BOS Minutes 12-12-2006

APPROVED

TOWN OF PELHAM<= /st1:place>

BOARD OF S= ELECTMEN MEETING

MINUTES

December 12, 2006

APPROVED – December 26, 2006

CALL TO ORDER

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

PRESENT:

Mr. Edmund Gleason, Mr. Jean-Guy Bergeron, Mr. Tom = Domenico, Mr. Tom Gaydos – Town Administrator

Also present:

ABSENT:

Members of the press and general public.

Mr. Victor Danevich, Mr. Harold Lynde

M= INUTES REVIEW

November 28, 2006

MOTION:

(Bergeron/Domenico) To approve the November 28, 2006 meetin= g minutes as amended.

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VOTE:<= /p>

(3-0-0) The motion carried.

The amendments to the minutes were as follows: page 3= , 2^nd paragraph – the word ‘needing’ was replaced with ‘handling’ in the following ‘…may provide the flexibility of handling coupons’; page 4, 1^st paragraph – the following sentence was added ‘Mr. Gleason recommended th= at Mr. Gaydos document the unsuccessful attempts to contact the low bidder.’; 2^nd paragraph – the word ‘one’= ; was added to ‘…– one bid from Jean-Guy’s Used CarsR= 17;; 3^rd & 4^th paragraph – the words ‘The= re was only one bidder’ were deleted; 5^th paragraph – = the word ‘…obsolete equipment sale list.’; spelling correcti= on ‘Corcoran’; page 5 – motion to remove warrant article R-= E was made by Domenico/Gleason by a vote of 4-0; page 7, 4^th paragraph – the words ‘with the Budget Committee’ were added to ‘…prior to reconsideration with the Budget Committee’; t= here were minor grammatical amendments that were also made.

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OPEN FORUM

State Representative Bob Haefner introduced himself t= o the Board and the residents. He provided his contact information and welcomed people to contact him if they needed to get in touch with him.

Mr. Leo Thibeault, a resident and member of the NRPC Committee, thanked everyone for their involvement with the Context Sensiti= ve Solution meeting discussing the Town Center. He informed that another meeting = would be held on Dec= ember 21, 2006, 6pm at the Police Department. This = meeting will give residents the opportunity to give information to the Department = of Transportation officials regarding what they would like done in the Town Center. He added that the government had = over 3.5 million dollars to spend on redesigning the Town Center; this will not cost the taxpayers any money as the federal government would= pay 80% and the state would pay the remaining 20% of the cost.

APPOINTMENTS

Pennichuc= k: Donald Ware, P.E. Vice President of Operations Discussion of Water Service Operat= ions in Pelham

Mr. Donald Ware, Pennichuck East Vice President of Operations displayed a map showing where Pennichuck East currently provide= d service in Pelham. He discussed the capacities of the wells and the areas they served. Currently 340 customers are servi= ced by Pennichuck East. Mr. Ware di= scussed what service the existing system was able to provide which included fire protection. He then addresse= d the question of expansion, which could only be done at the benefit of the exis= ting customers. He noted that the utility regulations they operate under preclude them from making any improvements to the water system that doesn’t benefit the existing customer base. Mr. Ware prov= ided an explanation of how the rates were set.&nb= sp; He said the Pennichuck East group all paid the same rates. He explained the debt service, eq= uity components that are used for operating and improving the Pennichuck East s= ystems.

Mr. Bergeron confirmed that there were 340 customers.= Mr. Ware said there were 340 conn= ections, primarily residential, but included the schools and the senior center. Mr. Bergeron questioned if the pe= ople on the Hudson water line were on a different fee structure than Pennichuck East. Mr. Ware answered no; they paid t= he same rates because they were customers of Pennichuck East Utilities. He said the individual systems in= each town were combined with Pennichuck East Utilities and paid the same rate.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Mr. Bergeron asked if the Hudson residents = were paying a lower fee than the Pennichuck East residents. Mr. Ware answered yes, but stress= ed that Hudson= had not made improvements on their system since 1998 and were about to embark on i= nvesting several million dollars on badly needed capital. Mr. Bergeron asked if the municip= alities and fire protection were the same rates.&= nbsp; Mr. Ware said fire protection was unique to each community. They would be conducting a cost to service study which would determine how revenues are to be collected. Pelham’s Fire protection ra= tes were originally set in the mid 1990 as part of a cost to service study. Mr. Bergeron said the Town receiv= ed a bill for the fire protection and wanted to know if it was at a different r= ate than the businesses and residents had.&nb= sp; Mr. Ware said it was a fixed amount of their revenue requirement. Mr. Bergeron questioned if Pennic= huck was required to petition the Public Utilities Commission (‘PUC’= ;) to raise rates. Mr. Ware said i= f they determined they needed rate relief a petition would be filed with the PUC; there would be public notification indicating the percentage being requested. He said the proce= ss would include hearings, fact finding, audits etc. This process took nearly a year.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Mr. Bergeron asked if Pennichuck = had filed with the PUC since 1998. Mr. Ware said in 1998, when they took over the system, they dropped the rates = by 10% (from the consumer rates); in 2004 they filed with the commission and = got rate relief that resulted in a leveling of all the rates and resulted in an overall rate increase of 24.96%.

