Allenstown News : Pembroke

Hooksett, Allenstown added to schools in need of improvement

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 14 May 2008 22:03:00 GMT

Hooksett Memorial School and Allenstown Elementary School have joined the list of schools in need of improvement following state testing results.

Several local schools were either added to or maintained their positions on the New Hampshire Department of Education’s “school in need of improvement” list after failing to make adequate yearly progress in either math or reading based on statewide testing.

To be on the list, a school must fail to meet adequate yearly progress, measured by state testing results in grades 3 through 8 and grade 11, in the same content area, reading or math, for two years in a row. To exit the “school in need of improvement” (SINI) designation, schools must meet adequate yearly progress standards in the same content area for two years in a row.

The Department of Education’s 2008-09 adequate yearly progress (AYP) results were compiled based on the state assessments New Hampshire students took in October 2007.

Doing well

Auburn Village School and Epsom Central School made AYP in both content areas this year in all subgroups. Auburn Village School also surpassed the state’s benchmarks for 2007- 08.

After failing to meet AYP for the 2007-08 year, Epsom Central students rose to the performance level of Auburn Village and attained AYP in both reading and math for the 2008-09 year.

“They put a lot of work into trying to emulate the benchmarks in state standards and to match themselves with what the state indicates they should be doing in areas of curriculum,” SAU 53 Superintendent Thomas Haley said.

Dropping down

Test results showed Hooksett Memorial School students missed AYP standards for the second year in a row, getting them a spot on the preliminary 2008-09 SINI list for math.

Memorial students also scored below AYP in reading, and will earn a SINI designation in that subject if they do not show improvement in reading after the next round of testing.

Cawley students missed AYP in math this year, but it was their first year doing so. They are not on the list yet, said Superintendent Phil Littlefield.

Candia Moore School missed AYP in reading but made it in math based on the testing. Having been on the SINI list last year for math, the school must maintain its scores in math in the next testing round to exit that status.

Littlefield said the poor results of the special education subgroup brought the overall schools’ scores down to below AYP standards at both Moore and Memorial.

“As a school, each did fine. In both cases, the issue that they have is the performance of a subgroup and in both cases that is youngsters with an educational disability,” Littlefield said.

After missing AYP in math and reading for the 2007-08 year, Allenstown Elementary students made AYP in reading for 2008-09 and missed it again in math, earning them the designation of a new SINI in math for the 2008-09 year.

Armand Dupont School went into the October testing with a 2007-08 designation of SINI in reading and also having missed AYP in math. After the latest test results showed they missed AYP in math this time around but made it in reading, Dupont is now listed as a SINI in both content areas for 2008-09, and will exit their SINI status for reading if they meet AYP next time.

Three Rivers School in Pembroke missed AYP in math and reading, and will go into the third year of its SINI designation for 2008-09.

Pembroke Hill School made AYP in reading and missed it in math for the 2008-09 year, but is not on the SINI list. The results for Pembroke Village are not yet available because, being designated by the state as a small school, it is subject to a different review of the results.

Haley said the educationally disabled subgroup hurt Pembroke and Allenstown schools, and said those districts might consider appealing the SINI designation after looking more closely at the results.

“The good news is that we made AYP in both areas of the full school and in every subset except for educationally disabled,” Haley said. “We don’t know if we missed AYP in educationally disabled by eight or 10 students, or if we missed by one.”

High schools struggle

Pembroke Academy will enter its third year as a SINI in math and also missed AYP in reading this year. If Pembroke Academy students miss AYP in reading during the next testing cycle, they will go onto the SINI list for reading as well.

Both Manchester Memorial and Central high schools are entering their fourth years on the SINI list for both content areas for 2008-09.

West High School attained AYP in math based on the October testing results, but remains on the SINI list until the next round. Making AYP in math next time will get them off the list for that subject.

West students missed AYP for reading and the school will enter its fourth year on the SINI list for that subject.

According to statewide statistics from the Department of Education, 282 schools in the state failed to make AYP in either reading or math. A total of 175 made AYP in both content areas, based on the October test results.

