NEWBURY BOARD OF SELECTMEN
MINUTES OF October 5, 2015 MEETING
Selectmen: Richard Wright, Ed Thorson, Russ Smith
Town Personnel: Dennis Pavlicek, Town Administrator; Pam Bryk, Administrative Assistant; Henry Thomas, Fire Chief; Katheryn Holmes, Conservation Commission; Cal Prussman, Highway Administrator;
Public: Aimee Sherman, Dennis Mires, Stephanie Spaulding, Bruce Barton, Cheron Barton, Ed Wollensak, Kenneth Holmes, Anne Holmes, Richard Seabury, Aram Kalpakgian.
The meeting convened at 6:00 p.m.
PUBLIC INPUT: None.
APPOINTMENT: Aimee Sherman, Community Advocate for Pancreatic Cancer Action Network received a proclamation from the Selectmen declaring November 13th “World Pancreatic Cancer Day” in the Town of Newbury, NH.
APPOINTMENT: Bruce Barton, president of South View Lot Owners Association (SVLOA) came forward first to thank Cal and the Highway department for all the great work they did this mud season. Barton and his neighbors were here to present their case to have South View plugged in for 1, 3 or 5 year plan to have their roads paved. They have started the petition process, there are 38 owned lots and 26 have responded and signed, that’s 68%. This mud season was one of the worst we have seen, the emergency vehicles with four wheel drive could have made it through but if there was an emergency would the fire engines be able to get there. Many residents needed front end alignments and we had some flat tires. We would like to plead our case in continuing with the surface on Old Province Road and in
the next five years or so include us in the paving. Something we don’t understand, why some dirt roads are plowed and some paved roads are not, like Woodbine Road and where 182 Meadow Road is. There are two houses being built and would need to be plowed. Prussman responded they are not town roads, we do not maintain them. Bell would have to petition at Town Meeting to have them accepted as town roads. Bell is responsible to maintain those roads until the town accepts them. Wright said we will work with you, but you are not the only ones that want your roads paved but the best avenue is to petition at town meeting. K. Holmes said you can add this to the budget for road improvements. You can have an annual amount established. Wright said we do have an established amount it was $50,000 last year, $75,000 this year and $75,000 next year and it is going towards maintaining existing roads. K. Holmes said Old Province is a
public road, you need to defer maintenance on existing roads and work on the roads that are not even up to that level. Money needs to go to funding to pave gravel roads. Wright said we will address this at budget time with the input from the highway administrator. Barton said the town receives $194,000 in tax dollars from South View. Wright said we only get 25% of that. Barton asked if our tax dollars could go specifically to our roads in Southview. Wright said no, it doesn’t work like that. Prussman worked on some figures to show the cost of these roads, the 490 feet on Province Road cost $8,064. The part of West Meadow was a total cost of $7,627.50 and we trucked in the material ourselves. To do hard pack on Province Road from Southview to Red House would be approximately $50,450.50 and to pave the ½ mile in Southview would approximately cost $99,416.48. Wright said vote on it at Town meeting. A resident said oil is cheap
and asphalt is cheap now so do it now. Wright said we have 70 miles of road, ½ are paved and ½ are gravel. Prussman said Province Road has no base, if it were to be paved it would be way beyond what our highway department could do. Barton said when things are good we would like to be considered. Wright said we need a priority list. Prussman said the whole business is weather related, this year weather has been good with no wash outs. I have 40,000 in gravel and I can use that in a day on a bad year. Seabury asked if Meadow Road and Woodbine meet town standards. Prussman said no they don’t. Pavlicek said you need 25 registered voters to bring it forward to vote on. Thorson said that Pavlicek can help you write up the article for Town meeting. A resident said then the first step is to prioritize and the Selectmen should do that. Prussman said that he would do traffic counts next year on Province, Rollins,
Mountain, etc. Prussman suggested we see how spring goes. Province Road was done on a grant we received, a Fema grant. Pavlicek said in 08 and 98 with all the bad storms we had we received a Fema grant and the fabric and hard pack we used has really held up. There has not been any more grants, if I ever see one again we will grab it. Barton thanked the board.
APPOINTMENT: Dennis Mires came in to discuss the progress of the BSSSB. Mires had the geotechnical report and some scoping plans. They did the borings at Bald Sunapee and he feels we can get a responsible estimate on ledge removal. Mires met with the police, fire and library personnel to establish a sense of what we would be building. Mires showed plans of the buildings and then of the whole site. Spaulding asked if there will be more scope plans and will you have cost estimates. Mires said on the 19th at the public meeting he wants to know what the hot button issues of the public are. He will show these plans and see where everyone is at. There will be no cost estimates as of now. Spaulding asked the selectmen if they pick which one the town
will go with. Wright said eventually it will be voted on at town meeting and we could possibly bring two choices. Mires said the public meeting is stage one and the purpose is to let the public know what is being planned. Thorson said we want the public to come out to be informed so they are not blindsided at town meeting. Smith asked can you do a plan with one building for police and fire. That would also decrease the cost of construction. Mires said you can but there are some issues with police security. Wright said it would increase the parking and we do need that. Smith questioned do we really need a sally port, we are a small police department. Wright said do a scope plan with the buildings together. Thomas asked if they looked into the septic and Wright questioned if they looked into a biofuel plan. Mires will be back in two weeks for the public meeting.
