Board of Selectmen Meeting, October 21, 2024

Legal Services Bids

The board decided that it was time for a competitive review of the town’s legal services. Upton & Hatfield have been providing legal services to the town since 2004. 

Four bids were received, including one from the town’s current vendor. Selectman Dabrieo commented that he thought two of them were particularly competitive. One concern he had was about turnaround time for inquiries, as this had been a problem for the board in the past. As the proposals are lengthy and complex, the board will review them for discussion at their next meeting. Meanwhile, the Town Administrator will call the bidders’ references. 

Fuel Bids

The town received a single bid from its current provider, Irving, for a fixed price for one year of $2.46 per gallon for heating oil and $1.377 per gallon for propane. The price for diesel was given at $2.769 per gallon, but no fixed price was offered. Unfortunately, the offer expired three days prior to the meeting. The board unanimously approved the offer on the condition that the prices are not changed. 

Auditing Bids

The town received no bids for audit services. The board instructed the Town Administrator to put the request for proposals out again. 

Pawtuckaway Milfoil Mitigation

Neil Santos and Tom Duffy of the Pawtuckaway Lake Improvement Association provided an end-of-season update on the mitigation of invasive Milfoil on Pawtuckaway Lake. The lake became infested in 2015. Manual mitigation efforts were largely successful until 2022, at which time Milfoil exponentially proliferated. In 2023, the town received a one-time grant of $50k from the NH Department of Environmental Services for the full cost of treating the most infested areas with herbicide. Mitigation efforts this year found greatly reduced amounts of Milfoil; however, all locations in the lake where Milfoil had been found in 2023 still had some Milfoil in 2024. Santos predicted that Milfoil growth would, in just a few years, exceed what could be controlled manually. He urged the town to prepare to spend $60k in a few years on another herbicide treatment. While the town may be able to get some grant funds for this, he noted that a future grant from the Department of Environmental Services would, at most, pay for only half of the cost. 

Budget Presentations

The board began the process of creating next year’s proposed budget. The process begins with discussions with each department head about their expectations for the coming year. In this meeting budgets of the Town Clerk, Moderator, and Conservation Commission were discussed. 

Election Budget

Moderator Dawn Fernald said there was a new state mandate to have an Accessible Voting System for town elections. She anticipates this device will cost $4k to $7k to acquire and about $1.5k to $2.5k to program it each year. Currently, the state provides the town with an AVS for state and national elections. Usually, one or fewer people in town use the device in these elections.

The Moderator also discussed a new state mandate to reconcile election results (e.g., compare the number of votes with the number of ballots cast) the night of the election, instead of the prior standard of 48 hours after the election. This will cause extra work when the team is already exhausted. She described equipment (Poll Pads) that could be acquired to automate parts of the reconciliation process. Towns that have implemented this equipment have been happy with it. She recommended  3 Poll Pads at $1575 each. There’s a $1750 one-time startup fee, plus $300 per year and $300 per election. She anticipates that the state will, in the future, require towns to have such equipment. 

Grant money may become available for these items in the coming year.

Town Clerk Budget

Town Clerk Lori Anderson discussed the Town Clerk’s budget. She noted that the board had not reduced the department’s salary budget in its implementation of the default budget. Should employees get retroactive pay raises? The board did not appear to wish to consider this. 

She discussed changing the department’s hours to enhance administrative efficiency. The board requested that she present a specific proposal for this. 

She noted that the town has been earning more from vehicle registration fees than anticipated due to the rising prices of new vehicles. She also suggested that some minor fees might be increased.

Friends of Nottingham Parks & Recreation

A non-profit organization is being established to support Nottingham Parks & Recreation. The current focus is on fundraising to potentially build tennis and pickleball courts at Marston Fields. 

Highway Repaving and Reconstruction

Last week, the Highway Department completed all of its paving and road reconstruction work for the season, including the projects that were unfinished in 2023 and authorized that year by warrant article. The final work done was milling and repaving a portion of Deerfield Road.

WWII Veterans Memorial

The WWII Veterans Memorial in front of the library had to be removed to install the library’s new septic system. While the Highway Department was able to remove it, the monument needs professional monument installers to re-install it. The board considered various new locations for the monument, and requested input from the Highway Director. A decision will be made at the next meeting. It is hoped to get the monument installed before Veterans Day.

Halloween Festival

The town’s Halloween Festival on October 19 was a huge success. Over 700 people attended - far more than expected. Last year’s successful event had 500 attendees. 

The official trick or treat will be on October 31 from 5 to 7 pm.