Town of Bristol
Board of Selectmen
Minutes of 8-14-08
Members Present: Rick Alpers (RA), Paul Fraser (PF), Bruce Van Derven (BVD), Joe Denning (JD), Town Manager Paul Weston
Chairman Rick Alpers called the Regular Meeting to order at 7:00pm.
Mr. Alpers explained the new format to the agenda and explained when public comments would be allowed. Mr. Alpers also suggested to the citizens, should they have questions or concerns or would like to get on the agenda, they should see the Town Manager first as Mr. Weston will often be able to address the concerns first.
Mr. Alpers explained the next regular Board meeting has been changed to a work session beginning at 6:30pm with Underwood Engineers regarding the Water and Sewer project.
Purchase Orders
Mr. Concrete – Water and Sewer Department - $17,000.00 – The purchase order is for the concrete footings and foundation for the expansion of the Water and Sewer building. Mr. Fraser made a motion to approve the purchase order as presented; seconded by Mr. Denning. Mr. Alpers stated there were two other bids that were higher. The lowest bid is Mr. Concrete. Vote was 5-0.
Town Manager Items
2008-2009 Budget Preparation
Mr. Weston stated the Department Heads budgets are due to him by September 17th. Mr. Weston provided the Board with a proposed schedule for the Department Heads presentations to the Budget Committee during the months or November and December. Mr. Weston stated this schedule is tentative and subject to revision. Discussed also was the sequence within the budget process, with the Selectmen receiving the proposed budget after the Department Heads presentation to the Budget Committee.
Town Crier
Mr. Weston stated two bids were received, one for $2,200
and one for $2,500. Mr. Van Derven stated he thought we received a bid for the
cost of materials only. Mr.
Alpers stated he did not anticipate spending money on this project. Mr. Van
Derven stated he did not think it would be this expensive. He sated with this
economy he finds it outrageous to spend $2,500 on a sign if someone will donate
it for nothing. Mr. Alpers agrees as he thought the board was in agreement that
they did not want to spend a lot of money on this project.
Tax Anticipation Note
Mr. Weston stated we are tracking our general fund cash balance in the bank and as we get into the fall we will need to borrow in anticipation of taxes. He stated everything is in place with Northway bank - the Board will need to sign the authorization to borrow.
Mr. Weston stated he is working on the MS4 (report to NHDRA – Update on Revenues Report) to be submitted by September 1st and the MS 1 (town wide Property Assessments Report) will also need to be submitted September 1st. Mr. Weston stated the Department Heads are concerned with the budget expenditures to date, and are closely monitoring expenditures.
Old Home Day
Mr. Weston stated the Old Home Day event is underway and is going to be better then ever. He stated at the last meeting they decided to limit the parade to just antique cars and kids. Mr. Denning stated the first Old Home Day Parade was just antique cars and over the years it has become too big, therefore this year they decided to go back to the original intent of the parade with antique cars and children.
Wulamat Road Drainage
Mr. Weston stated he held a meeting regarding the Wulamat Road drainage with the citizens in the neighborhood. He stated none of the property owners were willing to take more storm water drainage on their property both north and south from Mr. Bednaz’s property. Mr. Weston recommended the property owner (Mr. Bednaz) buy the storm drainage system materials and the Town install. He stated the final agreement out of the group is no one wished to have water channeled down there property and would like to keep the existing locations for all drainage discharges. Therefore, they need to replace the pipe with a larger one and install an environmentally safe catch basin. The board discussed the drainage with Mr. Bucklin and Mr. Bednaz. Mr. Weston stated what the board decides to do will set precedence as there are many drainage issues around the lake. Mr. Alpers stated in the past the Town purchased the pipe and the owner installed. Mr. Bucklin stated this is not the same as a driveway culvert, it’s a cross pipe under the street. Mr. Van Derven questioned the total cost of the materials. Mr. Bucklin stated about $800 for the pipe and $300 for the catch basins which we would need 2, plus labor. Mr. Alpers recommended supplying the materials only as he is very concerned with budget expenditures as Mr. Bucklin had a very tough winter. Mr. Milbrand agreed that Mr. Bednaz should pay for the excavation costs and the town will do the labor. Mr. Weston summarized the discussion by concluding once the design is done, the Town will purchase materials, the excavation will be done by Mr. Bednaz in conjunction with his track backhoe being on site and the Town will provide the labor for installation. Mr. Weston suggested getting a legal drainage easement signed by the owners of the Ms. Bohlke-O’Gara property to install the drainage system and allow access to maintain it in the future. The Board agreed.
