NOTES OF JULY 24, 2017 RYE BOARD OF SELECTMEN MEETING
Draft Revision B – Provided by the Rye Civic League
Present (clockwise around table): Town Administrator Michael Magnant, Selectmen Craig Musselman, Priscilla Jenness and Phil Winslow, Finance Director Cyndi Gillespie.
Also present and sitting in the audience or the lobby outside: Police Chief Kevin Walsh, Public Works Director Dennis McCarthy.
Persons present from the public included: Victor Azzi, Steven Borne, Peter Crawford, Bob Jesurum, Sally King, Mindi Messmer.
Editor’s
note: For ease in finding particular
sections using the archived video and audio on the Town website, the elapsed
time is indicated. Use the slider and
the elapsed time indicated at the bottom of the video window to fast forward to
the desired section. Videos on the Town website may currently be accessed
at www.town.rye.nh.us by clicking on
“Town Hall Streaming” at the bottom left of the screen. Follow the link for “Town Hall Live
Streaming,” then find the meeting by date under “Previous.”
The video starts
at 6:35:30 p.m. (0:00 elapsed).
Summary
1.
The State will hold a meeting on
the scaled-down Jenness Beach Bathhouse on August 9 at the Library.
7.
Additional Grove Road Landfill
testing confirmed PFC (carcinogen) levels above the State maximum.
Sealing of minutes (1:06 elapsed)
The motion of Selectman
Jenness to seal the minutes of the non-public session just concluded carried
unanimously.
Announcement: Meeting on Jenness Beach Bathhouse (1:48
elapsed)
The presentation by
DRED (N.H. Department of Resources and Economic Development) regarding the
Jenness Beach Bathhouse was announced.
It has a smaller footprint, a lower height and no cupola, and there will
be no changes to the parking lot configuration, Selectman Musselman said. The public information will be at the Rye
Library on August 9, he said.
Construction is to begin in mid-September. Editor’s
note: See further information on this
issue at the end of these notes, here.
Public comment: Sanders Poynt
restoration, availability of poster boards from prior meeting (2:14 elapsed)
Bob
Jesurum said that he would like to make a presentation. He displayed a poster board showing the
partial restoration proposed by the Wentworth-by-the-Sea Country Club. He said that he was here to speak about
Sanders Poynt. The Town of Rye had
issued permit to build a fence which blocked access to Little Harbor Beach, a
long stretch of beach, he said.
Selectman Musselman
noted that he was recusing himself as he is a member of the
Wentworth-by-the-Sea Country Club. The
other two selectmen have been dealing with those issues since I became a
member, he said. Editor’s note: At a meeting in
2012, it was asserted that Planning Administrator Kim Reed is also a member of
the Wentworth-by-the-Sea Country Club.
Mr. Jesurum said that
the beach and marsh belong to the public by New Hampshire law. It is now inaccessible. We went to court. In August 2015 the New Hampshire Superior
Court ordered the Wentworth “to restore Sanders Poynt to the condition it was
prior to October 2012.” The Wentworth
appealed and the Supreme Court affirmed.
It took over four years for this to wind its way through the
courts. The Wentworth has been issuing a
series of non-compliant plans. The
latest is now being supported directly by the Town of Rye. He showed a copy of the plan which was on a
poster board. Editors note: The plan shows four parking
spaces, with a narrow path leading from the Little Harbor side of the parking
space to the water. Mr. Jesurum
pointed out that the area was entirely open, and was used as a turnaround area
by the Rye Police and school buses. The
latest plan is half of the area and does not comply with the court order. It’s still all fenced in, despite the court
order. The fence is meant to block
people from getting to the beach. This
is a non-compliant plan that is being endorsed by the Town of Rye, he said.
Mr. Jesurum said that,
after the judge issued another order reiterating that the site should be restored
to its condition prior to October 2012, Town Attorney Donovan had written a
letter to all of the parties which said that “the town’s position is that
WBTSCC should put it back the way it was prior to October 2012, as documented
by photos provided to the court. There
should be no subsequent enhancements. It
is time for this saga to end.” That is a
great statement, Mr. Jesurum said.
