Chairman Paul Sullivan called the Board of Selectmen to order at 7:35PM on Monday, May 19, 2008, in the Atkinson Town Hall.

Paul Sullivan, Chairman Craig Kleman, Interim Town Administrator

Fred Childs

William Friel

Non-Public meeting minutes for May 14^th, 2008 were available and on a motion by Mr. Childs to accept the minutes as written with a second by Mr. Friel, the Board voted 3-0 to approve them.

Public meeting minutes for May 5, 2008 were available. Mr. Childs made a correction to the minutes in that the person appointed to the Recreation Commission, Joan Fettes, should be listed as an alternate (see page 5). On a motion by Mr. Childs with a second by Mr. Friel to accept the minutes as submitted with correction. Vote was 3-0.

Mrs. Rose Cavalear, Town Clerk, met with the Board to give them updates. The State of New Hampshire has changed the registration for cars and they will use a bar code that will be scanned by troopers when they stop a vehicle. Because of this the Town Clerk’s office will be receiving two new printers between June and September.

The office will be closed on Wednesday, May 21 for the seacoast regional meeting. She wanted to discuss dog licenses. 330 people have not come in to register their dogs that were due April 30^th. After June 1^st it is a $1 fine. Her final point was on the applications for the part time clerk in the Town Clerk’s office and the board had discussed candidates and wanted Mrs. Cavalear to set aside one day during the week of June 2 for interviews to occur.

Non-Public meeting minutes for May 5, 2008 were available and on a motion by Mr. Childs to accept the minutes as written with a second by Mr. Friel, the Board voted 3-0 to approve them.

Library Trustees Eleanor Fuer and Kay Galloway and Acting Library Director Carolyn Birr came before the Board. Mrs. Galloway discussed the commemorative pavers brochure with a small brick being $50, the next size $75 and $100 for the largest paver. The deadline is June 30^th and a logo can be added for an additional $50.00. Mrs. Galloway wanted to thank Meghan Carey from the Eagle Tribune for the article she wrote on the new library director who will start on June 2^nd. She added that Mrs. Birr did an excellent job.

Status of the Library project. Mrs. Galloway said that Dave Weymouth has been an excellent clerk of the works for this project. She said that the electrical had had a rough inspection, and that the septic system was going to be installed this week. The steel studded walls are going up and the water line is being routed over to the new building and they are finishing the roof. The interior insulation and the sheetrock will be the next projects to occur.

Mrs. Birr spoke and said that circulation has increased in every type of media. She felt that the library was important during tough economic times. Parking has been moved to the rear of the building. She said that the program on the weather was successful. The Library has received a thousand dollar donation that will be used to purchase 85 books on the countries of the world. The library had a book sale this week and it still has books so the book sale will be ongoing until June when they will be given to "Got Books" out of Reading, MA.

Daniel and Maggie Osborn came in for a building permit for 8 Valcat Lane. They were seeking the permission from the board for a building permit for a year round home on this Class VI road as the Osborns need to sign a waiver against their deed. Town Counsel had sent some material as to the form of this document. Mr. Friel reviewed the notes such as items #6 and #7 that were meant for the Road Agent to review and Mr. Kalman cited items #9 and #10. Item #10 addressed the building permit and that it needs to start construction within 12 months. Mr. Friel made a motion to accept the waiver under RSA 674.41 by the Osborns for 8 Valcat Lane if they add items #9 and #10 to the document. Mr. Childs seconded the motion and the vote was 3-0.

Police Chief P. Consentino spoke about a reported abduction attempt of a 10 years old boy in Atkinson. The abductor pursued the boy in a small car, a two seater. The incident made the Sunday newspaper. The boy did exactly what he was supposed to do. The chief said that it happened late Thursday afternoon but that the chief only learned about it on Friday afternoon. The chief said that the bridge was closed off on Thursday afternoon. Chairman Sullivan said that the Police need a policy to get the word out. Mr. Friel asked why the officer could not have called the chief as soon as possible.

The chief made Announcements. The elderly affairs department will be sponsoring an Alzheimer Conference at the Community Center on June 18^th between 5:30 and 6:00. There will be a raffle and preregisteration is recommended. He next spoke on the Boston Post Cane and said that engraving is being done on the cane and it will be announced in the town wide mail out seeking Atkinson’s oldest resident.

Mr. Childs made a motion to open the Public Hearing at 8:10 PM with a second by Chairman Sullivan to allow the Police Chief P. Consentino to expend the amount of $2,365.00 from the Police Donation Account. This money is earmarked as follows:

Motion to close Public Hearing at 8:12 PM made by Mr. Childs second by Mr. Friel; vote was 3-0.

Replacement of Police Cruiser. Mr. Friel felt that the town needed two front line cruisers and that they should be the best. He added that we have the insurance monies and the detail account to pay for the vehicle. The SUVs cannot be a frontline cruiser. Mr. Childs agreed with it although Mr. Sullivan felt that the department had too many cars. He felt that there was no reason to have private vehicles He called for the elimination of one of these vehicles. Mr. Childs said that people are questioning the amount of cars but that in the budget next year it will be reviewed. Mr. Sullivan said that he took a hard look at this and felt that the Town had an exposure as well as the expense of these vehicles to maintain. Mr. Friel made a motion to approve the purchase of the new vehicle in the amount of $21,300 with a second by Mr. Childs. The breakdown was $13,200 from insurance monies and $8,100 from outside detail account fro a total of $21,300. The vote was 3-0.

