July 26, 2021 | Town Admin TOWN OF SUTTON Pillsbury Memorial Town Hall 93 Main Street Sutton Mills, NH Sutton Mills, NH 03221 Select Board July 26, 2021 @ 4:30 p.m. Selectman William I. Curless, Chair, opened the meeting at 4:30 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance. Present at the meeting were William Curless, Chair; Dane Headley, Selectman; Walter Baker, Jr., Selectman; Jon Korbet, Police Chief; Diego Solimine, Solid Waste Supervisor; Mark and Elizabeth Peterson; Susan Knight and Elly Phillips, Town Administrator. The minutes from July 19, 2021 , public and non-public were approved as written. The Board reviewed and approved the following manifests: Vendor Manifest: $507,781.88 Payroll Manifest: $ 11,233.75 BUILDING PERMITS: The Board reviewed and approved the following building permits: Richard Dwyer Trust, 01-247-514, Eaton Grange Road E, for a shed Jeanne Nolte, 06-388-223, Main Street, for a shed Adam Hurst, 02-134-515, Barker Road, for a garage OLD BUSINESS: Selectman Curless executed the MSW Solid Waste Agreement with Lebanon on behalf of the Board. The Board executed Cemetery Deeds for Philip and Lorri Buteau, for the Millwoods Cemetery. At 4:46 p.m. Selectman Headley made a motion to enter into Non-Public Session under RSA 91-A:3, II (a) The dismissal, promotion, or compensation of any public employee. Selectman Baker seconded the motion. The Board was polled with Selectmen Curless, Selectman Headley and Selectman Baker voting in the affirmative. Public session resumed at 5:53 p.m. The minutes for the non-public session were not sealed. Selectman Baker asked Phillips to request that the Budget Committee Chair provide the Select Board with any available data from the wage study that they are performing. The Board reviewed the Grist Mill Parking area draft/preliminary design. Selectman Headley recommended that input from the Road Agent and Police Chief be sought as to whether or not to require a separate ingress and egress from the lot. The large maple tree did not appear to be on the plan. The accessible parking spaces were originally planned for the front of the Hall. The original plan had 20 spaces. This proposed design has additional parking. Selectman Baker felt that 20 spaces were adequate. Selectman Curless felt that there should be a way to access Grist Mill Street. The Board will invite Mr. Vignale, the consulting engineer, to meet with them at a future date for further review. The maple tree needs to be shown in the plan. Selectman Curless felt that the two end spaces could be eliminated to allow for ingress/egress. Selectman Headley asked about placement of the “hearse house.” Selectman Baker felt it was better suited to be sited on the Town Hall lot. Selectman Baker is researching plans for the hearse house. Selectman Curless recommended that the maple tree in front of the Pillsbury Memorial Hall be looked at by a professional to see whether it can be saved. Selectman Curless reviewed areas to push the snow in the winter. The necessity for a sidewalk was discussed. Selectman Baker felt it would add aesthetic value. Selectman Curless felt it would help the grassy area as well. The Board agreed that a stone pathway would serve the same purposes. Lighting was also discussed. APPOINTMENTS: At 6:00 p.m., Selectman Curless opened the public hearing and read the following into the record: Pursuant to RSA 41:9-a, the purpose of the hearing is to amend fees/charges at the Sutton Solid Waste Recycling Facility for Transfer Station Stickers and to amend fees/charges for Police Department Special Duty Details. The proposed schedule of fees follows: Transfer Station Resident Stickers: $2.50 per sticker Special Duty Detail Rates In-Town Rates $64.00 per hour Out of Town Rates $78.00 per hour” Susan Knight asked what was the basis for the sticker fees? Selectman Curless advised that they were reimplementing the sticker requirement which was the practice for many years. The fees would cover the cost for the stickers and administrative efforts. Ms. Knight asked why at this juncture was there a need to issue stickers? Selectman Curless advised that it was to ensure that users of the facility were Sutton residents. Diego Solimine, Solid Waste Supervisor, added that many new people have moved into town and that stickers were not being issued during Covid. Mr. Solimine stated that the log system for issuing stickers was difficult to reference and disorganized. Mr. Solimine was recommending a numbered system that would correlate to the address of the resident. Selectman Curless opined that there are multiple ways to take care of this and that the Board was looking for input from the public at this hearing. Selectman Curless recommended issuing the stickers on a yearly basis in conjunction with vehicle registration. Mr. Curless felt that this would take care of the residency concerns. The location for placement of the stickers was discussed. Mark Pederson asked