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Minutes of 7/25/2016

August 2nd, 2016

Carroll Board of Selectmen
Meeting Minutes
July 25, 2016


“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 H. Quigley, Secretary

Board members present: Paul Bussiere, David Scalley, Brian Mycko.

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m.by Chairman Bussiere.

Members of the public present: Dianne Hogan, Michael Hogan, Imre Szauter, Jeremy Oleson, Ron Wareing, Greg Hogan

Pledge of Allegiance

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

Selectman Scalley made a Motion to approve the minutes of 7/11/2016 as written and Selectman Mycko seconded. The Motion passed unanimously.

Selectman Mycko made a Motion to approve the minutes of 7/13/2016 as written. Chairman Bussiere seconded and the Motion passed. Selectman Scalley abstained as he was not part of the Board for the meeting.

Greg Hogan, Public Works Supervisor, said he had heard from C.N. Brown for our lock-in price for oil at $1.859 per gallon. He said he would like to sign with them again and asked the Board to approve the request. With little discussion, Selectman Mycko made a Motion to: Allow Greg Hogan to sign the contract with C.N. Brown for $1.859 per gallon for the 2016-17 heating season. Selectman Scalley seconded and it passed unanimously. Greg was asked about guarantees and said we guarantee that we’ll use 14,000 gallons which we do with no problem.

Chairman Bussiere said we are trying to change companies for trucking and disposing of our solid waste and discovered that we should have had a warrant article to allow this at a non-town owned/operated facility. We cannot find that the voters have ever authorized this discussion about solving this was held. The Chairman reviewed the email from Town Counsel which said we could hold a special town meeting among other things. The Chairman suggested that we ask if we can attach this to Primary voting day in September. It was also stated that if we show a plan and a timeline, i.e. show that the town is trying to do it due diligence, that this should allow us to put the article in the warrant at town meeting time in March.

Selectman Scalley made a Motion to: approve the contracts for trucking and disposal of the town’s solid waste. Michael Hogan cautioned because it has been discussed that it is illegal that they should be careful about voting on it and signing now. Discussion about cost savings came up and it was noted that we would be essentially breaking even now, but in six or seven years when our current site closes, the savings will show up substantially in trucking costs, as we are setting ourselves up with a location that is closer than many others. There was no second to Selectman Scalley’s Motion so the Chairman declared it off the table. However, Chairman Bussiere then made a Motion to: Find out if we can tie into the September Primary Voting. Selectman Mycko seconded and it passed: 2 yays, 1 nay.

Ron Wareing was in to ask for an adjustment on their latest water bill, based on Article 2 of the Water Policy. When they received the bill and saw it was $2,200, they called the office and suspecting there was a leak, Greg and Scott went over to check and found something so advised the Wareings where it might be. Within a short period of time, the leak had been found and the Wareings had it repaired by that evening. Their history of water usage is not long as they have not owned the property even a year yet, but each billing period, the cost increased slightly. Mr. Wareing said the bill just previous to this one, March 16, was for $1,600 but they had been trying to have an ice rink, so attributed the higher bill to that. When the Board began to discuss this, Selectman Scalley said he would remove himself because of his own discussions about water.

Selectman Mycko stated this is a hard case and reiterated that the property owner owns all from the curb stop. Chairman Bussiere asked if there had been anything in the past when users had asked for adjustments due to leaks and such. Greg Hogan said yes and that no adjustments had been made. After brief further discussion, Chairman Bussiere said based on precedence that he would make the Motion that: There be no forgiveness and Selectman Mycko seconded. The Motion passed with 2 yeas and 1 abstention.

Chairman Bussiere said the Carroll Water Works Policy preliminary discussion is on the agenda because there are questions including responsibilities of the town or the owner. He said he had made numerous calls to other towns about who’s responsible for pipes under the road and so far he has been told that it’s 100% the town and others have said it’s 100% the customer. Thus, he said we have to determine the answer for this town. He went on to say this leads into the question of who would/should detect leaks and how to do it. It was restated that the connection from the main is the customer’s responsibility. But then this can lead to more questions, and Greg said he has been thinking about this and trying to get things together for a presentation. Chairman Bussiere said he is trying to be pro-active and not have to react to a crisis. Greg said this is a big enough issue that he believes a meeting should be dedicated just for water and the policy. He said he feels he and Chairman Bussiere should get together to go over what each one has already done so they are not being repetitive, but yet get everything covered that should be. He said he will be at least a few weeks before he can be ready. Chairman Bussiere agreed and the Policy will be on a future agenda.




