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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

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Approved Minutes Apr 27, 2010

TOWN OF LITTLETON
BOARD OF SELECTMEN’S SPECIAL MEETING
TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2010
10:00 AM
TOWN OFFICE CONFERENCE ROOM

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

Others Present: Eddy Moore, Police Chief Paul Smith, Robert Blechl (The Caledonian) Eddy Moore, Fire Chief Joe Mercieri, Art McGrath (The Courier), Representatives from the Lions Club, the American Legion and the VFW, Art Tighe, Jessica Daine, John Woody (Littleton Elks Lodge).

Chairman Bolt called the meeting to order at 10:00 AM.

Memorial Day Parade
Dan Greenlaw said he wanted to clarify that he did not request to restore the money for all of the parades he only asked for the Memorial Day Parade. There was a brief discussion on where the parade would begin and where it ends. The cost of the event was another topic of discussion. Marghie Seymour noted that at the last BOS Meeting Herb Lahout and Rod Trahan offered to help with the funding. It was determined the cost of the parade was approximately $1,400. Ed Boynton suggested they make a motion to deal with each parade one at a time. Marghie Seymour said if it was taken out of the budget and the people voted on it then it needs to stay that way. Seymour said she is going to vote against every parade this year. Ron Bolt said it is an unknown if the public really knew and understood why this was cut. Ed Boynton made the motion to fund the Memorial Day Parade at $1,400. Marghie Seymour seconded the motion. The motion passed 2-1. Seymour voted against the motion.

Special Town Meeting
Town Manager Chuck Connell advised that on April 14th the Town received the judgment, which translates the agreement for the settlement made on March 8th to a judgment against the Town. Connell said that was the trigger we needed to go forward. Connell presented the draft warrant and a timeline to get them to a deliberative session on June 30th and a second session election on July 28th. Connell told the board it is his recommendation the board vote to petition the Grafton County Superior Court for permission to hold special town meeting on or about July 28th with a first or deliberative session on or about June 30th. The timeline is subject to change it all depends when and if the superior judge approves it. Bolt said the bond hearing would be on the 2nd or the 9th of June. Bolt asked Connell if there would be any hearings before the bond hearing. Connell said that has been discussed but it is not a requirement. Connell said the first session is assumed to be at the Littleton High School Cafeteria. The election is assumed to be at the town building. Bolt said we need a motion to allow town council to petition Grafton County Superior Court for a Special Town Meeting with the second session to be on or about July 28th and the first session to be on or about June 30th for the purpose of satisfying the judgment levied against the town on April 14th, 2010 in the matter of TransCanada versus the Town of Littleton. Ed Boynton so moved. Marghie Seymour seconded the motion. Motion passed 3-0.

G. Harvey – Subrogation
Chuck Connell explained that Arcadia Insurance who is the insurance provider for Gretchen Harvey paid a $5,000 claim to Ms. Harvey. Connell said they are now placing a claim against the town for the amount that was paid. Connell said town council has already reviewed this. Connell then read town council’s (Jae Whitelaw) recommendations. Connell said he wanted to make the board aware of the claim and then recommend with town council that we respond to Arcadia as she recommends. Connell said that when the town paid the claim to Ms. Harvey she released her subrogation rights. The board agreed by consensus to proceed with town council’s recommendation.

