$600,128.61

That's the total sum of back taxes owed to the town ( us ) for the year 2012. There's been a lot of chatter around town and here on the blog about getting businesses to come here and ad to the tax base. Well it may surprise you to know that quite a few of these delinquent taxpayers are businesses and others are town employees and board members. $600 hundred thousand this year, around $500 thousand last year and when December's bill comes out that total is only going to climb higher. While bringing business to Winchester is important, getting them to pay their fair share in taxes is more important. Our Selectmen seem to be very selective on whom they chase to recover back payments too, thus adding to the problem.

A list of all the people and businesses that owe back taxes can be found by doing a search on the Town of Winchester's web site using this link .. https://nhtaxkiosk.com/?KIOSKID=WINCHESTER.

It may surprise you to see which businesses shirk their responsibilities and add to our burden.

Engineering firm asking students to 'dig into science'

Opportunity for Winchester students ..

By JOHN QUINN
Union Leader Correspondent

SOMERSWORTH — Once again an engineering firm hopes to encourage the next generation of science and technology lovers through a contest for students in New Hampshire and Maine.

The second annual Dig Into Science with S. W. Cole Engineering contest is challenging students in kindergarten through grade 12 to produce a short video — no more than two minutes long and featuring no more than five students — explaining how science, math or engineering can be used to make the world a better place.

This year, seven winners, chosen from the various offices within the company, will receive $1,000 grants to use to organize a field trip or extra-curricular activity during the current school year involving science, technology, engineering or math at one of the 20 pre-approved programs or centers in the area.

The firm, headquartered in Bangor, Maine, remains a long-time supporter of education of science, technology, engineering and math, which are known as the STEM subjects, due to “the importance of these fields in the northern New England economy,” according Jennifer L. Booth, marketing and business development specialist for the company.

The contest provides an opportunity for students in New Hampshire and Maine to learn about the STEM subject “in a way that they might not have in a traditional classroom setting in addition to supporting some STEM-related programs in the area,” Booth said.

“New approved programs in NH include the Cheshire Children’s Museum in Keene and Ruggles Mine in Grafton,” Booth said.

Booth said the firm decided to initiate the contest last year after receiving numerous requests for donations in STEM-related organizations. As they have limited resources, she added, the company couldn’t support the demand without trying something else.

Last year, winning entries in New Hampshire came from Boynton Middle School in New Ipswich and Portsmouth Middle School.

For more information or to enter the contest, go to swcole.com/dis2012 or facebook.com/SWColeEngineering.

Store dispute: Swanzey sued

When they won't take no for an answer ..

By Garrett Brnger Sentinel Staff

SWANZEY — The developers of a Dollar General store rejected by the Swanzey Planning Board have appealed that decision in Cheshire County Superior Court.
Zaremba Group LLC asserts in the court documents that the board ignored expert evidence and public utility laws in making its decision.

It also alleges the board acted in bad faith by having inaccurate minutes and referencing reasons for denial in the official decision that were not included in the motion.
Zaremba asks for a reversal of the decision by either the board or the court and for the town to pay for its attorney fees.
The land developer applied to build a Dollar General store at the corner of Route 10 and Cobble Hill Road. The 9,100 square-foot proposed building raised a multitude of concerns from residents, many of which hinged upon traffic safety.
However, it was fire protection that was behind the planning board’s decision on Aug. 9. The board found the developer had not secured a source of water for the store’s sprinkler systems and voted 6-1 to deny the application.
Prior to the board’s decision, the West Swanzey Water Company had denied water access to the project for its sprinkler system. West Swanzey Water President Sally Brown said the water system could not handle the additional stress, due to aging machinery.
Zaremba argued, to no avail, that pressure tests of the system show the system has the water to meet project needs, and because it’s a public utility, West Swanzey Water must provide the project with water.
However, as board Vice Chairman Scott Self noted during the board’s decision, “that sounds like it’s going to be a court battle and in the meantime you’re going to go ahead with your plans, but you should have an alternate in place providing that case does not go the way you plan.”
With no such alternate plan, Zaremba’s proposal was denied.
The developer asserts in its court petition the board relied “on personal opinions despite both the legal requirements placed upon public utilities and the field data establishing that the West Swanzey Water Company provided adequate water for fire suppression for the proposed use.”
As a result, Zaremba asks in its petition for the board to reverse its decision within 30 days. Failing that, it asks the court find the board’s decision unreasonable or illegal.
Zaremba also says the minutes from the board’s Aug. 9 meeting do not accurately reflect the discussion between members, the motion or the reason for denial.
The group made a transcript of the meeting and submitted it to the board, noting the errors, the document says.
Zaremba asks to be awarded its attorney’s fees, saying the board acted contrary to expert testimony and its records of the decision are inaccurate.
The Swanzey Dollar General project is one of several the Zaremba Group has been pushing for in the area. Other towns include Marlborough, Jaffrey, Bennington and New Ipswich.
The group’s proposal in Winchester was rejected in July on the grounds that its proposed 9,030 square-foot building was too large for the district in which it was proposed.
Zaremba did not appeal that decision.
Garrett Brnger can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1436, or gbrnger@keenesentinel.com.