However, the Town
changed it’s mind and sided with the Wentworth, he said. It filed a brief so stating. He quoted two sentences from that, first
saying that “the town worked with WBTSCC and the Rockingham (inaudible) was
planned, and the second that “[t]here are safety issues associated with the
pre-October 2012 layout.” Mr. Jesurum
asked what the safety issues are. This
had not been brought up before, he said.
He said that moving the cars closer to the street is, if anything,
reducing safety. The statement also said
that the Town would also support WBTSCC in restricting parking on Wentworth
Rd. Mr. Jesurum said that, with only
four spaces available, the Town is essentially working with the Wentworth to
shut down the beach. He asked why the
elected selectmen are endorsing the plans, ignoring their constituents and the
court’s order.
Mr. Jesurum said that
there will be a hearing on his motion on August 17. Mr. Jesurum then summarized his
position. There was applause.
Paul Sanders said that
he is not a resident of Rye, but is a direct descendant of John Sanders who, in
1623, founded Sanders Poynt. According
to the book Maine Rivers, Sanders
Poynt is the ninth plantation formed in New England. That spot has been open to the public for
almost 400 years. He asked that it be
returned to look like it did before.
Peter Crawford said
that he supported Bob Jesurum, and noted that Mr. Jesurum had personally spent
around $100,000 in legal fees. The same
day that I had gotten word from the Supreme Court that rehearing had been
denied, I told the Selectmen that the matter had been put to bed, and said that
the location needed to be restored to the way it was, he said. Editor’s
note: See the notes of the January 23,
2017 meeting. There was no opposition at
that point. For the Selectmen to
assume the mantle of protecting the citizens of Rye, the State and the Nation,
is inappropriate when Bob has spent all of this money. The town itself has no special standing to do
that. If anyone has that, it would be
the State of New Hampshire, which has largely ignored the matter. That is particularly the case as it appears
that the views of two of the selectmen appear to have been communicated to the
attorney, probably in a non-public session.
Mr. Crawford stated that he attends all of the BOS meetings or watches
the videos.
Selectman Musselman
noted that meetings with attorneys are “non-meetings.”
Mr. Crawford said that
he was aware of that, however it is disappointing that two selectmen seem to
have made the decision without any input from the citizens.
(18:10 elapsed)
Mr.
Crawford said that he had a second, unrelated, point. He said that he received word from Mr.
Magnant on July 14 that the poster boards presented by Selectman Musselman at
the last meeting would not be made available for photographing by the public
and that, most surprisingly, there was an assertion that these were not
“governmental records.” Editor’s note: See the notes of the July 10, 2017 meeting,
during which Selectman Musselman recused himself and proceeded to present, on
behalf of his firm, CMA Engineers, the results of testing for contaminants at
the Breakfast Hill Landfill and the Grove Road Landfill, both in Rye. CMA Engineers does the sample collection and
analysis associated with these tests at no charge, however an outside firm is
paid to do the testing of the samples. Mr.
Crawford read from the definition in RSA 91-A:I-a, III. “’Governmental records’ means any information
created, accepted, or obtained by, or on behalf of any public body, or a quorum
or majority thereof, or any public agency in furtherance of its official
function. Without limiting the
foregoing, the term “governmental records” includes any written communications
or other information, whether in paper, electronic, or other physical form
received by a quorum or majority of a public body in furtherance of its
official function, whether at a meeting or outside a meeting…” These poster boards clearly meet the
definition, Mr. Crawford said. He added
that that he couldn’t see how Selectman Musselman could put on his CMA
Engineers hat to present the poster boards, put back on his Selectman’s hat,
and, at the end of the meeting walk out with the poster boards and take them to
the CMA Engineers office so that now the public does not have access. He asked the other two selectmen, after Selectman
Musselman had recused himself, as he must, to vote to request that these
documents be brought back to be copied at the Town Hall so that everyone can
have a copy.
