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Town of Littleton

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Littleton, NH 03561
Phone: 603.444.3996
Fax: 603.444.1703

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2010 Meeting Minutes and Agendas

Board of Selectmen

View Meeting Minutes for: | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 |

Approved Minutes Jan 20, 2010

TOWN OF LITTLETON
BOARD OF SELECTMEN’S MEETING
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2010
4:00 PM
LITTLETON COMMUNITY HOUSE, HEALD ROOM

Present: Chairman Eddy Moore, Vice Chairman Ed Boynton, Selectman Ron Bolt, Town Manager Chuck Connell, Executive Secretary Ceil Stubbings

Others Present: Amy Austin, Jim Alden, Robert Blechl the Caledonian, Art McGrath the Courier, Tony Ilacqua, Mary Edick, George Chartier, Alison Bolt, Police Chief Paul Smith, Chief Joe Mercieri, Paul Vialle from WLTN, Linda Massimilla, Mercieri, Chad Stearns, Sharon Craigie, Mary Daly, Jim Daly, Bryan Hadlock, Paul McGoldrick, Margie Seymour.

Chairman Moore called the meeting to order at 4:00 PM

Pledge of Allegiance

Appointments: Maximum time per appointment is 15 minutes.

NH Department of Public Health Service Re: Suspected Cancer Cluster in Bethlehem (Cancelled).

Amy Austin Re: Oak Hill Sidewalk Petitioned Warrant Article
Amy stated that when she was last here she had forty-two signatures and ended up with seventy-five citizens signing the petition. Amy said that two of the most important signatures were from Bruce and Wendy Mason as well as Dale and Sara Smith who own the property where the sidewalk would be built. She also met with Safe Routes to School and read a letter of support from them.

Jim Alden Re: Main Street Sidewalk Snow Removal
Jim Alden thanked the selectmen for their time. Jim said they have had a lot of input from merchants on Main Street after the first few storms. Our goal is to keep the sidewalks cleared. Jim said his first question is do we have a policy in place. Chuck Connell provided Jim with a copy of the policy stating that it does deal with inclement weather within seventy-two hours of a storm. Connell said that if we have to do sidewalks we start at midnight and it takes two and a half hours to set up. Connell said our first priority is the school and the second is Main Street and there are eighteen miles of sidewalk. The crew comes in at midnight before quitting time the day before. They work normally six hours to do the sidewalks on Main Street and the school. Then they have to build the equipment back up if there is measurable snow in the forecast. Jim said that he understands there are obstacles but he does not feel they have been around within the seventy-two hours. Connell said the last storm the sidewalks were done on Sunday and the next day they were full again because they were filled by the snowplows. Jim said a week is a long time to have the sidewalks obscured. Jim said if we couldn’t get to the seventy-two hours how do we address that if we are not meeting our goal. George Chartier said that in the past it was written or understood it was seventy two hours after a significant snow fall measuring eight inches or more. To date we have not had that kind of snowfall. George said to do it as a courtesy he does not know if they can accommodate that, but when it comes to be an issue of safety then they try to do it as quickly as possible. Jim said we have seen seniors walking down the middle of the street because they could not get onto the sidewalk. Connell asked Jim if he had a suggestion. Jim said between the pre Christmas storms they had seven days and then another one when we had nine days. Jim said it has an impact on the businesses especially after coming out of construction and then having the sidewalks blocked. Connell said it was this way last year and the year before that. Connell said it is a recurring problem that they are looking into. Connell said they are looking at perhaps instead of relying on our resources we could contract out. Connell said that George had done some research on this.

