[0:03] Good evening and welcome to the Tuesday,

[0:05] July 7th, 2026 Town Council meeting.

[0:09] Councilor Webb, all you have,

[0:10] you wanna lead us in the pledge?

[0:14] I pledge Allegiance to the flag

[0:16] of the United States of, of America.

[0:18] And to the for which stands?

[0:21] One Nation Individual Individual Justice.

[0:27] Thank you. You my inhaler.

[0:30] I rushed you out here. And then may just say the pledge.

[0:33] All right. Good evening everyone.

[0:36] Just a reminder to please silence your cell phones

[0:38] and exits are directly behind you

[0:41] and to the side in an emergency.

[0:44] Okay. We'll start with our roll call Counselor Mills.

[0:47] Good evening, counselor Healy. Good evening councilor. We

[0:51] Good Evening.

[0:52] Just catching you at every moment. Councilor Chase.

[0:54] Good evening, counselor Flood. Good evening, counselor Foot.

[0:56] Good evening. And good evening from the chair.

[1:00] Is there a Motion for Public

[1:02] Forums?

[1:03] So moved. Second.

[1:05] All right. Motion is second to open public forum.

[1:07] All those in favor? A. A opposed? Alright.

[1:11] Public forum is, open floor is yours.

[1:13] Please remember to state your

[1:14] name and address for the record.

[1:28] Good Evening everyone. Tom Cardin to Cunningham Drive.

[1:32] I wanna speak about the Bird Enterprise property down

[1:36] on Hampstead Road.

[1:39] I went by there last, last two of you about,

[1:43] it was about quarter after 10.

[1:44] And you know, they have their, you know, they have this

[1:49] topper cap on with lights going around.

[1:51] There's like 64 lights going around it.

[1:54] And I thought, you know, I mean,

[1:55] 'cause it's been such a big issue

[1:57] and especially the, the lighting has been a huge issue

[1:59] with everybody there.

[2:01] So the lights were on, I got the topper cap on

[2:04] and I was pretty sure that they, you know,

[2:06] that they weren't allowed to do that.

[2:07] So I did go, I did go home, I went through the, you know,

[2:12] through the meeting and I, I want to tell Owen that they,

[2:15] you have that set up really good so that you can,

[2:18] you can look at, you can look for your own hearing

[2:20] and you don't have to scroll through everything.

[2:22] So, nice job.

[2:24] So anyway, so I went through that

[2:26] and there was, you know, they wanted

[2:27] to split up into two motions.

[2:29] So one motion was, you know, for shorter signs,

[2:33] a little bit smaller sign

[2:34] and, you know, definitely turn it off at from dust to nine.

[2:38] And then they asked for, they asked to separate

[2:41] and I didn't quite get that.

[2:42] So the, you know, they, they separated it so

[2:46] that they could, so it would be no topper cap.

[2:50] And of course they talked about no light.

[2:51] So it's like, okay, so topper cap wasn't, you know,

[2:54] wasn't supposed to be up there.

[2:57] And you know, I didn't quite get why they separated

[3:00] that in the first place,

[3:01] but, you know, now I understand that and,

[3:03] and I don't know exactly what their, what their plan is,

[3:06] but you know, to me it was just a deliberate act of defiance

[3:09] to put that up, you know, given the fact that, you know,

[3:12] there's been so much controversy with that sign

[3:15] and, you know, I really wasn't even gonna say

[3:17] anything about it.

[3:20] And then I just thought of, you know, all the, all the,

[3:23] the medias that the zoning board has gone through

[3:26] and all the time and effort that they put in.

[3:28] And I thought about, you know, the, the people, you know,

[3:31] some of the, the meetings that I went to, people were there

[3:33] for a couple of hours, you know, waiting for their hearing

[3:35] and they, you know, they had to go back

[3:38] because these hearings

[3:40] for Bird Enterprise were going on for so long.

[3:43] There was one night that I was, I was standing back here,

[3:46] it was like, I got here at quarter seven, it was like,

[3:49] I don't know, five after

[3:50] five after 10 or something like that.

[3:51] And I was standing up and, you know, kind

[3:54] of not paying too much of attention

[3:55] and they were, they, they stopped, you know, they,

[3:58] they stopped taking testimony and so I had to get up there

[4:01] and sit and, you know, and they said, no, we gotta wait.

[4:04] So I'll, I'll be just a another, another minute or so.

[4:08] So, you know, I mean the problem is they,

[4:10] they've just shown, you know, so little regard for, for the,

[4:14] the neighbors of the area

[4:15] and they've, they've ignored, you know, town directions,

[4:18] town, town policy and you know, and,

[4:20] and obviously town rulings

[4:21] and, you know, court enforcement is have to chase them down

[4:24] to take the sign down.

[4:26] And I'm sure that it's gonna go to court.

[4:28] So, you know, it's gonna be, it's gonna be even longer.

[4:32] But, you know, one of the, one of the meetings, you know,

[4:35] the guy, the guy got up

[4:36] and he was complaining how everybody was saying stuff about

[4:39] him and, you know, he wasn't too happy.

[4:41] And I kind of felt bad for him.

[4:43] I don't feel bad for him anymore.

[4:45] But I did look at, you know, stop you for

[4:47] A minute Here at time.

[4:48] I'm not gonna read the stuff, but you know, there,

[4:50] there are Hold on second.