(20:10 elapsed)
Sally King said that
she had been at the Conservation Commission site walk at Sanders Poynt. We were asked to comment on the wetlands
setback. I had said that that wasn’t an
issue. From my personal perspective,
however, the site proposal was totally out of character with what Sanders Poynt
used to look like. It was open, there
were grasses, it was absolutely beautifully and very accessible. The plan that the Wentworth put forward, from
my perspective, was extremely limiting and not at all appropriate.
Eleanor Safford, 6
Harborview Dr., said that, for the Selectmen to agree with the Wentworth took a
lot of pleasure away from her.
Steven Borne, 431
Wallis Rd., asked whether there was any update on the testing, and said that
there was an item on the agenda about a representative from Rye on a committee
and said that he hoped that there would be some discussion rather than someone
just being nominated and moving on. Editor’s note: This is a reference to the Seacoast Drinking
Water Commission, discussed later in the meeting. Click here.
Mr. Borne argued it was the Town’s fault that
we even got into the issue and that Mr. Jesurum should be reimbursed for his
costs. The Wentworth Country Club poured
a cement slab and asked for forgiveness later.
We are in the process of letting them put up an eighty or ninety foot
monster that will be catching birds for years, he said. Editor’s
note: See the video and minutes of the
July xx, 2017 Planning Board meeting, at which this issue was discussed. The Planning Board was nearly evenly split,
and there has been no final resolution.
The video is available at https://vimeo.com/225298104/.
Sanders Poynt should have been
cleaned up and people should have access to the beach. That is very disappointing as a resident, he
said.
(22:26 elapsed)
Burt Cohen, 27 Beach
Hill Rd., New Castle, said that he had served Rye as State Senator from 1990 to
2004. I was amazed that Mr. Binnie did
what he did, to cordon the area off, which has been in public use for 100
years. The plan developed is quite
restrictive and goes against what the court said. He said that he hoped that the Town of Rye
would be in support of what Mr. Jesurum and so many good people have been
trying to do, he said.
Consent Agenda, Bicycle Safety (24:35 elapsed)
Item B was removed from
the Consent Agenda. The other items were
unanimously approved.
Item B, a letter from
Mathew Craig regarding safety concerns for bicyclists riding on Town roads was
then discussed. Selectman Jenness noted
that the letter appears limited to issues involving Pioneer Rd., which is a
State road. Selectman Musselman added
that he rides the same route, and he agrees that it is not safe. Recently, the Selectmen have been advocating
to DOT a Complete Streets plan. There is
a long way to go in that regard, he said.
Editor’s note: Complete Streets refers to accommodating
vehicular traffic as well as bicyclists and pedestrians. Selectman Winslow added that they support
expansion of the bike lane on Route 1A.
The motion to file the letter carried unanimously.
Minutes (28:10 elapsed)
The minutes of the July
5, 2017 meeting were unanimously approved without changes. The minutes of the non-public session of the
same day were unanimously approved without changes. The minutes of the July 10, 2017 meeting
were unanimously approved with changes.
The minutes of the non-public session of the same day were unanimously
approved without changes.
Howard Kalet of the
Energy Committee presented. He said that
the best thing to do now is to publish the RFP and ask for the recommendations
of the respondents. They can then
evaluate them, he said.
There was discussion
about the Public Safety Building, the Public Library and the Town Hall all
being included. However, these are all
in the Historic District and there are restrictions on solar panels in that
district when they would be visible from the street. Of the remaining sites, which are Public
Works, the Recycling Center, the Recreation Area, the Goss Farm and the
Cemetery, not all of these are under the Board of Selectmen.
There was also
discussion about the delivered price of electricity being about 18 cents per
kilowatt-hour, half of which is the delivery charge. Although it was not entirely clear, it
appeared that, if the panel was located on the roof of the building that
consumed the power, the entire 18 cents could be saved, however, if the
building consuming the power and the site producing the power were separated,
such that the Eversource distribution system would need to be used to “wheel”
the power from one facility to another, only half of the cost could be saved.
Sally King, Chairman of
the Conservation Commission, stated that they would support panels on the roof
of the Goss Barn. However, panels that
are ground mounted would not be consistent with the restriction on the land to
agricultural purposes.
