Chichester Board of Selectmen
Minutes of Meeting
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Member Present: Richard DeBold, Jeffrey Jordan, Town Administrator Jodi Pinard
Others Present: Jim Plunkett, Patrick Clarke, John Martell, Alan Quimby, John Freeman, Philip Hitchcock, John Halle, Ed Millette, Alan Mayville, Steven Stock, Donna Chagnon, Tom Houle
Call to Order: Mr. DeBold called the meeting to order at 6:30pm
Appointments:
Department Heads
Police – Patrick Clarke stated the new cruiser should be in the 1st week of July. I have 8 applicants for the full time position. I will send letters out tomorrow. Written and PT tests will be on July 2. From their four will be moved on to the oral boards.
Emergency Management – Nothing to report
Fire – Alan Quimby stated the forestry truck should be in the week of July 14th. The new flag pole is up at the safety building. Paul Sanborn donated half of the cost in memory of his father and the association paid for the rest so it was no cost to the town. I also received a letter from the resident on Mason Road regarding the concerns about parking on Route 4 and Mason Road during auctions.
Mr. DeBold stated that we will be posting one side of the roadway with no parking signs.
Alan Quimby also wanted to say thank you to the Highway Department for the work on the driveway at the fire station.
Building – John Freeman stated 11 permits have been issued since the last meeting with two of them being for renovations.
Highway – Jim Plunkett stated the roadside cutting will be beginning this week starting on Bear Hill, Center Road, and King Road, Harvest Road then go over to Horse Corner and Connemara Drive after that area. Jamie made door knockers for me and I have hung those on doors for residents letting them know what was going on and they are working. We starting putting up some extra street signs and replacing some posts as well. Stop signs are on order. I have been trying to remove the graffiti on the signs but nothing is working. I have gotten two people to come in for quoting on the salt shed project and another person is coming tomorrow. It’s roughly 230 tons just to complete the berm around the shed. Gravel roads are holding up pretty well.
Forest Fire – Steven Stock stated he has been working on the skid unit and it is moving along nicely. I have also installed hose on the skid unit as well. I have drawn up some plans for a storage compartment for the bed of the truck as well. We have some remaining space after the skid unit is on the truck and this will keep the equipment out of the weather elements.
Abatements
Johnathan Halle stated I had a long conversation with Capital Appraisal and they stand by what they appraised the properties for. I feel the comps that are being used are not fair market value. The point that I want to make is that I believe that the assessment should be somewhere in the middle. I have wetlands in the back of the property that I cannot use which brings the acreage down. I believe it should be a price per acre.
Mr. DeBold stated that he would like Jamie Pike to come in and explain price per ace as he is more familiar with it.
Jamie Pike stated it is not typically looked at when assessing the site you look at the primary site as a whole not individual acreage. This is in the commercial district with a 50 foot right of way with a deeded access and that makes it a developable lot.
Mr. Halle stated that he has concerns as he cannot get a driveway permit from the State of NH which then to me makes it less valuable.
Mr. Jordan stated that I agree with the fact that this area is wet and he cannot do anything with it.
Mr. DeBold stated that he would have to agree with the assessor.
Mr. Jordan stated that he believed it is worth $130,000.
Mr. Halle stated that he is frustrated and he has had to fight for signage to be placed on his building. I am not sure that I can even put signs up as I am waiting to see if it is appealed again. I am trying to make this business profitable. I do want to state that I believe this is unfair and I do not feel this assessment reflects market value.
Mr. DeBold stated that I am not comfortable with changing a value as I am not knowledgeable about assessing values to properties.
A motion was made by Mr. DeBold and seconded by Mr. Jordan to accept the assessor recommendations on the following abatement requests:
Mr. Jordan stated that I am not comfortable with denying the Map 3 Lot 28.
Mr. Pike stated that it is being denied due to the applicants not forwarding the requested information to the assessor for consideration.
Map 4 Lot 161 to abate the amount of $183,400 in assessed value
Map 4 Lot 161-A to abate the amount of $195,000 in assessed value
Map 3 Lot 62 to abate the amount of $66,300 in assessed value
Map 3 Lot 28 to deny the abatement request
Map 3 Lot 68B to deny the abatement request. Motion Passes
General Business/Board Discussion:
Roadway Construction Bid Award
Mr. DeBold reviewed the bid results for the roadway construction bids. We cannot complete all three sections with the results of these bids.
F L Merrill Danier T Ladd Advanced Paving
Horse Corner Section 6 $147,000.00 $164,000.00 $174,385.00
Horse Corner Section 9 $236,000.00 $240,382.00 $264,160.00
Bear Hill Road Section 1 $206,000.00 $239,664.00 $200,667.80
$589,000.00 $644,046.00 $639,212.80
Mr. Millette stated that this was sold to the budget committee and the voters that we need to complete these projects to stay on the timeframe of 20 years. But now with the bid results you cannot afford to do all three. If you cannot do all three then to me you cannot complete the entire project.
Mr. DeBold stated that my decision would be to move forward with two sections of roadway.
Mr. Millette asked why were the estimates so different from last year? That would my first question.
Mr. Plunkett stated that it is the material costs that have sky rocketed.
My Mayville stated that the economy has a lot to do with it as well. There is a lot more work this year than in the past. This will drive the cost up.
Mr. DeBold stated that I am not comfortable with not moving forward with completing at least two of the road projects. I am not sure the town will be that generous next year if we ask for $600,000. The town is expecting some road work to be completed and I believe we should be accommodating that. I believe that we need to pick two sections.
Mr. Jordan stated that he believed that we should complete the two sections on Horse Corner Road.
Mr. DeBold stated that if we did that F.L. Merrill is the lowest bidder on those two jobs.
A motion was made by Mr. Jordan and seconded by Mr. DeBold to award the road construction projects for Horse Corner #6 in the amount of $147,000 and Horse Corner #9 in the amount of $236,000 to F.L. Merrill and to pay the addition $10,000 that will be need to complete these projects out of the asphalt budget line in the highway department budget. Motion Passes
Ordinance Review:
Construction Work Requiring Uniformed Policemen – This will be ready for public hearing
Nuisance/False Emergency Alarm Ordinance – Tabled asking for legal opinion.
Parking Ordinance – This will be brought back before the board on July 8, 2014.
Purchase of 2 Workstations for Highway Department
Mrs. Pinard reviewed with the selectmen that the two computers at the highway department are operating with the XP operating system that is no longer supported by Microsoft. Both workstations were slated for replacement this year.
A motion was made by Mr. DeBold and seconded by Mr. Jordan to purchase 2 new workstations with software from MainStay Technologies in the amount of $1,842.28 to be paid out of the Town Office Equipment Capital Reserve Fund. Motion Passes.
Public Input:
None
Adjournment
A motion was made by Mr. DeBold and seconded by Mr. Jordan to adjourn the meeting at 7:56pm. Motion Passes
Respectfully submitted,
Not approved until signed
Jodi Pinard, Town Administrator
Richard DeBold, Chair D. Michael Paveglio Jeffrey Jordan
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