[4:51] Hold on one moment. You're just outta time.

[4:53] So I just need to get a motion to extend,

[4:54] so there's a motion to extend second and a second.

[4:56] All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Thank.

[4:58] Sorry. Yeah, no, that's okay. I was trying to talk fast.

[5:01] So, but anyway, I mean, there, there are, you know, the,

[5:04] there are violations and penalties,

[5:07] but you know, again, you know, it's, they're gonna have

[5:10] to go to Superior court,

[5:11] I guess Code enforcement's gonna have to go

[5:13] to Superior Court and you know, again,

[5:15] just eating up more time and whatever.

[5:16] So anyway, it's just, you know,

[5:18] the whole thing is really unfortunate

[5:20] because it's a good fit for the area,

[5:22] but this sign thing has just gone on and on.

[5:25] It's just, it's outta control.

[5:26] But anyway, thank you for listening to

[5:28] Me.

[5:29] Thank you. Thank you Tom.

[5:35] Anyone online? Owen?

[5:38] Mad chair. Seeing none Rise online. Move

[5:40] To close.

[5:41] Second. A, a motion to close public forum and a second.

[5:44] All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed or abstentions?

[5:48] Okay. Moving on to the consent agenda.

[5:51] I think it's just two items on here.

[5:54] We have item 26 63 to,

[5:57] to approve the minutes from our June 30th goals workshop

[6:01] and item 26 64, ordinance 2026 dash 0 0 1

[6:06] to amend the zoning ordinance, chapter 1 65.

[6:09] And there will be a public hearing on that on August 4th.

[6:15] Our motion to accept a consent agenda. Make a

[6:17] Motion to accept a consent agenda. Second.

[6:20] All right, we have a motion by Council Webb, second

[6:23] by Councilor Flood on the motion.

[6:25] Council Mills? Yes. Councilor Healy. Yes. Councilor Webb?

[6:28] Yes. Councilor Chase? Yes. Councilor Flood? Yes.

[6:32] Councilor Foote? Yes. And Chair Votes? Yes. Motion passes.

[6:35] Seven zero. Excuse me

[6:39] for the chair's report.

[6:41] We have a couple of appointments this evening, so I'd like

[6:45] to make a motion to appoint Andrew Young

[6:48] as an alternate member of the planning board for a term

[6:50] to expire March 31st, 2029.

[6:54] Second that. All right. Motion.

[6:56] And a second by Councilor Mills on the Motion.

[6:58] Council Mills? Yes. Sorry.

[7:00] Is there any discussion on that before we Okay.

[7:03] Councilor Mills is, yes. Councilor Healey? Yes.

[7:05] Councilor Webb? Yes. Councilor Chase? Yes. Councilor Flood?

[7:09] Yes. Councilor Foot? Yes. And chair votes? Yes.

[7:11] Motion passes to seven zero

[7:14] and I move to appoint Dr.

[7:18] Catherine Arbor as an alternate member

[7:20] of the Conservation Commission for a term to expire.

[7:23] March 31st, 2029.

[7:25] Second that. Alright, motion Second by Councilor Mills.

[7:30] Any discussion? Councilor Mills? Yes. Councilor Healy? Yes.

[7:35] Councilor Webb? Yes. Councilor Chase? Yes. Councilor Ford?

[7:38] Yes. Councilor Foot? Yes. And chair votes? Yes.

[7:41] Motion passes. Seven zero.

[7:43] I did have one other thing I asked, I know I asked some

[7:45] of you, but I don't think I got to everybody.

[7:48] Just kind of a poll.

[7:50] We're trying to schedule the next joint meeting

[7:54] between the council and the school board.

[7:57] I had talked to Mr.

[7:59] Thiel about it and we were looking at the 22nd,

[8:02] which is a school board night doing it

[8:04] before their meeting since we did

[8:05] it before our meeting last time.

[8:06] But I wanted to ask if

[8:07] that was a night that worked for all of you.

[8:10] September 22nd. I dunno if I said the month.

[8:13] Oh, you mean the joint meeting in here? Not not the

[8:15] Legislative committee.

[8:16] Not the legislative committee. That kind of,

[8:17] when we had the two boards come together

[8:19] before the 22nd month of September.

[8:21] So if you don't have to necessarily answer right now,

[8:23] but if you can let me know if that date will work.

[8:27] He, he's worked checking with the school board,

[8:29] so I don't know if that will be the date or not,

[8:30] but I just wanna throw it

[8:32] Out there.

[8:33] I'm, I can do that. You can works That

[8:35] date won't work for Ava.

[8:36] If that's, if I'm the only one then that's, that's okay.

[8:39] Okay. Alright, well, we'll I'll, I'll check in with y'all

[8:43] that aren't sure and we'll go from there.

[8:46] And that was all I had.

[8:48] I'll turn it over to Mr. Parler. Alright,

[8:50] Good evening.

[8:51] I've got a number of items today

[8:53] and I've got a couple of presentations so bear with me.

[8:56] But there's a lot of items

[8:57] that I wanna pass, pass along this evening.

[9:00] First item in community information column,

[9:02] the Dairy Planning Department is pleased to announce

[9:05] that the Town of Dairy will be first to partner

[9:07] with Southern New Hampshire Planning Commission

[9:09] for the Southern New Hampshire Housing

[9:12] Implementation Project.

