Salem Observer : town meeting

New chairman of Charter Commission has been there before

Salem Editor — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:15:00 GMT

BY DERRICK PERKINS

Robert Campbell is not new to writing town charters, an experience he believes will come in handy as the community’s Charter Commission moves forward.

Campbell, a former selectman and current member of the Planning Board, chaired the commission in the late ’90s that established the first town charter in Salem. Serving again as chairman of Salem’s newly elected nine-member charter commission, Campbell said the past experience had left him with a strong understanding of the state statutes regulating municipal government and an idea of how to produce a document that voters will accept at next year’s Town Meeting.

“I know what can be done, and one of the things that is important is to communicate what are the options. It isn’t the sort of thing where you can start out with a blank sheet of paper. The state gives us a restricted outline,” he said.

“One needs to have a little bit of discussion to find out what direction we’re going to go. We can’t be flailing around on six different possibilities for four months. We have to develop a consensus or majority of what people are going to support and then start fleshing it out.”

According to Campbell, the commission has a wide latitude on what changes to make in the town charter.

The commission could recommend minor tweaks to the current document or adopt one of six basic forms of municipal government in New Hampshire.

That could mean potentially turning from the town meeting and board of selectmen to a town council or city council.

At the moment, nothing is off the table, according to Campbell. The focus for the next month or so is on developing a majority within the commission on what direction they want to take the town charter, he said.

Campbell anticipates that much of the discussion will revolve around how much power voters should have in the future when it comes to the budget and other spending proposals.

“One of the patterns you’ll see, the people who are in government tend to want to have a council type of government that gives them the power to directly implement their programs. The people who are marginally on the outside want to say, ‘I don’t want to give them that power. I want to keep this to the voters,’” he said. “It’s that tension that is going to cause much of the discussion in the months ahead.”

The commission has roughly six months to review the current charter, study alternatives and take public input before turning out a rough draft of recommendations that will go before voters in March. Residents will have the final say on whether to accept the commission’s findings.

The key to gaining voter approval for any alterations to the town charter is to keep it simple, Campbell said.

“We have had a lot of charter commissions in Salem over the last 30 years or so. The commission about 10 years ago was the first people had approved,” he said.

Earlier proposed charters could run as long as 60 pages and were met with defeat. In the late ’90s, Campbell said his goal was to keep the document small enough to fit on a single sheet of paper. Short and simple is the way to go this time around as well, he said.

“It’s like the Constitution, it’s not every last policy and procedure,” Campbell said. “I’d like to gain enough consensus on the commission and in the community so that it will pass.”

Salem Charter Commission: 25 vie for 9 seats

Salem Editor — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 01:11:00 GMT

BY DERRICK PERKINS

Twenty-five candidates, including elected officials, town employees and private citizens, are vying for nine open positions on the new Charter Commission and a chance to overhaul local government.

Narrowly approved by voters at Town Meeting in March, the commission can make a range of recommendations for changes to the town charter, from tweaking the way the town is currently run to whether Salem retains a board of selectmen or moves to adopt a town or city council.

One of three selectman vying for a seat on the commission, Arthur Barnes would like the commission to address problems that have arisen in the past when efforts to coordinate spending proposals between the town and the school district have failed. Though he does not have a specific form of government he would like to see put in place, having a central body of elected officials handling the budget could be a possible solution, he said.

“When it comes to the two sides of the town, the school and the town, they’re competing in the same arena. It’s been my experience that it’s almost impossible to coordinate big ticket items on both sides of the street,” Barnes said. “If we had a council, you would take the budgetary responsibilities of the School Board, the budgetary responsibilities of the (town) and bring them all together in one council so that these competitions would come to a stop, where you’ve got one body making the financial spending decisions.”

Patrick Hargreaves, a fellow selectman and candidate for the commission, believes that while improvements could be made, the current form of town government should be retained.

“There are certain things that everybody wants to change. I’m running to represent the small voice that likes the town the way it is. I think we have a great system in town,” he said. “I like to have my voice heard, and you do that at Town Meeting.”

A private citizen, Thomas Linehan said his major motivation to enter the race was to retain the needed super majority to pass bond articles and other large spending proposals.

“You’re obligating people 20 to 30 years down the road. You’re not just obligating the current people (in town),” he said.

A 15-year member of the Budget Committee, Stephen Campbell said he would like to see the charter include an ethics clause to spell out how the current town government should handle conflicts of interest as they occur in the future. Campbell has also come out in opposition to any changes that would turn Salem’s budgetary decisions solely over to a town or city council.

“If you change to town council ... how is it more democratic? A town council would let you elect the councilors, but it wouldn’t let you vote on the budget,” he said. “These calls for change always happen when people start turning down what the selectmen and School Board want them to vote for.”

The call for the creation of a commission arose out of several recommendations made in the fall by the Charter Reform Committee. Selectmen charged the committee last year with finding ways to improve Salem’s government.

