[9:49] I'm going to call to order the conquered
city council meeting of Monday, April
[9:53] 14th,
2025. Would you all please rise and join
[9:58] me in the pledge of allegiance to the
flag?
[10:02] I pledge to the flag of the United
States of America and to the republic
[10:08] for which it stands. One nation under
God, indivisible, with liberty and
[10:13] justice for all.
[10:18] Madame clerk, would you please call the
role? Councelor Brown, here. Mayor
[10:23] Champlin, present. Councelor Fennessy,
present. Councelor, present. Councelor
[10:28] Grady Sexton, here. Councelor Horn,
present. Councelor Keech,
[10:36] uh, councelor Kee will be late.
Councelor here. Councelor Curts here.
[10:41] Councelor Mclofflin here. Councelor
McNamera here. Councelor Schlasher here.
[10:46] Councelor Schultz here. Councelor Seiku
who will be late. And councelor Todd
[10:51] here. Very good. Uh thank you very much.
Uh I'll entertain a motion to approve
[10:58] the uh meeting minutes uh of the March
10th city council meeting.
[11:04] Seconded. Any
discussion? All right. I'll just make
[11:08] one correction, madame clerk, that uh
it's St. Patty's Day with D's, not T's.
[11:15] No. All right. Well, as a as a proud as
a proud stepson of Ireing of Ireland, I
[11:21] just want to make sure we had that
right. All right. Any further
[11:24] discussion? All those in favor, please
signify by saying I oppose. No. The eyes
[11:29] have it. Um uh I would just like to
mention that uh for those uh who have uh
[11:35] challenges hearing, there are hearing
devices available in the room. Uh they
[11:40] are a transmitter and headphones that
allow an individual to get a direct feed
[11:44] of the sound of tonight's meeting. Uh
and they uh can be obtained in the back
[11:48] of the room at the Conquered TV booth.
Uh if you need that facility, please uh
[11:54] go right ahead. I'd also like to take a
moment during our agenda overview to
[11:58] recognize uh and ask them to stand the
conquered uh general services propel
[12:04] program class. Please stand all of
[12:15] you. Propel is a leadership development
uh program that general services has
[12:20] been running for is it two years chip?
two years. Uh it's a great uh a great
[12:26] program. So we welcome all of you. It's
good to have you at this meeting.
[12:31] Uh I uh now will turn to the uh consent
agenda. Uh nothing has been withdrawn
[12:37] from the consent agenda. I'll entertain
a motion to approve the consent agenda
[12:41] as presented. Councelor Brown. Yes. I am
recusing myself from item number 22
[12:46] because my husband is a police officer.
Thank you, councelor. And council
[12:49] councelor Curts did make the motion. No,
counselor. I'm sorry. Council Grady
[12:53] Saxton and you second it. Second. All
right. Thank you. Any any further
[12:57] discussion?
All right. All those in favor of the
[13:00] motion as presented, please signify by
saying I. I. Oppose. No. The eyes have
[13:07] it. That brings us uh to uh the public
hearing uh portion of our meeting. Uh
[13:13] madam city clerk, item 32A. It is a
resolution appropriating the sum of
[13:19] $84,000 to support efforts by Concords
Plant to end homelessness and
[13:23] authorizing a transfer in from the
community improvement reserve in the
[13:26] amount of $84,000. Thank you, Mr. City
Manager. Members of the council, uh,
[13:32] working with councelor Slasher, he asked
us to put together a report and a
[13:37] funding resolution, and you have those
before you tonight. Okay. Any questions
[13:40] for the city manager?
hearing none. I'll open this the uh
[13:44] public hearing on this item. Would
anyone like to
[13:49] testify? Seeing none, I'll declare the
public meeting closed. Madame city
[13:53] clerk, item 32B.
It's a resolution appropriating the sum
[13:58] of
$11,500 in the parks and recreation
[14:01] miscellaneous grants and donations
project for the free summer concert
[14:05] series and accepting the sum of
$11,500 as a donation from the Walker
[14:11] lecture series for this. Thank you, Mr.
City Manager. Members of the council,
[14:15] since uh 2022, the Walker Lecture Series
has continued to fund the the Thursday
[14:20] night and Sunday morning free community
concerts. Last year, their donation was
[14:26] $9,500. With the new riverfront park in
Penuk opening this spring, we approached
[14:31] the Walk Electric series to see if they
would fund the expansion of our our
[14:34] summer concerts. Requested $2,000 for
the new concerts at Pedakook and they've
[14:40] agreed and that funding is before you
tonight for action. Thank you. Any
[14:43] questions for the city
manager? Seeing none, I'll open the
[14:48] public hearing. Is there anyone who
would like to testify on item 32B?
[14:54] Seeing none, I'll declare the public
hearing closed. Madam City Clerk, item
[14:59] 32C, it's a resolution appropriating the
sum of $10,000 in the annual highway
[15:04] improvement program for pavement repairs
and accepting the sum of $10,000 from
[15:10] Main Street America Insurance for this
purpose. Thank you, Mr. City Manager.
