Draft: February 13, 2007
Approved: February 21, 2007
Town of Lyme
Board of Selectmen
Public Hearing and Meeting
February 13, 2007
6:00 pm
Lyme School Cafeteria
The Board of Selectmen met at 6:00 pm at the School Cafeteria for the purpose of holding a PUBLIC HEARING on the proposed Bond for the Municipal Offices project.
Attending were:
Board of Selectmen: Judy Brotman, Dick Jones, Charles Ragan
Building Committee:~ Don Metz, Carole Bont, Patty Jenks, Frank Bowles, Tony Pippin, Sr., Jane Fant, Tish Smith, Michael Woodard
Budget Committee: Gibb Cornwell, Wayne Tullar
Members of the Public: Delores Drew, Richard Drew, Don Elder, Julia Elder, Arthur Laro, Faith Catlin, John Greismer, Peter Dayton, Ross McIntyre, Jim Poage, Morton R. Bailey, Nadia Gorman, Wallace Ragan, Suzette Ragan, Dina Cutting
Board of Selectmen Chair, Judy Brotman called the Public Hearing to order at 6:02 PM.
She offered an explanation as to why this second public hearing was necessary: the wording in Warrant Article 8 has been changed slightly (less specific) to allow more flexibility for the choice of site purchase. The dollar amount remains the same.
She also informed the attending public that circumstances have forced the relocation of the Police Department into different quarters located in the rear of the Mascoma Bank building currently owned by Wayne Pike. The town is entering into a 5 year lease with the potential for an additional 5 years if necessary.~ This move takes considerable pressure off the original new municipal building requirements as the police considerations have been taken care of for the near future.
Judy also reminded the public that the drawings displayed are conceptual and will be revised some. The Building Committee will continue to seek public opinion as progress is made and that it’s important to remember the Town of Lyme will need to continue moving forward with a search for and construction of an appropriate site and building as the town is growing and the needs are changing.
Dick Jones said that the Building Committee had recommended Article 8 be “passed over”, which would keep the momentum going in terms of addressing the issue, allowing the time for further investigation of sites and building design. He also pointed out that since the last Public Hearing it has been learned that both the Tuckaway Timber site and the Upper Valley Land Trust sites have septic designs for 3 employees in place.
Don Metz said he wasn’t surprised to learn about the septic specifications, as the same person was responsible for the development of both sites.
Peter Dayton asked if only a portion of the bond could be used, and if part of the bond could be used for only the purchase of land to be assured of a site in the future, if another more appropriate site can not be found. Judy Brotman responded yes to both questions.
Peter feels that the people are looking for “a feeling of community”.
Don Metz asked the Board of Selectmen to explain that the Building Committee has voted to pass over this warrant article.~ Dick Jones responded as he was also on the Building Committee and is a member of the Board of Selectmen.~ He hesitates to speak for the entire Building Committee; however he believes that the Committee made this recommendation based on the sense of the meeting at the first Public Hearing. Judy Brotman added that the Committee felt that rather than have a negative vote against the project in general, it was better to keep the project momentum going but pass over it to allow time for more positive discussion.
Faith Catlin wondered why this Public Hearing was not advertised. Judy Brotman indicated that the meeting had been posted as required by law in the Valley News and in public areas and she thought the web-site as well.~ [It was later confirmed that the notice was posted on the town’s web page.] Faith then asked if the Town votes to authorize the bond money to be spent; can the Selectmen spend it any way they wish? Judy Brotman responded that the Selectmen would be able to follow through on the project, but would most certainly have at least one additional hearing for public input.~ Faith repeated her question: Bottom line, the Selectmen could do as they see fit? Administrative Assistant Carole Bont and Judy Brotman both confirmed that this is true.
Peter Dayton asked if there is a law which allows an emergency Town Meeting anytime.~ Judy Brotman answered, no; there must be a specific, emergent need to do this, and it needs to be approved by the court.
Dick Jones explained that before hard prices may be obtained there must be more research and design planning done.
Faith Catlin asked why the Building Committee voted against proceeding with the bond vote. Frank Bowles, a member of the Building Committee responded that many things following the last Public Hearing were carefully considered, including another look at scale, costs and the sense of the meeting.
Jim Poage asked when the public will be able to actually vote on the new building.~ Is the only way to vote against the building to vote no on the warrant article? Judy Brotman agreed. A negative vote on the article is a negative vote for the project.
Julia Elder asked if voters must be present at the Town Meeting to vote on this article. Judy Brotman and Town Clerk Patty Jenks indicated that yes, the ballot will be distributed at the meeting and an hour will be allowed for voting time. It will not be part of the absentee ballot packets.
Jane Fant asked why there’s still a ballot for this if the Building Committee voted to pass over it.~ Judy Brotman indicated that it is still a posted warrant article and therefore will remain a ballot item.
