Strafford News

City of Dover issued the following announcement on January 10.

The new City Council holds its first regular meeting this Wednesday, Jan. 12, at 7 p.m.

Agenda items include resolutions that would authorize the city manager to enter into contracts to replace the Dover Public Library roof; design services for the downtown pedestrian and vehicular access improvements project; and the purchase of Arch Street land for conservation. The Council is also expected to refer a ward boundary redistricting proposal to a public hearing on Jan. 26.

The library roof contract would, if approved, authorize spending up to $886,998 for the complete replacement of the library's slate roof, flashings and other roof appurtenances. The existing slate roof is original to the 1905 building, except for areas repaired over the years. Due to the age and deteriorating condition of the roof, the city solicited a request for proposals for the full replacement of the library's slate roof, flashings and other related roof appurtenances.

The resolution regarding consulting design services would authorize the city manager to enter into a contract with an engineering firm to take the Downtown Pedestrian and Vehicular Access and Streetscape Study concept plans, approved by the City Council in 2015, and create bid documents. The bid documents would allow the city to get cost estimates for the proposed phased project and add those cost estimates to the six-year Capital Improvements Program budget. The city went out to bid for consulting design services in November. 

The Council will also consider authorizing the purchase and sale agreement for a 10-acre parcel of undeveloped land on Arch Street. The parcel would be purchased by expending $380,000 from the Conservation Fund, having no impact on taxpayers. The Dover Conservation Commission endorsed the expenditure of the funds at its Dec. 13, 2021, meeting.

Ward boundary restricting proposal

The City Council is expected to refer the Ordinance Committee's redistricting proposal to a public hearing at the Council's Jan. 26 meeting. The Ordinance Committee selected the "epsilon" redistricting proposal, one of five reviewed, at its Dec. 20, 2021 meeting. The boundary description of each ward and population is included in the Council's Jan. 12 agenda materials.

The ward boundaries are reviewed every 10 years after the release of the decennial census data to ensure the wards are of a near-equal population. The U.S. Census put the City of Dover's population as 32,741 as of April 1, 2020; that breaks down to 5,457 residents per ward. When creating the five ward boundary proposals, city staff ensured that each ward populating would be a one-percent deviation or less from 5,457. That puts the population range of each ward from 5,403 to 5,511 residents. The five proposals the Ordinance Committee considered are included in its Dec. 20 meeting agenda materials.

The City Council will meet in City Hall's Council Chambers. The meeting will be televised on Channel 22, streamed live and available for on-demand viewing at https://dovernh.viebit.com. For the complete agenda and agenda materials, click here.

Original source can be found here.