[15:14] Council, I'd just like to add that the
pavement repairs would be for Elm
[15:18] Street.
Thank you. Any questions for the city
[15:24] manager? Seeing none, uh I'll open this
uh item uh for public hearing. Is there
[15:29] anyone who would like to testify on item
32 C?
[15:34] Seeing none, I'll declare the public
hearing on item 32 closed. Madame clerk,
[15:39] item 32D. It's a resolution modifying
the all veterans tax credit for the city
[15:44] of conquered pursuant to the provisions
of RSA 7227A.
[15:49] Thank you, Mr. Mr. City Manager. Your
honor, members of the council, you'll
[15:52] notice that this report is also
applicable to the next two uh agenda
[15:56] items. And very briefly, the uh
presently the asset level for the
[16:01] elderly grouping uh for both single and
married applicants is $150,000, not
[16:07] including the value of the applicant's
primary residence. The current income
[16:10] thresholds are single $42,000 and
married $60,000. The exemption mounts
[16:17] amounts are age 65 to 74 is $80,000, age
75 to 79 is
[16:25] $131,000 and ages 80 and older is $223
uh,000. The tax exemption policy
[16:32] committee recommended to increase the
income levels from 42,000 to 44,100 for
[16:38] single applicants and from 60,000 to
63,000 for married applicants. And no
[16:44] other changes were recommended. Would
you like me to go through all of them or
[16:47] do you want to? Yes. In fact, uh, if the
council has no objection, I think we'll
[16:50] have public hearing on all three of
these at the same time because they all
[16:53] deal with the same issue. Okay. Madam
city clerk, next item is a resolution
[16:58] modifying the elderly exemption for the
city of conquered pursuant to the
[17:02] provisions of RSA
7227A. And then there is a resolution
[17:07] modifying the op optional veterans tax
credit for the city of conquered. Thank
[17:12] you.
So, I'll just continue. The uh tax
[17:15] exemption policy committee recommended
increasing the optional veterans credit
[17:19] and the all veterans credit u tax credit
from $300 to $400. That would apply to
[17:26] both of them. And you have separate
resolutions for each one of those items.
[17:29] Thank you. Any questions for the city
manager on these three items? Council
[17:33] Credit. Thank you, your honor. Uh Mr.
city manager and looking at the
[17:36] comparisons from town to town,
specifically the one for the veteran tax
[17:40] credit, um I noticed that ours was
substantially lower than other the other
[17:44] communities and while the recommendation
is increase this tax credit to $400, can
[17:49] you give me a sense of why we stopped at
400 and didn't go higher? Looks like
[17:53] councelor Fennessy would like to answer.
I'd be happy to answer that. So, uh we
[17:58] started th this process last year. I
think we were at 200 last year.
[18:04] Uh we went up to 300 last year. This
year we're recommending going up to 400
[18:09] with a goal that next year we might move
up to 500. And that was based on the
[18:14] recommendation we talked last year about
potentially going from 200 to 500. And
[18:18] the uh the recommendation we got from
staff was to just step it up over time
[18:23] uh because we recognized that we were
below uh surrounding communities. So, I
[18:28] think the committee has we'll see who's
here next year, but uh the the thought
[18:33] process was doing it over time to get to
that $500 number. Thank you. I
[18:38] appreciate your answer. Any other
questions?
[18:41] I think it's worthwhile noting uh I
think that you touched on this, but that
[18:45] a tax credit is actually a dollar amount
that's subtracted from your taxes due
[18:51] as opposed from the value of your
property, which is what the exemption
[18:54] is. All right. Thank you. Uh, I'll know
if there are no other questions, I'll
[18:58] open those three items for public
hearing. Is there anyone who would like
[19:01] to testify on items 32D, E, or
[19:07] F? Seeing none, I'll close public
hearing. And that moves us to public
[19:12] hearing action. Uh, item 33. Madam City
clerk, it is a resolution appropriating
[19:19] the sum of
$84,000 to support efforts by Concord's
[19:23] plan to end homelessness and authorizing
the transfer in from the community
[19:27] improvement reserve and the sum of
$84,000 for this purpose. Thank you. The
[19:31] chair recognizes councelor Shasser.
Thank you, mayor. So, I would like to
[19:35] move to table this motion, please. Is
there a second? Second. Moved and
[19:39] seconded. Would you like to speak to
your motion? I would. Thank you. And I
[19:43] really want to thank everybody in the
council for support for supporting this
[19:47] work. Um last year
the steering committee for homeless the
[19:52] the committee for conquer's plan to end
homelessness
[19:56] uh convened city leaders and others and
identified five priority aims uh aligned
[20:03] with the city council's priority on
homelessness. The city council approved
[20:07] a priority that included
uh plans to coordinate and require
[20:13] measurable progress in this effort by
unifying communities activities around a
[20:19] shared goal of reducing homelessness. So
we really need to unify all the
[20:24] activities convening key organizations
and departments to streamline
[20:28] homelessness and we intend to map uh
county regional state responses to
[20:32] homeless and aligning those with the
conquer's plan.
