Campton Conservation Commission  Meeting Minutes For February 8, 2012; 7pm

Members Present: Jane Kellogg, Jules Doner, Lea Stewart, Tammy Wooster

Due to the extended absence of both co-chairs, Jane proposed that we all take turns running our business meetings, with the exception of Tammy who will continue to take minutes. All agreed and Jules volunteered to lead tonight’s meeting.

1)      Minutes:

Jules made a motion to approve the January 11 meeting minutes. Jane seconded the motion and all were in favor. Lea made a motion to accept the January 30th warrant article public hearing minutes. The motion was approved with one abstention.

2)      Annual Report:

Jane circulated copies of the 2011 CC annual report for review. Edits were made and Jane said that any last minute additions/changes need to be made within the next couple of days since she needs to get the report in to Ann Marie.

3)      Public Hearing Re-cap:

On January 30^th The CC held a public hearing relative to the contributions to qualified organizations warrant article. The Select Board and several Campton residents attended. Consensus was that it was still unclear as to where all Select Board members stood in their support for the warrant article, though it seemed as though the majority of the board was supportive. It was noted that it would be helpful to know when and how the Select Board will vote on the article, and how the vote will be published in the Annual Town Report. Jane will speak with Ann Marie to try and answer these questions. It was unanimous that we would move forward with the warrant article regardless of full board support.

4)      March Town Meeting Prep:

All agreed that we should meet before the March 14^th town meeting to make preparations for town meeting. It was decided to move our regular March business meeting to the 21^st since the current date conflicts with town meeting. Lea changed the date on the meeting room schedule and penciled in March 7^th at 7:15pm as a work session date. Jane said that she had jotted down some discussion point suggestions she received from individuals after the public hearing and that we should all be thinking of what main talking points we need to make which we will fine tune at the work session. All agreed that it will be important to make clear how and why the law change came about that led us to require warrant article passage.

5)      Mail:

There was a backlog of CC mail to process. Due to a mistake in reserving the meeting room for last month’s meeting, the room was occupied and so we met briefly in the copier area and subsequently did not retrieve the mail. There was a UPS invoice for the groundwater brochure printing job which should have been paid out of our 2011 budget. Jules made a motion that we pay the bill out of our Conservation Fund as it would be unwise to stray from our 2012 budget when the year has just begun. The motion was unanimously approved. Jane will get the Invoice to Ann Marie for payment.

Four DES Forestry Notifications were opened and there was discussion of a need to follow up with the notifications on some level. Lea thought that it was important to at least visit the sites since it is unlikely that DES has the manpower to do so. Jane agreed that it would be good for us to have a sense of where and what kind of work is being done even if it’s a drive-by to ensure that the appropriate paperwork is displayed onsite.  Lea offered to follow up on this and made copies of the notifications. She will consult the tax-maps in the near future to confirm the work locations, and Jules and Jane offered to accompany her on site visits.

A copy of a DES letter of complaint to Kevin Rogers dated January 4th was opened and reviewed.   The complaint was relative to a failure to control erosion and sediment transport into a wetland. The CC had weighed in on this issue some time ago in the form of 2 letters detailing specific erosion control recommendations. Tammy will review recent Select Board minutes and report any new communication or developments.

Lea opened and read aloud a letter questioning procedures and siting relative to new lines for transmission of power for the proposed wind farm in Groton. The letter detailed the route the lines and new taller poles will follow, including an area by Livermore Falls in Campton. The sender of the letter was unnamed but signed as Shutters in the Dark, and asked nothing of the CC. Jane  wondered whether this was related to something she had heard about a wind power group proposal to put in a substation along Rte 175 near the Holderness town line. She thought the group was to go before the Holderness Planning Board for site approval. Tammy will review Select Board minutes for any discussion of this issue.

A DOT Adopt-a-Highway program renewal packet was opened and reviewed. There seem to be new rules associated with the program including a safety checklist requirement and participant list. Jess had expressed a willingness to work on small CC projects from home, so Tammy will get the paperwork to her to complete.

Granite State Rural Water had recently requested that the CC write a support letter for renewal of EPA grant funding. Jess drafted a letter which Tammy brought to the meeting for review. All approved and the letter will be sent.

Other mail opened were newsletters from the Grafton County Conservation District and The New Hampshire Association of Natural Resource Scientists.

Mail was filed and all agreed that a future work session is needed to reorganize/consolidate CC paperwork.

