Selectboard Meeting Minutes – 3/6/24
Selectboard Present: Peggy L. Pschirrer, Chair; Cheryl Mayberry and Steven Dalessio
Staff Present: Sarah Downing, Manager of Administration; Ahmad Esfahani, Recording Secretary
Others Present: David Edkins and Carolyn Vose
CALL TO ORDER: Mrs. Pschirrer called this Selectboard meeting to order at 5:00 PM in the Town Hall. She introduced herself, Peggy Pschirrer, Selectboard Chair, Cheryl Mayberry, Steve Dalessio, Sarah Downing, Manager of Administration, and Ahmad Esfahani, Recording Secretary.
ACCOUNTS PAYABLE: Mr. Dalessio moved to approve the Accounts Payable Check Register totaling $790,811.66 dated 3/08/24. This includes a $700,531.13 monthly payment to Fall Mountain Regional School District. Seconded by Ms. Mayberry. With Mr. Dalessio, Ms. Mayberry, and Mrs. Pschirrer in favor, the motion was approved.
PAYROLL: Mr. Dalessio moved to approve the Payroll Register totaling $32,395.02 dated 3/08/24 and the 941 Payroll Tax Transfer of $6,640.07. Seconded by Ms. Mayberry. With Mr. Dalessio, Ms. Mayberry, and Mrs. Pschirrer in favor, the motion was approved.
SELECTBOARD MEETING MINUTES – February 29, 2024: Mr. Dalessio moved to approve the Selectboard Meeting minutes of February 29, 2024. Seconded by Ms. Mayberry. With Mr. Dalessio, Ms. Mayberry, and Mrs. Pschirrer in favor, the motion was approved.
SELECTBOARD NON-PUBLIC MEETING MINUTES – February 29, 2024: Mr. Dalessio moved to approve the Selectboard Non-Public Meeting minutes of February 29, 2024. Seconded by Ms. Mayberry.With Mr. Dalessio, Ms. Mayberry, and Mrs. Pschirrer in favor, the motion was approved. The minutes are to remain sealed.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Mr. Dalessio brought the following committee reports to the chair’s attention.
•Planning Board and Zoning Board of Adjustment Joint Meeting – February 27, 2024
Mrs. Pschirrer acknowledged the report.
ABATEMENTS:
Map and Lot# 001-017-000: Mr. Dalessio motioned to deny the abatement for Map and Lot# 001-017-000. Seconded by Ms. Mayberry. With Mr. Dalessio, Ms. Mayberry and Mrs. Pschirrer in favor the motion was approved.
REFUNDS:
Map and Lot# 012-055-002: Mr. Dalessio motioned to approve the refund for Map and Lot# 012-055-002 for $23.76. Seconded by Ms. Mayberry. With Mr. Dalessio, Ms. Mayberry and Mrs. Pschirrer in favor the motion was approved.
Map and Lot# 028-054-000: Mr. Dalessio motioned to approve the refund for Map and Lot# 028-054-000 for $19.61. Seconded by Ms. Mayberry. With Mr. Dalessio, Ms. Mayberry and Mrs. Pschirrer in favor the motion was approved.
BUILDING PERMITS:
2024-06, Map and Lot# 019-022-000: Mr. Dalessio motioned to approve the building permit for Map and Lot# 019-022-000 to add a 903 sq. ft. roof mount solar array. Seconded by Ms. Mayberry. With Mr. Dalessio, Ms. Mayberry and Mrs. Pschirrer in favor the motion was approved.
2024-07, Map and Lot# 008-080-000: Mr. Dalessio motioned to approve the building permit for Map and Lot# 008-080-000 to construct a 15’ x 10’ playhouse/cabin. Seconded by Ms. Mayberry. With Mr. Dalessio, Ms. Mayberry and Mrs. Pschirrer in favor the motion was approved.
NEW BUSINESS
Staff Resignation: Mrs. Pschirrer announced a letter of resignation had been received by Vicki Gohl, the deputy Town Clerk and Tax Collector.
Health Officer Reports: Two reports have been received from Dr. Gasgoyne, the Health Officer. Mrs. Pschirrer stated that the Health Officer has been busy dealing with complaints from tenants about rodent infestation, mold problems and lead paint issues.
OLD BUSINESS
Pending Further Action: Mr. Dalessio stated that they are starting to file for expense reimbursements for the Reservoir Dam work that has already been done.
HOOPER TRUSTEES MEETING:
Mr. Dalessio moved to enter into Hooper Trustees meeting at 5:13 PM. Mrs. Pschirrer seconded. With Mr. Dalessio and Mrs. Pschirrer in favor, the motion was approved.
The meeting reconvened at 5:29 PM.
