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Minjutes of 8/12/2013 DRAFT

August 20th, 2013

Carroll Board of Selectmen
Meeting Minutes
August 12, 2013
DRAFT
"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 Quigley, Secretary

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

The meeting was called to order at 7 PM by Chairman Bussiere

Members of the public present: Mike Gooden, Ann Fabrizio, Judy St. Croix, Jane Ikasalo, John Warren, Greg Hogan, Michael Hogan, Dianne Hogan, Frank Maturo, Scott Sonia, Jeremy Oleson, Dave Scalley, John D’Urso, Mark Catalano, Carl Brooks, Allan Bouthilliere

The meeting was filmed by Judy St. Croix and Jane Ikasalo.

Pledge of Allegiance

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

Selectman Moroney made a Motion to: Accept the minutes of 7/29/2013 as written. Selectman Dowling seconded and the Motion passed unanimously.

Chairman Bussiere announced we’re awaiting a date from the auditors about the Water Department debt information.

Carl Brooks told the Board AB Logging was doing the work for the state overview project on Route 302 and they want to use the gravel pit on his property. Chairman Bussiere said gravel pits are controlled by the ZBA, but they placed further discussion on hold to wait for Mr. Bouthilliere who was not yet in attendance.

Continuation of the Transfer Station discussion took place and Chairman Bussiere said he had noticed there had been several 40- hour weeks which Bill Dowling said had been due to the work load. The Chairman said he was concerned with about fulltime employment versus part time. The Secretary will check with the Labor Department regarding their requirements about this. Chairman Bussiere said all other departments comes to the Select Board to justify their hours and he would like to see the Transfer Station Manager do the same. Mr. Dowling said he had been to the Board and the Chairman said he has looked at all the minutes, tapes and notes from all the meetings and the Deliberative Session and they all say that he said the positions would be 32 hours and 24 hours. Mr. Dowling said he would like to see these and Chairman Bussiere said he would bring them to the next meeting.

Chairman Bussiere moved to the reopening of buildings by John D’Urso. He said he had talked with the Town attorney and the structures, which are protected, are on non-conforming lots and the usage must be within the setbacks. He also advised that both businesses had been closed longer than a year and are allowed only by special exception in that Zone Mr. D’Urso must go to the Planning Board and the ZBA. Mr. D’Urso said there is a Federal Law that says they cannot take away the original intended use of the building. Selectman Dowling asked for a copy of this which Mr. D’Urso said he would provide.

Discussion ensued regarding the garage and the fact that there would not be enough room to have vehicles outside the building because of the setbacks. Mr. D’Urso asked the Select Board to approve for just inside use and he’d keep the vehicles inside. Chairman Bussiere said the Selectmen have to uphold the laws of the town but they are not the ZBA and therefore cannot rule on this. The Chairman read an email from the Code Enforcement Officer which also confirmed the requirement of applying to the ZBA. Mr. D’Urso clarified that if the ZBA says yes he does not have to come back to the Select Board. The Chairman agreed with this and read the lawyer’s advice regarding the application to the ZBA. Mr. D’Urso asked for a letter so he would have in writing that he must go to the ZBA and the Planning Board with which the Board agreed. The Secretary will write a letter for Mr. D’Urso.

Chairman Bussiere brought up the water issue which Mr. D’Urso had introduced at the previous meeting. He said it was an oversight that an individual was not charged, but this has been corrected and that person will be charged in the future. Mr. D’Urso said there are several others in town who are not paying and said the Water Department should know where the curb stops are. He said he doesn’t have one and he gets charged. Selectman Dowling asked him to bring in the list and these properties will be verified. The Chairman went on to say as long as there is a curb stop – it may be on someone else’s property but they still have to pay – it’s just the way it was laid out, it doesn’t have to come from the street.

Mark Catalano wanted to confirm that he had heard correctly that the lawyer said the original life purpose of the property is protected. Selectman Dowling said for the setbacks and the building, yes. It is existing and non-conforming, but he wants to use it as a used car lot – he wants to establish a business. Mr. D’Urso said the business is protected and Selectman Dowling said it is not as it has not been used in over a year. Chairman Bussiere read from Town Counsel’s email and Mr. Catalano said he is not questioning the time as he understands there is an ordinance that has to be adhered to. What he said he wanted to understand was if the lawyer is telling the Select Board that the original use of that property is still protected taking into consideration that the owner still has to go through whatever the local ordinances are. It was reiterated that it is the building which is protected and has nothing to do with the business being put in. Chairman Bussiere said the structure cannot be expanded, and basically what is being said is that they cannot expand the use of non-conforming. Mr. Catalano confirmed that the lawyer is not making any statement as to the protection, expansion or grandfathering of the use of the building, they are only specifically talking about the non-conformance and the timeframe. The Chairman said that is the way he also understands it. Mr. D’Urso requested a copy of the lawyer’s email and Selectman Moroney made a Motion to: Give John D’Urso a copy of the email. Selectman Dowling seconded and the Motion passed unanimously. At the end of all discussion, Selectman Dowling made a Motion to: Allow Chairman Bussiere to come in and sign the letter for Mr. D’Urso. Selectman Moroney seconded and the Motion passed unanimously.

