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Minutes of 08/07/2006

August 12th, 2006

Carroll Board of Selectmen
Meeting Minutes
August 7, 2006



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

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

Members of the public present: Norm Brown, Kevin Scribner, Roberta McGee, Eleanor Brauns, Doug Bews, Jeff Duncan, John Goodney, Ron Turcotte, Karen Moran, Sean Moran, Billy Rines, Tom Gately, Ann Fabrizio, Carmine Fabrizio, Evan Karpf, Joan Karpf, John Burt, Edith Tucker, Ben Jellison, Betty Gilman, Roland Houle, Leslie Bergum, Bill Dowling, Donna Matz, Mike Matz, Paul Ouimet, Fred Hollis, Jay Ouellette, Lori Hogan, Judy Cookson, Jim Cookson, Jim Covey, Ray Chaput, Warren Walsh, Pam Walsh, Dale Shakespeare, Ed Martin, Margriet Groffen, Dan Luebke, Doris Luebke, Joyce Bean, Paul Hoffshire, Ray Demers

Norm Brown came before the board to present himself as a candidate for the House of Representatives District 2. In response to questions from the board and the floor, he told people he was a Republican, lives in Jefferson, and is superintendent of the Coos County Department of Corrections. He has a Bachelors’ degree in Criminal Justice and a Masters’ in Education. When asked what issues were most important to him, Mr. Brown said education and jobs. Bringing good jobs to the North Country is important, but a good education is key to keeping people around here.

Kevin Scribner from North Country Council came to give a brief explanation of the CIP program the town is entering into. The purpose of a CIP is to map out capital expenditures over a 6-10 year period. The idea is to keep the tax rate stable by planning capital purchases. They study all departments, work with the budget committee, and look at past expenses. They will review the Master Plan to coordinate with the CIP. The Planning Board with Selectmen approval will participate in the whole process. In the first year, Mr. Scribner will do all the initial setup, and help with the annual update. The cost to the town is $3,500 and NH CFA grant money will pay for the additional $1,500. Other towns using this service are Madison and Franconia.

Jay Ouellette asked for and received permission to read his presentation in its entirety and have it placed in the minutes as written. He said he had spoken to 4 prior selectmen who shared his concerns, and some were here tonight.



Selectmen’s meetings should be held for the public’s convenience, not the selectmen’s. No matter how trivial the selectmen see a citizen’s concerns, they are considered paramount to that citizen and should be dealt with in a timely manner. Waiting two to three weeks is inexcusable. Citizen’s are not here for the selectmen, the selectmen should be here for the citizens. The citizen’s of Carroll request that the meetings be re-established on a weekly basis for the convenience of its citizens.

In reference to the safety training coordinating officer position held by Bill Dowling. Was the safety committee consulted as to the filling of that position? Should it have been filled by the head of the safety committee? What qualifications were met to get this position? Who appointed Mr. Dowling? Did the selectmen vote in public session to accept the appointment?

It appears that two out of the three selectmen are going around town during the day, acting as town managers. Mr. Chairman, that’s not the board’s job. Any and all decisions that the selectmen make for the town should be made in this office, in a public forum meeting, discussed, a motion made on the specific details of what will take place in the following week’s activities, voted on and carried out as specified. As it stands, you have a majority of selectmen at some of these “micro-management sessions” which makes these meetings illegal selectmen’s meetings. Secondly, even if the board had done things by the book, they would still be illegal, due to the fact that there are no minutes on record for these events. It appears from the outside, that the selectmen must have concerns of accountability towards town employees, or you wouldn’t be out there, where is the accountability for your actions as a board?

New water accounts, not approved before the 2006 March town vote, to be sold out of town, to Bethlehem residents was voted on by warrant article and was defeated by a majority vote. Where does the select board get off trying to override the voter’s decision? Irregardless of what the town counsel may have to say, gentlemen, wake up and listen to your voters. Your callous inconsideration in this matter is extremely insulting.

In reference to the road next to the fire station being non-designated as a dead end, it took a public hearing to make it a dead end, there were obvious safety issues affiliated with the closing of it, and again, the select board in it’s infinite wisdom, elected to open it without a public hearing, and again without accountability, for the benefit of a few, at the expense of the safety of all.

