Board of Selectmen Meeting
Town Office
Wednesday, 11/01/2017
6:00 p.m.
Present: Selectmen Bob Hamilton, Jim Qualey, Roberta Oeser, Town Administrator Joe Byk, Executive Secretary Michele Christian
The meeting was opened at 5:01 pm.
A motion was made by Roberta to enter non-public under RSA 91-A:3, ll (a) for Personnel, seconded by Bob. Roll Call Vote: Bob – Yes, Jim – Yes, Roberta – Yes.
10/18/17 Minutes
Call to Order / Pledge of Allegiance
Return to public session at 6:05 pm. Roberta made a motion to seal the minutes of Non-Public Session 2 because it could adversely affect the outcome, seconded by Bob. Roll call vote: Bob-yes, Jim-yes, Roberta-yes. Non-public Session 1 minutes are available.
Announcements:
The Board of Selectmen and Interim Police Chief Daniel Anair have reached an agreement and he will be our next Police Chief effective November 1, 2017. Swearing in will take place at the 11/1/17 Board of Selectmen meeting.
Roberta announced that at the last school board meeting a bomb was dropped by the apportionment committee. Laurel McKenzie was second guessing her position, she gave a summary that came from the DRA that basically says that Jaffrey should keep their stability grant and it should not be given to the school district first. The school apportionment committee is done but the Board will need to review it. Kelen Geiger has been looking at the Jaffrey Board of Selectmen’s meetings and stated that there is a very big meeting on 10/19 which is with the Board of Selectmen, Planning Board, the Jaffrey-Rindge School Committee and their budget. This information is on the Jaffrey website. Jaffrey Budget Committee is meeting tomorrow morning. Roberta said that the Jaffrey BOS is not in favor, Kelen confirmed that this was what she understood from the Jaffrey Board of Selectmen meetings. Jaffrey has been talking to attorneys and have also spoken to Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut. According to Jaffrey’s minutes Commissioner Edelblut is more in favor of Jaffrey’s position than that of Rindge. Jaffrey has been preparing and has done a number of studies on school district costs that the town actually picks up, Rindge needs to do more preparation. Rindge school board thinks we are back to square one. Bob said that he does not believe that the Education Commissioner Edelblut would make a recommendation one way or another.
Citizen’s Forum
Don Cook stated that he was glad to hear that the Executive Secretary position had been filled and that we will have a new Chief of Police. He asked if there was an update that could be shared on the status of the position for the Finance Director. Jim said the process is moving forward and there should be information soon.
Mary Ann Harper inquired about the tax rate being set. At the last meeting it was considered a high priority and she would like to know the current status. Joe said that he is working with Carla and Carol and there has been an issue on retrieving some of the data. We are required to put it into the DRA form. There have been numerous calls and e-mails to the revenue agent Stephanie that have not been returned. Mary Ann Harper asked if a date had been set with the DRA. No date has been set at this time. Roberta expressed concern that this should have been done two weeks ago. Carol needs a week and the Board needs to review the forms. A warrant needs to be prepared. Roberta strongly urged Joe to have the information completed by tomorrow, and to start the process for a TANs on Monday if not done.
General Business
1. Approval of:
a) Accounts Payable, 10/12/17, 10/19/17
A motion to approve accounts payable for 10/12/17, 10/19/17 was made by Roberta, seconded by Bob. Approved 3-0.
b) Payroll, 10/12/17, 10/19/17
A motion to approve payroll for 10/12/17, 10/19/17 was made by Roberta, seconded by Bob, Approved 3-0.
c) Minutes, 10/2/2017, 10/11/17 (non-public) 10/4/17 (public)
A motion was made by Roberta, seconded by Bob, to approve the minutes of 10/02/17 and 10/11/17. Approved, 3-0
Bob made one change to the wording of the request from the Library Trustees for an expendable trust fund. A motion was made by Roberta, seconded by Bob, to approve the minutes of 10/4/17 with the change. Approved 3-0.
2. Old Business
a) CIP Appointment – Tom Coneys
Jim stated that he had attended the CIP Committee meeting and the vote to recommend Mr. Coneys as a member passed and now it is to be determined by the Board of Selectmen. Roberta stated that she has strong reservations about his appointment. She feels that Mr. Coneys has not been a strong supporter of the capital needs of the town. He has been strongly outspoken about many of the needs that the town has and she does not feel that he has a positive attitude. She stated that there are already nine members on CIP and one member from the Budget Advisory Committee. Roberta feels that the committee is too big. Bob said that he feels that Mr. Coneys has a lot of questions and the committee needs someone who will pose questions so that the CIP doesn’t become a rubber stamp committee. Bob said he has good ideas and does research. He asks good questions and sometimes makes recommendations that no one else does. Jim declined to allow public discussion on this subject. Jim finds Mr. Coneys’ discussions useful and informative. He also believes that there should be diversity on the committee. With regard to the number of members on the CIP committee, Jim stated that the committee requested that Mr. Coneys be approved so they feel that he would be useful to them.
A motion was made by Bob, seconded by Jim to appoint Tom Coneys as a member of the CIP Committee. Approved, 2-1.
