Friday Updates - August 14, 2020

Friday, August 14, 2020

Sunrise photo taken from gravel lot on Old Landing Road. Courtesy Hillary Scott

A REMINDER: IT IS AGAINST THE LAW TO REMOVE OR DEFACE POLITICAL ADVERTISING – Some specifics follow.

Unfortunately, we have received a report that some candidate election signs have been stolen from yards in Durham. Under RSA 664:21, the legislature has established a civil penalty of up to $1000 per violation for removing, defacing, or destroying political advertising on private property. It takes a lot to put ones name forward for elective office. Stealing their election signs is not only not right, it’s against the law. 

DID YOU KNOW?

You can "reduce’ the amount of unsolicited mail you receive by calling the senders and asking to be removed from their mailing lists.  You can do this even if the mail is addressed  to ‘resident’.  (In this case their lists go by address). 

Almost all sender phone numbers can be easily found on line and they are happy to accommodate.

It’s the best of the 3 Rs - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

DURHAM FARMERS' MARKET - Each Monday Afternoon in the Sammy's Downtown Lot off Pettee Brook Lane

The Durham Farmers' Market is now open again this season on Monday afternoons through Monday, October 5, 2020 from 2:15- 5:30, closing 1/2 hour earlier than previous years. Vendors will adhere to predetermined sanitation and Covid 19 prevention standards. 

Customers are requested to wear masks, maintain 6’ distance from others, and send only one person per household to shop if possible.  

The market has several new vendors participating this year and they are pleased to have prepared food, maple products (including ice cream!), garden plants, and assorted vegetables available.  

One positive aspect is that folks can walk downtown to access the market and while they are there, shop/eat in other downtown establishments. 

BEE HIVE ON DISPLAY IN TOWN HALL LOBBY

In February 2017 Durham became the first certified “Bee City USA” community in the New England region. Since honeybees and other beneficial insects (e.g., bumble bees and butterflies) are vital to a healthy ecosystem, the Durham Agricultural Commission has a “Bee Friendly” program to encourage community awareness on the importance of pollinators for agricultural production and maintaining a healthy ecosystem. Key initiatives include creating/maintaining pollinator-friendly habitats, providing information on ornamental and native wildflower species, and holding an annual Dandelion Contest to encourage town residents to appreciate the importance of dandelions for honeybees and other pollinators. 

This beehive is called a 10-frame Langstroth hive.  First developed in 1851 by Rev. Lorenzo Langstroth of Pennsylvania, it is the most common type of beehive used by beekeepers throughout the world. Key components include two large boxes each containing 10 frames that are used by the “colony” (i.e., queen, brood, and worker bees), and a removable top cover for easy access. The goal of beekeeping is to provide ideal conditions such that the honeybee colony produces more honey than needed to survive the winter. For honeybees that primarily depend on wildflowers, the amount of honey produced varies each year and season to season.   

[Note:  Locally produced wildflower honey will soon “bee” available for purchase at Emery Farm.]

OLD PISCATAQUA ROAD WATER MAIN PROJECT UPDATE

Remaining work includes the construction of a new water service for the property owner at 30 Old Piscataqua Road. This is needed because the Town moved the existing water main location (where the property owner’s existing service was) along the Oyster River to the new location up along Old Piscataqua Road, nearly 1,000 ft away and therefore will require that we build a new water service to connect to the new water main. Town Engineer April Talon had previously put this work out to bid publicly, and we plan on processing a contract for approval shortly.

AFTER SIGNIFICANT REVIEW AND DELIBERATION, OYSTER RIVER SCHOOL BOARD APPROVES REOPENING PLANS FOR SCHOOLS THIS FALL - Elementary on one path, ORMS/ORHS on another.

The Oyster River School Board met August 5 to select a framework for the start of the school year. The board and administration appreciate the 90+ emails and phone calls, as well as over 1700 parent survey responses that provided significant community input into these decisions.

The first day of classes for students is being delayed until September 2, to allow teachers and staff additional time to plan for the start of the year.

Mast Way and Moharimet will start the year with students attending for half days, four days per week. A fully-remote option will also be offered for elementary students.

Middle and High School students will begin the school year with remote classes, though the school buildings will be open and students with specific needs may have some school work in the buildings. This will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may include students who are new to their school buildings, or for whom additional in-person contact is needed for academic or social-emotional learning.

The school district will ask each family to re-enroll for the fall to ensure accurate numbers of students for classes and bus transportation.

The school board and administration will monitor and re-evaluate the selected model as the school year gets started, with the possibility of changes 6-9 weeks into the school year (or sooner if circumstances change abruptly).

