SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING – SEPTEMBER 27, 2010
Mayor Grenier called the Special City Council Meeting to order at approximately 6:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers of City Hall. The pledge of allegiance to the flag preceded roll call. Present: Councilors Remillard, McCue, Evans, Rozek, Cayer, Poulin, Danderson and Mayor Grenier; Councilor Landry was absent. Also present: Pat MacQueen, Andre Caron, Pete Morency, Barney Valliere, several students from BHS Civics class, media and public
Resolution 2010-40 Authorizing an Application to EPA for $200,000 Brownfield Grant
Andre Caron explained that the resolution gives the City Manager the authority to sign off on the grant application and it assures that Council has given the authority to proceed. He indicated that the City has been successful in securing over $1 million worth of work through the Brownfield Program first working with North Country Council and eventually it matriculated into our own Brownfield program. Getting own funds. Funding has been and will continue to be used for Phase I and Phase II property assessments with Phase I giving a methodology to acquire a building as well as its history and in Phase II samplings are taken and a contractor provides a price for hazardous material removal.
Upon hearing the first reading of the resolution Councilor Danderson moved with a second from Councilor Poulin to table the resolution and hold a public hearing on October 4, 2010. So moved, the motion carried.
Councilor Danderson with a second from Councilor McCue moved to recess to work session at 7:38 p.m.
Work Session
September 27, 2010
FY 2011 Budget Revision
Councilor Evans requested this item for the agenda. He opened by saying that the Council was presented with a final edition of the budget in June and all were happy to hear that there was a surplus and a lot of the proposed cuts did not have to be made. The surplus came primarily from capital improvements that were funded in the 2010 budget as well as in the $5 million bond. He said that when the bond was drawn upon, $850,000 of capital items came out of the bond and went into unappropriated fund balance where it was then used to lower the tax rate. He suggested leaving the money in the capital improvements and initiating the cuts the Council had originally proposed. Councilor Evans expressed disappointment that the Council allowed the budget to grow this year and said that in the coming year there will not
be the extra money to draw from and we will have an elevation of cost. He wanted to submit a budget revision to the State and ask them to consider it. He wanted to start the discussion to see if Council agrees that they made a big mistake and the budget should be revised so that all the proposed cuts go back in place.
Councilor Danderson reasoned that it is late to make changes since the DRA is poised to set the tax rate. The start of budget season where the Council will review the numbers all over again, is not that far off.
Councilor Rozek noted that it would be good to eliminate the additional $1.75; however the Council did the cuts that could be done for this year.
Councilor Evans maintained that the City has done the same as the State and Federal government by borrowing to fund operations. Mayor Grenier assured the Council that there was no borrowing for operations as the $5 million bond was earmarked for specific projects and the city only pays on what has been drawn down from the bond. He added that the City has a valuation problem not a budget problem. The increase of 1.75 will have no effect on the vast majority of taxpayers. Mayor Grenier agreed that the Council has to be ever vigilant on how precious tax dollars are spent. $31.89 sends a chilling message to any business that wants to come to Berlin and it is a situation that we must reverse. There are legalities in the city charter that clearly lay out the budget process. He noted that he would support a
letter to all department heads to be vigilant with the budget and because there is money in the budget this year, it does not mean there will be funding next year stressing that they manage resources to the best of their ability.
Mr. MacQueen clarified that the bond issue is specifically bonded for capital projects and not part of the operating budget. Councilor McCue said that he is unclear about where surplus is coming from. Mr. MacQueen indicated capital items that were in the FY 10 budget and also bonded were taken out of the budget and put into unappropriated fund balance. Councilor McCue commented that the point of the bonding was that projects needed to get done and the Council went ahead and bonded to get projects done. Mayor Grenier noted that much of the bond money is being held for the Hutchins Street and Route 110 projects.
Councilor Evans maintained that the City removed $850,000 from capital improvements and treated it like a surplus and that is why he says that we borrowed money to fund operations.
Mayor Grenier stated that he agrees with the spirit of what was brought to the table adding that the Council was very vigilant to produce a flat tax but because of lost valuation, the tax rate will go up. He noted that a tax rate of $31.83 does not help attract new business or new value; it is counterproductive.
Mayor Grenier confirmed that there is a little over $2 million in ufb and he suggested that the Council ask the DRA to put aside $1.8 million rather than $2 million. Mr. MacQueen commented that the City is already using $850,000 in this year and this is not a recurring revenue source and could inflate the tax rate next year. Councilor McCue did not support using additional ufb saying that is will then start to backslide. Councilor Danderson was also against taking any more from ufb saying that it would likely adversely affect next year.
Councilor Rozek indicated that the Council should use the funds regardless of the consequences for next year. He added that this Council put in a lot of time to maintain a flat tax and would have done things differently if all the facts had been known. He asked if this will happen again next year and Mayor Grenier stated that next year we will have preliminary numbers from school grants in December.
Councilor McCue confirmed that rolling valuations do not have much effect though the change in values this year was far less dramatic than expected. The big change in values still comes every 5 years.
Mayor Grenier asked for a path forward from this discussion. Councilor Rozek moved to ask the City Manager to meet with department heads including the Police Commission and School Board to convey that City Council will be looking closely at budgets and there is not likely to be the same funding in next year’s budget; Councilor Danderson seconded and the motion carried.
Discussion of Letter to PUC on Behalf of Laidlaw
Mayor Grenier precipitated the subject by saying that he knows this is a contentious issue among City Council and he will listen to input from all Councilors. He distributed a packet of information indicating that elected officials can take all the time they need to discuss the issue.
