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Minutes of 11/7/2013 DRAFT

November 13th, 2013

TOWN OF CARROLL
PLANNING BOARD

MINUTES
November 7, 2013

DRAFT

Members Present: Chairman, Donna Foster, Vice Chairman, Richard Nelson, Selectman Representative, Bonnie Moroney, members, Kenneth Mills, Erik Bergum, Dr. Evan Karpf and alternate member, Michael Hogan.

Also present were William Dowling, Joan Karpf, Carl Brooks, Chris Pappas, David Scalley and Rob Gauthier.

7:00 PM: A quorum being present, Chairman Foster called the meeting to order.

The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

Minutes Review:
Minutes of September 5, 2013

Chairman Foster handed out her amendments to the minutes of September 5, 2013, for the Board to review. (Attachment A). A few inconsequential typographical, spelling and grammatical errors were noted. Dr. Karpf requested that his title “Dr.” be reflected instead of “Mr.” All other changes are noted in the attachment. Chairman Foster’s amendments are noted by underlining and left brackets.

Mr. Mills offered a motion to approve the minutes of September 5, 2013 as amended. Ms. Moroney seconded the motion. The vote was 5 – 0 – 2 (Mr. Bergum and Dr. Karpf) The motion carries.

Minutes of October 3, 2013

Chairman Foster handed out her amendments to the minutes of October 3, 2013, for the Board to review. (Attachment B). A few inconsequential typographical, spelling and grammatical errors were noted. Mr. Bergum stated he was present at that meeting but was not listed as present.
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Planning Board
November 7, 2013

Ms. Moroney offered a motion to approve the minutes of October 3, 2013 as amended. Mr. Mills seconded the motion. The vote was 6 – 0 -1. (Dr. Karpf). The motion carries.

Correspondence:

The Code Enforcement Officer’s Report was not available.

A letter from the State of New Hampshire Department of Transportation – October 17, 2013 – re: Dartmouth Brook Subdivision Driveway Permit and Trench Permit was received from Philip Beaulieu, Asst. District Engineer.

A letter and plan from the State of New Hampshire Department of Transportation – October 24, 2013 – re: Lennon Road was received from Matt Urban, Wetlands Program Specialist

A letter from the State of New Hampshire Supreme Court – October 22, 2013 – re: Town of Carroll v. William Rines docketed as case number 2013-0683 received from
Allison R. Cook, Deputy Clerk

Report of Officers and Committees:

Master Plan Sub-committee

Mr. Mills said the Sub-committee finalized the survey. He said the Sub-committee requests that the Planning Board go ahead with it. The Sub-committee gave their approval of the survey pending the Planning Board’s approval of it.

Mr. Mills offered a motion that the Planning Board accept the survey as finalized.

Discussion: Dr. Karpf said this survey will be at no cost for the survey or the postage. He said he feels very comfortable with it. He said the Sub-committee would like to get this out before the Christmas holidays when heavy mailings of holiday cards etc. are sent out. Chairman Foster said after the vote Ms. Bramford (of North Country Council) will finalize and print the survey out after which a number of people will stuff envelopes. It should be in the mail the end of November or early December.

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Planning Board
November 7, 2013
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Mr. Mills said they have incorporated the voters registration list with the list of taxpayers and residents, cross checked and took out any repeated names. There is a master list of 1,255 to be mailed.

There was discussion of using an e-mail address for responses or a fax number. Chairman Foster volunteered that her store could be used to drop the survey off.

Mr. Bergum seconded the motion. The vote was 7 – 0. The motion carries.

Site Plan Review Regulations Sub-committee

Dr. Karpf said the Sub-committee hasn’t been able to meet due to conflicting schedules. Mr. Hogan agreed stating that his work schedule has changed. Dr. Karpf said he doesn’t think the finalized document must be reviewed by Town Counsel. He said it is almost verbatim from OEP’s (State of NH Office of Energy and Planning) site plan review regulations. He offered a few areas that the Board might want to add such as being more specific regarding flood plan regulations and buffer zones or lighting regulations. He said he found that section 101 on parking contradicts the Subdivision Regulations. He said changing the 90 days to 65 days in which the Board must act on an application and the 30 days that the application must be addressed are the only major changes he sees. He said, those corrections can be made by a simple administrative amendment. He said our Site Plan Review Regulation is complete and comprehensive compared to other Towns.

Chairman Foster said third party review and inspection must be put in. There was voiced concern regarding arsenic in the water and addressing the portability of the water. Dr. Karpf said there are 15 things that can be tested for with a water sample. He said he has the collection containers as Health Officer and they can be acquired free of cost through him. The testing does have costs attached.

Mr. Hogan suggested that the updated Site Plan Review Regulation be sent out to all members to be reviewed. Mr. Mills said it is easy to confuse conditions to regulations to ordinances. He said the document must be specific. Dr. Karpf said the Board needs room for flexibility in their regulations, the time of decision on a project is when the Board can be specific with their conditions.


