Town of Amherst

Board of Selectmen

May 27, 2008
Meeting Minutes

Non-Public Session

 

Upon a motion made, duly second and a unanimous roll call vote, the Selectmen entered non-public session at 6:35 p.m. under RSA 91-A:3 II (a) and e).  The Selectmen exited non-public session at 6:59 p.m.  While in non-public session the Board discussed possible settlement of a BTLA case.

 

Regular Meeting

 

Chairman Bruce Bowler called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m.  Selectmen present:  George Infanti, Reed Panasiti, Brad Galinson and Thomas Grella.  Also present:  Town Administrator Gary MacGuire and Executive Assistant Sharon Frydlo.

 

Citizens’ Forum

 

There were no questions or comments from the audience.

 

Update

 

Mr. Bowler announced that the Town Administrator will give an update regarding a request of the Board two weeks ago pertaining the Town Hall Road Project.  Mr. MacGuire advised that on Tuesday, May 13 he had several conversations and emails with Shelly Galarneau and Don Borror at the Department of Revenue about the issue, as he understood it, regarding the use of unanticipated funds for the road project in front of Town Hall, since he had checked into it prior to making his recommendation to the Selectmen.  These were funds that were unanticipated and recognized by both Don Borror and Town Counsel as one time unanticipated funds.  The intent was to create a capital reserve that was voted down and prevented that capital reserve from being created and the use was not the actual project itself. 

 

Mr. Infanti remarked that after Mr. Landon had made the request and he had asked him who he spoke to and was not given any names, he needed to find out for himself and asked the Town Administrator to further look into it.  Insofar as Mr. Landon’s request, they had looked into it and he had no intention of changing what the Board had done.  Initial checking was done with Town Counsel and in Concord and believed they were right.  Rechecking was done and he thought the Town had spent enough money in this effort.  He was not changing his opinion on what this money should be used for.  Mr. Bowler agreed, was comfortable with the decision made in December and the decision they made to proceed with the project.

 

Board & Commission Interview

Heritage Commission

 

Nancy Spears told the Board she had been on the Commission for one year and enjoyed working with the Commission as well as enjoying learning about the history of Amherst and historic preservation.  Mr. Grella spoke of her opinions being valued by her peers on the Commission and her involvement in the 2010 Anniversary Celebration.  Board members thanked her for her service as a volunteer.  Mr. Grella moved to reappoint Nancy Spears as an alternate for a three year term, second by Mr. Infanti.  Vote: Unanimous.

 

Heritage Commission Request

 

Mrs. Frydlo asked about Chairman Will Ludt’s request in appointing three additional members and whether or not the Board wanted to interview them or just appoint them as the timeframe was getting beyond the traditional appointment times.  She was asked to try and schedule them in as soon as possible. 

 

Appointments

Granite State Transportation Operating Plan

 

Four members of the GSTOP Committee met with the Selectmen.  Lorraine Jost, Parkhurst Place Resident Services Manager indicated she was present to support the Amherst perspective.  The Board was told that the group was very pleased that Amherst had the support of the voters and that Bruce Bowler was working with them.  Mr. Bowler indicated there was a meeting last week with St. Joseph’s Hospital and a meeting with Mike Sousa of Nashua Transit.  The group would bring them up to date on minutes and answers to questions raised, specifically the matter of a contract with the NRPC.  Mr. Bowler knew there was a discussion about a 10% fee to the Nashua Regional Planning Commission to be a fiscal agent.  He was told they were not a legal entity and were meeting with an Attorney in Manchester next week for pro bono advice on how to best serve their interests as well and agreed to wait until they had a structure in place before talking further with the NRPC. 

 

Mr. Infanti thought meeting with the NRPC would be an important meeting and there may be some flexibility in this.  Each town pays dues to be a member of the NRPC each year.  Mr. Bowler added that at least three Towns pay the dues and he hoped there could be some negotiating on this.  A group member thought it would be great if they or someone from each of the Towns could make that argument. 

 

Mr. Bowler asked how the meeting went with St. Joseph’s Hospital.  The Board was told that they were receptive of the idea, however, money for this year was expended in both hospitals for “obligations given back to the community” and in January they should talk to them again.  The answer is that “there is no money available right now”.  Matters from the hospitals were still on the table and they have some plan in place on how to proceed.  In response to Mr. Bowler’s question, the Selectmen were told that Southern New Hampshire Medical Center was somewhat discouraging and at this point the group was unsure how this would turn out, but felt very strongly about moving forward so that they can begin their pilot project and get data in order to move forward. 

