SUNAPEE BOARD OF SELECTMEN
7:00 PM Town Office Meeting Room
Monday, May 9, 2011
Present: Frederick Gallup Chairman, William Roach Vice Chairman, Emma Smith, Charlotte Brown, Suzanne Gottling, Donna Nashawaty, Town Manager
Also Present: see attached sign-up sheet.
Chairman Gallup opened the meeting at 7:00PM
Tony Bergeron-Lower Main St. Bridge Capital Reserve
•Tony Bergeron stated he had earlier requested $20,000 for the preliminary design, getting all the permits and approvals from the state to proceed, would now like to request $40,000 to be released from the bridge capital reserve fund for the “bidding stage” of the process. Motion to move $40,000 from bridge capital reserve fund by Selectman Brown, seconded by Selectman Roach. All in Favor. Selectman Roach asked how much money was in the fund. Tony Bergeron stated that $48,000 is currently in the fund, which does not include the $25,000 that was approved at the March 2011 Town Meeting. Selectman Gottling asked when the project was scheduled for; she thought she “missed the date”. Tony Bergeron stated that the town survived the latest cuts of the ten year program and tentatively the
project is scheduled for 2017. Selectman Gottling asked if this was the bridge that the buses could not use. Tony Bergeron responded yes; that the bridge was “red listed” at 6 ton capacity. Chairman Gallup expressed a concern about being “put on the back burner”. Tony Bergeron said the State could come up with different criteria for a bridge, but he doesn’t see that happening.
•Tony Bergeron updated the Board that the Green-up Day was successful with 160 volunteers that collected 216 bags or 7 cubic yards of trash, 124 bags that can be recycled. Tony Bergeron wanted to thank the volunteers and the businesses that provided the lunch for the workers.
Public Comments
•Representative Bowers updated the Board on the happenings with the county. The county will have a public hearing on the budget, May 16th in Newport at 6:00pm. Expenses are up 1.7%, but revenue is down by $240,000 primarily because of stimulus funding, which means the Commissioners proposed budget has taxes up 5.5%. The executive finance committee met today and will meet again on Monday, May 16th and possibly Monday, May 23rd. These meetings are open to the public.
•Selectman Smith expressed her disappointment that Representative Bowers had voted in support of HB156 since the Board of Selectmen was unanimous in what they wish you to do. Representative Bowers said that he also was disappointed in the way it came out and stated if he had checked his email earlier it might have changed his vote. Representative Bowers explained that the proponents thought it would make registrations easier. An example would be that a buyer would buy a car on Sunday and on Monday the money would be in the town’s account and the buyer would have a new registration, instead of going three weeks because the buyer can’t get to the Town Clerk’s office. Representative Bowers went on to say that on the other side there’s fear that something might go wrong. Representative Bowers
listened to the arguments on both sides before coming to a decision and was leaning towards voting against HB156, but the people in favor had answers for all the objections and in Representative Bowers opinion, this is not that difficult of a job to get right. If they don’t get it right they will be out a lot of money and the program will be cancelled, which is a real incentive to get it right. Representative Bowers said that very “late in the game” he felt the arguments in favor were better that the arguments against HB156, but if he had known the day of the vote how the Selectmen had voted against HB156 two days before he probably would have voted against it Selectman Smith’s concern was Representative Bowers’judgement took money away from the town and when the town doesn’t make the money, the taxpayers have to make it up and that why the Board voted the way they did. Betty Ramspott, Town Clerk stated she was extremely concerned and
doesn’t have the same opinion that the Dealers will learn the software quickly. Betty Ramspott went on to say that she’s been in this business for fifteen years and work at the state for five years on the MAAP program and it is not a very easy program to learn. Betty Ramspott stated that this takes away all the residency issues, People who live out of state will be able to register cars at the dealerships and the dealerships are only interested in themselves. Betty Ramspott also disagreed with Representative Bowers that he didn’t know how the Board voted because three weeks prior to the vote, Betty Ramspott and Representative Bowers both attended a meeting that the subject was discussed and the Board voted on it at that time. Betty Ramspott also wanted to publicly thank Representative David Kidder from New London for voting against HB156, he understood Betty Ramspott concerns. Betty Ramspott wanted to know why someone would care if their car was registered the day
