BY RYAN O’CONNOR
Dunbarton Town Clerk Linda Peters couldn’t watch.
At Town Meeting on Tuesday, March 13, Peters faced away from a filled community center, as residents approved, by overwhelming vote, her petitioned warrant article to expand her position to full time.
The decision substantially expanded her limited office hours to residents and gave her a significant pay raise and benefits package.
Peters presented a full explanation of her current duties and the potential increases in her responsibilities.
Resident Jeff Trexler, noting Peters’ popularity in the community, asked selectmen why they didn’t support the initiative.
Selectmen Les Hammond and Mert Mann took turns explaining the board decided it would like to receive an assessment on town employees’ workload, including Peters’, before recommending the increased hours and pay for her position.
Residents, however, approached the microphone, one by one, to support Peters.
“You’re responsible for a lot and the degree of perfection for your job is enormous,” said resident Ed Wagner.
By the time they were through speaking, even Mann admitted he had been swayed.
The approved warrant article will raise an additional $18,450 in salary and benefits for the remainder of the year.
Peters currently earns $23,800, with no benefits, while bringing in more than $500,000 dollars in revenue through her office.
She will now make roughly $50,000, including salary and benefits.
Operating budget
Residents approved, after an explanation by Mann, the town operating budget of $1,825,744.
According to Mann, the 3.2 percent increase over last year’s approved budget of $1,769,688, will represent 4 cents per $1,000 assessed property value.
Therefore, the tax rate will likely go up from $1.95 per $1,000 assessed property value to $1.99 per $1,000 assessed property value, which equates to an additional $12 on a $300,000 home.
Other articles
The town also approved $29,000 for a new skid-steer for the transfer station, $58,000 to be appropriated from surplus for building improvements to the town office building and library, and raised veteran exemption from $100 to $500.
In addition, residents voted to approve $32,000 for protective fire department equipment and a gear washer. A federal grant will pay for $30,400 of the cost.
Residents then approved $68,565 to support a new full-time police officer.
“When you call for the police department, the best and most effective way for us to respond is to have a police officer on duty, and the best and most effective way to accomplish that is to hire a new full-time officer,” said Chief Jeff Nelson. “There is no department for a town our size that has less than three full-time officers.”
Nelson said the department will seek out an office with one to three years experience, so it won’t have to pay to send him or her to the police academy.
He added that a new officer would allow the department to cover, for the most part, the hours of 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., when 98 percent of Dunbarton police calls come in.
New land
The town supported pulling $300,000 from the town conservation fund to purchase 159 acres for the Bela Brook Conservation Area.
Hammond requested the town pass over Article 11, which he had been working on for a land purchase across the street from the town common for a future town office building. He said he was unable to negotiate an agreeable price for the land in time for the meeting.
After an argument between residents and Hammond, residents opposed Article 12, which would have provided selectmen with authority to acquire or sell land, given certain stipulations.
Mann said if the town wants to purchase or sell land, it will simply call a Special Town Meeting.
Hammond then moved to pass over Article 13, which was contingent on Article 12 and would have appointed selectmen as agents to expend from the land purchase capital reserve fund.
The decision was unanimously approved.
Climate
Lindsay Herlihy submitted a petitioned warrant article encouraging the town to go on record in support of effective actions by the president and Congress to address climate change by restricting greenhouse gas emissions and creating a national research initiative to rapidly develop sustainable energy technologies, which will also stimulate jobs and investment.
The town supported the article.