Selectmen’s Minutes
Selectmen’s Meeting
April 26, 2006
Members Present: Frank Dumaine, Larry Rappaport, and Beno Lamontagne.
Others: Donna Caron, Heidi Lawton, Donna Jordan, Lucie Fillion, Kevin McKinnon, Connie Jackson, and Dave Woodward.
Selectmen signed all vouchers and manifests.
Mrs. Caron explained to the Selectmen that Melissa Shaw needed her Revolving Fund account paperwork signed.
Mr. McKinnon requested bids to have a spec slab built for a laboratory, there were two bids.
Bordenaro Masonary: $6,500.00
BM Concrete: $3,890.44
Mr. Rappaport told Mr. McKinnon that they could not vote on the bids because each person had bid on different things. Mr. McKinnon is supposed to get a new bid from BM Concrete.
Connie Jackson and Dave Woodward came in to talk with the residents of Titus Hill. Mr. Rappaport asked them how they came up with the formula that they used for the abatements. Connie said that there is no science to it. Mr. McKinnon said that hours of operation have changed for the Landfill they will now be Monday-Friday 6:00am to 3:00pm and Saturday 6:00am to 11:00am. Mrs. Caron said that Manny Poulin owns the pull-off in Columbia/North Stratford. Mrs. Caron will ask him about the trucks parking there. Loretta Adams would like an abatement; she was not on the list of Titus Hill people. The Selectmen talked about creating brochures to give to everybody concerning the Landfill. It would be informational about everything that is dumped up there.
Titus Hill Meeting:
Residents: Loretta Adams, Rocky Bellacque, Bill Brooks, Lynda & Jim Biron, Wayne & Dawn Hall, Kenney Knapper, Betty Frizzell, Teri Rosi, Bill Laramee, Parker Hicks, Kim Daley, Mike Grandmaison, George Hebert, and Marsha Biron.
Mr. Rosi: Could you explain to us how you figured out the abatement amounts?
Mr. Woodward: Mrs. Caron called us about the properties abutting addressStreetSkyline Drive, we came up with a table, we brought it to the Selectmen in January and they approved it. These abatement amounts are for December to the end of March because the tax year runs from March 31 to April 1st. The project started in December of 2005 so we had 1/3 of a year to work with.
Mr. Rosi: How did you come up with the footage away from the road?
Mr. Woodward: We did not have a mathematical equation, we addressed what we thought was the problem.
Mrs. Frizzell: Did you take into consideration the physical distance only or also the mental damage?
Mr. Woodward: We had to look at the value of your home; we cannot address the mental part of it.
Mrs. Frizzell: Can you do it on the board so everyone can see.
Mr. Woodward: There were two factors involved, Connie will explain.
Ms. Jackson: Less than 30” driveway comes onto addressStreetTitus Hill Rd. -20% on land and building.
Mr. Woodward: That is 20% off the land and 20% off the building value.
Ms. Jackson:
Under 30” off Titus Hill- 15% off land and building.
30 to 50” on Titus Hill- 15% off land and building.
50 to 100” on Titus Hill 10% off land and building.
50 to 100” off Titus Hill 5% off land and building.
100 + on Titus Hill 5% off land and building.
Skyline Drive 25% off land and building.
Mr. Laramee: That should not be the only factor. What about the view? What about a house on Spring Street that gets the puddles or dirt?
Ms. Jackson: They would be 15%.
Ms. Adams: I was not given an abatement yet. What about a speed bump?
Ms. Daley: I now have a stop sign on my lawn, dust, and traffic. I now have traffic stopped in front of my living room window.
Mr. Bellacqua: They should stop, but they don’t always.
Mr. Hall: So to my understanding that is all you are going to give us on our taxes.
Mr. Woodward: We have to look at your values, not your taxes; those are the areas that we address. Can your house sell as it could before? Probably not, that is what we address.
Mr. Hall: If we feel that we should get more of an abatement, what do we do?
Mr. Woodward: Fill out an abatement form for 2007.
