Hudson - Litchfield News | March 30, 2012 - 3 Litchfield Road Agent Saves Taxpayers’ Money


by Lynne Ober Litchfield Road Agent, Jack Pinciaro,


works diligently, with little notice and great success to save money for taxpayers. Without needing a warrant article, Pinciaro put together a project to replace all the culverts in Litchfield. “I worked with Selectmen to use the Highway Block Grant money, which is a grant from the state,” said Pinciaro. “They approved the plan that I developed and we were able to get it done without asking taxpayers for any additional money.”


Despite the fact that wetlands’ permitting was needed, Pinciaro put together a plan that saved the taxpayers $326,000 over the expected cost of the project. The last culvert to be done is the one on Page Road. “We plan to cut the intersection down by 2.5 feet, which doesn’t sound like much, but it greatly improves the line of sight at that intersection and will make it much safer for drivers,” smiled Pinciaro. All the culvert work should be completed by August 1. Had there been more snow this past winter, residents would not have seen contractor plow


Completion of a culvert on Cranberry Lane


trucks as those were finally eliminated when the town purchased a new truck with a plow. In the past each contractor has been paid $8,500 per season even if no snow plowing was needed. “That eliminated money from the town budget because we were no longer paying each contractor a retainer,” said Pinciaro. A 24 by 36 sand shed was constructed by Pinciaro and his staffer. “We can top off the trucks faster using the shed and we also save sand,” said Pinciaro. This allows faster turn-around during a storm so the streets are safer. Maintenance on vehicles in now done by the


Road Agent. In the past this maintenance work was contracted out to a third party vendor.


“Just


doing routine maintenance in house, saves quite a bit of money,” stated Pinciaro.


An old culvert


Maintenance could be brought in house when a freestanding 42-foot by 70-foot building built on town property. Equipment that used to be left outside in the elements is now stored inside this building. The building is a tubed Quonset hut which is clean and dry. Trucks can stay plugged in when it is cold and will start easily. It is possible to maintain them without taking them to another vendor. Best of all none of the equipment is


rusting in the rain and snow. Paving has also been done with Highway Block


Grant money. Pinciaro said that from Talent to Cranberry, a large piece of the older section of Albuquerque had been reclaimed and paved. Other paving has also been completed. The October, 2011 snowstorm was “really a nightmare” for residents. Pinciaro credited DB Paving with a great deal of help. “We told residents to put their debris at the side of the road and using the chipper that belongs to DB Paving and loaned to us by Dana Boucher, we were able to clean every road. People came to the garage to ask for help and we were able to help them.” Pinciaro also said that the town will be reimbursed by FEMA for some of their expenses.


Governor Lynch Veto of Redistricting Plan


by Diane Chubb On Friday, March 23, Governor Lynch vetoed House Bill 592,


which is the House redistricting plan. Under the plan proposed and passed by the House, Pelham was denied its own representatives and remains grouped in with Hudson and Litchfield in a “super district.”


In 2006, New Hampshire voters overwhelmingly approved an amendment to the state constitution to ensure that communities with enough population - 3,291 residents - “shall have its own district of one or more representative seats.” For the past few months, the battle regarding redistricting


has raged on and Pelham has been one of the casualties. The redistricting plan denies 59 of these towns its own representative. Pelham is among these towns, which has sufficient population to support 4 representatives. After the bill passed, the Pelham Board of Selectmen continued their fight against House Bill 592.. On Tuesday, January 31, they sent a letter to Governor Lynch asking him to veto the plan under House Bill 592. “This legislation does not allow the voters of Pelham and the


voters in 59 other communities the individual representation they deserve and are entitled under the state constitution,” wrote then- Selectmen Chair Ed Gleason. “Twelve of our 13 representatives live outside Pelham and most are complete and absolute strangers to the vast majority of our voters who have little or no likelihood of any encounter with our representatives,” Gleason wrote. Rep. Shaun Doherty, a Republican, is the only Pelham resident in the Legislature. In the Governor’s veto message, Lynch wrote, “The right to vote is


central to our democratic government. But that right is meaningless unless equal representation is assured when citizens vote. I am vetoing HB 592 because it violates the constitutional principle for equal representation and local representation; it is inconsistent in its treatment of similarly situated towns and wards, and it unnecessarily changes the boundaries of existing districts.” “HB 592 denies a total of 62 New Hampshire towns and wards