A special election for the makeup of the commission is scheduled for May 19. The other candidates include Pamela Berry, Kevin J. Breen, Robert Campbell, Annette M. Cooke, Richard T. Cooney, Christopher Dillon, Laurence K. Disenhof, Dustin Dufour, Harley Featherston, Michael Flathers, William J. Ganley, Brian Keaveny, John LeFebvre, Joseph W. Lessard Jr., Michael Lyons, Patrick McDougall, Melanie Murray, Daniel J. Norris, Don Sorcinelli, Cathy Ann Stacey and Robert Uttley.

New trucks top list for Salem second session

Salem Editor — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:36:00 GMT

BY DERRICK PERKINS

A slew of appropriations are due to come before Salem voters on Saturday, March 14, as town officials look to residents to approve the purchase of a new fire engine, ambulance, dump truck and other service vehicles at the second deliberative session of Salem Town Meeting.

Officials are asking voters to agree to a five-year, $112,438 lease with an option to purchase a replacement engine for the fire department and additional equipment for the vehicle as well as a $60,006, fiveyear lease on a new ambulance also with equipment.

For the Department of Public Works, voters will weigh in on a proposal to enter a five-year $25,836 lease agreement for a new dump truck and a five-year $38,372 lease to replace two of the town’s salters. Public Works officials are asking voters to approve a $1 million appropriation to fund winter weather operations for the remaining year.

While voters were asked to approve the funding for two bridges on the annual ballot on March 10, another bridge replacement project is up for vote. Officials are looking to residents to approve a $468,000 appropriation to fund the reconstruction of the Pelham Road bridge over the Porcupine Brook.

According to officials, the current culvert is structurally inadequate and hydrologically deficient. Minor repairs that were completed following the Mother’s Day floods of 2006 have reached their functional life span.

Selectmen are also calling on voters to approve $193,890 for the purchase of three emergency generators following the December ice storm. One generator will keep power restored to the Wheeler Dam on Canobie Lake in the event of a loss of electricity and the other will allow the town to open an emergency shelter at the Ingram Senior Center.

Salem charter provides both ballot and Town Meeting-type voting

Salem Editor — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 01:33:00 GMT

BY CHRISTINE HEISER

This year, Salem will vote on forming a charter commission that will look into changing the town’s form of government. The growing town, with a population of about 30,000, may warrant a change to a city form of government soon. But until then, this is how voting is run in Salem.

Although Pelham and Windham are official ballot law towns, and Salem school elections are also run that way, Salem town follows a slightly different process.

The town operates under a charter, established in 1998. When New Hampshire towns began changing from traditional Town Meeting to running elections under the official ballot law, commonly known as SB-2, Salem selectmen decided to go a different way. They believed voters wanted to keep some of the old Town Meeting benefits of being able to discuss and vote on some items in public.

So, the charter established that some items would appear on a ballot and be voted on in March at the local election, said Bob Campbell, who was a member of the board of selectmen at the time. Others would be voted on the Saturday after the ballot vote in an open meeting, known as the second deliberative session of Town Meeting.

This year, the second session is set for March 14. Ballot voting takes place Tuesday, March 10.

The ballot items include the town’s operating budget, any collective bargaining agreements for town employees, such as police and firefighters, and any bond items, said Kathleen Cote of the Salem Budget Committee. These items are discussed and can be changed by voters at the first deliberative session, this year on Feb. 7.

But the charter establishes that if the budget fails, a new budget will be crafted and voted on at the second deliberative session, she said.

“A town needs a budget,” said Campbell, which is one of the reasons the selectmen set up the charter as they did.

When the budget on the school side fails on the ballot, a previously decided default budget, usually last year’s budget plus other costs, is used. There is also a provision on the ballot which allows another meeting to take place at a later date to vote on a new budget.

But under the charter, there is no default budget. The town meets on the Saturday after the ballot to discuss and vote on a new budget, so it’s taken care of immediately. Voting on a new budget is generally the first warrant discussed at the second deliberative session.

This provision has not had to be used so far, said Cote. Since the charter has been in place, the town’s operating budget has never failed on the ballot.

“I call it a ‘just in case’ scenario,” she said.

Other items voted on at the second deliberative session include “just about everything else” besides the budget, collective bargaining agreements and bond issues, Cote said. Petition warrant articles are always voted on in that session. Also, salaries of library employees are voted on at that time, as they don’t have a union.

Some money issues are voted on then if they don’t have to be bonded. Other “just in case” items are also decided then, Cote said.

The charter has worked well for Salem. Turnout is generally lower for both deliberative sessions than for ballot voting, but that’s the case in any town, said Cote.

But Campbell has noticed a definite benefit of splitting items between a ballot and a second deliberative session.

“Since we started, Town Meeting has never lasted more than a day,” he said.

