NOTES OF JANUARY 26, 2015 RYE BOARD OF SELECTMEN MEETING
Final Revision C – Provided by the Rye Civic League
Present (clockwise around table): Town Administrator Michael Magnant, Selectmen Musselman, Jenness and Mills. Absent: Town Finance Director Cyndi Gillespie. Also present: Police Chief Kevin Walsh, Interim Fire Chief Tom Lambert.
Persons present from the public included: Tom Aspinwall, Steven Borne, Peter Crawford, Brian Early (Portsmouth Herald), Kevin St. James (Rockingham County).
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 6:42:19 p.m. (0:00 elapsed).
Summary
6.
The Heisey lot unmerger request
(near Rye Harbor) was granted, subject to certain conditions.
Announcement (0:00 elapsed)
The Deliberative Session for January 31,
2015 was announced.
Consent Agenda (1:06 elapsed)
The acceptance of $500
from Healthtrust, LLC and the Girl Scout Cookie Booth at the Recycling Center
on March 14, 2015 were both approved.
Minutes (2:46 elapsed)
The minutes of January 8,
2015 were approved with changes. The
minutes of January 12, 2015 were approved with changes. The minutes of the January 12 and January 20,
2015 non-public sessions were approved without changes.
Presentation on 2015 Budget by Kevin St.
James from Rockingham County (7:33 elapsed)
Mr. St. James
presented. He stated that he had just
been elected, and was sworn in on January 7.
The County ended up with a 1.6% increase in its budget, which will mean
a roughly 1.9% increase in the tax rate.
Employee salaries are increasing by 2% but the number of employees is
down. There was discussion about the
long-term care costs, a major source of increases and the Health and Human
Services budget being $58 million short, mostly due to Medicaid. He asserted that hospital money is being
diverted as the Governor “raided” a fund.
Rockingham County has
the highest rating from Moody’s. Their
only concern is the cost of the jail.
The County Attorney’s office eliminated a position at the Court. They are down four now and will stagger the
hiring to keep the budget now. Six of
seven union contracts are done. That led
to discussion about the Cadillac tax (not dealt with yet), he said.
Long-term care patients
going to nursing homes in other counties must be paid for. Long-term care is one of the highest
costs.
Incarcerated prisoners
must have their health care costs paid for, even if
they have insurance as private policies typically have an exclusion relating to
this. Female prisoners must be sent to
other counties at a cost of $50 per day, but Rockingham County must pay medical
costs.
There was an extended
discussion about the dispatch system. Editor’s note: The County does the dispatching for Rye,
except in emergency conditions. Selectman
Musselman stated that Portsmouth does not use the County service. Mr. St. James agreed, stating that Derry and
Exeter do not use it either. That led to
a discussion about Portsmouth spending $900,000 annually on dispatching.
Selectman Mills stated
that he listens to the dispatch calls coming out of Brentwood. There used to be “two tones” before the calls
started, now there is one. He is getting old and it takes time for him
to get up out of his seat when a call comes in on the pager. He asserted that Hampton and North Hampton do
not use County Dispatch either.
Police Chief Walsh
likened County Dispatch to two tin cans and a string. The staff does an outstanding job out of what
amounts to a closet at the County Jail.
There was then
discussion about dead spots in the radio coverage. All 26 police departments use the same
frequency on the midnight shift, he said.
During the upcoming snow storm Rye will be self dispatching, he said.
There was discussion about whether Fire
Department consolidation might necessitate that Rye pay for some of the
Portsmouth dispatch costs.
Mosquito Control Contract (31:30 elapsed)
Tom Aspinwall addressed
this issue. He stated that, after
discussion with Tim Sanborn, the other Commissioner, it had been decided that
Swamp would be recommended. There was a
significant cost difference. Both Swamp
and Dragon have experience in Rye.
Selectman Mills spoke
about a planned trip, at town expense, apparently a number of year ago, to look at helicopter spraying in North
Carolina.
That led to Mr.
Aspinwall referring to a vocal group in town concerned about cancer-causing
chemicals being sprayed. In Rye the
larvacides affect only the mosquitoes.
There was discussion about the ineffectiveness of street spraying,
although it has its fans, he acknowledged.
Selectman Musselman
spoke about the need to get the concurrence of the Conservation Commission
regarding marsh restoration issues. They
are under new leadership, however, he said.
