APPROVED
TOWN OF
BOARD OF SE= LECTMEN MEETING
MINUTES
APPROVED &#=
8211;
CALL TO ORDER –
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
|
PRESENT: |
Mr. Douglas Viger, Mr. =
Robert
Haverty, Mr. Victor Danevich (arrived at approximately Mr. William McDevitt, T= own Administrator Tom Gaydos |
|
Also present: ABSENT: |
Members of the press and general public. None. |
MINUTES REVIEW
|
MOTION: |
(McDevitt/Lynd=
e) To
approve the |
|
VOTE: |
(4-0-0)
The motion carried. |
The sentence reading: = 220;He said it might be reasonable to word= the article so that it would read here after the expense would be included in t= he budget.” was removed.
OPEN FORUM
None.
BUSINESS
Highway Safety Committee (‘HSC’) Recommendations
Mr. Gaydos said from time= to time people will contact the Selectmen or the Town directly, or Selectmen will s= ee an item that appears to need attention and when there’s a group of it= ems he brings them forward for attention.
Grade Warning Signs on
Mr. Haverty said the Plan= ning Director brought the issue to the Planning Board. There was a general consensus of t= he Planning Board that the solution was acceptable.
Mr. Lynde recalled that t= he design of the road where the old and new sections intersected had a differe= nt elevation and additional work had to be done. He said that may have contributed = to the situation.
Mr. Gaydos asked that the= Board take action on the recommendation.
|
MOTION: |
(McDevitt/Have=
rty) To
adopt the recommendations of the Highway Safety Committee in their memo o=
f |
|
VOTE: |
(4-0-0)
The motion carried. |
Road Signage Requests – Mr. Gaydos read aloud a group of = requests for road signage: 1) 30mph signs on Webster Avenue – one to be placed= just past Kosik circle and the other to be placed just past Kinnal Avenue – HSC supports the addition of the signs; 2) stop sign at Luann and Debbie Dr= ive – HSC supports the addition of the sign; 3) stop sign at Robinsons Ro= ad and Pelham Road - HSC support= ed the addition of the sign; 4) stop sign at Colonial Drive and Nashua Road – HSC recommended the installation of the sign; 5) no outlet / dead end sign = at the beginning of Hancock Lane – HSC reached a consensus against the s= ign since it didn’t appear to enhance public safety.
Mr. McDevitt said request=
five
was something he put in at the request of a resident. He asked to withdraw the request w=
ithout
prejudice. He said it was not=
a
safety problem, but trucks and other vehicles were driving down the road
because they thought there was a connection through to
|
MOTION: |
(Lynde/Haverty=
) To
approve the recommendations of the Highway Safety Committee in their memo=
for
items 1,2,3 & 4 – subject: Request for Road Signage dated |
|
VOTE: |
(4-0-0)
The motion carried. |
Address Change Requests – in a memo from the HSC dated
Mr. McDevitt asked what c= ondition made the need to put a street name on a long driveway. Mr. Gaydos said it was a driveway = that served lots with the potential for new dwellings.
Mr. McDevitt said he was = a bit confused with the first request and wanted a better understanding from the = HSC before approving it. Mr. Have= rty agreed. He then made the foll= owing motion.
|
MOTION: |
(Haverty/McDev=
itt) To
accept recommendation #2 from the Highway Safety Committee in their memo
dated |
|
VOTE: |
(4-0-0)
The motion carried. |
OTHER BUSINESS
2009 Warrant Articles
The Selectmen had been pr= ovided with a list of warrant articles potentially coming before them. Mr. Viger asked that discussion be established to determine whether the Selectmen would move forward.
1) Fire Station Construction – Mr. Gaydos said pricing was
reviewed; material costs have not come down. They were going back with an alter=
native
plan that met the growing needs, some area wouldn’t be finished becau=
se
they were more than what was needed.
They were looking to back with something in the $3 million range.
Mr. Lynde questioned if t= he warrant could be structured to such that the first and second year payments would strictly come out of impact fees and fund balance so the tax rate wouldn’t be affected until the third year. Mr. Viger said it could be passed = by counsel. Mr. Gaydos warned th= at impact fees had to start being handed back by the summer of next year.
