Nutfield Publishing - Londonderry Times

Community Volunteers Wanted for Beautify Londonderry Projects
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"While the various groups, organizations and businesses within the town faithfully return to offer their time, supplies, and services in doing their part to make our town and neighborhoods a beautiful place to live and visit, it is our mission to broaden the many areas that are overlooked because, well, there is a lot of town to clean up," Stanley said last week. "Every little bit helps and goes a long way. Residents who live on busy roads can make huge strides just by cleaning up the area around their properties, and residents who live in neighborhoods where the apparent litter is scarce, if any, can feel good about assisting in other areas in town, and if they don't have a specific area they'd like to spruce up, a project can be assigned."

boasted between 800 to 1,000 volunteers and resulted in completed projects such as litter removal around the skate park, at the Kendall Pond Conservation Area, and on roadways in town, as well as spring cleaning and planting on the grounds of the district's schools, at the senior center, cable access center, Leach Library, police department, Town Common, the town offices and the fire stations, according to Paul Margolin of the Solid Waste Committee.

Volunteers are typically an eclectic bunch, comprised of members of local youth and service groups as well as individuals and entire neighborhoods. Members of local Boy and Girl Scout troops usually help, as do classrooms from district schools and parishioners from local churches.

"People value this program: it's not only about picking up the town and making it look its best; it's about getting out there and getting to know your neighbors and helping one another," Margolin said.

This year's Beautify Londonderry project spans the weekends of April 17 through May 16, though Stanley emphasized that the time for volunteers to register is now.

Business Sponsor and Volunteer Registration Forms can be found on the town Web site at www.londonderrynh.org.

For more information, contact Stanley at 434-3476 or send e-mails to beautifylondonderry@comcast.net.
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Other roads closed but have since reopened and include sections of Old Nashua, Gilcreast, Parmenter and Litchfield roads, Fire Chief Kevin MacCaffrie said.

By early Monday evening, Londonderry police removed the "no thru trucking" restrictions on Litchfield Road, with tankers from George Cairns and Sons Trucking transporting emergency drain-off water to the Town of Litchfield for disposal.

All in all, the weekend storms meant plenty of calls for police and fire rescue officials, who responded to dozens of storm-related complaints, with reports of flooding on Auburn Road, downed tree limbs on Boyd and Chase roads, and a washed-out section of South Road all noted in Sunday's police log.

Later that day, several residents of the Whispering Pines Trailer Park waded away from their vehicles after they became stranded in high waters; the area had been barricaded.

Still, Londonderry fared comparatively well compared to some of its neighbors. Some residents of Exeter and Somersworth were left with no choice but to evacuate their homes by boat, while sections of Route 28 in Salem, Route 111 in Windham, and Route 121A in Sandown remained closed on Tuesday as the result of seasonal flooding.

According to Colleen Monks, spokeswoman for A Londonderry Emergency Response Team (ALERT), the team's services were not needed as a result of this month's flooding.
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The Executive Employees Association consists of all the town's department heads, spanning 10 positions. The requested $25,180, which would have resulted in a tax impact of 1 cent per $1,000 assessed valuation in the coming fiscal year, represented funding for the first year of a three-year agreement; neither the town council nor the budget committee supported the item.

Councilor Paul DiMarco said the costs of the contract, according to a fact finder report, "were excessive and we could not support this in keeping with the current job market and the economy."

Though the council and budget committee likewise rejected Article 9, a $117,882 collective bargaining agreement between the town and the Londonderry Administrative Employees Association, a slight majority of voters apparently thought otherwise. The item narrowly passed by a secret ballot vote, with 159 voters in favor, 142 opposed.

The Londonderry Administrative Employees Association (LAEA) represents 26 full-time management and professional positions in eight departments, including the town accountant, bookkeeper/payroll and benefits specialist, highway superintendent, deputy fire chief, fire department captain, police department captain, police department administrative secretary, assistant building inspector, assistant assessor, systems administrator, wastewater technician, fire marshal, assistant town planner, support services director, zoning enforcement officer, executive secretary, assistant public works director, public works administrative assistant, GIS (geographic information system) manager/planner and the town administrative support specialist.

