Change in Town Budget Proposal
Yesterday, the Selectboard discovered an error in the 2024 Town Budget that was presented at the public hearing on February 8, 2024. That budget has already been printed in the Town’s annual report and posted in accordance with RSA 39:5.
A quick call to the DRA assured the Selectboard that the budget may be amended at Town Meeting, March 16, 2024. That is what Selectboard will do. New copies of the budget will be available at Town Hall, on the Town’swebsite and be distributed at Town Meeting.
The Warrant Article #2 for the 2024 budget will now read as follows:
To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of five million four hundred eighty-eight thousand, four hundred thirty-four dollars ($5,488,434) which represents four million seven hundred twelve thousand thirty-three dollars ($4,712,033) for the Town Operating Budget to be raised from general taxation; two hundredtwenty thousand, three hundred twenty-seven dollars ($220,327) for the Water Operating Budget and for five hundred fifty-six thousand seventy-four dollars ($556,074) for the Sewer Operating Budget which includes one hundred eighty thousand dollars ($180,000) for bond assessments. Such sum does not include any special or individual articles found in the warrant.
The changes are in bold. They represent a 3.85% increase in budget which was the percentage presented atthe 2024 Budget Public Meeting.
The Selectboard regrets the error which would have represented a 5.06% increase to the 2024 Town Budget which was never our intention, nor our plan.
Selectboard Meeting Minutes – 2/22/24
Selectboard Present: Peggy Pschirrer, Chair; Cheryl Mayberry; Steve Dalessio
Staff Present: Sarah Downing, Manager of Administration; Ahmad Esfahani, Recording Secretary
Others Present: Steve Varone, Jared Walters and David Edkins
CALL TO ORDER: Mrs. Pschirrer called this Selectboard meeting to order at 6:30 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.
Public Comment: Mr. Walters wanted to clarify a question he asked at the last meeting about the proposed budget with a 3.75% increase. He asked how the tax rate is calculated. Mrs. Pschirrer informed Mr. Walters that the state sets the tax rate, after the Town submits specific data. Mr. Dalessio stated that this year was an anomaly with the school district. Discussion of how the Town calculates its tax rate took place, with description provided by Mr. Dalessio. Mr. Dalessio reflected on the projected increase in various costs and taxes this year that the Town is preparing for. Mrs. Pschirrer informed Mr. Walters that he could attend the Fire District’s annual meeting on 3/21/2024. Mr. Walters asked if a member of the public could speak in a non-public session. Ms. Mayberry stated that a member of the public could ask the Selectboard to speak in a non-public session if they so wished. An explanation of tax differences between the North Walpole Village District and the Town was provided by the Selectboard.
Mr. Varone disclosed that the Town received a response from FMRSD. Mr. Dalessio reflected to those in attendance that a slide in the recent FMRSD Deliberative Session implied that the Town of Walpole has been funding a district-wide program. Mr. Varone stated that the scope and quantification of this matter have not been provided. Mrs. Pschirrer commented that the Town’s attorney has been consulted for guidance on what possible next steps can be taken. Mr. Dalessio asked if funds could be recouped from previous school years. Mrs. Pschirrer stated that the Town will await the attorney’s response.
Mr. Varone and Mr. Walters departed the meeting.
ACCOUNTS PAYABLE: Mr. Dalessio moved to approve the Accounts Payable Check Register in the total amount of $146,665.44 for checks issued 2/23/2024. This includes a $49,006.06 payment to HealthTrust for March health insurance. 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 $31,548.24 dated 2/23/24 and the 941 Payroll Tax Transfer of $6,408.57. Seconded by Ms. Mayberry. With Mr. Dalessio, Ms. Mayberry, and Mrs. Pschirrer in favor, the motion was approved.
SELECTBOARD MEETING MINUTES, February 15, 2024: Mr. Dalessio moved to approve the Selectboard Meeting minutes of February 15, 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 15, 2024: Mr. Dalessio moved to approve the Selectboard Non-Public Meeting minutes of February 15, 2024. Seconded by Ms. Mayberry.With Mr. Dalessio, Ms. Mayberry, and Mrs. Pschirrer in favor, the motion was approved. The minutes will remain sealed.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Mr. Dalessio brought the following committee reports to the chair’s attention.
•Planning Board Meeting – February 13, 2024
Mr. Dalessio noted errors in these minutes that would need correction. Mrs. Pschirrer acknowledged the report.
