City Council

CITY OF LACONIA ­ CITY COUNCIL MEETING December 10, 2018 7:00 P.M. 12/10/2018 ­ Minutes 1. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Engler called the meeting to order at the above date and time. 2. SALUTE TO THE FLAG Councilor Haynes lead the salute to the Flag. 3. RECORDING SECRETARY Cheryl Hebert, City Clerk 4. ROLL CALL City Clerk Hebert took the roll with the following Councilors in attendance: Bruce Cheney, David Bownes, Mark Haynes, Bob Hamel, and Andrew Hosmer Mayor Engler noted five (5) Councilors were in attendance and a quorum has been established. Councilor Lipman arrived to the meeting at 7:04 pm. All six (6) Councilors are now in attendance. 5. STAFF IN ATTENDANCE Scott Myers, City Manager 6. COUNCIL PROCLAMATION 6.A. Council presentations Mayor Engler presented the annual Debra Bieniarz award. This year for the first time, two recipients have been chosen. Mayor Engler read into the record the proclamation: "Thirty­one years ago the Laconia City Council established the Debra Bieniarz Memorial Award for outstanding service to children and youth in the Lakes Region in memory of police officer Debra Bieniarz. Late Officer Bieniarz served the City and its youth with uncommon devotion, dedication and distinction during her nine years with the Police Department before her death in 1987. Each year a committee comprised of one City Councilor, one member of the Police Department and one member of the School Board selects an individual to be recognized for this award based on nominations from members of the community. The award honors a member of the community who has enlivened and enriched the lives of young people. As in past years, there were many worthy individuals nominated by members of the community. There were so many wonderful nominations that the Bieniarz Committee found it particularly hard to choose, resulting in two winners of the award this year! Our honoree has always been, and will continue to be, a support system for our community and is the ideal role model for our youth., She is described as a good hearted and spirited person, someone others can turn to and count on in times of need. Her dedication to our community is outstanding and heartwarming. Acting as the School Librarian for Pleasant Street School for many years, she always takes the time to get to know the individuals who walk into the library and helps them find the perfect book that they can immerser themselves into. She has been instrumental in acquiring grants that help students explore their interests, 1 and works tirelessly to encourage them to participate in school activities.  Volunteering with the after­school program, Project EXTRA, our honoree provides enrichment opportunities to students in a safe, supportive environment, teaching them about computers and robotics while also promoting confidence and healthy learning habits, She has also acted as a mentor with the Friends Program, helping young women to be strong and independent, and to develop a sense of gratitude for the world around them. She is active in the Circle Program, designed to help young women coming from low­income families to develop and grow in their confidence, social connections and self­love. She has taught them that they can achieve anything if they just have the courage to try. It is said the the best way to give back to the community is to become something great, and through her mentoring this year's winner has helped to bring the greatness out in these young ladies, allowing them to share it with the rest of the community. In recognition of this year's honoree's outstanding commitment to the youth of Laconia, I am extremely proud and pleased to present the 2018 Debra Bieniarz Award to: Liz Rosenfeld. Our honoree has served as an instrumental asset to the youth of our community for many years. He continuously showed his support, providing encouragement, teaching confidence, how to take responsibility and the realization of what is important in life. Acting as a Lou Athanas Youth Basketball League coach and starting the Laconia Pride AAU program, this years winner had a significant impact on countless young girls' lives over the years. Giving up many weekends, his enthusiasm and dedication encouraged the girls to love the sport of basketball. Throughout the years, these qualities helped mold them into the individuals they are today. Under his guidance, they learned passion, commitment, determination and how to always have each other's backs. At a crucial time in their young lives, he taught them responsibility, the importance of being a member of the team and becoming "family," and together they created memories that will last them the rest of their lives. In a world where it is common for people to pat themselves on the back and not give credit to others, this year's winner stands head and shoulders above the rest, often unknowingly and unselfishly changing dozens of girls' lives for the better. In recognition of this year's honoree's outstanding commitment to the youth of Laconia, I am extremely proud and pleased to present the 2018 Debra Bieniarz Award to: Bob Dassatti." 7. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES FROM PREVIOUS MEETINGS 7.A. Regular meeting minutes of November 26, 2018 Minutes of the November 26, 2018 meeting were distributed to the Council on Wednesday, November 28, 2018. With no corrections or changes submitted to the Clerk, the minutes will be accepted as distributed. 