Annual report of the Town of Hampton, New Hampshire

In order to address the escalation of interest in tax anticipation borrowing
we have sponsored a semiannual tax collection article in the 1992
warrant.
In the Assessor's office we lapsed a clerical position and promoted
Angela Sargent to Deputy Assessor. Our Executive Secretary, Carolyn
Brewster, retired and we have replaced her with Karen Anderson. The
Welfare Officer portion of Carolyn's duties have been assumed by Patricia
Pierce, along with her bookkeeping responsibilities. Joy Page resigned in
December as Program Coordinator in the Recreation Department and that
position has been lapsed. Funding for a staff Accountant has been proposed
in the 1 992 budget, after many years of recommendations from the auditors
that such a position be established.
In an effort to encourage greater public participation we have made
the hallway of the Town Office, and have
available a suggestion box in
reserved a time block on our weekly agenda for a "Citizens Sounding
Board". Our practice of staying after each Selectmen's meeting to answer
questions from the public and the media has been continued, and weekly
agendas are now carried on Cable TV.
We reviewed the Pay & Classification Study for non-contract employees,
drafted and passed the Hawkers & Peddlers Ordinance, drafted an addition
to the Animal Control Ordinance to be presented to the 1992 Town
Meeting and discontinued the Industrial Development Committee. In its
place we established an Economic Development Committee to work
toward increasing our tax base and by aggressively promoting non-polluting
business employment opportunities in Hampton. A Cable TV Advisory
Committee was also formed in anticipation of the 1995 re-franchising
negotiations. We have consulted with the PERF Committee for the Police
Department; Planning Board; Budget Committee; and the Director of
Public Works and engineers on the solid waste, sewers and transfer station
planning. We have straightened
out many terms and appointments to
Boards and Committees and hired a professional negotiator to represent us
in collective bargaining matters. Several serious neighborhood problems
were addressed including the severe water quality and supply problems in
Hemlock Haven and the storm damage to coastal properties, especially
Plaice Cove, as a result of the August and October storms. Polystyrene was
temporarily added to the recycling contract, and arrangements were made
for the orderly sale of the remaining Hampton History books.
In addition, we supported the Selectmen and residents of North
Hampton in their successful efforts to prevent the Hobbs Well from coming
on line - a potential threat to our common water supply, and opposed the
14% rate hike request from Hampton Water Works before the PUC.
Dispatch service for Hampton Falls was discontinued, and we initiated a
policy of billing $400 for each response from our ambulance into that
community. We started negotiating with the State of NH for solid waste
dumping at our landfill, and for our emergency service response to the two
state liquor stores on I-95.
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