Hooksett Town Council Meeting - January 15, 2026
Hooksett Town Council Meeting - January 15, 2026
The Hooksett Town Council met on January 15, 2026, to discuss and vote on several warrant articles, including bonds for sewer upgrades and a new scale house, a contract for assessing services, the default budget, and other administrative items. The meeting also included a public hearing, public input, and reports from the town administrator and fire department.
Consent Calendar
- Approved consent agenda items 11.1, 11.2, and 11.3 (donations) unanimously.
- Approved surety release of landscape bond for Best Pro Shops ($1,367) and release of landscape bond for Chuckster's Miniature Golf ($10,000) unanimously.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Alyssa L (Barbary Street, Hooksett) read a right-to-know request (RSA 91-A) seeking access to records related to town council meeting scheduling, attendance, and audio/video recording failures, including specific reference to the December 10, 2025 meeting. She provided nine copies of the request.
Discussion Items
- Martin's Ferry Sewer Upgrades Bond (Public Hearing): The council held a public hearing on a bond of $12.5 million for sewer upgrades in the Martin's Ferry area. Discussion included the history of the project, the condition of the existing force main (60-year-old, 6-inch cast iron), and the need to replace it to prevent a potential river discharge. The project will shorten the force main from 8,000 feet to 4,000 feet and add a 4,000-foot gravity section, with a 12-inch force main to increase capacity. The bond is funded from the sewer commission's special revenue fund.
- Scale House and Retaining Wall Bond (Public Hearing): Ben presented a proposal for a $1,325,840 bond to construct a new scale house (1,530 sq. ft.) and a concrete retaining wall at the transfer station. The existing 700 sq. ft. building is cramped, has inadequate facilities (e.g., a bathroom sink doubling as a dishwashing sink), and lacks proper security. The new building will include showers, lockers, separate offices, and a secure transaction counter. Payment would come from the special revenue fund (average $161,000/year from tipping fees). Councilor Duhamel questioned the cost increase from $650,000 to $1.3 million and the duration of the bond (20 years). Ben noted the engineer's estimate was conservative and that the fund could support payments without additional taxes. Several councilors expressed support for the need but concern over cost.
- Contract for Assessing Services: Town Administrator Andre Garrett presented a one-year contract (renewable up to three years) with Granite Hills Assessing Services for $40,467 ($40,467 actually: $40,467 total? The transcript says $40,467 broken out: $96,200? Actually it says "40,467 dollars which is broken out for two 96 thousand um two hundred dollars" - this is unclear. But later it says $40,467 for assessing services and $43,800 for data verification. The council approved the contract to fill the vacancy left by the town assessor who left in September 2025. The service will provide two days per week in-house assistance and data verification for the 2028 revaluation. The council discussed the possibility of training existing staff (Elaine Pearson) to obtain assessor licensure.
- Default Budget FY2026-2027: Christine presented the default budget of $24,643,308, an increase of $140,587 over the current year due to contractual increases in police and fire union contracts (third year) and reduced bond interest payments. The council voted to move the default budget to the budget committee for its public hearing on January 16.
- Gate on North Candia Road: Discussion about a gate on a Class VI road that had been damaged (one post removed, no longer closes). The RSA requires that gates on Class VI roads not prevent public use and must be openable. Councilor Duhamel motioned to repair the gate but not install a locking mechanism. Councilor Smith argued that the gate should be removed entirely, as it implies restricted access. The fire department noted they had previously placed a lock with the conservation commission for emergency access, but that lock was removed. The motion to repair without locking passed (voice vote, no roll call).
- Declaration of Vacancy on Planning Board: On behalf of the Planning Board, Councilor Duhamel moved to declare a vacancy for an alternate member (Seth Albarano) due to poor attendance. The Planning Board had requested this action. After discussion about the importance of attendance, the motion passed (4-2).
- Public Hearing Date Change for Floodplain Ordinance: The council approved moving the public hearing on Ordinance 007 (floodplain development) from January 23 to January 28, 2026, to align with an extended FEMA deadline (March 15, 2026).
- Administrative Reports: The town administrator reported on the upcoming deliberative session (January 31, 2026, 9 a.m. at Cawley Middle School), the filing period for town and school positions (January 21-30), and the fire department's 2025 call statistics: 2,688 calls (3% increase from 2024), average 7.8 calls per day, 1,050 hours with no coverage, average response time 5.87 minutes. Breakdown: 66 fires, 1,594 medical, 229 motor vehicle accidents, 73 hazardous conditions, 571 false alarms, 155 service calls. Total training hours: 2,922 (average 91 hours per member).
- Other Business: Councilor Smith raised concerns about the Highway Safety Advisory Board's quarterly meeting schedule, noting that road issues should not take a year to address. He suggested the acting chair could call additional meetings. The board's next meeting is March 13, 2026.
