Allenstown News : Merrimack Valley

Sewer stalls development

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:34:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

After Allenstown voters shot down the Suncook Wastewater Treatment Plant’s $15 million expansion for the second year in a row, sewer commissioners and the plant’s operator said they are back at square one.

Sewer Commissioner James Rodger said harsh economic times led to tighter wallets this year, which led to the town’s “no” vote for not just the expansion but every single cost item on the warrant this year.

“When the ship sank, our warrant was on it,” Rodger said.

Amendment caused failure Rodger also said a stipulation added to the warrant article at the town’s deliberative session on Feb. 2 made the article worthless.

An amendment passed at that meeting added wording that would not allow the project to go forward unless 50 percent matching grants were secured. The problem with that, Rodger said, is the town needed to say it will pay the project costs up front in order to secure such grants that would reimburse the town.

A Feb. 12 e-mail from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Department, one of the agencies being largely considered as a source of grant funding for the project, said the 50 percent contingency added to the article would hurt Allenstown’s chances for funding.

The e-mail, addressed to Michael Trainque of Hoyle, Tanner and Associates, the engineering firm spearheading the expansion project, states limits on the availability of funds may prevent them from providing 50 percent in grants to the project and would compel USDA Rural Development to give it to another project instead.

“Fifteen million (dollars) is a large improvement project,” Rural Development Specialist Scott Johnson wrote in the email. “Rural Development looks forward to being involved if possible.

If Allenstown anticipates securing any grant funds from Rural Development, placing limits on how much of the total project is loan or grant could box them in a corner, rendering them unable to accept monies that may be available.

“Our advice to communities is to vote to borrow the RD portion of the project costs so that they are able to accept grant funds that may be offered to them. Too many times we have seen projects come to a halt due to an inadequate bond vote,” Johnson said.

Grant money can’t come in for the project until construction is done and the town is ready to make payments, said plant operator Dana Clement.

“You can’t put the cart before the horse,” Clement said. “You can’t even make an application to them until the project is complete. You have to spend the money and then they reimburse you.”

Pembroke’s side
A brief discussion on how the failed article would affect Pembroke, where most voters want the expansion to go through, came out of discussion on Pembroke’s sewer rates for the coming year at their Town Meeting on Saturday, March 15.

Pembroke Sewer Commissioner Harold Thompson said he could not comment at this time on what “Plan B” is for Pembroke, but said his commission is working with Allenstown to set up a public meeting with the two sewer commissions, the Department of Environmental Services and Allenstown selectmen.

More stringent rules Forthcoming studies on the Merrimack River may compel the plant’s upgrades in order to comply with possibly more stringent water cleansing standards, Clement said.

The state is also looking at tightening the standards for phosphorous and nitrogen concentrations in the Merrimack.

Should both of these scenarios come to pass in the next several years, the current plant is incapable of handling the new standards, Clement said. The expansion plans already drawn up would have accommodated such changes, he said.

Rodger said the Sewer Commission will continue its efforts to pass the expansion by continuing the public information sessions on the issue and creating a packet of information to go door-to-door with.

Development held up Both towns have commercial and residential developers waiting for sewer hook-ups, according to Rodger and Thompson.

The U.S. Army wants to put a training facility at a large parcel off of Route 106, Thompson said.

“I’ve got probably about $10 million worth of buildings wanting to go in Pembroke,” he said.

Rodger said several projects, including a retirement community and the possible expansion of the strip mall at 48 Allenstown Road, which includes a Family Dollar, Kutter’s Korner and Curves for Women, have been shelved in the past few years because of a lack of sewer capacity.

If the state steps in to mandate upgrades to comply with the new cleaner water standards, sewer users rates are going to go up, and there won’t be added capacity, Rodger said.

“We’re going to have to do it on the backs of sewer users, and we won’t get any flow out of it,” Rodger said. “To upgrade the plant just to satisfy new requirements, how much is that going to cost us? We might as well get some capacity out of it.”

Sewer bond fails in Allenstown

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 19:39:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

Voters in Allenstown said no to all the proposed monetary issues brought forth on this year’s ballot for the town and school district.

In a to 388-264 vote, Allenstown voters again nixed a $15 million expansion for the Suncook Wastewater Treatement Facility, serving both Allenstown and Pembroke.

At the town’s deliberative session, voters changed the original warrant article to stipulate the expansion would only go through if at least half of the total cost could be defrayed with matching state and federal grants the project qualifies for.

The state Department of Environmental Services put a moratorium on sewer hook-ups in 2002 after several instances in which the plant’s flow exceeded it’s allowed capacity. Since then, development in Pembroke and Allenstown has slowed.

The plans included installing secondary clarifiers which would relieve the exisiting clarifiers of their current capacity and flow problems. Overall sewage capacity would increase from 1 million to 2.1 million gallons per day.

Under the terms of the 20- year bond, Pembroke would pay 52 percent of the total costs and Allenstown 48 percent, based on flow. According to the plans, the new additions to the plant would not be up and running for about 10 years.

Mike Trainque of Hoyle, Tanner and Associates, the engineering firm spearheading the project plans, said the expansion qualifies for a number of grants at various public informations sessions on the issue.

The Allenstown Board of Selectmen would have taken out the bond as soon as 50 percent matching grants are secured. The grant money would decrease Allenstown’s share of the cost to about $3.6 million.

Sewer commissioners have said money from the plant’s septage process, which takes in septage from other towns in a process separate from the plant’s sewage process, would also go toward the expansion.

