Board members present:  W. James Griswold, Chairman; Frank W. Reinhold, Jr  and John LaCourse

Others present:  Diane L. Guimond, Town Administrator and Kathy Hendry, Town Secretary, Caren Rossi, Henry Brackett, Roger Rice, Linda Reinhold, Sheri Griffin, Steven & Cindy Coppola, Tami Rawson. Chris Roy and Donna F. Eisenhard, Retiring Town Secretary.

1.   Chairman Reinhold called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.

2. Organizational Meeting selected Selectman Chairperson and made committee assignments as follows:

State law does not allow for a Selectmen’s representative to serve on the Conservation Committee or the Zoning Board, however Selectman John LaCourse will be attending meetings to keep abreast of current events.

Selectman John LaCourse stated that next March we should consider combining the Advisory Budget Committee and the C.I.P into a single entity.

3.   Manifests presented were reviewed and authorized for payment.  

4.   Correspondence:

            A.  Antioch Institute    Jack Calhoun, Institute Director      March 20, 2008    

re: Selectperson Training Course  File: with Town Secretary

            B.  Town of Durham   Todd Selig, Town Administrator      February 15, 2008

 re: Intermunicipal Agreement for Assessing Services  File: Contract File – Town of Durham

            C. Attorney General - State of NH    Suzan J. Lehmann, Senior Assistant Atty. General   March 17, 2008   re: Intermunicipal Agreement for Assessing Services  File: Contract File – Town of Durham

            D. Rotary Club of Durham-Great Bay    Sandra W. Heald, President   January 26, 2008  re: $400 donation for July 4^th Fireworks   File: General file – Rotary Club

            E. Lee Planning Board       March 20, 2008   re: NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING  (-)

            F. McNeill, Taylor & Gallo    William L. Tanguay   March 5, 2008  re: Strafford County deed registrations  - recording of Lee Five Corner deed   File: Original filed w/Town Clerk, copy in Conservation Easement notebook

            G. Chittenden   Jessica A. Foerst-Bilodeau, Institutional Trust Administrator   February 7, 2008    re: Ocean Bank Collateralization Agreement dated December 2, 2005   File: with Bookkeeper

H. Chittenden   Jessica A. Foerst-Bilodeau, Institutional Trust Administrator    March 7, 2008   re: Ocean Bank Collateralization Agreement dated December 2, 2005   File: with Bookkeeper

            I. Lee Zoning Board of Adjustment   March 20, 2008   re: Zoning Board of Adjustment Public Hearing  (-)

            J. Lee Conservation Committee    William Humm, Chairman   March 5, 2008 

 re: DeMeritt Farm  File: PID# 06-04-0100

5.   New Business:

Fire Department agreed to sponsor Coffee for Clayton for a 20 month old Lee child suffering from cancer. The fundraiser would be a “Drive Thru Coffee” sale to be held on May 3^rd from 7:00 AM to 12:00 for people leaving the Transfer Station. Traffic would go in a one way loop around the Highway Dept annex to get their coffee, and then proceed to Route 125.

Caren Rossi brought up the fact that personnel policy is outdated, i.e., amendments made to policy but were not reflected in books. Chairman Griswold suggested that Town Administrator Diane Guimond could work with Caren to come up with a list of possible committee members.

Caren Rossi mentioned that Kelly Perkins had sent a letter requesting equestrian signs be placed on Cartland Road due to safety reasons. She said that Cartland Road is a “scenic road”, therefore the planning board is responsible for signage. Selectman Reinhold said that it was a matter of safety – and gave the example of a deaf child, etc. needing a sign to warn drivers of possible danger. Selectman LaCourse also said that perhaps we should also place agricultural signage as well because tractors run on the road as well as horses. A motion to install appropriate signage made by Chairman Griswold , seconded by Selectman Reinhold was passed.

6.   Old Business:

Re; The May 16th, 2007 trailer purchase from William and Mary Cook to Jean Howe. Caren Rossi has the original deed, but tax stamps had not been paid.  Town Administrator Diane Guimond will contact the LGC to see what our options are so we can make the ownership change.

Tami Rawson, a resident of Durepo’s Park, came to speak to the Board about the Amenities charge that Avitar placed on mobile homes. She had filed an abatement last year which Avitar recommended be denied. She has now filed an appeal with the BTLA (Board of Land & Tax Appeals). This Amenities charge affects all owners of mobile homes.  Frank said we will have Rob Dix, our Assessor, check into the laws and decide what our course of action should be. We will have Rob present at our April 14^th meeting to present his findings. The Appeal is due to the BTLA by July 1^st, so we will have a decision on Tami’s situation on the 14^th and all others by the end of the month.

