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Minutes of 7/30/2012 APPROVED

August 28th, 2012

Carroll Board of Selectmen
Meeting Minutes
July 30, 2012
APPROVED 8/27/2012
"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 Select 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."

Minutes recorded by Maryclare Quigley, Secretary

Board members present: Bill Dowling, Mark Catalano, Paul Bussiere

The meeting was called to order at 7 PM by Chairman Dowling

Members of the public present: Patricia Beek, Dianne Hogan, Michael Hogan, Evan Karpf, Linda Dowling, Jim Covey, Kelli Shedd, Dan Walker, Sue Kraabel, Mike Gooden, Ann Fabrizio, Carmine Fabrizio, Marc Brodeur, Jeremy Oleson, Scott Sonia, Bill Smalley, Dave Scalley, Megan Rouillard

Pledge of Allegiance

The meeting was filmed by Evan Karpf

The Board announced the approval of bills and signing of checks.

Selectman Bussiere made a Motion To: Approve the minutes of 7/16/2012. Chairman Dowling seconded and the Motion passed unanimously.

Chairman Dowling said he had spoken with Paul Sanderson at LGC and he told him when he was on the Board of Selectmen in Rye, they did some self-insuring for and reduced their town cost significantly. Chairman Dowling said there would be no reduction in benefits or added cost to employees. He went on to say he had contacted our representative from HealthTrust, Patti Beek, who came to talk with the Board. Ms. Beek talked about the Lumenos options which have no pre-existing conditions exclusions, are compliant with health-care reform and that wellness exams are covered 100%. A way to cover the deductible would through a Health Reimbursement Account which is owned by the Town and reimburses employees for out of pocket costs. This would require a third party to administer as LGC does not administer HRA’s. Another way would be with a Health Savings Account. The Town puts money into the account and when a certain amount is in, the employee owns it. If the employee leaves, the money goes with the employee. Selectman Bussiere asked if this is considered income and Ms. Beek wasn’t sure but said she would find out and get back to us. Ms. Beek went through the cost sharing summaries and noted the deductible resets on January 1 each year. She stated all employee payments go toward the deductible and thus there would be no more co-pays. This is the same for prescriptions – at the time they are picked up they will be paid in full by the employee. She also explained there would not be a mandated mail order requirement as under this plan it will be Anthem rather than CareMark. There was discussion about deductibles with one plan being $2,500 single and $5,000 two persons and family as well as $5,000 single and $10,000 two persons and family. It was clarified that the first person had to reach the stated amount ($2,500 or $5,000) in costs before the deductible was met and the second amount had to be met by the second person or if a family, the remainder of the family, as the case may be. It was specified that even if the first person met the total 2-person or family deductible amount alone, it did not qualify as these are on a person-by-person/family requirement. The discussion also took in costs being “in-network” and “out-of-network” regarding health care providers participating in these plans. Chairman Dowling suggested the Board do some more homework regarding the various plans and they will be in touch with Ms. Beek by email or phone if they have other questions. Ms. Beek stated regarding administering the plans, they need to consider HIPA when determining plans and administering them. The Board thanked Ms. Beek for coming.

Megan Rouillard spoke regarding Colonel Town in Lancaster. Our Committee was approached about using their pool next season for lessons. If they are interested, Colonel Town is requesting a fee of $300 for the season, which will allow lessons for our recreation program only for two hours per day for two weeks. It will also allow residents of the Town of Carroll to use the pool facilities, sports fields, etc. for a much reduced user fee. If this fee is not paid, individual costs are quite high and Ms. Rouillard said this year already several families had to drop out because of the cost. Chairman Dowling said to put this in the Recreation budget. The Chairman then asked when they have their meetings and Ms. Rouillard said usually the second Tuesday of the month. Mr. Dowling said he wants to attend their next meeting as visits by a couple of the Committee members to the Selectmen meetings brought to his attention that no one currently on the Recreation Committee has been appointed by the Select Board. He said that RSA 35B allows the Select Board to create a Parks and Recreation Commission and though this does make for more responsibility to a certain extent, there is less liability on individual committee members. He said they would be appointed to staggered terms. Chairman Dowling asked Ms. Rouillard to notify the Secretary when their meeting is scheduled so can be notified.

Dan Walker presented the Emergency Management budget. He explained they received a grant several years ago for a radio and part of it was to promise to maintain it, so that’s why they have $100 on the radio line. Otherwise, all other lines have $1 only to keep them active.

Emergency Management Budget Exp. as
2011 2012 of June 2013
Salaries
-100 Director 1 1 0 1
Equipment Repair
-201 Radio 100 100 0 100
Miscellaneous
-200 Training 1 1 0 1
-202 EM Center 1 1 0 1

Kelli Shedd spoke about the Chamber of Commerce and said they are right in the middle of their busy season now with the Information Booth and the Music Series. As a result, they have spent only a portion of their money to date, $2,888.82 for the Information Booth and $700 on the music. They have had a high number of people stopping at the Booth and their Saturday night concerts have been very well attended.

