Annual Report of the Town of Milford, New Hampshire
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wn Report f>. \^. ^j^M^ssi^A h I 1 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from Boston Library Consortium IVIember Libraries http://archive.org/details/annualreportofto1983milf Annual Reports for the Town . year ending December 31, 1983 . Milford, New Hampshire ABOUT OUR COVER At the center of the cover photo is the town's new pumping station in East Milford which brings water from wells located in Am- herst, across the Souhegan River which is shown in the fore- ground. Finding a new source of water for the town became essential when the Savage Well off Elm Street was closed because of possible contaminants. -- Photo by Bill Ferguson The Cabinet Press, Inc. — Milford, N. H. — 1984 University of New Hampshire Ubrary INDEX Ambulance 86 Audit 167 Board of Adjustment 120 Budget 31 Civil Defense 121 Communications Center 123 Conservation Commission Ill Court 88 Financial Report 72 Fire Department 90 Keyes Field Summer Recreation Program 70 Library 93 Nashua Regional Planning 122 Numbering Committee 120 Planning Board 87 Police Department 92 Protection of Persons and Property 85 Public Welfare 113 Public Works 39 Selectmen 8 Snowfall 71 Special Town Meeting June 13, 1983 143 Special Town Meeting December 16, 1983 148 Synopsis of 1983 Town Meeting 124 Tax Collector 107 Tax Rate Analysis 105 Town Clerk 106 Town Officers 4 Town Treasurer 97 Town's Worth 104 Trust Funds .^. 114 Vital Statistics 158 Warrant 15 Wastewater Treatment Report 96 Frederic Fletcher 1908 - 1983 Fred Fletcher served the town as a member of the Board of Selectmen for many years, and for some of that time as chairman. Town Officers Selectmen Ernest L. Barrett Term Expires 1984 Rosario Ricciardi Term Expires 1984 Walter F.Putnam Term Expires 1985 Frank Stetson Term Expires 1985 Frederic H. Fletcher Term Expires 1986 (Deceased June 12, 1983) Bartolo Prestipino Term Expires 1983 Superintendent of Public Works Robert E. Courage Building Inspector Raymond Mitchell Assessor Stephen Fedan Moderator Robert D. Philbrick Tax Collector Wilfred A. Leduc Town Clerk Wilfred A. Leduc Chief of Police Steven C. Sexton Checklist Supervisors Edward J. Thane Term Expires 1986 JohnC. Farwell Term Expires 1984 Frances Rivard Term Expires 1988 Town Treasurer Septima L. Gaidmore 4 Water Advisory Board Owen P. Fisk Term Expires 1984 John Sargent Term Expires 1985 Lovell A. Wright Term Expires 1986 Fire Wards Dominic A. Calvetti Term Expires 1984 Robert C.Kendall Term Expires 1985 Stephen Sears Term Expires 1986 Trustees of Trust Funds Richard D'Amato Term Expires 1984 Robert J. Kerr Term Expires 1985 Richard P. Fisk Term Expires 1986 Cemetery Advisory Board Antimo Carpentiere Term Expires 1984 James Heald Term Expires 1985 Lester Perham Term Expires 1986 Trustees of Wadleigh Memorial Library William Petraske Term Expires 1984 Peg Lizotte Term Expires 1984 MervinD. Newton Term Expires 1984 Phillip Savage Term Expires 1984 Denise M. Johnson Term Expires 1986 Kelly Carter Term Expires 1985 Edward Bauer (Resigned 1983) Richard Click (Resigned 1983) Health Officer Alexandre G. Law, M.D. Parks and Playgrounds Advisory Board Walter F.Putnam Selectmen Representative Edward ComoUi Term Expires 1984 Janice Cook Term Expires 1985 Bruce M. Varney Term Expires 1985 Joseph L. Swiezynski Term Expires 1986 Civil Defense Director Fred R. Luongo Board of Adjustment Robert P. Odell, Chairman Term Expires 1988 Ronald Violette Term Expires 1985 John Ruonala Term Expires 1985 Patricia Stinson Term Expires 1987 David Bianchi Term Expires 1987 Katherine Maher (Alternate) Term Expires 1984 Deanne Carter (Alternate) Term Expires 1984 James Wetherbee (Alternate) Term Expires 1984 Conservation Commission Rosario Ricciardi Selectmen Representative Francis Mistrangelo Planning Board Representative Lorraine Carson Term Expires 1984 John Hohenadel Term Expires 1984 John Ferguson, Jr. Term Expires 1984 Hazel Burns Term Expires 1984 Russell N. Monbleau, Jr. Term Expires 1985 Edna Silva Term Expires 1985 Michael Deasy Term Expires 1986 Planning Board Francis Mistrangelo, Chairman Term Expires 1985 Patricia Hedler Term Expires 1984 John Maffee Term Expires 1984 Peter Leishman Term Expires 1986 Richard Mace Term Expires 1986 Norman Erikson Term Expires 1986 Frank Stetson Selectmen Representative Nashua Regional Planning Commission Thomas T. Johnson John A. Welch Band Concert Committee Anne Adams, Chairperson Olive Caspar Harold Adams Arthur Oilman Joel Grindle Street Numbering Committee Anne Adams, Chairperson Stephen Flammia Harold Adams Katherine Oilman John Caspar 6 Budget Committee William English, Chairman Dr. Richard St. Cyr Loretta Wetherbee James Hallisey Antimo Carpentiere Dale White Christopher G. Pank Cindy Salisbury Overseer of Public Welfare Patti Home Traffic Safety Committee Shirley Putnam, Chairman William B.Rotch Robert Courage Chief