Congrats to Interlakes football on winning championship. Moultonboro Academy had their chance

Interlakes High School won the NHIAA Division VI Championship on Saturday by a score of 6-0.

The school has only had a football team since 2006. In that time more than $100,000 has been raised to help fund the program. The school spirit created by this team was evident in the sellout crowd of over 1200 at the Interlakes field.

Last spring a proposal was made to the Moultonboro School Board to allow Moultonboro Academy an opportunity to participate with the Interlakes High School football program. Our school board denied the request. What a shame. It was an opportunity lost to improve school and town spirit. All one had to do was travel to Meredith the day of the game and see all the signs and the crowds. Maybe next year?

A whole lot of digging going on....at the Lions Club.

What's going on here? Lot's of activity today at the town owned Lion's Club property. According to Carter's weekly report to the Selectmen, test wells were to be dug on the property supposedly in anticipation of the work to build the the new soccer field. The only problem is that the soccer field is supposed to be built on the opposite side of the property necessitating the removal of the gazebo.

At least that's what we were told. Can't be that our BoS mislead us can it? Can't be that our town administrator is meeting in private and spending our tax dollars on engineering work not related to what was approved at the last town meeting can it?

Yes to all of the above. Carter has already admitted that he is " managing the project". What project did we the voters and taxpayers approve? None. The town approved a soccer field, not a recreation center or the development of the Lions Club property. Carter is a devious bureaucrat. He is purposefully hiding behind his "staff meetings" to avoid any public discussion and the Right to Know law. Here is what he said in a letter to a citizen:"Simply put, the appointed staff of any community is not a Public Body. The staff is not engaged hi (sic) a "meeting" as defined by RSA 91-A. Such a convening of staff and others thus does not trigger the requirement to produce and maintain minutes under this statute."

How much more obvious and blatant can he be? How much more of this nonsense are we going to take?

Wrong ABC reports on Town Web

I just went looking for the ABC quarterly reports that they posted on the town web . One titled "School" the other "Library" but they are both Library reports and appear identical. No school report that I can find.
And where is the Town's quarterly report?

The Legislative update you didn't get from Betsey Patten

Despite being told at last weeks BoS meeting that " not much is going on in Concord" our House Rep. Betsey Patten has been quite busy. She is involved in 17 new bills ( so far) introduced for the 2010 session 14 of which she is the prime sponsor. She only mentions one bill of hers in the BoS meeting relating to rafting in Braun Bay.
The 2010 bills are still being drafted and the text will be available, online and in print, on December 10th on the NH House website.
Betsey also stated that the last day to introduce new bills for the 2010 session is December 11th 2009. That's not correct. According to the NH House Calendar, the deadline is nearly a month later on January 6th, 2010. We will be watching all the 2010 bills closely.

Here are her 2010 Bills to date: ( only the basic information is currently available)

2010-H-2297-L relative to public hearings on municipal budget preparation.
Sponsors: (Prime) Timothy Butterworth
Betsey L Patten

2010-H-2022-R relative to setback requirements on private rights-of-way.
Sponsors: (Prime) Gene G Chandler
Betsey L Patten
J. David Knox
Stanley E Stevens
David B Campbell

2010-H-2186-R relative to school employee and volunteer background investigations and relative to applicants for driver education certificates and school licenses.
Sponsors: (Prime) Betsey L Patten
Maurice L Pilotte
Alida I Millham
Kathleen N Taylor

2010-H-2179-R excluding value attributed to unexercised approvals in determining the market value of land for property tax purposes.
Sponsors: (Prime) Betsey L Patten

2010-H-2180-R relative to the regulation of fuel gas fitters.
Sponsors: (Prime) Betsey L Patten

2010-H-2181-R relative to state water pollution control and drinking water revolving loan funds, and state contributions to sewage disposal facilities.
Sponsors: (Prime) Betsey L Patten

2010-H-2182-R relative to rafting of boats in Braun Bay.
Sponsors: (Prime) Betsey L Patten
J. David Knox
Stanley E Stevens

