Mascoma Valley Recreation Doings

Bridget Labrie, regional recreation coordinator for Mascoma Valley Parks and Rec, reports on this summer’s events and outdoor activities. You can find its calendar here.

Enfield Market Starts This Saturday

From 10am to 1pm at Huse Park in Enfield, the market will be open on the second and fourth Saturdays until October 9. The organizers are seeking vendors, food trucks, and live music. Email Bridget for more information.

Youth Programs

Challenger Sports Soccer Camp: Register here.

Paul Hogan Basketball Camp: July 12-15. Grades 1-4, 8-10am; grades 5-8, 10 to noon. Information and registration here.

Volleyball Skills Clinic: July 19-23, 3-6pm, for students entering grades 6 through 9. Register here.

Adult & Family Recreation Opportunities

Adult Co-Ed Recreational Volleyball: Shaker Recreation Field. Information to come. Watch the Parks & Rec calendar or email Bridget.

Adult Co-Ed Softball League (Rubberball League) in Canaan. Check out the group’s Facebook page or email them here.

Disc Golf? There is interest in getting courses started here in the Mascoma Valley. It’ll require fundraising, volunteer workers, and people to spread the word. Email here if you’re interested.

Get Outside

The Trail Finder, covering Vermont and New Hampshire, lets you print out trail maps or download them to your phone. (Also see Sandi Pierson’s guide to Orange area hikes in the Natural Resources Inventory.)

UNH Extension is offering many workshops.

Upper Valley Trails Alliance is taking applications for the Upper Valley High School Trail Corps program. This is an opportunity for high school students to spend time outdoors and learn about trail building in a sustainable way.

Check out other UVTA opportunities and programs for all ages here.


Follow Mascoma Valley Parks & Rec

You’ll find it on Facebook and Instagram. And you can email Bridget here.



Take 2 minutes to help bring broadband to Orange.

Alasdair Dunlap-Smith, who serve’s on the Town’s ad hoc broadband committee, says that the Grafton County Broadband Committee still wants responses to its survey on internet service. The county will use the data for broadband planning, so it’s important to show how badly we need better service here.

Please take a couple minutes to fill out the survey here.

Meanwhile, Alasdair reports that major funding for broadband in New Hampshire seems likely.

Orange Hazard Mitigation Planning

Orange officials and volunteers have met with Mapping and Planning Solutions, a firm in Twin Mountain, to work on the required five-year update to the 2016 Orange Hazard Mitigation Plan. More meetings are being scheduled over the next few months to address flooding, hurricanes, drought, landslides, wildfires, and other natural or human-caused hazards.

The Hazard Mitigation Planning Team is currently being formed. Orange citizens and any interested stakeholders are invited to participate. The next meeting will be held Monday, May 10, 7:00-9:00 PM via Zoom. To be added to the invite, email Dorothy Heinrichs at nhdorothy@gmail.com. Additional meetings are scheduled for 7pm Mondays, June 14 and July 12.

The team will determine efforts to mitigate the effects, examine potential shelter sites, and decide on the need for generators at those sites. By examining critical infrastructure and key resources, along with past hazards, the team will establish priorities for future mitigation projects and steps that can be taken to increase public awareness of hazards in general.

The Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 requires all municipalities to complete a local Hazard Mitigation Plan to qualify for FEMA funding after a natural disaster.  The planning processes are made possible by grants from FEMA. 

For more information on the hazard mitigation planning process, call June Garneau at Mapping and Planning Solutions, 603-991-9664.

Cemetery Trustees meeting

The Cemetery Trustees will meet at the Town House on Tuesday, April 20,, 2021, 6:00-7:00 p.m.

Agenda items include discussion of the budget and capital fund, stone repair, tree removal, and painting of signposts. 

The public is welcome. 

Official Notice from the Supervisors of the Checklist

New Hampshire law requires that the Supervisors of the Checklist verify the checklist every ten years. Any person on the checklist who has not voted in the past four years must re-register to remain on the checklist. 

