Town of Lyme
Board of Selectmen
Minutes 2 April 2003
1. The Lyme Board of Selectmen convened its regular meeting at 1:00 PM. Pete Bleyler, Dick Jones and Allan Newton attended the entire meeting. Carole Bont (Administrative Assistant), Pauline Field (Police Chief) and Dina Cutting (bookkeeper/secretary) attended parts of the meeting.
2. The minutes of 26 March were approved as amended to specify the cost of the additional insurance in paragraph 2(a) as $342 v. $345/year.
3. The following goals and objectives for the coming year were discussed:
a. The need to appoint all the members of the Recreation Commission and for it to approve or deny requests to use the Town’s recreational facilities. To date a request by Crossroads Academy to use the tennis courts has been received and will be forwarded to the Commission for action.
b. The telephone system serving the Town offices was discussed. It was decided that any upgrade would have to be treated as a budget issue for the 2004 budget.
c. How to better communicate with the town’s citizens was discussed. Although all methods have limitations, it was considered that occasional continued use of the Church Newsletter would continue as the way to communicate general information.
4. Pauline came in to discuss the purchase of the new police cruiser. Dick mentioned that Orford had received only $5,000 for a turn-in of their old Explorer; a sedan would cost $19,825 under state contract; the base price of a V-8 Explorer was $24,519, and further conversations with the Town’s insurance carrier indicated that an additional vehicle would cost $500/year. The Town’s attorney had advised the Board that the ‘sense of the meeting votes’ at Town Meeting “has no binding effect whatsoever” and that the Town’s police policies would have to be modified to prohibit the use of an SUV as a
‘pursuit vehicle’ and if limiting its speeds “are judged by the board to detract too much from the effective utilization of this vehicle, then you should not purchase it (an SUV) at all.” Earl M. Sweeney’s (Director, NH Police Standards & Training Council) letter of March 23rd was reviewed as was the use of private and unmarked vehicles for police work. Following these discussions, Pete moved and Allan seconded a motion “to buy a sedan police cruiser and retain the present SUV as per the Police Chief’s recommendation.” The motion carried unanimously.
5. The following administrative matters were discussed and/or actions taken:
a. The use of the Academy Building for Fred and Catherine King’s family reunion on July 5th was approved subject to parking related conditions recommended by the Police Chief.
b. Dick briefly reviewed the first quarter financial results. He pointed out that $9,447.18 of the $11,500 appropriation for emergency major equipment repairs has already been spent and agreed to e-mail the spreadsheet to Budget Committee members.
c. John Elliot was appointed an alternate member of the Planning Board for a term through March 2005.
d. George Hartmann was appointed a regular member of the Zoning Board of Adjustment for a term through March 2004.
e. Mike Smith and Jimmy Jenks were appointed to the Public Works Facilities Committee.
f. Crossroads Academy’s request to use the Common for their spring concert on May 29th and graduation on June 1st were approved.
g. The contract with Cartographic Associates for tax map services was signed.
h. The tax abatement for the Morton B. Bailey Trust on map 402 lot 1.2 of $31.69 of February 19th was voided.
i. Paul Beisswenger’s request to waive interest of $93.99 on his 2002 Recordridge property taxes was unanimously denied.
j. William Piper’s request for an elderly exemption and veteran’s credit was approved.
k. Dina came in to update the Board on her yield tax research. Only Orford (where one of the selectmen is a forester and is doing the assessment at no cost) of the seven towns she was able to contact has hired a forester to assess timber. It was left unresolved what we will do.
l. The MS-5 was signed.
m. Dick moved and Allan seconded a motion not to appoint an official Town energy committee. The motion carried unanimously.
n. Dick moved and Allan seconded a motion to accept the $5,000 donation towards the purchase of the Shelby in holding in the Trout Pond Management Area. The motion carried unanimously. (A thank you letter has been sent to the donor by the Conservation Commission.)
6. The meeting adjourned at 3:10 PM.
R. G. Jones
Recorder
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