[0:02] Okay, we need to exit from non-public.
[0:06] So moved second. Lemme pull up the,
[0:15] we need to seal the, I'll make the mo motion.
[0:18] Motion made to seal the minutes of by.
[0:21] Oh, just do it separate. Yeah.
[0:24] Sorry about that everyone. Motion to be even done.
[0:27] Public made by Councilor. Foot
[0:30] Second.
[0:31] Second one by Councilor Mills has to be Roll call vote.
[0:34] Councilor Mills. Yes. Councilor Healy. Yes.
[0:37] Councilor Spencer,
[0:38] are you line Councilor Chase?
[0:43] Yes. Councilor Flood? Yes. Councilor Foot?
[0:48] Yes. Motion passes or vice chair votes? Yes.
[0:53] Motion passes. Six zero.
[0:56] I make a motion to seal the minutes indefinitely
[0:59] because it's determined that divulge
[1:01] of this information would likely
[1:04] adversely affect the reputation
[1:05] of any person other than a member of this board.
[1:08] Second. Seconded by Councilor Foote. Any discussion?
[1:13] All those in favor. Councilor Mills?
[1:15] Aye. Councilor Healy? Yes. Councilor Chase? Yes.
[1:20] Councilor Flood? Yes. Councilor Foot? Yes. Vice Chair votes?
[1:24] Yes. And is Councilwoman Spencer on line?
[1:29] I am. I'm here now and vote yes.
[1:31] Thank you. Motion passes.
[1:33] 6 0 7 0 7 0.
[1:38] Sorry about that. I'm new at this.
[1:42] Alright, now we've done the basic housekeeping.
[1:44] Welcome to tonight's town Council meeting
[1:48] and I'll call the role Councilor Chase.
[1:52] Good evening, councilor Flood. Good evening, councilor Foot.
[1:56] Good evening, Councilor Mills.
[1:58] Good evening, councilor Healy.
[2:00] Good evening, councilor Chair Spencer.
[2:05] Good evening. Vice Chair.
[2:07] Says hello Councilor Chase,
[2:10] if you could lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
[2:15] I pledge allegiance To the flag
[2:17] of the United States of America
[2:19] and to the Republic for which stands, one Nation under God,
[2:23] indivisible, with Liberty Justice for all.
[2:27] I forgot to point out that we have
[2:32] the exit to the rear of the building.
[2:33] There is also an a ED if needed at the back of the room.
[2:36] Hopefully none of those are needed.
[2:38] There is also an emergency exit over here.
[2:44] Do I have a motion to open the public forum? So
[2:47] Moved. Second. That.
[2:49] Moved by Councilor Foot. Seconded by Councilor Mills.
[2:53] All roll call will be Councilor Mills. Yes.
[2:56] Councillor Healy. Yes. Councilor Chase? Yes.
[3:01] Councilor Fled. Yes. Councilor Foot? Yes.
[3:06] Chairperson Spencer?
[3:10] Yes. Vice Chair Votes? Yes.
[3:13] Public hearing is now open. Seven zero
[3:36] David, there we go.
[3:38] Is that mic on? There we go.
[3:40] David Procher 26 Milt Moore Road.
[3:44] Last Tuesday was the primary, as I'm sure you're all aware
[3:49] and we had someone out in the parking lot
[3:52] handing out pamphlets.
[3:55] I was previously under the assumption that
[3:57] that was against the rules
[4:00] and we got a lot of complaints from a lot of people.
[4:05] I was standing, you know, where candidates and
[4:08] and supporters are supposed to stand as defined by the
[4:12] the town moderator.
[4:14] And even just there walking by, I had a lot
[4:17] of people complaining about getting
[4:19] handed pamphlets in the parking lot.
[4:21] And I don't want to start an arms race where everyone thinks
[4:24] that they have to be out in the parking lot
[4:26] and by the designated zone.
[4:29] And we end up with, you know, a pinger
[4:33] and parking lot completely covered in unnecessary pamphlets
[4:36] that are just littering everything.
[4:39] So if you guys would please look into that
[4:42] and see what can be done
[4:43] before November, that would be great.
[4:46] Have a nice day.
[4:48] Thank you.
[4:58] Hello. How you guys doing? And I'm Charlie Buzzell.
[5:03] I live on number eight Eastgate Road
[5:06] and I just wanna let you guys know
[5:11] September 20th, they're gonna honor my grandmother
[5:16] and put up a Trio Central Station at 2:00 PM
[5:21] I just wanna let you guys know. Thank you.
[5:24] And that's Hattie Durgan, correct? Huh?
[5:26] That's Hattie Durgan, yep. Okay.
[5:29] Yep. Thank you.
[5:37] Anybody else coming up to speak?
[5:46] I,
[5:56] Craig
[5:56] Cunningham Hunter Drive.
[5:58] So last week the Town Council was asked
[6:01] to make a school district department
[6:03] to make the school district a department of the town by way
[6:06] of a charter amendment.
[6:08] In 2015, the Town Council disregarded provisions in the town
[6:13] charter after unilateral really deciding
[6:16] to defund the police department, public works,
[6:18] the fire department, other municipal functions.
[6:21] Members of the community were forced to raise money to go
[6:24] to court, to force the town council
[6:27] to uphold the provisions in the charter.
[6:29] The town council used tax dollars to defend themselves.
[6:34] When they lost, they appealed
[6:36] and we had to raise funds once again.
[6:38] For that reason, I would never agree to having the
[6:42] town take over the school department In 2018,
[6:47] representative Trip
[6:48] and then Representative Ello attempted
[6:51] to get an emergency amendment attached
[6:53] to a Senate energy bill
[6:55] that upon passage would've incorporated the school
[6:58] department into the municipal government.
[7:01] When a large contingent
[7:02] of concerned citizens voiced opposition at a Senate hearing,
[7:05] the Senate president realized
[7:07] that these two were pulling shenanigans
[7:09] and immediately withdrew the amendment.
[7:13] Last week, Mrs. Leon cited increased efficiency
[7:17] as the driver behind the proposed charter amendment.
[7:20] She failed to cite any savings, projections
[7:22] or costs associated with the implementation representative,
[7:27] love Representative Trip
[7:28] and Mr. Church cited high costs in the need
[7:32] for a tax cap last winter.
[7:35] Any one of these people could have easily put a tax cap
[7:38] warrant article on the school ballot
[7:40] by following a remarkably uncomplicated process.
[7:44] It's outlined in chapter 32, section five.
[7:48] They failed to follow the process.
[7:51] There's another uncomplicated process in RSA Section 49 B
[7:56] that citizens can follow by working with the town clerk
[8:00] to put a charter amendment on the march ballot.
[8:02] So far they failed to initiate that process.
[8:06] There's also a straightforward process that
[8:09] with a hundred signatures they could have come to you
[8:12] to request a feasibility study be completed
[8:15] on bringing the school department in under the town charter.
[8:19] Apparently they failed to consider that process.
[8:21] They're requesting drastic changes from our town government.
[8:26] They haven't provided a financial analysis.
[8:28] There's been no legal or regulatory analysis.
[8:31] They haven't proposed any language. This is ludicrous.
[8:38] Anyone using even a little bit
[8:39] of critical thinking would question whether this is sincere
[8:42] effort or if this is simply a scheme
[8:45] to circumvent the three-fifths requirement in the statute
[8:48] to enact the school tax cap.
[8:50] This might just be another flavor of shenanigans.
[8:56] I've analyzed more than 15 years of school funding data.
[8:59] My analysis has provided me we I need to stop.
[9:04] Yes. Is there a motion to extend? Motion to extend.
[9:08] I'll second. Second. By Councilor Healy.
[9:10] Roll call vote is required. Councilor Mills? Yes.
[9:14] Councilor Huey. Yes. Councilor Chase? Yes. Councilor Flood.
[9:19] Yes. Councilor Foot? Yes. Councilor Spencer.
[9:25] Sorry for all the roll call votes. Yes.
[9:28] Chair votes. Yes. I've analyzed more than 15 years
[9:32] of school funding data.
[9:34] My analysis has
[9:35] provided me with objective data to demonstrate
[9:38] that the state reps in this town have harmed property
[9:41] taxpayers by millions of dollars through their votes.
[9:44] It might be possible to improve the accountability
[9:47] of our state reps if they were assigned
[9:49] to smaller districts.
[9:51] There's a process in RSA chapter 6 62 A for citizens
[9:55] to petition the town council
[9:57] to form a redistricting commission
[9:59] and then form legislative districts within the community.
[10:03] I'm following that process.
[10:04] I'm not seeking your approval or your assistance.
[10:08] I hope that you'll ask others who want
[10:10] to initiate changes in our town government
[10:12] to do the same. Thank you.
[10:15] Thank you.
[10:31] Good evening. Brian Ello six Rollin Street.
[10:35] My understanding is the council will be talking with
[10:40] Services, Talking with the school district
[10:46] about HB 1331.
[10:48] And let's be clear, HB 1331.
[10:52] No one's asking this town council
[10:53] to make a decision whether you feel
[10:55] that the schools should go underneath the town.
[10:58] The premise of the bill is to let the people
[11:03] of Derry make the decision.
[11:07] I don't care if you vote yes or no, I really don't.
[11:10] But to deny the people the right to have a say is wrong.
[11:15] And I'm glad Mr. Cunningham brought up 2015
[11:17] because I led that charge.
[11:19] I was one of people that led that charge.
[11:21] And the reason why people were angry was
[11:24] because they did not let the people have a choice.
[11:30] Secondly, I found out that there is a lawsuit
[11:34] at the state currently now
[11:37] that will probably get ironed out
[11:39] at the beginning of the year.
[11:40] And that lawsuit would overturn Claremont.
[11:45] If that is successful, that would mean the town would have
[11:50] to come up with $21 million.
[11:52] Plus the taxpayers,
[11:56] we all know what's coming down the pike in two short months.
[12:00] Okay. $10 million increase or $8 million increase actually.
[12:05] So if that gets overturned
[12:07] and this council does not let the people have a choice
[12:11] to vote in March, they're gonna come
[12:14] and they're gonna be very angry.
[12:17] So I would recommend that when you have
[12:20] that discussion, think about it.
[12:22] It's not about whether you want
[12:25] the the schools to be under the town.
[12:26] It's the question is, is do you want the people
[12:29] to have a say Thank you.
[12:37] Do I have anybody else coming up?
[12:49] Well
[12:55] Good evening.
[12:56] Oops. Good evening. Can you hear me alright?
[13:01] Oh, Richard, trip 44 Winter Road.
[13:05] Well I have some good news for you tonight.
[13:08] Not anything that is gonna get people upset.
[13:12] Anyhow, I attend most
[13:16] of the school board meetings
[13:18] and at the last meeting they talked about
[13:22] they're gonna have a facility tour
[13:26] and I waited till they posted the notice.
[13:31] But anyhow, on the 17th at four o'clock,
[13:38] the tour is gonna start at South Range School
[13:43] and from there it's gonna go to Gilbert h Grinnell,
[13:49] Ernest Barka,
[13:53] these new SAU building, which is what used
[13:58] to be Dairy Village
[14:02] And, And then
[14:07] West Running Brook in East Area Memorial.
[14:11] So if you're interested in what
[14:17] the second year of the school renovation has done
[14:21] to the schools and what they look like
[14:24] and what improvements have been made, like I said,
[14:27] show up at four o'clock at
[14:30] South Range and I'll be there.
[14:33] So we can, we can make a tour with the school board
[14:36] and the citizens can see
[14:38] what's what's going on in the schools.
[14:40] Thank you.
[14:53] Thank you. Erica Leon, 84 Shado Road.
[14:56] I just wanted to bring up some clarity on one of the things
[15:00] that Mr. Cunningham said.
[15:01] The town of Derry has a cooperative school district.
[15:04] It was the first cooperative school
[15:05] district formed in the state.
[15:07] When additional laws were passed about the process
[15:11] for cooperative school districts, we sort of got bundled in
[15:14] with everybody else because we had had 13 different
[15:17] districts within the town of Derry that ended up having
[15:19] to come together so that we could build Hood Middle School
[15:22] and just so we could do those processes.
[15:25] So as the first cooperative school district,
[15:28] we actually were created by the state, not by the town.
[15:31] And the only way to make any change
[15:33] to the school district was
[15:34] by getting permission from the legislature.