The Supervisors are sending notice letters to these voters at the address the voter provided when registering.

 

The Supervisors of the Checklist for the Town of Orange will hold a session for re-registering voters who have not voted since April 1, 2017, accepting applications for new voter registration, accepting requests for the correction of the checklist, and or change of political party affiliation on:

 

Date: Tuesday, May 4, 2021

Time: 6:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Location: Orange Town House

Cardigan Mountain Road

Orange, New Hampshire

      

Voters may check party affiliation on-line:

https://app.sos.nh.gov/Public/PollingPlaceSearch.aspx

Results from Town Meeting and Election

ARTICLE 1: To elect the following town officers for the following terms: 1 Selectperson 3-year term, 1 Town Clerk 1-year term, 1 Treasurer 1-year term, 1 Tax Collector 1-year term, 1 Deeding Agent 1-year term, 1 Road Agent 1-year term, 1 Budget Committee 3-year term, 1 Cemetery Trustee 3-year term, 1 Trustee of Trust Funds 3-year term, 2 Planning Board Members 3-year terms, and any other officers as required by law.

Officers elected:
Selectman (3 Years): Tamara Fairbank
Town Clerk (1 Year): Michelle Goffreda
Treasurer (1 Year): Trish Weekes
Tax Collector (1 Year): Sharon Proulx
Deeding Agent (1 Year): Sharon Proulx
Road Agent (1 Year): Scott Sanborn
Budget Committee (3 Years): Louis Shelzi
Trustee Of Trust Funds (3 Years): Karen McFarlane
Planning Board (3 Years): Tessa Michetti and Karen McFarlane
Planning Board (1 Year): Bruce Ells
Cemetery Trustee (3 Years): Gulley Dunlap

 

ARTICLE 2: To see if the Town will authorize the Tax Collector to accept the prepayment of taxes pursuant to RSA 80:52-a. Taxpayers shall be allowed to prepay taxes no more than two years in advance of the due date of the taxes. No interest shall accrue to the taxpayer on any prepayment, nor shall any interest be paid to the taxpayer on any prepayment which is later subject to rebate or refund.

Article 2 passed.

 

ARTICLE 3: To see if the Town will authorize the Moderator to appoint a committee of five Orange residents, two of whom may be officers or employees of the town (excluding members of the Select Board, Tax Collector, Treasurer, Town Clerk, and Select Board Secretary), to study the salaries of the Town officers and employees and report their findings and recommendations in the next annual Town Report, including a warrant article that they deem appropriate.

Article 3 passed.

ARTICLE 4: To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate eight thousand dollars ($8,000.00) to be paid into the Highway Equipment Capital Reserve Fund.

Article 4 passed.

 

ARTICLE 5: To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) to be paid into the Town House Capital Reserve Fund.

Article 5 passed.

 

ARTICLE 6: To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate four thousand dollars ($4,000.00) to be paid into the Revaluation Capital Reserve Fund for the purpose of revaluation of real estate. Revaluations of all real estate are required by law every five years.

Article 6 passed.

 

ARTICLE 7: To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) to be paid into the Town Road Improvement and Repair Capital Reserve Fund.

Article 7 passed.

 

ARTICLE 8: To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the Budget Committee’s recommended sum of $241,132.00, not including appropriations by special warrant articles and other appropriations voted separately, for the ensuing year for the Town’s general operations.

Article 8 passed.

 

 

Ad hoc broadband committee will meet tomorrow and Monday at 6:30pm

The broadband news is starting to heat up, with several possibilities for greatly increased access—and speed—promised over the next couple years. Donald McFarlane, who serves on the ad hoc committee with fellow Orange tech wizards, is setting up two sessions on Google Meet to consider the Town’s options.

Note that there are separate links to each meeting.