3. New Business
a) Rindge Veteran’s Association request
Tony Buckingham was present representing the Rindge Veteran’s Association. He submitted an application for a fund raiser to sell bricks to veterans that will be placed in the new memorial. The order forms will be available at the Tax Collector’s office and Carol will also take checks.
Bob made a motion, seconded by Roberta, to allow the Rindge Veteran’s Association to leave brick order forms at the tax collector’s desk. Approved 3-0. Mr. Buckingham thanked the Board on behalf of the Rindge Veteran’s Association.
b) Eleanor Martin – Stop Sign
Eleanor Martin had requested to be placed on the Agenda regarding the stop sign at Main and School Street. She was unable to attend the meeting tonight so her request has been tabled to the 11/1 meeting.
d) Camper Permit request – Docherty – Tax Map 47, Lot 48, Sharon
The applicant is not present. A camper permit application has been filled out and signed and it states that the abutters have been notified. Kelen Geiger commented that if the abutters have not been notified, the permit should be revoked immediately. Jim said that it would need to be revisited if the abutters were not notified. Bob made a motion, seconded by Roberta, to approve the camper permit for Docherty.
Approved 3-0
4. Informational Items/Communications/Updates
a) Committee Reports
Bob reported there was a Town Gown Committee meeting on 10/17. Nathan Pearce the COO is a representative from the President’s office at FPC and he is retired. We are also looking for another person from FPC and they were assigned and have also retired. There are two open spots and the VP of Student Affairs had an emergency and could not attend. We will have it worked out with Kim Mooney by next month.
Roberta reported that Trunk or Treat is this Friday the 20th. She also reported that there will be a 250th Committee Meeting on 11/9 at 7 p.m. and it will be held at the Meeting House. (Update: The meeting is at the town office in the conference room.)
Jim reported that there was a TelTech Committee on Monday. The Committee would like guidance if there is something that needs improving. Roberta stated that our website was slow and that she was having trouble pulling up minutes etc. There was discussion about how we can get meetings to be streamed live on the website. You Tube and Facebook are possibilities. Holly Koski said that the town of Leominster was using You Tube to stream their meetings. Jim said that the cost of web hosting went down because final payments were made. If we were to change to another web provider costs would increase.
Jim shared that there were some updates made to the website and they were satisfactory. He also suggested if there were problems with the website please write them down and submit them to TelTech Committee or attend a meeting. Joe to get contract renewal information for phone, internet, website, tech support, copier and postage meter.
David Drouin wanted to know the status of the Cable TV franchise contract. Discussion ensued. Joe stated that the contract has been negotiated but the one thing it didn’t have was a provision that they will give us an annual inventory. We are unable to assess them if we don’t know what they have. Fairpoint has sued 75 towns for abatement. They have done a disproportionality argument and they also have an equal protection article. We have to do for the cable franchise the same as we do for Fairpoint in terms of methodology. It is critical that we get an inventory. The draft was returned to Argent and there has been no response yet. Roberta asked why Rindge didn’t get service in the entire town. Jim asked if there is an exclusivity clause in the agreement. Joe will have to read the document. Dave Drouin asked how much money they owe us and Jim stated that it is a nominal amount of money. Dave said that he feels that they owe the money and it should be paid. There is no motivation for them to come back to the table. Bob stated that if we sue then we could be taking away cable service from the people of Rindge who have it.
CIP Committee – Mike Cloutier attended to share his efforts to get quotes on loaders and the replacement of 2 ton plow truck. He will also be getting quotes for a 2003 zero turn lawn mower. There was discussion about the CIP’s request to add a member to the committee. Dick Isakson provided an update on the status of the request made to the Board for an expendable trust fund for the Library. Jim reviewed information from the last meeting. Phyllis McCoon brought up her thoughts about having an emergency shower in the police station. Phyllis commented to the Board that she spoke to Interim Chief Anair and asked if he could get dimensions for her. There are many health risks with blood and body fluid exposure and the chemicals that may be present. It is important that his officers get protected as soon as possible and she feels we owe this to our police department. Interim Chief Anair will get back to Phyllis with recommendations. Jim thanked Phyllis for her efforts.
Schedule for upcoming CIP meetings: December 13 to discuss Budget and to provide their recommendations to the Board of Selectmen The next regular meeting is on November 21 but there was some feeling that the committee would like to discuss their recommendations sooner than that so they have tentatively scheduled their next meeting for November 14 for the CIP and would coordinate the November 21 meeting as a joint meeting with the BAC. Don Cook understood that the November 14th meeting was going to be the joint meeting – Jim stated that the joint meeting would be at the regular meeting on November 21.
David Drouin stated that on September 19 the CIP held a vote to recommended Ellen Smith to be appointed to the committee 6-0 with Joe to bring it to the Board of Selectmen for consideration on October 4. On October 4th Tom Coneys name was brought forward. David asked how this all transpired and Jim clarified that Ellen was appointed to the CIP committee as a citizen not by virtue of being the Finance Director so there is no need to reappoint. Roberta suggested that expiration dates or term limits should be discussed. Bob stated that the RSA doesn’t clearly define the duration of appointment.
Roberta stated that the press release for Police Chief Dan Anair is not personal enough. Joe will review the information with Dan.
Adjournment: 7:10 p.m.