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.”

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.

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.

At capacity – Allenstown and Pembroke to try again to expand sewer treatment plant

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 21:01:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

If voters don’t pass an article proposing an expansion of the sewer treatment plant serving Allenstown and Pembroke at this year’s Town Meeting, there can be no more developments in either town.

The plant’s capacity is for 1 million gallons of sewage per day, and, according to Allenstown Sewer Commissioner James Roger, the plant is already running at full capacity – and sometimes over.

The state Department of Environmental Safety served the plant with a moratorium a few years ago, which prevented the plant from taking on any extra sewage.

If someone plans to construct a home or business in Allenstown or Pembroke, expecting to connect to the public sewer system, they are out of luck unless the plant expansion happens.

“As it stands right now, we’ve reached the capacity of the plant, and we can’t add any more service,” Roger said. “If somebody wants a hook up, we can’t give it to them.”

Dana Clemens, superintendent of the plant, said DES has been involved in the plant’s operations since 2000.

A few times over the past few years, the plant has serviced over its capacity per day, he said.

At last year’s Town Meeting, a warrant article asking voters to approve a plant expansion was of no consequence.

According to Roger, Allenstown selectmen did not approve the article last year, but due to printing deadlines, the warrant was still on the ballot and gained some support from voters, even though it didn’t count.

“We’re hopeful that we can get the selectmen behind us, and then we’ll go to the people and try to give them as much info about it as we can,” Clemens said.

Voters will get several opportunities to become familiar with the proposed expansion plan.

“Our consultant engineer is putting together multiple presentations. We intend to present it to the voters at different meetings between now and March,” Clemens said.

Only two people showed up at scheduled public meetings on the issue last year.

In an effort to soften the financial blow the town would take on with the expansion, Clemens said the plant began to take on septage treatment a few years back to earn extra money.

“Three years ago, when the moratorium hit, myself and the Sewer Commission thought we should do whatever we can to try and assist the town in being able to comply with the moratorium and be able to finance an expansion to the treatment plant,” Clemens said.

The septage service did not impact the treatment plant, and funds made from that endeavor have been set aside in a fund for the plant’s expansion.

“Hopefully by the end of next year, we’ll have made the town around a million dollars,” Clemens said.

Also, many town residents have called in complaints about the smell.

Clemens said they used some of the septage revenue to purchase special covers for the septage tanks that would reduce the odor released into the air.

He added that DES has been monitoring the plant’s use of odor controlling chemicals, and has noted improvement in the smell.

“We’re trying to do everything we can to lessen the impact of our operation on the town’s people,” Clemens said.

Sobering stops – Local police find sobriety checkpoints make drivers aware

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 21:17:00 GMT

BY JENNIFER MCDOWELL

The number of vehicle accidents involving impaired drivers is on the rise across the state said Allenstown Police Chief Shaun Mulholland.

In an effort to combat that important public safety issue, the police departments of Allenstown, Epsom, Pembroke and Chichester have teamed up with the Merrimack County Sheriff’s Office to form a task force dedicated to organizing sobriety checkpoints.

Mulholland said the task force has already performed 12 checkpoints this year.

“All of our departments work together to put a maximum effort out there,” Mulholland said.

Judging from the activity at the checkpoint in Allenstown on Friday, Aug. 10, by the Mega X gas station on
Route 3, it appears the checkpoints are a crucial part of the fight against impaired driving.

During the checkpoint, police arrested three individuals with 65 ecstasy pills, marijuana, and other paraphernalia including weighing devices.

Zachary Patton, 18, of 28 Cross St. in Allenstown, and Devon Newbegin, 18, of 10 Garvin Hill Road in Chichester, were held on $12,000 cash bail an arraigned in Hooksett District Court on Aug. 13 on charges of possession with intent to distribute.

Mulholland said Newbegin was arrested the night before in Concord on similar charges.

Patton was also charged with breach of bail on a previous offense.

