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 A Letter from the Town Manager Littleton Courier Article
Town Manager’s Report
2007 Town Report
At age 70, my time has come. I hope to do some more things with my life and my family (my wife, Herta, and our son, Tom, and his wife, Jennifer) while I am still able. Therefore, I have to thank all of you for a very enjoyable six years of managing the Town of Lincoln, but as of May 25th, I will be retiring. I have appreciated working for this excellent Board of Selectmen. With their leadership and direction, we have accomplished many projects and tasks that have been in the planning stages for so long, some as many as twenty years.
One of my responsibilities has been to conduct the duties of Town Planner and to work with the Planning Board. When I started as Town Manager, one of my goals was to insure that all the new development in Town, and its needed increased infrastructure, such as water, sewer, roads, fire and police protection, etc., would not be at the expense of the existing taxpayers. Through five years of planning and development, we now have an increased/upgraded, more efficient water system which continues to be expanded; we are closely monitoring the sewer system, and this year will receive $117,000 towards new fire equipment. Collecting impact fees from all of the developments in town has also assisted us financially. We continue to collect these funds and thank the developers for their cooperation, which has allowed us to keep the town portion of the tax rate at $3.04 for the last two years.
Another goal we had hoped to accomplish was to develop a good working relationship with all townspeople, local businesses and developers. This is so that we can have a more cohesive relationship that helps us all for the future planning of the Town of Lincoln. I must thank all those people for their cooperation and assistance, with appreciation to Elliott Custom Homes for their contributions to the development of the Community Center. The construction companies of Conn, Donahue and Caulder have all made contributions of time, energy and money at one time or another. They all continue to support the community in many ways. We also welcome the Kircher family, new owners of another great supporter, Loon Mountain, to the community.
Many of the people that have joined committees with the best interests of our community in mind have been our citizens, businesspeople and developers. The Village Core group, under the guidance of John Hettinger and Marilyn Sanderson, is working on creating and maintaining recreation areas along the East Branch of the Pemigewasset via hiking/biking/walking trails, kayak put-in, future riverfront park and access to swimming holes. The sign committee has worked hard over the past year to create a new ordinance that will enhance businesses and the look of Lincoln. The Lincoln Green committee, with Kathy Cook’s guidance, is studying how to find alternative senior citizen or middle-income housing, so we can continue to look after our seniors in our community. The newly formed Energy and Water Conservation Committee will make sure we maintain energy efficiency of our environment while we grow. The Budget committee members, under the leadership of the Chairman of the Trustees of the Thrust Funds, Charlie Cook, give many hours every year to keep our financial plan on track. All of these committees have a good understanding of our community and will continue to work for the good of Lincoln.
The bottom line is that we all need to work together as a team. Communication is so important and has allowed us to develop an excellent tourism community that will continue to maintain our low tax rate and many community services. All of this work has also contributed to our school, recreation department, community center, and local ski hill, so that we are able to keep our children safe and well educated. It is so important, yet so hard to measure, how these programs help our community’s members. The money we spend for our children today will impact the future of our community tomorrow.
After 20 years of working on the developing and permitting of the South Mountain project, including planning with Loon Mountain Recreation Corporation and Centex for the final master development plan for the base area, being able to ski and ride the new lift this fall was one of the highlights of my career. This project, along with the development of the core area, with the help of InnSeasons resorts, will continue to highlight Lincoln as an excellent recreation community.
Probably the biggest, most important assets to this town are its employees. Bill Willey does an outstanding job managing the highway, water and sewer departments, has a vast knowledge of all aspects of the operation, and does an incredible job of managing the amount of work he has to accomplish with his crew of three; David Beaudin, Daryl Hart and Andy Nichols. In the Town Hall area, Susan Chenard has proven to be very knowledgeable and incredibly dedicated to her work, and is a great asset to the smooth operation of Town business. Susan Whitman works so diligently at her job as Town Clerk and Tax Collector that you’d think every penny belonged to her. Tara Tower operates the Recreation Department with such enthusiasm and happiness; it’s a joy to have her operating this large department. Helen Jones’ calm, cool, collected, get-the-job-done attitude is very much appreciated in a very busy finance and assessing office. Stacey Boyce keeps the Planning and Zoning department moving smoothly. Police Chief Ted Smith has been very good to work with, particularly with his professional attitude in running his department. Fire Chief Nate Haynes is always interesting to work with and his vast knowledge and years of experience fighting fires has been invaluable to the Town of Lincoln and the entire volunteer fire department. Carol Riley has been doing an excellent job expanding the library’s functions with many new activities and her friendly attitude has made the library what it is today.
A special thank you goes to the Board of Selectmen, whom I’ve been working closely with these past years. Chairman Deanna Huot is the matriarch of the Town of Lincoln; with her incredible number of years serving this community, she has been a wealth of knowledge and direction in helping me manage this town. Peter Moore’s intellectuality has been a great asset both for the Board of Selectmen as well as his work as the representative to the Planning Board, where he, Pat Romprey and I have accomplished an incredible amount of work for the future planning of the community. Patricia McTeague’s constant eye on the ball sees things that we sometimes lose sight of; her conservative tenacity keeps us focused. I thank them very much for a great several years.
I will not be leaving until the end of May, and will be working with the Board in finding a replacement. With that, I wish you all the very best.
Your Town Manager,
Ted Sutton
Lincoln Town Manager
(603)745-2757
townmanager@lincolnnh.org
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