EEE reaches region

By Jacqueline Palochko Sentinel Staff

FITZWILLIAM — Two emus in town have tested positive for eastern equine encephalitis (EEE), a serious disease transmitted by mosquitoes.
As a result, the risk level for EEE in Fitzwilliam has gone from remote to high, according to a news release Thursday from the N.H. Department of Health and Human Services.

The surrounding towns of Richmond, Troy, Jaffrey and Rindge have been elevated to moderate risk level for EEE.
The two emus, and a horse in Derry that also tested positive for the disease, are the first animals with EEE in the state.
There have been no positive tests for animals with West Nile virus, another mosquito-borne disease, according to the Health and Human Services department.

Symptoms in humans may include high fever, severe headache, stiff neck and sore throat. They usually occur four to 10 days after a mosquito bite. There is no treatment for the disease, which can lead to seizures and coma. There is a high mortality rate for those who contract the serious encephalitis form of the illness.

The N.H. Public Health Lab tested 4,018 batches of mosquitoes so far this season, according to the news release.

In 2009, state officials confirmed EEE in an emu in Alstead and an alpaca in Greenfield.

To prevent EEE and West Nile, the state agency advises people to remove standing water, old tires, tin cans, plastic containers and ceramic pots because mosquitoes breed in water.
When outside at night, Health and Human Services also recommends wearing long pants and long-sleeved shirts. People should also use an insect repellent. The threat diminishes with the first frost.
For information and questions about EEE and West Nile virus: 1-866-273-6453 or visit www.dhhs.nh.gov.
Jacqueline Palochko can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1409, or jpalochko@keenesentinel.com.

Larry Hill should resign from the PB for his actions

Dissenter hits Winchester board 

 

 By Garrett Brnger Sentinel Staff 

By Garrett Brnger Sentinel Staff

 

WINCHESTER — A planning board member’s call for three other members to resign went unheeded and mostly undiscussed Monday night.

Board member Larry Hill delivered a three-page letter to the board calling for fellow board members Brian D. Moser, Kim G. Gordon and alternate Jennifer Bellan to resign from the Winchester Planning Board and any other town boards or committees.

Calling their actions “vandalistic” and “slanderous,” Hill alleges in his letter that the three “are determined to disrupt the board and attack the integrity of the remaining board members for reasons unknown.
“Unless the disruptions, attacks and unfounded allegations stop immediately, I am very tempted to bring forth a petitioned Warrant Article to dissolve and eliminate the Planning Board.”

Hill’s letter, meant to act as a motion, was not seconded by any of the other six board members at the table, including Moser and Gordon. Only Moser responded.

“The fact that we don’t agree all the time is not (a) reason to say that people should not be on the board. A board that agrees all the time is a joke,” Moser said.

Although Hill writes he had “decided to put everything on the table,” the only actions he attributes to a specific person are to Moser and his Aug. 25 letter to the editor, which Hill calls “slanderous.”

In his letter to The Sentinel, Moser accused another member of the board, whom he didn’t name, of being “a rubber stamp for certain interests.” He also repeated comments he had overheard in a restaurant from an unnamed businessman that “those people in Winchester can be bought off with a bag of groceries.”

Hill called out Gordon for failing to recuse herself from recent deliberations over a proposed Dunkin’ Donuts, because she is a friend and walking partner of Stanley S. Plifka Jr.’s wife. Plifka, owner of Kulick’s Inc., opposed the project. The board rejected the plan and the applicant is now appealing the decision.
Gordon said this morning she and Plifka’s wife do not discuss town business, including the Dunkin’ Donuts proposal, and said there had been no reason to recuse herself during the deliberations on the proposal.

Hill accuses “an alternate” of disruptive behavior and contributing to attacks against the town land use assistant and former planning board member Margaret Sharra.

