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01/14/2019 SB Minutes

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AGENDAS & MINUTES
TOWN REPORT
WHERE IS BETHLEHEM?
BETHLEHEM ELEMENTARY
PROFILE SCHOOL
BETHLEHEM RECREATION
WHO IS MY LEGISLATOR?
PUBLIC LIBRARY
HERITAGE SOCIETY
VISITOR CENTER
COUNTRY CLUB

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Bethlehem Board of Selectmen
Meeting Minutes
January 14, 2019

Present: Chairman Moritz, Selectman Moore, Selectman Boisseau, Selectman Glavac.

Chairman Moritz opened the meeting at 6:05 and the public hearing for the budget. Chairman Moritz explained the handout is in draft form and the slideshow has been updated.
EXECUTIVE: Increases due to salaries, misc. account down – email account was paid from this.
ELECTION & REGISTRATION: Decreased.
TAX: Level
ASSESSING: $10,000 increase due to needed software update.
LEGAL: Reduced $20,000. Cheryl Jensen asked if they were comfortable with that reduction. Chairman Moritz said based on this year and coming under she is comfortable with that.
PLANNING/ZONING: Chairman Moritz suggested adding 4 hours a week to hours of Planning/Zoning Secretary position to help with efficiency and would increase the budget by $2800.00. Chris McGrath said he would like to see more Planning Board members go in to the office. Chairman Moritz said she asked Planning Board Chair David Rodrigues for feedback but said she will work within the budget. Peter Roy said he goes into the office and she is always working and would be nice to have available more hours to help people that come in.
GENERAL GOVERNMENTAL BUILDINGS: There was discussion about line item 120 and if there was enough budgeted. That line item will be changed to $10,500.00 and Social Security to $1424.00.
INSURANCE: Went down due to decrease in workers comp.
VISITOR’S CENTER: Increased due to budgeting for painting.
OTHER GENERAL GOVERNMENT: Wood Assessor – up slightly.
POLICE: Increases due mostly to salaries and benefits.
Cheryl Jensen asked if budget increases are due to salaries. Chairman Moritz said they have had increases year after year and it doesn’t mean it will happen every year. She said they had to look at that to remain competitive. Selectman Glavac said they have considered 3% a standard raise. Chairman Moritz said she wants to look at where we are at with rates competitively. She also said they could look at individuals who excelled and give raises that way. Selectman Glavac said they have done that with the highway and police to get them up and give the police performance raises also. He said he thinks 3% is good going forward. Mrs. Farrell asked what the Retirement line is for and was told for the NH Retirement benefit for employees.
FIRE: $12,000 increase – salaries. Chief Anderson said he called other area departments and found that we were paying very low compared to the others. His budget reflects a new pay scale and a new 2 hour minimum for call ins.
DISPATCH: Increase of $5000.00
Mrs. Farrell asked how many firemen there are and was told 25. She also asked what the responsibility is of the building inspector. Chief Anderson said he works closely with the building inspector and said he knows the building codes, he is an architect, we have a building permit process and that he is very reasonable. Mr. Jackson asked if the cell phone the town pays for is his or the towns and was told it is the towns.
HIGHWAY: Brett Jackson said the highway call in time is 1 hour so to keep things consistent he would like to make it 2 hours like fire and police. It was explained that the fire and police have a two-hour minimum time, but his dept. gets an extra 1 hour of pay when they get called in. After some discussion about that he decided to leave it at the current 1 hour of extra pay when they get called in. He said the case mower increased. Mr. Jackson also said he is increasing his asphalt budget to $230,000. He said that will get another mile.
Chris McGrath asked if Mr. Jackson gets extra pay when he works extra.
Selectman Glavac asked if he can legally be switched to hourly and was told yes.
Chairman Moritz said if Department Heads are working unrealistic hours then it is not a realistic budget.
Selectman Boisseau said he doesn’t know what it would look like to go to hourly and said other departments would look to do the same. He said it is sometimes hard to put the brakes on when you are a salaried employee and said they want to compensate employees. He also said he agrees with the sentiment that it fluctuates month to month, year to year, and would have to do it for everyone and would have to set a ceiling for hours worked.
Selectman Glavac asked Mr. Jackson if he needed an extra person.