Mr. Gaydos questioned what the total capacity of the = system was. Mr. Ware said there wer= e two wells; one rated at 115 gallons per minute, and one rated at 175 gallons p= er minute which totaled 165,600 gallons per day for the smaller well and 252,= 000 gallons per day for the larger well. The total capacity is 417,600 gallons per day. Mr. Ware discussed how the Depart= ment of Environmental Services reviewed the available capacity. Mr. Gaydos confirmed that Pelham = was generating its own water. Mr= . Ware answered yes, except for the water at the north end (near the industrial park). Mr. Gaydos asked for = further clarification of how to gage the water usage. Mr. Ware said the average residen= tial home (non-irrigation time) used 170 gallons per day. Mature living housing used between 90-110 gallons per house per day. <= /span>The usage varied during summer months. Mr. Gaydos asked for an outline of process that would be used if Pennichuck expanded in Town. Mr. Ware discussed that a ‘main agreement’ would have to be filed indicating that it would be constructed and installed in accordance with t= he specifications. Mr. Gaydos a= sked what the approach would be for additional water needs. Mr. Ware said the PUC didn’= t want them to do anything that would be additional costs to the existing customers. He discussed the = process if they were asked for an additional system. Mr. Gaydos asked if they envision= ed or had done any public/private partnerships.= Mr. Ware said they had worked with Pittsfield and Raymond and went on to discuss the process of working together.

Mr. Gleason discussed his interpretation of the Town&= #8217;s relationship with Pennichuck. He said the Town’s rates were driven by the number of people using the services. Mr. Ware answered yes. Mr. Gleason confirmed t= hat there were approximately 5000 users within that complex, of which Pelham constitutes approximately 340 connections. He also confirmed that the only way to see a rate decrease was to h= ave a larger utilization of the services. Mr. Ware said there would have to be growth. Mr. Gleason wanted to know if the= re was a proactive program to expand the base.&n= bsp; Mr. Ware said they weren’t allowed to have a proactive progra= m; the PUC (in the 1960’s) said the only way for growth would be if the community was growing. Mr. G= leason asked if Pennichuck had any active inquiries relative the expansion in Pelham. Mr. Ware said they h= ad a meeting a few months ago where interested parties discussed water quality problems along Route 38. He discussed some of the issues with the geology in the community. During the meetings they discusse= d the ground rules for extending the water main. Mr. Gleason asked if there were active plans to expand the water ba= se in Pelham. Mr. Ware answered no= , not at this time. He said they couldn’t run a main that didn’t benefit a customer in some for= m or fashion. Mr. Gleason asked if Pennichuck had any intent to expand the well at Mt.Vernon. Mr. Ware discussed the daily dema= nd and noted that 100,000 gallons of excess capacity, which was 1.5 times on top = of the daily demand. Mr. Gleason as= ked if there were any rate increases anticipated. Mr. Ware believed there may be a rate increase in the coming year.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Mr. Gleason asked if the amount c= ould be projected so it could be discussed with the Budget Committee. Mr. Ware said at this point he didn’t have a projection, but in approximately 6-8 weeks he may have= a better understanding of what the number would be. Mr. Gleason asked Mr. Ware to pro= vide that number so it could be discussed during reconsideration of the budget.= Mr. Gleason questioned if Pennich= uck would impose a restriction on water use in the summer. Mr. Ware discussed water usage an= d said people use what they need. He didn’t see that there would be any restrictions.

