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Selectmen’s Board Meeting
January 22, 2015
Present: Bob Thompson, Chairman; John Allen and Bill Lockard, Selectmen
Visitors: Town Office Administrator Julie Atwell, Town Administrative Assistant Julie Hoyt, Police Chief Doug Jette, Fire Chief/Road Agent Jay Henry, Bea Davis, Dean Davis, Nancy Davis, George Howard, Stan Weiss, Penny Miller
Chairman Bob Thompson called the meeting to order at 4:31 p.m.
- Selectmen’s Meeting – January 8, 2015 The minutes were approved as written.
- Non-Public – date here – sign minutes envelope RSA 91-A:3, II(a) The envelope was signed.
- Update on 1.8.15 Action Items
- Reducing Road Salt Selectman Lockard noted the use of salt is a complex issue; he met with the state, police and highway representatives and reviewed the regulations. He’s a “no salt” guy but this is a steep community. If there’s anyone who can suggest a different mix that works the Board is open to it. Bea Davis noted there has to be salt mixed in the sand to get the sander to work; otherwise they’d have a load of cement in there. This is a vacation community; the only way to get dry roads is with salt; no one at the meeting was comfortable making a change; the town has to maintain safety.
- Deputy Health Officer Selectman Allen talked with HO/EMD Tom Grieg regarding the Deputy Health Officer. Andy Chalmers held the position previously; this will provide a backup for HO/EMD Grieg; the Deputy would only be contacted if HO/EMD Grieg is not available. It is a volunteer position so there’s no impact on the budget.
- Prospect Farm Parking Lot There is nothing new on this.
- Stump Dump Chairman Thompson talked with Road Agent Henry about this; it will be the first order of business when the roads are thawed out.
- Monitoring of Wells at Melloon Road Chairman Thompson noted the wells have been monitored since 2007; everyone was under the impression that monitoring would end before now. HEB responded that the original permit expired in 2012; if there had been no issues the monitoring would be discontinued. During 2008 there was a high level of arsenic and mercury not previously detected which means the town has to monitor for another five-year groundwater monitoring cycle. The next cycle of monitoring is for the five-year period of 2013 – 2018. George Howard wants to know why it’s a five-year period; Office Administrator Atwell will follow-up on this. If there have been no issues since 2008, Jackson has already demonstrated five years of being clean. Bea would like to know if stuff is still
being brought up there; Selectman Lockard went up and didn’t see anything other than brush and stumps; Bea noted there’s some macadam up there. Selectman Allen did see some asphalt and sand up there; this will be checked out in the spring.
- Letter to former Police Chief Karl Meyers Chairman Thompson read the letter into the record (copy attached). He served the town for twelve years; Jackson was lucky to have him.
- Selectmen’s Meeting Dates The next meeting will be February 5th at 4:30 with the second Budget Meeting to follow at 6 p.m. The second meeting in February will be on the 19th. March meetings are the 5th and the 19th with Town Election on March 10th and Town Meeting on March 12th. There will be a joint meeting with Bartlett on Friday January 30th at 8:30 a.m. at the Bartlett Town Offices for the Bartlett/Jackson Ambulance meeting.
- Public Comment There were no comments at this time.
- Police Report Police Chief Douglas Jette reported on Department activities since the last meeting; the locks have been changed at the Department and repair of a broken window is a priority; there have been a number of false alarms and there was an attempted theft a few days ago. Chief Jette wants folks to be aware this was a brazen attempt to steal a three-hundred pound air conditioning unit in the daylight. Chief Jette has met with the Interim Chief at Bartlett; he’s offered to share resources; this is a big process and applications close on February third. Chief Jette would not be surprised if the Interim Chief became the stay-on person. Chief Jette is also working on a couple of designs for a sign to direct people to the Police Department; he’d like to see one sign located in such a
way that it will direct folks traveling in either direction. Regarding the closure of Pinkham Notch the other night; the road was closed first due to an accident then due to the ice; the state couldn’t keep up with it. There were six to eight cars off the road and the tow trucks weren’t coming out until the roads were better. Chief Jette noted the Fire Department did an excellent job with directions and signs. Fire Chief/Road Agent Jay Henry noted there was only one motorist that had an issue with being inconvenienced by the road closure.
