MINUTES OF HAVERHILL SELECTBOARD REGULAR MEETING

Monday, January 19, 2009

 

Board Members Present:  Roderick Ladd, Peter Conrad, David Joslin, Robert Maccini and Peter Heilemann.

 

Town Manager:  Glenn English                                                                      

 

Administrative Assistant/Finance Officer:  Jo Lacaillade

 

Members of the Public Present: Tim Scott and Casey Gordon from the Department of Safety, Harold Brown, Joel Godston, Annemarie Godston,  Ella Lang, Joe Maccini, Attorney Gary Wood, Larry Sedgwick, Steve Wheeler, Tom Andross, Larry Corey, Leslie Ramsay-Welfare Administrator, Phil Jurin, Chris Fenn, Nina Jurin, Stephen Hatch, Dick Guy, Ed Ballam from the Journal Opinion and others not signed in.

 

Call Meeting to Order:

 

Chairman Ladd called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.

 

Approval of Agenda: 

 

Peter Conrad made a motion to approve the agenda as presented; seconded by David Joslin and carried unanimously.

 

Approval of Consent Agenda:

 

Bob Maccini made a motion to approve the Consent Agenda as presented; seconded by David Joslin and carried unanimously.

 

Scheduled Public Appearances: None

 

Public Hearing(s):

 

