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Minutes of 09/17/2007

September 21st, 2007

Carroll Board of Selectmen
Meeting Minutes
September 17, 2007
"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 Susan Kraabel, Secretary

Board members present: Bonnie Moroney, Rena Vecchio

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

Members of the public present: Evan Karpf, Joan Karpf, Karen Moran, Bill Dowling, Jim Covey, Erik Bergum, Leslie Bergum, Lori Hogan

Pledge of Allegiance

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

The approval of minutes from 09/10/2007 was tabled until next week, as Selectman Vecchio was not present at the meeting. Selectman Vecchio said she’d read the minutes and wasn’t sure what the discussion about the new smoking law meant. It was explained that the new law is a state law, but that the town would probably be the ones enforcing it, and Selectman Strasser did not want the town to have our police spend time and money enforcing it. Selectman Vecchio said that she would bring this issue up again as it was law and the police force was obligated to enforce it. Mr. Dowling stated that the person in charge of a building would be the one to enforce the new law.

Stan Borkowski’s report is posted on the bulletin board.

John D’Urso, who had asked to be on the agenda, was not present. The selectmen asked if he’d applied for a building permit for the second trailer on the property or had removed it. The secretary said as far as she knew, he’d done neither. Farther into the meeting the town clerk brought in a note saying, he’d called and would be going to the Planning Board instead of the selectmen. Chairman Moroney asked the secretary to call Mr. D’Urso and ask him to attend the BOS meeting next Monday.

Chairman Moroney read the one bid received on the Elgin sweeper. North Country Environmental Services bid $500. Selectman Vecchio moved to accept the bid, Chairman Moroney seconded, and the motion was passed unanimously.

A Water Abatement for Grand Majestic King Pine/Foster/Powell was approved and signed.

The secretary reported that there is a demonstration unit Konica/Minolta copy machine from Conway Office Products in the office this week. It makes double sided copies, collates and staples, has fax and email capabilities, and can be used as a printer for all four computers. A new unit will cost $5050.67, and the service contract will be $672 per year. If we lease this for the minimum time of three years, we will have paid more than the purchase price and we still would have to purchase the service contract. We have a quote from Lyndonville Office Products for a Sharp unit, but their price is more than $600 higher. Chairman Moroney moved to accept the Conway Office purchase quote, Selectman Vecchio seconded, and the motion was passed unanimously. The secretary will ask if any other department would like the old machine, even though we will not renew the service contract on it.

Chairman Moroney reported that the Building Committee had met and voted their preference for Lot A of the two lots offered by the resort owners for a fire station in Bretton Woods. This lot has what was the old Silver Fox and has housed a snowmobile rental business for a few years. The committee asked the selectmen to send a letter to Mike Brunetti naming their choice, and also asking some questions regarding the lot.

Are there any legal issues, easements or rights of way to other properties?
Legal right of way onto Rte. 302, as the state says there are to be no more access added to Rte. 302?
Would the town have access to power, water, and septic?
On the map there is a 30 ft. drain easement; is this something that will require a special driveway over?
Is the existing building part of the offered property, and if so who is responsible for the removal of it, including any lead testing that is required for disposal of material?
If this property is zoned in Twin Mountain vs. Bretton Woods, is it large enough to meet the required size?

Erik Bergum said that if they are offering the whole parcel, the lot is 5.6 acres, and would satisfy the rural zone size requirement. Karen Moran asked what happens if we tell them we want Lot A and then don’t like the answers to the questions, would we be locked into this lot. Chairman Moroney said no. There were questions about time frames for selecting the lot and building the station. Once selected, we have three years to build. Mr. Bergum said they can rescind the offer at any time until we sign the agreement. Evan Karpf suggested having Provan & Lorber look at the property, and volunteered to contact Tim Grant if the selectmen decide on that. At Selectman Vecchio’s suggestion, the draft letter will be sent to Bernie Waugh for review.

Dr. Karpf said when the selectmen establish the status of the Industrial Park land, he’d like to know, as he has an idea for some of the land.

It was reported that Mr. Borkowski will be calling Town Counsel about the letter to be written to Juliah Chamberlain.

The letter to JPMorgan which was approved last week was indeed sent. This is regarding the Paquette Circle house.

The shoulder work in the Elworthy subdivision was almost complete last week.

