TOWN OF
Selectmen present:
Chip Albee, Susan Weeks and Bill Stockman.
Selectmen reviewed mail, which included: Building Permits for Jeffrey & Marie Scipione, Sheila Anderson; Sign Permit for William Magee; Request for information from Paul Zimmerman re: public Safety Building Project; H. E. Bergeron Drainage Analysis of Farm Pond and Ridgeway Estates Subdivision; Memo from Scott Marsh (MRI) re: DRA Sales Ratio Survey; NHDRA Statewide Enhanced Education Tax Warrant for 2007; Approval for Operation for Fenton Varney, Richard Bareham, Fred Sargent, John Wilkins; Approval for Construction for Janet/Joseph Charbonneau, Barbara Leslie, Fenton Varney, Richard Bareham, John Goggin, Paul Ferrini; property Transfers form Donald Cooley to JonJames LLC, Joseph & Mary Wilson to William & Deborah Regan, Morris Scott to Melvin Village Marina; Wetlands & Non-site Specific Permit for Herbert & Patricia Steele, Frederick Hayes; Certificate of Insurance re: Stewarts Ambulance Service; NHOEP re: 2006 NH Floodplain Management Handbook; NHOEP re: FEMA – Flood Mitigation Assistance Program; Planning Board Notice of Public Meeting re: Posson/Stockman; Business Review;
Correspondence: Letter to Krischner from MRI re: waterfront assessment.
Items for Signature: Intent to Cut for Cookson; Primex Schedule of Exposures for 2007 Contract.
At 3:30 Chairman Albee called the meeting to order, with the first order of business a review of the 12/11/06 minutes. Chairman Albee and Selectman Weeks suggested several changes. Selectman Weeks made a motion to accept the minutes as amended. Seconded by Selectman Stockman with all in favor. Selectman Stockman made a motion to accept the non-public minutes of 12/11/06 as written. Seconded by Selectman Weeks with all in favor.
The Town Administrator gave the following report:
At approximately 3:45 Selectmen met with Sheila St. Germain from the NH Municipal Bond Bank. Ms. St. Germain presented materials for the selectmen to review and noted the following:
At approximately 4:10 Selectmen met with Fire Chief Adam
Thompson. Chief Thompson reported 191 fire, 155 medical and 51 service calls
for a total of 397. The department also performed 32 oil and 22 gas burner
inspections and 9 woodstove inspections. The Zadeda subdivision has installed a
30,000-gallon cistern. Training has been scheduled at the former Dearborn
property. Chief Thompson said that he and Chief Shagoury would like to suggest
some changes to the interior specifications of the Public Safety building. Town
Administrator Jeanie Forrester said she had contacted Mo Gagnon to let him
know the Chiefs would be sending him some suggested changes. The revised plans
would be ready for review at the Jan. 2nd selectmen’s meeting.
Library Trustee Carolyn Sundquist said that rough preliminary numbers would be received in time for the BudCom meeting on Tuesday.
At approximately 4:25 Selectmen met with Joe Lessard from MRI regarding a multi-year contract for assessing services. Mr. Lessard wanted to know if there were any additional services the selectmen would like to include in the contract. It was determined that a sales review be done since the coefficient of dispersion (COD) and price related differential (PRD) numbers are showing trends not expected so soon after a revaluation and that an analysis of a group of 20-30 properties on Winter Harbor should be included in a three-year contract. The new contract should be available by the end of the week.
John Simms was in attendance and asked the selectmen about the structure of the public hearing on the petition warrant article Mr. Simms submitted. This petition asked the selectmen to appoint a Capital Improvement Program Committee. Selectman Weeks asked Mr. Simms to present and discuss the article. The warrant article will be on the ballot. The hearing is Tuesday January 16th at 5 pm at the Town House.
Selectmen approved and signed the following:
The Administrative Assistant will contact DRA regarding the wording of the warrant article for the new fireboat. There was a discussion regarding the $10,000 trade-in and if the cost shown in the warrant article should be the full amount.
The Selectmen opened a discussion regarding the ambulance contract. The selectmen had met last week with both companies, which they reported to be very productive and friendly. Selectman Weeks said she was not in favor of awarding the contract to Stewarts. She said that Lakeside had provided many years of service to the town with no problems. She also felt Lakeside was closer to the bulk of the population in the town. Selectman Stockman agreed. Selectman Weeks made a motion to award the ambulance contract to Lakeside Ambulance Service. The motion was amended to recommend $95,000. Seconded by Selectman Stockman with Stockman and Weeks in favor.
