Select Board Meeting Minutes - June 11, 2007

Lincoln Board of Selectmen Meeting Minutes June 11, 2007 5:00 pm Present: Chair Deanna Huot, Selectman Peter Moore, Selectman Patricia McTeague, Town Manager Ted Sutton, Recording Secretary Susan Chenard Audience members: Wilfred Bishop and Charlie Cook Approval of public meeting minutes of May 29, 2007: A motion was made by Selectman McTeague, seconded by Selectman Moore, to approve the public meeting minutes of May 29, 2007, as written. Routine Business ? FEMA Disaster Funding - Repairs done to, and expected costs for, fencing, roofing, police overtime, public works time and fire department hours related to the April Nor'easter have been paid for by Primex3. FEMA will cover at least 75% of our deductible. ? Arthur Salem Way dedication - This event was a great success, with speeches at the Business Park by Town Manager Sutton and Board of Selectmen Chair Huot, followed by lunch and speeches from Arthur Salem's friends and family. Chairman Huot expressed a wish for the notes from Donald Salem's comments. ? Tax Warrant - The tax warrant went out last week and the due date for taxes is July 9, 2007. The assessors are still finishing some abatements, and have till July 1st to do so. Town Manager Sutton commented that he and Helen Jones, our bookkeeper and assessing secretary, have been working with both the revaluation and town assessing agencies and Helen has been doing a great job keeping everything flowing smoothly. ? Ray Burton - He is scheduled to be at the July 16th Lincoln Board of Selectmen's meeting, as he does his annual visit. The Board will ask him some more hard questions regarding the County budget. Edmond Gionet had brought in a revised budget, which is down to a 17% increase versus the original 22%, and with revenue, that increase is projected to be down to 11%, but it is still a work in progress. Town Manager Sutton was disappointed that only one other community had come to the budget hearing a few weeks ago, and Selectman Moore worried that the prison costs would just continue to increase the budget, at least 25% next year alone. ? Gov. Lynch Amendment - The Governor's 50% amendment was turned down last week, and now the Senate is working on the school funding issue from another angle. Town Manager Sutton distributed a four-step plan emailed to him by Pat Remick from the Coalition Communities. We seem to be protected till 2008 at least, but need to keep in mind that the Supreme Court is in the wings and may come up with their own solution if they lose patience. ? Health Insurance Update - When we had originally looked at next year's health insurance plans, we had been quoted a 13.7% increase at the "old" plan, and a 7.1% increase at the "new" plan. When we received our contract last week though, we discovered that the estimates by Primex3 had been high, and we will now only have a roughly 1% increase in rates. We sent out a memo to all employees describing the changes, and most comments have been favorable, as long as we stayed with the current company, as the health plan has been working very well. The only negative comment came from the police union, who say it is a change in work conditions. (Their union agreement specifically does not include health insurance bargaining options.) ? Fireworks - Town Manager Sutton met with Rob from RS Fireworks, Public Works Director Bill Willey, and Fire Chief Nate Haynes to go over a location near the sewer lagoons that would work well for the 4th of July fireworks. The location we had been using for the last several years is now owned by Centex and will become congested, so it was time to find a spot on town-owned land. This property had been used before, and is a safe distance from the lagoons, the road and the audience. Public Works will deliver some sand to dig into for the charges, so the levee there is not disturbed. ? Website Updates - We are continually working with Ron Fitzerald to improve the town's website, www.LincolnNH.org . The Public Notices section and Downloads from the Planning Board pages, as well as Revaluation and Town Report have shown increased usability. Wilfred Bishop mentioned he would like to see the Town Manager's letter updated more frequently as well. ? Pleasant Street Update - Water and Sewer are completed at this point, and drainage is now being put in place. (Some lines for water and sewer could not actually be found.) The residents are being great, moving their cars before 7am, bringing pizza to the crew, etc. It's been a long time coming and they seem very happy. Other Business ? Memo from NCCA - Town Manager Sutton distributed a revised memo from the North Country Center for the Arts detailing the costs entailed in purchasing and cleaning up the property. This will be distributed to the Planning Board June 13th. ? Centex/Loon and Recycle Road - Town Manager Sutton and Public Works Director Willey saw that Centex/Loon had done a nice job reclaiming town property which had been dug up for utility/water lines. There was some discussion regarding the repaving of Recycle Road and options are being explored, from patching to paving. ? Snowmaking lines - Conn Brothers Construction is laying the lines from where J&M Donahue Construction left off at the Route 112 intersection down Connector Road to Govoni's Pond, while Lyman Brothers will be working from the river crossing on the south side of the Pemigewasset River to the Loon Mountain snowmaking pump station by going east along South Mountain Road. The building permit is in place for the pump house, extra sheeting is being put in the back side of the pond to separate it from the Pemigewasset River, and extra hydrants will come off the snowmaking line. ? Master Plan for Water and Sewer - Town Manager Sutton is meeting with Centex June 12th to discuss a water tank going on their property. Rapids and InnSeasons may also offset some costs based on their percentage of use. ? RiverWalk Park - Town Manager Sutton is setting up a meeting for July 24th to start planning the RiverWalk Park. Local developers and businesspeople have been invited and sound excited. The Rapids are including an easement in their plans and Dennis Ducharme will make sure an easement stays in place between RiverGreen and the East Branch of the Pemigewasset River, so the meeting will focus on raising funds for an official planner to give us a picture of the area. Selectman Moore observed that some form of professional help will go a long way to getting that project started and into the CIP. The Town could then get more involved and apply for grants. "It's much easier to sell a picture than words." ? Capital Improvement Plan - Chairman Huot asked if papers had gone out to the departments to plan for next year's CIP. They will go out shortly. ? Woodstock BOS - Town Manager Sutton mentioned we had not heard back from the Woodstock Board of Selectmen yet regarding a date for a joint meeting. ? Community Center Grants - Chairman Huot asked if we had met with the grant people. Town Manager Sutton described that each grant had little pieces to be completed, such as getting matching bids for the proposed heating system, an engineered plan for the parking lot and a separate architect's drawing for the room construction. All of these can be done at no additional cost. Town Manager Sutton and Recreation Department Director Tara Tower are working hard to complete these, and plan to meet with the committee next week. ? Ball Field - Chairman Huot commented again on the nice new Ballfield. ? CCR Reports - Recording Secretary Susan Chenard reported that the Consumer Confidence Reports (Annual Water Test results) will be in the mail to all Lincoln Taxpayers on June 12th. There were no violations to report. Public Participation Charlie Cook asked if there had been any further interest in the Business Park lots, which Town Manager Sutton reported there had not, as yet, but that J&M Donahue Construction had hooked up the sewer lines and completed the berm behind the Dumont's house. Mr. Cook also mentioned that the House had tabled the school funding amendment, so that will take some time to revive. He is worried what the courts will do instead. Wilfred Bishop encouraged everyone to join the WaterSense program promoting efficiency of water use. He also asked about the Wildfire plan meeting to be held here June 28th at 9am, which he felt was tied in to a water plan. Mr. Bishop will be attending the North Country Council meeting on June 21st and wondered if there was anything he could report from the board, though he intended to ask them about energy plans as well. He and Charlie Cook mentioned that other wildfire water sources could be the ponds at Govoni's and Indian Head. At 6:15 pm, Town Manager Sutton left and the meeting was adjourned. The Selectboard then reviewed payroll and accounts payable check registers for the week ending June 10, 2007. Date: 6/25/07 Approved by: Chairman Deanna L. Huot, Selectman Peter E. Moore, Selectman R. Patricia McTeague