Windham Taxpayers

July 31, 2008
Eagle Tribune

WINDHAM — Construction of a larger elementary school is being considered to provide space for the district’s first kindergarten program and growing student enrollment.

Superintendent Frank Bass presented a scenario to the School Board last night as one of several options — including renovations, additions and new school buildings — that will be examined by architect Kyle Barker over the next several months.

The board voted to hire Barker to conduct a $27,200 study of the school district’s facilities and ways to provide additional space. His study will also look at air quality and energy efficiency in the current buildings.

Along with space to start a kindergarten program, required by fall 2009, the district’s enrollment is expanding and more space will be needed to accommodate that growth, Bass said.

Projected enrollment figures presented last night show the number of students in third through fifth grades increasing by 183 children over the next five years — from 610 this year to 793 in 2013.

The scenario presented by Bass calls for constructing an elementary school, instead of a middle school, on land where the new high school is being built off Route 111. The new elementary school would house the district’s preschool program, kindergarten classes, grades one through four, and the superintendent’s office, he said.

Golden Brook Elementary School, which accommodates first and second grades, would close, Bass said.

Under this proposal, the superintendent’s office and preschool building on Route 111 would be sold for about $1 million, Bass said.

This would also address space issues at both Windham Center and Windham Middle schools by shifting grades. Windham Center School would be for fifth- and sixth-graders while the middle school would only house the seventh and eighth grades, Bass said.

The middle school now serves sixth- through eighth-graders and Windham Center School houses grades three through five. Under this plan, a new middle school building, at a cost of $35 million to $40 million, would not have to be built, Bass said.

“These are all hypotheticals,” Bass said. “But they work educationally and financially for the school district.”

School Board members did not comment on the plan last night. They are waiting for Barker to conduct his study, which would provide additional details for this option and others, along with cost estimates.

Board members decided not to put the study out to bid so it could start right away and give them time to consider placing one or more articles for school space on the next district warrant, which would be voted on in March.

Bass said it might not make financial sense to renovate Golden Brook School because of its age. Barker said there are a variety of problems with the building, including old windows that would cost $750,000 to replace and an inadequate ventilation system that would cost about $1 million to replace.

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Please see Population Up, School Enrollment Down in NH - Seacoast Online

July 30, 2008
Eagle Tribune

WINDHAM — A proposed change to town policy would prohibit employees from using municipal credit cards for personal purchases.

The proposal came in response to three recommendations the town auditor made to the selectmen Monday night.

Certified public accountant Vachon, Clukay & Co. said the firm’s suggestions were not based on any wrongdoing, but are intended to keep Windham in line with standard internal controls for financial reporting.

Once or twice a year, an employee using a town credit card for Wal-Mart or Staples would include a personal purchase with the town purchase, Finance Director Dana Call said. That person would then reimburse the town for the personal item, she added.

But in its review, the auditing company discovered an instance where no receipt was included for the personal purchase. Call said the employee, who she refused to identify, reimbursed the town for the purchase but had not included a receipt.

The company had two other recommendations.

One is that the town administrator review and approve accounting entries made by the town finance director. These entries include revenue Windham has collected for town services.

It is standard procedure to have someone reviewing the entries other than the person posting them, the auditor said.

Call said she will have Town Administrator Dave Sullivan check the entries.

Vachon, Clukay & Co. also recommended that the selectmen consider a centralized deposit process.

For years, Windham has had a decentralized cash receipt and depositing system. In this way of doing business, individual departments collect revenues and deposit them into the town’s accounts.

The town treasurer had, informally, delegated the deposit function to individuals. In response to the audit report, Call said the decentralized deposits have been subject to review.

The town treasurer has reconciled them with bank accounts, and department heads have reported revenues to the finance director on a monthly basis. In addition, the selectmen are provided a quarterly budget report of revenues.

Selectman Bruce Breton said he wants further discussion of the audit report.

Breton, the vice chairman, will ask that the board sit down with the finance director and town administrator and review the audit thoroughly to make sure all internal controls are in place and adhered to in the future.

“I definitely believe in checks and balances,” he said.

July 29, 2008
Eagle Tribune

WINDHAM — Local property owners can expect to pay between 6 and 8 cents more per $1,000 of valuation per year over the life of a 10-year bond to pay for a proposed secondary access road at the new high school.

During a public hearing last night, speakers said selectmen needed to provide more details if they expect voters to approve a $1.25 million bond to pay for it.

