City Hall: Craig joins colleagues in asking Senate to restore revenue sharing

Apr. 18—MAYOR JOYCE CRAIG joined 12 of her counterparts across New Hampshire in signing on to a letter asking the Senate for a bump in municipal aid to be included in the state budget.

The letter, sent last Wednesday to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Gary Daniels, asks Senate budget writers to bring back revenue-sharing with cities and towns.

"Over the past decade, the State of New Hampshire's budget decisions have resulted in significant losses of revenue to municipalities, contributing to property tax increases and delays in needed infrastructure improvements," the mayors wrote. "As Mayors, we understand the difficulties associated with balancing a budget. There are always competing priorities, finite resources and a need to reinvest for growth. This is true at both the state and local level, underscoring the importance of partnership in the form of revenue sharing and state aid grants."

The mayors wrote that the absence of revenue-sharing puts a heavy burden on municipalities and local taxpayers.

"This burden is unsustainable, putting a particular strain on retired Granite Staters on a fixed income, young people purchasing their first homes and municipalities' ability to invest in infrastructure," the mayors wrote.

In the letter, the state's 13 mayors estimate cities and towns have collectively lost $160 million since 2011 from reductions in rooms and meals tax allocations and $164 million since 2009 from the loss of direct revenue sharing.

In addition to Craig, the letter is signed by Berlin Mayor Paul Grenier, Claremont's Charlene Lovett, Concord's Jim Bouley, Dover's Bob Carrier, interim Franklin Mayor Olivia Zink, Keene Mayor George Hansel, Laconia Mayor Andrew Hosmer, Lebanon Mayor Tim McNamara, Nashua Mayor Jim Donchess, Portsmouth Mayor Rick Becksted, Rochester Mayor Caroline McCarley and Somersworth's Dana Hilliard.

School board ethics update

Members of the school board's Policy Committee are recommending updates to the board's ethics policy.

The updates cover excellence and equity, the proper channels for addressing internal school issues and guidelines for debates during school board meetings.

They also stress the importance of abiding by the oath of office and rules of the Board of School Committee, and upholding the City Charter, all local, state and federal laws and policies of the board.

Per the updates, board members will be required to:

—Respect the confidentiality of information, whether it be privileged by law, received in confidence or disclosed in non-public session;

—Present personal criticisms to the superintendent, not to district staff, the public or "unnecessarily" at a board meeting;

—Support the nomination and employment of qualified staff that will best meet the needs of the district's diverse population and insist on regular and impartial evaluation of all staff;

—Participate in debates and use independent judgment in making decisions, while respecting the full deliberation of the board and the free expression of differing opinions and ideas;

According to the language of the proposal, failure by any board member to adhere to the updated ethics policy, including any violations of the Right to Know Law, NH RSA 91-A, city charter or any local, state or federal law, can lead to consequences that include removal from office.

Board member Jim O'Connell raised questions about that last item, asking who would be responsible for removing an elected official from the board.

"If someone violates the oath, they're subject to petition to the Superior Court, which could lead to dismissal," said Manchester School District attorney Kathryn Cox Pelletier. "There needs to be a finding of whether or not they violated the breach of confidentiality. There would be a petition to the court to dismiss the person, and the court can act on that petition."

O'Connell said he supports the policy, but removing someone from the board should require surmounting a "very high barrier."

"Elections are serious matters," O'Connell said. "It's democracy in practice. I fully support the efforts to make make sure we have confidentiality and people obey the law. I understand the frustration of other board members in the past that people who have played fast and loose with it and seemingly were able to do it without sanction, but my strong desire here is we have a law in place if the behavior of a member of our board rises to the level where clearly they have breached confidentiality, then that is something that can be tried, adjudicated and resolved under state statute in a court."

"I don't think that it should be the place of the other members of the board to be adjudicating or judging whether that person should be removed or not," O'Connell said.

The Policy Committee voted unanimously to recommend the updates be approved by the full board. Committee member Art Beaudry was absent.

The school district received word last week from the New Hampshire School Boards Association that the Manchester Board of School Committee has been chosen as the 2021 School Board of the Year.

This year's awards ceremony will be held on Saturday, June 5, at the Double Tree Hilton in downtown Manchester.

Grants for NH airports

New Hampshire's congressional delegation announced last week that the Federal Aviation Administration awarded $2,740,000 in federal grants to support infrastructure, operations and safety at Pease, Lebanon and Manchester airports. The federal funding was awarded under the agency's Airport Improvement Program (AIP).

Manchester-Boston Regional Airport will receive $230,000 to reconfigure Taxiway H and rehabilitate Taxiway A.

"These two grants will assist the airport in enhancing our safety and providing world-class service to our guests," said Manchester-Boston Regional Airport Director Ted Kitchens in a statement.

"The continued support of the federal government will be critical to ensure safety-enhancing projects are implemented, especially as the recovery in passenger demand strengthens across the region and nation. We thank Senator (Jeanne) Shaheen and the New Hampshire Congressional delegation for their continued support of Manchester-Boston Regional Airport."

Neighborhood cleanup

Mayor Craig, public works officials and the Manchester School District announced the city will host an Earth Day Neighborhood Clean-Up on Saturday, April 24.

Residents are invited to join in the cleanup at locations across the city, with public works crews stationed at four elementary schools from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

—Jewett Street School, 130 S Jewett St.

—Northwest Elementary, 300 Youville St.

—Smyth Road School, 245 Bruce Road

—Beech Street School, 333 Beech St.

Each site will have cleanup materials, including trash bags and gloves, and serve as a drop-off location for all collected materials.

Same day sign-ups are welcome, but volunteers, organizations and businesses interested in participating can pre-register for the neighborhood clean-up atmanchesternh.gov.

Paul Feely is the City Hall reporter for the New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News. Reach him at pfeely@unionleader.com.