Greg Hogan, Road Agent, noted that at the last meeting he talked about equipment for sealing cracks in roads and had several quotes which were discussed and given to the Selectmen. Leasing or purchasing used equipment were mentioned and Mr. Hogan said he would look into both, which he did. He said he could not find anything used and as far as leasing is concerned there is nothing available here; the only one he could find is in Alabama. Selectman Moroney made a Motion to: let Mr. Hogan go ahead and purchase the equipment as discussed previously at $10,761. Selectman Dowling seconded and the Motion passed unanimously.

The following items were approved and signed:

Workers’ Compensation Program Agreement – Primex
Town Hall Use Permit Application – Monahan

Chairman Bussiere returned to the gravel excavation and the Route 302 Overview Project as Alan Bouthilliere from AB Logging had arrived. Mr. Bouthilliere said he is doing the project and according to the State DOT as long as they file Form 155E-1, they should be all set. He also said they would post a separate bond if need be. Chairman Bussiere said according to the town zoning ordinance, they must go to the ZBA as they handle excavations. Mr. Bouthilliere suggested that he have a state engineer come up to which the Board agreed and they offered to set up a special mid-week meeting as long as they have the required 24 hours for posting it.

Other:

Selectman Dowling said the Town had received the energy audit performed earlier and that the Building Committee will be meeting on August 28. He will bring back recommendations to the Board about making improvements, what direction we should go in, etc. He said he felt Greg Hogan did a very good job helping on the audit.

Selectman Dowling also said he would like to send two Grants to NH the Beautiful and they can get up to half of their money back. These are for the storage trailers and the glass pulverizer which were both approved in March and asked the Selectmen to sign them. Chairman Bussiere made a Motion to: Sign the two Grants. Selectman Moroney seconded and the Motion passed unanimously.

Selectman Moroney said they need to start the schedule for budget meetings with the department heads as they should take their budget to the Budget Committee in October, and said she also would like to have the department heads do evaluations on their employees, and they could perhaps have them ready for the Board in the latter part of September. Along with this, she suggested the Board could be working on those for the Department Heads though they wouldn’t necessarily have to have the raises figured out, but it would give them a better idea of what they are doing. Chairman Bussiere said it was a great plan as time is going fast.

Chairman Bussiere said he would like to have in the minutes as he was previously requested by Selectman Dowling to provide the written response by LGC that the Planning Board can set fees as they see fit, that he had had the Secretary forward the email to the Board in June. He just wanted that in the record.

Chairman Bussiere also wanted to thank Michael Hogan for forwarding the pay scale form to him. He said it’s not something they can implement right away, but might be used as a benchmark at some point.

Dianne Hogan referred to the evaluations mentioned and asked if there was a form they used. Selectman Moroney said they use that which was put out by LGC.

Greg Hogan spoke about the rain we’ve had this year and during one of the heavier storms earlier a rock was dislodged on Evans Road and bent the culvert. In a more recent storm a tree blew down on the opposite side of the road which caused the water to go over the road. Both have since been removed and they have the culvert working properly but there is nothing now that will hold the material where it washed so they need to have an excavator come in and reinforce the embankment with about 20 blocks. To that end, he has received a quote of $1,750 and is seeking permission to remove the money from a capital reserve fund as he does not have this money in his budget. This is from DS Contractors who has the equipment already in town which will save money. There was a brief discussion about Greg getting other quotes.

Michael Hogan said his concern and something that we have to be aware of with the Obamacare coming on line is how many hours one can work before being put into that category. Currently it is 30 and part timers hitting that mark constantly will be put there. He said he’s not sure about what will be exempt, etc., but looking at budgets and hours worked, feels 29 hours should be the limit for the part timers. Selectman Moroney said the Board can make an amendment now that will take care of that and they won’t have to worry about it. Chairman Bussiere said that is a good catch. Selectman Dowling said we could check on the exemptions,

Selectman Dowling said if Greg is satisfied with the quote, he doesn’t need to get other quotes as this one is less than the bid policy. After discussion to be sure the money would be available, during which time Greg said he had spoken with John Foster, one of the Trustees of the Trust Funds, Selectman Dowling then made a Motion to: Remove the money from a capital reserve fund for the Evans Road repair. Selectman Moroney seconded and the Motion passed unanimously.

As there was no further business, the Board was polled and went into non-public session for town aid and personnel matters at 8:10 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 8:56 p.m. The next meeting will be Monday, August 26, 2013.

Town of Carroll, New Hampshire ®2024