about the necessity to issue the stickers every year expressing concerns about the cost for the sticker. Selectman Curless advised that the stickers the town has now have been in use for a number of years and therefore were not an accurate way to establish residency. Mr. Pederson asked whether this was just to cover sticker costs or whether this would add to the town’s budget? It was noted that the stickers might be useful for establishing residency at Wadleigh State Park as well (identification would still be required). Selectman Headley reiterated that the fee of the sticker would cover the sticker costs and administrative costs for the Town Clerk. Mr. Pederson expressed concern that this fee would be raised over the years. Selectman Curless advised that in order to change the fee a public hearing would need to be conducted. Selectman Curless advised that the fee amount has to be noticed, but the Board would consider a lesser fee. Whatever, the final number dictates. There would be another hearing conducted if a future increase in fees became necessary. Mr. Pederson expressed concern about additional fees being charged at the facility for incidentals such as for disposal/recycling bags etc. Selectman Baker explained that the program was a control that was necessary to establish residency. Mr. Solimine explained that random people show up at the facility. Selectman Curless explained that if the stickers are issued by the Town Clerk/Tax Collector, it can be verified that the individual is a resident or a taxpayer. Ms. Knight asked if the program was going to start in 2022 and whether the stickers would be correlated to tax map/lot and was advised that the existing Town Clerk software can facilitate a number tracking system that correlates to names/addresses. Mr. Solimine recommended using a number system that would correlate to name/address indicating that he felt that this was the simplest solution. Ms. Knight asked whether a placard could be used so that it was not necessary to purchase a sticker for every vehicle. Selectman Curless felt that you would not need to buy them for every vehicle, just the vehicles you use to go to the facility. Mr. Solimine advised that the stickers were used by many towns. If you had a placard, you could just five it to somebody else. Selectman Curless recommended using the town logo and a background color with the year. Selectman Curless felt the color would be easier to identify residency rather than referring to a report. Ms. Knight noted that people register their vehicles throughout the year so there would need to be a color/year change. It was observed that referencing a report was a lot of work. Mr. Solimine said that he gets to know people and would only need to reference the report for newer people. Selectman Baker felt that using the year and number would be useful. There was a discussion of rental properties/business trash. Mr. Solimine said the Air B/B users were a problem as they didn’t know the facility rules. Selectman Curless said that there were a number of details that needed to be fine-tuned, but the fee would not go over $2.50. Selectman Curless closed the public input portion relating to transfer station stickers. Selectman Curless sought questions regarding the proposed special duty fees. Mr. Peterson asked how much money out of the fees comes back into the Town revenues. Chief Korbet advised that revenues go into the Special Duty Revolving Fund and that costs for the officer wages, New Hampshire Retirement etc. are reimbursed from that fund. Mr. Peterson asked for clarification of the officer wages and in-town/out-of-town fees. Chief Korbet advised that the wages were set at $35.00/hr. many years ago. Chief Korbet reviewed a 2019 study that revealed that the average rate an officer receives for special duty is $43.00/hr. Sutton is at the lowest rate. It was noted that the special duty wage is not the only thing that needs to be increased. There needs to be offsets for NH Retirement etc. Ms. Knight verified that this is bringing it up to the average level. Chief Korbet responded that it was a little bit above at $45.00/hr. in-town and $55.00/hr. out of town Chief Korbet indicated that fees do not need to go up every year, but the Town waited a little too long to be competitive and line with other NH towns. Chief Korbet felt that the proposed increase could be in place for a few years. Mr. Peterson asked how many towns were surveyed to determine the average. Chief Korbet responded that approximately 87% of the police departments in the state. There being no further questions, Selectman Curless closed the public input portion of the meeting. REVIEW OF CORRESPONDENCE: The Board noted the following item of correspondence regarding ARPA funding for NH Electric Coop Broadband Update. There being no further questions, the meeting was adjourned at 6:41 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Elly Phillips Town Administrator