NEW BUSINESS: The board denied two Summary of Forest Stewardship Plans for Current Use Assessment one for Wheeler, 198 Brown Road, map/lot #24-162-164 & 024-168-035 and the other for Moore, 167 Morse Lane, map/lot #34-072-064.
Pavlicek showed the Board pictures of the Pulaski culvert after the certified letter was sent to him to clean it out. The board was okay with it.
Pavlicek had gotten other prices on dehumidifiers per the Boards request. The Board decided to wait and see for now.
Pavlicek received a letter from Maggie Stier from the NH Preservation Alliance requesting to have a Board Retreat here in Newbury. They are the group who choose 6 buildings a year in the state to save and are considering South Newbury buildings. The retreat will be November 6, 2015. The Board approved the use of Veterans Hall for the retreat. Stier also invited the selectmen to go. Smith told Pavlicek to tell Bill Weiler about it.
HealthTrust is having their annual meeting on December 10, 2015 at 1:00 p.m. There are 4 open seats available.
The Board received the New London Dispatch Newsletter.
NRRA is holding their annual meeting on November 18th at noon.
Pavlicek read a notice from the Planning Board regarding a minor site plan review for Newbury Plaza LLC from Bubba’s Bar & Grille for an exterior walk-in freezer on October 20 at 7:15 p.m.
Pavlicek read a notice from the Zoning Board regarding a public hearing for Lakeview Harbor LLC – Newbury Quick Stop for a variance for an internally illuminated sign on October 13 at 7:30 p.m.
Pavlicek read an email from BNS Youth Sports requesting $5,000, Pavlicek asked for a listing and the numbers of Newbury children involved.
Velie Playground was voted Best Public Playground in the Upper Valley by the 2015 Kid Stuff Parents’ Choice Awards.
Kearsarge Magazine asked if Newbury would sell their 10th Anniversary Magazine, cost is $14.95 - $10 goes to them and $4.95 goes to the town.
Board received a Notice of Public Hearing from Henniker Planning Board for October 14, 2015 for proposed site plan application for 120 foot Verizon tower.
The 2015 Merrimack County tax apportionment for Newbury is $2,267,925. It is a $160,000 increase in county tax.
The Board received an invitation for the Grand reopening ribbon cutting at the KRHS Auditorium on October 13, 2015.
Pavlicek read a letter from Wayne Whitford to Katherine Critch, 34 Chandler Brook Road regarding a complaint about a septic issue. A licensed septic company has checked out the property and everything is fine.
Pavlicek received a price of $200 from Eastern Analytic for metal testing the sludge from Blodgetts sewer plant. Smith wants the results, Wright wants to do it so we can see what’s there.
Chief Thomas received all the 911 maps from the State. The Board approved and signed. Thomas will have the maps in binders and also receive the maps digitally. Every house is now GPS available.
Smith questioned why the Veterans Hall wasn’t painted yet. Pavlicek will call Mike Mennino to make sure it gets done.
Thomas was requesting a copy of the alarm list from the police department but was unable to get it. The fire chief (Thomas) and police chief signatures are both on it, Thomas needs a copy of each alarm. There are about 300 pages, the issue could be expense and that is why they are not giving me a copy. I am asking Pavlicek and the selectmen if Debbie could make the copies here at the town office, it is less expensive and faster. Pavlicek said we will work it out and get you the copies.
Pavlicek asked the Board if we wanted to have another woodchuck day this year, last year numbers were low and some wood was stolen. Pavlicek is to confer with Bostic to see if there is a need for more wood.
INTENT TO CUT: The Board approved and signed an Intent for Nowell, Fortune Road, map/lot #25-739-158.
The Board denied an intent to cut for Michie, High Point Road, map/lot #30-275-316. The Selectmen, CEO and Conservation Commission all agree that they need to see a building envelope. Smith made a motion to deny the intent, Thorson seconded the motion, all in favor.
BUFFER ZONE CUT: The Board approved and signed a buffer zone cut for Scholl, 42 Highland Avenue, map/lot #18-318-124.
The Board approved and signed a buffer zone cut for Barbara Marx, 20 Lake Avenue Blodgetts Landing, map/lot #16A-366-496.
The Board approved with certain conditions and signed a buffer zone cut for Betty Holcomb, David & Catherine Costello, 14 Stoodley Drive, map/lot #020-127-405.
ABATEMENTS/CREDITS/EXEMPTIONS
WARRANTS: The Board denied a Veterans credit for George Barbour, he did not qualify.
MINUTES: The minutes of September 21, 2015 were approved to file.
PAYROLL & ACCOUNTS PAYABLE: The week ending October 3, 2015 were approved and signed.
PURCHASE AUTHORIZATION:
NON-PUBLIC SESSION: The Board voted to go into non-public session under RSA 91-A: 3, II (c) at 8:19 p.m. to discuss a personnel matter. Thorson motioned to go into non-public, Smith seconded the motion. All in favor. The Board came out of non-public at 8:32 p.m. Thorson made a motion to seal the non-public minutes for one year, Smith seconded the motion. All in favor.
MEETING ADJOURNED at 8:33 p.m.
NEXT REGULAR MEETING: Monday, October 19, 2015 at 6:00 p.m. at the Town Office.
Newbury Board of Selectmen
_______________________ _____________________ ______________________
Richard Wright Edward Thorson Russell Smith
Chair
Psb /oct/15
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