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Minutes of 09/11/2006

September 11th, 2006




Carroll Board of Selectmen
Meeting Minutes
September 11, 2006
"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."



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

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

Members of the public present: Roberta McGee, Eleanor Brauns, Doug Bews, Evan Karpf, Joan Karpf, Bill Dowling, Linda Dowling, Dale Shakespeare, Bill Smalley, Harold Garneau, Tom Gately, Judy Cookson, Jim Cookson, John Goodney, Jean Goodney, Billy Rines, Jeff Duncan, Mollie White, Flora Jordan, Mike Gooden, Mike Matz, Margriet Groffen


The meeting began with a moment of silence in remembrance of the victims of attack on September 11, 2001.

The board announced the approval of bills and signing of checks.

Selectman Strasser moved to approve the minutes as corrected of the meeting on 08/21/06. Selectman Moroney seconded, and the motion was passed unanimously.

Selectman Strasser moved to approve the minutes of the meeting on 08/28/06. Selectman Moroney seconded, and the motion was passed unanimously.

Chairman Wright read the letter from the State Department of Labor Safety Division. It states that as there are no outstanding violations from the inspection of March 13, 2006, they consider the case closed. Selectman Strasser made a motion to not send a copy of our Safety Manual to the State, thereby nullifying the motion from August 28. Chairman Wright seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously.

Jean Goodney stood to thank Billy Rines and his crew for replacing the hydrant on Ruth Road. She also mentioned that she hopes it doesn’t take long to fix the water line near her house, as there is a lot of air in the water, presumably from a break in the line. Mr. Rines said he hoped to have it fixed in the next week. John Goodney asked if it was safe to drink, and was told it was.
It was reported that Stan Borkowski’s weekly report on building permits is posted.

The secretary reported that we’ve had no volunteers to our posting for a Health Officer. Selectman Moroney asked if we have money in the budget for this person, and if Mr. Borkowski was being paid. There is no line item, and Mr. Borkowski’s duties are covered with his other compensation. Joan Karpf asked about a job description, and Linda Dowling said there is an RSA that covers it. Basically he’s responsible for health violations in residences and businesses such as restaurants. Any training would be available through programs offered by organizations such as the Local Government Center. Chairman Wright said we’d table the appointment discussion pending posting another notice that included a job description.

The Bridge Replacement/Road Committee volunteers so far are Jim Covey, Harold Garneau, John Foster, Donovan Durand, and Billy Rines. We still need a representative from the Historical Society, a taxpayer at large, and a Selectman. Mr. Rines suggested that Ed Martin might be interested from the Historical Society, and Selectman Moroney volunteered. Selectman Strasser said he has information he got from the state available for the committee, and would write a draft letter from the selectmen giving direction to the new committee. Ms. Karpf said if no “taxpayer” volunteered in the next week, she would agree to serve. Selectman Moroney suggested Tuesday, September 19, 7 PM as a meeting time for the new committee. The secretary will call members with the information.

Chairman Wright read the letter from Butch Burbank of the LGC Property Liability Trust. He had come up and looked at our pond with the idea of the Recreation Program kids building a floating dock. He suggested the structure be built from engineered plans, not “home built,” and that it be located on the beach side of the pond, no further than 100 feet from shore and the area marked with buoys. Once constructed, swimming should be restricted to this area with signage erected at the entrance to the pond. He also recommended we install screens on the current outflow structure, and signs erected prohibiting diving from the structure and swimming at this end of the pond. Selectman Strasser moved to allow a swim platform if Mr. Burbank’s recommendations are followed and the funds are raised by the Rec Program participants. Selectman Moroney seconded the motion, and it was passed unanimously.

