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Minutes of 06/26/2006

July 1st, 2006

Carroll Board of Selectmen
Meeting Minutes
June 26, 2006


Board members present: William Wright, Allen Strasser, Bonnie Moroney

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

Members of the public present: Roberta McGee, Tom Gately, Eleanor Brauns, Evan Karpf, Bill Dowling, Linda Dowling, Dale Shakespeare, Nancy Mitiguy, Edith Tucker, Doug Bews, John Goodney

The board began with the approval of bills and signing of checks.

Selectman Strasser made a motion to approve the minutes from 06/19/2006. The motion was seconded by Selectman Moroney and passed unanimously.

Bill Dowling came before the board to present a quote for storage trailers. He wants to purchase 5 trailers at a cost of $7,700 plus an additional $1,000 for delivery. He has an approved grant from NH the Beautiful for reimbursement of $3,850, so the total cost to the town would be $4,850. Selectman Moroney asked what they would be used for, and Mr. Dowling said for storing plastics, maybe aluminum, and one for his snow blower, sweeper, and other equipment. He’d like to save aluminum and possibly take it to Concord in the small highway truck, as the price there is 50 cents/lb versus 20 cents/lb in Littleton. He stated there was money in his budget.

Selectman Strasser said there’d been a question about the number of hours Mr. Dowling has been working. When he was asked to work full time to meet the NH Retirement requirements, he started working 40 hours rather than 35, he thought that’s what full time was. Selectman Strasser said that he and Chairman Wright had talked about the training requirements for the different safety items here in town, and the good job Mr. Dowling had done in setting up the first couple sessions, and thought that rather than work the 35 hours, maybe he could work the 40 hours and become the Director of Training and set up all the training classes here in town and keep all the records. He’d like summaries of sessions in the office and Mr. Dowling could keep the rest of the records in his office. Selectman Strasser also asked about the revenue for dump stickers. Mr. Dowling said he didn’t charge for stickers, that the taxpayers paid for them. Selectman Strasser said the selectmen had voted to charge $1.00 for the stickers and both Mr. Dowling and the selectmen had to be operating on the same page. The selectmen discussed eliminating the sticker fee, and Selectman Moroney moved to eliminate the fee, Selectman Strasser seconded, and the motion was passed unanimously. Selectman Strasser moved to make Mr. Dowling the Director of Training and his maximum number of hours be 40. He directed that Mr. Dowling coordinate with the Fire Department because they need qualified instructors for some of their sessions. Selectman Moroney seconded, and the motion was passed unanimously. John Goodney asked if he could have access to a file on what training is done, and it was decided a master file would be kept in the Town Hall.

Selectman Strasser said we need someone designated to investigate any accidents or incidents and asked Mr. Goodney to establish a policy for this.

Mr. Dowling stated that he had been approved for a used oil grant again this year and the total is now over $7,000. He’s also applied for an oil filter grant. He also said he’d met Charlie Bass and they’d talked about trash. He’s going to meet with Mr. Bass again, hopefully with some other local towns to talk about trash. Every landfill in the state will be closed by 2017, and Bethlehem in 2016. Mr. Dowling also stated that there would be a Chain Saw Training class held some time in July or August. This was requested by Billy Rines.

Doug Bews came before the board to ask that they send a letter of support for the proposed Bike Path to the USDA Forest Service. Selectman Strasser moved to write a letter of support from the selectmen, Chairman Wright seconded, and the motion was passed unanimously. Some discussion took place about routes and surface conditions. It was stated that the preferred route is the most family oriented and handicap friendly. Initially the surface will be crushed gravel.

Selectman Strasser talked about the second visit by Inspector Roy, and that 23 of the 24 violations had been taken care of. The last will be done when the fire station expansion and generator work are completed. The safety manual did not meet expectations and must be amended. We must realign the Safety Committee with an equal number of managers and employees. The manual must be done in 30 days, the committee membership in 15 days. Mr. Goodney said they wanted a selectman on the committee, and it was suggested to replace Mr. Rines with either Scott Sonia or Greg Hogan.

Chairman Wright stated that the report from Stan Borkowski was posted on the bulletin board.

An Intent to Cut for Kenneth Elworthy Map 206 L102,104 was approved and signed. A supplementary Tax Warrant for $18.34 was approved and signed.

