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Minutes of 12/30/2013 DRAFT

December 31st, 2013

Carroll Board of Selectmen
Meeting Minutes
DRAFT December 30, 2013
"These minutes of the Town of Carroll Select Board have been recorded by its Secretary. Though believed to be accurate and correct they are subject to additions, deletions and corrections by the Select Board at its next meeting when the Board votes its final approval of the minutes. They are being made available at this time to conform to the requirements of New Hampshire RSA 91-A:2."

Minutes recorded by Maryclare H. Quigley

Board members present: Paul Bussiere, Bill Dowling, Bonnie Moroney

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM.

Members of the public present: Mike Gooden, Chris Pappas, Scott Sonia, Joan Karpf, Dave Scalley

Pledge of Allegiance

The meeting was filmed by Joan Karpf.

The board announced the approval of bills and signing of manifests.

Selectman Dowling made a Motion to: Accept the minutes of December 5, 2013, as written. Chairman Bussiere seconded and the Motion passed. Selectman Moroney abstained as she was not at the meeting.

Selectman Dowling made a Motion to: Accept the minutes of December 16, 2013, as written and Selectman Moroney seconded. The Motion passed unanimously. Chairman Bussiere said he wanted to note that he had abstained from the vote on his property tax abatement.

Chairman Bussiere said regarding returning money to the Water Department from the two years they made the loan repayment � that the Board had also sought the advice of Town Counsel regarding the appropriate way in which to do so. Attorney Whitelaw said the Select Board could transfer the money from this year�s general fund if there is enough available from this year�s unspent appropriations but they do not have the authority to transfer any money from the fund balance left over from last year. She said she discussed the issue with Walter Mitchell and they concur that a separate warrant article should be used. Ms. Whitelaw provided the wording for the article: �To raise and appropriate $91,620 (Ninety One Thousand Six Hundred Twenty Dollars) for the purpose of reimbursing the Water Fund for monies used from the Water Fund for making the payments due in 2006 and 2007 on the loan approved at the 1993 Annual Town Meeting to improve the Town's water system. The loan payments were intended to and have been paid by general taxation and not through water rates, except that the 2006 and 2007 payments were mistakenly taken from the Water Fund. The amount raised will come from unexpended fund balance, no amount to be raised by taxation.� Selectman Moroney made a Motion to: Approve the warrant article as written and Selectman Dowling seconded. It passed unanimously and the recommendation by the Board will be added to the article.

The Secretary said she had asked Department heads for an estimate of the amount of money they will need to cover December invoices after January 1, 2014, which totaled $33,632 for all departments. She asked that the Board encumber this money as requested by the Auditors. Included in this amount is $3,426.14 which should be returned to the Highway Department from the Water Department for the Road Agent�s pay. An amount of money is put in each budget (Highway and Water) to cover wages should there be a project or work where they will help each other out. It turned out that the Road Agent worked fewer hours in the Water Dept. than vice versa. Selectman Dowling made a Motion to: Transfer the money from Water for Greg Hogan�s pay. Selectman Moroney seconded and it passed unanimously. Then Selectman Moroney made a Motion to: Approve the encumbrance of funds and Selectman Dowling seconded and it passed unanimously.

A brief discussion was held regarding the revaluation of the Town which is due by State law in 2017. Initially the Board had requested that it be done over two years rather than the five-year cycle of the most recently completed one, and which had been agreed upon. However, when the company began working on their schedules, they felt they needed to have two years to do the measuring, etc., and a third year to pull all the information together and finalize the project thus they asked that it be changed to a three year project rather than two years. The Board wanted to assure themselves that making the change would not be contrary to the original warrant article for raising the funds to pay for the work and that the cost would not be changed. Upon checking it was found that it is in keeping with the original warrant article and there would be no difference in cost. Therefore, Selectman Dowling made a Motion to: Approve the revaluation would be done over a three year period and Selectman Moroney seconded. This passed unanimously.

The warrant article for 2014 was read: �To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $24,000 (Twenty Four Thousand Dollars) to be placed in the Property Revaluation Capital Reserve Fund established in 2013 for the purpose of completing a total revaluation of the Town in 2017 � as mandated by the State, at five year intervals. This is the second installment to attain the total cost of $120,000 (One Hundred Twenty Thousand Dollars) for the total process as quoted by our appraisal company.� Selectman Dowling made a Motion to: Approve and recommend and Selectman Moroney seconded. This passed unanimously and the article will be so noted.