The following phone number will be monitored throughout the meeting by someone who can assist with and alert the committee to any technical issues - (917)334-9088

Agenda:

1. review information received to date to inform a status report for town meeting

2. open discussion

3. survey the sense of the committee regarding specific options and recommendations

Saturday's session:

Meeting ID

meet.google.com/nbm-oavw-azn

Phone Numbers

(‪US‬)‪+1 617-675-4444‬

PIN: ‪436 040 205 2315#‬

More phone numbers

Monday's session:

Meeting ID

meet.google.com/cnb-fidd-xap

Phone Numbers

(‪US‬)‪+1 617-675-4444‬

PIN: ‪802 068 302 3513#‬

More phone numbers

Public Notice

The Supervisors of the Checklist will be meeting on Saturday, 2/27/2021 from 10:00 - 10:30 AM at the Orange Town House to register new voters and make corrections to the checklist.

Correction: Voting day hours

A number of sharp-eyed Orangeites pointed out that the times were reversed in the earlier post about voting.

Voting day, March 9, has the usual schedule: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Want to Be Contacted for Eventual Broadband?

Alasdair Dunlap-Smith, who serves on Orange’s ad hoc broadband committee, sent a couple links to the New Hampshire Electric Co-op’s site. This one lets you sign up to be contacted when NHEC starts offering broadband to our town.

According to the NHEC site, the current prices in the co-op’s pilot project area are $89.95 for one gigabyte per section, upload and download speeds; and $49.95 for 25 megabytes per second, upload and download. (Those prices are monthly, presumably.)

The slower, cheaper plan’s download speed is comparable to the speed I’m getting with DSL on Cardigan Mountain Road. NHEC’s upload speed would be much faster. Ours is just 1 mbps with DSL, 25 times slower.

—Jay

Town Meeting Will Be Held at the High School

Our great Selectboard Secretary sent these notes along with the minutes of the board’s joint meeting with the Budget Committee. (As always, you can view meeting minutes in this site’s Documents section.

Article One on the warrant is the election of officers. Voting for officers will be done at the Orange Town House on Tuesday, March 9, 2021, 11a.m. to 7p.m., with the same COVID-19 procedures as the 2020 voting days.

“Traditional Town Meeting,” the following day, Wednesday the 10th at 7 p.m., is the gathering of townspeople to deliberate and vote on the rest of the warrant articles. This cannot be done at the Orange Town House—its size simply will not accommodate the safety requirements that are necessary during this time. Town meeting on the 10th will be held at the Mascoma Valley Regional High School auditorium. By statute, if a town meeting is held out of town, the town must provide transportation, for those who request it, from the traditional place of voting [Orange Town House] to and from the place of voting [high school]. We are presently looking into options. When you receive your town report by mail in February, all plans will be in place and they will be included with your report.

Hopefully next year I will be emailing you instead with the plans for our customary pot luck community supper that has always preceded town meeting. Until then, we shall remain resilient, hopeful, and vigilant!

Every five years, the town votes to have the Moderator appoint an ad hoc salary study committee. The committee consists of five Orange residents, two of whom may be officers or employees of the town (excluding members of the Select Board, Tax Collector, Treasurer, Town Clerk, and Select Board Secretary), to study the salaries of the Town officers and employees and report their findings and recommendations in the next annual Town Report, including a warrant article that they deem appropriate. Moderator Dan Hazelton asks that you contact him if you have an interest in being on the committee. Dan can be emailed at dmhazelton@hotmail.com.

 Another ad hoc committee this year will be the updating of the Orange Hazard Mitigation Plan; it is funded by a matching grant, but, as in  the past, the “in kind” volunteer hours that townspeople and officers put in have always paid our half—which results in no town money needing to be raised to pay for the update. Please consider volunteering. Contact the Select Board for more information. From what I understand at this time, the meetings will be held at the Town House with the option to participate with Zoom. Details to follow.

Town Office Open for the 2021 Election

Sandi sent us this list of open offices and their terms. The filing period starts tomorrow, January 20, and continues through 5pm Friday, January 29. Candidates must file a Declaration of Candidacy with the Town Clerk, Michelle Goffreda, to get their names on the ballot. She holds regular office hours on Wednesdays from 3:30 to 5:30. In addition, she’ll be at the Town House on Friday, January 29, from 3 to 5.

