Selectboard Meeting Minutes

Minutes of 09/28/2021

September 28th, 2021

Select Board Meeting Minutes
Meeting Minutes
09/28/2021
7:00pm
“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: Elke Tonnesen
Board Members in Attendance: Chair David Scalley, Ken Mills, and Rob Gauthier
Public in Attendance: Imre Szauter, Tadd Bailey, Chris Pappis, Michael (Mike) LaBonte, Greg Hogan

Call to order
Pledge of Allegiance

Approve and sign the manifest
Selectperson Scalley confirms that the manifest was signed.

Approval of 9/14/21 minutes
Selectperson Mills moves to approve the minutes from 09-07-2021, Selectperson Gauthier seconds. Selectperson Mills notes a minor spelling error. All in favor, 3-0, motion passed.

Profile Technologies:
The board asks Mike LaBonte from Profile Technologies a series of questions regarding what he has seen here at our facility and what direction he could offer the town in regards to computer systems, phones and internet.

Mike states that he has 15 years of experience in IT and most of that is working with local governments, he references the towns of Bethlehem, Northumberland and Haverhill.
Mike notes on what we currently have for equipment, which he states is mostly new, but our servers and network need to be looked at, as well as how we back up our information.
He also notes that he would be able to help provide services with regards to the phones and internet.
Selectperson Scalley asks what he can do to improve our internet service that we have now.
Mike states they work with a master agent and what that entails is they work with a company that deals with all the regional ISPs, and or other providers which includes phone providers. Profile essentially has a dedicated team that works to provide better service than just calling the service. He states we would still have Spectrum but it would be a provided on a governmental level basis rather than consumer basis. He believes that what we have right now with BWTC is that they lease the services from Spectrum and then resell, where Profile does not do that.
Selectperson Scalley asks how many people work with him.
Mike notes that there is a team, he works with four other people at Profile.
Selectperson Scalley asks how long Profile has been in business.
Mike relays that Profile started in 2004, and he joined in 2006.
Selectperson Scalley asks Mike to elaborate on what he has seen here at our building what he could improve.
Mike states that the Wi-Fi infrastructure is not set up correctly as well as our backups, phones and domains.
Selectperson Gauthier inquires as to how they provide backups?
Mike notes that they have a few different methods, but most common they use and appliance which is a separate device that is hardened against ransomware and viruses, which backs up and is then transferred to the cloud.
Selectperson Mills asks about the response times that were provided on the information sheet from Profile and their tier of services. As one of our current issues is the response time from our current service.
Mike notes that Profiles response time is within an hour, with the very rare exception of up to a four hour wait, which only happens on very busy days. But as far as resolutions they always schedule resolutions whenever possible and if they have to work with a third party, they are held to then their schedule, but they schedule internal as soon as possible and with relation to the urgency.
Selectperson Mills inquires that BMSI is one of Profiles clients.
Mike confirms that.
Selectperson Gauthier asks if the service itself would probably eliminate some of that right off the bat with some of the structure that he is talking about as far as redesigning and setting things up.
Mike notes that there is always a transition period, when going from what we have to what we need, where there will be an increase in the amount of work Profile needs to do to get the Town where they would like them to be. Once everything is ironed out there will be a decrease in the amount of work that Profile will need to do.
Selectperson Scalley asks what services Profile offers in Bethlehem.
Mike notes that they provide services to Town, Police and Fire. Some of the other towns he notes they do not offer services to all three, only partial.
Selectperson Scalley asks Selectperson Mills if we had received any projected costs from Profile.
Selectperson Mills notes that he has only been able to get invoices as far as some services provided as well as costs, but he has not been able to get data to collate data into information the way it's been laid out.
Mike offers the board to provide formal proposals on anything we would like for services. He notes that the tiered pricing sheet is for people to have an idea of what they cost for ongoing service, but can also be a starting point as well.
Mike notes that there are instances if they are adding, fixing or dedicating a separate thing, they like to bill separately.
Chief Bailey asks Mike if he has ever worked with any law enforcement or town agency, where the server was dedicated to the PD?
Mike states that yes, he is familiar and there has to be special licenses and storage for compliance.
Chief Bailey agrees and notes that Mike seems to understand what the PD has and needs going forward.
Imre Szauter notes that we have a contract with One Source Security, and asks what provisions Profile has in place, because they integrated with BWTC on that project.
Mike notes that Profile works with items like this, but they currently do not work with One Source. Profile does offer some services with security cameras but they do not do anything with alarms or intrusion detection, noting that in those instances they would work with a third-party service.

Selectperson Scalley asks where they are located, Mike relays they are located right in Littleton.
No further questions.

2021 MS-535:
Selectperson Mills moves to sign, Selectperson Gauthier Seconds, all in favor, motion passes.

Tax Abatement for Bastarache:
Selectperson Mills moves to sign, Selectperson Gauthier seconds, all in favor, motion passes.