Chairman Ladd asked that Casey Gordon and Tim Scott from the New Hampshire Department of Safety explain the need to hold this hearing tonight. Tim explained that since the State has taken over the 911 database it has been doing a road name review for every community in the State. They look for like sounding or duplicative road names. The thing that complicates the issue further in Haverhill is the village districts; those are in the database which does cause some complication for the enhanced features of the 911 program. One of the solutions they have discussed is just listing all of the addresses under Haverhill but by doing that it would cause the duplication of the roads that they have listed. Chairman Ladd reviewed the list of Roads that were of concern which are: Birch Street, Woodsville and Birch Lane, North Haverhill; Forest Street in Woodsville to Forest Lane in North Haverhill; South Court and North Court Street in Woodsville and Court Street in Haverhill Corner; Pine Street in Woodsville and Pine Park in Haverhill Corner; School Street in Haverhill Corner and School Lane in Woodsville; Swiftwater Road in Woodsville and Swiftwater Circle in Mountain Lakes; and Terrace Drive in North Haverhill and Terrace Street in Woodsville. Dick Guy said that he was the elected chairman of the 911 road naming Committee when this was addressed several years ago. He said that the system that is in place currently is the one agreed to with Concord at that time; it has been here for over twelve years and there has been no confusion. There are no duplicate names; there are some similarities. Each precinct has a different phone exchange so that helps differentiate from similarities in the names. When they met with Concord several years ago, Concord did not want to have all of the different village districts and the Town pleaded their case and eventually the State agreed to use the village names as part of the database. He went on to give an example of how having the village names in the database had been important for a call in the past and how it has been important when calls come in from cell phones. If someone calls in an emergency from a cell phone and state they are in Woodsville, without that in the State database as being a part of Haverhill there will be problems. He referred to a response book that the ambulance service uses that lists all of the streets in the Town and there are directions to each street. He sees no reason for the people involved to have to change the names of their streets and everything that goes with that when there have been no issues. Bob Maccini made a motion to go into public hearing on the street name issue for the purpose of public input; seconded by David Joslin and carried unanimous. Chairman Ladd declared the public hearing open at 6:11. Paul Cardin lives on Birch Lane in North Lane and he does not think that there is a confusion between that and Birch Lane due to the telephone exchanges; he does not want to go through the pain of changing everything. Chris Fenn from Swiftwater Circle spoke next. He stated that he had just put in a granite marker with his address on it. He did that to help 911 responders find his home and he does not want to incur the $500 cost to replace it. He delivers the mail and he knows the difference between Road and Circle. He said that his nephew from Washington came to visit and put Chris’s address into a GPS it brought him right to the house. If he can find it then it shouldn’t be a problem for the responders that are used to the area. Bob Maccini said it isn’t just the telephone exchange they also have different zip codes. He can’t believe that there are North and South versions of streets anywhere else in New Hampshire. Phil Jurin asked if we were arguing inevitability; do we have any options here. Tim Scott said that they are making these recommendations all over the state and not all Towns are taking their recommendations. They are doing it for liability purposes because of an issue that happened in Swanzey where there were similar streets and it caused a problem with the 911 response and someone ended up dying. The Town did end up with the liability for that because they had like sounding road names that could cause confusion. Peter Conrad asked if Swanzey has different districts in its town to which Tim said they do not. David Joslin asked if they have different phone exchanges. Tim said that the phone exchange issue is somewhat muddled a little now with local number portability which is where you can take your phone number anywhere that you want. The exchanges aren’t rock solid like they had been. Peter Conrad said that if the State understood the history of this Town they would understand that when people talk about going to Shaw’s, they are talking about going to Woodsville; there has always been that separation. Tim said he compares it to Concord and Penacook; Penacook is basically its own Town but is part of Concord. They use the State boundary file approved by the State Legislature which does not show the village districts it shows Haverhill as a whole. Peter Conrad asked how hard it would be to differentiate the village districts in their system. Tim said that the information is in there today. They are making these recommendations because of the National standards for 911; they are based because, at the end of the day it is considered that making these changes and getting rid of like sounding road names will save lives. TM English said that what the State is doing is laying off the liability to the Town; you are warning the Selectmen that if they do not eliminate the like sounding names the liability is on the Town, not the State if there is a problem. Dick Guy said that the Districts are in the data base now and by agreement, should be passed along so there has not been any confusion and there shouldn’t be any concerns about liability because the only like sounding, similar names are in different village districts. Tim said that one issue that does exist today is that if you call from Woodville or Pike the mapping does not work correctly because there are no political boundaries for those as far as the State Legislature is concerned. There was a brief discussion as to whether this is working or not. Tom Andross, Director of Communications for the Grafton County Sheriff Department said that the issues that the people are hearing tonight are not unique to the Town of Haverhill. Grafton County dispatches for several Towns and these issues exist everywhere. When all of the Towns did the street addressing a few years ago it was done to accommodate 911 but he does not think that 911 should be blamed for these issues; they are local issues. He said that to state that the like sounding names have not caused any problems is incorrect; there has been some confusion. There have been no injuries but a lot of the confusion has been cleared up before you hear the call but there has been confusion. The local dispatch gets huge benefits from the State 911 system. When the street naming project happened several years ago, the portability of phone numbers was not part of the picture. There are people that have moved from Haverhill that have taken their number with them and it does cause confusion. Chairman Ladd asked Tom if he had experienced any safety issues associated with the streets in question. He said the issues they have dealt with are things like needing to dispatch a police officer to someone who states they are on