The NHIAA has delayed the start of any fall sports practices until after Labor Day, and the school board will consider fall athletics options at its next meeting on August 19.

DURHAM PD WELCOMES TWO NEW OFFICERS

Officer Kevin Abbott is a graduate of the 149th New Hampshire Police Academy. Kevin started his career at the Somersworth Police Department in 2009. He left Somersworth is 2013 to work for New Hampshire Liquor Enforcement. In 2016 he was hired by the Durham Police Department. He left Durham in 2018 to start a career at the Strafford County Sherriff’s Department where he quickly moved through the ranks and was named Lieutenant in 2019.  Kevin is a certified Taser Instructor and Standardized Field Sobriety Test instructor.  We are glad to have Kevin back in Durham!  

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Officer Travis Guilbault started his career in Farmington, NH in 2015. He is a graduate of the 170th New Hampshire Police Academy. In 2018, Travis made the move to the University of New Hampshire Police Department (UNHPD). He left UNHPD to pursue a law enforcement career in Colorado but quickly realized how much he missed New Hampshire.  Travis will be a great addition to our community.  

LONGMARSH ROAD PARKING AREA

Adjacent neighbor Scot Calitri has indicated his continued interest in potentially allowing for a trailhead parking lot on his property under a license agreement or easement to address conservation area parking conflictions along his frontage due to the increasing interest and cars visiting this trail system. A concept parking lot plan has been designed which includes a 54’ x 36’ rectangle for head-in parking accommodating up to 8 cars (4 per side) with 9’x 18’ stalls and an 18’ aisle width. The lot configuration has been staked out in the field which will allow Mr. Calitri to visualize the impact of the lot.

DURHAM’S FINANCES LOOK STABLE DESPITE THE PANDEMIC

The Town’s expenditures as of June 30, 2020 show a total expenditure of $8,644,051 or 51.4% of the total approved budget amount of $16,814,060. To compare, the amount expended as of March 31, 2019 was 54.1%. 

To date we have expended $313,576.74 relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, of which we estimate all but approximately $82,000 is reimbursable from several CARES ACT grants. The Business Office will continue to monitor our expenses and submit for reimbursement as required.

EXPENSES:

We continue to anticipate savings in our police and fire departments due to staff vacancies. The Recreation Department is anticipating a reduction in spending due to the cancellation of programs, however, this will also result in a reduction of revenue. Our legal fees are running slighting under budget. We have not yet advertised for the GIS position which was approved in the 2020 budget effective July 1st but anticipate starting this process in the coming months.

REVENUE:

Property taxes were 88% collected as of June 30th. Although we normally see a collection rate of 90-92% at this time it is noted that with the deferral of interest for a month some people may have decided to delay their payment. By the end of July, we were exactly on track with past collection trends.

We saw a loss of approximately $75,000 of anticipated revenues from the parking meters for the first six months of the year due to the shutdown of the meters from mid-March through May 31st. This loss of revenue will impact the amount of revenue we will be able to transfer into the General Fund budget at the end of the year. The Recreation Department is also anticipating a loss in revenue due to program cancellations of approximately 30% or $35,000. According to the Police Department the court fines are currently less than expected due to a backlog of approximately 100 cases at the court level. In addition, arrests have virtually stopped at both the Durham Police and UNH Police Departments due to COVID. The Building Department did see an increase in building permit fees due to the construction of the new Middle School. In OTHER FUNDS the only area to be noted is the decrease in revenue in the Parking Fund as noted above.

PETTEE BROOK FOOT BRIDGE EVALUATION – The little wooden bridge from the parking lot to Durham Dental

HEB Engineers has been provided a base plan which includes spot elevations, property boundaries, resource area delineations, and contours to develop a scope, fee proposal and bridge cost estimate for providing a basic design for a wood PT LVL constructed pedestrian foot bridge to replace the existing bridge.  Dr. Andrew Rutter, the abutting property owner, has been updated on status and will be contacted to discuss options once the proposal is received which is expected next week.

DOWNTOWN PARKING KIOSKS REQUIRE UPGRADES IN COMING YEAR 

DPW staff has met with Durham PD and parking enforcement officer Sandra Hebert to discuss modem upgrades on 27 parking meters. Durham PD has requested assistance from DPW in the installation of equipment needed to install the new modems. The upgrades will require the removal of the solar panels, main computer boards and replacement of existing antenna. Each kiosk is estimated to require an hour plus to upgrade. DPW will be meeting the representatives from the meter vendor to better understand the scope of work to determine whether DPW can provide assistance with this project. The upgrades are scheduled to take place during the fiscal year 2021 timeframe.