6)      FYI:

Jane reported that she had recently met with PRLAC chair Max Stamp and the Environmental engineering firm slated to complete the Blair Bridge Rehabilitation. The firm asked for input relative to river concerns, and the draft of materials and structural drawings was reviewed. Jane shared a copy of the proposed plan with CC members and said that it was her understanding that the work was to be completed in two phases, the first being repair of the middle bridge abutment which would possibly begin late summer of this year at low flows.

Jane described the middle abutment as stone which sits upon wooden cribbing that is submerged under sand, debris and water. The cribbing has been impacted by erosion and flooding and there is a fear of disintegration. The plan is to stabilize the abutment and prevent water from further damaging the cribbing. To complete this work, 9 trees will be removed from the west bank of the river south of the bridge to make room for an excavator to travel to the island near the abutment.

Sandbags will used to divert the river, retaining flow on the east side so that work can be done under dry conditions. Sand and debris will be removed, reinforcing metal pylons will be pounded into the streambed around the cribbing, and the entire abutment will be encased in concrete. The encasement will not be visible after it is filled in with sand and riprap.

Questions asked by Max and Jane included how siltation will be addressed and learned that silt fencing will be used. They also raised the concern over erosion caused by the swath created by tree cutting and encouraged replanting of the trees. Also asked was what impact the work-related low flows and noise of the pylons going in will have on the experience of boaters and fisherman. The engineers responded that all abutters will be notified. Jane did not have any sense of the work timeline and said that the engineers were complimentary of the support they were receiving from the town. Tammy mentioned that there was a potential for problems if an unanticipated high flow event occurs during the work and Jules recalled that TS Irene arrived in late August.   Jane will bring the draft plan to Ann Marie and the Planning Board and then leave it on the desk by the CC mail slot in case others want to review it.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 8:50 pm.

 

Next meeting March 21, 2012; 7pm

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Tammy Wooster

 

 

 

 

Selectmen’s Meeting Minutes for March 19, 2012

The Selectmen met for their regular meeting at 6:30 p.m.  Present were Selectmen Sharon Davis, Marsh Morgan, Jr. Charles Wheeler, Charles Cheney and Craig Keeney.  Also in attendance at the meeting were Butch Bain, Road Agent and Kelly Bolger, Chair of the Building Committee.  Later in the meeting Town Attorney Walter Mitchell joined the meeting.

The Board spent the first 15 minutes reviewing and signing the manifest.  They also approved a Veteran’s Exemption, signed Intent to Cut, a Tax Agreement, and a piece of correspondence to a taxpayer.

At 6:45 p.m. Chair Sharon Davis began the meeting by asking the Board to review last week’s minutes.  She provided some revisions that she would like to suggest.  With a motion from Selectman Morgan, seconded by Selectman Wheeler, the Board approved the minutes with the revisions.

Correspondence was next.  There were only two items in the correspondence folder this week.  A letter from the State of New Hampshire’s Department of Environmental Services to Bill Dauer at the White Mountain National Forest  Service, with a copy to the Town of Campton.  In this letter, DES advised that the Campton Pond Dam has been reclassified from a Significant Hazard Potential to a High Hazard Potential Dam.  Water levels and velocities that could cause failure or misoperation of the dam were cited as a reason to upgrade this potential as well as water levels rising above the first floor elevation of habitable residential, commercial or industrial structures.  The third reason was any circumstances which would result in one or more deaths.   Tropical Storm Irene, and the evacuation of Six Flags Mobile Home Park which experienced flooding in several mobile homes was given as an example as well as similar events in 1936,1938, 1959 and 1987.  The letter advised the White Mountain National Forest that they could appeal this decision.  As a result of discussions with the Federal Emergency Management, it was agreed that Emergency Action Plans need to be reviewed and updated.  The other piece of correspondence was additional emails from Sean James, Engineer for the Blair Bridge Project.  The Board was happy to see that progress was being made with the State, but they were concerned that the pre-qualification for the bids for the contractors to do the work on the bridge, had not been started yet.  The Board asked Ann Marie to contact Sean about this concern.   Ann Marie also asked the Board how they wanted to handle the temporary easements needed to gain access to the river.  The Board suggested that letters be sent to the two property owners along with a copy of the easement, and suggest that they meet with the Board.

The Board then discussed the Selectmen’s assignments for 2012.  Selectman Cheney made a motion to nominate Craig Keeney to be Chairman this year; it was seconded by Sharon Davis, and voted in the affirmative by all.  Selectman Wheeler made a motion to nominate Sharon Davis as Vice-Chair, seconded by Selectman Keeney and voted in the affirmative by all.  The Boards then discussed the different positions on other committees.  Selectmen Keeney and Wheeler will continue to be the Human Resource Committee members.  Selectman Morgan agreed to continue to be the ex-officio for Planning Board, Selectmen Davis and Wheeler will continue to be on the Parks & Recreation Committee, and Selectman Davis will continue on the Building Project  along with Kelly Bolger.  Selectman Wheeler requested that someone else consider being on the Cable Committee.  Selectman Cheney agreed to head this committee.

