PUBLIC HEARING – October 19, 2009
Resolution 2009-40 Authorizing the Berlin Police Commission to apply for and accept $10,019.00 in grant funds from the US Department of Justice.
Mayor Bertrand opened and called to order the duly advertised and scheduled public hearing to accept public comments on the above noted resolution at approximately 7:29 p.m.
There being no one wishing to speak for or against the above noted resolution, Mayor Bertrand closed the public hearing at approximately 7:30 p.m.
REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING – OCTOBER 19, 2009
Mayor Bertrand called the regular City Council Meeting to order at approximately 7:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers of City Hall.~ The pledge of allegiance to the flag preceded roll call. Present: Councilors Remillard, Landry, McCue, Evans, Goudreau and Cayer. Councilors Lafleur and Poulin were absent. Also present: City Manager MacQueen, Police Chief Morency, Pamela Laflamme, Jonathan Edwards, Paul Grenier, Robert Danderson, Michael Rozek, Barry Kelley, Jan Millis, BHS Civics Class students, citizens and the press.
Minutes, Previous Meetings
Mayor Bertrand noted the following errors in the previous minutes:
Public Hearing, 4th paragraph, second line, replace “up to Hutchins Street” with “up to the Berlin/Milan town line.”
Last page, item #1, Mayor’s Report, beginning with Last meeting, third sentence “He asked the PUC to look into why PSNH won’t provide them with power.” That should read “won’t look into possible power purchased.”
Work Session Oct. 13 minutes, second page, under Other, update on 21/21, third paragraph, first line “Mayor Bertrand commented that there was a controversy of about” get rid of the word of so it will read better.
Councilor Evans moved with a second by Councilor Remillard accept the amended minutes of the 10/05/09 WS & Regular Meeting and the 10/13/09 WS. So moved, the motion carried.
Disbursements:
It was recommended by the Committee on Accounts/Claims to pay all bills dated 10/08/09–10/21/2009 for a total cash disbursement of $1,335,999.24 Draft #1602.~ Councilor Goudreau moved with a second by Councilor Evans to accept the disbursement summary and pay all bills as recommended by the Committee on Accounts/Claims. So moved, the motion carried.
PUBLIC COMMENTS:
Barry Kelley, 220 Church Street, spoke against tonight’s proposed Capital Improvements Bond Resolution. He was alarmed to hear the City was planning to borrow money since the economy and private industry is doing so bad. He quoted a newspaper article where the Mayor used the words “wing and a prayer” when referring to the bond. Mr. Kelley warned that we are looking at a reval next year which could force the tax rate up. He told Council that the bond sends a bad message now and it would not be a bad idea to wait a year.
Mayor Bertrand informed Mr. Kelly that the actual words he used in the newspaper article were “leap of faith” when referring to the bond issue and not “wing and prayer.”
Jonathan Edwards, School Street, said now is the time to be aggressive. With the possible influx of 1400 into our population with the new prison coming, we need curb appeal to bring people into town. The streets are an abomination and are way beyond an upgrade. The City needs to get its act together if we want to attract new industry. He recently had a conversation with the Veolia Company that deals with district heating for areas like Boston and heard that Laidlaw sent a press release today about an arranged partnership. Mr. Edwards was curious to see if anyone else had heard of the Veolia Company.
Paul Grenier, 492 Champlain Street, has misgivings about the City floating a $4.5 Million Dollar bond. He cautioned that this type of borrowing will only lead to a tax increase. He is a stickler for statistics and went directly to the Finance Department to get the figures on how much is currently owed in back taxes. He found out it is $917,000 which proves that people can’t pay their taxes now, let alone any increase. He agrees we need infrastructure improvements but this is bad timing and bad public policy. Rather than bond for infrastructure improvements, he suggests adding $100,000 to the budgeted $520,000 which will provide a total of $620,000 for this year which would have a minimal impact on the tax rate. In looking at the Debt Service printout, he noticed there was no match from Wastewater
Bonds. He urged the Mayor and Council not to add more to the taxes.
Bob Danderson, 300 Church Street, disagrees with Jon Edwards’ comments about the infrastructure. He suggests fixing the infrastructure in a different way and explained that the Berlin Water Works acts as its own contractor and owns their own equipment. He believes the Public Works Department should do the same instead of contracting out. He disagrees with bonding and thinks we should use the prisoners more. Mr. Danderson suggests that Council should do a better job to scrutinize budgets. They are better off to pinpoint Capital Improvements and put it out to bid and then bond if needed. He pointed out that there are not many good paying jobs in Berlin and people are having hard time. We don’t want to scare away good employees from living here because they can’t afford the
taxes.
