[0:08] I have two.
>> I'm going to get another one.
[0:18] » It's all on the wrist.
[0:28] 7:00. Here we go.
[0:53] Thank you, D.
>> There, that worked. I won't shut it off.
[0:58] Um, want to welcome you all here
tonight. It's good to see a large crowd
[1:04] out to discuss what what we're going to
be voting on in March. Um,
[1:12] those of you who don't know, I'm I'm
Bruce Tro. I've been moderator
[1:17] here for long time.
Um,
[1:25] I just want to welcome you all to the
deliberative session
[1:29] and thank you all for taking the time to
uh come come here and I'll be the
[1:37] moderator. Assistant moderator is
Francis Faulner.
[1:42] Uh
we are broadcasting tonight's meeting
[1:49] live and is being recorded. Although to
participate,
[1:55] vote or make motions, people must be
physically present.
[2:01] This evening's meeting is the first
session
[2:04] of this year's annual town meeting. The
purpose of this session is to determine
[2:10] the form of warrant articles that will
be presented to voters
[2:17] at the polls on March 10th
at the Manok Regional School District
[2:24] gymnasium.
[2:30] And be before we begin, I'd like to
recognize
[2:36] if I have the sheet
Um,
[2:39] » the town officials that are here,
[2:46] » do I have the list?
[2:54] » Do you just want us to stand up and
introduce ourselves? Go down the line.
[2:58] » Oh, there we there it is. Thank you.
Thank you.
[3:03] Um, we start with the town
administrator,
[3:07] Lori, and I'm not going to pronounce
your last name.
[3:11] » Rodeiola.
>> Yeah.
[3:14] Town council is Cordell Johnston.
[3:19] Town clerk is Heather Estrella.
Deputy town clerk is Amanda Norcross.
[3:29] Here's
one I never pronounce right. Police
[3:34] chief
is Joe
[3:38] Gonalva.
>> Close enough.
[3:41] » Close enough. Good. Uh the fire chief
Eric Matson.
[3:48] Public works director Joe Duso.
[3:52] Solid waste manager Josh Whipple. Is he
here?
[3:59] He's at home watching.
>> Um, finance director Teresa Lounder,
[4:08] tax collector and emergency management
director Kevin Wescott,
[4:16] town planner. Adam Pette,
[4:23] assistant town planner
Stefan
[4:28] May Mayhew.
>> He's right up there.
[4:32] » There he is. Did I pronounce it right?
>> Sure. What the heck? Call me anything
[4:38] except late for supper. Right. Uh, let's
see.
[4:45] The recreation director is Ashley
Crosby.
[4:51] Yes, she is.
And
[4:57] I would ask for everyone to rise and
we'll have the pledge of allegiance.
[5:04] » Chief Chief of Police will lead us.
>> I aliance to the flag of the United
[5:12] States of America and to the republic
for which it stands. One nation under
[5:18] God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
[5:26] Thank you, Chief.
[5:32] I'm going to go through a few of the
basic basic rules for the first
[5:39] first session meeting.
Uh handouts which include the warrant
[5:44] articles
to be considered at this evening's
[5:48] meetings are available in the back of
the hall if you don't have them.
[5:53] Um,
[6:00] and everyone should treat each other
with respect and kindness would be nice.
[6:08] Um,
and before making before asking a
[6:12] question or making a statement, please
make your way to a microphone and
[6:19] identify yourself for the record.
If you would like to speak
[6:26] speak next, please make your way up to
and line up behind the mic. Don't wait
[6:32] for the person that's at the mic to uh
finish before you're you come up.
[6:40] Uh,
[6:44] as a general rule, we have uh I don't
know if we have any people here that are
[6:49] non- voters, but um
non- voters cannot speak without
[6:56] permission of the meeting. And that's up
to you folks whether you vote to let
[7:02] someone speak or not that's not a
registered voter in the town.
[7:11] As at past meetings, the moderator will
allow town staff to provide information
[7:20] or address questions which may arise
during the course of the meeting. A
[7:27] running debate will not be allowed.
Remarks and questions should go through
[7:33] the moderator.
If during the meeting you disagree with
[7:38] the ruling of the moderator, you may
request that the House be pulled.
[7:43] This is the voters's meeting. It's your
meeting
[7:47] and the voters may overrule the
moderator.
[7:52] With respect to motions for
reconsideration,
[7:56] a motion to reconsider will be con
[8:04] I don't know what that word in order to
make
[8:08] uh
a reconsideration motion. It needs needs
[8:13] to be made within 10 minutes of
declaring the result of the original
[8:17] vote.
