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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 Mar 17, 2010

TOWN OF LITTLETON
BOARD OF SELECTMEN’S MEETING
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17, 2010
4:00 PM
LITTLETON COMMUNITY HOUSE, HEALD ROOM

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

Others Present: Jan Mercieri, Sharon Craigie, Art Tighe, Tony Ilacqua, Eddy Moore, Mary Edick, Linda Massimilla, Alison Bolt, Paul Vialle WLTN, Robert Blechl The Caledonian, Bob O’Conner Channel 2, Police Chief Smith, Todd McKee Fire Department Union Rep, Bill Sencabaugh, Sergeant Chris Tyler, Chad Stearns, Art McGrath The Courier, Jim Daly, Mary Daly, Fire Chief Joe Mercieri, Scotty Farquharson, Tommy Stephens School Superintendent

Chairman Ron Bolt called the meeting to order at 4:00 PM

Pledge of Allegiance

Organization of the Board of Selectmen
Chairman Bolt recognized the newest board member Marghie Seymour. Bolt thanked Eddy Moore for being present. Bolt said the board held an organizational meeting on Monday. Bolt was voted in as the Chairman and Ed Boynton will remain as the Vice Chairman. Bolt said that Ed decided to nominate Bolt due to Ed’s recent health problems. Bolt said they made a couple of changes to the committee memberships that the board members belong on. Bolt said he would remain on the Energy Conservation Committee. He would also stay on the CIP Committee. Ed will stay on the Planning Board, the Riverwalk Committee, the Stonewall Committee and the Police Building Committee. Marghie Seymour will be on the Joel Bedor Opera House Committee. Bolt said the board would meet as a group with the Opera House Committee and discuss what we consider the unfinished work on the town building. Bolt said that Steve Kelley indicated that all of the members of the committee are dedicated to completing the project. Bolt said he was also asking for Marghie to be an alternate member of the Planning Board as a backup for Ed Boynton. Bolt said that Marghie has experience and it would be beneficial for her to sit in on the meetings and offer suggestions to the Planning Board. The Ex-Officio member who is Ed Boynton is on that committee because he is a selectman. The purpose of him being on that committee is to express the views of the Board of Selectmen. Bolt then read the procedures for the Board of Selectmen Meetings.

Bolt advised the public that the board had a special meeting, a non-public meeting in which the minutes were sealed; and then had another non-public for the Town Manager’s Performance Review. These meetings all took place on Monday, March 15, 2010. Bolt said that they also had a non-meeting with town counsel regarding the TransCanada lawsuit on Tuesday.

Appointments: Maximum time per appointment is 15 minutes.
Littleton Food Coop – Petition
Town Manager Chuck Connell said the Food Coop submitted a petition requesting the board’s support for a crosswalk on the corner of Cottage Street and Route 302. There was an earlier request made to the DOT for the Crosswalk. Connell said we have since found out the request was denied. Connell said the new application has been reviewed and the petition underscores the importance of this crosswalk. Connell said we should pursue it if it should be denied again. Connell said the selectmen are also requesting a flashing yellow light at the intersection.

Chief Paul Smith – “Buckle Up In Your Truck” Seat Belt Campaign
Chief Paul Smith requested the board to accept the grant for the “Buckle Up In Your Truck” Seat Belt Campaign in the amount of $1,536.38. Smith said he was before the board a few weeks ago seeking permission to apply. We have now been granted the award. Smith said he wanted to re-emphasize this is just a survey allowing people to be more familiar with the use of seatbelts. It is not an enforceable campaign. It is legal if you are over the age of eighteen to drive without a seatbelt in New Hampshire although he does recommend doing so. Smith presented a sign that will be out and about when the survey starts. The last point Smith made is if we are doing the survey and we see an unsafe act or we observe children not using a seat belt we will take action. Marghie Seymour made the motion to accept the grant in the amount of $1,536.38. Ed Boynton seconded the motion. Motion passed 3-0.