GMI Paving
Mr. Weston stated the original price for asphalt was $60.90 per ton and due to increased fuel and asphalt costs; GMI is requesting to change the cost to $80.00 per ton to finish our paving projects for the season. Mr. Weston stated DOT issued a letter for price increases in fuel and asphalt for all of their similar type of paving projects. He explained GMI does a good job and would recommend going with the higher price. This will not allow Danforth Brook Road to be paved however; we will only be able to finish Hall and Wulamat Road. Mr. Denning stated Hall Road is in awful shape and needs to be paved. Mr. Bucklin stated he is hoping to complete the paving on Thursday or Friday of next week. Mr. Weston stated we only have a purchase order signed and not a quote with GMI. The Board agreed to the increase in costs, with the understanding we must stay within the appropriated dollars for paving.
Selectboard Items
Central Street Bridge
Mr. Denning stated the steel will not be here in time to finish the bridge before winter. The project will be closed in September and will be finished in the spring. If they are able to get a definite time over the next couple of weeks that the steel is defiantly going to come in September or October then they will finish the bridge this year.
Mr. Fraser stated from every thing he has heard with the wastewater line project over the last couple of weeks, it is very important that the Board discuss this in depth in the near future.
Mr. Van Derven stated the Police Department building project needs to be discussed in the near future.
Mr. Van Derven stated with the Newfound Summit meeting, the employees and department heads need to think about ways to work with the other towns to save money. He suggested Mr. Weston send out a Memo to the employees.
Mr. Fraser stated Winterset has done a wonderful job with the Central Street Bridge project and the only reason for the delay is the steel otherwise Winterset would have had the bridge completed sooner. They are actually ahead of schedule.
Mr. Van Derven stated the various Boards, Planning, Historic District, Conservation are having a hard time coming up with a quorum and the Selectboard needs to encourage citizens to join.
Public Comments
Ms. Westfall stated the Conservation Commission can only have 7 members and they already have 6. Mr. Van Derven stated they can also have alternates.
Ms. Westfall stated if the town has a culvert on someone else’s property that we have put in why is it our responsibility to replace it if it’s on someone else’s property. Mr. Alpers stated there was a request from the property owner.
Ms. Girona does not think people should be asked to stop talking. Mr. Alpers stated as Chairman he has the authority to stop or direct debate. He stated he will not allow emotional cross debates. Mr. Van Derven stated the public comment is to be directed through the Board Chairman and not to the people in the audience. Mr. Van Derven stated this Board is one of the better in allowing public comment.
Ms. Westfall questioned if participants are being charged to be in the parade. Mr. Denning stated they are not. Ms. Westfall questioned if they are charged to have a booth at the craft fair. Mr. Denning stated they are charged $25.00 but non-profit organizations are exempt.
Mr. Walenda stated the elderly and disabled exemptions and credits need to be raised. Mr. Alpers stated the board would take this under advisement but Mr. Walenda needs to save that comment for the end of the meeting as it does not pertain to items already discussed. Ms. Girona stated it was a valid comment about Old Home Day. Mr. Alpers explained to Ms. Girona that his comment did not relate to the Old Home Day event and he is currently taking public comments regarding items discussed under Town Manager and Selectboard items. Mr. Alpers stated he agreed Mr. Walenda’s comment is a valid comment about exemptions and credits but will need to discuss this at the end of the meeting during the last public comment opportunity.