Mr. Jackson said he needs more help in the summer than winter to cover vacation times.
Mary Jackson said his guys make more than him in the winter due to the overtime.
Jack Anderson said his salary needs to increase.
Doug Harman said going to hourly is a budgeting problem and said you need to increase his salary.
Mrs. Farrell asked how many employees in the highway dept. and was told 5 besides Mr. Jackson.
STREET LIGHTS: Reduced by $10,000 due to savings from LED lights.
AMBULANCE: Slight increase.
Mrs. Farrell asked how many ambulance employees and was told about 6.
WELFARE: This is down.
LIBRARY: Up slightly.
CONSERVATION COMMISSION: Stayed the same. Cheryl Jensen said they pay the same things every year; annual dues, roadside cleanup expenses, meeting/training and school field trip.
Mrs. Farrell said the library is one of the greatest services and said the focus is on serving the community.
RECREATION: Typo on line 80/815 needs to be $600.00 instead of $60.00.
Tim Fleury explained his different programming including the pool. He said he received a quote for a new vinyl liner for the pool for $119,950. He said the after-school rec program will be open for Feb. school vacation week. There was discussion about putting $17,000.00 in salaries back into the general fund rec budget from the revolving budget and was explained it was done that way last year to use the excess funds that was accumulated in the revolving account.
DEBT SERVICE: Slight decrease.
COUNTRY CLUB: Mr. Jensen asked about the $287,497 in revenue and questioned the amount 340,715 budgeted. Chairman Moritz said that included the $43,000 from the sale of the property. She said the amounts need to match now because it is in a special revenue fund but said it will be moved to a revolving fund. Chairman Moritz said Mr. Courchaine has done a decent job. She said the taxpayers would have had to cover about $10,000 if we hadn’t sold the property and said the prior debt owed is just over $9,000.00. Mr. Jensen asked if the revenues for tournaments was just over $3600 and was told yes.
REVENUES: Selectman Glavac asked if we will still budget same amount for highway budget and use highway block grant for extra. Chairman Moritz said that will be for Mr. Jackson to decide when he does his budget. Mr. Jackson said he would like to see it used to purchase equipment. Mr. McGrath said there is $154,000 less revenues to expenditures. Chairman Moritz said she projected $400,000 would need to be used to keep the tax rate stable. Mrs. Farrell asked how much a pistol permit is and was told $10.00. Chief Ho-Sing-Loy said they are not required but if traveling out of state may need one. Mr. Jensen asked if the town gets the fine money for speeding tickets. Chief Ho-Sing-Loy said it goes to the state and said $300.00 comes to the town for minors in possession. He explained that in order for fines to come to the town there has to be an ordinance.
Mrs. Farrell asked if the town has maps of the water lines that come into the town and was told she has to go to the Village District for that.
Mrs. Farrell also asked if the Town ever uses the grants that are available. She was told we have and will continue to if we have a need for one and fit the criteria.
WARRANTS:
Mr. McGrath said on the 28th the transfer station committee report will be discussed at the Select Board meeting. He said it is a very thorough report. Mrs. Farrell asked how many tons of trash the town generates and was told it will be in the report.
There was discussion about representatives from agencies for petitioned warrant articles having to wait until late at deliberative to speak. Mary Lou Krambeer suggested having a table set up in the hall where there can be representatives to answer questions for people.
The Board discussed when to hold a public hearing to rescind the special revenue fund for the country club and decided on Feb. 11th.
Chief Anderson said he may do a warrant article on addressing the 911 addresses. Chairman Moritz said it was brought up at a department head meeting to have the address marker to make it easier for emergency services and it could be done by having a warrant article and the town doing it or to make the property owner do it. The Chief said he doesn’t have the costs yet but is working on getting that. He said it needs to be done uniformly and the warrant article needs to be non-lapsing.
Mrs. Farrell asked that in the town report it show specifics on the cost of running the town.
Ms. Krambeer said Deliberative will be at Profile School.
Chairman Moritz said Paul Greenlaw requested that Bethlehem Reimagined have a page in the town report. Chairman Moritz moved to give them a page in the town report. Selectman Boisseau seconded. Carried 4-0.