Mr. Danevich arrived.
Mr. McDevitt didn’t= feel people would approve spending $3 million given the current economy. He said the cost of keeping the ex= isting fire station was unknown. It = was his understanding was that the biggest single expense was moving the septic system and the second was the need for storage behind the building. Mr. McDevitt was concerned with ge= tting a ‘no’ vote as well as losing state money ($4million) earmarked= and ending up with no solution for the Town center. Mr. Haverty said during the public meeting at the fire station the question was asked if the $4 million would disappear and the answer was not likely.&n= bsp; He wasn’t concerned about the $4million disappearing if they t= ook the time to propose the correct project.&n= bsp; Mr. Viger said it was unfortunate that it would cost money to determ= ine what to do.
Mr. Gaydos said he was wo= rking on the new fire station, but at the same time was getting prices from Eckman Construction to find out how much it would cost to make the changes that ne= eded to be made if the building were to remain.= He agreed there had to be a plan B.=
Mr. Lynde didn’t sh= are the optimism that the money was untouchable.&n= bsp; He felt the longer it sat it became too tempting a target. He said t= he problem with plan B was that it would have to be done as a one-year expense= .
Mr. Viger said when the S= electmen got pricing for both options they could then make a determination about the warrant article.
2) Operating Budget – no discussion was taken.
3) Compensated Absent Fund – To place $50,000 into the fund.
Mr. McDevitt understood t= he need, but didn’t believe it was the year to place money in the fund.
Mr. Lynde said if there w= as money in the budget a warrant article could be put in to take the unexpended bala= nce and put it in the fund. Mr. V= iger discussed the Town’s liability and also that there were two or three people talking about retiring. Mr. Gaydos said it could be raised from surplus because that’s where the = unspent money went. Mr. McDevitt said= next October, at a time of declining revenues, if there was any money to reduce = the tax rate the Town would need it.
Mr. Gaydos noted there wa=
s just
over $100,000 in the Operating Budget to address the immediate needs. The warrant article would start bu=
ilding
a permanent fund. Mr. McDevit=
t said
it would be useful to know what the maximum cost would be if two or three
people retired. Mr. Gaydos
didn’t believe that they would need more than what was in the
operating. He noted that some=
of
the people that spoke about retiring were reconsidering in this economy.
The Selectmen were undeci= ded at this time about the warrant article.
4) School Resource Officer – see below for discussion.
5) Four year lease/purchase of a 6-wheel highway plow truck - $= 34,970 requested to replace a truck that can no longer be used.
After a brief discussion,= there was a consensus of the Board to keep the warrant article.
6) One ton highway pick-up truck with plow - $36,828; the old t= ruck has 187,000 miles and was parked due to maintenance issues. This truck was scheduled for repla= cement last year.
This was left on as a war= rant article.
The Selectmen discussed t= he School Resource Officer and Fire Department Deputy Chief position at the sa= me time.
4) School Resource Officer - $47,063 (for half year). Amount includes insurance, trainin= g and outfitting.
7) Fire Department Deputy Chief or Fire Captain
Mr. Lynde said he would l= ike to review a breakdown of the amount requested for the School Resource Officer. Mr. Gaydos provided = the Selectmen with a breakdown of costs for a first year patrolman.
Mr. Gaydos provided the S= electmen with a cost breakdown (for a half year) for the Fire Department Deputy Chief position. Mr. McDevitt said t= he Board had wrestled with the topic in the past. He agreed that the Town needed a D= eputy Chief or a Fire Captain in order to run the department, but he felt it woul= d be a bad year to do it. Mr. Have= rty agreed. Mr. Danevich agreed
The School Resource Offic= er position was then discussed. =
Mr. Lynde stated after th= e Police contract was not approved last year, the Town lost the School Resource Officer. He said the Police C= hief chose to pay more attention to people on the road, but said he would give t= he voters the option of having a School Resource Officer.
Mr. McDevitt believed the= voters should weigh in if they want a School Resource Officer. He said the position made a differ= ence to the safety of the student and teachers in the school. He said most voters couldn’t= tell by looking if the Fire Department ran well or not well with a Fire Captain.= But they could tell, by what child= ren brought home etc. about the need for a resource officer. In Mr. McDevitt’s judgment, the Fire Captain/Deputy Chief should be skipped this year, and recommend to the voters to fill the School Resource Officer position.
