Annual Reports %^ik NEW HAMPSHIRE 'ummMm ANNUAL REPORTS ofthe Selectmen, Treasurer, Town Clerk, Tax Collector and Trustees of the Trust Funds and other Officers ofthe Town Grantham of New Hampshire Together with the Report ofthe School Board and the Vital Statistics for the Year 1991 Newport Litho, Inc. Newport, New Hampshire ^QRecydedpaper ^^Recyclablepaper I TABLE OF CONTENTS Ambulance Report 57 Auditor's Report 38 Balance Sheet 25 Building Inspector's Report 49 CemeteryTrustees Report 54 Comparative Statement and Budget 18 Conservation CommissionReport 66 Employees' Pay 22 F.A.S.T. Squad Report 56 FireDepartment Report 57 Forest Fire Warden's Report 59 Grantham Recreation Report 63 LakeSunapee Health CareReport 63 Library Report 64 NH/VT Solid Waste Project Report 61 Police Department Report 56 RecycHng Report 61 Representatives' Reports 68 Road Agent's Report 59 Schedule ofTown Property 26 School Reports AdministrativeUnit 32Expense 75 Auditor's Report 77 Budget 72 Chapter I Basic Skills Improvement Program 76 District Meeting 78 Enrollment 83 Officers 70 Revenue 74 Superintendent's Report 81 Teaching Principal's Report 81 Treasurer's Report 77 Tuition Pupils 84 Warrant 71 Selectmen's Report 7 Summary InventoryofValuation 23 TaxCollector's Report 27 TownClerk's Report 49 TownMeetingMinutes 39 Town Officers 4 Town Warrant 10 Treasurer's Report 31 Trustees ofTrust Funds 34 UpperValley Lake Sunapee Council 50 Vital Statistics ' 46 Zoning Board ofAdjustment 53 Zoning Ordinance 15 — — 3 TOWN OFFICERS 1991 Moderator Merle Schotanus, 1992 Selectmen Myron Cummings, Chairperson, 1992 Stephen Jordan, 1993 Rickey Hastings, 1994 Administrative Assistant John B. Wheeler Bookkeeper/Secretary Shannon E. Hastings Town Clerk/Tax Collector Frances L. Hastings, 1992 Deputy Town Clerk/Tax Collector Cynthia J. Towle Treasurer Gina Hutchins, 1993 Auditor Ruth Gourley, 1993 Building Inspectors Board ofSelectmen Cemetery Trustees Alfred Holmes, 1992 Warren Kimball, 1993 Dennis Howard, 1994 Cemetery Sexton Warren Kimball Conservation Commission Jim Berg, Chairperson, 1994 Connie Howard, Sec./Treas., 1992 Michael Simpson, 1992 Carl Hanson, Vice Chairperson, 1993 Alternates Dave Frucht, 1994 Dan Eigenbrode, 1992 Sally Plows, 1992 Everett R. Reney, 1993 Merle Schotanus, 1994 Custodian Charlene A. Jenkins Dunbar Library Trustees Rita Eigenbrode, Chairperson, 1992 Carol Weiss, Secretary, 1993 Cynthia Towle, Treasurer, 1994 Dunbar Library Librarian Colleen J. O'Brien Assistant Librarian B. Joey Holmes F.A.S.T. Squad Joey Bard, President Teresa Bagley, Vice President Fire Chief Michael Benoit Deputy Fire Chief James F. Mutney Fire Warden Kenneth O. Barton Deputy Fire Wardens Michael Benoit Everett R. Reney Jim Mutney Paul Osgood Mike Traegde Health Officers Kirby M. Hayes Board ofSelectmen — — 4 Planning Board Mary Hutchins, Chairperson, 1992 Alden Pillsbury, Vice Chairperson, 1992 Arthur Hamm, 1993 Carl Hanson, 1994 Stephen Jordan, Selectmen's Rep. Alternates Lloyd Krumm Jr., 1992 Fred Mercer, 1993 Bob Weiss, 1994 Secretary Margo Cathie Police Chief Russell E. Lary Full-Time Officer Jerry A. Whitney Special Officers Massad Ayoob Stewart Adams Roger Bloomfield John Groom Clarence R. Howard Walter A. Madore Sr. F. Robert Osgood Ronald A. Parlengeli Recreation Department Nick Memole (Resigned) Brian Demers Recycling Committee Doug Hosmer, Chairperson Connie Howard Cathy Seavey Michael Simpson Don Gobin, UVSWD Rep. Jean Grinold Diane Conine Louise Parsons Jim Berg Secretary Meredith Haas Representatives to the General Court Merle Schotanus, 1992 (Grantham, Cornish, Plainfield) Peter Hoe Burling, 1992 (Cornish, Grantham, Springfield) Representatives to the Upper Valley Donald Taylor Lake Sunapee Council Dick Mansfield Road Agent Theodore H. Gallup (Resigned) Ronald A. Hastings School Board Helen Schotanus, Chairperson, 1992 Jane Underhill, 1993 Steve Barron, 1994 Clerk Janis Hastings Treasurer Kathie Hale, 1994 Moderator Vacant — — 5 Supervisors ofthe