TOWN OF PITTSFIELD
BOARD OF SELECTMEN
TOWN HALL, 85 MAIN STREET
PITTSFIELD, NH 03263
MEETING MINUTES OF April 10, 2007
CALL TO ORDER
.
Call to order at 6:00 P.M., by Arthur Morse, Chairman.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Arthur Morse (AM), Chairman, Larry Konopka (LK), Vice-Chairman, Linda
Small (LS), Ed Vien (EV), John Lenaerts (JL), Paul Skowran (PS), Town
Administrator, and Delores Fritz, Recording Secretary.
MEMBERS ABSENT
None
.
PUBLIC INPUT
None
AGENDA REVIEW
(LS) Data Collection – Chichester; Follow-up on Dog Refuse from last
week. (EV) Action: Grant for Four Radios. (LK) Website Committee;
Welfare Department Fax Line Update and Non-Public, Employee.
APPOINTMENT
6:15 P.M.: George Bachelder and Mike McLaughlin – Highway Garage
Exhaust Issue (2/13/07) and Highway Garage Door Bids.
George Bachelder related that they had several bids for replacement of the
highway garage doors. One bid was from R.C. Woods, Pittsfield, which was
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the low bid by about $50.00. The other one was from Overhead Doors. He
related that they had worked with both companies in the past and were
happy with their work. He related bid was $8,952 for all four doors, one
new remote and repairs on another three. This project was budgeted for
$12,000. (EV) wanted to know if by combining parts from old doors, if one
good door could be constructed. George related that the doors were “junk,
rusted and rotted. They should just be trashed.” He related they had been
repaired many times and were not worth saving and not good for the
building. He related that, perhaps, Ron would have some use for them.
In relation to the highway garage exhaust issue, Mike McLaughlin related
that Clean Air Technology was the best way to go and essentially quoted the
same numbers as the other company. He related that he has one more quote
coming in on Thursday and will get back to the Board next Tuesday on that
company quote. He related that the welding unit is about $5,613 and the
overhead system about $16,150. without the electrical. The estimated
electrical work would be about $1,500 as there are only about three fans,
which need to be wired. Mike related that this company has put in several
similar systems. (LK) questioned whether the State had been by yet and
George related that they had not. He wanted to know where funds for this
would be coming from, and (LS) related that she did not know. Mike related
that a few fans had already been installed and some still needed to be. (LK)
questioned of George whether there was an emergency fund that he could
use for this, and his reply was, “No.”
(EV) Motion to accept bid from R. C. Woods for garage doors. (LK)
Second. Carried 4-0.
(LS) requested that Mike date all future memos and thanked him for his
responses, as they were clear and concise.
In regard to the roof for the Town Hall, Mike related that he had devised a
spec sheet, which was distributed to Board members and that he would
welcome any input in this regard. He related that the company that installs
roofing that resembles slate would cost about 2 ½ times more than asphalt
shingles. (JL) wanted to know if any other company in New England does
the same type of roof installation. Mike related that this is the only company
that does it. The budget is for $90,000, which includes removing the current
slate roof but not any flashing. Company will be making presentation to
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Board in about two weeks.
(LK) questioned whether the State had been down to see the garage and
Safety Committee has not met in awhile, how are things going. George
related “Fine.”
Mike related that the fans now take the heat out of the building. George
related that they are currently on their second wood furnace, which has been
repaired and re-repaired. He inquired and they no longer make this type of
furnace. They currently use about 10-12 cords of wood a season. I am
unsure what I can do about this. This is something that will have to be
budgeted for next year. Furnace is in really bad shape and we have done all
the work to it that we can but we cannot keep using it. Mike questioned
whether they should begin getting quotes for replacement of this. (LS)
thought this was a good idea. George related that there are outside wood
furnaces, which pipe in hot water, but he is skeptical of whether this would
be applicable for the garage.
