All towns · ashland

Board of Selectmen 8/17/26

Video

Good afternoon everybody. It's 5:30 on
August 17th.
Um, we have a full board. We have
Steve beside me.
We have Ann on the other side of me. We
have Steve Heath at the end of the
table. Jenny is joining us by Zoom and
I'm Andy.
Uh, please stand for the Pledge of
Allegiance.
Ellen, would you lead us, please?
>> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands,
one nation
>> [clears throat]
>> under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
>> Okay, we have no meeting minutes to
approve, so we're going to move right
directly to the public hearing.
So, the public hearing
um
is to set new a new fee schedule
for Ashland Power. Um
the new Ashland Power rates will be
effective September 1st of 2026
and will be reflected in the October
billing.
Schedule of the increases are rates 1
and 2 will increase by 13%.
Rate 3 will increase by
6.5%,
rate 4 will increase by 9.8%
and rate 5 will be discontinued.
Current customers in rate 5
will be placed on
the new rate 3 schedule.
No increases will be made to demand
rates.
All rates will continue to be charged
.01
cents per kilowatt
hour purchase adjustment charge. Um full
schedules are available online and at
the town offices.
If anybody here wants to see one, they
can borrow mine.
Yeah, I have an extra of these.
>> You do?
Yeah.
I do. Oh, yep.
Yep. You got another one?
How's that? Okay.
All right, Ron.
All right. All right, Ron. Thank you.
>> Yeah, so you know, we paid for the study
from PLM.
And he did his presentation at the last
selectmen's meeting.
Um he did stop short of his
recommendation. He made Marissa and I
aware of his rate recommendation.
Which Marissa and I
thought about it long and hard and it's
like that's not going to go over very
well.
Cuz his his recommendation
First, the goal was is to cover the cost
of the substation
cost annually.
Must put $215,000
into
fund balance at the end of the year
after paying all the bills and
everything else.
But that would have equated to a 20%
increase
across the board.
So, Marissa and I
we dug into the budget a little bit. I
see some
possible savings in the budget.
And then we reviewed what PLM
proposed and
what you have before you is
PLM made the recommendations for the
You know, the discontinuances of the
blocks
And and moving the rate five over to
rate three.
But, Marissa and I with the savings
we're going to have in the budget
and uh
what Andy just read off, I believe is
more palatable and it'd be less
impactful
um to the ratepayers.
>> Do we have any questions from the floor?
>> Andy, it doesn't give a comparison of
what
we pay now versus what we will be paying
for the same amount of kilowatt hours.
Is there a way to
to do that?
>> Yeah, you you'd have to take this rate
sheet
to your electric bill.
>> Yeah, I think mine came out at $11.
Um
so my my last bill was 94.
So, I'm going to pay 105.
>> So, and correct me if I'm wrong. So,
like on this it says that residential be
0.21673
per kilowatt hour. So, if you look at
one of your previous bills,
it'll tell you what your per kilowatt
hour is now. So, then you just take the
difference between those two and
multiply.
>> What I did was
um I had to call the electric department
because
I looked at
24, 25,
26
at the
uh three months, you know, um June,
July, and August. And
for some reason this
this year,
um I usually average around 500.
I was 1,100 and something.
My um
my bill was $280.
$22.
You know, um
>> Maybe someone Maybe you guys can go out
and check your meter or something. Maybe
there's something going on with the
meter.
>> And I thought that
>> Cuz you
>> They said
>> What's that?
>> I thought it was the same thing. It was
13.
>> They didn't go Did they go out and check
it?
>> Mhm.
>> Yeah. Okay.
Oh, the usage is the usage, though.
>> Yeah.
>> Unless there's something else going on.
>> Refrigerator, refrigerator, or it could
be any number of things.
>> So, I did do I did do a sampling.
>> And that's what I was
>> So, just just a comparison.
>> So,
uh
the Hamshire Electric Co-op with all
their fees and whatever for a 500 kW
would
would be
What's that?
So,
the Hamshire Electric Co-op for 500 kW
with all their fees and their rate
structure and everything for a
residential would be $154.81
per month.
Eversource, I could believe came in at
155.
And Ashland Electric for the same 500 kW
today
before this rate increase would be
$114.32.
So, we're you know, we're well below
what Hamshire Electric Co-op and
Eversource are.
Obviously, I'm a I'm a Co-op customer
where I live, and
they have all these membership fees and
they We don't have all that stuff. Yours
is pretty
>> straightforward.
>> straightforward, and
>> the 14 would represent after the rate?
>> No, before.
>> Before.
>> Before. So, then you would take that
same kW
the 500 and multiply it
into the new rate.
>> Uh
residential rate, so it'll be
500 * 0.2116,
and you get to add the meter meter
charge of
15.
And I think there's the 0.01 there's the
0.01
1 cent per kilowatt.
>> For the uh
which is what you've been paying right
along. That That hasn't changed.
>> And so, what does that come up to
comparable to?
>> I don't I'll tell you why.
But, I think overall, you just take your
that
percentage Andy read.
>> It goes [clears throat]
to say.
>> Like that I come up with 120.8, so it'd
be a
$7 increase.
>> I'm a co-op customer, and I just had a
second big increase for the year.
