Friday Updates - July 14, 2017

                    NEWS & HAPPENINGS...

Friday, July 14, 2017

Durham resident Julia Belshaw submitted this amazing scene of Wagon Hill Farm during the storm front that moved through the area last Saturday evening, July 8, 2017.

___________________________________

A reminder that the UNH Outdoor Pool in Durham is open for the season. It is the 3rd largest pool in the state with a surface area of 14,355 square feet and 484,191 gallons of water. The capacity of the facility is 522, with a swimming season from mid-May through mid-September.  

By special arrangement between the Town and UNH, Durham residents are eligible for a discount for pool membership by presenting proof of residency to the staff at the Hamel Recreation Center.  

If Durham residents want to park for free to use the pool in the Woodside Lot, they need to first bring their Campus Rec membership card (pool pass) to UNH Parking Services. The resident will be provided with a free pass. Edgewood Lot is the best option for visitors. Learn more about the UNH Outdoor Pool HERE.

ANNUAL ORIENTATION TO TOWN BOARD AND COMMITTEE CHAIRS/VICE CHAIRS (and to any and all board members who might want to attend)

Next Wednesday, July 19, 2017 from 7:00 - 8:30 PM in the Council chambers at Town Hall, Administrator Todd Selig will hold an orientation session for chairs, vice chairs, and other committee members of the various Town boards, commissions, and committees.

The purpose of this annual orientation is to provide chairs, vice chairs, and other committee members with information on the proper structure of meetings, the role of the committee chair, vice chair, secretary, alternates, and Council representatives, as well as outlining the basics of the Right-to-Know Law, including agenda preparation and posting, minutes of meetings, and e-mail correspondence.

At the conclusion of the orientation, Administrator Selig will open the floor for a question and answer session.

All board and committee members are welcome to attend, so please mark your calendars and plan to attend this important and informative orientation.

An agenda for this orientation can be viewed HERE.

DURHAM SUBMITS LETTER TO NH SECRETARY OF STATE OPPOSING REQUEST OF PRESIDENTIAL ADVISORY COMMISSION ON ELECTION INTEGRITY FOR NH VOTER DATA

On Wednesday, June 28, 2017, Mr. Kris Kobach, Vice Chair of the recently created Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity (the Commission), sent letters to all 50 states and the District of Columbia, including New Hampshire, requesting a list of all registered voters, the last four digits of their social security numbers, their addresses, dates of birth, political party affiliation, and voting history from 2006 onward, as well as any information regarding felony convictions, military status, overseas voting, and registration in another state. The Commission acknowledged that any information sent to it would become public. The Commission requested a response by July 14, 2017.

The matter was discussed locally in Durham on Monday evening, July 3, 2017, when the Durham Town Council held a lengthy discussion relative to the request of the commission and the NH Secretary of State’s intent to comply with the request.
Eight of nine town councilors supported a series of points that Admin. Selig shared with Secretary of State Garner.

They included the “right of citizens to vote without any unnecessary obstruction is a fundamental aspect of a working democracy” and “the ability of lawfully registered voters to be able to cast their ballot without fears of any repercussions or consequences ensures the participation of the citizenry in the electoral process.”
On behalf of the Council, Admin. Selig urged Sec. of State Gardner to reject the commission’s request for the voter information. View the letter HERE.

On Tuesday afternoon, President Trump’s commission on election fraud told states to hold off on providing detailed voter information in the face of increasing legal challenges.

View an article in the Portsmouth Herald on this topic HERE.

This week, Durham officials were presented with a certificate acknowledging the Town's 20 years as a Certified Local Government.  Courtesy National Park Service

MEETING WITH NH DIVISION OF HISTORIC RESOURCES CONCERNING DURHAM’S CERTIFIED LOCAL GOVERNMENT DESIGNATION - Including a discussion concerning several other topics.
Dir. of Planning Michael Behrendt, Heritage Commission member Andrea Bodo, and Mr. Selig met yesterday with representatives from the NH Historical Resources (NHDHR) to discuss preservation activities in Durham as part of our being a Certified Local Government.

We talked about possibly applying for a grant to conduct an archeology survey of Durham. The grant would conceivably pay 100% of the cost with no match from the Town. The application would be due some time this fall. Mr. Behrendt will explore this idea further with the Heritage Commission and Mr. Selig.

