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TOWN COUNCIL BUSINESS MEETING
December 7, 2011
7:00 p.m. Council Chambers
Present: Michael LaBranche, Chairman
Eric Botterman, Vice-Chairman
Phillip Nazzaro
Gary Levy
John Bentley
Edward Wojnowski, Town Administrator
Excused Absent: Jim Bergeron
Al Zink
Meeting opened at 7:05p.m.
After the Pledge of Allegiance, Chairman LaBranche read a prepared statement regarding the increased tax rate.
“In an effort to try to answer some of the questions I have received over the past 2 weeks I would like to make the following statements.
Was the Council aware of the tax rate and keeping it from the taxpayers? The answer to that is no. I was first made aware of the unofficial rate 5 days before it was made public. We had everyone go over the numbers to double and triple check before asking DRA for the official tax rate. Once the official rate was given the Town Administrator made a short presentation on Channel 13, and called the Exeter Newsletter in an attempt to get the information out to the public.
How could this happen? On the Town side, someone referred to this as the perfect storm recently. That is a fair assessment. Back in early summer the Council had the Auditors come in for the usual recap of the recent audit. At that time we were told by the Auditors that it would be unwise to use any of the Fund Balance to buy down the tax rate as we have in at least the 6 years I have been on the Council. Our tax rate has been kept artificially low from year to year through the use of this fund. The Auditors recommend a minimum of 1 month, 8%, operating expense, with ideally a 2 month, 16%, balance for events the Town may not have planned for. Over the past 5 years the Town has used from $490,000 up to $1.3 million last year to buy down the tax rate. Based on the assumption that $745,000 equals $1 on the tax rate, $1.3 would equal $1.74 on the tax rate. Also missing in comparison to last year is $818,687 from the State of New Hampshire. That equals $1.09 on the rate. Should the Council, Town Administrator and the Finance Department better anticipated the impact, the short answer is yes.
In the past 6 months the Council has looked for ways to save money. We denied the purchase of a new vehicle, thus reducing the fleet by that number. We did not support using money in the Municipal Transportation Fund to repave a road in Town. We have suggested a $100,000 cut in the Administrative part of the budget which in reality eliminates 1 full time position. We have suggested to the Administrator to try outsourcing vehicle repair and maintenance which also decreased the Town employee number by 1 person. The Council does not spend money from the CIP without first holding a Public Hearing on the expenditure. We have also eliminated pay increases for all Town Employees for fiscal years ‘12 and ‘13.
Last year’s approved Operating Budget for the Town of Newmarket was $9,694,110. This year the Town Council has presented a budget to the Budget Committee of $9,225,224. This is a difference of $423,886, a 4.3% reduction overall.
The Town Council continually seeks input from residents. With that I will open the Public Comment part of this meeting.”
Opened Public Forum for Comments: 7:10 p.m.
Robert Gazda: He has been the Keeper of the Clock for 25 years. During the November 2, 2011 Business Meeting the Town Council voted to hire David Graft to provide maintenance on the clock. A maintenance agreement was agreed upon for one year because of the new moving parts that was installed and they might need to be tweaked. After some training, once the tweaking was complete, Bob Gazda would take over the maintenance of the clock. Mr. Gazda didn’t not like the way he was treated in notifying him he was no longer needed at the keeper of the clock. The town council never intended to leave him out of the picture. Bob stated he is still interested in being the keeper of the clock. Although he doesn’t understand how he and David Graft will work together. He has been unable to reach Mr. Graft after several attempts. Chairman Labranche said he will make sure Mr. Graft contacts Bob.
Councilor Botterman apologized to Mr. Gazda on behalf of the Town Council for how this matter was handled.
Councilor Bentley: He received several emails and phone calls regarding the increased tax rate. The Town Council has cut back in several areas to reduce the budget. They did not approve of the new truck that Public Works had asked for, they did not hire a replacement for the town mechanic, we sourced out the work instead, voted down the cost to do a dam study, contacted our State Senators regarding the pension issue less money from the state, was able to keep the vehicle registrations from going to the dealerships to register your vehicle instead of registering in town. Vehicle registration is one of the biggest money makers for the town.
Buzz Dietterle thanked the Town Council on a good job preparing for tonight’s meeting, he said most of his questions have already been answered. The problem he has with the tax increase is how come there was no warning. He asked the School Board when they knew there was going to be this additional bump beyond what they approved last March of an increase of $2. Mr. Dietterle is a former councilor, at that time you always asked what the overall tax was going to be. He wants to know why it went wrong in the first place. He doesn’t want to get rid of dispatch, but questions have to be asked of the towns that left and went with Rockingham and discuss with Rockingham to correct the problems of us going with them, if necessary. Another suggestion is we haul our own trash to the dump, do away with the trash pickup.
In the future we are looking at a new school, and a new sewer treatment plant We have to lower our operating costs to afford these things when the time comes.
