March 2019 

Welcome to the monthly bulletin from the Town of Bow.  As part of our commitment to keep citizens informed and involved in the community, we hope you find this information to be useful. Follow the public meeting schedule. Sign up for text and email notifications through NotifyMe®.  Follow Bow Police, Recreation, and Library on social media.

Town Manager's Report

2019 Town Meeting

The Town of Bow held another successful Town Meeting last week. Town officers were elected, zoning amendments enacted, an ethics ordinance for Town officials adopted, and other business conducted. Also, the Town’s budget was set for the upcoming fiscal year.
 
In the traditional Town Meeting form of government, Bow’s voters gather once a year to decide Town business and adopt a budget. It is a basic form of democracy that does not exist in most communities in the United States. As H. Bernard Waugh, Jr., former Legal Counsel for the New Hampshire Municipal Association, wrote in a 1990,

“Every Voter Is a Legislator. Those quaint sayings about town government being a “pure democracy” are true! State law refers to the town meeting as the “legislative body” (RSA 21:47). The town meeting is to the town what the Legislature is to the State, or the Congress is to the United States: the town meeting has all the basic power. There is no higher authority in town. But in order to have the right to participate, you must be a registered voter of the town, and you must attend.”
 
Thank you to the members of the Board of Selectmen, Budget Committee, election officials, volunteers, and Town Moderator Peter Imse, who made the election and meeting process run smoothly and efficiently. Most importantly, thank you to the voters of the Town who participated in the meeting and made these important decisions.   

 
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Public Works Department

The Public Works Department has been quite busy since our last monthly report. As always, we want to thank everyone for their patience and understanding, regarding winter maintenance performance, good, bad and otherwise. We have currently managed 23 winter weather events.

The Department was able to bring on three experienced, temporary plow drivers to fill in some vacant staffing positions. Staffing qualified plow drivers is no easy task.  

Below are a few facts that may interest some readers:

Community Development

Water Extension Feasibility Study

The Business Development Commission and Bow Drinking Water Protection Committee met with Dubois & King, Inc. representatives to discuss the progress of the feasibility study to extend the water main to Bow Junction area affected by MtBE contamination.
 

Zoning Amendments and new Tax Increment Finance District
Town voters approved five zoning amendments on March 12^th, including a new South Bow mixed use district and a new TIF district associated with it. The zoning amendments may be found here http://bownh.gov/678/Adopted-Zoning-Amendments and the TIF district document here http://bownh.gov/688/Bow-TIF-Districts.
 
Bow Drinking Water Protection Committee
The Committee held a series of meetings with Bow Fire and Emergency Management Departments to discuss cooperation in areas of conducting BMP inspections in the wellhead protection area.  The Committee also took part in the “Arsenic in Drinking Water Fair” that was held in the lobby of Bow High School on Tuesday, March 12.

Read the latest meeting minutes for all the Town boards here: https://nh-bow.civicplus.com/AgendaCenter/

Bow Parks & Recreation

Spring Recreation Flyer – Have you checked out our Spring Activities Flyer?  It’s full of activities for children through adults.  Check it out.   Registration for all our programs is first come/first served and many will fill up!  Find our flyer on the town website – www.bownh.gov
 

Program Highlights

Yoga For Teens
Give your teen the gift of yoga for a more balanced life.  Join us on Mondays from 3:30-4:30 for ages 10-14 or Fridays from 4:00-5:00 for ages 14-18.  The six week session will begin the first week in March through the second week of April.  $35.00 for Bow Residents, $40 non residents.
 
Teen Bootcamp
Want to keep up your fitness between winter and spring sports?  Or just get your fitness level ready for spring?  If so, join us for this twice a week, two week conditioning session of strength training and cardio workouts including drills, circuits, games and interval training.  March 4-15, Mondays & Fridays from 3:30-4:30.  $37 for Bow Residents, $42 non-residents.

Adult Bootcamp 
A New Session of Adult Bootcamp will begin April 2nd.  Registration open now.

SAVE THE DATE!!!
Registration for Summer Camp and Field Trips
will be held on
Wednesday, April 3, 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.,
at the Community Building

Police Department 

Welcome to our new Police Officer!

Department Training

Promotion

Baker Free Library

Mobile hot spots available to borrow by 4/1

Thanks to a grant obtained by SAU 67, both our library and the Dunbarton library will have mobile hot spots for our patrons to borrow (must be 14 years old and up)! These hot spots allow free Internet access from any location within the Sprint network, and there is no cost to borrow a hot spot. Because the funding for these hot spots came through an educational grant, there is filtering software and malware detection on them - no pornographic materials will be accessible. If you are interested in borrowing a hot spot when they are available, call the library at 224-7113 or email info@bakerfreelib.org to get on the wait list.

