First Vice President Blandine Shallow called the meeting to order at 1:10pm in the Bow Town office meeting room. President Joe Wiggett arrived at 1:20 to preside over the meeting.

Present were Joe Wiggett, CTC, President; First Vice President Blandine Shallow, CTC; Second Vice President Patricia Woolsey, CTC; Treasurer Patricia Milone, CTC; Director of Public Relations and Certification Committee Chairman Kathy Seaver, CTC; Education Committee Chairman Cheryl-Ann Bolouk, CTC; Workshop Coordinator Joan Porter, CTC; Director at Large Jill Hadaway, CTC; County Coordinators Jane Wright, Susette Remson, Debra Clark, Pat Tucker, Brenda Lapointe, Sallie Johnson, Debra Cornett.

The minutes of January 8, 2004 were discussed, as there were corrections and some members did not receive a final copy. Joe gave out the corrected minutes and Cheryl moved that we accept the minutes of January 8, 2004 and Jill seconded it. The motion carried by voice vote. Kathy wanted to make sure that she received a copy of the corrected minutes each time so she can post them on the web site.

Pat M. presented the Treasurer's report. Currently we have $5,290.18 in the checking account and $7,926.08 in the investment pool. The association received a thank you card from the Deanna McKay family for the donation we made in her memory.

A committee member's list was given to the President and a few others present to look at to make sure it is correct. If it is, Pat M. will put it on the web site. NHMA is getting a new web service provider and hopefully this will help everyone access it. Kathy was concerned as to how the people are going to get the information for certification and the workshops if the bulletins were not being sent out. It was decided to have NHMA do a newsletter and the registration forms for these events.

Kathy stated that the instructors are all set for certification and the new committee that has been set up consist of the following members: Joe Wiggett, Theresa Williams (President of the Town Clerk's Association), Cindy Heon of Deerfield, Patty Woolsey of Bristol, and Susette Remson of Moultonborough. Cheryl stated that the Education Committee met and came up with a tentative agenda for the Spring Workshops. Bernie Campbell has been contacted and will attend all 4 workshops. The committee will be asking for all questions or problems regarding the Tax Lien and Deed process. If they are sent to Cheryl ahead of time, she will forward them to Bernie so he can be prepared.

Cheryl went over the tentative agenda for the fall convention and this year it is a Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Kathy felt we need another technical session from 9:00am to 10:00am on Tuesday. It was decided to put in the Bankruptcy session.

Joan stated that the spring workshop dates have been set as follows: April 3 in Marlborough; April 15 in Concord at NHMA; April 22 at the Inn At Hampton; May 4 at the Beacon in Lincoln. The registration forms are not ready yet but will go into a bulletin.

Joe thanked the County Coordinators for attending and stated that the purpose was to share information with them, as they are key people. Deb Cornett had a question regarding the Selectmen appointing the Tax Collector to do the tax lien/deed search, whether they wanted to or not. Kathy stated RSA 80:65 and said that the Selectmen can not make a collector do a search. It is the Tax Collectors decision on whether they want that responsibility or not.

Credit Bureaus were the next topic of discussion. The tax lien releases are not being taken off the credit reports and this is causing Tax Collectors extra work. After a lengthy discussion, it was decided that Jill would contact NHMA about proposing legislation to help this matter.

One of the County Coordinators wondered when the new collectors workshop was going and if the Coordinators could be notified if a new collector in their county was going. This would allow the Coordinator to attend and be introduced to them. It was decided that the first day, March 24th, would be the best time to attend.

The next topic was a question as to whether the Selectmen can fire for 1 position if a person was both collector and clerk. Kathy stated that if the position is elected, 1st the Selectmen can not fire them. Second, if the position is elected as a joint position that means it is one job and there it isn't possible to hold only one position. They either serve as the Town Clerk/Tax Collector or not at all. If the position as elected as separate positions on the ballot, but one person holds both jobs, the Selectmen can remove the person from one position without the other.

Debra Clark questioned if the county meetings were still being held. Some counties do it every other year with attendance ranging from only a few to a full house. Some counties have found that doing them every other year has worked well with them.

Jill and Pat M. went to a meeting to change the law to let Towns adopt Quarterly billing. This has been brought forward from Claremont who wants to change to a fiscal year. Bow is currently putting money aside so that they can change to a fiscal year without having to change from their semi annual billing. What this bill accomplishes is three things. One is to fund the fiscal year transition. The second is to allow Towns who are already on a fiscal year to go to quarterly billing, and three is for Towns not on a fiscal year to go to quarterly billing (which is found to be very cumbersome). Right now this is just a proposal and for most Towns, it is not cost saving. If this goes through, it would have to be voted on at your Town Meeting. Joe stated he would discourage Towns from doing this, but he can see people trying to use this as a tool. Pat M. stated that the Senators heard from taxpayers wanting to make smaller payments. One problem Kathy saw, was that once you adopted this, it would be difficult to go back to semi billing. Jill will call Maura Carroll at NHMA with the wording on going back to semi annual billing and see if she can come up with something better.

Cheryl stated that Bernie Campbell called regarding a case (Winona Spring vs. Town of New Hampton). Apparently Tim Bates, who represents the Town of New Hampton called him looking for support from the Tax Collectors Association with this case. This is the same issue as the Lee James case where the Tax Collectors all got together and went in to support the Tax Collectors Deed process. It was decided to post in the newsletter that if Towns are having litigation that affects the Deed process to let the Association know ahead of time. Kathy made a motion to allow Bernie to file an Amicus Brief. Cheryl seconded it and the motion passed. All were in favor.

Joe had a meeting with the new Commissioner at DRA and he felt the reaction was that he is willing to do whatever it takes to train new collectors. It was felt that the Commissioner didn't realize there was a problem with his people being able to answer questions. Cheryl stated that the new collector's handbook is in DRA's computer and that the Association just updates it. It was put onto DRA's computer in 2002. The bottom line is that the Commissioner would like for the Association to tell him what we want from them and he will see what he can do. It was decided to invite the Commissioner to the next Board meeting and everyone should come up with what we want to tell the Commissioner.

Susette had a question regarding abating interest. Apparently, when an abatement is given her, she abates the principal but leaves the interest owing. Kathy read the RSA relative to abatements and felt that once the invoice is abated, all interest just goes away. Kathy felt that the BTLA made it clear that interest is incident to the tax. As Susette read it differently, she thought this should be brought up at either the spring workshop or the convention. The Board decided to put it in the next bulletin.

A motion was made by Cheryl to go into Executive Session and Joan seconded the motion. The motion carried by a voice vote with all in favor.

Cheryl made a motion to come out of Executive Session and Joan seconded it. The motion carried by a voice vote with all in favor.

Kathy made a motion to appoint Jill to act at Legislative meetings on our behalf until we can determine the status of the current chair. Blandine seconded the motion and it carried by a voice vote with all in favor.

At 4:20pm, Jill made a motion to adjourn. Joan seconded and the motion carried by a voice vote.

Respectfully submitted,

Patricia F. Woolsey
Acting Secretary