Jim Covey brought up their proposed budget which is $15,600. He said they are hoping to add Beautification back into it as it was totally removed several years ago and landscaping for the new train display will be about $1,000. They also want to increase the music series as currently they are only able to have six shows during the entire season, which was cut substantially from the number with which they started many years ago. They have also included fireworks this year as a lot of people have been asking about them, and the Hotel has not allowed the public in recent years. The Chamber sponsored a show several years ago, with a large donation from the Hotel when they decided not to have any and it was a huge success. The Hotel has since changed hands and have brought fireworks back – but not for the public. Mr. Covey said he would remove this item though as he saw something about fireworks on the agenda with the Recreation Committee. (It was determined that they were possibly looking into it for Labor Day.)
Exp as
Chamber of Commerce 2011 2012 of June 2013

-301 Beautification 400 0 0 1,000
Train Landscaping
-303 Information Booth 9,800 10,100 2,889 10,100
-305 Town Entertainment 1,500 1,500 700 4,500

July 4 Fireworks $2,500
Music Series add’l. 500

The Board thanked Ms. Shedd and Mr. Covey.

Marc Brodeur, Acting Fire Chief brought the Fire Department budget and said it’s pretty much as the previous year’s budget. He said he left salary lines as he wasn’t sure what they planned to do this year and that a couple of lines most likely will need to be increased: the radio line because of changing to narrow band and they will also need to buy new radios/pagers due to the narrow band. He said the repair line will be over this year as the radios are older and the mentioned change in band in September. It was noted that Fire and Ambulance budgets had been split for 2012 to better track costs and revenues, so they are still working their way through the first ones. Chairman Dowling thanked Mr. Brodeur and said they’d contact him if they have any questions.

Fire Department 2012 2013

01-4220.10-100 Fire Chief Salary 3,966 3,966
-101 Officers Salaries 3,000 2,250
-102 Full Time FF 17,209 7,209
-103 FF Salaries 10/hr 12,000 12,000
-104 FF II Position 17,770 7,770
-201 Overtime 12,500 4,500
-202 NH FF Insurance 400 400
-300 Office Supplies 700 350
-301 Telephone 1,300 650
-304 Inoculations 200 75
-305 Office Equipment 1,000 500
-342 Software Support 2,800 1, 400
-400 Equipment Supplies 750 750
-500 Dispatching (Twin St) 5,506 2,000
-501 Mutual Aid (Twin St) 500 250
-502 North Pact MutAid 350 350
-600 Equip Purchase 1,500 1,500
-601 Radio Repair 1,200 500
-602 Vehicle Reprs&Mnt 3,500 3,500
-604 Maintenance 2,000 1,000
-606 Engine 1 Payment 1 0
-660 Forestry Equip 400 400
-680 Extric.Equip/Maint 400 400
-685 SCBA Equip/Maint 1,500 1,500
-700 Gasoline 8,000 2,500
-701 Travel Reimb. 500 250
-702 Clothing 800 500
-710 Protective Clothing 2,500 2,500
-800 Training 750 750
-801 Fire Prevention 200 200
-802 Inspections 250 250
-900 Miscellaneous 300 150

02-4150.10-808 Comstar Fee 7,300

Jeremy Oleson was next with the Ambulance Budget. He gave the Board a sheet of expenses to date and said as with Fire, the radio line is currently over due to repairs plus they have to get new ones due to the banding change. He said they’re thinking they may have to increase the chief line by about $250 and believe dispatching may be reduced, but that would be negligible. He also noted much of the labor came out of the special revenue account. Mr. Oleson stated as there was no budget for 2011, they couldn’t make comparisons. He said it’s basically flat and they’re leaving it because if a chief is hired that person may want to do things differently or go in a different direction.

Exp. as
Ambulance Budget 2012 of July 2013

01-4215.10-101 Officers Salaries 750 0 1,000
-102 Full Time FF 1 0 1
-104 Fulltime FF II 1 0 1
-200 EMT Salaries 2,418 0 2,418
-201 Overtime 8,000 2,528 8,000
-300 Office Supplies 350 101 350
-301 Telephone 650 283 650
-302 Medical Equip 1500 769 1,500
-304 Inoculations 125 0 125
-305 Office Equip 500 40 500
-342 Software Support 1,400 255 1,400
-401 Medical Supplies 1,500 1,015 1,500
-402 ALS Medical Sup 750 195 750
-403 Oxygen 1,200 349 1,200
-410 Defib Sup/Maint 700 0 700
-500 Dispatch(Twin State) 3,506 2,247 3,506
-501 Mutual Aid(Tw State) 250 200 250
-601 Radio Repair 750 810 1,000
-604 Maintenance 1,000 779 1,000
-605 Amb Repairs&Maint 3,000 818 3,000
-700 Gasoline 5,000 1,726 5,000
-701 Travel Reimb. 250 104 250
-702 Clothing 300 0 300
-715 Amb Protect.Clothing 500 0 500
-725 EMS Training 700 1,300 700
-900 Miscellaneous 150 52 150

Chairman Dowling thanked Mr. Oleson for the presentation.

