Board of Selectmen Meeting Minutes 10/09/13

Board of Selectmen Meeting Minutes 10/02/13

BOS Work Session Minutes 10/01/13

Board of Selecmen meeting 9/25/13

BOS Meeting Minutes Sept 11th 2013

BOS Meeting Minutes Sept. 19th 2013

Science exam results mixed in Monadnock Region schools

By KAITLIN MULHERE Sentinel Staff

Local scores from May’s state science exam were a mixed bag, with some districts improving and others seeing their scores drop.
The results of the New England Common Assessment Program’s 2013 science test were released last week.

The test quizzes students in 4th, 8th and 11th grades on earth and space science, physical science, life science and inquiry, or scientific thinking. Unlike the reading and math assessment tests, which are taken in October, the science test is given to students in May.

State scores dropped slightly in 2013, the sixth year the of the science portion of NECAP testing. The percentage of 11th-graders across the state who scored proficient or better dropped from 33 percent to 30 percent. Fifty-one percent of 4th-graders reached the proficient benchmark, compared with 53 percent last year, and the 8th-grade results held steady, with just over 31 percent of students scoring proficient or better.

Locally, the results were more varied.

Symonds School in Keene saw one of the biggest jumps, with the percentage of proficient 4th-graders rising from 57 percent to 75 percent. That increase helped pull up the district's overall elementary science scores from 54 percent to 59 percent proficient, despite little, if any, growth at the district's four other elementary schools.

Eighth-graders in Keene improved from 26 percent to 32 percent proficient.

But many districts in the Monadnock Region didn't see much, if any, improvement. The percentage of proficient 4th-graders fell in the Conval, Monadnock, Fall Mountain and Winchester districts. Eighth-grade scores fell in Hinsdale, Fall Mountain and Winchester.

The NECAP scores are based on four levels: proficient with distinction, proficient, partially proficient and substantially below proficient. Most area districts didn't have any students score in the proficient with distinction category.

At Hinsdale High School, the percentage of proficient juniors dropped significantly two years in a row. In 2010-11, 46 percent met the mark. That number fell to 35 percent in 2011-12 and then to 19 percent last year.

Hinsdale Superintendent David A. Crisafulli said the district knows it didn't perform well in science, but staff members are just starting to delve into the data to see exactly where students underperformed and where teachers should focus their efforts.

Part of improving will probably mean reminding the high schoolers that while the scores don't affect their transcripts or graduation credits, they do reflect on the school, and so the tests should be taken seriously, Crisafulli said.

Scores also dropped at Fall Mountain Regional High School, from 41 percent proficient or better last year to 31 percent this year.

The other four high schools in the Monadnock Region saw improvements:

* At Conant High School, 35 percent scored proficient or better, compared with 22 percent last year.

* At Conval Regional High School, 34 scored proficient or better, up from 25 percent last year.

* At Monadnock Regional High School, 29 scored proficient, up from 28 percent proficient last year.

* At Keene High School, 38 percent of juniors scored proficient or better, compared with 35 percent last year.

The science NECAP scores come at a time of much change for standardized testing in New Hampshire. Districts are in the process of updating curriculum to meet new grade-level standards called the Common Core State Standards, and as a result the NECAP tests will be replaced by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Test. That test begins in spring 2015.

* For the full results and scores from individual schools, go to http://reporting.measuredprogress.org/nhprofile/

Kaitlin Mulhere can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1439, or kmulhere@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @KMulhereKS.

Same old story in Winchester, no matter how much money is spent, the results are always the same ...

Changes made to Winchester program after canoeing incident

By Meghan Foley Sentinel Staff

WINCHESTER — Better communication with the local police department is among the changes being made to a summer program for school-age children in Winchester after a canoeing trip went wrong last month.
Winchester police Officer Mike T. Tollett said that at a meeting Monday, school officials went over with parents what happened that led to three children becoming separated from the group they were canoeing with on the Ashuelot River Aug. 15. The children were enrolled in the ACCESS program, the Winchester School District’s after-school program, which also runs activities in the summer.

“What it basically came down to was a lack of communication between the parties involved in the outing that day,” Tollett said.

Not everyone had walkie-talkies or other means of communication to determine the location of everyone on the river once the group became separated, he said. The group also didn’t stay together like it was supposed to, he said.

The children, who were between the ages of 7 and 10, were rescued by firefighters after beaching their canoe on the side of the river. No one was injured.