There was discussion
about how much electricity might be generated on a particular roof relative to
the usage of the town buildings.
Selectman Musselman
suggested that they look at town-owned land, excluding however the Breakfast
Hill Landfill, which is not a good topic now.
He asked how much land would be required to satisfy all of the town’s
demand. The response was 3-4 acres. Selectman Musselman expressed concern that
the RFP, as proposed, would confuse the respondents as they would focus on the
Public Safety Building and its annual use of $4000 worth of power.
There was discussion
about making the RFP more clear by quoting the HDC regulation regarding solar
panels in the Historic District.
Selectman Musselman
warned that some of the Recreation buildings are so small that they might
collapse if solar panels are added.
Selectman Musselman
warned that the RFP may not receive many replies. The project is small and they are asking for
a lot, he said.
New Fire Chief (51:10 elapsed)
Town Administrator
Magnant revealed that Mark Cotreau had been selected as the new Fire
Chief. He is currently the Fire Chief in
Concord, Massachusetts. He started his
career in Dover, NH. He has a strong
background. He currently manages 44
firefighters and a $4 million budget in Concord. Once the employment agreement has been agreed
to, he will be making arrangements to move here permanently, Mr. Magnant said.
Selectman Musselman
described the process used with MRI (Municipal Resources, Inc.). Editor’s
note: Former Rye Police Chief and Town
Administrator Alan Gould is head of MRI.
MRI is also providing contract assessing services for Rye. Selectman Musselman described how the
many, many candidates had been narrowed to three. Mr. Cotreau was head and shoulders above the
others. The other two selectmen
agreed.
Selectman Musselman
thanked Fire Chief Tom Lambert for his diligent service. Mr. Cotreau is expected to be chief for the
coming decade, he said.
The motion of Selectman
Winslow, seconded by Selectman Jenness, to enter into the employment agreement
carried unanimously.
Seacoast Drinking Water Commission (54:24 elapsed)
Selectman Musselman
described a new bill that has passed the State Legislature. Editor’s
note: This is HB431. The text is available at http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/bill_status/billText.aspx?sy=2017&id=495&txtFormat=html. The bill has been signed by the
Governor. State Representative Mindi
Messmer, representing Rye, is listed as a sponsor. Selectman Musselman said that, of the six
tasks described, five relate to the particulars of each community’s water
supplied. There are representatives from
Aquarion and each of the other communities.
Rye would be best represented by someone from the Rye Water District as
Aquarion will be at the table, he said.
Selectman Musselman said that he had spoken to Art Ditto, who is willing
to serve. Editor’s note: Mr. Ditto is one
of three commissioners of the Rye Water District.
Selectman Jenness stated that Mr. Ditto
would be a “fine nomination,” and referred to his good service on other
committees.
Selectman Winslow
stated that State Representative Mindi Messmer had suggested that she could
serve. That would be appropriate if the
topic was limited to PFCs, but most of the issues relate to the Rye Water
District, so Art Ditto would be the best person, he said.
Selectman Musselman
said that the bill permits three house members to serve. That would be an appropriate slot for her, he
said.
The motion to appoint
Art Ditto carried unanimously.
Editor’s note: The Selectmen ignored a request, during the
public comment period, to take public input on this issue.
Jenness Beach Bathhouse (59:37 elapsed)
Selectman Musselman
said that the issue had been touched on earlier. He reiterated that the building had been
reconfigured to be smaller, and the cupola had been removed. The parking lot would remain the same as it
is now. Bollards would be installed to
provide for a safer walkway. The building
would be reduced from 41 by 40 feet to 26 by 40 feet and the height would be
reduced.
Old business: Salt shed consultant
(62:17 elapsed)
There was no
correspondence or new business.
Public Works Director
Dennis McCarthy addressed the Salt Shed.
He said that five proposals had been received. The top two were only separated by one point. These were Hoyle Tanner and Weston &
Sampson. It was decided that Hoyle
Tanner would be the choice, so their bid amount envelope was opened and the bid
amount was determined to be within the budget, Mr. McCarthy said. Selectman Musselman added that Hoyle Tanner
had done a fine job on the Harbor Rd. Bridge.