FREE community yoga classes on Sun 3/31, Thurs 4/4, and Thurs 4/5

Due to a collaboration with Yoga NH, the library is pleased to offer FREE 1-hour yoga classes each month to Bow residents and library card holders! These classes are suitable for all levels, and the classes for end of March/early April will be held from 9 am to 10 am on Sunday 3/31, Thursday 4/4 from 9 am to 10 am, and 2:30 to 3:30 pm, and Friday 4/5 from 9 am to 10 am and 2:30 to 3:30 pm. New this year – non-Bow residents can attend for a fee of $12 per class. Pre-registration and payment is required through http://yoganh.com. We CANNOT accommodate drop-ins for non-Bow residents, so registration and payment is required prior to the class through the web site. Bow peeps can now have their non-Bow yoga friends take a class with them!
 
Classes are held in the Library's Merrimack County Savings Bank Room in the Lower Level. Because these classes are being held outside of library operating hours, participants will need to enter through the Lower Level door near the handicapped parking and ramp. Bow residents, please register in advance by contacting Lori Fisher at 224-7113 or lori@bakerfreelib.org. Thank you to Yoga NH for giving back to the Bow community as part of their paid use of our facilities for events and workshops! If this is your first time attending our community classes, please arrive by 8:45 am so that you have time to fill out the liability waiver and get set up. Namaste!

All Bow Calendars in one place - Burbio!

We're hearing good things from residents who are using Burbio to keep track of what is going on at the schools, in the town, and at the library!  The best thing about this service is that it is free - you do not pay anything to sign up. Simply visit www.burbio.com, enter 03304 for our zip code, and then take a look at the calendars that come up. You choose which calendars to incorporate into your personal Burbio account - which you sign up (for free) with your email and a password you choose. We are all better off when we know what is going on in Bow!

Library Class/Event Highlights

NEW - Baby Stay & Play on Mondays at 11 am, beginning 3/18
A new, informal play group for infants from birth to 18 months, in the company of a parent or caregiver. Enjoy stories, rhymes, music, and movement with your little one! Includes plenty of open play time with our collection of toys of manipulatives, offering babies and their caregivers times to socialize and play. Registration is required - call 224-7113 or email amelia@bakerfreelib.org.

Beat the Librarians Trivia Night @ Litherman's Limited, 126 Hall Street, Concord: Thursday 3/28, 7 pm

The Concord, Bow and Hooksett librarians lost in the 3rd trivia night...and they are chomping at the bit to come back and win the title!  Come try your hand at prevailing over a team of Concord and Bow librarians (don't worry - the prizes go to either the top public team, or the 2nd place public team if the librarians win).  To make this fair for all, teams may be composed of up to six individuals, and no cell phone participation (by calling people for answers or looking at Google) is allowed. Questions? Call Lori at 224-7113 or email lori@bakerfreelib.org.

Friends of Baker Free Library

$5/bag* sale in the Perpetual Book Sale is going on now through 3/31. *A bag means a standard plastic grocery bag. Please bring your own, since we may not have any on hand for you to use. Proceeds support the museum pass program at the Library.
 
The Friends of the Baker Free Library will hold their next donation day on Saturday 3/30/19, 10 am to 2 pm. Questions? Email info@bakerfreelib.org.

Notes from the Baker Free Library Trustees 

“There is a hunger in this digital age . . . to participate in programs, to just be in a place, a community space.”  Carla Hayden, the head librarian of the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. 
 
To help provide a place to come together, our Baker Free Library provides seven meeting spaces that you as a Bow resident can reserve free of charge for non-profit purposes.  Some of the rooms are available for reservation on 7 days a week between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m, with small rooms for small groups and space for groups as large as 214.  Some groups reserve a room to play mahjong, host a party, or hold a meeting. 
 
A description of the rooms, the instructions on how to reserve them, and the reservation form are all available on the Baker Free Library website under the Library Services tab.  To care for our library spaces, starting this month, each group is asked to complete a clean-up checklist at the end of their event.
 
One of the library rooms was used last month for the Bow Budget Committee meetings to prepare the final budget recommendations for Town Meeting.  The Library Trustees wish to thank the Budget Committee for their work this year in preparing the proposed budget items for Town Meeting and in particular for their meeting with us to review the proposed library budget.  In addition, the Library Trustees wish to thank the members of our community who took their time to attend the budget meetings and share their input and questions.