Discussion took place again about placement of fire stations in Bretton Woods and Twin Mountain. Selectman Strasser repeated his concerns that the Building Committee was not following the BW master plan, and was assured by members of the committee that they were prepared to look at all the options. Selectman Strasser read the letter to the Building Committee from Charles Adams of BW Land Holdings, proposing 2 possible sites for a police/fire station. Both are on Rte. 302 near the Silver Fox. John Gardiner had hoped to come to this meeting, as chairman of the Building Committee, but had another meeting to attend. Mr. Rines said that the committee felt the current station will need to be replaced, and the Mooseland property is one option for a new site. Looking at that does not mean they will ignore the need for a station in Bretton Woods. Selectman Strasser proposed coming up with a 2 station plan, and for Twin Mountain, look at the land we own near town hall and the highway barn property. Bill Dowling asked that the selectmen reconsider getting a topographic map of the Mooseland property. Chairman Wright expressed his feeling that it was a waste of money, and asked if we knew the asking price for the property, He was told it had been appraised for $250,000, but we don’t have a sale price. Selectman Moroney said if we get this topo map plus the previously approved map of the land we own up here, we have someone who will, free of charge, determine the cost of moving dirt on our land, versus building on a flat piece of land at Mooseland. Much discussion took place about getting as many houses as possible within 5 miles of a station, and the fact that the Building Committee would look at all the options for a station in Bretton Woods and in Twin Mountain. Selectman Strasser moved to spend $500 for a topographic map of the Mooseland property now, and when appropriate, one for our Parker Rd. property and one for a piece of land in Bretton Woods. Selectman Moroney seconded the motion. Selectmen Strasser and Moroney voted aye, Chairman Wright voted nay. The motion passed.

Dale Shakespeare reminded the board that he had been appointed to represent the town at the Profile Consortium to discuss cable TV issues. He said he didn’t know anything about the consortium or who to contact. The secretary apologized for not getting the proper documentation to him, and will do so shortly.

Evan Karpf reported that the hiring process for a new Chief of Police is moving along. They have had some interviews, with others scheduled. They will report again next week.

Selectman Moroney re-opened the motion from the previous meeting to eliminate the duty rosters for employees/committees. She feels the town has done just fine without them, and the employees don’t need to be micromanaged. She said neither of the reasons proposed by the other 2 board members (in case of an accident we’d need to find someone, or that there’d been 2 anonymous calls saying an employee wasn’t working where he should be) were cause to institute having a duty roster listing employee whereabouts a week ahead of time. She also said she thought it would be an endangerment to the police officers if everyone knew where they were going to be and when they would be there. Selectman Strasser said in the past they’d had problems with the office not being open at the proper times and not knowing where the employees were. Ms. Dowling said you can’t legislate because of the behavior of one person. She stated that if people were having problems keeping track of who’s on various committees, perhaps we should swear in all members, and then the Town Clerk would have a record in her office. Discussion took place about just listing employees to be on duty, and not necessarily where they will be, and Selectman Moroney said the original motion passed required the selectmen to know where everyone will be a week ahead of time. She feels it is unnecessary and a waste of department heads’ time. The police can be reached through Troop F, the Mr. Rines has a pager, and there are radios in all vehicles accessible through the town office. Ms. White asked Chairman Wright why after all these years as a selectman, he felt it necessary to keep track of everyone’s whereabouts. He said the state is cracking down on things; we’ve never had a safety inspection before, and if it’s a requirement by the state, we have to do it. Mr. Goodney said it’s not a safety issue, and not required by the state that he knows of. Chairman Wright said he’d like to check with other local towns to see if they have a policy similar to what we’ve passed. He tabled the motion again.

