CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN COMMITTEE
PUBLIC MEETING MINUTES
AUGUST 13, 2007
The Chairman called the meeting to order at 6:40 PM in the New Durham Town
Hall located off Main Street.
Present:
Padraic McHale, Chairman & at-large member
Christopher LaPierre, Appointed member at-large
David Bickford, Selectmen’s Representative
David Curry, Budget Committee Representative
April Whittaker, Town Administrator
Absent:
Robert Craycraft, Planning Board Representative~ excused due to prior
commitments
George Gale, Alternate Planning Board Representative~ unexcused, no message
left
Approval of the Minutes:
Motion was made by David Curry to accept the July 30th, minutes as amended
and seconded by David Bickford. The vote was unanimous. The minutes of July
30, 2007 were approved as amended.
The committee proceeded to review the figures on the revised tables for each
department.
April Whittaker explained that the Fire Department has changed from buying a
rescue and a pumper truck to buying a combination rescue/pumper truck. This
would save money and give more space in the station. The proposed acquisition
would be a lease purchase of five years. The building addition was discussed
and a review was conducted by the committee re the facilities planning sheet for
the Fire Department. The consensus of the committee was to recommend
removal of the annual funding for new station construction from the Capital
Reserve Fund because a bond made more sense for a brick and mortar project of
this magnitude. The second rationale was to therefore, move the former reserve
savings for new construction towards land acquisition purposes to start in 2008
instead of 2010.
David Bickford gave an update on the March’s Pond Dam situation. David
explained that the engineers were working on an interim plan to build a new
spillway to allow the water to be raised 3 to 4 feet to hopefully give relief to the
residents who have suffered from dry dug wells. He emphasized that this
interim proposal did not negate the need to fully refurbish the dam site.
Mrs. Whittaker discussed with the committee and requested their feedback with
what percentiles should be used for expenditure, revenue and town valuation
trending in order to begin formulation of tax rate impacts re the capital and
operational budgets for projection purposes. Following discussion, the
consensus of the committee was to use the following percentiles:~
 Expenditures ……………………………. 8% annually Revenues ………………………………… 1% annually adjusted with use ofReserve funds when applicable
 Total Town Valuation …………………… 2% annually
The discussion then focused to the facility needs of the Highway Department.
During the tour of the facility it became evident that there is a definite lack of
space, safety issues and deterioration of the roof. Mrs. Whittaker, for the
purposes of discussion, threw out a suggestion of consideration of bonding for
the addition(s) at the Highway Department, and roofing project in 2008,
although noting that the other bond article would be the Marchs Pond project.
She advised that there would be two separate bond warrant articles but one
financial obligation if both articles were to be approved. The Committee agreed
that from a business perspective, the joint bonding suggestion made sense, but
from a voter perspective, it may prove to be overwhelming. Further the
committee felt that another bond vote may detract from the bonding for the dam
refurbishment, which should be priority for 2008.
The committee debated if the field mower and maintenance for the recreation
department should be covered under operating expenses instead of CFR. It was
also mentioned that the same would be true for the library maintenance and
technology.
The Chairman asked what the next steps should be and Mrs. Whittaker advised
that she will collate the remaining tables i.e. effects on tax rate etc and will
compose a draft executive summary. She suggested that the next CIP meeting
focus on review of the draft in preparation of presentation to the Planning Board,
which the Chair advised he will be happy to present.
The next meeting will be held on August 27th.
Mrs. Whittaker thanked all the department heads for working with the
committee to express their needs to the committee and giving the committee the
necessary information to make their recommendations.
Motion to adjourn was made by David Bickford and seconded by Chris LaPierre.
The vote was unanimous. The meeting was adjourned at 7:55 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Laura Zuzgo
THE NEXT MEETING WILL BE HELD
ON AUGUST 27, 2007 AT 6:30 PM
AT THE NEW DURHAM TOWN HALL
LOCATED OFF MAIN STREET
A video recording of this meeting is on file with the Office of the Town Clerk,
available for public viewing during normal business hours, and will be retained
in accordance with the New Hampshire Municipal Records Board rules
established under RSA 33-A: 4, or for a minimum of 24 months.
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