Town Council - Regular Meeting

This is the London town council meeting for Monday, March 2nd, 2026. Everyone, please stand for the pledge. [clears throat] Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. can remain standing. Dan has a moment of silence. Just a moment of silence for our service men and women who are out there today and for the ones that we have lost. Thank you.

Up first tonight, we have introduction of our new cyber services director. So, we have a new cyber service director as you indicated, Jeremy Spalding, comes to us and you've seen his uh his uh uh resume and all that information on him. He uh obviously comes from the private sector and brings a lot of experience which is going to be very valuable to getting us in the direction we need to get in for this town. So, without further ado, just want to say a few words up there. You certainly can. And then uh certainly go up and shake the hand. You want to say a few words? You can at the mic or Okay. [laughter] Welcome, sir. Yep. Glad to have you. Likewise. Good to be here. Thank you. Look forward to working with all of you. [clears throat] [snorts]

Thank you. [snorts] Welcome aboard. I will open public comment. You're all set. [clears throat] Good evening.

Good evening. So, hi. My name is Joe Stalmac. I probably won't eat up the full five minutes. Um, but I just want to introduce myself and uh announce my candidacy for trustee of the trust funds where I am running as a writing candidate. So, it's awkward to have a nice long name and a nice long position to try and do a write in for. [snorts] Um, jokes aside, just a little about myself. Um, I'm a lifelong resident of New Hampshire who moved to London at the end of 2016. Um, I have two daughters who are currently going through the school system, one at North, the other one at LMS. Um, I spent time coaching rec soccer for LSC. And I'm currently coaching Wreck basketball for LBC Hoops. Um, so why do I think I'm a fit? So, professionally, I'm a software engineering director. My day-to-day includes working with people across a variety of departments to get things done, done right, and hopefully under budget. Um, outside of that, uh, in a past life, I served on the board of directors for a childare center in Manchester, New Hampshire. Um, did that for about seven years where a good portion of that was done as president right up through COVID. Um, managed a $2 million operations budget for the entire center covering salaries and facility expenses. [snorts] So, yeah, just want to put that out there and thank you for your time.

Thank you. Thanks for stepping up. Anybody else want public comment? Good evening. Good evening.

John Wilson, Three Tranquil Drive. I'm a member of the senior resource committee and I wanted to point out tonight a problem that we're running to into with our Warren article. As you know, we put warrant article uh 22 on the ballot and we thank you for doing that. And uh we're we're having some difficulty with the with the Warren article. Let me tell you what the problem is. There are 28 Warren articles on the ballot this year. Okay? And on 27 of those articles, the title of the Warren article makes it very clear exactly what the Warren Warren article is about and what you're voting for. Okay, that for example, we have election of officers. That's pretty clear. Town operating budget, that's clear. Cable equipment set adding money to the reserve fund. That's clear. But article 22 is different. It's a unique article. I don't think we've had an article like this actually on our uh elections ever, at least as far as I can remember. And the problem with it is that it's it doesn't Well, let me read it to us. says they establish a mult um establish municipal and transportation improvement fund and capital reserve. Okay, so keeping in mind okay that when we wanted to put this on the ballot okay we wanted to do two simple things. We wanted to create a new funding source for it and we wanted the money to be go to senior transportation uh for seniors and people with disabled.

That simple. But when you read that first line, okay, you don't have any idea that that's connected to the problem that we're trying to solve. E and even after you read the Warren article, you don't get to where you want to be. Now on the other 27 articles, okay, you know, it's very simple what you're it's not a question of having to explain the Warren article. It's simply here's the question. Do you want to vote for it? Yes or no. This article is a problem because it starts out on not on an even playing field. Okay? when you come in and see this Warren article, unless you have the background on the article, you have not a clue that you're voting for transportation for seniors. So, that's the problem. Okay, this is a simple Warren article that we put together trying to help seniors. Okay. And it's very difficult to get it across because before you can explain to people why they should vote for it, you have to explain how the terminology in article 22 actually refers to what we're trying to accomplish. You follow what I'm saying?

Okay. So, it's a dilemma. Okay. And I don't exactly know how to get around that. We've been put articles in newspaper. We've created flyers, but it's difficult to say vote for, you know, warrant article 22 for senior transportation and so on. And when they get into the you know, even if they read that or our article, it gets tough when they get into the to the voting booth and say, "hm, I want to vote for a senior, but where is it?" So [clears throat] it's not a the problem is bigger than just this. It's not a level playing field is the point I'm trying to get across. Now, it's not anybody's quote fault, I don't think, because most of the war the I can't remember exactly the Warren article that created the concept of using the $5 fee, but when they wrote the legislation back in 1997, uh they I don't think they were contemplating exactly where it was going, but they it it was actually probably a better uh RSA than usual because it explained a lot of things and actually gave the wording of the Warren article how to do it. Okay? So, anybody could quickly throw that Warren article together. The downside is that it didn't appreciate how it was going to be used. So, my question is [snorts] how do you get this Warren article in a in a position where it's a level playing field? [clears throat]

Got it. Yes. Thank you. Appreciate it. So, I can answer that. It's It's unfortunate with that warrant article because we as we went through the process, we went back and forth with refining the language with it. I think the reason it looks inspecific is because it is inspecific. Um, part of my issue with the Warren article is because I fully support your effort for CART and I wanted to use money towards that. I think it's gotten too broad and that's why it reads that way because it's too broad and I think that's unfortunate. fraud, you're saying?

Yeah. I mean, like what you said, it's hard it's hard to understand and it it's because it covers too many things and it should have just covered cart and it's unfortunate and I I'm sorry for that. I tried to get the the language changed into something specific but

well you know it's not you know I understand and frankly when we went through this okay we were having such a difficult time getting the warrant article through after the problems we had last year and so on that nobody was thinking until after the deliverance session about the nuts and bolts of how we get the word across. And then when we started doing that, we said this is an [laughter] this is an unexpected problem. So it's not I don't know what to say. It's it's unfortunate situation. But the tragedy of it is it may make it this bill may not pass and then you'll have no nothing done for seniors certainly for another year.