Chairman Bolt asked the Chief about a comment he made this morning about children walking to school. Smith said he is on the Safe Routes to School Committee. Smith said that today there was a walk to school done and noted how much it has an impact on traffic congestion at Lakeway. There is another benefit there is a lot of congestion in front of Lakeway. Smith said it is great for our environment and good for the kids. Bolt said he understands they are going to step it up a bit and do it once a week instead of once a month. Smith said they have also received a grant for a bike rodeo. Mary Edick asked how can the public find out when they will have it so people can volunteer. Smith said generally the school gets a message out to the students. Smith said he would talk to the committee about how they can get it out to the general public.

Citizen’s Concerns:
Eddy Moore thanked Ron Bolt and Ed Boynton for their kind words in their letter to the editor. Eddy would like to ask about the town wide reval but he believes the Town Manager will be discussing that later. Moore said that in the past he had been receiving emails from Mr. Bolt that also went to Mr. Boynton, Chuck and some were sent to Ceil too. Moore said he has not seen any lately. He would like to see that continue. Bolt said pending advice from legal counsel if it was ok then he would do so. Eddy said that communication is public knowledge. Mary Daly asked what he was talking about. Eddy said it was various information about things that we should be looking into or researching. Bolt said they would work with the Town Manager and see what we can do about it.

Town Manager’s Report:
Redington Street Bridge Sidewalk
Chuck Connell advised the board to remember the DOT recommended the sidewalk be closed primarily because there was a hole in the sidewalk. Connell said that in their inspection report they indicated it should be closed. The other issue was the handrail on the traffic side of the bridge. One of the commitments the DOT made to Littleton was that they would continue to maintain the bridge so we can keep it open for use. Connell said he called the DOT and asked if that applied to the sidewalk and they agreed that it did. Connell said it is a band-aid fix on the sidewalk and the handrail is tender but serviceable in the DOT’s opinion.

Connell wanted to bring up the status on the town-wide reval. Connell said that Steve Hamilton has asked to be on the agenda for April 7. The RSA’s are very specific if a town fails to do a reval. The commissioner of the DRA is required to mandate the town to do the town wide reval. The article failed by five votes. Connell said Friday there would be a recount of the vote. Connell said the margin is so close that it would not be diligent to not do a recount. Mr. Hamilton will be here to discuss his obligation to contact the BTLA regarding the reval. The BTLA has some discretion on what they can do but the worse case scenario is if they agree the town must do the reval. The DRA will select the contractor and the town would be obligated to pay for it.
Connell said one of the questions that have been asked many times is why now. In 1999 with the statewide property tax it was made into a law to do a reval in a timely manner. Traditionally most communities take the town wide reval as a separate warrant article to alert the voters that this is going to happen. The second question has been asked why didn’t we just put it in the budget. Connell said it is just because of tradition and in the interest of disclosure by putting it on the warrant article. Connell said we do have a contract signed to do the reval. The contract has a municipal clause in it if the article fails that we do not have to honor the contract. Connell said the outcome is that we will have to do the reval. One of the areas we can get the money from is out of the surplus.

Eddy Moore said that in the Courier it quoted what you just reiterated. Unfortunately the Town Counsel said no means no. Connell said that Mr. Hamilton wanted to afford us the ability to do it and take it out of the assessing budget. If the DRA says we have to do it we still cannot move the money around in the budget. Moore said that is where he disagrees with Connell. Mount Vernon in New Hampshire did this last year. Moore said they were able to take the money out of the budget so he can’t understand why we can’t do that too. Eddy said he does not think we have to take the money out of the overlay. Eddy said that we have a line item in the budget and the BOS has the authority to move line items around. Eddy said we could take some from legal, the streets and the highway department. Eddy said he thinks the reserve is needed somewhere else. Jan Mercieri asked if we are required to do it is it more effective for us to find the money on our own. Connell said the cheapest way to do this is for the town to control the contract that we have in place. Connell said he disagrees with Mr. Moore’s statement. Connell said he respects his opinion but once again he agrees with town counsel that no means no. Connell said there will be a very lively discussion at the April 7th BOS meeting regarding this. Jan Mercieri asked if we are still afforded the opportunity to use the contract that we have. Connell said that would be a determination made by the BTLA. Connell said he would hope they would authorize us to spend the money on the contract we have in existence.

