Town of Lyme
Board of Selectmen
Minutes for September 19, 2007
1. The regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen convened at 8:00 AM in the Fire Station training room. The following attended the entire meeting: Bookkeeper/Secretary Dina Cutting, Administrative Assistant Carole Bont, Police Chief Pauline Field, Simon Carr, Dick Jones and Charles Ragan. The following attended parts of the meeting: Assessing Agent Diana Calder, Assessor’s Assistant Elise Garrity, Zoning Administrator Vickie Davis and Deputy Town Clerk Sharon Greatorex.
2. The following administrative matters were discussed and actions taken:
a. The minutes for September 12 were approved with minor amendments.
b. The manifest was reviewed and signed.
c. Board and Committee appointments:
i. The board voted to re-appoint the following Ballot Clerks-Inspectors of Elections for terms through November 2010:
Donna Anderson Lee Larson
John Anderson Darlene Lehmann
Nancy Dwight Jeff Lehmann
Laura Degoosh Chris Schonenberger
Julia Elder Eleanor Simpson
Alison Farrar Letitia Smith
Anne Hartmann Beverly Strout
George Hartmann Earl Strout
David Keane Kathleen Waste
Marya Klee Janet Williams
Paul Klee Barbara Woodard
d. The Board considered the school bus company request to purchase diesel from the Highway Department but, due to current accounting issues, voted to refuse the request. Dina will write a memo to department heads regarding fuel.
e. The board reviewed the draft 2006 audit.
f. The board discussed the role of departments in responding to Safety Committee recommendations. Dick will email Sallie Ramsden to confirm that departments and building management committees are responsible for their own safety operation and budgets.
g. The boat access was briefly discussed. Pauline had almost finished her portion of revising the recreation area by-laws and the Recreation Commission would then consider these and determine how the boat access and canoe/kayak storage might be considered.
h. The board agreed not to comment to the Moderator regarding a town meeting invocation.
3. Shoestrap Road:
a. Dick had walked the section above the washout with Fred and Mr. Buchanan. Mr. Buchanan had wanted the gate between the 6ft wide woods road and the washout. It was agreed to locate the gate immediately after the 6ft woods road. It is not economically feasible to locate a turnaround in this area and was agreed to locate the turnaround at the location recommended by the consulting engineers opposite the driveway to Mr. Buchanan’s driveway. The roads will be signed “Dead End” at both the River Road and Rte 10 ends, and the section beyond the turnaround will be signed “Road Closed No Turnaround beyond this Point”.
b. The board agreed to permit opening the Transfer Station at other than “normal” hours for the disposing of debris after installing the Shoestrap Road gates. Fred should liaise with Dan for this.
c. Don Elder has issued the new “911” numbers; we are still waiting on the gate and sign information.
4. After discussion with town counsel regarding the exact limit of Pinnacle Road, the board voted to confirm that the municipal highway ends at Ray Clark’s driveway. The board approved and signed a letter to the Zoning Board of Adjustment confirming this decision.
5. Staff Meeting:
a. Hours: There was a discussion on synchronizing the Selectmen’s office public open hours with those of the Town Clerk. There was concern that this might lead to extra traffic, but there were some steps in place which might alleviate additional traffic. It was agreed that the Selectmen’s office will switch to being open to the public from 8:00 AM to 2:00PM on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It was not expected that all staff should be available during these times but that, at least, one member should be and that, on some occasions such as vacation, we may have to cut back on hours. Planning and Zoning Administrator open office hours will remain the same as
now.
b. Selectboard Meeting Day and Time: It would appear that moving the Selectboard meeting to Thursdays would enable it to be held when the office was not open and would give at least one day a month that they could meet with the Planning and Zoning Administrator, if necessary. Carole has appointments Thursday morning until, at least, November. She will see whether she can change these from November on and the board will then re-consider the meeting day.
c. Current Town Offices:
i. Rodents: Dina is currently trapping the mice.
ii. Ventilation: The library trustees are investigating improvements to the system so that it heats and cools correctly. They have also agreed to take on the regular janitorial maintenance and cleaning of the system.
iii. Egress Windows: The board agreed that they would plan for including the money for egress windows in next year’s budget and for immediately asking a consultant to consider “daylight” lighting.
iv. Storage of Documents: Dina had a preliminary price for an 8ft x 20ft storage unit of $1,200/year. The board asked Dina to proceed with investigating how much of the current documents could be moved into a storage unit and what size we would actually need, bearing mind that a unit could also pack in the green bags currently stored at Green Mountain Studios. Such movement and storage of documents is not something that the staff can do; it will need outside assistance. Once the staff had some idea of the space that might be freed, they should consider how it might be re-organized.
v. Temporary Offices: Carole had had a preliminary estimate for a leased office trailer for $25,000/year for a 60 month lease. We do not have any funds available for such an office.
vi. Local Government Center Annual Conference: There was a discussion on who might be going to this. Elise has other training organized so will not be going and will be able to cover office opening.
6. Diana Calder came in to discuss the appeal by Nils and Kathleen Johnson regarding the assessment of the Land Use Change Tax on their lot, map 402 lot 18.1000. Mr. Johnson had been given an approximate figure of $6,000. Elise and Dina were confident that neither had given such a figure and that no-one else in the office would have come up with a number without referring it to one of them. She had previously written explaining the methodology used for assessing Land Use Change Tax and the board concurred with her assessment.
7. The Meeting adjourned at 9:50 AM.
Simon Carr
Recorder
| 
