City Council Work Session
July 19, 2010
Present were: Mayor Grenier, Councilors, Evans, Cayer, Remillard, McCue, Rozek, and Landry; absent were Councilors Poulin and Danderson. Also present were: Pat MacQueen, Andre Caron, Mike Perreault, Betty Domino, Nancy Bell, Sally Manikian, Felix Pisani, Elaine Pisani, Francis Pisani, Roberta Remillard, Ronald and Therese Cote, Dave Bertrand, Chief Morency, Deputy Chief Valerino, Pam Laflamme, press
Mayor Grenier opened the meeting at 6:30pm.
Effort to acquire Success Township Property
Nancy Bell representing the Conservation Fund was present at the meeting along with Sally Manikian, the former Mahoosuc Initiative Coordinator to speak to the Council about their continued work in the township of Success. In the past Ms. Bell spoke with the prior Council about the first phase of the project which the acquisition of upper elevation land that mainly is utilized for trails that are heavily used by the public and part of the Appalachian Trail.
Phase II is focused on obtaining an easement on 15,000 acres of property that will be acquired from TR Dillon for conservation purposes. The land will be kept intact and used for timber harvesting and recreation. The project proposes to apply for Forest Legacy Easement Funding, which is funding that is highly competitive. Ms. Bell would like to get support for the project from the City Council.
Councilor Remillard asked about ATV access and how Phase I affected ATV use. Ms. Bell explained and Mayor Grenier clarified that the land is very steep, difficult terrain and is best utilized for pedestrian use as well as hunting and fishing. Councilor Rozek asked about the funding and how tax money could be used to limit public uses. Ms. Bell told the Council that the first phase of the project is over and this discussion was about the second phase and third phase of the project.
Councilor Landry asked if the project will affect the access for Success Pond property owners. The answer is no. The easement will cover the property, but is only an easement as the camp owners remain the property owners with their own individual deeded rights to their properties including access.
Councilor Cayer asked Ms. Bell how the City can be involved in the process representing the interests of ATV and snowmobile access to the properties as the easements are developed. The State will be holding the easements and there are already several entities involved, but Ms. Bell stated the City was welcome to join the process.
Mayor Grenier asked about Phase III as it is a new piece to the project. Many owners of properties along Success Pond are Berlin residents. Ms. Bell stated that Phase III will only move forward if the project does well in the scoring process for the funding. The project is in its early stages. A lot of public support will be necessary throughout this process as there are a wide variety of users of these lands. Phase III improves the opportunities for funding.
Success has the highest levels of low elevation land, many streams, and very rich soils in the State. There is a lot of value in the land beyond recreation potential that needs to be explored and protected. Ms. Bell said Success is a very special place. Mayor Grenier closed out the discussion by stating the land should be protected and it was not a place where we wanted to see development.
Sewer Appeals Committee
Public Works Director, Mike Perreault told the Mayor and Council that there were twelve appeals of resident sewer bills this year. Mr. Perreault explained that when the water rate is adjusted, the sewer rate is adjusted. Mayor Grenier stated that in the past the Council has not granted appeals for faulty plumbing or swimming pools.
After a brief discussion the Council decided to review each appeal individually.
Appeal Request Number 1 – Lacroix:
Councilor Remillard asked what the role of the Council was in this process. Mayor Grenier indicated that the Council’s role was to hear the appeals and make a decision based on the information presented. Councilor McCue stated that the process was very difficult to judge as the Council really cannot figure out if the water ends up in the City’s sewer system or not.
Mayor Grenier said in the past he has been unable to support abatements for faulty plumbing or the fillings of pools. There was discussion about the difficulties of determining how to deal with the usage for residents who utilize wells. Councilor Cayer suggested adding some language to the sewer bill that explains what the abatement process is and how the sewer charges were calculated.
Councilor Evans told the Council that he had reviewed each request and appeal requests 1, 3, 4, and 11 stuck out to him as abatement requests that did not have water treated by our sewer system. A Councilor pointed out that appeal request 11 was made after the deadline and there was then a discussion about not granting timely filed appeals. Mayor Grenier asked about the raising of the billing (the average calculated by the finance department) and whether property owners with wells were notified. It was determined well owners had not been notified that the average was now higher.
Councilor Rozek made a motion for all well owners, clarifying it was not just the for those had put in an appeal, but all well owners to be either rebilled or given credit for next year bill. The motion was seconded by Councilor Landry and all Councilors voted in favor of the motion with the exception of Councilors Evans and McCue. The motion passed.
Councilor McCue asked Councilor Evans to expand on his thoughts about abating requests 1, 3, 4, and 11. Councilor Evans indicated that with the first request the Council should take a couple hundred dollars off the bill. Appeal request number 3 should be abated due to his belief that there was no water that went to the sewer system. Appeal request number 4, basement leak, he felt went to the yard as there is no catch drain in the basement. Appeal request had been disqualified due to the untimely appeal.