Nonunion raises on Salem budget this year

Salem Editor — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:50:00 GMT

BY DERRICK PERKINS

For one member of the Budget Committee, an attempt to add a 3 percent raise for a dozen top town officials in the proposed operating budget for 2009 is all about “sour grapes.”

Town Manager Jonathan Sistare has taken criticism from Stephen Campbell, a member for the Budget Committee for 14 years, for breaking with Salem’s tradition by placing the raises for 12 town employees into the operating budget rather than putting them on a warrant article to be voted on during the upcoming Town Meeting in March. Last March, voters failed to pass a warrant article that included raises for those same 12 nonunion positions within the town.

“He’s going against the way we’ve treated this stuff in the past. Its all sour grapes because he didn’t get a raise,” Campbell said. “Sour grapes, that’s what it comes down to.”

As town manager, Sistare, along with the town manager assistant, human resources director, human resources assistant, town clerk, tax collector, finance director, community development director, director of engineering, public works director and fire and police chiefs would receive the 3 percent raise if the operating budget passes.

“It certainly goes against the Town Meeting idea,” Campbell said. “There’s a lot of people in Salem that aren’t getting raises this year because their companies aren’t giving out raises. Why are they the only ones that are guaranteed a raise and the voters can’t do anything about it? Are they so special? It’s just not right.”

Sistare said that the break in tradition has come both as a way to remove politics from the day-to- day operation of the town and to alleviate salary compression – which occurs when subordinate employees receive raises while their supervisors do not, closing the gap between their salaries.

“The primary purpose of a town or city having a manager is to allow the day-to-day operations to be run by a nonpartisan professional who is not influenced or interfered with by local politics,” Sistare said. “There are too many employees of this town who feel interfered with or influenced by politics. It is one of my goals to eliminate that as it does this town no good to have that kind of atmosphere.”

According to Sistare, the town manager statute – adopted by Salem in 1960s – gives him the authority to set and manage the wages of town employees, as well as hirings and firings. Salem is one of the only towns in the area that allows residents to vote on cost-of-living adjustments for town employees, he said.

“Those (employees) who wish to bargain collectively through a union know that their contract cost implications are, by law, subject to a vote of the legislative body. Again, that is the law and that is known by all parties involved,” he said. “ The nonunion employees do not have any of the bargaining rights of a collective bargaining unit and are thus left more vulnerable to management decisions.”

Sistare said he had received the support of the majority of selectmen to put the raises into the operating budget and did not expect a backlash from voters or elected town officials going forward. If the board and the Budget Committee approve the operating budget, taxpayers will get a chance to weigh in sometime in February. If the budget passes as is, Sistare and the other 11 nonunion town employees will receive their raises starting on Jan. 1.

“You can’t vote yes or no on these raises. You get to vote on the operating budget. You can’t just vote on the raises. It goes against the way these raises have been treated in the past,” said Campbell, who remains adamantly against the decision to put the raises into the operating budget. “They’ve changed the rules because they didn’t like the way people voted. I’m certainly not going to approve (the budget).”

Salem bridges too far gone

Salem Editor — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:03:00 GMT

BY DERRICK PERKINS

Selectmen held off on making a decision to petition for a special town meeting in the fall that would allow them to move toward rebuilding two bridges on the state’s red list.

During the Monday, June 23, meeting, selectmen discussed a possible special vote, which would allow the board to contract with an engineering firm to design replacements for the Lawrence Road and the Cluff Crossing bridges.

A seven-month window from a potential special meeting to the annual meeting would allow town officials to present a hard cost estimate to Salem residents at Town Meeting in March. Fire officials had asked the town to take action to repair the two bridges because weight limits for them could affect the response times of emergency vehicles if the bridges deteriorate further.

According to Town Manager Jonathan Sistare, the board would need to petition Superior Court to go set up a special town meeting. He estimated that from the date of the selectmen vote to go ahead with the petition, it could take up to two months until the vote could be held.

Sistare estimated the cost of a special meeting at a couple of hundred dollars.

Holding a special meeting in the fall would allow the town to move up the construction of two new bridges by a full year, according to Sistare.

“This is the only possibility to move this forward and get the town bridges built in 2009 rather than 2010,” he told the board.

Director of Engineering Robert Puff estimated the cost of contracting two new bridge designs to range from $200,000 to $225,000. Puff told selectmen that in a best-case scenario, the engineering firm could have a plan ready in six months. Variables like relocating utilities, such as power lines, could prolong the process, Puff said.

Were an article to pass through the annual Town Meeting in March, Puff said construction on the two bridges could begin within a short time, depending on the level of water run off in the spring.

Selectman Michael Lyons proposed creating a bridge fund using state funding to repair the two weight-restricted bridges as well as other municipal bridges declared structurally deficient or obsolete in the future.