[15:36] So House Bill 1331 was required to do that,
[15:40] to give the people of dairy, any voice into
[15:43] how the Dairy Cooperative School District is administered.
[15:46] You know, obviously the ball will be in your court
[15:49] or in the people's court to figure out
[15:50] what the process is going forward.
[15:52] But without that law passing, there would've been no way
[15:56] for the people of Derry to make a choice about
[15:57] how the schools would be managed.
[15:59] So thank you.
[16:14] Hi, Jenna Paradise on Hubbard Hill Road.
[16:16] I'm here today with my election worker hat on.
[16:21] I wanted to speak to what somebody came up earlier
[16:25] and mentioned was the electioneering at the last election.
[16:30] I've been a an election worker
[16:32] for going on about 10 years in this town.
[16:35] And I don't think I had ever heard
[16:37] or seen about people coming in being harassed so much
[16:40] by somebody out in the parking lot.
[16:43] From my understanding there was some sort of loophole
[16:46] that allowed him to be out there.
[16:49] But I heard from several people coming in
[16:51] that he was pushing the pamphlets
[16:54] and if people said that they did not vote for that party,
[16:57] that he was swearing at them, he was also telling people
[17:00] to leave them in the polls, which is illegal.
[17:03] And it also added a little bit more work for us.
[17:06] But that is besides the point.
[17:07] We had to do a constant sweep of the polls
[17:09] and we found many of the pamphlets being left in there.
[17:15] And from my understanding there is New Hampshire statutes
[17:19] that are just going to read to you on electioneering.
[17:22] And I'm hoping that the town
[17:23] of Derry can do something about this
[17:26] town shall have, hold on.
[17:28] I don't have my readers. I'm getting old
[17:30] town shall have the bill.
[17:31] The power to make bylaws regulating the distribution
[17:34] of campaign materials or electioneering
[17:36] or any activity which affects the safety, welfare,
[17:39] and rights of voters at any election held
[17:42] for any purpose in such town.
[17:44] Such power shall not extend to the display of printed
[17:47] or written matter attached
[17:48] to any legally parked motor vehicle.
[17:50] Nor shall such power extend
[17:52] to activities conducted wholly on private property so as
[17:55] to not interfere with people approaching
[17:57] or entering a polling place.
[17:59] And I definitely think that what this gentleman was doing
[18:02] was interfering with people entering the polling place.
[18:06] Even though it was a little bit beyond the gauntlet,
[18:08] it was still in the Pinkerton parking lot
[18:10] and that was the main parking lot
[18:12] and the main entrance for people to come into.
[18:14] So I'm hoping that we can put something on the books
[18:17] before the next election in no, in November there's going
[18:20] to be quite a bit more people coming in
[18:24] and I hope that we can do something to prevent this.
[18:29] As a side note, I really think that if you are going
[18:32] to be voting, that you should come in as an educated voter
[18:36] and not have to rely on somebody handing you a cheat sheet
[18:40] to know who you need to vote for.
[18:42] Thank you.
[18:50] Good evening counsel. Michael Ann, 84 Sdo Road.
[18:54] Relative to the voting, I can see why so many
[18:56] of our students graduate with the inability to read
[18:59] what happened at Pinkerton,
[19:01] which is private property was 100% lawful.
[19:06] There were people who called the Attorney General
[19:08] of New Hampshire, who I think knows the law better than
[19:11] anyone else who has been up here.
[19:12] Nothing illegal happened.
[19:14] Yes, it was electioneering on private property.
[19:18] This town council, in addition to having an illegal meeting
[19:22] at the voting booths after that.
[19:24] Right? You had a quorum there. A quorum was assembled there.
[19:27] That's unlawful. Absolutely.
[19:30] The behavior some of you have exhibited online,
[19:34] far exceeded anything that gentleman did out there.
[19:36] Handing out cards, the language used up here,
[19:40] used online by some of these counselors
[19:42] to affect votes was absolutely deplorable.
[19:46] Same stuff about myself, my family. Absolutely untrue.
[19:49] It's disgusting if people won an election year, whether it's
[19:53] for conservatives, communists, Nazis,
[19:55] whatever you want, feel free.
[19:57] Some of us believe in freedom
[19:59] and if you want to tarnish us, call us horrible names.
[20:02] That's a shame.
[20:11] Mr. Chair, we're seeing none rise online. Motion
[20:13] To close the public hearing. Second
[20:16] Motion made to close the public hearing
[20:17] by Councilor Mills.
[20:19] Seconded by Councilor Foot. Councilor Chase? Yes.
[20:23] Councilor Flood. Yes. Councilor Foot? Yes. Councilor Mills.
[20:28] Yes. Councilor Healy. Yes. Councilor Spencer?
[20:33] Yes. And the chair votes? Yes.
[20:36] Public hearing is closed.
[20:42] Moving on to the consent agenda
[20:46] item 26 dash 84 to prove the minutes
[20:49] of the September 1st, 2026 meeting
[20:52] item 26 dash 84 85.
[20:56] Resolution number 2026 dash 0 5 2 To accept a Bureau
[21:01] of Justice Assistance grant for law enforcement equipment,
[21:04] please see attached a staff report
[21:06] and resolution number 2026 on it.
[21:10] But a public hearing will be scheduled
[21:12] for October 6th, 2026.
[21:16] Resolution 26 dash 86,
[21:19] resolution 2026 dash 0 5 4 to approve covenants
[21:23] and commercial industrial tax relief application
[21:26] for 12 a street.
[21:28] A public hearing is required
[21:29] and it'll be scheduled on October 6th, 2020 sixth.
[21:34] On motion on the consent agenda.
[21:36] So move second.
[21:38] Moved by Councilor Mills. Seconded by Councilor Foot.
[21:41] Councilor Chase? Yes. Councilor Flood. Yes. Councilor Foot?
[21:45] Yes. Councilor Mills. Yes. Councillor Healy. Yes.
[21:49] Councillor Spencer?
[21:51] Yes. And chair votes? Yes. Consent Agenda passes.
[21:57] Chair's report. First person is
[22:00] our town clerk, Tina Guilford.
[22:04] She'll be presenting on the state primary.
[22:22] Good evening counselors.
[22:27] So we had our primary, last Tuesday
[22:29] we had 4,903 voters.
[22:33] So it was well within the estimate that I had given you.
[22:40] We had 2,523 Republicans,
[22:44] 2,380 Democrats ballots.
[22:48] So that's kind of the breakdown.
[22:52] Results are available on the
[22:56] town website if anybody wants to look at those.
[23:00] I do wanna issue thank yous
[23:02] to the Town council for all your support.
[23:08] I do wanna address one comment
[23:09] that was made require it is a requirement per the
[23:12] New Hampshire Con New Hampshire constitution that a quorum
[23:16] of the counsel be present.
[23:19] And it is something that the Attorney
[23:21] General's office inspects.
[23:22] It's on their checklist. So four
[23:25] of you were there a good portion of the day.
[23:27] Three of you had pro Temes.
[23:30] Thank you Counselor Foote Mills and Healy for your pro tems.
[23:36] So we did have for a good portion of the day,
[23:41] seven counselors present, which is great.
[23:45] And the attorney general's office does look for that.
[23:48] And you are all introduced
[23:49] to the inspector from the Attorney General's office
[23:52] as were your protos.
[23:54] So I thank you. I'd like
[23:57] to thank my fellow election officials, our town moderator,
[24:01] Dave Nelson for another late night.
[24:05] Our supervisors of the checklist
[24:08] doing a great job registering over 140 voters.
[24:13] I'd like to thank dairy police and dairy fire.
[24:16] I know they're in the room for all your support
[24:20] and we're gearing up for November now.
[24:25] I'd like to thank everybody here at Town hall.
[24:28] I do know that when it's election time, Tina kind
[24:31] of takes over lots of spaces and the assessing department
[24:34] and the tax department, they just kind of smile and nod
[24:37] and they don't complain.
[24:39] And I really appreciate that support.
[24:41] I appreciate the town administrator support
[24:45] finance department.
[24:46] This is a team effort. We cannot do this by ourselves.
[24:52] And I want to thank our poll workers.
[24:55] We had almost a hundred people
[24:58] that we hired for the primary.
[25:02] I'd especially like to thank the ones
[25:03] who actually volunteered their time.
[25:05] And we actually had one poll worker
[25:07] who worked the polls open to close entirely
[25:09] as a volunteer and did not get paid.
[25:12] So again, I thank them for their volunteerism
[25:16] and I want to thank our voters who came out to vote.
[25:21] We had over 200 ballots that had
[25:23] to be fully hand counted due to over votes.
[25:27] I say this again as a friendly reminder.
[25:29] Our state rep race is a vote 10,
[25:32] even though we're in district 13, you don't get to vote
[25:35] for 13, you vote for 10.
[25:39] Some people had some issues with that last Tuesday we had
[25:44] just shy of a thousand write-ins.
[25:47] They are again available on the town website.
[25:52] I, I really don't understand.
[25:54] I really don't understand the ones who fill the bubble
[25:56] and then don't write anything at all.
[25:59] It is a lot of time for every, you know, for us
[26:01] to put eyeballs on all of those,
[26:03] which is why we are there till almost 2:00 AM
[26:08] Our supervisors of the checklist will be having their next
[26:10] session on September 29th.
[26:14] That means that all the people
[26:17] that have come in since the primary
[26:19] and there have been quite a few, we had another,
[26:21] quite a few people today changing their party affiliation
[26:24] 'cause they were in the wrong party.
[26:26] So those changes will take effect on the 29th.
[26:29] So I advise everyone, not that party matters in November,
[26:33] but that on the 30th you start checking online,
[26:37] check a party affiliation, make sure you're in the party
[26:39] that you're in because the presidential primary will be
[26:43] coming in January, 2028.
[26:45] And I would love to see a primary
[26:46] where our poll workers are not screamed at
[26:49] because you're in the wrong party.
[26:53] It, it is disappointing.
[26:55] And I do understand that the cutoff will probably be at the
[26:59] end of September, beginning of October
[27:01] and you're not thinking about anything about the
[27:05] presidential primary in 2027.
[27:06] So just while it's in your brain now,
[27:09] make sure you're in the party
[27:10] that you wanna be in Graphic.
[27:20] Go to presentation. So while Owen puts up the
[27:25] graphic, we're gonna move to
[27:28] the state general election
[27:31] November 3rd at Pinkerton Academy.
[27:32] 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM The
[27:37] bypass will be closed.
[27:39] We will be posting videos that the fire department made
[27:42] for us in 2024 for the traffic patterns so
[27:45] that everybody knows which way to go.
[27:49] There will be signs up around town reminding people.
[27:55] I am really hopeful that it will go as well
[27:57] as it did in 2024.
[27:59] 'cause I didn't get a lot of complaints in 2024.
[28:03] I did get a lot of complaints about the primary
[28:05] that just passed last Tuesday.
[28:09] Most of them centered on the election hearing.
[28:12] So you'll be hearing more from me on that.
[28:16] But in the future.
[28:19] Anyway, that is what I have
[28:25] and if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them.
[28:32] Any questions? No questions. Just a comment.
[28:35] I just wanna thank our town clerk
[28:37] for another very successful election in all our election
[28:40] officials that worked that day
[28:43] and also on the lead up to elections.
[28:46] Not a lot of people know all the work that goes in
[28:48] with the machine testing, the tabulator testing,
[28:51] counting the ballots, absentees
[28:53] and all, all that work leading up to that day.
[28:57] So it's not just on that day, it's all the, the lead up
[29:01] and the, the late day on election.
[29:05] I ran into Tina at two 30 in the morning
[29:07] as she was finishing up. So
[29:10] Yes, we, we met at the Darry police station.
[29:13] He was turning in his results.
[29:14] I was turning mine so they could be
[29:16] delivered to the state police to go
[29:17] Talk. And what time was that again?
[29:19] It was about two 40 or so in the morning.
[29:24] Yeah, it was late.
[29:26] And then I went home and took a hot shower
[29:28] and I was back in this building sometime
[29:31] between 7, 7 30 in the morning.
[29:35] I know that Concor Spencer has some comments.
[29:42] Thank you. Yeah, I just, I just wanna echo off of what a,
[29:45] what Tina said and,
[29:46] and everybody's already kind of heard this election workers,
[29:50] I, I wanna point out that Tina worked really hard along
[29:53] with our moderator Dave Nelson
[29:55] and our printed tapes of our results.