Chairman Moritz asked the Board if KW can start marketing now. The Board all felt it would be beneficial for them to do so. Selectman Boisseau moved to allow KW to move forward with seeking out potential lessees or buyers for the country club. Selectman Glavac seconded. Carried 4-0.

The Board will meet on 01/21/19 to make recommendations on warrant articles and to finalize warrant articles.
Selectman Glavac said he went to see the easement with Selectman Moore and said it is in between 2 retention ponds. Chairman Moritz asked if they will come and give info to the whole Board and asked that Kevin Roy be contacted to see if he can come on the 21st or the 28th.

At 8:32 Chairman Moritz moved to go into non-public session per RSA 91A:3 II for matters of personnel. Selectman Boisseau seconded. Chairman Moritz did roll call with all members agreeing to go into non-public session.

The Board discussed personnel. Chairman Moritz moved to increase the rate of pay for SD. Selectman Moore seconded. Carried 4-0.

At 8:45 Selectman Glavac moved to adjourn. Chairman Moritz seconded. Carried 4-0.

Respectfully submitted,
April Hibberd
Administrative Assistant

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Bethlehem Board of Selectmen
Meeting Minutes
January 14, 2019

Present: Chairman Moritz, Selectman Moore, Selectman Boisseau, Selectman Glavac.

Chairman Moritz opened the meeting at 6:05 and the public hearing for the budget. Chairman Moritz explained the handout is in draft form and the slideshow has been updated.
EXECUTIVE: Increases due to salaries, misc. account down – email account was paid from this.
ELECTION & REGISTRATION: Decreased.
TAX: Level
ASSESSING: $10,000 increase due to needed software update.
LEGAL: Reduced $20,000. Cheryl Jensen asked if they were comfortable with that reduction. Chairman Moritz said based on this year and coming under she is comfortable with that.
PLANNING/ZONING: Chairman Moritz suggested adding 4 hours a week to hours of Planning/Zoning Secretary position to help with efficiency and would increase the budget by $2800.00. Chris McGrath said he would like to see more Planning Board members go in to the office. Chairman Moritz said she asked Planning Board Chair David Rodrigues for feedback but said she will work within the budget. Peter Roy said he goes into the office and she is always working and would be nice to have available more hours to help people that come in.
GENERAL GOVERNMENTAL BUILDINGS: There was discussion about line item 120 and if there was enough budgeted. That line item will be changed to $10,500.00 and Social Security to $1424.00.
INSURANCE: Went down due to decrease in workers comp.
VISITOR’S CENTER: Increased due to budgeting for painting.
OTHER GENERAL GOVERNMENT: Wood Assessor – up slightly.
POLICE: Increases due mostly to salaries and benefits.
Cheryl Jensen asked if budget increases are due to salaries. Chairman Moritz said they have had increases year after year and it doesn’t mean it will happen every year. She said they had to look at that to remain competitive. Selectman Glavac said they have considered 3% a standard raise. Chairman Moritz said she wants to look at where we are at with rates competitively. She also said they could look at individuals who excelled and give raises that way. Selectman Glavac said they have done that with the highway and police to get them up and give the police performance raises also. He said he thinks 3% is good going forward. Mrs. Farrell asked what the Retirement line is for and was told for the NH Retirement benefit for employees.
FIRE: $12,000 increase – salaries. Chief Anderson said he called other area departments and found that we were paying very low compared to the others. His budget reflects a new pay scale and a new 2 hour minimum for call ins.
DISPATCH: Increase of $5000.00
Mrs. Farrell asked how many firemen there are and was told 25. She also asked what the responsibility is of the building inspector. Chief Anderson said he works closely with the building inspector and said he knows the building codes, he is an architect, we have a building permit process and that he is very reasonable. Mr. Jackson asked if the cell phone the town pays for is his or the towns and was told it is the towns.
HIGHWAY: Brett Jackson said the highway call in time is 1 hour so to keep things consistent he would like to make it 2 hours like fire and police. It was explained that the fire and police have a two-hour minimum time, but his dept. gets an extra 1 hour of pay when they get called in. After some discussion about that he decided to leave it at the current 1 hour of extra pay when they get called in. He said the case mower increased. Mr. Jackson also said he is increasing his asphalt budget to $230,000. He said that will get another mile.
Chris McGrath asked if Mr. Jackson gets extra pay when he works extra.
Selectman Glavac asked if he can legally be switched to hourly and was told yes.
Chairman Moritz said if Department Heads are working unrealistic hours then it is not a realistic budget.
Selectman Boisseau said he doesn’t know what it would look like to go to hourly and said other departments would look to do the same. He said it is sometimes hard to put the brakes on when you are a salaried employee and said they want to compensate employees. He also said he agrees with the sentiment that it fluctuates month to month, year to year, and would have to do it for everyone and would have to set a ceiling for hours worked.
Selectman Glavac asked Mr. Jackson if he needed an extra person.
Mr. Jackson said he needs more help in the summer than winter to cover vacation times.
Mary Jackson said his guys make more than him in the winter due to the overtime.
Jack Anderson said his salary needs to increase.
