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Town of Littleton

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Littleton, NH 03561
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2010 Meeting Minutes and Agendas

Board of Selectmen

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

Approved Minutes Jul 6, 2010

TOWN OF LITTLETON
BOARD OF SELECTMEN MEETING
TUESDAY, JULY 6, 2010
TOWN OFFICE CONFERENCE ROOM
9:00 AM
NON-PUBLIC SESSION PER RSA 91-A:3, II (a)
TO DISCUSS ONE OR MORE PERSONNEL ISSUES


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

Chairman Bolt called the meeting to order at 9:10 AM.

Bolt stated that he wanted to call this meeting to find out where the board stands with the bond and the Special Town Meeting now that they have had the deliberative session. Bolt said the deliberative session went well but at the end there were two questions and comments by Brien Ward and Jim Alden. Both felt it was a good settlement and they approved of the bond. However they wanted to know what the board was going to do to mitigate the estimated tax impact. Bolt said the impact will not happen until next year but they will feel the loss of the tax base this year. Bolt felt there were three things they could do, they could just press on and ignore what was said, or they can acknowledge what they said. The board can advise them how they researched various things and they can take some action now or defer until later in the year.

Ed Boynton asked if the board could answer Ward and Alden’s questions at this time due to the reappraisal not yet completed and the fact that they won’t know the tax rate until they meet with the DRA in October. Connell said there is no data available on the reval at this time and explained the assessment process. In the middle of September the board will receive the results of the mass appraisal. MRI is still making changes and at this point the one assessment that will stay constant is TransCanada at $177 million.

Marghie Seymour thinks they should keep track of the fact that there are two issues the board is dealing with right now. The first and most pressing issue is we have to get a positive vote on the bond issue. Seymour said that is something they can work on. Seymour does not think they should allow themselves to be backed into a corner by people who come in raising issues. We do need to pay back the bond but that is a separate issue. The board should make a plan on how they are going to get this bond passed. That should be the board’s first order of business. There should be presentations on Channel 2 and on the radio. If the bond does not pass the town could end up in a much worse condition then they are in now. Boynton said they should have the presentation provided by Rob Upton and Ed Hennessey be made available on Channel 2 for anyone to see. Seymour suggested they write up a short piece explaining why the selectmen think the bond is important and what would happen if it does not pass on the radio. Seymour said the two issues are getting the bond approved and then the method of paying off the bond. The board needs to be rational and get input from people. Boynton said he was disappointed in the lack of citizens’ attendance at the bond hearing and the deliberative session. Connell did not think there would be a large turnout for the Special Town Meeting. Seymour asked if there any people they know of who are against the bond. Bolt and Boynton did not know of anyone. Connell said the people who vote against it are the people who do not want their taxes to go up who are struggling financially and do not understand the alternatives. Seymour said the people who would vote against the bond have to understand that if the bond does not pass their taxes could go up even more. Connell said that Joe Wiggett and Amy Hatfield have already received calls this morning about the revaluations. There is no valuation information available at this time whatsoever. Connell said the only verifiable information they do have is the 2009 MS1 form. You would subtract $62 million from that and we would have a rough idea of what we have.

Bolt said one positive aspect of this is we did get a unanimous vote at the deliberative session. The analogy to the school does not work for him at all. We are not going to get an interest free loan and we are not going to have manpower savings. Bolt said he understood what Ward was saying but the school had something they are trying to build on and this is something this board inherited. They have a favorable assessment for TransCanada now for $177 million compared to $155 million. They have an excellent interest rate and the bond strategy is going to minimize the cost of the loan and has been endorsed by the budget committee. TransCanada will be paying 25% of the abatement. The board is being prudent with fiscal management by going with the $6.3 million instead of possibly a $9 million assessment. The new assessment will be stable for three years and there will be no more legal fees. The town has had the benefit of the excess revenue for the past four years. This has allowed us to do a number of things in town with virtually no impact on the tax rate. Seymour said the impact was just put off until now and none of them were selectmen at the time when the decision was made to spend that money rather then recognize that we might have to pay it back. Connell said the entire time that you had the benefit of that money you were not paying debt service on it. Bolt said from that we had the Opera House done, a new police station and Main Street. Connell said there is wide support for the budget but at the same time there are calls to cut personnel costs. Connell advised that the week before July 28th he has a commitment from Barry Lunderville of WLTN to do a Friday morning presentation. Connell said a fresh voice might make a difference and suggested either Seymour or Boynton do the radio presentation. Seymour said she would be happy to do it. The board then briefly discussed whether they should consider placing an informational piece in the papers. The board agreed they should look into an editorial. Bolt said they should also set up a meeting with the budget committee to review the mid year expenses and revenue.

Connell said the budget numbers for July are still in draft but at this time we are on or ahead of where we should be. There are only two lines that are over in the budget. That is the legal line and engineering. There will be some additional money left in overlay that could be used to pay down some of the legal cost. Connell said when they set the tax rate they will have the opportunity to bump up the overlay. They are still working on other objectives regarding revenues but reminded the board the only fees the departments are charging are established by law. The police, the town office and parks and recreation are the three places where there are targets of opportunity. He has the list of existing and proposed fees and he is working on how he can extend them. The list includes quite a few new fees currently not being charged. Connell said he had to give Paul Smith credit for that and Ryan Glass has also come up with some ideas. Amy Hatfield is working on the PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) Program, which eliminates the educational component of the taxes. The reasons he is working on them is they are a negotiated figure and there may be some room to improve on them. There are also some personnel issues that are the basis for the non-public session. Seymour asked if there were fees that the fire department could be charging such as inspection fees and others. Connell said the legislation that was passed enables the State Fire Marshall to charge fees but he has not been able to find out if that can apply to the local fire department.

Boynton said he found it interesting that the fire department was not charging for responding to accidents. Most people have vehicle insurance that would cover the cost of that. Connell said you have to find something in the law that says you can charge a fee. In a home rule state you have to find a law that states fees can be charged. Last year in the legislature there was legislation passed that strengthened the responsibility of the state fire marshal to do inspections and empowered him to charge fees. Connell said he did not know if that extends below to local fire departments. It is something we can continue to look into. Connell said the fire chief’s response to this was “the Littleton Fire Department does not impose fees for fines and therefore does not collect fees for fines. The only fees that are collected by the fire department are for FOI (Freedom of Information) and other reports.” The board took a brief break before entering into non-public session at 9:45 AM.

Connell advised that he would have the list of potential fees available for the board at Wednesday’s meeting. This would allow the board to react to the list of fees and review them. Bolt asked Connell if he was just presenting this as information and not expecting the board to react tomorrow night. Connell said this was just for informational purposes at this point. Seymour said she would be out of town for one week. She will be leaving early Thursday morning. Marghie Seymour made the motion to go into non-public session pursuant to RSA 91-A:3, II (a) to discuss potential personnel issues. Boynton seconded the motion. A unanimous roll call vote was taken. The board of selectmen entered non-public session at 9:49 AM.

The board came out of non-public session at 10:33 AM. Bolt announced the minutes have been sealed for one year due to personnel considerations. The board decided by consensus in the non-public session to implement one furlough day per month excluding emergency services. They also agreed by consensus to put a budget freeze on the operating budget with a $300 expenditure limit at the department level. The board was then quickly briefed on the ICMA newsletter Connell had provided. Boynton made the motion to adjourn. Seymour seconded the motion. Motion to adjourn passed 3-0. The meeting adjourned at 10:35 AM.

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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