April 5, 2012 Minutes

Pittsfield Planning Board
Town Hall, 85 Main Street
Pittsfield, NH 03263

DATE: Thursday, April 5, 2012

AGENDA ITEM 1: Call to Order

Acting chair Clayton Wood called the meeting to order at 7:06 P.M.

AGENDA ITEM 2: Roll Call

Members present: Jim Pritchard (JP, associate member), Pat Heffernan (PH, associate member), Gerard Leduc (GL, selectmen’s ex officio), Bill Miskoe (BM, associate member, arrived at 7:26 PM), Clayton Wood (CW, vice-chair and acting chair), and Peter Dow (PD, alternate, term expired on March 17, 2012).

Members absent: Larry Konopka (LK, selectmen’s ex officio alternate).

Members of the public appearing before the planning board: None.

AGENDA ITEM 3: Election of Chair and Vice Chair

CW said that BM had e-mailed CW and asked that the board defer its elections of officers to 7:30 PM because BM will be late to tonight’s meeting.

No members objected to deferring the elections to 7:30 PM.

AGENDA ITEM 4: Approval of Minutes of February 16, 2012, and March 15, 2012

CW said that he listened to the tape of the February 16 meeting. CW said that he had said “voter fraud,” not “election fraud” as GL had insisted that CW had said. CW preferred that the minutes say “voter fraud” because CW said “voter fraud,” not “election fraud.”

JP repeated the correction that he had requested on March 15:
Agenda Item 5, (page 6): change “voters should have to right to vote” to “voters should have the right to vote”.

Vote to approve the minutes of February 16, 2012, with the change that JP requested: carried 3 – 1 – 0. (Voting “yes”: JP, PH, and CW. Voting “no”: GL. Abstaining: none.)

GL said that he was voting “no” because, GL insisted, CW had actually said “election fraud,” not “voter fraud.”

JP said that he had brought a copy of the town tape and a machine on which to play it. JP offered to play the tape for GL.

GL declined the offer to play the tape. GL said that he had already listened to the tape.

CW asked for a motion to approve the minutes of March 15, 2012.

GL moved to approve the minutes of March 15, 2012, as written in draft.

JP seconded the motion.

Discussion: None.

Vote to approve the minutes of March 15, 2012, as written in draft: carried 4 – 0 – 0. (Voting “yes”: JP, PH, GL, and CW. Voting “no”: none. Abstaining: none.)

AGENDA ITEM 5: A hearing with respect to an application for a voluntary lot merger filed by Raymond and Ammy Ramsey, 33 Clough Road, Pittsfield 03263, of property located at 33 Clough Road (Tax Map R07, Lot 16) and 21 Clough Road (Tax Map R07, Lot 15), Pittsfield, NH 03263. These properties are owned by Raymond and Ammy Ramsey, 33 Clough Road, Pittsfield, NH 03263, and located in the Rural Zone.

CW asked whether all members had read the lot-merger application. CW read the application aloud.

GL said that he had not received a copy of the application.

CW gave GL CW’s copy. CW described the lot merger and gave GL time to read the application.

JP said that the merged lot would be a conforming lot.

GL moved to approve the lot merger.

JP seconded the motion.

Discussion:

GL said that he liked the lot merger.

Vote to approve the lot-merger application of Raymond and Ammy Ramsey: carried 4 – 0 – 0. (Voting “yes”: JP, PH, GL, and CW. Voting “no”: none. Abstaining: none.)

AGENDA ITEM 6: Building Inspector Report

Jesse Pacheco is the town’s new building inspector. He started work this past Monday.

Jesse Pacheco asked the board what information did the board want on a regular basis?

CW said that the board should discuss this question. CW thought that the board could have a liaison with the building inspector and not have the building inspector attend every meeting.

Jesse Pacheco said that GL is the deputy building inspector.

Jesse Pacheco said that much of what he does has nothing to do with the planning board. Jesse Pacheco has a building permit in process for a house on Pippen Lane. A zoning issue will be coming up, but it may not come to the planning board. Jesse Pacheco will help applicants with subdivision applications. Jesse Pacheco wants to avoid repeating mistakes.