[9:13] The information that's gathered from this project will be

[9:16] incorporated into the region's comprehensive plan.

[9:19] Your feedback is going to be valuable

[9:21] and will help guide future planning efforts.

[9:24] The survey may be accessed at Southern New Hampshire

[9:27] Planning Commission on their website

[9:30] and there's also, I believe a signboard downstairs

[9:33] with some additional information on the first floor.

[9:35] That survey will remain open until July 10th.

[9:39] Another good piece of news for the town.

[9:42] The solar project had passed its witness test on June 25th.

[9:46] The project is going to be flipped on officially July 9th,

[9:51] so we should see electrons flowing

[9:54] and at a later date we are going to,

[9:56] or I'd like the council to do a ribbon cutting.

[9:58] So I'll send some information out, coordinate

[10:01] with our contractor on that, that

[10:03] that's very exciting once we start

[10:04] to get some data in on some of the costs

[10:06] that have been averted by taking that in.

[10:09] I'll pass that along, but really exciting

[10:11] and it took a long time to get here and,

[10:13] and thanks to everybody that had a part in, in doing so.

[10:17] Also, just real quickly on the energy efficiency front,

[10:20] we just cleaned up some reporting to the Department

[10:24] of Energy for the two Equinox electric vehicles that we use

[10:29] for the code enforcement department.

[10:31] The usage thus far has been very, very positive.

[10:35] It's only been costing us between 120

[10:38] and $180 per month for both

[10:40] of those vehicles total to be utilized.

[10:43] So that's been very positive.

[10:46] You know, the mileage on them is,

[10:48] hasn't been a lot they've used, you know, just in town,

[10:51] but it's been very, very positive from a

[10:53] cost aversion standpoint.

[10:54] So we're really happy to see that, that project,

[10:56] and again, all the cost of those vehicles were funded by

[11:00] the EEC E-E-C-B-G grant

[11:02] and a tax credit that we are still in the process

[11:04] of chasing down from the federal government.

[11:08] Another note on electricity costs.

[11:10] So just to let the residents of dairy know most of our

[11:14] grid is on the Eversource default

[11:17] and that rate effective August 1st is gonna be

[11:20] 14.01 cents per kilowatt hour.

[11:23] That's up from 11.30 cents.

[11:26] So unfortunately that is gonna be something

[11:29] that the residents are gonna have to, to deal with.

[11:32] We are looking for some vendors on community power.

[11:36] If you recall back in 2023 we had worked to try

[11:39] to identify somebody.

[11:41] We're gonna reignite that

[11:42] and hopefully we'll have some competitive pricing

[11:45] to provide to the residents.

[11:46] The town buildings, just to, just to clarify, are going

[11:50] to be on the net metering agreement

[11:52] that comes out of, of the solar project.

[11:53] So we are gonna be buffered from those cost increases

[11:56] and we've always been on a third party supply, so

[11:58] that's at least been positive on the towns front.

[12:02] Some other governmental information tax collector's office

[12:06] and town clerk changed their hours effective Monday,

[12:09] July 6th.

[12:10] The hours are now Monday through Friday, seven to 4:00 PM

[12:13] and there's an extra hour on Wednesday

[12:15] until 5:00 PM So that's in effect now.

[12:18] Also wanted to note, the town council is advised

[12:20] of a new calculation of a police detail rate

[12:23] that's effective July 1st, 2026 per council resolution.

[12:27] There's an automatic provision which makes the changes

[12:29] effective to mirror changes in the employee pay rates at the

[12:33] beginning of that fiscal year.

[12:35] And then finally on personnel, I just want

[12:38] to congratulate DPW Highway Crew Chief Billy Buxton.

[12:42] He's announced his retirement at the end of July

[12:44] after 42 years with the community.

[12:46] It's pretty wild. You know, he started with the community

[12:51] June 18th, 1984.

[12:53] So to put that in perspective,

[12:55] gasoline was a dollar 20 back then, there was no such thing

[12:57] as the internet and we still had stores in town like Ames

[13:01] and Radio Shack, so that takes you back a long, long time.

[13:03] But I, I had the pleasure working side by side

[13:07] with Billy, you know, for everything.

[13:09] You know, snow storms, floods, things of that nature.

[13:12] He was often the first to respond at the onset of the storm,

[13:15] usually the last to leave

[13:16] and he was committed to the town first.

[13:18] And you know, I,

[13:20] I just wish Billy the best in his retirement.

[13:22] He should be proud of what he's accomplished

[13:24] and you know, he'll find it probably an adjustment

[13:27] to be able to sleep through his first winter storms.

[13:29] But congratulations from, from my seat

[13:32] and I will obviously stop by and see Billy

[13:34] before he officially steps aside.

[13:36] So just wanted to pass that along.

[13:38] So that's all I have on the town administrator's comments.

[13:42] Mike, before you move on, share other stuff.

[13:44] Are there any questions on that? I think yep,

[13:47] I just had two questions.

[13:48] One is on Billy Buxton.

[13:50] Do you know if they're having any sort of luncheon form

[13:54] or anything like that on his last day?

[13:56] I, I'll have to check with Clint.

[13:58] I'm not aware of anything that's a large,

[14:00] they may be doing something at the Public works garage.

[14:03] Right. But if I find out I'll pass it along to the council.