NON-PUBLIC BUSINESS RSA 91-A:3 II (a) (e):
Mr. Dalessio moved to enter into Non-Public meeting at 5:31 PM. Mrs. Pschirrer seconded. With Mr. Dalessio and Mrs. Pschirrer in favor, the motion was approved.
The meeting reconvened at 6:08 PM.
Mrs. Pschirrer declared the nonpublic minutes would be sealed.
ADJOURNMENT:
Mrs. Pschirrer declared the meeting adjourned at 6:09 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Ahmad Esfahani, Recording Secretary
Planning Board Meeting Minutes – 3/12/24
Roll Call: Present Board Members Chair Jeff Miller, Vice-Chair Dennis Marcom, Clerk Jason Perron, Jeff Harrington, Joanna Andros, Select Board Representative Steve Dalessio. Alternates Travis Adams and Bill Carmody. Absent Board Member Trevor MacLachlan.
Call to order: Mr. Miller called the meeting to order at 7:01 pm. He asked Mr. Adams if he would sit in for Mr. MacLachlan. He agreed.
Minutes of February 2024 and Minutes of Joint Workshop meeting with Zoning Board of Adjustment: Mr. Perron made a motion to approve the regular meeting minutes and the workshop minutes as printed. Mr. Harrington seconded the motion and the motion carried.
New Business:
Solar Array on 20 acres at 239 Old Keene Road and mostly 240 Wentworth Road, Tax Map 5 in rural/agricultural district. Property owned by Sheldon Sawyer. Samantha Valone, representing Lodestar Energy based in Avon, CT and Manhattan, NY, will present a basic concepts description of the project.
A map of the surrounding area with a blue lake-like feature that was where the solar array was to go was distributed prior to the start of the meeting.
Ms. Valone said this was just a preliminary meeting to an eventual final request for a 5 mega watt solar installation at peak times. She is a solar development associate for Lodestar Energy. She said Lodestar has installed similar solar arrays in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York State and a few in New Hampshire communities. She mentioned Chichester as one town in New Hampshire. Currently the company is filling out the applications it needs for the project and doing surveys of storm water and the property. The surveys will provide information on what kinds of equipment Lodestar will need for this project and how to go about building this installation. Equipment will be ordered and delivered to the site. Ms. Valone said it usually takes four (4) to five (5) months to build an installation of this size. A seven-foot chain link fence would surround the installation. She thinks the company should be ready to submit a site-plan application by July.
Work on the project will start on property on Old Keene Road where six poles will be installed. These will be for overhead interconnection lines that would eventually go underground from the poles on Old Keene Road to the solar installation. Mill Road is a connector road that goes west to east from Old Keene Road to Wentworth Road and somewhere on that road is entrance to a 15-foot wide gravel vehicle maintenance road that goes to the installation site. After the installation is up and running the only maintenance needed is mowing under the panels. Some one asked about snow on the panels and the answer was it just slides off like it would on a metal roof. Mr. Miller said you will not be able to see the installation from Old Keene Road.
Installations usually last for 20 years or more and then are decommissioned. Lodestar will follow the requirements for decommissioning it, Ms. Valone said. The installation and decommissioning requirements are all spelled out in Section VIII of the Walpole Site Plan Regulations. Walpole has its own Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire organization through which townspeople can get electric power at a community rate. Its chair, Paul Looney, was at Tuesday’s meeting and said that folks in Walpole get their power from Liberty Utilities and Liberty buys from a broker. He asked Ms. Valone if she had contacted Liberty yet. She said “no” but it was one of her things on the list of things she had to do. Ms. Valone said that this project can offer the Town energy credit of any town-owned Liberty electric accounts.
This was the first meeting about the process of building the solar array on Wentworth Road. For more information on the project, look for notices of upcoming meetings beginning in June.
Old Business
Public Hearing for site plan continued from February. Alyson’s Orchard: Adam Naeck site-plan application for a post-and-beam addition to the farm store. Tax Map 4, Lot 44, 57 Alyson’s Lane, Commercial/Industrial District.
Mr. Naeck had a picture of the exterior of the current 400 square-foot farm store. It is attached to a roughly 1,400 square-foot apartment. The store is the main operation for Alyson’s farming retail space. Regularly there is one register inside and about a half dozen shelves display homemade products such as jellies, jams and chutneys and a couple of coolers have frozen chicken pot pies and dessert pies for sale. Currently there is no space inside the store for any of the fruits and vegetables the farm grows on a yearly basis. All are displayed outside. This is not ideal, Mr. Naeck said, because it make them subject to the weather, pests and potential theft. During its peak season, two outdoor registers are used outdoors.