7:30 P.M. Request for Non-Public Meeting from Former Town Manager
Study Committee, NH RSA 91-A:3 II c to be later in the meeting.
NEW BUSINESS
ACTION ITEMS
1. Board and Committee Vacancies, Update List for 4/23/07 Meeting.
(AM) posed some questions to (PS) about appointees to Planning Board
which is needed prior to the Board appointing and requested clarification of
RSA’s. (PS) related that he did not yet have a comprehensive answer. (LS)
related that this is scheduled for April 24th. (AM) requested a list of
vacancies for next week and (PS) related that he would like to work with
(LK) on this.
Susan Muenzinger related that the advertisement in the paper relating to the
vacancies on the Zoning Board indicated that they needed two full members.
I believe there is one full time member and one alternate vacancy. I have
discussed this with Cara and she related that the Town Report could be
wrong. She wanted to know how Board would deal with appointments this
year, would they be interviewed? (AM) related that this had not yet been
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decided.
2. Tax Anticipation Note Award
(PS) related that he had gotten a memo from Cara to the Board regarding
interest rates from three different banks – T.D. Bank North, Citizens and
Northway.
Board discussed the line of credit, closed and open-end loans, borrowing
methods, interest rates and how the terms of loan actually work. It was
decided that additional information would be required. (AM) requested that
Paul and Cara come back with recommendations and this will be on Agenda
for next week.
3. Grant for Radios (Added to Agenda)
(LK) related that the deadline for this grant had been extended. He
questioned Paragraph # 3 and wanted to know if (PS) knew anything about
this. (PS) related that the purpose of acquiring these new radios is that they
include frequencies that enable transmission to other agencies in the State.
(LS) wanted to know why the first deadline had been missed. (LK) related
that he thought it was cancelled but they then extended deadline. This will
involve no cost to the taxpayers and (PS) related that the radios have a value
of about $5,000.
(LK) Motion to accept Grant for 4 additional radios. (AM) Second.
(LK) again reiterated that this would have no tax impact and that the radios
would be used by police/fire/ambulance for different happenings and would
offer citizens the ability to know what is going on during different
occurrences. (LS) wanted to know why this was coming before Board now
and why deadline was missed and now it is coming before Board due to the
extended deadline. “ I will not vote on this tonight.” (JL) thought that there
were no negatives regarding this. (AM) related that he thought (LS) point
was well taken and that this happens frequently that last minute approval is
needed. I think that it would be better to vote on this and have (PS)
communicate with Police Chief that this is not the proper way to present
things like this. (LS) related that if this is important to Town, why are we
lagging? (EV) related that he would not veto it, but questioned why it did
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not get to Board earlier. Carried 3-0. Abstain l (LS).
(AM) requested that (PS) communicate with Police Chief in writing that
Board is not satisfied with this type of communication and why was it
handled this way?
INFORMATION ITEMS
1. Town Administrator Recruitment
(PS) related that MRI has now moved on to another phase of the recruitment
process. He related that Mr. Jutton has talked to the Board members and the
names of the individuals on the citizen’s panel will be forwarded to them.
He questioned whom would you want on the employee panel? The Police
Chief, Fire Chief, George Bachelder, Liz Hast, Cara Marston, Mike
McLaughlin, and Betsey Booth were suggested and Board was in agreement.
(LS) related that she would like to state for the record that she was
concerned about this last week, but after talking to Don Jutton, she feels
more comfortable. (PS) assured the Board that Don Jutton would “filter”
through the names and make the final decisions. (PS) related that on the day
of the interview, three locations would be needed, one for each panel and
that space needed to be reserved for this. Community Center, Town Hall as
well as Northway Bank were suggested. (PS) to contact Community Center
to see if there would be three separate rooms available for panel interview
use.
2. Elderly Exemption Worksheet
(PS) related that he and Cara had worked on revising this, attempting to keep
on single sheet of paper. (AM) questioned the process of how citizens apply
and whether the RSA’s define limits as to income and assets and if these
take into account inflation. (LK) related that these are new numbers after
research.
