Press Release (read as money money money!)

[lildog]

This release was posted to the Merrimack forum, thought some of you may enjoy reading where your tax dollars go (that is those of you who pay taxes)...


NEWS RELEASE

FOR DISTRICT FIVE

August 9, 2006



FROM

DEBORA B. PIGNATELLI, Executive Councilor





August 9, 2006 -Concord, NH - Listed below are some of the items that

were approved at the Governor and Council Meeting, August 9, 2006

that might be of interest to District Five constituents.



LIQUOR COMMISSION

Authorized to enter into a uniform lease agreement with Unifirst Corporation, Nashua, NH, for the sole purpose of providing uniforms for Liquor Commission Store employees in the amount of $126,017.81. Effective upon G&C approval through July 31, 2009. 100% General Funds.



FISH AND GAME DEPARTMENT

Authorized to enter into a contract for cleaning services with William Puls d/b/a Deyo?s Cleaning Service, West Brattleboro, VT, for professional cleaning services at the Region 4 Office in Keene in the amount of $5,460. Effective upon G&C approval through June 30, 2008 with an option to renew for an additional two-year period upon G&C approval. 100% Fish and Game Funds.



DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES

Authorized to award Wastewater State Aid Grants as detailed in letter dated July 19, 2006, in an aggregate amount of $542,993 for water pollution control projects. Effective upon G&C approval. 100% General Funds. The town of Amherst received $122,321 for Baboosic Lake Wastewater inprovements, Phase 1.



#43 Authorized to amend an existing landfill closure grant, with the Town of Merrimack, NH, to increase the eligible amount of the grant by $317,244.19 from $521,040.87 to $838,285.06. Effective upon G&C approval. 100% General Funds. The additional grant funds being requested are part of an unlined landfill closure grant program that provides a 20% contribution to aid municipalities in closing their unlined landfills. Eligible costs consist of hydrological investigation, engineering design and construction elements. The state will reimburse the Town of Merrimack for 20% of the eligible costs incurred during the landfill closure.



DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Division of Family Assistance

Authorized to amend a sole source contract with Southern NH Services, Manchester, NH, (previously approved by G&C on 6-22-05, item #311), to continue to provide employment and training services, to add the development of community work experience program host sites, and to expand job club services in support of the NH Employment Program, by increasing the amount by $1,694,032.36 from $2,113,603.10 to $3,807,635.46. Effective upon G&C approval through June 30, 2007. 100% Federal Funds. This item was tabled by a 5-0 vote. There are many questions about the way the Agency went about granting this contract. There were no competitive bids allowed even though vendors are currently providing excellent services. I hope we will be able to work this out before the next Counciol meeting, so we can move ahead providing these necessary services for the next year.



Division for Children, Youth & Families

Authorized to award twenty-seven child care infant toddler equipment stipends in the amount of $4,000 per recipient from licensed child care centers and three child care infant toddler equipment stipends in the amount of $1,500 per recipient from family/family group care programs for a total of $112,500. Effective upon G&C approval through June 30, 2007. 100% Federal Funds.



NH COMMUNITY TECHNICAL COLLEGE SYSTEM

Authorized NHCTC ? Nashua to amend a contract with Schiavi Leasing Corporation, Oxford, ME, (previously approved by G&C on 8-31-05, item #142, amended on 12-21-05, item #93), for the purpose leasing a third modular building containing two classrooms, for an additional amount of $74,016, a new total of $222,048. Effective upon G&C approval through July 31, 2010. 36% General, 64% Other Funds. There was, for all intents and purposes, no ability for competitors to bid on this contract. I voted against it and urged my fellow Councilors to jo;in me in this vote. Councilor Wieczorek joined me in this negative vote. We needed one more vote to send this item back to get competitive bids. Too bad.



DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Authorized Bureau of Highway Design to amend an agreement with McFarland-Johnson Incorporated, Concord, NH (previously approved by G&C on 11-13-02, item #171), for additional final design for the Manchester Airport Access Road in the Towns of Bedford, Londonderry and Merrimack and the City of Manchester, by increasing the amount by $242,954.75 from $7,067,923.25 to $7,310,878. 80% Federal, 20% Highway Funds.



