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Present: Beatrice Davis, Chairman; Jerry Dougherty IV and John Allen, Selectmen
Visitors: Office Administrator Diane Falcey, Police Chief Karl Meyers, Town Auditor Martha Benesh, Hank Benesh, George Howard, Paul Belluche, Brian Burns, Officer Sean Cowland
- Selectmen’s Meeting – November 3, 2011 The minutes were approved as amended.
- Tax Rate Setting Session – November 7, 2011 The minutes were approved as amended.
- Police Report Chief Karl Meyers reviewed activities since the last meeting; some items discussed included: Arrest of a male subject for consuming alcohol while driving; fingerprinting three folks for school jobs and two accidental 911 dials. The Department is dealing with an interesting case, a gentleman living in Atlanta had dated a lady up here seven years ago; she has been e-mailing, calling and texting to the point of harassment; the activity crosses state boundaries and involves internet crime, too. There are several homes the Department is watching for residents who are away; a woman hit the guardrail and was arrested for drunk driving; there are currently two cases in the District Court; Officers assisted at a local Bed &Breakfast involving an employee and some missing items. A large
truck went through the covered bridge but even though Chief Meyers was right at the office when the call came through the truck was gone by the time he got up to the bridge area. There was an accident by the Jackson town line; a male subject was arrested for public intoxication. There were two car/deer accidents, one in the Notch and another by the Wentworth Golf Course. Officers also assisted with a local business that was terminating an employee who had keys to the business. Office Administrator Falcey asked Chief Meyers about testing the safety devices in the office; he will contact Pope Security and test it tomorrow.
- Building Permits – Andy Chalmers, Building Inspector
- Heath, Doucette Trust (Map R14, Lot 3) Straighten roof line & add deck Selectman Allen noted with all the activity up there looks like more than just a deck; Office Administrator Falcey noted there was a form truck there and work was commencing on the roof; Inspector Chalmers is going to check it out but at this time has no issues with recommending the permit be approved. Selectman Allen, seconded by Chairman Davis, made a motion to approve the building permit as recommended by Inspector Chalmers. The motion passed 2-0-1 (Dougherty abstains).
- Heigh, Geoffrey (Map R8, Lot 10-6A) Replace four windows No permit is required for replacing these four windows.
- Jackson Tennis Club Inc. (Map V2, Lot 23) Upgrade electrical service Selectman Allen, seconded by Chairman Davis, made a motion to approve the building permit as recommended by Inspector Chalmers. The motion passed 2-0-1 (Dougherty abstains).
- Martha Benesh, Jackson Auditor – 2010 Auditor’s Revised Report Auditor Benesh has met with the Library Trustees; they agreed on the points but didn’t like the discussion; they felt it was opinionated. She is removing the discussion from the document as it has no impact on the results. For future reference, the Lila Pond money that was a gift to the Library should have gone to the Trustees of the Trust Fund; a policy and/or procedure needs to be established for the future. Selectman Dougherty noted that given the unique role of the auditor it can be difficult to discern opinion from objective. Selectman Dougherty, seconded by Selectman Allen, made a motion to withdraw the previously accepted audit and to accept the amended audit. The motion passed unanimously.
The Board thanked Auditor Benesh for doing a great job. The Selectmen should plan to get all the various volunteers (on various committees) together with the LGC for a training regarding their responsibilities regarding collecting money and not collect money and what is a volunteer versus who is an officer of the town.
- Municipal Forest Law Training – December 6th 8:00 am. – 12:30 pm Office Administrator Falcey would like to attend the Municipal Forest Law Training and to also have Ella attend for training purposes; it’s free. The Selectmen agree to close the town office on December 6th for half a day; it will reopen at 1:30 p.m. and the change in hours will be posted.
Chief Meyers and Officer Cowland join the meeting at 4:22 p.m. for the next agenda item.
- Rebecca Hains – Request to contest parking ticket Chief Meyers noted Ms. Hains has had no contact with the Department other than her initial letter; the fine is $25; she said she doesn’t think she should have to pay it. She was told she was on the agenda for 4:30. If she doesn’t come then the Department will send a letter and the ticket goes through District Court. Selectman Dougherty feels the Board should give Ms Hains until 4:45 before moving on to the non-public session. Chief Meyers and Officer Cowland leave the meeting and will return should Ms Hains arrive.
- Public comment George Howard asked who can attend the Forest Law training as he is interested. It is open to the public. Selectman Dougherty asked Paul Belluche what the status is of the fire pond on Cameron drive and was informed the Association members voted not to do anything; they don’t want to spend the money although volunteers will get the shrubs cleaned out; Road Agent/Fire Chief Henry has cleaned the filter and the dry hydrant; he thought it all looked good. In order to do the proposed work the Association was going to have to generate a RFP and while they got an estimate last year of $600 it would cost the Association $2500 to go out to bid.
- Rebecca Hains – Further discussion While some members thought there was no reason to think Ms Hains is going to show up if she didn’t contact the Office, it was noted in larger municipalities a person contesting a ticket would just show up at the scheduled time. Chairman Davis noted that it is apparent Ms Hains doesn’t know what the white lines mean; additionally there were signs up regarding no parking.
- Library Audit – Further discussion Auditor Benesh noted according to the RSA’s all the revenue brought in through book sales, late book fees and other charges are supposed to go into the general fund (she was unable to get that far with her audit due to the lack of records). Beyond the bookkeeping issue the Library can retain these funds for its own budget only if the town has given that authority. Another issue is that they are supposed to be documenting books that have been purchased for them and those should be shown in the Annual Report; this may be documented somewhere but it’s not in the Annual Report. The Trustees are adamant that they can get rid of anything they want to, including the art; even if there was a law that said that, it would be best to dispose
of it in an open manner. Circumstances of items on loan need to be defined as well. There needs to be a record of “who this belongs to”. There is no law that allows them to accept donations of more than $5000 without a public hearing to accept it. The Library may have been given the right to accept gifts at town meeting but Selectman Dougherty believes anything over $5,000 has to have a public hearing to let folks know that amount is being accepted and to establish the purpose of the gift. Auditor Benesh is less concerned with gifts of money, no one was going to turn down Lila Pond’s money but the disposition of the money is the issue; all the various boards and committees should get better at what to do when we have a gift over the $5,000 limit. The Lila Pond funds were supposed to go to the Trustees but it went to the Library with no hearing; the Library gave the money to the Friends of the Library; there should be more public
discussion of this. We have good folks working on these boards and committees so the money went where it was supposed to but there is no documentation of where this money went.
Office Administrator Falcey noted John Lyford will be retiring and the town will be looking for someone to replace him. At a bare minimum the town needs to have someone who can complete the MS-5. The Board agrees Office Administrator Falcey can begin calling around to find out who might meet Jackson’s needs. Auditor Benesh noted a whole audit is a huge thing and she would like to see sections done but a whole audit needs to be done. If reviews were done annually on portions then those can be used should Jackson need a loan or a bond. Office Administrator Falcey will look into this. At a minimum the town should be
doing a full audit every ten years and the last one was done in 2009; if the town were to go for another bond many banks are requiring two years of audits in a row.
The Board members agree Ms Hains is not going to appear.
Selectman Dougherty, seconded by Selectman Allen made a motion to go into Non-Public Session at 5:05 p.m. in accordance with RSA 91-A3, II (a) to discuss personnel issues. The motion passed unanimously.
The Board returned to Public Session at 6:07 p.m.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:07 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by:
Martha D. Tobin
Recording Secretary
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