Mike Rozek, Howard Street, strongly opposes to bonding money. He restated Berlin has the highest tax rate in the state. He reviewed the numbers and there are other alternatives. He requested that the Council put the bond resolution on hold until after the election due to possible changes within the Council. He then asked if any of the projects went out to bid yet. The answer was no.
OLD BUSINESS:
1.Council Committee Reports. No reports.
2.Resolution 2009-40 Authorizing the Berlin Police Commission to apply for and accept $10,019.00 in grant funds from the US Department of Justice (tabled 10/05/09) Resolved by the City Council of the City of Berlin as follows:
Whereas, the safety of Berlin’s citizens is imperative; and
Whereas, the Berlin Police Department increasingly relies on the integration of emerging technologies and equipment to improve jurisdictional capabilities to deter and prevent criminal activity; and
Whereas, grant funds are available for specialized law enforcement equipment; and
Whereas, the Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs will provide $10,019.00 in grant funds to the Berlin Police Department for the purpose of purchasing specialized equipment for the City of Berlin and Coös County to control crime based on their own needs and conditions. Now therefore, be it resolved by the City Council of the City of Berlin, NH, that the Berlin Police Commission is authorized to apply for and accept funds from the US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs for the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program. Further, that $10,019.00 is hereby appropriated to the Berlin Police Department for the purpose of effectuating said grant. This Resolution shall be in full force and effect from and after passage.
Councilor Evans moved with a second by Councilor Remillard to remove the resolution from the table at this time. So moved, the motion carried.
Councilor Evans moved with a second by Councilor Remillard to have the resolution read a second time by title only. So moved, the motion carried.
Councilor Evans moved with a second by Councilor Remillard to pass the resolution. Roll call resulted in unanimous affirmative votes including Mayor Bertrand who declared the resolution now passed.
NEW BUSINESS
3. Resolution 2009-42 Authorizing the appropriation of Four Thousand, Nine Hundred Thirty-One Dollars ($4,931.00) in new drug forfeiture funds and Nine Thousand, One Hundred Seventy-Eight Dollars and Ninety-Three Cents ($9,178.93) in previously received funds from the Drug Enforcement Administration to the Berlin Police Department (1st read)
Councilor Remillard moved with a second by Councilor Landry to table the resolution and schedule a public hearing on November 2, 2009. So moved, the motion carried.
4. Resolution 2009-43 Authorizing the issuance of General Obligations Bonds in an amount of up to Five Million Dollars ($5,000,000) to fund various capital improvement projects and acquisitions (1st read)
Councilor Goudreau made the following comments before the resolution was read for the first time: He refreshed everyone’s memory and stated he is the author of this resolution. He won’t go into politics at this time. He reminded all that this is not creating a tax increase but is part of the budget. The City of Berlin in the past has gone with a pay-as-you go mind set. It is obvious that did not work well. Like the stimulus, that Five Million Dollar bond will be done and done now. This will allow the City to go forward. Authorizing up to Five Million Dollars does not get rid of the bidding process. It is not a “carte blanche” to do projects. Projects will still need to be prioritized. Budget numbers are not off because, previously, 1.8 Million was
budgeted per year in capital improvements. This bond saves the tax payers money because we go from 1.8 Million down to 1.3 Million for a $500,000 savings per year. Councilor Goudreau has been in banking for many years and spoke to several in the bank industry who agree with the bonding initiative. The plan came about to get short term payback for five (5) years. The only risk is if an emergency comes up that could impact future budgets.
The resolution was then read for a first time in its entirety for public information.
Councilor Goudreau moved with a second by Councilor Cayer to table the resolution and schedule a public hearing on November 2, 2009. So moved, the motion carried.
5. City Manager’s Report
Tax Rate Setting
Sandra Rourke from the Department of Revenue Administration (DRA) came here last Wednesday to carry out the tax rate setting process with Finance Director Blandine Shallow. Typically, the Finance Director goes to DRA in Concord for this, but this year they came here which saved us the trip. Although the rate is not official until DRA confirms it, we are expecting that it will be set at the same rate as last year at $29.82 as intended by the City Council.