Mr. Aspinwall provided the assurance that consensus would be achieved
before they proceed. A lot has to do
with the personalities and the prior history, he asserted, not science. Selectman Musselman stated that the
Conservation Commission believes that its science is also valid.
Steven Borne stated
that Dragon had “spidered” by e-mail to find out about wetlands on private
property where spraying could be conducted.
That led to a question about whether vernal pools in the back woods are
sprayed. Selectman Musselman stated that
Mr. Borne raised a good point, in that there are more fresh water mosquitoes
than salt water ones. The salt marshes
are treated well but there may be fresh water bodies of water on the back lands
that are not addressed. Mr. Aspinwall
spoke about red maple swamps in the Berrys Brook Watershed where the pools are
full of larvae. Selectman Jenness stated
that it is the same in the Cedar Swamp Run in the south end of town.
There was further
discussion about tick control. Mr.
Aspinwall stated that what they are doing for mosquitoes is equally effective
on ticks. Nothing additional is needed.
A motion was made to
authorize entering into a contract with Swamp for an amount not to exceed
$74,860, with two conditions: (1) it
should be made clear that the Town prefers adulticiding and (2) no marsh
management or restoration is included.
The motion carried unanimously.
Town Hall contract (55:06 elapsed)
Selectman Musselman
stated that he would recuse himself and walked out of the room briefly. Editor’s
note: At previous meetings, Selectman
Musselman has stated that his firm, CMA Engineers is currently involved in a
multi-million dollar project with Hutter.
Town Administrator Magnant outlined the process, which consisted of
a full set of documents having been produced by the architects, and the project
having put out to bid with four pre-selected bidders: Hutter, Dew, Meridian and Milestone. The latter firm withdrew due to it ongoing
work commitments, thus there were three responses, he said.
At this point,
Selectman Musselman returned to his chair and sat down.
There was then
discussion about the alternates (i.e. components of the bid specifying options
that the Town could include or not, as it chose). He stated that references had been checked
during the prequalification process. Mr.
Magnant requested an authorization to award the contract based on a $3,521,800
amount with all alternates. Selectman
Jenness disagreed, stating that only those alternates recommended by the Town
Hall Committee: 1, 2, 5 and 6, be included and that the amount to be set forth in the
letter be $3,389,600. Editor’s note: The four alternates include a new concrete
foundation on the south side of the existing building, a new concrete slab for
the existing building, a generator ($72,700) and lightning protection. Other alternates for different monumental
windows, exterior window glazing, and updating of certain light fixtures to
LEDs, were not selected. These would
have added another $132,200. The
motion to award the contract, conditioned upon voter approval, carried, with
Selectmen Mills and Jenness voting in favor and Selectman Musselman recusing
himself. Editor’s note: The warrant
article reflects a $4.1 million project cost as construction management and
certain other costs are being paid directly by the town, and a twelve percent
contingency has been added.
Letter from Drew Doherty regarding Comcast
rates (102:13 elapsed)
Selectman Musselman
paraphrased the letter which complained about increasing fees and the rental
equipment required that needed to be paid for every month. It asked what the town could do.
Town Administrator
Magnant stated that the contract was up in January 2016. Selectman Musselman stated that the fees,
rates and channels will not be on the table, only the public services, which
would be available at a huge cost.
FairPoint has been approached regarding FIOS, but he understands that
only a small part of Rye is wired for that.
Selectman Jenness
stated that, last time, a lot of money had been spent in trying to negotiate something
better. Selectman Musselman stated that
there had not been a benefit from this expenditure. Editor’s
note: The consensus seemed to be that
retaining an attorney this time would not be worthwhile.
Selectman Mills stated
that FairPoint is not interested in increasing their geographic coverage as
long as Comcast is providing services in Rye.
He suggested cutting off Comcast for a period of time to gain
leverage. Steven Borne cautioned against
that, and referred to Selectman Mills not wanting to miss the Super Bowl. Editor’s
note: See the notes of the May 29, 2012
and March 11, 2013 meeting where this issue had been discussed. Selectman Mills had complained to
representatives of PSNH that his power had been interrupted during the Super
Bowl.
Selectman Musselman referred to cable and
basic Internet now costing $60 to $70 per month.
