Town of Lisbon
Selectmen’s Meeting Minutes
Meeting Date: May 14, 2007
Selectmen Present: John Northrop (JN), Jonathan Reid (JR),
Absent: Ruth Robar (RR)
Town Administrator: Regan Pride (RP)
Clerk: Barbara Menchin
Media: none present
Chairman Northrop opened the meeting at 7:00pm.
PUBLIC INPUT:
Mrs. Anne Pearson accompanied by Ruth Hines (NHLA) addressed the board regarding pat due property taxes. Ms. Hines presented a proposal for the Pearson’s to make monthly installments of $100 each on both the old taxes and the new taxes until caught up. Payments will be made on the first of the month, starting in June of 2007. RP mentioned that the tax collector cannot split payments – all must go to the oldest bill first, but this will help them get caught up faster. Therefore the proposal must be for $200 per month until caught up. JN moved to accept the agreement, but stipulated that solid consistent effort must be made in order to prevent tax deeding of the property. JR 2nd the motion. All voted in favor.
SELECTMEN’S MATTERS:
RP distributed a funeral announcement regarding officer Bruce McKay of Franconia.
RP presented a cost quote for utility bill processing from Print Graphics of Maine. For the town’s volume, the rate from Print Graphics would be 79¢ per piece. Our current cost is 64¢ per piece, and RP estimates it requires about 4 hrs of his time to print bills and run them through the postage meter. There are roughly 400 bills in each cycle. JR moved to approve use of Print Graphics off-site processing for future utility billing. JN 2nd the motion. All voted in favor.
JR informed all that he had contacted Signs by Scott to quote on applying lettering to the front window with office hours for town hall offices.
JN stated that J. Myers Builders will make appointment to meet with the board and review the town hall heat loss study performed by his company and make recommendations for improvement. JN expressed his preference to do this at a daytime work session meeting.
JN noted that Bill Taxter will be ordering materials for the upstairs storage area within the next week, and should be available to start work soon thereafter.
Window replacement contractors and quotes were discussed. JN stated that the lower-tier window sashes in the meeting hall are in fairly good shape and don’t appear to be losing excessive heat, so long as the storm windows are closed. The upper windows may be able to be covered with a new rigid plastic material. JN requested that RP ask the Whitney’s of Franconia if they are familiar with the material.
JR reported that he spoke with a Lisbon School student working on “Project Main St.” One of the efforts of the project concerns adding more cigarette receptacles along Main Street.
TOWN ADMINISTRATORS MATTERS:
· Prudy Piechota of Riverside Dr. has asked that the board consider restricting traffic on West Street near School Street during baseball and soccer games to reduce danger of vehicle on pedestrian accidents.
· RP is scheduled to meet with Bill Doyle regarding the 2007 summer recreation program.
· The proposed Grafton County Government budget for 2008 includes a 22% increase in county taxes.
· RP learned that North Haverhill is seeking to hire a part-time welfare administrator. They might be willing to consider the towns sharing a person to fill this role. Since Littleton has also recently hired a part-time welfare administrator, perhaps this person could be interested in working for all three towns. RP is waiting to hear back from the Littleton welfare administrator.
· The response Paul Sanderson from LGC regarding RSA 79-E is that there is no indication in the statute allowing the tax relief to be granted for improvements made to buildings prior to the adoption of the statute by the town.
· The office has received several calls regarding high water usage readings in the recent billing. RP noted that he did notice high readings for several residential customers during the billing process. Most of these were contacted and informed to check their plumbing for potential leaks.
Motion made by JR to adjourn meeting. 2nd by RR. All voted in favor. Meeting adjourned at 8:25 pm
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