Selectmen Announce the Start Date for Road Work
continued from main page
The state will be posting signs at least a week before the actual work begins and the road is closed.
At Monday night's Board of Selectmen meeting, Administrative Assistant to the Selectmen Sally Theriault said she had received a grant of $2,240 from Primex, one of the town's insurers, to be used for the Highway Department to purchase signs and barriers to protect town employees when working on the roads. Road Agent Jon Worthen can use the money immediately to purchase these items.
Theriault also received a $3,535 Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant to cover a percentage of the damage reported from the March storm. She told the board she is working on getting a grant request ready for money from the state to help with the drainage work to be done at the town beach. If the beach grant is approved, the town would be responsible for 25 percent of the cost of the drainage project. The cost of that project is presently being determined by SFC.
Four responses were received to the Fire Department request for proposal for bids for a new Quint Fire Truck. The bid responses came not in envelopes but in boxes because of their size and complexity. Fire Chief Mike Carrier had asked companies to give him three main bids: (a) a custom built Quint; (b) a stock Quint; and (c) a demo Quint. The bids were opened and handed over to Carrier for review and recommendation for the next meeting.
Carrier said he has about $508,000 for the vehicle, and noted the bids at first glance were all more than that but he indicated that there are so many elements that can be considered in creating the end product that he thought it could happen.
In other business Monday night:
• Nick Pangaro, Cable Advisory Committee member, told the board there continues to be a problem with the cable system, but that he hoped by evening's end, he would have it operating properly and programs would be rebroadcast as scheduled (see story page 10).
Selectwoman Priscilla Lindquist had earlier reported on the cable system problems and suggested putting in a warrant article for a part-time cable coordinator position.
"Technology changes so rapidly, and the cable committee members are all volunteers and they already do so much. I think it is time to get a part-time coordinator in to handle the town's cable system," she said. The other selectmen agreed and directed Theriault to prepare the warrant article.
• The board was pleased that the solid waste contract requests for proposals are asking companies to bid on a variety of recycling methods, such as single stream, co-mingled and the current method.
• The board awarded the cemetery tree removal contract to Top Notch of Thornton, but declined to make an award in the cemetery fencing contract. Theriault told the board the contracts had already been awarded and the board asked how that could be, as the only authority to award those contracts lies with the selectmen, w ho had not yet acted. She had no answer, and no one from the cemetery trustees was present.
Theriault was directed by the selectmen to determine who had contacted the vendors and to find out why the low bidder for the fencing contract had not been selected. The company that Theriault said had already been contacted and told it had been awarded the contract for the fencing is Atlantic Post Fencing of Amesbury, Mass. but the board wants to hold off on that contract until it has more information.
• The area Hazardous Waste Day will be held at the Hampstead Fire Station on Saturday, Oct. 30, from 9 a.m. until noon. This event always causes a traffic jam along Emerson Avenue in both directions reaching Little's Lane and the fire station. The board asked Police Chief Joe Beaudoin to have a detail in place to keep the disruption to a minimum.
back to main news page
_____________________
Paving Company in Residential Zone Gets Variance with Conditions
continued from main page
While most residents went through the proper steps to obtain the permits, four applicants did not - Richard and Martha Cooper, Julie and Cliff Cooper, Rich Brown, and then selectman Rob Brown.
The issue became a contested one, especially after Rob Brown called an unscheduled emergency selectmen's meeting in an effort to bypass the regulations and Malley's enforcement of them.
When Richard and Martha Cooper eventually applied for a home business permit from the planning board, their request was denied, forcing a meeting with the ZBA.
The code enforcement officer is responsible for home occupancy permits, while the planning board is responsible for home business permits.
Since then, the ZBA has reviewed applications for both Richard and Martha Cooper and Julie and Cliff Cooper, and have conducted a site walk on the properties.
While a variance was issued for 395 Fremont Road, the hearing for Julie and Cliff at 321 Fremont Road was continued.
By the end of last week's meeting, the ZBA had ironed out conditions for the variance. The conditions and the reasoning behind them follows.
• The ZBA is to be given a survey of one of Richard and Martha Cooper's property lines, as the property markers are missing, and the board wanted to ensure that all operations are conducted within a 25-foot property line setback.
• A berm or erosion stone is to be installed along a portion of the property to prevent storm water runoff from directly entering a wetland. No parking of commercial vehicles is allowed in that area.
• No more than two trucks and two trailers may be parked on the property as part of the paving business. This equipment is also to be parked in the rear of the property and according to proper setbacks.
• Washing of paving vehicles is prohibited on the property. ZBA members were concerned about runoff from the asphalt carting trucks ending up in the environment.
• A 2006 letter sent from the code enforcement officer to the Coopers indicating a possible wetlands violation must be cleared or that problem mitigated. This condition was prompted by concerns from the conservation commission.
Conservation commission chair Chuck Myette was in attendance to outline those concerns. While audible muttering and sighing could be heard from applicants in the audience, Myette explained that the conservation commission wants to make sure all applicable wetlands laws were followed and best management practices instituted on the property, to make sure the potential for degradation from a paving operation was mitigated.
While the potential for harmful contaminants to enter the groundwater is present, Richard Cooper said that in 40 years of operations, it had not occurred.
While chair of the ZBA Jean Methot pressed Myette for recommendations, Myette explained that any enforcement or determination of a violation was outside of his or his commission's purview. Myette discussed the processes that could be undertaken to determine soil or groundwater degradation, a complicated matter, as LeClair's Junkyard is a neighbor.
