City Manager's Report 12/17/2007
Route 110 Phase II
Attached is a letter from US DOT Federal Highway Division Administrator Kathy, Laffey which appears to give the first real ray of hope the City has had that the 4E route the City has strongly endorsed may now be being given serious consideration. It clearly is not a done deal at this time but the letter seems to make clear that at least now we are being listened to and the extensive "Report to NHDOT for Federal Highway Administration preliminary review of NH 110 Phase II Project 12958-B" the City Planner put together on the background of the area was read and seriously considered. Senator Sununu's office has also taken a continuous interest in being sure that the City's position was being listened to and considered. At least now there appears to be reason to think that we might actually have a chance in getting the route the City has asked for.
Main Street Demolition Bids
Bids for the demolition of the remaining portion of the burnt out property owned by Joe Dimauro (and apparently recently sold to Frank Sobol of Florida) at 695 Main Street were opened this past week. Attached is a copy of the bid summary. John Gleason of Milan is the low bidder and has been awarded the contract which was to start today but was delayed a day due to the storm this weekend. This work is being done under an RSA 155-B order from the Court. It has been almost exactly a year that this property has been sitting there and we are all anxious to finally get the mess cleaned up.
Public Works
Public Works has about $5,000 in the budget for hired trucks. Three of those contracted trucks will be out for the next couple of nights in an attempt to get as much of the snow picked up as possible for the holidays. At about $500-600 per day per truck, it doesn't take long to go through the $5,000 and it is likely the majority of it will be used up responding to this storm.
We are having a large problem in this storm with private parties plowing snow onto the City's sidewalks making it impossible for our sidewalk tractors to get through to clear the sidewalks. Some of these are downtown and some are on some of the main drags like Hillside Ave. near schools which are a priority for clearing.
Finally, the attached memo from the Public Works Director gives an update on the trash and recycling schedules and designates the following days for Xmas tree pickup in the wards:
Friday, January 11th – Wards 1 & 4
Monday, January 18th – Wards 2 & 3
Automatic Property Tax and Sewer Payments
A number of people have arranged with the City Finance Department to be automatically billed for things like property tax and sewer. Some people prefer making these payments automatically on a monthly or other basis that they arrange for so that it doesn’t' build up into the one or two large payments that the City legally bills for. More people may want to learn about this possibility so we will be putting information about it up on the City Web site – www. berlinnh.gov – so people can learn more about whether it is something they may want to do. Anyone who would like more information on it at this time can contact Finance Department at 752-1610.
Property Tax Collections
Attached is the latest summary of property tax collections from the City Tax Collector Blandine Shallow.
Meeting with 3-D Logging
On Thursday December 6th, the Planner, Zoning Officer and I met with Dick Eastman of 3-D logging with respect to noise complaints received from Napert Village regarding the logging operation on the Mill property. We were informed that that operation will be brought to an end by the first week in January as Plum Creek is closing this operation. This should be good news to the residents of Napert Village.
Domestic Partner Coverage/Civil Union Legislation
Attached is information from the LGC providing information with respect to the new State legislation on Civil Unions and Domestic Partner coverage. Needless to say, we don't fully understand all of this and the implications it will have for us as an employer in the near future. Hopefully, the LGC and Primex will be able to fully educate us in all this.
Leadership New Hampshire
Last week I made a short presentation on what a City Manager does to this year's class of Leadership North Country. This was at the Fish and Wildlife Facility in Errol. Coos County Administrator Sue Collins, Gorham Town Manager Bill Jackson and Representative Fred King were the other presenters to this group who represent future leadership in Coos County.