RAYMOND – I was talking to Plaistow’s State Rep. Norman Major, the other day, and he was telling me about an excellent bill he is introducing next year. Major’s bill would require state administrators to report monthly what money has been spent. The state now reports monthly revenues, but not expenditures, which doesn’t give you the whole money picture. Norm’s bill would require both. I told him I would co-sponsor it with him, but he had a full bipartisan list of sponsors already.
Tracking expenditures is difficult because often the money spent has come from more than one source, such as federal, state, county, or fee-related funds. It could be half Federal grant, some General Fund, and some Fish & Game fee funds, or 50/50 federal/state, as examples.
A cut spending advocate, Rep. Major works diligently trying to balance the budget, always with the people of New Hampshire on his mind. He hopes, with his bill’s bipartisan support, the bill will pass, and force the State’s Office of Administrative Services to update their tracking system, so they could provide this much needed resource. With both revenue and expenditure figures, the spending patterns and trends could be tracked, showing over spending or over allocated funds, and budget changes could be made as necessary.
Rep. Major is well respected around the capital for his knowledge and years of experience working with the budget. Norman also is a key player in our County budget process. Thank you Norman, for all you do, and for bringing this legislation forward, you have my support.
November 2nd was another busy night for the Raymond State Representatives, with two very important meetings at the same time. The continuing Mottolo Pig Farm problem was back before the Raymond Board of Selectmen and at the same time, Rockingham County Executive Committee had a meeting, followed by a full County Delegation meeting, held at the County Complex.
As the Chairman of the Maintenance Sub-Committee, I was obligated to be at the Executive Committee meeting to take care of budget items. That meeting went well, except that we only had 11 of the 20 committee members present. Following that meeting, the full Delegation met to hear a presentation from Honeywell regarding the Biomass Boiler Plant Project, ask questions, and then vote to add the project to the Rockingham County 2009 Approved Projects List.
This meeting was not good; only 36 of 89 were present at roll call, thus there was not a quorum. The presentation was given, with questions asked, but we could not vote. We now have to reschedule and try again. As a State Representative, you are also a Delegate to the County, and are responsible for the County Budget. Watch “My Opinion” for the details of the Biomass Boiler Plant Project plans, it is a great idea.
The Board of Selectmen meeting started off with the Mottolo issue. The Federal EPA and NH DES personnel were there holding discussions and taking questions. You noticed, I said taking questions, as there were no answers. There just wasn’t good news for the over 50 residents present. Even the simple little question, I asked, “Having found contamination in wells over 700ft deep, considering the elevation from Mottolo down to the Exeter River bed, has any testing been done along rivers edge, looking for cross seepage”? At the hearing, there was no answer, but I was told after that they believe the contamination isn’t that deep. That when a well is sunk down 300ft and you get only a little water, they go 400ft. and get a little more, then they sink it to 700ft. The ones drilled, at 700ft, are sunk to be used as an artisan well, holding the accumulations of various small amounts in the well, and then pumping it out in a larger volume.
The state is now planning a test, by attaching monitoring bags every so many feet down a rope line, and dropping it down the well. They say that this will allow them to determine the depth where the worst contamination is coming from. I’ve poured a lot of bourbon in a glass of water in my life, and once it’s in the glass, it’s mixed. I don’t quite understand or believe their theory, that this spaced bag tying test will prove anything.
It sounds to me like this whole contaminated water issue will be a long drawn out affair, with no good end result. We need action now, not 2, 3, or 4 years down the road, and then, with no guarantee the problem has been solved, or for how long. It was supposed to have been solved once before. I said, and say again, we should take the money they are spending now on these tests, add wells to the town water system, beef up the town’s pumping station, and run town water lines. Then, when the people have good water, and more money comes along, they can go test all they want.
My quote of the week, from all the conversations and e-mail letters I’ve had about federal, state, and local issues is, “I’m so upset with the Dems, that I begin to ‘growl’ if I’m driving behind a slow-moving hybrid”.
(Editor’s Note: NH State Representative Mike Kappler can be reached at l.mikekappler@comcast.net)
