November 27th Select Board Newsletter - Special Edition

November 27, 2019

Dear Stratham Residents,
We would like to take this time to wish you all a very happy and safe Thanksgiving.  Please read below for news and notes from the Town of Stratham. 

In this special edition:

Senior Community Room Launch – December 11th at 9:00 a.m.
Trash & recycling pick-up
Budget Advisory Committee dates;
In case you missed it… last week’s update on Curbside Collection Advisory Committee

Please remind your neighbors about this resource for keeping on top of information from the Town.  To sign-up for these updates and other notifications, please visit: https://www.strathamnh.gov/subscribe.

The Select Board
Michael Houghton, Chairman             Joe Lovejoy, Vice Chair         Allison Knab

SENIOR COMMUNITY ROOM – PLEASE JOIN US!

TRASH & RECYCLING PICK UP
Please note, pick up will be delayed by one day due to the Thanksgiving holiday.  If your pick up is usually on Thursday, this week it will be on Friday.  If your pick up is usually on Friday, it will be on Saturday.

BUDGET ADVISORY COMMITTEE APPOINTED
As readers of this newsletter are aware, the Board and staff have been working to prepare the operating budget for the upcoming year.  This week, the Town Moderator made his appointments to the Town’s Budget Advisory Committee.  Dates for joint meetings with the Select Board and the BAC will be held at 6:00 pm in the Hutton Room at the Municipal Center on the dates below.  These meetings are open to the public and will be noticed accordingly.

Thursday, December 5
Tuesday, December 10
Thursday, January 9

In case you missed it….
CURBSIDE COLLECTION ADVISORY COMMITTEE INTERIM REPORT
The Curbside Collection Advisory Committee has submitted an interim report to the Select Board and presented it at the Board's Nov. 18th meeting.  You can find the two-page letter report along with other meetings materials of the Advisory Committee here.

The Committee made several findings as a result of its deliberations over its five meetings.  Specifically, the Committee found that our culture as a whole is becoming more aware of the effects of human impacts on the environment including relying on landfills and consumer habits that generate the need for disposal and related costs.  As a result, the Committee is encouraging a broader conversation about how we manage and think of what we dispose of prior to committing to any particular mode of collection (automation, the existing program, or some other approach).

The Committee also proposed some specific next steps.  These include:

Hit “pause” on preparations for the proposed Automation Program;

Perform additional outreach to the Community to learn more about preferences and attitudes about preferences for curbside collection of trash and recycling in general;

Assess the community’s feedback from the survey and interest in other models and - using that information - define the level of service desired by the Committee for the purposes of soliciting new competitive bids for the model and types of services desired.

Move forward with a new contract for the desired level of service defined through the process.

The Board expressed appreciation for the Committee’s work and is in agreement with the interim recommendations.  Meanwhile, there will be no interruption in current curbside collection services and the Committee will be moving forward with a survey product to learn more about the Community’s desires with regard to curbside collection in general.  More updates will follow as the Committee continues its work.