That fund is also being used for odor control and engineering costs, so commissioners have said they cannot commit to a specific amount that would be devoted to the expansion costs.

The town will go to a default budget for 2008-09 of $4,865,968. A total of 272 voters approved the proposed budget of $5,057,964. The remaining 264 thought it best to take the default.

In the hotly contested race for one open Board of Selectmen seat, Roger Lafleur won with a total of 132 votes, unseating incumbent Selectman Sandy

McKenney.

Chris Roy, the current Road Agent, will go into his second term having gained 369 votes for his seat, more than the other two candidates, James Rodger and David Bouffard, combined.

Hooksett schools set sex offender policy

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 20:21:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

The Hooksett School Board has adopted new policies that would provide better notification of and protection against sex offenders living in the town.

School faculty and staff will now be told where sex offenders reside. While they will not be able to disseminate the information to parents, they will be able to use it for security.

Changes were made to existing policies regarding visitors, volunteers and early release of students from school to protect students against predators.

A team of school officials, teachers and community members worked on the policy changes over the past year, prompted by a citizen’s concern that a registered sex offender was bringing some Underhill students to school.

The third and final reading into the record, which is required in the adoption process, took place at the School Board meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 19.

Any volunteers having unsupervised contact with students already undergo criminal background checks, but wording was added into the volunteer policy to extend it to unsupervised access to the school as a whole. It is also now clearly states in the policy that no registered sex offenders can volunteer at schools.

“This is just to make sure that it’s very explicit,” said School Board Chairman Joanne McHugh. “Sometimes things are not stated and people think that they’re obvious,” adding the change doesn’t mean sex offenders were permitted to be school volunteers previously.

Visitors to any Hooksett schools will now be required to say why they’re visiting, in addition to the old policy’s requirements, which were to sign and out and be identified as visitors.

They will not be required to have background checks, McHugh said, unless they have direct interaction with students.

The committee working on the policy changes sought advice from the Hooksett Police Department and state Rep. David Hess to make sure the changes go as far as possible without compromising any state laws.

The changes also include the district’s promise to release a newsletter at the beginning of each school year notifying parents of any updates in sex offender laws and policies, and directing them to the state’s sex offender Web site: www.egov. nh.gov/nsor.

According to the Web site, 12 people convicted of sex offenses against children reported living in Hooksett.

Police dispatch costs to rise

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 20:17:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

After the Bow Dispatch Center increased its fees for the four other towns it covers, Allenstown, Epsom and Pembroke are faced with payments that more than double the prior year’s payments for Bow’s services.

Despite having to bite the bullet on the fee spike, law enforcement officials from all three towns say the increases are fair and equitable to the quality of service they get from Bow Dispatch.

“Where do you put a price on someone’s life? And that’s the way I look at it,” Epsom Police Chief Wayne Preve said, adding the dispatch services are imperative to officer safety.

Under the new fee agreement, Allenstown would pay just more than $40,000, Epsom would pay $43,000 and Pembroke would pay $59,000, based on 2006 call volume figures plus a $10,000 base fee for all the towns. Dunbarton, which accounts for the least percentage of overall call volume, would pay almost $23,000.

Those payments will add up to around $165,000 in revenue for Bow Dispatch, more than double the $79,000 they collected from the four towns for the 2007-08 year.

The need to increase fees arose from a need to create more revenue for Bow after a budget season that left the town, like all of the four remaining towns, with a tighter belt.

Bow Police Chief Jeff Jaran said it’s going to cost Bow taxpayers about $400,000 to run the dispatch center for the coming year, and, after collecting the fees, they’ll be left with about $235,000 to pay.

This is consistent with the call volume devoted to Bow service calls, which account for about half of the total.

In 2006, Bow Dispatch handled a total of 44,534 calls. Bow service calls counted for about 42 percent of that total. Allenstown and Epsom each made up about 15 percent of the total, Pembroke comprised about 22 percent and Dunbarton about 6 percent.

Preve said the increase was hard to swallow as the town works its way through the third year on a default budget, saying he budgeted $50,000 to prepare for the extra costs.

Preve said the costs were fair, given the workload at Bow Dispatch, the employees’ familiarity with all five towns and the lack of facilities to fold their dispatch service into Merrimack County which serves 13 communities.

He added moving to Merrimack County’s dispatch service would require better facilities and adding frequencies to the radio waves that would be specific to Epsom and possibly surrounding towns willing to get involved, namely Pembroke and Allenstown.

Pembroke Police Chief Scott Lane said he favors a regionally based dispatch service at some point, but agreed with Preve that would not be possible in the next few years.

Lane said he explored Merrimack County as well as the dispatch centers for Concord and Hooksett as options upon hearing about the fee increases for Bow’s service, but found there were spacial and technical issues that would not be worth the money saved at this point.

“No one’s happy about it, but it’s the cost of doing business,” said Lane about Bow’s new fees. “I can certainly understand where the residents of Bow would want to make sure everyone’s paying their fair share. We’ve been fortunate that fees were as low as they were for so long,” he said.

Allenstown Police Chief Shaun Mulholland said his department looked at folding into Merrimack County as well as running their own dispatch center, which would cost the town at least $350,000. He added the increases were fair, pointing out Bow is still paying the majority of the costs to run the dispatch center.

Police departments in Allenstown and Epsom have paid secretaries that filter out some of the less pressing calls that would otherwise go straight to dispatch, but both Preve and Mulholland said they still feel they are paying their for their weight of the overall call volume.

Mulholland added that Allenstown’s costs for Bow Dispatch services would likely increase in 2009 if voters pass a default budget at the election in March, which would force the department to lay off their nights and weekends secretary.

