Sharon residents helped longtime Town Moderator Rory Goff end his tenure Tuesday night with the shortest Town Meeting in recent memory.
After more than 30 years in a variety of moderator roles – including assistant moderator and then in the official position for the last six – Goff’s time leading the annual gathering of residents the same night as ballot voting came to a close.
As the meeting came to order, Goff mentioned that “for the first time in almost 50 years we’re actually starting on time” and just 40 minutes later, residents had approved all eight remaining articles on the warrant.
The biggest discussion centered around designating portions of Mountain Road as a summer road. In the final article of the night, residents were tasked with deciding whether the town should only be obligated to maintain 1.1 miles of Class V and .3 miles of Class VI road during the summer season, from May 1 to Nov. 14.
Road Agent Pete Paris said there are three homes on the road, two on the Class V section and one on the Class VI stretch. Paris said they currently plow the road for emergency purposes. Selectman Carl Newton, who decided not to run for reelection this year, said the article was put forward to take away any liability from the town during the time from Nov. 15 to April 30.
The three properties are mostly used during the summer. One portion of the discussion centered around the fact the owners pay full taxes and Newton said if the owners need access in the winter months that the town would do everything it could to comply on a case-by-case basis. Letters were sent a few weeks ago to the owners, Town Administrator Debra Harling said.
Resident Ken Callahan reminded fellow voters that a major ditching and grading project had been done on the road and that “it’s never been a problem except when it gets really wet and soft.”
The article was passed through a voice vote with just one nay – the only no vote of the night.
Residents unanimously approved an amended budget of $375,955, a $10,485 decrease from the one originally on the warrant. The last-minute change came after a decrease in the cost for Peterborough Fire Department services from $70,485 to $60,000. The budget saw increases for election and registration due to four elections this year, as well as police and ambulance services, but decreases in financial administration and solid waste disposal meant only an increase of $827 over last year. The compensation schedule for town officers and employees remained the same as last year and passed with no discussion.
Voters approved $55,000 for the Highway Repairs Capital Reserve Fund. Newton said the town has about seven miles of road left to repair and doing three-fourths of a mile per year will take 10 years to complete. The addition to the capital reserve fund – the same amount as last year – was just to keep adding money each year to make sure it’s there when needed.
“Every year this is going to come up to keep the repairs up,” Newton said.
While major bridge repair is years away, even with the Spring Hill Road bridge about 100 years old, $5,000 was approved for the Town Bridge Capital Reserve Fund, as engineering costs for a new bridge estimate around $120,000.
Residents also approved additions of $2,500 to the Legal Expense Capital Reserve Fund for what Selectwoman Diane Callahan said is being done every year to create funds for any kind of legal expense that comes up. The $3,000 to the Assessing Reserve Capital Reserve Fund was in lieu of the assessment review in 2024 and $2,000 to the Welfare Service Non-Capital Reserve Fund was necessary, Diane Callahan said.
“We have to help people as a town,” she said of those in need. “It’s mainly being put aside for emergencies.”
With races for many town officers happening with only one official candidate, Gary Backstrom was elected to a three-year term as selectman and Jim Fredrickson will serve another three-year term on the school board. Susan Bowles was reelected to a three-year term as treasurer, Bill Joyner takes over as moderator for the next two years and Anne Murrock will be Supervisor of the Checklist for six years.
“Congratulation to everyone who won their hard-fought campaign,” Goff said.
The most contested races were for audit board and trustee of the trust funds, where no one was running for the three-year terms. John MacEachern led the way for the trustee position with six votes, while Mark Fernald and Tracy Craig each received two votes for the audit board, prompting Goff to joke “so they’re going to have to duke it out.”