“It’s really unfortunate and incredibly unacceptable that this happened,” ACCESS Director Jeremy S. Miller said Wednesday.

The program has offered the canoe trip for the past seven years, and until August, never had an incident, he said.

The students on the canoe trip were studying root systems, and had put their canoes in the river by the Coombs Bridge, he said.

There were four canoes in all, with a counselor from ACCESS in the lead canoe, and the 4-H leader coordinating the day trip in the last canoe, Miller said. He declined to provide the name of the counselor and leader.

Before putting their canoes in the river, the leader, who has been running the trip for ACCESS for the past seven years, gave the students a one-hour tutorial on canoeing, paddling and safety, Miller said. She also went over what they should do if they became separated from the group, and where to beach their canoes if they got tired, he said.

Each student wore a double-knotted life vest, he said.

The three canoes went ahead of the leader on the windy section of river, he said. She eventually caught up with them, but on the way back, the group became separated, he said.

The students paddling one of the canoes got tired and beached the vessel near one of the suggested spots, where the 4-H leader later met them.

The other adult got out of eyesight and earshot from children in the other canoe and called 911, he said.

Meanwhile, those children had pulled their canoe over to the river embankment, got out, and sat along the shoreline, Miller said. They were sitting on their life vests in an attempt to stay dry when firefighters found them, he said.

“No one was in the water or on an island,” Miller said.

The adult no longer works for ACCESS, he said. He didn’t specify further if the person left or was fired.

To make sure an incident like this doesn’t happen again, all ACCESS counselors will have walkie-talkies while on trips, and certain students will be trained to use them in case something happens to one of the adults, Miller said.

Trip plans will be filed with the Winchester Police Department from now on, and will include the beginning and end locations; times students and counselors are expected at those locations; the number of students on the trip; names of the trip chaperones and their contact information; Miller’s name and contact information; and the make and model of vehicles used on the trip, he said.

In addition, information about the next day’s activities and trips at ACCESS will be sent home to parents the night before, he said.

Meghan Foley can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1436, or mfoley@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @MFoleyKS.

Only 4 canoes, these "adults" were incompetent and should never be allowed to supervise children again. What if there had been more canoes and children on the river that day? Would they all have been so lucky ?
And typical when things like this happen, blame it on the kids involved .. 

Miscellaneous Comments

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Questions remain about Winchester water rescue

By ALYSSA DANDREA Sentinel Staff

WINCHESTER — For Cory T. Nichols of Swanzey, Aug. 15 began like any other, but would take an unexpected turn on his drive to work at Winchester Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.
Nichols, 35, said he saw a police officer near the railroad tracks about a mile from Kelly Farm. A firefighter was also there, in his personal vehicle parked on the side of the road.

“As I started to drive around the truck, you could hear screaming and (the firefighter) started yelling into the woods, saying, ‘I’m coming. I’m coming,’ ” Nichols recalled.

Upon hearing the call for help, Nichols parked his truck and ran into the woods. By the time he caught up to the firefighter, they had both reached a moat, with a 6-foot drop into the murky water below.

“We both jumped in,” Nichols said. “We then swam to an island where three young children were standing.”

The firefighter questioned the kids, who were standing with a canoe and said they were too tired to keep paddling, so they pulled off onto the island, Nichols said.

More than three weeks after firefighters rescued the three children — who were between the ages of 7 and 10 — questions remain about how they got separated from their group while canoeing on the Ashuelot River.

Winchester’s emergency personnel and the local educators who run the out-of-school program for students in grades K-8, are expected to meet to discuss the incident. A date for the meeting has not yet been set, according to Winchester Police Chief Gary A. Phillips.

Winchester Fire Chief Barry D. Kellom said the meeting will be an opportunity for everyone to learn more about what happened that day on the river, as well as how to prevent such an event from happening again.

ACCESS, or All Children, Cared for, Educated, Supported, and Successful, ran the canoe trip the children were on. The program provides learning opportunities for children, parents and community members in partnership with University of New Hampshire’s Cooperative Extension and Cheshire Medical Center/Dartmouth-Hitchcock Keene, according to its website. Activities are usually offered during the school year; however this year, Winchester ACCESS operated a summer program.

ACCESS Director Jeremy S. Miller, who oversees the program’s activities, did not return multiple phone messages left by The Sentinel seeking comment.

Parents who contacted The Sentinel shortly after the incident declined to comment on the record.

