TOWN OF NEWTON, NH
“NEWTON MUNICIPAL COMPLEX COMMITTEE”
MEETING MINUTES
August 8, 2013
In attendance in alphabetical order: Mary Allen, Leonard Beauvais, Jim Doggett-Chairman, Larry Foote, Frank Gibbs, Roger Hamel, Bill Ingalls, Bill Landry-Vice Chairman, Trisha McCarthy, Charles Melvin, Sr., John Meserve, Dale Putnam, Jim Ryan, Ron Saunders, Joe Simone, Larry Streeter, Jim White, Nancy Wrigley. (Mike Pivero – was unable to attend due to a family emergency)
I Call Meeting to Order: The meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM.
II. Update of Planning Board Funding: Chairman Doggett stated he spoke with his colleagues on the Planning Board and explained what the committee’s intent is, which is to end up with a site plan and recommendations for the capital improvements (CIP). They unanimously agreed to fund the committee $750 for support through the end of 2013 and will revisit it again in January when it becomes another budget cycle. They had no problem with accepting this as being under their purview and under their expense and Nancy stated that there is some money in available that the Selectmen could approve as well. Jim said he will work on drafting a warrant article to see if we can get the townspeople to release the remaining money from the
2005 Safety Complex Committee which has approximately $4,600 +.
III. Permission to hire support staffer
- To include recruitment and methods of posting.
The discussion took place whether to post a position for 4-6 hours a month of hire within. Nancy told the Committee that Barbara White has shown interest in this position right from the beginning. It was discussed that she is already an established employee who works currently 10 hours a week for the Building Dept. therefore this would not involve overtime; she would have access to the Planning Board copier if needed; she has experience in minute taking because she currently takes minutes for the Planning Board and Board of Appeals in East Kingston; her rate of pay is currently $10.36 @hour and she is fine with that rate for this position.
Mrs. Allen made a motion that we approach Mrs. White and see if she would like to pick up one night per month. Bill Ingalls seconded. Discussion: Dale Putnam suggested rather than stating one evening per month, it should be up to 5 hours per month because if she is here recording the minutes for two hours and then goes home to do the minutes, that’s more than one evening per month. Mr. Doggett said he would like to keep it more open than that because if the committee starts getting a lot of information and we meet two nights in a month, we shouldn’t be restrictive but to use her “as needed”. The committee agreed to her same rate of pay at $10.36 per hour. Amended motion: To hire Barbara White to cover the meetings. The
majority vote was “yes” with Charlie voting “no” and Jim White “abstaining”.
IV. Member Input on Survey:
1. Type of Survey: Mr. Doggett stated he spoke with his contacts at UNH and they suggested that if we want to get a student in a statistics class or from the UNH Survey Center, we would need to wait until after October 1st. Jim asked if we want to go that route or do we want to generate our own survey? Ron Saunders suggested that we center the questions on the Newton Complex items; that the committee write down questions they want to ask and then circulate it out through the general population, but make those questions specific to the project. Mr. Hamel stated that he felt it would be premature to do a town-wide survey at this time because we wouldn’t really know what type of questions to ask. He feels we need to get input from the Dept. Heads
of what we might be thinking of moving into that building and what we wouldn’t move and then find out if we have any support for it and how to tweak the plan to make it more acceptable. Chief Streeter said he would rather deal with data than with emotion; if residents are concerned with ball fields and soccer fields at that location, then we should form a sub-committee to gather that information from other communities and possibly Local Government Center as to how much acreage or how many square feet in athletic fields do towns have per capita. This information should come from the department head first and be made available by the committee in case it is asked and we should hold off on having a survey at this time. Mr. Meserve stated that Chet Bearce told us he didn’t want the property used for ball fields and felt that we should honor that.
The discussion about UNH doing a survey was brought up again and Chief Streeter said he felt the committee could do just as good a survey than what was submitted in the past for $5,000. After further discussion, Mr. Doggett suggested sending out a survey to the Department Heads with two questions: 1) what do you presently have and 2) what are your physical space needs. Mr. Doggett said we are not selling something to the residents, only coming up with a plan for the eventual usage of the property. Chief Ingalls stated the first thing on that list should be the Fire Station and that is going to use at least 12,000 sq. ft. The committee agreed to send out the questionnaire but asked that it include “storage space” as well.
2. Who to Survey: The list to survey is as follows: Selectmen, Town Clerk / Tax Collector, Planning Board, Building Dept., Fire Dept., EMS, Highway Dept., Recreation, Conservation, Emergency Management, Cable and Library.
V. Information Compilation:
- What is needed, From Whom, For What Use: Mr. Landry sent out information to all the members with regards to our currently owned buildings. Mr. Doggett would also like to have a plan as to what we will do with the current buildings once the 8 Merrimac Road property is developed and departments move there. Also attached was a PDF showing the conceptual & existing site plan of 8 Merrimac Road, whereby Jim asked everyone to draw on the plan what they would like to see there.