REFUNDS:
Map and Lot# 003-023-000: Mr. Dalessio motioned to approve the refund for Map and Lot# 003-023-000 for $36.09 for an overpayment of taxes. Seconded by Ms. Mayberry. With Mr. Dalessio, Ms. Mayberry and Mrs. Pschirrer in favor the motion was approved.
Map and Lot# 005-059-000: Mr. Dalessio motioned to approve the refund for Map and Lot# 005-059-000 for $39.77 for an overpayment of taxes. Seconded by Ms. Mayberry. With Mr. Dalessio, Ms. Mayberry and Mrs. Pschirrer in favor the motion was approved.
Map and Lot# 008-022-000: Mr. Dalessio motioned to approve the refund for Map and Lot# 008-022-000 for $282.61 for an overpayment of taxes. Seconded by Ms. Mayberry. With Mr. Dalessio, Ms. Mayberry and Mrs. Pschirrer in favor the motion was approved.
Map and Lot# 008-068-000: Mr. Dalessio motioned to approve the refund for Map and Lot# 008-068-000 for $18.15 for an overpayment of taxes. Seconded by Ms. Mayberry. With Mr. Dalessio, Ms. Mayberry and Mrs. Pschirrer in favor the motion was approved.
Map and Lot# 012-044-009: Mr. Dalessio motioned to approve the refund for Map and Lot# 012-044-009 for $59.91 for an overpayment of taxes. Seconded by Ms. Mayberry. With Mr. Dalessio, Ms. Mayberry and Mrs. Pschirrer in favor the motion was approved.
Map and Lot# 0UTIL-0UTIL-2B: Mr. Dalessio motioned to approve the refund for Map and Lot# 0UTIL-0UTIL-2B for $331.97. Seconded by Ms. Mayberry. With Mr. Dalessio, Ms. Mayberry and Mrs. Pschirrer in favor the motion was approved.
BUILDING PERMITS:
2024-03, Map and Lot# 013-057-000: Mr. Dalessio motioned to approve the building permit for Map and Lot# 012-039-000 to build a 10’ x 20’ shed. Seconded by Ms. Mayberry. With Mr. Dalessio, Ms. Mayberry and Mrs. Pschirrer in favor the motion was approved.
2024-04, Map and Lot# 024-024-000: Mr. Dalessio motioned to approve the building permit for Map and Lot# 024-024-000 to install a 10’ x 12’ shed. Seconded by Ms. Mayberry. With Mr. Dalessio, Ms. Mayberry and Mrs. Pschirrer in favor the motion was approved.
OLD BUSINESS:
Purchase Order and Sales Proposal for 6 Wheel Dump Truck: Mr. Dalessio motioned to sign the purchase order of $136,983 for the 6-wheel dump truck from a warrant article approved in 2023 as a non-lapsing warrant article. Ms. Mayberry seconded. With Mr. Dalessio, Ms. Mayberry and Mrs. Pschirrer in favor the motion was approved. Ms. Mayberry motioned for Mrs. Pschirrer to sign the sales proposal. Seconded by Mr. Dalessio. With Ms. Mayberry, Mr. Dalessio, and Mrs. Pschirrer in favor the motion was approved.
Purchase Order for New Police Vehicle: Mrs. Pschirrer reflected that the Chief has been out of work all week, and that the purchase order was not ready to be signed. Ms. Mayberry stated she would reach out to the Police Department to follow up on this purchase order.
Selectboard Operational Guidelines: Mrs. Pschirrer stated she has looked through these but asked Mrs. Downing to put this item on next week’s agenda.
Pending Further Action: Mr. Dalessio stated that the Houghton Brook Bridge is about to be put out to bid again, and that School Street Drainage Project drawings are being reviewed.
NEW BUSINESS:
Recreation Revolving Fund Request: Ms. Mayberry motioned to accept the Recreation Revolving Fund request from the Recreation Department for the amount of $747.73 for basketball uniforms with these funds to be reimbursed by sponsors. Seconded by Mr. Dalessio. With Ms. Mayberry, Mr. Dalessio, and Mrs. Pschirrer in favor the motion was approved.
Application for Activity and Use Restriction: Mrs. Pschirrer stated that the Brownfields cleanup has been completed for the new parking lot, but test wells are left on the property. Mr. Dalessio motioned to allow Mrs. Pschirrer to sign the DES Application for Activity and Use Restriction. Seconded by Mr. Mayberry. With Mr. Dalessio, Ms. Mayberry, and Mrs. Pschirrer in favor the motion was approved.