Vintage snowmobiles on display at Bear Brook Park

Hooksett Editor — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:51:00 GMT

BY LEWELLYN HALLET

If the smell of gasoline and roar of a motor on the cold air are part of what you love about a New England winter, check out the vintage snowmobile sat Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown. The New Hampshire Snowmobile Museum Association (NHSMA) hosts its 23rd Annual Winter Show on Sunday, Feb. 17, at the park’s Museum Complex.

Snowmobile collectors, restorers, riders and vintage enthusiasts will gather to display and view snow-traveling machines, meet committed collectors, and hear special presentations on this year’s featured line, Scorpion Snowmobiles.

Weather and conditions permitting, there will also be a parade of vintage machines through the park trails.

Mike Wheeler of Dunbarton Center Road in Bow, and his wife, Sue Wheeler, will don matching Scorpion snowmobile suits and display Mike’s 1969 Scorpion sled. He has half a dozen other vintage machines in the garage.

Last year he took his Arctic Cat when that line was featured, though any make and model can be displayed. Mike has never owned newer snowmobiles. All winter he “runs around” on his old sleds and likes it that way. His sister-in-law and neighbor, Carol Bailey, has served on NHSMA’s board as treasurer for almost 12 years.

“I like the old sleds,” Bailey said. “I like to watch them, see people using them, and I like to be part of it. The old sleds are fun.”

New Hampshire played a key role in the development of snowmobiling, and in 1985, the New Hampshire Snowmobile Museum Association was founded to preserve its history.

Space was provided by the Division of Parks and Recreation in one of the Civilian Conservation Corps buildings at Bear Brook State Park. Over 80 donated machines are displayed on rotation, along with a collection of memorabilia. Winter hours are Saturdays, 1 to 3 p.m., and in the summer by request to the staff at the Camping Museum, also housed in Bear Brook’s Museum Complex.

The 23rd annual winter show starts at 9 a.m. Sunday and continues into the afternoon. Awards are presented at 2 p.m. To display snowmobiles, pre-registration is encouraged or register on the day of the show from 9 to10 a.m. only. The show is free and open to the public. For more details on this event and the New Hampshire Snowmobile Museum Association, visit www.nhsnowmobilemuseum.com.

Allenstown school warrants left unchanged

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 20:13:00 GMT

BY GINGER KOZLOWSKI

With few articles to consider and only 32 registered voters in attendance, the deliberative session of the Allenstown School District Meeting wrapped up in just a half hour.

No changes were made to the wording of any articles, so it will now go to residents to decide whether to follow the recommendations of the School Board or force them to make cuts under a default budget when voting takes place March 11.

The school district operating budget, warrant article 1, asks taxpayers for $9,954,853. If approved, it’s expected to raise the tax rate by $3.20 per $1,000 of property value. Voting no will result in a default budget of $9,838,008, which will still raise the tax rate, but by about $280 per $1,000 of property value.

School Board Chairman Tom Irzyk presented an explanation of the budget figures, pointing out that special education, certified staff, health insurance and other budget lines increased by $781,342.

Warrant Article 2 asks for approval by voters of a collective bargaining agreement between the Allenstown School Board and the Allenstown Paraprofessional Association for a four year-contract. Approval would raise the tax rate by about 20 cents.

Warrant Article 3 asks for $10,000 to be taken from surplus for a building maintenance fund, and Warrant Article 4 asks for $10,000 to be taken from surplus for the Facilities Acquisition Capital Reserve Fund. Neither would affect the tax rate since the money comes from surplus.

Voting will take place on these articles on Tuesday, March 11, at Allenstown Elementary School, from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Allenstown tries to avoid default budget

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 21:24:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

Allenstown voters will decide whether to accept a 11.4 percent increase in the town’s operating budget after being on a default budget this year.

“It’s a big increase, but it’s like we lost a year,” said Selectman Sandy McKenney, explaining the current year’s default budget was likely a result of the sliding economy. She said the community needs to understand the budget before they can make an informed decision to pass the increase and absorb the extra taxes.

Budget Committee Chairman David Eaton said the increases in department budgets are realistic, bringing the town’s total proposed operating budget to $5,055,264 from last year’s $4,541,936.

Voters will be able to weigh in on the budget and warrant articles at the deliberative session of Town Meeting on Thursday, Feb. 7, 7 p.m., at Allenstown Elementary School.

The Board of Selectmen and Budget Committee agreed on everything in the town operating budget aside from $2,500 the budget committee added to the fire department’s fuel line and salaries, bringing it to $335,019, about 12 percent higher than last year.

The Parks and Recreation Department accounts for one of the largest increases in the proposed budget, an almost 75 percent jump from last year’s default amount of $21,650 to the coming year’s proposed $37,811, which includes a summer program for the Concord Boys and Girls Club and improvements.

The proposed Tri-Town Ambulance service budget is a 70 percent jump over the default to $56,500 in preparation for Hooksett’s potential pullout from the intermunicipal agreement with Allenstown and Pembroke.

That increase reflects the costs associated with splitting the current service between just the two remaining towns.

Health insurance costs for 2008-09 also jumped 21 percent from the current year’s $44,000 to $53,500, an issue towns across the state are dealing with.

Both the selectmen and Budget Committee recommended a 17.8 percent increase over last year’s default Police Department budget, the proposed 2008-09 appropriation being $778,155.

The library, which recently went wireless and is in need of maintenance and repairs, got a 15 percent increase to $55,817 from this year’s $48,572.

