Jaffrey residents will conclude its 2021 Town Meeting in person this Saturday, carrying on last year’s solution to avoiding large gatherings with another drive-in meeting.
Jaffrey has already held its general elections for town positions and zoning amendments on March 9, and will continue the rest of the business meeting, including the town budget and other warrant articles, in the parking lot of the Hope Fellowship Church in Jaffrey on Saturday at 9 a.m.
“It’s the same format as last year,” Town Manager Jon Frederick said in an interview Monday. “The process worked well last year.”
Last year’s drive-in Town Meeting had about 170 participants, Frederick said, which is more attendance than the prior three year’s Town Meetings. Similar to last year, voters will register as they drive into the parking lot without exiting their cars, and then park in the Hope Fellowship lot. They may exit their cars but must remain in the area of their parking space, or sit in their cars. The meeting will be broadcast over the radio.
Similar to a traditional Town Meeting, most votes will be taken while voters remain seated. Voters will indicate their “yes” or “no” votes by holding up a card out their window. In cases where a ballot vote is required, poll workers will walk to each car and voters will deposit their ballots in a ballot box. There will be a microphone set up for residents to speak about their support of objections to various articles, and offer amendments.
Frederick said the meeting will function much the same way as during more traditional past Town Meetings.
“It’s basically our Town Meeting hall set up, in a parking lot, and the seats are your cars,” Frederick said.
The first order of business for the meeting is Article 3 – a proposed bond for the purpose of expanding fiber internet services to every Jaffrey address.
The current warrant is requesting a $2.5 million bond for the project, but the warrant was written prior to the town receiving final bids for the project. In February, the town selected Consolidated Communications’ bid to install the new infrastructure, which would require a $1.2 million bond over ten years. Frederick confirmed the Select Board intends to offer an amendment to the warrant during Town Meeting to reflect the $1.2 million offer.
Like in other communities Consolidated Communications has worked with to build fiber infrastructure, such as Dublin and Rindge, the bond is not paid for through tax dollars, but a user fee from those who choose to sign on to the new fiber service – $11 per month or less. If the user fees are not sufficient to make the bond payments, Consolidated Communications covers the difference, not the town.
Because the vote includes a bond, it is required to be conducted by ballot voting and requires a three-fifths majority to pass.
The town’s proposed budget this year is $6,494.493 a $97,000 decrease from last year’s request.
Part of the reason the budget is below last year’s request, Frederick said, is because the paving budget has been moved from the budget to a capital reserve request. Jaffrey has to raise $575,000 in funds for a paving capital reserve it hopes to establish this year.
The town has determined that the fund will need about that much every year to fulfill its 10-year plan to address deteriorating roads in town. Jaffrey plans to do nearly $1 million worth of paving and reconstruction work in 2021, using $700,000 in funds left over from a bond secured last year for paving, and funds from the new capital reserve, if its approved.
Frederick said if the plan is followed over the next 10 years, it will improve the Jaffrey road system from a “D” grade on the road index – which works similar to an “A” through “F” grading scale – to a “B”.
“Getting an ‘A’ would be great, but it would be a lot more expensive and take a little more time,” Frederick said. “But this would get us to the point we could focus on preventative maintenance.”
Seperate from the budget, the town is also addressing several employee contracts, including police and department of public works employees, for the next three years.
The proposed police department contract approves a 30-month agreement with the police union, which includes a 2% salary increase for 2021, and a 2.5% increase for 2022 and 2023. The increases would require a $5,739 increase for 2021 and $18,160 in 2022 and $18,614 for 2023.
Similarly, the contract for the public works department would also be for 30 months. Among the changes to the contract are a 3% pay increase, and increases for call pay and an increase in clothing allowance. The changes result in a $4,520 increase in 2021, $13,393 in 2022 and $13,772 in 2023.
The town seeks to tackle several infrastructure projects this year, including repairing the Nutting Road Bridge. The total cost of repairing the bridge is $1.1 million, with the majority of the cost coming from the New Hampshire State Bridge Aid program. Jaffrey’s portion of the repair is about $220,000, which has already been raised and is available in a capital reserve fund.
Frederick said the town is currently working with the Department of Environmental Services on some mitigation requirements for the bridge, and will likely start construction to repair the bridge in 2022.
The town is requesting to purchase a new highway dump truck, plow and sander. The total cost of the vehicle is $225,000. In a separate article, the town is requesting $200,000 to be added to the town’s capital reserve for highway equipment, which would then be used to purchase the truck.
The town was originally scheduled to repair the truck last year, but removed the request from the warrant to keep costs down amid concerns that COVID-19 might impact the town’s revenue streams.
The highway equipment reserve would also be used to purchase a $20,000 air compressor, if voters approve.
In 13 separate articles, the town is requesting various additions to the town’s capital reserve or trust fund accounts, including $150,000 for the town building maintenance fund, $60,000 for the Fire Department, $50,000 for the Town Office fund, and $120,000 for the bridge rehabilitation fund.
For a full list of Jaffrey’s proposed warrant articles, the warrant and layman’s warrant is available on the town website.