City Council Regular Meeting
July 20, 2009
Councilors Present: Mayor Bertrand, Councilor Lafleur, Councilor Remillard, Councilor Evans, Councilor Landry, Councilor McCue, and Councilor Goudreau
Others Present: Patrick MacQueen, City Manager; Barbara Tetreault, Berlin Daily Sun; Erik Eisele, Berlin Reporter; Cathy Conway, Northern Community Investment Corporation; Max Makaitis, Androscoggin Valley Economic Recovery Corporation; Dana Willis
Public Hearings: The hearings commenced at 7:30PM for public comments on the following ordinance and resolutions.
Ordinance 2009-06 Zoning Ordinance: No comments
Resolution 2009-27 Accepting Neil & Louise Tillotson Grant for the AV Chamber of Commerce: No comments
Resolution 2009-28: Authorizing Application to CDBG for $500,000 for the Notre Dame Project
Cathy Conway, NCIC: Ms. Conway explained that Community Development Block Grant funds are available to municipalities for economic development, public facility and housing rehabilitation projects and feasibility studies that primarily benefit low and moderate income persons. The City of Berlin is eligible for up to $500,000 a year for public facility/housing rehabilitation, up to $500,000 a year for economic development projects, as well as up to $500,000 a year in emergency funds. Feasibility Study funds are available for up to $12,000 per year.
The proposed application to the Community Development Finance Authority is for $500,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds. The funds will be used to finance a portion of the Notre Dame high school redevelopment project. The proposal is to create an assisted living facility. The assisted living facility will initially employ at least 25 people with the potential to employ over 100. Ms. Conway explained that 60% of these jobs will be available for low and moderate income persons. This project conforms to the City’s Housing and Community Development Plan’s Goal of: Stabilizing existing industries.
Financing a portion of the project with CDBG funds. Job creation anticipated to be no less than 25 jobs.
Mayor Bertrand indicated that he was pleased to see the project moving forward with a building that the City has desired to see redeveloped.
Councilor Goudreau asked Mr. Willis for an update on any changes or developments.
Dana Willis indicated that the project is moving forward and that they are in the process of working out a deal with an experienced company which is performing a feasibility study to determine if it is a project that this potential company wants to operate. Mr. Willis also let the Council know that the demand for Alzheimer’s and Dementia patients is very high in the Berlin/Gorham Service area. They have purchased 412 School Street and are moving forward with that part of the project. The Brownfield’s Project is moving along as well. Mr. Willis is talking with local contractors which he thus far has been very satisfied with.
Mayor Bertrand asked about the bidding procedures for the project and was informed by Ms. Conway that all bidding had to be done fair and openly where CDBG funds would be involved. Ms. Conway also explained that the proposal was for the City to sub-grant the funds to the NCIC/CEDC partnership who would then loan the funds to the business.
Mayor Bertrand closed the public hearing and opened the next public hearing to discuss the Housing and Community Development Plan.
Cathy Conway explained that the Housing and Community Development Plan includes short and long term goals concerning economic development and community development, including: Assisting the Berlin Economy in responding to change in the city’s economic base and to support healthcare industries in the area.
Mayor Bertrand called for public comments. There were none.
Mayor Bertrand closed the the public hearing and opened the next public hearing to discuss the Residential Anti-Displacement and Relocation Assistance Plan.
Cathy Conway explained that if any displacement takes place as a result of this project, the Uniform Relocation Act must be followed, which requires that any displaced household or business in a project using any federal funds must be found comparable housing in a comparable neighborhood at a comparable price. No displacement is anticipated as part of this project. Under the certification section of the application, the city will certify that the Residential Antidisplacement & Relocation (RARA) plan is in place, and in the event that it is discovered that this specific project does displace persons or households, a displacement implementation plan must be submitted to CDFA prior to obligating or expending funds.
Mayor Bertrand called for public comment. There were none.
Resolution 2009-29 Authorizing Acceptance of a Land/Building (Rite-Aid) Donation to BIDPA: No comments
Mayor Bertrand closed all the public hearings at 7:43PM.
Pledge of Allegiance
Roll Call – all present with the exceptions of Councilors Poulin and Cayer who were absent for the evening.
Minutes of 7/6/2009 Work Session and Regular Meeting and the Minutes of 7/13/2009 Work Session – a motion was made by Councilor Lafleur, seconded by Councilor McCue to accept the minutes and place on file. All Councilors voted in the affirmative.
Disbursements – The following is the disbursement report with a starting date of July 9. 2009 and an ending date of July 22, 2009, manifest number 1596. The total of the disbursements for the City during this period is $1,218.096.41 The report is signed by the Committee on Accounts and Claims. Councilor Goudreau made a motion to accept the report and pay all bills, which was seconded by Councilor Remillard. All Councilors voted in the affirmative. Mayor Bertrand made a note that there were two vouchers that still need further review; Mr. MacQueen will be taking care of this.