Emergency Planning Responsibilities of the Selectmen
Connell said that on May 18th the chief has made arrangements for someone to come and discuss this subject at a department head meeting. That may be an opportunity for you to avail yourselves of. Joe Mercieri stated a representative from the North Country Council was coming to help update the plan. Mercieri said this is important and has to be done so we can be eligible to submit to FEMA for some of the grants. Seymour said that she could not be there on that due to day training obligations. Bolt referred to a recent water line break that did not evolve into an emergency situation. The Water & Light Department did an excellent job of repairing the break. This evolved into a brief discussion on how the situation was dealt with and the procedures currently in place. Bolt said the incident raised another issue because Chuck was not in on that day and Tom Considine was not in work that week. Bolt said it just pointed out to him that things could happen. Connell reminded Bolt that he knew of the incident immediately. Marghie Seymour said it worked that time but what about the next time. Joe Mercieri said he could attest that when Connell is on vacation he gives responsibility to Joe Wiggett. Mercieri said he does the same in his department. Mercieri said that when he is not in work he gives the authority to Jeff Whitcomb and Bill Brusso who is next in line. Mercieri said the Water & Light Department does the same. Mercieri said it was the same with Chief Smith. We do have that system in place and it is in writing within our departments. Connell said their roles in that are really very secondary. Mercieri then provided a draft of the NIM’s resolution to the board for their review. Mercieri asked the board to take action at a future BOS Meeting on the resolution. Mercieri said that town employees have been taking NIMS courses. Connell asked if this resolution was new. Mercieri said it is from 2006 and should be readopted with every revision. Connell advised the board that there is very little discretion on this why not act on it today instead of causing him to come back to another meeting. Seymour asked if there is something that would come up before the next meeting that would cause us not to be able to get something if this is not signed. Mercieri said yes, that he would be going back to the board by the middle or the end of May seeking permission to submit the tanker truck grant. Seymour thought they should just put this on the next agenda providing the board with a week to look it over. It was agreed by consensus to put this on the next agenda.

Philosophy of Meeting Minutes and the Minutes of March 24, 2010
Bolt said we are into a new board here and we need to adopt a general policy on what should and shouldn’t be in the minutes of the meetings. Bolt said it is his preference that they be shorter and more concise than they have been in the past. Bolt said they would need all of the minimum information and then some to help describe the discussions that took place. Bolt said he does not feel that every word he speaks needs to be recorded in the minutes. The minutes become difficult to create and to read when you are dealing with that level of detail. Bolt asked the board if they could agree on the absolute minimum on the contents of the minutes. Seymour said she had a couple of questions and that she knows that we are being recorded and the tapes can be downloaded to a computer file. Seymour said these files could be accessed at any time. Boynton said this new system did not exist when the March 24th minutes were taken. Boynton said he did not have a problem with changing the minutes from now on. Boynton said this is a three-member board and Bolt made changes without our knowing about them. Seymour said the secretary would record the meetings and that people say who they are and they keep a library of the full audio transcript of each meeting. Boynton said he wants a paper trail rather than have the minutes shortened up. Boynton said the reason they are fifteen pages long is because of Mr. Bolt’s agenda. Seymour said she has never seen minutes like this. Connell said they spend an awful lot of time on grammatical errors and misspelling. Connell asked if the board would agree to have one member review the minutes for these errors. Bolt said he edited out sections of a discussion about the use of overtime. Bolt said that Boynton made some statements that were defamatory to the chief and the fire department so he wanted to give him the opportunity to keep them out. Boynton said he wants to keep the minutes the way they were. Boynton said there was no intention of being defamatory. Bolt said that Boynton broke protocol by raising the issue without the fire chief being present. Boynton said he would not approve the draft minutes the way Bolt amended them. Bolt said he was trying to avoid the possibility of the town being sued by Boynton’s statements. Seymour said what Boynton said is what he said and at the time they did not have a policy of how the minutes were going to be done. Seymour said she is not going to make a judgment of what Boynton said and might be subject to litigation. Boynton then provided Chief Mercieri with a copy of the original minutes and asked if he felt the comments were defamatory. Chief Mercieri said that he wanted it to go on the record that he satisfied Boynton’s questions regarding the overtime. Connell told the board that he did not see how they could settle this in any other way except to let the minutes stand with the added statement. Bolt said he still objects to the passage in these minutes. Connell said he would write the parenthetical comment for the minutes of March 24th. (Refer to the minutes of March 24th.)

Ed Boynton made the motion for the board to go to the summer schedule of one meeting a month. Boynton said that if something comes up they could call a special meeting. Bolt said he totally disagrees with the summer schedule. Bolt said they have a plate full of activities. Just look at the things we covered today. Seymour said she does not think we should go to one meeting a month but she does think we should try to keep it at two meetings. Seymour said she would not second the motion for the summer schedule. The motion died due to the lack of a second. Boynton made the motion to adjourn. Seymour seconded the motion. The motion passed 3-0. The meeting adjourned at 12:30 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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