Jane asked if the Budget Committee voted against this warrant item.~ Judy Brotman indicated they did, for the original article, but have not yet seen the revised warrant article.~ They meet following this public hearing for a final discussion on warrant articles including whether to recommend the article as amended. Peter Dayton asked if this article can be amended.~ Judy Brotman and Carole Bont indicated that yes, modifications may be made.~ Peter also wondered if it was fair to gauge the feelings of the entire town based only on the “sense of the meeting” of those attending public hearings.
Morton R. Bailey asked to confirm that the Police Department has relocated and what the circumstances and arrangements are.~ Judy Brotman explained that the rental unit at the rear of the Mascoma Bank building owned by Wayne Pike has been rented at $1,000.00 per month for a period of 5 years, with the ability to extend the lease another 5 years if necessary. Mortie opined that the Police could have an adequate space created on the fire station site, that it should not be attached or included with municipal offices under any circumstances and that the Tuckaway Timber site remains by far the best location for the municipal office building.~ Judy Brotman assured him the Building Committee will continue to look at all options.
Delores Drew asked for an explanation as to why the Police were moved.~ Judy answered that the reason for the rather fast relocation came about as the result of continuing, becoming more urgent concerns that the fire station building may have air quality issues which compromise the health and welfare of staff and visitors. Until this can be sorted out the building is closed to anyone who is not emergency personnel taking trucks in and out.~ Dick Jones added that there are arrangements made for an independent engineer to do an assessment of the fire station and all the town offices to ascertain what the issues may or may not be in these locations.
Tony Pippin Sr. asked if the bond article may simply be removed from the warrant. No one seemed to have an answer to this. Tony felt that the removal might save time and since the police department has been relocated this might help in the long run. He has seen the new police office and feels it is a big improvement over what they had been working in.
Tish Smith asked what the difference was between “passing over” and voting down.~ Dick Jones explained that “passing over” creates a positive impression of wanting to proceed with the project, allowing for additional time to accumulate more information. ~To vote it down sends a negative message to the Building Committee and town staff that there is no interest in pursuing resolution to the concerns.
Faith Catlin did not feel that voting down the article or removing the article from the warrant was a good message to send. People had worked hard to get this far based on concerns voiced by many.
Ross McIntyre indicated that it’s his experience that projects of this magnitude seldom succeed on the first try. Often it takes two or three tries before things work out. But anything worth doing is worth working for. He knows the Building Committee has worked very hard and though it has met with resistance to the project, that doesn’t mean the recommendations they made were the wrong ones. He feels that the issue should be discussed at Town Meeting and supports the Building Committee’s recommendation that plans must be made to address future needs.
Sue Ragan asked how much the new police offices are costing. ~Dick Jones replied that the rental unit at the rear of the Mascoma Bank building owned by Wayne Pike has been rented at $1,000.00 per month.
Peter Dayton wondered if it makes economic sense to wait. Judy Brotman replied that regardless of if it makes sense, the taxpayers must be comfortable with the proposal.~ Peter feels that the issues of waiting while costs escalate should be discussed publicly.
Faith Catlin asked if the results from the Master Plan survey have been compiled and if so, what were the opinions about the municipal offices gained from that and are the comments going to be made available to the public? Dick Jones replied that there is a summary posted on the town web-site and others remember seeing this on the Lyme Listserve. He doesn’t remember exactly what the overall opinions were concerning the municipal offices.~ Faith thought these should be known. Judy Brotman interjected that the opinions made as the result of this survey are known and the community will be made aware of the results as soon as possible.
John Griesmer asked if the entire booklet of survey results could be made available to the public before town meeting. Dick Jones responded that the Planning Board is preparing an approximately 200 page book of the comments included in response to the survey.
Peter Dayton thanked the Board of Selectmen for holding the hearings and the Building Committee for taking the time to carefully work on this project.
Julia Elder asked how long there was left on the school bond?~ Reply=7 years.
Don Elder asked how long for the Highway Garage? Reply=14 years.
Judy Brotman thanked everyone for coming to the meeting and sharing valuable opinions and asking constructive questions.~
The Public Hearing was closed at 6:55 PM.
c
The Board of Selectmen continued the Selectmen’s meeting at 7:00 PM
Present were Judy Brotman, Dick Jones, Charles Ragan and Carole Bont.
The Board reviewed the discussion of the evening, and reviewed the previous public hearing discussion.
Dick Jones moved to include the Bond Article (Article 8) on the Warrant for Town Meeting. Charles Ragan seconded the motion. Discussion continued concerning the merits of withdrawing the article from the warrant altogether verses having the article remain on the published warrant. The Board voted unanimously to put the article on the warrant.
Dick Jones moved to recommend the article. Charles Ragan seconded the motion. Following a discussion that included the options of ‘vote to recommend’, ‘vote to pass over’, and ‘vote to not recommend’ the article, the motion passed unanimously (to recommend the article).
The meeting adjourned at 7:15 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Judith Lee Shelnutt Brotman - with special thanks to Patricia Jenks for scribing the public hearing minutes.
| 
