Epsom to keep selectmen at three, budgets fail

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 19:43:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

Epsom’s Board of Selectmen will remain at three seats for at least two more years after voters re-affirmed their 2007 vote to decrease the number of seats on the board.

In a 275-495 vote at this year’s election, Epsom voters decided they made the right decision last year to go to a three-member Board of Selectmen after concerns about bureaucracy and special interests on the fivemember board surfaced.

A citizen’s petition this year asked voters whether they were in favor of increasing the number of seats back to five.

Supporters of the petition argued a three-member board would only create a situation in which one member would always have the final say on an issue, and that a five-member board provides a broader variety of interpretations and perspectives.

“The town’s going to be happy that we did that,” said Selectman Joanne Randall, adding a three member board would be more productive.

Zoning Board Chairman Keith Cota joined current selectmen Bob Blodgett and Randall in the three open seats on the Board of Selectmen.

At a public hearing on the warrant article in February, many Epsom residents stood up to say the decision to go to three members was wrong.

Several said they now realize the 2007 vote was a“kneejerk” reaction, not a reasonable course of action, given the growing town population and mounting legal concerns, plus the absence of a town manager or town administrator.

Fed up with legal and procedural actions taken by the board and particularly by two of the members, Epsom residents decided to eliminate the chances for those two to be re-elected by decreasing the size of the board.

Epsom voters also decided again not to pass the proposed town operating budget, making it their fourth year in a row on a default budget. The Board of Selectmen will meet with department heads in the next few weeks, Randall said, to discuss how the default budget of $2,469,882 will be used. The default carries a tax increase of 28 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.

In the town’s only contested race for three open Budget Committee seats, Marylou J. Lafleur-Keane, Carol McGuire and David Fiorention got the positions.

Voters rejected the school district’s budget as well. The $7,904,002 default budget will increase the tax rate by 88 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.

At the school district deliberative sesson in February, Epsom Central Principal Patrick Connors said the district would likely have to resort to staff cuts if a default budget was implemented for the coming year.

The only school articles that did pass were the funds for a four-year collective bargaining agreement for school support staff and $78,069 to remove asbestos floor tiles from Epsom Central school, which together will add 25 cents per $1,000 of assessed value to the tax rate.

Split on size of Epsom board

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:42:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

A recent public hearing on a petitioned warrant article to bring Epsom’s Board of Selectmen back to five seats revealed that many residents who voted to decrease the number of seats to three at last year’s Town Meeting have changed their minds.

Bruce Graham, one of those who voted to go to a threemember board, called the vote a “knee-jerk reaction” on the part of the voters in response to discontent with two selectmen.

The only way at the time to keep them out of office for the coming election on Tuesday, March 11, was to vote for a three-member board, he said.

“My personal opinion is that’s one of the dumbest things we’ve done,” Graham said.

A crowd of about 25 people at the Epsom Fire Department on Tuesday, Jan. 29, was split, but more heavily concentrated with those who felt the town should either return to a five-member board or look into electing a town administrator to supplement a three-member board.

*** Frambach, one of the petitioners, said voters were not thinking about the amount of work in town that would likely overwhelm a three-member board.

He pointed out the town has more than 15 committees, plus all the different departments that require a representative from the Board of Selectmen.

“If they can’t represent their duty to each of these departments, somebody’s going to get shorted,” he said. “I’m just afraid that we’re going to have to wing it with three people.”

A town administrator or administrative assistant would add an extra salary to the payroll, something that would be tough for Epsom residents to swallow, given the town’s being on a default budget for the past four years.

“If we can’t get a regular budget passed, it’s going to be difficult to get one passed with another $100,000,” said Mary Frambach, part of an appointed committee charged with studying boards of selectmen in 2001.

A poll of the selectmen revealed the board was split on whether to have three or five members, with Selectman Bob Blodgett being absent from the hearing. Bob McKechnie and Joni Kitson said they favored a five-member board while Joanne Randall and John Klose took the other side, supporting a three-member board.

“I think a three-member board can work if the town puts the right people in these three spots,” said Randall.

Some residents spoke up about the board’s perceived “micromanagement” of town departments, saying the board overstepped their bounds in not letting department heads run their own areas.

Kitson said the board has only overseen departments’ expenditures and operations to make sure they are within their budgets, adding the town looks to selectmen to make sure departments are doing what they should with the town’s money.

“You guys are going to hold us accountable for where that money goes,” Kitson said. “By RSA, it is the Board of Selectmen that is responsible for the town’s funds. The buck stops with us, or with anybody who sits here.”

Given last year’s vote, the town would have to wait at least a year to get back to five members if the article to bring the board back to five members passes with voters.

For the three positions to be voted on in March, Zoning Board Chairman Keith Cota filed for a one-year term, Bob Blodgett filed for a two-year term, and Randall filed for a three-year term. All are uncontested.

Dave Fiorentino said the town should give a three-member board a chance to work before going back to five members, adding that Randall, Blodgett, and Cota were fully capable of running the town.

“These are three competent people, three intelligent people. They can figure it out,” said Fiorentino.

Some said a five-member board would be better because it would offer varied perspectives on an issue and prevent the possibility of one board member consistently making decisions.

If there are two people who always agree, the third selectman’s vote would not count. If two selectmen were always at odds, the third would be the one to really decide on the issues.

“I feel we have gone backwards as a town in going from a five- to three-member board,” said McKechnie, adding a town administrator position to make up the difference for a three-member board would not be a wise way to spend the town’s money.

At the deliberative sessions of Town Meeting on Saturday, Feb. 2, there was little discussion on this warrant article, and it was passed on to the official ballot with no amendments.

Epsom News : Board of Selectmen

Epsom to keep selectmen at three, budgets fail

Split on size of Epsom board