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Minutes of 9/8/2014 APPROVED

September 16th, 2014

Carroll Board of Selectmen
Meeting Minutes
September 8, 2014

APPROVED

“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, Paul Bussiere, David Scalley.

The meeting was called to order by Chairman Moroney.

Members of the public present: Mike Gooden, Ann Fabrizio, Greg Hogan, Jane Ikasalo, Steve Lapoint, Debbie Szauter, Imre Szauter, Scott Sonia, Dianne Hogan, Michael Hogan, Jeremy Oleson, Donna Foster, Kathy Saffian

Pledge of Allegiance

The meeting was filmed by Jane Ikasalo.

The Board announced the approval of bills and signing of manifests.

Selectman Bussiere made a Motion to accept the minutes of 8/25/2014 as written and Selectman Scalley seconded. The Motion passed unanimously.

Budget presentations began with Town Clerk/Tax Collector, Becki Pederson. She said she put in a 1.5% cost of living increase in the wages, increased postage by $600 as she is looking into sending out renewal notices for vehicle registrations, increased registrars fees by $50 because of tax redemptions for tax liens, and reduced bank service charge line by $75. Otherwise, Ms. Pederson said her budget is the same as for 2014
2014 2015
01-4130.10-136 Town Clerk/Tax Collector 35,149 35,676
-137 Deputy Town Clerk/Tax Col. 7,350 7,461
-210 Office Equipment 650 650
-211 Office Equipment Maintenance 700 700
-212 Assoc. Dues 80 80
-213 Office Supplies 2,500 2,500
-214 Computer Software 4,500 4,500
-215 Summit/Cama 901 901
-216 Postage 1,900 2,500
01-4130.10-217 Telephone 800 800
-218 Bank Service Charge 150 75
-219 Advertisements 250 250
-220 Registrars Fees 350 400
-221 Miscellaneous 200 200
-222 Training/Conference 1,000 1,000
-223 Travel 250 250
-224 Prop/Tax Abatements 1,000 1,000
-200 Dogs 457 457
-225 Marriage/Vitals 1,100 1,100
TOTALS 59,287 60,500

There were no questions and the Board thanked Ms. Pederson.

Administrative Assistant, Maryclare Quigley, then presented all General, Executive, Administrative, Insurance, Welfare and Financial budgets. She said as the Selectmen had not yet talked about whether there would be raises or not, salary lines remained the same except for a 1.5% cost of living adjustment for those in the Office. Some lines up by 1% or 2% had not increased for several years. Postage and Travel are close to their budgets now, so these were both increased because of the time still to go this year for postage and several conferences and meetings don’t take place until fall. The Miscellaneous line is for items that don’t have separate lines, one example being acknowledging life events, i.e. deaths, etc. She went on to say we have a police officer who was recently married which should be acknowledged but wasn’t because we don’t have the money. A brief discussion of this ensued with one asking if there should be a separate line. It was noted that the Planning Board had a line called “Good and Welfare” that has never been used, but which Chairman Moroney said was confusing as it sounds like that’s for town aid – but it definitely is not. In the end, keeping all under Miscellaneous was felt to be the best way.

The Comstar Billing Fee is noted here, though it’s a 02 account, it is also 4150; to be sure it is included in the budget. Chief Oleson said he has made notes everywhere so it won’t be left out as it had been previously (which we feel is due to changes made in the structure of the budget).

Legal Expense has also been increased because we are already near budget and there are legal issues still not resolved.

Employee and Town insurances are at the same level as we historically don’t get these numbers until later in the fall. The Secretary has received information on health insurance which she will print for the Board to review. Unemployment Compensation is up substantially as there were a number of claims in recent years. Welfare Direct Assistance is also increased substantially as we have basically four months left this year and we are over budget at this time. Chairman Moroney said we have done very well in the past keeping it at or under budget. It was asked if this would be enough of an increase, but the Board chose to leave it as is for now. Last was Debt Service for long term notes for landfill and water. It was noted that while payment on Principal increased, that for Interest decreased, and in case cash flow is impeded by late tax payments and we have to take out a Tax Anticipation Note (T.A.N.), we will have to pay interest. At this point, the Secretary pointed out that we get our utility values from the State, as so many other towns in NH do, and we have just received notice of these with the caveat that the values will not be finalized until December 15, 2014. We are hoping they will actually be done much sooner than that, but we’ll be watching it closely.
2014 2015
01-4130.10-130 Selectman 2,100 2,100
-131 Selectman 1,800 1,800
-132 Selectman 1,800 1,800

