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Minutes of 1/27/2020

February 2nd, 2020

Carroll Board of Selectmen
Meeting Minutes
January 27, 2020

“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 Kelly Trammell, Secretary
Board Members present: Bonnie Moroney, David A. Scalley, Robert Gauthier Jr.

Members of the Public present: Mike Hogan, Dianne Hogan, Mike Gooden, Josh DeBottis, Chris Ellms, Jeremy Oleson, Tadd Bailey, Imre Szauter, Tom Andross, Chris Pappas, Rep. Troy Merner, Rena Vecchio, James Phillips, Melissa Burke, Jackie Hozza, Michael Mozer, Evan Karpf

The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by Chairwoman Moroney.

Pledge of Allegiance.

Chairwoman Moroney announced the approval of bills and signing of manifests.

Selectman Scalley made a motion to approve the Minutes of 1/13/2020 as written. The motion was seconded by Selectman Gauthier and the motion passed.

Selectman Scalley made a motion to approve the Minutes of 1/16/2020 as written. The motion was seconded by Selectman Gauthier and the motion passed.

NH DOT employees Jackie Hozza and Michael Mozer presented a slideshow of the bridge project to be completed at Route 302 East in the area of the Base Rd. This span was completed in 1987 over the Ammonoosuc River and the current inspection shows that an expansion joint is failing and leaking. The intention is to do concrete repair, joint replacement and deck/membrane replacement during the 2021 construction period. Jackie Hozza said it would be a phased plan alternating one lane construction with temporary traffic lights in place. The total anticipated time frame to completion is 4 months. The floor was opened for questions and the Fire Chief asked when the project would start. Hozza advised it would start Spring 2021 and end Fall 2021. Chief Oleson asked if the traffic lights can be controlled by Opticom. Michael Mozer said they can put in that request. The Fire Chief also advised that is an area of high bicycle traffic and asked what can be done to accommodate. Hozza said there would be a sidewalk in place available for use. A comment was made about being prime tourist traffic. Hozza said if there are specific dates that can be given to DOT, they can try to accommodate. Police Chief Tadd Bailey mentioned that Reach the Beach leaves from the Ski Area and should be considered.

James Phillips spoke with regards to his property on Harmony Hill Rd. and his business Boulder Mountain View. He stated he and his wife had recently purchased the property and after doing so, he had gone to Planning Board and was approved for 9 park model RVs and a carriage house. Phillips said in October, the Fire Chief notified him of some concerns. From April until October, nobody had stated any issues with park model RVs. Phillips said December 31st, the Building Inspector came by and said the units need a Certificate of Occupancy and shut down the business. Selectman Gauthier stated that the Board had been advised of the situation and it was currently being handled as a legal matter between the Town Attorney and Phillip’s Attorney. Gauthier asked if this is re-hashing the situation or if Phillips is trying to get information on record. Phillips said he was going to invest 1.5 million dollars and he feels the rug is being pulled from under their feet. He said they are trying to figure things out and the Building Inspector has been A.W.O.L. Selectman Gauthier advised Phillips that he is making accusations and voicing opinions. Gauthier said the matter is being handles by the Attorneys and the Board would be making no decisions that evening; this is now a legal matter. Phillips asked the Board if the packet he provided could be part of the record and the Board agreed.

Imre Szauter spoke on behalf of the Building Committee. He advised that the Committee is looking for volunteers to assist with packing and storing the library’s collection, moving shelving and transporting and packing the collection in the new Town Hall. If anyone is interested, they should contact Imre.

Imre also said the next scheduled meeting in Thursday, January 30, 2020 at 9:00 a.m. in the Town Hall. Following the meeting would be tour of the new Town Hall and Public Safety Building. Anyone not attending the Building Committee Meeting should plan on being at the Town Hall no later than 10:00 a.m. Bonnie Moroney asked if the Dedication Sub-Committee was meeting prior to the 9:00 a.m. meeting. Imre said he hadn’t heard but he’d look into it.

The Board reviewed the North Country Fire Mutual Aid Agreement. Selectman Gauthier made a motion to approve and sign. Selectman Scalley seconded and the motion passed.

