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Minutes of 04-06-2009

April 13th, 2009

Carroll Board of Selectmen
Meeting Minutes
April 6, 2009

"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 Quigley, Secretary

Board members present: Christopher Hancock, Bonnie Moroney, Ken Mills

The meeting was called to order at 7:03 PM.

Members of the public present: Evan Karpf, Joan Karpf, Roberta McGee, Leslie Bergum, Ann Fabrizio, Carmine Fabrizio, Mike Gooden, Billy Rines, Bill Dowling, Butch Garneau, Jeremy Oleson, Bill Smalley, Jeff Duncan, Ben Jellison, Al Strasser, Emmit & Jen Hancock

Pledge of Allegiance

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

Chairman Hancock made a Motion to: Accept the minutes for March 30, 2009 as written. Selectman Moroney seconded and the Motion was passed unanimously.

Stan Borkowski’s report was received and posted.

It was noted that the Bretton Woods Land Donation had been approved by the voters on March 10. However, there can be no action taken by the Town as the agreement also included that money would be approved for a building on the property. As this was not the case, the Town must wait at least a year before they can address ownership.

Bill Dowling told the Board he would like to hire three more people on an as-needed, hourly basis for the Transfer Station. Mr. Dowling was asked if any training would be required and he said not as it is, but if the applicants stay, it may become necessary. He explained the reason for three people is for the flexibility to maintain coverage and let people have time off. Chairman Hancock made a Motion to: accept the applications as requested. Selectman Moroney seconded and it passed unanimously.

The following items were approved and signed:

Water Warrant – Pike Industries
Abatement Denials – Cedrone, Selfridge, Greer, Karpf
Evan Karpf stated their property denied was Fun Town and they did not own it in 2008, so an abatement could not be applied for. Dr. Karpf also advised the correct name should be Birchwood Common, LLC.

The Selectmen did not sign the denial for the Cedrone property as the property card accompanying it had an incorrect address on it. This will be returned to the Tax Collector for the address to be confirmed and corrected, and brought back to the Board for signing at a subsequent meeting.

Thank You Letters – Lee Hallquist, Women’s Discussion Group

Mr. Hallquist kindly enlarged a picture of the former Information Booth, put it in a frame and gave it to the Town.

The Women’s Discussion Group generously sponsored a spaghetti supper on February 28, for the Town Food Pantry. They raised nearly $300 and Bonnie Moroney and Kelly Trammell purchased the food to put in the cupboards.

Bill Rines told the Board he had two plows and two wings at the Highway Garage that were not used as they are in bad condition. He went on to say a gentleman had stopped to ask if he could purchase these as he would use them on his logging roads. As they were looking things over, Mr. Rines said they found a few more items they might sell.
Mr. Rines asked if this could be done and went on to say he wondered if the money raised could somehow go back to the Highway budget for purchasing tools they need. Selectman Moroney advised that without a Warrant Article all money received must go into the General Fund. The Board agreed Mr. Rines could sell the various items but he should make a list of what is available and advertise these for bid. They also recommended he set a minimum bid.

Al Strasser spoke to the issue of educating people about the budget and he said he felt it is the Select Board and the Budget Committee who need the education as they don’t really understand their job. It is his opinion that voters turned down so much because of the raise in taxes and gave his percentages of the past three years. Mr. Strasser said he doesn’t know what the Board came up with for the new budget as they don’t tell people what is going on, that there is a lack of information from this Board. He also said they meet privately and should be doing the budget in public. He stated further, that everyone’s hourly wages are supposed to be posted and he hasn’t seen any for the past three years, and accused the Board of hiding information. He said the Board signed the MS-2, and didn’t tell people what the numbers are. He criticized the minutes for not having enough information in them – as they don’t show what line items were changed in the budget and he knew many lines were changed in order to come to the figure voted on. It was noted that all forms and information are available in the Office where anyone is welcome to come to look at them. Selectman Moroney went on to say it is the bottom line that is the important figure as it is entirely up to the Board to make the changes and it didn’t matter where they made them. Chairman Hancock said that they had met three weeks in public session with department heads and went over budgets line by line and anyone could have attended those meetings. Selectman Mills said if he wanted to come and criticize the Board he would request that he please come with his information, to which Mr. Strasser responded that Jefferson maintained 27 1/2 miles of road with two men for $102,000 for 2007 and Carroll has three men to maintain twelve miles and we spent four times as much. He said he got his information from LGC website. Mr. Strasser requested that these numbers be in the minutes. Mr. Strasser spoke about comparing five towns larger and five towns smaller in population than Carroll, and went on to say some of the numbers were unavailable. He said the populations go from 700 to 900, ours is 782. He took what numbers he could from the website

Mr. Strasser’s focus was on salaries and he gave the percentage, by department by which our town is higher than his comparison towns. He said our salaries are 475% higher. The Police budget average is $50,000, ours is 580% higher; Highway is 203% higher; Fire is 293% higher and the total budget is 267% higher. He said if we take the towns our size and go up to a town 150% of our population, which makes about 1,160 (Orford) our salaries are 275% of all these towns. The Police is 318% higher, Highway is 159%, Fire is 258% and total budget is almost double. Bill Rines spoke to the Highway department budget of Jefferson as he knows that town best, of those compared. Mr. Rines pointed out that Carroll’s department consists of the water department and general buildings, which Jefferson does not; as well as its roads, and further, the town of Jefferson has much more equipment to work with. Mr. Rines said if it were “apples to apples” comparisons, they’d compare pretty closely.

Selectman Mills said information brought at the last minute is unreasonable. He would like to be able to understand it and answer intelligently and feels the Select Board should have it prior to the meeting.

