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Minutes of 11/08/2010

November 13th, 2010

Carroll Board of Selectmen
Meeting Minutes
November 8, 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 7:04 PM by Selectman Moroney

Members of the public present: Roberta McGee, Bill Dowling, Linda Dowling, Ike Ikasalo, Frank Maturo, Kelly Trammell, Mike Gooden, Tom Gately, Ben Jellison, Jeremy Oleson, Tadd Bailey, John Trammell, Scott Sonia, Bill Smalley, Joan Karpf, Evan Karpf, Mike Duffy, Steve LaFrance

Pledge of Allegiance

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

Selectman Moroney made a Motion to: Accept the minutes for November 1, 2010 as written. Selectman Catalano seconded and the Motion passed unanimously.

Stan Borkowski’s report was received and posted.

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.”
Steve LaFrance from Horizons Engineering, Inc., came before the Board regarding the after-the-fact wetlands permit for Old Town Road and the Donald Gadbois property. Mr. LaFrance said that the Board and Mr. Gadbois would sign as co-applicants and once this is done, it will be sent to DES for approval. He went on to explain that this represents the plans for the work to be done based on previous discussions with the Board and Mr. Gadbois. Mr. LaFrance mentioned that Selectman Catalano assisted Town Counsel in working with Mr. Gadbois to agree with the remediation. This would essentially be removing the culvert and restoring the area that was leveled off adjacent, but leaving the ditch as the engineers are very concerned with water overtopping the road if it’s removed. There is also some log cribbing at the outlet of the beaver dam which will be removed. When asked what the area of impact was, Mr. LaFrance said it was about 1,550 square feet. It was noted there is a culvert that remains and it is further from the bridge. Mr. LaFrance advised it could be months before we hear from DES as though they have time restrictions on regular applications, there are none on “after-the-fact.” He also introduced Mike Duffy who will be taking care of this project as after the first of the year, Mr. LaFrance will be leaving the company. Mr. LaFrance had two copies of the application booklet, one of which is for the Town to keep. Selectman Moroney made a Motion to: Sign the application. Selectman Catalano seconded and the Motion passed.
The following items were approved and signed:
Oath of Office – Mary Devine
Town Hall Use Permit Application – Smalley
Current Use Warrant – Harris
Water Warrant – Brown, Strickland, Davis

The next item was the announcement that the 2010 tax rate had been set at $12.28. Selectman Moroney explained that $565,551 from the Unreserved Fund Balance had been used to reduce the amount of money to be raised by taxation. It was also explained that the Warrant Article to use $30,000 from the Landfill Special Revenue account had passed and was approved by DRA for use. It was originally believed because the Warrant Article to change the name of the Fund had passed but not by a 2/3 vote, the money could not be used. However, DRA said the name did not need to be changed, making the article moot.

Selectman Moroney then read an email received in the afternoon from Mark Clark, who expressed his interest in filling the vacant seat until the elections in March. As he is a former Selectman, Selectman Moroney made a Motion to: Nominate Mark Clark to the vacant position until March. Selectman Catalano said he could not second as he wanted a chance to look into Mr. Clark’s credentials and to chat with Mr. Clark. Selectman Moroney acknowledged and made a Motion to: Table this until next week to give Selectman Catalano the time he requested. Selectman Catalano seconded and the Motion passed. The Secretary was asked to let Mr. Clark know of this decision and Selectmen Catalano was given a copy of the email which contained phone numbers and email address for Mr. Clark.

The November Police Report was read by Selectman Moroney (copy attached).

Bill Dowling brought the warrant article for household hazardous waste that had been discussed at last week’s meeting: “To see if the Town of Carroll will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $1,500.00 (One Thousand Five Hundred Dollars) to hold a Household Hazardous Waste Collection Program. The Program will provide residents access to a Household Hazardous Waste collection of household generated hazardous waste such as oil based paints, paint thinners, solvents, pesticides, gasoline and household cleaners.” When asked, it was stated this would be funded from taxation not the Special Revenue Fund. Ben Jellison asked if a line in the budget would be a better place for this rather than in the Warrant. No one was really sure, as it has always been put in as a warrant article. Mr. Jellison remarked that fifty two articles last year was a lot for voting on and that if there are any articles that could actually be in the budget, he felt it would be more appropriate. This will be looked into for another year. Selectman Moroney made a Motion To: Accept the Warrant Article for Household Hazardous Waste Collection. Selectman Catalano seconded and the Motion passed.