>> As of August 1st.
>> My wife's not liking that.
>> up like 15%.
>> And they may do it again in the fall.
At Eversource, we we just got hit with
the uh wheeling fees.
>> All the power we bring in comes over
Eversource lines.
>> It was 10.3%
something like that. The wheeling fees.
And we spend
almost 70,000 a year just on wheeling
fees getting the power here.
So, that's going up another 10 or 12,000
bucks.
Um we didn't
add that into this. So.
>> When was the last time we got a raise?
>> A rate increase? Um February of last
year. That was after the new contracts
for the power purchase.
>> And how long is the contract for?
>> 5 years.
Yep, it's good till
2028.
Yeah, it's like
I believe 2028. Yeah.
>> Now, do you expect another rate increase
after this one?
>> Um it depends on what EverSource does to
us. Um
I would say that we're going to review
this annually.
>> Um we need to if if for some reason I
don't think it's ever going to go down,
but
you know, in 6 months I think we should
reevaluate after this rate increase
where we're at, you know, financially.
And, you know, if the board seems to
think that, you know, maybe it was a
little too much, we could adjust the
rate. Or if it's good, we stay where it
is. Then 6 months later we'll do another
review.
I think we need to pay more attention
semi-annual
because, you know, we didn't have any
advanced notice. EverSource just sent
sent a notification to us, "Hey, we're
up in your wheeling fees as of August
1st."
And then I got a notice at home from the
co-op, "Hey, guess what? Your fees are
going up August 1st." That was in July.
So.
>> Well.
>> Um and I don't go I don't go on their
website cuz my wife takes care of the
bills at home. So.
>> And because the electric department is a
franchise,
and
budgets will be coming out pretty soon.
>> Oh, yeah. Yeah.
>> All right.
>> Yeah, I've been
>> How do you Yeah.
>> I've been looking at that very closely.
>> I will be, too.
>> I think
I expect that.
I actually look forward to that.
So, um
just so everybody is aware,
this price increase also includes the
monies for the
>> for the substation.
>> substation, for the payback of the
substation.
So, there shouldn't be
shouldn't be
another increase
unless something goes totally south like
everybody
raises the prices on us again.
>> Well, and you know, another important
thing is
the economic development committee is
trying to
get more business in the town. There's
some stuff in the works there.
As we bring on more customers in the
commercial sector,
that's why I think every 6 months we
should re-evaluate the rates and the
structures because the more three-phase
users that potentially could come on
could level out level out everything
because the past 2 years
and PLM said it in the meeting
in '24 we we lost 303,000 in the
residential rate structure.
And then in '25 we lost 368,000.
But where we made up ground was in the
three-phase and the commercial.
So, that we only lost in '24 we lost
96,000 and in '25 we lost 94,000
overall.
That's why we're here today talking
about this because we can't lose money
and pay for the substation and stay
afloat.
Um and you know,
we worked very hard with Marissa and PLM
to come up with something that we think
it's more palatable and
hopefully isn't going to adversely
affect, you know, people that are
struggling, but just so that the people
out there that are are struggling, there
is help out there if they apply for it.
You know, there's Tri-County CAP and
other agencies that are willing to step
up and help people in need. So, don't
don't be bashful. Ask for the help if
you truly need it.
Okay.
>> Anything further from the public?
>> Well, I'm thinking
>> that on an average, you know, even I'll
even go a little bit further and say $6
to $10, you know, for
an average increase.
But,
I'm thinking about wages percentage.
You know, how is that going to affect
rates?
>> Oh, every year
wages increase.
See, that's something
you hit on something that we have
say we, but um
the town hasn't the Ashuelot Electric
has not been very proactive with
um that, at least what I've been told.
I've only been here a year and a couple
of months, but
every year this should have been
reviewed because we do have contracts,
you know, for wages and everything. And
every year there is a wage increase, but
for many years you went without
adjusting.
when the when you start to lose
businesses that were actually paying a
lot and helping contribute, now
now it's shouldered on the backs of the
residential people.
Now now we're paying the piper, you
know,
for not paying attention and trying to
do
the incremental increases that should
have happened over time.
>> Well, I'm looking
you know and budget administration from
one year to the next and one person in
administration
in the franchise
went from
101,000 to 116.
>> Is that person still with us?
I have no idea who she's talking about
but we rarely came to me.
>> I I'd rather not mention
>> We can't. Yeah.
>> I'd rather not mention
>> Is that a personnel thing?
>> Well, so we so PLM did take into account
the 25 the 24 budget and expenses
going revenues and same for 25 and then
we gave them the 26 budget.
Um so they're aware of all the contracts
and then wages for 26
then Marissa and I work in the budget
cuz we're already over halfway through
26.
Took into account the contractual
increases for 27 and that's how we come
up with
these numbers. So
>> So all the current administration and
the wages are already built into it.
So Ron and I spoke with um
the Anza Electric Co-op
one day and one of the things that came
out of that meeting is
they do a rate study every year.
>> Yeah. And PLM's the one that does
>> And PLM Yeah. So
we need to do the same thing so that we
don't
get what we've had the last 2 years.
>> So the beauty of
working with PLM is they gave us the
model.
