Is There a Director of Public Works Position?

At the Select Board Meeting two weeks ago, there was a discussion about when the board created the position of Director of Public Works. The board agreed to check into it at that time. As far as I can determine, the topic did not come up at this week's BOS Work Session. The question remains: is there a position called Director of Public Works in the Town of Ashland? Research into this has yeilded the following:

The following discussion appears in the BOS Minutes from February 14, 2011, under New Business.

"Ashland Public Works Department – TA Branscombe and Mark Ober have discussed the renaming of the Highway Department and adding additional responsibilities to the department that would be a cost saving to other departments. This action would also come with the changing of the Road Agent title to Public Works Director. This proposal would need to see the employee that works at the transfer station as part of his full time job be relieved of his duties at the transfer station and be put into the “highway” section and the need to hire a part time employee for the transfer station would be needed. Action – this item will come before the Board again for vote."

The Select Board passed the following two motions on February 22, 2011 that changed the name of the department and added additional duties to those of the highway agent. (These minutes do not appear on the town's website for some reason.)

"Motion to change the name of the Highway Department to the Ashland Department of Public Works Department - Sandra Coleman; second - Leigh Sharps; discussion followed - vote 5-0 in favor.

"Motion to adopt provisions of RSA 231:63* - Additional Duties - Sandra Coleman; second Jeanette I. Stewart; vote 5-0." [* 231:63 Additional Duties. – Any town may vote to require a highway agent, in addition to his usual duties as highway agent, to have charge, under the direction of the selectmen, of the care and maintenance of any one or more of the following: collection of waste, refuse and garbage; care of public dumps; care of public parks and cemeteries; public beaches; public forests; public playgrounds; shade and ornamental trees.]

These minutes were approved on March 7, 2011 by a vote of 4-0. Neither of these motions changed the title of the highway agent to the Director of Public Works. In fact, by adopting the provisions of RSA 231:63, the board changed the duties the "highway agent" and not the Director of Public Works. As far as I can determine, there was no other discussion of creating a Director of Public Works position in the minutes this year. If this is true, the board will need to correct the problem.

I still have a question about whether the board can correct the problem by simply changing the title. Highway agent is a position established by law as an elected/appointed position. RSA 231:63 affirms this when it requires the town to vote to change to highway agent's duties. The Director of Public Works is not a position specified by law as an elected/appointed position and is, therefore, a hired position.

There are two other problems. One is that when the board voted to adopt the provisions of RSA 231.63, there was no town vote as required by the RSA to add the additional duties to the highway agent position. The second problem is that there is no line item in the budget for a Director of Public Works.