Thank you. It's uh it's this this project has not gone well. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else of public comment? Good evening. [snorts]

Uh Ken Ser Road. Um I want to mention uh one of the citizens petitions. Um I'm not really here to kind of play nice in a sandbox. I'm here to talk about an ideology that with no reason is just evil. We have decades of democratic policy that just erodess our constitutional rights. It ruins cities. It seems innocuous at first, but then it becomes insidious. Um examples are, you know, in California, 12-year-olds can consent. Uh illegal licenses given out to all the illegal aliens, the CDLs. You've seen the death toll. It's all over the place. Uh the election fraud in Georgia, I mean, it's proven. All right. No arrests, no accountabilities, no trials, no capital punishment for treason. Okay. So, you see [clears throat] these crimes, they go on, they're allowed, they're unpunished, the looting, the the impeding the feds, the assaulting the feds, uh the Minnesota protests, uh all illegal. Minnesota has some of the strictest protest laws. All illegal, no accountability. Okay. Um, so we're dealing with a weaponized justice system that is not fair. And in comes a citizen petition about red flag laws. All right. I don't know how they get a citizen petition. I don't know how many signed it, but that information maybe it is. Is it printed? Who signed it? Who signed it?

I saw Scutleric, uh, he he brought it up. Um, this is the first step to losing our constitutional rights. All right. The lunacy of the left is well documented now. They would take every single one of our rights if we let them. All right? They use the same tactics over and over again. They use these emotional words that elicit response uh to get you all hut underneath the collar. They they'll talk about he mentions mental health and suicide. Okay. This parsimmonious guy mentions that a fraud. He's a fraud. When was the talk about mental health and suicide years ago for the children? Okay, we've seen the consequences of all their lives when they targeted kids. I I called out the satanic death cult three years ago at the school board and we've seen enough to prove what I've talked about. What was the last 12 mass shooters? Right. All trans. Have you seen the manifestos? Have you seen their videos? Sick, possessed kids. All right. They were brainwashed, confused, and pushed an ideology that destroyed their brains. So, we have the proof of what document uh what democratic policies get you. Okay? They go to great lengths to sacrifice innocent kids. Now, the government always has the right to take our guns. All right? The Patriot Act allows him that right. They can call you a terrorist and Biden's definition of terrorism and terrorist is broad. They can come in and steal your guns. This is an attempt at the city level to transform our society and start the process of making it a blue city, a sanctuary city, everything to steal our rights. Okay? Now, this is frightening. And so anybody with a vendetta against you or that doesn't like you or even for

some of the things I've said right now might try to pass a red flag law. Okay. The fact of the matter is the government has failed to protect us. They have. All right. These sanctuary cities are cesspools. Another white woman attacked, murdered, stabbed to death Virginia on public transportation once again. All right. This guy was a 30 time illegal 30 time prior convictions illegal alien. The government is not protecting us. The second amendment gives us that protection that we need. Okay. Um so thank God our founding fathers had the foresight to see what we would be facing future on in life. And second amendment has already seen horrible infringements. Horrible. Okay. This is New Hampshire. Live free or die. And I hope that this citizens petition for red flag law fails hugely because it just it's the first step to losing all our rights and the Dems would take every single right of ours if we let them. Thank you. Anybody else have a comment? [snorts] [clears throat] [snorts]

Good evening.

Good evening. I'll make this short. Um my name is Matt Tapley. I'm going to run for one of the three-year positions for the budget committee. Um, and I'm here just to kind of introduce myself. So, I started working on London around 2003. Worked on probably every night vision thermal vision goggle that you see out in the world today. Um, amazing technology comes out of L3 Harrison technology. Uh, really like Lindere moved to Lindendary in 13 in Mil Pond. She was my neighbor. So we had heard that, you know, people aren't volunteering. We decided to step up. I've been a program manager for about 16 years, director for like the last three years. Know a lot about budgets, have a lot of experience. My daughters are 21 now, so I got no reason to run around with sports and whatever, so I get some extra time. Um, so I'm running, volunteering, and uh, if I get elected, I I'm always all in in everything I do. and I I love this town and do whatever I can to help.

Thank you. Sure. Anybody else? Public health. [snorts] Good evening. Good [clears throat] evening.

My name is Kent Batcher. I'm running for um school board and I want to take the opportunity to introduce myself to the town council. Um you know, it takes a village to raise kids and it also takes a village to arrange success so those teachers, those kids can be successful. Um so so for for me I'm just a father of three and I'm stepping up similar to the last speaker right I saw a need uh for I guess what a unique set of skills and um the future is going to require a lot of creativity not just on the school board but in collaboration with all aspects of local government and the community um you know without going into great depth right there's there's a lot of things that are are coming down from the state level that are going to really challenge us pretty heavily and we're going to need creativity in order to be able to meet these things in a creative way. Uh, one random example would just be um, you know, being able to to reach back out to all the resources in the town such as um, what's currently being proposed, right? Uh, to um, to take a loan from the town to build the superintendent and right and his staff in office. Um, that's a great example of probably seven different options that I I had brought up to some of the um, administration in town, some of the elected officials and was told it's impossible, can't be done, right? and and we can find the legislation out there that provides us this flexibility to be able to do what we're elected to do, right? To lean forward and to be able to accomplish the things as a community. Now, originally when it was proposed, it was proposed that we come out for a loan to actually build additional space for our kids, but the the proof still is there is that it shows that there's interoperability. There's working together of the different aspects of the town council, right? the mayor's office, um you know, the manager's office, the school board, and I think the school board is doing a good job. And I also think that we can do a lot better. So, so for me personally and trying to introduce myself to you, I'm I'm a simple guy. I'm an engineer, worked on some of the same technologies that the last guy was just speaking about. Um but the difference

