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Minutes of 2/28/2011

March 10th, 2011

Carroll Board of Selectmen
Meeting Minutes
February28, 2011

"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 meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM by Chairman Moroney

Members of the public present: Edith Tucker, Jack Catalano, Evan Karpf, Rebecca Pederson, Mike Gooden, Greg Hogan, Allen Strasser, Bill Dowling, Linda Dowling, Chris Pappas, Scott Sonia, Kelly Trammell, Lisa Covey, Jim Covey, Bill Smalley, John Trammell, Jeff Duncan, Tadd Bailey, Mike Rouillard

Pledge of Allegiance

Selectman Catalano said he had two corrections to the minutes from the last meeting. On page two, second paragraph when the Attorney was asked why he was here, the minutes say he “thought” it was at the request of the Selectmen, Selectman Catalano said the Attorney “said” it was at the request of the Selectmen. At the end of the same paragraph, it says “It was stated that the Moderator had made the request.” Selectman Catalano said it should have said “It was later stated by Ben Jellison that he made the request.”

Chairman Moroney made a Motion to: Accept the minutes for February 14, 2011 as amended. Selectman Catalano seconded and the Motion passed unanimously.

Chairman Moroney read the following statement: “This meeting is being taped by a private citizen and is not done under the sponsorship of the town and is not an official record of the town.”

Chairman Moroney announced that Annette Marquis had volunteered to be a write-in candidate to represent the Town of Carroll on the White Mountains Regional School District School Board. It was noted that regardless what Mrs. Marquis may garner for votes, the School Board will still have to appoint the town representative because there will be a name of another candidate on the ballot. The Selectmen expressed their appreciation to Mrs. Marquis.

Jack Catalano was next regarding his candidacy for the Budget Committee. Mr. Catalano read his statement and requested that it be inserted into the minutes in its entirety as follows: (attached)

Becki Pederson, Town Clerk, apologized for not looking at the Checklist when Mr. Catalano originally signed up on January 28, the last date for candidates to file. Ms. Pederson explained that according to RSA 669.19 if one’s name is not on the Checklist before the time period to file, one cannot file. Further, she said even if she had known on January 28, his name could not have been put on the ballot as it is only the Supervisors of the Checklist who can add names and they were not meeting again until sometime later. While Mr. Catalano could have put in his application that day, she does not have the authority to approve for the Checklist. Ms. Pederson explained the reason his name was removed so quickly after she telephoned the Secretary of State’s Office, was because she had absentee ballots that had to be mailed.

Kelly Trammell stated that she had only reminded the Clerk that Mr. Catalano could come in on Saturday, February 26, to be put on the Checklist as the Supervisors were sitting that day. Ms. Pederson had forgotten that and told Mr. Catalano that he would have to wait until March 8. Ms. Trammell said that was all that she had said.

Selectman Catalano said his father told him that he had been told he could not register until Saturday, February 26, and he called the Secretary of State’s Office and was told anyone can register any time the Town Clerk’s Office is open. Allen Strasser said the Town Clerk’s Office keeps turning people away and has done so for years. He said he got his information from the Voters Handbook for NH. Ms. Pederson said yes, people may register when her office is open except for between the last time the Supervisors sit before an election and election day itself. She said when it was near the time for the Supervisors to sit, she felt it was better if people went to them directly. She was confused when Mr. Catalano came in on February 23, and thought the Supervisors had already sat for their final time when she told him he could not register until election day – that was when Ms. Trammell corrected the dates.

When Mr. Catalano signed up to be a candidate for the Budget Committee, he was not on the Checklist, and therefore could not be a candidate. There was discussion of the state statutes which cover the various aspects of elections and candidates and the ambiguity which people feel they encompass. Selectman Catalano said he believed they are convoluted intentionally so they don’t have to deal with them in the state. It was noted that when Selectman Catalano made his telephone call, Deputy Secretary of State Scanlon would not answer the question when he asked if the Select Board had the authority to intervene. Discussion followed and the Town Clerk said she will work with the state and whatever resources are available to insure this does not happen again. It was also noted that it will be looked into regarding other boards in town and to find out if there is a difference between voted boards or appointed ones.

Ms. Pederson apologized again for her oversight in reviewing the checklist when Mr. Catalano signed up, but she reiterated it was the last date for filing and the outcome would not have been any different if she had as her mistake did not interfere with it. Chairman Moroney stated he had signed up knowing he was not a registered voter. She also stated even if the Select Board had the authority to intervene they could not vote, as his son would have to abstain, to which Selectmen Catalano commented he would not abstain.

Selectman Catalano said we need to be sure this does not happen again – they need to know/clarify what is required to run for all offices and everyone needs to know that.

