Friday Updates - June 21, 2024

Friday, June 21, 2024

Wentworth Cheswell (portrayed by Durham resident Toluwase Afolayan) leads a band of patriots during the Revolution: 1774 parade. Courtesy, Todd Selig

A thank you to Joanie Osborn, the Durham Historic District/Heritage Commission, and many other sponsor partners for organizing last weekend’s Revolution: 1774 event, commemorating the 250th anniversary of the raid on Fort William and Mary in New Castle. It was an absolutely beautiful spring Saturday complete with flag raising, history telling, parade, educational exhibits, cannon fire, food, fundraising (supporting The Freedom Café’s efforts to end human trafficking), and more. Check out the web site HERE. You can take a short survey to provide feedback HERE.

Today is June 21, 2024 – the first day of summer! The summer solstice occurs when one of Earth's poles reaches its maximum tilt toward the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere (Northern and Southern). For that hemisphere, the summer solstice is the day with the longest period of daylight and shortest night of the year, when the Sun is at its highest position in the sky. At either pole there is continuous daylight at the time of its summer solstice. The opposite event is the winter solstice.

Pack your picnic supper and join the Durham Historic Association on Sunday, June 23, at the Milne Nature Sanctuary from 4:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. to explore this peaceful park on Mill Pond Road.

Diana Carroll will share her recollections of her long relationship with Margery and Lorus Milne, the Keepers of the Swans, who gave this land to the Town.

Parking is limited in the area to about 20 cars, so plan to carpool, contact a friend in Faculty Development to share their driveway, or walk from the Town Hall or Community Church parking lots.

The Great Bay Rotary Club's Summerfest is scheduled for June 22 from 2:00 - 6:00 p.m. To download the full schedule of events, please click HERE.

POTENTIAL PARTNERSHIP WITH MADBURY FOR FIRE PROTECTION SERVICES TO BE EXPLORED – Stems from recent study Madbury had conducted of its fire department.

Municipal Resources, Inc. (MRI) was engaged by the Town of Madbury to undertake a comprehensive and objective assessment of the configuration, deployment, and options for regional collaboration/consolidation with a neighboring community for fire protection services.

This assessment evaluated the organization, effectiveness, and overall efficiency of service level, staffing, training, and sustainability of the current service model in Madbury, and evaluated the potential of a regional collaboration/consolidation between Madbury and the City of Dover or the Towns of Durham and Barrington.

The primary intent and goal of the project was to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the Madbury Fire Department to develop an appropriate forward-looking collaboration plan. This project considered whether current deployment patterns (a primarily volunteer department) are adequate to provide a level of service within the Town of Madbury that is in line with generally accepted standards and benchmarks for safety used by comparable fire departments in comparable communities and based on standards and best practices for modern-day fire services currently in practice in New Hampshire and the United States.

Recommended path forward…

Although there are several recommendations outlined in their report, the MRI Team believes that after weighing the service levels to the Madbury community, the capital expenditures, the operating budget, and the desired level of protection, the most adventitious course of action for the Madbury community would be to implement an option by entering into negotiations with one of the neighboring communities to provide fire protection services from that partner community’s existing fire station.

The MRI team recommended entering negotiations with the Town of Durham over the City of Dover or the Town of Barrington.

MRI believed Durham should be the first choice for several reasons:

1. A partnership with Durham would provide increased fire protection by reducing response times.
2. A partnership with Durham could potentially accommodate members of the Madbury call/volunteer department who still want to serve the community.
3. Madbury’s existing frontline fire engine is based on a Durham specification and may be of use to the Town of Durham and enhance negotiations.
4. Durham and Madbury both contract with McGregor Ambulance Service for tEMS transport needs, therefore such a transition should be seamless.
5. Durham’s Town Manager and Durham’s Fire Chief displayed interest in having these required discussions. (Note, collaboration with neighboring communities for the increasingly efficient and cost effect provision of services has been an objective of the Durham Town Council for several years.)
6. The one school in Madbury (Moharimet Elementary) is in the same SAU as the Durham/Madbury/Lee schools enhancing a seamless transition for public education and school safety planning.
7. Should negotiations not be fruitful with Durham, MRI recommends negotiating with the City of Dover.

