More than 130 Francestown residents gathered at Saturday morning’s annual town meeting business session, approving nearly all proposed expenditures, including a renovation of the town’s police headquarters.Last year, voters approved a plan to spend up to $125,000 for renovations to the former Town Hall Annex on Poor Farm Road, which has housed the police offices for many years. However, according to Selectman Henry Kunhardt, bids for doing the necessary upgrades ranged from $170,000 to $240,000. As a result, no renovation work was done during 2017.With this new vote, the planned work —which will ensure public access and create secure areas for detainees, as well as for police equipment and evidence—can now move forward. In February the police moved to the lower level of the Town Office building on Main Street, where they will remain until renovations to their permanent space are completed. According to Selectman Kunhardt, asbestos found in the old building must be removed prior to occupancy, and a new propane heating system will be installed, similar to the one that was added to the newly renovated Town Hall building.
In other business, voters approved a proposed town operating budget of $1,781,560, which represents a roughly 4 percent increase over the 2017 annual budget. They also approved adding $602,800 to various capital reserve funds in anticipation of future expenditures.Major equipment purchases that were approved for this year include$52,000 for a new police cruiser, to replace the current Chevy Tahoe; $75,000 for anew dump/plow truck to replace a 2005 vehicle; and $50,000 for a used backhoe,which Road Agent Gary Paige told residents would allow the town highway department more flexibility in doing certain work, such as cleaning out culverts,without having to rely on always hiring private contractors.
“The sign at the edge of town says we’ve been in business since 1772,” Paige quipped. “But we’ve never owned a backhoe!”Selectman Abigail Arnold also said that owning a backhoe would save the town around $5,000 a year that is currently being paid to private operators for work like compacting recycled paper materials.
Reconstructing Bible Hill Road remains an ongoing project, with residents voting $170,000 out of the capital reserve fund for road improvements. Road Agent Paige estimates this funding will enable the town to rebuild and resurface another one-mile stretch of the road. In all, Paige estimates that reconstructing the full length of Bible Hill Road will require six years. In order to repair a longer stretch of road more cost-effectively, the town plans to recommend putting money into the Road Improvement Fund next year but hold off on doing any further work until 2020.The warrant article that prompted the most questions and debate dealt with a request for $5,600 to purchase an electronic ballot counter. Many residents agreed with town election officials that the technology—which would not replace paper ballots, but would make tallying votes faster and easier than a total hand count — was worth the cost. However, other residents noted that many ballots,including ones with right-in votes, would still need to be counted by hand. And they balked at the system’s ongoing setup costs, which Town Administrator Jamie Pike estimated to be around $2,000 for an “off-year,” with only one town election, and $4,000 or more during an “on-year,” when the counter would need to be calibrated for state and federal elections as well. In the end, voters rejected the article by a narrow margin in a standing tally: 62 for, 69 against.
This town meeting also marked a return to the newly renovated Town Hall,specifically to the second-floor meeting room, which for many years had been deemed structurally unsafe to support so many people.The meeting adjourned at 12:30 p.m.