Old Business
Recycling Committee
Mr. Weston stated by going to single stream recycling, Bestway stated they can save us $100 per trip on the hauling. Mr. Weston stated we also need to discuss the transfer station design, permitting of the transfer station with NH DES, as well as update the hauling contracts for recyclables and trash. Mr. Weston stated in discussing single stream recycling with the Committee and Mr. Bucklin, it is very feasible with little rearrangement at the site. Mr. Bucklin stated it is real easy to implement by switching one container to recyclables and keep the other general trash. He explained we also will receive $5 per ton for recyclables and Mr. Alpers stated there will also be a reduction in tipping fees as well. Mr. Hill stated we currently let someone collect cans and that would have to stop. He stated we would also need to decide to collect cardboard with the other recyclables or continue to separate it. Mr. Milbrand thinks we should keep it separate at this point. Mr. Van Derven made a motion to go to single stream recycling separating cardboard initially until we have to put cardboard in, conditional upon Bestway doing this for us; seconded by Mr. Denning. Mr. Bucklin stated he is pretty much ready to do this – we just need to educate our citizens to implement this. We will need an additional person to help enforce and educate at the beginning, as well as signage. Mr. Alpers questioned when this could begin. Mr. Bucklin stated a couple weeks. Vote was 5-0.
Mr. Weston stated the Police will be at the Transfer Station over the next couple of weeks to enforce the sticker policy. Mr. Weston stated if one does not have a sticker they will not be able to access the facility. If they are eligible for a sticker they can purchase the sticker at the transfer station.
Mr. Weston stated we need to engage an engineer as soon as possible and would recommend so on an hourly basis to save money and utilizing the talent in house (i.e. the Recycling Committee and Mr. Bucklin) to present a preliminary proposal to the engineer. Mr. Van Derven stated there is an engineer on the committee therefore he does not think we need to hire one. Mr. Milbrand stated he believes he is a mechanical engineer, therefore he did not think he is allowed to sign the plans. Mr. Van Derven stated we need to know whether this engineer is qualified to do this and stamp this. Mr. Weston stated he will contact Mr. Duncan to find out if he is able to do this or not. Mr. Alpers suggested we engage Mr. Vignale’s services if Mr. Duncan is unable to do this.
Mr. Alpers stated we need to do an RFP for the hauling contract. Mr. Weston will do this.
Mr. Bucklin stated he has marked out where the Boutique will be placed at the lower dump but he has not started clearing. Mr. Van Derven questioned if we are able to use
Mr. Duncan as the engineer on the design and save money on that, would it be ok to purchase the materials from RP Williams instead of having him donate them as this barn has gone from a 10x16 to 10x40. Mr. Alpers thinks its fine as long as the money is not needed for site work. We will have to determine this after we talk to Mr. Duncan.
Mr. Favorite expressed the need for fencing around the lower level. He stated it has been discussed for years and questioned when it is going to happen. Mr. Alpers stated they will bring it to the recycling committee. Mr. Favorite stated he brought it up to the recycling committee. Mr. Denning stated it is something that needs to be done. Mr. Van Derven stated RP Williams has just replaced the fencing along the front of their property and we could see if we can have the old fencing.
Mr. Hill questioned the board as to whether they want to make recycling mandatory. Mr. Alpers stated this has to be a warrant article before town meeting. Mr. Alpers stated right now we will accept recycling until we can get an ordinance in place to make it mandatory. Mr. Alpers does not think we will have a hard time getting people to recycle. Mr. Bucklin stated he is amazed to see people throw paper into the solid waste bin with the paper bin right there.
Mr. Favorite stated we need to address disposing of construction debris to make it more convenient to get materials into the bins – this is really an elevation problem. Mr. Alpers stated we hope to address this in designing the new transfer station.