3. Data Collection – Chichester
(LS) Are they all set with the data they were requesting? (PS) related that he
has received a copy of the results, awhile ago, and will get copies to all
Board members.
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4. Dog Refuse
(LS) was checking if (PS) had gotten an article into the paper. (PS) related
that he has not yet done this, as he wanted to check the Ordinances first.
5. Website and Bill Provencal’s Memo
(LK) related that he would like to get Bill a committee to help in cleaning up
and maintaining Town Website. (PS) to write letter to Bill for suggestions
as to committee names.
6. Welfare Department Fax Line Update
(LK) Do we have any quotes yet for installation of fax line? (PS) related
that this is still outstanding. He related that the E-Mail address has been
straightened out for the Building Inspector, HSA, and the Welfare
Department. (LK) related that a separate line was needed and he thought
would cost approximately less than $70. a month. He felt it is important that
she have a separate fax line due to confidentiality.
Don Chase related that there is a phone line (435-6167) down there, but
what it goes to, no one knows. This will be checked.
OLD BUSINESS
None.
APPLICATIONS AND WARRANTS
None.
CHECKS AND MANIFESTS
(EV) Motion to accept Payroll for week ending April 12, 2007. (JL)
Second. Carries 4-0.
(EV) Motion to accept Manifests. (LK) Second. Carried 4-0.
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MINUTES
(LS) Motion to accept Minutes of September 19, 2006. (LK) Second
Carried 3-0. (JL) Abstain.
(LS) Motion to accept Minutes of September 26, 2006. (EV) Second.
Carried 3-0. (JL) Abstain.
(LS) Motion to accept Minutes of April 3, 2007 (with corrections). (EV)
Second. Carried 4-0.
PUBLIC INPUT
(PS) related that he would like to inform the Board that Mr. McKechnie and
he as well as all applicable parties have met in regard to re-certification of
his apartment building. He related that he would like to believe that the
issues have been resolved and there are now no outstanding issues that the
Board needs to attend to.
(AM) noted that the appointment originally scheduled for 7:30 P.M. would
now take place at 8:00 P.M. at the request of Gil.
(LK) related that he has received another letter from the Pittsfield Players.
(AM) recused himself and was seated in the audience.
(PS) related that he has been requested by the Board to check into various
theater groups in New Hampshire and was advised that they are provided
with total tax exemption. (LS) related that she is also trying to do some
personal research along these lines herself. (LK) related that he did not feel
comfortable with this and the Town cannot afford to make them tax exempt.
He would be wiling to give them 50% but not 100%. Board discussed that
Pittsfield Players are asking for tax exempt status and that they are a real
asset to community, however because of rising taxes it is difficult to justify
that they be tax exempt. Because the deadline date has been reached, they
have also filed for an abatement, which will be reviewed by the Board when
all Town abatements are accomplished. It was agreed that at this time,
Board is not prepared to consider this. It was noted that it is difficult to put a
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value on what the Pittsfield Players do for the community and the benefits to
the taxpayers.
(AM) questioned whether Board has authority to make a decision on
whether they should be tax exempt. He related that he had hoped that Board
would vote on it tonight as they are filing with the Tax Board. He related
that the RSA’s should be reviewed on this.
It was agreed that Board would contact LGC and/or Town attorney to
determine if Pittsfield Players would be eligible for tax exemption. (PS)
related that it was his opinion that LGC would give a generic answer and not
review details at which point, it would probably have to be reviewed by
Town attorney for definitive answer. This will be tabled to next week and
acted upon at that time.
Scott Palmer posed the scenario that “If my home was able to meet the
criteria you are talking about, could I be tax exempt, too?” He related that
he felt taxpayers are irritated if Board does/does not accept this. It is a no
win situation. People are mad about this. People in Pittsfield are putting
their homes up for sale because of taxes. Where are they going to go? I
agree with Larry that 50% is sufficient.
