Select Board Meeting Minutes - November 27, 2006

Lincoln Board of Selectmen Meeting Minutes November 27, 2006 6:04pm Present: Chair Deanna Huot, Selectman Peter Moore, Selectman Patricia McTeague, Town Manager Ted Sutton, Recording Secretary Susan Chenard, Assessing Secretary Helen Jones Audience members: Wilfred Bishop and Lutz Wallem Approval of public meeting minutes of November 20, 2006: A motion was made by Selectman McTeague, seconded by Selectman Moore, to approve the public meeting minutes of November 20, 2006, as amended. Routine Business Town Manager Sutton and assessing Secretary Jones reported on various routine business items. ? Status of Tax Warrant The tax bills are going out on Tuesday, November 28th and will be due by December 29th. The two computer systems, ProVal and BMSI, were reconciled to within 6 pennies and Helen Jones should be commended for her hard work on this project. She commented that her new printer had been a big help as well, cutting down the printing time of the warrants from 6 hours to about an hour and a half, as well as cutting down on paper by printing double-sided pages. Two property cases were discussed. One was a lot that seems to be un-recorded on West Street, which Mr. Sutton will ask Attorney Conklin's office to do a title search. Another individual who sold about half his land about 20 years ago, still has the entire property on the warrant. The acreage does print on each tax bill, but it was only noticed after the owner's death, by his brother. The brother can apply for abatement in taxes for the last two years only. ? Report on BMSI and ProVal Reconciliation As mentioned above, the two systems were reconciled to within 6 cents. By this Friday, ProVal should be running again in the public tax map/assessing room (along with Helen Jones's former printer). The system would also be up to date and installed on the computers of Susan Whitman (tax collector), Susan Chenard (Administrative Secretary), Stacey Havlock (Planning Board Secretary) and Ted Sutton (Town Manager). These would all have the same type of public access, where the ability to make changes would not be allowed. The two computers in the Assessing Secretary's office would be set up to allow changes by Helen Jones or Scott Marsh, and would require passwords. ? Police Officer Millard's First Day His first day on the job here as a Lincoln police officer, Officer Millard was riding with Officer Stevens. They were called out, and discovered a broken window in a townhouse at the Village of Loon. They proceeded inside and arrested a suspect, who was in the process of burglarizing the home. A press release was sent out to show local people that our police department is vigilant in protecting their homes. ? Traffic Plan for Main Street Mr. Sutton has received a positive letter from the NH DOT, regarding NH-112 road improvements, stating that the basic concept of Stephen Pernaw's Traffic Impact and Site Access Study from March 2006 was acceptable. The DOT suggested that the next step would be for the Town and Centex Destination Properties to present a conceptual plan to the public in a public hearing, and offered a Department representative to help answer technical questions. It was decided to hold this meeting in January, after the holidays, to allow for proper noticing and convenience. Selectman Moore also suggested that this letter be read into the next Planning Board meeting minutes (on December 13th). ? Budget Review Continuation There was some clarification on recreation budget items that had come up last week, but more information was still needed on that subject. However, the budget packets had been put together with as much information as possible so far, and the budget committee meetings would start on Tuesday (11/28) as scheduled. The complete budget information would be available by Thursday, at the committee's second meeting. Other Business ? Mr. Sutton reported on progress at the Profile Motel regarding a drainage problem created by the Route 3 water line installation. This should be completed on Tuesday (11/28) by the contractor. The cost would be split between the contractor, the motel and the Town. ? Many thanks went out to Stacey Havlock and Tara Towers for the nice job they have done decorating the Town's gazebo and the Town Hall for Christmas. ? Mr. Sutton asked Selectman Moore about a question that had come up at the Town Hall regarding a dump truck that was up for bid sale at the solid waste facility. Selectman Moore asked why the inquiry had come up to Town Hall versus at the solid waste facility. He agreed that, in the future, the Town Hall should be notified of any public activities undertaken by solid waste. ? There was some final discussion regarding last week's offer on the business park lot 9. Since jobs of an on-going