Present: Tricia, jean, Stephanie, Wendy, Marjorie, Kerri ...



New Hampshire City and Town Clerk’s Association

Executive Board Minutes

June 20, 2012

PRESENT: Tricia Piecuch, Diane Trippett, Becky Benvenuti, Debra Cornett, Jeanette Vinton, Sue McKinnon, Kerri Parker, Jean Oleson, Kimberly Johnson, Lori Holmes, Patricia Waterman, and Betty Ramspott.

ABSENT: Sandra Allard, Stephanie Glidden, Lori Radke, Wendy Drouin, Phyllis Thompson, and Kathleen Valliere.

GUEST: Nancy Johnson, Sandy Rowe and Beth Yeaton.

President Piecuch called the meeting to order at 9:35 am.

SECRETARY MINUTES: Jeanette informed us that her computer crashed and is working on recovering her files for the March meeting. The April minutes had not been completed at this time and Tricia indicated that she would be putting something together for next meeting after receiving the information from Kathy.

TREASURERS REPORT: Deb Cornett indicated that as of June 21st, the balance in the account was $4,177.86 and the ING account has a balance of $11,189.84. A motion was made by Pat Waterman and seconded by Becky Benvenuti to approve the report. Motion passed.

Deb Cornett indicated that she received a letter from the Visiting Nurse Association thanking the Association for our gift in memory of Walter Piecuch.

A motion by Pat Waterman to reimburse for mileage and parking tickets for all of those who went to the legislative hearings on behalf of the Association. It was seconded by Jeanette Vinton. Motion passed unanimously.

A motion made by Pat Waterman and seconded by Becky Benvenuti to reimburse Tricia Piecuch for her night stay for the regional meeting. This motion passed unanimously.

NEW BUSINESS: Tricia Piecuch indicated that she received correspondence from the LGC in reference to in-kind services and that an amount should be put in the tax returns. Sue McKinnon indicated that she was unaware of any forms or that it was to be put in the tax returns. However, she indicated that the amount was so small it would not affect our non-profit status.

Pat Waterman wanted to remind us of the conference committee meeting right after the Board meeting. Inquiries were received from the membership if the location of the conference could be changed. Pat Waterman indicated that they have researched this and found that the Red Jacket was still the least expensive adventure for this. She indicated that the Red Jacket now has a new chef who is gearing his menu to a more restaurant style and that Ken is no longer with them either.

DEPARTMENT OF SAFETY: Kathy Dyment was welcomed to the meeting. She indicated that the Regionals went well. She also indicated that the DMV manual is being updated and will be released on July 2nd. She wanted to remind us all of fiscal end. She indicated they would be resending out the instructions. All forms should be emailed to Christopher Minery at christopher.minery@dos. or faxed over to 271-4017 or 271-3484. Do not fax them to the MA desk.

Kathy also indicated that a new advance training class is scheduled for September 26, 2012. There will be a power point presentation for the persons attending.

Chris Ialuna stated that the new website is up and running. You can visit it at dmv. He indicated that they added a lot of registration information and the overall response has been positive. Right now he indicated that this has not had an impact on calls into the Help Desk, but he believes it will eventually happen. Chris indicated that they need to make sure all the information is correct and then they will advertise about the web site. Right now they are involved in a soft launch so they can take a look to see what is and is not right. He indicated that there is a small line between what is too little and too much information. He did suggest that if the town clerks have anything they wanted to add, they should email him.

Chris indicated that in upper right hand corner there is an icon for partners which includes Town Clerks and Dealers. Becky Benvenuti asked if the DMV hours were posted and if they could link to the city and towns’ office hours on this page too.

It was mentioned from several members on the Board that the PowerPoint sent in June was different from the one sent out in May for the regional meetings. Kathy indicated that she would check this out. It was noted that the SOS and Vitals have already provided their PowerPoint presentations and know that some information on the DMV may need to be redacted so that personal information wasn’t showing.