The Board reviewed the Coos County Ambulance Agreement and Public Service Agreement. Fire Chief Oleson made mention that a couple of years ago, he had gone to the County to request an increase in the amount of funds we receive. He said we did get an increase but, in the future, may want to keep track. There is a provision that if our expenses go over the amount we receive from the agreement, we have the ability to send the County a bill. As of now, we haven’t reached that amount. Selectman Scalley made a motion to sign the agreements. The motion was seconded by Selectman Gauthier and the motion passed.

The Board reviewed a driveway permit for Malu, LLC. Selectman Scalley made a motion to approve and sign. Selectman Gauthier seconded and the motion passed.

The Board reviewed a property lien to be placed for town aid received. Selectman Gauthier made a motion to approve and sign. Selectman Scalley seconded and the motion passed.

The Board reviewed a Date Certification Contract with Comerford, Nieder, Perkins. Selectman Gauthier made a motion to approve and sign. Selectman Scalley seconded and the motion passed.

Chairwoman Moroney advised that she had gone to Concord for a proposed bill for a local tax on hotel stays. She said Rep. Edith Tucker was there as well and spoke on its behalf and the benefits to the North Country. Moroney said there was confusion as to the definition of occupancy as written in the bill. She also said there was a change as well from what was proposed in years past. She said prior versions had DRA involved in collecting the fees. As written now, towns would have to adopt a warrant article and could charge up to $2.00 a night unless the total cost was under $40. It would be left up to the towns to collect the money. The matter is still pending but she suggests letting the bigger towns work the bugs out of it first if it passes. Moroney said some of her concern is the legality of looking into the business’ books.

Selectman Gauthier said he likes the idea. He said Burlington, VT does it where they charge $1.00/room/night but doesn’t know the process of how they collect it. Dianne Hogan asked if it included campgrounds. Chairwoman Moroney said she’s not sure. She said it was brought up but there was a lot of controversy on that as well.

The Secretary advised the Board that with regards to the petition warrant article that was submitted, one employee at DRA said the Board had to act on it if approved as written and another employee said the Board did not have to act on it. The question was posed to legal and they said that if the petition warrant article were to pass as written, the Board does not have to act on it. They said the Board is responsible for the budget and may determine that using the funds is not proper at this time.

The Secretary also advised that Legal found the warrant article for the Mount Washington Regional Airport to not be legal as written and it is amended on the warrant. As it was presented, it cannot bind the Selectmen to future funds to be spent. The first amount can be spent this year by warrant article and then if the Board chooses to support the Airport in the future, they can budget for it.
There are also two other warrant articles that had been submitted but will be removed. One was for accepting monetary donations and the other for accepting gifts. Both were previously submitted where one was approved in 1994 and the other in 2005. At the guidance of DRA they were removed so they wouldn’t be redundant and confusing.

The Board reviewed the list of items the Historical Society would like to keep from the current Town Hall. The Board asked who was going to remove the items because at demolition time an excavator will come in and not sort through the items. Rena Vecchio said their group would do it but they also expected some help. Selectman Scalley said he had offered some personal storage space but doesn’t have room for everything on the list. Selectman Scalley asked what the group’s intentions were with the items. Vecchio said they will display some items, store some items and others will be sold to raise money for the Historical Society. Selectman Scalley said he has a concern that some items may contain lead and need to look at being sealed. He also offered a day to take down some items but not anything structural and he will store some items but he can’t do it long term. Chief Oleson said the Fire Department has some short-term storage available as well. Rena Vecchio asked Scalley how long he could store things for. He said it can’t be a year. His original idea was that he would store items until the new building was ready and then it could go into the historical area.

Rena also asked the Board if the petition warrant article should be brought to zero at the Deliberative Session. She said after hearing that the Board can still do as it chooses, she would rather not put them on the spot. The Board agreed that if possible, that would be best.
FOLLOW UP:
Echo Lake – The Board had received an email from Kevin Leonard from Northpoint Engineering. Kevin advised that he feels the review is not progressing and suggest the matter be given to the Town Attorney. The Board agreed.
Smaller Version Building Permit – Selectman Scalley said after discussions with the office staff, it would create more confusion and confrontation. It will no longer be pursued.