The Council discussed the difficulties in figuring out if surface water leaks actually do not go to the sewer system. Councilor Remillard believed there should be follow up with the requests to determine if the appeals included the correct information. She felt that there was no way for the Council to verify the information if staff had done the verification.
Councilor Rozek made a motion to accept the Public Works Director recommendation to deny the remaining requests (does not include requests involving wells). There was no second to the motion.
Councilor Landry agreed that opening up the abatement process can be difficult to navigate but there are tough times and we are trying to keep taxes down. If we can verify the appeal issues then the City should work with the property owners. Councilor Landry feels that the Council needs to be fair. The Council deliberated about the responsibilities of property owners at length.
Mayor Grenier stated that the Council needed to start making decisions on the requests and that it would be best to review each request separately.
73 Gordon Avenue:
Councilor Evans made a motion to abate $200 appeal request number 1 (73 Gordon Avenue) the motion not seconded.
Councilor McCue made a motion to deny the abatement for 73 Gordon Avenue, seconded by Councilor Rozek. A roll call vote was taken with Councilors Landry, McCue, Rozek, and Mayor Grenier voting in the affirmative and Councilors Evans, Cayer, and Remillard voting no. The motion passed and the abatement request for 73 Gordon Avenue was denied.
423 Madison Avenue:
Councilor Remillard made a motion to deny the request, Councilor Landry second the motion and the Council voted to support the motion. The abatement request for 423 Madison Avenue was denied.
9 Jericho Road:
Councilor Remillard made a motion to put this request on hold and ask Public Works to investigate the appeal. The motion was not seconded
Councilor Evans made a motion to decrease the bill for 9 Jericho Road by $300. The motion was not seconded
Councilor McCue made a motion to deny the appeal request for 9 Jericho Road, seconded by Councilor Cayer. A roll call vote was taken with Councilors Cayer, McCue, Rozek and Mayor Grenier voting in the affirmative. Councilors Landry, Evans, and Remillard voted against the motion. The motion passed and the appeal request for 9 Jericho Road was denied.
671 Western Avenue:
Councilor Evans made a motion to abate $300 from the bill for 671 Western Avenue. The motion was not seconded
Councilor McCue made a motion to deny the appeal for 671 Western Avenue, seconded by Councilor Rozek. A roll call vote was taken with Councilors McCue, Rozek, Cayer, and Mayor Grenier voting to support the motion. Councilors Landry, Evans, and Remillard voted against the motion. The motion carried and the appeal for 671 Western Avenue was denied.
63 Bemis Street:
This request was covered in a prior motion as the owner is one of the well owners.
141 Denmark Street:
Councilor Landry made a motion to deny the request, seconded by Councilor Remillard. The motion was supported by all Councilors and passed. The appeal for 141 Denmark Street was denied.
44 Mason Street:
Councilor Remillard made a motion to deny the request for 44 Mason Street, seconded by Councilor McCue. The motion was supported by all Councilors and passed. The appeal for 44 Mason Street was denied.
41 Charron Avenue:
Councilor Rozek made a motion to deny the request for 41 Charron Avenue. Councilor Remillard seconded the motion. A roll call vote was requested with all Councilors voting in the affirmative. The motion passed and the appeal request for 41 Charron Avenue was denied.
71 Wood Street:
This request was covered in a prior motion as the owner is one of the well owners.
10 Unity (Hutchins) Street:
Mayor Grenier noted there does seem to be a large discrepancy in the data and suggested that the data should be verified, but if it is correct, then there really is nothing the Council can do. Councilor Remillard stated that as the tenants are all businesses the Council should treat it the same as they did for apartment building owners.
Councilor Rozek made a motion to deny the appeal request for 10 Unity Street which was seconded by Councilor Evans with only Councilor Landry voting in opposition of the motion. The motion passed and the appeal request for 10 Unity Street was denied.
Appeal Requests 11 & 12 – David Blais (11) and Cecile Belanger (12) both requests were filed past the deadline.
Item 11 Councilor Rozek made a motion to deny the appeal, seconded by Evans, all in favor, motion carries.
Item 12 Councilor Rozek made a motion to deny the appeal, seconded by Evans, all in favor, motion carries.
Councilor Cayer asked if there was a possibility for the City to bulk purchase water meters and work with the well owners to get volume pricing to help the well owners. Mr. Perreault will look into it and get back to the Council with a report.
Zoning Ordinance Amendment - Ms. Laflamme briefly summarized the memo that was in the Council’s packet. Councilor McCue told the Council that Ms. Cusson, Planning Board Chair will have a letter for the Council shortly expressing support for merging nonconforming lots when possible to create larger conforming lots. Councilor McCue strongly suggested to the Council that they add language to clarify the passage that readopts the zoning ordinance after the words is hereby further amended “and Chapter 17 Zoning is readopted, and the following is hereby adopted.”
