River Marmorstein was out bright and early Tuesday morning.
Polls opened for the Peterborough Town Election at 7 a.m., and Marmorstein, a candidate for Budget Committee, said he was the first person to cast a ballot. Tuesday afternoon, he was outside Peterborough Community Center, greeting voters as they came by.
“I can’t complain,” he said. “The weather’s nice. People are friendly. No one has heckled me yet.”
A first-time candidate, the 24-year-old Marmorstein said he thought he would be the youngest person elected to the Finance Committee, which he thought would provide a good perspective. He has lived in Peterborough his whole life, having bought his house out of foreclosure in 2020, and said he would like to help find ways to attract people or keep them in town.
“If (taxes) keep going up and up, I’m going to have to sell and leave town,” he said. “It’s not the end of the world if I don’t win, but I’d like to have the opportunity to help make some changes.”
Marmorstein will not have that opportunity, as he finished fourth in the race for three Budget Committee slots with 381 votes. Mandy Sliver had 579 votes, followed by Leslie Lewis with 508 and Andrew Osterman with 451.
A short distance away, Anne Staley was campaigning on behalf of her husband Carl, seeking one of the two three-year seats on the Planning Board.
“I’ve heard a lot of people come up and question candidates who were standing here,” she said. “They were very serious and listened very carefully. We’ve seen people we haven’t seen in a while, so that’s an added benefit.”
Carl Staley said he was interested in the dilemma of how to make communities available to another generation.
“The Planning Board isn’t about affordable housing, but it’s a component within its purview, particularly workforce housing,” he said. “It has to be done very carefully, and it probably has to be done in minimum square footage for maximum utility.”
Blair Weiss, an alternate member of the Planning Board, was also seeking a three-year seat. He said his interest in the board was sparked years ago over what he saw as a lack of professionalism, particularly board members calling applicants by their first names.
“This kind of lends itself to thinking, ‘Are these guys buddies? Are they going to the bar together?’” he said.
This was Weiss’ second campaign, so he said he did not need signs and he had an email list and contacts.
“It’s not a question of who he is, where he stands, where he came from,” he said. “If the majority decide I’ll be a good person, I’m in. If they don’t, I’m out.”
Weiss will be in, as his 497 votes were enough to land him a seat on the board. Staley had 522 votes to lead the way, and incumbent Joshua Blair finished third with 365.
In the other contested race, Katherine Sullivan won the two-year position as supervisor of the checklist by a 386-315 margin over Laura Norton.
The remaining races were uncontested: Bill Taylor for Select Board, Sharon Monahan for Zoning Board of Adjustment, Mary Clark for the one-year Budget Committee seat, Andrew Manns for the three-year trustee of the trust funds position, Linda Guyette for the three-year cemetery trustee position. John Lawlor and Peggy Van Valkenburgh for the two one-year library trustee spots, Tina Kriebel for the three-year library trustee seat, Roxanne Loudin and Andrew Osterman for the two three-year seats on the Recreation Committee, Zoe Wroten-Heinzmann for the two-year spot on the Recreation Committee and Denise Sweet for the six-year supervisor of the checklist position.
Although the race for library trustee was unopposed, Wendy Keith said she wanted to support Van Valkenburgh for her efforts with the library, which reopened last September after renovations.
“I deeply appreciate the work she has done on the library,” Keith said.
Linda Cramb said her main reason for voting was to support the candidates.
“It’s really important,” she said. “If people have the energy and ability to serve the town, and the wisdom to help run the town, we should support them.”
Hospital district zoning amendment passes
Planning Board member Stephanie Hurley was at the community center to campaign against a zoning amendment calling for allowing multifamily housing in the Monadnock Community Health Care District that is not restricted to students and staff at the hospital.
Although the change would remove restrictions on who could live in the district, Hurley was opposed because she said the process for putting the question on the ballot was flawed, as the only public hearing on March 30 came after the deadline to amend the question, and she believes it should have included some requirement for workforce housing.
Not having one, she said, would allow the hospital to “potentially sell this development to a developer who could build any kind of housing they want. It could be high-end.” Even if the Planning Board started working on further amendments right away, there would be no way require workforce housing right now.
“If (the hospital wants) to maximize the profit and sell to the highest bidder, they’re not going to want to tie the hands of the developer,” she said.
The amendment passed by a count of 442-379. It was one of 11 proposed zoning amendments, the rest being amending the definitions of “dwelling or dwelling unit” and “manufactured housing,” allowing manufactured housing as a use in the Family District, removing minimum-size requirements for dwellings in the General Residence District, adding manufactured housing as a permitted use in the West Peterborough and Community Health Care districts, changing “mobile homes” to “manufactured homes” in the Floodplain District, clarifying the Planning Board’s powers in the Groundwater Protection Overlay Zone, rescinding the minimum size and increasing the maximum size for accessory dwelling units, amending rules for manufactured housing.
All passed, with the closest vote being the 599-233 tally to amend the rules for manufactured housing.
The community power plan, in which the town would be authorized to buy energy in bulk for businesses and residents with the intent of reducing utility bills and increasing renewable energy, passed by a 760-98 margin. The town’s Community Power Task Force had been working on the plan since September 2021, when it was formed in response to voters passing an article at Town Meeting that May setting the goal for Peterborough to have 100% of its electricity in town be sourced from renewables by 2030.
The town’s proposed $13.7 million operating budget proposal for fiscal 2023 passed by a 704-131 margin.
The results for the remaining articles are as follows:
— $112,000 for the town’s pay-as-you-throw program, with funds to come from the town’s Pay-As-You-Throw Special Reserve Fund, passed, 725-105.
— A total of $353,100 for capital reserve and expendable trust funds passed, 706-127.
— $400,000 for the Roadway System Upgrades Capital Reserve Fund passed, 742-97.
— A $3,000 transfer to the Cemetery Expendable Trust Fund passed, 791-50.
— Establishment of a Municipal Facilities Campus Expendable Trust Fund and transferring $350,082 from fund balance to the fund, using American Rescue Plan Act funds, passed, 661-180.
— $75,000 for the Sewer Capital Reserve Fund, with all the money from sewer fees passed, 758-93.
— Discontinuing the Fire Department Fleet Management Capital Reserve Fund, with the balance of $31.25 transferred to the town’s general fund, passed, 785-59.
— $15,500 to support the Economic Development Authority’s efforts to promote business retention and development of new businesses passed, 510-323.
Of the 4,848 registerd voters, 874 voted, a turnout of 18%.
Seeking a spot on a different ballot
Also in front of the community center was Geoff Woollacott of Rindge, who is looking to qualify for the race for U.S. Senate as an independent.
Citing JonaathanHaidt’s recent “About Babel” article in The Atlantic, Woollacott said digital news is dominated by the extremes.
“Neither party speaks to me, and I can’t not do it,” he said of running for Senate.
Woollacott is a senior strategy consultant and principal analyst for Technology Business Research, and said politicians are “applying World War II principles to the digital world. You can’t be set in your ways. You’ve got to be fascinated by the future.”
He went to a three-day workweek in April to work on his campaign, and he has to collect 3,000 signatures of registered voters – including 1,500 from each of the state’s congressional districts – by Aug. 10 to qualify for the ballot.
“I’ve got a long way to go,” he said.