“The board’s intention is to set up a bridge fund, much like we have for roads, with selectmen as agents to expend. We haven’t done that yet because they’re aren’t any funds,” he told fellow selectmen at the Monday, July. “In a sense we’re so far behind on our bridge reconstruction we need to jump start our ability to access the trust fund, even though it doesn’t exist yet.”

According to Lyons, the town could use funds to leverage against an equal amount of expected funding from the state to expedite the building of the two new bridges.

Currently there are five municipal bridges on the state’s red list in Salem. Both the Lawrence Road bridge and the Cluff Crossing Road bridge have had weight limitations placed upon them, restricting access by heavier town vehicles.

According to DOT officials,Lawrence Road has been on the red list since the state began tracking the condition of municipal bridges in 1996. A 1995 study initially recommended that the bridge be given a weight limit. Despite some damage suffered during more recent flooding events, the posted weight restriction remains accurate.

Cluff Crossing was added to the list in 2007, when state inspectors first recommended a weight limit be placed on the structure.

Last month the school district began rerouting buses around the Lawrence Road bridge and fire apparatus, like the 32-ton ladder truck located at the Fire Department’s South Salem station on Lawrence Road, were only recently granted emergency access to those bridges by the board.

Police began actively enforcing the weight limits on both bridges last week.

“I think this is the way to go,” Lyons said. “I think we’ve done our best to address it in the short term. We need to fix it in the long term as soon as possible.”

With only four out of five selectmen in attendance, the board opted wait on any decision until the next full board meeting in July.

Salem town deliberative session

Salem Editor — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 20:29:00 GMT

CHRISTINE HEISER

SALEM – A $7.1 million plan for a new police station in Salem will be on the ballot after voters debated the plan’s merits at Salem’s first deliberative session.

More than an hour of the two-and-a-half-hour meeting on Saturday, Feb. 9, was spent on explaining the details of the new station and on comments from several of the approximately 80 people who attended.

Several voters spoke in favor of the new building, which, if passed, will be built behind the current station and be 26,000 square feet, with the capability to be expanded into a second floor when needed in the future. The present station is to be razed when the new one is complete.

Budget Committee member Stephen Campbell, however, said the price tag is just too high for taxpayers this year.

“Too many officials feel we’re made of money,” he said, pointing out that if all items on the town side pass, taxpayers will see an 8 percent increase in taxes next year.

Add in the school warrants, which would increase the tax rate 9.5 percent if all pass, and the renovations to the high school that school officials will be asking for next year, and it’s too much of a financial burden, especially for those on a fixed income in a town where the over-55 population is increasing, Campbell said.

Officials said the police station would add 12 cents per $1,000 of assessed property valuation to the tax rate. The average homeowner would pay $42 a year or $21 per tax bill. But Selectman Pat Hargreaves said it’s time to build a new station.

“I will vote for the police station and not for the school plan,” he said. “I’ll go on record right now.”

Selectmen were unsuccessful in restoring $50,000 to the operating budget for studies they want to do to extend the use of Arlington Pond water in case of drought.

The town gets 45 percent of its water from Arlington Pond and 55 percent from Canobie Lake in any given year, officials said. And though the levels at the lake have been fine for the past nine out of 10 years, selectmen want to prepare for drought-year transfers of water in a move they say will provide long-range water stability to the town.

“If we drop the project, it would be extremely shortsighted,” said Selectman Michael Lyons.

Peter Rayno, a former Budget Committee member and candidate this year, spoke against the proposed amendment.

“This year, to ask for any restoration money is excessive and unreasonable,” he said. The amendment to restore the money was defeated 43-38, and the $32.2 million operating budget was moved to the ballot unchanged.

Article 17, which asks for $101,366 to fund the police employees union contract increases, was reduced by $47 dollars due to a clerical error, and Article 19 was moved to the ballot after being reduced by $1,378 to $48,714 for increases for professional employees of the town.

Three other articles for negotiated increases, $121,376 for the fire employees union, $43,614 for administration employees and $48,851 for public works employees were unchanged. The town will vote on these articles, for zoning articles and for candidates for office on Tuesday, March 11, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., at Salem Town Hall and at Fisk, Soule, Barron, Lancaster and North Salem schools.

If the operating budget is rejected by voters, it will be taken up at the second deliberative session on Saturday, March 15, at 9 a.m., at Salem High School.

At least 19 other warrants, including those for road improvements and a request for four new firefighters, will also be voted on at that meeting.

Salem school deliberative session

Salem Editor — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 20:18:00 GMT

BY DARRELL HALEN

SALEM – While many school district warrant articles attracted little debate, the proposed high school renovation project dominated the discussion at the Salem School District’s recent deliberative session.

“This plan needs to be done now,” said Facilities Committee member Jeff Wildfeuer, whose support of renovating Salem High School drew applause from some of the residents at the Thursday, Feb. 7 meeting.