Councilor Labranche spoke and stated there is nothing off the table for discussion. He feels if you want to eliminate the trash collection, that should be put on as a warrant article and let the residents decide.
Kate Menard read a prepared statement. She spoke mainly on the tax increase and how that affects her and upset with not getting any kind of a warning that the tax rate was going to jump so high. She stated spending is out of control in her opinion. She urges all residents to vote no on all warrant articles.
Adrian Lavino she suggested to save the money on the town clock. Should not be a priority. She also thinks the interest should be waived for the additional amount people were not expecting, give people 6 months to pay before you start charging a fee. She also spoke about the school.
Chairman Labranche reiterated to everyone that the town council has nothing to do with the school. If you have any questions or want to state any concerns, you have to do that with the school department/superintendent.
Amy Thompson wanted to have the 12% explained more clearly as to why the town cannot waive the interest fee. Becky Benvenuti spoke and stated that the town is governed by the state. the town’s governing body has no authority to waive any fees.
Ed Portarata stated that someone had to know the tax rate was going to be so high.
Roger Sansoucie spoke regarding Black Bear TIF. He wanted to know what the protocol was at a meeting in order to be allowed to speak. He attended a meeting recently and asked to speak and he was denied. Chairman Labranche stated it is up to the chairman of the committee to decide if they would allow public comment. Councilor Nazzaro is the Council rep to the Black Bear TIF. He will see to it that a public comment agenda item will be added to the agenda.
Cliff Chase, School Board Chairman. Mr. Chase wanted to speak since there were several questions concerning the school. The elevator that was voted on and not built because the location of the elevator was such that it would have prevented options for expansion and renovation so the Board elected to not install it. The money for the elevator was returned to offset the tax rate the following year. Life safety improvements at the school totaled $745,000. This number came from the second year of renovations as proposed to satisfy these life safety changes as time allotted by the fire marshall.
Town Administrator Report
a. Becky Benvenuti, Town Clerk/Tax Collector. The abatement documents will be mailed out tomorrow. We can’t lose sight of the elections on December 20th where residents will vote on the charter changes. Voting will be here at town hall. January 10th are the primary elections. Absentee ballots are available in the Town Clerk office.
Councilor Levy stated he has received several phone calls and emails. He would like to make the request that Becky contact DRA to request they back away from the interest and change the due date of the taxes. Becky said she will call them tomorrow.
Councilor Botterman thanked Becky and her staff for getting out the tax bills so quickly. Becky stated that nothing in the statues lets the town governing body to change any due dates.
Councilor Nazzaro asked who judges the case-by-case abatement applications, the Town assessor does. He wanted to know what the cost was to send out all those abatements, around $2,000. Councilor Nazzaro replied the state made the mistake, the state should pay for the mailing.
Councilor Labranche asked the Town Administrator and the Town Clerk to ask DRA and legal to see if they can waive the interest rate of the people who have not paid their taxes on the overage amount for a 60-90 day period. This would not affect those who have already paid their full amount of their bill.
Ed Wojnowski’s update: The Council came to an agreement with Shearwater Properties to provide him a 180 days to conduct an investigation and due diligence pertaining to reconstruction of the New Road Bridge in Newfields. This agreement provides an expiration date of 180 days, if he chooses not to go forward, the Town of Newmarket can take over the property.
There was a public hearing last Wednesday EPA Draft Permit. Any comments can be made up until the closing date of December 16.
Charter amendments will be incorporated into the town warrant.
Don’t forget to vote on December 20th 7am – 8pm at the town hall. You can go on line to read what the articles are.
Diane Hardy, Town Planner is setting up a Steering Committee for the Dam Removal Feasibility Study. Deb Loiselle came forward with this study and she is also working on grants. the grant has been approved although no paperwork as yet. Possibly the Town could received $170,000 in funding. The steering committee will be set up with a 5 or 6 member committee to put together request for proposals and set up to help define the scope of services. Cost of this study depends on what the committee wants.
Diane Hardy’s recommendation is for the Council to set up a steering committee of 5 or 6 members including a Council member, Conservation member, Lamprey River watershed members, advisory committee, and citizens of Newmarket, Rick Malasky, PW Director, member from the association of historic preservation, and Diane Hardy.
Councilor Botterman thinks a new committee is a waste of time. We have an existing RFP from Exeter, wants to use Exeter’s RFP instead of making up our own. Diane feels we would have more citizen involvement, discuss cultural issues, and value input from citizens. The more citizens are involved, the more they understand. This project could possibly take a couple of years to complete.
Councilor Labranche said the Council supported this on the warrant and the voters passed it. The Council did direct Diane Hardy to head this up, therefore with her recommendations, the Council should direct her to move forward on this.
Councilor Al Zink arrived at 8:42 p.m.