The group also discussed the possibility of evaluating whether grants might be available to assist with the development of an evaluation and preservation plan for the Old Town Hall/Courthouse by an individual certified in evaluating historic structures. Little work has been done on this structure over the years.

Discussion was also held regarding the entire Wagon Hill Farm property and if it could be listed on either the state or national register of historic places. The property consists of 139 acres with a 99-acre parcel on the south side of Route 4 (with the wagon on the hill) and a 40-acre parcel on the north side of Route 4. It has approximately 1100 feet of frontage on the Little Bay. The farm was purchased by Durham in 1989 for $3.1 million. It’s acquisition was VERY controversial at the time, authorized by a July referendum vote of the Town, yet over time the property has become beloved by the community and the region.

The property was purchased “to preserve its scenic vistas, provide for future municipal purposes, preserve open space, provide a healthful and attractive outdoor environment for work and recreation, and to conserve land, water, forest and wildlife resources.”

The 1995 Wagon Hill Farm Master & Management Plan describes the buildings on the property as consisting of a large two-story house, built early in the nineteenth century, and two connected buildings – a one and one-half story extended ell to the rear of the house, built probably in the third quarter of the nineteenth century, and a small barn, originally built early in the 1900’s as a stable, and subsequently converted to house cows.

We plan to coordinate a site walk at Wagon Hill Farm with representatives from NHDHR to evaluate the property.

At the meeting, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, representatives from the department presented the Town with a certificate from the National Park Service recognizing the fact that Durham has been a Certified Local Government for 20 years since September 3, 1996.

IF YOU SEE SOMETHING ... SAY SOMETHING

The Police Department was very appreciative of a resident who heard a vehicle running at 2:30AM in the Middle School parking lot and thought it peculiar. While this incident may seem so insignificant to many Durham residents that they would never “bother the police”, it lead to the arrest of Jeffery Gelinas who residents may recall as the sole suspect in the “Jack the Snipper” events of 2004. When the officer arrived to check the area she found the pick-up truck with keys in the ignition and upon making a query into the license plates discovered that the vehicle was registered to Jeffery Gelinas. Knowing his criminal history, additional officers responded and unsuccessfully searched the area to no avail. Calling for a tracking dog from Strafford County, Gelinas was located in the wooded area behind Bagdad Road and the Middle School playing fields and arrested for Loitering and Prowling. He is currently in the NH State Prison where he is being held on a parole violation.

All residents are urged to contact the police if something seems amiss. While 99% of the time the police will verify that all is fine but there are those other incidents where police intervention is needed and due to not wanting to bother the police, no police arrived. Durham Police are patrolling the community 24/7 and are literally poised to respond. So if you see something, please say something!

One of the questions prepared by the Future Land Use Subcommittee.  Courtesy Barbara Dill

FUTURE LAND USE SUBCOMMITTEE CONTINUES TO SEEK FEEDBACK
The community held a Future Land Use Forum on Saturday, May 13, as part of the master plan process. Last month, we received the final summary from facilitator Peggy Kieschnick. The summary will be used to help write the Future Land Use Chapter. The forum was a highly successful event with over 100 participants. At the same time, the subcommittee desires to continue the process of collecting input from as wide a variety of Durham residents as possible.

The Land Use Committee has placed posters at these five locations in town for people to add their comments:

• Durham Town Hall
• The Durham Public Library
• St. George’s Church
• St. Thomas More Church
• The Durham Community Church

View the Final Summary of the May 13th event HERE.

DURHAM LAND STEWARDSHIP SUBCOMMITTEE WEEKLY REPORT (from Land Stewardship Coordinator Ellen Snyder)

Once a month the Land Stewardship Subcommittee meets to discuss topics, events, and activities related to town-owned conservation areas and parks and town-held conservation easements. Ellen Snyder, Durham’s Land Stewardship Coordinator, works with the subcommittee to research stewardship needs and obligations, identify management priorities, and help organize volunteer opportunities. Recent efforts have focused on the following:

• The Town has hired Monadnock Archaeological Consulting from Stoddard to assess the 54-acre Thompson Forest for sensitivity for historical resources. This report will help guide the Town’s stewardship activities on the property, including trails and habitat management
• Trail improvements and invasive plant control continue at the 172-acre Oyster River Forest. Next week (July 19th) Ellen is hosting an advanced training on wild parsnip pulling, an invasive plant that occurs in patches in the field.
• Ellen researched, compiled, and created files and created a new monitoring form for each of the 7 town-held conservation easements. Each easement should be monitored annually, which is accomplished mostly by volunteers. A Town stewardship fund for the Capstone conservation easement on Technology Drive enables the Town to hire a consultant—Kane Conservation--to complete that monitoring visit and report.