Jonathan Clark, 18, of 15 Fisher Ave. in Boscawen, was in the car with Patton and Newbegin and was released on personal recognizance that night. He is scheduled to appear in Hooksett District Court on Tuesday, Sept. 25, on a possession with intent to distribute charge.

Mulholland said the bust resulted from claims made by two girls, friends of the three suspects, who entered the checkpoint in the car directly in front of the one containing Clark, Newbegin, and Patton.

At 2:45 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 11, police arrested Alyssa Ramahlo, 17, of 399 Gold St. in Manchester, for driving while intoxicated. Her passenger, Marissa Leafe of 120 1st Ave. in Manchester, was charged with illegal possession of alcohol and underage possession of tobacco products.

“There were two cars altogether coming back from a little get together,” Mulholland said.

Upon their arrest, the girls admitted that they had been drinking and smoking marijuana that night with Clark, Newbegin, and Patton, which led to the search that revealed the drugs, paraphernalia and $700 cash in the vehicle containing the three male suspects.

Both Ramahlo and Leafe were released that night on personal recognizance and will answer to their charges in Hooksett District Court on Tuesday, Sept. 25.

In addition to those five arrests, police made four more that night for a total of nine arrests: four charges of driving under the influence, three on drug charges, one unlawful possession of alcohol, and one driving after suspension, second offense, Mulholland said.

Police departments across the state have taken strides to reduce the occurrences of impaired driving.

“Checkpoints are one of the most effective ways to do that,” Mulholland said.

He added that plans for next year’s checkpoints are already underway.

Old double-deck bridge closed on lower level

Hooksett Editor — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 20:17:00 GMT

BY NICHOLAS BROWN

The person in charge of carrying out the $11.3 million Suncook double-decker bridge construction project said work could be completed on time, despite a recent snag that will require the bottom half of the old bridge to be closed.

The upper portion of the old bridge that connects Allenstown and Pembroke on Route 3 is slightly sagging. Traffic use on the bottom half will be sacrificed to shore up the upper level, said Tom Miller, the project’s contract administrator with the state Department of Transportation.

Miller estimated the closure – which will last until the new bridge is complete – will affect about 300 mostly local car trips per day. That’s compared to about 10,000 trips on the bridge’s upper level.

“The traffic down there is minimal,” Miller said. Miller was using traffic counts gathered in 2002, before the double-decker construction project commenced.

“(The closure) is going to be a little inconvenient to the people living down there,” said Allenstown selectmen’s Chairman Sandy McKenney. “It will probably affect more people in Pembroke than in Allenstown.”

Downtown residents are able to cross the Suncook River over the Main Street bridge, which officially opened in January 2006, about three months behind schedule.

Miller said two mild winters have made him hopeful that the new double-decker bridge will open in October as scheduled. “We should make that,” he said.

Miller also said the massive replacement project will likely meet its $11.3 million budget. Funding for the double-decker bridge replacement has come from federal and state sources, and hasn’t required local property taxation in the two towns. The old double-decker bridge was built in 1938 and represents an architectural rarity in the state.

Attempts to sell the bridge for $1 fizzled early last year since buyers would have had to relocate the historic bridge, maintain its integrity and find a suitable use for it.

“It’s just outlived its usefulness,” Miller said of the bridge, which was “red listed” by the state’s bridge task force.

The design of the new bridge follows that of the old bridge, but will handle much heavier traffic loads, said Miller.

“It’s basically a copy of the old bridge, designed wider and taller,” he said. “It should be good for 100 years.”

Sewer set-up - Allenstown article doomed by selectmen's refusal to note their position

Hooksett Editor — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 21:35:00 GMT

BY NICHOLAS BROWN

Allenstown selectmen twice voted not to place a recommendation by the controversial $15 million warrant article for a sewer plant upgrade, though a non-recommendation renders the warrant article defective.

The warrant article, which proposed a 30-year bond to dramatically increase capacity at the maxed-out plant that serves both Allenstown and Pembroke, was deemed “defective” by the town’s bond attorney. The warrant article will remain on the ballot, but selectmen won’t have authority to borrow the $15 million even if the plan gets the 60 percent of the vote needed to pass this year.