Mr. Danevich said prior t= o the discussion he felt the two positions should be viewed the same. He didn’t think this was the= year to add people. Mr. Viger note= d that the School Resource Officer was an existing position. Mr. Danevich agreed. He said everything on the ballot w= as needed, it was just a question of how many things should go on the ballot.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Mr. Danevich wanted to focus on infrastructure. He would pref= er to hold off on both the Deputy Chief and the School Resource Officer.
Mr. Haverty said the warr= ant items were all identified as critical needs. He stated that the Deputy Chief an= d the Fire Captain represented a new program, one that they hadn’t seen a g= ood plan for. He said the School Resource Officer was a service that the community lost due to the failure of passing a contract. He felt t= he position represented a loss of service.&nb= sp; He wanted to give the voters the opportunity to get it back if they wanted. Mr. Haverty was in fa= vor of keeping the School Resource Officer on the warrant and removing the Fire Captain.
Mr. Viger felt the School= Resource Officer was an existing program that was eliminated because of going back to core value. He said if the taxpayers missed the value, they should have the opportunity to vote.
The School Resource Offic= er would remain as a warrant article.
The Fire Captain / Deputy= Chief position was deferred.
8) Highway Block Grant - There was no discussion.
9) Skid Steer for the Transfer Station – Mr. Viger said t= he Transfer Station Superintendent Bruce Mason went to the Budget Committee wi= th a request for a Skid Steer and a new truck.&= nbsp; Mr. Mason was asked which item he really wanted, the other would be deferred. Mr. Mason decided u= pon the truck; the Budget Committee put it in the Operating Budget. The Skid Steer was deferred until = next year; the Selectmen have the opportunity to place it on the warrant.
Mr. Lynde asked what the = avoided cost would be if the Skid Steer was a warrant.&= nbsp; Mr. Viger believed there was $35,000 in the rental budget in the eve= nt the skid steer went down. The= re was further discussion how to proceed. Mr. McDevitt and Mr. Haverty wanted to know how much was in the budget. Mr. Gaydos went to his office to review the budget book. &nb= sp; *see below for additional discussion.
10) Forestry Fund withdrawal of $45,000 – there was no tax impact; the warrant article will remain.
11)
Mr. McDevitt said when co=
mparing
the warrant articles that were needed for safety, the
Mr. Lynde had the same pr= oblem with the article as Mr. McDevitt, but also understood the need.
Mr. Danevich urged the Se=
lectmen
to reconsider. He noted that =
voters
had approved the first $100,000 that went into the Capital Reserve. He said the population and members=
hip at
the
Mr. Haverty agreed that t=
here was
a need. He agreed with the pr=
ograms
run at the
Mr. Viger said the article didn’t appear to have support. Mr. Danevich confirmed that the Council on Aging could still do a petition warrant article. The= re was agreement that they could.
Mr. Viger said he couldn&= #8217;t support the article at this time.
Mr. Danevich discussed the
current condition of the
Mr. Lynde said when the b= udget was done the Selectmen took the approach that they didn’t want to exc= eed the dollar figured budgeted for this year.&nbs= p; He asked if they could review the total dollar figure that was appro= ved for 2008 (including warrant articles) and compare it to where they would en= d up. He said he’d like to know wh= at he was asking the voters for and how it compared to what they were handed last year. Mr. Haverty disagreed; = he didn’t feel what they did last year mattered. He said the Selectmen had to be sensitive to the economy and review items critically. He said the goal was to keep opera= ting budgets and capital expenditures down and do only what was critical for life safety. He didn’t see t= hat the request fell in that category. <= /span>
12) Discontinued Old and Expended Trust Funds - Mr. Gaydos said they needed to re= port to the Division of Trusts and there were trusts that had been expended years ago, but the Town never voted to discontinue them. This was a housekeeping issue.
