Shep Brown's
 

What ever happened to Steve Hinchey at Shep Brown's in Meredith? We will miss him.

He’s gone from their web page already. We will miss him. He’s been the continuity through different ownership. Good guy.

sheps
 

Just talked to him last Sunday. Anyone know where he went?

Thankfully Chris is still there. I think all the other people in management are new since the change in ownership.

Sheps
 

Yes, Chris is there but isn't he in parts now? Steve took good care of my boat. I hope that is not going to change.

News to me! He was there when I launched the boat in early May.

Sheps
 

I was there yesterday.
Chris was there but no Steve.
I hope Chris doesn't go anywhere.
I don't like that kind of change.

Both Chris and Steve have been incredibly helpful over the decades. If, in fact Steve is gone it will be a big loss!

Found Steve online and he had been at Sheps since 1993. That’s a lot of happy customers.

Steve
 

I called Sheps today to find out who to contact when service is needed since Steve is no longer there. I always called Steve and he would take care of it. When I asked the woman who do I contact now that Steve is gone, she said "hold on a minute while I figure that out" She comes back on the line and said "contact Chris." I pointed out he is the parts manager now and asked if he has moved from parts and she said "yes." Website still has Chris listed as the parts manager and there is no one with title of service manager.

Hope this will not be a problem.

I've worked with Chris in the past and he's a good guy too. I don't think there will be any issues. If they lost their techs we'd be in trouble.

Shep Browns
 

I am shocked to learn that Steve has elected to leave after so many years!! I do hope that he has found something that will be rewarding in all ways, he most certainly has earned that.Chris hopefully will be promoted and will continue the great service that has marked Sheps over the years.
I have known and worked with these guys for, the past 15 years and I will tell you that it will not be easy to find a replacement for either.
Their new GM is a great guy, a real people person, I am certain he will be a shining star in the years ahead.

Good luck Steve

I hope it's a voluntary move...
 

It's shocking news to me. My family has done business with Shep's since 1961 and Steve was the best.

He spent time in Florida and Myrtle Beach over the winter...Hope he found something in the sun.

I hear Steve is back at Lakeport


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Lakeport Landing, where the new building is being built in place of the old fire station?

I've known Steve since he worked for Tup Goodhue in center Harbor.....no nicer guy on the planet.......I'm sure he'll do well at Lakeport

"No nicer guy on the planet"...
 

Some people are well suited for their careers and have, not only the needed skills, but the personality also.

Steve has both...

So far...
 

Chris Ireland is doing a great job.

I had a last minute issue before my launch and Chris took care of it on a very tight schedule. They are backed up two weeks for service.

Lakeport Landing is VERY good! Great place for Steve
 

I purchased my boat at Lakeport Landing and they also serviced it.... very good people and ownership. A great place to add a talent like Steve!

Is Ronnie still the service manager at Lakeport?

Returning the Boats - Get Ready for Sticker Shock
 

Has anybody on this thread returned their boats for the year yet? Sounds like a lot of people here who knew and liked Shep's and the people who worked there.

We just returned our boats yesterday and it is far more expensive than it used to be under old ownership and you seem to get far less for your money.

Also, I did not see Chris around yesterday. Granted, he might have had the day off, but the "Crew" as they are all called, just didn't seem to have their acts together like Steve and Chris always did. Once again, paying more and getting less. We might rethink our marina choice moving forward.

The trend is for prices to increase each season until people leave their respective marinas. Trouble is, there will be a line of people waiting for your spot when you leave. Best find a good marina and ride the increase wakes! Business, especially seasonal, as a marina is, does not have a “NIZ” (no increase zone). Charge what the market will bear and hold on.

Almost monopoly?
 

Shep's pretty much has the Bear island market. You need to deal with that as a group, not as individuals. Include other Meredith Islands as Gilford has done with GIA.

Just checked their web site and Chris is no longer included on their staff page.

Shep Browns
 

Both Steve and Chris have been gone for 2 months or so. This is a major loss for the marina!! Both have found jobs at marinas on the lake and hopefully are very happy. In addition, two sales people are also gone.
Whatever, do not give up on Sheps as their new GM is a great guy and will be a shining star given the opportunity.
Word has it that Goodhue has serious plans and is ready to make a serious financial commitment down the road given permission from town and voters.

The town has hired a firm from Mass. to undertake a study on how the parking and town ramps can be improved, this includes Hesky and Cat. Landing.

