Hello Informer, while coming into town Thursday, I observed one of our town highway department trucks parked out on route 10 in front of the Shamrock Realty parking lot and saw the town employees cleaning out the storm drain there. Since when does the town of Winchester clean out storm drains on the state highways ? I would guess that someone reported all of the run off from that mess out there next door was clogging up the drains. Is the town now working for that Van Dyke fellow or was it someone from the planning board trying to cover their hineys for their lack of diligence and action? In any case I thought the good people of Winchester should know what their tax dollars were doing Thursday. I guess a call to the town hall or to the highway super would be in order to find out what the deal was. Good luck with this site, it is very informative despite what some say.
RH
If this is the case, we too would like to know why the town was seen cleaning out that storm drain and upon who's request did they do it? If Van Dyke's erosion efforts are working and are satisfactory to the town, then why worry about cleaning out the drain, there shouldn't have been anything in it.
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When I drove by that area, there were two town vehicles parked out there and they had quite a load in the dump truck. If all of that sand came down off that mountain, why hasn't the town done anything? It's a disgrace that an area that was once so beautifully forested has turned into another mess like the one out on route 119 that some other contractor left to become a big eyesore. And I would also like to know why our highway dept. is cleaning out storm drains the state is responsible for, why are they assisting this guy? They should have let the water back up and flood the highway again. Maybe the state would have shut him down or at least made him do something with that mess out there.
Pictures were taken of this activity, it'll be most interesting as to what the selectmen's response will be when asked why the town was assisting this contractor instead of allowing the state to fine him.
I bet the Keene Sentinel would love to print those pictures. The town hall parking lot will have a lot of vehicles about 7:10 Monday morning. The answer to this should be something to see.
Anyone know where are town dump trucks are? I went down to our highway dept yard in town to check out this story and they are not in the yard out back or in the building. Why isn't the town's equipment there? Who has them and what are employees doing using town property on weekends? Why aren't the gates padlocked? We need to get some answers to this, this is all too suspicious.
The trucks are inside and the gate is open just incase someone needs some fuel like Mr. Superintend. Who just happened to asked to double the highway budget for fuel in 2009 to $50,000.00 . Why????
This information is incorrect, it was the state doing the work. There could have been a variety of reasons why this was done at this time, we will never know. That being said we still need to stay vigilant and keep the informer informed. Because of this web site it is not business as usual in Winchester, because of the taxpayer scrutiny thing are changing.
It seems that the email we received was incorrect, it was the NHDOT out of Ashuelot/Hinsdale that was seen cleaning out those two drains on Route #10.
The NHDOT returned this morning and proceeded to clean up the culvert and catch basin across the highway from Van Dyke's site on the body shop's property where sand and silt had clogged up the spillway and covered the forest floor.I was unaware that you could call them to come out and clean up private property. Wonder why they didn't bother to clean out the spillway on one of the abutter's properties while they were there?
It seems this topic really upset our Highway Supt., Dale Gray, so much so that he complained to the BOS during the August 26th workshop meeting. He was angered that this website had posted information that was later to be found inaccurate and was corrected. Yet, he then claimed that the sand and silt that was clogging the spillways and drains that the NHDOT cleaned out last week, actually came from the lot next to Van Dyke's construction site, owned by the Le Claire's. The truth of the matter is, the amount of sand at the bottom of the spillway coming down from the Le Claire's property wouldn't fill a wheelbarrow, never mind two dump trucks and never reached the drain in question, some 300 feet away and uphill from the spillway. Nor did it reach the drain, less than 25 feet away next to his driveway that the state didn't bother to clean out and which is still filled with water. This is because the sump in front of Shamrock Realty is still clogged with the sand that ran off Van Dyke's through the drains and under the highway, clogging the drains and spillways across the street that the state returned to and cleaned out the following day and also created a catch basin to try and stop more sand from covering the forest floor to the right of the old rail bed. Perhaps Mr. Gray should also double check and get his facts straight or perhaps we should look for another Highway Supt. if he can't tell that all of the erosion on Van Dyke's site is the cause of all this mess. I find it highly suspect that after a complaint and pictures were submitted to the Planning Board at a compliance hearing on this matter, less than a week later the NHDOT is observed cleaning out the area mentioned in the complaint and yet did not clean out the drains before or the spillway just after Van Dyke's site. Make's you wonder just what forces are at work here. I also wonder why our Highway Supt. is out on Route 10, looking at drains and spillways if he's not involved.
In reading the Aug 26th BOS workshop meeting you can find this quote in the minutes when Dale voices his concerns about what people are saying and here's what is on their website and this is the quote "Bob responds the employees of Winchester need to do their jobs with integrity, and fulfill our fiduciary responsibilities to the people in this Town. If a concerned citizen has a question, they need to come to the Town Hall for the answers." Last I new you can't get a straight answer from anyone in this town hall when it comes to integrity. If you go to the town hall they tell you they'll take care of something and then they either twist it around or ignore you. I think the people who work for the town in ALL the DEPARTMENTS all need to look up the word INTEGRITY and find out the meaning before the start to throw out and use the word in their defense of their actions or lack there of. They are starting to look more foolish and pompous with each passing day as they seem to go out of their way to avoid taking care of the town's business with the integrity that they claim to have and be should be showing. With all the problems going on in town you would think that if the town employees had INTEGRITY the would welcome the scrutiny they are receiving as it would give them a clear and perfect opportunity to show that they do have INTEGRITY and there is an open door policy in the TOWN of WINCHESTER in all departments for all citizen’s and for all reasons. No double standards here.
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