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Home » 05/09/2016 – Minutes

05/09/2016 – Minutes

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Bethlehem Board of Selectmen
Meeting Minutes
Bethlehem Selectmen Office
May 9, 2016

Present: Chairman Glavac, Selectman Staples, Selectman Laleme, Selectman Ubaldo, Selectman Blanchard.

Chairman Glavac opened the meeting at 6:00 pm.

Chairman Glavac moved to go into non-public session per RSA 91-A:3 II for personnel. Selectman Blanchard seconded. Chairman Glavac did roll call with all members agreeing to go into non-public session.

The Board discussed recreation personnel.

At 6:30 pm Chairman Glavac moved to come out of non-public session. Selectman Blanchard seconded. Chairman Glavac did roll call with all members agreeing to come out of non-public session.

Chairman Glavac invited Seth Goldstein to come before the Board and said the Board followed up on two questions from the prior meeting. He said DES was contacted to see if there was an application and was told there is not one needed at this time. Chairman Glavac said DES said until they (NCES) want to stop monitoring the existing wells then no application is needed. Chairman Glavac said the other question was about if the gas probes were ok per the stipulation and said our attorney’s opinion was that it was ok for the probes to be moved as well as the wells.

Mr. Goldstein said NCES is allowed to put 5 new wells on their new property and that it is legal but he is questioning the old ones because he thinks the town should keep monitoring the existing ones as well as the new ones. Mr. Goldstein said the town should oppose the permit modification application when it happens. He reviewed some documents that he handed out to the Board with them that showed graphs of Bromide leaks. He said there was a leak in the past that was denied by NCES. He pointed out that Attorney Keith referred to this (review process by DES) as an application and it is not. Chairman Glavac said DES has not granted the decommissioning of the current wells. Mr. Goldstein said he wants the Board to write a letter to DES saying it is not in the best interest of the town.

Mr. Goldstein asked who reviews and takes action on things that come in from DES so it is addressed in a timely manner. Chairman Glavac said the town does not approve the applications and said the decision is made by DES. Selectman Laleme said the Board obtained legal advice to make sure there was not an issue. Selectman Staples said the Board took action immediately after hearing about it. There was discussion about how some things from DES go to the Selectmen’s office and some go to the Town Clerk. The Board will request from DES that the Selectmen’s office get copied on all correspondence.

Mr. Goldstein said Casella should not be trusted and again said they lie and deny there were leaks. He said the Town’s engineer, Aries, reviewed it and determined there were leaks. He said Casella will have their view, DES will have their view and said the town needs to come up with their view. Mr. Goldstein said he has a problem with attorney Keith’s letter because she doesn’t say anything about the current wells and it doesn’t make sense if she is looking at the town’s best interest.

Rita Farrell said Bromide was found in test wells and asked the Board the significance of that. She said Bromide is added to the landfill, that it is not a naturally occurring compound in landfills. She said it indicates leaks. She said that DES was always watching that but all of a sudden they stopped adding the Bromide.

Andrea Bryant asked the Board if they saw the letter of deficiency given to NCES and Chairman Glavac said they saw it. Dann asked what would happen if the liner was leaking and what the outcome would be. Chairman Glavac said DES regulates that. Selectman Laleme said they must have a procedure for remedial action. Dann asked if the company would go out of business and Selectman Laleme said it depends on what it is. Mr. Goldstein said NCES deny there are leaks until evidence is thrown in their face. Mr. Goldstein said the leak was excavated and repaired. Joyce Menard said the letter of deficiency started last summer for noise and odor and said there was a corrective action plan. She said the deficiencies are still not corrected. She also said with the stage V permit there was supposed to be an odor control plan but there is not one
and the Board should be aware of that. Mrs. Menard said the Board should be making calls and asking questions.

Julian Czarny said the town’s attorney was asked if moving wells was legal and Chairman Glavac said she said it was in the town’s best interest. Mr. Czarny said lawyers look at written word and formulate an opinion. He said it sounds like that would have come from an engineer and the question was move the existing wells not are the ones outside the 61 acres ok. He asked the Board to ask her again.

