Selectmen's Meeting Minutes

Selectmen’s Meeting Minutes

February 14, 2022

7:00 PM Meeting called to order by Selectboard Chairman, John Esposito. Also in attendance were Selectmen Howard Brown and Tim Berry and minute taker, Laurie Brown.

Esposito led the meeting in the pledge of allegiance.

David Hall attended the meeting with David Cleveland. Cleveland is selling a 5-acre piece of property known as Map 5, Lot 31-1. Because it has less than 300 feet of frontage on Mason Road, he was told that it may not be a buildable lot.

Esposito explained that it is a lot of record, and therefore, buildable as long as everything fits without encroaching on the standard setbacks.

Hall brought in a letter stating just that, and asked the Board to sign it.

Berry motioned, seconded by H. Brown to sign the letter that Hall produced stating that Map 5, Lot 31-1 is a buildable lot within the proper set-backs. All in favor. Board signed the letter.

Eileen Naber asked if the money to purchase the equipment to zoom these meetings was in the 2022 proposed budget and was told it is in the Selectmen’s budget.

Naber also asked who is in charge of keeping the website up to date, as some sections are not.

Esposito said that the Board would be talking about that tonight.

Berry explained that it wasn’t anyone’s job to do that; all departments, Boards and Commissions are responsible for their own pages. We will continue to work on this until everyone is on the team.

Board reviewed minutes:

Berry motioned, seconded by H. Brown to accept the minutes of January 24, 2022 as written. All in favor.

Berry motioned, seconded by H. Brown to accept the minutes of February 1, 2022 as written. All in favor.

7:15 PM Department Head Meeting

Officer K. Wolf – Police Department

Standards and Operating Guidelines have been updated. The Department will update 1/3 of the document each year on an ongoing basis.

The PD did not get the Federal grant for the body cameras, but there is a new 50/50 State grant that we are applying for.

The first officer finished the CIT training, and the second officer will attend in March.

The Chief has begun advertising for a part-time officer to replace our Jason Johnson who will be full-time soon.

Heather Kennedy – Recreation

There are 18 kids signed up for the ski club. It is going well; they are having 2 make up days because of all the weather we have been getting on Friday nights. Crotched has extended the passes to the end of the season, and given us about $900 worth of chaperone tickets this year.

One of the exercise classes is meeting in person, while the other two are still done by zoom.

We are trying to encourage skating at Carleton Pond while the ice is good.

I am going forward with the 2022 events as if there is no pandemic. Spring Gala is scheduled for May 21, Egg Hunt is set for April 16, and the Concerts on the Green start in July.

We are in the planning phase of bringing a Farmers Market to Town. Is that something that the Selectmen would like?

Board unanimously feels that it would be a good idea, and asked L. Brown to check with our insurance.

Bonnie Angulas explained that a Farmers Market needs a permit from the State, and a sponsor. There are State rules.

Kennedy was aware, and said that they would need 2 “agriculture” people involved in order to advertise it as a Farmers Market. She is thinking maybe the 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month.

Esposito asked about parking and crowd control.

Kennedy said that she would like to use church getting out as an incentive to get more patrons.

Esposito asked if it was going to be a fundraiser.

Kennedy said that it could be – they are still passing around ideas.

Bonnie Angulas – Library Director

Getting more involved in the Lending Library – purchased 5 sleds that can be checked out. We planned a Superbowl sledding party that had to be postponed due to muddy conditions.

On February 22, 2022, there will be a presentation of the proposed library to the Town at 6:30 PM at MVVS. There will be a 3D walkthrough video of the project. The Trustees will also have a presentation that night, and the Foundation will update everyone on the state of their fundraising. The Daland Trustees will also be there to show their support.

H. Brown said that he has seen the video; it’s really cool, and worth seeing.

Angulas said that she will post the video on the website after the presentation.

There will be a “Meet the Candidate” night on February 24, 2022 at 6:30 PM at MVVS.

The Friends of the Library will hold a bake sale on Tuesday, March 8th (voting day).

She suggested that the office set up a workshop for all the administrators of pages on the new website. There are some that have it all figured out that could help the people struggling with it.

Board thought that was a good idea.

Chief Jay Wilson – Fire Department

The tanker is going out this week for the new tank and will be out of service for 2 weeks.

Lucien Soucy explained that, at the regular maintenance appointment for the generator, it was found that it needed a new battery. That was purchased and installed.

H. Brown asked if it had an automatic start.

Soucy said yes, and that it starts up every two weeks for a few minutes.

Esposito asked Wilson to explain the process in getting prices for a new Fire Truck.

Wilson offered to stay after the meeting in a non-public session to explain the process, as some of the information is proprietary to the vendors.

Chief Jay Wilson – Emergency Management Director

Esposito asked what the latest CDC guidelines were regarding masks etc.

        Wilson said that it is Town by Town, but if we needed PPE, we could get reimbursed 100%.

        H. Brown asked about Covid tests.

        Esposito said that the tests that the Government is sending out are temperature sensitive, and in this cold

        weather they are unreliable.

        Berry asked about masks at MVVS for Town Meeting.

        Wilson said that they are in the green now – no masks needed.

        Naber said that, at the Deliberative Session for the School, they had a separate room for people that

        wanted to be masked and spaced apart. The meeting was broadcast via zoom to that room.

Ben Crosby – DPW Director

The 2012 International is having trouble again. Electrical, oil pan, and last week it started blowing antifreeze everywhere. The EGR cooler is failing. Repairs are looking to be higher than $6000.

Berry asked if we have to make these repairs to get it through the winter.

Crosby said yes. He also said that 5 years ago this truck had a bunch of problems that we seem to be revisiting.

Berry said that the 2012 needs replacing. Not this year, but soon.

Crosby said that, if we can make it through this year, we can talk about replacing it next year. We only have $6000 in the 2022 proposed budget for this truck.

Esposito said that he is not excited about putting more money into this truck.

Soucy feels that there are a lot of used EGR coolers available out there.

On March 5 we will be short 2 drivers. I have had the position posted since October. There has been a

few people interested in the position, but they want at least $25.00/hour.

H. Brown said that he did some research, and pay for DPW drivers averages $18.12 in NH. The seven closest towns to us in population have an average of even less.

Esposito said that, with our benefit package, we are very competitive.

Berry asked if the people that wanted so much money were coming from the private sector and was told they were.

Esposito asked if there was anyone we could hire part-time.

Crosby said that he hadn’t been able to find anyone.

Mud season is looking like it is going to be really bad this year.

With the weather we have been having, we have been using double the salt as a normal season.

8:00 PM End of Department Head Meeting

Berry motioned, seconded by H. Brown to go into non-public session.

8:40 PM H. Brown motioned, seconded by Berry to come out of non-public session.

Esposito said that he ran into Tom Quinn over the week. He said that the Hooper property is very close to closing the sale, and that the old Ober property will be able to be sold soon, as he hasn’t been able to locate any heirs.

H. Brown said that he got a complaint about a resident shooting out of his back door into a field. There are houses less than 300 feet away, and the backdrop of the field is Carriage Circle.

Esposito told him to speak with Police Chief Slavin.

Berry said that the bid proposal for the access road to the cemetery and proposed library went out last Friday. Submission date is February 28, 2022. We will have a final number for the warrant article at that time. Meridian came up with a rough cost for the performance bond: $475,000.

Esposito reminded everyone that there is no meeting next week because of President’s Day, and that there are only 2 more meetings before Town Meeting.

8:55 PM As there was no further business before the Board, Berry motioned seconded by H. Brown to adjourn.

All in favor.

Respectfully submitted,

Laurie Brown