- Building Inspector
- Weekly Report(s) Submitted by Robert Goudreau & Kevin Bennett The report was read into the record; Fire Inspector Robert Goudreau is in on Thursdays and Building Inspector Kevin Bennett is in on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
- Building Permit 2015000001 Map R08, Lot 10 – (Owner – Semeoni – 47 U05 Dana Place Road) – Repair poor install of plumbing drainage, improve poor framing
- PB Denial – Map R18, Lot 12 – (Owner – Stamey – 10 Candy Cane Lane) This permit was denied due to Jackson Zoning rules.
- Deputy Health Officer – Appointment Letter Selectman Lockard, seconded by Selectman Allen, made a motion to appoint Kevin Bennett as Deputy Health Officer. The motion passed unanimously. The appointment letter was signed.
- Assessor Evaluation Letters There were approximately twenty owners that asked for a review of their property valuations by Assessor Jason Call; he’s made adjustment where he felt it was appropriate. Selectman Lockard wants to take a closer look at this. Selectman Allen is concerned with the fact that some of these were so far off; some of these properties have a hefty reduction. Chairman Thompson noted the details for each case are in the folder; clearly something was brought to Assessor Call’s attention that he was not aware of; the Selectmen would like to give themselves an opportunity to review this information. Selectman Allen, seconded by Selectman Lockard, made a motion to table this item. The motion passed unanimously.
- Crane & Bell Auditing Services This is the bid for Crane & Bell to continue its accounting and auditing relationship with Jackson. Chairman Thompson noted when the Selectmen realized the Auditor was not to be an elected official, they had to look at how town audits were done. There was some concern as to the costs involved if this was to be a full audit done by a CPA; that would cost twenty-thousand dollars a year. Jackson’s small population makes it eligible for a waiver; one was requested and granted. The audit required to meet that lower standard would be seventeen-hundred dollars; the total on the contract is seventy-nine-hundred dollars. Selectman Allen, seconded by Selectman Lockard, made a motion to accept the quote for services from Crane & Bell. The motion
passed unanimously.
- Hiring of second full time Police Officer Selectman Lockard reviewed the progress towards getting fully staffed; the person interviewed lives locally and Selectman Lockard feels the candidate will fit in with the Jackson force. He would like the authority to make the job offer; this candidate is also interviewing with Conway. While Jackson can’t meet what Conway is offering, the candidate would like to be in Jackson. Chief Jette feels this is a qualified individual; by making the hire now he will have a sixty day window to get all the background work done for the next Academy session. Selectman Lockard and Chief Jette did talk about the pay; the recently hired Officer is certified; he’s already a full-fledged officer. This candidate is not certified; once he completes the training and becomes a certified
officer he will be moved to that pay level. Chief Jette wanted the Board to be aware giving him and Selectman Lockard the authority to make the job offer does not circumvent Chief Jette’s insistence that the candidate be introduced to all of the Selectmen. Selectman Allen, seconded by Selectman Lockard, made a motion to give Selectman Lockard and Chief Jette the authority to offer the Police Officer job to the candidate they deem successful. The motion passed unanimously.
- Public Comment Jerry Dougherty noted the attempted break-in could happen to anybody’s place; Chief Jette noted that’s what he wanted to put in folks’ minds. The Department has motion cameras available to set up on folk’s property; Chief Jette asked folks to be mindful; to watch out for footprints or any odd things. It is safe to assume all the preemptive work and moving of the A/C unit was done to facilitate the ease of loading it up when they came back for it. Neighbors watching out for neighbors is what he’s looking for.
Jerry would also like to know what the specific reasons were for denial of the Candy Cane Lane building permit; Chairman Thompson read the letter of January 5th that was sent in response to the December 29th application which listed the Zoning Ordinances involved.
Dean Davis noted work continues over at the Candy Cane Lane property; he wondered if part of the permit was approved. Tamarack is over there working; they were putting the rafters up today. It was wondered if perhaps this was work being done to accommodate the shut-down. Dean noted this is all new work; they’re working up there; they poured the cement months ago. He wondered what else they would be working on except the items in the denied permit. This will be an Action Item for the next meeting; Inspector Bennett will be asked about this.
Nancy Davis would like to ask Chief Jette to put the Neighbors watching Neighbors initiative out in the Enews to prompt folks; full time residents are surrounded by second homes. Chief Jette agreed to get the word out; if you see funky things going on, report it. He will work with the Office staff to craft something to send out.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:19 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by:
Martha D. Tobin
Recording secretary
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