The School Board is asking voters to approve a $1,511,000 warrant article in March to fund architectural and engineering plans and specifications and other preliminary work for the renovation. If the article is passed, School Board members intend to ask voters next year to approve a bond article to carry out the renovations, which would address safety, security and program needs, and cost roughly $40 million.

With $250,000 available in impact fees and an additional $600,000 being paid by Windham to send its students to the school, the cost to Salem taxpayers for the engineering and architectural work is $661,000.

Several residents said the time for the renovations is now, and that the work will only get more expensive if it’s put off.

“Let’s get it done,” urged Selectman Arthur Barnes. “The sooner we do it, the more of our residents it will benefit.”

Laurie Rhind, a mother with two kids in school, said the community has a habit of procrastinating on taking care of its most important buildings.

“Let’s move forward, let’s stop procrastinating, let’s do the right thing,” she said. Another woman, who said she believes the project’s price tag scares some taxpayers, wanted to amend the article to require that the renovation work be done in phases. But she later withdrew her request.

The Budget Committee is not recommending the article. One of its members, Stephen Campbell, said that if the article fails at the polls, the School Board should reconsider its plan and come up with a project residents can afford.

“We can renovate this building and do it in a way that doesn’t break the back of taxpayers,” he said. Earlier in the evening, Campbell said ballot items are at risk of being defeated because passage of a $53.5 million operating budget and the other warrant articles would lead to a 9.57 percent increase in the school portion of the property tax rate.

“People are not getting nine-and-a-half percent raises,” Campbell said. “Times are tough. People are worrying about losing their jobs and their homes.”

Another warrant article, if approved, would allow the School Board to create a capital reserve fund for renovations and put the $600,000 from Windham into it. The article will be null and void if the previous article, which provides the $1.5 million needed for architectural and engineering work, is approved.

Budget Committee approves school operating costs

Salem Editor — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 19:40:00 GMT

By Darrell Halen

The Salem Budget Committee approved a proposed 2008-09 operating budget of roughly $53.5 million for the school district.

The panel took its votes on the budget during a public hearing on Thursday, Jan. 3, in Town Hall.

The $53,539,584 spending plan includes $29,707,595 for salaries, $9,412,708 for employee benefits, $2,342,468 for supplies and materials, and $421,730 for equipment, furniture and fixtures.

The budget, and other warrant articles, will be discussed at the school district’s Feb. 7 deliberative session. Voters will decide their fate when they go to the polls in March.

The committee voted 6-3 for the budget. Members who supported it were Ann Marie David, Jim Randazzo, Susan Covey, Chairman Michael Carney Jr., School Board representative Bernard Campbell and selectmen representative Everett McBride.

Kathy Cote, Roland Theberge and Stephen Campbell voted against it.

Stephen Campbell said that the passage of the budget and warrant articles would mean a school tax rate increase of about 10 percent. The Budget Committee cut only four-tenths of 1 percent of the board’s proposed operating budget, not going far enough to produce a budget taxpayers can afford, he said.

“I’m telling you this is crazy,” Campbell said. “I think you’re going to regret asking for a 10 percent increase because things we do need are going to fail.”

He said the proposed spending was unreasonable given that in a year, the district will lose $5 million in revenue with Windham students leaving Salem High School but the School Board isn’t planning to make a proportional cut. He also cited the School Board wants $41 million to renovate the high school.

“I’m going to be voting no, because these increases are just not affordable,” Campbell said. “We can argue about what we need until the cows come home, but they are not affordable by the vast majority of people that I talk to.”

During the hearing, members trimmed the budget by $1,061 in the employee benefits account. Previously, the committee reduced the total budget by $216,415.

Another point of contention during the hearing was whether $74,000 should be included in the school district’s default budget – the budget that goes into effect if the proposed budget is rejected by voters in March – for protection of underground storage tanks.

Superintendent Michael Delahanty and Bernie Campbell said the school district’s attorney told them it is legal to include the money in the default budget.

“We don’t think your interpretation is right,” Stephen Campbell said to Bernie Campbell. “You say district counsel somehow legitimizes it. Well, if I had the money, I could find a lawyer somewhere that would say something entirely different.”

“We don’t know what to anticipate,” Delahanty said later in the hearing. “It’s better to be safe than sorry. My responsibility is to do the best thing for the school district.”

Plowing takes bite out of town budgets

Salem Editor — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 19:12:00 GMT

By Darrell Halen

Snowfall isn’t the only thing heavy in this wintry season. So, too, has been the expense of clearing, salting and sanding roads in Salem-area communities.

Big snowstorms in December took a big bite out of municipal snow removal budgets

Salem budgeted $578,934 for winter operations in 2007, according to Finance Director Jane Savastano. It has spent $619,149 so far, with a few more bills to come in.