[29:57] So all the results that came
[29:58] through a ballot machine were posted within the hour
[30:02] of the polls closing.
[30:04] You always know you're gonna have some hand counts.
[30:06] We did have some confusion with 13 versus 10, so
[30:09] that caused a little extra.
[30:11] But almost a thousand write-ins.
[30:14] I'm frankly frustrated.
[30:16] We have people come almost every week that like
[30:18] to complain about wasting of money
[30:20] and taxpayer money being used.
[30:22] The taxpayers caused a waste of money on Tuesday.
[30:25] When you write in names,
[30:26] I would never take away somebody's right
[30:28] to have a write in vote.
[30:30] However, if you vote for somebody who is a cartoon character
[30:35] dead or does not live in the town, district or state
[30:39] and is not eligible for the race,
[30:41] you are wasting taxpayer money.
[30:44] The town clerk has to stay there and all of the team
[30:47] and has to stay.
[30:48] You paid fire, you paid police, you paid election workers
[30:52] to stay for hours after the elections closed
[30:57] because of write-ins that were not valid votes.
[31:00] So I encourage people that think they, if you think you have
[31:03] to fill something in, you don't.
[31:05] And I encourage the people that vote for
[31:08] absolutely invalid people
[31:10] or cartoon characters, which are a lot to think about
[31:13] that next time you do it that each one of those ads time
[31:17] that hand counts have to happen.
[31:18] Reconciliations have to happen to make sure we we see it
[31:22] and then read it and that people have to stay
[31:25] and get paid while that happens.
[31:27] And that is costing taxpayers money.
[31:30] And that's all I have to say. Well actually no,
[31:31] I will also say thank you to all those people
[31:34] that stayed late and did all that and that's all.
[31:36] Thank you.
[31:40] I do have two comments.
[31:43] I'm a stipend so I don't get paid to be there
[31:46] to be here in this building at 5:00 AM and
[31:49] and to not get home until almost three.
[31:51] Yeah, no I didn't get paid anything extra.
[31:55] And I will also say we need more poll workers.
[32:00] So if you're someone who likes to write in these things,
[32:04] I challenge you to sign up and come work
[32:07] and count at the end of the night, come join us
[32:11] so you can see what it's like.
[32:17] Any other comments? I just have one is you already stole
[32:21] my thunder on write in votes.
[32:22] But thank you for your hard work
[32:25] and also thanks to the public works in Pinkerton.
[32:29] Staff would help clean up when the election was over.
[32:33] Everybody works hard for this to make this actually yes,
[32:37] there were some hiccups but it was a very smooth
[32:40] day logistically.
[32:42] So thank you for organizing it.
[32:44] Thank you to the moderator Dave Nelson
[32:48] for organizing everything.
[32:50] And again,
[32:51] if you really wanna understand democracy, go work the polls.
[32:55] And I don't mean by holding signs,
[32:56] I mean actually go physically in there and
[33:00] and assist the voters count the ballots.
[33:06] Thank you.
[33:17] Next item on the chairman's report is an appointment
[33:20] to the Dairy conservation com commission
[33:24] and I nominate Linda Comy
[33:27] to the Dairy Conservation Commission as a member with a term
[33:29] to expire on March 31st, 2028.
[33:33] Second that Seconded by Councilor Mills.
[33:35] Do I have any discussion? Nope. Councilor Chase? Yes.
[33:40] Councilor Flood. Yes. Councilor Foot? Yes. Councilor Mills?
[33:45] Yes. Councilor Healey? Yes. Councilor Spencer?
[33:50] Yes. And the chair votes? Yes.
[33:53] When did Cons Conrad is appointed by vote of seven to zero.
[33:59] Couple of other announcements, just to reiterate,
[34:03] Charlie Buzzle, Hattie Ergen was a huge supporter
[34:07] of East Area
[34:08] and dairy firefighters throughout her entire life.
[34:14] And it is nice to see
[34:15] that the fire department will be honored hearing her
[34:19] by planting a tree on September 20th.
[34:23] If you want more information,
[34:24] please contact the fire department or check their website
[34:26] and give you the schedule of events.
[34:30] The next thing is just want to congratulate our own
[34:34] counselor, Doug Flood his,
[34:39] the charity that he helped found the Jason R Flood Memorial
[34:43] Pizza Stock or Pizza.
[34:45] Yeah. Pizza Stock. A charity to help
[34:50] educate people about mental health
[34:52] and suicide prevention, particularly with teenagers
[34:55] through music and counseling, has been recognized
[34:58] by the Greater Dairy One
[35:00] and Dairy Chamber of Commerce as Charity of the year.
[35:04] So congratulations.
[35:06] Daniel, your
[35:07] or your wife, Daniel Flood as who's the president?
[35:11] Vice President Mike
[35:14] Caras.
[35:15] Mike Caras, treasurer Lee Madero.
[35:18] Secretary Craig Cunningham. And members of the board.
[35:22] Jennifer Besson Cuthbert, Gina Cino, Steve Dino
[35:27] and Josh Tubbs.
[35:28] And again, thank you Doug for founding it.
[35:30] Thank you.
[35:39] Last issue is regarding House Bill 1331.
[35:43] The DER Town Council has heard the requests
[35:46] and comments on House Bill 31
[35:49] and of those that spoke at the last meeting in this meeting.
[35:53] So we have asked the TA to gather facts
[35:56] and information on this complex issue so
[35:59] that we may act in an informed and appropriate manner
[36:02] and do our due diligence.
[36:04] In the meantime, we ask everyone to be patient. Thank you.
[36:09] Now we'll move to the Todd Administrator's report.
[36:13] Good evening. I've got a couple of items to share tonight.
[36:17] The Dairy Police Department recognizes
[36:19] that effective leadership is one
[36:20] of the most critical components
[36:21] of a professional law organization.
[36:24] And investing in leadership development ensures
[36:26] that supervisors and command staff possess the knowledge,
[36:29] skills and abilities to lead personnel manage complex
[36:32] organization challenges
[36:34] and provide the highest level of service to the community.
[36:38] Several members of the department have attended training
[36:42] through the FBI,
[36:43] law Enforcement Executive Development Association,
[36:46] also known as lda
[36:48] and Chief George Filia is here this evening with some guests
[36:53] to present an award tonight
[36:55] to the department and individuals.
[36:57] So George,
[37:01] Thank you Mike.
[37:02] Thank you Thomas. I wanted to highlight what I consider
[37:05] to be a pretty significant milestone achievement
[37:09] by our command staff.
[37:11] One of the things that, do you have a slide there
[37:15] for oh one? Yep,
[37:17] We're bringing that up right now.
[37:18] Thank you Chief. One of the things, the first things
[37:22] that previous town administrator Dave Karen asked
[37:25] of me when he hired me as Chief 42, excuse me,
[37:28] four years ago, was
[37:29] that I developed a leadership succession planning plan to
[37:33] that end the town engaged with attorney Eric Daigle,
[37:35] the Daigle Law Group, and to assist us with that task.
[37:39] One of the chief recommendations by attorney Daigle made at
[37:42] that time was to increase the level of supervisory command
[37:45] and executive development development training offered
[37:48] to our current and future leaders.
[37:51] We had long been involved with the FBI,
[37:53] law Enforcement Executive Development Association
[37:57] and were aware that they offered some of the best training
[38:00] this country has to offer.
[38:02] In fact, FBI leader offers a trilogy of classes entitled
[38:06] Supervisory Leadership Institute,
[38:08] command Leadership Institute,
[38:10] and the Executive Leadership Institute.
[38:14] Each week long course is designed to prepare an officer
[38:16] to be successful from the rank of sergeant right up
[38:19] to the rank of chief with a fair degree of pride.
[38:23] I appear this evening with our entire command staff,
[38:26] including all five lieutenants, both captains
[38:30] and each of us have completed the trilogy of classes
[38:32] and individually earned the FBI lead a Trilogy Award.
[38:37] This accomplishment makes the DER Police Department eligible
[38:40] for an agency award.
[38:43] I'm pleased to introduce the Chief Operations Officer
[38:45] for the FBI leader, Michael Robinson Senior
[38:48] for a presentation to the department.
[38:51] Thank you. Chief
[38:55] Town Council.
[38:56] Greetings Town Manager Administrator. Yep.
[39:00] Greetings to you as well.
[39:01] Mr. Fowler, chief fii, thank you
[39:04] for having us here this evening.
[39:06] First of all, good evening everyone.
[39:08] As chief has stated, my name is Michael Robinson.
[39:11] I'm the Chief Operating Officer for FBI lita. FBI.
[39:15] Lita is an organization
[39:17] that does law enforcement leadership
[39:19] training across the world.
[39:21] Each year. For the last couple
[39:23] of years we've trained about 20,000
[39:26] law enforcement professionals across the United States
[39:29] as well as in foreign countries as well on leadership.
[39:34] And there are very few departments
[39:38] that will show the level of dedication
[39:42] that this department here has shown in Derry New Hampshire.
[39:47] They've shown a commitment to investing in their personnel.
[39:51] Thank you. Town Council
[39:53] or whoever handles the budget to support that effort
[39:56] because we know it's not a singular issue.
[40:00] It takes the whole town
[40:01] to actually support departments when they're
[40:05] pursuing something such as the FBI Leader A Trilogy Award,
[40:10] as the chief has stated, the Trilogy Award goes to agencies
[40:14] who have made the commitment to ensure that each member
[40:18] of their executive team, specifically members
[40:21] of their command staff, have completed our flagship program.
[40:26] And the flag flagship program for us,
[40:29] and it has been for quite some time,
[40:31] is our supervisory leadership course,
[40:33] which talks about everything you need to make sure
[40:36] that individuals are aware of
[40:38] and understand the perspective of the first line supervisor.
[40:42] Then there's a Command Leadership Institute
[40:45] where we focus on those that are in the command ranks
[40:48] and those individuals who assist the chief in running
[40:52] that department and they gain a perspective at that level.
[40:56] And then there's the Executive Leadership Institute.
[40:59] Those individuals learn this perspective of the chief
[41:03] and they get a clear understanding
[41:04] that the chief has the answer to a lot of people,
[41:07] including many individuals in this room as well as the town
[41:11] that you guys serve as well.
[41:13] So it's quite an honor for us to be here.
[41:16] I came in a little early because we're actually holding a
[41:19] class up in Beau New Hampshire this week.
[41:22] So I got a chance to meet
[41:24] and talk with individuals who were in that class.
[41:26] We do about 700 classes a year
[41:31] and this year only three departments in the state
[41:35] of New Hampshire achieved the FBI lead a agency Trilogy
[41:39] Award thus far since we've started
[41:42] issuing the agency Trilogy Award
[41:45] for police departments across the country.
[41:47] There've only been six now in the state of New Hampshire
[41:51] and your department is one of them of course.
[41:54] And there've only been 303 across the country.
[41:59] And keep in mind there are about 18,000 police departments
[42:03] in the United States of America
[42:05] and your department is one of those
[42:07] who achieved the FBI lead a Trilogy Award.
[42:11] So on behalf of our executive director, Jacque Patis,
[42:15] as well as our president of our organization,
[42:18] Mr. Christopher Workman, it is quite the honor
[42:23] to present tonight the FBI Lita Agency Trilogy Award
[42:28] to Chief Oli as well as your amazing command staff.
[42:33] So congratulations chief very much. Awesome.
[42:35] You're quite welcome.
[42:41] Hopefully We can get some,
[42:43] Some pictures here with the,
[42:45] with the team here if that's okay.
[42:48] Absolutely. Alright. We had
[42:54] warned him that we'd be taking pictures anyways. That's
[42:58] A pretty Neat slide.
[43:38] If it's okay, I know I blessed it with the chief,
[43:41] but we do have things that we provide individuals
[43:44] for supporting these departments across the country.
[43:46] They're called challenge coins for those
[43:48] who may have served in the United States military, as I did
[43:51] as well, we'd like to make sure that some
[43:54] of your key personnel get some of these tonight.
[43:58] So I'd like to provide one from the town administrator.
[44:00] Thank you. As well as all of your council members as well.
[44:04] And thank you guys for supporting such an
[44:07] amazing department here.
[44:08] And I understand since Miss
[44:11] isn't here, I'll just need the, yeah. Alright. Done.
[44:14] I'll make certain that you get it. Thank you. Quite
[44:16] Welcome sir.