I was told that the town of Carroll may have a good case to go after some tax money from the prior owners of the Mount Washington Hotel Complex due to the price of the sale that transpired this summer, in comparison to the much protested appraised value. To the best of my knowledge, some or all of the board has some knowledge of this. What if anything, have you done to pursue this situation? While we’re talking about the Bretton Woods end of town, what is all the talk about the selectmen trying to get the police and fire departments to possibly sign service contracts with Bretton Woods? What’s all the talk about building the new fire and possible police stations at that end of town? That’s not the center of the town of Carroll. It sounds to me like one of the first steps to secession, the separation of the town of Carroll from Bretton Woods.

There is concern as to the protocol for the hiring of a new police chief. When we hired the fire chief, we had a board of citizens aside from the selectmen to evaluate the applicants, and the select board took the recommendations of that board and hired the new fire chief. I recommend that our moderator, be given the power to put together a committee of a cross section of people, which would consist of five to seven citizens to evaluate the applicant’s qualifications for the police chief’s position. I would be willing to volunteer for one of the positions if the moderator sees fit. I’m sure that there will be many people willing to be on this committee. Myself, as well as many other Carroll residents, have a problem with the selectmen being involved with the selection of the next police chief. In the early months of 2006, at a selectmen’s meeting, but after it was over, in the presence of myself and Selectman Wright, Selectman Strasser expressed an interest in meeting with the former police chief of Whitefield, with the intention of interviewing him for the job here in Carroll. I strongly advised him against doing that telling him that it was unethical and it just wasn’t right. However, he insisted that he was going ahead with that meeting against my advice, and we all left the building. The following week at the next selectman’s meeting before we started the meeting, I asked him if he indeed followed through with his intentions to meet with the former police chief. He told me that he had met with him and he thought it went well and that he was one hell of a guy. There is another problem with selectman Strasser being involved with the hiring process of the next police chief. Mr. Strasser has major prejudice with one of the possible applicants for the job, causing the process to be tainted before it’s started. At another meeting of the selectmen that I was partaking in around February/March 2006, I expressed my opinion to the selectmen, that although I probably would not be in the hiring process due to the fact that I chose not to run for a second term, that they should consider hiring from within due to familiarity issues with the area and the townspeople. Derogatory remarks started going back and forth towards one of the possible applicants to where I felt that there would be no impartiality or objectivity in the hiring of the next police chief, and again the process of hiring was already being spoiled. My recommendation along with some of the townspeople of Carroll, Mr. Chairman, is that you request that Selectman Strasser be strongly urged to stand down and remove himself from any and all discussions and decision making in regards to the hiring of the new police chief of the town of Carroll. I further ask you on behalf of myself and some of the townspeople of Carroll, for you to stand down on this subject as well. And to not consider the application that I’m sure is already on file, for the former police chief of Whitefield, due to the fact of the circumstances surrounding the involvement of his notifications of the job, the subsequent unethical interview at the one or possible many other meetings and phone calls that may have taken place with selectman Strasser.
In regards to the ad that was placed in the newspaper regarding the hiring of the new police chief, who wrote it, did the select board review it and approve it in public session?

While we are on the subject on meetings, I, as well as many others, feel that the executive session meetings have been grossly abused on a regular basis by this board. While I was on the board, I constantly had to remind some members of the board that certain discussions were not allowed in these sessions. Never the less, some things just kept on going. It’s one of the deciding factors that made me not run for a second term. I felt that it wasn’t my job to baby sit while on the board. It appears to be a normal predominance with this board. Everything seems to be fair game in executive session. I have partial copies of the minutes of two executive sessions, taken right off the internet, that amply show that the executive sessions were abused, misrepresented and things were done and discussed that does not belong in these sessions. Again, let’s talk about accountability.

I was told that there may be an executive session to meet this evening with all the department heads to be present. When executive sessions are held for the purpose of personnel issues, they were placed there so as to not unduly tarnish a reputation of any one person, if a need to expose an employee were necessary, it would be made public at the next public meeting, or to interview new applicant’s for the town. In this instance, all the department heads are supposedly being called in, not every department head must have disciplinary action coming to them, and, all departments cannot be interviewing new employees, so, what is this meeting really about? If it’s financial, it must be done in public session, if it has to do with policy or almost any other situation, it must be done in public session, who called this executive session? What is it, that that selectperson or persons are really meeting for, that they don’t want the townspeople to know what’s being discussed?