[14:06] And the other question I had, it just happened to trigger,

[14:09] or I would've asked you earlier is when you were talking

[14:12] about community power.

[14:13] I remember we had a community power presentation

[14:16] by the net zero task force.

[14:17] Yep. About two years ago.

[14:18] We looking for an agreement that is

[14:21] significantly different from the one, no,

[14:24] No.

[14:25] What had happened with we, we had gone

[14:27] through using our vendor to create the,

[14:30] the community power plan.

[14:32] You have to get the New Hampshire POC to approve it.

[14:34] And that's what the exercise was two years ago.

[14:36] Yeah, we priced it a couple of times over the last 24 months

[14:41] and we just, they nobody could beat the default rates

[14:44] and that has been kind of a factor in the last couple

[14:47] of pricing cycles.

[14:48] But what we're seeing now is the default rates are

[14:50] starting to increase.

[14:52] We think there's a nice window going into the

[14:54] beginning of 2027.

[14:55] So we'll identify a new CP provider, not the utility

[14:59] but the consultant

[15:01] and then that will put them in motion to do pricing

[15:04] for the community, announce those rates

[15:06] and then people will have the opportunity to either opt out

[15:09] of the community power or they can, you know, go on

[15:12] to default or they can utilize the community power rates.

[15:15] Alright, thank you. I had one quick question too,

[15:18] just on the Southern New Hampshire Housing Implementation

[15:22] project, do we have a link from our website

[15:24] to get over there for that survey?

[15:26] Yes, if you on the planning site it has a link. Okay,

[15:29] Thank you.

[15:30] Just wanted to put that out there too.

[15:32] All right, any other questions?

[15:33] All right, carry on. Alright,

[15:36] so I also put in the council's packet tonight just an update

[15:40] of some project status.

[15:42] We talked a lot about goals in the last month

[15:44] and I'm gonna move over to the dais here momentarily

[15:47] to just go through some

[15:49] of the council goals and and whatnot.

[15:50] But director carrier had put together

[15:55] an extensive report for the council

[15:57] to highlight over the last year

[15:59] and where we are on specific projects.

[16:01] But you know, I won't go

[16:02] through each one of those individually.

[16:03] But I did want to point out

[16:04] that the Rand Shepherd Hill project, Barland Acres,

[16:08] the water interconnection project, which was sorely needed

[16:11] for those neighborhoods that has been deemed

[16:14] substantially complete.

[16:16] We're gonna be working to finalize the scope

[16:18] of the final pavement in in some of those areas.

[16:20] But that project moved along really

[16:22] efficiently, really well.

[16:23] Works through some tough areas, a lot of ledge.

[16:26] So that is a, a huge benefit to those neighbors in terms

[16:30] of being able to connect to municipal water

[16:34] Exit four A also you can see is still moving along.

[16:37] There was some significant work on the North High Street end

[16:40] over the last couple of weeks.

[16:42] There's been some paving and some grading in that area.

[16:44] So I think they're still trying to find places

[16:47] that they can work while the final determination

[16:50] of the tunnel is being situated.

[16:53] So that is also going on

[16:55] and there's been a little bit of work in the intersection at

[16:57] Ross's Corner to put up the temporary signal.

[16:59] So project will continue along that.

[17:02] Beyond that, if you have any other questions on some

[17:04] of these construction reports, please reach out.

[17:07] But essentially just goes through all the statuses of those

[17:10] and I think it was just informative for the council to have

[17:13] as part of goal setting.

[17:14] So with that, I then can move over to the dais

[17:19] and, and I just wanna go over the town council goals

[17:22] and also look at one other item relative to

[17:26] unassigned fund balance.

[17:42] Okay. So just wanted

[17:46] for the public's information to go

[17:49] through the process of goal setting.

[17:51] It's been done a little bit different,

[17:52] each council, each administrator.

[17:54] But basically it's an opportunity for the town council

[17:57] to furnish the town administrator with goals

[18:00] for implementation through the staff that we have.

[18:02] And each counselor was

[18:04] provided with an update of what we had

[18:06] for goals in fiscal 26.

[18:08] And then looking forward, all the counselors were asked

[18:11] to provide their goals for

[18:14] the upcoming fiscal 27 cycle.

[18:17] Council met for a workshop on June 30th, 2026

[18:22] and then the council, there was a list that was compiled

[18:25] and sent out to the counselors individually, asking them

[18:28] to then rank the goals one through five individually.

[18:31] And what we'll do is we'll compile those goals

[18:33] and then at the August 4th meeting, put those out

[18:37] and publish those as the official goals moving forward.

[18:40] So we came up with,

[18:42] I believe there were 29 different goals.

[18:46] And again, these are not ranked in any order,

[18:48] this is just a random order.

[18:51] But go right through those you know, new police facility,

[18:55] revisit the veteran's credits and exemptions, review

[18:58] or revise the animal control policies,

[19:01] review health insurance via an employee town committee,

[19:06] develop recruitment, hiring

[19:07] and marketing plans, part-time social worker

[19:11] through opioid funds.

[19:12] Continue the downtown development momentum Route 28 south,

[19:17] infrastructure improvements.

[19:20] Review of potential charter amendments,

[19:23] evaluate housing needs and plan to meet the needs.

[19:26] Water wastewater expansion to support future growth,

[19:29] evaluate town needs facility, town hall, space study,

[19:33] non-representative employee compensation study, appointment

[19:36] of town counselor policies,

[19:40] I just lost my spot here.