The selectmen’s non-recommendations don’t sit well with sewer commission Chairman James Rodger, who said the commission will now have to regroup before submitting plans for the plant at next year’s annual Town Meeting.

“It’s just going to cost us more time and money,” he said. “We wanted to hear what people had to say about this plan this year.” He said selectmen were irresponsible by singling out the sewer plant warrant article for “non-recommendation” from others on this year’s ballot.

“I think the select board , on this particular item, has shown a lack of leadership,” Rodger said. “They don’t want to be associated with a $15 million project.”

Selectmen’s Chairman Sandy McKenney said her feeling all along has been that selectmen didn’t want to influence voters on such a big money item.

“For a lot of residents, whatever the selectmen and the budget committee vote, they just go along with that,” McKenney said. “We didn’t want to sway the residents one way or another.”

Selectmen initially voted unanimously to withhold a recommendation. Later, after meetings between the town’s attorney and an attorney representing the sewer commission, the board upheld its earlier vote 2-1.

Attorneys Biron Bedard, representing the town, and John Teague, representing the sewer commission, couldn’t be reached. Teague was out of the office until after press time, and Bedard didn’t return a call by press time.

Selectman Peter Viar said he changed his vote because he doesn’t see the use in moving forward with a toothless warrant article.

“Honestly, I didn’t think it had the chance to pass this year,” said Viar, “but I don’t think that gives us the right to put a defective warrant article out there.”

Though Viar didn’t say he supported the plan one way or the other, he said selectmen should have put forward a recommendation.

“It’s like every other warrant (article) on the ballot,” he said. “We should choose to agree or disagree.”

The town’s budget committee was split 4-4 on its support of the sewer plan. With the tie, the committee’s official recommendation on the ballot would have been a “no” vote.

McKenney said the $15 million sewer plan is the biggest local issue she’s dealt with in her years as a selectman and budget committee member.

“I don’t know if we were wrong in not recommending it – I don’t know,” said McKenney. “This is the first time I’ve ever had a warrant article that large.”

Will taxpayers support sewer upgrade?

Hooksett Editor — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 15:12:00 GMT

BY NICHOLAS BROWN

ALLENSTOWN – Sewer commissioners are trying to spread the word about a $15 million bond proposal to upgrade the wastewater treatment plant that services both Pembroke and Allenstown.

The $15 million question will be on Allenstown’s Town Meeting ballot in March, though Pembroke would be responsible for 52 percent of the costs, according to an “intermunicipal” wastewater services agreement signed by sewer commissioners in the neighboring towns last November.

The Allenstown Sewer Commission is hosting informational sessions every Monday leading up to the March 13 vote. Meetings will be at 7 p.m. at the St. John the Baptist Parish Center on Allenstown’s School Street.

Allenstown sewer officials have said much of the renovation costs – which would be covered by a 30-year bond – for the project could be offset by combinations of grant money. All the town’s taxpayers, not just sewer ratepayers, would be responsible for repaying the bond, according to the wording of the warrant article.

“We feel the project is beneficial for the entire community,” sewer commission Chairman James Rodger said. “It’s just like the school system is beneficial to the entire community, even though not everyone sends kids to school.”

Rodger said there are about 1,400 total units currently hooked up to the wastewater treatment plant. There are about 1,900 taxpayers in town, including owners of apartment complexes, said Rodger.

Because the wastewater plant reached capacity, the state Department of Environmental Services issued a moratorium on new sewer hookups in 2005. The moratorium has dissuaded new commercial and industrial businesses – and the tax revenue that would follow – from moving to town, said Rodger.

Rodger said he hoped and expected the end cost of the project to taxpayers in Allenstown and Pembroke would be about $3.5 million per town. The sewer commission has charted three scenarios for repaying the bond.

With no grant money, the commission estimates the tax impact for Allenstown property owners to be $1.67 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. With 20 percent matching grants, the commission estimates that impact will dip to $1.34. With 50 percent covered by grants, the commission estimates an impact of 84 cents.