Chairman Bussiere read the Water Department warrant article: �To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $9,500 (Nine Thousand Five Hundred Dollars) from water revenues to be placed in the Water Department Capital Reserve Fund. No new money will be raised from taxation. Selectmen recommend this by a vote of 3 to 0.� Selectman Dowling made a Motion to: Approve and recommend and Selectman Moroney seconded. The Motion passed unanimously and the article will be so noted.

Chairman Bussiere continued with reading warrant articles which were voted on in order:

�To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $6,993 (Six Thousand Nine Hundred Ninety Three Dollars) for improvements to the Town Hall building to help decrease fuel costs. The amount would be expended as follows: $2,875 (Two Thousand Eight Hundred Seventy Five Dollars) for air sealing of Town Hall, $1,700 (One Thousand Seven Hundred Dollars) for programmable thermostats and $2,418 (Two Thousand Four Hundred Eighteen Dollars) for pipe insulation. This article is part of the results of the Energy Audit approved and funded by the 2013 Town Meeting.� Selectman Dowling made a Motion to: Approve and recommend and Selectman Moroney seconded. The Motion passed unanimously and the article will be so noted.

�To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $149,000 (One Hundred Forty Nine Thousand Dollars) for the purpose of purchasing a dump truck with plow, wing plow, sander, safety lighting and two-way radio communication for the Highway Department; and further to authorize the withdrawal of $35,000 (Thirty Five Thousand Dollars) from the Municipal Truck Capital Reserve Fund and $30,000 (Thirty Thousand Dollars) from the Highway Equipment Capital Reserve Fund. $84,000 (Eighty Four Thousand Dollars) will come from new taxation.� Selectman Dowling made a Motion to: Approve and recommend and Selectman Moroney seconded. The Motion passed unanimously and the article will be so noted.

Chairman Bussiere read each of the articles for Capital Reserve Funds:

�To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate $15,000 (Fifteen Thousand Dollars) to be placed in the Municipal Truck Capital Reserve Fund.�

�To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate $18,000 (Eighteen Thousand Dollars) to be placed in the Police Cruiser Capital Reserve Fund.�

�To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate $10,000 (Ten Thousand Dollars) to be placed in the Highway Equipment Capital Reserve Fund.�

�To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate $2,000 (Two Thousand Dollars) to be placed in the Computer Technology Capital Reserve Fund.�

�To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate $2,000 (Two Thousand Dollars) to be placed in the Library Improvement Capital Reserve Fund.�

�To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate $10,000 (Ten Thousand Dollars) to be placed in the Landfill Closure Capital Reserve Fund.�

�To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate $35,000 (Thirty Five Thousand Dollars) to be placed in the Road Improvements Capital Reserve Fund.�

�To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate $30,000 (Thirty Thousand Dollars) to be placed in the New Land & Building Capital Reserve.�

Selectman Dowling made a Motion to: Approve and recommend all Capital Reserve Fund articles. Selectman Moroney seconded and it passed unanimously. Each article will be so noted.

Chairman Bussiere then read each of the Charitable Donation requests:

�To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $923 (Nine Hundred Twenty Three Dollars) as the Town's contribution to the Northern Human Services - White Mountain Mental Health and Common Ground, a non-profit mental health and development service center.�

�To see if the Town will raise and appropriate the sum of $2,000 (Two Thousand Dollars) to donate to the Tyler Blain House, Lancaster, NH, one of the only homeless shelters in northern NH.�

�To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $875 (Eight Hundred Seventy Five Dollars) as the Town�s contribution to Littleton Regional Healthcare, to help offset the cost of charity care and community benefit programs that Littleton Hospital provides.�

�To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $1,167 (One Thousand One Hundred Sixty Seven Dollars) as the Town�s contribution to the Northwoods Home Health & Hospice Services, a division of Weeks Medical Center. The monies are used to provide home health care services to the residents of Carroll.�

�To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $1,250 (One Thousand Two Hundred Fifty Dollars) as the Town�s contribution to help offset the support of preventative and primary health care services of Ammonoosuc Community Health Services, Inc. for the residents of Carroll.�

�To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $1,797 (One Thousand Seven Hundred Ninety Seven Dollars) payable to North Country Home Health & Hospice Agency, Inc. to help offset the support of the home health care, supportive care, medical hospice and community health programs and services of North Country Home Health & Hospice Agency, Inc. and Hospice of the Littleton Area for the residents of Carroll.�

