Select Board Meeting Minutes - June 25, 2007

Lincoln Board of Selectmen Meeting Minutes June 25, 2007 5:15 pm Present: Chair Deanna Huot, Selectman Peter Moore, Selectman Patricia McTeague, Town Manager Ted Sutton, Recording Secretary Susan Chenard Audience member: Wilfred Bishop Approval of public meeting minutes of June 11, 2007: A motion was made by Selectman Moore, seconded by Selectman McTeague, to approve the public meeting minutes of June 11, 2007, as amended. The vote was unanimous. Routine Business ? NCCA Results - At the June 13 Planning Board meeting all but one member of that board voted to recommend that the Board of Selectmen move ahead with the process of two public meetings under RSA 41:14-a in regards to conveying Map 16, Lot 312 to the North Country Center for the Arts (NCCA). These will be held July 9 and 23, 2007. The Planning Board did recommend that a first right of refusal be preserved should the NCCA ever decide to dispose of the property, and to make sure any environmental impacts would be the responsibility of the NCCA. ? School Resource Officer - Officer Deluca is headed to Salt Lake City with a school member for about 4 days of training. The grant will pay for this education and travel. ? Bureau of Tax and Land Appeals re: Electric Co-op - The appeal by the New Hampshire Electric Cooperative (NHEC) for the years 2004 and 2005 have been forfeited, as they did not provide information to our consultants regarding how much property NHEC actually has in Lincoln, as required by the Bureau of Tax and Land Appeals. ? Community Building/Facility Project - We have surveyed plans for the ADA walkway. We will also have architectural plans for the building, which will be an added cost. Town Manager Sutton is in discussions with Franconia Gas and Irving Oil regarding the boiler system at the Community Center. Finally, the parking lot will be engineered by Hoyle and Tanner Engineering. ? Grafton County Budget Results - Town Manager Sutton attended the Grafton County Budget hearing this morning, and a revised budget was passed of $32,448,430.00, which is a 17.10% increase on the tax rate. The public was not allowed to speak, in spite of the fact that several town managers were there. The vote was 19 for and 3 against the county budget. We thank Representatives Rusty Bolis and Gregory Sorg for voting against this county budget, but Town Manager Sutton was disappointed in that Representative Edmond Gionet did not vote as his constituents would have wished. The operating costs for the jail are estimated to be $7 million, and the cost to build the jail is $50 million, for which they are planning to go to bond in December. The budget was reduced in some areas though, so we did get their attention at least. ? Pleasant Street Update - This project is looking good and just about done except for paving. Two driveways will be repaired that were damaged beyond the right-of-way point due to the close quarters. ? Fireworks Update - The fireworks will be held on Wednesday, the 4th, off the backside of the lagoons. The location was approved by the Town Manager, Public Works Director, Fireworks Technician and Fire Chief. Brenda Clark has approved use of the Hobo parking lot for viewing, with a police presence to help with exiting and prevent private fireworks being set off amongst the crowd. ? Solid Waste Audit Grant - This grant has actually been received by the North Country Council, who will be using it to study our facility. They will meet with the joint Boards of Selectmen in late August. ? Health Insurance Update - The changeover to the modified plan is going well, with the exception of concerns by the Police Department's Union. Other Business ? Our two new policemen are scheduled to be graduating from the police academy this Saturday. ? A problem with the sewer line on Cross Street was discovered when it was TV'd from Church to Cross Street. The new red house there was planning to hook into the line on Cross Street, but the sewer line is clogged and broken. It may take up to $20,000 from the sewer tap fees account to repair. ? The audit preliminary report has been done. Our bookkeeper, Helen Jones, has been doing a good job, particularly in separating the different facets of the accounting. ? There will not be a Planning Board meeting this Wednesday due to a lack of a quorum. ? Selectman Moore asked about the timing of a CIP item for the library. This prompted a reminder to the department heads that the responses are due by June 29th. ? Chairman Huot asked about a date for the ball field dedication. Tara Tower is still working on a date convenient for all involved. ? An elderly exemption was presented, but there was a question regarding the maximum amount of assets one could own. This was deferred to the next meeting. Public Participation ? Wilfred Bishop asked again about joining the WaterSense program, and will come in to speak to Town Manager Sutton about that on Wednesday. He also mentioned the Wildfire meeting scheduled for Thursday. Finally, he asked about the master plan that Ray Burton was working on and the Board suggested we ask Councilor Burton when he is here on the 16th of July. At 6:45 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 24, 2007, as well as the recommendations of Commerford, Nieder, Perkins assessors on a number of abatements. Approved by: Chairman Deanna L. Huot, Selectman Peter E. Moore, Selectman R. Patricia McTeague