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Minutes of 10/25/2010

October 29th, 2010

Carroll Board of Selectmen
Meeting Minutes
October 25, 2010

"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: Bonnie Moroney, Mark Catalano

The public meeting was called to order at 7:02 PM by Selectman Moroney

Members of the public present: Roberta McGee, Bill Dowling, Linda Dowling, “Ike” Ikasalo, Mike Gooden, Carmine Fabrizio, Ann Fabrizio, Tom Gately, Scott Sonia, Sue Kraabel, Rena Vecchio, Tadd Bailey, Jeff Duncan, John Trammell, Joan Karpf, Evan Karpf, Ben Jellison, Billy Rines

Pledge of Allegiance

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

Selectman Moroney made a Motion to: Accept the minutes for October 18, 2010 as written. Selectman Catalano seconded and the Motion passed unanimously.

Acting Chairman Moroney read the following statement: “This meeting is being taped by a private citizen and is not done under the auspices of the town and is not an official record of the town.”
Stan Borkowski’s report was received and posted.

The following items were approved and signed:

Water Warrant – 2nd issue water bills
Water Warrant – Riverside Trust, Ellis

Selectman Catalano volunteered to be the Selectmen’s representative to the Cable Communication Committee. His offer was accepted.

The Secretary spoke to the Board about a request for using the Town Hall by Lisa McCann. While she no longer lives in Carroll, she still owns property here and pays taxes. The Board agreed she has the right to use it if it’s available. She will come in and file the proper paperwork.
Regarding the vacancy on the Board of Selectmen, Selectman Moroney asked if there had been any responses to the ad in the paper and the Secretary said no. She went on to say that a note and resume had been brought to the Selectmen’s Office the morning after Chairman Hancock stepped down, September 28, on behalf of Linda Dowling, which had been given to the Selectmen at their next meeting.

Selectman Catalano stated Mrs. Dowling was well-qualified and asked Selectman Moroney her thoughts. She said she had a real problem with it due to the fact that Mrs. Dowling ran for the Selectman’s position, was elected and decided not to show up. She feels it would be a slap in the face to the people for them to appoint her after this happened. Selectman Catalano said he had heard people express concern over that but he has also heard some express an interest in allowing her to fill the position. He reiterated that she is the only one who has come forward and the ad drew no responses – he asked if there was anyone in the room who would come forward, which there were none. Ben Jellison asked if the Board is mandated to fill the position since we’re just three months away from Election. The Selectmen responded they are not. Selectman Catalano said he had spoken to two municipal lawyers and discussed an RSA regarding making appointments which would preclude doing so less than ninety days from the Election. He said it was discretionary at the town level and said it looked as though if the town had not adopted this, they could appoint right up until the day before the Election if desired. And as far as he could find, the town has not adopted that RSA. Sue Kraabel said as a point of information that she believed once the period for declaring candidacy is open the Selectmen cannot appoint anyone. She is not sure of the RSA. Mrs. Dowling had copies of the RSA’s and said the town had not adopted it.

Evan Karpf said with two Selectmen representing the town it makes it difficult if there is a disagreement. He said he felt by applying it shows Mrs. Dowling wants to serve and that if she should choose to run for election in March, people can vote and be heard then. But he feels she should be appointed based on her qualifications, her willingness and that there should be three people on the Board. Rena Vecchio stated the board had gone many months in the past with just two, though it may have been difficult, but it was possible. She said she doesn’t think Mrs. Dowling should have the position as she had run for Selectman, won, and then did not tell anyone she wasn’t taking it. Mrs. Vecchio said there was no decent part about her stepping down. She went on to say this is also a particularly difficult time for a new person to come on the Board, with budgets, warrant articles and closing of the year among other things – it’s a tough time to teach someone new. She wasn’t sure that having been on the budget committee was qualification enough to be on the Select board. She believes the board should remain as is until the election in March. The people can be heard then and if they want Mrs. Dowling the can vote her in again. Bill Dowling stated Linda had forgotten more about being a Selectman than anyone in the room.