[19:42] Move forward with 19 ELM Street development.

[19:44] Increase availability of one in two bedroom housing units.

[19:48] A traffic management plan related to post exit four A,

[19:52] implement the hood park revitalization, replenish

[19:55] and grow the CBA trust by FY 28.

[19:59] Improve ZBA customer service

[20:01] and training of members dairy cable funded.

[20:05] Maintain a high level of service, coordinate the CIP

[20:08] between Pinkerton

[20:09] and Dairy School district, continue coordination

[20:12] between SAU 10 and the town safe development

[20:16] and expansion of the bike.

[20:17] Pedestrian paths. Study feasibility

[20:19] of a senior center attached to the police department.

[20:22] Ensure control of economic development, land use,

[20:26] housing planning, zoning all the boards, combining together

[20:31] enforcement education, eliminate human trafficking

[20:34] and illegal spas.

[20:36] Increase fund balance by to 15% by fiscal 29.

[20:40] And then continue employee,

[20:42] customer service and public access.

[20:44] So those are the goals

[20:46] we will move forward in ranking those

[20:48] goals and publishing those.

[20:50] So does any of the counselors have any questions

[20:51] before we move forward on this item?

[20:56] Okay, I would just ask that if you haven't gotten your top

[20:59] five ranking to Mike, if you could do that

[21:02] sooner rather than later so that he has time to compile

[21:04] that final list.

[21:06] Okay. For our next meeting. Thank you.

[21:09] Alright, so one other item that I think is going

[21:13] to drive a lot of the decisions

[21:15] because a lot of the goals

[21:16] that are out there have a monetary tag

[21:19] to them in some regards.

[21:20] So I think one of the things that,

[21:22] besides the budget we have

[21:24] to look at is the unassigned fund balance.

[21:27] So I just wanted to go through this.

[21:28] So not expecting any action tonight,

[21:31] this is more just a primer

[21:32] for a discussion probably in October,

[21:35] but at least it gets everybody thinking about

[21:38] where we might want to be.

[21:39] If there's questions that come out of that, I'd be happy

[21:41] to answer those with the help of Mark.

[21:44] So there's some work to do on this,

[21:46] but I at least want to start the, the process

[21:48] of thinking about what you may

[21:49] or may not want to do to either A, help fund some

[21:52] of your goals or B,

[21:54] look at ways we wanna look at the future with this fund.

[21:59] All right, so just talking about how we get here.

[22:02] So the town collects revenues from various sources

[22:05] and disperses them through payments throughout the year

[22:08] to support town services.

[22:09] When we get to the end of the fiscal year,

[22:11] which just happened last week, June 30th,

[22:13] we reconcile the budget mark's finance team goes

[22:17] through finalizes, closes out all purchase orders

[22:21] and comes to what we basically believe

[22:23] is the end of the fiscal year.

[22:24] And that starts the process with the auditor. Okay?

[22:27] So each year you're, you usually will have some form

[22:31] of fund balance, either from unspent expenditures

[22:35] or revenues that came in higher than than what you,

[22:38] and we've had some pretty good years

[22:40] because we've had a difficult time

[22:42] filling all our vacancies.

[22:43] And we've also had some positive numbers

[22:45] with interest motor vehicle revenues and some grants.

[22:48] So things have been going well from

[22:51] the financial perspective.

[22:53] But to talk about just generally

[22:55] how our fund balance policy, the town councils

[22:58] of the past have established multiple policies about

[23:01] how the fund balance itself is managed

[23:04] and it supports several capital funds,

[23:06] including fire police, DPW, the IT capital reserve,

[23:10] and then the buildings and grounds

[23:12] expendable maintenance trusts.

[23:13] So each year when we come to town council

[23:16] to talk about the annual budget, some of those funds to,

[23:20] to support those particular capital reserves,

[23:22] which support those purchases come

[23:25] and trickle down from from fund balances.

[23:28] So besides that, you also have a retained percentage.

[23:32] So looking at this, the policy

[23:35] as we currently sit is 9.5%

[23:38] of the total tax levy the town should have

[23:41] as a recommended number in its retained fund balance.

[23:46] So what is the total tax levy?

[23:48] So it includes the town school dairy share, the county tax,

[23:52] and the state education tax.

[23:53] So when you put that together for 2025,

[23:57] the total tax levy is just over $137 million.

[24:00] Now that number will go up somewhat significantly next year.

[24:05] We'll have some ideas on what that is, but

[24:08] because of the school budget in terms of the way that

[24:11] that went up, I think we'll be over $150 million in the

[24:15] total tax levy between those four elements.

[24:17] So if you lose use the formula for this year, you can see

[24:21] that it dictates

[24:23] or mandates that we should have just over $13 million

[24:27] in our retained fund balance as a good practice.

[24:31] So each, at the end of each fiscal year, our auditors and

[24:36] and finance department come up

[24:38] with the unassigned fund balance figure.

[24:40] So as of last fiscal year,

[24:44] it was $18,787,000.

[24:47] So if you subtract out what our retained requirement is,

[24:52] you have about $5.7 million that is available

[24:55] above the policy recommendation.

[24:57] But again, I just wanna stress that when you raise

[25:00] that number for the the levy, that's also going

[25:03] to raise the amount that you have to retain.