The proposed farm store addition is 40 feet wide and 56 feet long. It is a two-story timber frame building and will be assembled by Ward Timber in Alstead. The addition will directly abut the current farm store. The 2250 square foot layout will be mainly used for indoor sales of our crops and farm retail space. There is also a 1000 foot loft which will be used for storage, more retail space if needed and customer seating. The timeline for constructing this building will be either this summer or next summer.
There will be two main entrances, one directly from the current store into the new store and an outdoor main entrance facing east towards the main event center. Parking will remain as it is. There will be an emergency exit only door on the west wall as well as an emergency exit from the loft upstairs to a staircase leading out, which is already found on the current store building. Current lighting will also be used as well as entry way lights found at each entrance.
In the future the old store may be used as a bakery where items like their popular cinnamon donuts will be made as well as other baked goods.
Mr. Marcom made a motion to approve the site plan. Mr. Harrington seconded the motion and the motion carried.
Workshop
Mr. Miller said he called Southwest Region Planning Commission and talked to senior planner Todd Horner who agreed to meet with the joint boards in the next couple of months. However, since the initial telephone conversation was made, Mr. Horner is now going to become the executive director of the organization so he pushed the workshop meeting until June.
Mr. Miller was also optimistic that the Conservation Commission was almost finished going over a list of conservation property in the Natural Features section of the Master Plan. So that project could be wrapped up soon.
Adjournment
Mr. Perron made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Mr. Harrington seconded the motion and the motion carried. It was 7:45 pm.
These minutes are unapproved and will be reviewed at the March 12, 2024 regular meeting for corrections, omission and additions.
Respectfully submitted,
Marilou Blaine
WPB Recording Secretary
cc: WPB, ZBA, Town Offices, The Walpolean.
Posted: Inside the Town Offices, on the bulletin board outside the Post Office, http://www.walpolenh.us
Selectboard Meeting Agenda – 3/14/24
Tonight is Peggy’s last meeting. I’m confident that everyone joins me in offering thanks for all she has accomplished during her Selectboard tenure. Thanks, Peggy. – Lil
BTW, next week’s Selectboard meeting will be on Wednesday because the Selectboard plans to attend the Walpole Fire District Meeting.
Hamilton College Choir – 3/17/24
GUEST CHOIR AND FREE CONCERT AT THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF WALPOLE
This Sunday, March 17 we welcome the Hamilton College Choir. They will join us in worship and lead hymn singing as well as offering a special choral introit and anthem during the service. At noon, they will perform a free concert in the sanctuary which we want to share with the Walpole community. We are the final stop on their New England tour, which began in Boston on Tuesday.
Last month, we received the following email from the company managing the tour:
The last stop of their tour is in the Westminster/Keene,NH area and their director was hoping to do an outreach activity for a Sunday service at a local church. I looked at the churches in the nearby cities, but also wanted to give them an option of a smaller, community church who might not otherwise get many such performing groups stopping in their area to offer something unique. I found your church online and it looked like a lovely, place, with a tight knit congregation. The director loved the idea of visiting a place outside the more traditional churches in the city!
This is a wonderful opportunity to hear special music in our sanctuary and we want to share! Following worship, we will have coffee hour as usual, while the choir has lunch and gets ready for the concert.
Voting Results
Working on getting the totals from the school district. (These are just Walpole.) Will post ASAP. – Lil
Conservation Committee Commission Meeting Minutes – 3/4/24
Members Present: John Peska (facilitating), France Menk, Alicia Flammia, Wendy Grossman, Peter Palmiotto, Lewis Shelley
Members Absent: Steven Dumont
Alternates Present: Kara Dexter, Nicole Adams (recorder of minutes)
Visitors Present: Peggy Pschirrer (Selectboard Liaison), Will Grossman (presenter), Peter Dexter, Kris Snowman-Shelley
Call to Order: John called the meeting to order at 7:01pm in the Town Hall. This meeting was audio recorded for the purpose of taking accurate minutes.
Review and Approval of Minutes: Lew moved to accept the February minutes as written. France seconded and all voted in favor. Motion carried.
Public Business
There was no financial report reviewed this month.
Correspondence: A check was received from the Robert P Hubbard Conservation Commission Conservation Fund in the amount of $9,555.97, which has been deposited into the Conservation Fund account.
A receipt was received from Long View Forest Contracting for timber harvesting in the amount of $56,507.18. No action is required of the Commission. Peggy will pass the paperwork along to the Hooper Institute’s Finance Manager.
New Business
Rail Trail presentation: Wendy and Will Grossman shared a presentation on the Rail Trail including its history, location, and approved uses; an overview of recent improvement efforts; state, regional and local stakeholder groups; options for continued maintenance and/or improvements in the future; and potential funding sources for improvements.