Mary Edick said that in the article it was asking for $125,000. Mary asked if we would we still be able to use the $35,000 that is in the budget. Connell said yes. Mary said so it is $90,000 that you are looking for. Eddy said he still questions if we could take it out of the reserve fund because it was voted out. Sharon Craigie said she is just curious why we don’t just put it in the budget. Bolt said because if you put it in the budget then people don’t really know that money is being socked away. Bolt added that by putting in the warrant then it is more informative. Bolt said we probably should have done this five years ago. Bolt said it is about being transparent. Connell said that everything at this point for 2010 is retrospective. We should just include it in the budget for 2015. Connell said if they decide that no is no we will be the first test case. Moore said then when Mount Vernon did this they moved money around within their budget. Connell said he encourages everyone who is interested in this to come to the April 7th meeting. Connell said he could arrange to have town counsel here for that meeting too. Bolt said that might be wise.

Marghie Seymour asked Connell if he said this is a new law from the DRA and we are all still trying to get this done in the right way. Connell said this came about in 1999 and was on the books in 2001. Sharon Craigie asked how do other towns handle this. Connell said it passed whichever way they did it. It has been done both ways. Sharon Craigie asked if the majority went with a warrant article or we don’t know. Connell said it was unknown. Eddy said Mount Vernon was voted down and they were forced to do it and they had to take it out of the general fund. Connell said that if they did not go to court about it they took the DRA's advice. Seymour said we might not also be a test case if nobody sued us, we just have to figure out how to deal with it because right now we are between a rock and a hot spot.
Alison Bolt said she is still not convinced the voters understood that this was not a choice. People are looking to save tax money. Alison said it would have passed if there had been a small statement in there that it had been mandated. Connell agreed with Alison and said there should have been a better educational process. Alison said chances are after this experience everyone will know that this has to be done. Jan Mercieri asked if there could be a note in the budget that these are state mandated. Bolt said that is a good suggestion.

Old Business:
Sign Approved CBA’s
Connell advised the board that the two representatives from the employees associations for the Fire Department and the Police Department were present with the new contract agreements. Todd McKee and Sergeant Chris Tyler presented the contracts to the board for their signatures. The board and Town Manager signed the contracts at this time.

New Business:
Review of Town Meeting
Chairman Bolt wanted some feedback on Town Meeting Day from anyone who was there. Mary Edick asked if there is a space in the Opera House that is comparable to the firehouse. Bolt said yes, it is the Opera House venue. Marghie Seymour said we voted there for years and all kinds of people came in to vote. Mary said one year we had more than 2,000 voters at the Opera House. Eddy Moore said that is where Town Meeting Day was always done until the building was condemned and then we had to move out. Moore said people are like animals and are creatures of habit, once they get used to something they don’t like a change. Moore said the biggest problem they had at the Opera House was parking. Todd McKee said that other than the parking issue, we spent $1.5 million on the Opera House he is wondering why we are not using that building again. McKee said it is a great space and was wondering if it is being considered. Bolt said that it is a little unfair that we can just use the firehouse and take them for granted. Jim Daly said he agrees that we ought to use the Opera House more. Jim said that parking would be a showstopper and you would lose voters because they could not park. He really thinks it would be a showstopper. Bolt said the Town Clerk indicated they had the highest ever voter turnout when Town Meeting was held at the Opera House. Bolt then thanked the voters for their positive votes on the warrant.

Recount of Article 9 (Town-wide Revaluation) Discussed earlier in the meeting.

Failure of Article 14 (Opera House Furnishings)
Bolt said that people were looking for a comprehensive plan for the building and they were reluctant to spend money not knowing when this pit would be filled. Connell made mention of the warrant articles that failed. Eddy Moore asked Connell to provide the new tax rate at the next meeting.