[44:18] Thank you sir. Thank you.
[44:20] Well it's an appropriate shape for you Doug. Thank you.
[44:23] Absolutely. Oh yeah. Mr.
[44:27] Chairman, if you'll allow me 30 more seconds. Absolutely.
[44:31] I just, I think, think it's important
[44:32] to recognize each officer individually.
[44:36] I want to recognize
[44:37] and you can stand, the officers can stand up.
[44:39] Some of 'em already are. Lieutenant Pat Dawson,
[44:42] patrol division Lieutenant 14 year service to the top.
[44:46] Thank you Lieutenant.
[44:52] Lieutenant Jared Knox, patrol division Lieutenant 16 years
[44:57] of service, total law enforcement.
[44:58] 14 to the town of dairy. Thank you.
[45:03] Lieutenant Chris Talbot, 22 years of service.
[45:07] Presently our investigative services bureau commander.
[45:10] Thank you Lieutenant.
[45:15] Lieutenant Ryan O'Rourke, 19 years of service patrol
[45:20] bureau Lieutenant, thank you for your service.
[45:27] Sean O'Donohue, our administrative services bureau
[45:30] commander, Lieutenant O'Donohue 18.
[45:32] I'm nearly 19 years of service. Thank you.
[45:34] Lieutenant Captain
[45:39] Dave Micha, our support services division
[45:43] commander, 19 years of service.
[45:44] Thank you Captain. And Captain John Breen,
[45:49] our operations division commander, 29 years service.
[45:53] Thank you. Thank you very much.
[45:56] If we could do one more picture, maybe with the six
[45:59] of us and everybody else
[46:01] Certainly.
[46:02] And yes.
[46:04] Great. You want
[46:22] you guys behind us with us?
[46:24] Yes.
[47:00] Make a
[47:32] thank you for having Congratulations.
[47:37] Congratulations.
[47:48] Congratulations. I stepped behind Jack, Mr. Chair.
[47:52] I just got to say I'm a little disappointed that
[47:54] with all these great opportunities veteran photographers
[47:57] took the chance to say, say police,
[48:01] Come on.
[48:02] Yeah, yeah.
[48:06] Thank you Chief fii
[48:07] and all the work that your staff has done.
[48:17] Yeah. Alright, we'll continue. Alright,
[48:20] So I have a couple of other items
[48:22] of interest for the community.
[48:25] On September 1st, town council
[48:27] or members had attended a ribbon cutting at
[48:30] the town's landfill.
[48:32] And that was to commemorate a, the opening
[48:35] of our solar panel field
[48:37] that has a 25 year power purchase agreement lease
[48:41] with Encore Renewable Energy.
[48:43] Some of the stats that are important
[48:45] to talk about is the town is purchasing electricity at
[48:48] 6.50 cents per kilowatt hour as compared
[48:50] to the Eversource default rate
[48:52] of 14 cents just over 14 cents per kilowatt hour
[48:56] as of August 1st.
[48:58] The net zero task force was instrumental in working
[49:02] through the proposals
[49:03] and we finally have tangible electricity production
[49:06] for order of magnitude.
[49:08] The solar array will generate approximately 4.2 million
[49:12] kilowatt hours of electricity annually, some
[49:15] of which will be consumed at the wastewater treatment plant.
[49:17] And then the other product will be distributed into the grid
[49:22] and the town would be receiving net metering credits.
[49:25] So we are projecting over the 25 year period at a minimum
[49:30] of $4 million of averted cost, whether when you compare to
[49:33] what the default rate is for electricity.
[49:36] So I'll continue to update the council one at some point
[49:41] as we go into the winter.
[49:42] We are gonna talk a little bit about fuel costs and,
[49:46] and what those may or may not be for impacts to the budget.
[49:49] We were expecting diesel and heating
[49:51] oil and things of that nature.
[49:53] We made some projections.
[49:54] So we'll talk about that a little bit.
[49:55] But I did want to note that our solar project is online
[49:59] and currently generating electricity.
[50:03] On a related note, the town also recently signed a
[50:06] consultant agreement with Freedom Logistics to initiate the
[50:10] electricity aggregation, also known
[50:13] as Community Power Effort.
[50:15] This endeavor's gonna kick off with pricing in early 2027,
[50:19] which will be offered to all residential parties in the
[50:21] Eversource, Unitil, and Liberty franchise area.
[50:24] The goal of this program would be
[50:26] to offer electricity supply at a lower rate
[50:28] than the default utility.
[50:29] So this is for everybody in the community.
[50:32] So we talked about a few years ago putting community power
[50:37] into place where perhaps if there's a higher rate from ever
[50:40] source at 14 cents, our buying power combined would allow us
[50:44] to potentially be somewhat less expensive than that.
[50:47] So we're gonna be pricing that
[50:49] and that would be something we'll roll out some information
[50:51] in, in hopes that we can save, you know, again, all
[50:54] of our residents, some money on their electricity bills.
[50:58] And then lastly, just as a query for the council
[51:03] setting up meetings, you have the 22nd,
[51:06] you're gonna be meeting with the school board
[51:08] for a workshop at five 30.
[51:11] You have regular town council meetings on October 6th
[51:14] and October 20th.
[51:15] And then November 3rd is the general election day
[51:19] that would align with your regular meeting scheduled dates.
[51:23] So just let me know if you, if you have some thoughts,
[51:26] I'm assuming that you want to postpone
[51:28] and not hold a meeting that day,
[51:30] but if you wanna just meet November 17th as the only meeting
[51:34] of the month, that could be accommodated on the normal
[51:37] third Tuesday of the month.
[51:38] But we can talk about that at the next meeting
[51:41] and make sure we let the viewers know if
[51:44] we are having a meeting or not.
[51:45] On November 3rd, they're not having
[51:47] a meeting, they can't I know.
[51:48] Understood. And I just wanna put that out there for,
[51:51] for full transparency.
[51:52] And that's all I have. Do we have any questions
[51:55] for the town administrator?
[52:00] Councilor Spencer?
[52:03] I don't have a question, but I would just,
[52:05] on the community power item, I would just like
[52:10] to give a shout, kind of a shout out
[52:12] and thank you to the net zero commission.
[52:14] They've been really working on this and,
[52:16] and working with the town administrator and,
[52:18] and others to see this come through and,
[52:21] and have been really behind this effort.
[52:23] So I just wanna give them a congratulations
[52:25] to hopefully helping their neighbors save some money.
[52:28] Do we have any plan on how we're going
[52:30] to notify all the residents?
[52:31] Yes, absolutely. So there will be a,
[52:34] a public meeting at some point, probably either in December
[52:38] or January of 2027 to outline the plan
[52:41] and then mailers go out to each one of the individual
[52:44] 11,000 properties that would be eligible for this.
[52:47] Although it may be a little less 'cause we're not gonna be
[52:48] going into the New Hampshire co-op area,
[52:50] but each homeowner is given
[52:53] an opportunity to review the plans.
[52:55] You do have options if you want something
[52:57] that's a little bit more green
[52:58] or you pay generally more for that,
[53:00] but we'll be distributing and discussing it.
[53:02] The idea would be to have the pricing available
[53:06] for some time in April around that timeframe, 2027,
[53:09] and people would be automatically opting into the program.
[53:13] It would be an opt-out option if you
[53:15] don't want to be part of it.
[53:16] This is, you know, community-wide.
[53:18] So this is being done in many other communities
[53:20] around the state and we just didn't launch it
[53:23] because the timing in 2023 and 2024 was not advantageous.
[53:27] So we're at that stage now where we think it is.
[53:36] So, you know, other comments, we might as well move on
[53:39] to the public hearings.
[53:43] We have ordinance 2026 dash 0 0 3
[53:47] to amend chapter one 19
[53:49] of the General Code Hawkers Pedalers Itinerant vendors
[53:53] Police Chief FII will be presenting.
[54:05] Thank you. Thank you counselors.
[54:07] I appeared this evening to talk a little bit about
[54:09] Chapter one 19 in our Town Code Hawkes
[54:13] and peddlers in Itinerant Bend Town Ordinance.
[54:16] I noticed short while ago that
[54:21] the ordinance needed some revision
[54:22] because there are some state statutes
[54:24] that have since been repealed
[54:25] and are referenced in our ordinance.
[54:30] So I'll just go quickly through that.
[54:32] It's, it's really housekeeping measures more than changes
[54:35] to the ordinance with the exception of price increase
[54:40] for the permit fee itself.
[54:43] The ordinance chap refers
[54:45] to chapter RSA chapter three 20 and 3 21.
[54:47] Both of those were repealed in 2023.
[54:51] Those citations can are no longer valid within the document
[54:54] and need to be removed.
[54:56] And we wanted to correct what I perceived as a
[55:00] deficiency in the permit fee.
[55:03] We were last, it was last set at $50 per year.
[55:07] And I did some investigation
[55:09] and found that we should be in the $150 a year range
[55:14] for, to align with our other communities around us.
[55:17] And that would of course increase,
[55:19] generate increased revenue, specifically Section 1 19 3.
[55:23] We remove the,
[55:25] the New Hampshire RSA Chapter 3 21 license requirement.
[55:28] We renumber the sections
[55:30] accordingly to maintain consistent ordinance structure
[55:32] in section one 19 dash five.
[55:34] We remove the phrase pursuant to 3 21 3 in reference
[55:38] to hawkers and peddlers as defined in 3 21
[55:42] as those RSAs were repealed Also,
[55:45] section one 19 and one 10.
[55:47] These are housekeeping measures as
[55:49] I I indicated we would add as amended.
[55:53] September 15th, 2026 if you elect
[55:56] to make that change this evening.
[55:58] In, in section 1 19 10 at effective date language.
[56:02] This article takes effect January 14th, 2021
[56:05] and as amended September 15th, 2026, excuse me,
[56:11] the current Hawkins and Pist fee license.
[56:14] Permit fee is $50, as you can see,
[56:19] excuse me, Manchester's $150 a year.
[56:22] Nash was a hundred. Portsmouth is two 50.
[56:24] Keen is 150 Rochester's a hundred.
[56:27] I thought that we should be at 150.
[56:29] Now at current this year, we,
[56:33] we've issued 24 licenses since April.
[56:36] That would generate, we did generate $1,200
[56:39] with $150 fee, we would've generated 3,600.
[56:43] So we'll triple that revenue.
[56:46] There's no negative fiscal impact to the budget.
[56:48] The fee increased from 50 to 150,
[56:50] we'll generate increased revenues to the town.
[56:52] So that's a positive. The council is asked
[56:55] to consider those amendments to the
[56:57] chapter one 19 this evening.
[57:00] I'm here to I, I'll be happy
[57:01] to answer any questions that anyone might have.
[57:04] Moved up public hearing. Second.
[57:08] Motion to open the public hearing made by Councilor Foot.
[57:11] Seconded by Councilor Healey. Councilor Chase? Yes.
[57:14] Councilor Flood. Yes. Councilor Foot? Yes. Councilor Mills?
[57:17] Yes. Councilor Healy. Yes. Consul LER Spencer?
[57:21] Yes. Chair votes? Yes. Let's open the public hearing.
[57:34] David Preventer 26 Milmore Road.
[57:37] You mentioned that you suspect that the
[57:40] income would be tripled.
[57:42] So you think that there'd be a hundred percent conversion
[57:44] rate from people paying the $50 a year to the $150
[57:47] That yeah, that, that, that is assumption based
[57:49] on a hundred percent conversion.
[57:50] Okay, so you don't think that any
[57:51] that number would be too high for anybody
[57:53] to just say Nah, no. It's not worth it?
[57:56] No. I, I talk, I spoke with other law enforcement agencies
[57:59] that try charge a much higher rate than we do
[58:01] and they saw no significant drop in the application.
[58:05] Okay. Just wanted to make sure that was considered. Okay.
[58:07] Thank you. Anybody else Rising
[58:12] Mr. Chair? Seeing none
[58:13] Rise online.
[58:14] Move to close. Second.
[58:16] Motion to close a public hearing by Councilor Foot.
[58:18] Seconded by Councilor Mills. Councilor Chase? Yes.
[58:21] Councilor Flood? Yes. Councilor Foot?
[58:24] Yes. Councilor Mills? Yes. Councilor Healy?
[58:27] Yes. Councilor Spencer?
[58:30] Yes. Chair votes? Yes. Public hearing is closed.
[58:34] Do we have any questions for the police Chief
[58:39] Mr.