Checklist Lucia Ballantyne, 1992 Henry Barton, 1994 Betty A. Mutney, 1996 Transfer Station Attendants Herm Barton Clyde Currier Trustees ofTrust Funds Ella B. Reney, 1992 Robert E. Guyette, 1993 Connie Howard, 1994 Welfare Official Board ofSelectmen John B. Wheeler Zoning Board ofAdjustment Bill Baston, Chairperson, 1992 Alden H. Pillsbury, Vice Chair, 1993 Marie Bitler, 1992 George Bond, 1993 Mike Hastings, 1994 Alternates Carol Sturgis, 1992 Dick Mansfield, 1993 Barbara Roll, 1994 Clerk Shannon E. Hastings CompletedconstnictioiioftheLowerDunbarHillBridge,lo<^iigdownstream. BOARD OF SELECTMEN'S REPORT 1991 was a year of continuing improvements and changes for Grantham. We have chosen four main areas to list actions that we have been involved with over the year: Capital Improvements, Town Environment, Tax Dollars and Employees. We also briefly discuss the 1992 proposed budget. CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS: The largest construction project for the Town was the replacement of the Lower Dunbar Hill Road Bridge with a multi-plate long span arch culvert and the new paving of the road along the flats north of the bridge. Town Meeting ap- propriated the funds after we had obtained bids for the project. The construction went quite smoothly and within budget. We received the two thirds reimbursement from the State for the bridge replacement as expected. Since prior Town Meetings had set aside funds for replacing the bridge and the State reimbursement was received as expected, no new Town tax funds were used for the project. We now have a safe, two lane river crossing for many years to come. The renovation and addition to the Dunbar Free Library met several obstacles during the year after the Town Meeting ap- propriated $100,000 for the project, but these have been overcome with hard work by the Library Trustees and cooperation of all in- volved. We would like to particularly thank the Reney Heirs for permission to place the well on their property, to Alan Wilson for the design of the septic system, and to Oz Architects for work beyond the requirements of the contract. The Fire Depart- ment has also been very cooperative in working with he designer and builder to insure the building meets the new sprinkler re- quirements and other safety standards. Over the summer and early fall, additional insulation was placed in the Municipal Building to help reduce heat loss and prevent ice build up on the roof over the girls' bathroom. A new door was installed to allow the locking of the gym area to prevent unauthorized use of the gym. TOWN ENVIRONMENT: A number of actions have been taken relat- ing to the general character of the town, the living environment. After court action initiated by us against the owners of Sawyer Brook Plaza for not complying with the Zoning Ordinance, the owners agreed to reimburse the Town for its legal expenses and to discontinue the miniature golf use. There is a proposed zoning change on the warrant to make miniature golf a permitted use in the business zone. We have no objections to the proposed change. The legal action was taken to enforce compliance with the Zoning Ordinance The p.roposed hotel complex at Exit 13 will not happen. The FDIC took over the bank that held the mortgage and the time limit for substantial work to have started has passed. The current Zoning Ordinance does not permit hotels. As a result of our request in 1989, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has been preparing an up-dated Flood Insurance Rate Map for the Town. The new map is to be effective in July of 1992. The map has a great deal more detail on it and will thus be more valuable for those who wish to determine if their site is in an area that might be in a flood hazard zone and for those who wish to obtain flood insurance. A considerable amount of time has been spent discussing the issue of building permits for structures on Class VI roads. By the time this report is published, we expect to have