Town of Lisbon
Selectmen’s Meeting Minutes
Meeting Date: February 11, 2008
Selectmen Present: John Northrop (JN), Jonathan Reid (JR), Ruth Robar (RAR)
Town Administrator: Regan Pride (RP)
Clerk: Barbara Menchin
Chairman Northrop opened the meeting at 5:00 pm.
Bills, manifests and minutes were read and approved.
SELECTMEN’S MATTERS:
The Board received a list of items from a citizens group with a few of their concerns.
CLERK’S MATTERS: Barbara Menchin
The Board questioned the clerk regarding the most recent invoice from Gardner, Fulton & Waugh (town council). BM stated that to date the STOP group law suit against the town has cost the taxpayers $7,916.54. So far for 2008 the lawsuit has cost $4,188.31 and 2007 the costs were $3,728.23. BM stated that the taxpayers should be expecting more legal costs as this appears to be something that will not end soon.
BM has spoken with Lori Hubbard regarding future work. Ms. Hubbard had stated she would do a thorough cleaning of the town building (including the PD and FD) once a week and do a spot check at some point in the middle of the week.
BM has spoken with Ms. Karla Houston regarding her work hours at the library. KH stated she works 32 hours.
BM did a survey of the different newspaper providers for the Town of Lisbon. Weekly deliveries are:
1. The Caledonian Record 840 issues
2. The Bridge Weekly 362 issues
3. The Courier 312 issues
JN stated that as the Caledonia Record does hit more people and is available every day, the town offices should continue public notices in this paper.
BM requested the Board to decide on what to run on the front and back covers of this year’s town report. The Board stated to do the same as last year as time was getting short. Also, the town would have the normal amount printed. JR made the motion, RAR 2nd, so voted all.
TOWN ADMINISTRATOR’S MATTERS: Regan Pride
RP discussed the Bret Purvis and Associates (town assessors) new contract. The Board stated they wished to look at it in further detail at a later date.
RP stated that Mr. Kevin Clement would not be attending tonight’s budget hearing as he went home sick. RP further stated that he had spoken with KC regarding the shortage of salt. KC will be trying to use the salt only where necessary and will use more sand as there is no shortage of that. RP has spoken with the DOT requesting some assistance for the town.
RP has spoken with Mr. Harvey Paquin regarding the recycle of aluminum cans. HP stated that the tonnage is down and the prices are up on aluminum. As the prices are up, people appear to be taking their cans to recycle places to earn extra money. RP told the Board that the Lion’s Club would like to continue the recycling of the aluminum cans as they have in the past. However, due to changes in auditing requirements, the town must account for all revenue including that received from aluminum cans. JR made the motion that henceforth, all revenues from aluminum cans be noted. RAR 2nd, so voted all. The Board will notify the Lion’s Club of the auditing requirements.
The Railroad Station meeting has changed to Monday, February 18, 2008 at 5:00 pm.
The School Budget Hearing will be held Monday, February 18, 2008 at 7:00 pm.
The Library Bond Hearing will be held Tuesday, February 19, 2008 at 7:00 pm. BM was excused from attend that meeting.
RP, JR & Cathy Burke (Lisbon Main Street, Inc.) have spoken with the CEO of the Littleton Regional Hospital, Warren West, regarding opening of the Lisbon Clinic on Main Street. Mr. West has stated that it may not open until August.
A motion was made by JR to adjourn, 2nd by RAR……all in favor
Meeting adjourned 7:00 pm and the Board moved to the Hall for the 2nd 2008 Budget Hearing.
The Hearing started promptly at 7:00 pm.
At the start of the meeting, RP notified the audience of the upcoming Library Bond Hearing which will be held Tuesday, February 19 at 7:00 pm.
RP stated there will be 31 articles for this year’s town meeting. It was decided to read the articles out loud and describe each starting with Article 5.
Article 5: This article is regarding the purchase and installation of a new furnace for the Lisbon Public Library. $10,000 is to be taken from the fund balance and no amount is to be raised from taxation. One member of the audience asked why this is on as a warrant if the money is already there. That person was told that the town’s people have to vote on the warrant in order to spend the money.
Article 6: This article is regarding the Highway Department requesting $88,000 for paving of some of the town roads. The tax impact to the taxpayers would be .78 cents per thousand dollar assessed value.
Article 7: Is regarding the purchase of a new highway pickup truck with plow frame. The truck costs $37,700. $15,000 would be taken from the capital reserve fund that was created for this purpose. The balance that would impact the taxpayers would be $22,700. The impact would be .20 cents per thousand dollars assessed value.
