Town of New Boston
Selectmen's Meeting
July 11, 2005
PRESENT: Gordon Carlstrom Selectman
David Woodbury Selectman
Christine Quirk Selectman
Burton Reynolds Town Administrator
A. CALL TO ORDER: A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was called to order by Gordon Carlstrom at 7:00PM beginning with the Pledge of Allegiance.
B. PUBLIC COMMENT: No public comments were made at this time.
C. APPOINTMENTS:
1. 7:00 PM Doug Smith New Highway Employee Candidate
Doug Smith was unable to meet with the Selectmen tonight to discuss his qualifications for the job, but the Road Agent, John Riendeau, was present and said that Doug will be starting next week, his physical is scheduled for this week. He will be scheduled to meet with the Selectmen at their next meeting.
2. 7:15 PM John Riendeau Road Agent
John Riendeau was present to meet with the Selectmen to discuss current projects that the Highway Department is working on.
· They plan to start working on Meetinghouse Hill Road soon. The work will include changing the catch basins, digging a ditch and doing some paving to improve swale, changing grates to torrent grates to push leaves through during heavy rain, and to put a curb in to direct water in front of the people’s house where their walkway was washed out this spring.
· They got all the underdrain in from the vendor the other day that is needed for the McCollum Road project. They plan to work on lower McCollum next.
· On McCurdy Road where it is washed out, they plan to clean ditches up above and put a crown in the road to prevent water from going into the road.
· On Bedford Road where there is the icing problem they plan to put in a ditch line and cut the driveways to put a culvert underneath. John will be discussing with the property owners. The Town will pay for the changes.
· The Wilson Hill/Bedford Road site line change was discussed at the Road Committee meeting last Tuesday. The Road Committee thinks the intersection needs more distance from Bedford Road back into Wilson Hill Road than the Selectmen do. John thinks it needs to be cut back approximately 6 or 8 feet. Assessor, George Hildum has looked at it and will write to the Selectmen regarding any reduction in property value.
· The problem driveway on Hooper Hill Road where Doug Hill is building a house was also discussed at the Road Committee meeting. Dave looked at it after the meeting and doesn’t think it is a major problem at this time. However, the driveway doesn’t have a negative pitch from the road, which will need to be fixed at some point.
· A driveway up a steep slope to a new home on Bog Road is moving slowly. The hay bales aren’t helping much anymore against the rain. They have since built stone dams to fix the problem. John also asked them to put more check dams in. They might terrace the steep slope to drain.
· Downtown paving. The state will repaint crosswalks when the paving is completed. The Livable, Walkable Community committee wants to move the crosswalk in front of Dodge’s Store toward the bridge and have it placed more in front of the library. The state won’t move it and doesn’t suggest the town move it at this time, as it will be a liability there. The new crosswalk wouldn’t go to a sidewalk and the library sidewalk would need a handicap curb cut. The crosswalks may not be repainted right away because of these problems. John will be meeting with a NHDOT representative to try to work out those issues. The crosswalk at
Depot Street bridge doesn’t have a curb cut either.
· The ditches at Lull Road have been cleaned. The Highway Department plans to grind the first or second week in August and then repave.
· Twin Bridge Road received its two inch base coat, Whipplewill Road and Bedford Road received their planned overlays.
· A 2 year project improving Bog Road will be starting this fall.
· The price New Boston is paying for asphalt this season is approximately $37.75.
· Styles Road should be repaved during the first two weeks of August. A short section is collapsing and underdrain will be put in. McCurdy will be done at the same time.
· Lyndeboro Road from the timber bridge to Route 13 is supposed to be repaved this year. There is a problem with the old style culverts at the first sharp corner so the pipes will have to be extended.
· John wants to put a concrete box culvert in on Bog Road with some of the road improvements fund contractor money (about $8,000).
· The guardrail at Twin Bridge Road will be installed soon.
· Goffstown Public Works is in the process of cleaning town catchbasins.
D. APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
1. Minutes of June 27, 2005 - The Selectmen reviewed the minutes. Corrections were noted. David moved that they be accepted as amended. Christine seconded the motion. All were in favor.