7.  Department Head Reports:

Town Clerk/Tax Collector, Linda Reinhold reported that liens had been sent out to residents with unpaid property taxes.  She gave a list of property to be Tax-Deeded – if taxes remain unpaid for 3 years the Town becomes the owner of that property, the Selectmen decide on whether or not to file with the Register of Deeds and take the property or to waive.

Re: Martha Buffkin Kane’s letter dated February 13, 2008 regarding reimbursement of an interest charge of $469.46 for her missed June tax payment. Motion to deny payment was made by Selectman Reinhold, seconded by Selectman LaCourse was passed. However, Linda is looking into ways of possibly sending out notices for non-payment.

Linda reported that progress on getting into the State system is as follows:

            A new telephone line was installed last week.

However, she was informed that a dedicated electrical line will also have to be installed. She is checking into this.

She still has to undergo training.

The Board appointed Mary Blair as Deputy Town Clerk/Tax Collector and Penny Stetson as Assistant Town Clerk/Tax Collector.

Transfer Station Manager, Roger Rice said that he had gotten a proposal for lower priced port-a-potty services, which he will need to pursue in order to maintain “bathroom” services for the dump and Transfer station volunteers.

Roger mentioned that he had sent a sealed container of mixed paper to China last week. Local school children helped collect this paper and participated in this great recycling project. He has had two solid waste/paper bag meetings to date and there have been a lot of ideas about how to approach this situation. We would like to be up by September, which will necessitate having public meetings before that date so he needs to formulate a plan.

Roger has now gotten Certification for a Level IV Transfer Station Operator. Congratulations, Roger!

For next meeting: He will get landfill/cap information together.  Correspondence with D.E.S.- are we all done? We have done two swales so far, but still have one to go.

8. Selectmen’s Report on Planning Board Meeting: 

Board has a right to elect an interim Planning Board Chairman. 

Next meeting will present a list of possible members.

Selectman LaCourse would like to discuss run-off.

Selectman LaCourse wondered when the contract with Comcast will expire. Donna F. Eisenhard, Retiring Town Secretary reported that will not be until 2010.

Chairman Griswold mentioned that 200,000 cubic yards of gravel need to be taken. Where could we store? Possibly Mick Pit or Little River Park? Selectman Reinhold will check the easement and also with the Conservation Committee to see if any restrictions.

Selectman Reinhold commented that he’d like to see department heads and the Chair of the School Board attend selectmen’s meetings.

All members of the Board plan to attend the Antioch Institute’s Selectmen’s Workshop. Selectman Reinhold mentioned the possibility using one of the “retired” cruisers to travel to seminars, etc. He will look into it.

Town Administrator, Diane Guimond read a thank-you card from Joe Ford for his rocking chair.

Diane reported that she had received the 1^st draft of the Wage Study in progress by the Local Government Center regarding a “Step” Program and will be sending it back for review. This process will take 2 to 3 months to complete. We will need to get a list of suitable towns to compare based on population, makeup of population, style of town government. The Board will then select suitable ones to use.

Selectmen need to sign MS2 report to send to the State as it is due on the 31^st.

Re: Elderly Exemption that was approved last year at the March 10, 2007 meeting, the current asset was calculated by using current value. Calculation needs to be made on actual value rate rather than current value. Diane would like to bring the family in to let them know the situation.

Re: Graph Rob Dix had e-mailed, we need clarification on the variables used to determine the figures incorporated in his table.

The Town can collect money in lieu of taxes on the property that the Durham well is on. We need to send the Town of Durham an invoice and advise them that we are aware that there is a line item tagged for this. (Avitar letter)

Public Information officer’s training and certification was completed by 7 employees. Frank DeRocchi was appointed Deputy Emergency Director

Mel Jenkins has retired, so the Board will need to appoint 1 more rep on the Strafford Regional Planning Commission.to replace him.

The Board reviewed the bids for painting of Town Complex Buildings. The Town Administrator will check painting bid criteria to see what is actually included in the bid for each vendor before a decision can be made.

Selectman Reinhold has been on the Lamprey River Advisory Committee, but unable to attend meeting as of late and will now start attending meetings again. He plans to complete 1 more year of service on this committee. 

The Board will look into the Town Seal and ways of creating and selecting one

9.   Approval of Minutes:   Selectman Reinhold made a motion to accept minutes from the March 10, 2008 Regular Session.  Selectman LaCourse seconded.  Chairman Griswold called for a discussion. There being none, Chairman Griswold called for a vote.  Motion passes. 

10.  There being no further business, meeting was adjourned at 9:25 PM