The Town House will receive an upgrade next year, after voters approved a $1 million bond for second-floor improvements, roof replacement and improved access for people with disabilities.
With a ballot vote of 122-8, residents in favor of the bond were easily within the two-thirds majority needed to pass the article. And as it turns out, that would be the most contentious issue that the voters took up during the town’s third and final Town Meeting session on Wednesday night, with all other items passing either unanimously or with only one or two dissenters.
A lease for a tractor to sand and plow the sidewalks was another item that required two-thirds of the vote, and in a hand count, voters approved it 104-0. The vote raises $30,000 for the first payment on a lease purchase of the $110,000 vehicle.
Voters were also unanimous in their support – in a 110-0 hand count – to purchase new self-contained breathing apparatuses for the fire department, and to raise $60,000 for the first payment of a $270,000 lease-to-purchase.
“We’ve done it again,” said Moderator Phil Runyon after voters flashed their hand ballots in unanimous approval of the first year’s payment of a new police cruiser, raising half of a $32,806 purchase price. Unlike the other leases on the ballot this year, this vote did not lock the public into the entire payment cycle, and the town will have to approve the other half of the cost of the lease next year if they want to continue to use the vehicle.
The only other article that got any no votes at all – and it was less than a handful – was a proposal to allow the Recreation Department and Select Board to start a hearing process to put in place some regulations and fees for non-residents to use the Marshall-Thomas Recreation Facility at Cunningham Pond. Currently, it’s only open to Peterborough residents. The action at Wednesday’s meeting didn’t give automatic approval to non-residents using the area, but allow the Select Board and Recreation Committee to hold some public hearings for the purpose of doing so eventually.