Town of Nottingham
Selectmen’s Meeting
January 19, 2010
7:47 PM Chair Bonser opened the meeting and asked all those present to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.
Members Present: Mary Bonser, Peter Bock, Gary Anderson
Others: Charlie Brown, Town Administrator; Traci Chauvey, Recording Secretary; Heidi Seaverns; Gail Mills; Chris Mills; John Terninko
ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS
The Selectmen addressed the signature and mail files.
Mr. Brown noted that the assessing contract in the signature file is for the standard assessing services, not the update. The Board of Assessors have voted to approve award of the contract to Commerford, Nieder, and Perkins, however, because of the financial aspect the Board of Selectmen must vote to approve the contract. At Mr. Bock’s inquiry, Ms. Seaverns informed all that she believes the update will begin in the first part of May.
The Selectmen reviewed the engineering assessment on the old town hall and the grange hall. Mr. Brown informed all that the buildings are in good shape, overall; the floor and the structure under the floor is in need of repair in both buildings with the grange being in slightly worse condition than the old town hall.
Motion: Bock, second Anderson to accept the annual contract for assessing services from Commerford, Nieder, and Perkins for the 2010 calendar year.
Vote: All in favor. Motion passed 3-0
Mr. Anderson reported that the new fire truck is quite impressive. Training on the new truck began this past Saturday.
Mr. Bock announced that the Annual Meeting of the Food Pantry is scheduled for January 20, 2010 at the Blaisdell Memorial Library. Everyone is welcome to attend. As a side note, he reported that the Building Committee is becoming involved with Food Pantry to address space needs due to the increased demand of services.
Mr. Brown noted that Jaye Vilchock has been re-elected by department members as Fire Chief for another year. An appointment form needs to be approved and signed.
Motion: Bonser, second Bock to sign the appointment form for Jaye Vilchock for fill the position of Nottingham Fire Chief.
Discussion: Mr. Anderson reported that this is his first year working with Chief Vilchock and he is very impressed.
Vote: All in favor. Motion passed: 3-0
Mr. Bock announced that the Supervisors of the Checklist were holding a work session and encouraged those who are not registered voters to come in and register.
Andy Fast has resigned from the Nottingham Conservation Commission. The Commission is recommending Peter Landry to fill the vacancy until March 15, 2012.
Motion: Anderson, second Bonser to appoint Peter Landry to the Nottingham Conservation Commission until March 15, 2012.
Vote: All in favor. Motion passed: 3-0
The Selectmen signed the appointment form.
There was a brief discussion around two loan modification agreements from Northway Bank. Mr. Brown explained that the bank’s amortization schedule for both the new fire truck and the sand and salt sheds had called for the first payment due in January of 2010; however, the voters had voted to raise and appropriate the first payments in 2009. The first payments went to principal and will reduce the repayment amounts by approximately $7K, total.
Mr. Brown informed the Selectmen that the highway department’s one-ton truck broke down yesterday. The studs of a rear wheel were sheared off. Tires were just replaced on this vehicle and they are checking to see if this may have been the cause. At Mr. Bock’s inquiry, Mr. Brown reported that things are going well with the new sand and salt facilities, as well as the new loader.
Motion: Anderson, second Bock to approve and sign the loan modification agreement with Northway Bank for the new fire truck.
Vote: All in favor. Motion passed: 3-0.
Motion: Anderson, second Bock to approve and sign the loan modification agreement with Northway Bank for the new fire truck.
Vote: All in favor. Motion passed: 3-0.
Chair Bonser has completed the Selectmen’s 2009 report for submittal to the Annual Town Report. The other Selectmen have not received her e-mailed copy. Mr. Bock will review it tomorrow when he comes in for the senior luncheon. Chair Bonser informed the Selectmen that her reference to Nottingham’s tax rate in relation to surrounding towns included Raymond at $18.34 per thousand on the low end of the spectrum and Lee at $25.28 per thousand on the high end. Nottingham is 13% and 56% lower, respectively.
Mr. Bock inquired about whether Nottingham has experienced anymore issues with Irving, one of the Town’s fuel suppliers. Mr. Brown indicated that there have been no more issues. Mr. Bock informed him that he has heard that others are having serious issues. Chair Bonser noted that they had received a letter of apology. Mr. Brown informed her that the letter was for running out of propane in the Dame building, not for filling the gas tank with diesel fuel. Mr. Brown informed the public that the Dame building has two 150 gallon propane tanks and is on auto delivery but Irving had not delivered and the tanks had run out of fuel.
GENERAL BUSINESS
Moving on to warrant and budget, Mr. Brown raised the issue of the land use change tax (LUCT). He recommended that the Selectmen consider putting forth a warrant to reverse the change made in 2007 allotting 100% of the funds to be placed in the conservation fund. Mr. Brown noted that the conservation fund currently has $312,978.02, not including the $64K collected in 2009. There was discussion around the amount of money lost to the general fund due to this change. The Conservation Commission is currently looking at six pieces of land for $280K. Chair Bonser noted that they would be submitting a CIP request. Mr. Brown informed her that it had come in and gone to Charlene Anderson, CIP Chair. There was discussion around the economic times and how this money could help reduce the tax
rate increases. Mr. Bock reminded all that when the warrant was put forth in 2007, the Selectmen were not supportive of its passage because of the loss of revenue to the general operating fund. Chair Bonser believes that the town is committed to conservation and that the maps provided by Peter Landry for conservation are proof of the extraordinary job that has been done by the town in this area. She noted that the economy was chugging along in 2007 when the town voted for this change. This is not the situation at this time. There was discussion around the parcels being looked at by the Conservation Commission and whether or not they were looking to purchase the land or easements on the land. Mr. Brown could not confirm either way. He informed the Selectmen that he has not spoken with the Conservation Commission about his recommendation. The Selectmen all agreed that this is appropriate for the community to review. The will put
forth, and recommend, a warrant to change the ordinance back to allotting 50%, up to $100K, to the conservation fund, with the remaining monies going to the general fund. Chair Bonser asked Mr. Brown to speak with the Commission.
