MINUTES OF HAVERHILL SELECTBOARD REGULAR MEETING

Monday June 22, 2009

 

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

 

Town Manager:  Excused                                                                

 

Administrative Assistant/Finance Officer:  Jo Lacaillade

 

Members of the Public Present: Doug Henson, Joel Godston, Shirley Cobb, James Hobbs, Gerald Movelle, Mike King-North Country Council, and Ed Ballam from the Journal Opinion.

 

Call Meeting to Order:

 

Acting Chairman Maccini called the meeting to order at 6:20 p.m.

 

Approval of Agenda: 

 

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

 

Approval of Consent Agenda:

 

Peter Heilemann made a motion to approve the Consent Agenda as presented; seconded by Peter Conrad and carried unanimously.

 

Scheduled Public Appearances:

 

Ø Haverhill Heritage Raffle Drawing: James Hobbs gave an overview of the item being raffled and stated they had been selling tickets since the dedication of the bridge. The Board asked AA Lacaillade to draw the winning ticket which was John Cobb of Woodsville.

Ø Mike King-North Country Council: Mike distributed information regarding what services NCC does and what more they can provide to their member Towns. Mike further stated that he is appointed to the local advisory committee for the Ammonoosuc River. There was  a brief discussion about power dredging being done in that river and the machines being filled with gas while still in the river and what steps could be taken to stop that; it is a violation and the DES could be contacted to enforce that. Joel Godston said that the council is very helpful to the Towns and provides a great service. Bob Maccini concurred and outlined a number of projects that the Town has taken on that NCC was involved with.

Ø  Gerald Movelle-Timber Tax Abatement: AA Lacaillade gave an overview of the timber warrant that the Board had signed in the manifests tonight. The warrant was adjusted for storm damage values as all warrants involving this storm has had; also on the warrant is doomage which is assessed per RSA 19:12. The statutory process includes that Mr. Movelle submit, in writing, his request for abatement and any information that he would like the Board to consider in making their decision. Mr. Movelle stated that he goes south for the winter and should have taken care of this much sooner than he did; he dropped the ball, no excuse. AA Lacaillade contacted him in March to try to clear this matter up. Gerald gave an overview of the total devastation that he had to his timber crop for many years to come due to the wind storm in April 2007. There was a brief discussion regarding the RSA for doomage. AA Lacaillade said that doomage has to be assessed but the Board does have the authority to abate any tax for good cause shown; if there is no tax, there is nothing to double. Gerald said that Lyme and Hanover waived all timber taxes for those storms; the State left it in the Towns hands to determine what they wanted to do and the Town of Haverhill made adjustments to reflect the lower amounts received by property owners. Gerald had filed an extension and could have submitted the report no later than August 15th to avoid doomage. The Board asked AA Lacaillade to review the past 2 years of storm damage timber cuts and see what the procedure has been and if there has been any doomage assessed to storm cuts and come back with that information to the next meeting. Peter Heilemann made a motion to table this issue until the next meeting, seconded by Peter Conrad and carried unanimously.

 

Public Hearing(s): None

 

Town Manager’s Report: None

 

Pending (Old) Business:  None

 

New Business:  None

 

Presentations and Awards: None

 

Commission/Committee Reports: None

 

Correspondence: AA Lacaillade referred to a paper from the auditors that were in each of the Selectboard member’s folders; the auditors are looking at 2008 year and requests any and all Board members to stop in and visit them while they are here and discuss any concerns they might have.

 

Comments of the Public: Doug Henson asked if a decision was made as to whether he can obtain a copy of the legal opinion that was given to the airport commission regarding the airport ordinance. Bob Maccini stated that it was determined to be a lawyer/client document and shouldn’t be released but that is not his decision. Doug Henson asked that, in lieu of not getting that he wants access to the minutes for Selectboard minutes. AA Lacaillade stated that she had discussed this with Mr. Henson prior to the meeting and he just needs to let the office know which minutes he would like to review and they will locate them and let him know when they are ready.

 

Joel Godston wanted it stated that they have renamed the Airport Scholarship Fund and it is now named: Frank Easton Dean Memorial Scholarship Fund and they have added several donations recently to the fund totaling roughly $1,500 from individuals and now that fund is over $44,000 so scholarships can be given to seniors that will be studying aviation related fields.

 

Comments of the Town Manager/Administrative Assistant-Finance Officer:

 

AA Lacaillade advised the Board that it appears that the funding for the pool repair has been received through outside donations. The pool should be up and ready to go sometime next week.

 

AA Lacaillade wanted to provide more information to the Board regarding the power situation at the park. While drilling holes to set the kiosk the power lines going into the band stand wrapped around the auger and the lines were pulled out of the building and the electrical panel was damaged. Bob Fagnant had called the office today to see how the Town would like to proceed to fix it. She has been in contact with Royal Electric who did the original work as a donation to the park and asked them to go and look at the situation and let the Town know what an estimated cost to fix might be. The next concert is scheduled for the 10th of July. The concert held there last Friday was done without power and if proved to be a minor inconvenience.

 

Comments of Selectboard Members:  None

 

Adjourn Meeting:  Peter Heilemann made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Peter Conrad and carried unanimously. Bob Maccini adjourned the meeting at 7:01 pm.

 

Minutes transcribed by Jo Lacaillade