[20:36] A key element also is maintaining a
comprehensive real-time by name list of
[20:41] all those experiencing
homelessness. This work is being
[20:44] coordinated by the steering committee.
So we convened f uh city leaders,
[20:50] community leaders and others and
identified five priority aims to work on
[20:53] this. With these aims, we intend to
organize working groups to focus to
[21:00] achieve measurable progress on those
aims.
[21:04] This requires uh both coordinated action
by the steering committee and project
[21:10] management. And this appropriation
that's was suggested in this resolution
[21:15] is to fund at least in part a a project
manager. So a a project manager to help
[21:21] coordinate the working groups is a key
piece of this. The other intention of
[21:26] the steering committee is to
um survey solicit input from the
[21:32] community by getting a listening session
so that we get additional input from the
[21:37] community on the interests and values of
a broad section of the stakeholders in
[21:42] the community for ending homelessness.
Uh so the project manager listening
[21:48] sessions and uh the other uh element of
our budget is to convene quarterly
[21:56] learning session so that the people
working on this work both in the
[22:00] steering committee, our nonprofits, the
city, other folks working on these
[22:05] efforts can come together quarterly and
share lessons learned in their efforts.
[22:11] And annually we would convene everyone
into a homeless summit to both assess
[22:16] progress, measurable progress in this
effort and celebrate
[22:20] successes. Um so the our budget over two
years is about $220,000 which is for the
[22:28] project manager over two years these
listening sessions and the quarterly
[22:34] learning sessions in the annual summit.
the we have been fundraising for this
[22:40] effort and I really want to uh notice
the mayor who's really helped us
[22:45] substantially by soliciting private
donations to help support some of this
[22:49] work. Over the this past weekend uh
we've received new news that there's uh
[22:56] possibility of an additional substantial
funding from uh the New Hampshire
[23:01] Charitable Foundation. So with that new
news over the weekend, I think at this
[23:05] time it would make sense to table this
motion at this time, continue our
[23:09] fundraising efforts, and then in the
future see what uh support from the city
[23:16] uh may be necessary. I think it's
critical to understand that this effort
[23:21] is an all-in effort, public private
partnership, each according to their
[23:26] role, each according to their means. So,
we've talked to the chamber of commerce.
[23:30] We've talked to the nonprofits, the
foundations, the faith communities and
[23:35] the city, everybody in collaborating on
this effort. And so, I just want to
[23:39] appreciate the work of all those
agencies and partners. And I think uh
[23:46] the fundraising efforts to date have
been uh successful. We can hold off on
[23:50] this city appropriation at this time.
and hopefully very soon we will succeed
[23:55] in our initial fundraising and be able
to hire a project manager and really
[23:59] accelerate the work of the steering
committee. Thank you, Council. I just
[24:02] also like to mention the strong support
of the Granite United Way, which has
[24:07] which has offered to be fiscal agent for
the program and assist with fundraising
[24:11] uh and recruit and uh and house the the
the program manager. Thank you. For
[24:16] which we're deeply grateful. Any uh any
other discussion?
[24:23] All right. All those in favor of the
motion as presented, please signify by
[24:25] saying I. Oppos? No. Eyes have it. The
resolution passes or the motion passes.
[24:32] Uh, madame city clerk, item 34. It is a
resolution appropriating the sum of
[24:38] $11,500 in the parks and recreation
miscellaneous grants and donations
[24:42] project free summer concert series and
accepting the sum of
[24:47] $11,500 as a donation from the Walker
lecture series for this program.
[24:53] Approved. Second. Moved and seconded.
Discussion.
[24:57] I would just like to say uh we deeply
appreciate the ongoing support of the
[25:01] Walker Foundation. Uh, and I think it's
great that we're going to be extending
[25:05] the free concert uh, series out to
Pentacook, taking advantage of the new
[25:10] uh, uh, the new Canal Street Riverfront
Park, which is a great venue for that.
[25:15] So, I'm looking forward to being out
there for at least one of the
[25:20] concerts. All right. All those in favor
of the motion as presented, please
[25:23] signify by saying I. I. Opposed? No. The
eyes have it.
[25:28] Madam City Clerk, item number 35, it's a
resolution appropriating the sum of
[25:34] $10,000 in the annual highway
improvement program project for pavement
[25:38] repairs and accepting the sum of $10,000
from Main Street American Insurance for
[25:43] this purpose.
Second. Moved and seconded. Any
[25:47] discussion? Councelor F. Thank you. Uh
I'm going to be recusing myself on this
[25:51] as I represent a subsidiary of Main
Street American Insurance. Thank you,
[25:55] councelor. Any other
discussion? All right. All those in
[26:01] favor of the motion as presented, please
signify by saying I. Oppose. No. Eyes
[26:06] have it. Motion passes. Madam city
clerk, item number 36. It is a
[26:10] resolution modifying the all veterans
tax credit for the city of conquered
[26:14] pursuant to the provisions of RSA 7227A.