With those estimates, and with no grant money, the owner of a $200,000 Allenstown home would pay an additional $334 in property taxes annually. With a 20 percent match, that homeowner would pay an additional $268 per year. With 50 percent matching grants, that annual impact would drop to $168.

Selectmen decided not to have a recommendation on the $15 million question on this year’s ballot, said the board’s chairman, Sandy McKenney.

“We wanted it to go straight to the people,” she said. McKenney said such a hefty cost alone may sway Allenstown residents who already struggle paying taxes.

“It’s a lot of money,” she said. “But it’s something we need, so what do you do?”

The budget committee voted not to recommend the plan. Committee Chairman Tom Gilligan couldn’t be reached by press time.

Rodger urged all residents to attend some of the commission’s informational sessions.

“If somebody has a different point of view, they can have the podium,” Rodger said. “We want to know where people are coming from on this.”

State backs off on fueling facility

Hooksett Editor — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 18:07:00 GMT

BY NICHOLAS BROWN

The state Department of Transportation’s top official told a group of Allenstown and Pembroke residents she’s leaning against a much-maligned DOT plan to put a fleet fueling center next to one of the state’s purest water sources.

“It’s not a done deal,” DOT Commissioner Carol Murray told about 60 residents gathered for an informational meeting at St. John’s Parish Hall. “You’re not going to wake up tomorrow, or six months from now, or a year from now, and see this thing being built.”

Later Murray said, “I’m leaning toward the answer being ‘We’re not going there.’”

Murray was discussing a decades-old DOT plan to build the department’s largest fleet fueling facility – including three 10,000-gallon fuel tanks – off Route 106, just north of the Pembroke town line.

The plan would put the facility between 1,000 and 1,500 feet from the Soucook River, 300 feet from well head protection areas in Concord and Pembroke, and about 3,000 feet from a Pembroke town well.

The well provides some of the cleanest water in the state, according to Pembroke Waterworks officials, and also feeds Allenstown and parts of Hooksett. Seven state representatives and state Sen. Jack Barnes, along with about 60 of their constitu ents, attended an the informational meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 10. After a governor’s directive to the DOT, similar meetings have been held in Concord and Pembroke in recent months.

“We are New Hampshire,” said Allenstown resident Mike Phelps. “And New Hampshire is telling you – through the Concord board, through the Pembroke board and, I’m sure, the Allenstown board – we don’t want it.”

Said State Rep. Vincent Greco, representing Pembroke, “The people are telling the government, ‘We don’t want this, it’s going to be a hazard to us.’”

DOT officials first got serious about moving forward with the facility – which would replace a current facility on Stickney Avenue in Concord – in 2005. The department chose the site, said DOT Contamination Program Manager Dale O’Connell, primarily because it’s next to a number of state facilities and directly next to the DOT’s maintenance garage. He said the spot was the department’s “preferred alternative,” and said, “the plan all along was to move the fleet fueling facility with the fleet.”

Ronald Laurence, an engineer with Jaques Whitford, a Portsmouth firm that designed the fueling facility, said it would far exceed state safety standards. The underground tanks would have two fiberglass walls encased in a 14-inch thick concrete vault. Virtually all of the components of the tanks, said Laurence, would have monitoring systems that would send out automatic alerts in the event of malfunctions like leaks.

Still area residents suggested human error, over time, could mean an irreversible contamination of the water supply. Pembroke Waterworks Superintendent Paul Whittemore said his main concern was “that day-to-day operation of filling those tanks and those dribbles.”

Hydrogeologist Dave Maclean, of the firm Geoinsight, and has been working with the Pembroke Waterworks Department, said the proposed facility would fall within what’s called a “stratified drift aquifer,” which he said are rare in New Hampshire. Such aquifers, he said, provide pure water sources because the water’s ability to move through clean sediment. He said there are only “small ribbons” of such aquifers in the state.

“And they’re precious,” Maclean said.

While Murray said she’s now leaning against the current proposal, she said the department needs more input from area communities to devise a better alternative.