A member of the audience asked what would happen to the existing pickup. It was explained that truck would be put up for sale. The sale of the existing truck would help to offset the cost of the new truck.
A member of the audience asked about the old police cruiser and what has happened to that. Chief Tavernier explained that the old cruiser would only have sold for about $2,000. The Board decided to keep the cruiser and use it for transportation for town sanctioned reasons. If a town employee were to use his/her own vehicle, the State mileage would be .44 cents per mile back to the employee. There were 12,330 miles put on the old cruiser this year at a cost that averaged .17 cents per mile. The town will not keep the pickup trucks.
Article 8: Is in regards to the appropriation of $210,572 for the Water department (part being paid by user fees ($184,072) and the remaining $26,600 would be from general taxation. The tax impact would be .24 cents per thousand dollars assessed value.
One member of the audience asked why couldn’t the water and wastewater be self sufficient. Another member of the audience asked about the large user discounts. RP stated that the town had adjusted the rates a few years ago.
Another member of the audience stated he felt as if he was being penalized in taxes as he was not on town water or sewer. He felt as if the rate should be only applied to users. The out-of-town people have septic tanks that must be cleaned, if their wells run dry they must put out the expense for a new well and in some cases, insurance companies charge extra for not being within a certain distance to a fire hydrant. RP stated that the entire town benefits from the Town Water through companies like New England Wire and DCI and if a residence outside of town were to catch fire, the town water is used.
A member of the audience thought it was unfair for the entire town to vote on water/wastewater issues that it should be exclusively for in town residents who are billed for water and wastewater.
Article 9: Is in regards to the Wastewater Department and raising the sum of $199,271 for the operation and maintenance of the operation. Those funds would be raised by user fees.
Article 10: Is regarding the Railroad Station restoration project. The town would like to raise $15,000 to help complete the project in Phase III of the restoration. The tax impact for this would be .13 cents per thousand-dollar assessed value (there was a mis-quote of tax impact at the meeting………statement was .04 per thousand).
Mr. Roger Robar discussed the various grants that have been gotten for this project. As of February 11, 2008, the amount of money into the project was right around $500,000.00. He further stated that the Town of Lisbon taxpayers have only spent about $17,000 and that the $15,000 would be basically a maintenance fee. Mr. Robar has voluntarily worked on this project for just over five years and has collected no monies in labor.
Article 11: This article has to do with the purchase of a new four-wheel drive police vehicle for $30,000 ($21,000 of which would be withdrawn from the capital reserve fund) and the balance would be $9,000 to the taxpayers. The total tax impact would be .08 cents per thousand dollar assessed value.
Chief Tavernier stated the old four-wheel drive vehicle was purchased in 2001 and it has 120,000 miles on it. The old four-wheel drive will be sold to help offset the price.
Article 12: Is in regards to two in-car video camera systems for the police department. The total expense is $10,000. There is a grant for $5,000 and if the grant were approved, the taxpayers would pay the other $5,000. Total tax impact would be .04 cents per thousand dollar-assessed value.
Article 13: This article is for the purchase of six X26E Police Tazers for the Police Department at a cost of $5,800. The total tax impact would be .05 cents per thousand dollar- assessed value.
Chief Tavernier told the audience that each full-time officer would have one, one spare and one for the part-timers. One member of the audience asked if the officers were certified in CPR. Chief Tavernier stated yes, they are all CPR Certified.
Article 14: Is in regards to taking $30,000 from the Fire Station capital reserve fund for the purpose of site development for the proposed future Fire Station. There would be no tax impact on the taxpayers.
One member of the audience felt as if the proposed site is not big enough for a fire station.
Article 15: This article is for the appropriation of $18,800 for the purchase of a used ambulance for the Lisbon Life Squad from Franconia. There would be no tax impact as the money would be taken from the capital reserve fund which was created for this purpose.
It was stated that there is $55,238 in the capital reserve fund. This ambulance is to replace the old ambulance and the old would be sold. This ambulance is contingent upon the Town of Franconia purchasing a new ambulance after the Franconia Town Meeting.
Article 16: This article is regarding the purchase of new Assessing Software for the Town Office. The $12,000 purchase will be taken from fund balance and so there would be no tax impact on the taxpayers.
RP explained that the current assessing software is getting less and less reliable and there have been several errors to tax bills. Several towns in the area have the Avatar system and appear to be quite happy with the way it functions. This should help to ease workload in the town office. The cost of training is included in this price.
Article 17: This article is to ask the taxpayers to create a savings account of $10,000 towards the future purchase of highway equipment. The total tax impact would be .09 cents per thousand-dollar assessment.