If you are interested in volunteering for any aspects of land stewardship on town lands or helping with easement monitoring please contact Ellen at ellensnyder1@gmail.com.

Administrator Selig works with members of the Town staff on Wednesday this week during a Kaizen session regarding to the Town's various software platforms

KAIZEN ON DURHAM’S MUNICIPAL SOFTWARE PLATFORMS
On Thursday of this week, July 13, 2017, Town staff conducted a Kaizen, a Japanese business philosophy of continuous improvement of working practices, regarding the various software platforms utilized within our different departments encompassing such functions as assessing, tax collection, motor vehicle registration, permitting (fire/building), parking, tracking calls for service, parks and recreation registration, financial services (AP, payroll, billing, budgeting, general ledger, cash receipting), special events permits, and more. Several of our platforms will require investment if we simply stay with the status quo for upgrades, yet many of our platforms do not communicate well with one another, do not provide what departments actually need, and often require double entry of data.

Can new efficiencies be found? Time will tell, but Thursday’s session was the first step as part of a continuous improvement process.

Information and suggestions provided by Town staff during the Kaizen session on Wednesday.

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS PROJECTS FOR SUMMER 2017 SEASON

Listed below are projects currently underway at the Department of Public Works. We thought it might be interesting to provide a sense of the scale and scope of the department's activities taking place this summer.

• Removal of Littlehale Dam, restoration of Littlehale Brook
• Crommet Creek Bridge
• Longmarsh Road Bridge Project
• 2017 Road Program
• Equipment Replacement Program
• Mill Pond/Mill Pond Dam investigation
• Old Landing Park Improvements
• Madbury Road speed table installation
• Multiple roadway culvert replacements
• Wagon Hill Barn project
• Transfer Station and Recycling Facility repairs
• Mill Pond Road sidewalk replacement
• LED street lighting upgrades
• Town Hall emergency generator installation
• Wagon Hill Farm shoreline erosion mitigation project
• Cedar Point Road – initial engineering of potential paving and drainage
• Wiswall Dam spillway
• Tree removal and roadside brush trimming
• Miscellaneous traffic markings
• Depot Road parking lot soils monitoring program
• WWTP 18” Forcemain Replacement engineering
• Bagdad Road neighborhood sewer pipe slip lining
• Exploratory Lee Well line extension to Lee Circle to assist Town of Lee and NHDES in address petroleum contamination there
• 2017 Driveway, excavation and utility connection permits

Route for proposed Eversource SRP project.  Courtesy Eversource

EVERSOURCE SUBMITS REVISED MODELING TO NH SITE EVALUATION COMMITTEE REGARDING SEACOAST RELIABILITY PROJECT – Durham’s Independent Experts Continue to Express Concern
Eversource has revised plans and modeling for its proposed Seacoast Reliability Project, a transmission line that would run under Little Bay, in an attempt to address environmental concerns identified by Durham’s independent third party consultants. Unfortunately, Durham’s independent third party experts from GeoInsight and Woods Hole Group continue to express concern.

Eversource hopes to upgrade its 13-mile distribution corridor that runs primarily through Durham and Newington, crossing the section of Little Bay that separates the two communities before ending in Portsmouth.

The $70 million project, or a project like it, has been deemed necessary for grid reliability because residential and commercial development in the Greater Portsmouth area is threatening to overtax existing transmission lines.

The main concern for Durham has been Eversource’s plan to bury three lines up to eight feet under Little Bay’s using jet plow technology to in essence create a trench. Durham’s independent experts worry that the disrupted sediment could threaten the water quality within the Little Bay, which is part of the already impaired Great Bay Estuary.

Revised plans for the project were released on Monday in anticipation of a technical session before regulators at the Public Utilities Commission on Tuesday. View the letter to Durham from Eversource President William Quinlan HERE.

Eversource has proposed reducing the channel depths from 8 to 5 feet, and reducing jet plow time on the project from 13 to seven hours. Eversource conducted additional sediment tests to determine if pesticides had settled and could be disturbed by the jet plows.

Additional testing was also done on the effects of tides, adding scenarios not included in the original analysis.