8. CONSENT & ACTION ITEMS 9. CITIZEN COMMENTS FOR MATTERS NOT ON THE AGENDA No comments from the public were made. 10. INTERVIEWS 10.A. Joan Leroux ­ Seeking reappointment to a regular member position on the Personnel Advisory Board for a three year term expiring at the end of October, 2021 Joan Leroux was interviewed. (Ward 6) 10.B. Wesley Bates ­ Seeking appointment to a regular member position on the Conservation Commission for a three­year term expiring at the end of August, 2021 Wesley Bates was interviewed. (Ward 3) 10.C. B. Randy Haas ­ Seeking appointment to a regular member position on the Trustees of the Trust Fund for a three­year term expiring at the end of March, 2021 This seat has been vacant since the passing of Don Flanders. 2 B. Randy Haas was interviewed. (Ward 1) 11. NOMINATIONS, APPOINTMENTS & ELECTIONS 12. COMMUNICATIONS 13. PUBLIC HEARINGS 14. PRESENTATIONS 14.A. Front Porch Awards ­ Presented by Councilor Hamel, Chair of the Land & Buildings Committee Mayor Engler and Councilor Hamel presented three (3) Front Porch Awards. The recipients were: 1. Robert & Laurie Crete with property located at 95 Fair Street 2. Mahendra & Ragi Patel with property located at 480 Main Street (The Landmark Inn) 3. JLF Realty, LLC with property located at 233 Union Avenue (Goody Good Donuts) 15. MAYOR'S REPORT Mayor Engler brought the key to Christmas Village with him as it was presented to him by Ben Phillips, Mayor of Christmas Village 2018. Mayor Engler would like to thank Ben Phillips and commend him for doing a great job as Mayor of Christmas Village. Christmas Village had at least 3000 people in attendance this year. Mayor Engler would like to acknowledge two people that do a tremendous amount of good deeds, especially this time of year. Mayor Engler would like to personally recognize two people that do enormous good from both a leadership and voluntary prospective. Bob Hamel and Alan Beetle greatly enrich the Mayors' life and as well as the lives of so many others. The Mayor also would like to include their wives, Kay and Jennifer. This year was especially challenging for Christmas Village without the two main elves; Armand and Ernie Bolduc. With Armand's passing and Ernie being sick, Bob Hamel has always been the silent third elf, but this year had to take the leadership role on his own. Alan Beetle's contribution to the annual Pub Mania event is outstanding. Within 24 hours an amazing $580,584 was raised with no sizable individual donation. Mayor Engler considers these two individuals dear friends and sincerely thanks them for everything they do. 16. COMMITTEE REPORTS 16.A. FINANCE (Lipman, Hamel, Cheney) 16.A.i. WOW Trail Funding 16.A.ii. Downtown TIF Financing 16.B. PUBLIC SAFETY (Bownes, Hosmer, Lipman) 16.B.i. Fair St/Court St traffic problems and accidents 16.C. GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS & ORDINANCES (Bownes, Hosmer, Cheney) 16.C.i. Review of Chapter 167, Noise and Chapter 161 Licensing as it pertains to outdoor sound equipment and loudspeakers 16.C.ii. Ordinance Amending Chapter 221, Vehicles and Traffic/Parking on Sublawns 16.C.iii. Procedural review of grant applications 16.C.iv. Second reading of a resolution relative to the adoption of RSA 31:95­b, Appropriation of funds made available during the year 3 16.D. LANDS & BUILDINGS (Hamel, Lipman, Haynes)  16.D.i. Downtown parking garage 16.D.ii. Repair & maintenance of City buildings 16.E. PUBLIC WORKS (Bownes, Hosmer, Haynes) 16.E.i. Retaining Wall Policy 16.E.ii. Proposal to implement City Policies for designating emergency lanes 17. LIAISON REPORTS Councilor Bownes stated the second meeting of the Master Plan will be held next week. 18. CITIZENS REQUESTS TO COMMENT ON CURRENT AGENDA ITEMS No comments from the public were made. 19. CITY MANAGER'S REPORT 19.A. Financial and Operational Trends Report City Manager Myers reviewed the report. City Manager Myers discussed overnight parking in the downtown area and would like to be able to work in conjunction with the DPW Director and Chief Canfield to work out a pilot program administratively to allow overnight parking just in the main street parking lot. City Manager Myers pointed out three points from our current City Parking Ordinances: 1. Year round basis ­ there shall be no overnight parking in our City parking lots (this has not been enforced) 2. Overnight parking on City streets on a year round basis ­ No vehicle shall be parked on a public street to be remained continuously so parked during the period from midnight to sunrise (this has not been enforced) 3. Winter Parking Ban ­ No one should be parked on the street between the hours of midnight and 6:30 am. (this is being enforced) The Council expressed their opinions and agreed to allow this to be handled administratively. Councilor Hamel mentioned a concern in regards to the White Oaks Road and Weirs Boulevard intersection. There was a paving job that was recently done and it seems to be worse than before. City Manager Myers stated he will get the specifics and get back to the Council. 20. NEW BUSINESS 20.A. Boat Agent Authorization Councilor Hosmer moved to allow the renewal of the Boat Agent Agreement with the State of NH ­ DMV with the City of Laconia and the seven (7) local boat dealers, seconded by Councilor Hamel; the motion passed with all in favor. Councilor Hamel moved to allow the City Clerk to sign the Boat Agent Agreement on behalf of the City of Laconia, seconded by Councilor Hosmer; the motion passed with all in favor. 