01-4150.10-110 Administrative Assistant 33,218 33,716
-111 Selectmen’s Office Staff 21,403 21,404
-114 Sel. Off. Overtime 1 1
-250 Tax Map 2,500 2,500
-260 Town Report 2,000 2,200
-301 Auditing 15,500 15,750
-390 Office Equipment 1,000 1,000
-603 Office Equip. Maintenance 700 700
-604 Association Dues 1,490 1,490
-620 Office Supplies 2,500 2,500
-621 Computer Software Support 6,274 6,462
-622 Summit/Cama 901 901
-625 Postage 700 1,000
-740 Telephone 1,715 1,730
-800 Town Officers Expense 1 1
-801 Bank Service Charges 300 300
-802 Advertisements 900 900
-803 Registrars Fees 200 100
-804 Miscellaneous 500 1,000
-805 Training 900 900
-808 Comstar Billing Fee 1 1
-809 Travel Expense 1,200 1,500
TOTALS 93,904 96,056

02-4150.10-808 Comstar Billing Fee 7,200 7,200

01-4152.10-200 Property Assessing 15,000 15,000

01-4153.1-200 Legal Expenses 12,000 15,000

01-4155.10-200 Retirement 75,000 77,400
-201 FICA 17,200 17,200
-202 Medicare 8,000 8,000
-300 Employee Insurance 152,000 152,000
-301 Unemployment Comp 1,532 2,500
TOTALS 253,732 257,100

01-4196.10-520 Town Insurance 31,000 31,000
.20-520 Workers’ Compensation 18,940 20,000
TOTALS 49,940 51,000

01-4441.10-200 Welfare Direct Assistance 20,000 25,000


Principal
01-4711.10-200 Long Term Notes, Landfill, Water 57,958 59,252

Interest
01-4721.10-200 Long Term Notes, Landfill, Water 26,478 24,334
-201 Int. T.A.N. 400 400
TOTALS 84,836 83,986

The Board thanked Mrs. Quigley.

General Buildings and Highway budgets were tabled to a later meeting.

Scott Sonia presented the Water Department budget. He said there is an increase in the salary line as he had included a 3% raise and electricity has an increase, but tried to keep most other lines the same or decreased if possible. There were some lines which differed between his budget and the final one for 2014, so he said he would look into those. He said because of the water issues this year, there were a number of things he could not do including having the generator serviced but the company said they would honor this year’s quote.

Mr. Sonia said he would like to install a circulator in the Cherry Mountain tank to protect the tank from damage from ice forming in it. The cost of $6,100, which includes installation, does not include telemetry to the pump house and this would be at least an additional $700 for the wiring. Because there is no power to the Little River Road tank, if they were to do something similar they would have to use solar energy and the cost for a system of this type is between $26,000 and $31,000 installed.

Mr. Sonia went on to say a goal he has is to redo the pipe in the river crossing. He said they don’t know how many holes there may already be in the pipe and that if anything should happen, most of the town will be without water. He has been doing some work and research on this. DES is aware of this and there would be no impact on the shoreline. It appears the minimum cost would, which would be without using an engineer, would be $73,350. He will be looking into all of these projects more closely.
2014 2015
04-4155.10-200 Retirement 3,400 3,400
-201 FICA 2,761 2,761
-202 Medicare 646 646
-300 Employee Ins. 20,000 20,000
-301 Unemployment 150 150


04-4332.10-100 Salary 33,706 34,387
-101 Part Time Labor 5,000 5,000
-102 Clerical 5,500 5,500
-103 Overtime 3,000 3,000
-200 Contract Labor 6,000 6,000
-300 Water Supplies 9,500 9,500
-301 Postage 1,100 1,100
-302 Telephone 1,280 1,280
-303 Electricity 15,000 17,000
-304 Propane 3,500 3,500
-305 Computer/Software 225 1
-306 Office Supplies 500 700
-360 Clothing 500 500
-400 Audit 1 1
-401 Generator Ser Contract 1,600 1,600
-402 Equipment Repairs 4,450 4,450
-403 Water Meter Software Support 1,800 1,800
-404 Chemicals & Equipment 4,000 4,000
-405 Vehicle 1 1
-406 Vehicle Repair 2,000 500
-407 Gas/Diesel 3,000 3,000
-408 Equipment Purchase 1 1
-409 Tools 750 500
-500 Water Samples 1,800 2,000
-510 Licenses & Fees 1 1
-600 Water Depreciation 1 1
-620 Tank Inspection 1 2,400
-621 Tank Rep/Maint 1 1
-630 Bldgs & Grounds 500 500
-700 Sand, Gravel, Loam 1,000 1,000
-800 Water Expansion 1 1
-801 Water Expansion Piping 1 1
-802 Water Expansion Testing 1 1
-803 Water Line Repairs 5,000 5,000
-804 Hydrant Maint/Repair 5,000 2,500
-900 Miscellaneous 600 600
-901 Water Training 1,000 150
TOTAL 145,078 140,355








