January 8, 2007
Work Session
Present at the meeting were: Mayor Danderson, Councilors Poulin, Grenier, Lafleur, Danderson and Nelson; Councilors Roy and Donovan were absent. Patrick MacQueen, Mickey Therriault, Ernie Allain, Andre Caron, media and public also attended.
Police Department Budget Discussion
Mr. MacQueen reported that the Police Commissioners pointed out that the budget resolution passed by the City Council had $42,000 more for the Police Department than the allocation that came from the City. Mr. MacQueen explained that $160,000 of savings in benefits for all city employees was in a separate account. It was the result of the savings incurred when the City changed health care providers from Blue Cross/Blue Shield to Harvard Pilgrim. The savings did not show in the departments' budget until after the budget resolution was passed.
Though the Commission thought they had $42,000 more than they actually had, the Council's consensus was to show insurance or any other projected savings in individual department budgets in the future.
Update on Waste Water Treatment
Mr. MacQueen reasoned that the sewer fund has lost the mill=s revenue stream and therefore there will be no capital program to speak of this year. The State has also declared that the treatment plant is at 80% of design capacity and they will now require that any new requests for sewer connections be approved by the State. The plant has not reached this threshold because of the sewage of the city; but because of storm water that gets into the system. If we could solve that problem, we would not be in this situation.
Mickey Therriault noted that there are only two ways to fix the problem, to build bigger tankage or remove extra flow. There was a study done in 1995 and some areas were identified and fixed. There is a need to talk to the Bureau of Prisons about the possibility of removing an amount of I & I equal to the septage that they will be putting into the system.
Mr. Therriault indicated that the recent upgrade to the waste water treatment facility did not bring up the capacity; it simply replaced outdated, worn equipment to bring the plant up to where it was.
Mayor Danderson suggested creating an ordinance to eliminate roof drains that empty into the sewer system. Mr. Allain commented that there are 28 acres of flat roofs in the city. The treatment plant treats 2 to 6 million gallons per day; however that number should be close to what the Berlin Water Works distributes in one day which is less than one million gallons.
Additional Proposed Changes to the Sewer Ordinance
Mr. MacQueen explained that Water Works is now comfortable with putting up meters on homes with wells so that water leaving these homes can be monitored accurately. Two additional issues with the proposed ordinance have come up. One is that we have no definition for residential or commercial users; however residential users are given a 20% discount. What is proposed is that the assessing department's standards for residential and commercial would be used to make the determination.
The other issue is to codify the city's policy to treat storm drains like sewers so that when a resident or business wants a new storm drain, the city would be responsible for bringing the drain line to the edge of the property. The ordinance would simply codify what the practice has been.
RSA 79E
Andre Caron recounted that over the last two years, there has been an effort to revitalize the downtown. Most success stories in downtown revitalization come from offering incentives. RSA 79E was adopted by the legislature to offer tax relief for building improvements. The bill does not reduce any current taxes but gives relief on the additional assessment from the improvements.
Council members were in agreement that the last thing Berlin needs is more affordable housing. If the RSA can be implemented without that aspect, it would be a good thing for the downtown. Mr. MacQueen established that the proposed bill came to the Council a year ago and it was supported with the provision that the Council would retain the final say on the abatements. When the bill became law, decisions made at the local level can be appealed to the BTLA. Mr. Caron will do more research to see if certain aspects of the law can be adopted. He will return with more information.
Other _ Life Safety in the Aftermath of Structure Fire
Mayor Danderson thanked the Fire Department, Police Department, Emergency Management, EMS, and Welfare for the tremendous job they did during and after last week's fire. He asked if there is anything we can do to see this does not happen again?
Mr. MacQueen commented that a second means of egress is commonly required but it is not in our ordinances. He echoed the Mayor's accolades and added that there were heroes and people=s lives were saved. The loss of three lives took a heavy toll on the psyche of our safety personnel. The miracle is that we have not had a lot of these in Berlin. It will take years to upgrade the housing in the city and we have the potential for more disaster. Requiring a protected second means of egress will be expensive for property owners but it is a life safety issue. He added that he will be working with staff to bring an ordinance to the Council that will require an enclosed, protected second means of egress or sprinkler system.
Mayor Danderson maintained that it is important to give housing and building inspectors as many tools as possible. We need to start letting people know that we have to weed out the dilapidated houses in the city.
Pandemic Planning
Mr. MacQueen informed the Council that he had spent the day at a pandemic planning meeting. The scenario is that a pandemic will occur; it is only a matter of when. People will be unable to work because of sickness and carrying out services under those conditions will be challenging. The scenario is not pretty but has to be planned for.
Non_Public Session
Councilor Grenier moved to go into non_public session per 91_A:3(d) Consideration of the acquisition, sale or lease of real or personal property which, if discussed in public, would likely benefit a party or parties whose interests are adverse to those of the general community; Councilor Nelson seconded and the motion carried unanimously by roll call.
Mr. MacQueen distributed a lease for Clean Power to lease 3 acres of land for twelve months so that they can do an interconnection study. If approved it would be on the Council's agenda for the next meeting.
Councilor Grenier moved to come out of non_public session; Councilor Lafleur seconded ad the motion carried unanimously by roll call.
Councilor Poulin moved to adjourn; Councilor Danderson seconded and the motion carried.
Respectfully submitted,
Susan Tremblay
Administrative Assistant
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