Chairman Wright read part of proposal from Commerford Nieder Perkins, LLC regarding doing a revaluation in town in 2007 rather than 2009. They have already canvassed 50% of the town this year at a cost of $33,180, and doing the other 50% plus completing the reval process next year would be $64,020. Selectman Strasser said our equalization rate is low enough that the state will probably mandate a reval anyway. He said if we do the reval next year, we’ll pick up a great deal of valuation because of the number of units that have sold at much higher prices than what the 2004 assessments reflect, also a much higher value for the Mt. Washington Resort and the AMC, which could possibly be taxed next year. Ms. Dowling asked if the state would let us go longer because we are starting the process, and he said he didn’t think so. Ms. Dowling said we need to avoid spikes in the tax rate. People questioned whether values wouldn’t go down soon, as the real estate market seems to be slowing. Ms. White said the school tax would be affected by higher rates, and if we wait they may go down. Ms. Dowling asked if we were still doing current use tax penalty billing the way we did for Jerry Warren. According to Ms. Dowling, the tax should be paid by the developer when he starts construction on a subdivision, and not wait for the lots to be sold and the tax passed to the buyers. Selectman Strasser said he would look up the RSA and make sure we’re doing it correctly.

Discussion took place about the fact that agendas for the Board of Selectmen meetings are not being posted, and it was decided to post them on Friday afternoons.

A letter from Frederick Cefalo, Esq. was read by the chairman. Mr. Robert Williams made a bequest in his will, and a check for $5,000 was received by the Twin Mountain Cemetery Fund. From reading the letter, it appears that this money is not for perpetual care, but is a donation to the cemetery. The board voted to give the check to the Trustees of the Trust Funds to open a separate account, and the money be used to maintain and make improvements to the cemetery.

Jeff Duncan gave a letter to the selectmen and reported that at the last Officers meeting of the Twin Mountain Fire Department they discussed the fact that their representative on the Safety Committee had been named chairman of the committee and that the fire department budget did not have a provision for all the administrative work that has been done over the past months. They feel that extensive administration compensation should come from the town’s administrative budget. Thus the officers voted to fund the Fire Department Safety Committee representative for a maximum of 2 hours per month.

Mr. Duncan also submitted a letter of resignation from the Carroll Highway Safety Committee. He sited actions in May 2006 by the selectboard as showing their priority is cost before safety, and stated their requiring a selectman to be on the committee suggested safety would no longer be top priority. For this reason he no longer chose to be on the committee. Selectman Strasser said John Gardiner told him the state required a selectman to be on the committee.

Discussion took place about the paving to be done at the police/fire station and the state’s plan for redesign in that area. Greg Placey will be back from vacation soon to help us out, but we need to determine how long we can wait before cold weather will stop work.

The following documents were approved and signed by the selectmen.

Property tax abatement for AMC $82,495.33 The court hearing ruled the PILOT agreement is in force through 2006.
Land Use Change Warrant - $7,850 Michaels, Stone
Application for Current Use ?" Irene and James Thompson
Yield Tax Warrant - $1,192.66 Pronovost, Temple
Intent to Cut ?" Rines, Graf, Farina
Property Tax Warrant - $2,913.94 Rosebrook Water Co.

Selectman Strasser mentioned that Adele Fulton, one of the town attorneys, said she thinks the chances of our recouping legal expenses from the MWH tax appeal cases are not very good, and we probably will not pursue this. Doug Bews asked, based on the recent visit to the AMC by Commerford Nieder Perkins, what the assessment would be, and Selectman Strasser said it would probably be around 5.5 million dollars.

It was noted that the Planning Board had approved a subdivision by John Warren on Rte. 115, and accepted an application from Verizon Wireless for a cell phone tower on Harmony Hill. There will be a balloon test on Saturday, September 16 between 10 AM and 1 PM.

The selectmen reviewed several budgets presented. The following were approved.

Planning Board $19,650
ZBA $2,800
Conservation $500
Recreation $17,890
Fire Dept. $125,700
Police Dept. $200,695
Emerg. Mgmt. $1,000
Trustees of Trust Fds $1,200
Treasurer $4,700

The Highway Department and Transfer Station Budgets were tabled for further information.

It was proposed that a warrant article be written for $30,000 to be put into capital reserve for bridge replacement.

At 10:15 PM, as there was no additional business, Chairman Wright declared the meeting ended and moved to go into executive session regarding town aid. This was seconded by Selectman Moroney. The board was polled, all three voted yea, 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.