Durham Fire Chief David Emanuel and Mr. Selig look forward to talking further with Madbury officials about whether such a partnership would make sense for both communities.  The MRI study has been in process for some time and was only recently presented to the Madbury Board of Selectpeople.

A deer roaming Durham's neighborhoods. Courtesy, Carol Birch

The Community Church of Durham is raising money to repair the church steeple. From 5:00 - 7:00 pm on Thursday, June 27, 10% of the proceeds from purchases at Tideline Public House will be donated to the Save Our Steeple Community Campaign. Thanks for your support!

In May of this year, the Strafford County Superior Court issued an order denying the Town & Campus, LLC request for reconsideration for the reasons identified in the Town’s objection to that motion crafted by Durham Town Attorney, Laura Spector Morgan. 

Presiding Justice Anne M. Edwards wrote: “Petitioner, it [in] his motion to reconsider, does not identify errors of law that the court made or facts that the court miss apprehended. Instead, the petitioner is re-arguing the points he made during the hearing on the merits, which the court has ruled against. For those reasons, the motion to reconsider is DENIED. So ordered.”

We’re therefore disappointed to report the Notice of Appeal to the NH Supreme Court in the Town & Campus case.

The NH Supreme Court will in all likelihood issue an acceptance order, and then an order saying it looks like this case could be resolved by mediation. It can’t, so after 30 days when no one responds to that request, the court will issue an order for Town & Campus to provide a transcript, and then the Town will receive a briefing order. After the briefs are filed, the court will decide if it wants to have arguments or not, and then it will issue a decision.

The firing of the canons at Revolution: 1774. Courtesy, Todd Selig

Some lawn care practices create local water quality problems. Excess nutrients (including nitrogen and phosphorus found in fertilizers) that run off our properties into nearby waterbodies can trigger harmful algal blooms. For more details about impaired waterbodies in NH, click HERE.

A rule of thumb is that if you are not on Durham's municipal sewer system, you have a septic tank -- and it needs ongoing maintenance. Getting your septic system pumped doesn’t just help to keep it functioning properly. It also helps our community stay safe by keeping wastewater out of the Oyster and Lamprey Rivers, as well as the Great Bay Estuary.

Learn more HERE.

The Durham Professional Firefighters Local #2253 would like to introduce Smokey the Fire Dog. Smokey will give short tips on Fire Safety, weekly so Parents and guardians can generate conversation with their children about Fire Safety. Keep an eye out in the weekly updates These small questions and tips are a great way for you as a Parent to teach your kids about Fire Safety, the more they know the safer they will be.

WEEK #25

Summertime means fun in the water. Smokey wants us all to be safe near the water.  For some helpful tips, click HERE.

A display of dental tools from the 1770's at Revolution: 1774 day. Courtesy, Carol Birch

NEWS FROM THE OYSTER RIVER SCHOOL DISTRICT

ORCSD Preschool Enrollment

The ORCSD Preschool Education Program (PEP) is accepting applications for the 2024-2025 school year. For information, please contact PEP Coordinator Diana Eisenhaure at deisenhaure@orcsd.org.

ORCSD Summer Hours

Summer hours are Monday, June 17, to Friday, August 23, 2024. The SAU office will be closed July 5 in observance of Independence Day.

SAU Summer Hours: Monday to Thursday, 7:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Schools Summer Schedule:

• Mast Way School: Tuesday to Thursday, 9:00 a.m.- 3:00 p.m.
• Moharimet School: Tuesday to Thursday, 9:00 a.m.- 3:00 p.m.
• Oyster River Middle School: Monday to Thursday, 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
• Oyster River High School: Monday to Thursday, 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.