Diane Trippett suggested that at the conference information regarding military and their spouses be reviewed as the information regarding them has changed over the years. With military spouses if there are no forms from the commanding officer establishing residency is difficult. It is to be remembered that spouses have the same privileges as the person who is actually in the military.

Chris indicated that if there is a topic for the conference you would like us to go over, please let them know. Pat Waterman then suggested the topic of tow dollies. Do they have to be registered? Kathy indicated that they do not have to be registered as long as they stay in the state. They also do not have to be titled if they are carrying over 3001 lbs as the vehicle is already titled. Kathy indicated that she would get clarification on tow dollies in reference to whether the car they dolly is towing has to be registered.

Jean Oelson mentioned to Kathy that she had a person registering who was under 18 years of age and the browser did not stop her. Kathy asked her to get her the information and they would check this out.

Chris let us know that he is now a father again, his wife had their baby boy on May 15th and all are healthy. He also indicated that Karen had her little girl early and all are doing well. Pat Waterman asked if we could get Karen’s address to send well wished. Kathy said she would get it to us.

We were informed that there were no legislation changes other then a van being included as a vehicle capable of getting an AGI plate.

Kim Johnson brought up an incident regarding a customer and the fees for certified copies. She asked if there was a specific RSA determining what the cost was. Kathy said she would find it for us and let us know.

Dir. Bailey joined our meeting. He informed us that the EVR is moving forward as a volunteer effort. He indicated that the RFP is coming together. He stated again that this is not a standard RFP. In the proposal the vendors are asked a number of questions and in response, they are to let us know how they would handle that particular question. There is no release date yet, but we are making progress. Dir. Bailey sent his kudos out to all the Town Clerks for their preparation for the RFP. They came well prepared. Dir. Bailey indicated that a survey will be going out to all the Clerks to determine whether they use the Blue Book values or the Red Book values. He is hesitant to make the EVR company used the red book values as DMV uses, but if it is used overwhelming he may have too. He would prefer to get things right the first time, then get it out fast. He indicated there are still 5 to 6 vendors out there that are interested and believes he will get responses from about 3 to 4 of them. He indicated that they are not in private session yet with regards to the RFP and we should make sure that our committee members are not the RFP members. This way we can still have some insight to what is going on.

Tricia then wanted to discuss driver licensing issues. She indicated that on the list of requirements a tax bill should not be there. A person can own property, but not be live in that town and could even reside out-of-state. She also indicated where she had a person with a New Hampshire license that had and an out-of-state mailing address on the license. This should not be able to happen. Dir. Bailey indicated they would check into this.

Someone also indicated that they should not be able to use a cable bill, as they have 18 people installing Comcast at one location. Tricia thanked the Director and DMV for their support on the residency vs. domicile issue. She is hoping the veto override will not succeed. Nancy Johnson indicated to us that Sen. Bradley would vote not to override the veto.

Dir. Bailey indicated that the issues with the issuance of veterans plates and how to get them. He indicated that he did not want to make it too easy that anyone could get them, but not make it extremely hard so they couldn’t get it. For example, don’t want surviving spouses to be able to get the Purple Heart plate. This is for people who have been injured during a confrontation and a lot of others feel that same way. However, a spouse can bet a POW plate. Pat Waterman indicated that she had a vet that was 100%, but the form did not it indicate he was 100% disabled, so work needs to be done on this.

The Director thanked us for their inclusion in the regionals. He indicated that it is important and helps them hear from us rather than having things contained.

Nancy Johnson indicated that for SB318 testimony we have to look at the right version of the bill including fiscal notes. DMV and SOS have the same position on it, they are not for it, but can make it work. As Dir. Bailey said a better approach is take a holistic view of all the issues of residency and domicile.

It was mentioned to put a statement of the DMV website asking individuals to show their driver’s license. This would help back up the Clerks when asking their customers to show their licenses. There have been a lot of great questions from our customers on why it is so important to do this. By the annual conference the Director hopes the legal matters will have moved along so he can further state why we asked our customers for this.

