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Town of Littleton

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2010 Meeting Minutes and Agendas

Board of Selectmen

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Approved Minutes Organization Meeting Mar 15, 2010

TOWN OF LITTLETON
BOARD OF SELECTMEN’S ORGANIZATION MEETING
MONDAY, MARCH 15, 2010
10:00 AM
TOWN OFFICE CONFERENCE ROOM

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

Others Present: Richard Massimilla, Mary Daly Alison Bolt, Mary Edick, Linda Massimilla, Art McGrath from The Courier, Jim Daly, Eddy Moore, Dennis Sharp, Kim Delutis, Amy Austin

Selectman Ed Boynton called the meeting to order at 10:00 AM

Election of Officers:
Selectman Ed Boynton said the first order of business was to hold the election of officers to the board. Ed Boynton then nominated Ron Bolt as the Chairman. Marghie Seymour seconded the motion. Marghie asked for a discussion. Ron Bolt said that in thinking about this over the last few days it dawned on him that we did not have anything in writing for the Chairman. Bolt said he had taken the liberty to write some things down. Bolt said the Chairman is the primary spokesman for the board and should be responsible for correspondence from the board. Bolt then read from the list regarding the responsibilities of the Chairman. The list included the following items, Conflict Resolution, Meeting Management, Issue Awareness, Prejudice or Bias Elimination, Emergency Management, Ethics, Direction and Community. Bolt said that he hopes it could be a useful document in future years. Mary Edick thought the discussion was going to be on the nomination. Mary asked if these are just suggestions. Bolt advised her that they were in fact just suggestions. Ed Boynton said that after reading this list of responsibilities and discussing being Chairman with his family and friends he decided not to consider the position of Chairman. Boynton said that it is no secret that he has had some health issues over the last year. Boynton said that that Ron Bolt has pretty much managed the agenda for the last six to eight months and he has done a very good job of it.

Linda Massimilla asked Ron Bolt if he could make a motion as the Chairman. Town Manager Connell said the Chairman is allowed to make a motion. Marghie Seymour said she does not think that if someone does not want to be the chairman then they probably should not do it. Seymour said there is a lot of work involved with the position. Boynton said he would be happy to stay on as the Vice Chairman. Connell reminded the board there was a second motion for the position of Chairman. Ron Bolt was voted in as Chairman by a 3-0 vote of the board. Ron Bolt asked for a nomination for the Vice Chairman. Marghie Seymour nominated Ed Boynton as the Vice Chairman. Bolt seconded the motion. Ed Boynton was voted as the Vice Chairman by a vote of 3-0.

Chairman Bolt then led a brief discussion regarding the committee assignments of the selectmen. It was decided that Marghie Seymour would be assigned to the Opera House Committee. There was some discussion about an appointment to the Moore Dam Committee but the committee would probably not be meeting again once a settlement is reached. Bolt said that he is on the Capital Improvement Committee and the Energy Conservation Committee. Bolt said he would like to stay on both committees but would not like to take on any more committee assignments. Mary Edick believes there has always been a member of the Select Board on the Planning Board and the Zoning Board. Bolt said there is only an assignment of a selectman on the Planning Board and that is as an ex-officio member. Bolt asked Boynton if he was comfortable with the committees he is on. Boynton said he is fine with it. Marghie asked if that left her with only one committee assignment. Chairman Bolt asked Ed Boynton if it would be possible to have Marghie appointed as an alternate to the Planning Board. Bolt said that with her experience in land use she would be a logical choice. Boynton said he was not sure if there would be a conflict of interest. Chuck Connell said she would only be there if Ed Boynton was not. Connell said it is done in other communities. It was decided that Seymour would be on the Opera House Committee and be an Alternate Member of the Planning Board. Chairman Bolt then provided a list of procedures for future selectmen’s meetings.

Chairman Bolt then discussed a list of goals and objectives for the board to meet over the next six months. Items included on the list consisted of the following: Update and prioritize the goals and objectives list, Mission statement for the Opera House Management Committee, Board/Commission membership approvals, set up out-of-cycle meeting with the Budget Committee, Special Town Meeting, set up first joint meeting with the School Board, Complete Main Street Renovation Phase 1, completion of the Master Plan and CIP Plan, recommendations of the pledges for budget accounting, efficiency, revenue sources and shared services. The last item on the list was to set up a meeting with the Parks and Recreation Commissioners.

