American
Legion
Auxiliary Unit 112
Bake Sale
October 22, 2016
9 am to 3 pm
Danis Super Market,
8 Water Street,
Pittsfield
Poinsettia
Sale
The Friends of the Josiah Carpenter Library will be holding their
annual poinsettia sale. Order forms are available at the
library now through November 7, 2016. The Friends will also be
taking orders on Election Day, Nov. 8, 2016 at Pittsfield’s Town
Hall. All monies are due with placement of order. Plants
will be delivered in early December.
In addition to the poinsettia sale, The
Friends will be holding a raffle on Election Day.
Be sure to bring your wallet with you, in
order to participate in these two events !
Thank you for supporting your library!
Aqueduct
Purchase Progress
By Fred Okrent
Many people are confused by the Pittsfield
Aqueduct purchase issue. This article is an attempt to clear some of
the confusion and answer most of the questions. Any remaining
questions can be answered at the Public Information Meeting which
will be held at 10:00 AM, Saturday, October 22 at the Town Hall. The
Committee urges you to attend.
The committee firmly believes that
purchase of the Aqueduct is important to the town for a number of
reasons;
Pittsfield Aqueduct is owned by Pennichuck
Water, which is owned by the City of Nashua. The only driving force
is profit. They do not care about the Town of Pittsfield, only the
money to be taken out of it.
Right now, during this drought,
Pennichuck, which also owns and operates Locke Lake Colony water in
Barnstead, is trucking water out of Pittsfield to use in Barnstead.
Good for Locke Lake Colony, not so good for Pittsfield if the supply
gets tight. If they decided to enter into a bottled water
arrangement, they could do so and the Town would have no recourse.
Our water, their profits.
If Nashua decided that they needed a large
cash infusion, they could decide to begin selling the properties
around Berry Pond. Those properties form a buffer for our water
source, including the surrounding aquifers. That includes those
properties outside the proposed Water District. What happens to the
water quality in those areas as well as the supplied district?
Of course, if the water quality goes down,
Pennichuck will be glad to boost the quality back up to where it
should be…at a price. The wells outside the district; sorry about
that, you’re on your own!
Speaking of price, Pennichuck has gone to
the PUC for a rate increase of about 8½% every year and gotten it.
That means the rate doubles every 10 years. Remember, the Town
buildings are on metered water as well as many of the residences.
There are those that say that a village
water district cannot be run as cheaply as Pittsfield Aqueduct. The
Pittsfield Water District will not have a President or CEO or Board
of Directors to pay every year. That fact alone will slow the
increases in the rates. A municipal agency, such as the district, is
more eligible for federal and state grants than a private company.
That can provide additional savings.
We will form a Pittsfield Water District
and elect commissioners to run it. The district will acquire the
Aqueduct Company and administer (sic) the operation. It will
undoubtedly contract with an outside agency for the operation. The
district (ratepayers) will be the ones responsible for paying off
the acquisition debt, the Town will not.
The district may contract with the town to
do the billing, since the town gets the water usage reports to do
the sewer billing. Another area for efficiency.
Finally, bond rates are at a very low rate
right now; it is a good time to buy.
Forming a village district is the right
thing to do. It will save the citizens of Pittsfield tax money; It
will save the water users in the town money, and it will put
Pittsfield in a position to control its own destiny and not have to
depend on a private company or the City of Nashua, neither of which
really care about the good of Pittsfield. Please come to the
informational meeting. Ask any question you care to. We have nothing
to hide and only want what is best for the town.
Selectman’s
Overview
Submitted By Carl
Anderson
Select Board meeting
10/11/16
The meeting began with an hour long
presentation by Chief Cain describing the duties and
responsibilities of the police department.
A parade permit was issued for the
school’s Halloween parade on Oct. 28.
We are moving forward with plans to go to
bi-weekly payroll, although a conclusive decision will be down the
road.
The Highway Dept. will be advertising for
help, with Sparky retiring and winter coming on.
An electrical permit fee was waived for
Pittsfield Players because of their non-profit status.
The revised Building Inspector’s job
description was officially adopted.
Penalties were established for violations
of a lawn watering restriction, should it be necessary, starting
with a warning and working up to a $500 fine for excessive
violations. While we certainly encourage being frugal with water
during this drought, there has NOT been any restriction placed on
use in Pittsfield as of yet.
The deeds to 33 & 37 Main St. were
executed. Mr. Miskoe is now free to get the next phase of his
project underway. This will mean the demolition of 33 Main and the
ell portion of 37 Main which attaches the house to the barn. He will
be adjusting the lot lines so that the library has a considerably
larger lot and that will accommodate off street parking for whatever
ultimately goes into the remaining building. Once those goals are
accomplished, Mr. Miskoe will be gifting the library their
additional land including the barn, and the town will re-purchase
the remaining building and land for $1, to then be either rehabbed
by SVRDC or sold, depending on circumstances at that time.