In November, the town had $111,000 on hand. But December’s snowstorms took a big whack in the budget – $150,000 – forcing the town to go about $40,000 over budget.

The amount of space that public works employees and contractors are responsible for clearing in Salem is extensive: 375 lane miles, 31 miles of sidewalks, 13 buildings and several other areas.

Thirty-nine public works employees, along with 29 contracted workers, “fight the fight,” said Dave Wholley, the department’s operations manager.

The workers, who are assigned to 41 predetermined routes, have seen 37 inches of snowfall this season.

“We’re always going to get the work done,” he said. “We won’t compromise public safety.”

Of the 375 lane miles they plow, 30 of those are unpaved roads. Included also is a 5-mile stretch of Route 28 from Old Rockingham Road to the Massachusetts border.

There are nine parks and parking lots that the departments salts and sands. It also plows some of them.

Some other areas of responsibility: salting and sanding at the towns’ six public schools, clearing and maintaining water department areas, and clearing several water and sewer department areas.

“It’s quite an undertaking,” Wholley said.

December was one of the busiest months the department has had. Workers had a couple of 24-hour shifts, and a couple of men worked 30-hour shifts this winter, Wholley said.

A pair of storms at the end of the month kept workers busy.

“Those two back-to-back storms during the holidays were tough on the guys,” Wholley said.

Snow storms in December had a big impact on Windham’s budget. The town spent about $72,270 – 44 percent of its 2007 winter contracted services budget – during that month alone.

To date, the town has spent $161,765 on contracted services out of $168,000 that was budgeted for 2007. Its winter materials cost was $90,700.

In 2006, the town spent $82,480 on contracted services. Its winter materials budget that year was $88,380.

Lawsuit seeks to overturn flood ordinance vote

Salem Editor — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 17:05:00 GMT

BY MATT HERSH

A Salem doctor and landowner has filed a lawsuit against the town in an attempt to overturn two zoning ordinances approved at Town Meeting in March.

The ordinances, which were designed to protect Salem’s 100-year flood plain, have been the subject of discussion since they were approved because they limit what landowners can do with construction.

The lawsuit was filed in Rockingham County Superior Court by Dr. Robert Hannon. In May, Hannon also petitioned selectmen to approve a special session of Town meeting so voters could reconsider the ordinances. Selectmen unanimously denied the request.

Hannon is the owner of an office complex at 23 Stiles Road on a 4-acre lot. There, the new ordinances prevent him from expanding his buildings. He also owns a nearby 26-acre site that is not affected by the ordinances.

One ordinance bans all new construction within the flood plain. It passed easily by a vote of 2,491 to 719.

The other article requires that landowners create twice as much space for flood mitigation than they took away by developing. It passed by a vote of 2,057 to 1,049. This applies to owners who already have development within the flood plain. Under the new ordinance, they are still allowed to expand their businesses and residences.

The two ordinances were drafted by members of the Planning Board and Conservation Commission. They were heavily supported by members of the Haigh Avenue community where heavy flooding and subsequent property damage has occurred over the past decade.

A 100-year flood is one of such severity that it only occurs once every century. Salem experienced this type of flood in May 2006.

Despite the problems that flooding has caused in town, Hannon said he believes the ordinances will do nothing to help the situation.

Last month, he told selectmen that the town had no scientific proof that their efforts would have any effect.

Hannon also said that voters were misled in March because insufficient information was provided on the ballots.

“We think the vote was based on inaccurate or misleading information,” said David Rayment, Hannon’s lawyer, at a selectmen’s meeting in May. “The public was confused about what the effect of these amendments are.”

Hannon has asked a judge to decide on the ordinances without holding a hearing. Town officials are expected to file a response by August.

Tech head – New applications manager hired for school district

Salem Editor — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 18:23:00 GMT

BY MATT HERSH

The school district’s push toward revitalizing their technology department recently got a boost with a new hire.

Colleen Moran was hired to fill the new position of applications manager for the district. The $65,000 position was restored to the district’s budget during Town Meeting season despite the objection of some fiscally conservative officials.

Moran is a Salem resident who will begin working with the rest of the district’s technology department in July.

She currently works for the state Department of Environmental Services as a software developer and has more than 20 years of experience in the technology field.

Together, Moran and the staff will try to perform a large upgrade of the district’s technology.

Superintendent Michael Delahanty said Moran will begin her job by assessing the district’s current use of technology. By studying the current system, Moran will be able to see if the district is best using their technology.

“She has a good sense of the advances she can bring that will make our service to the community more optimal,” Delahanty said.

This optimal technology system will allow the district to reduce man-hours spent tending to problems and fixing errors.

Delahanty said he hopes to see an improved system that will allow the students, parents, and community members to better access the district.

In the future, students may be able to choose classes online while parents can pay bills and view grades on the district’s Web site, Delahanty said.

