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Minutes of 8/25/2014 DRAFT

September 4th, 2014

Carroll Board of Selectmen
Meeting Minutes
August 25, 2014

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: Bonnie Moroney, Paul Bussiere, David Scalley.

The meeting was called to order by Chairman Moroney.

Members of the public present: Ann Fabrizio, Mike Gooden, Greg Hogan, Evan Karpf, John Warren, Kathy Saffian, Claire Gritzer, Scott Sonia, Lynn Acquard, Dan Walker, Makayla Walker, Steve Lapoint, Terri Lapoint

Pledge of Allegiance

The meeting was filmed by Evan Karpf.

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

Selectman Scalley made a Motion to accept the minutes of 8/18/2014 as written and Selectman Bussiere seconded. The Motion passed unanimously.

The Secretary said she had been asked at a previous meeting to confirm the Selectmen’s Office had a set of keys for the Transfer Station, so she wanted them to know they do.

Chairman Moroney said they had met with Water, Highway and Transfer Station departments and they made Greg Hogan the manager of all. It had been this way at one time, so they wanted to try it again. Scott Sonia will still be the head of the Water Department but will work more with Greg who will now do schedules as it is best to have one rather than several doing this. Chairman Moroney also said they will look at the Transfer Station budget and set it up so everyone will know the real costs, as it used to be. There will be an article in the Warrant to move the $20,000 from the Special Revenue Fund as usual, but rather than moving it as it is spent throughout the year, it will be moved once or twice, which will be much more efficient for bookkeeping purposes.

Chairman Moroney called on Claire Gritzer for the proposed budget for 2015 of the Trustees of the Trust Funds. Mrs. Gritzer said they have put in for a salary increase this year as they calculated the amount of time they devote to the “job” and it’s over 210 hours a year. She briefly spoke about each line and said there is are several workshops, including one put on by the Attorney General’s office which they must attend, so the Training/Travel line has also increased. She stated the total increase is $290.
2014 2015
01-4130.10-138 Trustee of Trust Funds 840 1,005
-140 Trustee Ed/Seminars 500 625
-141 Supplies 75 75
TOTALS 1,415 1,705

There were no questions and the Board thanked Mrs. Gritzer.

As a member of the Parks and Recreation Commission, Dave Scalley said he would speak for them regarding their budget. He said they have increased the counselor salary line as they will need another fulltime person due to the numbers of children who attended this year which averaged about 40. They swapped amounts in the budget to keep it as close to last year’s as possible, in spite of the increase. Thus, while there will be an increase, the Committee has been able to keep it at $2,919 which is actually less than the amount needed for the new counselor. It was noted that there is a Director who is also a counselor, so they have two teachers, two junior counselors and two others. During the discussion, Mr. Scalley said they had a learning curve this year. There were five to six families from out of town and their rate was $60 for the first child and $55 for the second (if applicable) while for residents it was $10 for the first child and $5 for the second and more plus the cost of the field trips. They have been discussing it and are thinking they will have the sign up like they do for the ski program where the families pay for the season at the beginning. Claire Gritzer said the Trustees of the Trust Funds have a fund for Rec Building and Repair and wanted to know if any money will be needed in the next few years as she is hoping to invest it. Mr. Scalley said since she brought it up, they have found they are very cramped for space, especially in rainy weather, and the Committee is talking about the possibility of doing an expansion of some sort, though they really weren’t prepared to bring it up at this point. Mr. Scalley noted that Megan Rouillard and her family have done a lot of work at the Rec Area and Building and have saved the town a lot of money. He asked Mrs. Gritzer if they could leave the funds until their Board meets in September and she agreed they could.

2014 2015 DIFFERENCE
01-4520.10-100 Counselors 10,560 14,080 3,520
-200 Telephone 400 400 0
-201 Equip & Supplies 1 375 374
-300 Parties 1 375 374
-310 Ski Program 1,500 750 (750)
-320 Field/Court Repair 500 100 (400)
-321 Building Repair 200 1 (199)
-501 Transportation 1 1 0
-806 Staff Training 300 300 0
-807 Town Entertainment 3,500 3,500 0
TOTALS 16,963 19,882 2,919
Mr. Scalley was thanked.
John Gardiner presented the proposed budget for 2015 for the Library. He said the budget is up but by reducing some lines they’ve been able to keep it at a reasonable amount. In a brief discussion, he said computers are coming down in price and a lot of the software the Library uses is now available for free. The increase of $702 is essentially two line items, one being subscriptions and the other, the salary line. He explained that the library began offering e-books this year through the state library and the cost, which is based on number of patrons serviced, is $400. Regular subscriptions remain at $50. With regard to the Librarian’s salary, Mr. Gardiner said they were very fortunate to have recruited a person of Tom McCorkhill’s caliber. In the short time he has been with the library, he has added numerous new titles, managed and inventoried what was there, established several new programs and services including Wi-Fi service and e-books, created a Facebook page and obtained a grant from the Children’s Literacy Foundation which not only benefited our library but the Whitefield School library as well, along with numerous other things. The Trustees feel these positive efforts and achievements deserve to be recognized and rewarded and have thus increased the salary line by $500 to reflect their satisfaction with Mr. McCorkhill’s performance.