Bill Quinlan, Eversource president of electric operations for New Hampshire, has said he is confident the project will not harm the Great Bay estuary.

Mr. Selig believes the new information from Eversource is helpful, but that Eversource’s environmental team has significantly more work to do in order to address concerns the Town’s experts have raised.

Opponents of the project organized a “sidewalk gathering” at the Seacoast offices of the Department of Environmental Services, 222 International Drive, Pease International Tradeport, from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., July 12.

View an article in the Union Leader regarding this topic HERE.

Demonstrators outside the NHDES offices this week at Pease regarding the Eversource SRP project.  Courtesy Wayne Burton

EVERSOURCE TO CONDUCT NORTHERN LONG EARED BAT ACOUSTIC SURVEYS NEXT WEEK AS PART OF SEACOAST RELIABILITY PROJECT APPLICATION PROCESS

Eversource has contracted with Normandeau Associates, Inc, to conduct acoustic surveys to determine the presence of the northern long-eared bat within the SRP corridor as part of our the utility's diligence to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) for the protection of threatened species.

Next week, a small crew will install a bat detector on/near a total of 8 properties within the utility easement in Durham and Newington. The detector is about 12 feet tall, and will be placed in an obscure location. Consistent with USFWS protocol, the detector will remain there for several days, and crews will remove them either at the end of the week, or at the beginning of the week of July 24, 2017. The field work is weather dependent and the schedule is subject to change. Crews will follow normal town work hours of 7am-5pm for installation and removal.

Eversource will also be notifying the individual property owners where the detectors will be placed.

Part of mural set at the Durham Post Office.  Courtesy Todd Selig

PAGES FROM THE PAST: A MURAL HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF DURHAM – Report from NH Commission on Native American Affairs meeting hosted by Durham this past Wednesday, 7/12/17

In 1959, when the new Federal Building at the junction of Main Street and Madbury Road was nearing completion, the Women’s Club of Durham undertook a community project to visually honor the history of Durham. What better place than the post office to ensure its display for the entire community and visitors? The building was erected on the site of Durham’s first post office, built in 1796.

The club secured the services of Bernard F. Chapman to make a mural for the walls, depicting the early colonial history of Durham. The club paid for the murals and the printing of brochures further explaining each scene in the mural. Members called the project, The Petticoat Project, and the women working on raising the funds, the “Muriels.”

One of the panels, entitled “Cruel Adversity,” depicts a Native American with a torch observing from afar a garrison-type home in what would ultimately become Durham. The description in the brochure from the Women’s Club reads: “The fourteen fortified houses known as garrisons, which were strategically placed throughout the “Plantation”, were symbolic of the dangerous and precarious existence of this early settlement. The colonists were in constant danger of surprise attacks from Indians. There were several raids on the “Plantation”, the most severe occurring in 1694, when five garrisons and fifteen homes were burned, and one hundred persons killed or carried off to Canada.”

Every year to two years, someone stops by the Town Hall or writes concerning the mural. Last year, Mr. Selig received a very thoughtful email from a concerned resident as follows:

“I . . . wanted to bring up an issue that has been on my mind, for years, really. It is the Mural in the Durham Post Office, specifically the two panels that relate to indigenous peoples. One is the panel that says "Cruel Adversity" and depicts a native person with a torch about to burn a settler's house down. The other is titled "Native Ingenuity" and shows a sailboat on the river, but of course, it is not referencing natives at all, but white settlers. Both of these have troubled me for years . . . but have truly disturbed me in the past couple of years. I do not believe that any other ethnic group would have had to continue to have these depictions still on the wall, and I would like to respectfully advocate for their alteration or removal. I know there is a lot of support from folks I have spoken with, but also realize that it is a piece of art that may be deemed historical, though that does not remedy the racial stereotyping the panels depict.”

Where the Post Office is a Federal building this is not necessarily an issue for the Town. If someone wants to make a federal case out of it, they literally can.

The Indian Wars had plenty of atrocities on both sides. Native Americans and English settlers—each had complicated allegiances with France and England, respectively. The adversity was indeed cruel on both sides!

The other perspective is that the history many of us were taught in school during the 1950-1970’s was typically slanted toward the settlers, and this painting for some reinforces the stereotype that the Native Americans were always the cruel ones, and the European whites were the victims, which was certainly not the case. There is no painting or interpretative text in the Post Office lobby that suggests otherwise.