Move approval. Second. Moved and
[26:20] seconded. Any discussion? Council Brown.
Your honor, I will be recusing myself
[26:25] from this as I am a veteran. Thank you,
councelor. Councelor Fennessy, thank
[26:31] you. I just want to say once again,
thank you to the tax exemption policy
[26:36] committee as well as the staff support
we got uh from John Rice. Uh we looked
[26:42] at these um there's a lot of
spreadsheets uh a lot of uh trying to
[26:47] figure out how best to do this and
strike a balance between uh making sure
[26:52] that we um look out for some of the
elderly members of the community as well
[26:58] as our veterans and make sure that we
are uh sort of keeping up with what's
[27:03] appropriate in the larger community
while at the same time making sure that
[27:06] we don't um go too far in a direction
that we unnecessarily ly burden other
[27:11] taxpayers. So, um I want to thank the
committee again for working on this and
[27:16] I hope you will support each of these.
Thank you. Thank you.
[27:20] Thank you. I'm recusing myself from um
both of these all three of these
[27:27] resolutions as a result of um the 39
solar panels I have at my house. So,
[27:34] thank you. Okay. Thank you. Any other
discussion?
[27:39] All right. All those in favor of the
motion as presented, please signify by
[27:42] saying I. I opposed. No. Eyes have it.
Motion is adopted. Madam City clerk,
[27:48] item number 37. It's a resolution
modifying the elderly exemption for the
[27:54] city of conquer pursuant to the
provisions of RSA 7227A.
[28:00] Motion approval. Moved and seconded.
Okay. Any discussion? Council Brown. I
[28:06] just want to um express gratefulness
because I heard from constituents who
[28:11] are who are applying because of this.
Now they, you know, they can qualify and
[28:16] they had called me earlier upset,
concerned. Um so this allows them to
[28:22] apply for it. Super. So I'm thrilled.
Thank you.
[28:26] All right. Any other discussion? All
those in favor of the motion as
[28:29] presented, please signify by saying I
oppos. No. Eyes have it. Motion is
[28:34] adopted. Madam City Clerk, item number
38. It is a resolution modifying the
[28:39] optional veterans tax credit for the
city of conquered pursuant to the
[28:43] provisions of RSA 7227A.
Move approval. Moved and seconded. Okay.
[28:49] Any discussion? Councilor Brown. Yes.
I'm still a veteran so I will recuse
[28:53] myself from this as well. All right.
Thank
[28:55] you. I love it.
Any any other discussion or recus? We
[29:02] already have one from council
foot right. Okay. All those in the
[29:07] motion as presented please signify by
saying I I opposed. No. Eyes have it.
[29:12] Motion passes. Uh this brings us to
reports. Mr. City Manager's member of
[29:17] the council. You have a report in front
of you regarding the bridge deck
[29:21] feasibility study. You have the study.
The consultants are not going to be able
[29:24] to be here until next month. So we're
just going to slide this till next
[29:28] month. you'll get a full presentation
because in case you have questions, it'd
[29:31] be best going to the consultants who
actually worked on the project. So, I'll
[29:36] just add that to next month's agenda.
All right, everyone understands that?
[29:39] We'll just have the presentation and
report next month. All right, thank you.
[29:43] Uh, this brings us to consideration of
suspense items. Do I have a motion to
[29:47] suspend the rules to take up this item?
So, moved. Moved. Second. Moved and
[29:53] seconded. All those in favor of the
motion as presented, please signify by
[29:57] saying I. I opposed. No. No. Eyes have
it. Motion passes. Um I'll entertain uh
[30:05] me city clerk. Um yes. Suspense one is a
report from the city solicitor's office
[30:10] regarding referral of board of ethics
complaint to city council. I'll
[30:14] entertain a motion to refer this back to
the board of ethics with instructions to
[30:18] meet as soon as a quorum can be convened
to address the complaint. So moved.
[30:25] Second. Moved and seconded. Any
discussion? Council Brown. Yes. Um I'm
[30:30] grateful that this is going back to um
the ethics uh committee because I do
[30:35] feel that
um the members of the um golf advisory
[30:41] committee do have a number of benefits
um that have been
[30:46] growing since the time that the
committee was first expanded to have six
[30:51] uh general public representatives. So
I'm glad that they will be looking at
[30:55] that. I do feel that we are partially to
blame because we appoint and nominate
[31:00] people to these committees. Uh so I
would like to see and I'm not sure if
[31:04] this is something that would be decided
by the ethics board that there might be
[31:09] more clearer language that the general
public representative is a non-golfer
[31:14] because there are two roles that are
identified as both a golfer and a
[31:19] seasoned member. So I would just like to
say that
[31:23] um you know I hope we have a more clear
language um going forward. All right.