[58:40] Chair? Seeing no further questions.
[58:40] Oh, I just want, sorry.
[58:44] Councilor Spencer, do you have any?
[58:47] No, And I just have one.
[58:51] I had asked this to the town administrator
[58:54] because I wasn't certain exactly what a Hawker pet
[58:57] or an itinerant vendor is
[58:58] because my first thought was, oh,
[59:00] are we raising the fee on the people
[59:01] that open the farmer's market?
[59:03] He says, no, that's not the case.
[59:04] No. So quite often we have people that go to door
[59:09] to door selling door and window products
[59:12] or siding, things like that.
[59:13] And they, they, they canvas a neighborhood.
[59:15] Those folks have to be licensed under this ordinance.
[59:19] All right. So that if, so that allows a person,
[59:21] if they have a stranger knocking on the door
[59:23] and says, Hey, I'm selling new pro windows,
[59:25] that they can contact the police then
[59:27] and verify that that's a licensed vendor.
[59:30] Absolutely. All right. Thank you
[59:33] Mr.
[59:34] Chair. Single no further questions. I move.
[59:36] The ordinance number 2026 dash zero three
[59:41] will amend Chapter one 19 of the general code
[59:44] offers peddlers
[59:45] and itinerant vendors, whereas Section 5.1
[59:49] of the town charter designates the town council
[59:52] As the governing and legislative body of the town.
[59:55] And pursuant to Section 6.1, the council shall legislate
[1:00:00] by ordinance and whereas there is a need
[1:00:03] to amend chapter one 19, hawkers, peddlers
[1:00:06] and itinerant vendors governing the issuance
[1:00:09] of associated permits.
[1:00:10] And whereas chart changes have been made to state law
[1:00:14] and the town ordinance requires several amendments
[1:00:17] to remove references to appealed state statues.
[1:00:20] And now therefore, the town of Derry Ordains.
[1:00:24] That chapter one 19 of the General Code Hawkers peddlers
[1:00:28] and itinerant vendors be amended by removing references
[1:00:32] to repealed state statues RSA 3 21
[1:00:37] and RSA 3 21 3
[1:00:40] and amending the license fee to $150 per year.
[1:00:44] This ordinance shall take effect 30 days after its adoption.
[1:00:49] Second motion made by Councilor Mill.
[1:00:53] Seconded by Councilor Healy. Do we have any discussion?
[1:00:57] Councilor Spencer? Nope. All right. Seeing no discussion.
[1:01:02] Councilor Chase? Yes. Councilor Flood? Yes. Councilor Foot?
[1:01:06] Yes. Councilor Mills? Yes. Councilor Healy. Yes.
[1:01:11] Councilor Spencer? Yes. Chair votes? Yes. Motion passes.
[1:01:16] Seven zero. Moving on to 26 78.
[1:01:23] Resolution 2026 dash 0 5 0 to accept the 2026
[1:01:28] Community Wildfire Protection Plan.
[1:01:31] Beth Carver.
[1:01:36] Thank you. And if you could introduce yourself, Mr.
[1:01:38] Nwi, I'd appreciate it. Yes. Hello everyone.
[1:01:43] John Neely. I work for the State of New Hampshire
[1:01:45] as a community Wildfire mitigation Coordinator. Thank you.
[1:01:49] Awesome. Thank you.
[1:01:51] So we are here to introduce the plan
[1:01:55] and its recommendations to reduce wildfire risk in dairy.
[1:02:00] So we'll start with why create A-C-W-P-P in the first place?
[1:02:04] So dairy actually faces a higher wildfire risk than 96%
[1:02:09] of other communities in New Hampshire.
[1:02:12] And wildfires in dairy are generally small, but human caused
[1:02:16] and they're frequent and can become structural fires.
[1:02:21] So the CWPP looks at all kinds of things,
[1:02:23] looks at vegetation, weather, topography,
[1:02:26] infrastructure access,
[1:02:27] and a lot more in order to make recommendations so
[1:02:31] that we can reduce the risk of a fire before it starts.
[1:02:36] So what is A-C-W-P-P?
[1:02:39] It's a collaborative effort between the state members
[1:02:43] of local government
[1:02:46] and to assess like what the risk is
[1:02:50] and prioritize what actions we can take
[1:02:53] and then to act on those.
[1:02:56] And we have a list of actions
[1:03:00] and it's going to benefit dairy
[1:03:02] because it provides in-depth recommendations that you all
[1:03:08] and other town officials can take on actionable steps
[1:03:12] to lower our wildfire risk.
[1:03:14] And importantly, secure federal funding.
[1:03:16] So having A-C-W-P-P in place is a benefit when it comes
[1:03:21] to applying for these community Wildfire defense grants,
[1:03:25] but it also provides just simple actionable steps
[1:03:28] that residents can take to make their homes
[1:03:31] and neighborhoods more resilient to wildfire.
[1:03:36] So after we did all that analysis, we came up
[1:03:41] with four goals and 17 actions that are
[1:03:45] inside the CWPP
[1:03:49] and the those main four goals.
[1:03:53] So we'll use the best available science
[1:03:55] and information to identify present, to identify present
[1:04:00] and future vulnerabilities to wildfire within dairy.
[1:04:04] We'll provide residents and land managers information
[1:04:07] and tools to reduce wildfire risk
[1:04:09] and structural ignitability on their lands.
[1:04:12] Address ways to improve wildfire response
[1:04:15] with training equipment and technology
[1:04:18] and identify ways to improve communication
[1:04:21] and participation among town officials, residents,
[1:04:24] and stakeholders regarding wildfire risk reduction in dairy.
[1:04:30] So that's all for our presentation.
[1:04:33] And now if you have any questions
[1:04:34] for us, we'd be happy to answer.
[1:04:37] I'll open up first to the public hearing. Moved second.
[1:04:42] Moved by Councilor Foot, second by Councilor Mills.
[1:04:44] Councilor Chase? Yes. Councilor Flood? Yes. Councilor Foot?
[1:04:48] Yes. Councilor Mills? Yes. Councilor Healy?
[1:04:51] Yes. Councilor Spencer?
[1:04:53] Yes. Chair votes yes to open the public hearing.
[1:04:57] Do we have anybody coming up?
[1:04:58] Ah, actually John, if you could just step back for a second
[1:05:03] to allow members of the public Thank you.
[1:05:09] Thank you. Erica Leon, 84 Shanita Road I,
[1:05:13] I learned about this community wildfire protection plan
[1:05:17] And I did have some email discussions
[1:05:20] with Chief Farrow about this
[1:05:21] and the development of the plan On August 14th.
[1:05:24] I had asked for more details,
[1:05:26] but he said at that point that it was a draft form
[1:05:29] and it was not available for dissemination.
[1:05:32] Looking through the 111 page document, my parcels that
[1:05:36] around my, my family are called out by name
[1:05:39] and I am concerned that as landowners
[1:05:42] who were flagged in this process, we were not part
[1:05:45] of the process of discussing this, especially given
[1:05:48] that I had reached out to the chief trying
[1:05:50] to get information on this plan.
[1:05:53] But secondarily, beyond the fact that we have land
[1:05:56] that we are managing, we are conserving
[1:05:58] and we're reducing the wildfire risk on.
[1:06:01] I have other questions
[1:06:02] and concerns that'll impact far more
[1:06:04] people in the town of dairy.
[1:06:06] I grew up in a high, high wildfire area
[1:06:08] and my brother has now had to cut all
[1:06:10] of the vegetation basically on his property.
[1:06:14] Looking at the defensible zones that are listed in here,
[1:06:17] I would like to know whether
[1:06:18] or not this plan means that people of dairy will have
[1:06:21] to cut down trees that are providing shade to their home
[1:06:24] because of the potential wildfire risk.
[1:06:27] Because this looks like the same plan
[1:06:28] that's used in Southern California and Southern California
[1:06:33] and Dairy New Hampshire have very,
[1:06:34] very different fire risks.
[1:06:36] So I'd like to know whether
[1:06:37] or not people are going to be told to cut down their trees
[1:06:40] so that they don't have shade.
[1:06:42] What other changes they'll need to do if people will be able
[1:06:45] to continue to build with wood cladding on their homes
[1:06:48] with trees close by.
[1:06:49] Or if we are going
[1:06:50] to be pushing people into different structural choices in
[1:06:54] order to face federal chase federal dollars.
[1:06:57] Now I appreciate that we're trying to deal
[1:06:58] with wildfire risks, but I'm just trying to make sure
[1:07:01] that the glove actually fits in this
[1:07:03] and that what we are doing is something
[1:07:04] that addresses the needs of dairy as opposed
[1:07:06] to flying in California style policies.
[1:07:09] So I would like to know about the impact for people.
[1:07:12] So thank you. Yeah.
[1:07:16] Anybody else coming up to speak?
[1:07:24] Good evening, Michael.
[1:07:26] A on 84 CDO road
[1:07:28] also is appear in the community wildlife protection plan.
[1:07:34] First, kudos to the people that put this together
[1:07:38] to put science up there.
[1:07:39] I think that's actually very important
[1:07:41] where the fire science is based.
[1:07:44] For the record, I'm not a fire scientist.
[1:07:46] I have read fire science
[1:07:48] and I'm curious why so much
[1:07:49] of the fire science is not based on the geography
[1:07:53] of New England For convenience.
[1:07:57] I have a couple numbers here that may be of interest
[1:07:59] to the council as well
[1:08:00] as interested members of the community.
[1:08:04] New Hampshire. Yes, we're number one in poverty,
[1:08:06] which is gonna come up relative to fire risk in a minute.
[1:08:10] We're the second most forested state in the entire country.
[1:08:13] We're second only to Maine.
[1:08:15] If you look at the actual fire risk of wildfires
[1:08:18] to the state, if I told you that only 150 acres less than
[1:08:23] that burned last year statewide, would you be surprised
[1:08:27] less than 150 acres?
[1:08:29] We are one of the least fire prone states in the entire
[1:08:32] country in the field of medicine.
[1:08:36] There are little lies, big lies
[1:08:38] and statistics on this report.
[1:08:41] And I understand how federal grants work.
[1:08:43] I've written many myself
[1:08:44] and received many for different types of research.
[1:08:47] 90 dairy is 96% more likely
[1:08:51] to burn than the rest of the state.
[1:08:53] That is true, that is absolutely true.
[1:08:57] However, if you look at the overall risk
[1:08:59] for the entire state, it is super small
[1:09:02] and a huge portion of a very small number is still a very
[1:09:04] small number contained within here.
[1:09:07] If you look the committee I,
[1:09:09] I again give kudos 25 years of data in here.
[1:09:13] Look how much wildfire has actually burned in dairy.
[1:09:17] I'm just trying to build the understand what the need is for
[1:09:21] such restrictions that are are being suggested in here.
[1:09:27] I apologize, I was only able
[1:09:29] to access this today despite trying to get this
[1:09:31] before page 24.
[1:09:35] If you look 25 years, a quarter of a century, quarter
[1:09:39] of a century, less than a hundred acres burned in dairy,
[1:09:42] less than a hundred acres in a quar
[1:09:44] in a quarter of a century.
[1:09:46] It's absolutely amazing.
[1:09:48] While wildfires are a big number in dairy,
[1:09:52] if you look at the size of the fires,
[1:09:54] we don't stand out from the rest of the state.
[1:09:57] Yes, we've had higher incidents.
[1:09:58] We also are the fourth biggest population in the state.
[1:10:02] These things go hand in hand.
[1:10:04] If you look at the population,
[1:10:06] this is not mentioned in there other than briefly in
[1:10:09] demographics I mentioned we are number one
[1:10:12] and lowest poverty in the whole country.
[1:10:13] By far, by far poverty
[1:10:17] and fire risk are directly correlated.
[1:10:19] There are actually book chapters written
[1:10:21] on this, which are pretty amazing.
[1:10:25] Finally, it it on this leading end, if you look all
[1:10:28] around us, all of the states in New England
[1:10:30] that surround us are all top 10 lowest fire risk,
[1:10:35] which offers some opportunities for us
[1:10:37] at no cost to taxpayers.
[1:10:40] Just going through this report,
[1:10:42] I made several notes on here, several.
[1:10:45] I would urge the council
[1:10:48] and this com committee to take with strong caution.
[1:10:52] The rationale for this,
[1:10:54] the Palisades fire in Southern California.