E. OLD BUSINESS:
1. Planning:
· Rick Martin’s Beard Road Subdivision-cancelled.
· Rick Martin’s Beard Road Subdivision-Rick wants to build a model condo now. 15 abutters were present. Attorney Dresher has the condo information to review. The application was accepted as complete.
· Friendly Beaver Campground-Site plan for garage was accepted and approved.
· Karen Morin Revocable Trust Major Subdivision 5 lots on Greenfield Road-Amy from Dufresne-Henry proposed a 2.5 feet cover instead of 3 feet. The application was approved.
· Christopher Bolton 114 Landscaping Material Supply Compliance Hearing-Approved.
· Susanna LeClair Revocable Trust 6 lot Major Subdivision-The Moodys are concerned about the placement of the driveway but were told the big trees won’t be cut down and only a small portion of the rock wall will be disturbed. Application accepted as complete and approved. Conditional use permit accepted.
· Jeff Katz business-He plans to open a physical therapy and fitness center in the Apple Barn. It needs to be determined if the property meets state requirements for sewer, water and septic for this type of business. If so, no problems are expected.
2. Beaver Pond Naming-A public hearing will be scheduled and the abutters will be notified. Cyndie Wilson requested the pond be named “Place Pond” after her father. The Selectmen have also suggested naming it after the road.
3. Simon Farm Road Addressing-There are currently two houses located at #5 Simon Farm Road-A and B and another home will be added soon. The Selectmen plan to give this driveway a road name of its own and establish individual house numbers. John Bunting has suggested “Wheeler” or “Holt” as the road name. Burton suggests contacting the property owners by sending them a copy of the town road name policy and asking them for their input on the road name.
4. Address and Trespass Ordinances-Town Counsel, Leslie Nixon, is working on these.
F. NEW BUSINESS:
1. Town Pound-The old town pound is located on Clark Hill Road. Burton and Dave looked at it today. They are not certain who the owner is, they think it may be Map 7, Lot 19 and the owner may be Elizabeth Whitman. Dave will ask the historical society if they have approached her about preserving the town pound somehow, and if not, the Selectmen will ask her.
2. Deputy Tax Collector Appointment-Dave moved for approval of Karen Haselton as the deputy tax collector per the recommendation of Anne Charbonneau. Christine seconded the motion. All were in favor.
3. SNHP Questionnaire-The Selectmen completed the questionnaire.
4. Banking of Holiday Hours-This has come up as an issue because Glenn, who works at the Transfer Station, has not been using his banked holiday hours. The Transfer Station doesn’t work on Mondays which is when a lot of holidays fall, so can take their holiday time at a later time. Gerry Cornett has asked for a policy on the time limit that town employees have to take their holiday time instead of banking it. The Selectmen have decided that the time must be used within one month of the holiday.
5. Welfare Guidelines- Burton attended the Welfare Administrators meeting which took place in Milford last week where they compared the Milford guidelines with the model guidelines from the Welfare Association and reviewed the forms to use. Burton will revise New Boston’s forms within the next couple weeks.
G. OTHER:
1. Someone came in today as they had just received the letter from the Police Department relative to non-payment of their dog registration. They are very upset about this as the dog died right before the registration deadline. Burton will let Irene know.
2. Nic distributed a document entitled “The Riggins Rules” that Christine thought should be included in the packet to new volunteers on the Planning Board and maybe to members of other committees when they start their term. It offers some excellent suggestions on how to be an effective committee member.
3. Dave redrafted the policy for putting up signs on town property that the Selectmen reviewed.
4. The Parkers have sent a letter detailing the fees for renting their storage building. The town can pay $50/month starting July 1, 2005 or pay $75/month starting January 1, 2006. Burton will start the payments this month but is waiting for Leslie’s review of the rental agreement.
5. Brookline sent a survey to New Boston as they are a similar size and they are considering expanding their Board of Selectmen to 5 members. The Selectmen will reply.
H. PUBLIC COMMENT: No comments at this time.
I. ADJOURNMENT: David made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:50 PM. Christine seconded the motion. All were in favor.
Prepared by Maralyn Segien
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