Office of the Select Board Town of Orange, New Hampshire Minutes of September 22, 2014

Present: Betty Fulton, Chair; Bob Ells, Pat Mercer, and Sandi Pierson (clerical).
Others present: Bob and Sharon Proulx, Pat and George White, Dave and Kathy Stacy, Sophie

Seace, and Mark Stetson.

Meeting opened at 7 PM. Attendance taken by the secretary.

Approval of minutes:

  • The minutes of September 8, 2014 were unanimously approved as submitted.

The minutes of September 15, 2014 were unanimously approved as corrected (name

misspelling). Pat noted that State-licensed telecommunications companies may be assessed by the town.

Assessing: Mark Stetson from Avitar Associates came before the Board to discuss the town’s assessing needs for 2015. Mark submitted to the Board for review a contract from Avitar for the 2015 town-wide assessment (The State requires municipalities to have town-wide assessments every five years.) Mark explained the various means to complete the 2015 including cyclical, statistical, and a full-scale reval, where each property is individually appraised and all structures measured. Mark recommended a full reval because Avitar has not done any assessing work in Orange since 2010. He also recommends working with the Board’s secretary to be sure the current use acreage is accurate on the assessment cards. For a full reval Avitar gave a quote of $17,000 if a bond is required; $17,525 if a bond is not required. Mark stated that most towns do not require Avitar to post a bond. Mark stated that Avitar will begin the process as soon as the contract is signed.

Mark stated that the contract for the 2015 town-wide assessment proposes an October 15 deadline for completion. Mark said he would anticipate the DRA giving the town an extension on the 2015 MS-1 in order to concur with the anticipated assessment completion date.

Mark stated that he would like the Board to consider a five-year contract for the town’s general, annual assessing needs. He stated that given the size of Orange, it was cost effective for the Board to choose to pay for the services of Avitar at an hourly rate instead of an established annual flat fee. Answering a question from Pat, Mark affirmed a five-year contract would freeze costs.

In other assessing business, the Board reviewed correspondence from Gary Roberge from Avitar that assessed FairPoint’s tangible property at $75,500, i.e., does not include a PRW assessment. Presently it is listed as $111,200, the assessment provided in 2013 by Cross County Appraisals. In the correspondence, Gary recommended that the town not assess the PRW on FairPoint because the town has not completed their pole licensing update. The Board acknowledged that they had already voted on September 15 not to tax the PRW until the courts settle the issue.

Betty stated that she was served a Summons in a Civil Action from the County Sheriff’s Department declaring that FairPoint is suing Orange in Grafton Superior Court. (Northern New England Telephone Operations LLC d/b/a Fair Point Communications v. Town of Orange, NH; Case number 215-2014-CV-00273) The essence of the suit, of which most other towns in New Hampshire area also being brought to court, is what FairPoint considers the unconstitutional taxation of FairPoint property and PRW. Currently Orange is not assessing the PRW. A copy of this summons is available for review at the Select Board’s office.

Betty stated she will forward Gary Roberge’s correspondence and the Superior Court documents to the town’s attorney, Bernie Waugh, for his review and opinion. Pat Mercer motioned to have Betty submit to Attorney Waugh the court summons and Avitar’s correspondence regarding FairPoint’s assessment. Bob seconded. Pat and Bob voted in favor. Betty voted no citing that she does not believe it takes a formal vote for her drop off correspondence at the attorney’s office considering the Board has already affirmed she should do so. Motion passed.

The Chair opened the floor for public comment on the assessing subjects. Sharon Proulx spoke in favor of the Board accepting Avitar’s contract for the town-wide assessment. She stated that Avitar has historically provided excellent assessing services for the town. She also spoke in favor of a five-year general assessing contract, citing the importance of continuity. Despite the figure is lower, Sharon recommended the Board use Avitar’s assessment value for FairPoint over Cross Country’s because it was presumably more accurate. Later in the meeting, Bob Proulx stated that given the quote from Avitar for the 2015 reval, the Revaluation Capital Reserve (the fund that pays for the town-wide assessment) is in very good shape and presently has a balance of over $17,000. Pat White expressed concern that the October 15 deadline could interfere with the timeliness of the property tax bills. After discussion the Board and Tax Collector Sharon Proulx agreed that the October 15 deadline would give a reasonable window for the timely issuance of 2015 property tax bills.

Betty directed Sandi to make copies of Avitar’s 2015 reval contract for each Board member to review. They will revisit the contract at the October 13 meeting. If there are further questions for Avitar from the Board, Betty will email them to Mark and Mark can decide if he wants to attend another meeting.

