Town of Amherst

Board of Selectmen

July 10, 2006
Meeting Minutes

 

Non-Public Session with Town Counsel

 

Selectmen present:  Bruce Bowler, Jay Dinkel and Thomas Grella.  Also present Town Administrator Gary MacGuire and Executive Assistant Sharon Frydlo.

 

Upon a roll call vote the Board entered non-public session at 6:32 p.m. under RSA 91-A:3 II (d).

 

While in non-public session, the Board discussed licensing vs. leasing land for the cellular tower approved by Town Meeting in March. 

 

The Board exited non-public session at 7:24 p.m.

 

Regular Meeting

 

Chairman Bruce Bowler called the meeting to order at 7:25 p.m.

 

Thank You

 

Mr. Bowler thanked Patty Casey and Melissa Boyle who had organized the first town-wide beautification day.  It was scheduled for May, but rescheduled to June because of the Mother’s Day flood.  They had volunteers including Selectman George Infanti and himself as well as Police Chief Peter Lyon.   He appreciated everything they had done for the Town and wanted to thank them publicly.  Mr. Dinkel appreciated their efforts and apologized that he could not participate. 

 

Robert Heaton – OSAC Representative

 

Mr. Bowler advised that Mr. Heaton was meeting with them to discuss his position on OSAC as the Recreation representative.  In answer to Board questions, Mr. Heaton explained that the reason he wanted to serve was that someone had asked him to be on the committee.  He has been involved in the Recreation Commission for as long as he could remember and they asked him to represent them.  He would be willing to do it if they were willing to have him.  Mr. Grella commented that Mr. Heaton represented Recreation for a long time and had been involved with the Commission from the beginning.  Mr. Dinkel had no questions, welcomed him and added his thanks.  Mr. Dinkel moved to appoint Robert Heaton to the Open Space Advisory Committee as a representative from the Recreation Commission, second by Mr. Grella.  Vote: Unanimous. 

 

Citizens’ Forum

 

Cal Wood, Woodland Drive, spoke about the Selectmen’s discussion at their previous meeting relating to real estate signs and enforcement of them.  After reading the ordinance he commented that it was “a magnificent example of English prose”.   He quoted the definition of a sign from it.  The only flags not prohibited were the United States flag and the NH State flag.  He spoke of the violations and penalties associated with the sign ordinance that he quoted from.  He commented on the public Town areas where  these flags were flying.  He indicated that the ordinance went into effect 3/12/91 and had calculated the number of days and years the flags have flown and thought the violation would be $7 million dollars owed.  Mr. Dinkel asked owed whom?  Mr. Wood indicated it depended, the ordinance did not specifically refer to which RSA.  This went beyond just the violation by the Town, he said.  Both Selectmen Tom Grella and Reed Panasiti had prominently displayed banners on their homes and quoted from the ordinance relative to them. 

 

Mr. Wood then spoke about portable signs as they related to the definition and mentioned the Grella Family Float in the 4th of July parade.  Mr. Bowler remarked that he thought the Selectmen, two weeks ago, felt the 15 year old sign ordinance should be reviewed and reworked.  Mr. Wood then talked about portable signs not being allowed in any District, while coming to Town Hall from his home, he saw the Police radar sign on Mack Hill Road, put there by the Police.  Mr. Bowler clarified it was put there by DPW for the Police.  Mr. Wood felt it was a portable sign by definition.  It also had flashing intermittent lights and was a double violation.  Mr. Bowler reiterated that they know this ordinance needed to be looked at and understood what he was saying.  Mr. Wood recommended that the Selectmen conduct a search within towns, or if necessary State-wide to see who are writing ordinances that are fair and enforceable and made sense. 

 

Mr. Dinkel advised this was something the Selectmen were not allowed to do because it was up to the Planning Board.  Mr. Bowler added it was also voted on by Town Meeting.  Mr. Dinkel remarked that the real estate sign ordinance, discussed two weeks ago, was very hard to enforce without huge resources.  Mr. Wood commented that if they had a law that was not enforceable, it might as well not exist.  The former Police Chief two weeks ago was very reluctant to enforce this ordinance and he disagreed with him.  He mentioned Mr. Grella’s truck with his company’s lettering.  Mr. Grella advised that neither one of his trucks had lettering on them unless “GMC counted”.