Route 135 which does not work with our 911 system because it doesn’t recognize that. Those are easily corrected by someone who knows the area but there could be someone that doesn’t know the area. Joel Godston felt the Town should use the KISS method; if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it. If the current system works for the Town, leave it alone. Phil Jurin wondered why the 911 program doesn’t just add a field to clarify the village district. There are always going to be circumstances where the caller may give the wrong street name in an emergency situation. The program should be able to deal with this minor issue. Chairman Ladd said that he didn’t understand how a call from Court Street in Haverhill Corner could get confused with a call from South Court Street in Woodsville. Tim said that the reasons to eliminate the like sounding names and one of them would be that in an emergency situation the dispatcher might not hear South Court Street; they might just hear Court Street; the reason for doing away with the duplicative names is to eliminate as much confusion as they can. Joe Maccini asked if dispatch gets the information on address from the phone not the person. Tim said that it does from a landline but not a cell phone. The cell phone issue is a growing concern because there is less information available right off the bat. Peter Heilemann related a situation that was an issue due to the call being made from a cell phone. Dick Guy said that in Vermont when they set up their system nobody from Newbury went to the State to plead their case and they are a lot like Haverhill because Wells River is a part of Newbury. When they get a call to respond to an address in Newbury they may turn left out of their garage and head towards Newbury only to find out the call is really in Wells River. That can cause serious delay in their response time. That is why it is important to have village precinct names in the data base; it gives you a heads up the minute you respond to the call. He gave Tom and his crew all the credit in the world; they know that problem and they will give them a post note to the dispatch that the address is in Wells River. You shouldn’t have a system that is designed to promote confusion; you should give us that information right off. Chairman Ladd asked Tom about a comment that he had made before about not all calls going right to the County dispatch but going to the State. Tom said that every 911 call goes to the State first and then are split into three general categories; police and fire are immediately transferred to a local dispatcher and the emergency medical calls are handled at the state 911 center, where they provide "Emergency Medical Dispatch", or pre-arrival medical instructions for the caller to assist the victim until help arrives. He reviewed the process of how calls are handled. Nina Jurin asked if it was the States 911 intention to change all of the names in the State that might have this issue such as North Main Street and South Main Street. Tim said that they make the recommendation; it is up to the governing board to decide to do it or not. Nina said that she feels that if the Town didn’t change the names and something were to happen in the future the State would come back and say “I told you and now it is your liability, not ours”. Tim said that the liability has always rested on the Town; the State is just alerting the Town to a situation that they might not be aware is an issue. There was a brief discussion about the situation in Swanzey that caused the lawsuit. TM English said that the Town had the same issue on Hollins Road when the streets were renamed; it was Hollins Road on two ends but the road was a Class VI road in the middle so one end was renamed to avert confusion. Peter Conrad said that it occurs to him that there should be an attempt to get the villages designated in the system rather than change all of these street names. Bob Maccini asked if there was something in the State system that would prevent them from continuing with the agreement that Dick Guy had referred to earlier. Tim said he was not aware of the specifics of that agreement but one of the roadblocks is that the Legislative town boundary file that is used does not show the village districts, just Haverhill as a whole. Chairman Ladd said that the Department of Revenue recognizes the village districts because they are taxing districts; he sees two sides of this and doesn’t understand how it can be different for different State agencies. Joe Maccini said the district of Woodsville was laid out by the State Legislature. TM English said that the district boundaries exist on our mapping but they do not cover the whole Town. Dick Guy said the agreement was that Haverhill is one entity but on the second address line the village name would appear. Bob Maccini said that it is not as simple as the Town just renaming these roads; it is a significant burden on those involved in changing all of their records and explaining that they didn’t move, the Town just changed their street name. When you talk about businesses, it is a significant burden. He feels the best solution is to retain the village name in the State database. Tim said that there may be another solution but that would be a decision that would have to be made by the director of the State 911 system. Paul Cardin said the street names may be similar but they are not identical. Tim said they are considered identical because they don’t look at the “lane” or “street”. Phil asked if the decision will be made now or will there be another public hearing. Chairman Ladd said that after they come out of public hearing that would be discussed. Joe Maccini stated that as a resident of the Town of Haverhill and a commissioner of Woodsville he requests that the Selectboard take their time and think this over because he thinks it is a terrible idea. Larry Corey said that if they eliminate the village designations they are probably going to have to think about having the Haverhill Fire Department take over the Woodsville Ambulance because you won’t be able to use those names anymore. Don Hammond said that he had sat on that 911 commission and they were told that they could not use any route numbers; there are many places that use the Route name in the address. If you want to talk about liability issues you should look at those. He further stated that they (Haverhill responders) have never been confused as to where an address is. Dave Leclair felt that if the names were to change there might be more liability with the responders not knowing where the new name is. Joel Godston said that if the state system cannot handle both fields, the computer needs to be fixed, not the street names. Tim said that it is in the computer now, it is in there, but the problem is when people call in from a cell phone and they report a fire on High Street and it is actually High Lane emergency services could respond to the wrong address. Gary Wood stated that could happen now. Peter Heilemann asked Tom Andross what the protocol is when they get a cell phone call. Tom Andross said that they verify everything from what address is associated with that phone and where they are at that moment. He went on to explain how the cell service for the area works and how that further complicates the situation. Bob Maccini made a motion to come out of public hearing, seconded by David Joslin and carried unanimously. The Public Hearing ended at 6:52 pm.