Selectman Catalano said the board has received communication from Town Counsel that they think it’s in the best interest to fill the position as soon as possible for reasons such as there is a case before the courts that the Selectmen will have to be involved in to reach a settlement and he will have to recuse himself. And there may be other examples where they will need to vote and one will have to step down. He said he pushed back on legal counsel and said he felt they needed to insure they get the right kind of person and didn’t really want to make a decision based on any particular court case. But he doesn’t want it to look like he’s intentionally trying to slow a court case that has his father involved in it – that may give the appearance of his trying to perpetuate a stalemate. Based on statements previously made, he feels Mrs. Dowling has good experience. He also has never met anyone in town who can talk about RSA’s better than she can.

Selectman Catalano said he would go ahead and make the Motion: That if we have a good candidate who is willing to do the work and has ten years’ plus experience working in and with a select board, he would like to nominate Linda and look for a second to the Motion. Selectman Moroney declined the second. Selectman Catalano said that is their first stalemate.

Under other business, Evan Karpf brought up that while doing the budget, he realized some fees are reimbursable to the town and wondered about a policy or procedure to charge interest if the bills go unpaid. It was stated there isn’t and probably because it has never been brought up. Dr. Karpf would like to encourage the Board make a policy to charge interest after so many days if bills are not paid. It was pointed out that it has never happened that someone hasn’t paid a bill. Discussion of holding off signing mylars or applications until all bills are paid took place, but Dr. Karpf said a developer could decide not to proceed for several years and it doesn’t leave any leverage. Mrs. Vecchio said there is only one bill currently unpaid which is connected to a court case. Dr. Karpf felt parts of the bill were for other issues.

The Secretary announced the tax bill from the County had been received today in the amount of $1,360,295.00, about $16,000.00 less than last year’s.

Joan Karpf had questions regarding the Water Department and referred to a response in writing that she had received from Sue Kraabel. It was pointed out that this was rather an experimental year as it is the first year the Water Department has been separate from the Highway Department, so it is difficult to know how the budget will go, what deficits there may be, etc. Once the year is over everything will be reviewed and there will be a much better picture of where and if rates will be have to be adjusted. Discussion of previous years’ meetings, a brief history of hydrant fees and revenues, etc. took place. Mrs. Kraabel said when they started in ’06 or ’07 they had no idea of what it cost to run the Department as they had not kept track of water money before that. (She also pointed out that financials in Town Reports are always unaudited as the reports are put together before the audits are done.) Thus, figures could be different. Mrs. Kraabel explained again that every water expense is paid from the General Fund and charged on the books to the water fund. A liability is set up and money is transferred from water to the General Fund. The old way, billing had no relation to expense. Now, taxpayer money goes into the General Fund and water payments go into the Water Enterprise Fund. Mrs. Karpf expressed concern about the bond payment which had been paid two years from the water fund. She said the water infrastructure will need a lot of work and that money should be available for it. She also said the money may have been wrongly collected through taxation. The expense was actually put back into the General Fund where it should have been about two years ago by the auditors. Mrs. Kraabel offered to sit down with Mrs. Karpf again and go over everything to try to make it more understandable. Selectman Catalano said he would like to be part of the explanation.

As there was no further business, Selectman Moroney declared the meeting ended at 7:50 p.m. and moved to go into Non-Public Session for Personnel Matters. The Board was polled and went into Non-Public Session.

At the close of Non-Public Session, Selectman Moroney moved to return to Public Session and seal the minutes from Non-Public Session. Selectman Catalano seconded and the Motion passed unanimously.

There being no further discussion, Selectman Moroney made a Motion to: adjourn the meeting. Selectman Catalano seconded and the Motion passed unanimously. Selectman Moroney declared the meeting ended at 9:30 p.m. The next meeting will be Monday, November 1, 2010.

Town of Carroll, New Hampshire ®2024