Jack Catalano said he appreciated the discussion though it was not the outcome he wanted. Ms. Trammell reminded Mr. Catalano that he can still run as a write-in candidate, which he said he will do. He said the employees of this town should do everything they can to make sure if people want to run for office that they can. Mr. Strasser requested in order to work on correcting the problem that the Board pass a resolution require the Town Clerk, except for the period up to election day, that she will take registrations. Chairman Moroney said Mr. Strasser, having been a Selectman, knows the Select Board is not allowed to tell the Clerk what to do as she is also an elected official, they may make suggestions, but not demands. Selectman Catalano said there is nothing that says they cannot pass a non-binding resolution that they would like to see that office managed that way, there is nothing wrong with that. There is nothing wrong with holding people accountable to the RSA’s that they are supposed to serving under and he summarily disagreed with the Chairman that attempts to insure that those things shouldn’t be made because “we don’t control the Town Clerk.” They are team members who work together and he feels this is a sad mistake that shouldn’t happen again. He is not sure what the law states as far as what his influence with the Town Clerk might be, but he doesn’t think it is unreasonable that they make it clear what the hours are or open season time is so people clearly understand. Chairman Moroney defended her statement by saying she has been to many classes and one of the big things is that dealing with elected officials is very different from regular employees. Chris Pappas asked about something read earlier and wanted clarity that said something about being on the checklist before applying to be a candidate. Chairman Moroney reread Attorney Whitelaw’s statement regarding being a registered voter. Selectman Catalano rebutted the statement as having been vague and ambiguous and an answer as the question was posed to her. He also reiterated the RSA’s are ambiguous as they are written and that he believes it would be up to a Judge to decide which of the RSA’s would pertain.

The following items were approved and signed:

Property Tax Abatement – Hogan (Police Station)
BTLA Settlement – Lanier ECE Properties, LLC
Property Tax Abatement – Johnson, The Waite Family Fund
Current Use Application – Amirault
Property Tax Veteran’s Exemption – Vendt
Certificate of Occupancy – Birchwood Commons, Suite #8

Under Other

Chairman Moroney made a Motion to: Approve and sign a form for DRA stating the Auditor for the Town is Melanson Heath & Company, LLC. Selectman Catalano seconded and the Motion passed.

Stan Borkowski, Building Inspector and Code Enforcement Officer, revised the fee structure and requested that the Selectmen be shown the new fees. As stated, not all fees were changed. Copies of the former fee structure as well as the revised one are attached. There was some discussion about when a demolition permit is required as it was stated while people know about the building permit, they don’t always know about the demolition one. While this might be somewhat vague, it was noted if it’s a taxed building, the town won’t know not to tax if they don’t know it’s been removed. The possibility of asbestos was also raised and Selectman Catalano said he would check with Stan about that. It was also noted that asbestos falls under a state ordinance and thus, under DES requirements.

Chairman Moroney said she wanted to address Bill Dowling since he is running for Selectman. The law is that one cannot work full time and be a Selectman, so she wanted to know did he plan to keep his job and Mr. Dowling said he did plan to keep it on a part time basis. Chairman Moroney then asked how it would be possible to go down to 32 or so hours and he said since he had been made fulltime in 2004 or 2005, a lot of kinks have been removed so he won’t have to work so many hours. He added that if he has to go over one week, he will take the time off the next week, but he won’t go over 35 hours.

Scott Sonia reported on the water leak that had been repaired off St. Patrick’s Road. He said they lost 120 gallons per minute for a total of 565,000 gallons during the four-day period before they could find it. Rural State Water came and helped locate the leak finally which they repaired with a 36” length of pipe – a rock had worked its way up through the pipe. He said it only affected three shutoffs—the residence nearby, Garneau’s Garage and the Church.

Jeff Duncan advised the Board that owners of property on Rt. 302 East had asked the Fire Department if they wanted to use the building they are demolishing for training purposes. He said they have all their state, DES and town permits and that they plan to burn on one of the last Saturdays in March.

Mike Gooden asked if it would be all right for him to set up a Historical Society display in the kitchen on voting day, which the Selectman agreed to.

Selectman Catalano said he would be unable to be here for the meeting next week, March 7. Because one does not make a quorum, Chairman Moroney said there would not be a meeting.

Selectman Catalano strongly advised town employees to be very careful about responding to the vitriolic emails that are being sent. He said he has been called names in some and they need to be very careful. He said he has said it before but will say it again that he does not write for Carroll Unplugged or any other so-called group and that what is being written and sent is terrible. He warned people should stay out of it especially if they are town employees. The nastiness of what is going on was discussed and the townspeople and employees should stop their involvement and not fall into that.

As there was no further business, Chairman Moroney moved to go into Non-Public Session for Personnel Matters at 8:35 p.m. The Board was polled and went into Non-Public Session.

At the close of Non-Public Session, Chairman 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 9:12 p.m. The next meeting will be Monday, March 14, 2011.

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