WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 2011
VOL. 20 NO. 4
BERLIN, N.H.
752-5858
FREE
Council rejects BEA contract BY BARBARA TETREAULT THE BERLIN DAILY SUN
City Clerk Debra Patrick sworn in two new city councilors Monday night (l-r) Ward I Councilor Russell Otis and Ward IV Councilor Roland Theberge. (BARBARA TETREAULT PHOTO).
Council selects two new councilors BY BARBARA TETREAULT THE BERLIN DAILY SUN
BERLIN – Two new city councilors were selected and immediately sworn into office at Monday’s city council meeting. Selected to fill the Ward I vacancy was Russell Otis while Roland ‘Lefty’ Theberge was chosen as the new Ward IV councilor. The council interviewed candidates in work session and then voted by ballot to select one for each ward. Councilor Mark Evans argued both votes should be made publicly so the public and candidates would know how each councilor voted. When the council overruled his request, Evans refused to vote by ballot and left the room while the voting was conducted. Three candidates applied for the Ward I position; Otis, Carl Gagnon, and Beverly Ingersoll. Grenier explained that Ingersoll was not present in large part
because of a snafu at city hall. The mayor said Ingersoll had dropped off her letter of intent when the city clerk was out and had not been told about Monday’s meeting in advance. He said her absence should not be held against her and reminded the council she had served as a councilor in the past and ran for the position in the last election. Otis received three votes, Gagnon got two votes, and Ingersoll did not receive any votes. Otis told the council he is a lifelong resident of the city and a three-year resident of Ward I. He is employed by White Mountain Distributors and described himself as pro-development. Otis said, however, it is also important to maintain some services while working to keep taxes down. He said he has a young child at home and hopes to help create a future for him in Berlin. There were two candidates for the Ward IV position, Theberge and Joseph LaPuma. Both men had see COUNCIL page 5
SAU 20 seeks grant for community forums BY CRAIG LYONS THE BERLIN DAILY SUN
GORHAM— SAU 20 plans to submit a grant application seeking funds to start a series of community forums to determine the best ways to collaborate with other schools to best meet students’ needs. SAU 20 Superintendent Paul Bousquet last week presented the grant application to Gorham Randolph Shelburne Cooperative School board that he plans to submit to the Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund through
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the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. The grant seeks $20,000 to contract with a facilitator that would coordinate forums throughout the Androscoggin Valley between school boards, staff and residents. The idea behind these conversations is to generate ideas and thoughts on how the schools can create more shared services or programs to provide better programming for area students. “The purpose of these forums will be to bring our cit-
BERLIN – The city council Monday night unanimously voted to reject a proposed oneyear contract with the Berlin Education Association. The present five-year contract with the teachers union expires at the end of the current school year. The proposed contract would have frozen salaries, step increases, and longevity payments at the current level and accepted some savings in health insurance. In total, the contract would have saved the school district $204,068 in 2012. It also called for freezing the dollar amount of the employee’s health insurance premium copayment at the 2011-12 level until a new contract is negotiated. If the contract expires with no new contract in place and health insurance increases 18 percent in 2013, that premium would cost the city an additional $59,943. City officials declined to comment on the BEA contract, noting it is still a matter of negotiation. In other business: * Jim Michalik and Kathy McKenna requested the council’s support in an effort to improve and promote local television access in the valley. The two explained they are co-chairs of an Androscoggin Valley Public Access Committee that is focused on producing and broadcasting local programming that would stress the positive attributes of life in the valley. Michalik said he believes there is a lot of positive stuff happening in the valley that is not getting out to the public. He said the committee would work to broadcast public events, docusee BEA page 7
Public meeting on Laidlaw request set BY BARBARA TETREAULT THE BERLIN DAILY SUN
CONCORD – The N.H. Site Evaluation Committee will hold a public meeting on April 22 on Laidlaw Berlin BioPower and Berlin Station LLC’s joint motion to transfer the certificate of site and facility from Laidlaw to Berlin Station. The SEC granted a conditional certificate to Laidlaw Berlin BioPower last November. Earlier this month, Laidlaw announced a corporate reorganization and a change in its major contractor and fuel supplier. The SEC Monday announced its schedule for the motion by the two parties. The hearing on April 22 will get underway at 9 a.m. at the Public Utilities Commission offices in Concord. People wishing to intervene in the proceedings have until April 15 to file a motion. Objec-
see GRANTS page 7
see REQUEST page 6
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