Ron Bolt said that the board would like to meet in April with the Budget Committee to talk about how things are going so far this year. The meeting would be to talk about issues and not just numbers. Bolt said that in addition they would like to have joint meetings with the school board. Bolt said the Main Street Contractor, Northeast Earth would be back this spring to finish up the work on Main Street. Bolt said they would also set some deadlines for the master plan and the CIP plan. He would like to have that completed before they start the new budget. Bolt said they would also try to determine what is an adequate level of service.

Bolt said there is going to be three weeks before the next meeting and since Marghie Seymour is new then perhaps we should have a work session after Wednesday’s meeting when we can go over that list. Mary Edick said she had two things to mention. One is the use of work sessions and the other is the summer months. Bolt said he would defer the summer months until the next meeting. Bolt said that he does not think of a work session as a board meeting. Bolt said he would not make a decision at a work session. Mary said there is nothing in the RSA’s stating that you cannot make a decision in the work sessions. Mary said that she has read the minutes and decisions were made but not voted on. Mary said if a decision is made then a vote should be taken. Bolt said again it is not his intention to make decisions at a work session. Alison Bolt said the meetings are open to the public anyway so what is the big deal. Connell said that in Littleton he has come to understand that the expectation is that decisions will not be made and votes will not be taken in a work session. With that said the purpose of a work session is to discuss where we are or other issues. Chairman Bolt then advised the public the board would have to go into two non-public sessions at the end of this meeting. Bolt stated they had about forty-five minutes for the Town Manager to Review six items for discussion. Bolt then turned the meeting over to the Town Manager Chuck Connell

Points for Discussion:
Badger Trust
Connell said the Badger Trust is about $3.5 million dollars from Dr. Badger in honor of his sister. Connell said they grew up in Littleton and the purpose of the trust is to establish scholarships for people graduating from Littleton High School so that they can further their education in a four year course of study. Connell said there has to be a final accounting of the fund. A firm that deals with scholarships is auditing the fund. Connell said a report then has to be made to the State of New Jersey and we have been told it would be six or ninth months before we hear from them. The BOS does not have this in writing but town counsel has been working to get it in writing for the Trustees of the Trust Fund who need to accept it. Connell said it is the interest from those funds that can be awarded. If the fund falls below the $3.5 million dollars no award can be made. The BOS needs to form a committee to overlook the program. Connell said the school should be the one to make the awards. Marghie said she would be interested in seeing whatever paperwork came in reference to this. Connell said PNC Bank holds the funds in New Jersey. Bolt said none of us have had a lot of experience with this and asked Connell what he meant by forming a committee. Connell said it could just be the BOS’s recommendation for the school to handle the fund.

Collective Bargaining Agreements:
Connell said the CBA’s have been ratified by the BOS and approved by the voters. Connell said he believes he can bring the contracts to Wednesday night’s meeting. Ron Bolt asked for the board to see them before Wednesday’s meeting. Connell said he received one of the contracts this morning. Connell said Attorney Elwell has reviewed the contracts on our behalf and the union reps have also reviewed them.

Main Street Reconstruction Project
Connell said they are not sure when the contractor is coming back to finish the project. Connell said one of the factors involved is that the asphalt companies are not open yet. When they do come back they are going to put another inch of sealcoat /asphalt down and address some of the sidewalks that have heaved. Connell said there would be a punch list to clean up and finish the project. Marghie Seymour asked where we stand on the fire hydrants. Connell said there are two offending fire hydrants that were not moved or where they were supposed to be. Connell said our engineer is using his resources to rework the plan. We can make some modifications to correct one of them. Connell said there might be a way that we can realign the lines to get that one space back. The bottom line is when the second layer of asphalt is put down there will be a new striping plan. Bolt said the striping crew was given a plan that was wrong and asked who provided them with those incorrect plans. Connell said it was not the wrong plan. Connell said there were a lot of things to place the blame on. Eddy Moore asked if are they are going to fix the sidewalk too. Connell said that is the first thing on the list. Connell said they still have a year and we are guaranteed to have the funds to make sure those corrections are put in place.