Create Opera House Commission discussion
Bolt said we will be re-energizing the Opera House Commission and will be appointing three new commissioners at our next meeting. Bolt said they would be building the parameters of that job including the money and what needs to be done. Bolt said the board would be advertising for nominations. Bolt said the board hopes to make a decision at their next meeting. Jim Daley asked if the responsibilities are already defined. Bolt said they would be similar to the conditions set up in 1999 but slightly different because the building is not occupied by the same entities. Jim asked if there were important legal differences between a commission and a committee. Sharon Craigie asked if it would be the same as the water and light department. Bolt said a commission could expend. Mary Edick asked if there is a time on each of these people. Bolt said the terms would be staggered. Connell said that when that article was written 1999 there were responsibilities and guidance given to them.

Other Business:
Committee, Commission and Board Reappointments
Bolt said he would like to set a deadline for the completion of a couple of things one is the master plan to be finished by this summer. That will include a new chapter on energy. And that will be parallel to the CIP program. He would like to see all of this completed by September the latest so that when we begin the budget process we can use it to see what items need to be considered for 2010. Bolt asked how we could get the word to the committees and boards. Connell suggested a letter to the boards. Marghie Seymour asked if we are going to be voting on each of them. Bolt no it is just conceptual. Bolt said he understands that volunteers operate the committees and boards.

Bolt said there are a number of positions that are due for reappointment again. Bolt said that with the agreement of his colleagues other than exceptional cases that we advertise when there is a reappointment and we give it two weeks. Eddy Moore asked Bolt if he was going to ignore those who are up for reappointment. Bolt said he is not going to ignore that if the person were not being pressured then he would go along with the chairman’s recommendation. Eddy said the two on the zoning board want to be renewed. Marghie said she would like to suggest not reappointing people just because they want it. Marghie said she would like to see some new faces on the committees and if we just do reappointments then we are not going to see that. Mary Daly said she is in total agreement with Marghie. Ed Boynton said the point was that we asked these people if they wanted to continue. Marghie said that’s fine. Bolt said that George Kirk’s position on the Budget Committee is a vacancy so people should apply. Mary Daly said there are people that have been on these committees for decades. Mary Edick said there has been a precedent to do it this way. Mary said her husband wanted to be the chairman of the conservation committee and he was denied by the BOS.

Sharon Craigie said she also agrees with Selectman Seymour. Sharon said she thinks there are people on the boards that don’t believe in the rules. She has been to some meetings where the neighbor wanted to do something and they were going to let them do that, when we brought it forward and then they said no. Sharon said it looks to her if you go to the Zoning Board and no one screams and hollers they do whatever they want. Sharon said why have zoning if you can go to the Zoning Board and get what you want. Sharon said she has seen a couple of different things happen there. She did her homework when she was on the Zoning Board. Chairman Bolt said the budget committee has three members up for renewal. George Kirk, Bill Kittridge and Brien Ward. Alison Bolt asked if the budget committee is the largest committee in town. Alison asked why is it nine people when other committees are seven. Connell said the number of members on the zoning and planning boards are mandated by law, he does not know why the budget committee is not. Bolt said that when he was taking to Steve Kelley this morning he did mention that back in the beginning the committee waivered between six and seven members. Then there was increased interest in the committee and they had exceptionally experienced people apply. Bolt said that due to their experience they were put on the board. Bolt then went down the list of openings. The Planning Board has 2, Water & Light Commission has1, Conservation Commission has 5, Zoning Board has 2, Pemi Baker Solid Waste District has 2 and there are various other openings on the North Country Council.

Bolt said they had a thing called the Tax Base Oversight Committee that was initiated back in 2007. Bolt said they have not met in three years. Bolt is going to suggest if we don’t hear different between now and the 7th of April that we decommission this committee. Mary Daly told Bolt that he said he was going to make it known that there were positions open and asked him how was he going to do that. Bolt said they were going to put it on the web, channel 2 and in the newspaper. Mary said he should also put it on WLTN.


Approve the following minutes:
March 3, 2010 BOS Meeting and March 4, 2010 Board of Assessors Meeting.
Ed Boynton made the motion to approve the above minutes. Bolt seconded the motion. Marghie Seymour abstained from the vote because she was not a board member at the time the minutes were taken. Motion passed 2-0. Ed Boynton made the motion to adjourn. Marghie Seymour seconded the motion. The motion 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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