Select Board Meeting Minutes - February 5, 2007

Lincoln Board of Selectmen Meeting Minutes February 5, 2007 5:15 pm Present: Chairman Deanna Huot, Selectman Peter Moore, Selectman Patricia McTeague, Town Manager Ted Sutton, Recording Secretary Susan Chenard Audience Members: Edwin Fredie, Pauline Paste, Charlie Cook, Wilfred Bishop, Lutz Wallem Approval of public meeting minutes of January 29, 2007: A motion was made by Selectman Moore, seconded by Selectman McTeague, to approve the public meeting minutes of January 29, 2007. Routine Business ? LinWood School Working Group - Town Manager Sutton introduced Edwin Fredie and Pauline Paste. Ms. Paste recently moved to the area after retiring from her position as Director of Finance for the Sudbury, Mass. School District. She continues her position as District Treasurer there. Mr. Fredie is already on the Lincoln Planning Board and substitute teaches at LinWood School. His experience is in education finance, with a background in public, independent and charter schools, as well as supplemental education programs. Both look forward to serving their new community and its school system, by possibly joining the school board and/or the school budget committee. Mr. Fredie reviewed his letter to Mr. Sutton regarding an analysis of the LinWood school system and its funding. He is impressed by its students and teachers, yet sees financial issues that need to be addressed. So far, the school budget has only had increases of 1.5-2% per year, but the apportionment equation means that Lincoln will be paying more and more of that bill. The equation between Lincoln and Woodstock is 60/40, but Mr. Sutton said Woodstock receives a portion of their payment back through targeted state aid, amounting to some $293,899 for the 06-07 year, and about $250,000 for the coming school year. He felt the formula should be looked at and possibly revised, but it would be a lengthy and challenging process. Mr. Fredie also suggested possibly changing to a conversion charter school rather than a public school. Educational management organizations can manage schools, with board supervision and adherence to standards. Currently, Lincoln pays $16,000 per pupil, while Woodstock pays $7-8,000, which is the state average. Lincoln is paying double the state average and he wondered if it is reflected in superior educational quality. He suggested part of the costs may be the small class sizes and suggested setting a minimum number of students per class. There was discussion between the board and Mr. Fredie regarding the need to keep open discussions at the board meetings and look for ways to improve all areas. ? Coalition Communities Meeting - Town Manager Sutton and Chairman Huot reviewed notes from the meeting they attended this week. Currently we are not a donor town, but that's just for the time being. The State Board of Education is finally participating, and will help define adequate education. Governor Lynch is not pushing for donor towns, but we need to keep emphasizing that we're against the idea. The Coalition will give Mr. Sutton some talking points for the meeting to be held in Plymouth on February 19th by the legislative task force, and he will discuss these with Ed Fredie and Pauline Paste. Superintendent Michael Cosgriff has invited the Town Manager, Ted Sutton, to meet with state legislators to discuss school operations on April 6th at 7:30. More details are to come in a letter. ? Quarterly updates of Valuation - These are already starting, with the Route 3 area and Forest Ridge being the first. The assessors will review all the work done last year, go out and check property, look at new properties, review recent sales, etc. They'll do a quarter of the town each year for 4 years, then the 5th year they plan to do a statistical update. Abatements can still be requested every year, based on a property's tax bill. ? Letter from NH Department of Revenue Administration - Mr. Sutton will be meeting with Ron Cote on February 7th at 2pm and get more details, but according to the letter, we are at 95-100% valuation, based on transfers and sales figures, etc. ? Voting ballots and lists. Secretary of State has decided to list candidates in reverse alphabetical order. Sue Whitman has printed the ballots in-house this year, thereby saving the town money. ? Pre-bid meeting on Pleasant Street. Nine companies came to get bid packages. The turnaround at the end of Pleasant Street was originally planned by the engineers on private property, but Mr. Sutton asked the engineers to move the turnaround onto school property. After the new plan has been designed, Town Manager Sutton will present the plan to the school board. ? Army Corps of Engineers sent us a letter regarding the levee last week, requesting a plan in three months and completed repairs to the dike within a year. We have had quotes from $400,000 to a million to do repairs. However, in this letter, they stated that repairs still may not meet FEMA's requirements for the flood insurance program. We're writing a letter letting the Army Corps of Engineers know that the time line is too short. ? Appointments per LGC. We communicated with the Local Government Center regarding the Health Officer and Trustee of Trust Funds 2 year positions. These needed to be appointed and will be chosen next week. ? Recreation Dept numbers - Town Manager Sutton asked Tara Towers to combine summer and winter numbers. The report shows there is actually pretty balanced usage between the Lincoln and Woodstock. ? Warrant articles are still being finalized. We have sent Attorney Malia's comments to Jamie Dow at the DRA. Other business Oil at community center - As the oil tank at the Father Roger Bilodeau Community Center is exposed to the cold in its outside shed, we will now be adding a $12 bottle of anti-gel per tank fill-up. Lincoln Fire Department as LinWood Ambulance drivers - Lincoln firefighters have been filling in as ambulance drivers when LinWood Ambulance doesn't have a driver of their own available, but they have not been covered by the Town's insurance when working for an outside ambulance service. In the future, the firefighters will become part-time employees of the ambulance service if they drive for the LinWood Ambulance Service, and will be covered by LinWood Ambulance Service. Chairman Huot also stated that the ambulance has had a 20% increase in calls this January as compared to last year's total. Public participation Wilfred Bishop asked about separation of water and sewer, which we already have, about security at the lagoons, around which he have a locked fence, and about the WaterSense program. Lutz Wallem had concerns with legal issues regarding the letter to Army Corps. Ted Sutton responded that it's too early to know. Charlie Cook commented on the revaluation. Individuals requesting adjustments seem to have received discounts. Mr. Sutton stated that this was based on sales of similar properties or a change in information on those individuals' properties. Selectman Moore asked if the Route 3 contractor, Lyman, has received final payment. Yes. There had been a couple properties that had minor issues, but they were all taken care of. Wilfred Bishop also asked about the status of the Cannon Mountain lease. We wrote a letter in support of the privatization of the Cannon Mountain Ski Area as we feel it will help the local economy. The meeting was adjourned at 7:03 pm and Mr. Sutton left. The Selectmen then reviewed payroll and accounts payable check registers for the week ending February 4, 2007. Date: _________ Approved By: Chairman Deanna Huot, Selectman Peter Moore, Selectman R. Patricia McTeague