Redington Street Bridge Reconstruction:
Connell said they have finished the process with the Cultural Resources Committee. As part of the final planning we had to address several issues. Connell said that only three bridges remain and they are historically significant. When it appeared the Redington Street project could go into a stall our representatives Rusty Bulis and Brien Ward attended a meeting to state the work needed to go on. The mitigation that was agreed to will be paid for out of the project fund had a price tag of $25,000. The centerpiece of that is a donation of the fund in the amount $15,000 that also includes a plaque. Connell said the bottom line is two weeks ago he signed the plan that was approved by the BOS. Connell said the next big issue is to obtain three easements. The easements have been identified and there will be meetings with the property owners to get their support. The bridge is being replaced where it now sits with one exception when you go south it is going to come over more to the west side. The good news is the DOT has all the property we are moving onto. Marghie asked if there would be problems with the easements on the north side. Connell said there are concerns but he thinks we can meet with them and get the consents. We are on the timeline with the work beginning late summer or early fall. One of the major concerns is a twelve-inch water main that must be maintained throughout the winter. The working plan is to temporarily suspend the water main while the bridge is being built.

Riverwalk Pathway, Phase 2:
Connell said this has been a very good committee. The first effort was to suggest and get approval from the DOT to move the pathway to the other side of the river. Take it along the top of the slope at the rivers edge and come up on the Lane House. The DES suggested that the permitting would be expensive and it was not likely to get approved it. It required an approval to over expend that took us from August to November. Connell said by this time the DES and DOT had checked in. Then it required additional engineering from November to March. Connell said the STIP was approved at the end of February. We have called the first committee meeting to continue the process. Marghie Seymour asked where are the two easements needed. Connell said the property owners are David Harkless and Frank Profido. Both of them have concerns but both indicted their willingness to work with the town.

Town-Wide Revaluation:
Connell passed out the RSA’s regarding the failed warrant article. Connell said that on Friday at 2:00 PM there would be a recount. There were only five votes for the approval and disapproval. Connell said even changing three votes it could change it but it is not very likely. Connell said that assuming the town is required to do the town wide reval every fifth year the town wide reval was last done in 2005. RSA 21-J would issue an administrative order for us to do the reval. The DRA would love us to come up with the money to do it. We have $30,000 in the budget but the voters have said no; the DRA is saying the voters cannot say no it is a mandate. Connell said the town counsel says no is no. Connell is hoping we can make a case before the BTLA since we have a signed contract to do the reval. There may be some other alternatives but the long and short of it is we have to do the reval this year. Alison Bolt said that it seems to her that many people did not understand that this is mandated. Alison said if it had been clear in the warrant article maybe it would have passed. Alison said that people said they would not do it because their taxes would go up. Connell said that she was right and in retrospect we didn’t do a thorough education process. The DRA does not like to wear the black hat and they approve our warrant articles. Alison thinks the warrant articles need to be very specific so that people can understand what they are reading. Connell said her point is very well taken. Connell said it is a contractual amount so it could have been put in the budget. Alison said she has heard people ask why it was not just put in to the budget. Connell said they can do it that way but it has always been done by a warrant article. Connell said the purpose of doing a town wide reval is that everyone is paying their fair share. The law says you have to do it every five years. Connell said the money we are saving now would end up in next year’s surplus. The DRA would love for us to take the savings in salt and sand and the legal but there is the case of no means no.

Ed Boynton made the motion to go into non-public session per RSA 91-A:3 II (e) to discuss Pending Litigation of TransCanada v. Town of Littleton and Clark v. Town of Littleton. Marghie Seymour seconded the motion. A unanimous roll call vote entered the board into the non-public session at 11:20 AM.

The board came out of non-public session at 11:45 AM. The minutes of the session were sealed by a unanimous roll call vote of the board. Ed Boynton made the motion to go into non-public session per RSA 91-A:3 II (a) for a performance evaluation. Marghie Seymour seconded the motion. A unanimous roll call vote entered the board into the non-public session at 11:46 A.M.

The Board came out of non-public session at 12:59 PM. The minutes of this meeting were not sealed. Ed Boynton made the motion to adjourn. Margie Seymour seconded the motion. Motion to adjourn passed 3-0.

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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