ZBA member Kevin Scott said Richard Cooper was less interested in washing his vehicles on site than his brother Cliff, and evidence pointed to that being a minor issue.
Richard Cooper assured the board he had little need or desire to wash vehicles on site and suggested the berm, which was eventually added into the conditions of the variance.
ZBA member Don Brown said the Coopers should be very careful about what runs off into the property because they would not want to be a co-defendant in any type of contamination-related lawsuit alongside LeClair's Junkyard.
A 30-day repeal process is required for the variance to take effect. In that time, the ZBA wants the berm erected.
Through a letter to the board, Jon Anderson of 392 Fremont Road raised concerns about the business being allowed in a residential area, but Methot said variances for such operations were allowed under Chester's ordinances.
ZBA members assured each other that the conditions would be monitored by the code enforcement officer, as that position was the only one in town with the right to do so.
back to main news page
_____________________
Raise Stands After Tie Vote Kills Motion to Rescind
continued from main page
While discussion leading up to the meeting had at least one person speculating on a conflict of interest in giving the employee such a raise when his mother is the recreation director and his father is a selectman, chair Nelson Rheaume made it clear at the start of the discussion that such accusations were without warrant and remarks should avoid that issue.
Rheaume added that he was willing to change his mind on the raise, as it was clear to him that there was much public opposition.
Much support from the recreation commission, summer recreation employees and others was also evidenced at the meeting.
The wage in question was increased from $11.80 to $13 per hour, for an estimated $336 for the year.
Prior to public input, the selectmen each made their opinions on the matter known, and did not sway from them.
Selectman Hans Nicolaisen, ex-officio to the recreation commission, said the wage was fair, would be funded from a revenue-based summer program, and speculated that objections to the raise were only brought up because of the person involved. Nicolaisen charged the Tri-Town Times with focusing on the recipient of the raise, ignoring the financial aspects.
Selectman Tom Tombarello had little to say but agreed with Nicolaisen.
Selectman Brenda Copp also kept to her original opinion on the matter, that the board should stick with its previous decision to cap all raises at 2 percent, a decision ratified by voters at Town Meeting. She added that though there were plenty of employees who deserved better pay, it was of utmost importance to treat all the same.
Selectman Steve Brown, father of the employee, recused himself from the discussion and sat in the audience, as he did when the original vote was taken.
Letters to the selectmen and newspaper from Jon Goldman, former budget committee member, prompted the agenda item. Though Goldman's letters had in part accused some of those involved with the appearance of ethics policy violations, on Monday he downplayed those accusations to instead focus on the unfairness it represented to other deserving town employees and its conflict with the 2 percent cap. He cautioned the selectmen about ignoring the public's wishes if they wanted to keep their positions next election cycle.
Copp made a motion to rescind the raise on behalf of the budget committee and its initial support of the 2 percent cap.
The rest of the discussion focused on that motion.
The employee in question, Tim Brown, was cut off from reading a prepared letter, as its contents were not deemed pertinent to the matter at hand. The letter defended his parents and cited a litany of volunteer efforts they had undertaken through the years and took issue with implications of ethical impropriety. He noted specifically how his father refused to sit on the Timberlane School Board when his children were students or when he knew Tim was going to apply for a teaching position in the district to make sure he didn't unfairly benefit his family. Brown urged those with disagreements to get all of the facts before making up their mind.
In arguing for the raise initially, the recreation commission presented information that Sandown was paying its assistant coordinator much too little for his work, but numbers later presented by Copp indicated the opposite. Acting chair of the commission Ron Dulong took time to call into question that information.
The information presented by Copp was collected by the selectmen's office staff and was confirmed by the Tri-Town Times through contacts with the towns involved.
Dulong defended the recreation commission's use of Peterborough as a comparable town. Peterborough pays a similar position $13.85. Dulong argued that its population and median income were nearly identical.
"It's an identical town. Just because it's far away doesn't mean the people and the employees there are different," said Dulong.
Peterborough's current fiscal year budget at $10,233,818 is more than triple Sandown's at $3,191,510.
Fred Daley supported rescinding the raise. He said it was specious to compare salaries without more scrutiny and that a more justifiable reason to increase a salary would be the inability to keep employees with the town, something he did not see happening in the current economy.
Dulong later noted instances when adjustments were made to recreation salaries and how those raises improved the program with employee longevity.
New budget committee member Robert Millard urged the board to adhere to the 2 percent cap, questioning whether he was going to be wasting his time if the committee suggestions were ignored.
One camp counselor argued for the raise, saying it was not going to affect the cost of the recreation program or the recreation budget.
While $47,302.77 was raised and appropriated for the recreation program this year, that number is expected to be offset by revenue of $37,277.
Tina Owens said the matter was much simpler than it was being made out to be. The selectmen set a policy of 2 percent, so all they had to do was follow that policy.
"You set policy because when decisions come up and you don't know which direction to take, you consult the policy," said Owens.
Linda Meehan urged the board to adhere to set rates in the future, but said it was unfair to the assistant coordinator to rescind the raise.
"I hope the air is still in my tires when I leave tonight, but I'm definitely still for the raise," joked Nicolaisen at the end of the discussion, easing what had become a fairly tense atmosphere.
back to main news page
_____________________
|