So we have the spreadsheets that Excel
>> and the model so we can take and plug in
the 26
total expenditures, you know, at the end
of the year
and the revenues, and then it calculates
through
it's a basically a working model, so we
just plug in, and then we can plug in
the anticipated 27
expenses with we [clears throat] know
roughly until until town meeting
happens, we have a rough idea of what
budgets are going to be.
So, we can evaluate again.
So, we're going to keep our thumb on it.
>> You know, it's important to to look at
towns that are comparable in size versus
looking at Ashland and say Plymouth, you
know, um
residents-wise, you know, it is you
know, it's it's larger than Plymouth. I
mean, you
you raise the rates, and you're going to
get an increase certainly more than
you know, Ashland. We have what, 1,800,
2,000 residents?
>> Um
We're at 1,900 and something,
almost 2,000 customers.
>> Definitely.
>> Yeah. Yeah.
You know, obviously, the more customers,
the more you spread out the debt, you
know.
and that's that's why we didn't bring
the PLM recommendation forward.
That's why, you know, we looked at the
budgets and
came up with this
this plan.
>> And it still puts us under anybody
around us.
>> Oh, yeah.
Significantly.
>> Right.
>> But there is no town that's smaller than
us.
>> No, it isn't done by town, it's done by
what the town electric company serve,
what's their customer base.
>> And yeah, and the customer base in
Hampton or you
>> Yeah, they're split between Eversource
and the Interlakes Co-op, so
>> Yeah, you got to look at the
territories.
You know, Lincoln, for instance, is
heavily commercial and it you know
But I still had an electric bill last
month and and it's just my wife and I
and two dogs. Um sure they don't use
much power, but uh
uh my bill was 190 bucks. I mean and
I have LED lighting and
battery outdoor lights for the dog park
and everything and try to conserve every
way I can and it's still was 190 bucks,
so.
>> And I know myself that it was
222.
>> Yes.
>> Uh I'll talk to Shane about your meter
and stuff and I still think there might
be something going on there.
You know, if your average has gone up
that much.
>> I usually average 500 and even last year
at the same time.
>> They they can print out a graph for her.
>> Oh.
>> So, it'll show when she spikes her
power.
>> Okay.
>> Just ask him for a graph.
>> I had a graph.
>> Yeah. Then you can see when it spiked.
>> And I did see the spikes.
>> Try to correlate what's running in your
place to figure out why it spiked at
that point.
>> You you might have an appliance that's
getting ready to give up.
>> And if you're doing it on demand hours,
that makes a huge difference.
>> Yeah, it does. Yeah, if that
refrigerator is spiking you or whatever
during the daytime or the dryer
um that's your multiplier for your
usage.
>> Right. People don't understand that or
they
run that stuff at 3:00 a.m.
>> So, I told my wife, even though I buy
high energy efficient stuff, it's like I
don't want another 190 dollar bill
during the summer.
>> Any further from the audience?
So, I'm going to close the public
hearing.
Um do we have any questions from the
board?
>> Yours was good. What what you guys did.
>> Yeah, it was
It was a learn It was a learning
experience, to be quite honest.
I don't think
I don't think you've ever had a working
rate model for the electric company.
>> I think you're probably right.
>> So, that knowledge and it's going to be
a great tool to use in the future.
>> It will be, yeah.
Thank
So, I'm going to make a
recommendation to
change the rates
as described previously.
Not going to read through all of this.
>> As noted.
>> Yeah, as noticed.
Do I have a second?
>> I'll second.
>> I have a motion and a second. Do we have
any further discussion?
Jenny?
>> I.
>> Stevie?
>> Ann?
>> Mr. Steve?
And Andy says I.
>> Good job, Harry. Good job, Andy,
remembering to do a roll call.
I'll screw it up.
We trained you well, grasshopper.
>> [laughter]
>> Okay, next item
on the agenda is going to be the
electric
>> No.
>> Saving.
>> Sarah.
>> I was going to get the electric out of
the way while we were here.
>> Oh, that's fine.
>> Let's do the electric, yeah.
>> Go ahead, Craig.
>> I is here for the duration, anyway.
>> You the man.
>> So, Ron, you will go on and explain to
us what's going on here, please.
Are you going to let me Do you want me
to start with the
graphs that I have checked?
Or the spreadsheets there?
>> Uh you can.
>> Can't name names or anything. Oops.
Please don't I don't give myself a
coffee. That was harsh.
And that's I'm sure Wait a minute.
All right.
So that the nicely colored one
>> Yep.
>> Um that was that was your
write-offs last year.
To the tune of $18,053.62.
And
all of the highlighted are rental
properties.
some of them
get down with pretty large balances.
If you remember when you guys voted on
that. And then the other the other sheet
was the 21
and 22. It was $29,000 that you wrote
off
in 22.
So yeah.
Thinking about it and obviously we have
one disgruntle
fairly new to Ashland repair that um
our customer
that brought it to my attention that we
don't have memorialized a lot of our
policies that we have in place.
And we have a like a one or two page
here that
doesn't go into great detail.
So I thought it best to mirror what
uh the
you two two utilities closest to us
Eversource and the Hampshire Electric
Co-op do for their policies.
borrowed it from them. And they're you
know, just be clear, we're not regulated
by the PUC because we're a municipal
power that's like four
municipal power companies in New
Hampshire that are not regulated.