 

Anniversary

 

Mr. Bowler announced this week marked the anniversary of one of their long term employees of 20 years.  He was sure there were many people that without Sharon Frydlo would be lost.  Board members as well as the Town Administrator spoke of her commitment to the Town. Former Selectman Bob Heaton commented that a Code of Conduct the Selectmen imposed several years ago was based on Sharon’s continuous outlook and attitude to the citizens of the Town.  She was given a bouquet of flowers, a gift certificate and everyone at the meeting was served cake to celebrate her anniversary. 

 

Appoint Local Hazard Mitigation Committee

 

Mr. MacGuire advised this Committee was a requirement of FEMA and a proactive program for a Committee in place that will analyze some of their problem areas such as Boston Post Road near the High School with the possibility of obtaining Federal funds to take care of certain areas.  The first step was to establish the Committee along with the NRPC and had John DeSilva as the Emergency Management Director come up with a list.  The list is as follows:  Fire – John DeSilva, EMS – Brian Gleason, Police – Peter Lyon, DPW – Bruce Berry, Planning – Charlie Tiedemann, Town Administrator – Gary MacGuire, along with one Selectman.  Mr. Bowler commented he offered to be the one Board member.  Mr. Dinkel offered that this was a very valuable committee.  Mr. Grella moved to appoint the following local hazard mitigation committee:  Chief John DeSilva, EMS Director Brian Gleason, Police Chief Peter Lyon, DPW Director Bruce Berry, Planning/Zoning Director Charlie Tiedemann, Town Administrator Gary MacGuire, and Bruce Bowler, Selectman, second by Mr. Dinkel.  Vote: Unanimous.

 

Highway Safety Recommendation – Carriage Lane

 

Mr. MacGuire advised the recommendation was in response to a citizen’s request for no thru traffic on this road.  DPW placed a traffic counter and during the nine days recorded, the average was 83 vehicles in a 24 hour period and an average speed of 20 mph.  They could not recall any motor vehicle accidents that may have occurred.  It was Highway Safety’s recommendation not to close the road to no thru traffic.  At the Davis Lane end of the road there is currently no stop sign and Highway Safety suggested one be erected there.  Mr. MacGuire suggested holding a public hearing at a future time to add a stop sign at this location.  The Selectmen agreed with this recommendation.  Mr. Dinkel also suggested notifying HDC at that time.

 

Vote to Award Bertha Rogers’ Trust Funds

 

Mr. Bowler reported that he had not received anything in writing from Cynthia Dokmo.  He was part of the Committee that made the award and represented the Selectmen.  Kevin Grassett represented the Trustees of the Trust Funds and Mrs. Dokmo represented the State Reps.  They had four applications and awarded $50,000 to PMEC and $13,000 to the Heritage Commission.  Those were the amounts requested and almost the total sum they had to award.  The Board tabled this until their meeting on the 24th.

 

Educational Reimbursement for Employee

 

Mr. MacGuire advised Police Chief Peter Lyon was requesting an educational reimbursement for Officer Ian Day-Lewis who was pursuing his Master’s degree in Justice Administration.  This educational program prior to July was different for the Union from other Town employees.  The request prior to July 1 when his class was taken was less of a reimbursement than in the Union contact that went into effect July 1.  Chief Lyon has researched the matter, the grade was obtained and the educational reimbursement met the criteria and he is asking $500 be reimbursed as required by the existing contract at that time.  Mr. Dinkel moved to reimburse Officer Day-Lewis for the course with their thanks for making this additional educational effort, second by Mr. Grella.  Vote: Unanimous.

 

Authorize Temporary Closure – Mack Hill/Jones Road Triangle

One Way Section

 

Mr. Bowler indicated that last fall Robert Rowe asked that the cut through from Jones Road to Mack Hill be closed and it was back on the agenda.  Director Berry has the Zipper in place and they can remove the asphalt, close that section and seed it.  It was Mr. Rowe’s belief that this was originally the driveway to his residence.  The Selectmen can temporarily close it and then put it on the ballot in March to officially discontinue it.  Mr. Dinkel liked the concept – his only concern was to make sure traffic going east on Jones Road to Mack Hill has enough warning that this area was being closed.  Mr. Bowler suggested cutting some brush back to make it more visible.  He liked the idea of closing this off and making traffic come to a stop sign instead of racing around the corner.  In response to Mr. Dinkel’s question, Mr. MacGuire remarked that the visibility was not that great at this intersection going southbound.  Mr. Dinkel moved that they authorize a temporary closure of the Mack Hill / Jones Road intersection triangle cut through, second by Mr. Grella.  Discussion:  Mr. Bowler commented he didn’t know how they could determine if this was officially a Town road and it was possible that the Rowe’s had some documents.  Mr. MacGuire suggested that if they don’t, they might want to check with a long term resident in Town.  Vote: Unanimous.