- Site Plan: Selectman Melvin brought up the need for a site plan of 8 Merrimac Road so we know where the following items are: culverts, boundary lines, well and well radius, septic system, leach field, drainage, etc. Due to the quality of the PDF as mentioned in V.1, Mr. Meserve will contact Dennis Quintal to obtain a better quality copy (Job #11030), as well as a site plan of the property showing the above items.
VI. Review of Property Documents:
- “Original” plans for the “Old Safety Complex”: Bill Ingalls discussed the old Safety Complex with a cost of $30,000 for the plan. The overall cost of the Safety Complex Building in 2007 for the Fire and Police was over $5,000,000. Other companies came in as 2.6 million dollars.
Mr. Doggett explained that we will need an estimated price of the Fire Station building to go in the Capital Improvements Program (CIP) for planning purposes. At some point when it is being introduced to the residents, a building committee will have to be formed to price it out and get accurate prices.
- Property Assessment Cards, Tax Maps: Bill Landry emailed these items out to all
the committee members for their review.
VII. Needs Assessment Review:
- Assign / Create Sub-committees as defined by the Needs Assessment: Mr. Doggett
stated we will hold off on this for now until we get the questionnaires back from the Departments at which time we can decide where to assign a sub-committee for further review.
- Discuss / Create a timeline for certain objectives: Jim stated he will be sending out
the questionnaire by next week and will request that they be returned to him by the end of August so that he can compile them for the October meeting.
VIII. Capital Reserve Safety Complex Building Fund – Update: Jim will prepare a warrant article to convert the money from the 2005 Safety Complex Fund to this newly established committee.
IX. Acceptance of Minutes: Mrs. Allen made a motion to accept the minutes as written.
Second by Dale Putnam. The vote was Unanimous.
Dale Putnam requested that the minutes be moved to #2 on the agenda so they can be approved prior to the new agenda items.
X. Other:
1. Parking: Dale Putnam suggested we speak with the staff downstairs to see if they are
receiving complaints from the residents about the amount of available parking, since the
Town Hall is open on Thursday nights and the fact that we are meeting upstairs. It was
suggested that we look at other nights or locations so not to impede on the Thursday
night Town Hall hours. The committee wants to make sure these meetings are open to
the public. The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, September 16, 2013 at 7:00 PM in
the Town Hall.
2. Resignation: Mr. Doggett announced that Dan Dodson sent in his resignation by email
stating that he does not have sufficient time and presence adequate to give to this
committee and therefore has resigned.
Bill Landry asked to speak on that topic stating that he has been on a lot of committees
over the years but he doesn’t think he has been on one this big. There are pros and cons
to this:
PROS - being we have a wide diversity of backgrounds, knowledge, experience,
and enough people to populate all the sub-committees, etc.
NMCC Minutes August 8, 2013
CONS - are with a group this size (21 members) we need 11 people at every meeting for a quorum. Bill explained it is important that we commit ourselves to 90% of the meetings; it would really hurt to show up for a meeting with 10 people and not be able to do anything because we don’t have a quorum and then have to wait another month to meet. So everyone should really try to make these meetings, especially where Mr. Doggett is working the schedule around so everyone can attend. With the number that high and the quorum that big, we really need everyone to come.
Ms. Wrigley would like to check with DRA to see if we have to follow those rules since we are more of an advisory committee.
3. Appointments: Nancy will check with DRA to see if we should hold appointments since we are an advisory committee. If they recommend them, perhaps Mary Jo could come to one of our meetings and swear everyone in at the same time.
4. Contruction Warrant Article: Ms. Wrigley told the committee that there is a new category for a Construction Warrant Article this year whereby once voted by 2/3 vote or 3/5 vote, that money would automatically go on each year up to five years and it would also be included in the default budget. I will check into it more with the DRA and let the Committee know what I find out.
5. Fire Station Building: Chief Ingalls stated he is concerned that the Fire Station, by the sounds of the committee, is going to take another 10 years to happen and they cannot wait that long. He feels that the Fire Station should take precedence over all other things going in at 8 Merrimac Road.
ACTION ITEMS:
1. Chairman Doggett with contact Barbara White to offer the secretary position.
2. Chairman Doggett will work on a warrant article to rename the Capital Reserve Fund from the Safety Complex Committee to the Newton Municipal Complex Committee.
3. Chairman Doggett will send out a questionnaire to Department Heads of 1) what they currently have for space and 2) what they will need, including storage.
4. Everyone is to look at the PDF existing site plan and draw whatever they would like to see.
5. Mr. Meserve will contact Dennis Quintal to obtain copies of the Site Plan for 8 Merrimac Road out ling all the items listed in V. 2, as well as the “conceptual & existing site plans in color.
6. Bill Landry will scan and email the above plans to the committee members once he receives them from Mr. Meserve.
7. Ms. Wrigley will check with Dept. of Revenue Administration (DRA) about quorums and if an advisory committee has to follow the same criteria.
8. Ms. Wrigley will also check with DRA to see if appointments for the committee are necessary.
9. Ms. Wrigley will get clarification on the Construction Warrant Article.
XI. Adjourn: Mrs. Allen made a motion to adjourn at 8:23 pm. Second by Chairman Doggett. Unanimous.
Respectfully submitted,
Nancy J. Wrigley
NMCC Member
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