But
we all closely follow what the regulated
ones do.
So, I thought it best to kind of
memorialize our terms and conditions.
He's kind of
adopted or I'm looking to adopt like the
security deposit procedures that
other utilities do. They actually do a
background check. They do a blood
background check, honey.
A credit check.
Um for credit worthiness and if if they
fail that, then it's other criteria, but
we more than likely would
need a deposit prior to them
getting electric service from
Ashland Electric. And, you know, we kind
of have a blanket where
it's just a flat $300 deposit for 12
months and if you're in good standing
for 12 months,
not late, you'll get your $300 back
where the other utilities
do the three highest months
of that residence as a security deposit.
But, they keep that in play. They hold
that for 24 months instead of just 1
year.
And long as people pay on time and
whatever, then they they would get that
credited back to their account
towards the next bills coming up.
Um we have not done very good in the
past with
follow-through. That's why, you know,
last fall I came to you folks. We were
over a quarter of a million dollars in
uncollected debt.
And, you know, we had
single family residents owning owning a
Ashland Electric between 7 and 11,000
Pretty hard to comprehend how long
that's been going on, but
um that's been tightened up to the point
now where we have 32 roughly 32,000
in uncollected debt, but those are all
people on a payment plan that are making
good faith effort to pay their current
and some of the rears, so we're working
with the people and
uh another uh terms of deposit
um deposit options
uh payment arrangements, basically how
to set up payment plan
payment terms
You know, a lot of this stuff we do, but
it's just verbal. I thought it would be
best to memorialize this and have them
in writing.
So, if we're challenged in the future
that we
now this will become available to any
customer that wants to view it.
And we'll post it at the electric
company if it's adopted.
Um one thing that
I have not seen any policy on is
what they call a medical emergency.
So, people that have a medical
requirement, even though, you know,
where you check a little box on your
application
yeah, I have, you know, a
oxygen generator and I need power or
whatever.
Um okay, well, you're still going to pay
your bill.
But we don't have a policy. So, now I'm
proposing a policy
and it basically says once we're
notified, we will not disconnect your
service, you'll have up 15 days to
provide us with a medical note
and then
furthermore, they that whoever it is
needs to if they can't afford the bill,
work out a payment plan
stay current with that payment plan. If
they fail on the payment plan
we will notify them and they'll be given
a time frame when we are going to
disconnect so they can move whoever's
affected to somewhere where it's safe
that has reliable power.
What other utilities do is they they
work with you to a point, but you still
got to pay your bill, you know, and
you know,
um I thought it'd be good to memorialize
this and have the procedures so that
everybody is well aware and
we have shown that we do work with
people, obviously, with uh
well, we can't we can't we can't run in
the red, so, you know,
people need There's a lot of help out
there, Tri-County CAP, other agencies,
churches, everything that'll help you.
Obviously, like Steve can attest, fire
department has a list of people that
have medical devices, so if we have a
major outage, like the substation issue,
I'm sure they're running in and around
checking on everybody to make sure that,
they um whoever needed power they could
get somewhere and
what else is important here?
>> I'd like to make a comment.
That
I think what you are proposing
is a great idea.
>> Thank you.
and you're probably going to like this
one, too. I don't think I don't think we
have too many in town, but
I believe there may be one or two where
the landlord takes care of the electric
bill for the tenants.
Um I just want to mention it actually.
The problem being here is a lot of times
we don't know who the tenants are living
there because the landlord pays the
bill. And they don't pay the bill, they
get a disconnect notice.
Well, we don't have a policy on how to
properly notify everybody
at that place because they're going to
be adversely affected due to the
non-payment of the
of the owner of the property.
So, this is a procedure here well where
we would send either a certified letter
or
post at the main entrance to uh
property in multi-family housing that
the uh
property owner pays the electric just to
make them aware
so they can talk to their landlord and
make arrangements
because we don't want them to be
adversely affected if they don't control
the paying of bill. It's up to the
landlord. So, it's just another
good thing to notify the people.
And we don't As far as I have not seen
anything like that, so we just
let the owner know and
>> Any questions from the board?
>> I just on I don't even know what page.
Page five.
>> When it says
Please note that when we terminate
services at your request, we are not
responsible for any damages to property
caused by the lack of
electric services. Are we responsible if
we turn it off?
>> Well, there's been cases on other
utilities where
they requested the power to be turned
off but didn't take into account they
had refrigerated foods or whatever and
then all of a sudden they came back and
tried to sue the utility for thousands
of dollars and
>> But if we if we turn it on for not turn
it off for non-payment, we're not
responsible either.
>> But at their request, we just need to
make sure that they're aware we're not
responsible. You're asking us to turn
the power off.
Don't turn around and kind of come at us
that you lost product or
damage occurred to your building cut you
know in the wintertime.
>> not have
got all the water out of their pipes and
it's like, well, I don't want to pay the
bill this winter. Just go ahead and turn
it off.
And then next spring, the place is
ruined by
flooding.
So, it kind of covers covers both ways
if
they ask for it to be turned off, we
just make them well aware that they're
responsible for any damages that occur.