�To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $712 (Seven Hundred Twelve Dollars) as the Town�s contribution to the American Red Cross.�

�To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $2,000 (Two Thousand Dollars) as the Town�s contribution to help offset the costs for the Caleb Interfaith Volunteer Caregivers that serves the needs of elderly people in our community.�

�To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $500 (Five Hundred Dollars) for Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of NH for recruiting, training and supervising volunteers who advocate in NH�s courts for the best interests of abused and neglected children.�

�To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $870 (Eight Hundred Seventy Dollars) as the Town�s contribution for Tri County Community Action Program in support of their services for residents in our community.�

�To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $2,000 (Two Thousand Dollars) for the Coalition Communities in Portsmouth, New Hampshire; which group consists of and represents 36 towns, including the Town of Carroll, in a solution to our educational funding crisis by opposing the re-establishment of donor towns and by keeping the statewide property tax so that it can be used locally to fund our own education assessment from the White Mountains Regional School District.�

�To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $350 (Three Hundred Fifty Dollars) as the Town�s contribution to help offset the costs of the Senior Meals Program run by Tri-County CAP, Inc., North Country Elder Programs for elderly residents in our community.�

Selectman Dowling made a Motion to: Approve and recommend all of the Charitable Donation requests. Selectman Moroney seconded. The vote was 2 to 1 in favor of all EXCEPT the article for the Coalition Communities. The vote for this was unanimously in favor.

Chairman Bussiere said he believes these are all very good causes, and until he knows more about them he would just like to see these as private and personal donations.

The following items were approved and signed:

Cartographics Associates, Inc. (CAI) Contract
CNP (Commerford Nieder Perkins, LLC) Contract for General Assessing
Water Warrant � 4th Issue, 2013
Water Warrant � Vincenzo
Land Use Change Tax Warrant � Palmer Group Properties, LLC
Veterans� Exemption Reversal � Oliver

It was explained the reversal for the Veterans� Exemption was that the Town Clerk did not realize that the property was only in one name and that was not the name of the Veteran. It is State law that the name of the Veteran who is seeking the exemption must also be on the deed. The Town Clerk apologized for this error and said because of the State law, it must be denied.

Other:

The Secretary said the Board needed to set the date for the Deliberative Session and that traditionally and historically, this has been the first Tuesday of February. Selectman Moroney made a Motion to: Set February 4, 2014 as the date for the Deliberative Session. Selectman Dowling seconded and it passed unanimously. It was stated this begins at 6:30 p.m. The Secretary noted the Deliberative Session for the School District is on Monday, February 3.

Selectman Dowling said he just wanted to pass along that Michael Hogan from the Budget Committee had said we should look at the National Health Care system for next year. It seems that we could save a lot of money and though there may be more out-of-pocket expense for the employees, the Town could pick that up. He noted they have a co-pay with their current plans.

Selectman Dowling also said he had received an email from Dave Scalley and read it aloud. He said regarding spending taxpayer money to send people to the law lecture series is all right and he believes they should as education is invaluable. People can bring back knowledge that will help avoid liability to the town. He said we can�t deny access to education and that it�s not a bad thing. All departments go to workshops and suing the town has cost $8,000 so far because of lack of knowledge. Selectman Moroney said there has been a lot of discussion about classes, etc., and she has found through going herself that some are very repetitive and do not give out enough new information. She thinks it may warrant looking into as to the value of the same people attending again.

Chairman Bussiere said regarding response to emails and that all members of the boards are included. He said he does have issue with lawsuits and confidentiality and it relates to the town. He said he�s not saying anything is happening but he just doesn�t know if there is a conflict. He said they may wish to talk about this in the future and discuss later.

Joan Karpf said she knows Bernie Waugh came and did law updates and wondered if the new town attorney would do that. Selectman Moroney said she would if we were to ask her.

As there was no further business, the Board was polled and went into non-public session for Town Aid and personnel at 7:55 p.m.

At the close of Non-Public Session, Selectman Dowling moved to return to Public Session and seal the minutes from Non-Public Session. Selectman Moroney seconded and the Motion passed unanimously.

There being no further discussion, Selectman Dowling made a Motion to: adjourn the meeting. Selectman Moroney seconded and the Motion passed unanimously. Chairman Bussiere declared the meeting ended at 8:10 p.m. The next meeting will be Monday, January 13, 2014.

Town of Carroll, New Hampshire ®2024