Hooksett Town Council Special Meeting on Union Contracts and Future Scheduling - January 7, 2026
Hooksett Town Council Special Meeting – January 7, 2026
The Hooksett Town Council held a special meeting on January 7, 2026, primarily to discuss and vote on a recommended contract with the Teamsters Local 633 for police patrol and dispatch, and to address procedural matters including a motion to rescind prior votes. The meeting also covered upcoming mandatory and optional meetings related to citizen petitions, budget committee actions, and town meeting deadlines.
Discussion Items
- Union Contract Recommendation: The council debated the timing of union negotiations, with some members expressing frustration over last-minute contract approvals. A motion was made to recommend the two-year contract with Teamsters Local 633 to the voters. Councillor Smith voted against, stating the contract did not meet his or his constituents' expectations, while others argued it brought Hooksett in line with other communities.
- Motion to Rescind Prior Votes: Councillor Smith moved to rescind his two affirmative votes from the December 10, 2025, meeting regarding the Teamsters mid-management and DPW contracts, citing a rushed process. A debate ensued over parliamentary procedure. The motion to rescind required a full council vote; it resulted in a tie (3-3), and the motion failed.
- Scheduling of Upcoming Meetings: The council reviewed the calendar for January 2026, including a potential meeting on January 13 if a citizen petition is submitted, a regular meeting on January 14, a budget committee meeting on January 15, and a possible council meeting on January 21 (or January 23 as a drop-dead date) to act on the budget. The chair noted these dates are prescribed by state law and the town meeting timeline.
- Councilor's Question Denied: A councilor attempted to ask the finance director a question about retirement payouts, but the chair ruled it out of order as not on the meeting's agenda, which was limited to contracts.
Key Outcomes
- Vote on Union Contract: The council voted 5-1 to recommend the Teamsters Local 633 police patrol and dispatch contract (two-year) for placement on the ballot. Councillor Smith was the lone 'no' vote.
- Motion to Rescind Fails: The motion to rescind Councillor Smith's prior votes on the mid-management and DPW contracts failed due to a 3-3 tie, with one councilor absent. The outcome leaves the original December 10 votes unchanged.
- Meeting Schedule: The council will hold a regular meeting on January 14, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. A special meeting on January 13 may be called only if a citizen petition is submitted by the 4:30 p.m. deadline. Additional meetings on January 21 or 23 will depend on budget committee action.
- Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned after all business was completed.
Meeting Transcript
We're looking to do what we're looking to achieve, much like when we set the um tone of where do we want to get to our fund balance. Um we we we set it and we met that goal. Yeah um I should say we missed it by point oh one, but we're seeing we've got a plan for that, but we don't have a plan. But it would be it would be good to know because we asked that question every time you go into negotiations. What do you want us to focus on? Well and the question, the response usually is do your best. Well, that's what I find interesting. I know Manchester is a lot bigger, but they have a plan. They come up with the money, they're figuring it out. I don't know. I mean, what plan do they have? I mean, I don't know, but I know they have a tax cap and they have something. Well, that's the tax cap, but that's not a plan. Right. But evidently when they see they know they're gonna have increases, they add increased tax revenue. Maybe they're putting tax revenue default. I don't know what they do. I would take a tax count if it was the real dollar amount of Manchester's tax capital. Well, yeah, well, let's just divide it by you know the public. So so my plan is not based on negotiations of dollars. It's we don't wait and do a special meeting for negotiation. We do this so that we have to have a contract, a signed contract by a union who says this is what we're presenting to you after negotiations, um, prior to Thanksgiving. So that we're not doing special meetings to accommodate under the gun situations, which really eliminates negotiation, if I'm not correct. Well, I and and we had this conversation this afternoon with regard to that. This meeting was set up not because they were um that they were inefficient in their time to get this to us. This council could have taken action on this on December 10th. That's correct. Wait a second. That was our last meeting. So again, I think you missed the point. The point is if you wait until we're under the gun, we are looking down the barrel. You do it prior. There's no barrel, there's no gun out. We're like, hey, you know what? Doesn't work for us. Renegotiate. Mr. Chairman, I and yeah. People do not like the last minute discussion. And I think we all agree with that. We don't want uh last minute changes to our work schedule, anything. So all we can do maybe when we we negotiate anything next time, we could say two when we start in a negotiation, say the council is not inclined uh to accept finalization of contracts beyond a certain point. We want you to do that. Uh and be aware that the the the not the negotiating team, the whole council may not be inclined to uh accept uh items w at toward the end of the meeting. That's I think that's all we can do and say, hey, you know the council's concerns, let's try to get this locked up sooner than later because when you get to the end of the calendar, things tend to get a little uh haywired. That's all I want to say. Thank you. Let's move this on. Go ahead. Sorry.
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