Tax Abatement for Varela and Bastarache:
Selectperson Mills moves to sign, Selectperson Gauthier seconds, all in favor, motion passes.

Water Warrants:
Selectperson Mills moves to sign, Selectperson Gauthier seconds, all in favor, motion passes.

Water Rent Tax:
Selectperson Mills moves to sign, Selectperson Gauthier seconds, all in favor, motion passes.

Follow Up:
Tax Deeded Property- Route 3 North
Selectperson Scalley speaks on this, they have scheduled the asbestos inspection in mid-October.

School Withdrawal
Selectperson Gauthier states that Ben is hoping to hear something this week.

Sale of Old Fire Station
Selectperson Mills states they received an agreement from St. Jean Auction, which will be signed tonight by Mills and Gauthier, and finalized with legal counsel. The auction has been set for October 29th, 2021 at 4:00pm.
Selectperson Mills moves to sign the agreement, Gauthier seconds, all in favor, Selectperson Scalley abstains, motion passes.

Purple Heart Community
Selectperson Mills and Elke speak on this, if board agrees to become a purple heart community, then the board will sign the proclamation. Then Elke will send to appropriate person, Marie, as well as notify surrounding veteran organizations to make them aware and inquire about purchasing signs for our town, Marie who they have been in contact with has stated that the town will not have to pay for the signs, that the veterans’ organizations will provide funding for that. She also noted that we can reach out to our highway department to see if they have any sign posts that we could use, to avoid having to purchase those as well.
Selectperson Mills motions to become a purple heart community, Gauthier seconds, all in favor, motion passes.
Selectperson Scalley signs the proclamation.

Building Cleaning Service
Selectperson Scalley and Elke state that we have not had any luck finding anyone.
The board asks Greg Hogan if it would be feasible to include janitorial work into the part time position currently posted for the Transfer Station or do we put an ad in the paper.
Selectperson Gauthier suggests that we run an ad first in the paper.
Selectperson Scalley suggest adding a part time position to the town for a cleaner, instead of a vendor.
The board agrees that we should run an ad in the paper for two weeks.
Selectperson Gauthier motions to have Elke put together an ad for janitorial services, Selectperson Scalley seconds, all in favor, motion passes.
Chief Bailey inquires as the insurance requirements for an outside vendor.
Selectperson Scalley states that if they work by themselves with Primex, they need general liability only and they exempt themselves from workmen’s compensation. Selectperson Gauthier notes, they must pass background check as well.
Chief Bailey suggests reaching out to housekeeping at the Mount Washington Hotel to see if any individuals would be interested, or Becki.
Selectperson Scalley notes that we could try going in house again, asks Elke to check with Primex on how our policy works in that kind of situation.
Greg Hogan wonders what the hours would be to clean the buildings.
Selectperson Scalley quotes approximately four hours per building.
Selectperson Gauthier notes that the number of hours of cleaning requested should be included in the ad.
Selectperson Mills notes that the hours are flexible as well, it doesn’t matter what time of the day the cleaning is done.
Selectperson Scalley notes that we can extend it to 8-12 hours per week
Imre Szauter also mentions putting together a check list that is specific to all of the tasks and breaks them down into weekly duties, bi-weekly duties and monthly duties.

Selectperson Mills inquires as to if all of the needed cleaning supplies were purchased.
Elke confirms that yes, the needed supplies have been purchased.

Grants
Elke notes that she found one open grant, about connecting minorities in the community, but still needs to do more research.
Selectperson Mills would like to look to see if we can look into this more.
Selectperson Scalley suggests Elke reach out to the NHGFOA chat to see what is out there and what grants are available. He suggests she reach out to other towns as well for assistance.
Selectperson Mills mentions that he attended a webinar about the ARPA funds with regards to utilizing them. This presentation included using the money with other possible grants for projects.
Selectperson Gauthier questions if we could use the funds we got as matching funds for another grant.
Selectperson Mills states it’s something we could look into more.

Pay Rate for PD
Chief Bailey brings forward the numbers he got from the surrounding towns for part time pay rates and detail rates. The amounts that he would like to raise our towns rates to are neck and neck with surrounding towns.
Chief Bailey reiterates the proposed new rates for his staff with the detail rate at $67.00 per hour, and part time rate at $21.00 per hour.
Selectperson Scalley confirms break down.
Chief Bailey states that the cruiser rate would stay the same the only item that is changing in regards to the detail rate is the first eight hours at $57.00 per hour currently to $67.00 per hour. Selectperson Scalley inquires for a further break down on the detail rate in regards to covering cost on the matching taxes and pay roll.
Chief Bailey is unsure.
Selectperson Scalley asks for Chief Bailey to speak with the Finance Clerk to work out those details in regards to what gets contributed.
Selectperson Scalley states he is not opposed to raising our rates to match surrounding towns.
Selectperson Mills agrees.
Chief Bailey also reiterates that this will not increase the budget.