Sharon Craigie said that she grew up here in this town and she remembers shop owners shoveling out their own doors. George Chartier said that at one time the kids would do it as a community service. George said that maybe it is possible for that to happen again. Sharon said she knows that the storeowners have done it in the past. Sharon said that back in the day it was the shop owners because they wanted the shoppers to come in. Jim said we do that now it is the snow removal that needs to happen. Given that there are business owners that are contracting out is that an option that we could look at. Connell said it is something we have looked at because it is something we can’t do as well as we would like to do. If the highway department does it, it would be $2,756.00 on a typical night of picking up snow. For contractor services it is about twice the cost. If it is at the overtime rate it is three times over the cost. George said they try as best as they can to not do it on overtime hours. Connell advised that George has said that Main Street and the school are done at least five to seven times a year. It would be $35,000 to $50,000 to do it. Connell asked if we can we afford to do it. Jim asked how many storms do we budget in a year. George said they budget for twenty-seven storms, but snow removal is in the regular budget. Ron Bolt asked Jim Alden and Chad Stearns if things are worse this year than they were in the past. Jim said we have had two pretty big storms. Jim then said we had almost two feet in January and there are some other issues, the sidewalks are pretty slippery. It seems the plow track leaves some ice and there has been a lot of concern as to what do and what people can put down on them. George said they are watching them he was out today inspecting the sidewalks. This last weekend he had a guy come in to salt the sidewalks. George said that one thing we want to do is not damage the sidewalks and right now it is a learning curve. Jim said he was wondering if we could set up communication as to when it is done. Jim said he thinks the communication would stop the problem. Connell reminded Jim about the email that was last sent informing him of the date of snow removal would take place and Jim went off the deep end. Connell said that George and he had met with the DOT about Main Street and they made some suggestions to improve the other state roads. Ron Bolt said he understands the state came through after we had done some work and they just covered it all up. Bolt asked if we should be asking for communication from the state. George said their policy is to remove the snow beyond the white line. Connell said the notification in regards of when people are going to be plowing is the weather forecast. Bolt told George that there was a concern about the bump outs on Main Street. George said it does not seem to be too big of an issue. Bolt then asked Joe Mercieri about the fire hydrants. Joe said the fire department is responsible for keeping them clear. Joe said this year we have had three work details to clear them out. Joe said they also use the Grafton County workers. Bolt asked how are we going to wrap this up, are we going to work on the communication. Connell said when we budget we budget on twenty-seven storms per year. George said they would work on the communication.

Proclamations:
National Honor Society Proclamation
Ron Bolt said the school has requested to have the proclamation read at their school on February 1st. Ron then read the proclamation and said this event would happen at the High School in the morning hours.

Citizen’s Concerns: Maximum time per individual is 3 minutes
Ron Bolt asked at what point in time did we decide there was going to be a time limit. Bolt said that this is a change to our procedures and this is the first he had heard of it. Connell said that this was discussed at the last meeting. Connell said we have changed the format to see if it will work. Ron said he is not concerned with the three minutes and asked if they had three minutes to make their point or can it go on for more discussion. Moore said we need to experiment with it.

Sharon Craigie said she thinks it would be only fair that you also time our appointments because you need to be fair. Moore said that these meetings have been going too long. Sharon agreed and said yes but it is interesting where you are shortening them up. Sharon said that her other concern is that the census will be starting soon. They should discuss this at one of their meetings. Sharon provided an informational sheet regarding safety for people. The information she provided included that citizens do not have to provide their social security numbers. Bolt said we do have some information on our web regarding this. Janice Mercieri asked if that was something they could put on Channel 2 too. Moore said yes. Mary Edick had a question for Sharon are all the census people going to have cards and does her information show what it is going to look like. Sharon said they should have ID and they should be carrying some device and a bag identifying who they are. Bolt said they do not have to enter your house to ask the questions. The census starts in March and if they get the form back in the mail by April 1st no one will bother them. Paul Smith said that Sharon had passed this on to him and he did some research too. Bolt said they were sending people out before they actually start with the devices to verify addresses. Joe Mercieri said just to clarify what the Chief said there is another agency using the GPS and that is 911 Mapping and they also carry an ID. Connell said the 911 Mapping people would not be going up to your door. Linda Massimilla wanted clarification on the citizen concerns three-minute limit does the response include the three minutes. Moore told her to let’s see how it works. Mary Edick asked if the three minute for the citizen concerns would still be kept for half an hour. Mary asked why Bob O’Conner was not here. Moore said he does not know why. Mary said she feels it is important that he be here. Connell said we don’t have full control over him and he has other commitments. Mary asked if she could call Bob and see why he was not here. She thinks it is important for the citizens. She was told that she could do so.

Jim Alden said that he read on the town office lease that he saw the $75,000 number and that is a big jump. Jim said he read this in the Caledonian Record and that is $17.00 per square foot. Moore said he feels it is $15,00 per square foot. Bolt said there is a development that happened just today and that is the bank would be agreeable to continue the lease on the current conditions for a period of five to seven years.

Town Manager’s Report:
Redington Street Bridge
Connell said he was pleased to report he has reached an agreement with Cultural Resources and the agreement is within the guidelines. Connell said the selectmen had another meeting were told the cost is $25,000 with $5,000 from the town. The engineers are going to submit the environmental permits at the end of the month or the first week of February.