[31:29] Thank you councel council councel was
first I was just going to say on the the
[31:34] point that councelor Brown was making I
don't think that's really in the purview
[31:38] of the ethics committee. I think if the
council wants to change the um positions
[31:45] on any advisory committee that's in our
purview and we can certainly do that at
[31:49] any point. Council, did you
Your honor, this is unchartered ter
[31:55] territory and the ethics complaint is
against me. Am I allowed to speak on
[31:58] this?
Uh I'm going to rule that you are. Thank
[32:03] you. I have concerns in general about
the complaint. The middle name of the
[32:09] golf advisory board is advisory. They
have absolutely no authority to set any
[32:15] rates or anything in regards to the golf
course. They are there to oversee
[32:20] recommendations by city staff and make
recommendations to the council.
[32:24] Councilor Brown said that we're
partially to blame. The council is
[32:28] wholly to blame for who is appointed to
that board. I would have hoped that
[32:34] tonight, if anything, you would have let
our good volunteers who raised their
[32:38] hand and said, "I would like to serve
the city." Let them go. Release them as
[32:44] a city council. If you have concerns
because I also golf, which has been
[32:48] known for over 25 years, and I am voted
to this position, and it is the largest
[32:54] municipal operation in War 3. If you
have concerns about that, let that go
[32:58] get back to to uh ethics for them to
review. But that's not what the
[33:02] complaint says. The complaint says that
we made a recommendation in regards to
[33:08] the golf course clubhouse that came
before that board that we supported a
[33:13] specific recommendation.
That board, the golf advisory board, is
[33:18] targeted targeted specifically because
should there have been any concern about
[33:24] what the ordinance said and who should
serve and who shouldn't and who might
[33:27] have some sort of preferential
treatment, we would not have a realtor
[33:32] sitting on the zoning board. We would
not have planners, engineers, architects
[33:37] serving on other boards related to
architectural design review, the
[33:41] planning board. How about people that
drink water? How about people that have
[33:46] garbage service? How about people with
leaf pickup? How about people with
[33:50] library cards? What you're saying is
that if a resident participates wholly
[33:54] in our community, they don't deserve to
participate in our our fundamental right
[34:02] of a democracy government that is set up
of the people, by the people, for the
[34:08] people. If you want to split hairs over
this, this is a discourse and a
[34:13] disagreement about the golf course
clubhouse and an effort to undermine
[34:19] that going forward. The only reason the
golf advisory board was asked to weigh
[34:24] in on this was because they oversee the
golf obligation fund and the golf
[34:32] obligation bonds that come from the
operations of the golf course. There was
[34:38] a whole other committee set up and
designed to talk about the clubhouse, to
[34:44] do the public review, to take all of the
public input and put together their
[34:48] recommendations, which then went to the
golf advisory board and FPAC. Why is
[34:53] FPAC not also included in this
complaint? It's because we're targeted.
[34:59] The way civil discourse works is that
it's a civil conversation where we walk
[35:05] away sometimes knowing that we disagree,
but at the same time we try to come to
[35:11] consensus. There was no effort here to
try and build consensus on anything.
[35:17] This is about ripping out this project
before it ever even comes to this
[35:22] council. And that to me is unfair to the
good, kind volunteers that serve on
[35:28] every committee within our city. Thank
you, your honor. Thank you, councelor.
[35:33] Are we ready for a vote? Your honor,
council Brown. Thank you. I would just
[35:37] like to point out when the golf advisory
committee was expanded in 20 in 2008,
[35:44] there was a mission statement that they
changed and the language that they had
[35:49] removed had to do with fiscal
responsibility. I will read the language
[35:53] that was removed by the golf advisory
committee. The course must be operated
[35:58] in a business-like manner so that all
yearly operating expenses, including
[36:03] present and future capital improvements,
are met without the need to supplement
[36:08] revenues with tax dollars. Alternative
income sources should be continually
[36:13] explored to supplement current revenue
sources. That language was removed
[36:17] removed. I would like to see that
language brought back. Would you speak
[36:20] to the motion? Yes, I the motion is this
going back to the ethics board. As
[36:26] councelor Fennessesy pointed out, it is
within our purview to address something
[36:30] like this, not the ethics board. So, I'm
saying that I would like to see fiscal
[36:35] responsibility language back into the
mission. Thank you. Thank you,
[36:38] counselor. Any
[Applause]
[36:43] further order,
please? Please. No expressions of
[36:48] approval or disapproval. All
right. Uh, are we ready for I'm sorry,
[36:53] Councelor Horn. Um, as councelor
Fennesses stated, it's something the
[36:59] just the appointment process is
something that we can discuss. When
[37:02] would we be able to discuss that? I know
it's not during this motion. Is it
[37:05] something we can take up after that or
uh it's not an item that's on the
[37:10] agenda, counselor?
Let's discuss that separately and see
[37:13] what we can do about Okay.
All those in favor of the motion as
[37:18] presented, please signify by saying I
opposed. No. No. Eyes have it. All
[37:27] right. This brings us to
[37:32] comments.
