Each week, City Manager Tom Aspell pitches his tent in front of City Hall, sits down and starts playing his bongos. He doesn't stop until a huge crowd has gathered. Then, he shouts out a city memo to the crowd, who act as a human microphone and repeat the memo line-by-line for all to hear. This week, we were on hand to write down the memo, and we've got it here for you today – or at least 99 percent of it.
honoring our veterans
Holiday office closings
In observance of Veterans Day, city offices and the Concord Public Library will be closed Nov. 11, Aspell writes. Trash and recycling collection routes will run on schedule, Monday through Friday.
what's the damage?
Assessments finished
The Assessing Department has updated the city website, concordnh.gov, with the final property assessments for 2011, Aspell writes. Only “arms-length” sales of properties between April 1, 2010, and Oct. 31, 2011, were used to determine the final 2011 assessed values for Concord. (An “armslength” sale is one that includes a willing seller and a willing buyer.) Sales not used include sales between family members, friends, business partners or associates; foreclosures; short sales; foreclosure re-sales; estate sales; etc.
Property owners may view their final 2011 assessments at the Concord Public Library (Concord or Penacook branches); at the Assessing Department located in City Hall; or on the city website at concordnh.gov.
Final tax bills for the 2011 tax year will be mailed in late November and payments will be due on Jan. 2, 2012 and March 31, 2012. Abatement applications will be available after the final bills are mailed and must be returned to the assessing office by March 1, 2012.
wheels on weekends
Saturday bus begins
Concord Area Transit has begun offering 10 weeks of Saturday bus service on its Heights and Penacook routes, Aspell writes. This service will run through the holiday season, through the first Saturday of January. On Monday, CAT will also start operating a new crosstown bus route, which replaces the Industrial Park Drive and trolley routes. Timing for all routes is changing. Visit bm-cap.org/concord.htm for new route maps and schedules.
fresh faces
Two warm welcomes
The legal department is pleased to announce the addition of new Deputy City Solicitor Danielle Pacik. Danielle is a former assistant attorney general at the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office, where she worked as a litigator in the civil bureau representing state agencies. Prior to that she was employed for five years at the law firm Devine, Millimet & Branch, Aspell writes. Danielle earned her law degree from Franklin Pierce Law Center in 2001. After law school, she clerked for James E. Duggan, justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court.
The community development department welcomes new City Planner Gloria McPherson. Gloria joins the city after leaving the position of vice president for land development for Massachusetts-based Kohl Construction, where she worked for the last six years. Prior to that, she was employed as a conservation and land use planner for the city of Northampton, Mass. Gloria has served on her town planning board, community preservation committee, and was chairman of her former community's conservation commission.
