As many of us know, Nathaniel Albert Emerson passed away. Sandi Pierson sent us this picture, along with a reminder of his years of service to the Town.
Planning Board 2013 – 2020
Trustee of the Trust Funds 2014 – 2020
Orange Historical Commission 2016 - 2020
Nathaniel Albert Emerson, 1954-2020
Amy Tirpaeck, our Town Clerk, reports that Bernie Sanders, Amy Klobuchar, and Pete Buttigieg finished first, second and third in the Orange Democratic primary. Elizabeth Warren came in fourth, and Joe Biden fifth. Tulsi Gabbard, Tom Steyer and Andrew Yang also got votes. (Yang has since dropped out of the race.)
Donald Trump easily won the Republican primary in our town, with 40 votes. A few votes went to Bill Weld, Joe Walsh, and William Murphy.
A total of 72 Democratic ballots were filled in, along with 44 Republican ballots. (Check my math!) - Jay
Among the 11 articles in the Town Warrant—to be voted on at Town Meeting on March 11—Article 6 is the most complicated. It has to do with paying for repairs of Town roads after the July flood.
While the state repaired Cardigan Mountain Road and replaced the bridge at no cost to the Town budget (it’s a state road, after all), the cost to fix the Town’s roads could be as much as $1,187,000. The federal government will cover 75% of that, and Mascoma Bank has offered a 2% interest rate on a loan for the rest. And that is what Article 6 is about. Both the Select Board and the Budget Committee “enthusiastically” endorse the article.
Here are Q&As to help explain it. You’ll see a version of this in your copy of the Town Report. If you have any more questions, feel free to email them to me; I’ll see if I can get some answers. - Jay
What’s the article?
“To see if the town will spend $1,187,000 on road repairs and receive $890,250 from the federal government if the town is willing, able, and authorized to accept such funds and to pay the balance (up to $296,750), which Mascoma Bank (through its community banking program) will loan to the town at 2 percent interest with a payback time of 7 years.”
What does the money pay for?
It pays for repairs and some improvements to Town roads damaged in the July 2019 flood.
What do the voters need to decide?
It’s one package: (a) to spend $1,187,000, three-quarters of which will be reimbursed by FEMA; and (b) to borrow the remaining amount over seven years at 2% interest.
How does the Town get the money for repairs in the meantime?
On June 1, Orange will open a bank account with a one-year revolving line of credit for $900,000. The cost to the Town for this line of credit is $2,000. As the money comes in from FEMA, the account gets replenished. This covers the 75% of repairs FEMA will eventually reimburse.
Is there a name for this revolving line of credit?
Yes, and you will hear it at Town Meeting: FRAN. It stands for FEMA Reimbursement Anticipation Note.
What about the rest of the money?
That’s where the Mascoma Bank loan comes in: up to $296,750 at 2% interest. This low rate is reserved for disaster-related repairs. If approved by voters on Town Meeting, the loan will be repaid over 7 years.
Will repaying this loan cause our taxes to go up?
Yes, recovering from this disaster will mean an increase in the tax rate next year. That rate will have to be approved as usual at the 2021 Town Meeting.
Who determined the repair amounts?
FEMA did the estimates, working with Road Agent Scott Sanborn. The agency sent its own inspectors and is calculating final repair costs from its headquarters. Orange officials do not expect to have final numbers before Town Meeting.
What if the costs exceed the estimates?
The estimates assume the maximum amount to be spent on repairs. Actually, the cost could end up being somewhat lower than the estimated $1,187,000—in which case, the Town’s share would be proportionally lower.
What if we decided at Town Meeting to spend less than the amount FEMA recommends?
While that option might result in lower taxes in the short term, not all roads would receive permanent repairs, leaving them vulnerable to future damage. The Town would then foot the entire bill for future repairs.
The July 2019 flood was a thousand-year event. Are we fixing the roads for a disaster that won’t occur for another thousand years?
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, such “rare” storms are becoming increasingly common. Houston, for example, had three “500-year” storms in three years (2014-2017). The FEMA money should enable some upgrades to culverts, preventing the sort of catastrophic failure that resulted in the near total loss of Tug Mountain Road.