It was also suggested that the registrations be reformatted so that the driver’s license number can be put directly on a title application. We were informed there is discussion being had regarding this.

Becky Benvenuti at this time stated that she has overheard conversations regarding how the MA desk has really stepped it up. There is a lot of team work involved. She also mentioned that Dale, Chris and Kathy have done a great job.

Denise Bodwell wanted us to know that Priscilla said the regionals went well. She indicated that at the regionals they indicated the 3 big binders full of voids they were going through. She said if a town wanted their list to email or call them and they will send it out. Denise also said they were getting corporations with residents address for their business address. She indicated to make sure that you put in the corporation with their address and then the driver with their resident address.

Denise said to let them know of topics that they would like to have discussed at the conference. They are more than happy to focus on whatever we need to go over. It was mentioned to go over out of town corporations as well as DBAs.

Deb Cornett mentioned how dealers are still keeping the customers registration. Denise said to let her know who they are and they will handle it. Denise indicated that they do keep records, if they find repeated or different infractions they can bring them to a hearing. However, these are very difficult. If repeat infractions continue, the Title Bureau has the right to take away titling privileges.

Kathy returned with the RSAs referring to tow dollies, and fees. For tow dollies, look to RSA 261:40 as well as Saf-C 504.13. For fees regarding certified copies, fees are listed in RSA 263:42 (part of HB2) which put it up from $10 to $15. However, be careful as 261:141,9 still lists the fee as $10. Kim Johnson had a question regarding the word “expired” in the language for transferring ownership of a vehicle. Kathy indicated you can look the language up in RSA 261:66.

Denise indicated that if you, as a Clerk, have a title question, you can call them directly at 227-4170 (this is a private line do not give out to public).

LEGISLATION UPDATE: Tricia wanted to thank Debra and Becky for being there for with her last week, for three days straight as they dealt with SB289 in Committee of Conference. She indicated, and was agreed by all, that Becky did one heck of a job in being the liaison with Senator Prescott and with her testimony.

Nancy Johnson complimented the Association on how professional they were. She believed we had compromised a lot on the bills, however, she believed with this tough session, the Clerks also gained a lot of ground.

She indicated that SB289 and SB318 the governor will have five days once it is enrolled to act on it. She indicated that enrolled means they are checking for spelling errors, correct RSAs indicated and everything looks right. Then they send it to the Governor to either sign or veto it. Sen. Bradley assured Nancy that the Governor would veto it. She indicated that the Senate is going to try and fix SB289, but also indicated that the House does not agree with this. The Senate wants to change it from “qualified voter” to a “challenged voter” affidavit.

Nancy indicated that if they cannot fix SB289, Sen. Prescott would be the first one to vote to sustain the veto. If this loses, they believe the legislation will be fixed. SB289 can pass depending on who shows up. The veto margin was only 226-115.

According to Nancy, Sens. Bradley and Prescott may not support us on sustaining a veto on SB318. She indicated we need to work on the Senate to change their minds. There are only a few Senators to convince as opposed to a large majority in the house to sway.

It was discussed that maybe we should send out the Resolution to the Senate and House to see if we can persuade a change of heart. Tricia indicated that she would send out an email blast to the Association.

Nancy indicated that the first day to introduce new LSRs is September 17th. She indicated that after the election everyone will be able to file one.

Tricia received an email regarding a future proposed amendment to dog licensing. It involves a condominium association or such to be able to get a list to show that all the dogs in their facility are licensed and vaccinated.

Nancy informed us that the House and Senate will have a meeting next Wednesday, the 27th of June. The calendar will be up Thursday and posted Friday on the door of the meeting. However, sometimes this is a last minute thing. The drop dead date for everything during this session is June 27th when they are totally done.

Tricia asked Nancy to leave the meeting for a few minutes. At this time Tricia stated how phenomenal Nancy has been during this legislative session. She has been a god send and did a great job, going out of her way to make sure that the Association was informed of everything going on in Concord, especially all the last minute meetings and additions. Tricia made a motion, seconded by Becky, to give Nancy an additional $500 bonus immediately for her job well done. The motion passed unanimously.