 

Award Engine 5 Pump Repair Bid

 

Mr. MacGuire advised that Chief DeSilva added another sentence of explanation to his memo at his suggestion.  Engine 5 was the engine that they have a warrant article in this budget to refurbish and it also was the engine that pitched in at the Conifer Lane pumping situation and the pump has now failed.  There is a request for proposals on the actual total refurbishment and it will be some time before they come in to redo Engine 5.  It is now out of service because of the pump.  The Chief would like to break up the refurbishment, because of the pump failure.  While looking for estimates for the total refurbishment he received only one estimate to rebuild the pump at a cost between $5000-$6000.  The sole company proposing to do the work was W.D. Perkins of Merrimack who typically did this type of work.  They have an opening available engine this week and they will be able to get it back into service quickly. 

Mr. Bowler knew of W.D. Perkins – they were a well respected company in New England.  The engine had failed the pump test prior to going to Conifer and also failed back in April.  He felt they should be awarded the bid.  Mr. Dinkel agreed and thought this should offset some of the cost for the overall refurbishment.  Mr. Grella moved the bid be awarded to W.D. Perkins of Merrimack to rebuild Engine 5 pump and pay for it out of Warrant Article 8, second by Mr. Dinkel.  Discussion:  Mr. Dinkel mentioned that they may want to add the option to the motion if the rebuild went beyond the $6000 to come back to the Board.  However, this was not included as part of the motion.  Vote: Unanimous.

 

Finalize Planning Board

 

The Board tabled this until their next meeting when Selectman George Infanti, liaison to the Planning Board, was back. 

 

Approve Recommendations & Sign

 

Hodgman State Forest Reimbursement M/L 4-69:  Mr. Dinkel moved to apply for reimbursement pursuant to RSA 227, second by Mr. Grella.  Vote: Unanimous.

 

Mr. Dinkel moved to deny the abatement request on M/L 2-38 Tamsab Realty LLC, second by Mr. Grella.  Vote: Unanimous.

 

Mr. Dinkel moved to deny the abatement request on M/L 2-26-4 Virginia S. Pope, Louise P. Southwick, second by Mr. Grella.  Vote: Unanimous.

 

BTLA Settlement Agreement:  After reviewing the file Mr. Dinkel moved to accept the BTLA Settlement Agreement as listed for M/L 2-28-9 SAT Sr. Ltd. Partnership, Saminist Realty LLC, second by Mr. Grella.

 

Minutes

 

The Board tabled approval of the minutes of June 26, 2006 until their next meeting where they had a full quorum.

 

Other Business

 

Mr. Grella will be attending the Heritage Commission meeting this coming week and the week after the HDC meeting and will bring up the issue of stop signs. 

 

Mr. Dinkel reported that placing curbing five feet from the wall near Town Hall his car has less than one foot before it overhangs onto the pavement.  It was his recommendation that the plan does not go over five feet.  Mr. MacGuire indicated he didn’t do any measuring, was a little nervous about this, but it will slow traffic down in front of Town Hall.

 

Mr. Bowler mentioned that last Thursday night needed to have the ambulance come to his house for him,  everyone involved did an outstanding job and were very professional.  He commented that no one should hesitate to call 9-1-1, he didn’t and everyone did a great job.  He wanted to let the Town know that they have an outstanding EMS Department, Police Department and there was also a member of the Fire Department that showed up.  He was thankful that they were there and grateful they took care of him on the way to the hospital.  The Town’s EMS Department was great.  He had witnessed them near his house four days before and was amazed how quickly the Dispatch Center was notified and everyone arrived.  It was great the Town has this resource.  There was only one confusion - Washer Cove is no longer off Broadway, but now off West Street because they had discontinued that portion of the road last year. 

 

Mr. Grella moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:40 p.m., second by Mr. Dinkel.  Vote: Unanimous.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

Sharon L. Frydlo

Executive Assistant