>> Right. And I I get that, but just
reading this, if you didn't know, you'd
be like, oh, so if I tell you to, then
you're not responsible, but I didn't see
where it said in here we turn it off
because of lack of payment that we're
not responsible.
>> It's It's in here. It's in here.
>> I didn't see that.
>> I I had to read it twice to find it.
It's in there.
I hear what you're saying if
>> If we turn it off and we say
>> turn it off for nonpayment.
>> Yeah. Well, that's on them. Good luck in
court cuz they didn't pay the bill.
>> Right, but I was just thinking if it
says at your request, it shouldn't it be
anytime that it's turned off, we're not
responsible?
>> Yeah, I I I guess that was Nixa Electric
Co-op obviously has like
close to 800,000 customers. They must
have had a situation. That's why they
put that in. Kind of plagiarized what
they use.
That'd be full disclosure here. They
fully vetted it, so
you know, and it's it's and it's all
everything they have here is gone
through not only their
their legal team, but also the PUC. So,
we're not asking for anything.
Um oh, one other one other important
thing I didn't know
whether or not
there is a section where if
the customer and the utility cannot
reach an agreement,
the
customer would have the option to have a
hearing before the select board.
that can't that can delay it because uh
like the
PUC regulated utilities,
you know, like if someone's got a
medical need, but then they refuse to
follow through with a payment
arrangement or whatever,
they'll give them like a 15-day notice
you need to move your person or whoever
to a place that has power, but they also
per the PUC need to reach out to them to
get permission.
>> You know, because they're regulated.
They basically just state the case that
they did all proper notifications.
So, basically what we're doing by
memorializing this is we're following
all the proper notifications. Then if
the person wants to have a hearing
before you, you know that Ashland
Electric did their due diligence, but
they have the option to still have a
hearing before you and
and the courts like that it it's not a
repetitive thing where there's only one
person has the final say. There is an
option to go before a board. And the
same thing with other utilities, you
know, the customer has right to
have a hearing at the PUC.
So, you're basically the PUC PUC for the
electric.
>> And you know, sometimes decisions aren't
always favorable and it's always good to
have,
you know, somewhere else to state your
case and get get another opinion.
>> Anything else from the board?
>> Do I have a motion?
>> I'll do this.
>> I'll do it I'll do it I'll do it.
>> This passes muster. If you guys can sign
it.
>> Meant to get this to you all sooner, but
we had a busy day in the office today.
>> So, we can table this till next meeting
if you want.
>> I was hoping you get done tonight.
>> All set?
Jenny, are you all set?
>> I Yes, I am.
>> I am.
And I have a motion.
>> I'll make a motion to accept the policy
as written.
>> I'll second it.
>> We have any further discussion?
Jenny.
>> I think she might have froze.
>> Steve H?
>> Steve F?
>> Andy Fitch says
>> And Jenny Jenny?
>> And just
>> Motion carries.
>> We will review this annually.
>> For changes if need be.
>> Uh Jenny, when you get back, you're
going to have to go in and sign this.
>> Right, gear up.
do you guys anybody Did everybody have a
chance to do all this stuff?
Or I guess there's a couple of things on
the table.
New corners, did we find out any opinion
from legal about that yet?
>> Nope. No, we have not.
>> So, if we didn't pave
new corners, it would be $7,700 roughly
in savings.
Uh
from that section.
So, I mean, we got several I mean, if
you decide to go ahead and pave it and
everything,
we do have several
weeks of rent board.
So, if some
council came back and said, "Yeah, you
better take it over." we can
put it in use. It's not They're not
coming in for 3 or 4 weeks anyway.
>> Um so, if some something happens, but we
can plan to leave it out.
It's up to you whether you want to pave
the road or not. I mean, it's We can do
something different. Some other road, we
can hold off. It's all ultimately up to
you guys.
Um but my opinion is that's the worst
road.
Um but however you guys want to handle
I just
>> And you say worst road you're talking
about from Route 3 in?
>> Yeah, from Route 3 in to the dirt
section is the worst.
>> The problem is you're committing us to 2
years to that one road. And we've got
other roads that really need some work
to them.
I personally would prefer to pave
section
that is currently unpaved.
>> The dirt section?
>> And the Yeah, dirt section and
reserve the funds
to get
a proper
um survey done of our roads, culverts,
our infrastructure for the roads.
>> road plan here.
>> Yeah. Um
that's where I'd like to go.
>> Folks.
>> [sighs and gasps]
>> If the road
is in need of repair, it's going to be
cheaper to do it once instead of having
them to have to bring their stuff back
out.
>> You're talking 2 years. For 2 years,
you're not going to do anything else to
anything on the on the roads.
>> Well, next year, we would overlay that,
do How Road and Swan Point.
I think we'd have enough funding for
that. So, I would take How Road into
account and if they're smaller and
they're in the general area.
I I Swan Point's pretty bad.
>> I I still want to get the survey done.
Guys, what do you
>> When
would but the money that's put in there
was for paving though, not for a survey.
>> The money was
the money was put in for roads.
Getting the survey done is going to be
for the roads.
>> I think that's nitpicking.
>> I don't know what the survey's going to
cost yet. I haven't got that quote yet.
>> I get the Yeah, that's pretty expensive.
