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Minutes of 08/21/2006

August 25th, 2006

Carroll Board of Selectmen
Meeting Minutes
August 21, 2006


"These minutes of the Town of Carroll Select Board have been recorded by its Secretary. Though believed to be accurate and correct they are subject to additions, deletions and corrections by the Planning Board at its next meeting when the Board votes its final approval of the minutes. They are being made available at this time to conform to the requirements of New Hampshire RSA 91-A:2."



Board members present: Bill Wright, Allen Strasser, Bonnie Moroney

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM.

Members of the public present: Roberta McGee, Eleanor Brauns, Doug Bews, Ann Fabrizio, Carmine Fabrizio, Evan Karpf, Bill Dowling, Jay Ouellette, Dale Shakespeare, Bill Smalley, Claire Gritzer, Harold Garneau, Selwyn Lane, Ray Demers, Larry Holleran, Paul Hoffshire, Tom Gately, Edith Tucker, Bill Vecchio, Rena Vecchio, Patrice Camara, Kim Durand, Judy Cookson, Becki Pederson, Karen Moran, Paul Bussiere, Margriet Groffen, Nancy Mitiguy

The board began with the approval of bills and signing of checks.

Selectman Strasser made a motion to approve the minutes from 08/14/06. The motion was seconded by Selectman Moroney and passed unanimously.

Paul Bussiere came before the board to let them know that on August 10, he had stepped down as chairman of the Zoning Board of Adjustment, but he has agreed to serve as alternate on the board. Joan Karpf was elected Chairman and Jim Early Vice Chairman. Mr. Bussiere has served on the board for seven years, five years as chairman. Selectman Strasser moved to thank Mr. Bussiere for his years of service and also to acknowledge Ms. Karpf as the new Chairperson and Jim Early as Vice-Chair. Chairman Wright seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously.

The Public Hearing on the Emergency Lane began with Chairman Wright explaining that the road in question consists of the old railbed from in front of Fosters’ Crossroads to Mountain View Lane and Mountain View Lane. This is being done in accordance with RSA 231:59-a, so that the town can legally plow this section until such time as the Old Town Bridge is replaced or a town road is built giving access to the homes in that area. When questions started about replacing the bridge, Selectman Strasser stated that while discussion could take place about the bridge, this hearing was a totally separate issue, and no decisions would be made tonight about the bridge or building a road. Harold Garneau asked if we were going to fix the rail bed, and was told no. He asked if the selectmen were aware that both the road and bridge were a major part of the snowmobile trail. Selectman Strasser said that according to the state, the bridge is historical and will stay even if we do road access from the Rte 3 side. In response to Karen Moran's questions about costs, Selectman Strasser said we have received an estimate from the state as to replacing the bridge, the town’s 20% portion being approximately $154,000. Thus far we have no cost estimate for building a road instead. These numbers plus an official decision from the state to give us part of the railbed or give us right of way must be obtained before any decision is made and a public hearing will be held. If we can’t get the road from the state, we’ll have to Patrice Camara asked if the fire truck has enough clearance to turn around on Mountain View Lane or is part of Old Town Road going to be plowed. Selectman Strasser said the road is two-lane, and the plow can create enough room for equipment to reverse direction. He mentioned as possible funds to do the road, we have $30,000 in the Bridge Fund capital reserve that we won’t need. Mr. Ouellette feared using any of that money would jeopardize state Bridge Aid. It was also mentioned that only Town Meeting Vote could access those funds. It was repeated several times that if we repair the bridge ourselves, we give up the right to state Bridge Aid. Any work done on the bridge must be done in accordance with State design. It was decided that a committee should be formed to study all alternatives, get quotes on bridge construction, and come up with costs for building the road instead of replacing the bridge. The committee will also look at costs for what needs to be done to the bridge to make it safe for the snowmobile groomer to cross if it’s not replaced. The selectmen approved formation of a committee to include a Chamber of Commerce member, a resident from Mountain View Lane or Old Town Road, a snowmobile representative, a member of the Historical Society, someone from Foster’s, a selectman, and a taxpayer at large. Mr. Garneau said there’s only one place to bring the groomer across the river, and Selectman Strasser said they’d work to raise the bridge weight limit for the groomer. It was stated that Mountain View Lane is 33 ft. wide, the rail bed is 99 ft., although some has been lost into the river at one point. Mr. Garneau said John Foster had purchased part of that road. Selectman Strasser moved to declare the railbed from in front of Foster’s to Mountain View Lane and Mountain View Lane an Emergency Lane in accordance with RSA 23l:59-a.

