HOOKSETT, NH – On Wednesday, June 10, Karina Towne, Hooksett’s Town Clerk, made the proposal in front of the Town Council to send out a final paper reminder to the owners of the 362 dogs in their database who have yet to register their pets and are at risk of civil forfeiture in accordance with New Hampshire state law.
RSA 461:1 is the law across NH that requires dogs four months or older to be licensed with the office of the clerk in the city or town where they reside, and it remains effective from May 1 through April 30th of the following year.
In Towne’s pitch to Councilors, she noted that the string of reminders sent out by her office thus far had helped in seeing a decline in the number of unregistered dogs by roughly 200 compared to this time last year.
There is also a cost=savings component, with Towne citing the expense of the mailed paper reminders being lower than the official civil forfeiture notices that will soon follow. So if the number of unregistered dogs can go down before that time eventually comes, it would provide a bit of relief.
The request was approved with unanimous consent, 5-0, with Councilors Randall Lapierre and Lindsey Laliberte absent from the meeting.
Towne will return to the Town Council meeting scheduled for July 8 with an update for the group on her progress and to hear from the Councilors on whether they intend to move forward with civil forfeitures this year.
Also at the meeting, the Councilors approved the donation of $20,000 from the Hooksett Kiwanis with the intention of supporting the “Access for All” project being implemented at the Head’s Pond Trail. This initiative is being completed in partnership with the Hooksett Conservation Commission, with the goal of creating “a longer, gentler, and safer approach from the parking lot to the trail.”
The project had already been approved, but a donation of this size to the town needed to provide an opportunity for a public hearing on the subject and undergo a vote to accept the donation, which passed unanimously, 5-0. The project work is set to take place this summer, according to Alan Stein, Co-Chair of the Hooksett Conservation Commission.
The next Hooksett Town Council meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, July 22.
Stephen Denis is part of the Granite State News Collaborative’s Civic Documenter program. He will be contributing stories from towns in the Greater Manchester area.