[1:10:58] My wife mentioned the biomes of California
[1:11:02] and New Hampshire have nothing in common.
[1:11:04] Whether you look at southern New California
[1:11:08] or you look at Northern California,
[1:11:09] the biomes have absolutely nothing in common.
[1:11:13] Are there softwoods and hardwoods between them? Sure.
[1:11:15] If you want to get down to that,
[1:11:16] if you look at the understory structure,
[1:11:18] the soil composition, the actual fuel that's there to burn,
[1:11:23] they are very different.
[1:11:25] And I might add California, Oregon
[1:11:27] and Washington enacted a ban
[1:11:31] on sustainable forestry in 1991.
[1:11:34] They are now the most at risk states
[1:11:36] of having large wildfires elsewhere.
[1:11:39] Contained in this document are
[1:11:43] perhaps true at very small local level.
[1:11:47] If you look at the national level, by far the biggest risk
[1:11:50] of wildfires on public land.
[1:11:52] New Hampshire in this report says 65% home ownership.
[1:11:57] If you discount the fact that 14% of the states owned
[1:12:00] by the federal government, if you will,
[1:12:02] with the white national forest, home ownership is a percent
[1:12:05] of land and the state increases significantly.
[1:12:08] The risk for wildfires is actually lowest on private land.
[1:12:12] And I think that's important to mention.
[1:12:16] There's a lot, there's a lot in here to digest
[1:12:18] and I think a lot is being left on the table,
[1:12:24] that the fire department's gonna come out
[1:12:26] and identify invasive species trees.
[1:12:30] Hey, that's to be commended.
[1:12:33] I'm gonna call out the state representatives
[1:12:35] because there was a bill put in last year
[1:12:36] to restrict homeowners
[1:12:38] or force homeowners to label Japanese, not weed
[1:12:42] before they, they sold their home.
[1:12:44] I asked state legislators across party lines,
[1:12:48] almost no one could identify what it was.
[1:12:50] Is this really gonna help us fight fires?
[1:12:52] There are already private organizations.
[1:12:55] There's an ash organization literally for ash trees
[1:12:58] that have come and climbed ash trees on
[1:13:00] our property to get the seeds from.
[1:13:02] There's an American chestnut society
[1:13:04] that is very active here in New Hampshire.
[1:13:06] We actually have an American native chestnut on our property
[1:13:10] that is guarded by many trail cameras.
[1:13:13] We've had tree, other trees cut down on the property.
[1:13:15] That's a jewel that we have.
[1:13:17] These are all called out in the report.
[1:13:18] Is this really gonna reduce a almost non-existent fire risk?
[1:13:24] There are many other resources
[1:13:27] that are already working on this
[1:13:28] that it would cost the town council,
[1:13:31] it would cost this committee absolutely nothing.
[1:13:33] Eversource, where high power lines are
[1:13:36] mentioned as a fire risk.
[1:13:38] Eversource has been doing an amazing job
[1:13:41] and for the Conservation
[1:13:42] Commission, I've been working with them.
[1:13:44] I can put you in contact with their vegetation managers.
[1:13:47] All three of 'em, from the regional manager
[1:13:49] to the two local ones.
[1:13:50] They have done an amazing job, not only battling all kinds
[1:13:53] of invasive species, preserving native species,
[1:13:56] they have been harassed when accidents happen.
[1:13:58] They're acutely aware of fire risk
[1:14:01] and have done a lot, not only on our property,
[1:14:03] to help mitigate fire risk, to allow me
[1:14:05] to do work on our property
[1:14:07] to restore native plants at the same time
[1:14:10] as reducing fire risk.
[1:14:14] I, I think this is a, i i I will be so bold as
[1:14:17] to say if anyone in this town has done more for conservation
[1:14:21] to reduce fire risk on their own land in the last six years
[1:14:24] in the Leon family and our friends stand up
[1:14:28] and say, I don't think anyone else has.
[1:14:30] With that said on here,
[1:14:33] an assessment was made of properties.
[1:14:35] This was supposedly completed last year.
[1:14:39] I haven't seen anyone on our trail cameras.
[1:14:43] The entire property has trail cameras all over it.
[1:14:45] The fire department or anyone from this
[1:14:47] committee's been to our property.
[1:14:49] You've called it out. I'd love to know.
[1:14:51] I I would've welcomed it. I would've given you a tour.
[1:14:53] Do you wanna walk? Do you wanna ride in the four by four?
[1:14:55] Be happy to give you a tour.
[1:14:57] There's information being reported as complete in there
[1:15:00] that hasn't even been looked at, hasn't even been looked at,
[1:15:03] that this is unfair to the residents of dairy.
[1:15:06] Not just myself, but the people
[1:15:07] that aren't even aware that they're on here.
[1:15:10] That this is absolutely amazing.
[1:15:13] If I can just briefly, I will be done in a minute.
[1:15:17] Made notes throughout this.
[1:15:24] I went over the one 50.
[1:15:28] I think there's some fire reduction
[1:15:29] with the paper that was printed here.
[1:15:34] I would just draw the council's attention as well.
[1:15:36] These fire maps, they look pretty,
[1:15:39] but do these really mean anything?
[1:15:40] Do, do we have such great risk that we need
[1:15:45] so many different maps?
[1:15:48] I think everyone wants the fire department trained
[1:15:50] to be able to respond to wildfires.
[1:15:52] New Hampshire is unique. This is called out national data.
[1:15:56] We have a rather dense population,
[1:15:57] even though we're considered semi-rural, earth suburban,
[1:16:01] however you want to word it.
[1:16:03] Access to land from public roads is almost unprecedented,
[1:16:08] even in New England, Massachusetts has beat us in
[1:16:13] that only by a little.
[1:16:14] And they don't have anything to show as far as
[1:16:17] less fire destroyed.
[1:16:19] This Again,
[1:16:24] I mentioned Eversource is a key stakeholder.
[1:16:27] I would encourage you to please reach out to them.
[1:16:29] They have done a lot. They have spent a lot of money.
[1:16:31] It actually impacts all of our electrical bills,
[1:16:34] but they have done a lot to reduce the fire risk
[1:16:38] English range, which borders our property was listed as one
[1:16:41] of the high risk areas where a fire had burned before.
[1:16:45] Again, if anyone on the town council,
[1:16:46] anyone from the community wants to please get ahold of us,
[1:16:50] I'll give you a tour of the property
[1:16:51] and show you we've found to reduce fire risk
[1:16:52] and I hope other people will not follow in
[1:16:54] California's footsteps.
[1:17:02] The last are the recommendations here,
[1:17:03] and if I can, lemme just find these on here.
[1:17:07] So I mentioned this was page 84,
[1:17:11] the first one, absolutely not complete.
[1:17:13] You guys haven't been to the lands
[1:17:14] unless you just pulled this from satellite data.
[1:17:17] It's, it's absolutely not complete there.
[1:17:26] Disease outbreaks. Okay,
[1:17:28] and then there are recommendations here at the end.
[1:17:36] Are you almost done Mr.
[1:17:37] I'm almost done. Action plans. I'll leave it at this.
[1:17:42] Please contact other stakeholders, especially landowners
[1:17:46] who may not be aware that their names
[1:17:48] appear on this document.
[1:17:52] I would hope he hope that this council members
[1:17:55] of this committee would also lobby your state government
[1:17:58] to eliminate useless prohibitions that make land management
[1:18:02] with fire prevention, fire mitigation, much more difficult.
[1:18:07] That would include the production of burning
[1:18:10] to produce something called biochar.
[1:18:12] If you're an organic farmer, you've probably heard of it.
[1:18:14] If not, it's made by burning large pieces
[1:18:17] and controlling the way they burn
[1:18:18] and eliminating the only one in the nation,
[1:18:21] the useless five inch rule.
[1:18:24] And please ensure that recommendations are based on reality,
[1:18:28] not just grant availability.
[1:18:30] If there's questions, I'm happy to take 'em.
[1:18:35] Thank you.
[1:18:38] Do we have any other people rising for the public hearing?
[1:18:57] Good evening, Richard Trip 44 Winter Road.
[1:19:01] The first thing I wanna say is,
[1:19:02] I hope you're not voting on this tonight.
[1:19:06] It appears to me that there's a lot of questions
[1:19:08] that haven't been answered.
[1:19:10] You know, I'd like to know.
[1:19:12] You know, usually with a grant there comes some strings,
[1:19:16] you know, so what exactly does the town of dairy have to do
[1:19:20] to, you know, benefit from this grant?
[1:19:23] You know, is it they're gonna be further inspections
[1:19:28] of people's property, you know, telling them that they,
[1:19:30] like Mr.
[1:19:32] Land said that in order to qualify for this
[1:19:36] wildfire protection plan, you have
[1:19:38] to cut down trees or whatever.
[1:19:40] You know, I, I too would like a copy of this plan,
[1:19:45] you know, so that I can take a look at it.
[1:19:46] But you know,
[1:19:48] I would probably have a lot more questions if I had a copy
[1:19:51] of the plan, but I don't.
[1:19:52] So once again, I hope you are not intending
[1:19:55] to take any action on this tonight.
[1:20:09] Once again, I'm David Procher, 26 Milmore Road.
[1:20:12] Hi Beth, how are you today? Great, how are you?
[1:20:14] How long have you and the conservation
[1:20:16] Commission been working on this plan?
[1:20:18] For about a year.
[1:20:21] The process started in March of 2025
[1:20:26] and then really got ramped up about this time last year.
[1:20:29] Okay. So you think in that year you've done your
[1:20:30] due dig diligence?
[1:20:32] I think that there is still a lot to do,
[1:20:37] but the point of the plan is to get that process started
[1:20:42] and some of the actions in the plan are, you know,
[1:20:46] it's the work to be done.
[1:20:47] Okay, thank you. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that you
[1:20:50] Were Yes.
[1:20:51] Due diligence. Indeed. Yes.
[1:20:52] Yeah, the Mr. Leon just spent, oh God, what was it,
[1:20:57] 12 minutes talking about his various
[1:20:58] grievances with this plan.
[1:21:00] The Conservation Commission worked hard
[1:21:03] and they do their job well.
[1:21:05] So if Beth says it's good, I I agree with her. Thank you.
[1:21:17] Hello, my name is Colton 19 Meadowbrook Road.
[1:21:22] I actually, what's your full name, sir? Oh, Colton Rady.
[1:21:24] Thank you. Could you spell your last name?
[1:21:26] R-A-T-E-Y. Thank you.
[1:21:28] This is my first time to a meeting like this.
[1:21:30] I just moved here. I didn't know what to expect.
[1:21:34] I came here specifically for this wildfire protection plan.
[1:21:37] It sounded interesting. I also haven't seen the document.
[1:21:42] I kind of came here expecting
[1:21:44] to have a little more information on the specifics of it.
[1:21:49] So I, I mean, I would also like to read the plan.
[1:21:52] I will say though, just in general,
[1:21:54] we all experienced a couple months ago
[1:21:56] the wildfires in Canada.
[1:21:58] The sky was hazy and orange
[1:22:01] and hard to breathe for people with asthma.
[1:22:03] It was very scary. I think we definitely should have a plan
[1:22:07] and I want to thank everyone who worked hard on that plan.
[1:22:11] It is much appreciated.
[1:22:13] Thank you.
[1:22:18] Anybody else coming up,
[1:22:21] Mr.
[1:22:22] Chair? We're seeing none rise online.
[1:22:25] All right, thank you. What's close of public hearing?
[1:22:27] Move to close. Second. Councilor Chase? Yes.
[1:22:32] Councilor Flood? Yes. Councilor Foot? Yes. Councilor Mills?
[1:22:37] Yes. Councilor Healy? Yes. Councilor Spencer?
[1:22:42] Yes. Chair votes yes to close the public hearing.
[1:22:46] Beth and John, do you have any other comments?
[1:22:52] I do. I would like to address some of the comments,
[1:22:56] the questions that were,
[1:22:57] that were voiced in, the comments that were made.
[1:23:01] So first of all, I just want to make sure
[1:23:03] that the public is aware that nobody is going to be asked
[1:23:06] to cut down trees and that that would be counterproductive.
[1:23:10] Right. The so healthy, healthy green trees are helping
[1:23:14] to prevent wildfire actually,
[1:23:16] because the shade that they provide when, when trees die
[1:23:20] and they're no longer providing that shade, then the duff
[1:23:23] underneath can become dry and easy more flammable.