 

Bob Maccini said that he realizes that the Town of Haverhill is a little unique in the State having 4 municipal sub entities and 3 more unincorporated sub entities that can cause these people more confusion that most but at the same time it is also going to cause a significant hardship on the people of the Town and he doesn’t think this is something they want to jump at. Bob asked that Tim go back and look at the original agreement to see what can be done. TM English said there was no written agreement that he knows of and his understanding was a little bit different from Dick’s to the extent that when they went down and met with the 911 committee in Concord they said that they would consider the Town as one entity and Paul Leavitt who was head of dispatch said that dispatch would recognize the sub entities and straighten it out at that level. He doesn’t think they are going to find any written agreement of documentation. He said for years the phone company ran the data and they have always had the sub designations anyway because of their phone exchanges so it wasn’t an issue until the State took over the data. Tim said that the RSA regarding this states that there will be no like sounding or duplicate names. TM English said that new roads would not be named that way and they took care of the others in the original 911 street naming. Peter Conrad said that he has OnStar in his vehicle and they immediately know where he is when he calls; is that coming for the 911 system? Tim said that they have that now but the State has their own mapping data. There was more discussion as to what is feasible within the system and what isn’t. The Selectboard directed TM English to work with the State Department of Safety, 911 division, the see if there are some solutions to the questions that were raised this evening and if needed come back to a future meeting for further discussion.

 

Town Manager’s Report:

 

TM English stated that the municipal association tracks all pending legislation through each policy and a bulletin is sent out that tracks bills that effects municipalities. Now that the Town has a representative in Concord we may want to pay a little more attention to those bills that could impact our community and be more of a voice in Concord. Chairman Ladd said that he serves on the education committee in Concord and he has made contact with Superintendent Bruce Labs and discussed pending education bills. They are stated as not needing funds, but smack of unfunded mandates. He said in other committees there are also bills that have been proposed that will impact towns. He would be glad to report on those relevant issues at future meetings.   

 

Pending (Old) Business:  

 

Ø      Library Trustees-Bylaws and Rules of Procedure: The proposed bylaws and rules of procedure were given to the Selectboard at the previous meeting and TM English was asked to obtain a legal opinion regarding the proposed document. Bob Maccini said that based on the opinion from Gary Wood he feels that the Board should not take any action on the document. Chairman Ladd felt the legal opinion is what they should go by also. He referred to the bylaws document and the Title VI Libraries, chapter 202-a: Public Libraries you understand what Attorney Wood is basing his legal opinion upon. The procedures and bylaws, as he reads them, is an expansion of responsibility above the Statute for the Library Trustees. Bob Maccini concurred and it seems to indicate that the trustees are hanging their hat on Statutes that don’t apply since the libraries are not Town libraries. The references to Statutes by the Haverhill Library Trustees are inappropriate. Chairman Ladd asked Attorney Wood about the definition of public libraries as written in the Statutes where it talks about the definition of a public library which states: “shall mean every library that receives regular financial support, at least annually from public or private sources and which provides regular and currently useful library service to the public without charge”. Attorney Wood reiterated that the Town of Haverhill does not own any public library; there are public libraries within the Town of Haverhill that have their own governing boards but the Haverhill Library Trustees are not the governing board of any one of those. We have public libraries, make no mistake; Woodsville has a public library as does North Haverhill, Haverhill Corner and Pike but they are not under the authority of the Haverhill Library Trustees. Chairman Ladd said that going down under 202-6 and this would be his concern, why do we have library trustees. Attorney Wood said that the Town did not always have libraries owned by four separate entities. He said that 202-a was adopted in 1963; our system predates that. Peter Heilemann asked what the difference is between a Town having a library and owning a library. Attorney Wood said that the Town has four libraries but they own none of them. TM English said that the Statute is confusing because it talks about Town libraries and public libraries but in Haverhill’s case they are not one in the same. TM English said that there is a process in the Statute where at Town Meeting the voters can decide to establish a “Town Library” and then elect Trustees to run that library; Haverhill has never done that. So why are there trustees, nobody knows. Attorney Wood said that they have no legal function; there is no statutory function for Town Library Trustees that do not have a Town library. Chairman Ladd stated that if you read the bylaws and rules of procedure it is going to cost money. TM English said that, in his opinion, they are perpetuating and making worse an already confusing system. Chairman Ladd asked Attorney Wood if the Selectboard has the authority to approve or disapprove this document; he does not think they have any authority in this matter at all. Attorney Wood said they are elected and are not under the authority of the Selectboard. Chairman Ladd said that even though it appears that the Selectboard does not have the authority to adopt these procedures, what happens if the Library Trustees do. Attorney Wood said that they do not have the authority to give themselves authority either. He believes that in fairness to the Trustees they have been getting some bad information from the State Library people who are using a cookie cutter kind of situation that does not apply to Haverhill because our system pre existed that law. There was discussion about the Town Library Trustees involving themselves with issues going on within the privately owned public libraries and the possibility of that involvement opening the Town up to liability. David Joslin asked if the election of Town Library Trustees should be removed from the warrant; we are saying that they have no legal authority yet by putting them on the warrant we are promoting it. Attorney Wood said that perhaps a better way to handle it would be to put an article on the warrant to ask the Town if they want to continue to elect Town Library Trustees and provide them with all of the information and let them make the decision. Bob Maccini asked if we are enabling this whole situation by appropriating money to the libraries. Chairman Ladd felt that the money given to the libraries was not any different from any other monies given to outside non profit entities and the libraries serve a public good. TM English stated that the libraries are separate line items and they are paid directly, it does not go through the Library Trustees. How other non profit organizations are handled through the budget was discussed. TM English said that to the extent that any elected body exposes the Town to a liability, the Selectboard has authority because they are the body that will get sued and that is part of the Selectboard’s prudential affairs duties. Chairman Ladd felt there was wording in the proposed Bylaws and Rules of Procedure there is wording that does not fall within the Statutes. Bob Maccini felt it is up to the people at Town Meeting to make the decision. Peter Heilemann made a motion to table the issue. There was no second to this motion. Bob Maccini made a motion to instruct the Town Manager along with Attorney Wood to come up with a direction for the Board in time to analyze and take a position prior to February 5th. Chairman Ladd further added that they are concerned with what the implication with what the Bylaws and Rules of Procedure and the additional budget request will lead the Town. Peter Heilemann seconded and it carried unanimously. If a warrant article is necessary, the wording for consideration should also come to the next meeting. TM English said that it needs to be understood in the Town that the Selectboard is not anti library, they are not averse to helping the individual libraries meet their budgetary needs, this is not an attack on the libraries; this is internal housekeeping.