Building permit: The Board reviewed a building permit for Leon Dugan/Razor Hill Road/Map 4, Lot 3-1 for a residential home. The permit was already signed by Building Inspector Don Pfaefflin. Upon review, it was noted that the permit stated that there was neither a septic system planned nor running water into the structure. Because the permit stated that there was to be plumbing installed in the house and the outline depicted a full bathroom, the Board felt they had to table the permit until they could meet with Don Pfaefflin to discuss its consistency with the Orange Building Ordinance. Pat motioned to table the permit until the Board met with Don Pfaefflin to review it. Betty seconded. Motion passed unanimously in favor. Betty directed Sandi to contact Don and request he attend the October 13 meeting. Sandi will let the applicant know the permit has been tabled.

Property card correction: The Board reviewed and signed correspondence to Scott Lurgio and Andrea Barrett regarding their two contiguous lots on New Colony Road. In the past, these two lots, Map 3, Lot 41 (5 acres) and Map 3, Lot 30 (1.7) have been taxed separately. At the last meeting the Board reviewed a subdivision survey signed by the Orange Planning Board Chair in 1981 and recorded at the Registry of Deeds that revealed that these two parcels were considered a single lot.

Town House sign: Sharon Proulx submitted to the Board a proposal for an announcement sign for the town house grounds. The sign would have transferable letters that would allow for public announcements of meetings and events. A number of months ago, the idea was brought up by Dave Como who agreed that he would fund the project. Sharon stated that she followed up because she felt it was important that a sign should correspond to the historical character of the Town House. Sharon said she has spoken with Dave Como and he has given her the discretion to choose an appropriate design. Sharon stated that as she and Bob traveled the area, they got an idea of what other towns had. The sketch shared with the Board was from Alan Charbano, the person who created the present “Welcome to Orange” sign at the Cardigan Mountain Road town line. The cost of the sign is $500; the 6-inch letters and numerals are $250. It is anticipated that if the sign is purchased, no cost will be incurred by the town and that any funding needed over Dave’s contribution will also be by donation. Betty stated that it should be the townspeople that decide on the sign, not the Select Board. Bob Proulx agreed and suggested that the proposal be presented at town meeting. After discussion, it was agreed that a copy of the sketch and details can be shared with the townspeople via Pat White’s listserv, the Selectmen’s listserv, and the website www.orange.us.

Treasurer: Bob Ells asked if the issues of the treasurer’s office are being resolved. Betty said she is working with treasurer over the weekend to remedy the FICA tax issue and generating reports. Betty stated that one of the problems is that the payroll segment was not part of the QuickBooks software loaded into the treasurer’s computer. Betty said she anticipates loading the reports onto a thumb drive so she can begin reconciling them with the Select Board’s financial spreadsheets. In response to a comment from Sharon, Betty will take the tax collector’s and town clerk’s “red bags” (deposit receipts) and give them to the treasurer.

Other:

  • Bob Ells reported that the Grafton/Orange town line signs (on one post) on River Road is missing as is the River Road sign itself. Also missing is the Burnt Hill Road sign.

  • For the town clerk’s State audit, the Board signed a letter affirming that Sophie Seace is the municipal agent for the town.

  • The Board reviewed and signed a 9-1-1 Dispatch Agency Confirmation.

  • The Board reviewed a Community Development grant availability. Pat requested a copy. The Board reviewed a ballot for offices to the NH Association of Assessing Officials. Sandi to respond.

  • A notice was received from Property Liability Trust stating they are having public

    hearings to solicit comments on their rate setting. Pat said she may follow up.

  • A notice was received from the NH Department of Safety that they are discontinuing

    their “Emergency Stand-Alone” phone service requirement.

Trash report: As of August 2014, the town has disposed of 52.57 tons of trash and 18.96 tons of zerosort recyclables. Betty stated that recycling efforts have dropped a bit from the last pick-up. These figures do not include the recent large trash pick-up.

Secretary’s report:

  • In response to a query about the annual increases of the Northeast Waste contracts, Sandi submitted the figures for the last three years for the Board and public to review.

  • Sandi said only one Report of Timber Cut has not been submitted. (There was ultimately no cut on the property) A copy of the letter to the property owner requesting the Report was sent to the DRA to let them know the town has done their due diligence.

  • The MS-7 (Budget) and MS-2 (Report of Appropriations) forms are expected to be done online this year.

Personnel: Betty read a statement regarding Pat Mercer’s interaction with her at the September 9, 2014 election and asked that it be attached to the minutes.

Public comment: The Board entertained and took public comment. Parties that spoke are welcome to submit their comments and attach them to the minutes for public review.

Meeting adjourned 8:45 PM

Respectfully submitted, Sandi Pierson

______________________ Betty Fulton

______________________ Robert Ells

______________________ Patricia Mercer