with me is that I'm looking for progress now, right? Um I have three kids and I'm not looking to create progress for their grandchildren. I'm looking to create progress for the teachers that have challenges now, the students that have challenges now. I look forward to working with you guys uh when I'm elected to school board on the 10th and um you know I'm listening right the London Berry voters are speaking and really the question is are we going to listen so thank you for your time thank you anybody else in public comment [snorts] seeing none I will close public comment popped up [clears throat] how are you Joseph

doing well Ron uh Joseph Gagnon 219 Winding Pond Road there are a few things I want to talk about tonight but the the main thing that hits on as chairman of the budget committee and just seeing the progress that we've done and how we've been able to interact with the town council and the school board. I'll be visiting you guys tomorrow to talk about some of this, but uh seeing in other communities as well in Salem where they're trying to get rid of their budget committee. You know, [snorts] I've really been thinking about why don't we have these problems here? And it's because we strive to work with our partners. Those partners being the council, the library trustees, the school board, and the citizens of town. Uh being able to work with you in a civil way uh to be able to, you know, accomplish the goals of getting the budget to where it needs to be for election day. You know, during budget season, I understand the council has its priorities [snorts] just as I understand the trustees do and the school board. At the end of the day, the budget committee's priorities, they lie with the taxpayer and keeping the tax rate down and keeping the budgets low.

I've heard some comments from counselors and from those uh in the public that, well, maybe the budget committee shouldn't be looking to cut cut. Well, the reason why we do that is because year after year, we hear residents come and say, "My taxes are too darn high." But you know they can't make all the meetings all the budget meetings where we go in and dive in and really see how these budgets are built. So it's our responsibility well now it's won't be mine much longer but that for the next budget committee to really advocate for the taxpayer and also to work well with you and I hope that throughout this budget season we've maintained a level of decorum and respect to be able to treat you all as partners in this process where we're not always going to agree that's just where where it comes down to we have our interests our interests are keeping the [snorts] taxes low and representing just the base taxpayers, the council, you have yours. Same with the school board and the library trustees, but we all have the same goal and that is improving the town of London day. Giving the most amount of resources to the taxpayer, making sure that their lives are improving and that the town is improving the way we get get there. Well, that's what all those discussions are for. That's where all the disagreements and discussions come up. But we're all fighting for the same thing. There's just one one thing that bothered me during budget session that I felt that I just need to address now so that this isn't hanging over um the next budget committee. Uh there is a comment made from council Buchard prior to the January 19th meeting uh and budget hearing that the budget committee was being controlled and wasn't being allowed to give out information to the town council in regards to the budget. This happened prior to the meeting uh privately. I chairman Dunn I you heard the end of it. I don't usually raise my voice but in that moment I did raise my

voice because quite frankly I was disturbed and I was angered and where no um reasoning or explanation was given. I was I was quite frankly pissed. So uh Chairman Dunn if I may ask a question of councelor Bousard with that you can ask. He doesn't have to answer. So, councelor Bousard, who was this entity or individual or group of persons that was uh controlling the budget committee and keeping us from releasing our this was in regards to our potential the cuts that we requested. So, what was that entity or group that was preventing us from giving it to the council?

So, what I was referring to, Joe, when I talked to you about that, um I had requested what were the cuts made. I never got it. So, I don't know why I didn't get it. I don't know why I wasn't included in it and I said that to you and I you emailed it to me finally. Um, so

so when you received it was when everyone else received it, but you said that there is something preventing you from Yes, we we went over this on the 19th, but you said that there was that wasn't from that someone was telling the budget committee to not release it to counselors. You explained to me, you said that you had sent it out. I did not receive it and then you said I don't know why you didn't get it cuz everybody else got it and then you sent it out to me. No, you had. So, I'm not going to go back and forth on this. Well, I just want to answer who was the group or the individuals that were telling the budget committee not to give information to the town council. I'm not going to debate this with you.

Okay, that's fine. moving into next budget season. It's very important because there's could potentially be four new members of the budget committee coming in. And the way that we work and the reason why we work so well is because we're able to have a collab to collaborate to speak honestly and to work with our partners with you as the council uh the members of the town administration, the school board, school administration, library trustees. So going in, I just hope that those thoughts that there's some nefarious group telling us what to do or telling us not to give out information, I hope you do not continue to believe that going into the future budget season and that you don't have those opinions about the future budget committee.

Joe, when I asked you that I went out and you said I went out and I did not receive it. So thank you. Good evening.

Good evening. Jan Mclofflin, 38 Rainbow Drive. Um, I just want to stay kind of a uh comment. Yeah, we've just gotten past uh school vacation and uh I did vacation with my school age grandkids. Um had us take a lot of naps, I must admit. But um I do want to say I met a lot of London folks, some who I'd never met before. um uh trapesing around seeing the house of the mouse. And um I just want to say that um the entire week in Florida, nobody was grumpy, nobody was mean, nobody was yelling at their kids. Yeah. Okay. Sometimes there were some whiny kids cuz kids get tired and sometimes there were some whiny adults because they get tired. But I mean, everybody was pleasant. They were holding doors for one another. They were being kind. They were offering to get an old lady who was um [clears throat] kind of tired a glass of water. Um you know, they were doing things that were nice and kind and um not just London people, but all the people including the employees etc. And I just want to say it was refreshing and I hope that we all can work together to make sure London Derry is that um coordinated community where people help one another like we've done in the past is kind, holds doors and acts like we are trying to get to the best of where we can be together not apart. So, I'd just like to encourage us all to do that whether we're sitting here in this room or whether we're at home. Thank you.

