TOWN OF
Selectmen present:
Chip Albee, Susan Weeks and Bill Stockman.
Selectmen reviewed mail, which included: Building Permits for Leslie, Starble; Sign permit for Bishop; Petition re: Capital Improvement Program warrant article; Letter from Huggins Hospital re: Pandemic Planning Meeting; NH DES Notice of Invalid Permit by Notification for Lang Pond Road project; Approval for Construction for Laureen Hadley, Lloyd Thomas III, Randall Hoytt; Property Transfer from James McGoldrick to Nicholas Molea, Elizabeth King to Kevin & Jeanine Clark, Brett & Patricia Ingham to George Pantano; Course completions for Boucher, Shagoury; NH DRA Final Report on review of assessment practices; NH Electric Coop re: granting of license to construct cable; Proposal for Town Administrator Salary; Parks & Rec 12/4/06 agenda and 11/13/06 minutes; ZBA notice of hearing on 12/13 for Hadley; ZBA notice of decision for Rogers; Plan NH re: Design Assistance for NH Projects; American Youth Foundation – Merrowvista re: thanks and payment in lieu of taxes; NRRA Full Circle; NH Civil Engineer; Business Review.
Items for Signature: Intent to Cut for Krey (2); ZBA Alternate Appointments for Cook, Wood, Brown, Frago; Application for Veterans Credit for Sundquist, Dwyer; 2007 Landfill Closure Monitoring Contract from Stantec; MRI 2007 Assessing Proposal.
At 9:00 Chairman Albee called the meeting to order, with the first order of business a review of the 11/20/06 minutes. Selectman Weeks offered several corrections and additions. Selectman Stockman made a motion to accept the minutes as amended. Seconded by Selectman Weeks with all in favor. Selectman Weeks also noted that the gap on the front door at the town house was 1 inch not 3 inches.
Town Administrator Jeanie Forrester gave the following report:
There was a brief discussion regarding the selectmen’s meeting schedule for the 3 upcoming holidays. The selectmen decided that they would not meet during Christmas week but would reschedule meetings on Tuesday 1/2/07 and 1/16/07 in lieu of Monday meetings.
Chairman Albee reviewed the mail. The petition to include a
warrant article asking for the selectmen to appoint a committee to prepare a
Capital Improvement Program was discussed. Selectman Weeks said that there
should be a public hearing before it goes on the warrant and that the selectmen
have to decide whether or not to recommend it. Chairman Albee felt the Planning
Board should present the warrant article in order to have the Planning Board
manage the Capital Improvement Plan.
The Selectmen approved and signed the following:
Selectman Weeks made a motion to appoint the alternates for the following terms: Cook – 3 years, Frago & Brown – 2 years and Wood – 1 year. Seconded by Selectman Stockman with all in favor.
In response to a comment by Joe Kowalski the selectmen advised that they were not in favor of exploring other options at this time but may in 2008.
The MRI Assessing proposal for 2007 was not signed. The Selectmen asked the town administrator to get information on a multi-year contract.
At approximately 9:30 selectmen met with Roger Drowne regarding his complaints about the logging and building that Lance Williams is currently doing on his Ledge Hill Road property. Also in attendance: Mr. & Mrs. Bodeur, Donald Cope and Mr. & Mrs. Hart. Mr. Drowne was very upset with the noise of the logging trucks that he said go up and down the street many times a day and very early in the morning. Mr. Williams’ neighbors all felt that he was conducting a business in a residential area. Mr. Drowne insisted that something be done immediately - today - not next week. Chairman Albee said that he was not in favor of putting local people out of business and was not ready to judge without further investigation and that Mr. Williams was entitled to store his truck on his own property. Chairman Albee had talked to Mr. Williams and was told that the logs were for personal use. Selectman Stockman stated that there were probably over 50 logging operations in town and that all would have to be treated the same. Selectman Weeks felt Mr. Williams was in violation and should go through a site plan review process. Mr. Drowne also said that Mr. Williams does not have the same view tax that he and the other neighbors have. Selectman Weeks said that she looked at the assessment records and was in agreement. The town assessor will be asked to review and fix it. Code Officer Jack Parsons said that Mr. Williams told him he would remove the firewood if it were an issue. He also stated that Mr. Williams’ building permits were in order. Chairman Albee thanked everyone for coming in.
At approximately 9:55 the selectmen met with Library Trustee Carolyn Sundquist to review the library budget. The increase in salaries was attributed to having the library open 3 additional hours next year and the 53rd pay period. The staff was given COLA and step increases. Other increases were due to higher cost for heat, electric, etc. The selectmen approved the budget of $113,355 but cautioned that the budget committee would be looking at the numbers very closely.
Selectman Weeks reported that Joe Kowalski attended last weeks transportation meeting, which was attended by approximately 40-50 people. Selectman Weeks noted that the issue of public transportation was apparent as a concern of many residents during the master plan process.
At approximately 10:10 selectmen met with Mike Phelps to discuss the Conservation Commission budget. After some discussion it was decided to remove $1000 for digital maps and add a line for easement monitoring at $500. The budget was approved at $6,950. Mr. Phelps said that the commission had developed criteria for accepting easements.
At approximately 10:30 the selectmen met with Police Chief Shagoury. Chief Shagoury reported that he plans to attend the Pandemic Planning meeting tonight at Huggins Hospital. A deer ran into one of the cruisers over the weekend damaging the driver’s door. The Chief was still waiting for the Macintosh test results but it is not looking good for sending a candidate to the academy in January. The Chief is preparing the warrant article for a new cruiser and will have it ready for next week.
At approximately 10:35 the selectmen met with Fire Chief Adam Thompson to review the budget for Fire Station Improvements in the Government Buildings budget. Chief Thompson first said that he wanted to publicly thank everyone who helped him this weekend after a tree fell on his house. After some discussion $10,500 for paving work was moved from fire to highways to be included in the overall paving budget. The $400 for trash pickup was also moved to another line and increased to $420. The fire station improvement line was approved at $15,830. Selectman Weeks suggested having the NH Electric Coop do an energy audit of town buildings. Town office maintenance and improvements will be revisited. Town house outside maintenance will also be revisited – it was felt the building should be painted. Town house improvements line was approved at $11,000 (lights - $6000 and surveying & engineering work - $5000). The following lines were changed – highway heat - $2500, Library outside maintenance - $1200 and gas - $23000.
At approximately 11:10 selectmen met with Ann Hackl to discuss the Cemetery budget. Ms. Hackl said that a new sexton, Tom Bussiere, was hired and the cost for a burial lot was increased to $250. The restoration of the headstones in the old cemeteries was pretty much completed and that work would start on restoring the stonewalls. There was some discussion regarding the proposed work to be done by NHDOT and the impact on the French cemetery on Middle Road. The cemetery improvement line was reduced to $1000 as the grading work has been done this year. The budget of $12,400 was approved.
At approximately 11:25 selectmen met with Tony Lyon to review the Planning and Zoning budget. After some discussion the budget was approved as presented at $27,193.
The following budgets were reviewed:
Parks & Rec was rescheduled to next Monday.
The selectmen decided to send a letter to Lance Williams asking him to remove any firewood not for personal use.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:15.
Respectfully Submitted,
Administrative Assistant