The Employee Manual, Overtime item was tabled until the next meeting to give the Selectmen a chance to re-read it.

Megan Rouillard asked that the item for Recreation Committee Fireworks be passed over.

Chairman Dowling advised the amount of refund for the CNL abatement was $46,281.13. Selectman Catalano spoke about the loss of this revenue, the tax rate and where this money will come from. There was discussion about the revaluation nearing completion and how it will affect the tax rate and people’s taxes. There were varying opinions regarding the tax rate going up and taxes going up and/or down. While it was stated that without actual figures, etc., it would be difficult to call it, Selectman Catalano expressed concern about the amount of money that will have to be raised and that it will have to come from somewhere. Chairman Dowling said the tax rate that will be set in the fall will be to cover what was voted on at town meeting in March, not the projected budgets which are being prepared for next year. Selectman Catalano said he was aware of that but wants people to understand the situation and that he will not be in favor of raising taxes if it comes to that as he believes it will.

Chairman Dowling said the Highway Block Grant comes from the fuel tax and is received four times a year. He said this money currently goes into the General Fund and he thinks they should earmark the money for Highway. He said they should establish a specific road fund or something, which will have to be done at town meeting, so the money can accumulate so it may be used to do work on the roads.

Chairman Dowling said a past Board of Selectmen adopted a meeting policy which said the agenda would be posted Thursday before the meeting and any items would have to be received 7 to 10 days ahead to get materials to the Selectmen so they may act on the items. He also said there was a time limit for people to speak which should be acted on. He asked that this be put on the agenda for the next meeting so Selectmen Catalano and Bussiere could read the policy.

The following items were approved and signed:

Intent to Cut – M & D Hogan
Yield Tax Warrant – Messina
Water Warrant – Birchwood Commons, LLC
Property Tax Abatement – Bette Ann Paquette Trustee
This was approved and the value given by CNP, but did not have the usual documentation
attached, which the Tax Collector advised when she was asked. She said the land was
surveyed and verified that they were being taxed for more property than they owned.

Other:

Chairman Dowling brought a grant from NH The Beautiful. He said if awarded this money, it would be put toward a scale for the Transfer Station . Selectman Bussiere made a Motion to: Sign the application, Selectman Catalano seconded and it passed unanimously. Chairman Dowling asked the Secretary to mail the original.

Chairman Dowling said the town has a grant opportunity from Coos County which he wanted to apply for to have a complete energy audit done on the Town Hall which he had referred to at a previous meeting. He said he called Keith McBride, who did the audits last winter for several town buildings, for an estimate for the application and said it was quite a bit higher than he had said it might be. Once the form is completed, he will leave it in the office for signatures as the deadline is Friday. Selectman Catalano made a Motion to: Sign the grant form when it is filled out and Selectman Bussiere seconded. The Motion passed unanimously.

Sue Kraabel referred to the Property Tax Abatement and said she agreed with the Selectmen and would need more documentation if it requires a refund.

Selectman Catalano asked where the town stands on the signed agreement with the State and said that Charlie Kenison would like a copy when the State person has signed it. Jim Covey said we should be fine, but he had called the man working on it from the State and he’s on vacation until August 7. He said he would check back. The Secretary said she had been asked to check on item #13 which referred to insurance and a minimum amount of two million dollars. It had been noted from previous conversations with our carrier that we would be all set and that was reiterated with her most recent conversation. This will be considered the same as playground equipment and as the town has coverage at five million dollars this also is in compliance.
It was asked if there was a completion date on the New Straw Road project and as the Road Agent was not in attendance, it could not be answered, though it was mentioned that it might possibly be later in August.
As there was no further business, the Board was polled and went into non-public session for town aid at 8:35 p.m.

At the close of Non-Public Session, Chairman Dowling moved to return to Public Session and seal the minutes from Non-Public Session. Selectman Bussiere seconded and the Motion passed unanimously.

There being no further discussion, Chairman Dowling made a Motion to: adjourn the meeting. Selectman Catalano seconded and the Motion passed unanimously. Chairman Dowling declared the meeting ended at 9:30 p.m. The next meeting will be on Monday, August 13, 2012.

Town of Carroll, New Hampshire ®2025