Selectmen promised to provide this information before the Aug. 12 deliberative session on the bond article, and the subsequent Sept. 9 Special Town Meeting vote on it.

The board said it will provide, in advance, the cost breakdown and project specifications for the almost 4,000-foot-long and 24-foot-wide paved road, dispensing the information at a roundtable discussion and through postings on the town Web site.

This information will be made available after the project engineer receives bids on the work, expected within two weeks, board Chairman Dennis Senibaldi said.

Meanwhile, Town Administrator Dave Sullivan presented the payment schedule on the bond for the $1.25 million proposal. The schedule is based on the current 4 percent interest rate.

He said the first year’s payment, starting in 2009, would be about $175,000, falling to about $130,000 in the final years of the bond.

Individual property owners would pay 8 cents per $1,000 of valuation in the first few years, then 7 cents in the middle five or six years before ending at 6 cents in the last years, he said.

On a $400,000 home that would range between $24 and $32 more per year over the 10 years.

Resident Jack Hamburger said the perception in public is that this access road is a selectmen’s proposal and does not represent the public’s wishes.

Senibaldi countered that the board was acting in response to an existing public petition for the road. That petition was held in abeyance while voters cast ballots on a similar proposal in March.

That proposal was also brought forward as a citizen’s petition, only on the school district ballot. It was spearheaded by Charles McMahon, who was not a selectman at that time but now is a member of the board.

In March, school district voters defeated the proposal, 1,270 to 1,234. The bond article needed 60 percent majority approval to pass. So will the September question.

Regarding the current proposal, selectmen have declared a need for the road — to provide a secondary means of access to the school for fire and police in case of an emergency.

The fire chief is adamant about the need for the road prior to the school’s opening. He said he is open to discussing the type of road, whether paved or unpaved, but there must be a secondary access.

Speaker Betty Dunn said she has yet to decide if she supports it, and she needs more information.

Senibaldi suggested that the board hold a roundtable discussion on the project before the deliberative session.

All the board members agreed to the roundtable, which will be scheduled after they gather bid information on the project.

Board member Galen Stearns agreed to the roundtable so long as there would be debate there, not just a presentation.

Senibaldi said debate will be part of the meeting.

July 28, 2008
Eagle Tribune

SALEM — Windham School Board member Michael Hatem is lucky he’s not being graded on attendance.

Hatem is Windham’s representative to the Salem School Board but has attended just one of Salem’s meetings since he took on the role in March.

Hatem said Wednesday he can’t attend Salem’s meetings because the Windham School Board is meeting twice as often as it usually does — and those extra meetings are being scheduled on the same day as Salem’s meetings.

“It’s strictly been a conflict of schedules,” he said. “We used to meet twice a month (in Windham), but since April we’ve been meeting almost every week.”

Windham students have attended Salem’s high school since 1994 — and that’s the same year a representative from Windham was invited to join the Salem School Board. As a representative, the Windham member doesn’t vote, but is invited to give input on matters that involve Salem High School and affect both towns.

But Hatem hasn’t given much input.

He’s only attended one of 11 meetings — and that one was two months after taking the job. Hatem was elected to the Windham School Board in March. That meeting was in May and was held immediately after a biannual joint meeting that the entire Windham School Board attended.

While Hatem’s attendance record is strong on the Windham School Board, he said he doesn’t know when he’ll be able to attend more meetings in Salem.

He said the Windham School Board hasn’t discussed changing its meeting date from Tuesday to another day, and it doesn’t look like his Windham schedule is going to slow down.

“I’m hoping once we get done with the next couple of weeks and we get the capital improvement project agenda done, (the Windham schedule) will lessen up,” he said. “But once that’s done, there’s the warrants, so I don’t know.”

The Salem School Board will continue to have a Windham representative on the board until all Windham students transition into Windham’s new high school in the fall of 2011.

July 15, 2008
Eagle Tribune

WINDHAM — A judge has granted the town permission to hold a Special Town Meeting vote on a $1.25 million second access road at the new high school.

Judge Larry Smukler announced his decision yesterday, a day after local officials petitioned Superior Court for the meeting.

The deliberative session is scheduled for Aug. 12 at Town Hall and the vote Sept. 9. The bond article needs a 60 percent majority for approval.

The secondary road would be a continuation of the main entrance off Route 111, and connect to Castle Hill Road. Selectmen plan to walk the access road Monday, the same day as the public hearing on the road’s layout.