Steven Sexton Joseph Silva Stephen Sears Fred Luongo Ambulance Study Committee Barbara Naun Peg Seward David Turner Cindy Salisbury Seth Canter Administrative Assistant Feasibility Study Committee William B. Rotch Frank Doyle David Hodgen Selectmen This past year (1983) has been one of continual problems and changes for the Town of Milford. Your Board of Selectmen has dealt with each situation on an individual basis and has made decisions they felt were in the best interest of the Town. Not all of these decisions were easy, but they had to be made. The year started out with the closing of the Savage well by the State, on February 15, due to contamination by volatile chemicals. Immediately the town lost 40% of its water supply. The condition and impact of this contamination was addressed by the State at our annual 1983 Town Meeting. Mr. Frederic Fletcher was elected the new chairman of the Board in March, following his election at Town Meeting. On March 14 Chief James Rasmussen resigned as Police Chief, and Detective William Eggers was appointed officer in charge of the depart- ment. An immediate search for a chief was instituted with the New Hampshire Municipal Professional Recruitment Services. While this search was in its initial stage. Chairman Fletcher brought to the Board's attention the name of an experienced sergeant who could immediately fill the vacancy. On March 31 an extensive interview was held, and after evaluation of this interview the Board appointed Steven C. Sexton as the new Police Chief of Milford. The replacement of the Communication Center equipment was ap- proved at Town Meeting, and the Board turned over to the advisory com- mittee, that was created on February 28, full responsibility for this proj- ect. In April, the town leased additional parking spaces from Leighton White, on the corner of Bridge and Putnam streets. The useage of this area fell far short of expectation and the Board has notified Mr. White that we will not be renewing the lease in April 1984. On June 12, 1983, Chairman Fletcher died in Hanover after a brief ill- ness. Fred had served the Town of Milford for many years and his dedica- tion and community spirit will be deeply missed. Mr. Bart Prestipino, a former Board member, was appointed to fill out, until March 1984, the first year of Mr. Fletcher's three-year term. The Board wishes to thank Mr. Prestipino for his willingness to serve as his experience was an asset to us. Later in June Ernest Barrett was elected chairman of the Board, to replace Mr. Fletcher. On June 14 Mr. Stephen G. Fedan was appointed to the full time Assessor/Building Inspector position as authorized in March. Bids were secured on the town's health insurance in July and we chose to stay with the present carrier, as both lower bids would have substan- tially reduced benefits for our employees. We did not want this to occur as it would have been contrary to our commitment to the employees, both union and non-union. August 1 saw the signing of the official union contract with the Police Department, bringing to a close approximately 10 months of negotiations. Also in August, on the 11th, a special town meeting was held to address the construction of wells on the Curtis property in Amherst to replace the contaminated Savage well. The bond issue of $475,000 was approved by 8 the voters, and under the direction of Superintendent of Pubhc Works, Robert Courage, a contract was signed with the R. H. White Company to immediately proceed. On October 20 one of the wells was on line, and the other shortly thereafter. The Board wishes to publicly thank Robert Courage for his outstand- ing performance in coordinating this effort, and the fine results. An odor problem at the treatment plant was addressed by the employ- ment of the Kimball-Chase engineering firm of Portsmouth. Through their recommendation this problem has been reduced to an acceptable level, when conditions are such that we can control. The Board of Selectmen for some time now has felt that its duties and responsibilities have been expanding, and that there is a need for some- one to assist the Board on a full-time status. In order to evaluate our feel- ings we appointed a special committee consisting of Dave Hodgen, William Rotch and Frank Doyle to investigate our concerns and see if there is any justification for them. The committee's report is due in early February and is not available at the time of the writing of this report. In December, again a special town meeting was held to determine whether the town wished to repair or replace the aerial ladder truck, which a few weeks earlier lost its engine. The voters appropriated the sum of $43,000.00 to repair the present truck. To the Board's memory this was the largest turnout of voters for a special meeting in the recent history, if not in all the history of Milford. This year saw the retirement of building inspector Raymond *Top" Mitchell on December 31.