Town Manager and Tax Collector Report
I want to take this opportunity to thank Colebrook residents, town employees and the various civic organizations for your dedication in making Colebrook a better place to live.
The business owners and the Main Street Program are working together to encourage residents and tourists to shop in downtown Colebrook. The buildings on Main Street are being restored to enhance their historical heritage. Dr. Gifford’s dream of a community pool has now been realized. Visit the Interpretive Center, located at the State of New Hampshire Rest Area, to view their different historical, local culture or art displays. The Colebrook Grange Hall, previously used as a stable for the Balsams horse teams, grange meetings and dances, is currently being converted into an Arts Center. It is amazing what numerous civic organizations working together can accomplish.
The interior of the Colebrook Town Hall received a facelift this year. To improve customer service, Gail and David Purrington installed a window in the tax collector’s office. They donated the window, material and their time to this project. The interior walls have been painted and several small projects have been completed in an effort to weatherize our town hall and thereby use less fuel.
Heidi Lawton, who greeted you at the front window and worked on emergency management projects, accepted a position with the State of New Hampshire as the Coos County Emergency Management Representative. Gail Purrington was invited to join the town office staff. It became necessary for her to take a medical leave of absence in December and she is expected to return to work this spring. We have been very fortunate to have Deputy Town Clerk Janey Moore and Police Secretary Lisa McKinnon assist with general office duties whenever they were available. I want to thank Camilla Stewart and Melanie Mathieu for their dedication and patience in meeting the challenge of being short staffed and in training first Gail and then Janey and Lisa.
I have been asked what is done in the name of emergency management. Under Heidi’s guidance, the town received a $15,000.00 grant, part of which sent informational packages to each resident telling you how to plan for an emergency. Town employees, EMT’s and fire fighters became NIMS certified and another group of people were trained to be a CERT team. These grant funds also paid for Heidi’s computer.
Colebrook has recently upgraded its all hazard plan adding an addendum on wild fires.
Robert Lawton worked with a water resource official to locate existing ponds, select potential sites for more ponds or areas for dry hydrants. North Country Council assisted the town with these projects through a grant.
Because Colebrook had an all hazard plan and was NIMS certified, they were able to apply for state emergency monies for 2007’s largest snowstorm. Without these plans and certifications in place, a town is not able to receive any state or federal assistance in the event of an emergency. Camilla Stewart and Kevin McKinnon worked on the snowstorm grant, obtained a $52,304.10 reimbursement to cover equipment, and overtime accrued during that storm. The North Country is continually experiencing new storm patterns that cause serious problems and there will be more emergencies we have to be prepared to deal with.
Colebrook has faced many challenges with broken water mains located in the Mohawk River at the Route 26 and Pleasant St. Bridges. On two occasions, the local hospital was without water for a short period of time. An emergency meeting was held to decide what to do in the event Route 26, Pleasant Street, Academy Street, Lombard Street and Route 145 east of the Mohawk River were without water for an extended period of time. For the last few years, business owners have prayed for snow to boost the economy. This year their prayers were answered when large amounts of snow fell early. The larger the storm, the longer it takes to clean the streets. Because salt is harmful to the environment, the town cannot dump snow in several areas that were available in the past. Instead, it is moved longer distances,
which takes longer.
The landfill project is nearing completion. The final capping will be completed by July 2009 as scheduled. Colebrook officials are looking at a landfill gas and wind project to tap into the landfill gas and natural wind velocity at the landfill site. The required generator for such a project will generate enough heat to provide heat for a green house. Capping into the gas rather than letting it just burn will generate revenue for the town of Colebrook for approximately ten (10) years.
At the 2007 town meeting, a warrant article to form an energy committee was passed. This committee is quite active and is chaired by Julie Moran. Please watch for her articles in the local papers. A prime focus is to educate the public on recycling, wind and solar producing energy procedures, etc. If anyone is interesting in joining or learning more about saving your environment or money spent on utilities, please feel free to e-mail Julie at connect777@verizon.net.
Residents that already recycle conscientiously will save money with a Pay as You Throw Program. Currently everyone pays a portion of the complete rubbish disposal budget. When you purchase bags, you only pay for what you alone do not recycle. People who do not recycle will be buying many more bags than a person that recycles. I hope that the cost of buying several bags will encourage these residents to recycle also.
Our economy is in a precarious state and it reflects in the number of property taxes still due. Please note the unpaid property tax list is dated January 20th just 5 days after taxes were due. By the time this report is public, several of these people will have paid their taxes.
The closing of the Groveton Mill has affected several residents in our community and the ripple effect hurts residents and businesses. The economic development committee is working very diligently to bring companies to Colebrook to promote new jobs. Let us hope 2008 will be a good year for new job opportunities.
Respectfully submitted,
Donna Caron
Town Manager
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