Londonderry Select Board taps policing committee members

By Mallory Hopkins
© 2015 Telegraph Publishing, LLC

In the wake of a recent spate of break-ins and other crimes, the Londonderry Select Board at its Monday, Aug. 3 meeting, named nine people to sit on its newly formed ad hoc committee to study options for stepped up policing services and to make recommendations to the board.

The Londonderry Select Board meeting on Monday night. Photo by Mallory Hopkins

Londonderry is currently served by the Windham County Sheriff’s Department as well as the Vermont State Police, neither of which have a regular presence in the town.

The board sought one member each from public safety (fire/rescue), church and school and two members each from non-profit organizations, businesses and the community at large.

Board chair Jim Ameden was impressed by the number of applicants. “We’ve never had this type of interest for a volunteer committee,” he said referring to the fact that 18 people had applied for the nine positions.

Those appointed are Marge Fish, Wendy Arace, Maryann Morris, Peter Pagnucco, Joel Kuhlberg, Neal McIntyre, Dwayne Hart, Mike Arace and Rusty Rosenthal. Darcy Duval and Steve Lyons were appointed chosen as alternates.

The committee is due to report back to the Select Board by Monday, Nov. 2.

Consulting engineer Everett Hammond told the Select Board that Lowell Lake Road, which has been undergoing repairs and culvert replacement since early July, should be open to public traffic on Friday, Aug. 7, with the completed project finished within two weeks after that.

Hammond also said a guardrail was added to the project, raising the cost by about $5,000. But he added that overall, Ameden Construction was coming in under-budget.

Three members of Champion Fire Co. No. 5 asked that Main Street in South Londonderry be closed from 5 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 31 , aka Halloween. Fire company members said that last year, the firehouse held a Halloween event and would like to make this year’s event safer for children and possibly bring in more families. One lane will be kept open in case of emergency.

Just prior to board approval, chair Ameden said, “The important thing is to give good notice.”

One park project passes, one fails

Sharon Crossman appeared at the meeting representing the Planning Commission and After the Flood. After the Flood is a committee that was formed for reconstruction after Hurricane Irene.  Crossman was advocating for projects 2 & 3. “It seems unnecessary to pick away at this,” Crossman commented, “We’d like the support of the board.”

Project 2, involves the land next to route 11 and across from the West River in the center of Londonderry. The land was the site of a house before Irene and is situated next to the home of the Carletons. Project 2 was proposed by the planning committee to create a small park with a parking lot, a nature trail and benches.  The proposal was turned down because it was thought to be impractical and the neighboring homeowners are not in favor of it. The grant for the project will be cancelled.

Project 3 is a similar plan on  land next to the West River on Main Street in South Londonderry and would add trees, shrubs, and flowers to the currently unused location. The board had previously turned down the proposed park, but Crossman put forward a revised plan, removing the bench and a pine tree that was thought to be a hazard. Regarding this park proposal, Select Board Chair Jim Ameden said: “We have a great park, Pingree Park, and I never see it getting over-used.” Nevertheless, on a 4 to 1 vote, the board approved Project 3 as revised.