Casino Advisory Committee to be Finalized Tonight

The Salem Board of Selectmen will finalize the charge of a Casino Advisory Committee tonight during a meeting at Town Hall.

The board is scheduled to convene at 7 p.m., where the organization of the committee will be discussed.

Daniel Norris of the advocacy group N.H. Casino Now joined the board on Jan. 14 to talk about the committee.

At that time, the group suggested the following membership – two Board of Selectmen representatives, Town Manager Keith Hickey, Community Development Director William J. Scott, one Budget Committee representative, one School Board representative, two citizen representatives and either state Sen. Chuck Morse or a state representative that he may designate.

Selectmen will also discuss proposed amendments to the Second Hand Dealer and Pawnbrokers Ordinance.

The subject was first talked about in June after Selectman Stephen Campbell had a conversation with a local business owner.

At that time, Campbell said that bookkeeping required by Salem Municipal Code Chapter 251 forces the business owner to spend over to $70,000 a year on "minimal-amount items" such as CDs and DVDs he purchases to later sell.

The agenda for the rest of the meeting is available on the town website, which is available here.

Campbell questioned if these lower-cost items should require the same amount of paperwork as bigger items.