The February meeting of the Londonderry Utilities Committee heard updates from its many subcommittees, including the sewer/solid waste subcommittee led by John Mahon.
“We had our kickoff meeting for ’25 a week and a half or so ago, basically a brainstorm session,” said Mahon. “The emphasis seemed to be on education in the area of recycling.”
This included topics like septic tank maintenance, which Mahon argued was often overlooked, even though a majority of residents in Londonderry still use septic tanks. The subcommittee also discussed food waste.
“That might be more of a future thing, although there are some initiatives by smaller private companies going on in town,” he explained. “It’d be interesting to explore that and develop it some more. I don’t think our primary supplier Waste Management is on the horizon to be in the food waste business, at least residentially.”
He also pointed out that food waste takes up nearly a quarter of local landfill space. Clothing waste was another issue, although Mahon indicated that issues were lower down the priority list due to time and budgetary limitations.
The head of the Cable/Internet subcommittee, John Ferreira, gave an update on his research into broadband access across town. Recently, he contacted Fidium to gather more information on that company.
“After two or three weeks, on Jan. 28, they got back to me. They do have a public forum, where they’ll present what they offer and do a Q&A,” explained Ferreira. “We do have to be very careful so we don’t favor one company over another.”
While Fidium was the latest focus on the cable/Internet subcommittee’s research, Ferreira noted Londonderry had many different providers.
“Can we do something like a ‘career day’ for the companies?” asked Jeffrey McGraw, who wanted several companies to come in at once to explain their prices and offerings to residents.
Ferreira wanted to do more research on the topic with a focus on infrastructure. He noted that while there are many cable and Internet providers in Southern NH, not every company provides high-speed service to every household.
Utilities Committee Chair Lynn Wiles also wanted to set a few 2025 goals for the various subcommittees.
“Send me two or three items you want to see happen,” said Wiles. “Let’s figure out what’s out there, what’s at the top of everybody’s mind. One thing I will caution is that if you come up with an idea, be prepared to have somebody volunteer to be its champion. I find that very few goals get met if there’s nobody to champion that goal and move it forward.”
He also asked liaison Ron Dunn to poll the Town Council for ideas. Dunn mentioned having a “phased plan” for water as a possible area of focus for the Utilities Committee.
“Once project one is done, where do you want to go with two, three, and four?” asked Dunn. “What’s next after High Range Road? Is it a 15-year plan? A 20-year plan? The phases we good go through would get the town aware of what’s next.”