nature were not included in the proposal, a motion was made by Selectman McTeague, and seconded by Selectman Moore, to refuse the offer. The vote was unanimous. ? Chair Huot asked if Donahue Construction had put in the retention unit in the culvert near the business park. Mr. Sutton had spoken with Bill Willey about that, and the part had come in, but was too small, so a new one was en route. ? Selectman McTeague asked if there had been any word from the Army Corps of Engineers regarding the dikes or levees. Mr. Sutton reported that they had left a message on Wednesday before Thanksgiving to say that they were working on getting the information together, and would get back to us. ? Selectman Moore mentioned that the response from Janet Pinet, Risk Advisory Consultant at NH Public Risk Management Exchange (Primex3), regarding insurance and usage of the Father Roger Bilodeau Community Center, was very informative. He asked if we needed a published policy and Mr. Sutton replied that we had one already, whereupon Selectman McTeague asked if we could review it at the next meeting. ? Mr. Sutton next updated everyone on his scheduled meetings for the week. - Tuesday morning at 9am, he would be meeting with the Grafton County Economic Development Committee regarding the business park. They would review the park in his office and then visit the site with Steve Zalla from LinWood Real Estate (the listing agency). Pictures would be taken at that time and then again December 4th, when Ray Burton and other County Commissioners would be coming to talk about Tuesday's visit. Maybe a photo collage could be put together of all the visitors to show the interest so far. - Tuesday at 1pm, Centex would be coming in with their fire engineer from Denver, Colorado, to meet with the NH State Fire Marshall and planning board members John Hettinger and Pat Romprey to review life safety plans. - Then at 4pm, Planning Board members Peter Moore, Pat Romprey, Joe Chenard, and John Hettinger would be meeting with Mr. Sutton and Peter Malia, our town attorney, via conference call, regarding clarification on the latest proposal by the Rapids at South Mountain. - Wednesday at 9:30am, Mr. Sutton would be meeting with Bill Willey, Tara Tower and MacPherson, Gregg and Joe Silveira II from USDA Rural Development regarding a grant for the Father Roger Bilodeau Community Center, and how to use in-kind work. - At 3pm that day, he would be at a board meeting with the North Country Council and the White Mountain National Forest at the Rock's Estate. - Finally, on Thursday at 2pm, Jason Stark from the Timberland Owners and members of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, as well as Mr. Sutton, would meet regarding the forest plan and how timber sales are being held up by lawsuits. Timber sales taxes are an important part of the North Country economy. ? Chair Huot asked about the dedication of Arthur Salem Way. She would like to attend, but will be out of town December 2-16. ? She also asked about the budget item for the Welcome Sign on Route 3. She mentioned that it couldn't be ordered till after town meeting, yet the plan was to put it in by April, and wondered if that was feasible. ? Chair Huot also mentioned that she was bothered by an article in the latest copy of Tremblay's Tabloid. This is put out by Coldwell Banker LinWood Real Estate and sent out to many people. There is misleading information talking about the revaluation and time provided for appeals. Although all measurements of the properties were started two years ago, the values weren't put on the properties until this September 2006. Also, taxpayers can still come to the town of Lincoln and file for an abatement before March 1, 2007. Mr. Sutton said he would speak with Tom Tremblay about a retraction. Public Participation ? Lutz Wallem had a question regarding public access channels on Time Warner Cable versus DirecTV. He had switched away from cable, but couldn't get channels 3 and 22. He wondered why not, and was told that the town only has a contract with Time Warner, while DirecTV is unregulated. In the contract, the two public access channels are discussed. ? Wilfred Bishop mentioned that he had called the PUC Office of Consumer Affairs, as he had a complaint about the cable company. It is also technically unregulated, according to him, but one can register a complaint with the FCC. ? Mr. Bishop also asked if the town would be organizing a volunteer committee to suggest ways to save energy. Chair Huot said the board would look into that. At 7:10pm, the meeting was adjourned and Mr. Sutton left. The Selectboard then reviewed payroll and accounts payable check registers for the week ending 11/26/06. Date: ______________ Approved by: Chair Deanna L. Huot, Selectman Peter E. Moore, Selectman R. Patricia McTeague