Highways and streets, one of the larger appropriations in the overall budget, got a 19.7 percent increase in the wake of the second hundred-year flood in two years that washed out many of the streets in Allenstown and surrounding towns. Other costs included street signs and extra equipment.

Warrant articles The Budget Committee and selectmen were in accord on the majority of warrant article recommendations, with the only difference in the budget committee’s addition of $15,000 warrant article for the library facility fund.

The first warrant article voters will see is the most expensive, wordiest and arguably the most important, needing a 60 percent majority vote.

Allenstown sewer commissioners are once again going to voters for a $15 million bond to expand the Suncook Wastewater Treatment Facility. The state Department of Environmental Services issued a moratorium in 2001 preventing any future hook-ups in Allenstown and Pembroke.

Based on flow, Pembroke, the plant’s largest user, would pay 52 percent or $7.8 million and Allenstown the remaining $7.2 million. The article also asks to use $250,000 in fund balance to help offset the costs.

Presentations on the issue by Mike Trainque of Hoyle, Tanner and Associates, the engineering firm looking into the project, have explained the upgrades, which include two new clarifiers.

According to Trainque, the project qualifies for several federal and state grants the Sewer Commission will pursue should the bond pass, which could fund half of total project costs. This year, both the selectman and the Budget Committee recommended the warrant article.

The Fire Department seeks approval for a new 2,500-gallon pumper/tanker truck, a warrant article asking for $450,000 which both the Budget Committee and selectman recommended. The new truck would replace three of the town’s older trucks, the newest of which was made in 1981.

Warrant article 6, from the Police Department, asks voters to raise $47,750 for the town’s share of $191,000 in engineering and rebuilding costs for the culvert on Mount Delight Road that burst during the 2007 floods. The other 75 percent, or $143,250, would be funded through the state Department of Homeland Security’s Hazard Mitigation grant.

Allenstown Police Chief Shaun Mulholland said road closings in Epsom worsened the situation, and more than 130 residents were trapped in their homes – 50 in Epsom, nine in Allenstown and 74 in Deerfield. The town would seek state grants to help with the town’s portion of the costs, Mulholland said.

Another article from the Board of Selectmen asks to change the method of choosing a road agent from election to appointment.

McKenney said the position is more suited to appointment because the most qualified person might not get the job in an election. It was something the town didn’t worry about before because Road Agent James Boisvert was qualified and stayed in the position for 20 years.

Students create music in honor of civil rights

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 21:01:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

Students at Armand Dupont Middle School made beautiful music as part of a Martin Luther King Jr. Day presentation for the entire school.

T.J. Wheeler, a celebrated New Hampshire jazz and blues musician and activist, also known in the state as Dr. Jazz, worked with students on what he called “salvation songs” in appreciation of the trials of slavery and the victories of the Civil Rights movement.

As part of the school’s enrichment program, the 15-student band, which Wheeler dubbed The Dr. Jazz Freedom Singers, performed spirituals including “We Shall Overcome” and “Wade in the Water,” with improvised instruments and combined voices.

Sixth-grader Alyshalyn Perron, 11, even wrote a song titled “Only You and Me,” celebrating unity, which the group played and sang.

Perron, who played the keyboard with a fellow student, said she only knew how to play the Titanic theme song before working with Wheeler, adding she’d like to continue with piano lessons.

Dustin Pieberl, 13, recorded the group’s songs with his Apple laptop, using the Garage Band program.

“It’s actually a very cool experience,” the seventh-grader said about working with the local jazz legend and learning more about music.

Wheeler did a few songs on his own before the kids got up to perform, explaining that slaves used to disguise their plans to escape in spirituals they sang as they worked.

“These songs have always been freedom songs,” he said. In between songs, Wheeler spoke about everything from the plight of thousands of slaves in the South to King’s movement of passive resistance to inequality and racism.

Family and School Coordinator Judith Howe and Gifted and Talented Coordinator for the school district Maurine Egan brought the program to the school.

Four videos of the performances can be viewed on NewHampshire.com. Click “Highlights” for the links.

Holidays bring out drunk drivers – and police

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:12:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

To combat drunk driving around the holidays, local police departments created extra shifts and paid out some overtime for more manpower during Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

The police departments in Allenstown, Pembroke and Epsom are part of a task force with Chichester and Bow police as well as the Merrimack County Sheriff’s Office to take action against drunk drivers, a move to decrease arrests and accidents, something that has caught hold nationally.

The task force got funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation to run “saturated patrols” as part of their “Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest.” campaign.

The extra money paid for the man hours spent on the additional patrols.

Bow police recently joined the task force, so they are not being funded for their patrols this season, but will participate with the other agencies in future saturation patrols and sobriety checkpoints.

Those who behaved While most towns saw no arrests or accidents related to drinking, police chiefs agreed that’s a product of preparation on the departments’ parts and residents’ wise choices.

“Everyone was doing what they were supposed to do,” said Epsom Police Chief Wayne Preve, adding his officers made plenty of stops that yielded no drunk driving arrests.

“There were so many cops out there, you couldn’t move without getting stopped,” he joked.

In a few situations, he said, his officers stopped vehicles that had already been stopped in other towns. Being the most central town in the task force, some cars were stopped for the same infraction in two or three towns, he said.

Keeping with a yearly tradition, the snow emergency parking bans in Allenstown and Epsom were lifted on Christmas and New Year’s Eve to allow parking on the streets. This encouraged people to stay where they were in the event they were impaired, Allenstown Police Chief Shaun Mulholland said.