Mr. Walenda questioned why we are not recycling aluminum. Mr. Van Derven questioned why we cannot separate all the scrap metal. Mr. Alpers responded it is due to lack of space. Ms. Girona stated there is a lot of money to be made on scrap metal. Mr. Bucklin stated the vendor that picks up the scrap metal roughly separates it and we are seeing an increase in revenues. Mr. Denning stated the Highway Superintendent is in charge of both the Highway Department and the Transfer Station and he could probably use some additional help to run both.
New Business
Tax Deeding Property
Mr. Weston stated Ms. Simpson will be a certified Tax Collector as of tomorrow. Mr. Alpers asked when the voting machine is coming. Ms. Simpson stated it is ordered but will not be here for the September election, but will arrive later in September.
Ms. Simpson stated she sent out 14 tax deeding letters and these are due the 20th. Five have been paid and have some payment agreements in place should the Board approve. Mr. Alpers asked, for those that paid, did they pay only one year of taxes to stop the deeding? Ms. Simpson confirmed and went over the proposed agreements that she has discussed with property owners. Mr. Alpers questioned if a lot of these are due to the mortgage problems. Ms. Simpson stated this was part of it and stated she has three properties that will be deeded that have not set up arrangements. The Board stated the agreements are acceptable. Ms. Simpson stated 93.5% of the 2008 taxes have been collected to date. Mr. Alpers thanked Ms. Simpson for following up on this. Ms. Simpson thinks one property will go to deeding but the others will be able to work an arrangement out.
Mr. Van Derven asked Ms. Simpson to explain the dump sticker policy where she has her camp. Mr. Simpson stated Rangeley, ME puts two dump stickers in the tax bill each year when sent out. Mr. Alpers questioned if we can put something in with the tax bills. Mr. Weston stated under RSA law, we can, it just cannot be political in nature. Mr. Van Derven thought this would be a great idea.
Fuel Bids
Mr. Weston stated Ms. Alpers did an excellent job on the Fuel Bids. The bid requests were sent to 8 vendors and advertised in the paper. This year we paid $2.29 for oil and our only response was for $4.17 as a locked in price for the season, or .1875 over rack price. Today’s rate is $3.39. We received one response for propane. We are currently paying market price which has been between $3.80 and $3.90. Eastern Propane’s bid was for $2.54 which is a very good price. Mr. Weston recommends going with rack price for the season for oil and accept the propane bid. The board discussed the proposals and agreed to do rack price and accept the fixed price for propane.
Public comments
Mr. Hill suggested for the citizens that do not live in town, they should be allowed to send a self addressed envelope and the fee to have a dump sticker sent to them. Ms. Simpson stated we currently do that. If the property owner sends a copy of their registration, a self addressed stamped envelope and $2.00, we send them a sticker.
Mr. Walenda stated the other towns’ elderly exemptions and credits are a lot higher. Mr. Alpers asked Mr. Weston to note this for the 2009 Warrant discussion. Ms. Simpson stated there are currently a lot of elderly that do not have to pay any taxes as the exemptions and credits cover their entire tax.
Ms. Girona questioned if the old buildings are going to be shut down for the winter. Mr. Weston stated this will be discussed at the next Department Head meeting.
Mr. Favorite stated the commercial dumping fees need to be addressed. They should be charged more as they are making multiple trips to the dump on a daily basis. Mr. Alpers suggested Mr. Weston discussing this at the next Department Head meeting as well.
At 9:45 PM the Chairman entertained a motion from Selectman Fraser, seconded by Selectman Denning to go into non-public session per RSA91-AII (a, c and d). A roll call vote was taken with all responding yes.
Motion to return to public session at 10:50 made by Mr. Denning, seconded by Mr. Fraser; vote was unanimous.
Motion to adjourn was made by Mr. Van Derven; seconded by Mr. Fraser; vote was unanimous.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:50pm
Respectfully submitted,
Krystal Alpers
Administrative Assistant
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Richard Alpers, Chairman Paul Fraser, Vice Chairman
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Joe Denning Donald Milbrand
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Bruce Van Derven