Selectmen meet with department heads to discuss strategy
April 20, 2007

GOFFSTOWN - Last night the board of selectmen held a special meeting with department heads and other town officials to assess the current situation in town and discuss strategy for addressing issues facing Goffstown residents following the second major flooding event to occur here in less than a year.

Using their authority to declare an emergency in town, the board did so with agreement to revisit that declaration in six months.

That authority allowed them to establish temporary waivers for building permit fees for construction in flood afflicted areas of town, as well as waivers of fees for disposal of flood-related debris at the town transfer station.  Selectmen have also arranged for dumpsters and port-a-potties to be delivered to affected areas sometime today.

At the meeting, selectmen also voted to allow temporary, emergency housing (trailers, RVs) during the six-month declared emergency period. 

DPW director Carl Quiram, who cut short a vacation to Washington, D.C. to attend the meeting, praised the performance of his staff during his absence and indicated that repairing damage caused by the storm will disrupt his department's normal summer construction activity, although that disruption will not be as severe as that which DPW experienced last year due to the Mother's Day flooding event in 2006. 

Selectmen have also scheduled a special Community Meeting for Saturday, April 21st at 1:00 PM at Craig Heiber Auditorium, Goffstown High School.  Invitees to the meeting include Governor John Lynch, all eight state representatives and both state senators representing Goffstown, town department heads, representatives of those entities operating both dams in Goffstown, as well as other various local and state officials. 

For more information, please visit the town website at http://www.ci.goffstown.nh.us/.

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