I saw some plans for the lots at Sheps and the Cattle Landing. They’re going to look great with new docks and curbs and shrubs. And what looks to be fewer parking spaces in the lot because of the curbs and shrubs. Whatever happens at Sheps is because the new owners seem to be willing to work with the town so that’s very positive. Just need more parking.

Sheps
 

I could care less about that. I would like great service at a reasonable price. So far they failed on reasonable price. Winter storage up $600 since Goodhue transaction. Winterization services up $245. Don't know about service yet as Steve left this spring after launching. Will be researching other options.

Shep Browns
 

Taz, I am with you!!

From your prior posts it looks like you are a Gilford property owner. So I hope you can find another option. We already have too many Gilford people from Mark and Mink using the parking at Sheps. I cant park at Glendale so I prefer that you do. I own on Bear so parking is very important to me and other Bear Island people. Because of where we are we’re pretty much stuck with Sheps. So if they’re willing to work with Meredith to help alleviate parking and congestion I’m willing to pay more for their services.

Another vote from Gilford. Hopefully you too can find happiness somewhere else.

I fail to see the benefit of putting in curbing and bushes that take away from an already contentious parking situation at the town lot over at Sheps or cattle landing. I'd like to see an emphasis be put on maximizing the availability of parking and less so on aesthetics.

Far as Sheps goes, it's to their benefit for any improvements to be made over there, in fact it's crazy that they are moving boats on forklifts in and around parked cars, pedestrians etc.... I can't believe they can even get insurance considering the huge liability with the situation there as described above.

Bye bye Shep
 

A good friend of ours who has used Shep Brown’s for at least 20 years was fairly put off by the rate change for storage, as well as service. He checked around, and found acceptable rates at Meredith Marine, and they still had room for his Cobalt. Hopefully, it will pan out. We have used Lanes End Marina for decades, and have had zero complaints. So....depending on where you are.....there are some recommendations. 🤞

What are you talking about? I don't park at Sheps or take any spaces there. So before you make accusations you should know your facts. I purchased a boat from Sheps when Bill Littlefield owned it. Now storage and winterization has increased ridiculous in the last 2 years. So I will be reseaching my options. It appears Goodhue is jacking up the prices and taking advantage of a captive audience. Bear island residents are not Goodhues only customers or the only opinion that matters.

Parking
 

Given your concern about lack of parking for Bear island residents I would think you would be unhappy with making it look great at the expense of losing parking.

I am unhappy. My sarcasm about the shrubs wasn’t strong enough. Meredith is paying someone to conduct a survey of how to improve the docks and waterfront. Plans are available from the survey webpage accessible from the town page. They’re missing the most import part that parking is inadequate and adding curbs and shrubs only reduce the number of spots available. I responded to the survey and said that. Hopefully other Bear Island people do the same. If there is any improvement it will be possible only because the Sheps owners helped make it happen.

Lovejoy Sands Rd, Lovejoy Sands parking lot, Lovejoy Sands town docks, left hand lane of Lovejoy Sands launch ramp, grass area between p-lot and docks: all town property.

Shep Brown has property that closely surrounds the town owned property, and the two co-exist just like Rome and Vatican City, while it belongs to the town.

The paved parking lot, docks and grassy area between the two and launch ramp are all town property, the upper dirt lot on the right side of Lovejoy Sands Rd (heading towards the lake) just below the Island Services building where the public is allowed to park during the summer is actually owned by the Shep's\Goodhue. They also own all the property on the left hand side of the road down to the paved lot.

This reality makes any expansion of that area impossible because the town lot is land locked by marina owned property.

It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out in the end. Cohabitation of the town owned launch and parking facilities stuck right in the middle of the marina's operation does create some significant challenges and certainly safety concerns which I know the owners are well aware of.

Meredith Public Dock Concepts
 

Meredith Public Dock Concepts: https://www.meredithnh.org/sites/mer...ept_boards.pdf

docks
 

Just reviewed the study posted above. The town docks at Sheps and Meredith Town Docks concept A show a different configuration. If there is not enough space to maneuver in the aisle before turning into the slips that could be a nightmare. I don't think many of the boaters on the lake that I see have the skills to make that turn or back out without hitting another boat or the dock. Also how big will these slips be? Could limit the size of the boat if they go with concept A.

can't wait to see how this unfolds.

The town docks definitely NEED lighthouse.

Or Hawk lights!

Association?
 