Biodiversity/Pollinator Grant: Mrs. Pschirrer stated that Peter Palmiotto, the Conservation Commission co-chair had asked for the Selectboard’s approval in the writing of a Biodiversity/Pollinator Grant. Mrs. Pschirrer stated she would write to Mr. Palmiotto and inquire about what type of support is being requested.
Recording Secretary Resignation: Mrs. Pschirrer stated that they were in receipt of letter from Ahmad Esfahini, the Recording Secretary, resigning from that position as of March 6th.
Office Closure Request: Mrs. Pschirrer stated that a request has been submitted to the Selectboard to close the Selectboard Office on 7/05/2024. The Selectboard reached consensus to accept this request.
NON-PUBLIC BUSINESS RSA 91-A:3 II (c):
Ms. Mayberry moved to enter into Non-Public meeting at 7:15 PM. Mr. Dalessio seconded. With Ms. Mayberry, Mr. Dalessio, and Mrs. Pschirrer in favor, the motion was approved.
The meeting reconvened at 7:36 PM.
Mrs. Pschirrer declared the nonpublic minutes would be sealed.
ADJOURNMENT:
Mrs. Pschirrer declared the meeting adjourned at 7:37 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Ahmad Esfahani, Recording Secretary
Planning Board & Zoning Board Meeting Minutes – 2/27/24
Present: Planning Board members Chair Jeff Miller, Vice-Chair Dennis Marcom, Clerk Jason Perron, Jeff Harrington, Select Board Representative Steve Dalessio, Alternate Bill Carmody. Zoning Board members Chair Dave Edkins, Pauline Barnes and Tom Winmill.
Purpose of Meeting: To discuss updating/recodifying Walpole Zoning Ordinances. The ZBA also wanted some professional help – someone who would work with them while they were doing this project who has knowledge of statutory language.
Call to Order: Mr. Miller called the meeting to order at 7 pm. He said he thought the project was a good idea. Late last year the Planning Board used a planner from Southwest Region Planning Commission in Keene to work with the Planning Board to finish updating the Natural Features section of the town’s Master Plan. In fact, he had recently heard from Peter Palmiotto. Chair of the Conservation Committee, that that board had finally completed giving the Natural Features section a final look so Mr. Miller hoped that section would soon be printed.
Ms. Barnes and Mr. Winmill each prepared a list of what needed to be done. Ms. Barnes said that one of the main reasons for this was to clarify, update, and correct terminology. It will make the document more user friendly and easy to understand but also conform to state laws and court decisions. Think about the average citizen, Ms. Barnes wrote. She also explained that the NH Supreme Court recently found in favor of short-term rental owners vs. the city of Conway based on the language in the city’s zoning ordinance describing “household.” Mr. Winmill listed seven recommendations one of which referred to a zoning map but no map was attached.
Mr. Miller said the next step is for the PB to invite SWRPC to a 4th-Tuesday meeting and chat about the project, see if the commission can do the project at this time, get an idea of how much it is going to cost and a time frame. Then the board checks to if there is enough money in the budget to do this or if it has to wait until next year. It also has the option to look around for another consultant.
Respectfully submitted,
Marilou Blaine
WP and ZBA secretary
cc: WPB, ZBA, Town Offices, The Walpolean.
Posted: In the Town Offices, on the bulletin board outside the Post Office, www.walpolenh.us
Clarion On-line
| The Town Meeting issue of the CLARION is at the post offices for delivery and now on-line. Do not forget to go to your polling place on Tuesday March 12 to mark your ballots, and then on Saturday March 16, attend Town Meeting at the Town Hall beginning at 1 pm. See you there.To see the March CLARION – Click this Link . Catch you again soon, yours, RAY BOAS, Publisher |
Zoning Board Meeting Minutes – 2/21/24
Roll Call: Board members Chair Dave Edkins, Clerk Tom Murray, Pauline Barnes and Tom Winmill. Alternates: Shane O’Keefe and Myra Mansouri. Absent: Alternates Don Sellarole and Carolyn Vose.
Call to Order: Mr. Edkins called the meeting to order at 7:03 pm. Mr. Edkins asked Mr. O’Keefe to serve as the fifth board member. He agreed.