The selectmen next discussed the bond impact on the tax rate for 2007. The tax implication is zero for 2007 since the first payment would be due in 2008. The selectmen also agreed that the plan for the public safety building needs additional work to get the cost down.
Selectman Stockman reported that he spoke to the owner of the Gould property (55-2-6) on Middle Road. The property will be going up for sale with an asking price of $599,000 - it is currently assessed at $470,000. Selectman Weeks suggested getting a Purchase and Sales agreement dependent on approval at town meeting. The selectmen said the property could possibly be used for recreational purposes and future school needs. This will be presented to BudCom on Tuesday. Selectman Stockman also mentioned that the Grange is talking about selling their property, which is a 3-acre parcel also on Middle Road.
At approximately 5:15 Selectmen met with Michael Hlushuk who presented a plan to the selectmen to clean up Lake Road as an Eagle Scout project. Michael would fix the sinkholes, remove the poison ivy, install a pet waste container, increase signage for boaters, remove a bush and add a bench and fence. The selectmen were concerned about removing the bushes and asked to just have them pruned to prevent soil erosion. Ken Cookson, who was with Michael, said the Tuftonboro Association was willing to provide the pet waste container. Michael would contact NH the Beautiful about the signs. The selectmen approved the project but asked Michael to coordinate with the road agent. Michael will come back at a later date with the final plan for the selectmen to review and approve.
At approximately 5:25 selectmen met with Road Agent Steve Hunter to go over the paving proposed for 2007 warrant article. Mr. Hunter said he wanted to pave part of Dame Road (at the Ledge Hill end), all of Chandler Road, the unpaved portion of the Transfer Station road, County Road, the parking lots at the town house and Mirror Lake station for a total of $185,000. After discussion the selectmen approved the amount of $185,000 for the paving warrant article. Mr. Hunter was informed about the Eagle Scout project and he was looking forward to working with Michael.
At approximately 5:30 Selectmen met with Paul Zimmerman who had questions regarding the public safety building project. One of his main concerns was the lack of information. He asked to look at all of the data that has been gathered to date. Selectman Weeks offered to take Mr. Zimmerman on a tour of the current facilities and show him why the town is looking at a new building. Mr. Zimmerman said that he has talked to other people in the community with the same concerns. He stated that it is a substantial building to maintain. Chairman Albee said that they are working at determining what the cost of maintenance would be and that a presentation would be made to the public when more complete information was available. He also said that the vote at 2006 town meeting was driving this project forward with the building projected to start in 2007 and completion in 2008. Mr. Zimmerman said he was not aware the selectmen were looking to have the project in the 2007 budget. He did not feel there was enough time to prepare. Mr. Zimmerman accepted the offer from Selectman Weeks to tour the current buildings but would not be available until February.
At approximately 5:50 Selectmen met with Roger Drowne and Mr. & Mrs. Bodeur. Mr. Drowne once again related that there was a dangerous situation with the logging truck backing into the road in front of his property. He has talked to a real estate agent and was advised that property values had dropped between 20-25% because of the logging operation. Mr. Drowne demanded answers to the questions he had presented to the selectmen. Mr. Drowne asked Selectman Stockman to recuse himself since he is related to Mr. Williams. Chairman Albee explained to Mr. Drowne that zoning allows Mr. Williams to do what he is doing on his property as long as he is not running a business. After much heated discussion the selectmen asked Mr. Drowne for additional documentation of the alleged logging operation on the Williams property.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:25 to go into a work session to discuss warrant articles.
High Street culvert – the last estimate was $84,000 but an update is expected from HEB. There would be an 80% reimbursement from the state on this project.
Lang Pond Road – this also has the 80% reimbursement with a cost estimate of $145,200.
Public Safety Building – Chairman Albee said there needs to be a push down to $3.5 million. He suggested moving the site work into the 2007 budget. The selectmen approved a recommendation of $3.5 million to the budget committee.
Fire Boat – the selectmen approved a recommendation of $62,240 to the budget committee. (Pending response from DRA)
Gould Property – recommended $550,000 to purchase property.
The selectmen approved the request by Police Chief Shagoury to sell a barrier from the 1999 Crown Victoria to the town of Tamworth for $100.
The selectmen approved the memo from Chief Shagoury regarding Jamie-Lynn Sheehy’s contract repayment.
Respectfully Submitted,