Article 18: This article is to appropriate $65,000 total to be placed in the capital reserve fund for future purchases of a Fire Station, Fire Truck, Hwy Dump Truck, Hwy 1 Ton Truck, Hwy Pickup Truck and a Police Cruiser. Any of these individual items can be amended at town meeting. The total tax impact to the taxpayers for this would be .58 cents per thousand-dollar assessed value.
Article 19: This article is to appropriate $10,000 to be placed in a capital reserve fund for the Transfer Station/Recycling Center for equipment. The total tax impact would be .09 cents per thousand-dollar assessment.
One member of the audience asked if Landaff and Lyman contribute to this fund. It was explained that these two towns only pay on the operating budget. RP to check to see if these two towns should be held liable for purchase of the equipment. It was noted that the Recycle Center was over budget by $13,000. One member of the audience asked if the other two towns contribute to the additional costs. RP stated yes. Another member of the audience stated that perhaps the price of the Lisbon, Landaff, Lyman bags should increase to $2.00 per bag.
Article 20: Is in regards to appropriating $8,000 to support the Lisbon Main Street, Inc. Total tax impact to the taxpayers would be .07 per thousand-dollar assessed value.
Article 21: Is regarding the appropriation of $10,000 for improvements to the Town Hall building and authorizing the Board of Selectmen to apply for any grants available. Total tax impact would be .09 cents per thousand-dollar assessed value.
One of the projects that need to be done would be the weatherization of for the various parts of the Town Hall building that are now losing heat. RP stated he would be checking into the availability of grants for this purpose.
Article 22: This article is regarding an appropriation for $42,870 for the purchase of five exhaust filtration units to be installed on the Fire Department and Life Squad vehicles. $40,726.50 would come from a grant called the Assistance to Firefighters Grant and the remaining $2,143.50 would be taxpayer expense. The total impact of this would be .02 cents per thousand-dollar assessed value.
A member of the fire department is to check further into this system and speak with a few Fire Departments (Concord and Franklin) who have this form of filtration before purchase.
Article 23: This articles is for repairs to the wastewater lab building on Bath Road. The amount is $10,000. This money will not impact the taxpayer; money is to come from the wastewater department fund balance.
Article 24: This article is for replacing of a pump motor and associated controls at the Bath Road wastewater pump station. The amount is $15,000. This money will not impact the taxpayer; money is to come from the wastewater fund balance.
Article 25: This article is regarding the appropriation of $47,980 to purchase and replace various water meters and meter reading equipment throughout the system. There will be no tax impact on the taxpayers as this money will be taken from the Water Department fund balance.
RP stated the old meters would be replaced first. These meters would be installed by town employees. It is the hope of the Board that this will eventually cut down on man- hours (such as meter reading and billing).
Article 26: This is regarding the appropriation of $22,239 for support to local community service agencies. The total tax impact to the taxpayer would be .20 cents per thousand-dollar assessed value.
It was stated that these items could be amended by line.
Article 27: This article is regarding the Pearl Lake Brook Dam project. The amount of the appropriation is $8,171.45. This is for the removal of the dam. The town received a grant for $3,900 through the NH Charitable Foundation and the other $4,271.45 was appropriated in 2007. There will be no impact on the taxpayer.
Article 28: This article is a resolution: regarding unfair taxation and a request for the State Representatives, Senator and Governor to reject the “pledge”. This article was submitted by petition.
Article 29: This article is to authorize the town to sell two pieces of town property.
1. Map U08 Lot 006 at 68 Dickinson Street (no structure)
2. In the Town of Landaff, Map 01, Lot 012 located on Acre Drive containing .11 acres which has a 12 x 16 brick structure.
The properties are to be advertised in the paper and they would be sold by sealed bid.
Article 30: This article is regarding a small piece of Berkshire Road to see if the town would accept the remaining portion of the road.
Article 31: This article is for any other business.
RP went back to Article #3 which is for an appropriation for the Lisbon Public Library in the amount of $330,000. There will be a bond hearing on Tuesday, February 19, 2008 at 7 pm regarding this issue.
RP went back to Article 4. The Board stated they put a limit of 3% on all pay raises, they have adjusted the medical insurance portion that the employees pay. They reduced the office staff overtime. Parks and recreation was adjusted as well as the Fire Department. All local community service agency requests were put into warrant article #26. With these changes the Board was able to bring the bottom line down to 0.8 percent increase over last year.
One member of the audience suggested the town look into Senate Bill #2 (SB 2) which is the official ballot referendum system.
The hearing adjourned at 10:15.
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