Chairman Glavac said he was moving on. Rita Farrell said this is an important matter. Chairman Glavac called the cemetery committee up. Mrs. Farrell continued to talk. Mr. Goldstein stood up and raised his voice about not being able to continue speaking.

The Cemetery Trustees, Clare Brown, Rick Robie, and Paul Hudson, came before the Board. Selectman Laleme pointed out in the letter to the cemetery trustees that there was an error in the last paragraph and that the trustees “may” appoint a sexton but not required to. Chairman Glavac said the Board would just like to clarify roles Clare Brown gave some history of how the cemetery records have been handled in the past and said they have adopted procedures and that they do not have meetings often. She said in 2014 was the 1st year they were invited to participate in the budget process and that the cemetery budget is not a separate budget but mixed with other things. There was discussion about hiring a sexton and collaborating together
to do that and discussion about the records being in multiple locations. Selectman Laleme said she would work with the cemetery committee to find a system on how to record where people are buried and to find a process that works for the town and should have collaborative effort and try to get a computerized system. It was determined an ad would be placed looking for a Sexton and the new Sexton will work with current system and work with committee and the Board. Mrs. Brown said they need to chart the uncharted part of the cemetery that it needs to get surveyed and corrected. Selectman Laleme moved to relocate all cemetery maps to the Town Building and investigate cost of Cemetery software and looking at cost of mapping the new section. Chairman Glavac seconded. It was noted that a duplicate copy of the maps will be kept in the safe at the Heritage. Carried 5-0.

Selectman Staples asked Chairman Glavac to reconsider letting people speak for 3 minutes.

Cheryl Jensen came before the Board to discuss Northern Pass. She told the Board that Selectman Laleme wrote a letter about changing the grouping because Colebrook has changed their view from opposed to neutral and all the other towns in our group except Dalton has legal representation. Selectman Laleme said it doesn’t make sense for Colebrook to be in our group geographically because they are closer to the group that has Clarksvile, Pittsburgh, and Stewartstown. She said there is no guidance from the SEC on how to communicate with towns that are represented by attorneys. Selectman Laleme said we (three Boards of Bethlehem) want to be our own group and SEC is also being questioned about the RSA on how to create the groups. She said each group gets only one spokesman and that limits our ability for discovery. Selectman Glavac moved to sign the letter. Selectman Laleme seconded. Mr. Goldstein said he appreciated their efforts. Carried 5-0.

Mrs. Jensen asked the Board to approve Conservation Commission alternate appointments. The appointments would be for Lindsay Webb as alternate #2 with a term of May 2016 to April 2019 and the other is for Carl Bretton as alternate #3 with a term of May 2016 to April 2019. Chairman Glavac moved to approve the appointments. Selectman Blanchard seconded. Carried 5-0.

Fire Chief Anderson came before the Board to have the ambulance bids opened. Chief
Anderson said he contacted 5 companies to invite them to bid. He said he should know soon
about the grant. The bids were opened and bids were received from:
Greenwood Emergency Vehicles from North Attleboro Ma.
Autotronics from Frenchville Maine
Medix from Blackstone Ma.
Professional Vehicle Corp from Rumford Maine
Road Rescue from Walpole Ma.
Chief Anderson will review the bids and come back to the Board with a recommendation.
Selectman Laleme said it needs to be determined if the bids meet the specs and Chief Anderson
said he made them more general.

Selectman Ubaldo said they need to discuss the pool supplies and need to get chemicals for around $2300.00 and the pool needs to be filled and treated to get it open. He said they need to ok the CPO to start the process. The Board discussed the annual map agreement with Cartographic Associates for $2250.00 which is the same as last year. Chairman Glavac moved to approve the agreement. Selectman Laleme seconded. Carried 5-0.

Mrs. Farrell asked if they correct and update and told of how there was a discrepancy about an amount a property was sold for. She was told the tax maps do not have sale prices but lot line changes due to subdivisions, lot line adjustments, etc.

Chairman Glavac read a letter from someone who sent a booklet with old pictures of Bethlehem in it. The booklet will be given to the heritage society.