Councelor, Councelor Todd, any comments
[37:36] to that? You you're reading my mind that
I have a a comment? I have. Um, well, I
[37:42] I just I'm really echoing uh part of uh
what you had said earlier about uh the
[37:48] concert series. I just want to say that
I'm very excited and looking forward to
[37:52] what will happen in the new Canal Street
Riverfront Park. Very pleased that uh
[37:55] Mr. Gil has arranged for additional
funding so that we can have some extra
[37:59] activities there. And I'm also looking
forward to uh the official grand opening
[38:04] of the park which I think we are
anticipating sometime in June or July of
[38:08] this year. So, we'll get some more
information on that coming forward
[38:11] shortly and I'll be sure to let all
folks know uh what the activities are
[38:15] and the other things that are planned
for uh the park. So, uh again, thanks my
[38:20] thanks to uh David Gil and everyone for
uh really focusing on the community
[38:25] Penokeook and these these kinds of
activities. Thank you. Thank you,
[38:28] Council Point. Um we are still hiring
for lifeguards and water safety
[38:34] instructors. You can apply online at
conquered new hampshire.gov.
[38:38] you do need to be 15. Um, if you work
full-time all summer, you can make
[38:43] $5,500. And if we want to keep our pools
and splash pad open, if people can
[38:49] please apply, you don't have to be a
teenager. Adults are definitely welcome
[38:53] as well to get out there and do it.
Thank you, C. Thank you, your honor. Uh,
[38:57] the
250300
[38:59] semiquincentennial tsentennial committee
is putting together a event cheret for
[39:06] May 8th. It'll be here in council
chambers. It's open to anyone that is
[39:10] interested in getting involved in the
250, 350, or 300 celebration. My gosh, I
[39:15] don't even know the numbers myself. Um,
and really for our nonprofit
[39:19] organizations that um already conduct
events over the course of the year. I
[39:24] haven't sent the flyer out yet, but it's
for you to mark the um mark this in your
[39:28] calendar. It's from 4 to 5:30 p.m. again
here in council chambers on May 8th. The
[39:35] 250th anniversary is about the 250th
anniversary of the signing of the
[39:41] Declaration of Independence. The 300th
anniversary is the time at which King
[39:46] George
released conquered and seven other
[39:50] communities from the state of
Massachusetts and we became our very own
[39:54] township. They're here.
[40:00] Thank you, your honor. Um, Conquered
Parks and Wreck has been working the
[40:05] last six days on a fundraiser for to
complete our order for the Monkey Round
[40:11] Playground. Prices have gone up and we
are raising about $60,000.
[40:18] 275 has been raised in the last five
days and
[40:25] um I just don't want to see anything
taken away from all children, anything
[40:30] accessible for all children in this
community. One of the most important
[40:33] things to me besides being accessible
was the music center station. um many
[40:40] children who might be autistic, who
might have needs where that would really
[40:45] um enthral them and give them uh a
learning fun edge. I think that I said
[40:51] we can't let this go. So, we're working
on this. We have a total of 30 days. If
[40:55] anyone's interested in donating, you can
go to the parks and wreck website. You
[41:00] can donate online or you can contact
David at Parks and Wreck and send him a
[41:06] check. There are also three levels. If
you want to be a sponsor and be
[41:10] recognized, you can do that and you can
find the information on the website.
[41:15] Thank you, Council Council Brown. Yes.
On April 21st, the Energy and
[41:19] Environment Committee advisory committee
is sponsoring an Earth Day uh community
[41:26] conversation celebration up at the
Heights Community Center from 6:00 to 8.
[41:31] Our keynote speaker is Congresswoman
Maggie Goodlander. And we will hear from
[41:36] uh different committees on what the city
is doing um that is sustainable. And
[41:40] we'll also be also be issuing an Earth
Day challenge to encourage people to you
[41:46] know choose from a wide array of of
things to do that are sustainable in our
[41:53] community. From planting a tree to
dropping off clothing into a donation uh
[41:57] box to cleaning up trash, uh planting a
garden. There's a lot of um
[42:03] opportunities. So, I hope folks come
there. And May 2nd is in town conquered
[42:07] first Friday. We donated money to that
from the arts grant. Um, I will be
[42:13] co-hosting a tree tour with former um
city planner, landscape architect Bob
[42:19] Pollock. And at 4:30 on the state house
lawn and then at 5:30, the women's club
[42:26] at 44 Pleasant Street is having their
annual meeting. And I would highly
[42:30] encourage folks to go. It is a beautiful
building um historical and such a
[42:35] fantastic purpose. So, lots of things to
do on Friday. Thank you, Council Kurts.
[42:41] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just wanted to
remind everyone that there are two
[42:44] events left in the um conquered public
library um conquered reads program. The
[42:51] book this year was Where You'll Find Me,
and I found it very compelling
[42:55] non-fiction account of a tragedy in the
White Mountains, but um really, really
[43:00] interesting. All events are free, but
they do require pre-registration. I
[43:04] can't I haven't checked, so I don't know
if there's space, but um if you did read
[43:07] it or you want to learn more about it,
check out the website, which you can
[43:11] find through the uh city website,
conquered new hampshire.gov. I want to
[43:15] wish everyone celebrates this coming
Sunday a happy spring, everyone.
