SELECTMEN’S PUBLIC MEETING 1/24/2005

The Selectmen’s public meeting of January 24, 2005 was opened at 7:05 PM by the Chairman of the Board, Arthur G. Houle. Also present at the meeting: Sandra A. McKenney and Peter A. Viar, Selectmen; David M. Jodoin, Administrative Assistant.

Present in the audience: Philip Trowbridge, Armand Verville, Roland Martel and Alfred Heavey.

The Selectmen met with Phil Trowbridge and Al Heavey, of the Conservation Commission, to review the Current use warrant article and to discuss the report of the last 10 years which showed the amount of current use revenues that the Town has received. The article as it currently stands will cap the amount that will be allowed each year at $10,000. Some of the current proposed projects in Town could bring in as much as $300,000. Mr. Trowbridge stated there is no need to have all that money in the Conservation account, but $10,000 might not be enough to do certain projects that the Commission has in the works such as the Boat Launches and the Osgood property.

Roland Martel stated that the people he has spoken to are more interested in lowering taxes with the revenues than keeping Town land for conservation.

Armand Verville stated that if there is a project that needs to be done, each department makes requests to the Selectmen through the budget and warrant articles.

Mr. Trowbridge stated that he would have liked to discuss the warrant article with the Selectmen before it was decided that it be put in the Town warrant. Peter Viar stated that the Selectmen should make more of an effort to let the Conservation Commission know that such an article will appear on the Town warrant. David Jodoin stated that such notification was either e-mailed or put in the Conservation Commission mailbox, sometime in December and believes Mr. Trowbridge was on vacation at the time. Selectmen Viar also stated that with all the current projects that need to be done with regards to Town Buildings, he had to look at this from a financial perspective when he made the decision to support the $10,000 yearly cap. We have issues that need to be dealt with at the Highway Garage, Town Hall and Schools, and it all comes down to the limited amount of dollars available.

The Selectmen discussed the generator in back of the Town Hall. The Board decided to wait until after the Town vote on the Police Station to make a decision to hook up a new generator. The generator that is there now is no good and has been disconnected for removal.

A letter was received from Richard Merrill, to the Selectmen concerning the Zoning Board Meeting for McNamara’s Landing. The Board will respond to Mr. Merrill in writing.

Selectperson McKenney attended the meeting for House Bill #160 regarding the naming of the Double Decker Bridge. Deanna Rush received a letter from Dennis Fowler saying that the bridge is most commonly known as the Double Decker Bridge and that the name that was chosen was more appropriate for the Main Street Bridge. David will call the Department of Transportation to find out which bridge already has a name and will get back to the Selectmen.

David spoke to the Engineers who are doing the Landfill excavation to get a progress report. They dug down 18 feet and hit trash. Because of this, they will need to dig deeper for the monitoring wells as 20 feet will not be deep enough. They need to go down deeper to 40 feet, at a cost of $3,000 and they want Board approval to proceed. The consensus of the Selectmen was to keep going with the project and set the wells at 40 feet.

The Selectmen discussed the order of articles for the Town warrant. It was decided to have the Zoning Articles on a separate ballot, and to switch Articles 9 and 10. A motion was made by Sandra McKenney, seconded by Peter Viar, to have the Zoning articles on a separate ballot and to change the order of Articles 9 and 10. Motion passed.

David stated that the Informational Meetings concerning the Town and School Building proposals will be held on February 3^rd and February 24th at 7 PM at Allenstown Elementary. Armand Verville will do the presentation.

A motion was made by Peter Viar, seconded by Sandra McKenney, to go into Non-Public session in accordance with RSA 91-A III 2 © for a personnel issue at 8:15 PM. Roll Call vote: Arthur Houle, yes; Sandra McKenney, yes; Peter Viar, yes.

Motion passed.

The Public meeting reconvened at 8:29 PM. A motion was made by Peter Viar,

seconded by Sandra McKenney, to adjourn. The meeting was adjourned at 8: 29 PM.

ARTHUR G. HOULE, CHAIRMAN

SANDRA A. MCKENNEY, SELECTPERSON

PETER A. VIAR, SELECTMAN