Work Session
August 25, 2008
Present at the meeting were Mayor Bertrand, Councilors Lafleur, Poulin, Cayer, Evans, McCue,Remillard and Goudreau; Councilor Donovan was absent.
Others present: Pamela Laflamme, NNHCF Warden Larry Blaisdell, Corrections Commissioner William Wrenn, Jeff Lyons, Blandine Shallow, Peter Morency, Butch Munce, Michael Caron, Patrick MacQueen, media and public.
Discussion with Commissioner Wrenn re: Women's Correctional Facility
Commissioner Wrenn reported that the Department of Corrections went through a Master Planning process and they plan to use the recommendations from the Master Plan in their capital budget request to the Governor. In the prioritized needs of the department, a women's facility came up as the top priority. The Department also has to find a way to address minimum security (c1) inmates by adding transition housing or a half way house. These are typically put into communities that have public transportation and jobs that the inmate can acclimate themselves to.
Expansion of the Berlin facility by 496 beds is still in the Plan but has been but put out to the 2012-2013 capital budget.
Councilor Lafleur asked why the State would build a new women's facility as opposed to expanding the existing women's prison in Goffstown. Commissioner Wrenn explained that the facility is owned by the County and leased by the State. The building does not lend well to the future of best practices held in prisons of today.
Councilor Goudreau questioned the location of a women's facility and found that the site, including the community that it will be in, has yet to be located or determined. Councilor Remillard confirmed that having a women's prison would not limit the expansion of the existing men's prison.
Mr. MacQueen asked if it is feasible to have both the women's prison and the existing men's prison on the existing site. Commissioner Wrenn indicated that it would depend on how much land is buildable but it has not been considered at this point.
Councilor McCue asked what is driving the need for more prison beds and Commissioner Wrenn responded that much of the growth of the prison system is policy driven and has to do with sentencing laws. Mayor Bertrand asked if other communities have expressed interest in having the women's facility and whether consideration has been given to the acreage that would be needed. The Commissioner indicated that a 325 bed women's facility is needed but he did not have the information on the land required. The document giving the details is in print now and should be available within a few weeks.
Mayor Bertrand asked for the next step and what is the timeline? Commissioner Wrenn reported that the Department of Corrections will follow through with the capital budget process that starts with the Governor's office and will then go through the Legislative process. The Mayor then asked if there are time constraints for vacating the existing building. The Commissioner noted that they have a good relationship with the County and are under a 5 year agreement.
Councilor Poulin stated that Berlin has had good luck with the existing prison and he believes there would be no problem getting support for locating a women's facility here. He acknowledged that it would likely bring more than 50 jobs. Councilor Cayer asked what the growth of prison population is in relation to the regular population. The Commissioner established that the count today was 2,825 in the men's facilities and 170 in the women's; a 4% growth over last year. He thanked the City for the existing relationship said that he would keep the City apprized.
Green Street Plantings/Caron Building Center
Mayor Bertrand asked Councilor Poulin to summarize the issue between Caron Building Center and the Green Street Project. Councilor Poulin indicated that Mike Caron of Caron Bldg Center has a concern about the trees in front of his building that can sprout to 16 feet high which will block his building. Munce's and Caron's had an agreement whereby they would put snow on the property and would reconstruct the area every spring. He added that the business people have better things to do than come and complain about trees.
Ms. Laflamme explained that the City signed an agreement binding itself to preventing any encroachments within the right of way to include dumping snow. The previous Council directed the Planner to work with the State to allow the business to deposit snow on the property in question; however the City had already signed the agreement indicating it would not allow.
Council members expressed concern about maintaining the trees. Councilor Poulin stated that the people affected by things going on in the area around their business should have been contacted to be sure they were happy.
Mike Caron commented that he came to Council a year ago and talked about minimum plantings. He's finding out now that he can't encroach and is disappointed that he was not contacted up front. The cedar trees that run down the property line look good now but will grow to 15 feet and they just do not belong there. Butch Munce stated that the trees are planted too close and will overhang on his property. He met with the city engineer some six years ago and this is totally different than what was relayed to him.
Mayor Bertrand asked Councilor Remillard to mediate the tree situation between the city and business owners.
Carryover Funds
Mr. MacQueen reported that, after meeting with the Police Chief, he would recommend the Police Department severance pay be kept in the resolution as a capital item.
