote on a budget or review until next meeting.
Jocelyn asks for the rate sheet. Elly will send to everyone.* Elly reads current fund balances of general and maintenance reserve funds. Elly will send a statement and reconciliation to everyone. MOTION: Jocelyn moved to set the budget at the next meeting. Al seconded. The vote was by roll call. All were in favor, no objections, no abstensions. Motion passed.

4.     Questions / Comments about by-laws handed out last meeting

Elly: Made a chart of skills and officers, discussion about individual members’ experience and strengths. She recommends that everyone needs to study the bylaws, Open Meeting Law, and the history of the organization. Elly reviewed specific responsibilities for each officer. Though not an officer, she recommends identifying a delinquent tax collector, and someone to spearhead new hookups and communication with the Town of Brattleboro.

·       Nominations for Vice-Chair, Treasurer, and Clerk, Delinquent Collector
*Elly will send Financial and Admin Services agreement to everyone.
Allie can’t be a signer but is skilled at Excel. Al can be a signer and has a relationship with Brattleboro DPW. Al will converse with Dan & Chris at DPW about rates and checking flow. Al is willing to be an additional signer and be the person to communicate with the Town of Brattleboro given his already existing relationship with the appropriate contact persons. Al volunteers to begin conversations regarding rates, manholes and report back at the next meeting. The members were appreciative of Al’s plan. Elly suggests a preliminary slate: Allie for treasurer, Patrice as clerk, Jocelyn as vice-chair. Plan is to vote on this slate at the next meeting.

5.       Other business

  • AFD#1 web page – may want to include brief history, map, intro current Prudential Committee, billing cycle and how to pay, delinquent payment policy. Volunteer to work on web-page? Erika shows web page and suggests to make it more easily found as it is buried within the Town of Guilford webpage. She illustrated how, for example, the Guilford Selectboard has its own page that allows for announcements, agenda, minutes. Jocelyn will reach out to Erika about working on the AFD#1 web page.
  • Online payment option through Municipay – set up separately from TOG as own entity. TOG link to AFD#1 webpage? Elly can research and bring back information to the next meeting. Elly describes Municipay, its relationship with the Town of Guilford bank account. Currently, only payments for water are accepted, and the system is not set up for sewer payments. The individual pays the associated fees for the transaction to Municipay, not AFD#1. MOTION: Jocelyn moved to institute Municipay in order to accept online payments. The vote was by roll call. All were in favor, no objections. Paul had to leave the meeting and did not vote. Motion passed. * Elly will set up.
  • New Allocations – Point person for new allocations process – volunteer?
    New residents want to hook up or expand their sewer allocation. There is an ordinance, Procedures for Connection to the Public Sewer, 2012; New Connection Procedures, dated 1996 with all its regulations to put in or expand a system. Elly shared email communication from Dan Tyler of Brattleboro PWD. *Elly can share Ordinance of Private and Public Sewer Systems and New Connections Policy from 2012. Elly suggests Paul might be a good point person, Al suggests sharing the duties *Elly will talk to Will to find out if he’s interested in being a point person. 

6.       Any other items to bring before the board? Agenda items for next meeting?
Officers, Municipay

7.      Adjournment
MOTION: Allie moved to adjourn. Al seconded. Vote was by voice. All were in favor, no objections, no abstensions. Motion passed. Meeting adjourned at 7:15pm

Next meeting date/time: 9/10/25 at 6pm.

Meeting video: https://youtu.be/7UsoYiMHLN4