The Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen meets tonight and it looks like Ward Six Alderman Garth “Vader” Corriveau is on multiple missions from God. At the Committee on Accounts, Enrollment and Revenue Administration, Corriveau is asking for changes to how the city notifies the elderly of the need to re-qualify for their exemption. It must be done every five years under state law. Former Assessor and Ward Six Alderman Paul Porter has a beef with how the Board of Assessors handled the 
renewal of a family member and suggested changes to the process. In his letter to the committee, because of the issue Porter encountered, Corriveau suggests the city hire a third assessor at least on a part time basis so that citizens can appeal the decisions of any one assessor to the full Board of Assessors, which by charter is supposed to have three members. Corriveau also wants the assessors to make quarterly reports on the city’s tax base and provide information such as the number of abatements pending and granted.
From there, he goes to the Committee on Administration to address the pressing chicken issue. Corriveau had asked the board to reconsider the committee’s decision to do nothing with the issue after it sat in committee for nearly two years. He was acting on behalf of a constituent who was keeping them as pets because they were therapeutic for his autistic son. He responded to Administration Committee Chair Joyce Craig‘s request that the aldermen send along their ideas if they were going to send it back to committee by suggesting the minimum lot size to have chickens be not less than ten thousand square feet, that an annual permit be established with a fee of thirty five bucks, that multi-unit properties be allowed to have chickens so long as they have the required space and the written, notarized approval of the other tenants in the building, as well as the property owner if they rent, and of course all the requisite fines and penalties for failure to conform to the ordinance. The permit process will do everything from avoid the need for residents to appear before either the zoning or planning boards to ensure the city can pull the plug if things don’t smell right in the neighborhood. He suggested, basically, that the city adopt Portland, Maine‘s ordinance.
Finally, Corriveau has a letter at the Board of Mayor and Aldermen asking the city to hire a Wellness Officer who would be tasked with targeting unrealized savings in health care expenditures, overseeing and educating city employees and retirees and their families about wellness initiatives in pursuit of health care savings and serving as a focal point for communicating healthcare information to the aforementioned folks, the city’s unions, the mayor and aldermen, city departments, the superintendent of schools and Board of School Committee, the city’s insurance carrier and OOOHHH sooo many more! Working with the city’s Health Officer Tim Soucy, Corriveau estimates the cost of the new position, including benefits at about eighty five thousand dollars but says the position could save a whole lot more than that in health costs. We’ll tell you tomorrow how Garth’s Big Night goes.
News from our own backyard continues after this.
New Hampshire Attorney General Joseph Foster issued a scam alert yesterday. His office has been contacted by a number of state residents saying they’d received calls advising them they are eligible for payments under a class-action settlement related to the use of surgical mesh. The A G says the targets of the calls appear to primarily be women, who may or may not have had the surgical mesh used in surgery. The callers state they are calling on behalf of a federal agency or a law firm and ask for personal banking information and medical history. The state’s chief law enforcement officer is warning residents not to give the info, saying those eligible for such payments would never be asked to reveal any financial or medical information during an initial phone call. He said if you get such a call, hang up immediately and call his office at triple eight four six eight forty four fifty four to report the call. He says scam artists are very good at convincing people they’re legit, but that no matter how good they sound, giving up your address, date of birth, social security, bank account, credit card or health related info is a no no.
We don’t normally do this, but since it’s considered a sign of spring, and we’d all like spring to arrive, we’ll let you know the New Hampshire Home Show is scheduled to open in the Queen City this week. It’s open starting Friday at the Center of New Hampshire Radisson Hotel downtown from one to eight, Saturday from ten to six and Sunday from nine to four. Tickets are just nine bucks per adult, six bucks for kids, unless they’re younger than twelve, in which case they’re free. Oh, and if you bring a couple perishable food items which will be given to New Horizon‘s, you’ll get a three dollar discount. We have all the details of this massive event linked to this newscast at Girard at Large dot com.
That’s news from our own backyard, Girard at Large hour ___ starts right now.
