Pinch Me! I must be dreaming!

Well folks, things just got really freigntning today.( we are close to halloween )In Todays Derry News article about the 1M in legal fees in 5 years, Kevin makes his true intentions known. He wants to hire 3 yes 3 in-house attorneys at $100,000 each. I don't know where he went to school but I do know this. 1M divided by 5 = $200k. We averaged 200k in legal bills and Kevin wants 3 lawyers x $100,000 = 300k. He says he is going to save us money, but you do the math. I can't fiqure out the savings can you? Then he goes on to say that we have two prosecutors that make $100K each. Thats funny, I know one officer who retired( no he did not make 100k) and we have one that handles the court cases but he does not make 100K. I find this very interesting as Kevin is considered the champion of the taxpayers association and I'm wondering what taxes kevin has cut or attempted to cut. It was he who when we were 5 cents under the tax cap voted to increase the budget 3 cents to 2 cents under the cap or to make it easier voted to add in an additional $44,000 to the taxpayers. It is he who wants to add an economic coodinator at 45K plus benefits as an employee. Wow Kevin Coyle wants to add 4 new employees at a cost every year of $345,000 and then what, we will need more secretaries, more furniture, more office supplies. I'm hoping that the new employees don't all take the family buy-out plan YIKES! well read it for yourself
http://www.derrynews.com/Derryedition.htm#tag2

6th annual infrastructure summit

My first infrastructure summit was very inspiring. Being involved in planning in Derry and being a southern nh planning commisioner gave me great insight as to planning infrastructure not only in Derry but with neighbors like Londonderry, Chester, Auburn, Windham, Manchester. The meeting really made some great points of where we were 30 years ago and where we are today. What was really funny was looking at pictures of the airport terminal in 1961 ( little old shack ) then 1993 and then today. We have made great improvements! Now we also spoke of Rte 93 widening, The bridge from Rte 3 to the airport and also spoke of Derry's positive new steps in Economic Dev. ( TIFF). We also had a great key speaker who with outside eyes told us we need to think more as a one New england state and work together in many aspects to compete on a regional level. Housing- Rail Service-Airports-Roadways-Energy costs-Businesses-Jobs-Education. We have an opportunity to do great things, however we need to think outside of the box and put our collective heads together. It was a very inspiring meeting and one that I enjoyed.One things for sure, we need to make the right decisions for our own society.

Economic Development Anyone?

The most important goal our town has is Economic Development. How we accomplish what are needs are was finally talked about in a workshop the council just had. The majority is leaning toward using a combination of outside agencies such as DEDC, Derry Chamber of Commerce, Derry Housing and Redevelopment and hiring a new town employee whos title will be Economic Coordinator. ( we did have an option of a ED Director at a cost of $94K) The coordinators' salary will be in the 45K range ( before benefits of course) Now we must get to the details of how everything will work so stay tuned. My suggestions are as follows: We fund the DEDC 30K first and get them going. They will report to the council on a quartely basis and both parties may terminate contract with proper notice. lets take the balance that was in the budget 30K and the 50K from Admin budget and the 45K that was interest payment from the planned but now defunct firestation and lets use this for the Exit 4A EIS study instead of making a supplemental appropriation - this way the taxpayers save 125K. Now we need to fund the coordinator postion. I say because we are late in the year and the fact that we have an important March election coming up. Let the elected councilors put the position and the funding in the new budget come march. This also gives us a chance to see what then the DEDC will accomplish. I think this is the best way to go and we don't rush into hiring someone. We need to do it right!
I'm interesed in your thoughts!