The next subject had to do with warrant articles from 2001 and 2006. Article 11 in 2001 set up a special revenue account for the purpose of collecting recycling revenue. Article 13 in 2006 provided the means to spend some of the funds in the special revenue account. The wording on Article 11 leads some to believe that only revenue from the sale of recyclables is to go into this account, while Bill Dowling said that was not the intent of the article. A particular issue pertaining to Article 11 is the used oil grant money received and whether it should be put into the general fund, as our auditor believes. Article 13 was approved to include among other things, spending money from the account for the disposal of bulky waste and construction debris. The wording leads some to believe that the disposal includes the cost of tipping fees and hauling for the materials, while Mr. Dowling stated that was not the intent of the article. He stated that the hauling portion was to be expensed as a line item on the budget. Mr. Dowling will write two new articles for the 2007 election that will clarify both issues.

Becki Pederson announced that Michelle Fuller from Bretton Woods has been hired as part-time deputy and will start September 2. She also said that she will begin processing the state portion of motor vehicle registration in January, and expects we will see increased traffic in her office. Given these two facts, Ms. Pederson asked the selectmen to approve the purchase of a new computer and an upgrade to the BMSI software for a second user. Selectman Strasser moved to approve the expense of $4,815.00. Selectman Moroney seconded, and the motion was passed unanimously. The secretary advised the board that Frank Caruso of Certified Computer Solutions was in the office and highly recommended we buy a server at this time. We’ve been holding his quote from December 2005 in the amount of $7,387.00, and the concern is that we’ll have a major failure on one of these computers, and a server would minimize our vulnerability. Selectman Strasser moved to approve the computer expense, Selectman Moroney seconded, and the motion was passed unanimously. Rena Vecchio asked if we’d gotten bids for the computer items, and was told that CCS had the most knowledge in the North Country when it came to BMSI software installation and network setup.

There was no report from Stan Borkowski.

Butch Burbank from the Local Gov’t Center Property Liability Trust will inspect the recreation pond area tomorrow regarding the possibility of installing a floating dock.

John Seeley, chairman of the Bethlehem Planning Board, will attend the Selectmen’s meeting on August 28.

The application for seeking Federal Surplus Property that was approved August 7th was not completed in full at the time. So tonight the selectmen approved the following persons to sign for this surplus property: the Road Agent, the Police Chief, and the Fire Chief.

Chairman Wright read a letter from Hospice of Littleton Area asking if we could make our annual contribution of $378 even though it had been left off the warrant in March. Selectman Moroney moved to send them the money, Chairman Wright seconded, and the motion was passed unanimously.

The following documents were approved and signed.

Property tax abatement …amp;quot; Dept. of Resources & Economics $257.82
Surety Bond Release - Travelers Insurance (Adelphia Cable). A new bond for Time Warner was received.

Dale Shakespeare asked if we’d had any meetings with Time Warner yet, and if we had any planned since we’d had no input into the last negotiations with Adelphia. He was informed of the need for a representative to the Profile Cable Consortium, and agreed to volunteer. It was suggested he contact Eddy Moore, the Littleton representative about getting in touch with Time Warner in Berlin. Perhaps they could coordinate with the group for a public hearing with Time Warner. The selectmen voted to name Mr. Shakespeare the representative to the cable consortium.

