Peterborough voters not only resoundingly stood behind a plan to contract with an economic development specialist, but they also raised the potential budget for the position by $22,000 at Town Meeting last week.
The Economic Development Authority, a volunteer town committee, brought forward the article during the open session of Town Meeting, requesting $48,000 to contract with a economic development director, whose main focus would be business retention and attracting new companies to Peterborough.
George Sterling spoke to the article, explaining that the town does not currently have such a position, but has in the past and experienced periods of great success with it.
Sean Ryan, executive director of the Greater Peterborough Chamber of Commerce, told the crowd that businesses in other communities target Peterborough by surrounding communities to lure away businesses, in part because it does not have a dedicated economic development authority that entices businesses to stay, stating that $48,000 was a small price to pay for that kind of protection.
Several members of the crowd asked if the funds would be enough to attract a quality candidate.
“Let’s do this thing,” said resident Seth Chatfield. “But maybe let’s do more of this thing.”
Ultimately, the crowd agreed. Resident Bill Chatfield put forward an amendment to increase the amount from $48,000 to $70,000, an amendment that carried handily after no discussion. The crowd then approved the amended article with less than a handful of voters in dissent.
The town also approved of plans for reconstruction of the Main Street and Union Street bridges.
In article 8, the town voted 88-0 in a ballot vote in favor of raising $5.7 million to reconstruct the Main Street bridge. Moderator L. Phillips Runyon declared that well within the two-thirds vote required to pass, to scattered chuckles throughout the crowd.
The town is expected to cover 20 percent of the $5.7 million, while the state and federal governments shoulder the remainder through the bridge aid program. The town will take out a bond of up to $1.13 million to cover its portion of the project.
Main Street will be fully closed during the reconstruction of the bridge, which is intended to mirror the current look, according to Town Administrator Rodney Bartlett.
“We are working on a traffic management plan right now, and will hold many public hearings so you all can share your ideas on how to better get access to downtown,” said Bartlett.
Bidding on the project is expected to happen in the summer of 2017, with construction taking place in 2018, according to Bartlett
The town also passed two articles pertaining to the Union Street bridge. One agreed to put $60,000 from the West Peterborough TIF District Fund into a capital reserve for the reconstruction of the Union Street bridge. The other agreed to expend that $60,000 from the capital reserve to match $240,000 from the New Hampshire bridge aid program to engineer and reconstruct the bridge.
Two articles were passed over at Town Meeting. As the budget passed at the polls, the residents were not required to take up discussion of the budget at the open session. The town also passed over article 12, which would have allowed the town to collect an additional fee at vehicle registration to support a municipal and transportation improvement fund. The fund was going to be specially earmarked for pedestrian and bicycle improvement and charge a fee of up to $5 per vehicle for the purpose.
However, the RSA that allows towns to collect vehicle registration fees for transportation improvement requires a public hearing be held prior to Town Meeting. While a public meeting was held, it was not noticed specifically to be a public hearing, and so the article did not meet legal requirements to be voted upon on Wednesday night.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.