The Board reviewed a new law that states the Selectman may appoint someone to take the place of a selectman at elections if the selectman cannot be there. The Board reviewed minutes. Chairman Glavac moved to approve the minutes from 04/11/16. Selectman Blanchard seconded. Carried 3-0 (Selectmen Laleme and Staples abstained). Selectman Blanchard moved to approve the minutes from 04/25/16. Selectman Laleme seconded. Selectman Staples had a correction…when it referred to her saying the wells new location was in the best interest of the town she was saying our attorney said that. Board agreed to the correction. Carried 4-0 (Chairman Glavac abstained).Chairman Glavac moved to approve the minutes from 05/02/16. Selectman Blanchard
seconded. Carried 3-0 (Selectmen Staples and Ubaldo abstained).

Selectman Blanchard said the Country Club Committee met last Tuesday and said it is a very diverse and enthusiastic group.

Selectman Laleme said she agrees that we need more closure on the earlier discussion but said to be respectful to the Chair and a time limit should be given.

Chairman Glavac said the current Recreation Director has resigned and said she did a lot of good things for the town and wishes her the best.

Dann said dead people don’t care about the cemetery because they are dead and he doesn’t want to pay for a Sexton with his tax money.

Mrs. Farrell said residents have concerns and she doesn’t see a willingness to engage in this kind of discussion. She said Board should be willing to have the discussion just like they have discussions about the pool, cemetery, etc. She said the runoff from the landfill goes into the Ammonoosuc and that DES does not have the last word. She said she got copies of the odor complaint logs and there was a committee formed to discuss odor problems. Chairman Glavac said he was generous to everyone, that Mr. Goldstein had 2 meetings and plenty of time. He said the Board followed up on some questions. He said you may not like the answer but the Board is not going to challenge the attorney’s opinion.

Andrea Bryant said the Boards responsibility is to listen no matter how long and said that is what they ran to do. She said the landfill is a time bomb and everything said about Northern Pass is more true about the landfill. She told the Board they don’t want to be that Board that didn’t listen and there was contamination and kids dying.

Mr. Goldstein said he wants to get along as a team and apologized for his behavior. He said it is beautiful that Selectman Laleme and Mrs. Jensen are working together on the Northern Pass project. Selectman Staples said she needs time to process the information that Mr. Goldstein presented before she could speak on it. Selectman Blanchard said he is aware of the odor problem and when he was Chairman he focused on reading the DES documents. He said he will work on reading them. There was discussion about the signs that had Chairman Glavac and Selectman Ubaldo’s names on them. Chairman Glavac said the signs were not done with his permission and his name was spelled wrong on them.

Mrs. Jensen said she is concerned about the pool at Baker Brook because there is stagnant water in it. The building inspector will be asked to look into it.

Road Agent, Brett Jackson, came before the Board to discuss with the Board selling the 2008 Crown Vic. Chairman Glavac moved to put it out to bid. Selectman Blanchard seconded. Carried 5-0.

At 8:40 Selectman Blanchard moved to go into non-public session per RSA 91 A for reputation and personnel. Selectman Staples seconded. Chairman Glavac did roll call with all members agreeing to go into non-public session.

The Board discussed properties that will be deeded by tax collectors deed. Selectman Laleme moved to waive 6 properties listed on deed waiver. Selectman Staples seconded. Carried 5-0.

The Board discussed personnel. Selectman Blanchard moved to let groundskeeper go and contact next candidate and to move on to the third if second declines and pay up to $12.00/hour. Chairman Glavac seconded. Carried 5-0.

Selectman Staples moved to approve the raise for a fire dept. employee (DA). Chairman Glavac seconded. Carried 5-0.

At 9:48 Chairman Glavac moved to come out of non-public session. Selectman Blanchard seconded. Chairman Glavac did roll call with all members agreeing to come out of non-public session.

At 9:48 Chairman Glavac moved to adjourn. Selectman Blanchard seconded. Carried 5-0.

Respectfully submitted,
April Hibberd

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