2014 2015
01-4550.10-100 Librarian Salary 9,068 9,570
-200 Telephone 675 675
-201 Books 1,600 1,600
-202 Subscriptions 50 450
-205 Miscellaneous 125 125
-208 Capital Items 400 250
-210 Computer/Software 500 400
-215 Audio/Video 300 300
-218 Dues/Training/Seminars 150 200
-220 Office Supplies 400 400
-222 Mileage 200 200
TOTALS 13,468 14,170

There were no further questions and the Board thanked Mr. Gardiner.

Dan Walker spoke about the Emergency Management Director and said it has become that the position requires a lot of time and should be therefore be compensated. He said the Director needs to be someone with much more time and effort than he has available so he felt he must submit his resignation. Mr. Walker recommended that maybe it could be a town employee already on the books with an increase in compensation, but not someone who already has too much on their plate. He also said someone needs to be in town and available as paperwork has escalated, there are grants which could and should be written and there are seminars that should be attended. He spoke of the Reverse 911 system and a letter which should have been received and which he hadn’t had time to deal with as an example. (The Secretary was asked to check with Sgt. Smalley to find out if perhaps he also had received this). John Gardiner spoke about the position from his standpoint as Police Chief both in Carroll and later in Lancaster. He reiterated what Mr. Walker had said as well as that requirements had also multiplied and become much more demanding. The Board thanked Dan for his service to the Town and the Chairman said the budget would be tabled at this time.
The following items were approved and signed:

Rec Area Use Permit Application – Len Harden/American Bar Association
Oath of Office – Megan Rouillard, ZBA Alternate -- Expires March, 2015; Karen Saffian,
Alternate on Planning Board, expires 2017
MS-1 Extension Request Form – DRA

Other:

The Secretary asked about closing the Office at noon on the Friday before Labor Day. She said few if any people come in on Fridays anyway and rarely does anyone come in on the Friday of a holiday weekend. The Board agreed it would be fine.

Discussion took place about School Street and the Road Agent, Greg Hogan, said he had looked at repaving but was not sure how they might want to handle it. He said he hadn’t researched enough but was wondering about possibly closing it near the top for several reasons; one being that vehicles go through at high rates of speed and it’s quite dangerous with the parking lot and other traffic. Another is the culvert that was damaged in the winter freeze and then nearly washed out in the heavy rains. It will cost about $100,000 to repair it properly. John Gardiner brought up about the rights-of-way which the utilities have and also stated that the Historical Society had bought property in that area for a building. It was stated they need to look at legalities for various options as well as posting the road for weight limits. Mr. Hogan said he had hoped FEMA might help with the cost but the project doesn’t qualify. He has been meeting with companies about “band aid” repairs to get us through the winter. Mr. Hogan was asked about the cost to pave and he said it would be $47,000.

Kathy Saffian spoke about the Transfer Station and said she was concerned about eliminating the supervisor and who would do all the paperwork. Chairman Moroney said they are hoping to put the budget all back together the way it used to be so people can see the true cost of running the department. She said they will still transfer the money from the Special Revenue Fund as has been done in the past, but they hope to do it just once or twice a year rather than every time money is spent, which generates much paperwork for the Transfer Station as well as the Office. All of this extra work and paperwork will be eliminated with the change. Terri Lapoint asked about grants that may be applied for and it was noted there are not a lot available for recycling centers.

Mrs. Lapointe then asked about the Rec program and spoke about the possibility of using volunteers, herself included. Selectman Scalley said volunteers are most welcome and he knew the committee would be happy to talk about it.

As there was no further business, the Board was polled and went into non-public session, per RSA 91-A-3 for personnel, legal and town aid at 8:25 p.m.

At the close of non-public session at 8:44 p.m., Selectman Bussiere moved to return to public session and seal the minutes from non-public session. Chairman Moroney seconded and the Motion passed unanimously.

There being no further discussion, Chairman Moroney made a Motion to adjourn the meeting. Selectman Scalley seconded and the Motion passed unanimously. Chairman Moroney declared the meeting ended at 8:45 p.m. The next meeting will be Monday, September 8, 2014.

Town of Carroll, New Hampshire ®2024