Doug Harman said going to hourly is a budgeting problem and said you need to increase his salary.
Mrs. Farrell asked how many employees in the highway dept. and was told 5 besides Mr. Jackson.
STREET LIGHTS: Reduced by $10,000 due to savings from LED lights.
AMBULANCE: Slight increase.
Mrs. Farrell asked how many ambulance employees and was told about 6.
WELFARE: This is down.
LIBRARY: Up slightly.
CONSERVATION COMMISSION: Stayed the same. Cheryl Jensen said they pay the same things every year; annual dues, roadside cleanup expenses, meeting/training and school field trip.
Mrs. Farrell said the library is one of the greatest services and said the focus is on serving the community.
RECREATION: Typo on line 80/815 needs to be $600.00 instead of $60.00.
Tim Fleury explained his different programming including the pool. He said he received a quote for a new vinyl liner for the pool for $119,950. He said the after-school rec program will be open for Feb. school vacation week. There was discussion about putting $17,000.00 in salaries back into the general fund rec budget from the revolving budget and was explained it was done that way last year to use the excess funds that was accumulated in the revolving account.
DEBT SERVICE: Slight decrease.
COUNTRY CLUB: Mr. Jensen asked about the $287,497 in revenue and questioned the amount 340,715 budgeted. Chairman Moritz said that included the $43,000 from the sale of the property. She said the amounts need to match now because it is in a special revenue fund but said it will be moved to a revolving fund. Chairman Moritz said Mr. Courchaine has done a decent job. She said the taxpayers would have had to cover about $10,000 if we hadn’t sold the property and said the prior debt owed is just over $9,000.00. Mr. Jensen asked if the revenues for tournaments was just over $3600 and was told yes.
REVENUES: Selectman Glavac asked if we will still budget same amount for highway budget and use highway block grant for extra. Chairman Moritz said that will be for Mr. Jackson to decide when he does his budget. Mr. Jackson said he would like to see it used to purchase equipment. Mr. McGrath said there is $154,000 less revenues to expenditures. Chairman Moritz said she projected $400,000 would need to be used to keep the tax rate stable. Mrs. Farrell asked how much a pistol permit is and was told $10.00. Chief Ho-Sing-Loy said they are not required but if traveling out of state may need one. Mr. Jensen asked if the town gets the fine money for speeding tickets. Chief Ho-Sing-Loy said it goes to the state and said $300.00 comes to the town for minors in possession. He explained that in order for fines to come to the town there has to be an ordinance.
Mrs. Farrell asked if the town has maps of the water lines that come into the town and was told she has to go to the Village District for that.
Mrs. Farrell also asked if the Town ever uses the grants that are available. She was told we have and will continue to if we have a need for one and fit the criteria.
WARRANTS:
Mr. McGrath said on the 28th the transfer station committee report will be discussed at the Select Board meeting. He said it is a very thorough report. Mrs. Farrell asked how many tons of trash the town generates and was told it will be in the report.
There was discussion about representatives from agencies for petitioned warrant articles having to wait until late at deliberative to speak. Mary Lou Krambeer suggested having a table set up in the hall where there can be representatives to answer questions for people.
The Board discussed when to hold a public hearing to rescind the special revenue fund for the country club and decided on Feb. 11th.
Chief Anderson said he may do a warrant article on addressing the 911 addresses. Chairman Moritz said it was brought up at a department head meeting to have the address marker to make it easier for emergency services and it could be done by having a warrant article and the town doing it or to make the property owner do it. The Chief said he doesn’t have the costs yet but is working on getting that. He said it needs to be done uniformly and the warrant article needs to be non-lapsing.
Mrs. Farrell asked that in the town report it show specifics on the cost of running the town.
Ms. Krambeer said Deliberative will be at Profile School.
Chairman Moritz said Paul Greenlaw requested that Bethlehem Reimagined have a page in the town report. Chairman Moritz moved to give them a page in the town report. Selectman Boisseau seconded. Carried 4-0.

Chairman Moritz asked the Board if KW can start marketing now. The Board all felt it would be beneficial for them to do so. Selectman Boisseau moved to allow KW to move forward with seeking out potential lessees or buyers for the country club. Selectman Glavac seconded. Carried 4-0.

The Board will meet on 01/21/19 to make recommendations on warrant articles and to finalize warrant articles.
Selectman Glavac said he went to see the easement with Selectman Moore and said it is in between 2 retention ponds. Chairman Moritz asked if they will come and give info to the whole Board and asked that Kevin Roy be contacted to see if he can come on the 21st or the 28th.

At 8:32 Chairman Moritz moved to go into non-public session per RSA 91A:3 II for matters of personnel. Selectman Boisseau seconded. Chairman Moritz did roll call with all members agreeing to go into non-public session.

The Board discussed personnel. Chairman Moritz moved to increase the rate of pay for SD. Selectman Moore seconded. Carried 4-0.

At 8:45 Selectman Glavac moved to adjourn. Chairman Moritz seconded. Carried 4-0.

Respectfully submitted,
April Hibberd
Administrative Assistant

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