A fact finder report issued by facilitator Gary Altman recommended workers receive a 3 percent wage adjustment every six months for the next two years and be eligible for merit increases up to an additional 3.5 percent.

The end result will be for each employee to receive a base pay increase of 10.8 percent in the first year of the contract and 7.65 percent in the second year, with average total compensation increasing $6,496 in year one and $5,948 in year two. The estimated tax impact is 4 cents per thousand in the coming fiscal year.

Town Planner Tim Thompson, who serves as the union president, said the LAEA has been without a contract since June 20, 2006. "None of us have had a cost of living adjustment since them." Thompson said on Saturday, noting the town's police lieutenants had recently been making lower salaries than the workers they supervised.

Police Lieutenant Chris Gandia, who spoke in favor of the contract, noted that one of his police department colleagues, Tim Jones, was recently promoted from sergeant to lieutenant. "He took a reduction in his base pay with that promotion," Gandia said.

Resident Greg Warner likewise spoke in favor of the contract. "We have a very good police department and they require good officers," Warner said. "I completely disagree with the town council and the budget committee on this one because it's just not proper."

Supported by the town council and the budget committee, voters likewise favored Article 8, a $160,739 collective bargaining agreement between the town and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Association, with an estimated tax impact of 3 cents per thousand in the coming fiscal year. The union has 72 full-time and two part- time police employees.

Voting by secret ballot, the majority of 238 residents supported the item, with 42 voting no.

"I know many in the room feel that in these economic times, nobody should see a raise. But this job is a different job," outgoing Councilor Kathy Wagner said. "I've seen what these officers go through on a daily basis. To just say no to say no isn't the right reason here."

The meeting's sole citizens' petition, Article 15, asking voters to place 20 percent of land use change tax funds into the town's conservation fund, was rejected by a secret ballot vote, with 65 residents voting in its favor and 180 voting against the item.

The town's conservation fund currently receives 100 percent of land use change tax funds, and conservation commission chair Deb Lievens urged voters to reject the item, which she feared would spell the end of the town's open space program.

Not so, said budget committee member Jay Hooley. "Simply put, this takes 80 percent and puts it back on the books as revenue," he said. "We can then spend it on open space if we opt to do so, but we could also spend it on something else if needed. This takes the money out of autopilot and into the taxpayers' hands."

After over an hour's discussion on Article 15, many voters in the audience became angered, with some of them shouting out "let's vote." Moderator Cindi Rice Conley asked State Rep. Al Baldasaro, R-Londonderry, to sit down, telling him he had already spoken, with the audience loudly applauding.

"This is a freedom of speech issue," he countered, asking the audience to override the moderator's decision. His request failed.

Article 6, the town operating budget of $25,913,414, was voted on last, because many residents wanted to know whether the three collective bargaining agreements would pass before they would vote on the budget.

The budget was amended by the town council to be reduced by $25,000. This passed, as did an amendment by citizen request to remove an additional $117,852 from the total to make up for costs of the two approved employee contracts. This passed as well.

The final amended operating budget of $25,770,562 was approved by secret ballot with 168 voting yes, 63 no.

• Article 5, the Expendable Maintenance Trust Fund, $200,000, requires the town to raise $50,000 in property taxes, estimated tax impact of 1 cent per thousand in Fiscal Year 2011.

• Article 7, Use Capital Reserve Funds to replace ambulances, highway heavy equipment, fire trucks and highway trucks, $325,000. Voters passed this article, which requires the town to raise $175,000 in property taxes, with an estimated tax impact of 5 cents per thousand in FY11.

• Article 11, Authorization of a special meeting if Article 7 is defeated. This did not apply.

• Article 12, Northwest fire station construction and associated costs, $163,456 (after the town receives a $1.655 million federal grant). This does not require the town to raise property taxes in FY11. The article passed.

• Article 13, Establish Capital Reserve fund for Pillsbury Cemetery expansion, $210,000. This article passed, and does not require raising property taxes in FY11.

• Article 14, Fund special revenue account using sewer, cable and police outside detail fees, $3,504, 311, This passed, and will be funded via user fees and require no tax support.
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