[43:20] Thank you, your honor. Um, one of my
very favorite events is back downtown.
[43:26] It's the Cars and Coffee on Capitol
Street by our good friends at Rebel
[43:30] Stoke. And if you missed the April
event, um the next one is May 11th. It's
[43:35] the second Sunday of the month from 8 to
11. And you if you haven't seen it, you
[43:41] have to get down there and check it out.
It's it's very cool to see all it's a
[43:45] great draw from all over the region, all
over New England. People are coming to
[43:50] show off their incredible cars and it's
a lot of fun for everybody.
[43:56] Councelor
Mcloffliner councelor Schller, excuse
[44:00] me. So, I just want to shout out to two
Ward 7 residents, Andy Duncan and Laurel
[44:05] Horn. They've uh volunteered to help
spearhead a beautifying event of the
[44:11] South End for Earth Day. So, on uh April
22nd from 4 to 5:30 p.m., volunteers
[44:18] will be picking up litter in Rollins
Park, Bow Street, and South Street near
[44:22] the schools. So, anybody who's
interested is invited to meet at the
[44:26] covered picnic table near the Monarch
Way station pollinator garden in Rollins
[44:31] Park uh uphill from the tennis courts.
There will be blue bags available or you
[44:35] can bring your own bucket, bring gloves,
rain or shine, come and help uh beautify
[44:41] the south end. So, April 22nd, uh
Tuesday, 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. Everybody's
[44:46] welcome. Thank you. Council second. I
have a lot so bear with me. I'm just
[44:52] kidding. Um so I want to take this
opportunity and to recognize Jim Shasher
[44:56] for his tireless work on the community
because I think it take passion,
[45:02] dedication and really a leadership to do
what he's doing. So great work. I'm very
[45:07] pleased for everything that you have
been putting in this very important
[45:11] work. Thank you. Kudos. You're here.
Um I want to take this opportunity also
[45:17] to thank uh park and wreck for putting
the gate at the kitchen park and to the
[45:24] leadership team at administrators as
well for really such an important work
[45:30] that didn't take me much to do just
sharing what's happening showing them
[45:35] what is there and the safety they
prioritize our children's safety our
[45:39] community safety so thank you um I also
want to say thank you to everyone who
[45:46] attended our dinner. It was such an
honor to host all of you guys and it was
[45:51] a beautiful dinner. So, thank you all.
Um, we attended the firefighter
[45:59] celebration to honor our
firefighters. It was such a beautiful
[46:04] event and it was such an honor to be
there to celebrate all of them. So
[46:08] congratulations to all our honories and
thank you for everything you do every
[46:14] day in our community to keep our
community safe. Last but not least,
[46:19] happy Easter and happy Passover to
everybody who celebrated. Thank you.
[46:25] Councelor Schultz. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Um it's always hard to follow uh my
[46:31] fellow Heights counselor because he says
so many wonderful things. Um, I also
[46:36] want to give a shout out to my friends
who care about Keech Park. You are not
[46:40] forgotten. You were on our radar. Um, we
I can speak for Ali and I, we appreciate
[46:48] you and I'm sure everybody does really.
Um, but what I also wanted to say on
[46:52] that official note, April, for you dog
family folks, it is time to renew your
[46:59] dog license.
um kind of weird since they're family
[47:03] members, but um it's really important to
have if you have your rabies uh
[47:08] certificate when you do apply for the
renewal. It's nice if you can include
[47:14] that. Having said that, they're really
wonderful and how they track those
[47:17] things down. I was in the office today
and there were three dog families there
[47:22] uh renewing our dogs licenses. Um, and
we appreciate all that the clerk and her
[47:29] office does in that regard. Thank you,
Foot. Thank you, your honor. We got a
[47:35] few things here. Uh, first order, I I
want to echo some of the comments about
[47:40] uh what such a special week this is
between Easter and Passover. So,
[47:44] everyone um happy uh Easter and Passover
greetings. Um, also, uh, just sidebar,
[47:54] uh, attended the Conquered High, uh,
hockey, boys hockey championship game a
[48:00] few weeks ago. Um, you know, the should
very be very proud. Dunk Walls led uh,
[48:06] our our city to another state
championship and it was it was um, it
[48:11] was quite a game. It went to four
overtimes. I think it was the longest
[48:15] um game in HIAA history. um more
impressive. Um councelor Ke Councel
[48:22] Keech was there and he was wearing his
1979 varsity jacket. So
[48:28] he still looked good. It looked good.
