Town of
Board of Selectmen
January 14, 2008
6:45 PM
Selectmen Present:
Russ Pouliot, Shawn O’Neil, Bob Moore and Joe Luna.
Others Present: Jill Fleming-Selectmen’s Clerk
Selectman
Chairman Pouliot questioned if the minutes were to be sealed? The Board unanimously agreed not to seal the minutes.
At 7:25PM Selectman Luna moved and Selectman Moore seconded a motion to return to public session. The motion passed unanimously.
I Warrant Articles
The Board stated that after
discussions with Jeannie Samms of DRA, it has come to light that highway block
grant funds are not included under RSA 31:95-h. The block grant funds can be
deposited into a Special Revenue Fund created under RSA 31:95-c. Use of the
funds must be approved by the legislative body. Since this was not the intent
of the board, the proposed Highway Revolving Fund Warrant Article is to be
deleted.
Selectman Luna moved and
Selectman Moore seconded a motion to
delete the Highway Revolving Fund Warrant Article from the finalized list of
warrant articles. The motion passed
unanimously.
To see if the Town will vote
to raise and appropriate the sum of Thirty-seven Thousand Nine Hundred Fifty
Dollars ($37,950) to provide partial funding for two (2) full-time weekday
firefighter/EMT staff for the Fire Department beginning in July 2008 and to
accept a Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant from
the Department of Homeland Security in the amount of Thirty-seven Thousand Nine
Hundred Fifty Dollars ($37,950) to partially fund this staffing. The remaining
funding for the full-time staff of Ten Thousand Six Hundred Sixty Dollars
($10,660) will be provided from the Fire Department’s existing operating
budget. The SAFER Grant is a five year
plan that will provide a total grant amount over the five year period of
Two Hundred Ten Thousand Eight Hundred Fifty Dollars ($210,850) to provide two
(2) full-time/weekday Firefighter/EMT staff for the town.
Selectman Luna moved and
Selectman O’Neil seconded a motion to
approve Fire Department SAFER Grant Warrant Article as amended. The motion passed unanimously.
Historic
Webster Stagecoach Stop & Store
To
see if the Town will vote to accept title to the building known as the Webster
Stagecoach Stop/Store and to raise and appropriate the sum of Thirty-four
Thousand Seven Hundred Eighty-two ($34,782) to relocate the building to
Town-owned property at the corner of Sandown Road and Main Street (Map 1 Lot
39). This appropriation to be entirely
offset by DOT grants, LCHIP grants, Heritage Fund and donated services. Upon completion of the project, any residual
funds will be placed into the existing Heritage Fund. NO TAX IMPACT.
Selectman
Luna moved and Selectman Moore seconded a
motion to approve Historic Webster Stagecoach Stop & Store Warrant Article
as amended. The motion passed
unanimously.
Selectman
Pouliot stated that this petition article requires a public hearing and the
Board agreed to a date of 1/28/08.
Are
you in favor of reverting to a three member Board of Selectmen?
·
Per RSA 41:8d
which refers to RSA 41:8b “Upon written petition of not less than 2% of the
legal voters of any town” requires the petition to be put forward.
·
Town Clerk
verified that there are 2,702 registered voters which would require no less
than 54 petitioners to sign the submitted article.
·
Town Council
correspondence states “The question that you have asked is whether the petition
is valid since it is signed by 35 voters………If there are less than 1,700 legal
voters, the petition would likely be valid.
If there are more than 1,700 legal voters, there would not be sufficient
signatures to satisfy the requirements of RSA 41:8b. If the requirement is not satisfied, it
cannot and should not be place on the warrant.”
·
The Board has
made the assumption that Francine Byron is the lead petitioner even though both
pages of the petition are the same and petitioners are not numbered. Mrs. Byron submitted the petition to Chairman
Russ Pouliot 1/8/08 at 10:14PM and her name appears first on one of the two
pages of the submitted petition.
·
The Board requested
that Francine Byron be informed that this petition was unable to be moved
forward because of the lack of petitioner’s signatures.
Selectman
Selectman O’Neil moved and
Selectman Moore seconded a motion to
approve the default budget in the amount of $2,337,068.
Selectman
II Conservation Easement/Stewardship Plan Goals
a.
Selectman Luna
attended the Forestry Committee meeting on January 2nd.
b.
The Board of
Selectmen previously agreed that they would participate with helping the
Forestry Committee and Conservation Commission develop a Stewardship Plan.
c.
Curt
Springer-Forestry Committee has developed a draft work plan for the project and
distributed to all involved.
d.
Chris Giordano
has reconfirmed that the Conservation Commission will fund the stewardship plan
if the grant that Betsy Sanders is working on does not come through.
e.
Selectman Luna
stated that the list of Stewardship goals from the draft Conservation Easement will
be put together by Forestry with a
priority scale of 1 – 5 This priority form will be used by members of Forestry,
Conservation, Heritage and the Board of Selectmen.in order to generate the
Stewardship Goals list for the Stewardship Plan
a. The
Selectmen requested a letter be generated to the residents of
a
complaint has been received from Waste Management regarding the inordinate
amount of
trash bags being left at their location and
they need to monitor the use of trash in their area.
IV Impact Fees
a.
The Board
reviewed the newly submitted Treasurer’s Reports and questioned why the impact
fees
had not been transferred. On 10/22/07
the Board voted to use $50,000 of the impact fees to go towards buying down the
taxes for 2007. “Selectman
b.
The Board requested the Treasurer be directed to withdraw these funds
from impact fees and deposit into the general fund immediately.
V Approval of Minutes
Selectman
O’Neil moved and Selectman Moore seconded a
motion to approve the minutes of 12/27/07 as edited. The motion passed unanimously.
Selectman
At
8:55PM Selectman Moore moved and Selectman O’Neil seconded a motion to adjourn. The
motion passed unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
Jill S. Fleming
Selectmen’s Clerk