Selectman Wheeler then made a motion to go into Non Public Session under RSA 91-A: 3, ll c for a Personnel issue. A roll call vote was taken and all voted in the affirmative to go into Non Public Session.

The Board came out of Non Public Session at approximately 8 p.m.  Selectman Davis made a motion to seal the minutes, seconded by Selectman Morgan with roll call vote, all voted in the affirmative to seal the Non Public minutes.

At this point, the Board request Attorney Walter Mitchell to explain the recount procedure as none of the Board Members had participated in one before.  He indicated that the Board of Selectmen, the Town Clerk and the Moderator participate in this count.  Each candidate was allowed to have one observer to be able to oversee the count.  This observer could be themselves, their attorney or anyone that they choose to do this.  The public is allowed at the count, but cannot participate, and has to stay within an area designated by the Moderator.  Selectman Wheeler indicated that he cannot be available at 5 p.m. due to work commitments.  Attorney Mitchell indicated that he would send an email to Ann Marie tomorrow to better clarify the procedure after reviewing the State Statutes.

Under other business, Selectman Morgan proposed that Kelly Bolger be appointed the Clerk of the Works for the new Town Office Building.  Mr. Bolger has offered to do this at no cost, and has extensive experience in this field.  He only requests that upon completion of the project that the Board gives him a letter of recommendation.  All Board Members agreed, and thanked Kelly for his services.

With no other business to be discussed, a motion was made by Selectman Keeney, seconded by Marsh Morgan to adjourn.  Motion passed, meeting adjourned at 8:20 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Ann Marie Foote                                                                                                                                                                          Town Administrator

 

SELECTMEN’S MEETING MINUTES FOR MARCH 12, 2012

The Board of Selectmen met for their weekly meeting at 6:30 p. m. at the Campton Town Office.  Present were, Selectmen, Charles Cheney, Charles Wheeler, Sharon Davis, Craig Keeney, and Marsh Morgan.  The Board signed the manifest and reviewed the bills.  They signed 1 Intent to Cut, 1 Elderly Exemption, 1 Veteran’s Exemption and 1 Disabled Exemption.

Members of the public who were present at the meeting, but not on the agenda were Butch Bain and Kelly Bolger.

At 6:45 p.m. Chair Davis called the meeting to order to discuss the Warrant Articles and Ann Marie indicated that there were only two Articles to read at Town Meeting.  It was agreed that Article 5 will be read by Chair Davis and Article 17 will be read by Selectman Wheeler.

Chair Davis then called for a Motion to approve the Minutes of the previous meeting.  Selectman Morgan made the Motion to accept the Minutes as written.  The Motion was seconded by Selectman Keeney and the Minutes as written were unanimously approved.

Chair Davis called on Ann Marie to review correspondence.   Ann Marie indicated that a copy of a Memo of Inspection was forwarded to the Town from James Weber, P.E. of the State of NH Dam Safety & Inspection Section concerning the Campton Bog Dam.  The report reflected some concerns; however, none of the issues detract from the dam’s structural integrity or operability at this time the DES has established no schedule for addressing the issues.  Mr. Weber indicated the next scheduled inspection is set for 2017.  After reading this report, it was determined that the Town does not own the dam and this report was just informational.

A letter was received from Attorney John A. Curran, the attorney representing the Town’s insurance company pertaining to the Fire Fighter who is filing a claim against the Town and Robert Burhoe, Sr. pertaining to a slip and fall case.  Attorney Curran would like to meet with Ann Marie, Fire Chief Tobine and Butch Bain, Road Agent.  The tentative date is March 16, 2012.  No confirmed time has been set.

Ann Marie indicated that the Board has received all recent e-mails from Hoyle, Tanner & Associates concerning the Blair Bridge Project and DES Wetlands approval.  The Wetlands Bureau has now approved the access points for the pier construction work.  At this point, Selectman Cheney indicated that he spoke with Mr. Jorgensen regarding an easement to get to the river.  Selectman Cheney informed the Board that Mr. Jorgensen is willing to give the Town an easement.  Mr. Jorgensen also discussed with Selectman Cheney the possibility of the Town being willing to reduce his property taxes due to loss of business.  The Board discussed concerns with this issue; however, Selectman Cheney requested that Ann Marie contact Mark Nieder concerning this matter.