Selectman Moroney brought two requests for funds before the board. Each was for $500 for a topographical map from Alpine Land Surveying. The Infrastructure Study Committee (the building committee) requested the maps to determine feasibility of building on two sites …amp;quot; one on the land up here recently purchased from the state and the other the former site of the Mooseland Grill. The cost for each map will be $500. The idea would be to see if either of these lots would be suitable for building a new police/fire station, and which one would be more suitable. She stated that a station at the Mooseland site would put the Bretton Woods properties within the 5 mile limit for ISO. Selectman Strasser said one of the problems with this plan is that they’re not following either the Bretton Woods Master Plan or the Carroll Fire Dept. Master Plan which calls for a new fire station in Bretton Woods in 2007. Selectman Moroney said having this map work done would give us square foot costs for building on either site, and determine whether it was even feasible to build on the Mooseland site. Selectman Strasser said he wanted to separate the vote on the 2 maps, as he was not in favor of spending money on Mooseland land, as it does not follow the BW Master Plan. He said we’ve been offered to pick out a 2.8 acre site at no cost in Bretton Woods, and the Building Committee is going against the Master Plans. Tom Gately said if we can build one complex to cover both areas, it should at least be looked at, and there’s nobody on the fire department that lives out at Bretton Woods. Mr. Ouellette questioned how good the response time would be if a new station was in Bretton Woods. Ms. Vecchio said she thought the building committee was supposed to be looking at options and bringing information to the Select Board so that choices can be made, not the Board telling them what to look at. She urged the Board to let the committee do their job. Selectman Strasser said he didn’t mind looking at alternatives as long as they had their primary focus on the BW Master Plan for a fire station, and the building committee has ignored it. Selectman Moroney said they’re not disregarding that, but looking to the future when we’ll need to build a new station in Twin Mountain. The building committee is looking at the possibility of using the present station for highway department equipment storage, as neither facility will be adequate for their departments as the town grows. Chairman Wright said we have spent a lot of money on the present station recently, and he didn’t want to spend any money on the Mooseland property. Ms. Vecchio suggested that someone from the building committee come to the selectmen’s meeting next week to explain what they’re looking at so everyone would know. Claire Gritzer asked about why we had 2 master plans one for Bretton Woods and one for the Town of Carroll. She said the building committee asked about the BW Master Plan and it was never brought to the building committee. Dr. Karpf asked if Selectman Strasser would sign the map authorization if the committee agreed to look at the Master Plan? Selectman Strasser said he and Chairman Wright had come up with a letter to the building committee saying they wanted the current Master Plan to be the primary focus. Selectman Strasser said the new owners of the resort are using the Master Plan that we gave them, and they are making their plans based on that plan, and now he finds out that we’re working on something different. He said he doesn’t object to alternatives being looked at, but wants the building committee to be in sync with the BW Master Plan. Ms. Gritzer repeated that the $500 is just to see if building on the Mooseland site is even feasible, there will be no more money spent at this time. Selectman Strasser then told Selectman Moroney they could settle this if she would sign the letter requesting the primary focus be put on the Master Plans that would then go the Planning Board, he would sign the request for $500. Mr. Ouellette said he understands why Bretton Woods has a Master Plan, but that the town of Carroll has a Master Plan that will probably change dramatically in the near future, and the people in Bretton Woods should be incorporating theirs with the Town of Carroll plan. Dr. Karpf asked what the deal was and Selectman Moroney said there was no deal, she was not signing the letter. Dr. Karpf said he thought committees are supposed to be independent, not be dictated to what they can do. He expressed the opinion that the board should be doing what’s in the best interest of the town, not the Bretton Woods owners and the business entity there. Numerous comments were made about the near future need of a new fire station in Twin, and the possibility of building only one station instead of two. Selectman Moroney asked what the selectmen had asked the committee to do when it was formed, and was told they were to look at the cost of the infrastructure and look forward to what we’ll need in the future. She said that was exactly what they were trying to do, and in this instance, without the $500 for the topographical map, they cannot get the board it needs. Selectman Strasser kept saying he’s not against looking at their option, he just wanted the Master Plan to be looked at first. Ms. Vecchio objected to the fact that Selectman Strasser and Chairman Wright had decided without consulting Selectman Moroney that a letter would be written to the building committee expressing a direction for their work. Several people said they were sure the plan would be looked at after this evening’s reminders, and that Selectman Strasser should just sign the paper. Eventually Selectman Strasser made a motion to direct the Infrastructure/Building Committee to implement the Master Plans as a primary focus and come up with as many alternatives as they like, then I’ll be glad to sign this. Chairman Wright added that if they come up with changes, they’ll be voted on at Town Meeting. Selectman Strasser said he’d sign the paper, Chairman Wright said he was signing under protest because he thought it was a waste of money, then Selectman Strasser told Chairman Wright if he didn’t want to sign, he wouldn’t either. Selectman Strasser said they’d get together with the Building Committee next week to work it out.

The Selectmen read and approved three employee commendation letters.

Jeff Duncan for assisting in the transition of ownership at the Mt. Washington Hotel Resort and for assistance with hydrant fee allocation.
Susan Kraabel and Marcia Rouillard for assistance in getting information to the new owners of the resort prior to closing of the sale.

Selectman Strasser moved to have department heads and committte members submit their 2007 budget requests by the second Monday in September. The motion was seconded by Chairman Wright, and passed unanimously.

Selectman Strasser moved to have all department heads submit a duty roster Friday afternoon of each week for the following week. The motion was seconded by Chairman Wright. Selectman Strasser and Chairman Wright voted aye, and Selectman Moroney did not vote.

Selectman Strasser moved to steam clean the carpets in the offices, the cloth chairs, and the kitchen floor. The motion was seconded by Chairman Wright, and passed unanimously.

Dr. Karpf told the board that the hiring board will meet Tuesday night to discuss candidates for Police Chief. He also said the Conservation Commission had met and that his wife Joan Karpf was elected chair. Dr. Karpf asked what they had come up with regarding Doug Bew’s questions from last week. Selectman Strasser said they were still going through minutes, and he’d not had a chance to talk to Bernie Waugh.

At 9:05 PM, as there was no additional business, Chairman Wright declared the meeting ended and moved to go into executive session regarding hiring and legal matters. This was seconded by Selectman Moroney. The board was polled, all three voted yea, and went into executive session.

At the close of executive session, Chairman Wright made a motion to return to public session and seal the minutes from executive session; Selectman Moroney seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

Town of Carroll, New Hampshire ®2024