Mrs. Frizzell: When are they due?
Mr. Woodward: March 2007.
Mr. Knapper: I just filled one of those out, do I need to do another one.
Mr. Woodward: No
Mrs. Frizzell: We have gone from a rural area to a commercial area, it is very overwhelming.
Mr. Rosi: It is much worst than we thought.
Mrs. Frizzell: We are not going to be able to open our windows this summer.
Mr. Hall: Because there is so much mud and dirt.
Mr. Knapper: You could not ever see out my windows before anyway.
Ms. Adams: They are using their Jake brakes when they are coming off addressStreetSkyline Drive.
Mrs. Frizzell: Did Casella file a site plan with the Planning Board? Can we see the minutes? Were abutters notified?
Mr. Rappaport: We advertised and abutters of the site were notified.
Mrs. Caron: Just abutters of the site were notified.
Mr. Rosi: No one comes to visit because they are afraid to come on that hill.
Mr. Hall: Can that sign at the bottom of the hill be moved? Where it is positioned, you cannot see it. If it is put on Kenny’s side of the road, it will be seen. There are skid marks in front of my house because someone could not stop.
Mrs. Caron: I traveled up and the only people speeding were local kids.
Mr. Hall: I cannot open my windows nor have cookouts with my family.
Mr. Laramee: My Mom has allergies, she has lived there for 40 years, and she cannot go outside because of the noise, dust, and trucks. I have a black truck, I wash it, and then it is dirty again the next day.
Mr. Hall: I think 50% across the board is fair.
Mr. Laramee: I think more issues have built up than just the Landfill. Traffic and addressStreetHartlen Avenue. Many people walk up and down Titus Hill, I have horses that I like to ride up and down Titus Hill. Friday and Saturday nights are extremely busy.
Mr. Knapper: What about my bare lot beside my house?
Mrs. Caron: explained to Connie and Dave that his lot got overlooked.
Mr. Hicks: Did you like the program that Avitar is doing?
Mr. Rappaport: I think it is fair.
Mr. Dumaine: I think it is a good starting point, because if you do not think this is right you can fill out an abatement form.
Mr. Hicks: So we have to accept this.
Mr. Rappaport: Avitar does the assessing for the City of CityBerlin and StateplaceBerlin has a truck route area.
Mr. Woodward: We did an assessment of StateplaceBerlin, property values along truck routes were affected greatly. There are also areas near the railroads affected. The values of the houses in our area were very low and we did not know why, when we started this project, then we found out that it smelled at night from the Mount Carberry Landfill. I am not sure your values have changed, we did not know what to go by, and by law, we have to go by fair market value.
Mrs. Frizzell: not anybody in his or her right mind would buy a house on addressStreetTitus Hill Road.
Mr. Bellacqua: You could probably fix the dust with chloride. In addition, the same truck stops everyday to tie his tarp down and today his truck started rolling away because his brakes released. We are having to go near the edge of the road to avoid trucks, is their anything being done about that.
Mr. Laramee: Some trucks have been stopped at the bottom of addressStreetTitus Hill Road with the topped popped fixing their trucks.
Mrs. Caron: We are waiting for the frost to get out, and then Kevin will fix it.
Mr. Woodward: Now that we have discussed this, put your concerns on paper, and we will sit down with the board and Mrs. Caron and re-ckeck our table. We cannot just change our table with feedback from the audience.
Mr. Rosi: Can we give you a group feedback?
Mr. Lamontagne: What would you like? Especially Mr. Hicks?
Mr. Hicks: You cannot get down to 5 or 10%; it has to be 50% at least.
Mr. Rosi: My general impression is that the figures would be doubled. Especially for safety and health reasons.
Mrs. Frizzell: I think there is not enough police presence up there.
Mr. Hicks: I could teach them something.
Mrs. Lynda Biron: There are about 22 homes, average $3,000.00 a home.
Mr. Rappaport: The alternative would have cost the town $500,000.00 and we would have gone to court.