[25:05] So we won't know the number for probably

[25:10] another three months.

[25:11] So that's why I'm talking about

[25:13] or suggesting that we, we push this discussion out into

[25:16] October, but it just gets everybody thinking about

[25:19] where we will be and what those numbers will look like.

[25:22] So one of the questions that'll be put forth

[25:25] to the council is

[25:27] how do we wanna look at the accounting guidelines?

[25:29] And there's no single rule book that mandates

[25:31] that you must do X or Y.

[25:33] They're general recommendations or best practices.

[25:37] So the New Hampshire GFOA recommends eight to 17%

[25:40] of operating expenditures

[25:42] or five to 15% of operating appropriations.

[25:45] National GFOA recommends two months

[25:47] of operating expenditures

[25:49] and New Hampshire DRA recommends five to 17%

[25:52] of total appropriations.

[25:53] So it's, it's within a range,

[25:56] but by no means is the town in its future decision making

[26:01] going to be bound within a really tight range.

[26:03] So it's really a policy decision from

[26:05] the council's standpoint.

[26:06] But I wanted to make sure that you all had this information

[26:09] for, you know, just for good, good practice

[26:13] and see where we, where we would land on that.

[26:15] So just again, want to throw out some ideas based on some

[26:19] of the goals that had been put out preliminarily.

[26:21] But if you increase using $150 million

[26:26] as your total tax levy in the future year,

[26:28] if we increase the retained amount,

[26:31] each 1% is 1,000,005 that you're going to have to take from

[26:36] the excess fund balance and put it into the retain column.

[26:40] So that's just something to think about as a starter.

[26:43] So if there's a goal, a 15%

[26:45] or some other number, just keep in mind that each percent

[26:48] that you increase from nine

[26:49] and a half up is going to cost 1,000,005 from that bank.

[26:54] We also talked about restoring the CBA trust,

[26:56] we utilized about $1.2 million.

[26:58] It is a goal of mine as well to get that into some,

[27:03] you know, a more stable situation

[27:04] after utilizing a lot of that this year in fiscal 27,

[27:11] allocate some funds to support the compensated absence fund

[27:14] that had been, that has been done regularly in the past.

[27:16] And again, it's a good practice about making sure we have

[27:19] those funds to pay out

[27:21] paid time off when employees leave and and whatnot.

[27:25] Increased veterans credits and exemptions.

[27:27] Again, I I heard that goal many times at our workshop.

[27:31] That is a, an opportunity there potentially

[27:34] that you either are going to look to

[27:36] subsidize other items within your budget,

[27:39] allowing you some capacity to look at these credits

[27:42] or you may want to make a a, a one time, you know, boost

[27:45] to make sure that we can allocate some funds for that.

[27:47] So that's, that's an opportunity to look at

[27:51] the fire facility is looking, gonna look

[27:52] to need about $200,000 to complete that.

[27:55] The building itself, if you recall

[27:57] that the training facility is going to be funded

[28:01] through a benevolent grant,

[28:04] the cost came in at right about the value

[28:06] of what the grant that we have.

[28:07] So we're gonna be looking perhaps

[28:08] for a supplemental appropriation in that $200,000 range.

[28:12] And then finally you may decide

[28:14] to look at al increasing the allocation

[28:16] of the capital reserve funds.

[28:18] Like anything else, everything that we have are purchasing,

[28:21] you know, has now multiplied by two

[28:25] probably from 10 years ago just because of the cost.

[28:27] It's a firetruck, a dump truck, things of that nature.

[28:29] So that number

[28:31] that has been allocated towards the capital reserve funds

[28:34] has not really been amended over the last seven years.

[28:38] So I think that's another area to take a look at.

[28:41] So, you know, I think this was just a tidbit of

[28:44] where we will be going in the future,

[28:46] but I think it just gives us an opportunity to kind

[28:48] of have us some talking points

[28:50] and give you some, you know, guidelines

[28:52] of, of where we're at.

[28:54] So just action moving forward. No vote tonight.

[28:57] This is just to propose we'll look at an item,

[29:00] an agenda item for October.

[29:02] The preliminary FY 26 audit is not completed

[29:05] until at least September.

[29:07] We should finalize town council goals

[29:09] that will help us prioritize where we want to be monetarily

[29:12] and support those goals.

[29:14] And then in October we're gonna have a more precise vision

[29:17] of the political landscape relative

[29:19] to town absorption of the school district.

[29:21] That also may or may not play a role in this,

[29:23] but I figured it should be something

[29:25] that we should at least articulate

[29:27] and we'll have some better ideas as to where

[29:29] that may or may not be heading.

[29:30] So that, with that, that's all I have relative

[29:33] to the UFB discussion.

[29:35] But again, open to any questions

[29:37] or if you have other questions you can certainly

[29:39] email me and I'll get back

[29:40] To you, you over the next couple of days.

[29:43] Thank you. Questions?

[29:46] No, thank you for the detail assessment of it.

[29:50] You know, I just believe that really healthy,

[29:52] well-funded fund balances essential, particularly

[29:55] as we're looking at potentially funding a police station in

[29:58] the future because any construction project is gonna have

[30:01] overruns no matter what we budget for

[30:04] and that's what the fund balance is for, is to

[30:07] absorb the shock of those overruns so we don't have

[30:09] to pass 'em on to our taxpayers.

