Alexandria Selectmen’s Meeting

May 11, 2006

Members Present: Bob Bacon, Peg Reilly and Cindy Williams

Others Present: Skip Reilly, George Whittaker, Bob Ramsey, Ed Skroback, Bonnie O’Brien, Maggie, LaBerge, Carol Panaggio, Fred Platts, Harold Platts, Art Barron,

The meeting came to order at 6:00 p.m. with all members present.

Pledge of Allegiance:

Led by Maggie LaBerge

Work Session:

Bob explained that the selectmen worked on updating the building permit application. They will each
take home the suggestions, add any changes they would like to see and come back to work on it again
in another work session. The same will be done with the AMC Lodge agreement.

Distribution of Minutes:

May 4, 2006

Approval of Minutes:

None

Department Heads & Committees:

Jeff Cantara: Did not come in

Barbara Emery: Did not come to the meeting

George Whittaker: George has been working with property owners on several septic systems
updates. He presented the selectmen with some paperwork that needs to be reviewed by the selectmen and signed so he can take it to a meeting he will be attending regarding a pandemic. It has to be in before the 22^nd of this month. What the selectmen will be signing is a Memorandum of Understanding.

Health Officer: Bob Bacon explained that George will continue as health officer. George signed an agreement with the town outlining some of the requirements that the town has with regard to the position. George will be on a 90 day probationary period. If he complies with the board’s wishes, the appointment will be sent to the state. Other avenues are continuing to be pursued; i.e. a regional health officer so that towns can share costs. George stated that the state is looking into regional health officers to assist the local ones.

Shifting of Meeting: Bob instructed Christie to contact Mike Corliss and Ernie Parmenter to let them
know to come in on the 4^th Thursday as there is no meeting next week.

Announcements:

There will be no selectmen’s meeting next week; next meeting on May 25 at 5:00 for work session
and 6:00 for regular meeting

Planning board: May 17 at 7 p.m.

Capital Improvements Committee: May 12 at 8:30 a.m.

Zoning Committee: May 17 at 10 a.m.: Cindy corrected; it will be June 7 at 10:00 a.m.

Highway Committee: May 17 at 2:00 p.m.

Conservation Commission: May 24 at 6:00 p.m.

Office will be closed Monday, May 29 for Memorial Day; check to see if dump will be open

Doug Patterson will be on vacation from May 22 through June 1

Land Use, Building Permits, Purchase orders, Other Items Requiring Signatures:

A refund was approved for Robert Hanser; Christie will prepare the abatement form for signature

An abatement of Land Use Change Tax was approved for Roger Bedard. He was issued a cease and
desist order in August of 2005 which prevented him from excavating material. A portion of the LUCT
was based on excavation activity. There will be an abatement of $600.00

Lakes Region Planning Commission: Asked to be able to access town’s 911 database. A letter will
be sent to 911 letting them know it is acceptable. Peg made a motion to allow access; Cindy seconded the motion, and it was passed by a vote of 3-0.

Road Construction Notice: The selectmen gave their approval of a newspaper notice for the construction work to be done on Bailey Road.

Building Permits Approved: Milton Amour on Thissell Road and Roger Bedard on Lynn Avenue

Tax Collector’s Warrant: First issue tax warrant was signed by selectmen; collector notified to
send out bills in the amount of $1,586,531.00. They will go out by June 1, to be due by July 3, 2006.
Peg made a motion to approve the warrant; seconded by Cindy Williams and passed by a vote of 3-0.

Timber Tax Warrant: For Donald Akerman in the amount of $326.47

Purchase Orders Approved: Rental of Excavator from Southworth Milton for Bailey Road Project-$9,150; Ambrose Brothers for 1 ½” stone for Bailey Road-$2954; Ambrose Brothers for 6” erosion stone for Bailey Raod-$6000; E.J. Prescott for culverts and erosion fabric for Bailey Road-$21548; United States Postal Service for stamps to send out property tax bills-$624. Peg Reilly made a motion to approve the purchase orders; Cindy Williams seconded the motion; and it was passed by a vote of 3-0. The purchase order for Vinnie’s Truck Repair was tabled until Jeff can provide further information.

Abatement Denials: Based on recommendations from the town’s assessor, the following property owners were notified that they abatement requests have been denied: Renee Virgin, Ronald Palmer, Ed Skroback and James Bourdon. The motion for accepting the denial recommendations was made by Peg Reilly; seconded by Cindy Williams and passed by a vote of 3-0.

Old Business:

AMC Negotiation: Maggie asked the selectmen to make sure that the road leading up to the lodge is kept designated as a Class VI road and not lost.

Health Officer: Announcement made earlier in the meeting

Building Permit Application: Worked on in work session; will be reviewed again during the next work session.

Bog and Sye Ali Roads: (see latter portion of minutes of this meeting)

New Business:

Lorraine Jones, TTCC Representative: Will be meeting with TTCC on May 25. Lorraine asked what issues the selectmen would like brought to the TTCC board. Bob would like to know whether or not the submittal of less than the full amount requested would prevent children from participating in the programs. Cindy said the budget committee was told that if total funding was not received, they would have to do away with the proposed added position. Bob said at town meeting, however, it appeared that children would not be able to participate, and Bob does not like the idea of being “held hostage”. Cindy had received a call from Leslie Dion asking how much had been approved so she would know what to tell the kids. Cindy told her it would be up to the voters to accept or reject the budget committee’s recommendation. Lorraine questioned whether the TTCC could exclude children when they are receiving public funds. Peg Reilly said that she checked on the internet and the TTCC is not listed either as a charitable trust or a non profit with the Secretary of State’s Office. This poses a problem to people who donate money to the community center and cannot use it as a tax deduction.