2010-H-2183-R relative to incorporation by reference in state agency rule making.
Sponsors: (Prime) Betsey L Patten
Maurice L Pilotte

2010-H-2184-R clarifying that a quorum of the current use board is not required to hold public forums.
Sponsors: (Prime) Betsey L Patten
Maurice L Pilotte
Peter B Schmidt
Jacalyn L Cilley

2010-H-2185-R relative to the rule making authority of the state treasurer regarding the New Hampshire excellence in higher education endowment trust fund and the college tuition savings plan.
Sponsors: (Prime) Betsey L Patten


2010-H-2187-R relative to rules adopted by the assessing standards board regarding certification of appraisers by the department of revenue administration.
Sponsors: (Prime) Betsey L Patten
Eric G Stohl
Peter B Schmidt

2010-H-2220-R naming a bridge in Wolfeboro in honor of Spc. Matthew J. Stanley.
Sponsors: (Prime) J. David Knox
Betsey L Patten
Stanley E Stevens
Christopher J Ahlgren


2010-H-2340-R relative to appropriations in the county budget and expenditures of state and federal grants by counties.
Sponsors: (Prime) Alida I Millham
Betsey L Patten
Dennis H Fields
Liz H Merry

2010-H-2408-R relative to a certain insurance rule making exemption.
Sponsors: (Prime) Betsey L Patten
Kathleen N Taylor

2010-H-2679-R relative to the taxation of railroads.
Sponsors: (Prime) Betsey L Patten
Eric G Stohl
Robert L Theberge

2010-H-2680-R relative to the excavation tax.
Sponsors: (Prime) Betsey L Patten
Eric G Stohl
Robert L Theberge

2010-H-2681-R relative to the determination of value and taxability for purposes of the utility property tax.
Sponsors: (Prime) Betsey L Patten

2010-H-2682-R relative to timber tax enforcement.
Sponsors: (Prime) Betsey L Patten

County delegation just a much smaller version of town meeting. Taxpayers don't get to vote.

The Carroll County Delegation is made up of 14 members representing the four districts of Carroll County. According to commissioner Albee, the delegation makes the appropriations and the commissioners are just managers of the appropriations.
Now think about this: Carroll County has 44K residents and we elect 14 representatives. These same 14 people decide how to spend our tax dollars at the county level. It's really a much more condensed version of town meeting. Other than input at their meetings ( which is limited by the way to 15 minutes) we really have no say and certainly no vote on how Carroll County spends our money.
Someone suggested that the towns in Carroll County be allowed to vote on the issue of a new nursing home to see if the public really wants this and in what form. Why not make this a ballot question?

Now to all you anti SB2'ers out there: how does it feel having no vote in how the county spends your tax dollars ?

Moultonboro Town Report named number one for "excellence in town reports".

The New Hampshire Local Government Center on Friday November 20th, named Moultonboro it's winner for excellence in town reports for 2008-2009 for towns with a population of 3001 to 5000. This refers to the town report published annually.
Congratulations to the town employees, town administrator and the Board of Selectmen.

Can't compare cost per sqaure foot for Huggins Hospital and Mountainview Nursing Home

I read in the minutes of the last Carroll County Commissioners meeting where Commissioner Albee mentioned by way of comparison to the $283 per square foot estimate for Mountainview, that Huggins Hospital is rumored to be costing roughly $450 a square foot.
The problem is that you can't even begin to compare the two projects. To start with, Mountainview is a skilled nursing facility, basically a communal residence with nursing care. Huggins Hospital on the other hand is an acute care hospital with an emergency room, operating rooms , patient rooms and an intensive care unit, not to mention laboratories and testing areas, piped in medical gases and on an on. The cost in building a brand new hospital vs a brand new nursing home is not just incrementally higher, it's exponentially higher.
The people at the table that have been reviewing this for the past year should know better ( they are the ones making the decision after all and are supposed to know this) and it should never have been a part of the conversation. Frankly that causes me some concerns. Where DID they get their facts and figures?
So if the justification come November 30th for spending $23M is that Huggins Hospital cost much more, tell them they are wrong.