We will be projecting the wording of
[8:23] each article
and we'll forgo reading them.
[8:28] When we get to an article, it will be
projected on the screen and I will ask
[8:35] for a motion and a second
and I will then open the floor for
[8:40] discussion or amendments.
Any amendments to an article
[8:47] will need to be submitted to the
moderator in writing
[8:52] and amendments will be voted on one at a
time. The amended article will be put on
[9:00] the projector
and then will be debated and voted on.
[9:05] Additional discussion and amendments
will then be allowed.
[9:10] When the voters are done with amendments
and discussion,
[9:15] I will call for the vote and I will
declare the results of the vote and we
[9:23] will move forward to the next item of
business.
[9:28] State law requires all on articles on
the warrant to be voted by official
[9:35] ballot. So motions to pass over or
postpone indefinitely
[9:41] are beyond the authority of the first
session
[9:45] and will be ruled out of order.
[9:51] Article one is the election of officers.
Article two and three are zoning
[9:56] amendments which do not need to be
discussed tonight.
[10:02] But the board would like to offer time
now to direct any questions they have
[10:08] about them to the planning board or
planning director.
[10:14] » Would anyone like to question
>> Mr. Moderator just the select board
[10:20] would like to present certificates to a
couple of
[10:23] » I'm sorry if we have a moment.
>> Skipped right over that.
[10:26] » No worries. All right. May we do so?
>> All right. recognize the sleen below
[10:33] who has some annoy announcements to
make.
[10:37] » All right, boys.
[10:49] Before we do this, there's several
people here who are on various boards
[10:54] and committees either elected or
volunteer. You mind just standing up so
[11:00] everyone could recognize you. We greatly
appreciate all your support.
[11:04] » Thank you.
[applause]
[11:15] » One of our standing committees is the
capital improvement committee. It's been
[11:19] in in action for over 12 years, but
we've never had the opportunity or or
[11:24] given them the opportunity to be
recognized. So tonight we would like to
[11:28] do that. Uh we know that there are
several members here and a few that were
[11:32] not able to attend. So it's only fitting
that the first certificate we give is to
[11:38] selectman Jimmy Tempesta.
>> Thank you. [applause]
[11:44] » Did you put that on top? [cheering]
>> How did you know?
[11:46] » Good job. Got rid of me fast.
>> I did. Not yet. Um a second is the
[11:51] chairman longterm longtime chairman
Stephen Bidd. I don't think Stephen is
[11:55] here tonight, but uh for those of you
who have served with him, you you're in
[11:59] awe as much as I am and my colleagues
with the work and effort that Steve puts
[12:04] in.
[applause]
[12:09] And then our newest member to the CIP
committee, a new resident of Swansea,
[12:14] moved here a few years ago, Pat
Ambrosio.
[12:18] [applause]
[12:28] vice chairman of the of the CIP
committee as well as a member of several
[12:32] others and longtime volunteer for the
town is Bruce Bohannan.
[12:37] [applause]
[12:42] [applause]
[12:50] Where am I?
[12:55] This next gentleman uh he and his wife
are new members of Swansea, have lived
[13:00] here for a few years on Wilson Pond and
have been very instrumental in
[13:04] encouraging the board and members of the
public to be respectful of Wilson Pond.
[13:09] uh been very uh energetic with regard to
that and and our expectation is that
[13:15] we'll have an opportunity in 2026 to
honor some of the requests that Mark
[13:19] Scalera has. I know Mark's not here
tonight, but he deserves to be
[13:23] recognized. [applause]
[13:30] Another gentleman who has served on
various committees and is currently a
[13:33] member of the planning board, vice
chairman of that board is Michael York.
[13:38] » [applause]
[13:41] » Thank you.
[13:46] Uh our next our last uh member of the
CIP committee is Larry Crowder. I'm not
[13:51] sure I don't see Larry here tonight. I
know evenings are difficult for him. Uh
[13:55] he's also been very instrumental in the
work that DPW does under the direction
[13:59] of Joe Duso with regard to our road
system. So let's recognize Larry.
[14:04] [applause]
[14:11] Last year, we appointed an ad hoc
committee, a fire station committee
[14:15] under the chairmanship of of Jay Ward.