I mean, we did the survey, we got the
10-year survey. I think Steve Felton
seen it. I think I I told you guys that
you did. I mean, even though it was done
by some uh
college kids and overseen by an
engineer.
And Steve can tell you, I think he
looked at it. We followed it pretty
well. I mean it was pretty good plan and
ends this year.
Um so we're due for another one if you
guys chose to spend the money on another
one but um
We did pretty good. I don't think LRPC
is any cheaper than anybody else anyway.
So they still charge a good fee to do it
whether you're getting it from them or
somebody else. Um
but I think they did a pretty good job
with it. They projected a lot. We came
in under budget on everything that every
year
um we're able to
do things. If you really look at the
plan, we did a lot of work with the
money we had.
>> Well well we ain't just a question on
that. Were we able to do
the roads
in the way that they said like versus
patch versus replace? Did we follow
their
>> Yeah, pretty tight for the most part. I
I
do with the shimming overlay or total
rebuild or
>> Um so those are the common So those were
the suggestions they made and then when
you did those roads, it followed their
suggestion.
>> Yeah, because it's pretty easy like if
you look at North Ashland I mean Alburg
Road right now, yeah, it's all broken up
into little pieces. Even I could see
that and I don't have to do a boring to
know that.
>> I got to grind that road up.
>> Um and if the road's just got lateral
cracks in it,
it's a shimming overlay.
it went but when it's broken up and it's
all into little pieces and it's like
just can't hold together cuz it's so
dry, you got to fully regrind it. And he
pissed at you know, I mean you got to I
have experience now doing it. Before I
was kind of new at it so I
after you know, I was glad to have that
report.
But I think all of us could go out and
decide what road we need to pave if we
just uh
took a ride. But um if you want to pay
for an engineer, that's fine with me. We
can budget for it. Um
or whatever. And I'll pave a different
road if you guys have an idea of what
road you want to pave?
Do you want to do North Ashland Road?
I'll do it. I don't care. I'm just
Holding off a year of pavement is not
probably the best cuz I don't know what
I'm going to do to hold that road
together next year.
>> I'll just give you my
>> When do you pave Albert Road?
>> I'll give my thoughts on across a couple
of things. One of them is
obviously we got the CIP starting again
and the CIP is designed to plan for
roads in the past and it sounds like
we've been kind of
doing roads
on a yearly basis
and taking it out of capital reserves
even though those particular roads were
not
planned for them, were not saved for in
the capital reserve. So, we've got to
get to the point where we're starting to
put the money away for all those
projects.
>> you're funding and spending, funding and
spending.
>> Right. It's almost like we're using it
as a
budget item, as a budget line.
Yeah. Um
so, we can't That's the way it's been.
We can't change what happened. We can
only change what can we do moving
forward. So, moving forward from the
capital improvement program committee,
it's going to be identified to Andy's
point, I think we do need to get a
road and culvert study done so that we
get a professional look at all the roads
and see what needs to be done and that's
going to help us
be able to figure out the capital
improvement money that we're going to
need over the next whatever 5 10 years.
so, I guess the
knowing that that hoping that that's
going to be the case going forward, what
we have in front of us now is all right,
do we want to
spend that capital reserve money, which
is kind of what we've been doing on an
annual basis
I think things is the road that needs
the most work and having drove
driven on that road
with Cragan kind of checking out it
definitely is
definitely doesn't need some work cuz it
looks like it's been many years since
anything's been done. So I guess the
question is
if that is the road that we need to do,
do we want to do it
this year or maybe not. I I would agree
we would don't want to do the book
corners thing till we get that piece of
it figured out.
>> I guess you got to think about it. If I
don't pave it this year, when do I pave
Um so if I wait a year, what's that road
going to look like next year? You got to
think about that. Um
Can I hold it together with some
patching? Yeah, but I'm going to spend a
lot of time out there. I got to spend a
lot of time on Andys Road. You know, you
know
it's starting to add up and I can only
do so much with my little grinder that I
have and we did buy a used machine that
hopefully I can drag chunks and stuff,
but um
if I don't pave it this year, I don't
when do I pave it? When when is it okay
if you pave it?
>> So when you
>> That's all I'm saying is you got to
think about that.
>> So when you were
asking for money this year,
this was one of the roads that was
planned for with that money.
>> It's just not all these roads, if you
look at the plan, come up at the same
time. They degraded it.
>> Nobody can predict 10 years and
>> I get it. But what I'm trying to say is
this first started as it was what?
30,000 and people from the town put in
wanted it to go up to 150.
>> Oh yeah, for this year.
>> So they voted that in for roads.
I think we do what the town wants us to
do.
>> If anybody
has an idea of what I should pave
instead of that, I'll do it.
I just don't want to get caught behind.
That's all.
>> Yeah, at this point
I think
I think we should do that road now.
>> Minus
minus whatever it's called Moose Corner.
>> And and at the same and we also need to
get a new road full road study and
culvert study done
ASAP.
>> No, we could put it in the budget.
>> Yeah, I submitted
>> There is no ASAP for anything. We got to
wait till March for everything.
>> hopes to get that done.
given mercy to you see what's in this
year around other lines for engineering.
I mean find some engineering money for
that.
So has anybody got a motion on this?
Keith, what are your thoughts?
