TOWN OF SUTTON
Pillsbury Memorial Town Hall
93 Main Street Sutton Mills, NH
Sutton Mills, NH 03221
Board of Selectman
September 24, 2018 @ 4:00 p.m.

 

The meeting was called to order at 4:00 p.m.  Present at the meeting was William I. Curless, Chair; Dane Headley, Selectman; Robert Wright, Jr., Selectman; Robert DeFelice, Budget Chair; Roger Wells, Planning Board Chair; Diane Lander, Land Use Coordinator; Gail Guertin, Budget Committee Member; Tom Schamberg, David Hill and Elly Phillips, Town Administrator.

 

The Board observed a moment of silence to mourn the passing of Martin Carrier who served the Town of Sutton in the capacities of Treasurer, Emergency Management Director and volunteer Firefighter.

 

APPOINTMENTS:

 

At 4:22 p.m. Selectman Wright made a motion to enter into non-public session under RSA 91-A:3,II(a) -personnel.  Selectman Headley seconded the motion.  The Board was polled with Selectman Curless, Selectman Headley and Selectman Wright voting to enter into non-public session.  Public session resumed at 4:42 p.m. Selectman Wright made a motion not to seal the minutes.  Selectman Headley seconded the motion.  The motion passed by a unanimous affirmative vote.  The non-public session was about employee compensation:  salary parity, COLA’s and merit increases.

 

Roger Wells, Planning Board Chair and Diane Lander, Land Use Coordinator, met with the Board to review the Planning Board’s 2019 proposed budget.  The proposed budged reflected a $2,050 decrease from the 2018 budget.  Most of the decrease was in the professional services line item.  Mr. Wells said the Planning Board will be focusing on housekeeping items such as regulations, permits and fees and will likely defer action on the Master Plan until 2020.  Toward the end of the year, Mr. Wells plans to kick-off the 2020 master planning with professional presentations/facilitators.  Mr. Wells discussed ongoing efforts to update the town’s online maps and overlay districts.  Town maps would benefit from improved accuracy/synching in order to more accurately identify steep slopes, wetlands etc. for planning purposes and zoning enforcement.   Mr. Wells will meet with CAI to obtain a proposal for mapping services.  The Planning Board will be supporting a warrant article to establish a non-capital reserve fund with an initial appropriation of $10,000 for the update of the tax maps.

 

Roger Wells advised that the Planning Board was active but was seeking alternates at this time.  David Hill expressed an interest and will attend an upcoming planning board meeting to learn more.  Mr. Wells will assist Phillips with the development of a letter explaining local regulations, permit requirements and resources for new property owners (and new permit filers).   Mr. DeFelice felt that people should find out about the regulations before the purchase property in Sutton, because that might influence their decision.   Mr. DeFelice will explore the feasibility of disseminating this type of information.

 

The Board expressed appreciation to Ms. Landers for the level of detail, documentation and rationale provided to establish the land use department’s proposed budget.  It was noted that Chairman Lick has also reviewed and approved the proposed budget but was unable to attend the meeting due to a conflict.

 

Mr. DeFelice presented to discuss the capital improvement program and noted that some typos had occurred on the trustee reports that were printed in the Town Reports.  The Trust Reports were corrected through the annual audit process.    Mr. DeFelice felt it would be helpful if the Budget Committee, or Mr. DeFelice on behalf of the Budget Committee, meet with the Trustees prior to their Town Report submissions in order to have a second set of eyes for the final report.    Mr. DeFelice provided the Board with a report showing his approach to tracing the history of the reserves.  Mr. DeFelice encouraged the Board to develop a consistent protocol for funding and using the capital reserve in order to stabilize spending and reduce confusion at Town Meeting.  Mr. DeFelice gave an example of level funding for capital reserves, i.e.,  for a reserve that is being funded at 21,000 per year, in the year that you are acquiring the capital item, you should continue funding the reserve.  Funding in this manner would keep the reserves from going to zero as well as ensure that funds are available in the year that the acquisition is made.  Transparency in expending from the funds was discussed.  Mr. DeFelice indicated that the heavy equipment capital reserve fund should have a supporting replacement schedule.  Phillips discussed the rationale behind the heavy equipment capital reserve.  There is a replacement schedule, but sometimes a piece of equipment has a longer or shorter life than originally anticipated.  Having one fund as opposed to individual funds, helps to mitigate under/over funding.  The budget committee originally had concerns about transparency of a general capital reserve fund, but if there was supporting documentation with a schedule that would obviate that concern.

 

Gail Guertin reviewed the budget committee’s discussion of the heavy equipment capital reserve, noting that the minutes stated that “the reason for the change to one fund was to allow flexibility in the timing and necessity of replacing equipment and that the one capital fund would be more responsive to those needs.

 

The Board discussed how to make capital reserve fund expenditures more understandable for the taxpayers at Town Meeting.

 

The Board considered a consistent approach to funding the capital reserves.  Selectman Wright supported a steady funding level for capital reserves.  Selectman Curless noted that the heavy equipment fund was a good example of why the annual funding approach worked best.   There was further discussion that one time expenditures should be handled through a warrant article as opposed to a capital reserve.  Capital reserves should be used primarily for ongoing expenses.

 

Mr. DeFelice advised that the Capital Reserve Fund for the Pillsbury Memorial Hall will need to be repurposed.  Mr. DeFelice also called attention to the several expendable maintenance funds that were created for town buildings.  Mr. DeFelice opined that a general government building maintenance fund would be more useful and flexible for the town.   Mr. DeFelice reviewed the process for discontinuance warrant articles.  Mr. DeFelice also provided the Select Board with a copy of the 1988 Capital Improvement Report which provided a thorough analysis of capital planning.

 

The minutes from September 17, 2018 public and non-public were approved as written.  The Board reviewed and approved the following manifests.

PAYROLL MANIFEST:   $12,565.09

VENDOR MANIFEST:     $ 8,757.68

 

BUILDING PERMIT:

The Board approved a request for a building permit extension for Lucile Chadwick, Map 06-481-235 to replace her roof with a standing seam roof.

 

 

INTENT TO CUT:

The Board approved an intent to cut for Meadowsend Timberlands, 08-692, 066 for 120 out of 165.7 acres.

 

NEW BUSINESS:

Phillips reported that the Town locked electric rates with NEXTera at .07824 kWh for a one year term beginning December 2018.  The previous year’s contracted price was .08279.

 

OLD BUSINESS:

The Board responded to an inquiry from Priscilla West, 06-416-245, Main Street,  request for clarification of ZBA Conditions from 6-20-2018.  The Board will require that the West’s provide a new state approved septic design.

 

REVIEW OF CORRESPONDENCE:

The Board discussed a request from DES for Warner River local advisory committee member nominations and considered candidates.

 

The Board received a Planning Board Agenda for their meeting on  September 25, 2018

 

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 6:02 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

Elly Phillips

Town Administrator