Please spread the word to anyone who won’t be able to drive to the Town House next Tuesday: Neighbor Gulley Dunlap has kindly offered to give people a ride to the polls. You may call her on her cell phone at 207-266-4787 or email her at ecossaise@comcast.net.
Office: (603) 523-4467
Email: OrangeTownClerk@myfairpoint.net (fastest response for questions)
Hours: February 2020
Saturday, February 1, 9:00 – 11:00am
Wednesday, February 5, 4:30 – 6:30pm
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11: PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY. POLLS OPEN 11:00AM – 7:00PM
Wednesday, February 12, 4:30 – 6:30pm
Wednesday, February 19, 4:30 – 6:30pm
Wednesday, February 26, 4:30 – 6:30pm
Click here to get renewals processed online. They will be mailed to you.
Please Note: EARLY Inspections are Possible – Don’t wait to the last day!!
Pursuant to RSA 266:1,II-a, a mechanic shall be authorized to perform an early inspection of a vehicle if registration renewal will occur within the next 4 months, and the vehicle has a current registration.
Beth Difrancesco sent this information to help us understand how the New Hampshire voter laws have changed. The big difference has to do with proving “domicile/residence” in the state. This affects college students more than anyone else.
So…if you know a student attending college here from out of state, or are as confused as I’ve been about the new rules, read this.
Thanks, Beth!
Jay
The Supervisors of the Checklist will be in session for additions and corrections to the checklist on Tuesday, January 21, 2020 from 7:00 to 7:30 pm at the Orange Town House.
No party affiliation changes can be accepted at this time.
The Clerk’s office will be open 9-11 a.m. this Saturday, January 11. The bad weather and treacherous roads forced the office to close on Wednesday; accidents blocked Kami from getting through on Route 4.
In case you’ve been thinking of visiting the office to renew your car registration, don’t forget that you can do it regardless of the weather, right on this-here website. Just go to the Forms page and click on Vehicle Registration. There you’ll find other forms, for dog license, driveway permit, intent to cut permit, and much more.
This notice comes from the state. You’re now officially notified. See below for sample ballots, and have fun Googling all the candidates you’ve never heard of! (Hint: three candidates are from New Hampshire, including one from Lyme.)
NOTICE TO VOTERS
The Presidential Primary will be held in the voting place at:
8 Townhouse Road
February 11, 2020
Beginning at 11:00am
Closing not earlier than 7:00pm
For determining the preferred candidates for President to be selected at the National Conventions of the various political parties.
Democratic Party ballot.
Republican Party ballot.
The Town Clerk office will be closed November 27, the day before Thanksgiving. Hours resume 9-11am Saturday, November 30.
For Town events, don’t forget to check out the calendar.
It’s worth reading for anyone interested in education for our Town. You’ll find the plan here.
Save the date! The Orange and Canaan Conservation Commissions (thanks, Tracy Hutchins!) have arranged for an energy training manager to show us how to save money and energy with our homes. The 90-minute presentation begins at 6:00pm at the Orange Town House. The sponsor, NHSaves, is a collaboration of the state’s electric and gas utilities. See the flyer below for details. As always, we’ll put this on the town calendar.
In other news, Sandi tells us that the Mascoma Ecumenical Council has provided Thanksgiving food baskets for those in the area who are in need. They’ve been doing this good work since 1974. If you know someone who might need a basket, print and fill out this form, then mail it in by November 15. (The address is on the form.)
The supervisors of the checklist will meet from 7:00 pm to 7:30 pm on Friday, October 25, 2019, in the Town House for the purpose of registering new voters and correcting the checklist.
October 25 is the last time registered voters may change their party affiliation prior to the Presidential Primary. New voters may continue to register until election day, as permitted by law.
As always, the meeting and deadline appear on the Town calendar.
By the way: If you know someone who should be getting this, please forward it to them. And let them know they can sign up on Orangenh.US for email updates by emailing me: jay@jayheinrichs.com.
Update from Road Agnet Scott Sanborn:
Repair work on ditches and shoulders along the bus route has been completed on Tuttle Hill Rd and work is now underway on Cross Road. While the equipment is in that neck of the woods, we will be smoothing up a couple spots on Williams Road, then the crews will be moving up to Tug Mountain and New Colony Roads, probably later this week.
