Board of Selectmen Meeting, February 20, 2024
Illegal political signs, lots of open positions, questions about complaint procedures.
Chairman Bartlett was absent from the meeting. The meeting was led by Vice Chairman Morin.
Illegal Political Signs
The Moderator has reported illegal political signs around town. It is illegal to put signs on public property or the property of other people, and political signs are required to say who produced them. For example, a sign was placed across the street from Town Hall on property belonging to Bear Paw Conservation Trust, who have not given permission for political signs to be placed on their property. These illegal signs will be removed and taken to Town Hall, where they may be retrieved by their owners.
Voters Guide
The board agreed on a voters’ guide for the town election, which has now been published.
New Development Site Walk
There’s a public notice of a site walk on March 9 at 10:00 am for a new development on Raymond Road.
Open Positions
The Town Administrator said the town had several positions open:
Administrative assistant - assessing coordinator
Heavy equipment operator
Firefighter/EMT - 2 positions
Full-time police officer
Recycling Center supervisor
Complaint Procedures
During public comment write-in candidate for Selectman, Jaye Vilchock, asked the board questions about the town’s complaint process. He was told that there was a written procedure for complaints about individuals. There was also an official complaint form available at the front desk at Town Hall; however, complaints need not be on that form and may be sent by email. They just need to be in writing. The Town Administrator was unsure of whether the complaint form is on the Town’s website. [As of the time of this writing, it is not.] How complaints are handled depends on the situation.
Complaints about things other than individuals are also obtained from the public. For example, there has been a complaint about road salt poisoning a well.
While the Town does not keep a database of complaints against individuals, as these are infrequent, it does keep a database of complaints about roads.
Access to Landlocked Tract
The board heard a complicated case from a citizen who owns a 25-acre tract of land that he wishes to timber, but the tract has no road access. RSA 231:40 enables landowners in his position to petition the Board of Selectmen to command an adjacent landowner to grant access to the land, but with due compensation.
The petitioner claimed that ancient maps of the property show a rangeway going to his property. Rangeways were primitive early roads established by grants of land from the English monarchy to the colonial proprietors of early New Hampshire settlements. He said that this rangeway remains visible, but is impassible due to a landowner’s intentional blocking of access to it with a large pile of gravel.
There was a long discussion about the predicament. Selectman Morin suggested that the Nottingham Conservation Commission might be interested in buying the land, and that it has access to funds for doing so. The landowner thought this could be a viable option. The board directed the landowner to contact all of the abutters to start negotiations with them about the possibility of their granting timbering access.
Questions to the Board
A citizen asked the board many questions during public comment.
Q: Could the police department use the old road behind the Town Hall?
A: No. This road has been closed.
Q: Could the old fire station be a good location for a new police station?
A: This will be investigated as a possibility if Warrant Article #8 is passed.
Q: When the bridge on Rt 152 is closed for replacement, can the Town pay overtime for more police so that the disconnected part of town can have police coverage:
A: That’s a 2025 budget issue that is too soon to deal with. The board hopes that it can convince the state to pay for this.
Q: What type of surety bonds does the town have on the selectmen?
A: The Town Administrator says all of the town officials are bonded, but off of the top of her head, she doesn’t know the details. For questions such as these it would be better to email the questions first to allow them to be researched.
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