[30:11] It's a savings account.

[30:13] Yep. Thank you. Alright.

[30:17] All right. Thank you. Thank you very

[30:18] Much.

[30:20] Okay, we're up to our new business for the evening.

[30:24] We just have one item 26 65,

[30:27] which is resolution 2026 dash 0 3 8

[30:30] to authorize expenditures from the police revolving fund

[30:32] police, police Chief George Foli presenting

[30:36] Good evening counselors.

[30:39] We seek tonight permission to

[30:41] utilize funds from the police detail revolving fund a

[30:44] revenue fund to purchase a new Farrow Laser scanner

[30:48] for our crime scene processing efforts.

[30:51] We have one now, but it is no longer covered under warranty

[30:56] and the item is not gonna be supported

[30:58] by the company we we purchased it from.

[31:00] So we seek to replace that old equipment.

[31:04] The cost of this new device, which includes the scanner,

[31:08] a camera, a tripod,

[31:11] and all the software associated is $51,181.

[31:16] And we have in our presently, at the time of writing

[31:20] of the staff report,

[31:21] $354,466 available in

[31:26] the detailed revolving fund.

[31:27] That revenue fund that we do maintain.

[31:28] Important to note that all of those funds are raised by

[31:32] private contractors billing and invoicing.

[31:36] Those for the special details when they,

[31:38] when they hire police officers,

[31:40] there's no tax dollars involved in this request.

[31:44] So I seek authorization to move forward

[31:46] with purchasing the laser scanner

[31:47] and associated software and equipment.

[31:50] Happy to answer any questions

[31:52] You have Questions?

[31:54] No? No. Alright.

[31:58] So you know questions Madam Chair,

[32:00] I move resolution number 26 0 3 8

[32:03] to authorize expenditures from the police revolving fund.

[32:06] Whereas Section 5.1

[32:09] of the town charter designates the town council

[32:11] as the governing and legislative body of the town.

[32:14] And as such, it is empowered to adjust, to adopt resolutions

[32:19] and ordinances, including the appropriation of funds.

[32:22] And whereas the Dairy Police Department provides special

[32:25] details services for businesses, groups,

[32:28] and individuals requiring specialized traffic control,

[32:32] crowd control and other security.

[32:34] And wheres the town council Under resolution?

[32:36] 2017 dash 0 2 0 authorized the creation

[32:41] of a police detail revolving fund pursuant

[32:44] to RSA 31 95 APO

[32:50] H to separately account for

[32:52] and expend the funds for this purpose.

[32:54] And whereas sufficient excess revenues now exist in this

[32:58] fund and the police department is in need

[33:00] of additional funding to purchase a laser scanner

[33:03] to replace obsolete equipment and now

[33:06] therefore be it resolved in council

[33:08] that the Town Council hereby authorizes the withdrawal

[33:11] of $51,181 from the police detail

[33:16] revolving fund to assist with the purchase

[33:19] of a laser scanner.

[33:20] This resolution shall take effect

[33:22] immediately upon its passage.

[33:24] Second motion by Council Mills second by Councilor Foote.

[33:28] Any further discussion? Right on the motion. Council mills?

[33:32] Yes. Councilor Healy. Yes. Councilor Webb? Yes.

[33:35] Councilor Chase? Yes. Councilor Flood? Yes. Councilor Foot?

[33:38] Yes. And Chair votes? Yes. Motion passes. Seven zero. Thank

[33:41] You very much, council.

[33:42] Thank you. All right, Councillor comments. Council Webb,

[33:49] This may take about five minutes,

[33:50] but where we just had July 4th, I just wanna read something.

[33:54] My father wrote this as an editor, newspaper editor back in

[33:59] 1976 and was selected

[34:01] by the International Society Weekly newspaper editors as one

[34:05] of their 12 best editorials written in 1976.

[34:10] And I happened to reread it the other day

[34:11] and thought it was particularly appropriate on our 250th.

[34:14] So tomorrow with a celebration of Independence Day,

[34:19] the United States enters the 200th year

[34:22] of its existence as a nation.

[34:24] There are those who suggest

[34:25] that the country is in the early stages of a decline,

[34:28] that its best days are behind it.

[34:31] These warriors are unduly pessimistic.

[34:35] They overlooked the fact

[34:36] that the United States is unique in all the world

[34:39] because it is unique, its problems are unique.

[34:42] Since Americans live daily with these problems,

[34:45] their magnitude is more impressive to us

[34:47] than are the difficulties experience internally in countries

[34:50] less familiar to us.

[34:52] Let's look at our country for a few minutes.

[34:55] Our geographic area is vast in comparison with most

[34:58] of the world's nations.

[35:00] Our populations more widely diverse and racial, religious

[35:03] and national background than that of any other country.

[35:06] Most important as it applies to the varied background

[35:09] of American citizens is that the people

[35:11] of the United States are citizens of this country

[35:13] through their own free will.

[35:15] They were not absorbed into citizenship through conquest.

[35:18] Many Americans have ancestral roots in countries which no

[35:21] longer exist as individual nations

[35:24] because the expansions of neighbors.

[35:28] Although we are realizing that there are limitations

[35:30] to natural resources, our supply is great in comparison to

[35:33] that of the majority of the world's countries.

[35:36] We are not a one resource country, as may be said of some

[35:40] of the oil producers, for example.

