Town of Lyme
Board of Selectmen
Minutes for February 21, 2008
1. The regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen convened at 8:00 AM in the Fire Station training room. The following attended the entire meeting: Selectmen Simon Carr, Charles Ragan, Administrative Assistant Carole Bont, Bookkeeper/Secretary Dina Cutting and Town Clerk Patty Jenks. Selectman Dick Jones, Assessing Assistant Elise Garrity and Town Moderator Bill Waste attended part of the meeting.
2. The following administrative matters were discussed and actions taken:
a. The public and non-public session minutes for February 14 were approved.
b. The manifest was reviewed and signed.
c. An Intent-to-Cut application was signed for:
i. Dwight Lahr Map 210 lot 134
d. Yield Tax assessments (both storm damage) were signed and Yield Tax abatements were voted and signed for:
i. Henry Dall Map 405 Lot 5 $402.70
ii. Charles Brenner Map 404 Lot 50.7 $106.81
e. The Board re-signed the warrant to include an additional petition article.
f. The maintenance contract for the fire station copier was reviewed and approved at $295 for the year.
3. Patty raised the issue of the Boston Post Cane. Don Carmichael had been offered the cane but it was not clear whether he still wished to accept it. Simon will follow this up with him.
Patty proposed that we should present a framed plaque to all future recipients and have a display frame with small plaques, naming the recipients and their tenure, to be displayed with cane. She anticipated the cost to be approximately $300. She had checked on a supplier for this and the Board approved her proceeding.
4. An application for the bond was discussed. If the bond vote passes at town meeting, closing for the purchase of the Recreate property would be scheduled for May 1. The bond is not available until July 17, but the bond bank will issue funds before that date, as a bond anticipatory note. The application can be submitted now and the bank can process it so that a note could be issued soon after town meeting. The Board voted to proceed with the bond application and asked Carole to set this in motion.
5. Town Meeting:
a. Logistics:
i. Little Town Meeting: 7:00PM Tuesday March 4
The Selectboard will set up at 5:00PM.
ii. Town Meeting: 7:00AM Tuesday March 11
The Selectboard will set up at 5:00PM Monday March 10.
iii. We will only have a single radio microphone available this year. Jeff Valance will help in setting up the sound system. More standing mikes mean that we need to ensure cables are securely taped down.
iv. Displays by town committees will be on tables behind the bleachers. However, to ensure that handouts get to everyone on town meeting day, it was suggested that there be a ‘handouts table’ immediately before the ballot clerks tables.
v. Bill explained his proposal for no invocation this year and a sense-of-the-meeting discussion at the end of town meeting. His schedule for the beginning of Town Meeting was:
1. The Cub Scouts will lead the Pledge of Allegiance.
2. Lorraine Giles will remember those who died in the past year.
3. Citizen of the Year presentation.
4. Nancy Turkington will name all the babies born in the past year.
5. There will be an announcement on the Boston Post Cane holder.
vi. There was a discussion on Voice-without-Vote.
vii. Patty had sent out a message to all volunteers regarding the dinner provided for them by the 8th grade volunteer parents and asking that volunteers with special needs make their own arrangements, if necessary, rather than trying to influence the chefs’ work.
viii. We should have a Police presence and the Board was asked to request this from Pauline.
ix. Because using the voting cards means extra work in checking public in, there will be an extra clerks’ table.
It would be useful to have volunteer clerks available during the check-in period, to guide public in, directing them to the appropriate table and explaining the voting card system.
It was emphasized that the collecting boxes should only be handled by ballot clerks or other officials and that the procedure should be seen to be being taken seriously. Counting should be done visibly at a separate table – with a ‘rail’ to keep people back.
b. Warrant:
i. Little Town Meeting: before discussing any of the warrant articles, Bill will ask for any candidates for office, who wish to speak, to do so.
ii. Town Meeting: there was a discussion on procedures and any issues likely to arise. Town counsel has been asked to attend to address legal questions on the warrant articles 17-19 and the meeting would have to vote to permit her to speak (voice-without-vote). Bill was reluctant to address articles out of order unless there was a very specific reason and as such, we should ensure she is there sufficiently early for this not to happen. It is possible that there may be other attorneys present advising other interested parties, but it was not clear whether they would want to speak.
6. The meeting adjourned at 10:15 AM.
Simon Carr
Recorder
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