Vote gives birth to controversy

Thursday, February 18, 2010

MILFORD – Officially, the town Advisory Budget Committee has taken no position on the fire station/ambulance warrant article.

But if a telephone vote by its chairman had been counted, the committee would have given it a negative recommendation.

The committee met after the town’s Feb. 6 Deliberative Session and voted on all the town warrant articles, giving a tie vote of 4-4 to Article 4, which would allow the town to bond up to $850,000 to buy four pieces of property between Nashua, School and Pine streets for a combined fire and ambulance facility.

Faced with the tie vote, committee members called Chairman Chuck Morrison, who was in the hospital, where his wife was giving birth to their first child.

Morrison voted no.

But a phone vote is illegal – committee members have to be present to vote, and Town Moderator Peter Basiliere was aware of the phone vote and declared it illegal.

So only the 4-4 vote will appear on the town Voters’ Guide on Election Day, with pro and con explanations for the vote, instead of a majority and minority report.

The committee met again Feb. 11, but did not take a re-vote as planned because a few members were absent.

Morrison says he feels like a football quarterback sitting on the bench during the big game. “I put in all that time and effort” studying the issues, and now the vote won’t count, he said.

The chairman said he voted against the article for two reasons: because of the economy and because of the large facility will take away some downtown parking.

It’s a question of “needs versus wants,” he said. “I’ve talked to business owners” and they are frustrated about parking.

Since 2003, the Community Facilities Committee has been studying the needs of all town facilities and decided that the 36-year-old fire station has many limitations, including lack of parking for call personnel.

The ambulance facility, in the basement of Town Hall, has only two ambulance bays and is not large enough to house all the current equipment or any equipment that would be needed in the future.

The committee said the combined fire-ambulance building “assured no loss in emergency response time, it leverages the operational and financial benefits of a single building, and is the lowest cost option of all options evaluated,” according to a statement with Article 4.

If Article 4 passes, it would add 6 cents to the tax rate beginning in 2011. Because it’s for long-term debt, the vote needs a 60 percent majority.

At the Deliberative Session, the warrant article was amended to say if selectmen are not able to buy all four properties, they would spend the money on an ambulance facility at another location, with the approval of the ambulance service director and the facilities committee.

In the long term, Morrison said, the best option for the fire department and the ambulance service is a shared fire and ambulance facility, but the ambulance facility is a higher priority and will have less economic impact.

The Advisory Budget Committee also voted unanimously to recommend the town operating budget, wastewater treatment plant upgrades, downtown improvements, the Souhegan Valley Transportation Collaborative bus and conservation land funds.

It recommended the Osgood Road sidewalk article with a 5-3 vote, Kaley Park improvements with a 7-1 vote and the Granite Town Rail Trail improvements with a 6-2 vote.

Article 24, which would put cable franchise fees collected from cable subscribers into the cable access revolving fund, got another 4-4 vote.

Morrison said those who support the proposal believe the money belongs in a revolving fund to benefit local public access programing. Those who are opposed call the franchise fee just another tax – similar to dog licenses or auto registration fees, that should go in the general fund.