The Gilford Island Association has been very successful in dealing with limited docking for island residents. Bear Islanders should take a look. If Shep's new owners can't cover the overhead, they could go condo. Are you prepared for that? If not, why not? Whining is not preparing. Gilford went through this 40 +/- years ago (early mid- 80's?). It's time for Meredith, don't you think?
Or, you could leave your boat at the island and start a taxi service like we had in the 50's and 60's. Now, there's progress.

Whoever is coming up with these concepts has no clue. We don't need curbs, trees or shrubs. And the docks don't seem to fit to scale. The conceptual layout at Sheps looks too big to fit between the boat launch and Island Services. I agree with Taz that people won't be able to fit their boats into the perpendicular spaces. They have a hard enough time docking straight in between the concrete and wooden docks. More importantly they're trying to make the two locations to be visitor friendly. They may have more dock space but there will be less vehicle and trailer parking available so why would visitors launch there for the day. Those docks are mostly functional for island people (dropping off, picking up, running into town). Visitors will more likely use the in-town launch and docks as they do now.

I heard a rumor that there's discussion of moving the Shep boat launch. If that were to happen that would really demonstrate the Shep owners willingness to work with the town to make improvements. And as FLL pointed out the town only owns the paved lot and the docks. There would have to be some major changes to the Shep property layout.

Islnd association?
 

I rest my case for a island association to work with the BOS. Why do people think Selectmen pay attention to online chatter?

The first thing Meredith would need to do is to limit docking and parking for non-Meredith property owners like Gilford does. I don't see that happening as Meredith businesses depend on anyone using their docking and parking. Many of the Mark and Mink people use Sheps or the Cattle Landing instead of using Glendale. But those people are more likely to shop and eat in Meredith so the town welcomes them. That's a sore spot for me as that frequently causes parking issues for me and as a Meredith tax payer the only service I require from the town is a place to park. And I was advised by a Meredith official that I should not have an expectation of having parking available. Really??

Good points. Hopefully they'll read the inputs from their survey and I wasn't the only one to make these points.

Meredith Waterfront Study
 

The Meredith Islands Association has been advocating for Island property owners and improvements planned for the 4 Meredith owned waterfront sites. Mockups on the town website were a starting proposal for each site. Ironically the engineer heading up this study is not a boater. We had about 35 members at each of the 3 meetings which was pretty good considering they were on a Monday night at 430PM and the island population wildly fluctuates week to week. There was much public input such as redesigning the ADA ramp at Cattle, dropping the fingers that would be a boating nightmare unless you were in the boat insurance business, and extending all docks as far out as the state will allow. When it comes to tourism throw out the rules to some extent, the state will allow expansion. We also recommended increasing the spacing at Brown's and dropping the nice landscaping that would consume existing parking. Additionally remote parking at Browns must be investigated and may become part of a redevelopment planned by the owners of Shep Brown's. Details of a permit parking sticker system are being discussed limiting parking at Cattle landing to Meredith property owners and their guests. If that system works and is fully refined and implemented next year, then it may be extended to Shep Browns. If you are a Gilford island property owner using either Cattle Landing or Shep Browns you may want to start to make alternate plans for next summer. If anyone is interested the selectmen will begin discussing what is proposed and public input from the 3 hearings and online survey at their next workshop on 9-16 at 420PM at the community center.

The town also owns the full width of Lovejoy Sands road which includes both of the boat launches. Browns only owns the fork truck launch closer to their building. Part of the proposal at the town docks is to add a pull off and circle to accommodate a few trucks waiting to launch. However, the town docks launch is only for boats 24ft or less.

I just found the Meredith Islands Association webpage and it looks like it hasn’t been updated since last year. Is there a new site? I’m excited to read the old reports on the site. I was so happy to find that issues important to me are being worked. Thank you so much! My membership dues are in the mail. I’m planning on attending the meeting on The 16th.

Clean Drain and Dry
 

I hope the plans will include space for boats coming in and out of the launch ramps will have space to clean drain and dry away from the ramp itself so that potentially contaminated bilge water, bait wells, etc. won't drain back into the lake, and they won't impede others using the ramps.

I've never seen such an area at Gilford. My observation is those things happen in the parking lot or when the boat owner gets to their destination. Meredith Select Board is discussing this at 430 today at the community center on RT3.