Continued discussion regarding 9) Skid Steer – Mr. Viger = said he was mistaken and there was no money in the rental line item at the Trans= fer Station. He said there was discussion and $1 left in the repair line item. He stated if something were to hap= pen, the funds would have to be found in the Transfer Station budget, or find it= in the total Operating Budget. T= he Selectmen discussed how the warrant article could be worded. Mr. Gaydos said what they could do= was set the money in the Operating Budget and if the warrant article passes, the money wouldn’t be touched and would be turned back at the end of the year.
Mr. Viger said he would b= e more in favor of eliminating the Skid Steer off the warrant article and ask the Budget Committee at reconsideration to put a dollar figure in the repair li= ne item.
Mr. McDevitt asked for a = current spread sheet showing the approved budget, because they didn’t want to= go above last years budget. Mr. = Gaydos said he would distribute the information to the Selectmen. Mr. Lynde asked that data be provi= ded showing what was spent maintaining the Skid Steer last year.
Mr. Gaydos asked the Sele= ctmen if they would be interested in purchasing the Skid Steer out of this year̵= 7;s budget if there were surplus funds. The Selectmen answered no.
Mr. John Basilesco, Staff=
Writer
Eagle Tribune came forward to question of the
The Selectmen wanted addi= tional information (i.e. ramifications of not getting a skid steer, its current st= ate and what needed to be done) before making a decision about the Skid Steer.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> At this point, the Sele= ctmen were undecided whether to carry the article on the warrant.
13) Acceptance of Roads
14) Elderly Exemptions – Mr. McDevitt asked the Board not= to make a decision at this time. He said after last year’s election he received an e-mail asking the Sele= ctmen to review the Elderly Exemptions. He said the Town hadn’t changed them for many years. He previously provided the Selectm= en with information pertaining to shifting tax burdens. Mr. McDevitt said the Income Qualifications were out of date for the Town’s Elderly Exemption. For the record, he stated that he = was a member of Pelham Senior Citizens and didn’t (and wouldn’t under= the guidelines brought forward) qualify for the Elderly Exemption. He reviewed the current guidelines= for qualifying and summarized John Ratigan’s, (Town Counsel) memo. He suggested having a small increa= se in the income limits, keeping in mind the overall impact was unknown. A copy of Attorney Ratigan’s= memo was previously circulated for the Board to review; an additional copy would= be sent.
Mr. Gaydos felt it was im= portant to speak in terms of deferral. He explained the lien process which would do two things: 1) temporarily shift = tax burden onto other tax payers; and 2) at a certain time down the road, when = the property is sold, the Town has a chance to recoup the amount and offset the next tax rate with that amount. He said there were a fair number of people that qualified for it.
Mr. Lynde stated that Pel= ham was the only town in the state that when a person reached age eighty and met the criteria they didn’t have to pay any taxes. He said he would support Mr. McDevitt’s proposal, but would like to see a modification at that end too.
At this point, the Select= men were awaiting more information. &nbs= p;
Mr. Gaydos said there wer= e two additional items and went on to review the information with the Selectmen.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'>
Ambulance purchase/replacement – Mr. Gaydos and Mr. Viger reviewed the ambulance at the Fire Station and were shown the repairs made = to Ambulance 1, which was the ambulance that had the old chassis and new box.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Mr. Gaydos stated that the proposa= l was to remove $85,000 from the Capital Reserve Fund, which was getting $35,000 = pre year from revenue; the Town would raise an additional $100,000 to purchase = the ambulance. Mr. Viger explaine= d why placing a new box on an old chassis was not working out. He described the type of ambulance= that the Fire Department would like to purchase.
Mr. McDevitt asked what t=
he Fire
Chief‘s recommendation was.
Mr. Gaydos said the Fire Chief would like the ambulance purchased.
Mr. Viger pointed out tha= t the ambulance generated revenue. =
Mr. Danevich also support= ed having the ambulance as a warrant article.