To a question from Councilor McCue asking why the projects are not getting done, Mr. MacQueen responded that for many projects, there is not enough money; however some work could be done with the money that is there. He added that he will stress to department heads that if money hangs around, they take a chance at it being lost to UFB. They need to prepare bids and get work done with the amount we have.
Councilor Cayer questioned $3,100 for the BIDPA web page upkeep and found that if it is not re-appropriated it will lapse to the BIDPA ufb and not be available until the next budget.
Councilor Goudreau asked if other departments had surplus and when is the Council going to hear about them? Ms. Shallow reported that there was $38,000 of surplus in expenditures for the entire General Fund and the City took in $398,000 more revenue than projected.
Mr. MacQueen noted that there are three accounts in the resolution that the Department Heads have confirmed are no longer needed. They are:
Account 01-495-995-0706 Girls Softball Dugouts $3,312.65
Account 01-495-995-1006 Nurses Office Ventilation $10,000.00
Account 01-495-995-1311 FD New Alert Pager $7,500.00
Request from Clean Power for Letter of Support
Mayor Bertrand indicated that the Mayor and Council have been asked for a letter of support for Clean Power to acquire new market tax credits. Councilor McCue questioned what the City is getting into with these tax credits. Mayor Bertrand noted that this is private enterprise making a request for the tax credits and the award is based on criteria such as job creation, and the economic need of the community. Supporting does not obligate the city to anything. Councilor McCue wanted it to be part of the record that supporting the application is not binding the City to any other concessions or agreements. Mr. MacQueen added that these tax credits are only available for businesses in areas that qualify and Berlin does. Councilor Goudreau confirmed that these are Federal tax credits.
Councilor Lafleur moved to allow the letter to be sent on behalf of the City supporting Clean Power's new market tax credit application; Councilor Poulin seconded. Councilor McCue asked that the motion be amended to add that support is not binding the City to any further obligations; Councilor Lafleur agreed to amend; Councilor Poulin seconded and the motion carried with all in favor.
The final motion was: Councilor Lafleur moved to allow the letter to be sent on behalf of the City supporting Clean Power's new market tax credit application; support is not binding the City to any further obligations. Councilor Poulin seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
LGC
Mayor Bertrand acknowledged that Councilor McCue wants to go to the Policy Session on 9/12. He recommended that the remaining policies be discussed at the September 2 work session.
Councilor Lafleur moved to appoint Councilor McCue as the City's voting delegate at the 2009-2010 Legislative Policy Conference on September 12; Councilor Poulin seconded and the motion carried with all in favor.
Bureau of Prisons Update
Mayor Bertrand reported that he received a call from the Bureau of Prisons regarding the sewer project and the fact that the City and Federal Bureau of Prison have not come to an agreement on the cost to connect to the City's sewer system. Mr. MacQueen recounted that the BOP will not entertain a connection fee because they say they do not understand the justification and the fee was not brought up in preliminary discussions. They are looking for a decision and are saying that they will proceed with building their own facility if no agreement can be reached.
Council members acknowledged that having the additional revenue from the prison does a lot to temper the sewer rate. The City has been consistent that the BOP should pay for what it costs to connect them to the City's sewer system. The cost of the project has gone up since the City was first asked to provide the service.
The design from Wright Pierce, the City's consultant, has taken into consideration potential future development and fail safe methods as recommended by the Planning Board. It would qualify for 20% funding from the State.
A long force main that would likely benefit only the Federal prison has been offered as a second option by the BOP. It is questionable whether it would qualify for 20% State funding because it does not benefit the entire community. There are no fail safe measures with this approach
Mr. MacQueen asked that the Council take a position to work out a reasonable compromise. He added that the BOP came in with a budget amount of $6 million before they knew what it would cost to connect to the sewer.
Councilor Goudreau moved to make an offer of $10,880,000.; Councilor Poulin seconded and the motion carried with all in favor.
Other
Councilor McCue reminded that the Phase II Route 110 Meeting is Thursday, August 28, 2008 from 3:00 to 9:00. The first part will be an open house where people from the public can come and view maps and talk one on one with DOT. At 6:30, there will be a public meeting.
Councilor Lafleur reported that school starts early next week.
Councilor Poulin moved to adjourn; Councilor McCue seconded and the motion carried. The meeting ended at 8:45 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Susan Tremblay
Administrative Assistant
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