Town of New Boston
Selectmen's Meeting
May 5, 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:
Police Chief Chris Krajenka was present to meet with the Selectmen to discuss projects at the Police Department.
· Chris mentioned that his April status report included a list of the calls in April. April and the first week of May have been unusually busy with investigative complaints.
Move to enter Non-Public Session: David made a motion to go into Non-Public session per RSA 91-A:3II(c) at 7:07 PM. Christine seconded the motion. All were in favor.
Move to exit Non-Public Session: David made a motion to exit Non-Public Session at 7:35 PM. Christine seconded the motion. All were in favor.
· Chris said the department is still working toward accreditation by organizing the equipment room and Shawna from Dunbarton came in to give them a checklist of what they needed.
· A number of arrests were made last week.
C. APPOINTMENTS:
1. 7:00 PM Mike Sindoni Recreation Department
Recreation Director Mike Sindoni and Recreation Commissioner Lee Brown were present to meet with the Selectmen to discuss projects the Recreation Department is working on.
· Lee followed up on a letter he sent to Burton and the Selectmen regarding the Recreation Department’s struggles trying to decide what to do about a new recreation building. The Department is considering renting the Apple Barn to hold a fitness center to earn money for the department as well as hold some recreation programs there. However the Apple Barn is not large enough to handle the department’s summer or after school programs. Kids walking to the Apple Barn with the traffic by Dodge’s Store and the location next to the river is a concern. The building is not very energy efficient either. The rent amount discussed is also very high and
would need to be negotiated for the department to rent there. They probably would not stay there permanently. The department is hoping to have a new building within 5 years. Lee and Mike spoke to Principal Rick Matthews about the white buildings in December and Burton has followed up with him but the School Board has been unwilling to release the buildings to the Recreation Department just in case they need them for school population overflow. As far as a new building for the Recreation Department, land in the center of town is most desirable to them. They have a plan for a new building in the location where the white buildings are now that would include 2 classrooms for exclusive use by the school in years when school population exceeds the capacity of the school building and the school would get a safe after school program. These classrooms would not cost the School anything extra and would be up to code in exchange for 2 marginal buildings. This location also has the
ability to expand either for recreation or the school. The recreation department doesn’t want to take land the school will use but all plans from them show adding on to the area near the gym or the kindergarten area. The building next door to the Town Hall is now for sale but might not be set up well for the Recreation programs and parking, building code and public access are issues. The firehouse would be more suitable to recreation programs and might become available in 10 years but that is too far out for the Recreation Department. The school board may have to consider portables but they now need foundations if they are set up for more than 6 months. A meeting between the Selectmen, School Board and Recreation Department will be scheduled.
· The new practice field on Old Coach Road was discussed as some water was noticed running down a slope this spring. The slope could be an issue and should be made lower. GZA quoted $2400 for a site visit and a report. The Selectmen suggested Lee contact NH DES for their opinion on if a report is needed. Burton will get them the name of the contact at DES. GZA also wanted to test the water and the Selectmen do want this done. Recreation is also trying to run water from this area to irrigate the Nyquist memorial.
2. 8:00 PM Kevin McLarnon Cable Issue
Kevin McLarnon of Colburn Road was present to meet with the Selectmen to see if there is anything the town can do to get cable and high speed internet access to the few roads on the outskirts of town that don’t yet have it because of low population density. He has found it hard as just a resident to get much done with Comcast. He is the first resident to come in to discuss this problem with the Selectmen. The Selectmen suggested he talk to Jack Mitroff who negotiated cable for some of the road upgrades a couple years ago, contact State Representative Linda Foster to see if a legislative group is working on this problem for the state and get together with other residents and the campground who are in the same situation to see if they can convince Comcast to cable their roads. It is very expensive for Comcast
to do it. The affected residents could cost share with Comcast to get it done or take it to the voters to get the cost approved, though that option was not viewed as likely to get approval.
D. APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
1. Minutes of April 14, 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. Minutes of April 21, 2008 - The Selectmen reviewed the minutes. Corrections were noted. David moved that they be accepted as amended. Christine seconded the motion. All were in favor.
3. Non-Public Minutes of April 21, 2008 - The Selectmen reviewed the non-public minutes. Christine moved that they be accepted. David seconded the motion. All were in favor.
E. OLD BUSINESS:
1. Planning:
The last meeting was cancelled but sitewalks took place for the Quirk subdivision, new physical therapy center and at the portable sawmill on River Road.
2. Survey-
· Christine moved to put into place the prorated sick time benefit plan for part time employees. David seconded the motion. All were in favor. The Selectmen will notify the Benefits Committee.