Bill Dowling presented his budget for 2008 for the transfer station. The total budget request is for $101,948.50 a decrease of $7,973.50 from 2007. However, he had not calculated the 5% increase for supervisor and attendant salaries for 2008, and actually requested less money than in 2007. He did increase the third salary line from $8,500 to $10,000 in anticipation of Bretton Woods starting a recycling program that would necessitate additional personnel at the transfer station. Most of the line items remain the same; the largest increase being for tipping fees, where a request was made for an additional $6,000. Ms. Moran asked Mr. Dowling if he had an estimate of revenue for the next year, and he said he’d get information on this year’s revenue by the time he came to the Budget Committee.

Dr. Karpf presented the budget for 2008 for the Planning Board. His request is for $34,201, an increase of $14,850 over 2007. The largest increases are for secretary salary, legal, advertising, and engineering. In years past the time spent at meetings was the only time recorded in the Planning Board budget, where now we are recording office time in their budget. The other increases are due to increased activity in Bretton Woods. He noted that any expenses incurred for legal, advertising, and engineering services are reimbursed by the applicants coming to the board. Dr. Karpf also presented the Health Office budget request, and asked only for an additional $25 for supplies.

Joan Karpf presented the budget for 2008 for the ZBA. The request was for $5,000, an increase of $700 over 2007. There was increase in secretary salary for the same reason as the Planning Board, and a decrease in legal expenses. Both legal and advertising expenses are reimbursed by the applicants coming to the board. Ms. Karpf also presented the Conservation Commission budget which was for the same $500 as 2007. She reminded the board that the 2007 warrant article that was passed states unexpended funds at the end of the year are to be placed in a Conservation Commission account held by the Treasurer.

Jim Covey gave the selectmen a written presentation of the Chamber of Commerce 2008 budget request. Chairman Moroney said they would look it over and asked Mr. Covey to come to the September 24th meeting.

Lori Hogan presented the budget for 2008 for the Recreation Department. The request was for $29,717, an increase of $9,025 over the 2007 budget. A new line item for $2,000 is to allow two counselors to get Red Cross lifeguard training/certification. Another new item for $5,000 is for transportation associated with the new Adventure Camp they hope to start. This program will be for the 10-14 yr. olds, and is modeled after a program in Lincoln. They found this year that the older kids were bored and lost some attendance in the later weeks of the program. The new camp will involve a different type of activity each day of the week, and will be a more structured program. With the money requested, they hope to buy a used 15 passenger van to take kids to various locations for kayaking, hiking, etc. One day each week will involve community service. Ms. Hogan said there will be a new fee schedule for the Adventure Camp, and there will be no scholarships offered, and no slots for out of town kids. There may be some fund raising done by the kids to pay for part of the program, and there’s a possibility of trading service to the hotel for rental bikes. Selectman Vecchio thought the program would be beneficial to the kids, but questioned the fact that scholarships wouldn’t be offered. As a result of this program another Program Director would be hired, and the counselor salary line is thus increased by $1725.

We have had one response to our ad for a licensed plumber to help with water meters. Chairman Moroney asked that we get bid prices from anyone who calls.

Chairman Moroney reported that Phil Bodwell of Commerford Nieder Perkins had been asked by Selectman Strasser to meet with individual homeowners in Bretton Woods before assigning values to their homes. Chairman Moroney told Mr. Bodwell that this had not been approved by the selectmen and he was told not to hold these meetings until he hears from the entire select board. The assessing schedule has been delayed somewhat because of tax map changes, and the fact that some of the condos they thought were all the same are actually not. The secretary said she had concerns about whether we would need to get a tax anticipation note in order to make the large payment to the county in the early December. Mr. Bodwell is looking to see if we can separate the lists of properties so Becki Pederson can start entering new values on the computer.

Karen Moran handed the selectmen a response she wrote to the August 27 handout by Selectman Strasser. August 27th was one of the meetings that focused on water rates, and that was the subject of his handout, which she labeled as slanderous. She attached a copy of what he wrote for that meeting along with her corrections. (copy of both attached)

Leslie Bergum said she would like to be nominated for the Ammonoosuc River Advisory Committee. Chairman Moroney moved to nominate her, Selectman Vecchio seconded, and the motion was passed unanimously.

At 8:30 PM, as there was no additional business, Chairman Moroney declared the meeting ended. , and moved to go into executive session regarding personnel and legal matters. This was seconded by Selectman Vecchio. The board was polled, and went into executive session.

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


Action Items:

Response letter to Bretton Woods land offer
Property tax exemptions – increase limits
Industrial Park land use - CEDC
Term Limits for Planning & Zoning
Chamberlain property
Paquette Circle house
Website
Local ordinances
LUCA Program
Elworthy subdivision
Smoking law
D’Urso meeting
Tax Anticipation Note
Conservation funds
Plumber ad