>> Yeah, I think the ones that you know,
he's the one that's out on the roads are
they evaluating them and I feel
confident in going with what his
recommendation is.
>> And should we do if if we do go that way
should we do just the part that's
already
done or should we do the dirt part of it
up to Moose Corner? What's your thoughts
on that?
>> Well, not past Moose Corner, right?
>> I
until we get it we there's way you can
do you can do this dirt section less
Moose Corners
cuz it goes by Moose Corners, right?
>> Yeah, we would stop at Moose Corners.
>> Oh, you stop but the road continued
past.
>> The the worst part of the road to
maintain is the flat section.
Cuz everything else runs downhill and I
can make ditch lines.
>> That's the worst part. I'm always having
to shovel into that.
>> Every year we have to
you know, work on it for so long, get
the mud out of it. So that's why I want
to pave that section not because just be
The reason I'm stopping at Moose Corners
is cuz everything else is downhill and
it drains to a culvert and I can I can
take care of it pretty easy.
>> I'll make a motion that we go ahead and
let Craig
pave
all except for Moose Corner. Is that
what it's called?
>> Yeah, it's like 300 What did I write
down? 300 and
I mean, you guys got to decide sooner or
later if it's a dirt road or it's 342
ft.
I mean, whatever I want to call it road.
See what the council says. And if it
comes back and they say, "Yeah, you
better That's a dirt town road." then we
can just add it to the project. It's not
a big deal.
>> But for now, I would say we vote on all
of it except for that till we hear from
attorneys.
>> Roughly
savings.
But I can get a firm number to you guys
if you need it there, but it's somewhere
around there.
>> Okay, we have a motion. Do I have a
second?
>> So, I have a motion and a second to pave
all of Owl Brook Road, everything that
Craig is proposing with the exception of
Moose Corner.
Steve Heath?
>> Russ?
>> Andy says no.
>> I think she's froze.
>> Did we get the bear?
>> It's coming back.
>> Yes
or no?
Sorry.
>> The motion carries.
All right. Next on the agenda is the
manager's report. So, I gave you the
the deed paperwork here. We can't name
the people, but yeah.
There's a list.
>> And I've got that
>> Yeah, you should have copies, too.
I only need one back with the second
sheet.
Um just a signature page. Oh, yeah, you
know, once you vote on it. You can do
You can just
name them all all the three-digit or
four-digit numbers.
>> Is this
>> Yeah, the second page.
>> That's updated. Um
The the people listed there have
made payment plans. So,
she's asked to for you folks to sign a
deed waiver.
and she'll come back to you next year if
they fulfill
their obligation.
I didn't you know, if they don't sign
the deed waiver, then she's going to
have to deed the properties.
But they are making a good faith effort
to uh
make payments.
>> And that circled amount is balance due,
I believe.
On all four. I think there's four left.
>> There was five on there, but one person
came in today and paid up the balance.
>> Nice.
Is that the one that's crossed out?
>> Perfect.
I'm going to make a recommendation for
deed waiver for tax map 113
-005-000-MHO-0028.
>> Oh, did she give individual?
>> Oh, cuz this I have a different
>> Oh, so you have All right.
>> Those go together.
>> That's each individual, yeah.
>> I don't know. So, we each got somebody
else's?
>> Yeah, I have somebody that's different.
>> Yeah, I didn't realize she did that.
But, you have them all there.
>> So, we have All right. I wondered why
there was only
>> to withdraw that motion.
>> You just read off that front list.
>> That's sticky note.
>> Hey, we
>> I've got three of them. There should be
another one. Steve Steve Asbell.
Deed waiver form.
>> That one?
>> That one.
>> Thanks.
>> Sorry about that. I thought she
>> Okay. So.
>> I'm going to make a motion to
um do deed waivers
on parcel ID numbers 1461
1007
uh 304
>> I'm cop.
>> Oh, good.
1505
and 679.
>> I'll second that.
>> So, I have a motion and a second. Do we
have any further discussion?
No further discussion. Jenny?
>> Steve Heap?
>> Steve?
>> And he says yes. And we need to sign all
of these.
>> Oops, I gave you two.
>> You're not.
I got them all.
That's scary.
>> It's it's pretty um scary.
>> I'm losing the satellite.
Ron, do you have a report for us?
>> Yeah, well, we've taken up some of that
already, so.
let's see.
I'm going to cancel all paper projects.
No, just kidding. I was kidding.
>> He didn't even hear you.
>> He didn't even hear.
>> Um that that was just joke, everybody.
Uh let's see where it
So, uh work on the substations begun. I
see Reed
is removing the old concrete slabs
within the sub substation and
Bragg and the electric
team took down a tree or two.
Stumped it, I believe. Um so, that that
work's all started, all the prep work.
The goal is is to have all the end
underground conduit and wire run and
everything crap two new slabs for the
two switch gears, everything in place so
when
switch gear arrives, it's basically set
in place, hook it all up and
good to go, right Greg?
>> Well, it should be.
It's going to be a while, I think.
>> Yeah, it's going to be a while.
>> Not sure.
They're not too ambitious right now.
They They only They get there and they
do it, but yeah.
they're going to let me know when they
need the trench done.
Of course, I'd be nervous running an
excavator in a substation.
>> Oh good, and there you are.