The following items were approved and signed:

Resolution for Workers’ Compensation – Primex
Letter of Engagement 2015 Audit – Melanson Heath
Property Tax Abatement – Prebensen
Water Warrant – Grzyb; Keziah

The Chairman went to the Follow-Up Items:

Structural Assessment of the Town Hall – No word yet. Greg will call again.
Town Hall Permit Application – Tabled until we hear about the assessment.
Building Permit Process – Chairman Bussiere spoke about the Permit and said they had talked
previously about being all in or all out, i.e., with fees, inspections, etc.
At this point, 8 p.m., Selectman Scalley recused himself and left the table. Once seated with
the public, Mr. Scalley proceeded to say he was on another job which was inspected and the
Select Board had signed off. And once again, he was making repairs and redoing work that
shouldn’t have had to be done. He questioned the thoroughness of the inspections being done.
Ron Wareing said it is not the inspector’s job to see that a certain number of nails are put in or
other such details. His job is to inspect that Code is followed. During discussion, it was noted
that they are not allowed to go forward such as putting up walls until the electric, plumbing,
insulation and/or anything else behind the walls are inspected. However, legally they are
allowed to continue if there is no inspection in 24 hours. It was pointed out again, that
Whitefield, Littleton, Lincoln and Woodstock do not have inspectors, and asked if that is the
way we want to go.

Fire Chief, Jeremy Oleson, said Bethlehem is using someone else who is interested and with
whom he spoke today. Chief Oleson said this person has gone through the regs and fees to try
to make it more equitable and fair for all. He said he doesn’t want to see it go away, he wants
to try another person and if it’s still not good, then decide from there. Selectman Scalley said
if we choose not to have an inspector, then residential permits are done and anything
commercial would have to be inspected by the Fire Chief and the State if they’ll come. This
led to the comment if the Select Board still signs the Certificate of Occupancy if no one
shows. It was stated that it’s not easy to do, but it must be acted on. We have either been let
down by our current one or we haven’t given proper guidance/instruction. It was also noted
that the fees need to be adjusted. Reverting to discussion of a new person, the Board decided
to re-look at the resume previously received and to consider having the person come to talk.

Selectman Scalley rejoined the Board.

Employee Manual – Table Selectman Scalley pointed out that this has nothing to do with the
Employees – they just want to be sure all is in order with it.
Solid Waste Transportation Contract AND Solid Waste Disposal – Previously discussed.




Other:

Selectman Mycko said the Fire Department has been busy the last several days from what he has been reading and he wanted to thank them all for jobs well done. Selectman Scalley reiterated this and said he had been intending to express thanks and gratitude again to the Fire and Police Departments for the response to the accident on Woodland Acres Road several weeks ago. He repeated that all were extremely professional and did their jobs very well, and said the injured person is doing well and has a good prognosis – and thanked them again. Chairman Bussiere said he agrees, that ALL employees are doing a great job and thinks they should get them together for lunch someday to show their appreciation.

Greg Hogan apologized that he had meant to say something weeks ago, but that a resident has gone above and beyond picking up roadside trash. He said Imre Szauter got permission from the State DOT, and there are signs on the road where he picks up, “Friends of Route 3”.

Chief Oleson told the Board that last year the Department purchased a Nitrous system for one of the ambulances and it has worked out very well. He said when the one unit was purchased, he had no idea they’d have additional help who can administer the medication, and since he has two more, he was wondering if the Select Board would be conducive to approving the purchase of another unit from the Capital Reserve Fund. He said the two are Will Cunningham and Chris Sabbagh who are both certified and licensed with the State. He said he will bring something in writing to another meeting.

His next item was to advise the Board that he had spoken with someone about the Fire Station renovations and can get a concept drawing for around $6,000. He said it will be something to give to contractors to get a price. He said it’s not for right away, but of course, but they had to start somewhere.

Lastly, Chief Oleson said there is still no Assembly Permit for the Town Hall, mainly because of two big things:

1. Detection. Currently it’s not life safety device, as it’s based on heat and should be changed to smoke detectors.

2. Sprinkler the downstairs. He said no one should be using the bathrooms as there is no means of egress down there. They must come upstairs and if there’s an issue at or with the stairs, there’s no other way out. He also noted that maybe emergency lighting would help.

Chief Oleson said we cannot go on forever without the Assembly Permit. He stated if it continues much longer and we allow people to use it, we could be in a felony situation. Chairman Bussiere said this all ties in with the structural assessment. Chief Oleson said he knows this was brought up in the past by several other Fire Chiefs.

Michael Hogan said last year or the year before, they started to have building committee meetings. He feels they need to get going again. It was noted that if this building can no longer be used, it increases the favorability of doing something; whether it’s a new building or otherwise. Greg Hogan said with various expenses coming, and alluded to an estimate for changing the heating, things add up. He said separately they may not seem too bad, but when all are added up, the cost gets right up there.

Selectman Scalley asked Chief Oleson about their prior plan to contract out the second ambulance and the Chief said they are still working on it. Also, Brad has been quite busy with Health Officer duties, which is fine, but he said it all takes time.

Chairman Bussiere said the next meeting will be Monday, August 8, 2016, at 7 p.m.

As there was no further business, the Board was polled to go into non-public session, per RSA 91-A-3 for personnel at 8:40 p.m. Chairman Bussiere, yes, Selectman Scalley, yes, Selectman Mycko, yes.

At the close of non-public session at 9:04 p.m., Chairman Bussiere moved to return to public session and seal the minutes from non-public session. Selectman Mycko seconded and the Motion passed unanimously.

Chairman Bussiere made a Motion to adjourn the meeting and Selectman Mycko seconded. The Motion passed unanimously. Chairman Bussiere declared the meeting ended at 9:05 p.m.

Town of Carroll, New Hampshire ®2024