Selectman Musselman suggested a meeting with
Comcast. He referred to a Cable
Committee that had existed at one point.
Steven Borne asked whether Comcast paid anything for its monopoly
rights. Selectman Musselman responded
that they did not. Mr. Borne suggested a
“venting session.” There was discussion
about who should be on the Committee. It
was suggested that Mr. Doherty and Jean Harrison, who had expressed interest
before, be named.
IT Strategy (72:18 elapsed)
Steven Borne raised the
issue of his e-mail stating that he had watched the meeting where the Town’s IT
person had made a presentation. He
stated that he disagreed with a number of things. He had someone he knows with Dell
certification that reached the same conclusion.
It was concluded that, before any decision is made, Mr. Borne’s
acquaintance and the Town’s IT guy would be put in the same room to discuss.
Release of legal opinion on warrant articles
denied (74:15 elapsed)
Peter Crawford, 171
Brackett Rd., asked whether his request, in the cover letter to which
petitioned warrant articles were attached, that the Town Attorney’s opinion on
the warrant articles be provided would be honored. He noted that this was the last Board of
Selectmen meeting prior to the Deliberative Session. Selectman Musselman stated that Mr.
Crawford’s right-to-know request would be responded to in the required time
frame. Editor’s note: The prior Friday,
January 23, 2015, Mr. Crawford had submitted a right-to-know request for any
legal opinion relating to any of the petitioned warrant articles on the 2015
Town Warrant. Selectman Musselman
stated that the legal opinion was “evolving.”
He questioned whether they would want to pay the town attorney for an
updated legal opinion. Mr. Crawford
asked whether anything would be provided.
Selectman Musselman reiterated that the right-to-know request would be
responded to within the requisite five business days and said that they had
nothing to provide to Mr. Crawford at this point. He reiterated that it is “a changing thing”
and that there were “continued discussions.”
Mr. Crawford spoke about a similar issue having arisen in 2013. The letter was obtained at the last minute,
which necessitated a last minute meeting to deal with it. Selectman Musselman stated that the warrant
articles should have been provided in November or December for Board of
Selectmen review.
Heisey unmerger application (76:35 elapsed)
Selectman Jenness made
a motion to allow the Heisey unmerger request, to unmerge lots 19 and 21 on tax
map 9.2. The motion was conditioned on
(1) the recording of a permanent access easement, acceptable to Town Counsel,
within 30 days, granting a permanent access easement over lot 19 in favor of
lot 21; and (2) that the dwelling on each respective lot would be served by a
septic system in good working order, as verified by the Building Inspector,
with access to be provided in April 2015 for verification. The motion carried unanimously.
Editor’s
note: The issue of the Heisey’s land
near Rye Harbor has been the subject of numerous Board of Selectmen meetings,
some of which have been non-public. See
the notes of the December 23, 2013, March 24, 2014, April 14, 2014, April 28,
2014, September 22, 2014, November 24, 2014, December 8, 2014 and January 12,
2015 meetings. The issue at the January
12 meeting was whether Tax Map 9.2 lots 19 and 21 should be unmerged. Previously, the Town had taken this lot for
taxes from an unknown owner on June 7, 2002 for $108.10. See Book 3782 Page 827, Rockingham County
Registry of Deeds. Based on the
discussion at the January 12, 2015 meeting, it appears that the Town may have
conceded that that action was invalid.
Letter regarding Rye/New Castle Bridge (78:17 elapsed)
The letter regarding
this issue was read out loud. It spoke
of a fixed bridge facilitating water system improvements, the fact that the
Wentworth Rd. service area in Rye would benefit from bi-directional flows from
the provision of water over the bridge.
Photographs of the back channel at low tide were attached. It stated that there was minimal ability to
accommodate larger vessels. Editor’s note: This is an apparent reference to the waterway
between the two bridges going to New Castle, one of which connects to Rye and
the other to New Castle. It was
stated that the letter was signed by the three Selectmen and would go out the
next day. Selectman Mills stated that
lobster boats would be using the channel that night. Editor’s: A large northeast storm was just
starting. Selectman Musselman stated
that they are able to get in without lifting the bridge. That only occurs twice a year.
Non-public session (83:31 elapsed)
The motion to go into
non-public session on reputation and personnel issues carried unanimously.