“We prefer that they not drive impaired if it means they have to stay where they’re at,” he said.

Pembroke residents also seemed to stay under the radar, Pembroke Police Chief Scott Lane said, adding that no arrests or accidents related to drunk driving occurred during Christmas or New Year’s.

In the 1980s, Lane said, drunk driving was much more prevalent in town.

“When I first came on the job, you made your bread and butter on DWIs,” he said, adding that amount of driving-while-intoxicated arrests in town per year has decreased to around 30 from around 100 in the 1980s. “We still have too many problems with it, but it’s still better than it used to be,” Lane said. He added the force will be out in droves during the NFL playoff season, which he said often yields more drunk drivers than the holiday season.

Those who didn’t While Candia is not a part of the task force, they do coordinate with Raymond police to provide extra patrols in their towns during the holidays, said Candia Police Chief Michael McGillen.

Candia did have two drunk driving arrests during the afternoon on New Year’s Eve, according to Sgt. Scott Gallagher. “It’s a good thing they were off the road earlier in the day,” he said.

Eric Johnson, 49, of Deerfield, was charged with one count of driving while intoxicated after a concerned resident observed him acting intoxicated in the parking lot of Ace Hardware on Raymond Road. Officer Daniel Gray responded and pulled Johnson’s vehicle over as it exited the parking lot.

During a thorough search of the vehicle, Gray found an open bottle of vodka strapped to the inside of the vehicle’s hood with a bungee cord.

Johnson refused a Breathalyzer at the scene and was taken into custody. His arraignment was scheduled for Feb. 6 in Auburn District Court.

Robin Dahlbloom, 52, also of Raymond, was stopped about an hour later for operating without headlights. Gallagher, who pulled her over, said Dahlbloom was showing signs impairment, including slurred speech and awkward motions.

“She was lethargic in her motions and evasive as far as speaking with me,” Gallagher said, adding she refused a Breathalyzer. Her court date is also scheduled for Feb. 6 in Auburn District Court.

National trends
A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study looking at the trends in holiday drunk driving from 1982 to 2005 shows increases in the number of fatal accidents involving at least one impaired driver during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

According to the study, the average number of fatal accidents during the holidays involving drunk drivers jumps from 36 during regular year to 45 around Christmas and 54 around New Year’s.

Researchers predicted that if trends held this year, accidents involving a drunk driver would kill about 430 people nationwide this holiday season.

The study also found that fatal crashes resulting from drunk driving account for about 40 percent of total fatal accidents on Christmas and New Year’s.

Sewer expansion goes to voters again

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 22:07:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

Allenstown voters will once again consider spending tax dollars to improve its sewer plant.

Public meetings regarding a $15 million bond to expand the Suncook Wastewater Treatment Facility will continue after Allenstown selectmen and Budget Committee members put their stamp of approval on the drafted warrant article for the 2008 Town Meeting.

“It’s really a Catch 22, said Selectman Tom Gilligan, because the sewer expansion would end the block on hookups, bringing more development into town and thus expanding the tax base, he said.

“The town needs the revenue, but nobody wants to be hit with the full price tag,” Gilligan said, adding the natural increase of labor and raw materials as time goes on will only make the burden heavier.

The expansion has been a point of contention since the state Department of Environmental Services issued a moratorium on the plant in 2004, barring any additional sewer hookups to the plant.

Michael Trainque of Hoyle, Tanner and Associates, the engineering firm working on the expansion project, said the expansion is critical, with a water quality study on the Merrimack River currently in the works that may put more stringent requirements for water treatment in place.

“This is actually voting for the future. It’s for the next generation,” said Sewer Commissioner James Rodger at a public meeting at the Parish Hall in Allenstown on Monday, Jan. 7.

The problem, town officials said, is where to place the burden of the proposed 30-year bond.

While Pembroke residents – as a group, the plant’s largest user, accounting for over half of the plant’s flow – will pay 52 percent of the bond, the remaining $7.2 million that will rest with Allenstown taxpayers is still a sizeable cost and, in many minds, not fair to residents not hooked up to the town sewer lines.

Armand Verville, an Allenstown resident with a septic system, has spoken out against transferring the cost to taxpayers, as the current warrant article is written. Rather, he told sewer commissioners, he would like to see the ratepayers absorb most of the cost.

Sandy McKenny, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, voted not to recommend the new warrant article because, she said, she doesn’t feel the town is ready to absorb the cost.

Without the help of various grants the project qualifies for, taxpayers could see an increase on their bills of $1.67 per $1,000 of assessed value in the first year of the bond repayment, which would be a year after construction is complete, Trainque said.

For the owner of a home assessed at $200,000, that increase could amount to an extra $334 in that year’s tax bill.

The tax increase is compounded, McKenney said, by the fact that Bear Brook Park comprises 51 percent of the town and generates no tax revenue, along with several mobile home parks in town, leaving the brunt of the tax burden with a rather small group of residents.

Trainque said the expansion has a good shot of getting one or a combination of several federal and state grants which have the potential to knock millions off the price tag, but the applications can’t go through until Allenstown voters pass the entire amount of the bond.

Pembroke’s interest in this is greater in terms of development, said Pembroke Sewer Commissioner Harold Thompson at the public meeting. Currently, there are developers lined up for construction, he said.

Pembroke would have to decide how to fund its share of the project, for $7.8 million of the total costs, after Allenstown voters pass the expansion.

Pembroke would either have to schedule a special Town Meeting or wait until the 2009 elections to put the question of funding the expansion to voters.