A letter was received from University of NH Cooperative Extension stating that County Forester, Dave Falkenham, wanted to make sure Towns were aware of new federal funding opportunities for community forest land acquisition.  The application deadline is May 15, 2012.

The Town web site report has been received and the amount of visitors has increased since last month; however e-mails have dropped.

Notice from the Local Government Center concerning Workshops for newly elected and appointed municipal officials.  The closest workshop to Campton is scheduled for May 19^th and September 29^th in Concord.

Grafton County Senior Citizens Council forwarded an invitation to their Annual Meeting on Monday, April 2, 2012, at 10 Campbell Street, in Lebanon with a luncheon starting at 11:45 a.m. and the keynote speaker on that day will be Councilor Ray Burton.

Ann Marie was sorry to inform the Board that Lester Mitchell had passed away and his obituary was distributed to the Board; however, no services were announced at this time.

Chair Davis then called on Selectman Keeney regarding Other Business – Selectmen’s Input.  Selectman Keeney indicated that he met with J. S. Adams Security pertaining to the security system at the Town Office.  It was recommended that doom cameras be installed and door chimes.  Also there would be no monitors; however activity could be read by computer access or CD with an authorized password.  It was pointed out that this system could be transferred to another building and Kelly Bolger confirmed that the eight cameras would be sufficient in the proposed new Town Office Building.  After discussion, the Board requested that Ann Marie approach Mary Durgin regarding funding for the system through the Durgin Trust Fund.

There was some discussion by the Board concerning Town cell phones.  It was agreed that this matter be tabled until after the elections.  Butch Bain indicated that the new radios will be up and running in about 4 to 6 weeks for the Highway Department.

Chair Davis stated that due to issues at the Town Office this passed week with the computer systems being down during the installation of the new server she felt that the Town Office should have a disaster recovery plan (aka Business Continuity Plan). This need was brought to light when a property owner came into the office to pay her taxes with cash (while the computer system was down) and the Tax Collector’s Office indicated that they could not take the money at that time because they could not issue a computer print out receipt.  Chair Davis commented that banks have disaster recovery plans in place so if their computers are down they can still accept deposits and provide hand receipts.  The Town Offices should be able to do the same.

There being no further business, Chair Davis declared the meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

Eleanor M. Dewey, Office Assistant to Ann Marie Foote, Town Administrator

Campton-Thornton Fire Commission Meeting Minutes  February 13, 2012

Meeting Called to order at 1605 hrs. by Chairman Jim Demeritt.

Members present-  Jim Demeritt, Lou Klotz, Dick Giehl, Niles Downing and Kelly Bolger   Also present were Chief Tobine and Deputy Chief Ian Halm.

Ambulance income from January   Campton:  $4162.24, Thornton: $ 2726.99, Ellsworth: $ 287.05

Total $7,176.28

Reading of the minutes from December 12,2012 and January 9, 2012 were read and approved with minor corrections. Passed unanimously.

Lou requested that copies of the minutes be forwarded to the Thornton office at tc_tx@thorntonnh.org.

Old business:  The new floor grates have been installed in the Thornton station.

A lot of progress has been mad renovating the Campton Fire Station. The Chief will soon have his own office. The bathroom, day room, dormitory and storage areas are coming along nicely.  There have been several weekend work sessions besides what gets done  during the week by the day crew and contractors. Most of the work is being done by volunteers. Some pre-existing structural damage has been uncovered fortunately and repaired.  A special thanks to the volunteers that are helping to make this project possible. Also a special thanks to the Durgin family for their generosity with the Durgin Trust.

Chief Tobine is concerned with some parking lot issues, particularly the drainage or lack there-of. .

Jim revised the Thornton procurement policy  to be more  in line with  the purchasing practices of the Fire Commission.  This will be reviewed by the Commissioners  by next meeting.

The meeting with the Selectboards of Campton, Thornton and Ellsworth to finalize the budget went well and the budget next goes before the voters.

New Business:  The NHMA requested  the treasurer  for the CTFD (Becky) to provide  the  Auditors with insurance information.  Chairman Demeritt signed the authorization.

March is State inspection month for apparatus. Two trucks will need brakes and rear springs.

Chief Tobine reported that the department has had a rash of cardiac arrest calls lately.  They had one save, which is always  a reason to cheer.

Motion to adjourn was made by Jim, seconded by Lou.  Passed unanimously at 1635 hrs.

Respectfully submitted,   Niles Downing.