TOWN OF
Selectmen present:
Chip Albee, Susan Weeks and Bill Stockman.
Selectmen reviewed mail, which included: Building Permits for Elvis Hart, Joseph & Janice Lapolla, James O’Brien, Philip Stockman; Driveway Permit for Elvis Hart; Sign Permit for Pak 2000; Approval for Operation for Brenda Fusco, Middle Road Trust, Paul Johnson, Dana Pope; Letter from Avitar re: reviews requested by selectmen; Permit by Notification for Robert Parmenter; NHDRA Draft Review of Assessment Practices for 2005; Wetlands & Non-site Specific Permit for Dan Derby; NHDES copy of letter to Chris Doetch re: movement of septic vent pipe; Property Transfers from Gloria Carter to Deborah Sargent, Bruce Campagna to Paige Morrison, Beverly Leonard to trust, Keith Trider to John Goggin, Durfee Trust to Lawrence Levengood, Janet Lavender to Marilyn Stacy; Memo re: Wakefield boundary pin; Summary of Land Use Forum; Certificate of Completion for Boucher; Standard Dredge & Fill for Hopgood Bixby Shore Trust; Memo from NH Division of Forest & Lands re: forest ranger coverage; Letter from Attorney Ryan re: Cheney status; Memo re: audit schedule.
Items for Signature: Wolfeboro Oil Pre-buy Program; Abatement for Benker Living Trust; Intent to Cut for Lorne Palmason; Transfer Station Agreement for LaBranche; Abatements (19).
To Do Folder: Board Appointments; Zimmer letter re: assessment; MRI Memo re: sales review; Boston Post Cane; Kaiser Letter re: assessment; NH Electric Coop re: assessment; Tuftonboro Islanders Association Meeting; HEB High Street Bridge; Web Site Survey; Cash flow concern; Cheney closing documents.
Correspondence Folder: Draft of response to Foote re: abatement.
Chairman Albee called the meeting to order at 9:00 am. The first order of business was review of the minutes. Selectman Weeks made a correction to the minutes and then made a motion to accept the minutes as corrected. Seconded by Selectman Stockman with all in favor.
At approximately 9:00 Selectmen met with Larry Jean regarding his abatement, which the Selectmen had previously approved with a reduction of $8,400. Mr. Jean stated that not all of his concerns were addressed and that he was unfairly assessed for lakefront property. He felt he was entitled to a further reduction on his acreage and a reduction for the waterfront, which includes plus factors for excess frontage and the beach. The Selectmen advised that the assessment of his acreage was done through a software matrix and cannot be determined by a straight-line calculation. After some discussion the Selectmen said they felt the assessment seemed like a fair value and that if Mr. Jean were looking for an immediate decision they would have to deny his request. The Selectmen also said that the fairness issue was handled by the reval in raising the lakefront to be in line with the non-lakefront properties, which had been over taxed in comparison to the lakefront, which had been under taxed for many years. The revaluation equalized the tax burden and the Selectmen have seen sales that justify the assessments. The Selectmen advised Mr. Jean that they would review his request and make a final decision at that time.
At approximately 9:30 Selectmen met with Brenda and Dennis Flint regarding their abatement, which had been denied. Mr. Flint stated that his concerns were with the assessment of his small beach, the spring running through his property and what he thought was a lack of response by Avitar in particular Avitar’s review of properties that Mr. Flint had not used for comparables. Chairman Albee said that the Selectmen had asked Avitar to look at those properties. After some discussion the Selectmen said they were willing to consider an adjustment for the spring but wanted to look at the property at which time a final decision will be made.
At approximately 9:55 Selectmen met with Richard Lovatt, the oldest person in Tuftonboro, to present him with the Boston Post Cane. The Selectmen explained the meaning behind the cane and asked Mr. Lovatt to talk a little about his history. Mr. Lovatt is 97 years old and moved to Tuftonboro about 28 years ago.
At approximately 10:20 Selectmen met with Fire Chief Adam
Thompson. Chief Thompson presented the Selectmen with a Memorandum of
Understanding from the state, which is an agreement between the NH Dept. of
Health and Human Services, the NH Dept. of Safety and a group of towns
(Effingham, Freedom, Ossipee, Tuftonboro,
Chief Thompson reported the following:
The Selectmen will go on the fireboat with the Chief to the islanders meeting on 7/15 at Cow Island.
The pumper will be on display at the library for the Friends of the Library annual book and bake sale on 7/8.
Chairman Albee asked to have the fire department take charge of the monthly inspections of the fire extinguishers in all town buildings and to also train personnel on the use of said extinguishers.
In conjunction with the JLMC Safety Committee inspections Chairman Albee mentioned the need to discuss police department storage, as there were boxes and material everywhere. He suggested that part of the basement could be made secure storage.
Chairman Albee announced that next week’s meeting would be held at the Town House with the public hearing on the purchase of the Dearborn property following at 10 am. The Selectmen will prepare a presentation.
Chairman Albee reported that the Selectmen met with the library trustees and librarians last week regarding the library expansion/replacement issue and thought it had been a very productive meeting. Selectman Weeks stated that she thought it was a frank discussion and a clearing of the air for both sides.
A letter was sent to Mary Hersey McCarthy regarding her placement of illegal signs on Lang Pond Road and the chain on Piper Road. The area on Lang Pond Road is still a public access to Mirror Lake. This issue had been settled in court back in the 70’s.
Selectman Stockman made a motion to approve and sign the pre-buy agreement with Wolfeboro Oil. Seconded by Selectman Weeks with all in favor.
Selectman Approved and signed the following:
Selectman Weeks reported on an issue brought to the Planning Board regarding the naming of streets. In checking the RSA’s it was thought that this might be a selectmen issue and not Planning Board. However, the RSA did not address private streets. Selectman Weeks said that a policy for naming streets is needed. Another issue brought to the Planning Board was a request to name the road into the Transfer Station. Selectman Weeks stated that it is not a town road. When the town purchased the land it had a road on it. An abutter is requesting access to their property by putting a driveway off of it and has to have it named for 911 purposes. This has been referred to Town Counsel.
The Selectmen were disappointed they did not hear from Blake Cullimore from MRI regarding his town administrator assessment.
The Selectmen next discussed board appointments. Selectman Weeks made a motion to reappoint Tony Lyon and Rick Friend to the Planning Board with their terms to expire 6/30/09. Seconded by Selectman Stockman with all in favor. Selectman Weeks made another motion to reappoint Tony Lyon to the ZBA with his term to expire 6/30/09. Seconded by Selectman Stockman with all in favor. Selectman Stockman made a motion to reappoint Ted Bense and Laurie Weir to the Parks and Recreation Commission also to expire 6/30/09. Seconded by Selectman Weeks with all in favor. The Selectmen decided to give the appointments to the Conservation Commission more thought.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:00 with the Selectmen continuing with a work session to review abatements.
The Selectmen denied the following abatements:
The Selectmen approved the following abatements:
The following abatements were held for further review:
The work session was adjourned at noon.
Respectfully Submitted,
Carolyn Sundquist
Administrative Assistant