Bryan Hadlock said that on behalf of the Parks and Recreation Department could you get them to work with us in the event there would be an impact on the tennis courts. Bryan said they also didn’t know if they would be looking for access by the river. Bryan said we might be able to scope a deal because we may have an access point. Connell said there would be no impact on the tennis courts. Connell said that was one of the unalterable facts when we started this process. Connell said that at the Bond & Budget Hearing on Monday night people had an opportunity to comment before the warrant and articles are finalized. Connell said a lot of things were brought to light there and tempers were flaring. Connell said the board is not supporting layoffs but that was the focus of the budget hearing. Connell said the most important thing is the Deliberative Session is February 1s. People need to be there to have their concerns heard. Ron Bolt said that before we leave this topic he would like to talk about two things. One is the bond for the Opera House. Bolt said he is in favor of deferring that to next year in light of this new information regarding the bank. Connell said it is in fact on the warrant but it needs to be done at the Deliberative Session. Connell said it is not fair for the people to not be able to discuss it. Connell said the warrant has to be posted on the 25th but it can be changed at the Deliberative Session. Connell said his advice is to not to take it off. Alison Bolt asked who put it on there. Connell said he did and he thinks it would be better to remove it at the Deliberative Session. Sharon Craigie asked if you can you remove things at the deliberative session. Connell said that after discussion and vote it makes it or it does it not make it. Connell then said that if you choose to remove it tonight you are more than welcome to do so. Connell said his point is that there are people expecting to see it there. Ed Boynton said he concurs with Chuck but with the economy the way it is he probably won’t support it. Mary Daly asked if they just implied that the recommendation is that it would be pulled. Mary said that this is the only place that you three can discuss that. Connell said that we are heading down a road we don’t want to go down. Mary said that Boynton said he was implying they were discussing it. Ed Boynton said we are trying to discuss all of this tonight and leave it up to the Deliberative Session. Eddy Moore said he had talked to Connell earlier today and they decided to discuss it at the Deliberative Session. Moore said he just saw this email regarding the town office lease an hour ago. Mercieri asked Moore when we would have a list of the warrants and will it show if it is endorsed by the selectmen. Connell said the selectmen and the budget committee would see copies of the warrant to act upon. They will have voted on each warrant article before the Deliberative Session and those they choose to will be taken off the ballot. There will be at least one more special meeting for the selectmen before the Deliberative Session. Janice asked if the recommendation from the budget committee was that on there before. Alison Bolt asked what purpose is there for the hearing most people are against it. Connell said it is a public hearing to receive comment. Alison asked if this thing is being put on the warrant and it seems to her it just muddies the water. Sharon Craigie said that there was something mentioned about the article regarding the curtains and chairs. Moore said if the article is taken off then it is gone the chairs and curtain would not happen. Sharon told Moore that you were going to separate the articles is what was discussed at the hearing. Sharon Craigie said that if the Opera House did not fly then you would not have the curtains or the chairs. Alison Bolt said that she thinks it is fair to say some of us might vote for the chairs and the curtains. Linda Massimilla asked Connell if he said something about the air conditioning. Connell said yes that is part of the construction. Mary Daly asked just so that she understands this if Connell was going to break the $600,000 into an itemized list. Connell said yes. Ron Bolt said another reason he would like to defer this is he does not think we have a total comprehensive plan. Bolt said there are still areas that have not been discussed at all and secondly it would give us more time to seek grants and funds. Ed Boynton made them motion that we put this off to the Deliberative Session. Boynton said he does not want to sit here and listen to this for another two hours again. Eddy Moore said he hears a motion. Ron Bolt said he would not second. Bolt said that at some point we are expected to show leadership to the community and bringing up a warrant article that most people do not want is not leadership. Jim Alden said that things have changed in the last couple of hours this is a big ticket and issue. Jim said he would urge the board to work it out before the Deliberative Session. Eddy Moore said that just because he has read a piece of email he would like to research it. Moore said he is not ready to take it off tonight. Sharon Craigie said she would like to point out to Mr. Boynton that if we had not had the discussion tonight you would not have thought to make a second warrant article. Sharon said to Boynton don’t put people down and belittle our comments. Boynton said he is not putting anyone down and that other people have opinions. Sharon said if those people had concerns they would be here. Ron Bolt said there would be a meeting here on Friday to go over the warrant article at 2:00 PM.