 

Mr. Infanti asked them to tell him about the original intention of the pilot program again.  He was told the intention was to serve the need.  The other large intention was to gather specific data on the need with Steve Williams at the NRPC would “banging on their door” in order to find out what the need is for Amherst and use the data to apply for Federal funding.  Some funding could come from the State, however, Mr. Sousa was a bit vague where the funding was coming from. 

 

There was further discussion about the specific needs of Parkhurst Place residents and calling FISH (Friends in Service Helping) the number of days in advance and the cost of current gas prices that this service was dwindling.  In response to Mr. Bowler’s question about the lack of the hospital’s support, how did they plan on funding the pilot program.  He was told that Milford agreed to $5,000 and Brookline to $2,000 towards their goal of $70,000 to run the pilot program and were committed to this need.  They needed to sit together and work together to make it work.  They hoped the money to be raised would be simpler.  The Bean Foundation requests will be in September as well as other areas where they will have to work on funding.  There were many ways to do this and the group thought Nashua Transit had a way of sorting it out. 

 

The cost of services for $2.00 per ride was mentioned and the reason why the group settled on this number.  It was mentioned also by the group that they had applied to various funding organizations and had not heard from any of them yet. 

 

Mr. Panasiti remarked that raising $70,000 was a huge undertaking, this type of money would require a marketing firm or someone who could look into this as a sponsorship and this seemed like a larger program than what he originally thought. He felt it should be expanded into Manchester as well because they may put those people, who go to Manchester, out of the equation.  Several members of the group indicated that 80-90% go to Nashua with one member, associated with FISH,  said that the majority go to Nashua and only had six requests to go to Manchester this month.  Mr. Panasiti asked if people had requests to go to Manchester, “what would you tell them”.  The response was to go to FISH, since the majority went to Nashua.  He then asked if they had gone out of “our area or even out of the State and what had they found”.   He was told there were some similar programs, with no one doing actual programs such as this, but were struggling to raise money. Other areas had created a brokerage system, but GSTOP was fortunate to have Nashua Transit provide this for them. 

 

Mr. Bowler was concerned that they were not going to be able to get the true numbers to present to the taxpayers because Milford will utilize this more than Amherst and this is something they would need.  Mr. Infanti indicated that the pilot program should answer these questions, if they could generate funding from the Kaley, Keyes and Bean Foundations.  Mr. Bowler added that the Board finalized their budget and warrant at the end of December.  The Board was told that the group was aware of the calendar and one of the big purpose of the pilot program is what is the need for each town and to keep track of how many rides they actually need and pay for their own town’s need.  Mr. Bowler mentioned that Mark Sousa runs his vehicles on diesel which is more expensive than gasoline and did he give them any thoughts about this.  He was told by the group that they had added a 10% contingency for this.

 

Mr. Galinson felt they should set a rider’s fee that is sustainable and they should extrapolate what the number is to run the program.  He was told that what they charge the riders could never cover the cost they would be charging.  They could set a number of hours per month, for example 100 hours, and if the hours were used up people couldn’t use the bus for the remaining month.  Mr. Galinson felt that financially he saw a problem and the demand was going to change.  It was mentioned that it was rare that there is no transportation system in this part of the State.  Mr. Infanti remarked that there were organizations that were interested in this such as Rotary, Amherst Lions Club, etc.

 

After a brief discussion about their next meeting, Mr. Bowler thanked the group for coming in to give the Board an update on the Committee’s progress.

 

Linda Kaiser – Volunteer Appointments

 

Mr. Bowler announced that this appointment had been cancelled and the Board will meet with her on June 9th. 

 

Review of Health Insurance Quotes

 

Mr. MacGuire advised he looked at seven options given to him by Primex, School Care, LGC, Harvard Pilgrim and MVP Health Care.  Primex had given him two options as did MVP through a private carrier.  The existing HMO and POS plans through Primex would increase by 5.5% but with a change in the co-pay the increase would be 3.8% for non-union employees only.  For School Care the increase would be 20.7%, LGC 11.1% MVP Option A 17.6% and MVP Option B 13.5%.  Harvard Pilgrim declined to quote as they would be competing against themselves.  To meet their budget goals, he would recommend Primex’s Option 1 at 3.8% with the co-pay for office visits going from $10.00 to $15.00. 