Mosquito Testing / Spraying – Mr. Viger said the Budget Comm= ittee voted to include it in the budget. Mr. McDevitt was concerned that the voters would be voting on the default budget, which didn’t contain funds for mosquito testing/spray= ing. Mr. Viger was concerned about the spraying being a warrant article because in the event it failed the Town couldn’t pay to spray for mosquitoes. Mr. Gaydos noted if the Town had a contract with the (testing/spray) people the amount would become part of the default budget. Mr. McDevitt pointed out that the Town didn’t have a contract with them. Mr. Gaydos said the Town had the a= bility to have a contract with them for 2009.&nbs= p; Mr. McDevitt felt it was an end run around the process. Mr. Haverty agreed that it was sor= t of a ‘back door’ in. He supported mosquito testing/spraying, but didn’t feel that this qualif= ied for the default budget. Mr. V= iger noted that the Selectmen didn’t support it; the Budget Committee put = it in. He said the problem he ha= d was that the Budget Committee added money back into the budget and tried to set policy.
Mr. Lynde said the Select= men should review the article later because they didn’t know if the defau= lt budget number would be less than the budget number. Mr. Gaydos said the final number h= ad not yet been determined.
At this point, the Select= men left the article as undecided.
Charter Commission – Mr. Mc=
Devitt
said there should be an investigation about the form of government, however=
a
special town meeting would be needed and that would be hard to defend at th=
is
point given some of the other things that have come forward. Mr. Lynde said he would like the
Selectmen to have a discussion.
Revolving Funds – Mr. Gaydo=
s said
revolving funds for Cable and the Transfer Station had been discussed in the
past. He said the fund for the
Transfer Station would be from recycling.&=
nbsp;
It isn’t clear if the money could go anywhere else. He said there was also a discussion
regarding the Cable account and the question was how much of the revenues t=
he
Selectmen wanted to put in. H=
e said
the Budget Committee was not interested in the revolving account, but
recognized the agreement with the cable company and raised the budget to
$80,000 which was approximately half the revenues. Mr. Viger said the Budget Committee
agreed that they would put the portion owed in the franchise agreement in t=
he
budget on a yearly basis. He =
said
if the amount needed to be increased based on the franchise fee, new
information could be presented at reconsideration.
Mr=
. McDevitt
said he was one of the proponents of the revolving fund. His concern was that the Town
wasn’t keeping enough money of the franchise fee and legally Comcast
could ask for it back.
Mr=
. Viger
said since Mr. Gaydos reviewed the revolving fund for the Transfer Station =
it
appeared that money couldn’t be spent on anything except
recyclables. He said there
wasn’t a reason to place the warrant on the ballot. Mr. Gaydos said the recycling comm=
ittee
had a few new ideas on how to rearrange a few things. He said they’ve spoken about
possibly looking at other companies to handle different components of
recycling.
2008 Property Valuations
Mr=
. Viger
said there had been some concern with how the revaluation went this year wi=
th
some significant changes with different demographics of the Town. He said Mr. Gaydos spoke with Corc=
oran
Evaluation Group who summarized the information for review.
Mr=
. Viger
asked if anyone in the public had any comments. No one came forward.
Mr=
. Gaydos explained
how assessments were done. He=
said
the Town had gone to a system of doing annual updates. He discussed what had been occurri=
ng in
the market; essentially in April (at the time of the evaluations) residenti=
al property
values were dropping significantly but at the same time they didn’t s=
ee
reductions in commercial values. He
discussed the changes in the assessment values compared to the actual sales
prices (market data) that had occurred since 2006. During this last year commercial
properties were selling for more than their assessed value. He said that the Selectmen
couldn’t meddle with the numbers; all the systems were based on market
data and the state verifies what the Town is doing. Mr. Gaydos said approximately 87% =
of
property value was in residential property. When 87% of property drops it had =
to be
spread somewhere; it was spread to properties that didn’t drop in
value. The Town has an abatem=
ent
process. The Board is more th=
an
happy to review assessments and listen to property owner arguments. Mr. Gaydos said if anyone had ques=
tions
about their taxes, it was an open book and all they had to do was contact t=
he
Assessing office.
Mr=
. McDevitt
discussed the importance of filing the abatement application. He said if it wasn’t filed i=
n a
timely fashion, there was nothing the Selectmen could do per state law.
Mr=
. Lynde
said next year he would like to meet with the assessing company prior to th=
em implementing
everything. He would like to
understand what was being done beforehand.=
He said he was concerned if the assessing company had a valid data b=
ase
for making the decisions they did.
He said they had comparable sales data and used them to fortify their
decisions.