The request for town water in the Riverstone Subdivision (Richard Gould) was read. Evan Karpf said that according the Local Gov’t Center, the warrant article that was passed indicates the town said no sale of water out of town. If we were to do that, the town would have to form a public utility and abide by a whole set of RSA’s that cover that. Dr. Karpf suggested that we take this to Town Counsel before approving. Selectman Strasser said the Mr. Morency who was at a recent Monday night meeting, said we could sell water and could charge up to 15% more than in town without being subject to the PUC. Dr. Karpf and Roberta McGee expressed the concern that the selectmen were going against the wishes of the town if they agree to this request. Selectman Strasser said their concern was the cost of the water system and the need for revenue to support it. Chairman Wright also expressed the need to expand the system to areas in town not currently served, and these funds would generate revenue to do that. Nancy Mitiguy asked questions about how the metering was going to work, and how we would establish rates. A consultant would come in and look at costs prior to setting rates. The water enterprise fund (established in 1992 according to Mr. Dowling) that has been sitting for years with $1,008 in it has been used again since December 2005. All water related revenue is being deposited in this account, but all expenses are coming out of the general fund. Dr. Karpf asked if when the water system was upgraded we received a grant. There was no grant, a loan was taken to cover the cost. Questions about water meter timing came up again, and there is not a set date yet. Training has not been completed, but with the new man in the highway department, things should happen soon. The request by Mr. Gould was tabled pending legal opinion.

Dale Shakespeare came before the board to discuss issues of abutting property owners blocking entrance to his land. One of the lots has two houses on one side of Paquette Drive and another vacant piece on the other side of the road. This is a non-conforming lot and Mr. Shakespeare asked if the town was making sure this kind of thing doesn’t happen anymore. Dr. Karpf assured him that the Planning Board looks at these kinds of things very carefully. Mr. Shakespeare was told that in the case of the other lot, he had a right of way by prescription, that he should research when all this happened, and perhaps seek legal counsel.

Dr. Karpf announced that the Conservation Committee would next meet on July 20th at 7 PM.

Mr. Bews said that the committee to address school taxes had decided to change the name from Tax Fairness Committee as they felt it was too confrontational. He said they would like to meet with the Celebration people to discuss the impact new families would have on the school issues. New managers coming to town might have children. He also expressed an interest in having one of the new owners be part of this new committee. Selectman Strasser said Charles Adams was doing an impact study and will go to the Planning Board soon. He would also like to meet with the selectmen. Mr. Bews said the local business people are interested knowing how the new owners’ plans will impact the Route 3 corridor so they can adapt. Selectman Strasser said Charles Adams will be in charge of building and he does not appear to be one who will proceed with rapid development. He probably can’t answer all Mr. Bews’ questions at this time.

Dr. Karpf asked what impact the $90 million sale will have on the tax rolls, and was told that we can’t change the MWH assessment without revaluing the whole town. Discussions will take place with our assessors to determine the advisability of a revaluation in 2007 or 2008.

Mr. Bews spoke about the increased number of trucks parking along Rte. 3 at his end of town. He asked about the possibility of selling some of the town land set aside for industrial use. Apparently there have been inquiries from trucking companies interested in setting up a distribution center in town. Dr. Karpf said we should look at land carefully in our re-zoning. Habitat for Humanity is soon to be chartered in Coos County and they will be looking for land. There is a need to provide affordable housing in town for people like our young police officers. He said we should decide for ourselves to provide affordable housing rather than let the federal government do so. We need to plan for an industrial zone and affordable housing. Ms. Mitiguy suggested they talk to AHEAD about the housing issues.

Dr. Karpf asked Mr. Bews about the progress of scanning the Town Master Plan onto computer disk, as he had said he was doing. The Planning Board is working on the plan, and having it on computer would a great help. Mr. Bews replied he had approximately a third of it done.

Mr. Goodney announced that there would be a Blood Born Pathogen Training session for all employees on July 11 at 7 PM at the Fire Station.

At 8:25 PM, as there was no additional business, Chairman Wright declared the meeting ended and moved to go into executive session regarding personnel matters. This was seconded by Selectman Moroney. The board was polled, and went into executive session.

At the close of executive session, Chairman Wright made a motion to return to public session and seal the minutes from executive session; Selectman Moroney seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

Executive Session Decisions:

Mike Meglin hired to work at the Transfer Station
Selectmen approved the purchase of storage trailers by Bill Dowling
Selectmen adopted Personnel Policy Manual