CW suggested revisiting the building-inspector liaison when all five board members are present.

Jesse Pacheco said that GL, the deputy building inspector, is here tonight. There is a lot of work in the building inspector’s office to bring into order.

CW said that he did not think that Jesse Pacheco needed to be at all planning board meetings.

Jesse Pacheco asked the board to keep him informed of board approvals. Jesse Pacheco referred to an approved building that violated the zoning ordinance limit on height.

GL asked Jesse Pacheco to look at the Ramsey lot-merger application.

AGENDA ITEM 7: Selectman’s Report—Gerard LeDuc, Selectman Ex Officio

GL said that the selectmen were trying to work within the budget that the town meeting had approved. The town meeting cut $125,000. GL said that the board of selectmen is working together. GL said that LK is the selectmen’s alternate to the planning board. GL expects to attend most meetings.

CW wanted Jesse Pacheco to understand the rider process with Matt Monahan, the circuit-rider planner from Central New Hampshire Regional Planning Commission.

GL said that he would follow up with Jesse Pacheco and Matt Monahan.

BM arrived at 7:26 PM.

CW said that he will update the planning board’s web site with the planning board’s current membership.

AGENDA ITEM 3: Election of Chair and Vice Chair

CW said that the board will follow Robert’s Rules of Order in electing the chair and remaining board officers if CW is elected chair. CW will accept nominations for chair. Nominations do not have to be seconded, and the nominees can vote. Nominees will be voted in the order of their nomination. The first nominee to receive a majority wins.

GL nominated BM for chair.

BM nominated CW for chair. BM said that he was nominating CW because BM was not on the board last year.

Vote for BM as chair: failed 1 – 3 – 1. (Voting “yes”: GL. Voting “no”: JP, PH, and CW. Abstaining: BM.)

Vote for CW as chair: carried 4 – 0 – 1. (Voting “yes”: JP, PH, BM, and CW. Voting “no”: none. Abstaining: GL.)

CW nominated PH for vice-chair.

Vote for PH as vice-chair: carried 5 – 0 – 0. (Voting “yes”: JP, PH, GL, BM, and CW. Voting “no”: none. Abstaining: none.)

CW said that, last year, the board had decided to have a secretary.

PH asked for clarification of the secretary office.

CW explained that the secretary is acting chair behind the chair and vice-chair.

BM asked for clarification of the secretary office.

CW explained that secretary is an office that the board can create through the rules of procedure.

CW nominated JP for secretary.

Vote for JP as secretary: carried 3 – 0 – 2. (Voting “yes”: JP, PH, and CW. Voting “no”: none. Abstaining: GL and BM.)

CW asked JP to continue as the board’s recorder.

PH moved that JP should continue as the board’s recorder.

GL seconded the motion.

Discussion:

GL said that he is concerned that a member is the recording secretary. GL wants to hire someone.

BM agreed with GL. BM said that the board had operated successfully with independent recorders. The board of selectmen wants to hire a recorder for all of the boards. The selectmen have hired no one yet. BM referred to the selectmen’s minutes, which said that working for the planning board is intolerable. BM wants the planning board to use a hired recorder. “If any board member conducts themself in a way that makes that position intolerable, then I, as a citizen, will go to the select board and request that person’s removal.” BM complained that Dee Fritz had been treated “corrosively,” and BM regretted that he had not stood up to that treatment.

GL said that the selectmen wanted to hire an independent recorder for all boards so that no one can complain about editorializing in the minutes. The planning board is not the only source of such complaints.

BM asked where the selectmen were in the hiring process.

GL said that the selectmen are still seeking feedback from the boards.

JP asked what is an “independent” recorder, and how will the selectmen assure the independence of the recorder. JP said that he assumed that someone will pay the recorder.

GL said that the selectmen will pay the recorder.

JP asked how the recorder will be independent of the selectmen.

GL did not know.

JP said that he assumed that GL would concede that the recorder will not be independent of the person who pays him.

GL did not know that.

BM said that the recorder could at least be independent of the planning board.