“I’ve got enough commercial property stuff that I don’t think it would be hard to pass it on our side,” Thompson said.

Pembroke Selectman Cindy Lewis, also a liason to the Planning Board, agreed Pembroke is ready and likely willing to absorb the expansion costs, given the potential development and end to the moratorium it would bring.

“Pembroke would want the increase,” she said of taxes. “It’s going to be good for growth in both towns.”

With Pembroke’s larger tax base, the effect on taxpayers would be less than that of Allenstown, but no official numbers on that potential impact have been released.

Subway shop robbed, two are arrested

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 21:24:00 GMT

By JENN McDOWELL

Two Manchester residents are being charged with robbing a Subway sandwich shop in Allenstown after a collaboration of police efforts in Allenstown, Hudson, and Nashua revealed that robbery was unrelated to a recent string of Subway robberies in the southern part of the state.

Phillip Rawnsley, 30, and Michelle Despres, 22, both of 390 South Main St. in Manchester, allegedly held up the Allenstown shop on Thursday, Dec. 27, at around 9:40 p.m. The two employees on duty at the time were forced to empty the cash register of $180, according to Allenstown Police Chief Shaun Mulholland.

The next day, Mulholland met with Nashua and Hudson police to determine whether the Allenstown robbery was connected to two Nashua Subway robberies, one that occurred later the same evening and another on Monday, Dec. 24, and a fourth Subway hit in Hudson shortly before the Allenstown robbery on Thursday.

Surveillance tapes from the Allenstown shop did not match the tapes and descriptions of the suspects in the three other robberies, Mulholland said. “At least the people that went inside the building were two separate people,” he said.

Despres and Rawnsley were being held at the Valley Street jail in Manchester for a recent city convenience store robbery when Mulholland said it was found that female foot impressions at the Allenstown Subway matched those of the convenience store robbery evidence.

Police interviewed Despres on Sunday, Dec. 30, at the Manchester Police Department and confronted her with the evidence match. It was determined Rawnsley was also involved in the Subway hit.

Rawnsley was also being held on felony possession of a firearm in an unrelated state police case, Mulholland said.

While the two have not yet been officially arrested, grand jury indictments will be filed and both Despres and Rawnsley will likely be arraigned the week of Monday, Jan. 7, he added. Rawnsley will be charged with armed robbery and Despres with accomplice to armed robbery.

Neither Rawnsley or Despres had prior knowledge of the three other Subway hits in Hudson and Nashua, Mulholland said.

“It was just a matter of convenience. They drove by, and it looked like a convenient place to hit,” he said, adding both suspects have lengthy prior sheets.

Three other suspects have been charged in connection with the robberies in Nashua and Hudson.

Proposed middle school gets state OK

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 20:55:00 GMT

By JENN McDOWELL

The state Board of Education has officially approved the tuition agreement for a proposed joint middle school between Candia and Auburn.

School Board members from both towns attended the state board’s meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 12, at which the board voted unanimously to approve the tuition agreement with the condition of obtaining voter approval.

In March, Candia will vote on the tuition agreement to cover 38 percent of the school’s project and operating costs, based on enrollment figures. Auburn will pay 62 percent, and those figures will adjust each year depending on enrollment in both towns.

If the tuition agreement passes with Candia voters, Auburn will vote on a $29 million 20-year bond for the project’s costs, including interest over the bond’s life.

The project is expected to get 40 percent state aid reimbursement, which will bring the project cost down to about $15 million for residents. Based on the 38-62 enrollment ratio, Auburn would pay about $9 million and Candia the remaining $6 million over 20 years.

Elaine Hobbs, chairman of the Auburn School Board, said the state Board of Education’s approval shows that the contract is fair and viable.

Soft costs have not been revealed yet, but Hobbs said the Auburn School Board will present those costs to the Candia School Board on Tuesday, Jan. 8.

Questions and concerns about operating costs for the school have surfaced as Candia’s deliberative session approaches in January.

“I think people are concerned. They want to know what’s going to be in the building,” said Hobbs, adding that a specific operating cost breakdown is vital to voters’ understanding of the school’s overall costs to both towns.

Some concerns

Candia School Board member Ingrid Byrd voted not to ratify the tuition agreement with the rest of the board, and said the state’s approval is a formality along the way.

Byrd pointed out that the school’s operating costs would likely increase each year with little say from Candia.

The tuition agreement provides for an advisory board of Candia parents and teachers and one school board member, but the governance of the school would fall under the Auburn School Board’s control.

No Candia representatives will have a vote in governance, she said, meaning Auburn could increase the school’s budget with no official input from Candia.

She also pointed out that Candia residents would not have the voting power to oust members of the Auburn School Board if they felt they weren’t running the school correctly.

Another issue that has arisen is the first consideration clause in the tuition agreement, which states that Candia teachers would be considered for positions at the new school first.

Many tenured teachers will lose that distinction upon going over to the joint middle school in 2010, which would lessen their job security, Byrd added.

“This is not a win-win situation. People are looking at where they’re at, and saying this is not necessary,” said Byrd.

The proposed 102,000-square-foot school would sit on a site Auburn’s School Board already purchased in July 2006 after voters authorized the acquisition of the land on the corner of Hooksett Road and Old Candia Road.

Auburn voters allocated $650,000 for the land purchase in 2006 and last year voted for $137,000 to fund engineering and design studies for Team Design, Inc. Candia raised $91,000 for those studies.

