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Town of Littleton

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125 Main Street, Suite 200
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 Apr 21, 2010

TOWN OF LITTLETON
BOARD OF SELECTMEN’S MEETING
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2010
4:00 PM
LITTLETON OPERA HOUSE
Present: Chairman Ron Bolt, Vice Chairman Ed Boynton, Selectman Marghie Seymour, and Executive Secretary Ceil Stubbings.
Others Present: Art Tighe, Sharon Craigie, Chief Paul Smith, Mary Edick, Linda Massimilla, Jere Eames, Tony Ilacqua, Jerry Sorlucco, Ray Hopkins, Mel Brooks, Paul Vialle WLTN, Bob O’Conner Channel 2, Eddy Moore, Richard Merrow, Chad Stearns, Art McGrath The Courier, Jim Alden, Herb Lahout, Rod Trahan, Casey Hadlock, VFW and the American Legion, Robert Blechl The Caledonian, Jim Daly, Mary Daly, Janice Mercieri, George McNamara, Don Merrill, Brien Hadlock, Richard Massimilla, Steve Kelley, Bruce Hadlock, Chief Joe Mercieri, Bill Latulip, Sherri Latulip, Chris Hodge. Bill Sencabaugh.
Chairman Bolt called the meeting to order at 4:00 PM.
Chairman Bolt stated today’s meeting was being held at the Opera House as an experiment so see where meetings would be best held. Bolt asked those present to provide feedback to the board on the meeting logistics such as if the room were too hot or too cold, parking and on the acoustics’. This information would make the decision making process more effective.
Pledge of Allegiance:
Proclamation: Littleton Teacher Week:
Chairman Bolt announced Littleton Teacher Week would be May 3,, 2010 through May 7, 2010 and read the proclamation.
Feedback from the Last Meeting:
Bolt said that four weeks ago Mr. Moore asked what the tax impact was from the social service warrant articles. Bolt said the tax impact was determined to be 86 cents. Bolt said there was a concern raised about the condition about the municipal parking lot behind Jax Theater. Bolt said the parking lot would be cleaned up during earth week. There was an action that came out of the last meeting regarding the energy audit applications. They had to decide which building to choose for the audit. Those decisions were made by the town manager. The decision was made the audit would be done on the town garage and the inventory would be done on the library. Bolt said they would have a work session that would cover at least three topics; should the board support the parades, the policy of meeting minutes and emergency planning. They advertised the cancer study presentation they hosted. There was a citizen or two that brought up their concern about the Redington Street Bridge and the Highland Avenue Culvert. Bolt said it is his understanding a group of citizens are dealing with it and a meeting will be held this Friday.
Appointments:
Chief Paul Smith – VIP’s Appreciation
Chief Smith advised the following VIP’s members achieved the following levels: Silver Award – 250 to 499 hours, Shari Brooks, Marie Norton and Sharon Craigie. Bronze Award – 100 to 249 hours, Virginia Clark, Carol Ann Montgomery and Ray Hopkins. There were 14 active members receiving the Group Gold Award for performing a total of 1,656 and ¼ hours of services to the community. Those members are Aliza Anvari, Shari Brooks, Virginia Clark, Sharon Craigie, Mary Daly, Mary Edick, Donald Gilpin, Juanita Gilpin, Raymond Hopkins, Dick Massimilla, Carol Ann Montgomery, Marie Norton, Janet Parker and Henry Peterson. Smith said that each volunteer hour contributed makes a difference in the quality of life for others and he encourages everyone to contribute to our community by volunteering. Bolt thanked the Chief and moved onto the next appointment.
Bryan Hadlock Parks and Recreation Vandalism:
Bryan Hadlock reported the Parks and Recreation Department has been experiencing excessive vandalism every night of the week. Bryan said the police have been notified of the situation and they are currently looking at purchasing security cameras. Bryan said each incident has to be paid out of their budget because of the $1,000 deductable on their insurance. Bryan then touched on the possible need to lower the speed limit around the park to slow down traffic. They have ordered the new plow truck, which is a good thing since the old one only has two gears in it. Bolt then moved onto citizen concerns.
Citizen Concerns:
Herb Lahout referred Chairman Bolt to number nine of the code of ethics, which is to avoid any conflict of interest. Lahout said that Selectman Seymour is an abutter or a spokesperson for the other abutters to a low -income housing project that he is working on. Lahout asked Bolt if he was going to ask Marghie Seymour to step down if she was going to attend future ZBA meetings. Lahout said Seymour had gone to the Town Manager and requested he obtain information from the LGC (Local Government Center) regarding the Zoning Board giving him advice on his proposed project. Lahout asked if Bolt agreed that Seymour appears to have a conflict of interest. Bolt said he did not see a conflict of interest and he would not ask Seymour to resign from the board. Ed Boynton told Lahout that Seymour has every right as a private citizen to request information from the Town Manager who consulted with the LGC.
Bruce Hadlock said he wrote a letter to the Town Manager about 2 to 3 weeks ago regarding the money paid out to the Eames Block claim. Bruce thinks it is a misappropriation of funds and he is not going to let it go. That money was raised by taxation as well as by the State of New Hampshire. Bruce said you could not use money to pay anyone when they have the possibility of an insurance claim on their own insurance. Bruce asked for a letter back or a phone call and he is still going to follow up on it, it is misappropriation of funds. Chairman Bolt said he has nothing to say about the Eames claim because the town has claims underway.