Thank you. Anybody else in public comment? Seeing none, I will close public comment. Up first tonight, we have some board appointments. Um, the Arts Council has recommended two candidates to us tonight. Um, is Paige Williams here? Would she like to say anything? Oh, okay. Oh, good. Come on up, Larry. Yeah. [clears throat]

Larry Casey, 354 Street. I'm um the chairman of the London Area Arts Council, and I'm here to speak on behalf of uh Paige Williams and Cindy Peterson. [clears throat] Uh and I just want to share with you that our our approach to um building our team in the Arts Council is to encourage volunteerism. We have many many volunteers that help out throughout the year. and people that express an interest on in in getting involved with the arts council. Uh we ask that they plug in as a volunteer uh you know demonstrate their their commitment through action and results and um and then we will consider them you know for a full membership or uh alternate membership. So, Paige uh Williams approached us uh in the spring of last year um and immediately hit the ground running in terms of making contributions. Um she was uh brought on as a um an alternate member in September, I believe, and uh she continues to make contributions. her business um is I don't know how to describe it, but if you're a film production company and you're going on location somewhere, her her company um does the logistical management of that sort of thing. So, they're handling all the the the contracting, organizing the effort and everything. She's an attorney and one of the first major contributions she made to our efforts is in collaboration with town administration and the town attorney standardized an agreement for concerts on the common when we're hiring bands and working with management companies and she did a fine job with that. So we want to elevate her to a full voting membership position. Um and Cindy Peterson um was born and raised here in Londereerry. She's served as a library uh trustee in the past. She's a practicing artist. Uh she's a

member of the Manchester Art Association and she volunteers in in many many ways around the community. Uh she was invited to get involved with the arts council uh over the summer. Immediately started to have an impact. She rolled up her sleeves, got involved with the youth art contest that we're going to be celebrating here in the chambers on Saturday. Um and so uh we want to get her involved in a more official way by bringing her on as a full voting member. That will bring our numbers up to the maximum number of voting members, nine. We still have one to one to three alternate members that we can bring on. Um and aside from the quorum requirement, uh this also by expanding the um full membership count gives us an opportunity to increase the size of the task teams that we're operating. Uh and it's great to see the collaboration that goes on with these folks, but uh the more that we can get into a working group around a particular project or initiative, the better off we are. So, I appreciate your consideration of those two candidates and uh thank you all for your support over the years.

Any questions for Larry? No. Thank you. Thank you. You want me to move it? Uh I move that the London Town Council hereby appoints Paige Williams and Cindy Peterson as full members of the London Arts Council. Have a motion from Dan. Second. Second from Ted. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Chair St. Up next, we have a public hearing to discuss rescending the municipal code public health safety and welfare chapter 10 emergency management plan. Kirst,

thank you very much. So, as I presented last week, the purpose of this is just to rescend the emergency management code from the municipal code. Emergency management plans are actually not code. They're not laws. They're not rules. They're a how we approach conduct as a municipality in a state of emergency led by emer the town's emergency management director. It's not a public facing plan. It's not a plan for what citizens should do. It's an operational plan that's tied strongly to our ability to receive state and federal funding for emergency management and disaster planning. It was first put into the municipal code back in 2002, but it at this point it's doesn't belong in there. So, as part of our larger project to clean up the code, make sure that things that don't belong in code and belong elsewhere come out and we bring in everything that should be in code. This is one movement in that direction. Once it's pulled out of code, we can look in the future if we have the to revising the 2017 plan. But the first step from that is passing this ordinance today.

Any questions for the council? I will accept a motion open public hearing. So moved. Motion from Ted. Second. Second from Dan. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Ch affirmative. Anyone from the public wish to come up and comment? Seeing none, I will accept a motion to close the public hearing. So moved. Motion from Ted, second from Sean. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Chairs the affirmative. What does the council want to do? Makes sense to dissolve it for the time being and go about the process to reestablish in the right uh fashion that the town needs to.

So I move that the London area town council hereby repeals chapter 10 of the title four of the municipal code entitled emergency management plan. Have a motion from Sean. Second. Second from I heard Dan. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Chair moves in the affirmative. Thank you. We did. Y. All right. Up next, we have new business. Receive a presentation from the recreation department. [snorts] Doug Cole, Mr. [clears throat] Citus. Welcome gentlemen. [clears throat]

Yeah, you can pull your trigger right up there.

Great. Welcome, gentlemen. Thank you.

Thank you. Yes. So, I'll uh I'll start this off just quickly, but uh thank you for having us here uh tonight. I'll let these gentlemen get into some of the more details about what the presentation is in regard to. Um but as we know, as been discussed uh from time to time, whether it be up here in front of the council or through the budget process, capital improvement uh projects uh that have been submitted over the years, we know that there's a need for upgrade and renovations on some of our field and facilities. Um, as we had submitted some of that last summer, we uh fortuitously were kind of greeted by uh by each of these these gentlemen here next to us uh with an idea of forming a London Restore the Rex Foundation, which was an organ organization that would be based on uh specifically improving the B two basketball courts over at Nelson Road. um not only in helping provide design and plans that are implemented to it but also a uh they would become a funding source in in seeking out a 501c3 uh designation. So I'll let them get into more details about that. Um but we do we through throughout this process we've been trying to work with them. I think it's one of those things the department we look at this as should be these sort of projects should be department town driven working together in collaboration not only with these organizations uh but also with other departments in the town in order to see these projects become successful. So um without further ado I will pass it off over to them and they will uh give you a little more details on what it is they're looking to do.

Good evening council. Um thank you very much for getting us on today's docket. Uh it's been a a long awaited opportunity to speak on what we've been working on for the last 10 or so months. As a soft introduction, uh my name is Vincente Zeni. I'm the president. I'm honored to be here with my vice president Trevor O'Brien, our secretary, Dan Barzac, and unfortunately our fourth member, Ryan Burke. Um Buer is not here, but he acts as our treasurer. Um and I'm going to pass the baton over to uh Dan to kind of explain our current status and our um future endeavors.