Nichols helped bring the children from the island, across the water and back to shore. They later joined the rest of the ACCESS group, which had made it to Kelly Farm, Nichols said.

“I was appalled at the fact that they were alone. I really don’t understand how this could have happened.”

And now the question becomes how to make sure it never happens again.

Alyssa Dandrea can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1435, or adandrea@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @ADandreaKS.

Zoning board backs Winchester Dunkin Donuts

By Meghan Foley Sentinel Staff

WINCHESTER — The zoning board of adjustment won’t ask the planning board to reverse its approval of a combination Dunkin’ Donuts, convenience store and gas station.
In a 4-1 vote Thursday night, the zoning board denied an appeal filed by Kulick’s Inc., requesting the board, based on several technicalities, reverse the planning board’s decision last month. Zoning board member Kenneth Cole was the lone dissenter.
Kulick’s Inc. is owned by Stanley S. Plifka Jr., who runs Kulick’s Market at 30 Warwick Road. The business, which includes a grocery store and gas pumps, is less than a half-mile from the proposed Dunkin’ Donuts, convenience store and gas station at 4 Warwick Road. Plifka has opposed the project since it first came before the planning board in April 2012.
In July 2012, the planning board denied the project, and developer S.S. Baker’s Realty Co. appealed it in Cheshire County Superior Court in Keene. Judge John C. Kissinger Jr., who granted Kulick’s intervenor status in the case, upheld the board’s denial.
S.S. Baker’s appealed Kissinger’s decision to the N.H. Supreme Court on May 17, but it also filed a second site plan review application with the planning board in June.
The second plan was nearly identical to the first, with the exceptions that the 3,500-square-foot building was 4 feet shorter than in the previous proposal, and vehicles would be prevented from making a left turn from the store’s parking lot onto Main Street. The new plan also allowed for up to 11 cars to be in the drive-through lane for Dunkin’ Donuts instead of 10.
In Kulick’s appeal to the zoning board, its attorney, Kelly E. Dowd of Keene, wrote the planning board shouldn’t have accepted the second application because it didn’t meet the criteria that would have made it different from the first filing. The board also violated local zoning laws by granting certain waivers for the project, and some conditions included in the project’s approval were illegal, Dowd wrote.
Dowd also claimed the special exception granted by the zoning board in February 2012 allowing the drive-through window for Dunkin’ Donuts was invalid because it expired in a year. S.S. Baker’s didn’t request an extension of it, he wrote.
Zoning board Chairman Louis Fox said Thursday the only matter his board could address in the appeal was the special exception, and Dowd agreed.
“All the issues brought before us, except the special exception for the drive-through window, are either planning board or court issues,” board member William McGrath said.
Dowd has also filed the appeal in Cheshire County Superior Court in accordance with state law.
Fox said the zoning board had been advised by its legal counsel that the clock stopped ticking on the special exception when S.S. Baker’s appealed the planning board’s decision on its first application. Therefore, with the case still pending in Supreme Court, the exception was still valid, he said.
“The zoning board consulted our counsel, which costs the town money. I’d hate to go against advice we pay for,” he said.
Cole disagreed with Fox’s assessment, saying the second application was a new application, different from the original.
“If we decide that the special exception is valid, we’re saying the planning board did its job, and we don’t have to provide a special exception for the new application,” he said.
At one point, Dowd asked board members if their decision stating the special exception was still valid meant they believe the second application was the same as the first.
There was a brief pause before Land Use Administrator Margaret A. Sharra told members it was a trick question.
The board never answered it.


 Still being directed by Sharra. The only member who knows what's right and how to follow procedure was Cole, the rest shouldn't even be sitting on this board. The fact that another application was filed with the Planning Board while there was in effect an appeal to the State Supreme Court, made that application null and void and it should never have been heard, let alone acted on. This is what happens when Selectmen pick their flunkies instead of the public voting for members on the ZBA and members of the Planning Board are chosen out of loyalties and not based on their knowledge of rules, regulations and laws... Is there any wonder why this town gets sued so many times?