 

New Business:  

 

Ø      General Assistance Update: Chairman Ladd asked Leslie Ramsay, Welfare Administrator if the case load has increased over the past year; whether she sees it increasing further; where are we in comparison to previous years; how is it working, is there something the Selectboard can do to help. Leslie said that based on her experience since being on the job she does not know how anyone could have done this job without help from others and do it so they provided the community fair and honest judgment when they come in for assistance. She is not saying that Jo didn’t do that, she is just saying it takes time. She is working 20 hours a week and she could easily spend 30 hours if not more. She reviewed her current case load and the number she has serviced in her year in this position. She talked about the types of services she is currently working on and other avenues for assistance that does not include Town funds that she has been able to obtain to lessen the impact on the Town. With her job just involving welfare she has the time to investigate each application more and has been able to detect fraud which also saves the Town money. There was a brief discussion as to the dynamics of the family unit applying; the employment factors of those applying; the number of clients that have just moved to the area and applied for welfare. AA Lacaillade stated again that Leslie has been very successful in finding other avenues of assistance. Some of it is because she had a lot of good contacts that she brought with her and some of it is because she has the time to make those contacts and develop other forms of assistance. She is able to really do the investigation that was needed to weed out the fraud and she actively stays on top of repayment agreements. She also has a good working relationship with Legal Aid. Leslie said that the Town had recouped several thousand dollars in welfare reimbursements since she has been on the job and she hopes to continue that trend in 2009. Chairman Ladd asked her if she was seeing any increase due to the economic climate of the Country. Leslie said that she has not and even requests for fuel assistance appear to be down. AA Lacaillade felt that fuel assistance had been given at a higher amount this year and then the price dropped so the allotments are carrying further this year. Leslie felt that her ability to find other resources for assistance has helped to that end also. Peter Heilemann asked that perhaps Leslie could track all applications, even those that did not end up receiving Town assistance so that the Board would have a better understanding of how many didn’t qualify; how many were able to be served by another avenue; how many guaranties in lieu of payment, things like that. Leslie stated she would track that sort of stuff. The Board thanked Leslie for coming in.