Joan Karpf spoke regarding a letter the Town received from Leo Jellison in regards to the excavation. She said she did not want to address the letter and said Selectman Moroney was on the ZBA when the variance was approved and she was sure she could answer any questions regarding the validity of the letter. Mrs. Karpf said there seems to be a lot of confusion about the excavation and wanted to make some recommendations to the Board to avoid misunderstandings in the future. She gave information regarding the Intent to Excavate form to the Board members and went over it so if one comes through they have an idea of what they are looking for and if anything should come up they could check with one of the other boards. (It was stated the Intent to Excavate is not a permit, at which point the Secretary apologized for using the word “permit” when it should have been “report.” She said it was totally unintentional and not meant to change any meaning in any way.) Included with this information were RSA’s pertaining to bonding, state and town regulations, use variance and special exceptions, terrain alterations and current use and a brief explanation of each.

Mrs. Karpf made several recommendations: That the Board not act unless they are sure of the regulations, they do not need to sign if they’re not sure; The Boards should work together for information; They might want to keep a book to check information; They should ask the right questions to get the right answers; They should get everything in writing as there seems to have been a lot of confusion in answers from LGC, Stan (Borkowski, Code Enforcement Officer), and to make sure the information is accurate.

Further, Mrs. Karpf noted that DRA is only involved in taxing and not land use regulation. She also called attention to the minutes of March 16, where it stated that “it is noted that the Intent to Excavate is for a permit to remove material.” Mrs. Karpf said it is not a permit, it is strictly an intent to excavate and has nothing to do with a permit. She said she knows the minutes were already approved, but the Board might wish to make a statement to correct that. Mrs. Karpf wanted to reiterate this is a system of checks and balances and is the best way to serve the community by checking each other out – and said back in April Billy went to the Planning Board and they sent him to her (ZBA) and it’s a good way of checking each other out and making sure everybody is doing what they are supposed to be doing. Mrs. Karpf said she would strongly recommend the Town seek Town Counsel on this issue to review the Use Variance that was given and to advise us on the solution. Mrs. Karpf requested the previous statement show in the minutes.

Selectman Mills revisited the issue of information and stated that having a lot of numbers and data brought in without backup are basically meaningless. He wants to be able to understand and make a fair analysis and stated the Board is constrained as to what they can and cannot do in a meeting. He also disagreed with Mr. Strasser about meeting secretly as that is not the case at all. Anything they do is made available to the public. Selectman Mills went on to say the costs involved were not accurately portrayed as they could not detail specific jobs done. Ben Jellison asked what the town’s population is when all motels, campgrounds, etc. are full. Jeff Duncan offered to look into it, but Bill Smalley said though it had been several years, the last time it was checked it was just under 12,000 people. Several people stated it was not right to compare to towns of 700 people and nothing else. Selectman Mills said they need the context to make clear analyses. Mr. Duncan said he agrees with the Board about having agenda items early enough to be able to discuss at their meetings. It was noted that because of people coming in at the last minute with agenda items, the Select Board started requiring all items be brought in by Thursday for posting on Friday. The “Other” category was added for the late items if there was time to address them at the meeting.

Roberta McGee said the article in the Spring Newsletter caused a stir by the statement regarding educating the public. Selectman Mills said it was not intended to offend anyone. It was meant to try to make sure people know how warrant articles affect our ability to apply for grants, and it was felt it was education, not information that needed to get out there. Ben Jellison said he felt the word “educated” was a good word as that is what it meant -- decisions cannot be made about things without being educated about them. Mr. Jellison also commended the three Select people for sitting at the table week after week. Butch Garneau wondered if something that could be put in the town report regarding an explanation for applying for grants. There was some discussion about this, and Selectman Mills said that was part of the point of getting this discussion going now, so people will become knowledgeable about the process.

Ben Jellison responded to Mrs. Karpf’s comments and said he would encourage the Board to look into the excavation process for future purposes. Mr. Garneau asked if there was a time limit regarding reclamation and was told it was one year from when the use variance expires. It was noted again that it is an “Intent to Excavate” not a “Permit.” Chairman Hancock said the correction would be made to the minutes of March 16.

Selectman Moroney said the Board should address the warrant articles at the next meeting as they need to recognize those that passed and those that didn’t. They will be brought to the meeting.

Discussion of adding insulation and doing repair work over the offices ensued. Selectman Moroney made a Motion for: The Highway Dept. to get the material and soffit vents needed to make the repairs. Chairman Hancock seconded and the Motion passed unanimously. Mr. Garneau asked if the roof leaked when it rains and was told it doesn’t – the leaking was caused by the ice back-up.

Referring to the Agenda, Ben Jellison suggested the Board change the policy by removing the “Other” item which seems to be turning more into a discussion forum rather than a Selectman’s meeting. The Board agreed they would look into it to see if it is legal to do so, though they wouldn’t want to cut off people. It was noted that it would be in the minutes and people would know to bring their items by whatever cut-off date the Board chose.

As there was no further business, Chairman Hancock declared the meeting ended at 8:23 p.m. and moved to go into Non-Public Session for personnel matters. The Board was polled and went into executive session.

At the close of Non-Public session, Chairman Hancock made a Motion to: return to public session and seal the minutes from Non-Public session. Selectman Moroney seconded and the Motion passed.

The Selectmen also requested that Jae Whitelaw, Town Counsel be telephoned about the excavation situation. They spoke briefly about future policies for their meetings and tabled discussion until the next meeting, as they want to talk about the deadline to bring material being addressed.

There being no further discussion, Chairman Hancock made a Motion to: adjourn the meeting. Selectman Moroney seconded and the Motion passed unanimously. Chairman Hancock declared the meeting ended at 9:45 p.m.