Plymouth, NH

Town Manager’s Report – January 8, 2024

Plymouth Police Department: Effective December 31, 2023, Sergeant Kevin Shortt has retired from the Police Department with a total of 22.5 years in Law Enforcement, and the last 5 years with the Plymouth Police Department. I wish to thank Kevin for his service and commitment to the Town of Plymouth.

Pease Public Library: There’s a new Little Free Library in Town! Students from Mount Prospect Academy built a beautiful little free library and partnered with the Pease Public Library to supply books for it. It is conveniently located downtown, right outside of Town Hall. We hope you get a chance to visit it!

Town Hall HVAC: We received two proposals for the HVAC System, Proposals came from Denron/Hall Plumbing and HVAC and Blouin Service HVAC. I have reviewed the proposals, and the estimates range from $361,152 and $365,705. I am currently meeting with each vendor to look further into the areas included, and what are the priorities to develop a 3-phase approach.

December 19th Rain/Flooding event: The Town of Plymouth experienced moderate flooding during the storm the week of December 18th. We had flooding conditions on Route #3 south, Smith Bridge Road, Fairgrounds Road and Loon Lake Road area which cut off access for residents. Other areas impacted were the dirt and gravel roads which experienced spring like conditions making the roads very soft and impassable in some cases. The major areas of impact were, Loon Lake Road, Bell Road, Stinson Road, Cummings Hill Road and Texas Hill Road. The Highway Department has been out working diligently to repair these areas. This was the first major rain event since the Downtown Drainage had been completed this fall, we found that areas that had problems in the past were not affected by this storm and the Detention Pond worked just as engineered and held the water and dispersed as designed. I want to thank the Fire Department, Police Department and Highway Department for their work during this storm in keeping the community safe. (Thurlow Street & Hunt Road East)

Property Assessment & Tax Rate meetings: Over the past 3 weeks, I have met with several concerned citizens about their recent Property Assessment and their Tax Bills. I have had great conversations with them and outlined the process that is mandated by the State for Revaluations in setting the new Assessment, further we have discussed the Tax Rate and everything the Selectboard, Budget Committee and Town Department Heads are doing to lower the Budget going into Town Meeting March of 2024. I have provided them strategies that we are currently working on with regards to the revaluation and budgets, and have encouraged them to attend meetings to voice their concerns. On December 20th, I had the opportunity to meet with the school officials from the SAU, Elementary and High School to discuss budgets and collaboration opportunities.

Tax Payments: At the last meeting we spoke about allowing Tax Payments without interest through the end of April 2024 for those that qualify due to the increases that property owners

experienced with the revaluation. Is this something the Board would like the Tax Collector to pursue.

Total Compensation Package Memorandums: We have created Total Compensation Package Memo’s for all fulltime staff. The Memo includes, Annual Salary, Health & Dental, Retirement, Annual Vacation, Annual Sick Days, Paid Holidays, Unemployment, Life & Short-Term Disability Insurances. Additionally, we have outlined other programs available such as the Flexible Spending Account, Mission Square Retirement, and the Employee Assistant Program. We felt it was important for staff to see the true cost associated with their positions.

Tax Deed Auction update: Public Auction for 34 Fairgrounds Road was held on Saturday, November 18th at 3:00pm at Town Hall. The property sold to the High Bidder at $180,000. The Bidder has provided the funds to the Auctioneer and the transactions are complete.

Flood Risk Open House: FEMA will be hosting their open-house to help inform the public about the new Grafton County Flood Maps here at Town Hall on the evening of January 10th 4:00pm – 7:00pm.

Welfare Department update: Marianne was very busy during the month of December, she assisted 43 individuals with a variety of resources to include housing, electric bills, and rental cost.

Future Budget Meetings scheduled are as follows:

•   Monday, January 8, 2024 – 1:30 – 3:30 pm BOS to meet to make their final recommendations

•   Monday, January 22, 2024 – 5:15 pm Town Hall w/BOS (All departments to attend!) 1st Public hearing on 24/25 Budget

•   Thursday, February 8, 2024 – 5:15 pm Town Hall w/BOS (All departments to attend!) 2nd Public hearing on the 24/25 budget and review of the warrant articles.

  Plymouth State University update:

 Plymouth State University – Master Planning Committee: On Thursday, January 4th, I

met with Jessica Dutille, we discussed a number topics to include, Parking during flood events, Permit Parking at Fox Park, Transfer Student Orientation on Sunday, January 24th and continued work on the Pirate Party for 2024 to include events for underage students off-site.

Downtown Drainage Project: UPDATE

•   Main Street, Warren Street and Russell Street Box out and re-build scheduled for Spring 2024. This will include sidewalks in designated areas.

•   Soils: On Friday, January 5th, Anne, June and I met with Josh from HEB. The Sampling of soils on the South Main Street corridor produced signs of Background Level Contamination. We have received information from John Turner Consulting just before Christmas about disposal costs for materials at different landfills as well as reuse of the existing materials as gravel and crushed gravel. There are several areas to consider for this process, to summarize the current condition of the HEB Construction Administration Contract and the Granese Construction Contract. We are still working on the additional costs and options associated with the handling of soils that should be considered for budget planning for 2024 construction season. (We will have additional information within the next week)

   https://www.plymouth-nh.org/category/downtown-stormwater-drainage-project/

  As always, I am available if you may have questions, concerns and comments. 603.536.1731 X112 or townmanager@plymouth-nh.org