Approved February 22, 2007

 

Alexandria Board of Selectmen

February 8, 2007

 

Members Present:     Peg Reilly and Dennis Manchester 

Members Absent:      Cindy Williams

 

There was no work session this evening.

 

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

 

Pledge of Allegiance:  George Whittaker

 

Distribution of Minutes:

            January 25 and February 1 were distributed for review

 

Approval of Minutes:

            Tabled until Cindy Returns

 

Department Heads:

Barbara Emery came in and reported that receivable for the 2005 lien are down to $57,000+-; receivables for the first issue of 2006 are at approximately $85,000; receivables for the second issue of 2006 are approximately $184,000.  She reported she will be going to lien in August of 2007.  Barbara is expecting a revamped dog licensing program from Avitar.  Britta, the deputy, has finished her MAP training and will soon be working 15-20 hours per weeks.  Barbara provided Christie with an old mortgage holder listing that might be of some use in finding the owners of the unknown properties in town.  Someone suggested contacting Al Bean about the property on Burns Hill Road as it may be part of a bird sanctuary set up by his father.

 

Items Requiring Signature:

            Three intents to cut were signed for Craig and Cindy Williams

            An abatement was signed for John Conkling, Jr.

 

Follow Ups

            Generator-no further information

            Final Number for Building Project-no further information

 

Old Business:

            Ongoing

 

New Business:

Dennis and Peg voted to award the assessing contract to Avitar Associates.  They will be meeting
with members of the firm next week to go over expectations in light of a number of complaints that have been received on the firm’s services.  Cindy had indicated that she wished to vote in favor of Avitar services as well.

 

A public hearing was held on whether or not Roger Bedard should be removed as a planning board member for non attendance.  It is noted that Mr. Bedard was not present at the meeting.  The letter advising Mr. Bedard of the hearing was sent regular mail, not certified.  Christie pointed out that there was no requirement within the statute that a letter be sent certified.  She said that the return address was on the envelope and it should have been returned if there were any problems with its delivery.  Merry Ruggirello stated that Mr. Bedard has attended approximately six meetings in the last two years.  Other comments were offered indicating that Mr. Bedard should be removed.  Peg said that she finds it odd that the selectmen are left with the decision to “fire” somebody that was elected by the people.  The method of filling Mr. Bedard’s position would be by appointment by the remaining members. Ann Hall pointed out that the planning board is not singling out Mr. Bedard; there were three members that received letters about attendance.  One has since resigned and the other stated that she would attend meetings and complete her term.  Dennis Manchester made motion to remove Roger from the board; the motion was seconded by Peg and passed by a vote of 2-0.

 

Public Input:

            Bill Hall:  Bill asked what the unreserved fund balance was on January 1; Christie replied that it was
            $551,692.00.

           

George Whittaker stated that the phone and cable and are up and running and the stanchions for the election have been received. 

 

Larry Stickney:  Larry said that the planning board held a last hearing on the zoning and he wondered if there was a list of positions that the members had on the various comments; or did they just listen to people and not change anything.  Merry said that with the exception of some typographical errors, no changes were made to the document.  She said the reason for this is that if there were changes made, the planning board would have been required to hold another public hearing. Peg asked if the hearing was recorded; Merry did not know.  Larry felt that if all they were doing was listening, then it wasn’t a real public hearing.  Peg directed Larry to bring the issue up to the planning board.

 

Adjournment:

 

            Dennis made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:45 p.m.; Peg seconded the motion and it was passed
            by a vote of 2-0.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Christie Phelps, Admin. Assistant