Downtown 155B Orders
The bids for the cleanup of the southern parcel of the burnt out downtown properties were opened this afternoon at 3pm. The apparent low bidder is AD Drouin in the amount of $9,980 and hopefully the work will begin next week and will have 21 days to complete. We were approved to be able to use Neighborhood Stabilization Program funds for this cleanup which means that the cost won't have to come out of City coffers as has been the usual case in the past. We are still waiting for CDFA approval for bidding the northern parcel. We expect that approval any time. It appears at this point as though we will simply bid the second parcel with a specification which will call for taking the large brick wall down to just above the roof line of the neighboring building to the north and capping it. Then in the spring, we will let a separate contract to
clean up or cover the southern face of exposed wall.
As a side note, a pre-bid walk through was carried out this morning for 844 Third Avenue which is the burnt out Boule' block.
NH Municipal Energy Assistance Program
As indicated by the attached letter from the NH Municipal Energy Assistance Program, our application to them for inclusion in their energy assistance program has been accepted. Applications were received from all ten NH counties. The NHMEAP will be meeting with us in the near future to assess the need for an energy inventory of our buildings.
ATV Connector Trail Update
Last Wednesday, people involved in implementing the new cross-town ATV trail met to finalize plans for the implementation. Planning for a ceremonial grand opening/ribbon cutting were begun with the tentative date being set for Saturday, November 7th at 10am starting at the Jericho Mountain State Park parking lot. Mayor Bertrand will host a brief ceremony there with hopefully Governor Lynch and DRED Commissioner Bald saying a few words, then there will be an ATV procession on the new trail across town to the Tondreau parking lot where Mayor Bertrand will read a proclamation and cut the ribbon officially opening the new connector trail. From the group will proceed to Success Pond Road and then return via the connector trail back to Jericho Mountain State Park.
Burlington Biomass Plant Tour
If you would like to see a bio-energy plant in operation, a tour of the McNeil Biomass Plant in Burlington, VT has been scheduled for November 6. The bus will be departing from the Brown Company House (this may change if there is need for more space to park) at 8:00 am and will return here at 6:00 pm. This tour has grown out of the AVER Committee which has been meeting to study the implications of the Laidlaw proposal prior to any EFSEC process which Laidlaw may file for in the future.
CPD District Heating Meeting
Clean Power Development arranged a meeting on Thursday morning October 8th. The purpose of the meeting was to explore District Heating possibilities which could derive from the excess heat generated by the Clean Power Development at the WWTP. Dr. Morris Pierce who is a leader and expert in this field attended the meeting. He is a professor at the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY. He agreed that he would do an initial kind of feasibility report based on City data in order to get an initial feel for the general feasibility and initial size, scope and cost of such an undertaking.
Several groups have been studying the possibility of biomass heating for individual facilities as well as for whole districts. Because of its size and it relatively dense layout, Berlin would seem to be an likely candidate for district heating which would serve initially at least the downtown area as well as perhaps one or more city institutions such as the High School (which is separately looking at biomass heating) the prisons and the hospital to name a few. I would expect that we will have something back Dr. Pierce in the relatively near future.
WWTF Rural Development Grant and ARRA
We will be meeting with RD and State officials in Concord on October 21st to go over the application we submitted for $9M in RD loan/grant assistance for improvements to the WWTF. We have now also received word that there still may be a possibility of stimulus funding (ARRA) assistance with this project. We had applied for that funding in the first round of stimulus funding in February of this year, but did not make the cutoff of the first round due to the fact that our project (due to lack of funds) was not shovel ready.
Now, partly due to the fact that some of the previously funded communities may be taking RD loan/grants instead of the DES ARRA funding, DES has notified us that we may now also be eligible for their ARRA stimulus funding again. We will undoubtedly be discussion both approaches with both DES and RD officials at our meeting on the 21st.
Councilor Evans moved with a second by Councilor Remillard to accept the City Manager’s Report and place it on file. So moved, the motion carried.
6. Public Comments
Jan Millis, 118 Mt Forist St, said the proclamation project youth is in its 6th year. To clarify any confusion about who they are, she stated they are not a teen center but are part of the Family Resource Center and are partnered with Brown School, Hillside School and BJHS. On average, they serve roughly 250 students in the North Country per year. They provide academic links in activities, disguise learning to make it fun, utilize USDA snacks and have homework help. The program employs 20-25 area people. Ms Millis concluded she appreciates the level of support council has shown, especially Councilor Evans who comes to the summer program. They received a grant to keep them going until 2014.
Paul Grenier, 492 Champlain Street, has been serving the public 23 years and never heard how a five Million Dollar expenditure will reduce taxes. With a budgeted $1.3 Million in new money, in the second year we will be nailed with the principal. This will affect budgets for many years at many levels.
