Milford voters put land buy question to ballot

Thursday, February 11, 2010

MILFORD – Voters will see 29 warrant articles on the ballot when they go to the polls in March, following the Milford Deliberative Session at the Town Hall auditorium on Saturday, which drew exactly 100 voters during a 51⁄2-hour meeting.

Article 4, which would allow the town to bond up to $850,000 to purchase four pieces of property between Nashua, School and Pine streets, to transform the current fire station into a combined fire and ambulance facility, drew considerable debate.

The article arose from the town’s Facilities Committee’s wish to replace the current fire station on School Street and ambulance bay in the basement of Town Hall.

Supporters said it’s a good to buy property, while opponents were concerned about the interest cost and said it would be better to do the entire process, which would include building the $6.6 million facility, along with the $850,000 purchase of the land.

An amendment was passed allowing the Board of Selectmen – should it not be able to buy all four properties needed for the facility – to spend the money on an ambulance facility at another location with the approval of the director of ambulance services and the Facilities Committee.

The other most-discussed article was a non-binding article to request that Milford’s elected officials in Concord bring the matter of gay marriage to the voters at large. Two amendments were proposed but rejected.

“This (article) is not for homosexuality or against homosexuality, it’s about democracy. We’re not asking to define what marriage is, we’re asking to put it before the voters and ask them what it is,” said Jennifer Salisbury, one of the petitioners who put the warrant article to the Deliberative Session for review.

“I’d say the matter was settled on January 1st, and it’s only those who disagree with the position that want the position reversed,” Milford Town Administrator Guy Scaife said. “I grew up in Alabama, and I can tell you that if the people were allowed to vote on every issue, the state of Alabama would still be segregated.”

Other items that drew discussion included a warrant to spent $8,500 to reinstate the Fourth of July fireworks display; an article to spend $53,210 for the Granite Town Rail Trail, which would use federal money if Milford funds 20 percent of the project; and a request by the Board of Selectmen and Budget Committee to reject the AFSCME union collective bargaining agreement on behalf of the Police Department due to disagreements on adjusting the sick pay policy; and an article that would separate out public access fees collected from cable TV bills, which had previously been put in the general fund, and put them in the town’s communications budget.