Key Outcomes
- Motion to recommend Martin's Ferry Sewer Upgrades Bond ($12.5 million): Approved on roll call vote (6 ayes, 0 nays – recorded as roll call #5).
- Motion to recommend Scale House & Retaining Wall Bond ($1,325,840): Approved on roll call vote (6 ayes, 0 nays – recorded as roll call #6).
- Motion to approve contract with Granite Hills Assessing Services ($40,467): Approved on roll call vote (all ayes – recorded as roll call #4, but that was for default budget? Actually the assessing contract vote was a separate roll call – the transcript shows a roll call for the assessing contract, but the number is not specified. However, it passed unanimously.
- Motion to move FY2026-2027 default budget ($24,643,308) to budget committee: Approved on roll call vote (all ayes – roll call #4).
- Motion to repair gate on North Candia Road without locking mechanism: Approved via voice vote.
- Motion to declare vacancy on Planning Board alternate position: Approved 4-2.
- Motion to change public hearing date for floodplain ordinance to January 28, 2026: Approved.
- Consent agenda and surety releases: Approved unanimously.
- Next steps: The budget committee will hold a public hearing on January 16; the council may need to meet on January 21 or 23 to finalize the budget if changes are made. The deliberative session is January 31, 2026.
Meeting Transcript
My understanding that the any money that's always if in four district any money that comes from taxes that are collected with the after the things within the fifth district either spent or otherwise it can't be removed. Uh otherwise you have to dissolve the district. If we ever want to do some of that again, uh we would be stuck from scratch, basically. The infrastructure we infrastructure we still be in waste. I would remind some of the some of the older council appeared, uh council would name in one of them that uh uh take a wagon note if a number of years ago schedule to have to run up there, and we found a book. Now we haven't put anybody here, but the kind of books are like that uh but that goal would be uh the hotel and cabells and all that. Um had we done something then at that time, we'd be reaching the benefits. But you know, that's him. That's a very that's far. Yeah, yeah. So you brought up, yeah. But what was the key thing that is that the state wanted right away, they want money back right away in that project. Again, this is the state, you know, holding up this, you know, these projects not handling the traffic. And who, you know, I know that this project here, I was hoping with the sewer that we were going to get some funding from the senators when they talked about a project that was ready, all engineered, all designed, and we've got no help from the state period. And we okay, you know, correct. We it's we're doing uh so far we've been doing it on our own for a little bit. Right, right. So they did give us our right away on that first from storage that uh nearly all weight, didn't they? But let's go somewhere across here probably with sure, but that's pretty much all we got out of. I I don't just have that. So but I'm uh basically tonight what we're doing here is more of a uh it has to be passed on to regardless. Yeah, uh and it'd be there'll be up here that it'll be further opportunity to merit andor uh lack of merit in merits for the uh different, but this isn't necessarily opportunity. So uh any further questions or discussions from anyone on the council or anyone in uh in the general public. Yeah, okay. Okay, um anything further? Uh no, I just went to it's um uh looking at the uh special revenue fund and the uh latest uh summary of the uh of the budget. Um the amount of money in the A infrastructure is 2.7 million seven million three thousand seven hundred dollars. Okay, well, so I thought the numbers that were given were two million one hundred thousand and then eight hundred and sixty thousand was there all from two thousand seventeen to two thousand eight. With the incorrect numbers and it would they are just wanted to show them better than uh the 8 number 60 for developed 18. That's the not have to need to pick up the early uh fees have been paid and plans developed purchase those far thus far 86,000 is what's remaining the 2.5 billion dollars. The 2.1 million dollars is coming from the sewer commission. Oh, from this correctly, thank you for clarifying. That's what I was coming up to say about it looks waste about the superintendent. Um to give you a little bit more of an update. Three weeks ago, we put the force main project out to bid um that is on the street right now. Um good news is we've had 18 people pull the plan sets for that, which is unheard of for a project like this. Um so we're hoping to get better numbers than what you see on paper, which is even better. Um bid opening will be next Thursday. Uh and the 2.1 million you see there is going to go towards this force main projects. Okay, so the other thing I want to just that so this needs to get done for you guys to keep building on the project, plus it's holds this force main. This force main is 60 years old. It's a six-inch cast iron force main in between the big slope from the old Manchester Sand property and the railroad. So it would if anything ever happened to it, it's going directly in the river, guaranteed. So we've relocated it. We've shortened the force main. It's an 8,000 foot force main, we've shortened it to a 4,000 foot force main and a 4,000 foot gravity section. So that old gravel area that Eversource bought can now be developed by Eversource into a new project. Um with sewer available to them. And it also will give more capacity because we're putting a 12-inch force main end, and it's replacing that six-inch forcing. Of course, so maybe no, that was a threat.
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