Town of New Boston
Selectmen's Meeting
December 1, 2008
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: None.
C. APPOINTMENTS:
1. 7:00 PM SNHPC John Stark Byway
The Southern New Hampshire Planning Commission was not ready to present to the Selectmen tonight and will be rescheduled for another meeting.
D. APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
1. Minutes of November 17, 2008 - The Selectmen reviewed the minutes. Corrections were noted. Christine moved that they be accepted as amended. David seconded the motion. All were in favor.
2. Non-Public Minutes of November 1, 2008 - The Selectmen reviewed the non-public minutes. David moved that they be accepted as presented. Christine seconded the motion. All were in favor.
E. OLD BUSINESS:
1. Planning:
· Kevin Leonard from Northpoint Engineering discussed the pros and cons of the Planning Board position that there should be no further runoff after subdividing than before as in some situations the town may want water to run faster instead of retaining water at the location. However, the Planning Board doesn’t have the expertise to determine which subdivisions need that. The developers will be referred to Kevin at their expense to make the determination. A related issue is working on a standard design for retention ponds. Then, when the Highway Department had to perform maintenance, they would know exactly what to do and with what tools.
· Willard Dodge met with the Planning Board, as he and Jim Dodge want to take advantage of provision 204-6 in the zoning ordinance to allow a foundation for a motor home for Betsy Dodge to live in within 50 feet of a wetland. The Board agreed that a normal house would not be a non-foundational structure but a poured slab with rebar might qualify as non-foundational. Planning Coordinator Nic Strong is researching minutes regarding this issue. It is Dave’s position that a slab is considered a foundation under building codes. Willard and Jim will return to the Planning Board’s next meeting for a final decision. The Selectmen feel the ordinance language may need clarification.
· Trussell subdivision on Clark Hill Road-Deferred to the December 9 meeting.
· Locust Field subdivision confirmed.
· David Cass asked to put a sporting goods store at a Milwaukee Ironworks lot. This will probably be allowed because it is a commercial district.
· Nic recently attended a meeting at the Local Government Center regarding procedures for minutes and learned they consider the minutes as they come from the secretary or executive director official and any changes made are amendments to the original minutes. They recommend the original minutes be kept with the amendments noted on them. This is not how the town currently handles minutes and the Selectmen decided not to change their current procedure. The town will proceed based on what Attorney Bill Drescher has advised them before which is how the town currently handles minutes. Gordon said he recently read a magazine article that discussed a case that contradicted what Nic learned and that article will be reviewed.
· Inkberry Drive Driveway-Building Inspector Ed Hunter will be asked to levy a fine.
2. Survey-
· The Retirement Committee has not responded to the Selectmen’s letter inviting them to discuss the NH Retirement System. Burton will write to them again.
· Primex sent a letter to Nic about the meeting they were supposed to have in December to discuss roles with Burton, the Selectmen and the Department Heads. Burton will discuss it with the Department Heads at the Department Head meeting on Wednesday. The meeting with Primex might be moved to February.
· The Policy Manual Committee met and completed their work. Michele is compiling the information. Burton wrote to Attorney Dwight Sourby about the at-will policy. Dwight requested more information but the Selectmen decided not to ask him to review it further at this time as the whole manual needs to be reviewed by counsel-not sure who yet.
3. Evaluations-Nic was present to meet with the Selectmen to discuss progress on the evaluations per her memo of November 25. Most employee reviews were to be done in October but many of the evaluations are not yet completed. The Selectmen considered starting the evaluation process earlier or Burton should schedule some time in the fall to work on only evaluations to get them done on time. Employees expressed concern in the employee survey that the budget reflects merit raises when evaluations are not yet completed. The evaluation committee scheduled the evaluations so they would be complete in time for the budget to accurately reflect the merit raise amount. Burton said the budget process does not drive the evaluations. Department Heads also need to adhere to the schedule. The
Highway Department evaluations have not been started. Most reviews are done and Burton plans to meet with each employee in the next two weeks to complete the evaluations. Nic also said the quality assurance overview meeting didn’t work because the evaluations weren’t completed. Burton will review notes from this meeting with the Department Heads along with an applicable article from the Wall Street Journal. Nic said the quality assurance meeting should also include non-Department Heads who do reviews. She will get the evaluation schedule for this year to the Selectmen for review and will discuss it with them again at the January 20 meeting to decide if the schedule needs to be changed or if some of Burton’s time needs to be set aside to work on only evaluations. The Selectmen also suggested if Burton or the Department Heads have too much to do and can’t get their work completed they should submit a list of uncompleted work
to the Selectmen for task prioritization.
4. Gregg Cemetery-The Selectmen reviewed and authorized a draft letter regarding resolving the issue to Nancy Loddengard.
5. Footbridge-The meeting with NH Department of Transportation is scheduled for Friday. Burton and David will attend. Sandi Van Scoyoc will present to the DOT. Bill Rossignol from Holden Engineering will also attend. Some abutters are also expected to be present.
F. NEW BUSINESS:
1. CPI Documents For 457 Plan-The Selectmen reviewed and signed the documents.
2. Selectmen’s Budget-The Selectmen discussed the operating budget.
G. OTHER:
1. There is an article in the read folder saying other towns are using cheese products and molasses to add to their salt to do the same thing the Highway Department is doing. Dave has also heard of sugar beets being used.
2. Ken Lombard from the Conservation Commission met with Burton about putting something on the warrant for the Conservation Commission that allows it to expend funds per the appropriate RSA when the property is to be held by an organization other than the Town (such as the PWA for instance).
H. PUBLIC COMMENT: No comments at this time.
I. ADJOURNMENT: David made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:37 PM. Christine seconded the motion. All were in favor.
Prepared by Maralyn Segien
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