passed a policy to insure the class VI roads will be made passable by the builders and that there will be no liability upon the Town for any problems caused by the condition of the road. This has been — — 7 . a difficult task - trying to balance the needs of the individual lot owners against those of the Town in general. The Eastman Community Association has taken action to make it advantageous to lot owners to annex adjacent empty lots. This will result in fewer taxable home lots, but we think in the long run it will increase the value of the remaining lots, and thus increase the tax base. In the mean time, there may be a slight decrease in the tax base until a new revaluation is undertaken. The Federal Census reported that the Town's 1990 population was 1247, a 77% increase from 1980; the largest percentage in- crease in the Upper Valley. TAX DOLLARS: Several items relating to the savings of tax dollars are worthy of note: Due to the Banking Economy, we decided to take a line of credit for Tax Anticipation Notes rather than borrowing the maxi- mum amount, in April, we thought might be needed during the year and reinvesting it until actually needed. The advantage was that we did not have to worry about investing the proceeds in secured investments to protect against possible bank collapse, and the amount spent for the loan was only $9,321 (in 1990 it was $57,921.) The total interest earned in 1991 was $18,787 vs $65,857 for 1990. Thus we earned more interest than we paid in both years, with an increase in 1991 over 1990 of $1,530, in spite of the lower interest rates, and at the same time we had greater security of our funds. We had a study made by graduate students at The Tuck School of Business Administration concerning the possibilities of chang- ing over to twice a year tax billing and collection, and to a July through June Fiscal Year. The resulting recommendations. based on economics and other Towns' experience, were to do both. We have placed an article in the warrant to determine if you would like to change over to twice a year tax collection, start- ing in 1993. We recommend the change as it will result in a cost savings to the Town since there will have to be less, and maybe no borrowing in anticipation of taxes. It will also allow easier budgeting for many taxpayers We have not taken any action on the change in fiscal year recommendation - we think it prudent to take the two recommendations one at a time As a result of cooperative bidding with other governments in Sullivan County, we were able to obtain a fuel oil bid contract at less than 70 cents per galion. We are also taking advantage of several state purchasing contracts for such items as road salt and office supplies. The purchase of a new one-ton truck and plow for the highway department was put out to bid and granted to the lowest bidder. The total cost was $23,230 including the truck, dump body and plow. We received $2,900 for the old truck, again through a bidding process. EMPLOYEES: In June, Ted Gallup resigned after approximately a year as the Road Agent. We wish him luck in his return to private business. After interviewing all local applicants for the position, we hired Ronald Hastings who started in July. This winter, with so many ice storms, has been a real test for him - a test we feel he has passed with flying colors. We have put down in writing various personnel policies. We feel our employees are working hard to provide the best possible service to you, but due to the economy, have proposed only a 2% pay increase plus 2% step increases for two full time employees who never received in- creases at the end of their probation periods. 1992 BUDGET: The proposed total operating and article budgets are down from 1991! We thank all the departments in their ef- forts to maintain or decrease their budgets from last year. The decrease in the operating budget is due primarily to the decrease in interest budgeted - last year we budgeted for the usual full