Robert Danderson, 300 Church Street, said the $4.5 Million will be used for Berlin’s 72 miles of road. At $1 Million Dollars per mile, which street will you chose to pave or leave behind. We should do like Water Works and get grant money and use it as seed funds. The $4.5 Million is a drop in a bucket and we need to look at other ways to do it.
Michael Rozek, 2525 Howard Street, is disappointed that the Council carried out the Bond Resolution process without considering what the candidates asked of them. There are other ways to handle paving like shimming, using a dump truck, grader, and roller. The average speed limit in Berlin is 25 mph and highways with much higher limits are shimmed. We could get roads leveled without using street to street paving. This is an emotional issue. Yes, the infrastructure needs help but there are other ways. This is about the taxpayers and right now Berlin is #1 for taxes in the state.
7. COUNCIL COMMENTS
Councilor McCue thanked everyone including the BHS civics class students for participating in tonight’s meeting. He congratulated Barry Kelley on his 30th anniversary. The Ward Two Councilor also thanked the Fire Department for their continued professionalism dealing with the arson situation. He also thanked the Police Department regarding how much time they have spent investigating this waive of arsons. He also noticed the police beefed up their neighborhood presence. The Bond will have a public hearing on November 2 for more discussion. One issue is the memo dated 10/01/09 from Blandine Shallow dealing with property tax collection end of last quarter. At this point, only the first half went out. Out of $6.8Million, $6.3Million has been collected for the first half, making the
percent collected 91.96%. He thanked the 92% who paid their taxes.
Councilor Goudreau said it is amazing what happens during elections. He is a businessman who uses good common sense. Although he appreciates the comments by Mr. Grenier, Mr. Danderson and Mr. Rozek, they shouldn’t put a political spin on the matter. His answer for the $5 Million Dollar bond concern is that it was calculated in the budget process. Councilor Goudreau asked the press not to have a negative headline in tomorrow’s paper since Berlin has enough problems without spinning political headlines. There was discussion about 4.5 miles of paving. He indicated that so little of the Capital Improvements Bond has to do with paving. The Capital Improvements listed on the resolution is about other City needs. It was said there was approximately $990,000 or so in delinquent taxes but this is
a bad economy. Council regularly asked the tax collector if the numbers were unusually high and she said no. He said they should not worry about $990k in taxes since it is still too early in game. He concluded, “this Council maintained taxes that the previous administration did not do.”
Councilor Landry is new to the City Council and appreciates Mr. Grenier, Mr. Danderson and Mr. Rozek’s comments but asked them where they were during budget time? They are only here now to get press time. It angers him to know that Mr. Grenier is only trying to scare the people of Berlin. Council worked hard kicking the numbers around for months. Capital Improvement spending is going down. In the budget, the $370,000 for the school boiler is emergency money to repair not replace. Route 110 realignment fee is because it would not be prudent not to have money ready when state comes. To rephrase, “Capital Improvements is going down, don’t let them fool you.” He told Mr. Danderson that it is easy to stand there and throw out big numbers but it is wrong to scare the residents of Berlin. He said that Mr. Danderson had a track record and asked him to explain how many times tax bills did not go down during their terms. This Mayor and Council held taxes down. Councilor Landry again
repeated, “Capital Improvements are going down.” He knows they are upset about Council’s decision to remove the smoke stacks from the City seal but don’t come and say the Mayor and Council are not sensitive to the City of Berlin. “Now is the time to keep the City of Berlin moving forward,” he declared.
Councilor Evans was nervous about borrowing but two things tipped in favor. Savings were achieved in the operating budget and Capital Improvements will save on energy costs. Second, a professional investor said this is the perfect time for us to borrow.
8. Mayor’s Report.
Proclamation: Keep the Lights on After School. The Mayor informed Jan Millis that although he would be unable to attend the event, Councilor Remillard will attend to read the proclamation.
Written report:
“The November Municipal Elections are two weeks from tomorrow, so it's time for the citizens of Berlin to make well thought out decisions regarding the future of our City. While some have been quoted as saying that this Council has been "very shortsighted", I would certainly contend that, on the contrary, the present Council has been working on implementing a long range vision and plan for the City. Take, for example, Councilor Goudreau's plan for funding the City's capital improvement projects for the next six years. Prior to his plan, past administrations had attempted to limp through the capital improvements, accomplishing virtually nothing toward substantive improvements to the City's infrastructure. As another example, look at the wholehearted endorsement by this Mayor and Council of the ftrst major step in generations
towards a new economic direction for the City, that of the new outdoor recreation initiative 21121. This substantive undertaking is the fIrst step for Berlin in establishing a new mixed base economy for the City. Look also at this Mayor and Council's desire to see a mixed use development for the former Fraser mill property, something that could benefit the people of the City for generations to come, creating hundreds of jobs in the foreseeable future. This property has enormous potential, and this Mayor and Council has the long range vision to understand that we need not jump at the ftrst proposal to be put forth for the property. Shortsighted? I think not. It seems to me that this body, over the last two years, has taken the long term approach to the issues, an approach that hasn't been seen in this City for a long time.