Voting takes place on March 9, with Town Meeting the next day. As always, you can find dates on the calendar.

Select Board 3 years

Town Clerk 1 year

Treasurer 1 year

Tax Collector 1 year

Deeding Agent 1 year

Road Agent 1 year

Budget Committee 3 year

Cemetery Trustee 3 years

Trustees of the Trust Funds 3 years

TWO Planning Board Members 3 years each term


High-Speed Internet Is Coming Soon!

The NH Electric Coop plans to bring blazing-fast internet to Orange. This is a very big deal, allowing our town to remain rural and beautiful in the years to come, while increasing residents’ ability to earn a living by telecommuting. Not to mention downloading a movie in seconds!

Alasdair Dunlap-Smith, who serves on Orange’s ad hoc committee on the internet, explains the news. (I inserted a couple of notes in italics.) -Jay


The New Hampshire Electric Co-op (NHEC) has formed a new subsidiary to deliver high-speed fiber-optic internet service to towns like ours. NHEC already delivers electricity to a majority of Orange residents. This new internet service will be available not only to those customers but to most, or all, of the rest of us as well. 

NHEC expects to offer download and upload speeds up to one gigabit per second. (That’s a download speed about 40 times faster than what most of us are getting.)

NHEC has already completed gigabit fiber-optic internet service to four towns in New Hampshire with CARES Act funding. The cooperative will not ask the Town of Orange to contribute funds; nor will our electricity bills be increased to pay for the project.

While the buildout of internet service to all NHEC towns could take several years to complete, priority will go to towns such as Orange that are included in the federal grant. NHEC expects to have a public schedule available in the coming months. For updates, check the NHEC website. (We’ll post the news on the town website as soon as we get it. If you’re a subscriber to this site, you’ll be getting an email.)

Absentee Ballots Processing

TOWN OF ORANGE, N.H.  PUBLIC NOTICE

PARTIAL PROCESSING OF ABSENTEE BALLOTS

N.H ELECTION LAWS  2020, CHAPTER 14

Partial processing of absentee ballots will take place at the Orange Town House on Thursday, October 29, beginning at 7:00 p.m. until completed.

The Town Moderator, Clerk, and Supervisors of the checklist will be present.

Daniel Hazelton, Moderator

Michelle Goffreda, Town Clerk

Voting in Orange

A Canaan resident reported on Saturday that a man driving a New York registered car came to the door of her home and claimed that the names of her family had been removed from the checklist; they could not vote this year, the man reportedly said.

If that happens to you, please report it immediately to the Orange Town Clerk. Only the Supervisors of the Checklist can remove a voter’s name.

Speaking of which, you have until Monday to ask for any changes to the Checklist. Here’s the official notice:

The Supervisors of the Checklist will be in session Monday, October 26, 2020, 6:00 PM - 6:30 PM at the Town House. No additions or corrections to the checklist shall be made after this session until election day on November 3rd.

If you already voted by absentee ballot—or plan to in the next few days—you can track it through this official New Hampshire website. If you haven’t requested an absentee ballot yet, you’d better hurry. (You’ll find the absentee ballot request form here.) While the state will accept requests until Monday, November 2, you obviously won’t get your ballot in time to vote. Once you do receive your ballot, you can put it in the mail and hope it gets in by 5:00 p.m. November 2. A safer bet: take it to the Town House during Town Clerk hours. (See the calendar.)

Vote YES on the NHEC ballot

If you get your electricity from the New Hampshire Electric Co-op, check your mailbox for a member ballot. It asks you to vote on a bylaw amendment that will allow the co-op to provide affordable high-speech internet access to towns such as Orange.

Several internet-savvy folk in our down have formed an ad-hoc committee on internet infrastructure. The committee recommends voting YES on the amendment. The Orange Selectboard also unanimously decided to vote YES on the ballot the Town received.