Historic Preservation of Present Town Hall: Lorraine is interested in working on the preservation of the town hall; especially the scenery screens and pressed tin. She would like to see the hall used for more programs; arts, music, etc. There are grants available, and Lorraine is attempting to get in touch with Nancy Whitman, who also expressed an interest in the project. The selectmen suggested that Lorraine meet with the Alexandria Historical Society at their next meeting and expressed their appreciation for the interest. Carol Panaggio said that the next meeting is on June 7.

Arthur Barron, Forest Fire Warden: Arthur Barron was asked to come in due to the number of complaints received regarding the inability to get in contact with someone to obtain a fire permit. Arthur said that if permits are not being issued, he does not return calls. He also does not wait at home to see if anyone is coming to get a permit; he has things to do-work, etc. Some of the recent fires are billable to the landowner. The state will reimburse ½ of the total costs incurred. There was a question as to the status of the forest fire workers; are they employees or not. Arthur said they are not and he does not want to get a check for the total expenses and then have to figure out who gets what and write checks out of his personal account. The issue of whether or not firefighters are town employees will be settled by next week and checks will be issued accordingly. The forest ranger present indicated that the firefighters are covered by the state’s workers’ compensation insurance when they are fighting fires. Another issue the selectmen have is that there are only two people who are allowed to issue permits, and then only if Arthur is out of town. Arthur explained that permits are issued at the discretion of the warden. He does a visual inspection of the site to be burned prior to the permit being issued. A surrounding town cannot be allowed to issue permits. Arthur said it is never an emergency to get a fire permit, and the reason he keeps such a close circle on them is that he is accountable. Alexandria has had no major incidents, he feels in part due to the tight control he exercises. Fires are now categorized and new brochures have been issued in order to educate the public. The selectmen asked that Arthur at least return calls, whether or not the permit can be issued. Arthur said he would give consideration to their request. The fire ranger asked that the signed invoices get forwarded to her as quickly as possible. Christie will check with higher authorities on employment status; Peg asked her to get a recommendation in writing.

Advertising Cost for Police Chief Search: Advertising will be done in area newspapers, as well as the Boston Globe, for a police chief. The cost will be divided between the selectmen’s and police department budgets, approximately $2500.

Town Hall Rental: Due to a confusion that occurred over the weekend, Bob Bacon suggested that a code be entered for a person who is renting the hall and a key given to them. Once the event is over, the code should be eliminated. Cindy Williams felt it would make more sense to have a standard code for all renters. The key can be issued, along with the code, and no deposits are returned until the key is. As the renters will only have access to the main hall, there should be no problem.

Municipal Building Project: Due to some confusion over the bidding process and the need to go over the plans one more time, Cindy suggested that a work session be held on Monday or Tuesday of next week. She will arrange a time with the architect and construction manager.

Bog Road/Sye Ali Road: Cindy Williams explained that she had done some additional research on the roads, had called Cartographic for their input and had worked with the road agent to measure out the land as listed on the deed prior to Mr. Nicholson’s deed as well as using granite bounds on surveyed properties in that area. All the information she can gather would indicate that the entrance to Bog Road is 40’. The town does not want to widen the road; they simply want to be able to maintain it. The barn appears to be in the right of way. Mr. Gagne’s fence is pretty much the edge of the right of way on that side. The stones are in the right of way on Bog Road and letters needs to be sent to the property owners. Sye Ali Road is 30’ according to Cartographic; Bog Road is 40’ and Town Pound appears to be 50’. Cartographic calculates these measurements from surveys of surrounding properties where boundaries are clearly delineated. Cartographic said those widths should be pretty accurate even though the actual layout of the road is not available. Cindy felt that people on Sye Ali would be happy with 26 feet.

Perambulations: Cindy asked Christie to try to work on scheduling some perambulations with other towns.

Public Input:

Andy Maves: Andy asked if he the town is still issuing building permits on Class VI roads. He was told they are as long as the property owner signs the release for the town, obtains a driveway permit, a state-approved septic system design and the road is in a condition to allow for access by emergency vehicles as well as any other requirements that the town may have. Andy wanted to know this information before he attempts to get a subdivision of the property on King Road approved by the planning board.

Maggie LaBerge: Maggie asked if the health officer is going to be required to provide continuing education to the community. Bob said that George will be certified soon as a Public Health Officer.
Maggie stated that her question is-are the selectmen going to require that the health officer provide education. Peg said that was one of the items on the list. George said the Regional Public Health Nurse provides most of the information. George has brochures available to the public, outside the town clerk/tax collector’s office, regarding tick control, Triple E, etc. Cindy asked if there is the possibility of having educational classes at a selectmen’s meeting. Peg said that people don’t seem to come out for meetings. Cindy suggested that some of this information be included in the newsletter. Bob stated that these issues should be brought up on the night when George is regularly scheduled to be here.

Ed Skroback: Ed asked if the salaries for Bailey Road could be taken out of the regular highway operating budget rather than the warrant article for the project. Cindy explained that a warrant article covers all costs of a particular project, including payroll. Christie explained that there are probably as many people concerned that the payroll does get charged to the article as Ed is with whether it shouldn’t be in order to be able to do more work. Bob recalled that Jeff stood up at town meeting and said if the town crew could do some of the work, he could do the project for $250,000. Christie pointed out that she has had conversations with Jeff and he appeared to understand that the labor would be posted to the project. Ed also asked why he had no meeting with the assessors regarding his abatement. He found out tonight that it has been denied; but he had no hearing. Christie explained that nobody has a hearing and that the letter Ed will receive explains the appeal process that is available to him.

Adjournment:

Cindy Williams made a motion to adjourn at 8:10 p.m.; the motion was seconded by Peg Reilly
and passed by a vote of 3-0.

Respectfully submitted,

Christie Phelps

Admin. Assistant