Francestown passed all warrant articles with two amendments at its business portion of Town Meeting, which was held in the Highway Department garage on the 2nd New Hampshire Turnpike on Saturday. The amendments added $100 to the Patriotic Purposes budget for the coming year, and $5,000 towards repairing the town horsesheds.
About 45 residents attended the meeting in the garage, where bay doors were open to allow for air circulation and a corner of the room was cordoned off with plexiglas for residents not wearing face masks. “There isn’t a guidebook for what Francestown’s supposed to do during a pandemic,” Select Board Chair Henry Kunhardt said, but the town staff and officials pulled it off over the past 13 months, which included running three elections and one recount. “And the recount came out perfect, thank you very much,” he said, thanking the town’s workers and volunteers.
Several attendees expressed a desire to celebrate as a town after overcoming the pandemic. “We’ve behaved so well and done so well,” resident Heidi Dawidoff said, in support of a proposed amendment that would have spent $5,000 on a summer fireworks display. The fireworks measure failed after opposers said they were all for a party, but didn’t want to overturn the efforts every department made to cut line items during the formal budget process. A resident proposed a town potluck instead.
The town did, however, vote to reinstate $100 that had been cut from the Patriotic Purposes budget after Patriotic purposes committee member Scott Carbee asked for it back. The amended budget of $1,820,179 passed. The town also voted for an amendment that increased spending on town horseshed repairs by $5,000, after Kunhardt explained that builders had discovered additional damage to the roof and trim.
Residents got details on other upcoming town projects and purchases as they passed other items. The Police Department currently has one part-time officer in academy and hopes to hire another full-time officer this summer. After a resident compared the existing cruiser’s light-colored insignia to “invisible ink,” Police Chief Michael Dowd said they intend to apply the same treatment to a new cruiser the town agreed to purchase. “It does prove more effective … in speed enforcement,” Dowd said, describing it as “covert.” A shed for recreation department equipment is likely to assuage one resident’s concerns about town equipment being left out through the winter, new Select Board member George Ravalico said, and additionally will preclude local coaches having to store sports equipment at their own houses. The shed is likely to stand on the treeline between the two town ballfields, resident Charlie Pyle told the assembly. The newly approved aluminum 12-by-10-foot floating swimming platform for Scobie Pond has watertight flotation, and a non-slip deck resistant to heat and UV light, Select Board member Marsha Dixon said.
Article 2 asks voters to adopt the budget. PASSED with Patriotic Purposes amendment.
Article 3 asks voters to spent $547,700 on the following capital reserve funds, with $430,000 of that to come from taxes and $117,000 to come from the unassigned fund balance: $14,500 to future replacement of fire equipment, $100,000 to future replacement of fire trucks, $170,000 to future replacement and purchase of highway equipment, $20,000 to future replacement of police vehicles, $45,000 to future town facilities improvements, $175,000 to future town road improvements, $3,200 to future cemetery improvements, and $20,000 to future revaluation of real estate. PASSED
Article 4 asks voters to spend $12,000 on the following expendable trust funds, with all funds coming from the unassigned fund balance. $2,000 to the Master Plan update trust fund, $7,000 to the legal and public assistance trust fund, and $3,200 for the general cemetery maintenance trust fund. PASSED
Article 5 asks voters to establish a contingency fund for unanticipated COVID-19 expenses, and spend $17,000 on it from the unassigned fund balance. PASSED
Article 6 asks voters to spend $50,000 on a police cruiser using funds from the police vehicle capital reserve fund, and authorize the disposal of the 2013 cruiser in a way that serves the town. PASSED
Article 7 asks voters to spend $25,000 on roof, structural, and trim repairs on the town horsesheds, using funds from a $2,000 donation from the Francestown Improvement and Historical Society and $23,000 from the town facilities capital reserve fund. PASSED with amended amount: a total $30,000 on roof, with $28,000 from the capital reserve fund.
Article 8 asks voters to spend $340,000 of the town road improvements capital reserve fund to complete a full-width overlay of the 2nd NH Turnpike South from the Lyndeborough town line to the intersection at NH 136, New Boston Road. PASSED
Article 9 asks voters to spend $10,000 on a new equipment shed at the baseball field, with $5,000 coming from the recreation trust fund and $5,000 from the town facilities capital reserve fund. PASSED
Article 10 asks voters to spend $175,000 to replace fire department radios, with $166,250 in grants and $8,750 from the fire equipment capital reserve fund. If the grants fall through, the article becomes void. PASSED
Article 11 asks voters to spend $36,000 to purchase radios for the fire department, with $15,000 from the Mount Crotchet Firefighter’s Association and $21,000 from the replacement of fire equipment capital reserve fund. If grants allow Article 10 to proceed, this article becomes void. PASSED
Article 12 asks voters to spend $6,000 of the unassigned fund balance to replace and outfit the floating swimming platform at Scoby Pond. PASSED
Article 13 asks voters to transact any other business legally coming before the town.