You're right
 

You're right., Launch ramps and parking lots were mostly built before we were worried about milfoil, zebra mussels and contaminated bilge water. The Public Water Access Advisory Board (PWAAB) from Fish and Game is looking at these
issues. Here's an issue: You have an automatic bilge pump. When the boat goes up the ramp, water flows to the pump and it starts dumping bilge water into the lake or on the ramp where it picks up oil, etc. Some bilge water is always going into the lake, but no reason to be excessive. Years ago when NH started mandating holding tanks (60's), there were some in the legislature who wanted bilge pumps to pump into holding tanks. Now THERE's a plan. As a kid in those days, I didn't know much about legislation, but I knew stupid right away, and it has always stuck in my mind.

While I commend the group for trying to affect change it doesn’t appear that it will happen this year. I saw what is on the town ballot and they’re was no mention of dock improvements. But the town is voting on $4M for library improvements. Just what we need. Your welcome.

Spending 4-million dollars on a library enlargement addition of the existing historic and distinguished library is MONEY WELL INVESTED because the enlarged library will be in use for many years. Consider the existing Benjamin M. Smith Library was built in 1900-1901 and is a beautiful designed building still in use, so adding to it is the best plan for the www.meredithlibrary.org ...... :patriot:


Suggest you view the 1:48 digital walk-through video of the new library addition, in the library link above, to experience this new library addition ...... click on 'full walkthrough' ..... made by Lavallee Brensinger Architects.

...... and besides, the 4-million dollars gets repaid by the town with a mortgage over thirty years, or something!

Did I read that right 4 MILLION for "improvements" to the library? Yes let's dump millions into a public resource that nobody uses and the tred is the younger generation won't either.

Maybe the town could offer a free online subscription to the 2 or 3 town residents that actually use the library to the library of congress and save 3.99 million in tax payers dollars. There are probably more town employees that work there than residents that use it.

This on the heels of spending 7 million on a DPW building at 4 times what it should have cost.

There is nothing worse than having incompetent town officials, backed and cheered on by ignorant voting town residents. The combination is a demonstration of stupidity that knows no bounds.

It's called the local school system the kids already have been taken care of, which I'm sure also have extensive libraries that are not used well staffed as well.

NO PLEASE do not encourage the town to spend money on technology because that will cost the tax payers 1 trillion dollars and be outsourced to "Joe" in India for tech support.

Not to Mention 7 Million For DPW
 

Yes no waterfront improvements this year. The Select Board is however continuing to talk about improvements that might take place in 2021. It would seem that island and waterfront property owners that are non residents continue to provide the funds for over the top amenities little used by them. Meredith has taken advantage of these property owners for years because they can not vote on what their tax dollars are spent on. The MIA will continue to ask that we get our fair share of our tax dollars spent on the facilities we depend on to access our property. It is not a question of what we pay in taxes but what we get in return. We also are investigating our legal options to force the town to provide adequate and safe facilities. We went all last summer season without fire protection provided by Meredith because they said they did not have the funds to repower the fire boat. However, they found 30K that was not budgeted to replace the police boat which is primarily used by the tax assessor to visit island properties. Wonder where their priorities lie?

Just In!
 

It's been rumored that Steve Hinchey is WAY OVERDUE on several very important volumes, at the local public library, concerning boat sales/service/storage.

Further rumor has it that the return penalties assessed to Mr.Hinchey will be applied to any and all fees associated with the library update/improvement model- should he decide to come forward.

Problem solved?:laugh:

They don't care because town officials answer to and ultimately have their jobs by appeasing the voters.

What also is interesting is all the large projects are funded through issuing bonds the town then has to pay interest on not back to the town but to the bond holders, so really a 4 million dollar expansion of the library or a 7 million dollar DPW building really equates to probably 2 to 3 times that figure after interest. A concept most voters are ignorant of.

Library
 

Must I assume most of you never visit the library or read books anymore. The library (there are more than one) in Burbank, California is always crowded whenever I am there. Also, the library where we live in Massachusetts is very busy. They have added a new teen area where they can just hang out and another area where they can study. The library in Laconia always has many people there when we are visiting. There may be even more since we are there in off hours. As an aside I will state I personally don't read many books, result of teaching myself to speed read in college and still cannot get out of that habit.
Although my wife reads books constantly. When she says I should read one it is always good and I get involved without trying to speed read.
Bottom line: I would spend on a library anytime.

_________________________________________

I am a retired workaholic and continuing aquaholic

I agree that a library should be a staple of every community.

Kids- I wouldn't hazard a guess as to how much young people read for pleasure these days. I do know, however, when researching for educational purposes, students will first reach to a computer (I know this is reading, but not the same as seeking information through pages and pages of buried information). Not only that, but many (most?) websites offer precise information on the subject requested, and then (just to make things easier) clearly state how to cite the resource, with no source cited learning done by the student.