Thank you. Yeah, thanks for having us. Um, like he said, I'm Dan Barzac. I've been a resident for 14 years and my wife and I have four kids in the school system and basketball's just been a major part of my life since I can remember. Um, the four of us got together um, last summer uh, with an idea that we decided to kind of put a plan into action um, and started to really put the groundwork together of of what a true nonprofit would look like. And the best way to do that is to have a vision and a mission statement that I'm certainly not going to read it verbatim off the screen here. But uh the plan was to take what is there, which is uh a highly used uh court uh by the town, by the kids, the community um and revitalize and and restore it. Not our most uh creative name of a foundation, but it's pretty specific. Um pretty creative. Um, but in in large part, you know, we really just wanted to take what was there and revitalize it to be something that the town and the kids and parents could be proud of and uh sustain it. And a very important piece of that for us was to not have another group sitting up here 30 years from now trying to restore something. So, we wanted to build into that a maintenance program and and an ability to continue to make it um sustainable for years and improve on it um over time. So, in order to do that, the nonprofit status, which we learned very quickly, um, is not an overnight process. Um, but we're proud to say that we did get our 501c3 just this past Thursday. Officially, we received our certificate, which uh we're very proud of, and I'm sure the people uh on the council can appreciate that uh that's that's not nothing, right? So, we're very excited of what that can that can lead to. Um, and like Doug uh alluded to, we've been working uh you know, collaborating with him and Art and many other departments in town as we've kind of built towards today. So, I'm going to kick it over to Trevor to kind

of work into the plan of action and then we'll go into a bit more detail for you.

Thank you, Dan. I'm Trevor O'Brien. I'm from London area here. I live 31 White Plains. Um, basketball has like like these two gentlemen, been a huge part of my life uh growing up. It was a the basketball court was always a place where I felt comfortable, safe, equal with everybody. It was just a great place, safe place to be. Um so when I saw the condition, when we seen the condition of these current courts, um that really doesn't breed that kind of atmosphere. Um yes, Dan alluded to they are heavily used, but not often for basketball. There's, you know, plenty other activities that happen there that aren't basketball oriented. So, the goal as basketball folks here was to try to like I thought it was a creative name, restore the Rex and make them a viable place for people who actually want to go play basketball. So, in order to do that, we have some things that we want to accomplish. Um, number one, replacing the baskets. Um, I believe those baskets have been there for, you know, I've heard rumors of up to 50 years. Um, they've been there for a long time. Um, [laughter] they're not the most forgiving. They're not the most fun to play on. I know some some some folks will say that it'll help you, you know, learn a little mental toughness. Others will say it'll discourage you and you'll never want to play again. [laughter] Um, as someone who's coached kids theirs too, they're also a jungle gym in an accident waiting to happen. Um, I promise you that kids know how to scale to the top of them. So, goal one was to replace the hoops. Um, and then as we kind of got together, we realized we could do a little bit more with the power of coming together. Um, so then it became down to replacing that that surface material. Um, it's done a pretty good job holding up for the 50 years that it's been there, but it needs to be redone. So the goal is to tear that out and completely replace it, level it in the existing space as it is, just kind of a pull up and replace, if you will. Um, we also want to make it more aesthetically pleasing. Right now, those

beautiful boulders that are out there, they do a great job of keeping people off the surface. Um, but we think we could do a little bit better. There's some fencing that's not so nice. Um, kind of tearing down and we kind of want to, you know, just want to give this whole court a a revamp. But our basic goal to start is new hoops, new court surface in a safe, fun environment for kids and adults to play in. To be honest with you, I want to go play there, too. So, um, Dan is going to speak to how we're going to get that done. Um, but thank you for your time.

Thanks, Trevor. So this slide here just is kind of showing an overhead view of the scope of work and we've spent a lot of time over there, you know, before this idea and we wanted to get as granular as we could. And like Trevor said, the boulders were there to keep cars off them initially. Um, but our vision is to have kind of a viewing area where those boulders are and and have fencing go up to the parking that would allow uh us to have games, tournaments, clinics, things that could create more of a basketball ccentric environment versus just the grass that happens to be there. Um, so we we took that that area and you know we met with Doug again and Art um who introduced us to Dave with DPW and John um Troier and others just to get like as detailed as we could to make this plan into reality. Um so which kind of brings us to you know the money side of things and you know we've we've taken this to friends we know companies that are willing to help and you know one of the biggest steps and and easily the largest part of this is getting the tear out and the repaving done. Um, so we um have found a company that for the sake of this meeting uh would like to remain anonymous um but that is willing to to do that work. And there's the details to the right on that slide which we can go into tonight or another time. Um but very reputable and and has done things like this in the past that we're very excited and and fortunate to to have found them. Uh like Trevor said, we we'll be replacing the four hoops. We're also budgeting to have two backup hoops in the event that something needs to be fixed or repaired, it's not going to be down for long. We have it uh plan in place to be able to keep that moving. Um landscape and grading. And then obviously the fencing that we discussed and no longer needing boulders and have it again that more aesthetically pleasing look that um can create an environment that um we can continue to improve on. And um you know like we said

we can start with it the way it is today and then we want to have it painted to make it look more modern and attractive to bring uh more people to it. So um this next slide we just have two more things here. I appreciate the time again but we wanted to cover uh Vinnie is going to go over the financial progress update of how we've landed where we are today uh with the efforts we've done with raising money and some donations. Um, and then Trevor is going to close it out with just what our future plans are.

As you can see on this current slide, this is just a quick snapshot of where we at financially. Uh, we started off with a soft budget proposal here for $120,000 with the support of the Londare community. We've raised on our own a 21 um $21,000 $10,000 coming from the 5050 raffle, another $10,000 coming from a generous donation from the LPA, and then $1,000 from just miscellaneous um fundraising within their town in the community itself. And as Dan just mentioned, we had plenty of people jump in and want to be hands-on with this project and have donated their time and labor, which allocates for the remaining balance that we are currently at right now. So you can see how active we've been in regard to the funding process regarding this project as a whole.

So as you can see we had a goal of 120,000. We have hit that goal. So we have the ability to go do and create what we originally set out to do. New court, new surface, new hoops. Um and we were able to do that without the approval of the 501c3. [snorts] Now that we have that that approval, we are going to be going forward um with some much heavier um fundraising efforts to go after some some bigger donors who might be able to use that tax break now that they can get because of the the charity um the nonprofit status we have. And the goal behind raising that money is to turn it from something simple and basic to something you see up there. Um that can really be a a serious point of pride for Londereerry. Um, one thing that I think is really cool about these basketball courts is that if you're flying over, if you're playing basketball there or you're at Lafa, there's, you know, jets that fly over daily. I think having something like this that people can look out their window and see like London, New Hampshire, you know, this doesn't have to be if this is just a, you know, an AI a mockup, but the goal is to turn it into something like absolutely beautiful. Um, and make it a real point of pride. And to be honest with you, the dream is to have the nicest basketball courts in New Hampshire. Um, and we think we can do that because we've already gotten halfway there without even really stepping foot on the gas yet.