[1:23:27] So certainly nobody is going to be asked to cut down trees
[1:23:31] or be prevented from using wood cladding
[1:23:34] or whatever they want to use on their homes.
[1:23:37] And that, let's see
[1:23:44] that while, yeah, so the number of acres burned
[1:23:49] was mentioned and I, you know, in 25 years
[1:23:52] and we just want to make it known that
[1:23:56] that still takes resources, right.
[1:23:57] So the idea is that
[1:24:00] our fire department's resources are not being used putting
[1:24:04] out these, you know, these wildfires or mulch fires
[1:24:08] or things that are human cause that can be preventable.
[1:24:12] And that's kind of one of the main goals of this plan.
[1:24:16] And I also just wanna make sure that the public is aware
[1:24:19] that we were not looking at data from California,
[1:24:22] nor are we looking at, at the topography
[1:24:27] of New Hampshire.
[1:24:28] Like it's from California.
[1:24:30] So John did very extensive analysis
[1:24:35] of data that is from a data in New Hampshire
[1:24:40] and very specific to our town.
[1:24:42] And we broke the town into multiple zones so
[1:24:45] that we could look specifically at those zones.
[1:24:50] And then the properties of Mr.
[1:24:55] Ms. Leon being called out by name, well I don't think
[1:24:59] that they were personally called out by name,
[1:25:01] but their properties may have been.
[1:25:05] And that is again, part of the process of
[1:25:08] what this community wildfire protection plan is, is
[1:25:11] to identify, you know, those properties
[1:25:15] and through, you know, the actions in this plan
[1:25:20] to analyze them, the, the properties
[1:25:24] that we analyzed were a few conservation properties
[1:25:27] that we were able to within the time
[1:25:29] that we were creating those as sort of a baseline of
[1:25:32] what we are working towards with this.
[1:25:39] Let's see.
[1:25:42] So if I understand this plan is more of a strategic plan
[1:25:45] to identify goals and how to move forward.
[1:25:49] Yes, it is a working document.
[1:25:51] Thank you for that clarification. Yeah, yeah.
[1:25:56] It's not meant to just be a plan,
[1:25:59] close the book and sit on a shelf.
[1:26:01] It's meant to be a framework to provide the process
[1:26:06] that is an ongoing process of preventing wildfire
[1:26:09] because preventing wildfire isn't really something
[1:26:12] that you can just close the book on and say we did it.
[1:26:15] It's, it's an ongoing, it's an ongoing process
[1:26:20] and I also just wanna make sure that the public knows that
[1:26:24] nobody is going to be coming onto their property
[1:26:26] to inspect it if they are not consenting to that.
[1:26:31] And that if they would like to consent to that.
[1:26:33] There is a program called Firewise Communities
[1:26:36] and that is called out in the plan.
[1:26:39] And one of the goals of the plan is to, is
[1:26:43] to do neighborhood assessments within the framework
[1:26:46] of this Firewise communities program
[1:26:49] to help homeowners take an active role in reducing the
[1:26:54] wildfire risk in their neighborhoods.
[1:26:58] I think that was based on my notes. You were,
[1:27:01] Hey John, if you could just introduce yourself a little
[1:27:03] bit more and your background.
[1:27:05] Yeah, so I retired from the
[1:27:10] US Forest Service a couple years ago
[1:27:12] and began working part-time with the state of New Hampshire
[1:27:16] in the Forests and Lands division.
[1:27:19] Mostly helping towns that have questions
[1:27:22] or concerns about wildfire
[1:27:24] and wildfire risk, helping them look strategically
[1:27:28] and critically at what they have in their land base.
[1:27:34] I believe last winter we held a kind
[1:27:39] of a rollout of the CWPP, I think here where we talked about
[1:27:44] the plan that we were developing for dairy.
[1:27:47] And part of that was talking about some of the changes
[1:27:51] that we're seeing our state and our region.
[1:27:54] We're seeing things like rising temperatures
[1:27:58] reduced snowpack in the winter
[1:28:02] that helps dry our fuels out
[1:28:04] and make them more available to burn in the spring
[1:28:08] and our spring fire season.
[1:28:10] We're also seeing a lot of new insects
[1:28:13] and diseases, particularly defoliating insects
[1:28:17] that remove leaves that create that cool shaded
[1:28:23] understory that resists fire spread.
[1:28:26] So we're seeing some of these new conditions in our state
[1:28:31] and much like the hazard mitigation plans that began
[1:28:36] when we started seeing the problematic flooding a long time
[1:28:39] ago, you know, we think
[1:28:43] that fires might become more of an issue on our state
[1:28:48] as we move into the future.
[1:28:51] And so it's great to work with proactive towns like dairy
[1:28:55] that want to kind of look critically at what's going on
[1:28:59] in your land base.
[1:29:01] And as Beth mentioned,
[1:29:06] the recommendations in the CWPP are recommendations.
[1:29:12] We're not gonna be going on anybody's property
[1:29:15] where we're not invited.
[1:29:16] We're not gonna be telling anyone to cut their trees down.
[1:29:21] We are going to tailor any fire projects
[1:29:27] to things that we work with the landowner
[1:29:30] that is interested in in working on it.
[1:29:33] And there are things that apply
[1:29:38] to New Hampshire that work well
[1:29:40] and have been proven to work well.
[1:29:43] And we also, in some of our
[1:29:48] field trips we did notice you do have some
[1:29:53] species, some stands of trees, particularly pitch pine,
[1:29:58] red pine and some oak species that do carry fire
[1:30:03] that are, are fire adapted and fire prone tree species.
[1:30:09] So it's good to know where those areas are in your town.
[1:30:11] It's good to know where those areas lie in relation to
[1:30:15] human values and we made some suggestions of ways
[1:30:20] to reduce the wildfire risk in some of those areas
[1:30:23] that are more likely
[1:30:25] to burn actively if if a fire did occur in them.
[1:30:35] Any questions?
[1:30:37] I have a couple of other items to add to this.
[1:30:41] I, I agree wholeheartedly with John's comment about
[1:30:45] when we had flooding in the Public Works department,
[1:30:47] mother's Day flood among others,
[1:30:49] and that forced us to look as a town across the board
[1:30:54] to see how we could mitigate future flooding incidences.
[1:30:58] So forced us to look at culvert capacities, forced us
[1:31:02] to look at low lying areas, could we facilitate fortify?
[1:31:07] These were all public pieces of infrastructure,
[1:31:09] but it got us to think about some
[1:31:11] of the areas in the future.
[1:31:12] We couldn't all take care of the items
[1:31:14] that were being suggested,
[1:31:16] but it was a matter of having a list
[1:31:18] of recommendations and, and working forward.
[1:31:20] And I think that that's what this plan is.
[1:31:21] It's your baseline to look forward at things
[1:31:24] that are potentially going to be issues
[1:31:26] and you want to take a look at that as
[1:31:29] resources are are available.
[1:31:31] Second item I wanted to talk about,
[1:31:33] this is more procedural item.
[1:31:36] This particular plan was posted two separate times.
[1:31:40] So you had your consent reading
[1:31:42] for the September 1st agenda, so
[1:31:45] before the holiday weekend, I'm sorry,
[1:31:47] before we went into the end of August.
[1:31:50] That was posted as part
[1:31:51] of your consent reading on September 1st.
[1:31:54] You made that as a public hearing for tonight.
[1:31:57] And then again for tonight's meeting under the town council
[1:32:01] agenda, you can go in and click on that.
[1:32:03] So the full, it's 111 page PDF plan
[1:32:08] was made available on that line.
[1:32:10] So I just want to put that out there just
[1:32:12] to dispel any concerns in that area.
[1:32:21] Councilor Mills? Yes, there's just a couple
[1:32:22] of three things I wanted to indicate as far
[1:32:27] as taxpayers are concerned, there was apps,
[1:32:29] there's no fiscal impact to this
[1:32:33] and there are no grants being applied for whatsoever
[1:32:39] as far as I, I was happy to hear
[1:32:41] that there's a relatively small amount of burned acreage
[1:32:45] and, and brush fires and forest fires here in New Hampshire.
[1:32:49] And I think that's mostly due to the due diligence
[1:32:51] of our entire state
[1:32:53] and local fire departments keeping it that low.
[1:32:56] And that should be a matter of
[1:33:00] congratulatory rather than a something punitive.
[1:33:03] And I guess my third thing is this is,
[1:33:05] this is not a punitive document at all.
[1:33:08] This is prevention
[1:33:10] and I will be making this resolution and voting forth.
[1:33:17] Councilor Chase, I'd also like
[1:33:18] to make one thing also clear.
[1:33:20] This is, as Councilor Webb spoken,
[1:33:23] this is a not a regulatory document.
[1:33:27] There will be no ordinances being put forth
[1:33:29] through the council that will force any landowner
[1:33:32] to do anything that he does not want to with his property.
[1:33:37] So just clarification for the at home.
[1:33:39] So it's, it's a guideline essentially
[1:33:41] and it can be changed, amended attitude, deleted,
[1:33:43] subtracted from all that ongoing basis.
[1:33:46] Yes. With, so just for clarification,
[1:33:51] I just have a, a couple comments
[1:33:53] because I was involved in this
[1:33:55] and I want to thank Beth for also reigning in my own A DHD
[1:34:00] and my own experience from 33 years
[1:34:02] of looking at fires here in town
[1:34:05] and having gone to structure fires
[1:34:08] that created multi-arm brush fires and vice versa.
[1:34:14] So I look at, I look at it from a different perspective
[1:34:18] because I don't look at it from the California perspective,
[1:34:21] these big massive fires of the fires that we're having up in
[1:34:26] Colorado, stuff, much different floor and fauna.
[1:34:28] We don't have the creo containing fuels
[1:34:32] that are in other parts of the country.
[1:34:34] But having seen such simple things
[1:34:36] as a person tossing a cigarette off a deck, get
[1:34:40] tossed into mulch
[1:34:41] and have their house burned down,
[1:34:42] which we've had on more than one occasions have a pretty
[1:34:46] good understanding how a little bit of wind
[1:34:49] in a small brush fire can impact a house.
[1:34:53] And that's what we're really looking at with this plan is
[1:34:57] how people can mitigate
[1:35:01] and help maybe prevent in their own yards
[1:35:04] and their own things
[1:35:05] and the resources that they can have to reach that stuff.
[1:35:08] Because we are looking at a changing biome in this state.
[1:35:13] Mr. Neely who has experience with Western wildfires
[1:35:18] pointed out that we're dealing with drought, insect disease,
[1:35:23] ash bore, if you've walked in some of the woods,
[1:35:25] you can see some of the damages that they bring down
[1:35:28] and these trees bring down.
[1:35:30] We also looked at,
[1:35:33] and I walked through, it was very informative, a lot
[1:35:37] of the conservation lands that we
[1:35:39] as the town council are the ultimate stewards
[1:35:41] for in this community.
[1:35:43] And got to see the fire species that are occurring
[1:35:47] in these conservation lands that the only way these stands
[1:35:51] of trees pitch pine in particular
[1:35:55] are there is
[1:35:56] because there was a significant fire in the past on those
[1:36:00] conservation lands.
[1:36:04] New Hampshire has had a history of some of this stuff
[1:36:06] and this is a proactive document to help guide people
[1:36:10] to use as a resource.
[1:36:11] It's not perfect, it shouldn't be
[1:36:16] because if it was a perfect document
[1:36:18] then we wouldn't have a problem.
[1:36:21] We need, we need documents
[1:36:23] and to have discussions like this without,
[1:36:27] and I have all the faith in Beth Carver
[1:36:31] and Val
[1:36:34] and all the other people
[1:36:35] that work very hard in this document.
[1:36:38] And it like our hazardous mitigation band plan,
[1:36:43] which it is based on, it looks at
[1:36:48] how we can educate homeowners
[1:36:50] and the different tools that we can use.
[1:36:52] And if I remember right, the properties that you identify
[1:36:56] by name are because they're large property owners
[1:36:58] with large tracks of land.
[1:37:00] Correct. Yeah.
[1:37:02] So looking at again, risk assessment tools.
[1:37:06] So I want to thank Beth
[1:37:09] and John for their hard work.
[1:37:12] It's not a perfect document,
[1:37:16] but it shouldn't be Mr.
[1:37:20] Chair,
[1:37:23] How often do we anticipate that this document's going
[1:37:27] to be reviewed for any changes?