The NH Commission on Native American Affairs had raised concerns about the painting with the US Postal Service directly prior to Durham receiving this most recent complaint.

In an effort to facilitate a solution to the issue, the Town reached out to the USPS and the NH Commission on Native American Affairs and has hosted two meetings concerning the topic. The most recent took place at the Durham Police Department on Wednesday evening of this week, July 12, 2017.

At this week’s meeting, the USPS representative reported for the third time that it is post office policy to neither remove nor cover artwork within their facilities. In addition, the USPS does not accept new artwork within its facilities. The USPS is willing, however, to install interpretative text within the lobby of the USPS and the USPS historian has provided a draft for review that can be viewed HERE.

Members of the NH Commission on Native American Affairs indicated on Wednesday that they are not satisfied with the USPS position that it will neither remove nor cover artwork that they and others view as being offensive. On Wednesday, they requested the USPS historian speak with them directly, or someone else from the USPS who can speak to the underlying policy of removal, before the commission will be willing to evaluate the interpretive text.

In addition, and in response to a query put to the commission by the Durham Human Rights Commission, the NH Commission on Native American Affairs members indicated that if Durham is to designate a day as Indigenous Peoples Day, considered at the request of resident Neal Ferris, it should be Columbus Day, not another day. Members of the NH Commission on Native American Affairs are not supportive of continuing to celebrate Columbus Day as a result of Columbus’ actions with regard to Native American peoples.

Other images in the mural set at the Durham Post Office dating to 1959.  Courtesy Todd Selig

BUILDING PERMIT APPLICATIONS DURING THE SUMMER - Permit approval process can take up to two weeks in summer.

Residents are reminded that due to increased numbers of building permit applications submitted during the summer months, approval of a residential building permit can take up to two weeks.

Residents are encouraged to submit building permit applications for their projects well in advance of the start date to ensure that they will have a building permit before the project begins. 

No work is allowed on a home without a building permit.

SAVE THE DATE! - 5TH ANNUAL DURHAM FARM DAY - Saturday, August 19th, 10am - 4pm.  A celebration of Durham's working landscape!  Tour gardens and farms across town and campus.  Lots of family friendly activities.  Full schedule of events available soon.  Sponsored by the Durham Agricultural Commission.

DURHAM FARMERS’ MARKET OPEN MONDAY AFTERNOONS AT JACKSON’S LANDING
The Seacoast Growers Association is operating the Durham Farmers’ Market on Mondays at Jackson’s Landing, 10 Old Piscataqua Road, from 2:15 – 6 PM. The season officially opened June 5th.

DURHAM POLICE SEASONAL PARKING TICKET OFFICER AWARDED SCHOLARSHIP

Jason Carignan, a seasonal parking ticket officer for the Durham Police Department, and current UNH Senior, was recently awarded a $500.00 scholarship from Saint Anne’s Society, St. Anne’s Church, Manchester, New Hampshire.

He is one of two recipients of the annual scholarship awarded to a student that displays strong character, morals, and high academic achievement. Jason is currently a psychology major, with a biomedical science minor. He has served with the Durham Police Department for one year and will graduate from UNH in May, 2018.

The image above shows the new highly reflective white chevron pattern under "Durham Police" on our front line cruisers.  Courtesy David Kurz

NEW REFLECTIVE CHEVRONS ON POLICE VEHICLES
Durham Police vehicles now have reflective tape on the rear trunk lid for a high level of visibility during both day and night activities. Various studies conducted in the United States and elsewhere suggest that increasing emergency vehicle visibility and conspicuity, which is the ability of a vehicle to draw attention to its presence, even when other road users are not actively looking for it, may hold promise for enhancing police officers’ safety when exposed to traffic both inside and outside their response vehicles. This color scheme was determined to be the best reflective tape that coincided with the existing design of the cruisers.

SIX MONTH ARREST DATA
The chart of arrests for 2017 visually demonstrates the impact that the UNH academic year has on the Durham Police Department. After graduation arrest data plummets compared to the months of April and May. Weather has a significant impact upon activity that results in minimal arrests as demonstrated in January and the rainy and raw month of March. The July data accounts for arrests the first two weeks alone. The police department will begin providing weekly arrest data the last week in August when many off-campus apartments will see the students returning and Freshmen move-in occurs this year on Thursday August 24th.