· The evaluation committee is meeting Thursday at 10:30.
· Burton will send a memo to the Committee chair saying the Selectmen have approved the mission statement.
· The Selectmen will work on the second half of the employee manual during the second week of June. Burton will send the first half of the manual that the Selectmen have already worked on to the employee committee before June 1 with the new policies the auditors suggested. Burton will send a status letter to the employee committee.
· Burton has finished the job descriptions review. They will be typed for the new format and will be sent to Primex Thursday for review.
· The next Selectmen/Department Head meeting with Primex is scheduled for May 28 from 5-8:00pm. Former Town Administrator Carl Webber will be here. The Selectmen will contact Primex with some topics they might want to consider for discussion at the meeting.
3. Appointments-David moved to renew Mica Stark’s appointment as an alternate to the Open Space Committee and renew Carl Heafield’s appointment as a full member of the Open Space Committee. Christine seconded the motion. All were in favor.
4. Legislative Representation-The lawsuit by the NH Legal Rights Foundation discussed at the last meeting was announced in today’s paper. Six towns joined in the lawsuit. David will prepare a letter to the NH Legal Rights Foundation basically saying any New Boston participation in the effort for improved representation is moot given that the group has already moved forward with their suit.
5. Goals-The Selectmen reviewed the status of their goals for 2008.
F. NEW BUSINESS:
1. Road Standards-A combined boards meeting will take place May 27. Burton will be sure Planning Coordinator Nic Strong has notified all boards of the meeting including the Road Committee, Planning Board, Selectmen, Fire and Police Departments.
G. OTHER:
1. A lot of discussion has been going on that while the drains at the Town Hall are open for repair some other updating should be done while the area is dug up if the drains show they do go back to the center of town. The updating could include shutting off the present drain under the building, update the conduit from the Town Hall to the Fire Department for the ability to run the Town Hall off the generator at the Fire Department, improve the water pressure at the Fire Department, and reroute the drainage on the side of the Fire Department and the sump pump to go to the catch basin. $10,000 has been appropriated for this project.
2. $40,000 additional is needed for this year’s Highway Department budget to cover possible fall snow removal costs. It may be possible to not process any more gravel this year and the Block grant money to cover those costs. The paving schedule is being reviewed but no final decisions have been made yet.
3. The Selectmen were asked to attend Bushie’s memorial service.
4. The assessing office will get a furniture upgrade Thursday.
5. The new ambulance is due in town May 14.
6. A dog recently bit a jogger and the owner was fined. This resident frequently brings the dog into the Town Hall and the employees feel afraid of the dog. The Selectmen will write to him and ask him not to bring the dog into the Town Hall and will research the law for their authority to ban dogs.
7. JP Chemical test services was called about mice in the Town Hall and prepared a quote of $400 to install traps and $114 per month to monitor them. The Selectmen would prefer the town buy and monitor its own traps and will researched where they can be purchased.
8. Burton distributed a copy of his updated job description to the Selectmen for review and comment. It will be sent to Primex Thursday with the other job descriptions.
9. An information packet was distributed to the Selectmen in preparation for the evaluation committee meeting Thursday. The Selectmen discussed form format, splitting evaluations into two sessions per year and the possibility of having separate review criteria for office, management and manual labor job categories.
10. The Selectmen discussed the possibility of holding a BBQ for town employees this year.
11. The Selectmen signed the addendum to the Lydia Dodge lot contract and intent to cut.
12. The Selectmen signed the elderly exemptions.
13. The Selectmen signed the three-year agreement with the property liability trust insurance agreement.
14. The Selectmen signed several current land use change tax penalty assessments.
15. The Selectmen signed a form for the New Boston Central School PTA Run For Life road race to take place June 14.
16. The Selectmen signed an intent to cut for Twin Bridge Road.
H. PUBLIC COMMENT: Vice Chair of the Forestry Committee Tom Lazott and several members of the Forestry Committee were present to meet with the Selectmen to discuss changes they propose for the procedure of filing an intent to cut. The Selectmen have researched it and found intents to cut could not be held pending review. The Selectmen suggested they would sign the intents at Selectmen’s meetings and send the intents back to the logger and the landowner with memos containing any issues found with the intents. The committee could review the intents between the time the intents come in and the Selectmen’s meeting. The forester would then follow up on the permits. The committee discussed prospective issues at their meeting tonight and will send a memo to Kim Burkhamer
listing them.
K. ADJOURNMENT: Gordon made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 11:00 PM. David seconded the motion. All were in favor.
Prepared by Maralyn Segien
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