The incident he refers to occurred during the board’s July 16 meeting, when Bellan objected to being denied the right to speak while she was sitting as an audience member. She was eventually allowed to voice her concerns about the Dunkin’ Donuts project, which Hill believes was the wrong decision. Hill writes that Bellan unfairly blamed Sharra for blocking her from speaking.

Reached after the meeting, Bellan said she believes she was correct in addressing the board with her concerns.

Some of Hill’s other unattributed allegations include wearing hats in a public forum and frequently voting in the negative “even on such matters as approving the meeting minutes.”

After the meeting, Moser, still wearing the black hat he donned in the meeting, said he had voted against approving the meeting minutes since he began serving on the board, because they were not accurate.

Similarly, Gordon said she had voted against approving the minutes for three years because her suggestions for changes or corrections are ignored.

Gordon, Bellan and Moser all said they would not resign. Their terms finish in 2013, 2014 and 2015, respectively.

Moser also serves on the budget committee, and Gordon is the planning board representative on the Historic District Commission.
Garrett Brnger can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1436, or gbrnger@keenesentinel.com.

Principal Promoted

By Kaitlin Mulhere Sentinel Staff

WINCHESTER — School board members have appointed Winchester School’s principal as interim superintendent for the 2012-13 school year.
James M. Lewis took over the administrative position in the district Monday, when former Superintendent Kenneth R. Dassau’s contract expired.

Lewis will continue some of his duties as principal, and Assistant Principal Pamela B. Bigelow will take on some new responsibilities, school board Chairman Trevor S. Croteau said.
“We feel that he’s more than capable of doing a great job at that position, and he was more than happy to fill that role for us,” Croteau said. “His heart is in our school, and we want to find someone like that who’s going to put their full effort into making things work, and Jim is doing that.”
Lewis started as principal of the kindergarten-through-8th-grade school in 2009. Prior to coming to Winchester, he worked as an assistant principal in Candia for seven years.
Board members will begin a search in January or February to hire a permanent superintendent, Croteau said.
Dassau served as superintendent of the district for about a year after N.H. School Administrative Unit 38 — which covered the Winchester, Hinsdale and Monadnock Regional districts — dissolved. In June, he notified the board of his intent to resign.
He continued in the position throughout the summer to help the board search for candidates to replace the director of technology and the business administrator, who also resigned in June.
The technology director and business administrator jobs were two of the central office positions whose salary and hours were reduced, without a reduction in job responsibilities, for the 2012-13 school year. Those cuts were in response to a voter-approved $10.8 million budget — about $675,000 less than what the school board recommended and $250,000 less than the previous year’s budget.
Earlier this month board members hired Lori Schmidt as business administrator, and last week the school board approved contracts for Wes Vaughn as technology director and Suzanne Cooper as director of student services to oversee special education.

Kaitlin Mulhere can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1439, or kmulhere @keenesentinel.com

Fight the Winchester wall

Fight the Winchester wall
When Ronald Reagan told the USSR to “take down that wall,” I don’t think anyone thought he meant to move it to New Hampshire (Winchester).

Maybe the actual wall isn’t here, but it’s close to that. The selectmen have tried to close the gates against the people’s voices.
As taxpayers and citizens, you can no longer go to a selectmen’s meeting and ask a simple question. You must put your question in writing and submit it to them for review. Then they will decide if they will let you speak at a meeting. They will “let you know” ... Sometime.
It gets better than that!
In towns like Winchester, the town pays a set membership fee to the Local Government Center. The center offers a variety of services, including group insurance plans. But mostly it provides legal advice to help all town officials obey the laws, which are very complicated and confusing.
The legal service has always been used by any member of any town board, commission or standing committee, to ask questions about RSAs, and also the proper operation of town government.
Now the selectmen have decided that only the selectmen can call or email the center. All the questions have to be screened through them.
This means we are paying for a service they are trying to stop us from using. What don’t they want other elected and appointed officials to know?
How many boards and committees will get in trouble now that they can no longer get quick answers to sticky procedural problems?
Can you say, “Bring on the lawsuits”?
If you think this is going to make things better, it won’t.
If you don’t care about higher taxes, wasted tax dollars, and special treatment for the obedient lackeys, stop reading.
“We the People” means we are supposed to get what we choose. Selectmen are not supposed to be the bosses of other elected officials.
The people know where I stand and what I believe. Am I the only one who thinks this is wrong?
If we let the selectmen do whatever they want, we might just as well put a wall around the town, cut our phone and Internet lines and do what we’re told to, like obedient little subjects of our self appointed dictators.
Not me.
BRIAN MOSER
168 Clark Road
Winchester