Mr. Bock raised the issue of Article 3 and encouraged the public to become informed of the issue prior to Town Meeting. At Mr. Terninko’s inquiry, the Selectmen noted that this is a petition zoning warrant article and they do not vote to recommend or not recommend petition zoning warrant articles. Acknowledged by Chair Bonser, Ms. Mills also encouraged the public to become familiar with this article. She informed all that 50 towns in New Hampshire have passed this article and it has held up in two court cases. The presenters of this article feel that it will help with future water issues. Chair Bonser acknowledged that may help in the future, noting that it will not be retroactive to the current water issue. Ms. Mills agreed that it would help the town in the future.
Addressing the budget, Mr. Brown informed the Selectmen that he had reduced the legal line by $3K to $37K but was looking for input from the Selectmen. The Selectmen would like to leave the line at $40K. Turning the Selectmen’s attention to personnel administration, Mr. Brown noted that line 639 was increased by $3,609, line 640 was increased to a total of $209,711, and line 663 was increased by $4K to a total of $22,979. These increases are required due to a situation with a disabled employee. Line 639 is increased because if the employee goes onto COBRA, the town is required to continue paying the employers portion. This for a period of six months and will be offset by a credit but must be included in the budget in order to be paid out. Line 663 is increased because if the
town contributed in any way towards the long term disability premium, they must continue to pay the employers portion indefinitely; either until the employee goes back to work or retires.
Moving back to the warrant, Mr. Brown informed the Selectmen that he hopes to have a dollar amount for Article 6 by Thursday. The Selectmen made the following motions on the warrant:
Article 7 – $192,690 – Construction/Re-construction of Kennard Road or others as necessary. Same as last year.
Motion: Bonser, second Bock to recommend Article 7.
Vote: All in favor. Motion passed: 3-0.
Article 8 - $50K – Highway Capital Reserve Fund.
Motion: Bonser, second Bock to recommend Article 8.
Vote: All in favor. Motion passed: 3-0.
Article 9 - $10K – Ambulance.
Motion: Bonser, second Bock to recommend Article 9.
Vote: All in favor. Motion passed: 3-0.
Article 10 - $50K – Fire Capital Reserve Fund.
Motion: Bonser, second Bock to recommend Article 10.
Vote: All in favor. Motion passed: 3-0.
Article 11 - $23,565 – Social Services
Motion: Bonser, second Bock to recommend Article 11.
Vote: All in favor. Motion passed: 3-0.
Article 12 - $4K – Lake Host Program
Motion: Bonser, second Bock to recommend Article 12.
Vote: All in favor. Motion passed: 3-0.
Article 13 – LUCT – 50% to conservation fund to a maximum of $100K.
Motion: Bonser, second Anderson to recommend Article 13.
Vote: All in favor. Motion passed: 3-0.
Mr. Brown informed the Selectmen that there was a $181,803.93 surplus from last year. He feels this is too much. He looked into why and how this happened. Department heads really tightened things during the September/October time frame at his request. Last year’s surplus was only $18K and this had made him nervous. The town received a higher amount of rooms and meals tax than expected. The drop in fuel costs was also a contributing factor. All acknowledged that this surplus will help the fund balance next year. Mr. Brown informed the Selectmen that Marge Carlson is working on revenues.
Chair Bonser passed out minutes from the January 11 workshop and asked the Selectmen to consider signing a letter to our state representatives asking them to ‘ITL” (inexpedient to legislate) HB 1635 and HB 1654. There was discussion around these bills. Chair Bonser feels that the State is again pre-empting the towns authority and that there will be no hunting allowed in the state. She read the letter she had written and asked for support from the other Selectmen. Mr. Bock wants time to read the letters. Chair Bonser then raised the issue of HB 1514 prohibiting the sale of skins, read another letter she had written requesting ITL, and again asked the other Selectmen for support. The Selectmen will review the letter and re-address at the next meeting.
Mr. Brown informed the Selectmen that he had one more warrant article he needs them to vote on in regard to mowing at the cemeteries. This is a wash and will be covered by the cemetery funds. There will be no effect on taxes.
Motion: Bonser, second Bock to recommend this article.
Vote: All in favor. Motion passed 3-0
Motion: Bonser, second Bock to enter non-public under RSA 91-A:3 II (a).
Vote: Bock – yea, Anderson – yea, Bonser – yea. Passed by roll call: 3-0
The Selectmen entered a non-public session at 9:11 PM.
Motion: Bonser, second Anderson to exit non-public.
Vote: Bock – yea, Anderson – yea, Bonser – yea. Passed by roll call: 3-0
The Selectmen exited the non-public session at 9:19 PM.
Motion: Bonser, second Bock to seal the minutes of the non-public session.
Vote: Bock – yea, Anderson – yea, Bonser – yea. Passed by roll call: 3-0
Having no further business,
Motion: Bonser, second Bock to adjourn the meeting.
Vote: All in favor. Motion passed 3-0.
Meeting adjourned at 9:21 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Traci Chauvey
Recording Secretary
Approved as amended at the February 16, 2010 meeting.
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