Allenstown Year in review 2007

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 19:59:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

Chief convicted of stealing
In March, former Allenstown Police Chief James McGonigle entered a guilty plea to stealing thousands of dollars from accounts reserved for the department, the New Hampshire Police Cadet Training Academy and Allenstown Police Association.

McGonigle was sentenced to 12 months for one of the charges and one to three years on two others.

He reported to Concord State Prison on June 8 to begin his sentence.

The charges stemmed from discrepancies in the books, which the department’s executive secretary, Donna Barnett, picked up on. She informed current Chief Shaun Mulholland, a captain at the time, who called the Attorney General’s office to initiate the investigation.

McGonigle, 58 of Concord, stole about $8,000 total from the three agencies beginning in 2000. Cashed checks in amounts from $5 to $1,500 were discovered. Selectmen put McGoSelectmen put McGonigle on paid leave in February 2006.

Also a long-time Concord city councilor, McGonigle resigned from both posts on April 10, 2006.

“It was a very precarious, very difficult situation to have to be in,” said Mulholland, who had to violate department policy which says that the chief must be involved in any internal investigations, to bring the chief to justice.

State police came in to run the department until Mulholland himself could take a lie detector test, which cleared him of any wrongdoing. He was then placed in charge of the department. “It’s not a great point of history in the Allenstown Police Department, but it is what it is,” said Mulholland.

Sewer expansion
A $15 million bond to expand the Suncook Wastewater Treatment plant failed with Allenstown voters a second time at the 2007 election.

The state placed a moratorium on the treatment plant in 2005, preventing any more hookups.

The plant serves both Allenstown and Pembroke, the cost to operate it divided between the two towns based on the number of hook ups. Allenstown owns the facility, and thus is responsible for passing or voting down the proposed expansion.

The town’s Sewer Commission is holding public input meetings on the expansion plan and funding in hopes of getting voters behind it this year. Selectmen have not recommended the article in the two years it has come up.

Resident Armand Verville, has spoken out against taxpayer funding and suggested the money come from sewage users, adding that he is not and would never be hooked up to the town’s infrastructure.

Michael Trainque of Hoyle, Tanner and Associates, the company in charge of the expansion plans, said a combination of federal and state grants could reduce the total project costs by 50 percent or more.

The plant has been taking on septage from other towns in a separate process from the sewer operations to help fund the expansion.

Meth lab?
U.S. marshals and Allenstown police closed in on an alleged methamphetamine lab at a mobile home on Edgewood Drive in August.

Although the home was vacant at the time, a search revealed meth production materials and equipment.

Emergency preparedness
Allenstown police and fire, along with all of its backup authorities, participated in a simulated terrorist attack on Oct. 20.

The attack was staged at Allenstown Elementary School. The scenario they played out was a parent disgruntled over school taxes, shooting several students and staff in the school and setting off a bomb.

Officers, firefighters, dispatchers and other first responders had to react to the events as they unfolded as if it were real.

While they knew it was a simulation, participants were not informed beforehard of the scenario or extent of the operation, and many were troubled at being inside the alarm- and smoke-filled building.

Local Boy Scout troops and other community organizations also participated as actors.

Missing man
An elderly Hooksett man went missing in Bear Brook State Park on Dec. 2 when he apparently got lost while hunting.

Search teams composed of agencies from all over the state looked for any trace of Russell Bussiere, 70, for the rest of that week.

A snow storm and extremely cold temperatures, particularly overnight, caused hope to dwindle that Bussiere would be found alive.

His son, Michael Bussiere, said his father had been hunting for over half a century and knows the state park area where he was hunting well, but many of the searchers and hunters alike said that it is very easy to get disoriented in the woods.

On Dec. 4, about 200 volunteers showed up to participate in line searches of more than 10 square miles of forest. Many of them had to be taken out of the woods when they got wet and cold and could not finish the search.

Teams tracked their progress on a GPS mapping system at the command post and remained in the woods for about eight hours each day.

By Dec. 6, the search had been scaled back to mutual aid agencies only, to ensure the searchers’ safety.

The missing hunter got wide press coverage, drawing Boston and regional news stations.

The family held a press conference on Dec. 6 thanking authorities and searchers for their efforts and expressing their realistic outlook that Bussiere would be found, but not alive.

Michael Bussiere said he would continue to take small parties out to Bear Brook to search for his father and hopes to find him in the spring.

Still no sign of Russell Bussiere of Hooksett after weeklong effort at Bear Brook State Park

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 20:42:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

After more than a week of extensive searching over rough terrain, 6 inches of snow and thick forest at Bear Brook State Park, search teams have found no trace of a Hooksett man who went missing at the popular hunting grounds on Sunday, Dec. 2.

Avid hunter Russell Bussiere, 70, failed to show up for a meeting with his son and fellow hunter, Michael Bussiere of Pembroke, at around noon that day, prompting the family to call in authorities.

Michael Bussiere said the family is being realistic about the odds against the missing man, but is certain they will find him at some point.

“We’ll find him. We know we’re not going to find him alive, but we’ll find him,” said Michael Bussiere.

He said the family is holding up well under the circumstances, and is grateful for the tremendous search effort headed up by New Hampshire Fish and Game and Allenstown Police that included the Army National Guard, the state Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, and the help of fire and police from Hooksett and Pembroke.

About 200 volunteers donated their time and expertise for the search effort, including members of Mount Washington Ski Patrol, Henniker fire and rescue and fellow local hunters concerned about one of their own.

The expansive search covered more than 10 square miles, the majority of Bear Brook State Park, and also some “high probability” areas outside the grid search area over a five-day period.