“Within the next year, we need to consider drawing more functionality from our system or consider getting a new one,” he said.

Once Moran has assessed the technology changes that can be made, she will train other staff members in using new applications and better using old applications.

The district also recently hired four elementary school teachers and a guidance counselor.

They are still seeking candidates for a middle school consumer sciences teacher and a high school foreign language teacher.

Campbell says no to private meetings

Salem Editor — Wed, 09 May 2007 17:10:00 GMT

BY MATT HERSH

After a complaint from a Budget Committee member, the Salem Board of Selectmen have been asked by the Deputy Attorney General to familiarize themselves with the Right To Know law.

Stephen Campbell, a recently elected member of the town’s Budget Committee, said he filed a formal complaint against the board because he believes they might be making decisions and having additional meetings in private.

He recently met with Deputy Attorney General Orville Fitch who wrote a letter to the town saying they should brush up on the law to make sure they’re not breaking it.

Campbell said his suspicions were started when a job listing for a new town manager appeared on the town’s Web site advertising the position at a salary range of $115,000 to $125,000. Campbell said the salary range was never discussed or voted on in public.

After Campbell pressed selectmen about what had happened and why the list had appeared before a formal vote had taken place, selectmen Chairman Everett McBride said the listing might have appeared too early, but the board didn’t break any laws. The board voted to set the salary range soon afterward.

But Campbell said the problem goes beyond the salary issue. He said he believes selectmen are regularly discussing town business before and after public meetings based on a conversation he had with newly elected Selectman Pat Hargreaves.

“(Hargreaves) had a conversation with Selectman (Elizabeth) Roth and she said that the board ‘discussed the agenda’ upstairs in the town hall before going downstairs to start the posted meeting,” Campbell wrote in his complaint.

Campbell’s complaint also says that Hargreaves told him that other selectmen have stopped their discussions when he walked in the room, leading him to believe something secret was taking place.

Campbell said this type of private meeting breaches selectmen’s oath of office and is a disservice to the public.

“You’re supposed to be educating the public because at some point they’re going to be voting and your opportunity to persuade people is at the public meeting,” he said. “If the selectmen are meeting privately to discuss town business elsewhere, it’s illegal.”

Still, selectmen have defended their actions, saying there seems to be some misunderstanding about their gatherings.

Roth said the board does congregate shortly before their public meetings so they can sign manifests and other documents. They keep their conversation away from business, she said.

“Never did I say that we talk about motions,” she said. “Usually the topics are bland and it’s just a casual conversation. Stephen Campbell is pretty much harassing the town manager to the point that it is interfering with his job.”

Hargreaves said in a letter to the town that there are inaccuracies in Campbell’s complaint. Hargreaves now says he misunderstood the nature of the gatherings, and he has not seen any wrongdoing.

Campbell said he’d like to see the board discontinue their gatherings, and he hasn’t decided whether or not he’s going to take further legal action against the board. If he does, it will likely require him to hire a lawyer and pay for the suit out of his own pocket.

“They should admit they did something wrong, and try extra hard not to do anything like it again,” he said of the town manager’s salary issue. “People who are unwilling to admit they made a mistake worry me greatly.”

Roth said the accusations will do nothing but slow down a board that has always done things by the book.

“It’s trying to make something out of nothing,” she said. “The sad part about this is that you have a Board of Selectmen that have probably been the best one for many years in terms of getting things done, and we don’t need to get distracted.”

$6 million in warrants pass

Salem Editor — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 19:23:00 GMT

BY MATT HERSH

A foot of snow didn’t keep more than 100 Salem residents from attending the second deliberative session of Town Meeting on Saturday, March 17 and passing nearly every agenda item.

Though the four-hour meeting was often marked by somewhat heated debate, the only article to fail was a citizen’s petition asking the town to give up a cow path that is still legally a road. The measure failed by a 34-33 vote.

Despite citizens approving more than $6 million in warrant articles, several met strong opposition from outspoken members of the public.

A $128,190 article concerning the hiring of four new firefighters had Fire Chief Kevin Breen and a couple residents butting heads.

The hiring of the new firefighters was made possible by a $414,000 Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant from the federal government. The money will go toward the new positions in various amounts over the next five years.

Salem will be required to put up a portion of the money each year. This year, the town was asked to contribute $49,670. That number will grow in successive years.

Breen said the demand for fire service in Salem has been steadily rising, straining resources, and increasing response times.

“More than a third of the time, we don’t have a full compliment of firefighters available,” he said. “Only 53 percent of calls can they make it to in under five minutes.”

While Breen strongly supported the plan, resident Stephen Campbell was critical of spending the money, suggesting that response times would improve if night-shift firefighters weren’t allowed to nap during their 12-hour shifts.

Breen called these comments “inflammatory” and explained that the response times are measured by the time it takes between leaving the station and arriving at the scene, not how long it takes firefighters to prepare and get in their vehicles.

