BY MICHELLE KIMDunbarton saw some of the same themes reemerge from 2006 – issues such as the SB2 ballot, gas pumps at Page’s Corner, the completion of the hearse housing. But 2007 also saw a number of changes particularly in the police department with the departure of Police Chief Jeff Nelson and promotion of executive officer Chris Connelly, and the completion of the long awaited town commons bandstand.
Dunbarton saw some of the same themes reemerge from 2006 – issues such as the SB2 ballot, gas pumps at Page’s Corner, the completion of the hearse housing. But 2007 also saw a number of changes particularly in the police department with the departure of Police Chief Jeff Nelson and promotion of executive officer Chris Connelly, and the completion of the long awaited town commons bandstand.
Dunbarton saw some of the same themes reemerge from 2006 – issues such as the SB2 ballot, gas pumps at Page’s Corner, the completion of the hearse housing. But 2007 also saw a number of changes particularly in the police department with the departure of Police Chief Jeff Nelson and promotion of executive officer Chris Connelly, and the completion of the long awaited town commons bandstand.
At the March elections, voters rejected for the second year in a row a warrant article to change elections from the traditional town hall meeting to SB2, or official ballot referendum- style voting, by 419-154 at the town meeting and 415-152 at the school meeting.
Incumbent Selectman Mert Mann, the only contested seat up for election, defeated challenger David Pellenz for another three-year term. Incumbent positions that ran unopposed include Tax Collector Martha Rae, Bryan Clark on the Board of Assessors, Ethics Committee member Brigitte Cook, Library Trustee Tiffany Dodd, Richard Schaeffer as cemetery trustee, Kristen Petretta as library trustee, and Janice VandeBogart as a trustee of the trust funds. On the School Board, Carl Metzger ran unopposed as did incumbent Rene Ouellet.
Voters overwhelmingly approved expanding Town Clerk Linda Peters’ part-time position from 10 hours a week at to a full-time position, despite lack of endorsement by the selectmen, increasing her salary from $23,800 to about $50,000 with benefits.
They also approved a town operating budget of $1,825,744, a 3.2 percent increase over the 2006 operating budget.
The School Board managed to bring in a school operating budget about $38,000 lower than the previous fiscal year, due in part to lower than expected middle and high school enrollments.
Because of the level school budget, the 2007 property tax rate was set in October at $14.56, or 11.5 percent lower than the previous year. The town portion increased by 40 cents, or about 20 percent, but was offset by the school portion drop of $2.39, or about 23.7 percent.
Police Chief Jeff Nelson retired in March, after six years of serving as Dunbarton’s first full-time police chief, for a position with the New Hampshire Juvenile Justice Services as bureau chief in charge of administration.
Previously he had been commander of investigative services with Goffstown police. Under Nelson, the Dunbarton Police Department was recognized by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA), the first department with part-time officers in New Hampshire to achieve this.
Chris Connelly, who had been brought in by Nelson in 2003 as an executive officer and potential successor, was promoted to chief in March. Connelly served 10 years at the Goffstown Police Department and for seven years before that with the Hillsborough Police Department as deputy sheriff/sergeant. His main goals include seeking CALEA accreditation and renovation of the police station.
In May, Dunbarton hired master patrol officer Jacqueline Pelletier, previously of the Bow Police Department, as full-time executive officer to fill the position left vacant by Connelly’s promotion. Pelletier began her career at Goffstown in 1999 as a part-time officer and full-time communications specialist. She was recently recognized with an award for her outstanding patrol work with Bow.
John Levasseur was sworn in as Dunbarton’s third full-time officer in July. Levasseur, a Goffstown native and graduate of Goffstown High School, came to the department with four years of experience with the New Hampshire Department of Corrections.
Dunbarton resident Lori Davis sued the town in January under the Right-to-Know Law after allegedly being denied access to financial documents at a budget workshop where $100,000 was transferred from surplus to operating funds. Justice Philip P. Mangones agreed with Davis that the selectmen should have addressed the issue at a public meeting, but ruled that no laws had been broken.
A former Dunbarton Fire Department volunteer, Derek Milioto, turned himself in to the Merrimack County Attorney’s Office in May and was was arrested and charged with stealing fuel from the town fuel pumps, a Class A misdemeanor.
Discrepancies in fuel consumption were discovered by Fire Chief Jon Wiggin in October 2006, and surveillance cameras installed at the facility helped obtain evidence.
There may be up to a year and a half or about $3,000 to $4,000 of missing gas, but proof for only about $600, according to Selectman Les Hammond.
After receiving word that there might be fewer spots available for Dunbarton kids at the New Boston Central and Glen Lake’s preschool programs, a Preschool Committee was formed in the spring to explore the option of bringing a preschool program to Dunbarton, which currently sends only special needs children to preschool.
The School Board, after considering a short list of options generated by the committee, decided to remain with the current arrangement until more specific information could be gathered on the costs of an inhouse preschool program.
The Fire Department received $10,400 in the last year from memorial contributions made after the passing of Vera Fogg, Nancy Graybill, and former selectmen and Fire Department volunteers Peter Montgomery and John Swindelhurst II. Fire Chief Jon Wiggin said the money would go to purchase equipment the department didn’t have the funds for in the town budget.
A storage building to house the historic refurbished and rebuilt hearse was constructed by state prison inmates at Page’s cemetery. The dedication ceremony in August saw about 100 residents and volunteers, many in period costumes.
The uniform of deceased World War II hero Frank Dow Merrill of Hopkinton was on display Memorial Day at the Dunbarton Community Center.
Dunbarton American Legion head Gary MacCubbin helped it find a home with the New Hampshire Historical Society.
In August, Marine Sgt. Justin Somers was presented the Combat Action Ribbon by Sen. John Sununu in a ceremony on the Dunbarton town commons and accepted on behalf of his unit, the 2nd Military Police Battalion, which had deployed to Iraq in June.
The Dunbarton Garden Club offered the Hadley Heritage bulb for 2007, a late-blooming white daffodil with a yellow-pink cup, in commemoration of late Dunbarton historian Alice Hadley.
The Garden Club planted 2,500 bulbs around Page’s Corner in October in the third year of the “Daffodils for Dunbarton” program.
In late September, a fouralarm blaze consumed the barn of Sheri Nuanez and Keith Bernard, but miraculously the couple managed to save all of their 11 horses. However, they discovered their insurance covered the replacement barn but not the cost of temporarily sheltering the horses through the winter, as they had originally been told. They filed a claim with the New Hampshire Bureau of Insurance.
The Zoning Board hearing for a special exception for gas pumps at Page’s Country Store finally got underway in November with more than 120 attendees, after being rescheduled from September due to lack of space.
Experts hired by store owner David Barkie presented his state-of- the-art plan for a six-pump aboveground storage tank facility and studies on the traffic, real estate and environmental effects of the gas pumps. Abutters also hired a legal council and experts to address Barkie’s studies and the special exception criteria. The December continuation of the hearing, with 40 to 50 attendees, saw testimony and public imput from residents and abutters, mostly opposed to the plan, although a few spoke in favor of it. The hearing has been continued to Jan. 14.
After seven years of fundraising, the town commons bandstand project was mostly completed by December and dedicated with a Christmas tree lighting.