I have been told that Selectman Strasser and Chairman John Birknes of the planning board , both had meetings with some of the new owners of the Mount Washington Complex before they owned the properties, and possibly after the purchase. In itself, it seems innocent. However, as public officials, what were they doing there, and at what capacity? Have they gone there to represent the town in any way? Make promises, or make any tentative agreements for the town of Carroll? Was there any mention of any of this to the select board or the planning board before these ventured meetings took place? I don’t see any minutes to this extent. If these meetings took place, they could have been under false representation, I would like to have some answers. Maybe request to talk to the people involved to find out what actually transpired. With what appears to be bad behavior at the least by this select board , possible overstepping it’s authority, tossing out protocol, all or impart, selectmen emailing each other on a regular basis, which by the way should be documented, what the heck is going on? There is no room for complacency as a selectman on this board, while things like this are going on, complacency can be as detrimental to the system, as the acts themselves. I’m surprised that this select board isn’t in the cross hairs of the attorney general’s office.

Mr. Chairman, you were one of the reasons that I ran for selectman, I feel that you are honest, intelligent and hard working. I am appealing to you, as that person to do the right thing. Use your twenty eight years of experience, and take back the control of this board and make things right. I am requesting that you make a motion and a vote to remedy the concerns that you have been given this evening. I am also requesting that you make a motion and take a vote to investigate the actions of the board members that were presented to you as well. Mr. Chairman, these issues will not be ignored.
Thank you for your time.
Respectfully Submitted, Citizens of the Town of Carroll.



Mr. Ouellette expressed his intention to discuss each of the above items with the board. To start he asked if the board would vote to return to weekly meetings of the Board of Selectmen. Chairman Wright moved to have weekly meetings. It was seconded by Selectman Moroney and the motion was passed unanimously.

Mr. Ouellette asked if the Safety Committee was consulted before appointing Bill Dowling as Director of Training for Safety. When told no, questions arose as to why not, and it was pointed out that Mr. Dowling is not even a member of the Safety Committee. Mr. Dowling was appointed at a regular Selectman’s meeting, in part because he had extra time to coordinate training sessions.

Jim Covey objected to the steam rolling of the selectmen tonight. He felt they should be treated with respect, and given a chance to consider their answers, not be blind sided.

Mr. Ouellette brought up the fact that two of the selectmen are setting policy outside the venue of the Selectmen’s meetings. Selectman Strasser said they are just talking to people who work for the town, such as working on the Safety Manual. Mr. Ouellette said the fact that the two selectmen are together constitutes a meeting, which is illegally held outside the public forum. He said activities and procedures should be discussed at the meeting and then acted upon, not done and then presented at a meeting. Ed Martin echoed Mr. Covey’s statements, saying the Selectmen should be given time to prepare answers for the meeting next week. Mr. Ouellette said he wants answers to some of these things tonight.

When asked if the Board had decided to sell water despite the voters’ wishes last March, Selectman Strasser said they had not decided, and selling water to this Bethlehem subdivision brought up larger issues, and they probably would not sell the water.

Mr. Ouellette said he felt the Board had overstepped their bounds when they reopened Fieldstone Lane without holding a Public Hearing. Selectman Strasser said the attorney said they could do it, and they did. In response to the question about getting tax money from the MWH based on the fact that it sold for much more than the assessed value, Selectman Strasser said they were waiting to hear if the attorney thought they could win a case. With reference to police and fire departments signing contracts with Bretton Woods, Selectman Strasser said Chief Gardiner had mentioned they were looking for new sources of revenue, and Selectman Strasser told him the homeowners’ association had increased the amount of their security contract from $15,000 to $30,000. Chief Gardiner had no interest in it and that was the end of the conversation.

When Mr. Ouellette asked Chairman Wright if he would make a motion to have Selectman Strasser stand down from the selection process for the new police chief and Chairman Wright said no, Mr. Ouellette said the suggestion would not go away. Ben Jellison asked who was going to be on the hiring board, and was told it would be Jim Covey and Chuck Jellison and the three selectmen, that Lancaster had had two outside members on the board, and that’s what we’re doing. Paul Ouimet asked Selectman Strasser how many candidates had he met with? He was told one who was in the town hall one day plus the former Whitefield chief. Mr. Ouellette once again asked to have Selectman Strasser stand down. Several people questioned why Chief Gardiner has not been consulted, and why they wouldn’t. Tom Gately stated that he felt we should have another local Police Chief on the hiring board

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