of purchase when you have twenty days. A lot of residents come to the Town Clerk’s office and ask what the cost will be to register the new vehicle. The registration will be worked into the financing and in Betty Ramspott opinion the Town Clerks look out for their residents. Betty Ramspott stated that the buyer does not have to register their car at the dealership. Donna Nashawaty told the Board about the article in the Laconia Citizen regarding a current FBI investigation in Sanbornton where someone was registering cars and then shipping them to China. Because it was an ongoing investigation the Town Clerk could not say anything and it did not come out until after the vote. Selectman Brown said Representative Bowers made the comment that the dealers had a lot to lose; what is the balance of the monies going to the town and the monies going to the dealerships? If things go the way it is planned a third party (ADP) will process the transactions; the town will get the
registration monies and the $2.50 service fee, plus an additional $2.00. The monies will be wired into the town’s account as soon as the buyer signs the paperwork. Selectman Brown wanted to know what the dealerships will get besides the extra workload and Betty Ramspott responded that the dealerships can charge anything they want for the processing, which they do now. Right now if you come to the Town Clerk to process your title application the fee is $25, which is the same as the state. The dealerships charge upwards of $300. Betty Ramspott stated that there is nothing in the bill that caps the fee a dealership can charge. Representative Bowers said the charge must be clearly shown to the buyer on separate paperwork. According to Representative Bowers the Town will get their money quicker because the buyer will register their car that day instead of waiting the twenty days to register. Betty Ramspott asked who was going to pay for the third party processing vendor and
Representative Bowers replied that the dealer would pay for the vendor. Terri White, a Sunapee resident and Insurance Agent wanted to comment that NH is not a mandatory insurance state, yet when people do issue insurance there is a residency requirement. Terri White went on to say that she deals with car dealers every day and is amazed at what they tell people. Our community has a lot of seasonal people and the Town Clerk has done a good job sifting through to explain that the seasonal residents might not be able to register their car and she sees a lot of challenges where people have already register their car at the dealership and by statue the insurance agent will not be able to insure the car in NH. Representative Bowers said that the Town Clerks will get the paperwork and will be able to tell the State that the buyer is not a resident and that the computer will “catch” if the address is not a NH address according to what a Nashua Town Clerk said to the committee.
Terri White stated that the City of Nashua was one of the cities that promulgated the NH auto residency requirement; a lot of people were coming across the border and opening PO boxes, registering and insuring their cars in NH, but live in Boston. Representative Bowers said there are some problems that need to be worked out or the dealers will lose a lot of money and the program will be cancelled.
•Selectman Roach wanted to make a comment concerning the county budget; it’s a small amount, but when they’re allocating grant money to various entities Selectman Roach believes that any entity that request money from the county should serve the whole county. An example is the bus service serves only 3 towns in the county and the other 12 towns subsidizes the service. According to Selectman Roach, one of the 3 towns refuses to take money out of their budget for the bus service. Selectman Roach wonders why 10 or 12 towns have to support the 3 towns that won’t support themselves and ask Representative Bowers to put some pressure on the county. Representative Bowers read in passing that that the County Commissioners have decided not to fund the bus service. The Commissioners have put a new volunteer
driver program in their budget. The delegation will be hearing grant requests on Monday, May 16th starting at 8:30am in Newport.
Selectmen Action
•Motion to reappoint Randy Richards, to the Crowther Chapel by Selectman Roach, seconded by Selectman Gottling. All in Favor.
•Motion to reappoint Skip Nolin to the Crowther Chapel by Selectman Smith, seconded by Selectman Roach. All in Favor.
•Motion to reappoint John Augustine to the Crowther Chapel by Selectman Brown, seconded by Selectman Roach. All in Favor.