[1:37:29] I did just pull it up.
[1:37:32] I know one of the people that spoke during public,
[1:37:35] the public hearing had questioned
[1:37:36] that their name being in the document
[1:37:38] and when you start tying names to to parcels
[1:37:42] and those people move and the documents now 10 years old,
[1:37:46] how is that gonna be addressed?
[1:37:48] Or is the document gonna be be reviewed every
[1:37:50] year, every couple years?
[1:37:53] Because I did notice throughout the document
[1:37:55] that parcel IDs did have individuals
[1:37:58] that currently own the property tied to it.
[1:38:03] I would suggest that it goes sort of similar
[1:38:07] to the hazard mitigation plan like five, five years.
[1:38:12] It does say that it's a living document
[1:38:15] and so if you get something that changes
[1:38:20] in your town, say a wind event, another
[1:38:24] insect and disease that changes your fuels,
[1:38:27] then you do have the option to move earlier and,
[1:38:32] but I would, I would say trying to align it
[1:38:35] with a hazard mitigation plan on a five year basis.
[1:38:38] Okay. Thank you Mr. Chair. Seeing no further? Nope.
[1:38:45] Thank you Mr. Chair. So I,
[1:38:50] Sorry, sorry.
[1:38:52] So sounds like some people saying they haven't seen this
[1:38:55] document or there's some, a lot of questions
[1:38:57] and it seems that there might be some ambi
[1:38:59] ambiguity with some people.
[1:39:00] So I think just to be prudent due,
[1:39:05] due diligence, I think maybe I'll make the motion
[1:39:07] to table this until October 20th.
[1:39:09] It's not gonna, Alright,
[1:39:13] any discussion on the motion?
[1:39:16] I just have one comment. I'm gonna agree
[1:39:18] with the motion to table.
[1:39:20] I think this is a, a great document,
[1:39:22] but I think to alleviate the public concerns,
[1:39:24] it'll allow them time to look at it
[1:39:26] and if they do have pertinent comments to please email you.
[1:39:31] And again, you're the people that have worked it
[1:39:34] and offered it and I will have full faith in
[1:39:36] how you develop it
[1:39:39] And just follow up with that Mr.
[1:39:40] Chair. And I do support the document as is,
[1:39:42] but I, I'm just trying to be fair and,
[1:39:44] and due process for everybody out there.
[1:39:47] So I just think that's the reason for my motion. Yeah.
[1:39:51] Any other discussion? Just for, for clarification,
[1:39:54] when we bring it back up, it won't be a public hearing
[1:39:57] or will we have a public hearing?
[1:40:01] So I think procedurally we'll have to decide if, if
[1:40:04] anything has been substantively changed.
[1:40:07] I think you have to reopen that as a public hearing.
[1:40:11] So I think that's just something we have to be mindful.
[1:40:14] If it there's no changes, then you're coming back up
[1:40:17] as a tabled manner on the 20th.
[1:40:19] So perhaps procedurally then is for Beth to notify you
[1:40:24] by our October 6th meeting?
[1:40:27] Yes. That if there are substantive changes,
[1:40:31] then we can put a public hearing as part
[1:40:34] of bring it back forth.
[1:40:36] Yeah. Okay.
[1:40:38] Right. And I think that would just answer a lot
[1:40:40] of questions for anyone at home or,
[1:40:41] or even staff does anything they wanna double check
[1:40:45] or amend or whatnot.
[1:40:46] Just give everyone the benefit of doubt and,
[1:40:48] and not rush it through if we don't have
[1:40:50] to. Thank you Mr. Chair.
[1:40:53] Any other comments? Okay. Councilor Chase? Yes.
[1:40:57] Councilor Flood? Yes. Councilor Foot? Yes. Councilor Mills?
[1:41:01] Yes. Councilor Healey? Yes. Councillor Spencer?
[1:41:06] Yes. Chair votes yes to table this
[1:41:08] to the October 20th meeting.
[1:41:11] Thank you. Thank You. Thank you Beth. Thank you John.
[1:41:24] New business. Just double checking. Yep.
[1:41:28] We're onto new business and working at 26 86.
[1:41:32] Resolution 2026 dash 0 5 1 to direct the tax collector not
[1:41:36] to execute certain deeds.
[1:41:37] Tax collector Stacey Bevo presenting.
[1:41:47] Good evening. So I am here this evening
[1:41:51] regarding a tax deed.
[1:41:54] I began the process tax deed process in August.
[1:41:57] Currently there are 30 parcels
[1:41:59] for which I am requesting deed waivers for various reasons
[1:42:02] as previously provided, we will continue to work diligently
[1:42:06] to reduce these numbers.
[1:42:08] Thank you.
[1:42:13] Any questions? Nope.
[1:42:16] Just to point out how the, the work
[1:42:18] that the tax collector does
[1:42:20] when it was first put on the agenda,
[1:42:21] how many items were on it?
[1:42:24] 37. 37. And how many are on today?
[1:42:27] 30. So in the, just in the past week
[1:42:30] or so, you've been able to reduce that number by seven?
[1:42:35] Yes. So thank you for your hard work on that.
[1:42:37] Thank you.
[1:42:42] Do you No other discussion.
[1:42:44] Do we need a public hearing on this?
[1:42:46] No, no, no new business.
[1:42:48] Mr. Chair. Seeing no other questions
[1:42:50] or concerns, I move resolution number 2026 dash five one
[1:42:55] to direct the tax collector not
[1:42:57] to execute certain tax deeds, whereas Section 5.1
[1:43:01] of the Town Charter establishes the town council
[1:43:04] as the legislative and governing body of the town.
[1:43:07] And whereas RSA 80 76 sets forth the procedure
[1:43:11] for conveying tax deeded properties to the town.
[1:43:15] And whereas pursuant to RSA 80 76 sections two
[1:43:19] and two A, the governing body may refuse
[1:43:22] to accept a deed on certain properties
[1:43:25] whenever in its judgment, acceptance
[1:43:27] and ownership of those properties would subject the
[1:43:30] municipality to undesirable obligations or liability risks.
[1:43:35] And whereas the town is identified properties eligible
[1:43:38] for tax deed,
[1:43:39] however, acceptance
[1:43:41] of ownership would not be in the town's best interest.
[1:43:44] Now therefore, be it resolved
[1:43:46] that the tax collector is hereby directed not
[1:43:49] to execute a tax deed
[1:43:50] as set forth on the attached list pursuant
[1:43:53] to RSA 80 76.
[1:43:56] Section three. The Town Council may
[1:43:59] revisit this decision at any time
[1:44:02] and may later direct the tax collector to issue a deed
[1:44:04] for the property subject to this directive.
[1:44:07] This resolution shall take
[1:44:09] effect immediately upon its passage.
[1:44:12] Second,
[1:44:15] A motion made by Councilor
[1:44:16] Mills seconded by Councilor Foot.
[1:44:17] Do we have any discussion on it? See none. Councillor Chase?
[1:44:20] Yes. Councilor Flood? Yes. Councilor Foot? Yes.
[1:44:24] Council Councilor Mills? Yes. Councilor Healy? Yes.
[1:44:28] Councilor Spencer? Yes. Chair votes Yes.
[1:44:32] Measure passes. Seven zero. Moving on to Thank you.
[1:44:36] Thank you. Sorry.
[1:44:39] Moving on to new business 26 dash 88.
[1:44:41] Resolution 2026 dash 0 5 3
[1:44:43] to authorize an interagency agreement
[1:44:45] for Justice Assistant Grant with Rockingham County, please.
[1:44:50] Chief fii presenting.
[1:44:52] Good evening again. Again, counsel.
[1:44:55] This evening I want to talk about
[1:44:57] the 2026 Justice Assistance Grant program.
[1:45:01] It's a two step process
[1:45:02] as it has been in many years in the past.
[1:45:05] First, we need to execute an inter-local agreement
[1:45:07] between the town of DER and Rockingham County.
[1:45:10] They will be the fiscal agent for this grant.
[1:45:13] We were recently advised
[1:45:14] that the 2026 Justice Assistance Grant program was open
[1:45:18] and that the town of Dairy was in line to receive an award
[1:45:21] of $14,341.
[1:45:25] Since Rockingham County is the fiscal agent,
[1:45:28] they charge a 7% administrative fee to be the agent
[1:45:32] and they will receive $1,003 of that total,
[1:45:36] which will mean the Town of Dairy will see a net total
[1:45:39] of $13,338 from that grant.
[1:45:44] Just by way of introduction, our plan this year is
[1:45:47] to utilize those funds to replace
[1:45:50] expired ballistic plates that we carry in our cruisers.
[1:45:55] These are rifle rated plates versus the typical body armor
[1:45:59] that our officers wear, which protect against handgun
[1:46:02] caliber ammunition.
[1:46:03] Typically, we would propose
[1:46:07] to buy 12 sets of, of that, those plates and carriers.
[1:46:13] You will see this again more fully,
[1:46:15] the plan more fully on October 6th at a public hearing.
[1:46:20] Captain Micho will be be
[1:46:21] before you that evening to present the plan.
[1:46:24] All we're looking for tonight is to get your permission
[1:46:29] to execute the agreement with Rockham County.
[1:46:32] I'm happy to answer questions.
[1:46:34] Any questions? Seeing none, Mr.
[1:46:39] Chair, I move resolution number
[1:46:41] 20 26 0 5 3
[1:46:44] to authorize an interagency agreement with Rockingham County
[1:46:48] for the US Bureau of Justice Assistance grant
[1:46:52] for law enforcement equipment.
[1:46:53] Whereas Section nine period 15 of the Town Charter
[1:46:58] authorizes the Town Council to accept grant funding
[1:47:01] and whereas the Town Council has long recognized the need
[1:47:04] to keep up with technological advances
[1:47:06] for emergency services
[1:47:08] and whereas Rockingham County has received a Bureau
[1:47:11] of Justice Assistance grant in the federal FY 26 budget
[1:47:16] and whereas the town of Dairy qualifies as a subrecipient
[1:47:20] for signing by signing an inter-agency agreement.
[1:47:23] Now therefore be it resolved in counsel
[1:47:26] that the town administrator is hereby authorized
[1:47:29] to sign the Inter-Agency Agreement with Rockingham County
[1:47:33] as a prerequisite to receive US Bureau
[1:47:35] of Justice Assistance grant funds.
[1:47:38] This resolution shall take effect
[1:47:40] immediately upon its passage.
[1:47:42] Second Motion made by Councilor Mills,
[1:47:45] seconded by Councilor Foot.
[1:47:47] Any discussion on the motion? Councilor Chase? Yes.
[1:47:52] Councilor Flood? Yes. Councilor Foot? Yes. Councilor Mills?
[1:47:57] Yes. Councilor Healy? Yes. Councilor Spencer?
[1:48:01] Yes. And the chair votes? Yes.
[1:48:05] Resolution passes seven zero.
[1:48:07] Moving on to councilor comments and liaison reports.
[1:48:10] Do you have any Councilor Spencer?
[1:48:14] I do. Just wanna, I just wanna commend, I I, it continues
[1:48:18] to impress me how much our departments and, and individuals
[1:48:23] and working for the town.
[1:48:25] Just they, they're constantly improving professionally
[1:48:30] and I just think that we're a standout and,
[1:48:33] and they set an example for other towns
[1:48:35] between our police this evening, our town clerk last month
[1:48:38] that, or a couple months ago.
[1:48:40] We just, it seems there's always somebody
[1:48:42] or some department really looking to advance
[1:48:44] and do better for, for the community.
[1:48:47] And I just wanna thank them for that and acknowledge that.
[1:48:50] I think we're, we're pretty special in that
[1:48:54] Second that Any other councilor comments this evening?
[1:49:00] I disagree very wholeheartedly with Councilor Spencer.
[1:49:06] I have none this evening. So
[1:49:09] My favorite motion.
[1:49:10] Motion to adjourn please.
[1:49:12] Second. Motion to adjourn made by Councilor Mill.
[1:49:15] Second and by Councilor Flood. Councilor Chase? Yes.
[1:49:20] Councilor Flood? Yes. Councilor Flood? Yes. Councilor Mills?
[1:49:24] Yes. Councilor Healy. Yes. Councillor Spencer?
[1:49:28] Yes. Chair votes Yes. Meeting adjourned.
[1:49:31] Thank you everyone. I.