Minutes: Mr. O’Keefe made one clarification. Regarding ski areas near where he works in Londonderry, VT, he changed Okemo to Stratton. Ms. Barnes, on page 2, second paragraph, added an “s” to the word requirement. Mr. O’Keefe moved the motion to approve the minutes as corrected. Ms. Barnes seconded the motion and the motion carried.
New Business:
Mr. Edkins said he spoke with Walpole Planning Board chair, Jeff Miller, and Mr. Miller invited the Zoning Board to a workshop meeting on the fourth Tuesday of the month, Tuesday, February 27, in the conference room in the basement of the Town Hall to discuss updating/recodifying the Walpole Zoning Ordinances. He sent an email to the board about the meeting shortly after talking to Mr. Miller. Ms. Barnes said she thought Mr. Edkins was going to talk with him about hiring a consultant to work with the Zoning Board on the language of some of the zoning ordinances. Carol Ogilvie’s name was mentioned at the January meeting as a consultant that had recently worked with the Planning Board on updating the Natural Features section of the Master Plan. Mr. Edkins replied that he thought Ms. Ogilvie was semi retired and wasn’t sure if she would be available. He added that the Planning Board had money, $10,000, in its budget for consultant work. In the past they have used Southwest Region Planning Commission.
Mr. Edkins asked the board for topics or sections of the document that should be discussed.
Mr. O’Keefe said he wasn’t ready to answer that request yet. He wanted to spend some time before the meeting rereading the document. Ms. Mansouri suggested starting with one item, maybe definitions, and that would lead to next item. Mr. O’Keefe said he didn’t think we have the expertise to do this. We need some help from a consultant who has done this before and knows the latest statutory language. But before the board spends any money, it has to figure out what it wants. We have a year to do this before presenting anything to the public. This will make it easier for the public to understand this document. Mr. Edkins said he didn’t see doing a radical reformatting of the document. It just needs updating of some of the language and clarifying some definitions. Mr. O’Keefe said “like the word boarding house.”
Someone suggested that the ZBA could use the Southwest Region Planning Commission.
The secretary explained that the problem the Planning Board had with SWRPC last year was that it was understaffed. Several times last year the commission was scheduled to work with the PB on its Master Plan but canceled right before the meeting because it had no one to attend the meeting. Mr. Edkins and Ms. Barnes said there are other people, such as in the Department of Municipal Services. People such as Tara Bamford, whom they both mentioned as worthy of considering.
Mr. Murray said we’ve done this before. He mentioned the board’s work on signage and the bed and breakfast ordinance. The board spent a good deal of time working on ordinances about feather flags and temporary signs. Both issues were brought to the board’s attention by the public. It took a while but the language was worked out and it was put on the warrant and ultimately is in our current sign ordinance.
Ms. Barnes said in the beginning of the document should be a description of the type of ordinance the town of Walpole has, which is a permissive ordinance. A permissive ordinance means if something is not mentioned in the ordinance, it is not permitted. If you can’t find it there, you probably need a variance to do it.
Someone suggested starting with definitions. Article XVII is a sections solely devoted to definitions on all subjects. Article XVIII Flood Plain District has definitions related to the flood plain but there are also definitions about manufactured housing and historic homes. Besides putting all the definitions together in one article, Ms. Barnes stressed that they should be alphabetized.
The board agreed there are Articles in the ordinance that are untouchable such as Article XIX Wellhead Protection Overlay District Ordinance. That article was written by members of the Walpole Conservation Commission and members who had expertise in groundwater and drinking water matters and were concerned about contamination. It includes definitions specifically related to this matter, and an explanation of where the district is, spill prevention and control, a countermeasure plan and a list of permitted, prohibited and conditional uses.
So the board’s marching orders were: reread the Town of Walpole’s Zoning Ordinances document and be ready to discuss at next Tuesday’s workshop with the Planning Board zoning ordinances or sections on which the board needs to focus its attention to the language. Also, discuss getting a consultant who would be knowledgeable about the current statutory language.
Handout
Board members received a copy of an update of the state of local land use regulations printed in a copy of the January/February 2024 copy of Town and City compiled by the NH Municipal Association.
Adjournment
Mr. O’Keefe made a motion to adjourn. Mr. Murray seconded the motion and the motion carried. The time was 8 pm.
These minutes are unapproved and will be reviewed at the regular March 2023 meeting for corrections and omissions
Respectfully submitted,
Marilou Blaine
ZBA Recording Secretary
The Walpolean 
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