Facebook Reality.

When citizens get involved and ask our elected officials to act, things start to get done. 

I've seen two examples of this in Newmarket in recent weeks:

• A group of citizens got together, formed a petition and gathered signatures in the hopes of asking the Town Council to consider allowing studies for hydroelectric power at the Macallen dam. They presented their case to the Town Council a couple weeks ago. At last night's Town Council meeting, a resolution was read (though not voted on yet) to support such a study.

• A couple parents stood up at the last School Board meeting and requested that the administration and School Board take a second look at the current plans for a new school and do their due diligence to make sure that the estimated cost for a new Jr./Sr. High School is as low as possible.  Reworking the plans has been in the works since the October public forums, and the issue was highlighted publicly by these parents. Now more people are paying attention. 

I hope this trend of public involvement continues. But last night I was one of three citizens at the Town Council meeting. People can complain that they're not being heard, but if you want to speak directly to the leadership of our town you have to show up.

In the last few years, several Facebook forums have been created in Newmarket and they're great for a lot of things.  People have used them to rally support, increase awareness, and disseminate information. It is a place to vent and to express ideas. But it DOES NOT replace expressing your opinion to your elected officials through appropriate channels.

Go to meetings. Write letters. Send emails. Leave Facebook for other things.

Public Speaking

These are comments that I made at the Town Council meeting last night. You can watch the video here. (I start around the 7:13 mark) 

My comments started as a response to Al Zink's facebook post last week, but I decided to use this an opportunity to address the entire council:

Last week a Town Councilor posted a statement on Facebook that I believe was incendiary and inappropriate which he then followed up with an email to me. 

I first want to point out that Facebook is not the appropriate venue to conduct town business nor is it the forum to resolve town problems. 

We need people who will bring us together, not continue to divide our community. That's what leadership is to me and that is what I expect from our elected officials. 

I am excited by how far the school and town have come in working together and am hopeful that efficiencies can be expanded. I wish that everyone could take a step back to recognize and celebrate the progress we have made while we continue to move forward, rather than lament what hasn't been done yet.

But, tonight, I'd like to put the school facility crisis in Newmarket in front of you, the Town Council.

You are leaders in our community and  though you are not school board members, this is the single largest decision that our community will make and I believe it will take everyones' participation in the process to make a solution work. 

This is a community problem and a solution for our facilities will effect our entire community.

But a real solution won't be easy. 

A real solution will involve working with the school board and Dr. Hayes on this complicated issue.

A real solution will involve educating yourselves on the concerns of everyone in Newmarket.

A real solution will involve understanding the limitations of the current Jr. Sr. High School building.

A real solution will involve trying to understand the dynamics of our relationship with Oyster River and Durham.

A real solution will involve understanding the cost associated with a tuition agreement in both the short and long term. 

A real solution will involve having conversations with the architect about the requirements involved with building a school. 

A real solution needs facts. 

I do not expect everyone to agree on the correct course of action. Some of you have publicly stated that you do not support tuitioning and some have stated that you do not support a new school building. I do, however, expect people to search out the facts and stop spreading misinformation. 

As a member of this community, I have to say that doing nothing is unacceptable. I expect our community to act on this issue and I urge you all to be more involved in the process. 

Back to school.

While everyone has been busy thinking about the upcoming presidential elections, our Superintendent and School Board have continued to work toward finding solutions for our school facilities.

Here's what's been happening:

• Dr. Hayes, Principal Chris Andriski and members of the school board met with representatives from Oyster River School District on Monday, October 22, to discuss tuitioning Newmarket students to ORSD. According to the information presented by Dr. Hayes, they discussed multiple scenarios including tuitioning High School kids, tuitioning Jr. and Senior High kids and a Co-op agreement. They did not discuss any details about what any of these agreements might look like. ORSD has been working on a demographic study to determine what their capacity is and will be in future years (basically looking to see if there would be enough room for our kids) and they were hoping to have the results of that study by the end of October, but Dr. Hayes had not received that info as of last night's board meeting. ORSD is also talking to other districts. 