Selectperson Mills asks that the sale of the old fire station is revisited as he has a few additional questions about cleaning.
Greg Hogan states that a lot of the remaining items in the building have been removed by the new Chief, but there are some items that need to be removed. He does not see any issue with that being cleaned out in a timely manner.
Selectperson Mills notes that the action company will be taking pictures and showing the building once before the auction and the board would like for the building to be cleaned out completely before that happens.
Selectperson Scalley asks that the building get cleaned out by the October 8th.
Greg Hogan agrees they will get it cleaned out by that date.

Snowmobile Trail
The selectboard discussed the idea of creating a parking area for snowmobilers which was brought up by Brain Mycko at the last meeting. The concerns of having people come up and misuse the area was discussed as well as the mess that could be potentially made inside the building from amounts of snow being tracked in. The board would like to revisit when Brian Mycko is here and asks Elke to reach out to Brian to come to the next meeting.

Veterans Tax Credit
Selectperson Scalley states we have not heard anything and asks that Elke follow up with legal to see what the status is on this.

DOT Bureau of Planning & Community Assistance
Selectperson Scalley speaks on this, we got a letter from the Dept. of Transportation about future transportation projects planned between 2023-2032. As Selectperson Scalley reads the information out loud and thinks that this might have to do with public transportation and defers to Elke and Greg Hogan for more thorough research and see if it is something the town would like to participate in.

Food Truck Permit
Selectperson Scalley states we got a request from someone to have a food truck in town, they state to have proper certifications and licenses with the state. They are inquiring to get approval as well as locating a spot to park, and when they can park in town.
Selectperson Scalley and Chief Bailey discuss possible options for parking and both come up with the information booth.
Selectperson Scalley states that the town has a food truck permit but a set fee for this has not been established.
The Land Use Secretary has reached out to other towns to get an idea of what they are charging, Littleton is at $150.
The board asks that the requestor fill out the application and we get some additional information from them.
Selectperson Gauthier moves to make the fee $200, Selectperson Scalley seconds, Selectperson Mills wants to have more discussion about the fee and reach out to legal to see if they have any information about a situation like this. Motion withdrawn.

Selectperson Mills would like to speak on Brian Mycko’s comments on the paving job that was recently done in town at a previous meeting. Selectperson Mills states that he drove out to these roads himself and with our highway department. He notes that he did not see anything that was characterized from the discussion that evening, and he thought that the job over all was done pretty good.
He additionally notes that he went to Brian’s driveway and he feels that it did not reflect what was stated that night, though he does acknowledge that there was an indentation.
Upon further investigation on his own, he states that there is a process to all of this, it’s not something that is going to be done in a week or a weekend, it’s a process that evolves with additional work done to the roadways to touch things up. He states that timing might have been the issue here, which is being addressed, and he does not see any further issues or complications with any of this.

Selectperson Scalley states that he also drove out there with the highway department and did not see the 8 inch drop in Brian Mycko’s driveway, or any others, with the exception of one that they were already aware of, which was corrected last Thursday.

Selectperson Gauthier states that he did not like mischaracterization after getting the feedback from the two other selectpersons about the situation. Additionally, that night the complaints seemed extravagant and elaborate complaint, which turned out to not be as described.

Selectperson Mills wants to clarify that he is not personalizing anything or disparaging anyone, but he believes that the board needs to be responsive and if any resident has a complaint, whether it is in the same context as someone else’s is irrelevant, that’s how they see it. But once the board responds it needs to be documented and that was the intent of his comment.

Selectperson Gauthier expresses his disappointment that this has happened too many times that this type of exaggeration of a situation comes to us, where we send hours to investigate and find out that it was not as bad as described, especially from a former Selectperson.

Chief Bailey informs the board that the new cruiser has been delivered, and they will be working on stripping the old cruiser this week and planning on picking up the new one next week. He also notes that the current newer cruiser they have is in great shape and they do not see the need to replace that one as projected.

Selectperson Mills inquires that once we have the new cruiser, would it be accurate to say that the town would benefit from setting aside the normal annual capital reserve funds going toward a new cruiser in the future, but knowing we won’t need one in the next year.

Chief Bailey confirms, he states that this has been working very well to prevent a spike in the budget when a new cruiser is needed.

Next Meeting will be October 5th at 7:00pm

Public meeting will adjourn at 8:30pm

Selectperson Scalley made a motion to go into non-public session at 8:32 pm per RSA 91-A:3, Legal and Personnel, Gauthier seconds, all in favor, motion poses.

Selectperson Scalley made a motion to return to public session and seal the minutes of the non-public session at 9:06pm. The motion was seconded by Selectperson Gauthier. All in favor 3-0. Motion passes.

Selectperson Gauthier made a motion to adjourn the public meeting at 9:36pm. Selectperson Mill second. All in favor 3-0. Motion passes.