Teams of 10 to 12 lined up, a searcher on each end of the line having a GPS to map the line’s area covered. That information was transmitted back to a GPS mapping system at the command post to ensure all of the ground in the search area was covered.

No traces of Bussiere, such as clothing, makeshift shelters or disturbances in the snow were found during the searches.

Michael Bussiere said his father had been hunting more than 60 years, and that his experience with Bear Brook should have worked to his advantage.

“Russell knows that area better than his house,” he said.

He added that his father is very punctual and reliable, virtues that helped raise a red flag when Bussiere failed to meet his son after hunting that day.

Michael Bussiere also said his father struggles with operating the GPS device he had with him, which may have contributed to his disappearance, but said he does not have any idea what may have happened to his father.

“I’ve used up all my theories,” he said.

Pared-down search efforts continued as of Monday, Dec. 10, according to Allenstown Police Chief Shaun Mulholland.

Michael Bussiere said he would continue searching the area throughout the winter with small parties of volunteers, and hopes that spring melting will reveal evidence of his father’s whereabouts.

Russell Bussiere, a dedicated Red Sox fan who was ecstatic to finally see his team win the World Series in 2004, was in the granite curbing business for decades and opened his own business about 20 years ago, Michael Bussiere said.

“Russell was an extremely hard-working man,” he said. “His word was gold.”

Hunter missing in park for days

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 21:48:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

Hope was fading on Wednesday, Dec. 5, for a Hooksett man who got lost in Bear Brook State Park on Sunday, Dec. 2. After three nights of snow and frigid temperatures, New Hampshire Fish and Game said it is unlikely Russell Bussiere, 70, is alive.

“Our search commanders and all of the participants in this incident are frustrated and extremely disappointed that we have been unable to locate Mr. Bussiere or find clues as to his whereabouts,” said Col. Jeffrey Gray of Fish and Game in a press release on Wednesday, Dec. 5 at 12:09 p.m. “At this point, we are approaching the limitations of our search and rescue resources.”

As of Dec. 5, the search expanded for a third time to locations adjacent to the state park. A decision on whether to call off the search was to be made late that afternoon. By press time, 15 teams continued searching through the 7 inches of snow, thick trees and rough terrain.

Allenstown police and fire departments, New Hampshire Fish and Game, Hooksett firefighters, state police and about 200 community volunteers have been searching for Bussiere, of 221 West River Road in Hooksett, since he failed to return to a meeting spot while hunting at the 15-square-mile state park with his son, Michael Bussiere, on Sunday, Dec. 2.

Major Timothy Acerno of Fish and Game said authorities were using a GPS mapping system, K-9 units and line searches in their attempts to locate the missing man.

At a press briefing on Monday, Dec. 3, Lt. Kevin Jordan of New Hampshire Fish and Game said Michael and Russell Bussiere parked at a location on Dodge Road and entered the state park’s south end. Equipped with Garmin Rhino GPS navigators and cell phones, they planned on hunting in the area for deer, each making a large circle before meeting back at the car.

The last vocal transmission between the two men was at 10:30 a.m. Russell Bussiere never made it back to the car, prompting his family members to call authorities at 2 p.m.

At 2:30 p.m., a transmission came through the GPS that located the elder Bussiere’s device just a mile from where the parked vehicle, Jordan said.

That location was searched to no avail, as well as areas surrounding it. An attempt to track Bussiere’s cell phone from the closest cell tower could not reveal a specific location.

Authorities fear the batteries on Bussiere’s phone and GPS device have run out, he said, after repeated attempts to locate the GPS and calling Bussiere’s cell phone.

Search teams scoured the area from about 2 p.m. on Sunday until 3 a.m. Monday morning, using the last GPS location as a starting point, but came up with no clues to the elderly man’s whereabouts.

Searchers focused on what Acerno called “high probability areas,” such as trails and streams, or areas that offer resources where Bussiere may likely be found.

By about 4 p.m. on Monday, Jordan said, search teams had covered about half of a 7-square-mile grid search area.

The search resumed at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 4, with added volunteers and mutual assistance to cover an expanded 10-square-mile area. Using a Map Source, a GPS mapping system, searchers’ progress was plotted to ensure all grids in the area would be covered.

Bussiere’s nephew, Richard Emond of Hooksett, brought his son Matt Emond, 18, to participate in the search on Tuesday. “We’re being optimistic and hoping we have a good result,” said Richard Emond, who is also a hunter.

The inclement weather was a concern for authorities, but Jordan said the snow may have actually worked in Bussiere’s favor on Sunday into Monday because it raised the temperature.

Due to weather conditions, the Army National Guard was not able to get its Black Hawk helicopter off the ground to search the state park until Tuesday.

Repeated flyovers revealed nothing about Bussiere’s dissappearance.

Acerno said Bussiere, who is a retired military veteran, a seasoned hunter and frequently works out, is physically capable and resourceful enough to survive the cold and snow overnight.

Bussiere also had some snack foods with him that may have sustained him through the night and possibly matches, Jordan said.

At Monday’s briefing, Jordan said Bussiere’s family members were actively participating in the search. “This man was dearly loved and they’re very concerned and worried,” he said.

When volunteers had to be removed from the search party due to being cold, wet, or otherwise unfit to continue, Jordan announced at a press conference on Dec. 4 that they would not use civilian volunteers to continue on Dec. 5.

“The odds aren’t with him,” said Mike Roberge, a hunter from Goffstown who joined the search party with his black lab, Mandy.

Roberge volunteered because of his kinship with hunters. “Hopefully, someone would do the same for me,” he said.