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Minutes of 5/18/2015 DRAFT

May 26th, 2015

Carroll Board of Selectmen
Meeting Minutes
May 18, 2015

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: David Scalley, Bonnie Moroney, Paul Bussiere

The meeting was called to order at 7:12 p.m.by Chairman Scalley.

Members of the public present: Ann Fabrizio, Mike Gooden, Joan Karpf, Brian Mycko, Donna Foster, Greg Hogan, Lori Hogan, Terry Lapoint, Steve Lapoint

Pledge of Allegiance

The meeting was filmed by Joan Karpf.

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

Selectman Bussiere made a Motion To: Approve the minutes of 5/11/2015, as written and Chairman Scalley seconded. Selectman Moroney abstained as she was not at the meeting. The Motion passed.

Chairman Scalley called on Regan Pride from North Country Council who has just completed the Full Cost Analysis of the Transfer Station/Recycle Center. Mr. Pride explained the concept is to identify all costs to operate the department, including indirect costs such as bond payment and hours put in by Office and Administrative staff, etc., which would be prorated based on the percentage used. He noted this was done using the 2013 figures as that was the most recent complete year when the process was started.

Mr. Pride did a review of the Analysis and showed how to read it. There were several other towns included for the sake of comparison, which would in turn help to show how we are doing regarding any number of areas including cost of trucking and revenues from the sale of various recycled items. Costs for trucking are higher than others and Mr. Pride suggested that we get help from a gentleman with North Country Council when we are ready to negotiate a new contract. We also need to decide if we want costs totally covered by fees for taking such things as appliances, electronics and construction debris. Currently there is a very large gap. Likewise, it shows that our revenues are much lower than other towns. Mr. Pride said the analysis
indicates there is much work to be done to optimize all of our areas. He pointed out the study on page 9 which shows the Town being higher than even the National average for disposal and said there are several things we need to try to do:
*Keep an eye on our annual tonnage amount
*Disseminate information about source reduction, in an effort to reduce tonnage
*Compost more – can do so much more cheaply than throwing away
*Develop a better breakdown of what is recycled vs. what goes to the landfill – for revenue
*Try to get scales, if possible, as charging per pound is much more exact (a hard one to reach as
brand new scales are very expensive and good, used ones are not plentiful)
*Suggested trying to weigh items i.e. couches, on the scale we have to see if our fees are close to
correct
*Shop around for better recycling prices
*Consider unit-based pricing, also known as “pay-as-you-throw”

Single-stream or zero-sort recycling was very briefly touched on and there are still pros and cons about that. According to NRRA there should not be a charge to have recyclables hauled away, but Mr. Pride said he has heard it is “sneaking up.” He said if the Selectmen or anyone has questions for him after looking at the material with more time, to feel free to contact him.

Mr. Pride said if we wanted to, we should be able to punch in the numbers for 2014 to get a picture and a comparison of our own. Along with other resources, we should use the Annual Facilities Report, which is where he got a lot of his numbers for 2013. Joan Karpf said she feels there is not a lot of understanding about recycling or composting so we should be trying to bring information to the people. She asked if NCC had any programs, which Mr. Pride there may be but he wasn’t quite sure. It was agreed that it would most helpful with tonnage, if food waste was separated from rubbish – and that individuals would have to do this.

The Selectmen thanked him for his report and his time.

The Building Permit process was tabled as there is more research which needs to be done.

Chairman Scalley said they should table discussion about the Employee Manual and Selectman Moroney received permission to briefly speak to it before this was done. She said previously it was mentioned about combining vacation, holiday and sick time as “Paid Time Off.” She said if she has time, she will try to put together a proposal before the next meeting. She said this should also include comp time which is not addressed in the current manual, though she understands why some departments, especially, should have it. She also said the Board needs to meet with the employees before any decisions would be made, which Chairman Scalley said, was one of the reasons for tabling this item.

Selectman Moroney read Article 15 regarding the raising and appropriating of $6,993 for the Town Hall to help with fuel costs from the 2014 Warrant. It was noted that George Brodeur, Sr. had asked about this at the recent meeting about the completion of the Master Plan. The proposed project did not get done therefore, the money was not spent. As this was a lapsing article and the money was not encumbered for the following year, it rolled into the General Fund.
The Secretary was asked to let Mr. Brodeur know that they had followed up on this.
The following items were approved and signed:

Driveway Permits – Hall
Oath of Office – R. Gauthier, Budget Committee

Chairman Scalley, as the Board’s Rep spoke on behalf of the Parks and Recreation Commission, and said they would like to build a larger building. Recent years have seen an increase in the number of children attending summer camp and they need the space. He said they are hoping to put in the foundation and slab this year and go for a warrant article for the building next year. He said they are getting bids and when he has three, he will be back. When asked, Mr. Scalley said the current building will be used for storage as they are in great need of space for that as well. Lori Hogan said building a pavilion had been discussed some years ago and asked if that would happen, and he said it could be a possibility.

Other:

Selectman Moroney reminded everyone about the Memorial Day Parade and the barbecue afterward. She urged all to attend.

Chairman Scalley asked Greg Hogan, Public Works Director, how the Clean-Up Day went. He responded that not as many people were there as the previous year, but said he felt he didn’t get enough publicity out. He did point out that because so many showed up the year before and picked up so much, there wasn’t the amount of litter and trash as usual.

Referring to the Transfer Station Cost Analysis, Mr. Hogan was asked about recycling and the cardboard in particular. He said it all comes from the Hotel and if they didn’t bring it, our revenue would be down substantially. He said they are still holding recyclables waiting for prices to go back up, which they can do as they have the storage space.

Joan Karpf asked about the vision for the Rec Area regarding the new building and asked if that means basketball at the Town Hall will be eliminated. She was told no that it wouldn’t affect that at all. Discussion turned to the size of the new building (32 X 48) and cost to attend, i.e. that there is a fee for children who are not residents.

Donna Foster asked if the filming group was having trouble getting people to film as no one was at the meeting on May 14, for the Master Plan. She also asked if there was a problem with the equipment as at the last Planning Board meeting Evan Karpf stopped filming midway through and ended up putting everything away. Joan Karpf said there was nothing she was aware of as far as problems. Also, she said there may have been a problem getting the camera as Dave Ikasalo was away. Chairman Scalley suggested the camera be kept at the Town Hall and this wouldn’t happen again, but Mrs. Karpf said Ike has to transfer the film to a DVD, so they can’t.

Terry Lapoint asked about construction waste coming from the Hotel to our Transfer Station. This was precipitated by discussion of the difficulty of charging properly for construction debris. This type of waste should be weighed but we do not have a scale that is large enough, so there is a formula of sorts to use regarding amount i.e. measuring by the truckload, yards, etc. Mrs. Lapoint was told they do bring certain items for which they are charged such as mattresses, televisions, etc. She was also advised they do not bring regular waste as they have dumpsters on the various properties.

As there was no further business, the Board was polled to go into non-public session, per RSA 91-A-3 for personnel and legal at 8:30 p.m. Selectman Bussiere, yes; Chairman Scalley, yes, Selectman Moroney, yes.

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. Selectman Moroney seconded and the Motion passed unanimously.

Selectman Bussiere made a Motion to adjourn the meeting and Chairman Scalley seconded. The Motion passed unanimously. Chairman Scalley declared the meeting ended at 8:44 p.m. The next meeting will be Monday, June 1, 2015.

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