Daniel Greenbaugh asked to speak for the Memorial Day Parade Committee. Daniel said there has been a Memorial Day parade every year since 1982. Daniel said he thinks it is just an oversight that the town voted out the funding for the police coverage for the parade. Daniel requested the Board to make a decision to replace the funding by next week because they are in the process of planning the parade but everything depends on whether they can get the funding. Chairman Bolt said the chief has made them aware of this situation and they would have a meeting to discuss this Monday or Tuesday of next week. The average cost for a parade runs between $1,500 to $1,900. Rod Trahan and Herb Lahout offered to assist with the cost if the town does not put the money back in the budget.
Eddy Moore wanted to address the issue of emails. Moore said that Chairman Bolt cut off emails to him as of March 13th. Bolt said he has not sent out any emails with substance to them. Moore said Bolt had sent out an email regarding a water line break. Bolt said he was responding to an emergency and 600,000 gallons of water is an emergency. Bolt said there was going to be some consideration to adopting an email policy similar to the school board’s policy. Moore said the School Board has put a freeze on their budget in anticipation of paying the settlement for Moore Dam. Bruce Hadlock agreed with Moore and said a freeze would be appropriate at this time because people do not have any idea how this is going to affect them.
Jim Alden said he has been watching what has been happening over the last several weeks. Alden said the board should start moving forward and stop getting caught up in the mire and start looking at the bigger picture. You guys need to work together. We are not asking you to like each other. Alden said he is suggesting they have a vision meeting where each selectman comes to the meeting with three to five agenda items and have a discussion on them. If you have ten you might agree on seven of them. Mary Daly said that what Alden was referring to has already been done about four meetings ago. Mary said the last thing we need is some kind of touchy feely session.
Frank Grammo said Bruce Hadlock made a good point regarding a budget freeze. We need to start acting like businessmen. Bolt said the town is not a business we are a service provider. Bolt then closed citizen concerns and moved onto the next agenda item.
Spotlight on Departments: Tony Ilacqua – Transfer Station
Tony Ilacqua reported the transfer station is in much better shape then they have been since 2008. Tony said 2009 was a bad year. The good news is the revenues this year are running well ahead of last year and we should make our budgeted income with ease. Some of the things that are down are the construction debris because there is not a lot going on. Tony advised that Household Hazard Waste Day would be on August 29th with another one in September. Tony said he had been working closely with the chamber for Earth Day and so far they have already had over two hundred bags of rubbish dropped off.
Town Manager Report: None
Chairman Bolt advised that since the Town Manager was not here this item would be passed over. Bolt said that there was supposed to be a discussion on the Police Facility Construction Committee. Chief Smith said there is around $15,000 left for soft costs however there are still some outstanding bills. Smith said that Mike Doucette was currently in Maine but he had suggested the committee meet again after all of the bills have been paid and then make their recommendation to the BOS.
Old Business:
Chairman Bolt said there is some activity going on with the 2010 Goals and Priorities. The Opera House Renovation Commission will be meeting here in the Opera House tonight at 7:00 PM. Bolt advised that tomorrow night at 6:00 PM the Town Building Renovation Committee will be meeting here.
Bolt then provided an overview of the briefing on the cancer cluster study results in Bethlehem. The study looked at eight surrounding towns including Littleton and they were nothing like Bethlehem. The study revealed elevated instances of ovarian cancer. The DHHS does a behavioral survey and asked people what they do. In the case of Littleton we are heavier smokers than the state average and more frequent exercisers than the state average and are also slightly higher on drinking.
Bolt said the board inappropriately appointed someone to the CIP Committee and that was Richard Massimilla. Bolt said that the chairman of the CIP Committee should be the one to make the appointment.
Bolt said they still have one vacancy on the Budget Committee. Bolt said he believes that Mr. Gregg Eastman is still interested and Steve Kelley also recommended him. Bolt asked for a motion. Marghie Seymour made the motion to appoint Gregg Eastman to the budget committee. Ed Boynton seconded the motion. Motion passed 3-0.
Bolt said there are two alternates on the Planning Board and one two-year vacancy. Bolt said that Chairman Ryan has indicated that he would like to wait a while before appointing anyone to the vacancy to see how the two alternates are working and then make a recommendation.
New Business:
Bolt said the only other thing he has under new business is there is going to be a joint meeting on Thursday, April 29th at the Community Center Heald Room with the Budget Committee and the School Board Finance Committee. This meeting is to talk about how things are going in the town in general. This would not be a number crunching drill.
Marghie Seymour said there have been a lot of questions about the right to know and 91A. Marghie asked if there was some sort of workshop that we could request the LGC to do. Marghie volunteered to contact the surrounding towns to see if there was an interest in a participating in a joint workshop.
Bolt then mentioned the list of take aways from tonight’s meeting: Consider the adoption of an email policy similar to the School Board. Consider a budget freeze. Consider police support for the Memorial Day Parade. Look at the big picture of Littleton’s future. Be prepared to respond to further concerns regarding vandalism at the Parks and Recreation facilities. Consider Channel 2 filing events of interest to the community. Check on the feasibility of a Multi-Town 91-A seminar put on by the LGC. Bolt asked if there was any other business. There being none Bolt asked for a motion to adjourn. Ed Boynton made the motion to adjourn. Marghie Seymour seconded the motion. Motion passed 3-0 at 5:53 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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