Referring to the storage trailer the Highway Department purchased earlier, Bill Dowling advised that he was able to get a grant to cover $550, so this amount will be reimbursed to the Town. The Board thanked Mr. Dowling.

The Secretary, responsible for the General, Executive, Administrative, Insurance and Welfare Financial budget, reviewed the Administrative, Property Assessing and Legal Expense portion of the budget. The Board had asked the departments for a reduction of 10% and requested seeing these before their appointments with the Budget Committee. All lines were not affected, so she spoke only of those which were and gave an overall savings of approximately $11,000.
:

01-4150.10-110 Administrative Assistant 29,096.00 26,528.00
01-4150.10-111 Selectmen’s Office Staff 20,892.00 19,089.00
01-4150.10-114 Sel. Office Overtime 2,500.00 0.00
01-4150.10-250 Tax Map 5,000.00 4,000.00
01-4150.10-390 Office Equipment 3,000.00 1,000.00
01-4150.10-740 Telephone 3,000.00 2,600.00
01-4150.10-802 Advertisements 1,000.00 900.00
01-4150.10-805 Training 1,800.00 1,200.00
01-4150.10-900 Town Clerk Tr Exp State Only 1,300.00 1,100.00

The Secretary said as most lines were very close and could only be reduced by smaller amounts, she felt her only option was reducing wages. Thus, by reducing both positions to 35 hours per week and eliminating the overtime line, there is a savings of nearly $7,000, plus the savings in taxes and retirement. The new schedule will be Monday through Thursday and time spent in evening meetings will be part of the 35 hours. Town Hall will be closed on Fridays thus also resulting in residual savings on heat and electricity.
Selectman Catalano explained the Board had met with department heads and requested a reduction of 10% from their 2010 budgets to reduce operating costs. He said he believes it is something we should try to do ourselves rather than leaving for the Budget Committee. Of course, we will work for the lowest impacts possible, but if these cuts come from the Board and the department heads in good faith, the taxpayers need to be understanding. He said he was pleased with the conversations all have had regarding the budgets. He also remarked he is pleased at the way the Unreserved Fund Balance has been applied for this year’s tax rate.
Roberta McGee wondered how cuts in the Fire and Police budgets might affect service and was told calls would be deflected to other towns to cover – however, they are all trying to work against cuts having a negative impact. Jeremy Oleson, fulltime firefighter, said he didn’t want to speak for the Chief who was away, but wanted to clarify that all the other towns are having their problems also, and getting tones answered will take longer. He just wanted to be sure it is understood that response time will be an issue.
Selectman Moroney brought up that the Board has not had a Chairman since Chairman Hancock resigned, and asked Selectman Catalano if he wanted to do it. After brief discussion during which Selectman Catalano said he would rather not, he made a Motion To: Have Selectman Moroney be the Chairman at least until March when there will be three Selectmen again. Selectman Moroney asked if he was sure, to which he responded emphatically “yes,” so she seconded the Motion and it passed.
Under Other Business, Evan Karpf said there had been an applicant to the Planning Board whom he thought would be a good person to collect taxes from if they could get him to put his business in the industrial park. He said he had spoken with Jay Ouellette who said the park was at a standstill. He asked the Board about resolving the issue of the park and said he would be happy to facilitate it. Selectman Moroney briefly outlined how the Board and the Carroll Economic Development Company had gone back and forth regarding activity, meetings, minutes, etc. It has been well over ten years since this all started with nothing fulfilled or finalized. Town Counsel said with the lapse of time, the town is not obliged or committed to anything. Selectman Moroney went on to say the town would probably have to go back to the beginning to raise money and find out how people might wish to move forward. But there is nothing to be done at this point.
Joan Karpf said it seemed there has been uncertainty about what fund the water bond has been paid from and asked about it. It was clarified that this is paid from the General Fund.
Mike Gooden announced the Historical Society’s new Christmas ornament has arrived – it is the Mount Pleasant House and the cost is $7.50 or for two or more ornaments, it is $7.00 each. These are available from the Historical Society or the Town Clerk’s Office.
As there was no further business, Selectman Moroney declared the meeting ended at 8:03 p.m. and moved to go into Non-Public Session for Personnel Matters and Town Aid. 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 10:15 p.m. The next meeting will be Monday, November 15, 2010.