Bryan Hadlock said the reason he is here they is they would like permission to move the groomer. Bryan said they are looking for an OK from the selectmen because the OHR groomer is not registered. They would be leaving from behind Hitchners up Chiswick Avenue onto Pleasant and onto Remick Park. The work will be done at night. Bryan said they discussed this with Chief Smith and we have his approval. Bryan said this would be done after any major snowstorm. This is to let the Littleton people have access to cross county skiing. Connell urges the selectmen to agree. Bolt asked what hours this would be done. Bryan said it would be in the evening between 7:00 PM and 10:00 PM. Bolt asked if there are any safety hazards. Bryan said there are no safety hazards. Bryan said it is very visible. Bolt made the motion to grant permission to the Parks & Recreation Department to move the groomer from Hitchner’s to Remick Park. Boynton seconded the motion. The motion passed 3-0.

Connell said he had one last item to discuss. Connell said he was approached to do letters for environmental grants for the Littleton Community House and the Littleton Regional Hospital. The letters are not binding and may be submitted on behalf of the two organizations. Connell said the town would be required to hold a public hearing to support the two projects. There is no restriction on how many grants could be submitted and that he had signed the letters of intent.

Deliberative Session
Ron Bolt said he had one more issue on the budget. Bolt said that two or three time the board unanimously voted to not cut the budget and not have layoffs. Bolt told Moore that he went ahead and brought that up on Monday at the Budget Hearing and there were strong reactions to that. Moore said he felt it was the proper place to do it but that he would not do that at the Deliberative Session. Bolt said he did not agree to what happened and it shows a leadership issue. Bolt asked why are we putting all of our town employees through this for something that should not happen. Moore said he wanted to find out what the public input was and he found out. Bolt said it was very unfortunate that it happened and he regrets any grief it has caused our working people.

Old Business:

New Business:
Employee of the Year
Chuck Connell advised that during the month’s of November and December he received a number of nominations for the Employee of the Year. Connell said that according to the policy that we established he would like to make his recommendation. There were four employees nominated two of them received the most and were very close. Those nominated were Tony Ilacqua, Karen Noyes, Lori LaDuke and Ceil Stubbings. Connell’s recommendation is that Tony Ilacqua be nominated for the Employee of the Year. Bolt made the motion to approve Tony Ilacqua as the Employee of the Year. Boynton seconded the motion. The motion passed 3-0.

Ron Bolt announced that on Monday the 25th of January between 1:00 PM and 3:30 PM Senator Gregg would be in town. Connell said it would not be Senator Gregg but a member of his staff would be at the town office to talk with anyone about any issues they may have with congress.

Other Business:
Approve the following minutes:
December 2, 2009 Bolt moved to approve the minutes with one small change under citizen concerns. Change the $4,000 square feet to 4,000 square feet. Boynton seconded the motion. Motion passed 3-0.
December 8, 2009 Bolt moved to approve the minutes as submitted. Boynton second. Passed 3-0.
December 10, 2009 Bolt moved to approve the minutes as submitted. Boynton second. Passed 3-0.
December 14, 2009 Bolt moved to approve the minutes as submitted. Boynton second. Passed 3-0.
December 15, 2009 Bolt moved to approve the minutes as submitted. Boynton second. Passed 3-0.
December 16, 2009 Bolt moved to approve the minutes as submitted. Boynton second. Passed 3-0.
Boynton made the motion to adjourn. Bolt second. Passed 3-0.
The meeting adjourned at 5:33 PM.

Respectfully submitted
Ceil Stubbings









Littleton has functioned as a Board of Selectmen/Town Manager form of government since 1976.

The Littleton Board of Selectmen meets the first and third Wednesdays of the month at 4:00 PM at the Littleton Community House - Heald Room.

If you would like to be put on the agenda for an upcoming Selectmen's meeting, please contact Ceil Stubbings. Please be prepared with all information needed for the Selectmen to make a decision no later than the Friday before the Selectmen's meeting

Members

Ronald J. Bolt, Chairman
Edward C. Boynton, Vice Chairman
Marghie M. Seymour, Selectman

Selectmen's Email: selectmen@townoflittleton.org

Executive Secretary for the Board of Selectmen:

Ceil Stubbings
cstubbings@townoflittleton.org
125 Main Street
Suite 200
Littleton, NH 03561
603.444.3996 x15
603.444.1703 (fax)

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