WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2011
VOL. 20 NO. 108
BERLIN, N.H.
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City council votes down union ‘end-run’ BY MELISSA GRIMA THE BERLIN DAILY SUN
BERLIN — The city council soundly defeated a union contract proposal that bypassed the proper channels at Monday night’s meeting. After working for 15 months with no contract and feeling they were getting nowhere with negotiations, Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 6 brought their offer directly to the city council on Monday evening, in a move that had both sides commenting about the irregularity. “Conventional action was getting us nowhere but backwards,” said Chief Steward of Local 6, Ted Miller in a personal interview to explain the move.
The council was not swayed into approving the contract cost items, which would increase the personnel costs relative to the 30 members of Local 6 by $134,785 over the next two years. The vote was unanimous in opposition after about 20 minutes of non-public session. At the close of the meeting Mayor Paul Grenier addressed the issue, “the union clearly did an endrun around representative city government.” He pointed out that it was the first time in his 20 years of service he had ever seen it happen. “The protocol of negotiation was breached,” Grenier said, adding that there wasn’t a person on the council who didn’t want to see the situation resolved, but this was not
the proper procedure for that to happen. Miller on the other hand, believed that since the negotiation process had broken down in December and only just restarted within the last few weeks, with little indication the city was willing to address key concerns, this was the best option. “Over the past six years, Local 6 has watched its paychecks shrink,” Miller said. He explained that the union employees had received wage increases of 4% in that time, while health insurance costs increased. Conversely, he noted, the other city bargaining units received pay increased of 15-18% in the same time period. see END-RUN page 7
Newman talks about her new position as community college system chancellor BY BARBARA TETREAULT THE BERLIN DAILY SUN
BERLIN -- The new interim chancellor of the Community College System of New Hampshire brings to the job a belief that education is the cornerstone of the American economy and the state’s community colleges offer many young people their best shot at future opportunity. J. Bonnie Newman also brings to the position an impressive resume that ranges from stints in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations to executive dean at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government and Interim President of the University of New Hampshire. Newman met with staff, faculty, and the advisory board at White
Mountains Community College Friday - the sixth of the seven campuses she has visited in her first month on the job. She takes on her new role at a time when the system is reeling from a 20 percent cut in its budget by the legislature. Newman notes the legislature also took $2.2 million in funds that have normally gone to student financial aid and applied them to the operating budget. She said those funds had been used to assist over 4,000 students in the system. The result of the budget cut has been reductions in staff and programs at all the campuses including Berlin. White Mountains Community College has seen over a 25 percent cut in its full-time faculty and see NEWMAN page 6
Bonnie Newman, interim chancellor of the Community College Systemof New Hampshire, visited White Mountains Community College in Berlin Friday. (BARBARA TETREAULT PHOTO).
$150,000 for redevelopment of Two hour parking remains on East Side former Groveton mills complex BY MELISSA GRIMA THE BERLIN DAILY SUN
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) that the New Hampshire North Country Council has been awarded a $150,000 Economic Development
Administration (EDA) planning grant for the Groveton Mill Redevelopment Project. The funding will be used to develop a compresee GROVETON page 9
BERLIN — A proposal to remove a two-hour parking limit on East Mason Street between Burgess and Champlain Streets, died before a final vote could be taken on Monday night. The matter was discussed in the public
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work session prior to a public hearing but during the regular meeting, the ordinance failed to get enough votes for a second reading 3-6, effectively killing the measure. Councilor Lucie Remillard argued against the ordinance noting that the tenants whose curbside would see PARKING page 9
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