Old Business
- Council Committee Reports – None
- Ordinance 2009-06 Zoning, which was tabled on July 6, 2009. Councilor McCue made a motion to remove the ordinance from the table, which was seconded by Councilor Goudreau, all voted in favor. Councilor McCue made a motion, seconded by Councilor Evans to read the ordinance by short title only, all voted in favor and the short title of the ordinance was read. Councilor McCue made a motion to pass the ordinance, which was seconded by Councilor Evans. A roll call vote was taken with all Councilors voting in the affirmative.
- Resolution 2009-27 Accepting a 13,200 Neil & Louise Tillotson Grant for the AV Chamber of Commerce, which was tabled on July 6, 2009. Councilor Evans made a motion to remove the resolution from the table, which was seconded by Councilor McCue, all voted in favor. Councilor Evans made a motion to read the resolution by short title only, which was seconded by Councilor McCue and the resolution was then read by short title. Councilor McCue made a motion to pass the resolution, which was seconded by Councilor Evans. A roll call vote was taken with all Councilors voting in the affirmative.
- Resolution 2009-28 Authorizing Application to CDBG for $500,000 for the Notre Dame Project, which was tabled on July 6, 2009. Councilor Lafleur made a motion to remove the resolution from the table, which was seconded by Councilor McCue, all voted in favor. Councilor Evans made a motion to read the resolution by short title only, which was seconded by Councilor Goudreau and the resolution was then read by short title. Councilor Lafleur made a motion to pass the resolution, which was seconded by Councilor McCue. A roll call vote was taken with all Councilors voting in the affirmative.
- Resolution 2009-29 Authorizing Acceptance of a Land/Building (Rite-Aid) Donation to BIDPA, which was tabled on July 6, 2009. Councilor McCue made a motion to remove the resolution from the table, which was seconded by Councilor Remillard, all voted in favor. Councilor McCue made a motion to read the resolution by short title only, which was seconded by Councilor Remillard and the resolution was then read by short title. Councilor McCue made a motion to pass the resolution, which was seconded by Councilor Goudreau. Councilor McCue then asked if the language in the ordinance could be clarified by replacing the word multiple to one or more. Councilor McCue then rescinded his motion. Councilor Evans made a motion to amend the language in the ordinance from all instances of
multiple (three instances) to be changed to one or more. The amendment was seconded by Councilor McCue with all Councilors voting in favor of the amendment. Councilor McCue then made a motion to pass the resolution as amended, seconded by Councilor Goudreau. A roll call vote was taken with all Councilors voting in the affirmative.
New Business
- Ordinance 2009-07 Limiting Roadside Memorials First Reading, Councilor Lafleur made a motion to table this ordinance and schedule a public hearing for August 3, 2009. The motion was seconded by Councilor Remillard. All votes were in the affirmative with the exception of Councilor McCue who voted no.
- City Manager’s Report
LGC proposed Article 28-a Lawsuit Against the State
Attached is a letter from John Andrews of LGC dated 7/9/09 regarding plans to begin litigation with the State of New Hampshire over the fact that this year's state budget arbitrarily places additional costs in the form of increased retirement contributions on municipalities across the state as a direct result of the state arbitrarily lowering its contribution to the New Hampshire Retirement System from 35% to 30%.
There will be a steering committee of local officials to oversee the law suit and the expenditure of funds. The letter is reminding communities who have not previously contributed to this legal war chest to do so. Berlin did contribute its share to this fund in 2008 in the amount of $2,325.04 so we should be all set.
We will be sending in our retirement payments to the NHRS with the attached statement suggested by LGS indicating that the additional amount attributable to the State's reduction of its contribution is being paid in protest and demanding that the NHRS account for that amount separately and be ready to reimburse municipalities the correct amount if a court of competent jurisdiction so rules.
Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) Notice of Award
While we have talked about before, attached is the actual notice of award of the $4.3M in NSP funds to the City of Berlin
CIP Reviews
This week we have begun reviewing Departmental requests for the next 2011-2016 Six Year Capital Improvement Program (CIP) with all city departments. This will occur this week and next week and then we will put together that CIP for Planning Board and Council review in August. Also, as part of this review we are going over how best to allocate the projects between the two proposed bond issues so that can be brought back as soon as possible to Council for review and finalization.
Thunder in the Mountains and Car Rally
As the Council is aware, Thunder in the Mountains and New England Car Rally were both held this past weekend. I wasn't able to attend either as I had to be in Connecticut, but I am told that they both came off pretty well. Given the weather we have had this year, it was actually pretty good and the attendance was good at both events. Peter Riviere guessed that there were probably about 3,000 people brought into the region around Berlin. Mayor Bertrand and his wife were on the VIP bus and appeared to have been duly impressed.