•Motion to reappoint Anne Nilsen as an alternate to the Abbott Library Trustees by Selectman Roach, seconded by Selectman Gottling. All in Favor.
Motion to reappoint Marilyn Morse to the Thrift Shop Committee by Selectman Gottling, seconded by Selectman Roach. All in Favor.
Motion to accept appointments of James Gottling, to the Abbott Library Trustees Board by Selectman Brown, seconded by Selectman Smith. 4 in Favor 1 Abstained
Motion to accept appointment Tom Mickle, as an alternate to the Abbott Library Trustees Board by Selectman Brown, seconded by Selectman Smith. All in Favor.
•Motion to allow Chairman Gallup to sign the use of facilities application submitted by Sunapee Harbor West Club for use of Safety Services Building on May 21st by Selectman Brown, seconded by Selectman Gottling. All in Favor.
•Motion to allow Chairman Gallup to sign the use of facilities application submitted by U12 AAU Baseball for use of Veterans Field on various dates by Selectman Smith, seconded by Selectman Gottling. All in Favor.
•Motion to accept the petition and pole license for Birch Point Lane by Selectman Brown, seconded by Selectman Smith. 4 in Favor 1 Abstained.
•Motion to remove the Macleod property from the tax deeding since payment was received from the bank by Selectman Brown, seconded by Selectman Gottling. All in Favor.
Town Manager Report
•Monday, July 4th meeting changed to Tuesday, July 5th.
•The Board received invitations to the Upper Valley Lake Sunapee Regional Planning Commission Annual Dinner Meeting, Thursday, June 16th the Bistro Nouveau in Grantham, NH.
•Sunapee Watershed Stormwater Infrastructure Project meeting at LSPA on May 11th is postponed, no date has been set.
•Melissa Pollari started on May 2nd as the new Assessing Clerk.
•Donna Nashawaty showed the Board the new banner sign for Harbor House Livery, which was purchased by Project Sunapee.
•Donna Nashawaty informed the Board that she is working on a Purchase & Sales Agreement with Library as a draft document.
•Donna Nashawaty has called the surety bond in the amount of $65,000 for the property called Preserve at Mt. Sunapee that was held by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company. The property sold at auction on Wednesday, May 4th. There are concerns because the road does not have its top coat of asphalt, no guardrails, no signage and one culvert where the work has not been completed. Tony Bergeron has estimated the work that needs to be performed at $57,775 knowing that any remaining balance will be given back. Chairman Gallup was concerned when the new owner started building, that the road would incur abuse of the build out of the development. Donna Nashawaty stated that the Planning Board stipulated that this bond was only on the 1st phrase and the new owners will have to put up a
new performance bond when continuing to develop the subdivision.
•Donna Nashawaty read the email from the City of Dover Manager regarding the May 11th meeting. A resolution adopted by Councilman to delay consideration of the bridge donation until this fall in order to give local citizens a chance to fundraise.
•Selectman Brown wanted to know what the Board needs to do in the future to make sure Representative Bowers knows the position of the Board on articles he will be voting on that affect the town. Representative Bowers stated that the calendar for sessions on Wednesday comes out on the previous Thursday and he checks his email regularly, which is the best avenue. Selectman Brown asked how to get to the calendar and Representative Bowers said the simple way is nh.gov and then click on the calendar link. Donna Nashawaty told the Board the calendar is also in the Legislative Bulletin. In this case, Donna Nashawaty reminded the Board that at the April 11th meeting, the Board talked about these particular bills and the minutes reflects the concerns of the Board regarding these bills. Selectman Brown asked if
Representative Bowers read the Board of Selectmen minutes, he responded he does read the minutes. Representative Bowers went on to say when this topic first came up he had only heard one side of it, but then he got lots of information afterward and the proponents had better answers than the opponents had objections.
Meeting adjourned at 8:13PM
Submitted by,
Barbara Vaughn
Administrative Assistant
Approved:_____________
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Frederick Gallup, Chairman Charlotte Brown
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William Roach, Vice-Chairman Suzanne H. Gottling
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Emma M. Smith
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