Town of Lyme
Board of Selectmen
Minutes for September 26, 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: Simon Carr, Dick Jones and Charles Ragan. The following attended parts of the meeting: Bookkeeper/Secretary Dina Cutting, Administrative Assistant Carole Bont, Police Office Shaun O’Keefe, Transfer Station Superintendent Dan Quinn, Road Agent Fred Stearns, Ed Gray, Peter Mulvihill, Steve Small and Bob Couture.
2. Ed Gray of Connecticut River Watershed Council (CRWC) came in to request that the town waive the transfer station charges for throwing waste picked up in the Lyme section during the CRWC “Source to the Sea’ cleanup scheduled for Saturday September 29. He estimated between one and two pickup truck loads, with 2-3 tires. There were special procedures for hazardous waste and this was not handled but notified to the relevant authorities. They use their own bags and separate recyclables as far as possible. Dick raised the concerns about the sale of the Pout Pond property which was held in a conservation easement by CRWC and felt that he could not, in conscience, vote
for waiving the charges. Simon agreed with Dick’s concerns but felt that this did not affect the issue at hand. He made a motion to waive the transfer station charges, seconded by Charles. This passed, with Dick voting against the motion. Dan asked that Ed arrange to bring the waste in as early possible on the Sunday. Dan was asked to monitor the amount of waste so that we were able to track our costs.
3. Fred came in to discuss the turnaround on Shoestrap Road. Mr. Buchanan had offered the town an easement for the turnaround. It was not clear whether the boundary of Mr. Buchanan’s property was the centre of the ROW or the brook. Carole will undertake the necessary title search. Fred said that all other class VI roads had a sign saying only “Road Closed”. The Board agreed that the same wording should apply to the class VI section of Shoestrap Road.
4. Shawn came in to say that Pauline had had no response from Piermont regarding the cruiser. We will wait on Pauline to determine the next steps to be taken. Roy Daisey had turned in his dog box, as not being big enough.
5. Transfer Station:
a. A local resident had raised concerns about the likely traffic to the transfer station for the new Wednesday opening hours. The hours conflicted with the prime time for collection from the childcare opposite to the transfer station. In addition, residents were in the habit of allowing their children to play on High Street. The Board noted her concerns but felt that with reasonable care by all concerned this should not develop into an issue.
b. The Board discussed the authorizing of out-of-hours opening of the transfer station for the disposal of town department waste. It was agreed that this would be delegated to Dan. He should keep a record of all times that this is needed.
6. Peter Mulvihill, Steve Small and Bob Couture came in to discuss Recreation Commission issues:
a. New Crossroads Field: Pete described the location and proposals for a new ball field at Crossroads Academy on the level undeveloped section adjoining Shoestrap Road. This was being undertaken and funded by Lyme volunteers, led by Pete. Whilst Crossroads would get benefit from the field during daytime use, Lyme sports teams would be able to use after school hours.
i. The Board unanimously voted to waive all fees arising from the planning and zoning applications for this project.
ii. Maintenance of the field. Dina will contact Phil Harrison of Crossroads to discuss a Memorandum of Understanding providing for a mutual benefit arrangement, annually renewable, whereby the town undertook maintenance of the field. She will also talk with Bill LaBombard regarding the maintenance.
iii. The Town Insurance Policy needs to be reviewed to ensure that users of the field are covered.
b. Ball Field: Pathways had prepared an estimate of $9,500 for preparing all the necessary bid documents for restoring the ball field and contractors were not prepared to bid without having such documents in place. There is not enough money in the budget to cover this. Pete was very concerned that waiting until next town meeting to appropriate such money meant that the field would not actually worked on till the following year. However, there is probably enough money available to cover the preparatory work necessary to obtain contractors’ bids. Dina was authorized to go back to Pathways and ask them to break the estimate down into separate packages. This would
enable us to prepare a proposal for town meeting which included sensible bid prices and incorporated the fees necessary for preparing contract documents and permit approvals. There was a discussion of the beaver dam and its impact on the ball field. It was recognized this is an ongoing issue.
c. School Softball Infield: Steve had a proposal for ‘skinning’ the softball infield. This would give the school a Little League size field. He intended to ask the Lyme Foundation for funds for the materials and would need to obtain authority from the School Board for this. He asked whether town labor could be used for the work. Dina will talk informally with Fred about undertaking this work.
d. Nursery School: The Board unanimously approved the Nursery School’s application to have a bake sale at the Pumpkin Festival.
e. Alternates: Dina reported that she had three candidates for alternates on the Recreation Commission. The Board unanimously agreed to appoint:
Peter Mulvihill term to expire in March 2009
Tom Yurkorsky term to expire in March 2010
Bob Couture term to expire in March 2011
7. The following administrative matters were discussed and actions taken:
a. The minutes for September 19 were approved with minor amendments.
b. The manifest was reviewed and signed.
c. Two Yield Tax assessments arising from the April storm were individually reviewed. The Board voted to assess and abate, in full, the Yield Tax on:
Mark Bolinger map 404 lot 21 $341.24
Patricis Pakivich map 411 lot 13 $283.32
d. The Board signed the letter to Kathleen Johnson denying her appeal regarding the assessment of her Land Use Change Tax.
e. Dina will prepare third quarter spreadsheets for the Board.
8. Dick reported on the presentation of the Natural Resources Inventory. This was very successful with 40 people attending the presentation.
9. Simon reported further on the Census Bureau Local Update of Census Addresses (LUCA). The security requirements that the Census Bureau wished to apply were unduly onerous and the Board agreed to not proceed with LUCA on the basis that the security requirements imposed undue costs on the town.
10. The Board agreed that Dina will ask the department heads for their budget requests. It was noted that the health care costs were not yet available. Once available the Board will calculate the costs to the departments. If department heads want to increase their staffing, they should show this as hours required, not just the payroll increase.
11. The Board considered Ken Stern’s letter regarding dumping on land near to Tim Cook’s property, but felt that as this was on private property, the Board had no authority to intervene.
12. Town Offices:
a. The Board noted Frank Bowles’s email regarding the next Town Offices committee meeting and encouraged all staff to attend.
b. Storage Container: Dina reported that Betsy had suggested and the Library Trustees had verbally approved that an 8ft x 8ft x 20ft container could be placed immediately behind the town offices. This would be within the boundary setback. The Board agreed that, subject to confirmation from the Library Trustees and consultation with the abutters, they would grant a municipal exemption for this container. Simon is to talk with Luke and Leigh Prince.
c. Lights: Carole was still pursuing natural light data.
13. The Board approved Dartmouth Biology Department’s request to place a raft with monitoring equipment in Post Pond for approximately ten days and also to store two or three boats overnight at the boat launch during this period. Carole will send out an informational notice on Listserv.
14. At 10:05 AM Dick moved and Simon seconded a motion to go into non-public session under the authority of RSA 91-A:3 II(c) – “matters which, if discussed in public, would likely affect adversely the reputation of any person”. The motion carried by unanimous roll-call vote. Simon Carr, Dick Jones and Charles Ragan attended the non-public session. During the non-public session Simon moved and Dick seconded that the minutes of the non-public session be sealed, which was carried by unanimous roll-call vote. The Board returned to public session at 10:55 AM.
15. The Meeting adjourned at 10:56 AM.
Simon Carr
Recorder
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