There will be an informational
presentation by the aqueduct purchase committee at 10 AM, Oct. 22 at
the Town Hall. This proposal has major implications for the town as
a whole, and municipal ratepayers in particular and all are strongly
urged to attend!
Several minor housekeeping items were
taken care of concluding the meeting.
South
Pittsfield Community Club
Do you want to help out a non-profit
organization in a different way? You can by coming to their Annual
Turkey Dinner. The funds collected go to help pay for the costs of
maintaining the historic building and helping those in need.
Come and experience a family-style turkey
dinner. We will be busy baking turkeys and pies, mashing the
potatoes and squash and assembling all of the other fixings. What
you need to do is to come on Saturday, October 22nd and enjoy this
great meal.
We have 3 sittings between 5-6:30. The
cost of this all you can eat meal (as long as we haven’t run out of
any items) is $10 for adults and $6 for children 6-12. This is the
last dinner for 2016 so please come and support our club. Thank you
in advance! See you on Saturday!
Letter To The
Editor
I encourage Pittsfield residents who own
and live in the Pittsfield Water District to attend the Public
Information Session at Town Hall, Saturday, October 22 at 10 AM to
listen to those in town advocating the purchase of the Pittsfield
Aqueduct Company from Pennichuck Water, which is owned by the City
of Nashua.
They will inform us of the major
advantages of taking back local control of our Water Supply and the
Berry Pond aquifer that surrounds it.
During this years drought Pittsfield Water
was trucked to Locke Lake Colony in Barnstead which is also owned by
Pennichuck.
According to the State of NH Public
Utilities Commission Report on Permanent rate increases, Pittsfield
residents have experienced substantial rate increases. Do we want
the City of Nashua to control our town Water? Please come and inform
yourself on this important issue.
I do not live in district and therefore
have a private well, but I understand the value and importance of
our water.
Thank you,
Mary Ellen SIUDUT
Pittsfield
American
Legion Post 88 News
Submitted By Commander
Shawn Jones
D5 Cmdr Rick Dube gives the oath of office to newly
installed Chaplain Alfred Page while Post Cmdr Jones looks on.
D5 Cmdr Dube
presents Post Cmdr Jones with the Royal E. Miller Jr. Oratorical
Award.
New post
welcome home cake baked by Ken Ward.
Pictures courtesy of Historian Michael Moffett
At our September meeting, held at the new
post we had nine officers present and eight members. District 5
Commander Richard Dube and Senior Vice Commander Todd Connor paid us
a visit. Commander Dube presented this year’s Royal E. Miller Jr.
Oratorical Award to our post for having sponsored this year’s High
School Oratorical winner Hana Testerman of Chichester. The plaque is
now hanging on the wall along with other recent post awards over the
past two years.
Commander Dube also installed out newest
post Chaplain Alfred Page after Larry Hemphill stepped down. We
thank Larry for his spiritual guidance and service to our post for
many years. Commander Dube spoke about the importance of recording
our Post’s community service work on the Consolidated Post Report
(CPR) and on the importance of retaining and recruiting membership.
We thank both Commanders for visiting our new post for the first
time. After the meeting, we enjoyed a special cake made by our very
own Kenneth Ward. It was delicious and who knew he had so many
talents?
The building committee reported on
continuing renovations to the post and grounds. The flag pole was
installed by Tasker’s Landscaping and solar powered lighting will be
installed soon. There is some finish painting to be done outside and
we are looking at the cost of installing additional security
lighting to the back side of the building and having this controlled
by a timer. We will also be installing blinds and curtains in the
windows in the near future. We are still in need of a new
refrigerator. If any one has one that is in good working condition
or would like to make a donation to the post to purchase a new one
please contact myself, Gary Tasker, or Stan Prescott. Since the
American Legion is a 501(c)(19) Nonprofit War Veteran’s
Organization. Donations to war veterans organizations are deductible
as charitable contributions on the donor’s federal income tax
return.
According to Department records, our
current membership is up to 82 percent, needing 12 more to reach the
goal of 100%. Please continue to send in your 2017 dues before
December 21st.
The September Commander’s Fund Raffle
winners are as follows: $50-Alex P.,$25-Tony R.,$10-Tony
R.,$10-Charles P. & $5-Linda. Congratulations to our September
winners. Than you for supporting Post 88.
Post 88 wants to wish everyone a Happy
Thanksgiving.
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