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Selectmen’s Board Meeting
February 21, 2013
Present: Jerry Dougherty IV, Chairman; John Allen and Bob Thompson, Selectmen
Visitors: Administrative Assistant Ella Cressy, Fire Chief/Road Agent Jay Henry, Police Chief Karl Meyers, Bea Davis, Hank Benesh, Mary Canty, Bill Lockard, Kathleen Dougherty, Jerry Dougherty,
Chairman Jerry Dougherty called the meeting to order at 4:32 p.m.
- Selectmen’s Meeting – February 7, 2013 Selectman Thompson, seconded by Selectman Allen, made a motion to approve the minutes of February 7, 2013 as written. The motion passed unanimously.
- Selectmen’s Meeting – February 14, 2013 Selectman Thompson, seconded by Selectman Allen, made a motion to approve the minutes of February 14, 2013 as written. The motion passed unanimously.
The minutes of October 4, 2013 will be approved under Old Business.
- Public Comment There were none.
- Police Report Police Chief Karl Meyers reviewed Department activities since last week’s meeting; some items included assisting the Fire Department with a Carbon Monoxide detector and a lot of vehicular accidents due to the weather. There was a car off the road on Switchback Road; DOT requested a tow for a vehicle by the Falls, Officers located the owner to move it; there was a parking complaint by the Wentworth Hotel; a vehicle lost its brakes on Tin Mine Road; a tractor-trailer truck was trying to get up Black Mountain Road, got stuck and needed assistance to back down. There was a complaint of a vehicle parked on Dundee Road by the Doublehead trailhead; Road Agent Henry noted the Selectmen got a letter about this. A car went through the Stop sign on Jackson Ridge; there
was a motor vehicle accident on Jackson Highlands; there was a parking complaint on Cameron Drive and a vehicle in a ditch on Wilson Road. Chief Meyers noted that a couple of years ago there was an on-going issue with a gentleman in town regarding his dogs and the town took him to court. The issue appears to be starting up again; he’s been given two warnings and was fined the second time. There were loose dogs on Black Mountain Road. A parked car was hit and the offender didn’t stop. There were two false burglar alarms; there was a call for children playing in the road north of the Village on 16; there were two 911 misdials; a three car motor vehicle accident at Dana Place Inn; a complaint from a town citizen regarding our Postmaster’s behavior; there is nothing the Police can do about that. Officers did a Project Good Morning check and took a barking dog complaint that turned out to be a vacation owner who left the dog on the
deck; the first day it happened the neighbor was okay about it but the second day a complaint was filed and the owner was fined. A debit card and driver’s license was found on a ski trail and a report was taken of a raccoon acting funny; it was gone on arrival. It’s been a busy week, most were weather related.
- Road Agent/Fire Chief Report Road Agent Jay Henry doesn’t have much to share; the Highway employees have spent a considerable amount of time at the Fire Station getting the trucks up to snuff, when they aren’t out plowing; the Department took a call about a tree on power lines. There are severe frost heaves this year; the roads are really bad. Road Agent Henry also noted that during the big storm last weekend, Officer Sean Cowland was a big help; he stayed all night; the amount of calls they had were unbelievable. It’s pretty rare for a Police Officer to stay all night; he will receive a letter of thanks. The Highway is getting into the habit of scheduling two on; two off so all four employees don’t have to be on location for thirty-seven hours
straight. Scheduling used to be done that way; sometimes they will have to stay all night but he wants to get back into the habit of the alternating schedule; the employees need a break.
Fire Chief Henry noted everything is going along fine at the Fire Department; the Red Fox is up and operating; there are no problems there.
Road Agent Henry noted the Board got a copy of a nasty note from the person told not to park on Dundee Road; he feels the complaint is ridiculous; there are notices on all the property lines that there is no parking on Jackson’s streets. This person wouldn’t park on Route 128 in Massachusetts or on Route 16; why would it be okay to park on a town road. Chairman Dougherty noted the complaint is not worthy of a response. There have been a lot of cars parking illegally either in the roads or down in the Village. One of the calls Chief Meyers spoke about was the vehicle that lost its brakes on Tin Mine Road in the middle of Nemo; it had to be towed and Mount Washington Valley Towing wouldn’t go up the hill so the Highway Department pushed the car up the hill into
someone’s driveway.