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Planning Board
November 7, 2013

Chairman Foster said regarding the third party review, the Planning board has no contract with Provan & Lorber. Provan & Lorber are now out of Contoocook and have closed their Littleton office. She suggested getting a couple of engineering firms so it doesn’t stop either from doing business privately in Town because they have a contract with the Town.

Chairman Foster said Gregg Hogan (Road Agent) wants to inspect as the project goes along rather than at the end.

Dr. Karpf said according to planning sources, our road standards are antiquated and should be reviewed. He said regarding the third party reviewer, the Town doesn’t need to contract with anyone. The Town (Planning Board) can contract with anyone, and get bids as needed.

Chairman Foster said the Board can review a site plan, get an estimate of the size of the project, length of the road etc. and in the bid invitation ask how many inspections would be required. She said that would give the applicant some idea of the cost he would incur.

Dr. Karpf said the Board would have to change their Sub-division Regulations to do that. He said, the State has a list of site engineers.

Unfinished business:
Planning Board & Zoning Board of Adjustment Secretary Job Description

Dr. Karpf said the present Secretary has done a spectacular job with everything at a reduced salary. He said regarding item #10 on the draft Job Description developed by Chairman Foster (Attachment C), during the interview process of applicants for the position, one of the factors was the availability of the person to hand deliver mylars to the Coos County Registry of Deeds. Chairman Foster said in the past they were mailed. Ms. Dowling (Planning Board Secretary) said during the interview it was stated that there had been a problem with mailing the mylars. She also stated that in the Sub-division regulations it states that the book and page number must be given to the applicant upon the registration. She said there is s plan number given to mylars not a book and page number, so that should be changed in the Regulations. She said also, the only way to immediately get the plan number is to hand deliver the mylar.

Chairman Foster said in #6 regarding the procedure for the tapes, it was noted by the Secretary in her memo to the Board regarding this draft job description (Attachment D) that the
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Planning Board
November 7, 2013

tape recorder and the tapes are hers. Ms. Dowling said she hasn’t used audio tapes for months and transcribes from her notes. The recorder she has was not good and didn’t pick up the conversation clearly at all. Mr. Mills said she should get a digital recorder and Mr. Hogan said there is voice recognition software that could type in the minutes for her. The Secretary would then just have to edit what was written.

Mr. Mills said the minutes should not be total transcriptions. The minutes should reflect the topic pertinent information so a person reading it years later knows what the situation is, and the votes and decisions.

Regarding the Secretary’s time sheet, Dr. Karpf said that it takes time to do the time sheet in detail. Chairman Foster gave out a sample of what she would like to see used as a time sheet. This would be good for tracking the amount of time spent on each project/function so that she can justify the time and the salary amount requested to the Budget Committee when she gives her 2014 budget request.

Mr. Mills said the budget is important but the week to week work is not consistent. He said his job is not micro-managed and he believes this should be done by exception rather than by this detail. When a person is hired, they are expected to do the job. He said he echoes Dr. Karpf’s comments. He said Ms. Dowling’s performance has been good, things are done on time, the Board is kept informed via e-mail and with the meeting folders. He said if there was a deficiency, that should be dealt with. It was noted that every other Town employee was required to give only their time in and time out.

Dr. Karpf asked if anyone else has to do this.(document time worked on each project) He said looking for a precise number is impossible. Ms. Moroney said it’s for a justification. Chairman Foster said she doesn’t feel comfortable because she doesn’t work that closely with Ms. Dowling to supervise her work.

Mr. Hogan said he will check out the voice recognition software. Mr. Bergum suggested an Excel spread sheet. He said its better technology. You can sort by project name. Ms. Dowling was tasked to draft an Excel spread sheet.




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The matter was tabled until the December meeting. Chairman Foster asked about the timeframe for keeping the recordings, indicating the recording being made by the camera and kept on DVD. She was made aware that those recordings have nothing to do with the Town government.

Ms. Dowling said she has been trying to keep track of the budget but has been unable to get monthly reports. She has also been unable to get the cost per copy of copy paper. There is a copy log that is kept but the cost per is unknown. Ms. Moroney said it is charged by the ream.

Mr. Hogan said he had just gotten a text from his wife (the Finance Clerk) and a ream of copy paper is $2.80. A ream has 500 pages.

The Board agreed that the length of time (audio) tapes are kept should be addressed in the Rules of Procedure.

Mr. Mills said the Chairman’s ability to act unilaterally should also be reviewed and included in the Rules of Procedure. It was noted these Rules are reviewed annually. The Secretary thought they were reviewed in April. Dr. Karpf said the Rules of Procedure is a “living document” and can be amended at any time following the procedure.

Mr. Mills offered a motion to adjourn. Mr. Hogan seconded the motion. The vote was 7 – 0. The motion carries.

8:08 PM Chairman Foster adjourned the meeting.

Respectfully submitted
Linda J. Dowling
Secretary
Carroll Planning Board