01/17/2022 SB Minutes

Bethlehem Board of Selectmen

Meeting Minutes

January 17, 2022

 

In person – Chairman Boisseau, Vice Chairman Caplain, Selectman Hibberd, Selectman Jensen, Selectman Morris.

Chairman Boisseau opened the meeting at 6:03 pm and reminded people to leave their microphones on mute.  He continued to remind in person participants to use the microphone so Zoom participants can hear

 

Public Input:

Nancy Strand – Mt Cleveland Rd. – loosing good select board members before their time. How often does the board have to meet and can it be less frequent to accommodate needs of board members? It is a lot of hard work for a volunteer position.

Selectman Caplain – typically meets every other week except during budget season.

 

Public hearing – Budget Hearing

Chairman Boisseau mad a motion to open public budget hearing – Selectman Morris seconded – roll call – all – motion passed.

Chairman Boisseau – The major budget increases come from increased employee wages to keep qualified employees – materials have increased in price reflecting current market.

2021 – $2,857,389 – 2022 – $3,182,162 – $2,831,068 – 11% increase from last year – Selectman Morris – difference between default and proposed budget including anticipated revenues is under $100,000 with revenues factored in.

Selectman Morris – propose a change to cemetery budget – add survey funds to budget at deliberative – Selectman Hibberd – move cemetery budget to separate category for accounting purposes. –  Chairman Boisseau – add money now or at deliberative? – Frank Claffey – add tonight before voted on at deliberative – can remove at deliberative if needed – Selectman Morris – need to find survey money in the past – money got appropriated but not encumbered – need to add money back to budget.

Selectman Morris made a motion to add $9,000 to cemetery budget – Selectman Jensen seconded – roll call – all – motion passed.

Selectman Morris made a motion to remove cemetery from GGB budget and add to own account for clarity – Chairman Boisseau seconded – roll call – all – motion passed

Chris McGrath – money for visitor center roof still in budget? – Selectman Caplain – yes – Mr. McGrath – saving money is important. Do employees get raise currently or when it’s voted on? – Selectman Hibberd – department heads get retroactive pay, hourly employees do not – Mr. McGrath – decision on pool and free admission for residents – Abbie Sawyer – Lisa has not been back in office yet – Board discussed options on making pool free for residents and decided to wait on decision until they can get input from aquatics supervisor.

Nancy Strand – donation jar at the pool would help as well –

Chris McGrath – money to expand parking lot behind town hall – is the money back there again? – Selectman Morris – money in GGB for parking lot $5,000 – Mr. McGrath – there will be one less parking spot with electric chargers coming in.

Chairman Boisseau – any other questions form public? – none

Chairman Boisseau made a motion to close budget public hearing – Selectman Caplain seconded – roll call – all – motion passed.

 

Overpayment refund – Map 205-209

Chairman Boisseau – refund for map 205 – 209

Chairman Caplain made a motion to refund map 205/209 – Selectman Hibberd seconded – roll call – all – motion passed.

 

Minutes – 12/30/2021, 1/03/2022

Selectman Caplain made a motion to approve minutes from 12/30/21 – Selectman Hibberd seconded – roll call – all less Chairman Boisseau, abstained – motion passed.

Selectman Caplain made a motion to approve minutes from 01/03/2022 – Selectman Hibberd seconded – roll call – all – motion passed.

 

Other:

Selectman Hibberd – talked with moderator about deliberative session – Had at Profile last 3 years for social distancing – would like to have it there again – Mary Lou Krambeer – profile not available Monday 7^th available Tuesday 8^th – meets election deadline – Frank Calffey – need warrant article to take BCC off the books – if voters approved warrant to establish revenue account – reverse action voters made to establish revenue fund to refund remaining balance to general fund.

Selectman Hibberd made a motion to move deliberative session to Profile HS on Tuesday 8^th at 6pm – Selectman Morris seconded – roll call – all – motion passed.

Selectman Jensen – letter based on truck traffic comments – DOT approval of driveway is still open – DES permit pulled for time being – letter before DOT approval would be best – the board discussed timing on sending letter out. Selectman Caplain – was on call from Bike/Walk Alliance of NH – they will write letter to DES/DOT on their behalf.

Selectman Jensen made a motion to send letter to DOT/DES and any other state officials as deemed appropriate. – Chairman Boisseau seconded – roll call – all – motion passed.

Selectman Caplain – draft contract with solar company – would like to send to legal to look over – Jack Anderson – good comments about Barrington Solar – Selectman Hibberd – NHMA will go over contracts as well.

Selectman Caplain – follow up from last meeting about noise ordinance enforcement on New Year’s Eve. – one call on new years eve at 7pm, no calls rest of night regarding noise. If residents have an issue, they need to report it to the PD or they will not be able to take action on it.

Chairman Boisseau – gave his formal letter of resignation to the board dated tonight – greatly appreciated working with town and residents in his tenure – can’t give position the time it deserves – Selectman Caplain – would prefer to see him stay but respects reasons to leave – Selectman Jensen – 5 years on board through COVID and many hardships. Thanked him for his time on the board.

Selectman Morris made a motion to regretfully accept Chairman Boisseau’s resignation – Selectman Caplain seconded – roll call – all – motion passed.

Selectman Morris made a motion to appoint Gabe Boisseau to select board under RSA until next election cycle – Selectman Caplain seconded – roll call – all – motion passed

Mary Jackson swore Gabe Boisseau into role as interim select board member until next election cycle.

Selectman Caplain – put to board to move forward as new board chair from vice chair position – board agrees – Selectman Boisseau volunteered to cover vice chair position until March.

Selectman Morris – deep textual reading that established Bretzfelder Committee – legal consultation – allowable to have non-residents in committee – committee does not want to make it a habit, but current committee member moved out of town and can retain member currently – Jack Anderson – great because lots of people use park – can we limit number of non-residents? – Selectman Morris – 9-member board – requires planning, select board, zoning board member, forest society member – residents are not majority of members – Jack Anderson – wouldn’t like to see board all non-residents – Selectman Morris – agrees – Selectman Jensen – select board must approve new members to board – Mary Jackson – could be conflict if board allows some people and not others, do other boards need to be resident? Selectman Morris – yes, other boards must be resident – Bretzfelder is not owned by town, Society of Forests – warrant leaves it open to nonresident if needed –  Chris McGrath – doesn’t agree – should be residents only – slippery slope – Mary Lou Krambeer – works with lots of boards – argument made to have out of town resident on board – so many boards and committees with a small population to fill positions – Selectman Morris – 9 members with possibly 2 nonresidents – Ms. Krambeer – makes sense to limit it to 2 non-residents only – Selectman Morris – no bylaws currently exist that committee knows of due to fire destroying records – committee looking for interested members – will be coming after election to board to appoint new members.

 

At 7:05pm Chairman Caplain made a motion to go into non-public session per RSA 91A-3 II  (legal) – Selectman Morris seconded – roll call – all – motion passed.

 

Board discussed legal issues with assessing valuations.

 

Chairman Caplain made a motion to adjourn at 7:39pm – Selectman Morris seconded – roll call – all – motion passed.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Tim Fleury

Administrative assistant