Yeah. And I guess just to close, like just appreciate Art and Doug and and the crew that we've been working with like um if you can't tell, we're just residents that are trying to do a project to make it better. And um we're I don't want to say faking it till we make it, but we are doing it as hard as we can. um and they have been just so easy to work with and it has been um a great learning experience for us as we've kind of worked our way to tonight and we're very excited to just kind of see what what's what's next. So appreciate that and we're open to any comments and questions obviously any questions did

I remember when Trevor first brought this idea to me about oh probably two years ago now. Yeah, roughly two years ago the first and uh you were able to present to the recreation board about almost a year and a half ago maybe. And so it's great to see the fruits of that labor come forth and having a whole nonprofit board and raising the money that you've had made the connections that you've had to get the donated labor to be able to get this driving forward. I guess the next question is what are we looking at for timing? [snorts] If you ask me as soon as possible.

He's not the best person. [laughter] So that's the idea. That's something we're we're still we have to coordinate with, you know, multiple organizations that utilize that area, those parking spaces and whatnot. So, and then coordinating too with what's going to be done with, you know, DPW and his their crew as well as their donors and aligning all of those schedules up kind of at the same time. So, we are looking uh you know, we're hoping late spring, early summer. That's but we don't have a tenative

but this year is our goal. Wonderful. to at least get this phase one done and getting this certification has obviously been key and how quickly we can, you know, move on that piece will determine what phase one ends up looking like, but we could do the initial phase one as soon as this ground thaws. Wonderful. So, seems like that's taking longer than we'd like for all of us. But, thank you. Any other questions?

I just want to say that I want to say thank you for stepping up. Uh, I've always said it's great when people in London step up, they see a need for something and they go after it and they solve that problem. Uh, if you run into any issues, I know that Doug knows a guy that can help you uh, removing some of that stuff if you run into an issue. Thank you. Thank you. Any [clears throat] other questions? Good.

Um, I also would like to echo what Dan just said, but take it a step further. I mean, we constantly hear, "Oh, you know, we'd like to have this and people, you know, come to the council and want us to pay for it all." So, I would like to personally applaud you guys for saying [snorts] we're not listening to them. We're going to go and do it and get it done. So, kudos to you guys for having the courage to get up and do something as opposed to just sitting and saying, "Oh, I want this, but nobody's willing to pay for it for me." So, that was just amazing. And I hope that I'm not a basketball girl, even though there's a basketball game going on now. [laughter] I'm not a basketball gal. And I did see kids playing basketball on rollerblades. That was pretty amazing. That should be a new sport.

Um, but I hope somebody does the same thing for the tennis courts. I'm more of a tennis gal. Um, because those really need some help. And you're right. I mean, it it sets the tone for who we are and how we do things. And so kudos to you guys. Really, thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you very much.

So, as a person who pretty much grew up s sitting on courts like this and playing basketball all the time and having it be my relaxation and just breaking away from everything, I love seeing something like this. When you said like the best looking courts in New Hampshire, if it looks like that, it's right there. So, thank you guys for leading the way on this. And this is going to be phenomenal when it's done. So, I'm just you're showing other people what can be done. This is like true community research. I love it. I was going to say you guys are leading the way and showing us how to do it. So, thank you both. I thank all of you. Everybody. Um, any other questions? Thank you guys. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks.

I got you. Thank you. Up next, we're going to discuss and authorize the town manager to negotiate and execute an easement for part of the property known as Auburn Road Landfill. Mr. Troier, good evening, sir. Good evening. How are you?

Good. Good. So, I'm here this evening uh to discuss and request that the the council authorize the town manager to negotiate uh and execute an easement for part of the property known as the Auburn Road uh landfill site uh to allow and uh to negotiate and to allow the town of Derry to site and operate a water pumping station. So if you people remember uh we were this subject matter had been initially presented to the uh the council back in August of 2025 at which time the uh members of the town of Derry had come and presented the the southern New Hampshire water program as well as the uh their engineer Underwood Engineering was present as well. uh they had discussed the the uh the extension of the water man and the need for a water booster pump station. So since August of 25 [snorts] Underwood has come up with a plan the booster plan itself that plan is uh is currently under under review by the state. I've looked at it, have given my them my comments. My comments are more related to the uh the site itself, site distance, drainage, the typical that that uh that I look at. Um the proposed location of the of the station, again, as I indicated, is on an uncontaminated portion of the the Auburn Road landfill property, uh which is owned by the town. It's located at the southwest corner just off of uh Auburn Road, not far from the intersection of Auburn and Old Dair Road. It's access it's accesses through a rideway between uh number 58 and number [clears throat] excuse me number 56 and 60 old Dair Road. So Derry is requesting an easement to allow for the construction, operation and the maintenance of the uh booster

pump station and the access road. Uh like I say, the uh the design is currently under review. They intend to bid this in the spring of 2026 for the for a 2026 construction uh start off in in completion of in 2026. So what the staff what London area staff is currently working with the town's legal uh team regarding review of the easement the purchase and sales agreement to ensure Derry will comply with the appropriate restrictions. Again there's a consent decree that that this the town is uh party to again because of the our nature of uh being in involved with the super fund site. uh we want to make sure that they're aware of it and all the appropriate uh notifications have been mailed out to them and we need to to allow them 60 days to review those those documents. Uh we also need to uh again make sure that EPA, New Hampshire dees and dairy uh that those notifications went out and they know all the history of the site. Uh initially before they even before Derry even looked at doing anything on the the site, I highly advise them which they did reached out to the the uh remedial project manager from EPA and and told them give him a heads up of what you're proposing to do. So he had already given kind of the the initial blessing of what was being proposed. Again, the portion of the site that that they're looking to do this on is on in the uncontaminated portion of the site. So again, this evening, I'm here to to request that the uh the board make a motion to uh authorize a town manager to negotiate and execute an easement

agreement and recordable deed granting to the town of Derry and easement to construct and operate and maintain a water booster pump station on town of London area owned property identified as tax map 16, lot 23. That's all I have. Any questions for John? Uh just one question, John, I forget from the presentation. Are the pipelines for the water, are they going to be running along Old Dair Road or will they be running behind the homes on Old Terry Road to get to Derry? Basically, the the the water lines have been constructed now, Ted. They they are in Old Dair Road. Oh, okay. Wonderful. Good to know.