20.B. First reading of Resolution 2018­35 relative to authorizing the City Manager to accept and expend a grant on behalf of the City in the amount of $15,952.24, relative to the First Responders­Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act Chief Beattie explained the first year grant would be the total of $15,952.24 with the possibility of up to the same amount for two consecutive years. 4 Councilor Hosmer moved to waive a reading of this Resolution in its entirety and to read by title only, seconded by Councilor Cheney; the motion passed with all in favor.  Councilor Hosmer moved the first reading of Resolution 2018­35, relative to authorizing the City Manager to accept and expend a grant on behalf of the City in the amount of $15,952.24 per year for a period not to exceed three years, relative to the First Responders­Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act Grant, seconded by Councilor Hamel; the motion passed with all in favor. Councilor Hosmer moved to schedule a Public Hearing on December 27, 2018 during the regular City Council meeting, seconded by Councilor Haynes; the motion passed with all in favor. 21. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 21.A. Request from Santagate Properties, LLC for City Council approval of an easement for construction of a deck over City property City Manager Myers reached out to Mr. Santagate in regards to this item and Mr. Santagate was in agreement to have this item on tonight's agenda and that he would be present. Mr. Santagate was not present. Representative St. Clair stated Mr. Santagate has, in the last week, made a fairly large acquisition and does believe this item may have been put on the back burner and asks the Council to keep this item tabled until a future date. The Council agrees to leave this item tabled. Councilor Hamel questioned if during the construction of the sidewalk, whether or not Mr. Santagate paid for a portion of the new sidewalk as it abuts his property. City Manager will get back to the Council with that answer. 21.B. Proposed Sewer Rate Increase for 2020 and 2021 Assistant DPW Director Krista Larsen handed out the PowerPoint Presentation to the Council and for the record. K. Larsen reviewed the report. Discussion was had in regards to the concerns of such high increases, what work needs to be done, upgrades, and the CIP. Councilor Lipman questioned the life span of any upgrades. DPW Assistant Director Krista Larsen explained a new sewer pipe should last 50 years, and lining should last 20 years. K. Larsen also stated pumps, grinders, and some electrical would only have a life span of 10­15 years. K. Larsen reminded the Council they have already passed an increase of 9.5% beginning with the February 2019 bills. The proposed rate increases are 5.5% in 2020 and another 5.5% in 2021, with Bonding half of the CIP in both those years. These increases are being requested in order to maintain a reserve fund at $3.5 million. The $3.5 million number came from the recommendation of the rate study consultant and it represents 50% of the operating budget as well as some of the reserve for the Winnipesaukee River Basin program. The City Manager stated that this amount is in comparison with other cities in NH our size. Mayor Engler does not understand with the City's power to receive borrowed monies almost immediately, why we are in need of a reserve fund at such a high amount. City Manager Myers stated it is good financial practice for a number of our budgets to have appropriate reserves. Council expressed concern with such high increases and questioned what would happen if the reserve fund did not maintain at the $3.5 million, would DPW then come back to Council and request more increases. The current balance of the reserve fund is $5 million but with the current projects happening it will be drawn down to $3.5 million. It was stated the proposed rate increase does not put any money into the reserve fund. If there was an emergency and the reserve fund needed to be used, as of right now, there is no plan on how to bring the reserve fund back up to the $3.5 million. K. Larsen stated it would need to be looked at how to bring the reserve fund back up again. The recommendation K. Larsen is presenting is on page 8 of the handout. Councilor Lipman suggests lowering the proposed rate increase to 9.5% to a three to four percent increase and to look at bonding half of the $1.5 million a year as well as to include the Finance Department in the discussion. 22. COUNCIL COMMENTS 5 Councilor Cheney is still concerned with Perley Pond and Opechee Cove. City Manager Myers stated the wait is on the  thickness of the ice in order for workers to be on it. Councilor Haynes stated the Court Street light has been found. Councilor Bownes made note of how nice downtown looks. 23. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS 23.A. Master Plan 23.B. Milfoil Treatment funding requests 23.C. Sewer & Water Master Plan 23.D. Single Stream Recycling/Concord Co­op/Solid Waste disposal cost reductions 23.E. Strategic Planning/Goal Setting 23.F. WOW Trail 24. Any other business that may come before the Council 25. NON­PUBLIC SESSION (According to RSA 91­A:3, II) 26. ADJOURNMENT With no further business to come before the Council and hearing no objection, Mayor Engler adjourned the meeting at 9:06 pm. Respectfully submitted, Cheryl Hebert, City Clerk MINUTES OF THIS MEETING WERE APPROVED BY COUNCIL ON DECEMBER 27, 2018 6