Wendy noted that drainage is significantly improved, usage seems to have increased, and there has been positive feedback on the recent improvements.
France asked that we find a way to make the information from the presentation available publicly, and Alicia noted that this could be a good way to engage the town and get feedback on what people want for the Rail Trail in the future. Wendy suggested a public presentation and a survey later in the season when the Rail Trail is in peak use.
Lew noted that he has some ideas for low-cost improvements that could potentially be funded via the Forestry Fund or Mason Forest Fund. Peter noted the potential for a joint project with Westmoreland to improve the section that connects the two towns. Kara pointed out that it would be helpful to get insight on ADA accessibility needs for the trail. Wendy suggested pulling together a list of potential small/short term project opportunities to be shared with the Trail Committee for further discussion.
Alicia moved to continue maintenance of the Rail Trail in its current condition. France seconded and all voted in favor. Motion carried.
Commissioners and visitors enjoyed delicious carrot cake, courtesy of Pam and Jim Baucom, to celebrate the completion of the Rail Trail improvement project and to thank the commission for all the work it does for conservation in the Town.
Posting minutes protocol: Peter noted that meeting minutes need to be posted at the Town Hall and Post Office within 5 days of the meeting by sending the minutes via email to Sarah Downing and WCC members.
Master Plan – conservation lands table: Peter shared an updated draft list of “Land Areas Recommended for Protection” for inclusion in the Planning Board’s updated Master Plan, with proposed additions of the Houghton Brook Watershed Protection Corridor and the Rt 12 Green Corridor. Peter will extend the end points of all listed watershed protection corridors to the Connecticut River.
Peter noted that updates are also needed to the map of conserved lands and the corresponding table that are included in the Master Plan. Peter and Wendy will work together on that, in coordination with the Antioch University Spatial Analysis Lab which produces the map.
John made a motion to allocate up to $200 to procure updated maps of Town and Conservation Lands via the Antioch Spatial Analysis Lab. Alicia seconded and all voted in favor. Motion carried.
Old Business
Website: France investigated hosting subscription options for the Commission website and found that the higher cost plan is not worthwhile, so the current plan will be renewed for this year. France confirmed that the plan includes back-end security protection.
Walpole Gateway: An opening date for the gate has not been set since it depends on spring road conditions. Conditions will be monitored, and the gate will be unlocked once conditions allow. Peter suggested that a public announcement be made in both the minutes and the Walpolean once the gate is unlocked.
Tom Beaudry will be invited to the April meeting to talk with the Commission about farming practices, and Holly Gowdy will be invited to discuss treatment of invasives. Based on the information shared, the Commission will revisit the topic of exploring options for use of the Gateway fields.
Fanny Mason: Lew is working on an RFP for replacing the roofs on both parking area pavilions. He has two bidders noted already and will line up a third soon and present the RFP within the coming month. Green metal roofing is the preferred material option based on cost and maintenance requirements.
Peggy will confirm with Chief Sanctuary whether the police have wrapped up their investigation regarding the graffiti on the Fanny Mason pole barn and other locations in town. Once they have, the Commission will organize volunteers and procure supplies to have it painted over as soon as possible to discourage additional instances.
Dam updates: Updates were received from Fuss & O’Neill on all town projects except the Reservoir Dam. An update on that project is expected next month.
Ramsay Hill & Reservoir Road update: Wendy confirmed that the piles of brush and trees near the end of the road have been removed. Road conditions are somewhat improved but there are still ruts and puddles. Logging isn’t done yet but should be within the next month, so no action is needed at this time.
Other Business
Walpole Trails Subcommittee: The second annual Help Our Trails Day is scheduled for May 4th, with additional details to be provided next month.
Transmission line replacement: Hilltop Public Solutions, in coordination with Liberty Utilities, presented a plan to the Select Board to replace high power transmission lines and towers between Charlestown and North Walpole. Work will not begin for 2+ years and there will be public hearings prior to the start of work.
Property purchase: A group from Keene has expressed interest in purchasing a piece of property in the vicinity of Fall Mountain to use for climbing outings. Representatives from the group are planning to join the next Conservation Commission meeting to share more information on their plan.
Thank you to both Peggy and Kara, whose terms are ending this month, for their service to the Commission!
The next meeting will be Monday, April 1st, 2024 in the Town Hall.
Adjournment: With no further business to discuss, John adjourned the meeting at 8:34 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Nicole Adams, acting Recording Secretary
** These minutes are in draft form until approved at the April 1st, 2024 meeting.
Vote Today
Polls are open until 7 PM. Vote for our elected officials and the FMRSD budget today and then go to Town Meeting on Saturday at 1:00. – Lil
The Walpolean 
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