Mr=
. Haverty
said his concern was primarily with the validity of comps. He said it sounded like there were=
a
couple properties in Town that were used and those comps were reinforced wi=
th
area properties which validated the numbers.
Mr=
. Lynde
said if all the property values dropped by 10% the tax rate would likely go=
up
by 10%. He said when different
classes of property dropped, or increased by different ratios there would b=
e a comparative
change in taxes.
Mr=
. Viger
allowed a member of the public to come forward and speak.
Mr=
. David Tanner,
Mr=
. Gaydos
said when the assessing company valued the square footage as a convenient s=
tore
they did so by making it comparable to other convenient stores and then made
adjustments. He said they took
location into account. Mr. Ga=
ydos
suggested that Mr. Tanner approach the assessing office and ask questions a=
bout
how they determined his assessments and how the comparables affected him.
Mr=
. Tanner
had several questions he’d like answered.
Mr=
. Gaydos
suggested that Mr. Tanner make an appointment with the Assessing Office to =
have
his questions answered.
Mr=
. Viger
noted that Mr. Tanner could access his tax card on-line to check to see if =
it
was correct.
Discussion & Vote on Workers&#=
8217;
Compensation Quotes
Mr=
. Gaydos
said the Town had a multi-year agreement with Primex who was carrying the
workman’s compensation; as the agreement terminated they looked at go=
ing
out to bid. He said they bid =
with
the
|
MOTION: |
(Lynde/McDevit=
t) To place
the Workman’s Compensation Program with the |
|
VOTE: |
(5-0-0)
The motion carried. |
NH Arbovirus Surveillance Bulletin=
#21
– Mosquito Test Summaries
Mr=
. Haverty
read aloud the report from the NH Arbovirus Surveillance Bulletin. Mr. Gaydos said one thing that was
surprising was the number of cases that came up in the fall when it was tho=
ught
to be too cold. He reiterated=
that
people should continue using bug spray.&nb=
sp;
Mr. Lynde thought it was interesting that out of 10,020 mosquito poo=
ls
tested there was one West Nile Virus indication in Kensington. They also found eight EEE positive=
tests
toward the sea coast.
TOWN ADMINISTRATOR /
SELECTMEN REPORTS
Mr. Danevich thanked the = Fire Department for the excellent breakfast over the weekend. He said it was the opportunity to = talk and meet the new staff. He th= en discussed communications. He = said they were going to try out a new process of having news on the Pelham Web f= rom each department using streaming video.&nbs= p; He informed that he had converted over 800 tapes (of meetings) to digital format, which was over the half way point.
Mr. Haverty provided the = Board with a summary of the Planning Board. He informed he had been working with residents in the Town intereste= d in seeing a skating rink erected someplace in Town. An informal committee had been set= up and was evaluating locations that would be appropriate. The committee would come forward t= o give the Selectmen a presentation at a later date.
Mr. Lynde attended his th=
ird
meeting of the Pelham High School Study Committee who were reviewing all
options. He said it was still
ongoing. He informed that one
section of fence was installed at Raymond Park. They made a decision to go with a =
second
section of fence because they had raised over $10,000 and had the prospects=
of
raising another $10,000. A
fundraiser will be held at Pelham Fish and Game on
Mr. McDevitt gave a brief= report on Sherburne Hall. He walked = around the hall showing what had been done and the items that had yet to be done.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'>
Mr. Gaydos said they were reviewing the infrastructure and the regular maintenance that was paid. He said they were looking at going= away from telephone lines to send alarm messages to dispatch; they were now reviewing radio frequencies. = He said they were also looking into increased service at less cost.
Mr. Viger had no report.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'>
ADJOURNMENT
|
MOTION: |
(Danevich/McDe=
vitt) To
adjourn the meeting. |
|
VOTE: |
(5-0-0)
The motion carried. |
The
meeting was adjourned at approximately
= &nb= sp; = &nb= sp; = &nb= sp; = Respectfully submitted,
= &nb= sp; = &nb= sp; = &nb= sp; = Charity A. L. Willis
= &nb= sp; = &nb= sp; = &nb= sp; = Recording Secretary
BOARD OF SELECTMEN MEETING/November 18, 2008