[35:42] We're less dependent upon imports

[35:44] than are the great majority of the world's nations.

[35:47] Our technological skills are the envy

[35:49] of the world in themselves

[35:51] and in their continued development.

[35:52] They are the resource to which winds unmatched strength

[35:55] to our ability to cope with natural resources

[35:57] and environmental problems in a manner possessed

[36:00] by no other society.

[36:02] Imperfect. Though we construe it to be at times our system

[36:05] of government is demen demonstrably strong

[36:08] and amazingly resilient.

[36:09] The interesing of various political subdivisions into

[36:12] federal whole in which all are relatively compatible is a

[36:16] true governmental wonder that we find fault

[36:19] with government is a virtue rather than an impediment.

[36:23] Impatience is an American characteristic

[36:25] and is our frequently demonstrated in our criticisms

[36:29] of the process of government.

[36:31] We are not a passive people easily subject

[36:34] to dictatorial control.

[36:36] Our freedom of thought and our ability to look at ourselves

[36:39] and our institutions introspectively,

[36:41] has been demonstrated over and over again.

[36:44] Is it possible to imagine that the governments of Russia

[36:46] or China are major world rivals when now

[36:51] or in the foreseeable future, view themselves

[36:53] as sufficiently secure to allow their public examination

[36:57] of their intelligence apparatus

[36:58] to which we are subjecting to CIA?

[37:01] We are pragmatic enough to realize the importance

[37:04] of intelligence gathering as an internal safeguard,

[37:07] but dedicated to the idea

[37:08] that our government may not spy on us

[37:11] or seek to utilize an intelligence force as a means

[37:14] of imposing its wills upon us.

[37:16] This a sign for all the world to see of our inner strength

[37:19] that we can act in this fashion with all its weaknesses.

[37:23] Our economic system provides greater opportunities

[37:26] for Americans than it exists

[37:28] for individuals anywhere else in the world.

[37:31] Even the huge size of some

[37:33] of our corporate structures reflect a form

[37:35] of ownership unrivaled, except in the statism of

[37:39] industry in the frankly socialistic countries.

[37:41] When Karl Marx wrote that the ownership of the tools

[37:44] of production belong in the hands of workers

[37:46] he couldn't have imagined, his theory would be

[37:48] so solidly exemplified in a capitalistic structure

[37:52] as it is in the American free enterprise system,

[37:54] through their ownership of the common stock

[37:57] of these industrial

[37:58] and commercial giants, either as individuals

[38:01] or subscribers to mutual funds, as contributed pension funds

[38:05] or an investor's insurance policies.

[38:07] Americans and American workers do in fact own the tools

[38:10] of production directly or indirectly.

[38:12] The majority of American families are shareholders in the

[38:15] industries which serve them.

[38:17] The fault finders. The viewers

[38:19] with alarm are too narrow in their viewpoint.

[38:21] This is a great and strong

[38:23] and vibrant country which can celebrate its anniversary in

[38:27] pride and with confidence in the future.

[38:30] This was written 50 years ago

[38:32] and I still think it's true today.

[38:35] Thank you. I'm just realizing,

[38:37] so this past weekend wasn't about me turning 50,

[38:40] it was something else.

[38:42] No, unless you are 250.

[38:45] Oh, oh, sorry, I missed that.

[38:46] I thought those were fireworks for me.

[38:48] Just kidding. Yes. Council,

[38:49] Madam Chair, I, I'd like to make sure that we include

[38:52] that entire article word for word in our minutes

[38:55] of this meeting for future.

[38:57] Sure.

[38:58] Sounds good. Good council,

[39:01] Fun.

[39:04] Since this is the last meeting

[39:05] before on August 1st, we'll be having our,

[39:08] my organization's town

[39:11] community event be held at Pinkerton Academy

[39:14] up by the football field.

[39:16] The whole town's invited, it's free to attend.

[39:19] It's, there'll be approximately 30 community

[39:23] organizations there.

[39:25] If you're feeling for kids who feel left out alone,

[39:30] parents who need information for their kids,

[39:32] if they're struggling and there'll be events there

[39:36] for little kids, from pre-teens to teenagers

[39:40] and elementary school kids to grandparents,

[39:43] there'll be something for everyone.

[39:44] So reach out to me if you want information on it,

[39:48] and hopefully we'll see you there on August 1st.

[39:54] Alright. I also wanted to just kind of, I, I,

[39:58] I did know it was really the 4th of July,

[40:00] but I wanted to, I just wanted to thank everyone that worked

[40:03] through the holiday to make sure

[40:05] that we had a successful weekend from our first responders

[40:08] keeping us safe to everybody that worked to pull,

[40:10] pull off our fireworks.

[40:12] I, they sounded nice from my house.

[40:14] I have a very worried dog, so I was not there.

[40:18] But it, it just, having been somebody who,

[40:21] and I know several others here worked,

[40:23] probably worked several holidays.

[40:25] Thank you for those that were here

[40:26] through the holiday weekend, working to keep our town safe

[40:31] and keep our town happy.

[40:33] So thank you everyone. That's it.

[40:35] Move to adjourn second.

[40:37] All right. We have a motion, a second to adjourn.

[40:39] All those in favor? Aye. A Aye. All right.

[40:42] Have a good night everyone.

Town Council - 07/07/26

Agenda

Transcript