Office of the Select Board

Town of Orange, New Hampshire

Minutes of December 13, 2016

 

Present: Dorothy Heinrichs, Chair; Robert Ells, Lyell ‘Skip’ Smith, and Sandi Pierson (clerical). Others present: Beverly Ells and Judith Lindahl.

Meeting opened at 6:00 PM.

Minutes:

  •   The public minutes of November 22, 2016 were unanimously approved.

  •   The nonpublic minutes of November 22, 2016 were unanimously approved.

  •   The minutes of November 29, 2016 were unanimously approved.

    Abatement application: The Board signed a letter to Bill and Cecile Williams notifying them that their 2016 property tax abatement request has been granted and they will be refunded $74.25.

    Capital Reserves: The Board signed a letter to Treasurer Tessa Michetti authorizing the payment of $12,000 to be deposited into the capital reserves as voted on at the 2016 town meeting.

    Humane Society: The Chair signed the 2017 contract between the Upper Valley Humane Society and the Town of Orange for animal control services. The cost remains at $300 per year.

    Hazard Mitigation Plan: The Board signed the Resolution to adopt the Orange Hazard Mitigation Plan as drafted by the Hazard Mitigation Committee. It will now be sent to FEMA for final approval.

    Mascoma School District:

  •   The Chair verified with her signature the Orange student residency list as submitted by the

    SAU. It was noted that the town clerk reviewed the list and felt it was accurate. Skip stated that if the residency section of the annual inventory forms were filled out more accurately, the student list would be easier to verify.

  •   The Board reviewed a letter from the SAU notifying them of the revised fiscal year payment schedule. The monthly payment to the school district is now $61,037.89, an increase of $24,729.37.

  •   Skip gave an update on the school funding meeting recently hosted by Canaan. He said that the high school renovation bond increased the Orange school tax rate by 7.9% and that the rest of the increase was due to an increase in Orange students from 34 to 40. The tuition cost of $18,000-plus per student added to the sudden jump in the town’s school tax rate. Skip said that presently the school tax commitment is established 100% on Average Daily Membership (ADM) of the students from each town. Canaan would like to change that to a ratio between the ADM and the property valuations of the five district towns.

Hazardous Waste Grant: The Board signed a letter of support for the Upper Valley – Lake Sunapee Regional Planning Commission to apply for a USDA Solid Waste Management Grant Application.

Trash pick-up protocol: The Board discussed the recent issues of trash pick-up on a number of roads because the Casella truck was hindered by road conditions. Skip said the main cause was that Remacle’s large sanding truck was being repaired thus a smaller truck was used. The smaller truck had to make multiple trips to get reloaded which took more time to complete the sanding. Skip said the larger truck has been repaired so sanding coverage should go back to normal.

Judith Lindahl stated that she spoke with Kendra (the Casella driver) on Friday after the truck got over Burnt Hill and that Kendra was apprehensive about her drive over the icy road. Kendra ultimately left the area via River Road in Grafton instead of returning over Burnt Hill; this left a number of trash pick-ups undone. Judith also spoke with the Casella dispatcher who said he would like the Board to set up a notification system when inclement weather may prevent the truck from traveling to specific areas. Judith had referred the request to the Board by email. Judith stated that Kendra has the choice to alter how she drives the route and suggested she could do the problematic roads last which would allow more time for sanding them.

After discussion, it was agreed to ask Kendra if she could call the road agent direct in the event of inclement weather to get an update on road conditions. Skip will follow up with Scott.

Prepayment of Taxes: Skip said that he had a conversation with Tax Collector Sharon Proulx about the idea of a bi-annual billing of property taxes. This was brought up due to some residents having a challenging time paying a single tax bill at the end of the year. He said if there was bi-annual billing, the salary of the tax collector would need to be increased and was unsure how much that would be offset by possibly not using the credit line of the tax anticipation note. Sharon had told Skip that property owners could essentially pay any part of their tax bill at any time during the year as allowed by the “prepayment of taxes” warrant article that is voted on each year. She told Skip that a number of residents do make early payments. Skip suggested that the Board send out an email on the listserv reminding people that they can make prepayments on their forthcoming tax bill any time during the year. The Board concurred.

Other:

  •   The Board was in receipt of a note from NH Electric Co-op stating that they paid their property taxes under protest and plan on filing an abatement.

  •   The Board received information from the Visiting Nurse and Hospice of NH & VT summarizing their service to Orange residents. In 2016 they provided 179 homecare visits at an unreimbursed cost of $6,920.00.

  •   The Board received a letter from West Central Behavioral Services requesting a 2017 contribution of $350.00. This is the same as last year.

  •   Trash report: As of November 30 the town has disposed of 69.29 tons of trash and 23.9 tons of recyclables.

  •   A letter of appreciation was received from Jeanne Forrester, former State Senator for District 2.

  •   The Board received an invitation to a “Farewell Gathering” for former County Commissioners Martha Richards and Michael Cryans.

  •   The Board received a notice from the Upper Valley – Lake Sunapee Regional Planning Commission regarding a survey targeted toward participants of Hazardous Waste management. No action was taken.

  •   The Board received a letter from the Canaan Library Trustees summarizing their services and Orange patronage. They requested that the town continue to make an annual financial contribution.

  •   It was noted that Bob Slattery recently cleaned up some wind storm damage from the road in the vicinity of his home. Bob Ells will stop in and thank him on behalf of the Board.

  •   Skip said that the highway department took cared of the hazardous tree concern on Tug Mountain Road.

    Secretary’s report:

  •   The office received information from Primex that cyber attack insurance coverage is included in the town’s policy.

  •   As of this meeting, the highway department has $471.14 in the budget. There are two bills totaling $7,507.70 yet to be paid. Sandi said Road Agent Scott Sanborn requested the Board decide if they would prefer to pay the outstanding bills from the 2016 budget (if funds are available) or to carry them over to the 2017 highway appropriation. Scott said that both venders were willing to be paid after January 1, 2017. After discussion, the Board concurred that the 2016 budget balance could take in the expenditures and that the bills should be processed at the December 27, 2016 meeting.

    Reports from other Boards and Committees:

  •   Dorothy stated that the Orange Conservation Commission will meet on December 16 at 5 PM at her home. The ongoing work on the Natural Resources Inventory will be discussed. This meeting is open to the public.

  •   Judith stated that the Salary Study Committee was seeking to review information from the Department of Labor to the town about the regulations of timely payments to employees.

    Public Comment:

Judith Lindahl asked if the Board secretary could send out the meeting agendas to her email listserv. The Board agreed that she could, but that it might not be available until the early afternoon the day of the meeting.

Bills and vouchers were reviewed and signed. Meeting adjourned 7:00 P.M.

Respectfully submitted, Sandi Pierson

Dorothy Behlen Heinrichs

Robert Ells

Lyell Smith