LIVERMORE FALLS — Selectmen voted Tuesday to change the Budget Committee Policy to have five members and two nonvoting alternates so it’s easier to get a quorum for meetings.
The amended policy will go to voters at a town meeting.
Residents voted 426-189 on June 8, 2010, for a nine-member committee appointed by the Select Board with no town employees on it.
The committee’s authority would still be advisory. Its powers and duties would be to review and make recommendations on the annual budget as proposed by municipal officers and town manager. It would review and make recommendations on annual capital expenditures as proposed by municipal officers and town manager.
The officers would be a chairperson, a vice chairperson and a secretary.
The board also voted to close the Town Office on May 10 and 11 so staff can reorganize records and the vault, and organize paperwork for better efficiency and accessibility, interim Manager Alex Pawson said. He did the same thing when he worked for the town of Greene, he said.
The Select Board also approved paying stipends to Town Clerk Doris Austin and Treasurer Rebecca Harmatys for extra work they are doing while Town Manager Amanda Allen is on indefinite paid administrative leave.
Allen has been off the job since Jan. 2 by mutual agreement with selectmen while an attorney investigates allegations recently brought in a nonbinding citizen petition.
The five-page petition includes accusations regarding Allen’s lack of leadership, termination of Fire Rescue Department personnel without any formal process, aggressive and intimidating behavior with employees, poor management skills, lack of integrity, failure to take responsibility for her actions, devaluing the experience and knowledge of municipal employees, and lacking initiative to make positive changes in town government.
Selectmen voted to give a $100 stipend each week to Austin and Harmatys for the duration of the investigation, retroactive to the week of Jan. 1. The maximum amount to be earned is $800, or the employee could choose to take three additional personal days off this year.
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