>> I was wondering.
>> Uh let's see, Thursday I will be on a
Zoom call to discuss the mill cleanup
grant opportunities
with LRPC.
>> Indeed, yes.
>> Indeed, yes, also.
>> Yeah. You're going to be on that too,
aren't you?
>> Yep. Yep.
last thing, it's time for the board to
appoint a health officer.
We're actually overdue by a couple of
weeks. Um
Kendall has expressed an interest in
continuing in that role.
And Kendall also would like the board to
appoint Britney Durack
as an assistant health officer.
She's expressed expressed an interest in
>> Please be seated. You have tea on the
fire department too. Yeah.
>> Well, if
the board is so inclined, you could
motion and vote
for uh Kendall
and also Britney.
I'll just have you
three of you sign the form and Marcel
fill out the rest tomorrow.
>> Just at the bottom.
That's the form with the state for the
health officer and
the um
deputy health officer. I'll make a
motion that we reappoint Kendall as our
health officer.
>> Kendall Hughes, sorry.
>> I have a second motion and a second to
reappoint Kendall Hughes as our health
officer. Any further discussion?
>> And Andy says yes.
And you said
Just
I said Brittany?
>> Brittany Durack. Yeah.
>> I'll make a motion that we appoint
Brittany Durack as
>> deputy
>> deputy um health officer.
>> Second.
And Andy says yes.
I think it's all set.
>> Because there could be There could be
situations in the future that happen
a woman as the assistant
>> couldn't really be helpful, you know.
>> You got three signatures?
>> Awesome.
>> That's all set.
>> So we have to sign one for her?
>> Yeah, we have to sign one for her.
>> No, that
health officer and deputy.
>> Okay, perfect.
>> You could have just said yes cuz we
already signed it.
Well, I brought a spare form in case
something happened. So
>> saw two forms.
Do you have anything else wrong?
>> That's it.
So, do we have any old business?
Does anybody have any selectman items
besides me?
couple
>> You're up.
>> You know, I'm
working on the opportunity
zone or actually become an opportunity
zone and we're getting through that
application and get some good
letters of recommendation and we'll get
submitted before the end of next week
and one of the pieces that I wanted to
put in it and it's recommended is
getting the okay from as many of the
relevant town boards as possible that
they support the idea um
and will support it going forward. So, I
think I sent you all Did you all get a
copy of the letter that I had sent?
Thank you.
So, basically I'm just asking you
give me your permission to use this
letter of my intention would be is
the chair of each of the boards will
sign it and then I'll put everyone
else's name under that and then we'll do
the same thing for the planning board,
economic development, [clears throat]
and CIP so that
that come that'll show that we as a town
are all on the same page and we're
working towards the same goals.
So, if if you give me a yay to that,
then I'll have this done properly and
have the uh
signature page
>> Yeah, perfect. Can help you put it on
the town letterhead. So
>> Perfect. Yep.
>> Here to make a motion, Steve.
>> Yeah, I move that we
accept that.
That comes supported. Thank you.
>> Okay, I have a motion and a second to
accept the letter as written.
Do we have any further discussion?
>> Andy says yes.
>> Thank you. Um
the only other thing is I think I also
sent you
We had talked at a previous meeting
about
as the master plan gets put together,
have a section where
the select board has kind of a
you have to have direction of the town
have a piece in the master plan as well.
So, I looked at a couple of examples
done in other towns. And again, one of
the things that will be helpful as we go
for this
opportunity zone grant is
they they again like to see that the
whole town is kind of working in the
same direction. And so, what I put
together was basically a a draft of a
section that we could put in the master
plan as a
as a select board that basically talks
how all of the different boards work
together and communicate to try to make
sure that
everyone does their role within
uh depending on what the item is that
we're dealing with. So, it talks about
everything from the select board to the
town manager responsibilities
uh to the uh
to the fact that we have an electric and
water department and what their roles
are, capital improvements, and the
economic development committee along
with the planning board. So, it's kind
of like one
piece that kind of
puts us makes it clear what our roles
and responsibilities are.
I know it it's a four-page document. I
don't know if anybody had a chance to
read it or not.
>> Did you see it? I just did.
Don't read the backside.
I use both sides of the paper.
>> So, any thoughts on that? What do you
Any what do you what are your thoughts?
>> I think you did an excellent job writing
Um I don't see anything that I would
change.
>> I think Steve wants to do the word
puzzles.
>> They've been done.
>> Yeah, they've been done.
>> I was waiting for us to put it in warm
up.
>> I have a question.
>> Um Ron, if if you had a chance to look
at this because you're the one who
ultimately manages projects in the town.
Um does this work for you?
>> Yeah, I scanned through it. Yeah.
Are you good?
>> You can keep that, Steve.
>> cool.
I'll make a motion that we
add this
to our 10-year plan.
>> Dave?
>> Andy says yes. Motion carries.
>> Do you have anything else, Steve?
>> I'm good.
>> Uh the one thing I have is uh
we need some
alternate planning board members.
If anybody out there is interested,
we'll train you.
Okay, do we have any public comment
tonight?
We have no public comment. We have no
non-public tonight.
I'm going to make a motion that we
adjourn.
>> I have a motion and a second. Have a
good night, everybody.