- Building Matters – Andy Chalmers, Building Inspector
- Eagle Mountain House: repair water damage to roof and rear office Selectman Allen noted that being commercial triggers inspection with the state. The estimate on the work is under $10,000 but it is a commercial property. Selectman Thompson asked if the state automatically comes in because it’s commercial; Chairman Dougherty noted it’s up to the contractor to contact the state to come in; but it doesn’t call for a permit in the town of Jackson. Chairman Dougherty recognizes waiting for the state to come in to do the inspections might make things more difficult for the builder; that is another reason to change Jackson’s process. The Board’s decision is that no permit is required. Administrative Assistant Ella Cressy will notify the owner and let them know they have
to contact the state for inspections; if the state doesn’t get there in thirty days then the contractor can proceed with work.
- FEMA paperwork for balance of Hurricane Irene work for Dundee Road – need signature Chairman Dougherty asked Road Agent Henry if all the paperwork is ready and completed; Road Agent Henry believes this is the final piece. He and Diane met with FEMA a couple of months ago; the work was complete but the town still had to put the gravel down; Diane told them what was going on with this and resubmitted the paperwork; it looks like Jackson could get up to $20,000. Selectman Thompson, seconded by Selectman Allen, made a motion to authorize Chairman Dougherty to sign the State of New Hampshire Emergency Management Certification report. The motion passed unanimously.
- Tax Abatement request: request from Clerk Jeanette Heidmann for abatement This involves a payment of one dollar that was applied incorrectly; in order to zero the outstanding one dollar charge an abatement must be approved; the owner submitted the right amount; it was applied incorrectly. Selectman Thompson, seconded by Selectman Allen, made a motion to approve the request from Clerk Jeanette Heidmann to approve an abatement for Map R17, Lot 31A W01, in the amount of one dollar. The motion passed unanimously.
- Public Comment There were none.
- New Business
- Hiring process – Office Administrative Assistant Today is the final day for accepting resumes and letters of interest for this position; there have been twenty-two submitted as of tonight’s meeting. The Board needs to decide how the process is to move forward; Chairman Dougherty would like to form a panel of three people with one Selectmen’s representative and two members from the community at-large to perform the interview process then the panel will whittle down the applicants to one candidate for recommendation to the Selectmen. Selectman Allen volunteered to be the Selectmen’s rep. Selectman Thompson believes the Selectmen can come up with a couple of people who will be willing to serve the town in that capacity. He also recommends that the Board cull through the
applications and maybe recommend the top five; he feels the top tier should be obvious; he feels that is a function of the Selectmen. He also feels that any applicant should have gone through two interviews before being presented to the Board. Selectman Thompson believes Selectman Allen is an excellent choice to serve on the hiring committee. Chairman Dougherty noted the Selectmen can review the applications separately and make comments but the panel should review all the applicants. Anybody in the community can serve on the panel; this needs to get into the e-news. Selectman Thompson thinks it is a good idea if Administrative Assistant Cressy comes up with some questions for the candidates; it adds integrity to the process as all applicants would be asked a core set of questions that are the same; that way the panel can gauge the applicants and/or interviewees in the same way. Administrative Assistant Cressy noted there is a set of interview
questions that Diane developed for Administrative Assistant Cressy’s hiring process that can be reviewed to see if some apply. As far as a time frame; it will take a week to pull the panel together.
- Electioneering: There was a communication from Frank Benesh’s attorney regarding the electioneering issue; Chairman Dougherty is disappointed that it went to the town’s lawyer rather than directly to the Board; the Board had been trying to save attorney’s fees on this matter. Chairman Dougherty has drafted a response to Mr. Benesh’s attorney; the town may be heading to court on this one as there is a deadline for response of February 22nd. If the town goes to court legal arguments will have to be made; the Board may want to get Town Counsel involved. Chairman Dougherty wondered if the Board wanted to go through this or hand it off to Counselor Malia; one solution, which Chairman Dougherty spoke with Moderator Kelley about, would be to request a
representative from the Attorney General’s (AG) Office meet the Selectmen at the Whitney Center. Electioneering is up to the Moderator to decide; the only other person who has authority is the AG. The Selectmen agree to request a representative from the AG’s Office to review the situation on-site. The Board will also forward Chairman Dougherty’s response to the AG’s Office and to Counselor Malia.