Nancy was called back into the meeting. At this time, Tricia thanked Nancy on behalf of the Association and the Board for going above and beyond her job. Tricia let Nancy know that we were giving her a $500 bonus at this time for all her work.

Nancy indicated that it has been an absolute honor to work with such professional individuals. She got very emotional and thanked us again.

OLD BUSINESS: Tricia stated that all the regional meetings were great and it was really nice to get out to all of them and meet the clerks in those regions.

The Lakes Region and White Mountain Regional for next year will be held on June 7, 2013.

Regarding the NE Conference, Kelli Barnaby got back to Tricia regarding who to make the check payable to for her conference. Kelli indicated that they are going ahead with plans for the Conference to be held at the Sheraton in Portsmouth on November 19-20, 2014. She wanted to thank the Association for their support.

Regarding our conference, discussion was had regarding the issue of last year where Citizens Bank wanted to sit in our meetings, but was not a vendor. The Board discussed putting a disclaimer on the registration forms. The disclaimer should read as follows: “The conference is open to all town and city clerks, deputies, assistants, those with associated, affiliated or honorary membership and their guests as per Association bylaws. The Town or City must be in good standing with the Association.”

Pat Waterman made a motion, seconded by Sue McKinnon, to make Elizabeth Hast from Pittsfield an honorary member due to her significant contribution to the Association. This motion passed unanimously.

Tricia made a motion, seconded by Pat Waterman, to have one scholarship issues per region. The motion passed. The applications for scholarships should be sent to the President of the Association, and then passed on the Scholarship Committee. The Scholarship Committee consists of Denise Neal, Sue McKinnon and Lori Holmes.

NEW BUSINESS CON’TD: Discussion was had regarding the LGC Annual Conference to be held in Manchester, NH. Tricia indicated that they received paperwork regarding this conference and that last year we did have a booth with the Tax Collectors. It was discussed on whether the Town Clerks should have a booth and it was decided that we should. Diane Trippett volunteered to work it again. Diane believes that this give us more exposure as an organization.

The IMMC was reaching out to Region 1 for a monetary donation. After discussion, it was determined that we would not send any money. The Board believed the money would be better spent in our local state organizations. Other discussion was had that it is always good to reach out and do things out of state. We can support other states in changes to legislation which might affect us. It was left to think about donating in the future. Becky indicated that our high dues that we pay for IMMC membership is sufficient to help them out.

Tricia wanted to congratulate Sue McKinnon for obtaining her CMC, with IIMC.

Sue McKinnon indicated that the Scholarship Committee awarded four scholarships in the amount of $400 each to attend NEMCI&A. They were awarded to Laurie Houser of Groton, Kelly Walters of Rochester, Kerri Parker of Meredith.

Tricia just wanted to mention that the issue regarding the absentee lists for the Republican National Committee issue has been resolved. She was amazed at how many clerks where not sure what could be done and hope that HAVA looks at going into more depth into what is really available for clerks, as not everyone can get to training. Tricia also emphasized that if someone is requesting a list, to make sure you receive payment prior to doing any of the work.

CORRESPONDENCE: We received correspondence from Ted Hobson. He would like to present the adoption of same day registration legislation Vermont and was interested if we would be able to talk on behalf of this issue. Lori Holmes and Diane Trippett volunteered depending on the time frame.

We received a beautiful thank you card from Tricia and her family. She was thanking us for our support in her times of need.

Sue McKinnon indicated that the Nominating Committee will get their report to the Board for the July meeting.

Tricia just wanted to remind everyone that NEMCI&A was during the week of July 13th and that Board members Kerri Parker, who will be in her first year, Jeanette Vinton, who will be in her 2nd year and she will be attending the Academy, so the July Board meeting will be held on July 11th. She wished all the New Hampshire clerks attending good luck.

There being no further business before the Board, it was moved by Pat Waterman, seconded by Kim Johnson, and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:05 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Jeanette Vinton

Secretary

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