“I do apologize it does feel like a done deal,” she said. “Public input is critical to everything we do.”

Barnes urged residents to keep apprised of the project. “For gosh sakes,” he said, “don’t be afraid to use the phone and call your state government.”

Parents put on guard - Police warn against sexual predator

Hooksett Editor — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 16:38:00 GMT

BY NICHOLAS BROWN

Allenstown police have stepped up patrols after some “credible information” has sparked “serious concerns for kids walking to school,” said Police Chief Shaun Mulholland.

Mulholland said he couldn’t discuss the specific threat, but said it related to an individual registered as a sex offender who’s not on the public registry maintained by state police. He said police apprised local schools of the situation on the afternoon of Monday, Jan. 8, and urged school staff and parents to take precautions not to allow students to walk alone to and from school.

Pembroke Academy Headmaster Michael Reardon said he heard of the threat from a parent on the morning of Tuesday, Jan. 9.

“I thought we were under a terrorist attack because I hadn’t seen the news reports,” he said.v

Reardon said he’d heard a “sexual predator” who favored 8-year-old to 14-year-old girls had recently come to Allenstown.

“How is this different from the 30, 40 or 50 miscreants that we have among us now?” he asked. “I’m still not sure how it’s different.”v

Reardon said he knew little about the specifics of the situation.

“We really didn’t have any idea who this person is, or what he looks like,” he said.

SAU 53 Superintendent Tom Haley said each of Allenstown’s schools reviewed everyday safety procedures after police notified the district. He said letters announcing the district’s knowledge of the situation, along with some suggestions for student safety, were going home with all Allenstown students on Tuesday, Jan. 9.

“We’re really not aware of what the threat is,” he said. “We’re talking about some sort of sexual predator and someone who’s new to the area.”

There are currently six Allenstown residents listed on the state’s public registry of sex offenders. Four of those six were convicted of felonious sexual assault with a victim under 13 years old. The other two were convicted of felonious sexual assault of someone under 16 years old, and with an age difference of more than three years.

Mulholland said there are far more sex offenders registered in Allenstown than are listed on the public registry.

“There’s a far greater percentage who are not on the public list,” he said.

As of press time, police were still increasing foot and vehicle patrols in the downtown Allenstown area, Mulholland said. He urged parents to accompany students to and from school, said students on foot should stay in groups, and also said students who normally walk to school should try to take the bus.

Allenstown and Pembroke: 2006 Year in Review

Hooksett Editor — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 18:27:00 GMT

BY NICHOLAS BROWN

Allenstown sewer plan

Allenstown sewer officials have firmed up a $15 million plan to double the capacity of the town’s sewer treatment plant, which has been stalled at maximum capacity for more than a year. Sewer commissioners have said they intend to present the $15 million bond proposal to voters at the 2007 Town Meeting.

According to an intermunicipal wastewater services agreement signed in November by sewer commissioners in Allenstown and neighboring Pembroke, Pembroke would absorb 52 percent of the cost of the upgrade.

Michael Trainque, the project’s engineer, said as much as 60 percent of the total cost could be covered by a combination of grant sources. The state Department of Environmental Services ordered a moratorium on new hookups to the decades-old plant more than a year ago, and officials both from Pembroke and Allenstown have suggested the moratorium dissuades new businesses from moving into their respective towns.

The Allenstown Sewer Commission is currently drafting the warrant article for the 2007 ballot, but hasn’t yet determined whether repaying the bond will be covered by all taxpayers, or just sewer rate payers, Trainque said.

McGonigle arrested for theft

Former Allenstown Police Chief James McGonigle was arrested in June and charged with stealing more than $8,000 from three separate police organizations. McGonigle, 58, is out on $30,000 bail, and is scheduled for a March trial after pleading not guilty to three felonious theft charges.

The Concord resident is accused of stealing the money over a span of several years from three independent organizations: the Allenstown Police Department, the Allenstown Police Association and the New Hampshire Police Cadet Training Academy.