Mayor Grenier asked for a letter to the PUC supporting a power purchase agreement between PSNH and Laidlaw and to urge expedited consideration of its petition. He rationalized that new market tax credits are only available for a limited time and we may not be as fortunate to secure tax credits in the next round.
Mayor Grenier noted that Laidlaw and Clean Power were the only two energy companies in the State that were after Class I renewable energy fund (REF) credit under RSA 362-F:10 which requires PSNH to purchase or pay to into a fund. There is an impetus to pay because it is cheaper than paying into the fund. Laidlaw will satisfy the PSNH REFs to 2015. He went on to say that the City has filed as interveners in the process and after consulting with Skip Sansoucy and determining that the information would be valuable to t he City.
Councilor McCue noted that he would like to have had the proposed letter to comment on. He was also bothered that the City went ahead with a petition to intervene without input from the Council. He said that he has difficulty with the power purchase agreement and he would have the same problems no matter who the power supplier is. He voiced that as it stands, it would be illegal without a change in legislation.
Councilor McCue added that the PPA is not in the best interest of the rate payers. He also has a problem with the petition to intervene and expedited decision saying that the PUC should be allowed to take all the time they need. He did not see the need for the city to generate such a letter of support. In fairness to all in Berlin and the North Country it is the ratepayers that need to be protected. We should allow the PUC to do its job and not be rushed.
Councilor Danderson explained that deregulation in other states has driven the price up and made the market volatile. He does support a letter because he wants to reduce taxes and get some added value to the community. The PPA would also add to the Governor’s goal of 25% renewable energy production by 2025 and it is one of the ways PSNH is trying to meet the goal. It would not make sense for the PUC to rule against the project.
With no further discussion Mayor Grenier asked for a motion for a letter to support the petition to the PUC and an expedited review of the power purchase agreement between PSNH and Laidlaw. Councilor Danderson so moved; Councilor Rozek seconded and the motion carried with Councilors Cayer, Poulin and McCue voting against and the remaining councilors voting affirmatively.
Police Commission
Mayor Grenier indicated that the Police Commission will come to the work session on October 11 along with the Board of Education. He wanted to re-introduce the nuisance building ordinance saying that it would give the Police Department the tools to maintain order with problem landlords and tenants.
Lt. Valliere noted that the draft ordinance was brought to the attorney general’s office and they indicated that they could see no problem with it. This would add a lot of tools that would assist landlords to get rid of problem tenants. A landlord would need a permit to rent and it would specify who is in charge of the building. If the PD gets calls for disruptive conduct, after 3 times in one year, the landlord would be forced to evict. He added that the proposed ordinance has been revised since it was first introduced; any civil rights issues have been removed and it does not violate confidentiality.
Councilor Remillard commented that she would support the ordinance in part but asked how it would be funded and who will do the work. Chief Morency replied that eventually it will reduce costs. He suggested that the licensing be done by the building inspector. Councilor Danderson confirmed that penalties would be handled by the courts.
Councilor McCue said that he likes the spirit of the ordinance. He affirmed that Bud Fitch of the AG’s office did the review. Councilor McCue felt that without legislation to allow the city to proceed, we would run into problems with the existing statute of landlord evictions. Lt. Valliere agreed that there was a problem and it was addressed in that the proposed ordinance talks about evictions, not the process.
Councilor McCue stated that it needs a bit of work and he would not want someone to try to enforce and not be able to. Chief Morency commented that we have to start somewhere. Mayor Grenier asked to see the Attorney General’s review saying that in a document, the AG will point out the material weaknesses. Mr. MacQueen reported that the city’s attorney had concerns the last time the ordinance came up and there is a need to get together as a staff to review.
Councilor Evans voiced that it is not for government to be between a landlord and tenant and for that reason he will vote against.
Councilor Poulin commented that this ordinance will be a tool to make a landlord’s life easier. He did not necessarily agree that the ordinance should be perfect from its inception saying that it needs to get started. Councilor Danderson agreed noting that it can be changed to deal with situations as time goes on. Mayor Grenier asked if it can reasonably be revised for the October 18 meeting and Mr. MacQueen indicated that would be the goal.
Other
Councilor Danderson noted that it was good to see an officer on Mason Street monitoring traffic. It served to slow traffic. He was also happy to see officers on atv’s on York Street.
Chief Morency mentioned a resolution to be proposed for a re-appropriation of money. Mayor Grenier asked that the Commissioners make the presentation on October 11.
Councilor Remillard asked about a request that was made by Mr. Landry to sell vegetables at Rotary Park since his stand was affected by the closing of 12th Street Bridge. Mr. MacQueen noted that it has taken a week to respond because the attorney was asked to weigh in. Mr. Landry does not want to pay $100 for the vender/peddler fee. Councilor Remillard asked if Council could waive the fee; however Mr. MacQueen noted that there is no such provision in the ordinance and the fee cannot be waived unless the ordinance is changed. Mr. MacQueen said that the opinion is to determine if Mr. Landry is a vender/peddler which he contends he is not. This afternoon, the attorney determined he is a vender/peddler and that if he pays the $100 fee, he can sell.
NH Liquor Commission
Mayor Grenier mentioned a communication in the boxes from the NH Liquor Commission asking for comments on a request from Liz Ruediger for a retail license. He confirmed that there is no opposition. Councilor McCue clarified that she is looking for a tobacco license. Councilor Danderson moved to send a letter to the Liquor Commission supporting the application; Councilor Poulin seconded and the motion carried.
Councilor Poulin moved to adjourn; Councilor Cayer seconded and the motion carried. The meeting ended at 8:27 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Susan Tremblay
Administrative Assistant
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