PLYMOUTH, Vt. – The Plymouth Selectboard met on Monday, Feb. 5, and approved a company to digitize the town’s land records, turned down an offer on a town-owned property, and voted to close three excess bank accounts.
After some discussion on digitizing land records, the board decided the company they liked out of New Hampshire wasn’t a good fit, since they would take all of the documents off site. The board then approved COTT Systems out of Texas to digitize the records, which would take one whole day to scan documents, and four to five months to complete the digitizing process.
The board received a letter from Golden Land with an offer of $5,990 for a one-acre parcel the town currently owns, and has $15,000 in delinquent taxes. Board member Keith Cappellini noted that the town cannot sell the property for more than the taxes owed on it. Delinquent tax collector Elaine Pauley confirmed if they did receive more than was owed, the excess funds would need to be paid back to the original property owner. The board made a motion to reject the offer, and to list the properties on the town website.
Pauley explained the recent reappraisal of town funds, and said the intent is to close the town’s three excess checking accounts. Board Chair Jay Kullman agreed, saying “it’s just more liability” to keep all of the accounts balanced and secure. This will leave a single general fund account open for the town’s incoming and outgoing expenses. They are waiting for month’s end to be sure any expenses from old checking account cards go through, and will then close the unnecessary accounts.
Kullman also expressed that only the treasurer should be writing checks. Pauley explained she writes the checks and the town clerk, Angela Kissell, signs them. “That’s part of the auditing suggestion this year,” Pauley said. “That’s about as transparent as we can be.” Cynthia Stoddard from the New England Municipal Resource Center is the third party on the accounts, and was previously established as support for the town with functions pertaining to accounts payable, accounting, and balancing of accounts. Member Rick Kaminski agreed they had a good system.
Town Meeting is Tuesday, March 4, at 7 p.m., and the next selectboard meeting will be Monday, March 18.