Editor’s note: See the notes of the May 22, 2017 meeting, at
which Hoyle Tanner revealed that the bridge was incapable of handling the
weights that had been crossing it. At a
subsequent meeting, the Selectmen voted to reduce the weight limit, potentially
creating issues for rock trucks and concrete mixer trucks. The motion by Selectman Winslow to accept
Hoyle Tanner’s bid carried unanimously.
Grove Road Landfill Water quality presentation by
Craig Musselman of CMA Engineers (63:42 elapsed)
Selectman Musselman
stated that he would again recuse himself.
He left the table and presented a poster board that he said he had had
his office update earlier that day with new data. He explained that the May 2017 data is in
blue, and the July 2017 data is in green.
Editor’s note: The poster displayed is apparently the same
one as appears on the last page of the CMA report, available at: http://town.rye.nh.us/Pages/RyeNH_BComm/BoS/Grove
Road Landfill PFC Groundwater Results July 2017.pdf
Selectman Musselman
explained how the sample at MW6, which had previously been at 152 parts per
trillion (ppt), twice the water quality standard of 70 ppt, had, after a second
sample, been reduced to 88.6 ppt. He
provided information on other samples as well.
He also said that the sample taken in the waste that is below the water
table is at 103.8 ppt. Editor’s note: The Grove Road Landfill had been used as a
burning dump until the town was forced by a lawsuit by a resident to cease the
activity. The state limit for PFCs is 70
parts per trillion, so the new sample remains above the limit for drinking
water. See the notes of the July 10,
2017 meeting for further details.
Selectman Musselman
explained the three possible causes of the high PFC levels:
1.
Waste in the ground water.
2.
Dredge spoils deposited at the location during the
1980s.
3.
Clay deposited at the location during the 1980s.
Selectman Musselman
said that CMA will provide a letter to the Town. DES has not been informed of the results
yet. CMA will consider with DES the next
steps. A total of $10,000 has been
budgeted for the testing. The town is
“into that” by a “fair amount,” he said.
However, with the help of Town Finance Director Cyndi Gillespie, it has
been determined, since the prior meeting, that there is a Grove Road Landfill
account that started in 1994 with $45,000, he said. Since then, amounts have been added to, and
subtracted from, that amount. Ms.
Gillespie explained how the testing by Eastern Analytics associated with the
Grove Road Landfill, but not the Breakfast Hill Landfill, has been charged to
this account. Editor’s note: While CMA
Engineers gathers the samples and sends them to Eastern Analytics for testing,
and provides the analysis of the results, the town pays Eastern Analytics to do
the testing.
Selectman Musselman explained that, by some
arrangement, the town has been paying for the sampling, even though the Rye
Water District bought the land from the town in 1975. He said that he has been unable to locate an
agreement requiring the town to pay for the sampling and analysis. Editor’s
note: See Rockingham County Registry of
Deeds, book 2271, page 874.
Selectman Musselman said that the data
gathering and analysis stage is still at the “tip of the iceberg” stage.
Selectman Winslow asked
whether a third sample should be taken, or whether they should wait to consult
with DES first. Selectman Musselman
suggested the second course of action.
(75:25 elapsed)
Victor Azzi referred to
a different laboratory having been used for the two sets of samples, and
questioned the consistency. He asked
whether identical samples had been sent to the two laboratories to see if the
results are consistent.
Selectman Musselman
said that this was a good question, but that this had not been done. Both laboratories are using the same
protocol, however, he said.
At this point, Steven
Borne came up and asked to photograph the poster board. Selectman Musselman said that this was not a
problem, but that an electronic copy would be provided to the town as
well. Editor’s note: Apparently it
was. See the last page of the CMA
report, available at: http://town.rye.nh.us/Pages/RyeNH_BComm/BoS/Grove
Road Landfill PFC Groundwater Results July 2017.pdf
Adjournment
Whereupon the meeting
adjourned at approximately 7:54 p.m.