Despite 55% of voters saying “No” to 2021’s Warrant Article 3, Milford has spent the last year spending money on new equipment, new license(s), a new tower site (with a second one pending) and new responsibilities for Milford to manage essentially the same solution as that voted down in 2021 (minus a new dispatch center). The strategy appears to be to use dollars that Milford believes fall outside of voters’ control because, under RSA 32:10, Milford is prohibited from using Town appropriations for purposes consistent with last year’s Warrant Article 3. Presumably to avoid this limitation, Town Administration has applied some of its funding sources in a way that they assert allows them to move ahead, while putting very little directly before the voters.

With Warrant Article 24, just ONE piece of that “fix,” is being presented to the voters this year; this is only because Milford doesn’t have the authority to commit to a long-term lease without voter approval.

Voters should ask why the entire communications project is not on the warrant this year. Such a plan could easily have been presented.

There are myriad issues with Warrant Article 24 and the steps taken this past year by Town Administration. There are also alternatives. Due to word count limits, I leave the reader with just three issues for consideration today.

The Administration insists its solution will be compatible with MACC Base. Yet, Milford’s technical team has met only ONE time (October 2021) with MACC Base. Outstanding integration issues remain unresolved and appear to be a low priority.

It’s clear from public discussion that no one knows the extent of the “fix” associated with the new equipment. Milford refuses to investigate existing issues to try and get to root causes.

Town Administration announced publicly (01/18/2022 Budget Advisory Meeting) that if Warrant Article 24 fails, it will move forward with a slightly different lease agreement anyway.

Apparently “No” does not mean “No” in Milford.

If Milford voters do not want a Milford-managed, 100% Milford-funded partial “fix” that makes Milford responsible for managing equipment needs, and deliberately avoids transparency, voter participation and public discourse, then they should hold Town Administration accountable and vote “NO” on Warrant Article 24.

A “Yes” vote on this warrant article will only reinforce to the Administration that, with the right maneuvers, it can disregard the voters’ wishes.