By Margo Sullivan
margosullivan@eagletribune.com
June 04, 2009 01:15 am PLAISTOW — Plaistow District Court may be staying open after all. Yesterday, the New Hampshire Senate officially removed the Plaistow courthouse from the list of seven district courts to be closed, according to Sen. Michael Downing, R-Salem. The next step will be to convince the House to do the same, Downing said. Trouble started in February when Gov. John Lynch included Plaistow on a list of seven district courts to be shuttered as part of an effort to close the $500 million shortfall anticipated in the 2010-2011 fiscal year. Savings from consolidating courthouses were estimated at $2 million. Saving the Plaistow courthouse on Elm Street seemed like a hopeless quest in February. But Town Manager Sean Fitzgerald, who heard about the plan in a news report, said selectmen immediately started lobbying state and local officials. The move would have cost Plaistow more than $120,000, Fitzgerald said, and also delivered a blow to public safety — not only in Plaistow but also in the surrounding communities. Some of those towns only have one or two police officers," Fitzgerald said, and could not afford to send an officer to a distant courthouse. Plaistow and the other communities the courthouse serves — Atkinson, Danville, Hampstead, Kingston, Newton and Sandown — formally objected to the consolidation, which would have sent cases to courts in Salem or in Brentwood. Inch by inch, selectmen and lawmakers gained ground. Ultimately, selectmen and area police chiefs convinced the Senate Finance Committee when they made an offer to pick up the state's cost to keep the courthouse open, Downing said. Plaistow waived the $50,000 annual courthouse rental for two years, Downing said. The other communities agreed to pay the part-time bailiff's $12,000 annual salary. "It was a unique situation with the town of Plaistow and the surrounding communities stepping up to the plate," Downing said. "I had gotten all the stakeholders together with a couple of members of the Senate Finance Committee," Downing said. The deal was struck at the Statehouse. Later, the Senate Finance Committee agreed to remove Plaistow from the courthouse closure list. Yesterday's Senate budget vote put a rubber stamp on the deal, Downing said. Fitzgerald called yesterday's vote "a step in the right direction" and credited selectmen, Downing and the rest of the Senate delegation, Sen. Margaret Hassan, D-Exeter, Sen. Jack Barnes, R-Raymond, and Rep. Norm Major, R-Plaistow, with the success. Selectmen met at the Statehouse on May 4, Fitzgerald said. Police Chief Steven Savage and Deputy Chief Kathy Jones prepared the research selectmen used to argue for keeping the courthouse open. Jones said the move would have cost Plaistow police $55,000 in overtime and about $5,000 more in gasoline and other costs. She said Plaistow police made 1,408 arrests, resulting in 2,468 criminal charges between 2006 and 2008. If the courthouse moved, police would have to reorganize the department. "It would be a huge change for us, and we'd really have to do a lot of readjusting shifts and manpower," she said. "Times change, of course, but I would love to see it stay." ÔÇæÔÇæÔÇæÔÇæÔÇæÔÇæ Join the discussion. To comment on stories and see what others are saying, log on to eagletribune.com.
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