The Council discussed whether the ordinance could be read and passed in one evening. Mr. MacQueen told the Council that State Statute requires Zoning Ordinance amendments be publicly noticed and public hearings be held. Mayor Grenier expressed concern about holding up for Pisani’s building permit. Councilor McCue expressed concern about the process.
Councilor McCue made motion to add the new language he suggested to the ordinance which was seconded by Councilor Rozek. There was a brief discussion about the need for the new language which has been reviewed by the City Attorney, but Councilor McCue pointed out that the City Attorney missed it along with staff last time. A councilor asked to move the question.
A roll call vote was requested with Councilors Landry, Cayer, McCue, Rozek and Mayor Greiner voting for the new language. Councilors Evans and Remillard voted no. The motion passed.
Rural Development Sewer Loan/Grant – Mr. MacQueen told the Council that early discussions had indicated the City stood a good chance of getting a 7 million dollar grant/3 million dollar loan from USDA-Rural Development. He had made it clear that the City wanted as much grant money as possible but the City has to take the loan in order to get the grant. Local USDA staff had determined that the City needed more points to score higher in the process and as a City we were penalized for our service numbers. Mr. MacQueen reviewed many statistics with the Council that shows Berlin is either at the bottom or near the bottom of several categories including property values and unemployment, but those statistics do not fit the funding formula set up by USDA-RD. The formula used by USDA rewards
communities with high sewer rates or highly in debt, if Berlin was a wealthy community and in debt there would be no question that Berlin could get a loan/grant that would be more grant than loan.
The proposal from USDA-RD which has to be accepted by Thursday after nine months of waiting is a large loan of 12.51 million and small grant 1.339 million. The City cannot access the grant until the loan is used. Mr. MacQueen reviewed two spreadsheets with the Council that shows that while this is not the most desirable funding the USDA loan has a 2.375 interest rate over 30 years. If the City pared down the project to 10 million instead of the full 14 million to do the entire project and financed that 10 million through the state loan program the rate would be 3.488 percent over 20 years. The better deal is actually the USDA loan/grant.
If the City takes the loan/grant from USDA staff projects an increase in our rates that would only be slightly above state average rates. If either the Laidlaw project moves forward or the AVRRDD leachate project comes on line that would bring down rates further. They weren’t used in the projections as they are not definite projects at this time.
Mayor Grenier told the Council he is talking with federal official. He is hoping that there is a possibility for Berlin to toward a loan forgiveness provision. Mr. MacQueen stated we should attempt to any option that may bring down the cost of the project.
Mr. MacQueen clarified that the local USDA-RD staff are trying to be helpful, but the specific formulas designed in Washington are really the hassle. The City currently has a 15 million loan from the NHDES State Revolving Fund Loan/State Aid Grant that the City has been sitting on for the last 2 years that had a 20% forgiveness clause but due to the issues with the State budget the forgiveness portion of the program has been deferred. Another round of funding is possibly coming through stimulus funds with a 30% forgiveness. If that comes through the City would definitely apply for that. If the City accepts the USDA-RD loan/grant, the State has confirmed we can still apply for their program.
Mayor Grenier stated we should take USDA-RD’s offer of 12.51 million in loan and 1.339 in grant money. He said the City needs to do the job right. We should also actively try to get loan forgiveness and find other sources of funds but right now we need to move ahead. Councilor Remillard agreed.
Councilor Remillard made a motion to accept the offer of 12.51 million in loan and 1.339 in grant money from USDA-RD for the City’s wastewater improvement project. The motion was seconded by Councilor Landry. A roll call of the Council was taken with all members voting in favor of the motion.
Other:
Tea Birds is looking to obtain a liquor license and needs a letter of support for license for their application from the City Council. They also plan on having live music.
Councilor Landry made a motion to send a letter of support seconded by Councilor Rozek, all Councilors voted in favor of the motion and the motion carried.
Mr. MacQueen reminded the Council about the TIGER Grant that the City previously applied for with several other North Country communities. The grant which was for 44 million dollar and was part of the stimulus grants would have been for repaving roads in the North Country and a pavement management program. There is a second round coming and it is still competitive and although Mr. MacQueen stated he is not optimistic about the chances there has been a lot of work put into the effort and there would not be any reason not to try and apply again. At this time is just a preapplication.
Councilor Rozek made a motion to reapply for the TIGER Grant funds. Councilor Landry seconded the motion and then confirmed that the City doesn’t have to spend any additional funds as we did the first time for grant writing, etc. That was confirmed by Mr. MacQueen. All Councilors voted in favor of the motion and it passed.
The meeting adjourned at 8:20pm to the regular meeting in the Council Chambers.
Respectfully submitted,
Pamela Laflamme
City Planner
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