Mr. James Biron: Basically, the residents are saving the town $500,000.00. It costs us quality of life and we are not being reimbursed for that. I cannot sit on my deck and read.
Mr. Grandmaison: This is just hearsay; anyone around a landfill gets his or her taxes waived while the project is being done.
Mr. Hicks: Have you spoken to anyone who used Casella?
Mr. Rappaport: Yes, CityBethlehem, StateNew Hampshire and CityplaceCoventry, StateVermont. The difference is that we own our landfill, in some places the towns do not, we have more control.
Mr. Knapper: We drop off a 40-foot box and we do not go through everything.
Mr. Hall: Where is the money coming from to re-pave the road?
Mr. Rappaport: Casella is paying for it.
Mr. Knapper: There are many spots where you will have to lay down rip-rap. Do you think $100,000.00 will do it?
Mr. McKinnon: I think we can do a good job with that.
Mr. Hicks: Are you going to have a public hearing to alter the road?
Mrs. Caron: If you want one.
Mr. Knapper: I would because beside my house is drainage.
Mr. Grandmaison: Are you going to widen the road?
Mr. McKinnon: We cannot without taking people’s property.
Ms. Daley: I liked buying the property because it was in the country, but now it is trashy, my flowers were pretty and that is important to me. I do not even know if my rose bush will make it this year or not.
Mr. Knapper: Any alternative to Calcium Chloride?
Mr. McKinnon: We use Magnesium Chloride.
Ms. Daley: What about water?
Mrs. Frizzell: We were supposed to get the minutes from last meeting.
Mrs. Caron: I have not had a chance to look them over yet.
Mr. Knapper: Are truck chains allowed in the winter?
Mr. McKinnon: Yes
Mr. Rosi: I would like to make a motion to change the chart to start at 50%. Everyone in favor of this decision?
(Everyone raised there hands)
Mrs. Frizzell: I do not think that many people understand what is going on up on addressStreetTitus Hill Road.
Mr. Hibbard: Is this the last time the road will be like this?
Mrs. Caron: We have a remediation building with wells that are pumping everything new back to us so that it does not go onto CityplaceColumbia’s property. Any new contamination will be taken care of.
Mrs. country-regionplaceJordan: Is there a point when the wells will not work?
Mrs. Caron: That has not been addressed, but we have a company that monitors and tests those wells regularly.
Mr. Laramee: Will the covering go away with rain?
Mr. McKinnon: It will be covered with a hard plastic, then earth.
Mr. Hall: How long will it last?
Mr. McKinnon: Indefinitely.
Mr. Grandmaison: What about private wells?
Mrs. Caron: We have tested them.
Ms. Daley: Will there be a smell?
Mrs. Caron: I do not know.
Mr. Rappaport: When you ask will this ever happen again? We do not know because laws always change.
Mr. Knapper: I was going to ask you that because I know Federal provisions change.
Mrs. Caron: I hope it does not smell too bad.
Mr. Knapper: Are they burning methane?
Mr. Rappaport: We are looking to utilize that for help to the town.
Mr. Rosi: Can we look at the contract?
Mrs. Caron: I can let you look at it, but it cannot be taken out of the building.
Mr. Brooks: Two tractor-trailers passed each other the other day in front of my house.
Mr. Knapper: My last issue is the convoy in the morning; they are nose to tail one right after the other. If they come down the hill the same way then that is why there are skid marks on the road.
Mr. Rosi: We would like to schedule a meeting monthly. Next meeting will be May 24, 2006.
Mrs. Frizzell: When do we bring in a letter?
Mrs. Caron: Bring in your letters of concern and give to Heidi before May 24, 2006.
Mr. Laramee: Kevin gave a letter to Betty about staging the trucks up there.
Mr. Rappaport: We are still looking for a place to park the trucks.
Mr. Grandmaison: Why does each person have to write a letter?
Mrs. Caron: Because everybody’s needs are different.
End of Titus Hill meeting.