Selectmen also strongly urged voters to approve the measure.

“I believe this is the highest priority in the community from a safety point of view,” said selectmen Chairman Michael Lyons. “If you vote it down here today, we’re bringing it back next year without the grant money.”

Salem’s roads will also receive a touch-up. Voters approved a $2,280,000 roadway improvement plan which will fund the reconstructing and resurfacing of several heavily-used neighborhood roads.

The roadway improvement article is part of a 10-year capital improvement plan which coordinates various projects throughout the town.

This year, the roadway program will address the Linwood Avenue neighborhood as well as Mary Ann and Elsie Avenues.

Resident Marilyn Campbell made a push to add $1 million to the roadway plan to address bridges which would have been repaired had voters not nixed a bridge bond article on this year’s ballot.

“I’m sure you’re aware of the need to get all of these bridges done,” she said. “I have real concern for our school buses and emergency vehicles who use them.”

However, Campbell’s amendment failed because town officials said the money might not be applicable to repair bridges due to the language of the article.

Selectman Everett McBride said coming up with a plan to get some of the bridges repaired will be a priority for the board in the future.

Also passing were two sewer articles totaling more than $2 million.

The money will go toward extending sewer lines on Dawn Street and Marsh Avenue.

Bridge repairs, water to North Main fail

Salem Editor — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 18:55:00 GMT

BY MATT HERSH

After a somewhat controversial Town Meeting season, Salem voters have voted down all three of the town’s large bond articles which needed a two-thirds majority vote to pass.

A $3,856,000 article, which would have funded repairs on four bridges along with the roads leading up to them, failed by only 23 votes, gaining 2,070 of the needed 2,093. The article would have addressed the North Main Street, Haverhill Road, Emerson Way, and Pelham Road bridges.

An $800,000 hydrology study which would have been used to conduct a hydrology study of the area to determine flooding impacts on the various areas, was the most controversial aspect of the plan.

Though touted by officials as a necessary part of the overall bridge program, some residents said the studies were unnecessary and would end up going unused.

Resident Robert Campbell made a push to remove the studies from the article at the town’s deliberative session on Feb. 10 but didn’t gather enough support from the room.

Campbell cited similar studies which were conducted more than 20 years ago which were never used by town officials.

Selectmen Chairman Michael Lyons said he understands the concern over the past studies not being used but that wouldn’t have been the case this time.

Over the past few months, Lyons and other officials have advocated for the studies, calling them an integral part of the article. In light of the severe flooding which hit Salem last May, it would be irresponsible to move forward without the studies, Lyons said.

While the results were announced, Lyons sat in the back of the room with a disappointed look on his face.
“I’m really discouraged about the bridge bond,” he said later. “They need to get done, and now we’ll have to go back and look at them again.”

Both Lyons and selectman Everett McBride said they weren’t sure how the board will proceed now, but some type of repair proposal will have to be discussed.

“The 66 percent was a tough sell,” McBride said.

Another $1,410,000 article which would have funded running municipal water lines to areas of North Salem, only captured 1,795 of the necessary 2,075 votes needed to pass.

The project would have extended water lines up North Main Street and make improvements to nearby roads at the same time while bringing water to hundreds of residents.

The idea had been discussed for in past years by former selectmen, but Lyons said no board had ever put it forward to the ballot. Prior to the vote, he said he was proud to be one of the town officials involved in bringing water to the area.

Now that the article has been defeated, Lyons said it is unlikely residents in North Salem will see water any time soon.

“By not getting the two-thirds, the voters are telling us they don’t want to have water in North Salem,” he said.

The last of the town bond articles, a $2 million article which would have helped to fund the purchase and conservation of 84.6 acres of land in North Salem known as the Duston Farm, failed to acquire the two-thirds majority. It received 1,729 yes votes and 1,324 no votes.

The article was added to the ballot after George Jones, chairman of the conservation commission, submitted a citizen’s petition to selectmen.

Jones made an effort to add the article because he wanted to protect the property which contains several old buildings and a variety of wildlife.

Still, voters did not approve the money likely because of ambiguity about the purchase from the current owners.

The property is owned by the Whiteneck family who have already sold a portion of the lot to housing developers.

Though Jones had been communicating with the Whitenecks, a price had not been agreed upon.

Bob Whiteneck, who helps manage the property, said in January that his family would not sell it for below market value. Two million dollars would not be enough, he said.

Though the conservation commission had about $500,000 to contribute to the purchase, Jones was not able to persuade enough voters.

Approved by voters was the town’s $31,825,994 operating budget by a vote of 2,040 to 1,056.

Out of a host of 16 zoning articles, 11 passed, including one which will make the zoning board an elected rather than appointed body in the future.

Also approved were a series of articles asking to give pay raises to employees of the town including, fire, police, clerical, public works, and department heads.