Town of New Boston
Selectmen's Meeting
September 14, 2009
PRESENT: Rodney Towne Selectman
David Woodbury Selectman
Christine Quirk Selectman Absent
Burton Reynolds Town Administrator
A. CALL TO ORDER: A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was called to order by David Woodbury at 7:00PM beginning with the Pledge of Allegiance.
B. PUBLIC COMMENT: None.
C. APPOINTMENTS:
1. 7:00 PM Stuart Lewin Planning Board
Planning Board Chairman Stu Lewin was present to meet with the Selectmen to discuss the Southern New Hampshire Planning Commission’s Regional Economic Development Plan Committee that Stu and Dean Mehlhorn from the Planning Board have been appointed to. Stu said the committee met for the first time August 28. Dean was unable to attend. This committee is working on a plan to market the Southern New Hampshire region including towns in Hillsborough and Rockingham counties to businesses and get the region in a position to receive grant money for this purpose. The SNHPC is paying $70,000 to a Florida company for a cluster analysis they expect to be completed in November. The committee will then meet again to review the report. SNHPC prepared an Economic Assets Profile for each town and asked the towns
to review it and put it on their town website. They also asked the Board of Selectmen of each town to approve the proclamation to the committee. They also asked each town to consider who in town will handle the plan when it is completed. The Selectmen will review the materials provided by the SNHPC and decide. Once the proclamation is signed they will send it to David Preece at SNHPC.
Burton also asked Stu to discuss with the Planning Board if it is still appropriate to have the Planning Department closed two days a week.
2. 7:15 PM John Riendeau Road Agent
Road Agent John Riendeau was present to meet with the Selectmen to discuss projects the Highway Department is working on.
· Fire Chief Dan MacDonald called John this morning to tell him about a federal mandate that all radios will need a narrowband frequency by January 2013. This is expected to necessitate changing the Highway Departments’ many radios. These could cost approximately $500 each and probably couldn’t be paid out of an existing budget for any given year. John also ordered a radio for the new 10-wheeler and will make sure it is the right kind now that he knows about the mandate. If the Department is not compliant with the mandate they will lose their radio operators license. John will get more information about it this week. A letter came in today about a grant that may be available for this situation. Building Inspector Russ Boland is
researching the grant and cost to the town.
- There have been a lot of problems getting the new Mack ready. This is expected to cost $4,000-6,000 to remedy but the dealer has agreed to pay for it, as it is their mistake. John said once the work is done the truck will be fine for town use.
- John will meet with Kim Burkhamer to make sure the GPS is ready so Brown can come in and find all the hanging tree limbs that need to be cleaned up from the ice storm.
- John is researching the price of a new grader. The CIP has it being replaced in 2010.
- John found the serial number of the antique grader the town is planning to put out for bid. He found out it is a 1947 machine and also got a name of someone overseas who purchase this type of equipment. Willard Dodge is researching a value range for the machine.
- John is researching designs for a new salt shed. The town would benefit from a bigger salt shed to store more salt. He is considering a pole barn design such as the town has now with wood sides but with a concrete wall in the back, concrete floor and a tarp type covering it. The Selectmen asked if the salt additive worked well for the town last winter. John said it probably wouldn’t save money on materials except for sand usage but did save on time the Highway Department spent plowing if the storm is not long, sweeping the roads in the spring and seemed to reduce the number of times he was called out during the winter. John thought it was a success.
- John enjoyed the supervisor class he attended last week at Primex and found it very helpful.
- The price for the Bedford Road project given to the Selectmen includes everything except paving that will be done tomorrow morning.
- The Selectmen asked if the no through trucking status of Bedford road should be removed now that the road has been improved and decided this needs more research and discussion. The SNHPC recommended some improvements to the road in their report. This report will be given to the Road Committee for priority assessment of the recommendations.
- A resident of Bog Road called Burton today and asked that John view washouts from the road on his driveway and said his wife was driving through the construction area on Bedford Road and damaged her vehicle. John said the area is well marked and her vehicle should not have been damaged if she was driving at a proper speed.
- Corey from Rail Head Tractor has been mowing the sides of the roads for the town for several years. The town has always budgeted $6,000 for this service. John told him to do as much of the town as he could for $6,000 this year. He mowed the whole town for $6,000 but kept track of his time and showed John that it would have cost $9,000 if he billed the town for his time. Options for what to do next year will be considered.
- A bill came in for the gasboy computer but John thinks it was paid and will double check with bookkeeper Karen Craven. The computer seems like it is still having problems.
- John has been talking with Assistant Fire Chief George St. John about the utility line project planned for the Town Hall and Fire Department area. This project was planned for the fall. John plans to have it done by the end of October. George has also been talking to Burton about how the town can pay for supplies. Supplies will be paid for out of the Town Hall maintenance line.
- There are some small paving areas to be fixed soon and the Transfer Station entrance will be made wider. The Highway Department will do test holes on Old Coach Road soon to check for ledge.
- The Highway Department will work on the fall grading, culvert replacements and brush cutting unrelated to the ice storm soon.
- John is working on the paving plan with Burton and will discuss it with the Selectmen at a later time. The paving budget will remain the same at approximately $290,000.
- The block grant of $173,000 has not yet been used this year. $65,000 of it will be saved for the Lyndeborough Road Bridge. $80,000 will be used to pave Molly Stark Lane, Depot Street, Mill Street, Cedar Street and the entrance to the school. Kim Burkhamer is researching how much of the school entrance the town is responsible for. $29,000 was held in abeyance for the Bedford Road project but if it is not needed there it will be used elsewhere. The Town Hall parking lot paving might be held over until next year when the construction area settles.
D. APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
1. Minutes of August 31, 2009 - The Selectmen reviewed the minutes. Corrections were noted. Rodney moved that they be accepted as amended. David seconded the motion. All were in favor.
2. Non-Public Minutes of August 31, 2009 - The Selectmen reviewed both sets of non-public minutes. Rodney moved that they be accepted as presented. David seconded the motion. All were in favor.
E. OLD BUSINESS:
1. Planning:
· Open Space Committee Ken Lombard met with the Planning Board to present the Open Space plan for review and input.
· The Montgomery family as present to discuss the New Boston Tavern location. They want to install a vestibule at the Neville Hall building and plan to use that for a bar that they plan to open by Thanksgiving. The restaurant is planned to open by January 1. They also may add a 24-room addition onto the current structure in the same colonial style and a “Molly Stark Mercantile” with five mercantile buildings for small businesses. Plans will be ready for the Planning Board’s review within the next couple months. Zoning changes or a variance will be needed for this type of business if the town seems to be in favor. The Footbridge easement was discussed and the Montgomerys said they would be in favor of deeding some land for the footbridge instead of holding
an easement when the footbridge is finalized.
· The Planning Board discussed their goals.
· Driveway permits were granted to New Era CF Trust on Lull Road.
· Town Attorney Dwight Sowerby sent a letter to the Planning Board with his recommendations for the Clark Hill Trust project.
2. Survey-See Appeals to the Selectmen Process.
3. Appeals to the Selectmen Process-Burton asked the Selectmen if they would like to make any changes to this process. He suggested the Selectmen might like to consider a time limit. The Selectmen were in favor of adding a time limit to the process of 1.5 to 3 hours and asked Burton to check with Attorney Dan Schwartz for his opinion on this addition. This will have to be added to the Employee manual before it is finalized and presented to the employees.
4. Selectmen Office Assistant Search-The town sent letters to the applicants they do not want to interview today. Burton will call the applicants the town has questions for tomorrow and Kim Burkhamer will set up interviews for September 22. Dave, Kim and Burton will do the initial interviews and the Selectmen will interview the final candidates. A computer qualification test will be given to the applicants.
A meeting regarding this position should be scheduled with Shannon Silver. She was asked if she wanted it in open or closed session and also if she wanted Fire Chief Dan MacDonald and Planning Coordinator Nic Strong present as they have expressed an interest in this matter. She said she had no preference on either of these issues. Burton will ask Shannon if she wants to hold this meeting on September 23 at 3:00 PM.
F. NEW BUSINESS:
1. Temporary Dump Permits-The Town Clerk’s office has been issuing Temporary Dump Permits for several years on Thursday nights when the Selectmen’s office is closed. The Selectmen’s office issues the permits during daytime hours. Usually only 5-6 are needed per year and the Selectmen’s office probably handles most of those. Burton will double check if this is correct. Town Clerk Irene Baudreau recently sent a note to the Selectmen asking that this duty be assigned to a different department. The Selectmen will ask her why she has made this decision.
2. Part Time Benefits Calculation-Police Department Secretary Cathy Widener sent a letter asking the Selectmen to consider changing the process for part time benefits calculation. The benefits are calculated exactly now and she is asking the process to changed to give part time employees the benefits based on the hours budgeted for simplicity. The process would not be as time consuming as it is now and the employee would know ahead of time what they would get. Fairness could be an issue in that case. Bookkeeper Karen Craven was asked if this would make her job easier but she listed how her job would stay much the same with the change. The employee manual would also need to be changed to reflect the new process. The Selectmen decided to keep the current process.
3.Non-Public (Employee Matter)-Deferred to the end of the meeting.
4.Depot Issue-In view of a letter received today from Recreation Department Manager Mike Sindoni, the Selectmen decided not to pursue the Depot ownership at this time.
5.2009 Tax Deeding-William Hooper owes four years of unpaid taxes. The Selectmen will research his situation more before deciding how to handle it. Charles Sewell of 17 Riverside Drive owes unpaid taxes. He has been paying toward it but under the law it must be applied to interest and penalties first so his principal is not going down. The Selectmen decided to waive the interest and penalties so his payments can be applied to the taxes due.
G. OTHER:
1. The Selectmen signed the MS-5. Burton will send it to the NH DRA. They will then have everything they need from the town to set the tax rate. Burton will call Sandra from the DRA at the end of the month to find out when the tax rate will be set.
2. The Town Hall Energy Audit report has been received from David Ely. He will meet with the Selectmen at their next meeting to discuss it.
3. The Road Committee will meet tomorrow. Committee member Roch Larochelle researched RSMS and sent an e-mail to the Selectmen regarding it.
4. The CIP meeting is Wednesday.
5. Sharon Wason, executor of the Wason estate called Burton and will try to meet with the Selectmen at their next meeting to discuss the plans for the library building. She is in favor of the proposed use and may be willing to go to court to have the deed changed to allow “civic use” of the building.
H. PUBLIC COMMENT: No comments at this time.
I. Move to enter Non-Public Session: Rodney made a motion to go into Non-Public session per RSA 91-A:3II(a) at 9:32 PM. David seconded the motion. All were in favor.
J. Move to exit Non-Public Session: Rodney made a motion to exit Non-Public Session at 9:50 PM. David seconded the motion. All were in favor.
K. ADJOURNMENT: Rodney made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:51 PM. David seconded the motion. All were in favor.
Prepared by Maralyn Segien
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