There is much more to this than this forum would care/should get involved in- Things like- kids can easily find, online, the answers to many of the quizzes and tests they take at school- piece of cake!

Anyway, libraries constitute a certain commonality for those who choose to set things aside and entertain themselves.

Remember the Boston Tea Party.....taxation without representation? It is high time for lakefront property owners to all organize and press for towns to have a separate voting list to allow all property owners the opportunity to vote on TOWN budgets and TOWN elected officials. There is no reason why all taxpayers cannot vote on local items...other than the fact that the "residents" would never open up their closed process.

Residency
 

This is the reason one member of the household should be a NH resident. You own property without voting rights. If one is a NH resident you now have voting rights to protect your interests.

__________________________________

I am a retired workaholic and continuing aquaholic

But you can't vote in two places. There is no law that says you can't make yourself be heard at the selectmen's meetings. But it would have to be a group for them to pay attention. They will ignore one or two people.

I thought I had heard of areas that allowed non-resident property owners to vote on local issues and apparently it is becoming more common:
https://www.ncsl.org/research/electi...elections.aspx

Who would vote that in? The same people who vote in everything except anything for summer residents? There would have to be something in it for the town that they don’t already have. In those cases it would be celebrities and their money.

Non Resident Voting rights
 

Only 2 states at this time allow voting by non-residents, Connecticut and Delaware. The law there allows anyone paying property tax in excess of $1000/year to a municipality to vote on bonds, town budget and for local town officials. They exempt school budgets as a non-resident has no children attending schools. The catch is that the laws leave it up to the local municipalities to enact ordinances to allow the state law be applied to non residents in that municipality. The change in some local towns around the country came about due to taxpayer, you might say revolts, with non-residents banding together and threating to withhold their tax money in escrow unless they had the right to vote on how to spend it. Ocean City New Jersey non residents (a shore community of second homes paying 70% of the local taxes) attempted to get state law enacted mirroring Delaware. The bid was ended when the town took on a new attitude and listened to the non resident's concerns and addressed their concerns in a meaningful way. Something municipalites in NH that depend largely on non resident taxes should heed. In all cases tax paying non residents had valid concerns about municipal services and spending. They did not pursue efforts to have their taxes reduced, but to be treated the same as residents that were taking advantage of the non residents lack of voting rights.

.... supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
 

Meredith annual town meeting, Wednesday night, March 11; starts at 7-pm, finishes at maybe 11-pm(?) at the Inter-Lakes High School auditorium is when and where the town meeting vote for the four million dollar library addition is held.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is the single word that best describes the Meredith Library! ........ :patriot:

I Believe you should be able to vote in local elections if you own property in that locality. It cannot be considered double voting if I am voted for two different mayors or city councilmen in two different towns or states for that matter.

Library Funding
 

Libraries are an invaluable technology resource to those in town without access to either devices or the internet.

The town HAS a library.

This NOT an essential need, it's a want. To spend money the town doesn't have on something that is not critical is irresponsible at best. Also consider this will not cost 4 Million, it'll be 2-3 times that after interest so I'd bet this is really an 8 Million dollar project. Furthermore once again it is demonstrated that there is little to no restraint in what is done, a town the size of Meredith doesn't need a sprawling McLibrary for 6000 full time residents.

That following the ridiculous McDPW building passed last year that is so overpriced it's obscene.

That assumes both will be completed at the budgeted amount which you know it won't.

All while as was mentioned earlier the town can't seem to find the money to fix the fire boat.

I think the town should just name itself to McMeredith. Pretty soon it will be to snobby and exclusive for a real deal McDonalds.

These towns are completely out of control.

In all seriousness though in the next 5 years who wont have access to the internet?

When I worked in Boston I literally got to know homeless people who had cell phones and internet access who would read things off of kindle apps or whatever they would say their only need for the library was to use the bathroom.

Well, Wolfeboro just got a new library for 3 or 4 million and Tuftonboro just got a new library for 3 or 4 million so of course Moultonborough need a new library for 3 or 4 million.

Toaday's library
 

Are more than just book lenders. They team up with other libraries to give you a wealth of information. Not just books, DVD too! Never had to buy a DVD in a decade. They have the latest season available of Game of Thrones or Outlander.
They also have a great children learning center, community rooms for social gatherings, they even have social and learning events as well as displays.
Check out the award winning Gilford library as a shining example of what the Lakes Region has to offer! They even host car shows!