(AM) returned to table.
(AM) related that there is a non-public appointment at 8:00 P.M. and would
audience prefer to have Public Input now or after the appointment. It was
agreed that the audience would prefer it prior to the appointment.
Merrill Vaughan related that he was now aware that there was a non-public
appointment tonight of the former Town Manager Study Committee. He
requested a copy of the letter (E-Mail) and related that he had found out
about it on the Website. He requested a copy of the E-Mail from Larry and
Paul prior to the meeting and was denied. He related that he saw it on the
Website and wanted to know what is going on? (AM) explained that the
appointment was requested and thus scheduled but that is all the Board knew
at this point. He requested a copy for himself and also for Leslie, who
related that she found out about the meeting when it was noted on the
Agenda at Town Hall.
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Don Chase related that in the Minutes of March 21st when Pam St. Laurent
was commenting on the old material on the Website. He related that he felt
Minutes “sounded like” he was blaming Webmaster for old pages on
Website. He explained that this was not his intent and explained how pages
become links to other pages and how information can be converted unto
other links. He related that updating this information can be time consuming
and he did not feel it had anything to do with Bill, but rather because it was a
big job and difficult to maintain. He related that he had discussed this with
Bill and offered to help him with whatever he needs help with on the
Website. He related that Bill was fine with this but that he needed a
directive from Board.
He also questioned why a committee that no longer exists should go into a
non-public session, and under what basis? (AM) explained that without
knowing why they are here, and since they requested a non-public session,
Board assumed there was a reputation issue. Mr. Chase related that he
assumed it was because of the “riff” in regard to the Committee putting
something in the paper incorrectly. “It already is in the public arena, why
now non-public?”
Scott Palmer asked (PS) how many applicants do we have now for Town
Administrator? (PS) related that there are nine remaining after some
withdrawals and some that were culled.
(JL) again wanted to request the Board members when they meet with
Concord Hospital to reiterate that Pittsfield needs and wants the Medical
Center to stay within the Town. He requested that a real case be made as to
why they should remain in Town and that by their action of removal, it is
harmful to Pittsfield. He related that he realized this was a business decision
but it should be noted to them that Pittsfield is really protesting their leaving.
He requested that (AM) and (EV) do whatever they have to do to see if they
would reconsider. (AM) agreed and related that Pittsfield needed to make
their presence and opinion about this felt.
(PS) related that he had completed the employee evaluations, will review
with the employee, have them signed, and they can be reviewed at the next
non-public meeting.
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Dick Munn related that he has been in Pittsfield quite a few years and has all
along heard that Pittsfield is growing commercially. Just having Dunkin
Donuts and Rite Aid is not a good average. I can’t afford to stay in my
house either and this year or next I’m going to have to start thinking about
selling. Someone has to start looking into this. A lot of people feel the same
way. It is time to do something. I do not hear too much talk from the Board
about the future. I would like to hear something positive. (EV) related that
he should come to Economic Development Committee meetings and Merrill
Vaughan suggested the Master Plan Committee. He related that he had been
to several of the Economic Development Committee meetings. (AM)
related that he agreed with Mr. Munn. He related that in the past it would
take him several hours to pick-up ads for the newspaper and now it is done
in three stops. “ We have neglected to put our money where our mouths are.
We need a return on our money.” Mr. Munn stated, “How many places can
we afford to lose?” (LS) related that she strongly urged him to come out and
get involved.
Scott Palmer wanted to know if Board had received his letter of interest as
Board member? (LS) “Yes.”
Public Input Closed
(AM) We have a non-public appointment at 8:00 P.M. It is now 7:50 P.M.
and we will take a short break.
Public meeting adjourned at 7:50 P.M.
APPROVED: April 17, 2007
Date
_________________________________ _________________________
Arthur Morse, Chairman Date
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