Last nights town council meeting was a short meeting compared to most. After we meet very briefly in non-public- We came out to begin our meeting promptly at 7:30. On the Agenda was our Consent agenda which we will schedule a public hearing on a justice Assistance Grant that will be awarded to our Police Dept. Date to be heard will be JULY 10Th.
We then moved onto the approval of the new town administrators contract. As you are aware this has been the center of some controversy between councilors Coyle and Bulkley over the last month.... anyway we as a council body took up the final vote for approval last evening bringing our New Administrator Gary Stenhouse to Derry starting July 9th. Final vote 6-1-0 with Fairbanks the lone "NO" vote. Fairbanks explains her no vote as not a vote against the individual but because she did not like an aspect of the contract ( no further explanation was given ) so..
Welcome aboard Gary. Lets get Derry moving in a positive manner.
next up was the July schedule. 1 meeting and 1 workshop- July 10th will be the reg meeting and then the 17th for workshop. In the workshop we will discuss PRIVATE ROADS
From there we went to Admin report which Dr Moody recommended under charter 8.8 his pick for legal council Boutin & Alteri and Devine Millimet. No change from previous legal and the only reason we did this was the previous meeting Fairbanks brought this matter up. Now it is decided although Carney put a time line on this for 3 mos and in a vote it passed. I voted No because I feel this will be brought up again in the near future and may hamstring the new administrator as he will be still very fresh in office and I believe this shouldn't detour the big things we need to accomplish.
next we passed an arrangement to bring sewer and water in conjunction with the Shutes corner development. You will re-call that we will have.. yes i know... another gas station, a Rite-aid, and a bank on the west corner. This agreement lets the developer contribute to the cost of bringing sewer and water and driving it towards land that the town wants developed for commercial/office space. WE passed this last night
and we also decided to bring sewer down UPSTONE LANE and Birchwood AVE at a significant cost ( from water/sewer fund balance ) and although depletes that fund balance it will complete these two areas ahead of CIP and thus saving the town money in the long haul.
We then did some year end moving of monies before the new fiscal year begins..
What did you think of tonight's meeting? leave some comments!
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13 comments:
Let's recap --- Fairbanks voices the concern that we effectively don't have a Town Attorney because there was no contract and one was never appointed.
So the Council reacts and tries to appoint the same one that has been doing the work for Xteen years, even though it was shown that the currrent one was appointed on an open ended basis in the past.
Fairbanks and Coyle then vote "NO" to even a temporary appointment - a position that would throw the town into legal chaos?!
HUH?!
Do these people give a hoot about this town?
I'd like to welcome Rite Aid to the competition for most stores on Route 28 in Derry. They're number 1 opponent being, of course, Dunkin Donuts with 5 stores on Rt 28.
With the recent acquisition of Brooks Pharmacy, we will now have 2 Rite Aid stores within a mile of each other, assuming they close the existing store accross from Pierce Ave. Who knows, maybe we'll have 3!!
Why did Fairbanks leave the meeting early?
anonymous 9:04,
Councilor Fairbanks had a graduation paarty to attend.
Wow, a party? She should have stayed until the end of the brief meeting. At least we know her priorities.
I like the short term commitment toward using Boutin. I think the new town admin should be able to change things around as deemed necessary. Locking him into a Boutin contract would be wrong. He needs to be able to bring in fresh views (including a lawyer) where ever possible.
anonymous 2:40,
I don't neccesary disagree with your thinking however the problem becomes that the new administrator now has to make a decision by Sept instead of when he is good and ready to look at all his legal options. Anyway we will see how it turns out!
The bottom line is the bottom line; my money is on the end of this road being that we will pay higher rates for legal services and likely for the same legal firms - thanks to the tax saving-dynanic duo - Coyle and Fairbanks.
Their real motivation - maybe they just couldn't stand for the Council Chair being able to excersize the right under the charter to ask for legal opinions - they want to be left unchecked, they don't want to held accountable.
After years of study, I have found a way for Derry to save thousands and pass the savings along to its residents in much lower taxes.
I am going to present the info at the next Council meeting. Oh, nevermind, I have a party to go to!
Does anyone know the specifics on how to remove a Town Councilor from office? What,if any, rules does he/she have to violate?
D3,
Heres a couple from our Charter.
section 5.6 Removal of Councilors.
the council may,on specific charges and after notice and hearing,at any time remove one of its own members for cause, including but not limited to prolong absence from or other inattention to duties, crime or misconduct in the office or as specified in this charter.
another....
section 8.7 speaks of non interference of councilors acting individualy and not as a body
See the town website link on my main page. go to council and go to charter. there is everything about removing a councilor in the Charter.
Goods luck removing someone from the council. Remember you will have to deal with Boutin and pay through the property tax nose!
anonymous 8:20,
This is a subject that people need to not look at lightly. you are correct- it is not an easy proposition and should not be. We are elected by the people and it must be something that would have to be very bad for other members to dismiss a councilor. It has never been done before either. We have had other board members taken off boards though.
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