Yeah. Uh and then lastly, I know people on the heritage commission would be curious if there's any stone walls back that way that would be interfering with There is not. Wonderful. Yeah. Great. So, John, any issues with the abutters? Again, you know, uh Underwood Engineering has has been working uh pretty closely with the Abutters. A lot of times I stay out of the middle of it because again I'm not going to promise them anything that that I can't get up to and and I know that they've been working with Mr. Rue pretty closely. Thank you.

Any other questions? So, I move that the London Area Town Council hereby authorizes the town manager to negotiate and execute an easement agreement and recordable deed granting to the town of Derry and easement to construct, operate, and maintain a water booster pump station on the town of Londair owned property identified as tax map 16, lot 23-0. I have a motion from Sean. Second. Second from Ted. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Chair votes in the affirmative. Thank you, John. Thank you. Up next, discuss and authorize the town manager to negotiate and execute an agreement for purpose energy project. Miss Karen.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, [snorts] um it actually I should correct this at the beginning. It should state to discuss and authorize the TM to negotiate and execute the sale for the um property. So this is related to a proposed project um the Southern New Hampshire green energy campus which is a site plan on um lot 1439-2 in the area of North Wentworth A. So [clears throat] throughout the site plan and subdivision review process, um the applicant has proposed to acquire um a fee interest in the town owned right away land again um extending beyond the existing North Wentworth A Culdeac area um to allow for the construction of a driveway and utilities to serve the site itself, the purpose energy site and their proposed green energy campus. Um the proposed sale price is $7,500 and that's been vetted and confirmed through our assessing department. Um and again this is part of an active plan under review. Uh so this would be a condition of their approval should this go forward this evening. We also have attorney Ari Pollock present this evening should you have any questions for him about the project.

Any questions for Miss Karen or the attorney? Yes. Okay. Great. So with the sale of this right away and the continuation of the the road to the property, would they be maintaining the plowing and the maintenance of that road? They're responsible for the maintenance of that that roadway. Wonderful. That's all I have. Any other questions for Karen or the attorney? I I just think for the general audience, it would be good to be clear as to what project this is for. Do you want further clarification? I thought we were clear. No, just a little bit further because everybody's worried about Yeah, I can clarify it. So,

on screen I just pulled up the where North Wentworth A is, which is very close to Granite Ridge, formerly AES, um closer to the airport than it is to 162 Lfield Road. Uh so, the actual area where the site plan is proposed is right in this general area. It's about a 36,000 ft um structure, but again, it's um you'll see it legally noticed as 162 Lichfield Road. However, it's ultimately going to be constructed off of North Wentworth A.

And that's why I wanted this brought up because people see Lichfield and they're going to think this is going to be a cut through from Lichfield to like do you know what I'm like? They're going to use both entrance. No access proposed off of Lfield Road for this facility. And I just wanted that reiterated because people have been asking. [clears throat] Thank you. Any other questions? Motion. [snorts] I'll move that the London Dair County Council hereby authorize the town manager to negotiate and execute an agreement and record recordable deed for purpose and purpose energy to allow for construction of driveway utilities to serve the proposed site. You got to amend that and add sale. Oh,

thank you. And a sale. Yeah. Yeah, it's a sale. So, it's it's not an agreement. It's sale of [clears throat] sale of property. All right. So, I'll move that the London Town Council hereby authorize the town manager to um negotiate and execute a sale and execute the sale and recordable deed for purpose energy to allow for construction of driveway and utilities to serve the proposed site. Motion from Dan. I'll second. Second from Ted. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Chair affirmative. The wrong the wrong motion. We figured it out.

All right, we don't have any old business tonight. So, up next, we have approval of consent items. I'll accept a motion to approve the consent items. I have a motion from Dan, second from Ted. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Chair votes in the affirmative. Public one for each of you. And then we have some non-public minutes. Thank you, sir. [snorts]

Thank you, Ted. Oops. So, there's an error in this. Okay. Um, I've just noticed I've just been made my attention there's an error. Um, councelor Faber was not at the meeting on these minutes. His name is mentioned.

Okay. And as well, uh, my name is spelled wrong. [snorts] Missing the E in combs [snorts] on page 104. I think I had mentioned that at a prior meeting as well. You did.

Yeah. So second just approve them on a future meeting after it's corrected. So, do we want to correct this first and then and Okay. So, we'll correct it and then get back to everybody. So, collect these back. Well, no, you correct it right now. You're still Oh, okay. Just a minute. Yeah. I took note of your amendments and Okay. Now, you can proceed. So, Dan has a question. Who seconded it? Actually, think it was him. Okay. I just pulled up my notes from It was me. Okay. [laughter] That's what I was looking. Yeah. All right. Has anyone had a chance to read them?

Also, I'll accept a motion to approve the nonpublic minutes. I will motion to approve the amended non public meetings minutes. Motion from Ted. Second. Second from Dan. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Chair votes affirmative. Abstain. Just uh the record show that councelor Faber abstains. Up next, we have some liaison reports. Who wants to start? I'll start. Want to start then?