After my most recent discussions with Richard Remacle, we feel it is very unlikely that we'll be able to get much into the permanent repairs this fall (which is no surprise), so our focus over the next 2-3 weeks will be to improve on the temporary repairs over the badly damaged sections of Tug & New Colony, widening to a full two lanes with a little shoulder where needed for safety, replacing the more critical culverts that were damaged, and beefing up and grading the surface so it will handle winter. This will all still qualify as "initial response" work under the FEMA guidelines, so the costs will not count toward the permanent repair costs.
Updates on the FEMA process: I took part in the "exploratory call" with the FEMA "program delivery coordinator" (along with Sandi, Paul Hatch and one or two others from FEMA/HSEM) last Monday, and the Recovery Scope Meeting, where we will begin to hammer out the details of the repair "projects" is scheduled for next Monday (9am at the Town House).
The DOT’s Dennis Ford wrote Dorothy:
Contracted paving is complete.
We have a little to spread with a grader in a few weeks, mainly in Canaan.
Thursday and Friday we will be adding gravel shoulders and driveway aprons. We also will layout centerline for striping by our Traffic Bureau before winter. I do not know if they will reapply the white fog line on the edge of pavement, last I heard they were only applying this to numbered state highways. At 22 cents a foot I believe it’s a budgetary thing.
This should complete our work this week.
Thanks to you and the great people of the Town of Orange for the hospitality over the past two and half months.
If you or Scott need anything in your endeavors of rebuilding your town roads you know how to get hold of me.
Dennis Ford
Maintenance Supervisor
District Two
It began this morning and should continue through Wednesday.
And you’ve probably heard that Canaan found the source of its major water leak: under Route 4. We’ll keep you posted of any resulting delays.
Road Agent Scott Sanborn says that, while it’s unlikely that all the road repairs will be done before winter, our roads will be ready for winter plowing. And every road will have two lanes, he says.
Crews are currently working now on the Tuttle Hill Road shoulders. Although damage to Tuttle Hill Road wasn’t as severe as the damage to other town roads, the cost of its repairs is lower. “We are holding off on the most expensive work until we have access to FEMA funds,” Scott reports. Besides, Tuttle Hill Road is on the bus route, so repairs to that road are a priority.
The Town is still working with FEMA on getting funding. On September 16, the agency’s Paul Hatch has a call scheduled with Scott; other Town officials may be in on that call. One of the purposes is to schedule a meeting with FEMA in Orange to begin the formal paperwork.
Meanwhile, repaving continues on Cardigan Mountain Road. We’ll keep you posted on progress.
DOT Maintenance Supervisor Dennis Ford gave this update to Dorothy Heinrichs:
I spoke to the contractor and we are still on schedule for September 9-10 for pavement reclaim. We have and are laying out center line and existing elevations this week. We also put up a message board today by the transfer station.
The paving contractor is still committed to the week of the 16th. Any exact dates with them is a moving target with rain dates between now and then.
I will try and keep you posted on any future developments.
Alasdair Dunlap-Smith took beautiful photos, including a few spectacular ones with his drone. Check out the pictures in the Images section. And we’ll be adding more in the days that follow.
What a great afternoon. Even Mother Nature was on her best behavior (but then, she kinda owed us). The Stacey compound has never looked better, which is saying a lot. And Schoolhouse No. 2 on the Collins-Laines spread proved appropriately educational.
Thanks to the Orange Historical Commission and everyone who put a year’s effort into the event. And check the calendar for more delights to come.
Last night the New Hampshire Department of Safety received word that the President declared a major disaster in New Hampshire for the July 11 storm. The designation allows public entities in Grafton County and elsewhere—including the Town of Orange—to apply for help.
Orange Road Agent Scott Sanborn has been working with other Town officials to submit a formal Request for Public Assistance (RPA). They have 30 days.
So we can honestly say that July 11 was a day that will live in Orange history: a thousand-year weather event (officially declared by the National Weather Service), a genuine disaster (declared by the White House), and a heroic recovery (declared by all of us proud citizens of Orange).
Speaking of history, make sure you show up tomorrow at four o’clock for the Town photo at the Staceys on Tuttle Hill Road, and the ice cream social immediately following at Schoolhouse No. 1 on the Collins-Laines’ compound.