 

Mr. Infanti thought the $15.00 was very fair and reasonable as his co-pay was $40.00.  The additional $5.00 was fair for both the employees and citizens.  Mr. Grella, Mr. Bowler and Mr. Galinson agreed.  In answer to Mr. Panasiti’s questions, Mr. MacGuire advised the only difference in the plan was the additional $5.00.  The majority of the employees were under the HMO plan with some still under the POS plan.  Mr. MacGuire remarked that they shop around every year and he was happy to see the numbers that came out – the Primex administrators did well for them.  Mr. Infanti thought Gary should be acknowledged for gathering this information since the Taxpayer’s Group were questioning this action.  Mr. MacGuire added they put this out also to non-pool carriers and the pool numbers were a great deal better.  This proved the point and the first time he reached out privately.  Mr. Infanti moved to go along with the Town Administrator to go with the new Primex Option 1 plan for non-union employees, second by Mr. Grella.  Vote: Unanimous.  Mr. Bowler thanked Gary for taking the time to do this as it will help in other areas of the budget.

 

Award Line Striping Bid

 

Mr. MacGuire advised they received two bids for the line striping:  Hi-Way Safety Systems $.0599 per linear foot for the double yellow lines and $.031 per linear foot for the single white lines – total $12,168.02.  Markings, Inc. $.061 for the double yellow and $.031 for the single white lines – total $12,379.07.  They were two close bids and DPW Directory Berry recommended the low bid from Hi-Way Safety Systems.  Stop bars, cross walks, parking spaces or lane markings will be done in-house. 

 

The Board briefly talked about the lines being worn down both in Amherst and other towns seemingly faster than in the past.  Mr. Infanti moved to go with the DPW Director’s recommendation for the line striping bid from Hi-Way Safety Systems for $12,168.02, second by Mr. Grella.  Vote: Unanimous.

 

Review & Accept Charge of the Road Fund Analysis Committee

 

Mr. MacGuire reported a meeting of the above committee was held ten days ago where three sub-committees were created – Road Conditions, Finance and Information.  Everyone is pleased and excited on what has been done so far.  Work will be done behind the scenes with the next meeting scheduled for June 12.  They will be updating the Board as they go forward and as the charge indicates, will bring a report to the Selectmen by September 8, 2008.  Members of the committee are:  Jay Dinkel, Chairman; Jim Sickler, Road Commission; John Siemienowicz, W&M; Bill & Liz Overholt; Tom Grella, Bruce Berry and himself. 

 

Mr. Grella added that his sub-committee (Jim Sickler, John Siemienowicz, Bruce Berry) met last Thursday morning and they were looking at the option that could be available to the Town for voting on.  They were leaning very heavily on the summer help and the road analysis done several years ago.  He spoke about what had been done on Horace Greeley and Lyndeborough Roads and felt the money was well spent. 

 

The charge, as read by Mr. MacGuire, is as follows:  To look at the lifetime cost of rebuilding, repairing and maintaining the road system; To take into consideration all aspects of cost, including impact on other projects within the town, i.e. Capital Improvement Plan (CIP); To develop a plan for road reconstruction to be performed with minimum impact on routine required road maintenance; To develop the most cost-effective strategy; To recommend a funding mechanism that will accomplish the above; To recommend potential changes in the town road specifications to the Amherst Planning Board in order to avoid future maintenance problems; To anticipate creation of a viable road infrastructure within the twenty-year timeframe; and To develop a strategy to inform the public of the final decision. 

 

Mr. MacGuire advised two college interns began that day and will be charged with updating the RSMP.  He was looking for the Board’s support or additions.  Mr. Grella thought the charge covered it pretty well.  Mr. Infanti thought the Committee had tasked themselves with an incredible amount of work to get done within the next 90 to 120 days.  Mr. Bowler remarked that September 8 was a very aggressive timeframe and if incomplete by the 8th, they could put if off a few weeks.  Mr. MacGuire indicated that their goal was to do a lot of work outside of the meetings.  Mr. Grella moved the Selectmen accept the charge of the Road Fund Analysis Committee as presented, second by Mr. Panasiti.  Vote: Unanimous.

 

Untable & Approve Payment Plan for 2005 Taxes & Tax Deed Waivers

 

The Board reviewed the documents and briefly discussed the matter of a non-owner occupied dwelling being on the payment plan.  Mr. Infanti moved that after the Board’s review of the tax deeding recommendation by the Tax Collector to approve the payment plans.  If not paid, the Board of Selectmen will reconsider this action, second by Mr. Grella.  Vote: Unanimous.

 

Mr. Infanti moved to waive the tax deeding for 107 Ponemah Road, Units 3 & 5, second by Mr. Grella.  Vote: Unanimous.