Authorized the Commissioner?s Office to amend a contract with the Nashua Regional Planning Commission, Nashua, NH, (previously approved by G&C on 6-2-05, item #167), for certain transportation related planning activities, by increasing the amount by $287,705 from $885,880 to $1,173,585. Effective upon G&C approval through June 30, 2007. (2) Further Authorized to enter into this contract amendment with the Nashua Regional Planning to expand the scope of the project to include smart growth planning, a regional plan update, and transit planning associated with the Lowell Commuter Rail Extension Project. 80% Federal, 20% Highway and Local Funds.



The following persons from District Five were nominated by Governor Lynch to State of New Hampshire Boards and Commissions



R. Gordon Leedy, Jr. of Amherst, NH to the Board of Landscape Architects and

Brian W. Morrissey of Nashua, NH to the New Hampshire Retirement System Board of Trustees.









Keene Sentinel (not available online)

Governor, council visit Keene State

By Jake Berry

Keene Sentinel

August 10, 2006

The N.H. Executive Council took its show on the road to Keene Wednesday, but it came without the main event.

Gov. John H. Lynch had said earlier in the week he would not ask council members to vote on the nomination of Tom Burack as the new commissioner of the N.H. Department of Environmental Services.

Several councilors had asked Lynch for a bit more time to consider the nominee, according to Pamela Walsh, a Lynch spokeswoman, so he opted to hold off the vote.

Lynch will continue to talk with the councilors to determine a good time to put the appointment to a vote, Walsh said.

But in postponing the vote, and not addressing the controversial Real ID national identification program, which was passed on to the council and governor Tuesday by the state Legislature?s Joint Fiscal Committee, Wednesday?s event ? held at Keene State College?s Science Center ? had little direct effect on the Monadnock Region.

The council could take up both the Burack nomination and the Real ID issue at its next meeting, on Aug. 23 in Concord.

Councilors voted on 113 items at the meeting Wednesday, and only a handful related to the region, including one that awarded $4,000 stipends to several area day-care facilities.

?It was a pretty quiet day,? said Executive Councilor Debora B. Pignatelli, who represents Keene in district five.

?We voted on a lot of things, but not a lot had a direct impact around here.?

For the entire state, the councilors voted to implement a new educational software system for the N.H. Department of Education.

The software, which will cost no more than $957,000, will allow teachers, administrators and department officials easier access to teacher credentials and other information, education Commissioner Lyonel B. Tracy told the councilors. In general, it will expedite the hiring process, he said.

?This is well overdue for us,? Tracy said. ?And it will benefit us for sure.?

The money for the information system will come through a combination of the state?s general fund and federal and other funding sources.

Locally, councilors voted to award the day-care stipends as part of a federal grant to the Keene Day Care Center, the Monadnock Community Early Learning Center and Cheshire Medical Center / Dartmouth-Hitchcock Keene?s Children?s Learning Center, among other facilities across the state. Councilors also voted to direct $5,400 of state funds to a contractor for cleaning services to the N.H. Fish and Game district station in Keene.

For some Monadnock Region residents, however, the most significant thing to happen had nothing to do with money.

Before the meeting was officially called to order, Lynch issued commendations to eight Monadnock Region residents and one group, each of whom has worked to improve the state, he said.

Among those honored were:

-- Mary E. Jensen, Keene State?s sustainability and recycling coordinator, for her work on the campus? recycling program.

-- Jan Cohen, a member of the advisory board of Keene State?s Cohen Center for Holocaust Studies, for helping to implement Holocaust studies as part of school curriculum.

-- Mary Mayshark-Stavely, a teacher in the college?s Child Development Center, for her work in early childhood and multi-cultural education.

-- Jeananne Farrar, a member of the Keene Heritage Commission, for her efforts to help Keene?s Historic District grow.

-- Keene State professors William Sullivan, Lawrence Benaquist and Thomas Durnford for their work in creating a documentary about Martha Sharp and her efforts to rescue refugees during the Holocaust.

-- The Moving Company Dance Center, a dance and theater organization in Keene, for helping to bring people of the Monadnock Region together with dance and the arts.






Debora Pignatelli
Executive Councilor
22 Appletree Green
Nashua, NH 03062
http://www.debpignatelli.com