Further to our long term view, let me make one thing perfectly clear. Neither this Mayor nor this Council have done anything that could be construed as writing off the jobs that currently exist at the Fraser Paper Mill in Gorham. Some may contend that by not embracing the Laidlaw proposal, this Mayor and Council have no concern for the people who are employed at Fraser. Nothing could be further from the truth. Both proposed biomass facilities can offer benefits to Fraser. I contend that Clean Power, in fact, is the better of the two when it comes to benefits for the existing paper mill because of its proximity to Fraser. I will do all that I can, and I believe the current Council will also, to insure that the jobs at Fraser are preserved.
Without a doubt the most prevalent issue facing the City and the voters this election is the pros and cons of the two biomass proposals for Berlin. I have clearly shown I am in full support of the Clean Power Development proposal for the southern portion of the City, and that I feel the Laidlaw proposal is not the best use for the former Fraser mill property. The other candidate for Mayor has recently indicated he supports both proposals, but his actions clearly show otherwise. As County Commissioner, he and the other commissioners have indicated that they will me as interveners on behalf of Laidlaw. If, in fact, he is supportive of the Clean Power Proposal as well, I challenge Mr. Grenier to show his support for Clean Power and ask the Public Utilities Commission to expeditiously act on PUC Docket item DE09-067. Furthermore, if Mr. Grenier
is in fact supportive of the Clean Power proposal, I would ask him to explain why he has clearly rebuffed attempts by Clean Power to meet with the County Commissioners to allow Clean Power to provide information about their project and its potential benefits for the county as a whole.
I challenge the citizens of Berlin to do their own research on the issues, especially regarding the two biomass facilities proposed for the City. Should one or both of these projects come to fruition (and I don't think both can coexist), they will have impact the City for generations to come. And don't rely simply on the local newspapers for your body of information. There is so much more to these projects and the companies that are behind them. Search the internet for information. Research the history of both companies and their principal owners. And don't be afraid to contact the companies themselves and ask them some hard questions. Ask Clean Power why Public Service of NH is giving them the cold shoulder. Ask Public Service the same question. Ask Laidlaw why they have a lawsuit against Ellicotteville, NY. Ask the people of
Ellicotteville the same question. Ask Laidlaw why their press release of September 21 announcing a partnership with Homeland Renewable Energy, who specializes in power from poultry litter, wasn't published locally. Research what biomass facilities pay in property taxes throughout the state of NH. I think you'll find that they don't pay as much as some people would lead you to believe. If either of these come to fruition, even the larger of the two won't ma1ce up 25 to 30 percent of our tax as some have stated.
There is more to these two projects than just what you read in the newspapers. For the sake of your children and your grandchildren, enable yourself to make educated decisions about this all important issue. And please, speak to your candidates to see where they truly stand on this issue. Thank you.”
The Mayor had replies regarding the Public Comments. Mr. Kelley asked to wait another year. The Mayor said that this has been going on for too long. Council fully endorses the bonding issue and Councilor Goudreau couldn’t emphasize it enough. The Mayor spoke to Mr. Grenier and told him although there was a small increase, this Council kept a flat tax rate for 2 years. $600,000 is not going to do it. Mayor Bertrand wanted to make it clear that the $4.5Million is not in this year’s budget. Just the $1.3 Million is for this year. If the voters agree, we will be allowed to continue what we started. Mr. Rozek said “Berlin is in the middle of nowhere.” Mayor Bertrand affirmed that it is time we put Berlin on the map and make ourselves known.
Councilor Goudreau moved with a second by Councilor McCue to accept the Mayor’s report and place it on file. So moved, the motion carried.
9. Adjournment:
There being no further business before the Mayor and Council at this time, Councilor Remillard moved with a second by Councilor McCue to adjourn the regular meeting. So moved, Mayor Bertrand declared the Regular Meeting adjourned at approximately 8: 50 p.m.
A True Record, Attest:
Debra A. Patrick, CMC
City Clerk
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