Chairman Dougherty is willing to send this to Frank as well but Selectman Thompson cautioned the Board may not want to share this response if this is going to end in litigation. The letter states that Mr. Benesh is open to the option of not litigating; the Board needs to make a good faith offer to the court that they are trying to avoid that. Selectman Thompson is envisioning when this does end up in court; he is not sure that a prepared response from the Selectmen would have been vetted to the point where the Board members are all comfortable; he thinks the first step is to invite the AG’s representative to see the site. The Board members all looked at the letter from the AG’s Office and it said nothing about the Selectmen being in violation of the law; the Board made a
decision; it wasn’t one Frank was happy with. Given the public safety issues that could potentially crop up from being able to electioneer anywhere on town or school property outside a ten-foot corridor, the Board made a decision. He studied the letter and understands what it does and doesn’t say; if the Board’s response is one that a citizen in town is not happy with then that citizen has recourse; there is no reason to start the meter with Counselor Malia at this point. Selectman Allen agrees; it is unfortunate to be on the time constraint of February 22nd; the letter gives the Board one day to make the decision.
The Board agrees getting a representative from the AG’s office to Jackson to look at the Whitney Center is the first step. Chairman Dougherty noted the AG is the chief election person in the state and has the ability to have someone represent him in this case; it can be anyone from the Sheriff to a local attorney; it shouldn’t be difficult to get a representative up here and to invite Frank to come to that inspection; Moderator Kelly has already said he is willing to attend the meeting with the AG’s representative. Chairman Dougherty noted it’s unfortunate that Frank hasn’t made any attempt to contact the Moderator since March 2012. This is the Moderator’s decision to make and it’s hard to see how the Selectmen can do more since it’s not
the Board’s decision.
Selectman Allen thinks this information should be sent to Counselor Malia only; Selectman Thompson agrees it would be prudent to send this on to Counselor Malia and if he has advice then he is free to give it. The next step is to coordinate a time for the AG’s representative, the Moderator and at least one Selectman to walk the site which will allow a ruling before the March 12th election. Chairman Dougherty will contact Counselor Malia to find out what the proper process is for contacting the AG’s office.
Chairman Dougherty noted his response is limited to the electioneering issue; the Board is not addressing the civil rights aspect; the town is looking at a lawsuit regarding civil rights and the Selectmen may want to ask the general assembly at the town meeting to increase the line for Attorneys’ fees.
[A bit later in the meeting Jerry Dougherty asked for further discussion on this topic; that discussion is listed here for continuity].
Jerry Dougherty asked if anyone has pointed out to the AG that the Whitney Center is part of school property; there are state laws regarding electioneering on school property. Selectman Thompson thought that was the case but he hasn’t seen anything in writing; he also heard that the school wasn’t in favor of electioneering but that is not in writing either; the Board should get documentation on this. Bea Davis did want to clarify that Frank was on private property during the incident in question; Chairman Dougherty pointed out that Mr. Benesh is asking the Board to allow electioneering wherever he wants; public or private.
- Board Policy: There is nothing new on this for tonight.
- Job Descriptions: The three Department Head job descriptions have been approved and the Board is working on those positions under each Department; it would be prudent for further discussion to wait until after the elections. Administrative Assistant Cressy pointed out that the position formerly called Town Administrator is now titled Administrative Assistant which is her job title as well; Chairman Dougherty assured her this will be addressed.
- Shaw & Chase water drainage matter: Shaw reaction to draft Brian Shaw has not responded yet.
- Right to Know Law – Implementation of Non-Public Session Checklist Form This would become part of Board Policy.
- Selectmen’s meeting – Non-Public Minutes October 4, 2012 Chairman Dougherty noted that along with the minutes from October 4th was e-mail correspondence with Counselor Malia about how the mutual release was formed; those are part of the minutes per Selectman Thompson’s request. Selectman Thompson had thought these were missing things but that discussion happened at the September 27th meeting so he’s okay with these as written; it’s complete. Selectman Thompson, seconded by Selectman Allen, made a motion to approve the Non-Public Session from October 4, 2012. The motion passed unanimously.
Selectman Thompson, seconded by Selectman Allen, made a motion to unseal the minutes of the Non-Public Session from October 4, 2012. The motion passed unanimously.
There being no further business the meeting was adjourned by motion at 5:21 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by:
Martha D. Tobin
Recording Secretary
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