Department of Corrections Commissioner Wrenn Visit
On Monday August 24th DOC Commissioner Wrenn will be at the work session to discuss the changes at the State Prison with the Mayor and Council.
Community Development Director Back
I am happy to report that Laura Viger started work again today on a limited part-time basis with the permission of her physician. It is great to have her back and the challenge will be to be sure that she doesn't over do it.
Leadership Awards
Leadership North Country is inviting nominations for the 2009 Community Leadership Award. This award recognizes and honors leaders which have distinguished themselves in support of the North Country and its communities. The material for nominating a person or an organization for this award is attached.
Tax Collections Update
Attached
The Council welcomed back Laura Viger to work after a long absence. Councilor Remillard made a motion to accept the City Manager’s written report and place it on file. The motion was seconded by Councilor McCue, all voted in favor of the motion.
- Public Comments – None
- Council Comments –
- Councilor Remillard received several phone calls supportive of the Roadside Mementos ordinance. Councilor Remillard asked about the status of the City Comptroller’s status, which is part time at 34 hours per week as of July 2, 2009. She asked for clarification about the position and the budgeted line item for the position which is budgeted for a full time position in the event that the current set up does not work. Councilor Remillard thought that the Council agreed that this arrangement sets a negative tone for the community. Councilor Goudreau indicated he felt similarly which is why he brought it up a few weeks ago. There are three key positions that have been changed to part time (PD, Schools, and Finance), and he feels strongly that this was a hasty decision that really will not
save the City any money in the long term. He doesn’t believe that this decision sends a good message to the community. He supports Councilor Remillard and her comments. Councilor McCue brought up that he had suggested during the budget process the need to leave the position of the Police Chief full time but that the Council did decide that was it was not a good idea. Councilor McCue’s recollection was similar to Mayor Bertrand was that the position was to be funded as a full time position should the current situation not work out. He reminded the Council that the Police Commission did this to help meet the Council’s mandated budget goals. Councilor Goudreau indicated that the reason the motion was not supported for the Police Chief line item was because there is no line item control from the Council over the Police Department. Councilor Remillard indicated that while the Council doesn’t have control over the Schools or Police,
they do have control over the Finance Department and believed that as funded the Council should exercise control over the situation to set an example for the departments which the City does not have line item control over. Mr. MacQueen stated that if the current set up does not work out that he is concerned there may not be qualified people out there to fill the position. There was also concern on his part before the end of the last fiscal year that the timing was limited to find a replacement. Mayor Bertrand said it might be a good time to find someone in this job market. Councilor Goudreau indicated that they could perhaps start the job search process to find someone who might apprentice with the Comptroller under the current setup without exercising the 120 day notice. Mayor Bertrand indicated that the Council should consider Councilor Goudreau’s comments and that the matter be placed on the next work session agenda.
- Councilor McCue mentioned the Route 110 Phase II Public Hearing will take place on August 13, 2009 at the BJHS at 7PM. Mr. MacQueen indicated the need to get people out to this meeting.
- Councilor Landry recognized Councilor McCue and Diana Nelson for their hard work on the Thunder in the Mountains event. Councilor Landry reminded the Council that the City is a federally designated HUB Zone and asked that it be advertised on the City’s website. Councilor Landry also commended Erik Eisele of the Berlin Reporter for his blog about Berlin (www.lastprintjournalist.blogspot.com). Councilor McCue followed up Councilor Landry’s comments on the HUB Zone Designation and how unique it is that the entire City is HUB Zone qualified. Mr. MacQueen discussed the process of certifying as a federally qualified business is a lengthy process for small businesses and that is usually the difficulty
in getting businesses to take advantage of the designation of the HUB Zone.
- Mayor’s Report – Mayor Bertrand accepted the resignation of Jen Gallant from the Planning Board with regret. Her departure creates a vacancy on the Planning Board which will expire April 2010. Following up Councilor Landry’s comments, Mayor Bertrand indicated it was great to have two wonderful events take place in our area this past weekend and appreciates all of the hard work that went into each event. He spent most of his time at the New England Forest Rally where he pitched the idea of bringing more of the event to NH. He appreciated the opportunity to participate in the event as a spectator. Mayor Bertrand also thanked Councilor McCue and Diana Nelson for their hard work with the Thunder in the Mountains event. Councilor Lafleur made a motion to accept Mayor Bertrand’s oral report, it was seconded by Councilor McCue and all Councilors voted in favor.
- Adjournment – Councilor Goudreau made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Councilor Evans and all in favor. The meeting adjourned at 8:45PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Pamela Laflamme
City Planner
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