McGonigle was a longtime Concord city councilor, a member of the Concord Police Department for 20 years, and was with Allenstown police for the last 10 years. He resigned from the department and the Concord City Council before he was arrested in June.

The state Attorney General’s Office investigated McGonigle for three months. According to an affidavit supporting McGonigle’s arrest, witnesses said he was seeking help for depression. The maximum penalty for each of the three felonies is seven-and-a-half to 15 years imprisonment and a $4,000 fine.

After selectmen placed McGonigle on paid leave, they promoted Lt. Shaun Mulholland to the chief’s position. Mulholland, who’s had a long career with Allenstown police, has held the post ever since.

Allenstown turns 175

Hundreds of residents turned out to Bear Brook State Park at the end of July to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the incorporation of Allenstown. Many of the event’s organizers helped put together the town’s 150th bash 25 years ago. Selectmen’s Chairman Sandy McKenny led the ceremonies burying a time capsule on the grounds of the Old Allenstown Meeting House.

Pembroke hires new chief with familiar face

A changing of the guard occurred at the Pembroke Police Department when longtime Police Chief Wayne Cheney stepped aside and was replaced by another longtime Pembroke policeman, Scott Lane.

Cheney, who was with the department for 27 years, was instrumental in planning for the town’s new Route 3 safety center, which he said has allowed the department be one of the best of its size in the state.

Lane, who was Cheney’s right-hand man and headed the department’s criminal division as a lieutenant, officially took over on Sept. 1. Lane has been with the department for 22 years.

$15M needed for sewer upgrade

Hooksett Editor — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 19:10:00 GMT

BY NICHOLAS BROWN

Allenstown officials are considering asking voters to approve a $15 million bond for renovations to the sewer treatment plant, which is stalled at maximum capacity.

A state Department of Environmental Services order has prohibited new sewer hookups to the 1975 plant, which serves both Pembroke and Allenstown, for the last 15 months.

If the $15 million plan is approved, Pembroke would absorb 52 percent of the cost of repaying the bond, according to an intermunicipal wastewater services agreement hashed out by sewer commissioners in the neighboring towns.

The $15 million renovation would more than double the plant’s flow capacity, said engineer Michael Trainque, who joined the Allenstown sewer officials in discussing the plan with selectmen at a Monday, Dec. 11, meeting.

Trainque said as much as 60 percent of the renovation costs could be recouped by a combination of federal and state grant money. A worst-case scenario, said Trainque, is only 20 percent of the total cost being recouped by grants.

Pembroke’s share for the cost is based on a demographic study forecasting sewer needs for the next 20 years in the two neighboring towns. The numbers are spelled out in the inter municipal agreement, signed in November after three years of negotiations.

Allenstown Sewer Commission Chairman James Rodger said the commission has been drafting a warrant article for the $15 million bond for this year’s Town Meeting, and asked selectmen for input on whether the cost in Allenstown should be paid by all taxpayers or just the town’s sewer users.

Currently, there are 633 sewer ratepayers in Allenstown. Selectmen said either way the repayment of the bond is structured, such a hefty bond is going to be a tough sell to voters.

“All the people that are on septic, they’re not going to want to pay for this, and it’s going to get defeated,” said selectmen Chairman Sandy McKenney. Later in the meeting, McKenney said, “That’s a lot of money for the ratepayers to pay back.”

Selectman Peter Viar requested sewer officials return with an analysis of how the two repayment structures might impact taxpayers.

“I personally don’t have an opinion until someone crunches the numbers for me,” he said.

Viar, who said he welcomes upgrades to the plant because it could allow for more businesses and associated tax revenue, repeatedly suggested sewer officials will have a difficult public relations campaign on their hands.

“You’ve got a hell of a PR task to make people understand the big picture,” he said.

Selectmen also questioned whether the bond proposal would be ready for this year.

Town attorney Biron Bedard said the town would have to get approval from the governor and executive council to sell the bond, which would exceed the town’s debt limit.

The deadline for public hearings on large bond proposals is Jan. 9, and McKenney questioned whether all the details of the plan could be ironed out before the March Town Meeting.