Mr. Rowell came in because the kids are still raising “hell” in front of his house. On April 13 a couple of vehicles stopped on Route 3 to talk at about 10:30 at night, then they all peeled out fast. He said his two year-old woke up and was sick and that made Mr. Rowell mad so he went outside and waived the man over and asked him what was wrong and he told him to stop. Mr. Rowell said the man is Dustin Poulin. One night when Mr. Rowell was talking on the phone to dispatch the dispatcher heard Mr. Poulin burning rubber on his tires through the phone. The State Police came to Mr. Rowell’s house and Officer Jeffers also. That night Officer Jeffers pulled over Mr. Poulin and was not going to give him a ticket until the State Officer made her give him a ticket, according to Mr. Rowell. His children want to ride their bikes, but his is afraid to let them. On Thursday night, there is only one officer on and there are many kids on the streets. Mr. Rowell said that Mr. Poulin was
told to go home and he just got into another vehicle. Another issue is the speed limit on addressStreetSouth Main Street; the speed limit is 35 mph there and 30 mph on Route 3. Mrs. Caron talked to an attorney about the speed limit; the town would need to do a traffic study on that road. Mr. Rowell wanted to file a complaint but Officer Jeffers told him to go into his house. The State Trooper told Officer Jeffers to write Mr. Poulin up.
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights are hell. On the 13th, Mr. Rowell called dispatch and Mr. Burchard called 911. Mrs. Caron said she would talk to Chief Cass and get the dispatch log.
Mrs. Caron received a letter from Cartographics stating that the photo taking and GPS was done on April 20, 2006. They will be sending a contract for review.
The Selectmen received a letter from Sarah Cummings concerning a barn on addressStreetGolf Links Road. She would have had it down by April 1st, but she went to see her grandchild born. It is now completely torn down. Mr. Lamontagne made a motion to take the barn off her taxes, Mr. Rappaport seconded the motion, motion passed.
Jack Riendeau would like an extension on his Intent to Cut. The Selectmen approved, Mr. Lamontagne made a motion to let Mr. Riendeau have an extension, Mr. Rappaport seconded the motion, motion passed.
Mrs. Caron found a contract from Avitar and it would cost $14,200.00 for a statistical update.
Dispatch received training today from 911 on the Valacad and from NHOEM on dispatch procedures.
Mrs. Caron received a letter from CityplacePittsburg thanking Kevin for helping then with sewer problems.
Lucie Fillion asked when the trees would be cut down behind the monument lot. Kevin said after street sweeping and painting lines.
Mr. McKinnon would like to order his magnesium chloride, and the F450 that the town bought does not have a plow wing. Clark Jeffers has a plow wing for $1,000.00. Mr. McKinnon would like to buy it. Mr. Lamontagne made a motion to approve Kevin buying the magnesium chloride and the plow wing, Mr. Rappaport seconded the motion, motion approved.
Mr. McKinnon would like to set up a meeting to discuss the firms for the hydrological study. The Meeting will be May 11 at 4:00.
The Dispatch Meeting will be May 10 at 6:00.
On the Ballfield Project, the school is proposing to take 30 acres of the Water Company land and it is land that the town could use, the school should take the bottom of the falls for preservation.
Irene Bean told the Selectmen that Rick Tillotson would chip the wood at the wood dump but Mrs. Caron called Rick and he cannot chip the wood but he is willing to put a trailer up there and haul the wood away.
Mr. McKinnon told Donna that a piston broke on the compactor at the transfer station.
Mr. Rappaport made a motion to go into Executive Session on a personnel issue and a tax problem, Mr. Lamontagne seconded. Motion passed.
Mr. Lamontagne made a motion to come out of Executive Session on a personnel issue and a tax problem with no finding. Mr. Rappaport seconded, motion approved.
Mr. Lamontagne made a motion to have an asbestos inspector come look at the Paul Nugent garage, Mr. Rappaport seconded the motion, motion approved.
Respectfully submitted,
Heidi Lawton
| 
