Select Board Minutes 7/15/19
MINUTES OF THE JULY 15, 2019 SELECT BOARD MEETING
MEMBER’S PRESENT: Board Members Mike Houghton, Allison Knab and Town Administrator David Moore. Joe Lovejoy was absent from this meeting.
At 7:00 p.m. Mr. Houghton opened the meeting of the Select Board.
MINUTES
Ms. Knab made a motion to approve the minutes of 7/1/19. Mr. Houghton seconded the motion which passed unanimously.
TREASURER
Town Treasurer Deb Bronson reported the General Fund balance is $11,446,202.84.
RESERVATIONS & PERMITS
Mr. Houghton made a motion to approve the parade permit for the Stratham Fair Road Race being held Saturday, July 20, 2019 and to authorize the Town Administrator to sign the permit. Ms. Knab seconded the motion which passed unanimously.
Chairman Houghton recognized Kerri Vivathana to provide public comment. Ms. Vivathana came before the Board to thank the Board for waiving the fee to let Action for Aiden use the park as a non-profit entity. She also thanked the Police and Fire Departments for the support and help they’ve given. She especially wanted to thank the Parks & Recreation Department for going over and above with their support and help. Ms. Vivathana detailed the many ways that Parks & Recreation Director Seth Hickey and Parks & Recreation Programming Assistant Cantrece Forest provided support and assistance in putting together a fundraising race. She expressed appreciation for the way the community rallied around Aiden saying it gave him encouragement. The money they raised pushed Project Alive to human trials. The Board thanked her for her work and said they were happy to help.
The Board Chair then moved on to old business and several updates were provided.
Mr. Moore noted that the community had responded to the call for volunteers for the Planning Board and reminded the Board that they made several appoints at their July 1st meeting. The Board and TA discussed highlighting another board with an open position or positions. Mr. Moore said he would follow up with related newsletter content.
Mr. Moore reviewed the two open positions on staff and noted applications were coming in. He noted the Finance Administrator position deadline is July 30th and several applications had come in.
Mr. Moore noted much work is being done on the Master Plan. The Town Planner, consultant, and Master Plan Steering Committee are adding content and restructuring. It will be further refined after the meeting on Wednesday. The Planning Board will be responsible for determining the next steps with the Plan prior to scheduling the required public hearings.
Regarding the PFAS issue in Town center, the Select Board will be meeting with the State delegation on July 25th at 3:00 with the intention of sharing info and providing an update about Stratham’s situation.
Chairman Houghton recognized Kevin O’Brien, resident and project specialist with the State of NH, and Josh Mann with the Dept. of Safety. They’ve come before the Board in support of a request to renew an expired Memorandum of Understanding with the Town and the State of NH. Mr. Moore explained that there is a building at SHP that is owned by the State the Town has permitted to have on the property. This agreement was entered into in 1999 with automatic renewal periods that ended in 2019. The building hosts radio equipment that allows our signal to get out to the rest of the world, including Rockingham County. It is a public safety issue. Mr. O’Brien gave background on the agreement. Mr. Mann described the radio equipment and how the State uses it. None of the people originally involved in the agreement are still working. There will need to be some updates to the agreement, but essentially the agreement will be the same. They discussed the condition and aesthetics of the building and the desire of the state to add air conditioning to protect existing and new equipment to be housed within the building and add generator capacity. This is one of approximately 50 in the state. They also discussed methods for ensuring winter maintenance of the building, which is done by the State. The Board was supportive of more work on the agreement taking place after recognizing the value in continuing this cooperation because of the benefit to emergency communications for the Town and region. They noted that the agreement should address the need to ensure aesthetic (and audible) impacts are minimized at this location on top of Stratham Hill Park. Mr. Moore will work with the State further on the agreement and bring it back to the Board.
FIRE
Fire Chief Matt Larrabee distributed copies of his monthly report. Call volume has increased 5%. Hose testing will begin on Tuesday. The utility truck is in service. He’s been reviewing copiers with Mr. Moore in conjunction with IT integration with the Town. Mr. Larrabee inquired if the PFOA issue would impact the Fire Dept. budget; if he should plan for that. Chief Larrabee noted that the Fire Department is looking for volunteers. He talked about succession planning for, not only him, but for lieutenants and captains as well. He will continue to coordinate with the Department of Public Works regarding large capital expenditures. They are working with the Police Dept. for the National Night Out on August 6th. Chief Larrabee asked for guidance on how to proceed with selling the 2006 Ford Intercepter. They are in the process of determining if the boat will be a viable option. Chief Larrabee reported that the stipend program is not as effective as he’d hoped. They will give it more time then make adjustments and evaluate other options going forward.
Mr. Houghton noted that we are at the six month budget mark. Mr. Moore reported that everything appears to be on track. In September, they will provide guidance to the department heads about the upcoming budget.
The Town received a request from Gary and Marion Tilton to acquire land alongside their driveway. Preliminary opinions of Town Planner Tavis Austin and Public Works Director Nate Mears were shared by Mr. Moore indicating support. Mr. Moore will work with the department heads and the Tiltons and prepare a report back to the Select Board for action.
Mr. Moore suggested a non-public session. Mr. Houghton made a motion to go into a non-public session at 7:57 pm to discuss a legal matter with counsel in accordance with RSA 91 A:3, III (c). Ms. Knab seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. At 8:35 p.m., Ms. Knab made a motion to come out of the non-public session and seal the minutes noting that failure to do so would render a proposed action ineffective. Mr. Houghton seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
ADMINISTRATION
Mr. Moore explained the National Night Out sponsored by the Police Department but involving the Fire and Highway Departments is expected to be bigger than originally envisioned due to enthusiasm. They discussed parking for the event, which Mr. Moore said the Police Chief is coordinating with the DPW.
Mr. Moore noted some upcoming issues that he will be working on for the Board’s next several meetings into September: implementation plans for the Gateway vision, PFAS, capital planning and budget work, human resources and compensation planning, and Finance Administrator position. Mr. Moore described a selection process for the open position and noted we will need to move forward with a replacement for the Accounting Supervisor position.
Parks and Recreation has drafted a Parks naming policy so that we may respond to a request. Mr. Moore suggested inviting the public to participate in the process.
Mr. Houghton turned the conversation to the All Employee Meeting. Mr. Moore said he received positive staff reactions and suggested some ideas for the next meeting. He noted some issues including the comments about improving internal communications. They discussed distributing the monthly department reports and what/how much information the employees are interested in. It is especially important to Mr. Houghton that the Board respond to the concerns the employees raised. They talked about the progress with the IT issues. Mr. Houghton wrote a formalized mission statement for potential use in grounding the Town’s work in the HR area going forward and invited Mr. Moore to further refine it.
Mr. Houghton reminded the group about the Master Plan joint meeting being held Wednesday, July 17th at 7:30 pm.
At 9:05pm Ms. Knab made a motion to adjourn. Mr. Houghton seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
Karen Richard
Recording Secretary