Page 6 - APRIL2022

Page 6
Community
By donna rhodes
REGION – While turnout wasn’t record-setting, election officials said there was a steady flow of voters at the polls on March 8th when they were asked to vote for town officials or, in the SB2 towns, additionally cast their votes on budgets and other items on their 2022 Town War- rant. Other traditional towns re- assembled later that week to vote on budgets, bonds, and other ex- penditures deemed necessary for their community.
In Alexandria, with the excep- tion of Article 19, which asked to accept Adams Rd. as a Class V road, the town’s $1,977,003 op- erational budget and all other articles were passed.
Article 13, however, which passed in Alexandria but failed in neighboring Danbury, was a whole different story. The merger for Alexandria and Danbury’s police departments required a yes vote from both towns in order to be enacted, and while Alexan- dria voters said yes, with a vote of 216-130, Danbury said no with their 1675-167 vote.
Alexandria Police Chief David Suckling, who has also been serving as a part-time chief for Danbury, hoped there could be a merger between the two rural towns, sharing officers and resources to keep both commu- nities safe. The joint force would be an initial $50,000 savings to residents of Alexandria and an approximate $47,000 increase to Danbury as they gained better coverage and more resources.
This year, the two towns agreed to place the idea on their warrant and held public hearings
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Election Results
April 2022
to explain the proposal. Chief Suckling himself also took to So- cial Media for live chats to clear up any questions and concerns residents of both towns may have had. Those broadcasts were well met by participants.
However, on Election Day, Alexandria voters backed the merger while a mere eight votes defeated the measure in Dan- bury. After the results were an- nounced, Suckling said that the people had spoken, and he gra- ciously accepted their decision but noted that with such a close margin of loss, there is the possi- bility of a recount if town attor- neys deemed it legal.
Winners in Alexandria for this year’s election were Robert Piehler (Board of Selectmen), Sue Hunt (Trustee of the Trust Funds), Sue Hunt (Trustee of the Cemeteries), Melanie Mar- zola (Town Treasurer), Vincenzo “Vinny” Governati (Town Mod- erator), Cindy Williams (3-year Budget Committee, with other openings to be determined), and both Davis Lheureux and Merry Ruggirello won seats on the Plan- ning Board.
In Bridgewater, known for the brevity of their town meetings held shortly after the polls closed, voters elected Wesley Morrill for a three-year term as selectman, Mathew Denton for two years as moderator, and Margaret (Peggy) Petrazeski for a six-year term as Supervisor of the Checklist. There were no candidates for Li- brary Trustee, but undetermined write-in names were received.
Voters also approved Article 2, asking to divide the General Residential District of Bridge- water into two districts, the west-
Photo by Donna Rhodes
Candidates in Bristol braved the cold and blustery weather on March 8th in their final campaign effort for election to town offices.
departments it would ultimately serve, voters agreed this year that the town had finally come up with the right solution.
The new Public Safety Build- ing will be built on the site of the former town hall on Lake Street, which currently houses the Bris- tol Police Department. That building will be razed in late Au- gust or September, and, once the new facility is complete, the fire department will be moving to the new location, too. The fate of the fire station is unsure at this time, but there is speculation that it could be sold to a private entity and placed back on the tax rolls.
The new public safety head- quarters will be made of en- vironmentally friendly and energy-efficient material and will provide the many needs of today’s public safety officials through increased space and bet- ter technology, with safety and public accessibility in mind.
“We did our due diligence in putting this all together, and we want the community to know how very much we appreciate them supporting us with this project,” said Bristol Police Chief James McIntire.
For more information on these and other town meeting re- sults this year, visit their website or drop by your town office for a rundown on the final vote counts.
Hebron voters will head to the polls in May. Stay tuned to their website for further details on their upcoming town meeting.
ern “Lake District” along Rte. 3A, and the General Residential District along the Pemigewasset River. It further asked to rename the previous “Rural Residential District” on the upper elevations of town to the “Mountain Dis- trict.”
The only article to fail was Article 5. It asked to see if the town would “raise and appropri- ate $500,000 for supplemental road resurfacing.” That money would come from the town’s un- designated fund balance. While the Board of Selectmen initially recommended the article, Select- man Terence Murphy encour- aged voters on March 8th to nix the article due to the current eco- nomic climate. Selectman Wes Morrill agreed, saying his com- munications with local asphalt companies suggested that pricing for road resurfacing is very high at this time and advised that the town wait. Voters agreed.
Over in Bristol, Carrol M. Brown and incumbent Leslie Dion won the two open seats on
the Board of Selectmen. In addi- tion, Edward “Ned” Gordon won another two-year term as Town Moderator, Cathy Ford was a write-in candidate for Trustee of the Trust Funds, Wendy Duggan took the opening for Supervisor of the Checklist, and both Paul Regan and Walter Waring were selected for two openings on the Budget Committee. Kathleen Haskell, Lucille Keegan, and Pa- tricia Durgin were also voted in as Library Trustees.
All articles on the Bristol Town Warrant were approved at Town Meeting on March 12, but besides the $7,745,239 operating budget, voters also said yes to a new $4.8 million Public Safety Building bond to house both the police and fire departments.
Construction of such a facil- ity has been under scrutiny by the town for many years, begin- ning in 1994 when Bristol first looked at building a new police station. After many design rec- ommendations, studies on where to construct the facility, and what
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