JP agreed but said that the planning board had had many problems with the selectmen interfering in planning board business. JP referred to BM’s comment about recorders being treated “corrosively.” JP said that he had been the victim of some of that corrosive treatment, so JP appreciated that it does happen.

PH said that the town is trying to save money. PH said that JP is offering the town a pretty good deal. The board should retain JP until the board can bring this independent person on board. In the meantime, anyone who has a problem with the minutes can go to the tape. The minutes are not going to be verbatim anyway. The town will save at least $2000 to $3000, and this money could be better spent on other things, for example, more legal advice.

CW said that, with meetings twice a month, Dee Fritz said that the cost was more like $8000. CW did not know where the selectmen were going to find the money for a recorder to service all of the boards. CW serves on three or four boards, and members do the recording. CW emphasized that the planning board’s minutes are the planning board’s responsibility. The selectmen do not like that fact, but they understand it. Last year, the board thought that the minutes were fine until the public hearings started. CW is concerned about the money. Furthermore, asking JP to take notes until the board finds a replacement is unfair. Suppose the new person does not show up? Then JP will have to do it. The board has had two secretaries since Dee Fritz.

BM said that Doug Potter had left because of family matters, not because of conditions on the board. The board did have someone else who did not work. BM thinks that the board can get someone. BM thinks that the board’s image and reputation will improve if it uses a hired recorder. The board needs to spend the money in order to improve its image. “A little independence is worth paying for.” BM said that he too had talked to Dee Fritz, and BM calculated that the cost was about 25 hours a month at $12 per hour, which works to about $3,600.

JP said that an independent recorder was fine to talk about, but, as long as the selectmen are paying, then there is no independence.

BM said that the fact that selectmen will pay the recorder does not guarantee bias.

JP said that the fact that a member is doing the recording does not guarantee bias either. JP said that, in fact, he did not think that there is any bias from the member recording. JP said that the board had specifically questioned BM when BM raised this issue of bias during the zoning hearings, and BM had said that he had no evidence of bias.

BM agreed that he has no evidence of bias, but BM says that there is a perception of impropriety.

JP said that that perception was BM’s perception.

BM said that there were other people with the perception, people who had voted BM onto the planning board.

CW said that the board has no hired person now, and the board might go the whole year without finding someone. The board needs someone now. The minutes are ultimately CW’s responsibility because CW is now the chair. CW asked why did GL not take the minutes? Nothing says that the selectmen’s representative cannot take the minutes. It is not fair for the board to ask JP to take the minutes and not give JP the board’s vote of confidence. The board can control the minutes; the board votes every meeting. The Local Government Center (“LGC”) Minutes 101 discusses what should be in the minutes. There is no reason to spend the money. The board should start acting like adults. The town is firing public-safety personnel, and the selectmen are talking about hiring a recorder? The board should start acting like adults.

BM said that the question was whether the board was going to commit to an internal recorder or whether the board was going to commit to an outside person. JP’s term is up next year, so a hired person will offer better continuity.

PH asked whether the planning board would have the authority to hire someone, or would the planning board have to do what the selectmen say? PH does not want pressure from “the Tuesday-night crew.” The selectmen control the purse strings. The planning board should have someone that it wants.

CW said that he will investigate the planning board’s budget.

JP said that PH had made a good point about pressure from “the Tuesday-night crew.” The planning board is already getting pressure from “the Tuesday-night crew.” The planning board is discussing totally unsubstantiated innuendo. No one wants to come out and say that Pritchard is editorializing the minutes and here is an example of the editorial, because there is no example of the editorial. So the board talks in riddles and vague innuendo and image and so forth. This discussion is unfair. The board does not look to the facts. The minutes all complied with LGC guidelines, and everyone approved them. “Let’s call a spade a spade. We don’t like the fact that I am doing this work. And we would like to get rid of me. But we don’t have any good reason, so we talk in riddles.” Some people are willing to spend taxpayer money to get what they want. The board did it in the past on the regional planning commission proposal two years ago.

BM said that he thought that the planning board had the right to choose its own recorder, and the town will have to pay for it.