Ø      Advisory Budget Committee Report: The Board was given the budget as approved by the advisory budget committee. TM English said that they did not have any comments attached to the budget and the committee as a whole decided at their final budget committee meeting for this year to include comments into those minutes. He referred them to those minutes. AA Lacaillade stated that the Selectboard would notice that the only part of the Selectboard column of the budget that was filled in was the section regarding the Town Manager because the Board had approved the 3% raise coinciding with the recommendation by the advisory budget committee for other salaries. Bob Maccini made a motion to accept the budget presented by the advisory budget committee for discussion, consideration and action. The motion was seconded by Peter Heilemann and carried unanimously. TM English wanted the Board to know that Jo has updated all of the year end expenditure and revenue numbers so they more accurately reflect where we may end up at the end of the year; not all year end bills have been received at the present time. AA Lacaillade said that is the one downfall to the early start of the budget cycle because she has to estimate through the end of the year where she thinks the figures will fall using past history, current year information and the best information available for things that have not yet come to pass and that was done in early November. These new figures are a better reflection but still not final. The 2009 budget discussion will be placed on the agenda for February 2nd.

 

Bob Maccini said that he has a request from Joel Godston to put the NPIAS issue on the February 2nd agenda for a possible decision from the Selectboard as to whether to join or not. It was the consensus of the Board that they still do not have all of the information that was requested from the Airport Commission. They want to see the updated airport master plan and they want to know exactly where the fan shaped area is at each end of the airport; what land it entails and which land it doesn’t. Bob Maccini stated the Airport Commission is supposed to give them something tangible that they can see the layout at the ends of the runway. The Selectboard does not feel they are prepared to discuss it until they have been given this information and have time to review it.

 

Ø      Use of Gym Applications: Bob Maccini made a motion approve the use of building applications from the White Pine Association for February 22nd and the Connecticut Valley Snowmobile Club on February 15th with proof of insurance provided; there will be no fee charged for either use. The motion was seconded by Peter Conrad and carried unanimously. Peter Conrad said that at the dance held in the building the previous Friday night he had not planned on chaperoning but he stopped in to check things and there were 3 chaperones at the entrance to the building and none in the gym. The DJ was in there but no other adult. There were 50 to 60 kids in the gym. The kids were playing with the equipment in the gym and being unruly. He feels that there needs to be a required per pupil number of chaperones or dances will need to be cancelled. TM English stated that this dance was a Town event; it was a recreation department event. AA Lacaillade stated that she felt that was incorrect, she had talked to Recreation Director Glenn Hatch and this dance was a SADD dance from the High School. TM English said the Recreation Commission needs to talk about this issue at their next meeting to determine one way or the other who is sponsoring these dances and if it isn’t the Recreation Commission then the application will have to be reviewed for chaperones. Chairman Ladd stated that any future applications to use the gym that is for student age participants funnel through the Recreation Commission first to solve these issues and then come to the Selectboard for approval.

 

 

Presentations and Awards: None

 

Commission/Committee Reports: None

 

Correspondence: Chairman Ladd read a letter that was handed to him at the beginning of the Selectboard meeting in which Steve Wheeler resigned from the Planning Board, effective immediately. David Joslin made a motion to accept the resignation with regrets and appreciation for what Steve had done for the Planning Board; seconded by Peter Heilemann and carried unanimously. The Planning Board can still obtain quorum if all attend the meeting.

 

Comments of the Public: None

 

Comments of the Town Manager/Administrative Assistant-Finance Officer: None

 

Comments of Selectboard Members:  Peter Heilemann stated that his co-worker, Peter Conrad, has finished his write up of the technology assessment of the Town and should be submitting it soon.

 

Adjourn Meeting:  Bob Maccini made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Peter Heilemann and carried unanimously. Chairman Ladd adjourned the meeting at 8:35 pm.

 

Minutes transcribed by Jo Lacaillade