Fight continues over Winchester Dunkin donuts

By Meghan Foley Sentinel Staff

WINCHESTER — The owner of Kulick’s Market continues to fight the construction of a combination Dunkin’ Donuts, convenience store and gas station less than a half-mile from his business.
Stanley S. Plifka Jr., owner of Kulick’s Inc., is asking the zoning board of adjustment to rehear, reconsider and reverse the planning board’s July 15 decision approving the project at 4 Warwick Road.
Plifka, who operates a grocery store and gas pumps at 30 Warwick Road, has opposed the project, which first came before the planning board in April 2012.
When developer S.S. Baker’s Realty Co. of Keene appealed the planning board’s July 2012 decision to deny the project in Cheshire County Superior Court in Keene, Kulick’s filed for intervenor status, which Judge John C. Kissinger Jr. granted.
In the motion to intervene, attorney Kelly E. Dowd of Keene, who represented Kulick’s, wrote the business would be “directly harmed as a result of traffic, environmental and economic impacts if the proposed project moves forward.”
The Dunkin’ Donuts/convenience store/gas station is proposed for a 1.19-acre site on the east corner of the intersection of Main Street (Route 10), Warwick Road (Route 78) and Hinsdale Road (Route 119).
In June, S.S. Baker’s filed a second site plan review application with the planning board after Kissinger backed the board’s 2012 denial of the project.
In addition, S.S. Baker’s appealed Kissinger’s decision to the N.H. Supreme Court on May 17.
While the second site plan was nearly identical to the first, it was designed to prevent vehicles from making a left turn from the store’s parking lot onto Main Street, and allows for 11 cars to be in the drive-through lane for Dunkin’ Donuts instead of 10.
The 3,500-square-foot building is also 4 feet shorter than in the previous proposal.
In Plifka’s request for a rehearing, Dowd points to several technicalities that should result in the planning board’s decision being overturned by the zoning board.
Dowd claims the planning board shouldn’t have accepted the second application because it didn’t meet the qualifications that would have made it different from the first filing. The claim also says the board violated local zoning laws by granting certain waivers for the project, and some conditions the board included in the project’s approval were illegal.
In addition, Dowd wrote the special exception granted by the zoning board in February 2012 is invalid because it expired in a year, and S.S. Baker’s didn’t request an extension. The exception allowed for the business to have a drive-through window.
The zoning board is scheduled to hold a public hearing on Plifka’s request Thursday, Aug. 29, at 7 p.m. at town hall.

Winchester sidewalks to make downtown safer

Posted: Tuesday, August 13, 2013 12:00 pm

By Meghan Foley Sentinel Staff

WINCHESTER — It took decades, but residents will soon have a safer way to walk between their homes and businesses in the downtown area.
After three years of preparing and planning, and decades of discussion, town officials plan to start construction of a new sidewalk from Kulick’s shopping center on Warwick Road (Route 78) north to Main Street (Route 10) next month. Town officials are shooting for a Sept. 30 start date for the project, Land Use Administrator Margaret A. Sharra said Monday.
Town officials expect the project to be done by the beginning of November, she said.
“I think we’re finally going to get there. I’ll be happy when a shovel breaks the ground,” she said.
For several years, town officials have been looking to install about a mile-long sidewalk from the shopping center to Main Street.
Discussions about the project date back to the 1980s when it was first talked about by the town’s economic development committee, Sharra said. It was again discussed in the 1990s and 2000s, she said.
There are hundreds of people who walk from Main Street to the shopping plaza, which has a number of businesses including a market, bank, hair salon and hardware store, she said. It’s “extremely unsafe” with no sidewalk, she said.
“It’s very important we’re finally going to be able to give residents safe access to the services they need,” she said.
It will also make it safer for children walking to school, Town Administrator Shelly Walker said.
The new asphalt sidewalk will follow the eastern side of Route 10 and cross Mirey Brook on the existing bridge deck, Sharra said. After going over the brook, the sidewalk will cross the road to the western side of Main Street and continue along the Ashuelot River to meet the existing sidewalk, she said.
The project is expected to cost $371,000, with 80 percent of the tab being picked up by a federal Transportation Enhancement Grant, awarded to the town in March 2010. The town is responsible for covering the remaining 20 percent, which is $74,200.
One of the reasons it’s taken so long to start construction is that town officials have had to navigate through several mandates tied to the grant, Sharra said.
For example, any change to the project has to get the OK from state and federal highway agencies, which can complicate things and draw out the process, she said.
Town officials plan to begin soliciting bids for the project next week, Sharra said.

"Hundreds of people"  walking around downtown?  When???
"Safer for school children walking to school" ??  How many kids live in that area of the business district?

$371,000 .. With no bids yet, just how did the Town come up with that figure??

For that kind of money the town could afford some nice concrete sidewalks and granite curbs like they just put in along Route#101 in Dublin .. Of course things like that don't happen in Winchester.