“It seems like there are a lot of unanswered questions here,” she said.

Officials contacted in Pembroke were reticent about commenting on Allenstown’s plans. Pembroke Sewer Commission Chairman Harold Thompson declined to comment on the record, and sewer commissioner Paulette Malo referred all questions to Thompson.

Pembroke Town Administrator Troy Brown and selectmen Chairman Larry Preston didn’t return calls by press time. Pembroke Finance Director Geoff Ruggles said there are currently no warrant articles addressing potential sewer upgrade costs slated for Pembroke’s 2007 Town Meeting.

“Until we know what the specific costs are going to be, there’s nothing specific for this year’s Town Meeting,” he said. “Pembroke really can’t do anything until Allenstown does approve that bond.”

Crowd protests state plan for fueling station

Hooksett Editor — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 18:14:00 GMT

By Nicholas Brown
Staff Writer

Area residents flooded the Pembroke Academy cafeteria in opposition to a building plan they worry could permanently contaminate the water source that feeds Pembroke, Allenstown and parts of Hooksett and Concord.

The gathering was a public informational session on Monday, Oct. 30, during which representatives from the state Department of Transportation presented plans for what would be the department’s largest fleet fueling center, currently proposed for Route 106 just north of the Pembroke town line.

About 75 people attended.

Residents and some local legislators questioned the effects spills from the facility proposed to sit atop the second largest aquifer on the state might have on the water source. While the location is compliant with state environmental standards, DOT representatives said, it is about 300 feet from wellhead protection areas in Concord and Pembroke, and 2,000 to 3,000 feet from a Pembroke well.

“I think you’re taking a terrible chance with a natural resource that can’t be replaced,” said Pembroke resident Joyce Heinrich. “Why can’t that (facility) be placed somewhere else?”

DOT Contamination Program Manager Dale O’Connell said the department has been eyeing the site next to the DOT’s new highway garage to replace its current Stickney Avenue, Concord, fueling location for years.

“Our fleet is there,” said O’Connell, “so it makes sense to have our fleet fueling center there.”

Preliminary plans include three 10,000-gallon tanks, two for gasoline and one for diesel. The fueling facility, which would be self-service, 24 hours a day, could serve the DOT fleet, along with a host of other state and local government agencies, O’Connell said.

Project engineer Ronald Laurence, from Portsmouth’s Jaques Witford, said the proposal, whereby each fuel tank would have two fiberglass walls surrounded by a concrete vault, well exceeds state environmental standards. Laurence also outlined a number of mitigating tools, like elaborate alarm systems, that could be taken to protect the water supply in the event of leakage from the tanks, or fuel runoff from the site.

The DOT, which has scores of fueling tanks statewide, is in the process of updating all its single-walled tanks to meet double-wall standards. The Stickney Avenue, said O’Connell, meets current regulations, but has been slated for replacement for years.

“The major reason we’re moving it is because we want it to be by the highway garage,” said O’Connell.

Funding for the proposed Route 106 facility, estimated to cost about $750,000 to build, was actually scheduled for next year, said O’Connell, but the timing of the project has been pushed back.

Some state legislators, several of which showed at the recent meeting, have been lobbying for a change in location for months, and the DOT held a similar informational meeting with the Concord Planning Board recently after a directive from the governor’s office.

DOT representatives also expect to meet with Allenstown residents on the subject, said O’Connell.

“This is not a done deal,” he said of the facility. “We’re willing to hear you out.”

O’Connell suggested a fueling facility on any new site is a tough sell.

“No matter where we put this, we’re going to impact something,” he said.

Some area residents, however, testified to the specific value of water as a resource.

“If there’s anything more precious in the United States today than water, I don’t know what it is,” said Pembroke resident Bob Sala.

Allenstown resident Armand Verville asked, “If contamination occurs, how will my family be safe?”

“This is something you’ve got to be thinking about,” he said. “There’s got to be a better place for that.”

O’Connell said a time has not yet been scheduled for the Allenstown public informational meeting.