their own seats in the House. For example, the towns of Atkinson, Hudson, Meredith, and Pelham all have sufficient population under state and federal constitutional standards to have their own representative, but all are denied their own representative under the House-approved plan. This is completely contrary to what the citizens of New Hampshire called for in the state constitutional amendment adopted in 2006.” The bill will now be sent back the House, where members will either craft a new plan or vote to override the Governor’s veto. House leadership under Majority Leader William O’Brien had gathered party members to ensure that any amendments to the bill failed, and the bill passed as intended. The House passed the redistricting bill several weeks ago on a vote of 205-86, with 106 members not voting. Nevertheless, Doherty, as Pelham’s lone representative, says he will vote against the leadership team and vote to uphold the Governor’s veto. “Certainly the voters were under the impression that the situation


would be fixed by the constitutional amendment,” Doherty said. “It is disappointing to the voters of Pelham, after 10 years of no


guarantee of representation, to be overwhelmed by being combined with other towns.” “I was elected by the people of my district and my town,” he said.


“It’s going to be very tight but it could be sustained because the Manchester opposition is very strong.” Board of Selectmen Chair Bill McDevitt was pleased with the


veto. He said, “New Hampshire has always offered the advantage of local representation for local people and we would like to see that returned to Pelham.” The House and Senate must get a two-thirds majority to override


the veto. Given the current numbers, at least 47 more votes will be required to uphold the veto.


Current Board of Selectmen Chair Bill McDevitt is encouraging


Pelham voters to contact the representatives of Hillsborough District 27 and urge support of the veto. Their contact information can be found at http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/house/members/ wmlresults.aspx?town=Pelham. The list is as follows: Ralph G. Boehm: 6 Gibson Dr., Litchfield, NH, 03052-2301, tel. 860-6309, ralph.boehm@leg.state.nh.us Randall S. Brownrigg: 2 Little Hales Ln., Hudson, NH 03051- 5070, tel. 883-6209, randy.brownrigg@leg.state.nh.us Lars T. Christiansen: 1 Stone Wood Ln., Hudson, NH 03051- 3443, tel. 889-0481, lars@taybre.net Shaun S. Doherty: 105 Bush Hill Rd., Pelham, NH 03076-3005, tel. 860-2293, shaun.doherty@leg.state.nh.us Laura J. Gandia: 3 Chamberlin Dr., Litchfield, NH 03052-2464, tel. 424-1071, laura.gandia@leg.state.nh.us Robert H. Haefner: 1 St. John St., Hudson, NH 03051- 3733, tel. 889-1553, bobhaefnerjp@comcast.net Shawn N. Jasper: 83 Old Derry Rd., Hudson, NH 03051- 3017, tel. 595-9621, shawn. jasper@leg.state.nh.us George A. Lambert: 3 Lydston Ln., Litchfield, NH 03052-8017, tel. 889-7468, marchon@gmail.com Jonathan S. Maltz: 28 Chagnon Ln., Hudson, NH, 03051-3432, jonathan.maltz@leg.state.nh.us Russell T. Ober: 3 Heritage Cir., Hudson, NH 03051-3410, tel. 883-9654 Lynne M. Ober: 3 Heritage Cir., Hudson, NH 03051- 3410, tel. 883-9654, skibear@cheerful.com Andrew Renzullo: 2 Heritage Cir., Hudson, NH 03051- 3428, tel. 882-8962, andrew. renzullo@leg.state.nh.us Jordan G. Ulery: PO Box 15, Hudson, NH 03051- 0015, tel. 882-8979, jordanulery@myfairpoint.net


Hudson Board of Selectmen Elects New Chairman


by Doug Robinson


Selectman Roger Coutu was elected by his fellow Selectman to be the new Board of


Selectman Chairman for the Town of Hudson Board of Selectman. Coutu replaces unelected and long-time outgoing chairman, Shawn Jasper.


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And there have been some humorous situations. A beaver dam was causing flooding. If the dam was removed the beavers just rebuilt it. Pinciaro had the idea to insert an 18-inch pipe into the dam – now the water just keeps flowing. “I didn’t want to trap them, but I didn’t want to have to take down their dam every week either so this seemed like a creative solution,” he smiled. Instead of paying a contractor $10,000 to mow the sides of some of Litchfield roads, the road agent now does it.


When the soccer league was putting in the new fields, the town contributed compost from the leaf pile and dug the trenches for the electrical conduit. “That group is a bunch of


great guys,” said Pinciaro. “We also screen over 10 yards of compost for the baseball fields. It’s just good to help out the groups trying to help the kids.” Gravel and sand was also laid at Darrah Pond.


Pinciaro says his method is to give selectmen options and then to work with them on deciding which is the best option for the town.


Vehicles parked inside the Quonset hut


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