John Gardiner and John Trammell each expressed their interest in helping out with the Emergency Management Director position, which is vacant due to the resignation of the former Director, Dan Walker. After a brief discussion, which included the experience, knowledge and availability of both gentlemen, Selectman Bussiere made a Motion to: Appoint John Gardiner as the EMD and John Trammell as Assistant EMD. Selectman Scalley seconded and the Motion passed unanimously. Both were thanked for their participation and the Secretary was asked to advise them of their appointments. The Chairman also asked that they be asked to put the budget together as they are both very aware of needs, etc.

Selectman Scalley recused himself and left the meeting room as the item to waive attorney-client privilege on certain emails was next. Chairman Moroney read the wording for the motion provided by Legal Counsel, “Move to waive the attorney-client privilege as to the emails identified in the attached list. This waiver extends only to the specifically identified emails, and does not extend to any other attorney-client privileged documents regarding the Ruby’s Way subdivision, Hunt Properties, Attorney Waugh, present/past planning board members, or any other issue addressed within the identified emails.” After a brief discussion, Selectman Bussiere “Moved to release the emails identified by the statement/quote read by Chairman Moroney. Chairman Moroney seconded and it passed unanimously.

The following items were approved and signed:

Town Hall Use Permit Applications – Parks & Recreation Commission; Carroll PD/Grafton
County Sheriff’s Dept.
Water Warrant – Poggas
Oaths of Office – Ed Martin, Zoning Board Alternate, Exp. 2017; Claire Gritzer, Zoning
Board Alternate, Exp. 2017
Rescission of Oath of Office – Megan Rouillard, ZBA Alternate. It was explained that it was
misunderstood that the position Ms. Rouillard expressed interest in was to fill the open
seat until Town Meeting in March, not the Alternate position.
NH DOS 911 Dispatch Agency Confirmation – Sgt. Smalley
MS-5 – DRA Financial Report of the Town

Greg Hogan announced there will not be a Household Hazardous Waste Day this year as the company that put these on has closed due to the death of the owner. Mr. Hogan said this is not just Carroll but that it affects many areas, including all of the towns surrounding us. He said he had spoken with the man who runs the transfer station in Lancaster and he has already started looking into companies for some time next year.

Other:

The Secretary said at the previous meeting, a letter about reverse E911 calls had been brought up and she had been asked to check with Sgt. Smalley. Sgt. Smalley said this had been received about a year or so ago and that it was an option if we had a local 24-hour person with a number to call back. He said we do not have that nor do we have the infrastructure to do it, so it was left with the State. If there is a need for this, we call the State and they will do the reverse E911 calls.

Donna Foster said she looked into a situation which arose previously when Omni requested a liquor license expansion for the Bretton Woods Motor Lodge property. She spoke with Steve Hilliard who said the restaurant is closing only to the public, but will continue to serve its guests, so there is no change of use and they are adding only a very small convenience store. The Board thanked Mrs. Foster for looking into this.

As there was no further business, the Board was polled and went into non-public session, per RSA 91-A-3 for personnel and town aid at 7:50 p.m.

At the close of non-public session at 8:38 p.m., Chairman Moroney moved to return to public session and seal the minutes from non-public session. Selectman Scalley seconded and the Motion passed unanimously.

At this point, Selectman Scalley asked if he had to wait until the next meeting to bring something up that has been asked of him many times by many people. He was told no, because they are back in public. He said he feels with Bill Dowling gone and the way he left, that it is not appropriate that the Transfer Station still be called after him. Selectman Bussiere said he agrees as it has been the cause of a lot of trouble and issues in town and he said further, that he felt it was not professional at all. It was reiterated that a lot of people had asked about changing the name in light of everything that had happened. Selectman Scalley asked if they just needed consensus among the Board or if they should vote on it. Chairman Moroney said she felt they should vote on it because it was a vote by the Select Board that approved the name. Therefore, Selectman Scalley made a Motion to: Discontinue the name and remove the William Dowling Transfer Station sign. Selectman Bussiere seconded and the Motion passed unanimously.

Chairman Moroney asked Greg Hogan if he would remove the sign whenever he had the time do it. Mr. Hogan said he would.

There being no further discussion, Chairman Moroney made a Motion to adjourn the meeting. Selectman Bussiere seconded and the Motion passed unanimously. Chairman Moroney declared the meeting ended at 8:59 p.m. The next meeting will be Monday, September 15, 2014.

Town of Carroll, New Hampshire ®2025