So why does the town have to sub this work out? Can't the Highway Dept. with a budget close to half a million dollars and hundreds of thousands of dollars in equipment, grade and lay down some ugly asphalt  sidewalks like they do in other towns? Why does every project in the town have to be subbed out? Exactly what does our highway crew  do all day for the money they get paid? Anybody got any answers?

Right decision on zoning request, by Christine Hadley

We have an attitude of gratitude.
On behalf of the residents of Stone Mountain Road, Naramore Road, Headlands Road, Forest Lake Road and surrounding neighborhoods, we wish to thank the Winchester Zoning Board of Appeals for their excellent job in researching the rules, laws and regulations in the matter of a request for variance to change the permitted use for a property in a rural residential neighborhood (50 Rabbit Hollow Road) from “storage of equipment” to commercial. Their decision to deny the variance requested by Gustave Ruth and Kenneth Harvey for their property currently leased out for auto repair, was based on the fact they did not meet the five criteria required by law for a variance.

We are thankful for the rallying support of 90 plus individuals who signed a petition imploring the board to obey the law and to deny Ruth’s and Harvey’s appeal against a cease-and-desist order, and a subsequent request for variance to change the use.
We say “thank you” also to a local security officer who stopped at 50 Rabbit Hollow Road at 1 a.m. to investigate “unusual activity” there, and who offered then to report to town officials. Thank you to others who have also filed reports and/or complaints with authorities.
We thank the attorneys working this case for their guidance through the legal system, and for helping us to better understand the laws and procedures as they apply in this case. Their knowledge and confidence during this process continues to buttress us.
We have witnessed a dramatic change in the neighborhood since the inception of this lease. Since the board said “no” to the variance, we now look forward to our properties returning to a level of peace and tranquility customary with the normal activity of residential living.
Well done!
On behalf of Bill Devino and Trish Smith,  Forest Lake Road, Winchester,
John and
Christine Hadley
Rabbit Hollow Road
Winchester

Winchester property dispute involves town officials

By Meghan Foley Sentinel Staff

WINCHESTER — A dispute over how a property can be used has pitted town officials against one another.
Gustave A. Ruth and Kenneth Harvey say they didn’t know leasing property they own at 50 Rabbit Hollow Road to an auto mechanic in November was wrong, until they heard from the town and were issued a cease-and-desist order.
Ruth is a planning board member and former selectman; Harvey is town moderator and a planning board alternate.
The two bought the property, which had been seized by the town, at auction for $25,000 in April 2012, and said they believed they were purchasing a commercial property. It is actually in the rural residential zoning district, town officials say.
Since receiving a cease-and-desist order from Code Enforcement Officer Margaret A. Sharra in February to close down the repair shop, Ruth and Harvey have come before Winchester’s zoning board multiple times to plead their case.
On June 27, the zoning board unanimously voted down Ruth and Harvey’s appeal of the cease-and-desist order. The duo then sought a variance to allow the repair shop to continue operating on the property. That variance was denied by the zoning board, 3-2, on July 11.
Harvey said Tuesday that he and Ruth have yet to decide if they will request a rehearing on the zoning board’s decisions. They have 30 days from each vote to do so, according to state law.
“I’m certainly dissatisfied with the board’s decision,” Harvey said.
When the town auctioned off the property, it was advertised as commercial and industrial, he said.
A check of property tax cards showed the property had been assessed as commercial and industrial for many years before the auction, Ruth said.
“The zoning board didn’t do its due diligence in researching why it was assessed the way it was,” he said.
The property was previously owned by Terrance P. Qualters, who had constructed a sheet metal building on the site with the intention of storing equipment in it.
The property was taken by the town for unpaid taxes in November 2011 and auctioned off in April 2012. At the time, Ruth was a member of the board of selectmen. His term expired in March.
Neighbors of 50 Rabbit Hollow Road have also become involved in the matter, saying the property shouldn’t be used for commercial activities.
One of those neighbors, Christine Hadley, said while she and other neighbors feel gratified by the zoning board’s decision to deny the appeal and variance, they understand that Ruth and Harvey can request a rehearing.
On June 13, Attorney Kelly E. Dowd of Keene, who represented Hadley and her husband, John, told the zoning board an illegal activity on a property has no right to continue under a new owner, according to minutes from that meeting.
While there are errors in the property’s tax cards, those cards aren’t legal documents, he said.
“The property being used commercially was never a lawful use.”