• At the Facilities Committee meeting on Tuesday Dr. Hayes presented this info along with plans for both a Renovation/Addition project and a new school (both with and without an auditorium). There was some great discussion around these proposals and I hope that the discussion will continue with the larger community. (See info below)

• At last night's School Board meeting there was some discussion around how to proceed with the Fire and Life Safety concerns at the Jr. Sr High School. Dr. Hayes suggested that the SB should make a decision about whether or not to move forward with making plans for to address these concerns. The sense I got was that he doesn't want next summer to roll in and us get caught with our pants down because we suddenly have to scramble to get the work completed by the September 2015 deadline. The SB asked some good questions and raised valid concerns. It looks like they will continue this discussion at another meeting and they plan to include the architect and Chief Malasky to, if nothing else, just get everyone on the same page.

• Another issue brought up at last night's SB meeting has to do with Impact fees, which I've written about before. The SB is again requesting impact fees be released--this time for buying out the lease on the modulars at the elementary school. It looks like our 3 year plan for those is turning into a much longer plan and this will save us money in the end. This is on the Town Council's agenda for their November 7th meeting--hopefully the discussion will go smoothly.

• Lastly, Dr. Hayes announced 2 public forums where he will discuss the school options. Here is his message:  

I am scheduling a number of meetings and forums during the month of November to discuss with members of the community the options being considered for better facilities for our Jr/Sr High School. The Facilities Committee and I would like to hear your thoughts on the possibility of sending grades 6-12 to Oyster River for their education and your thoughts on the several options for building a new school in Newmarket. On Tuesday, November 13th, I will be speaking at the Elementary School’s PTA meeting at 6:30 PM. Public forums have been scheduled for Wednesday, November 14th, at 9 AM and Monday, November 19th, at 7 PM, both meetings to be held in the Town Council Chamber. Our architects will be joining us at these meetings. I also will be available to meet with Jr/Sr High faculty, staff, and administration on November 13th at 2:45 PM. I plan to meet with a number of student advisory groups between November 6th and 28th. I sincerely hope that citizens, parents, students and employees can find time to participate in one of these sessions. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at jimhayes@newmarket.k12.nh.us.

If you're looking for more info, please visit http://newmarketsolutions.org/  and check out the Newmarket Solutions Facebook page to stay as informed as possible on these important issues.

Random Thoughts

Just a couple thoughts.

• About Facebook:  I love it and use FB all the time. I've been a part of 2 town oriented FB groups from the beginning and read pretty much everything on them. But if you have an idea that you would like to share with the powers that be (i.e. Town Council, School Board, etc) posting it on FB is not the way to get it addressed. It's a great and useful tool for sharing ideas and information, but cannot and should not replace formal venues for addressing concerns. If you want to make sure that you are heard, please contact Councilors directly. Their contact info is listed on the town website.

• Full Disclosure:  I'm a realist and I completely understand that many people enter politics for some self serving reason and not just because they want to make the world a better place. Maybe it's because they don't want taxes to go up, maybe they want to protect what's theirs, maybe they just like to see their name in the paper. Newmarket is no different and it's completely natural and understandable as far as I'm concerned. Through my crash course in town politics I have been trying to understand what people's motives are and one of the things that I like about attending meetings is watching how people interact with one another. WHAT one says is important, but HOW one says it can often fill in the blanks. So this brings me to the Black Bear TIF.  I mentioned before that I think Black Bear must keep Mr. Levy up at night and I don't think I've attended a meeting where he hasn't brought up closing down BB. Is it really only because he wants to see any captured revenue returned to the taxpayers? It's my understanding that Mr. Levy is building a new home off of New Road, which is either in or abuts the BB area, so is his opposition because he would prefer not to have 200-300 acres developed right next door to him for potential industrial uses?  Like I said, it's completely understandable, as long as we all understand it.

• Taking Sides:  Last week Mr. Bentley approached me before the start of the Town Council meeting just to say thanks for taking an interest in what's happening in town. (When the same 3 or 4 people attend the meetings, a newcomer is pretty obvious, I guess.) He mentioned that it's nice to see someone from the "school side" take an interest in what's happening in the town. He was being sincere and I know that when someone says something nice you should just smile and say thank you (which I did) and not complain. But I hate the perception that there's a "school side" and a "town side" and what I hate even more is that it's probably true. Sigh. 

• Cable Access: I watch a lot of Channel 13 these days and it rocks. In addition to the live broadcasts on Channel 13, they offer live streaming, a video on-demand site, some footage on Youtube and you can check them out on Facebook.  Most recently they posted this video--Government and Municipal Accounting 101.  It's a great resource for our community. Check it out!