CW did not see where the town had any such obligation to pay. The planning board has two problems: first, finding someone and, second, doing minutes in the meantime.

BM agreed that the board should not change what it is doing right now.

GL said that CW should talk to Cara Marston, not Dee Fritz, about the budget.

PH suggested that JP continue taking minutes, and then the board should find out whether it even can hire someone.

JP said that he appreciated CW’s statement that fairness to JP demands that the board give JP a vote of confidence. The board has discussed JP continuing in a probationary capacity. JP took the job last year on probation, and JP did it on probation for nearly a year. JP now has a record on which to stand. If the board wants to replace JP, then it certainly can, but, if the replacement does not work, then the board cannot come back to JP.

CW agreed. The board should start acting like adults. And spending the money is wrong.

PH said that he will stand behind JP. The board must make a decision. People who do not like the minutes should listen to the tapes.

Vote that JP should continue as the board’s recorder: carried 4 – 1 – 0. (Voting “yes”: JP, PH, GL, and CW. Voting “no”: BM. Abstaining: none.)

CW suggested reviewing Minutes 101 from the Local Government Center.

GL said that he voted that JP should continue as the board’s recorder because hiring someone else will be difficult. GL said that there was training that JP could take.

AGENDA ITEM 8: Members Concerns

CW said that the board’s rules of procedure are completely out of date.

CW and JP discussed that the board had done much work on the rules last summer, and JP has a draft that should be almost ready for acceptance. JP needs to investigate what the NH Department of Transportation (“NH DOT”) wants the board to do when development applications are on or near state highways.

BM reminded CW that BM would miss the first meeting in May.

CW asked whether any member had a problem with looking at the rules of procedure at the first meeting in May.

BM agreed to starting the rules of procedure on the first meeting in May, but BM did not know what the board needed from the NH DOT. BM said that the board had always submitted subdivision and site plan applications to the NH DOT and gotten their feedback.

JP disagreed with BM. The board has never kept the NH DOT informed during the past ten years. JP cited specific examples, including the Family Dollar Store, in the last three years where the board neglected to notify the NH DOT.

CW agreed that, for the last three applications on state highways, notably the Family Dollar Store, the board did not notify the NH DOT.

CW said that the board will have another meeting on May 17, 2012. The board should also use that meeting to plan what it wants to do during the year.

PH said that he had been the representative to the Housing Standards Authority.

The board discussed various committee appointments.

PH tentatively agreed to return to the Housing Standards Authority.

GL agreed that he will be the liaison to the building inspector and to Matt Monahan.

CW agreed that he will be the representative to the master plan committee.

JP tentatively agreed to be the representative to the Central New Hampshire Regional Planning Commission.

BM tentatively agreed to be the representative to the Capital Improvements Plan Committee.

AGENDA ITEM 9: Public Input

PD said that he would like to continue as an alternate in another one-year term. PD said that he wanted greater clarification of his role as an alternate and to be more involved in the discussions.

BM said that alternates can participate in the board’s discussions.

JP said that, once the board got into the rules of procedure, the board did explain that the alternates could participate fully in work sessions, although the alternates cannot participate in hearings more than members of the public.

CW said that the alternates were not to sit with the board during hearings, but the board needed to include the alternates in the discussions. Alternate participation was unusually low this past year because regular member attendance was unusually high. The alternates need to know what to expect.

AGENDA ITEM 10: Adjournment

BM moved to adjourn the meeting.

PH seconded the motion.

Vote to adjourn the planning board meeting of April 5, 2012: carried 5 – 0 – 0. (Voting “yes”: JP, PH, GL, BM, and CW. Voting “no”: none. Abstaining: none.) The planning board meeting of April 5, 2012, is adjourned at 8:28 P.M.

Minutes approved: May 3, 2012

______________________________ _____________________
Clayton Wood, Chairman Date

I transcribed these minutes (not verbatim) on April 6, 2012, from notes and tape that I made during the planning board meeting on April 5, 2012. There is no town tape because the microphone system was not turned on.

____________________________________________
Jim Pritchard, planning board recorder and secretary

Zero Town tapes.