Police Chief Kevin Cyr: Acceptance of $10,000 from 2007 Homeland Security Grant Program: This is regarding reimbursement of overtime expenses for two officers who engaged in intelligence preparation in the seacoast involving criminal activity. The Town Council needs to accept these monies.
Motion: To accepted the Homeland Security Grant Program in the amount of $10,000.
Motioned: Councilor Botterman
Second: Councilor Nazzaro
Vote: 6-0 All in Favor
Councilor Nazzaro asked there are special conditions, he wanted to know what they were and that there is no cost to the town regarding this.
Councilor Levy wanted to know if this was a onetime deal. Chief Cyr said the contract will be extended for one year. If the next they it doesn’t get renewed, the money will be done or refunded. Chief Cyr expects this will keep going.
8:53 p.m. Recess
9:00 called back to order:
Council to vote on Deliberative Session Date and Review of Town Warrant.
Councilor Labranche asked this be put on the agenda in order to set the deliberative session date. His recommendation is to set aside the first Saturday of the month, February 4, 2012 as a potential date if the school goes along with us to have the deliberative session together. If they do not, he would request the date to be February 7, 2012 as our alternative date.
Motion: Approve February 4, 2012 as our deliberative session if the School Department concurs. If they do not, then Tuesday, February 7, 2012 will be our deliberative session.
Motioned: Councilor Botterman
Seconded: Councilor Nazzaro
Amended Motion: to add, contingent on the vote on December 20, 2011.
Motioned: Councilor Labranche
Seconded: Councilor Botterman
Vote: 6-0 All in favor
Warrant Articles: Ed Wojnowski stated we have the opportunity for a bond issuance for development of the MacIntosh well in addition to be able to access the state revolving fund. This will be a warrant article.
Another warrant article will be for the water tower on Great Hill to the car wash on route 108. They will be installing a 16” water main and underground electric and telephone utilities and make various tank vault improvements
The third warrant article is a bond article to upgrade the wastewater treatment facility and the Creighton Street pump station, with 20% forgiveness with the state revolving fund. The impact of this project is on the users only, not the general public.
Councilor Botterman stated he didn’t know why this was moving forward at this time, he thought it was further down the road.
Sean Greig spoke that the EPA wants us to get to 8 as soon as possible. The first loan payment would not be due for 5 years. If the warrant article is approved, you then have the ability to seek out other funds.
Councilor Nazzaro wanted to know what the increased cost for each user would be and would like those figures available for the December 21st workshop.
Councilor Levy wanted to know what would happen if this warrant article doesn’t get voted in. Sean stated it depends on when our draft permit becomes our permit. The comment period is due next week. If the EPA and the town cannot come to any agreement, the EPA will give us a certain amount of time to or EPA will start fining the town.
Council Levy wanted to know how that would be handled.
Sean Greig answered more than likely the users would be paying for it.
Councilor Levy commented that the users should be notified of this before they vote on this warrant article.
Councilor Labranche commented that Sean be sure to get all the information out as soon as possible to all councilors before the December 21, 2011 workshop.
Review of boiler Specifications and Attic Insulation for Town Hall:
Councilor Labranche opened up for discussion or comments.
Councilor Levy wanted to know what the present “R” rating at Town Hall is in order to compare to the options they were given, what is the money savings, and the efficiency of the boiler.
Ed Wojnowski stated there is no insulation at all in the attic of the town hall.
Councilor Nazzaro wanted to know when we will see the brake even point, the savings measured in months or years.
Town Council to consider Appointments to Committees/Commissions:
Motion: To appoint Michael Provost to the NCDC with his term expiring December, 2014.
Motion: Councilor Botterman
Seconded: Councilor Bentley
Vote: 6-0 Motion passes
Old/New Business:
Councilor Levy requested a copy of the letter from NHDOT regarding the Newfields’ bridge on New Road. In addition, he requested that all Town Councilors receive a copy of the letter. Ed Wojnowski said the letter will be put in their mailboxes in the morning.
Councilor Zink thought it would be a good idea to send out the monthly calendar of all scheduled committee meetings to various businesses in town.
Councilor Levy commented that he thinks there should be more repeating of meetings on channel 13 instead of so many movies. He sees no benefit to the running of these movies.
Councilor Labranche received communication from Adam Schroadter regarding the Church Street one-way request. He would like to be put on the Council’s next workshop agenda.
A big thank you to Jeremy and the Housing Authority and all of the volunteers who helped out at the Thanksgiving Day dinner. Not only does Jeremy put this Thanksgiving dinner on, he also hands out gift cards as well.
Motion to go into non-public under RSA 91-A:3 II ( c ) at 9:43 p.m.
Motion: Councilor Botterman
Seconded: Councilor Zink
Vote: 6-0 All in Favor
Respectfully submitted,
Kathy Castle,
Executive Secretary
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