Mr. Bergeron asked about the quality of the water com= ing out of the well and how it was filtered. Mr. Ware said the wells were gravel packed. He discussed the sequestering pro= cess used to clean the water so it was not aggressive to the copper or lead in homes. Mr. Bergeron question= ed who set the acreage requirements for installing new wells. Mr. Ware said DES had water supply engineering rules that affect water implementation of a new well. He explained the process. He showed the locations on the ma= p that showed where in Town large amounts of water were located.

Mr. Gleason thanked Mr. Ware for attending the meetin= g and answering questions. Mr. War= e said he was always available to answer questions.

Explanation of 2006 Tax Rate

Mr. Gleason said at the last Selectmen meeting he was= asked to put information together which explained why some residents may have se= en an increase in their tax bills and to differentiate in that growth relative t= o the Town Operating Budget versus the revaluation.

Mr. Gleason then gave a presentation which explained = there were two key factors that may contribute to an increase in taxes; 1) opera= ting budget growth, and 2) change in home assessment based on the average town-= wide change. He wanted it to be c= lear that the revaluation did not generate additional revenue for the Town Government. Revaluations mer= ely redistribute the tax burden more equitably based upon the relative worth of each piece of property in terms of fair market value. He showed a chart that broke down= the 2005 budget versus the 2006 budget with the percentage of increase and eff= ects such had on the Tax Rate. He= then showed the Tax Rate before the application of the 2006 revaluation. He explained the appreciation of = values and said taxes would have gone up without the revaluation. Mr. Gleason ended by explaining t= hat the state required the Town to do a revaluation every five years. The Town is actively looking at d= oing a cyclical revaluation or hybrid model by 2008. Mr. Gleason informed that if some= one was unhappy with their assessment they could file abatement; but this had to be done prior to March 1, 2007 and provide evidence that the property could n= ot be sold at the assessed value, or that there was incorrect data on the record. If an abatement is f= iled, the Town assessing agent will be required to conduct and inspection. A copy of the presentation will b= e made available on PTV, the Town website, or by hard copy at the assessor’s or Selectmen’s office. Mr. Gleason said if anyone had additional questions they should feel free to contact him.

TOWN ADMINISTRATOR/SELECTMEN REPORTS

Mr. Gaydos informed that he received a communication = (that was directed to Fire Chief Michael Walker) from the Brookline Emergency Management Director Wesley Whittier thanking the staff for welcoming him to observe the recent pandemic flu exercise.=

Mr. Domenico had no rep= ort.

Mr. Bergeron reminded residents that there would be a meeting Thursd= ay, December 21, 2006 from 6= pm-8:30pm at the Pelham Police Department Training Room regarding the Context Sensit= ive Solution results from the place making workshop and public involvement plan. All are welcome to att= end.

Mr. Gleason said the Budget Committee has now wrapped up. They are only awaiting t= he Fire Station and Muldoon warrant definition.&n= bsp;

REQU= EST FOR NON-PUBLIC SESSION

MOTION:

(Domenico/Bergeron) Request for a non-public sessio= n per RSA 91-A:3,II, d (Consideration of acquisition, sale or lease of propert= y)

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ROLL CALL:=

Mr. Gleason-Yes; Mr. Bergeron-Yes; Mr. Domenico-Yes=

Mr. Gleason noted that when the Board returned, after= the non-public session, the Board would not take any other action publicly, ex= cept to possibly seal the minutes of the non-public session and to adjourn the meeting. The Board entered i= nto a non-public session at approximately 8:05pm.

The Board returned to p= ublic session at approximately 9= :10pm.

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MOTION:

(Domenico/Bergeron) To seal the minutes of the non-= public session indefinitely.

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VOTE:<= /p>

(3-0-0) The motion carried.

ADJOURNMENT

MOTION:=

(Domenico/Bergeron) To adjourn the meeting.

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VOTE:

(3-0-0) The motion carr= ied.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 9:10 pm.

&nb= sp; = ; &= nbsp; &nb= sp; = ; &= nbsp; &nb= sp; = ; Respectfully submitted,

= ; &= nbsp; &nb= sp; = ; &= nbsp; &nb= sp; = ; Chari= ty A. L. Willis

&nb= sp; = ; &= nbsp; &nb= sp; = ; &= nbsp; &nb= sp; = ; Recording Secretary