Appeal filed over gas station plan

By Garrett Brnger Sentinel Staff

WINCHESTER — Developers for a proposed combination Dunkin’ Donuts and gas station rejected by a town board are taking their case to court.
Project applicant S.S. Baker Realty Co. LLC filed an appeal of the Winchester Planning Board’s decision in Cheshire County Superior Court. The company alleges the board’s decision was based on perceptions, rather than facts, about traffic concerns, and that some planning board members had conflicts of interest and were biased against the proposal.

S.S. Baker Realty proposed building the combination convenience store, gas station and Dunkin’ Donuts on its property at the northeast corner of the Routes 10 and 78 intersection.
The planning board denied the company’s application 4-2 at its July 16 meeting, citing a concern the proposal “overwhelms the lot” and three safety issues: the left turn onto Route 10, cars possibly parking on the highway shoulder, and the potential overflow from a drive-through onto Route 78.
Board member Larry Hill abstained, saying he did not understand parts of the motion.
Teofilo Salema — the manager of S.S. Baker Realty and the owner of five other Dunkin’ Donuts, in Keene, Swanzey and Hinsdale — says he has done everything the board has asked of him.
The application’s traffic study was approved by the N.H. Department of Transportation, but was disregarded by the board because of anecdotal concerns, he said.
“They had nobody. They’re assuming they know better than the (Department of Transportation) and the people on the traffic study,” Salema said.
“Why did I spend so much money on traffic studies when they already knew what was going on?”
The appeal also alleges during the public hearings, “it became clear certain members of the Planning Board were acting improperly, had conflicts of interest or were otherwise biased against the Application, and these members should have been disqualified from hearing the Application.”
The petition does not directly accuse any board member or outside influence but asserts the board’s failure to remove biased members or those acting improperly resulted in unlawful hearings, deliberations and votes.
The appeal makes only an oblique reference to specific incidents through a quote from the board’s July 16 meeting minutes:
“(Gus) Ruth reminds the board of certain happenings of this board during the public hearing process such as (Kim) Gordon passing papers to Kulick’s attorney and other members passing ‘personal’ papers from one member to another then another. He does not believe this will look good in court.”
During the May 21 meeting, Gordon handed attorney Kelly E. Dowd a folder of site plan review regulations, according to the meeting minutes.
“She (Gordon) was sharing information with the other attorney in front of everybody,” Salema said in an interview. “That’s unacceptable.”
Kulick’s opposed the project through its attorneys during the public hearings. The store, located on Route 78 less than a half-mile from the intersection, runs gas pumps.
Owner Stanley S. Plifka Jr. told The Sentinel in July that if the proposal were to go through, “you’re going to have three gas stations you could physically throw a baseball to, and that makes no sense to me.”
Salema and his land use agent, James P. Phippard of Brickstone Land Use Consultants, implied a connection between Plifka and Gordon on at least two occasions during the public hearing and deliberations process.
Minutes of the the board’s May 21 meeting show when Gordon asked Phippard if the applicant would consider removing the gas pumps from the proposal, Phippard “replied no he would not do that for Mr. Plifka.”
And when Gordon introduced the motion to deny the application at the board’s July 16 meeting, and a fellow board member advised her to include her reasoning, Salema, who was in the audience, supplied one for her.
“Kulick’s,” he said.
Reached Sunday by telephone, Gordon and Plifka said it was the first they had heard of the appeal.
Plifka declined to comment, and Gordon denied the implied bias.
“There’s no bias for me ... there was no reason to recuse myself,” she said.
No hearings or conferences on the case have been scheduled yet.
Garrett Brnger can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1436, or gbrnger@keenesentinel.com.

Severe Weather Warning

WMUR Weather Updates

 

Severe T-Storm Watch Until 11pm for ALL of NH. Storms will race across NH this evening. Any storm may be accompanied by damaging wind in excess of 60 mph, large hail, torrential downpours, and frequent lightning. There is a small chance of a tornado. If any storm approaches your area, seek shelter in the lowest interior room of your home and stay away from windows. You can track any storm with our Interactive Radar through the link below. Stay safe! --
http://www.wmur.com/weather/radar?id=wxfb

Board of Selectmen Regular Minutes 8-22-12

Board of Selectmen Regular Minutes 8-15-12