The arms the biceps were a bit tight,
[48:31] but other than that, so congratulations
to him. Um also, um East Conquer lost
[48:39] one of its good guys. Met him a couple
of years ago. Doug Finny uh did so many
[48:44] good things for East Conquer and the
city. Uh he's a historian. Uh recently
[48:49] he's part of the
Ebeneer Eeneer Eastman clock restoration
[48:54] and that's now operational. Um just one
of those people when you when you meet
[48:59] him for the first time, you know he's
the real deal and he passed away last
[49:03] month uh last month. Um and he's he's
going to be missed and he is missed and
[49:07] he's conquered. So thank you uh Doug and
your family. Um we really appreciate
[49:12] everything you've done for the city.
[49:17] Um lastly, um trash cleanup seems to be
a theme that we're going through here.
[49:23] So, one of the things that um the city
manager graciously did last week is um
[49:29] um trying to organize a cleanup uh from
exit 15 to 13, essentially from
[49:35] Constitution down to uh common man. So,
we're going to have two locations where
[49:40] people can park and please email me or
or text me and we're trying to clean up
[49:45] that corridor basically along the
railroad tracks that you can see from
[49:49] the interstate.
Um, just it's an hour and a half
[49:53] Saturday uh the 19th at
8:30. Give me a please text me. We need
[50:00] bodies to make this happen. I think um
we're a little lower than we want to be
[50:04] right now, but we need um bodies. If you
u want to spend some time with councelor
[50:09] Horn or councelor Brown or councelor
Schwaser or me, uh you're welcome to uh
[50:15] join us. Uh they've committed and I'm
not sure if any others are, but um it's
[50:20] one of those things that, you know, it's
people see that when they drive through
[50:24] this comm this community from the
interstate and anything we can do to
[50:28] beautify um I think it's a worthwhile
effort. That's why we're doing it. So,
[50:33] please send me a text again. I'll say it
again. We need bodies. Uh, you text me.
[50:38] It's my information's on the um city
website. The date. April 19th, 8:30 to
[50:45] 10:00 a.m. And whoever shows up, I'll
buy you a cup of coffee.
[50:51] And but again, Jfootnh.gov.
[50:56] No. Yes. and my phone number
[51:01] 6032253256 text
me well that's going to open up
[51:06] but it's Easter so hopefully everybody's
in a good mood so thank you look forward
[51:12] to some folks helping out um and that's
what I am thank you you counselor uh I
[51:19] would just like to to add to councelor
foot's comments about Doug Finny uh
[51:24] Doug's wife Angie worked with me for uh
at uh financial and its predecessor
[51:30] companies for a number of years before
she retired and I retired. Uh Doug's
[51:34] father uh was a noted photographer uh in
the state who did a lot of work with uh
[51:40] uh Chub Life America and uh was an
artist uh really and Doug was a warm,
[51:47] generous, community focused person uh
the kind of person that we really uh
[51:53] need uh more of these days. Uh they were
neighbors of mine uh in Ward 4 before
[51:59] they decided to move out to W 10. Uh but
other than that, they were great. They
[52:04] are great people. Uh but I I deeply miss
them when they when they move because
[52:09] they were, as I said, right around the
corner. I saw them all the time. Um but
[52:13] uh Doug will be missed. Uh I want to add
to uh uh the mayor prom's comments about
[52:19] the firefighters recognition. Uh it was
a great ceremony, a great night. Um uh
[52:25] in particular I you know I note the
members of the concrete firefighting
[52:29] team who were recognized for their role
in rescuing rescuing the child over on
[52:34] the western side of the state who fell
uh into a creasse or a crack in a rock.
[52:39] Uh it was an incredibly difficult uh
situation. The temperatures were
[52:42] dropping. Uh there was a great effort to
maintain the child's body temperature
[52:47] while they figured out a solution to
what was a very very difficult problem.
[52:51] Uh and they stepped forward and they
excelled at it. Um, and uh, uh, you
[52:55] know, I think you all should be proud of
that work as well as the day-to-day work
[52:58] that they do uh, in saving lives and
protecting us uh, and getting us to the
[53:03] hospital when we need to, which is most
of what they do these days. Uh, and I do
[53:07] want to thank uh, the mayor prom uh, for
the invitation uh, to his mosque fortar
[53:13] uh, at the end of Ramadan. Uh, I think
that was the third year. I've been
[53:18] there, huh? Fourth year. Fourth year.
Yeah. Thank you. Fourth year. Uh and
[53:23] it's always uh it's always very warming.
Uh uh it's a it's a wonderful uh uh
[53:29] group of folks who uh attend the mosque.
Uh and it's always good to see friends
[53:33] there. Um and also uh happy Easter and
happy Passover. Alas, we had to be
[53:39] afflicted with uh the Ten Commandments
again, but other than the overacting in
[53:43] that opus, uh it's a great
[Laughter]
[53:48] holiday. But um I hope everyone enjoys
the holidays and celebrating their
[53:54] faith. Uh I will entertain a motion to
adjurnn. So moved. Second. Moved and
[54:00] seconded. All ferify by saying I post.
No. Eyes have it. We are ajourned.