Fire Chief Murphy was present to answer any questions that the Board might have on a contract that he received from Comstar, Inc. to bill for ambulance services when they are done by Town vehicles. The board reviewed the contract; he cited article #3 that people will receive three patient bills and that is all if it is a hardship case. Mr. Childs said that they were an in-house collection agency if required. Mr. Childs suggested that they hold off until the June 2^nd selectmen’s meeting, as the start date of the contract is not until July 1. Mr. Friel said that Comstar would come to the board for them to get a sign off for three dunning notices.

First bid opening was for the East Road Recreation Area. The bids were as follows:

Second bid opening was for the Design / Development of New Section of Cemetery. The bids were as follows:

Chair Sullivan said that a petition against the Large Groundwater and Water Withdrawal was submitted on May 9, 2008. Mr. Kleman said that the Town Clerk and the Supervisor of the Checklist had validated the signatures. Chair Sullivan said that this is driven by the RSAs and the other board members concurred that a meeting needed to be set. Mr. Kleman said that the Town Clerk and the Moderator had suggested Primary Day, September 9^th as the polling (voting) day and working backwards from that date you can set a deliberative session anywhere from 28 to 60 days. Mr. Friel felt that the PAC Center at the high school would be a good choice as it is wired for sound but not cable TV. Chair Sullivan said that the date is September 9^th for voting and that the board would pursue the PAC center for the hearing on a tentative date of July 19^th. He added that we should also research what is available, e.g. Dyke auditorium as well. Mr. Sullivan followed that up with the remark that there is a potential warrant article out there on the zoning of wetlands but that would need to get the required 50 signatures for this article as well. He added that there are different criteria that need to be met on zoning articles.

Mr. Sullivan asked about Right to Know (RTK) issues. Mr. Kleman said that they are current save for one pending request. Mr. Sullivan said that this request was for blanket minutes and that we had no obligation to research it. Mr. Friel said that the request in its present form cannot be reasonably researched. Mr. Childs said that it was too broad and Mr. Friel added that it needed more specificity. Mr. Kleman said that Wednesday is the day to respond. Mr. Sullivan said that we would respond to the citizen.

The board discussed another matter, the BTLA request. Mr. Sullivan said that they had worked out a compromise with the property owner. Mr. Kleman said that the town still had five pending for this Friday.

Mr. Sullivan said that the appointment sheets have been signed.

Mr. Sullivan then addressed the items that came from the assessing office. The board dealt with the following items as found on the May 19^th memo. They were:

The next agenda item was the authorization to contact the town attorney. This had been discussed at the workshop and Mr. Childs said that department heads needed permission to talk to town counsel. Mr. Friel felt that the board should remind department heads and talk to the town attorney informally on this matter. Mr. Sullivan said that the board should reaffirm this policy and that departments should advise and ask the board for permission. It is not meant to restrict access but just so that the board knows what is going on. A letter should be drafted to Town Counsel to this effect as well. Residents however do not have access to town counsel.

Mr. Friel suggested that two ad hoc committees be put together one to look at the five year program for computers and the website and the other to examine the town’s insurances. He asked Mr. Kleman to draft a purpose or mission statement for these two ad hoc committees to investigate these issues.

Warrant Article #32, which states that town equipment, must be traded in or sold at public auction. The board wanted to examine this article. Mr. Kleman said that the Police department wanted to trade in a rifle and chair Sullivan said that Lt. Baldwin should stand fast on this.

Mr. Kleman brought up the issue that the Town hall copier is not for public use and he suggested that a sign to that effect should be placed above the copier. The board agreed with this.

The board said that item #11 on the TA report, that that citizen who wanted to draft responses to DES about the water withdrawal hearing should do it directly and not involve the selectmen.

Mr. Ted Stewart, Road Agent spoke to the Board about two bids that the town did not receive any bids for. They were tree service removal and engineering services. He said that Tamarack Tree Service could quote him an hourly rate. Mr. Friel asked about the scope of work and Mr. Stewart said that there was a tree budget of about $8,000. They do chipping and grinding of stumps. Mr. Friel asked if he sent out the bid to tree vendors and Mr. Stewart had not. Mr. Sullivan said that he had to mail them out directly.

Mr. Stewart next spoke about the Engineering Services (CIP) RFP. He would like to extend the RFP. The board agreed.

Mr. Stewart said that the paving on Providence Hill and Spickett Valley went excellently. He said that Busby was laying pipe and that they were working on four structures. They would grind next Tuesday. Line Striping will happen on Thursday morning at 4 AM. He wants to shim Summer Drive.

Mr. Stewart said that they had hired two Seasonal Laborers and that he would like to have the employee who resigned Spencer Brill kept as a backup or spare man. This was okay with the board.

On motion of Mr. Childs, seconded by Mr. Friel, it was voted unanimously to adjourn the meeting at 9:37PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Craig Kleman

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Paul A. Sullivan, Chairman

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Fred J. Childs, Jr

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William G. Friel