 

Other Business

 

Neither Mr. Panasiti nor Mr. Galinson had anything to report.  Mr. Grella mentioned that the Board had talked about forming a Sign Committee as there are organizations putting signs all around the Town and other people make requests and are denied.  There needs to be more guidance for equality.  Mr. Infanti remarked that there were 10-15 different signs for the Soccer Tournament.  Mr. Bowler added there were also signs for a rummage sale.  Mr. Infanti thought there should be some kind of change to the sign ordinance, however, the Planning Board was extremely busy with the Master Plan, but he would talk to the Chairman.  Mr. Bowler asked if they would be offended if the Selectmen advertised for people to serve on a Sign Committee.

 

Mr. Grella reminded everyone about the dedication of the meeting room to Barbara Landry on Thursday night at 7:30.  He spoke to the TV producer who indicated he would be there.  He spoke to the second potential builder of the table and will take his suggestions into consideration. 

 

Mr. Infanti reported that a number of Girl Scouts, headed by Margaret Dean, painted the bath houses at the lake and they should be acknowledged for the work they had done.  Mr. Panasiti added that the Girl Scouts painted the inside and the Hillsborough County Department of Corrections painted the outside. 

 

Mr. Infanti noted they were at the point where they are getting ready to finalize the different elements of the Master Plan.  The following meetings will be held:  June 12 7:00 p.m. at the Central Fire Station – Transportation & Utilities Roundtable; June 18 7:00 p.m. at the Town Hall – Natural Resources, Recreation & Historic Resources Roundtable; June 24 7:00 p.m. at the Town Hall – Public Facilities & Economic Development Roundtable and June 26 at 7:00 p.m. at the Town Hall – Housing Roundtable.  It was requested that the Department Heads try to attend the meetings that will directly affect them, their input would be appreciated and of great value.  It would be up to the Selectmen or through Gary to ask them to take an evening to come in and it would be an asset.  Marilyn Peterman has taken over heading this up and understands the value of the Department Heads in this final process.  He was inviting the Board to also attend and give their support.  Mr. MacGuire advised this had been discussed at the staff meeting and to make it official to have the Selectmen invite them to attend.  Mr. Bowler volunteered to send the emails.  Mr. Panasiti indicated that at the Recreation Commission meeting this was discussed and Nancy McMillan was interested in attending to give her the Commission’s input.  Mr. Infanti said there were some very strong feelings about no change in the Amherst Village which was the first they heard of it after working on the Master Plan for almost a year.  After a brief discussion regarding the process, Mr. Infanti acknowledged the incredible job Rich Hart has done on publicity as well as all the other volunteers. 

 

Mr. Bowler reported that the Landfill renovations were coming along with the new exit having been cut.  If the Selectmen haven’t been out to see, he suggested they stop in.  The Recycling Committee met last Thursday night and he got to see the new recyclamobile trailer Bill Wichman has built with financial donations from Wal-Mart as well as from others.  He will forward some photos with the goal being to have it ready by the July 4th festivities.  They will probably have enough funding to build a second one. 

 

He thanked both the Town Administrator Gary MacGuire and EMS Director Brian Gleason for the majority of work done on the podium.  It will be used in the meeting room as well as the EOC to make announcements.  The meeting room will be the media center if they had an event in Town and the town seal would be used.  Mr. MacGuire showed the Board the Police Department and EMS seals that were inter-changeable.  Mr. Infanti spoke about a Letter to the Editor in the Milford Cabinet thanking Gary for his help with a problem. 

 

Mr. MacGuire mentioned the great job done by resident and contractor Jim Sickler on the site work at PMEC.  Mr. Infanti added that the Brownies were planting a garden and his wife and other leaders said there was a tremendous difference.  Mr. Bowler asked Steve Coughlan how much can be done off site with televised production.  He advised they can do a lot.  Mr. Bowler suggested they consider doing something in July at PMEC. 

 

Mr. Grella reminded the Board about the line up at 5:30 p.m. for the Memorial Day parade,  as he promised the Chairman he would do this. 

 

Minutes

 

Mr. Infanti moved to accept the minutes of May 12, 2008, second by Mr. Grella amended as follows:  Line 99 – Change “Representatives” to “gentlemen”; Line 210 – Insert “initially” after “will”; Line 211 – Insert “Initially” before “They”; Line 215 – Insert “within the existing” after “PMEC”.  Vote: Unanimous.

 

Non-Public Session

 

Upon a roll call vote, the Board re-entered non-public session at 8:50 p.m.  The Board exited non-public session at 9:20 p.m. 

 

While in non-public session the Board discussed a potential land purchase with direction to be given to Town Counsel and discussed an employee compensation question.

 

The Board adjourned the meeting at 9:21 p.m. upon a motion made and duly second.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

Sharon L. Frydlo

Executive Assistant