I just want to give you an update on the library. Uh Donna Plant sent out an update on Friday. She's uh doing an excellent job up there coordinating everything. Um I just want to read it off a little bit. The exterior envelope consultant Rearch brought in a lift this week to open up some portions of the ceiling and cut out areas of the drywall to further inspect inspection of the north and south side window ales. The cutouts have been covered to prevent cold drafts. We are monitoring building temperatures. So far they've observed that some rough insulation that they expected to be installed on both sides was not present. Uh they're doing still the intensive um mold testing with uh indoor doctor. They recommend another extensive round of baseline mold testing to determine the source of mold and identify all affected areas. Uh they're going to be looking at doing duck cleaning. Rearch is recommending Envir uh Vantage for duck cleaning. They came in under budget, which is great. Um rooftop units. Rearch inspected all four units and found them to be in poor condition. They all so observed that the humidity control on the units likely have not been functional for some time. They will be following up with a written report. Um, and then she's also working on the insurance claim and we have a dumpster that is going to be brought there so they can do some work. So, thank you, Donna, for everything you're doing over there, moving things along.

Any other lesson on reports?

Uh, yes. Um, [clears throat] from uh Tom Malfor. He's unfortunately with uh March uh and all the storms, he's been a little too busy with trying to get out here. He was hoping the last two meetings but unfortunately he wasn't to uh but he's hoping to make a presentation uh in the meetings either later in March or in April. Um and then heritage commission we had a uh lively meeting uh led by Kelly about what the new rules and pro procedures procedures will be hopefully for the heritage commission going forward. I think there'll be a good route for us to go forward whether it be the current board or people in the future so that they actually know what we are supposed to be looking at as a heritage commissioner. So I think it'll be a big help for the planning board as well.

Excellent. Anybody else? [snorts] All right. Is there a town manager report? I know you're on vacation. Just we have library folks here. I mean it's uh I wanted to talk about some of the the details in that. I think it's kind of important if we had the library director come up and give an update if you would. Sure. Good evening.

Good evening. Um yeah, so um Councelor Buchard, thank you for already giving a heads up, a intro to my update, um with some of Friday's, um updates that I had for the board. And um why we're here tonight is that the um the the more extensive mold testing that um Dan mentioned has a cost that was not included in the original scope. Um, so I'm here to and with town counselor and deputy um town town manager and deputy town manager um to present that to you. Um, Rearch did put together a change order for us in the amount of um an additional $25,613. Um, and this testing would so to go back to what we had originally, we only had six tests originally. um in a lot of different areas of the building. Um they were mainly air samples and there was one surface sample taken and then one outside to compare. Um so now that that has come back with findings, it's really important for us to do another round of testing to make sure that we are taking care of everything that needs to be taken care of. We're not missing anything. um we obviously don't want to invite the public back into the building not being 100% certain that um there's still mold in the building. So um that's kind of where this is coming from. This is the same company that we worked with for the first round of testing. They are local. Um they're from London. Um they were really great to work with the first time. Um they've given us a lot of great information and they actually took the time to go through the building with me for a couple hours last week um to make sure that the testing the the number of

tests and where the tests will be taken um makes sense um for the building layout makes sense for the history of where we've seen the the water damage um and that we wouldn't be duplicating the tests that were already taken. So to kind of the original cost was in the range of $30,000 and we brought that down to under 20 for what they proposed. The to explain the difference between um the indoor doctor proposal cost and rearchs. Us um rearch just has like a markup for their service in overseeing and excuse me and managing that testing as part of the project scope.

Any questions from the council for Don? I just want to say, Donna, thank you for weekly updates on the progress of what's going on. I think that's phenomenal. Yeah. I'm trying to make sure everyone stays informed and aware. Thank you. Yeah. Needless to say, these HVAC units are not going to be cheap to replace. No, not at all.

That sounds like that's the situation that we are in. Um, and we're going to be investing lots of money in this building. We want to make sure that we don't have to do this again. Um, that's why the sixth asset management program that we have to monitor that and have a a good system of life cycle use of these this equipment is going to be important moving forward on all of our buildings. And this is just one example of that. They're not the only building that has issues that should have been tracked a long time ago. We have fire stations in the same spot. Um, and unfortunately they they've got the problems that are more pronounced. Um, but we have other buildings that are on that same status and I don't want any more of those. Uh the school district did a great job of that as you probably all know of upgrading their systems and tracking their systems like they should be. U we've got to get ourselves on a footing where we're doing the same thing. Fortunately, we have Bob Slater to help us out because he helped them through that process and uh his consultant fee has been $0 which is really helpful [laughter] in light of the fact that we have limited uh resources to get these things done. So um we've got a lot of work to do. We we'll continue with weekly updates to you. Uh Donna may not be here if we but we will certainly well every two weeks when we meet uh providing you an update so that you're uh kept aware of that especially we look at the phase two and replacing these HVAC units and the other things we're going to have to do uh to get this building where it needs to be and operational again very quickly hopefully.

Now do you need approval from the town council for that extra 25,000 that not yet? Not yet. So let's see where we're at here with things and uh we've got a meeting on Wednesday. I'll be meeting with Rearch and uh Bob will be there and so won't Donna. So, we'll be working through that, but let's see where we're at. So, I'm not ready to do that yet. Okay. Thank you. Let's see. Any other questions about the library? [clears throat] Thank you, Donna. Thank you. Thank [snorts] you. And the reason why is I've got the 257 right now. So, we're going to keep doing work. I'm not suggesting we're not going to do that, but let's just see where we're at and get a little bit closer before we do that. That's all that I have. All right, deputy time manager report.

Just a reminder that the planning board will hold the public hearing on the formal adoption of our master plan on Wednesday night. It is the first item on the agenda. So, you don't have to sit through the whole meeting should you choose to attend. But we will be having the hearing and hopefully moving forward with the adoption of that master plan. That's been just about a two-year effort. So, that's quite the feat for the board and the committee. So, we invite folks to show up. Excellent. Kelly, thank you for your work the past two weeks when he was gone. Not a problem.

Any other questions for Miss Karen? No. All right. Thank you. All right. I will open public comment. Anybody? I see none. I will close public comment. I will accept a motion to adjurnn. So moved. I have a motion from Dan, second from Ted. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Chair was in the affirmative. Thank you everyone. 81