Claremont
Though it initially had agreed to keep the number at nine, which was the maximum recommended by Alan Gould, president of Municipal Resources Inc., the firm hired to help with the search, no one objected when Councilor John Simonds suggested they appoint all applicants to the committee.
“You are turning people away from becoming part of the process,” said Simonds, who didn’t want to eliminate anyone willing to serve. “This is a great group of people. I just wouldn’t want to exclude anyone from this opportunity.”
Mayor Charlene Lovett said she had spoken to Gould earlier about possibly increasing the size of the committee and he told her it would not be a problem. The council discussed choosing four alternates, but that discussion ended when Councilor Bruce Temple said they should get rid of the alternates and name all 13 as regular members.
With the deadline for applications for the position set for Monday, Lovett said Gould told her 26 people have applied from 15 states, including New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Texas, Washington, New Jersey, Wisconsin and Oregon.
The 13 committee members are Debora Matteau, Margaret Hurley, Jeremy Biggs, Cheryl Jones, Kyle Messier, Lawrence Johnson, Don Limoges, Don Clarke, current School Board Chairman Brian Rapp, Bethany Yurek, Melissa Richmond, Marty Davis and Robert Porter, a former city manager.
The council’s goal was to hire a new manager by Nov. 1 so he or she could work with City Manager Guy Santagate for 60 days before Santagate retires on Dec. 31.
Also on Wednesday night, the council continued discussing a proposed increase in water rates over the next five years for the 3,600 connections to the municipal system, but ultimately took no action.
Assistant Public Works Director Vic St. Pierre again told the council, as he did in July, the increases are necessary to fund capital projects such as replacing service lines that have lead and also covering annual operating expenses. For the current year, the water department is using $1.5 million from its fund balance to make up the revenue shortfall from user fees.
“We want to attack them as fast as we can to get rid of those,” St. Pierre said about the roughly 220 service lines that still need to be replaced. “We won’t have the money if we don’t increase the rates. We really want to fix the system.”
But some members of the council said the rate increase of 17 percent in the first year was something most residents could not afford.
Councilor Scott Pope said he was contacted by several residents who do not support the increase. He said his calculations indicate his water bill would more than double by 2021.
Pope presented some modifications to the proposed increase, including freezing the rate applied to a maximum of 2,000 cubic feet every six months until 2021. Failing that, Pope recommended raising the maximum usage for that rate to 3,000 cubic feet.
“Even with my proposals, I still believe these rate increases are more than many in the community can afford at this time,” Pope wrote in his recommendations.
There is no increase proposed for the sewer rates.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