Razing building – Selectman Scalley had a contract with Presby Construction to demolish the building. He said Waste Removal will only give a proposal. All-Demo company needs 10 days to get approval from the State. Scalley said he has certificates of insurance from all the companies involved. Selectman Scalley made a motion for the Chair to sign any and all contracts needed to raze the building. Selectman Gauthier seconded. All were in favor and the motion passed.
PD S.O.P Updates – Selectman Scalley has questions for the Chief. They agreed to meet and go over them.
Town Aid Policy – Tabled.

OTHER:
Selectman Scalley said he thinks with the building project, things are still too busy. He’d like to go back to weekly meetings beginning on February 10th. The Board agreed.

Selectman Scalley said Lowe’s had a sale on shelving. Imre Szauter picked one up so it could be looked at and approved for storage in the new building. The money for the shelving is not in the project budget. Lowe’s will hold the sale price until a count can be taken of what is needed.

Selectman Scalley spoke with the current cleaning person at the Town Hall. He said she may or may not be interested in continuing so the Board may want to start soliciting cleaning companies.

Chairwoman Moroney announced the Deliberative Session for the School will be held Monday, February 3rd at 6:30 p.m.

Moroney also said she is working on the next newsletter for March. She asked that anyone that had a submission to please get in touch with her.
Chairwoman Moroney said she wanted to give Kelly Trammell an “atta girl” for learning the new position and for doing a great job with so many things going on.

Mike Gooden said he had asked Allan Clark for a letter of explanation of what happened with the project that resulted in the Town Hall having to be demolished. He’d like to give the letter to everyone who signed the petition. Gooden asked if he doesn’t get a letter from Clark, would the Select Board give them a letter. Rena Vecchio said that people don’t believe that the demolition of the Town Hall wasn’t planned from the start. Selectmen Scalley and Gauthier voiced their opinions that people with this thought can come to a Select Board meeting and voice their opinions. The Board agreed that plenty of information had been provided as well as opportunities to come to the meetings to determine the fate of the building.
Chairwoman Moroney said she had put the information out in newsletters and nobody came forward to say anything. Selectman Gauthier said if anyone is out there voicing that opinion or has a question, please come to the public Select Board meeting for an explanation.

Michael Hogan said he had a question with regards to Boulder Mountain View. He said he knows it’s a legal matter but questioned if the project was approved by the Planning Board why it was being stopped. Selectman Scalley said because the units that were set up on site are not park model RV units. Hogan asked if what was shown on the plan to the Planning Board is not what was put in. Scalley said they are not park model RVs per the State and he wasn’t going to speak to it any further. The matter is being handled by legal.
Scalley said he has been working with James and Melissa diligently on opening up their business but there are two sides to every story.

Police Chief Bailey said he spoke with DOT about the road signage for the Police & Fire when they move in. DOT will have it ready when they move.

Fire Chief Oleson asked the Board if they had any input on 911 numbers for the buildings. After a short discussion it was decided the Town Hall should remain #92 School Street and there is already letterhead, web sites, etc. with all the information showing that address. The Fire and Police Departments are changing entirely so those numbers are the Chief’s discretion.

A discussion was held on the coordination of the move into the new Town Hall. Selectman Scalley said they’re working on a conveyor belt from one building to the next to move items. He also suggested a team of volunteers. Imre Szauter discussed how critical timing will be to seamlessly move departments. Imre Szauter volunteered to be the move coordinator along with a team of volunteers. Selectman Scalley made a motion for Imre to be the move coordinator and the motion was seconded by Selectman Gauthier. The motion passed unanimously.

Imre said he had met with the library personnel and are planning to put part of the collection in boxes.
Selectman Gauthier asked if anyone knew of the library submitted the grant in time. Nobody knew.

At 7:36 p.m. Chairwoman Moroney made a motion to go into non-public session per RSA 91-A:3 for Legal and Personnel. The motion was seconded by Selectman Scalley and polled; Moroney – yes, Scalley – yes, Gauthier – yes.

At 8:44 Selectman Gauthier made a motion to return to public session. The motion was seconded by Selectman Scalley and passed unanimously.

Selectman Gauthier made a motion to seal the minutes regarding the legal items. The motion was seconded by Selectman Scalley and passed unanimously.

With no further business, Selectman Gauthier made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Selectman Scalley seconded and the Motion passed unanimously. Chairwoman Moroney declared the meeting ended at 8:46 p.m.