And you all know how successful that
[14:20] committee was because the building's
almost done. And this year, uh, in
[14:25] response to the, uh, petition warrant
article last year asking the town to
[14:29] vote to support increasing the board of
selectmen from three members to five, we
[14:34] thought it was prudent if we appointed a
governance committee to take a look at
[14:38] how Swansea has governed itself, is
governing itself, and plans for the
[14:42] future. And so tonight, we'd like to
recognize that committee. Uh just as we
[14:49] were fortunate to have a strong chair
and Jay Ward with the fire station
[14:53] committee, we were blessed to have Annne
Hefernan as the chair for the governance
[14:56] committee. [applause]
[15:02] [applause]
[15:14] This gentleman I've been after for
years. Uh I met him when my wife and I
[15:18] owned a business called Lady of America
and his wife was one of our employees.
[15:22] Uh always very impressed by Eric and
this time Eric took us up and Eric May
[15:27] became a member of the governance
committee. Eric, I believe you're here.
[15:31] Welcome. [applause]
[15:44] This gentleman is an outstanding citizen
and resident of Swansea, one that we all
[15:48] look up to uh for his service not only
to the town but to our country. Admiral
[15:54] David Stinson.
[applause]
[16:04] And this gentleman, you all know, this
this gentleman uh may as well have been
[16:08] born here, and he probably was, but he's
been involved with the town for decades.
[16:12] Uh was on the fire department, a fire
chief at one time, was our DPW director,
[16:16] is currently our cemetery seon, and our
resident historian, Lee Dunham.
[16:22] [applause]
[16:27] [applause]
[16:39] I I don't see this next gentleman here,
but he became a good friend. He uh he
[16:44] was a one of our state reps back in the
last decade. Uh represented Swansea very
[16:49] well. uh Ben Tilton uh worked on behalf
of the town along with Jim McConnell and
[16:55] and brought a voice to conquer that we
had not had uh previously. Not that our
[17:01] other representatives didn't try, but
both of these guys were like pit bulls
[17:04] and and they seriously did great work
for us. Ben, are you here tonight? Well,
[17:09] if you get a chance to see him, Ben's
done tremendous work for the town and we
[17:12] hope hope he'll do more for us in the
future. [applause]
[17:20] This next gentleman is a well-known
contractor in Swansea and Cheshire
[17:24] County. Uh he's served the town and in
many functions. He's run for office at
[17:28] the state level and we look forward to
continued work with Danlair. [applause]
[17:39] I think I'm going to save this one for
last. This next gentleman is is also a
[17:44] lifer in Swansea. A very well-known
family that's been very instrumental in
[17:49] the in the history of Swansea and the
development of Swansea. And he's
[17:52] continued the legacy of his forebears as
a member of the planning board. Richard
[17:56] Lane.
[applause]
[18:08] Someone else gets to stand up a second
time. Uh this gentleman is a vice chair
[18:12] of the planning board. As mentioned,
he's he's been a member of the CIP
[18:16] committee uh as well as other committees
and has been to almost all of our our
[18:20] select board meetings. He's been a very
astute contributor. We appreciate his
[18:24] efforts. Michael York.
[applause]
[18:29] Thank you, Michael.
[18:34] Uh this gentleman, as I mentioned
earlier, uh is a new resident of
[18:38] Swansea, very instrumental in in trying
to improve the water quality at Wilson
[18:42] Pond. We know he's not here, but we'd
like him recognized Mark Scalera.
[18:46] [applause]
[18:51] And this young lady is is someone that I
take great pride in. Uh she's someone
[18:56] that I I met with along with one of her
colleagues a few years ago. they had
[19:00] some issues to discuss that they felt
and I believe at then and believe even
[19:04] more so now were very instrumental and
significant to the town of Swansea. Uh
[19:09] she's somebody who's become a good
friend. I greatly appreciate her
[19:12] efforts. She's speaking out on behalf of
the town on Facebook. You all know her.
[19:17] Jessica Ramsey Sanchez. [applause]
[19:36] This year, Swansea elected a new
selectman uh a resident of Swansea,
[19:40] lifelong resident of Swansea, been
involved in our police department and
[19:44] fire department. He stepped in and did a
phenomenal job as a selectman. We all
[19:48] appreciate his efforts. He was very uh
supportive and helpful to an with regard
[19:53] to the governance committee. Mark Leel,
[applause]
[20:04] this gentleman is worldrenowned
certainly in Cheshire County. Uh he is
[20:09] the Macgyver of Swansea. Uh people have
no idea, I certainly don't of of all the
[20:15] contributions that Scott has made to
this town. truly an outstanding citizen.
[20:20] [applause]
[20:27] [applause]
[20:34] Be
>> before we turn the meeting over to the
[20:36] moderator, I just want to we we all want
to thank you for your support uh for the
[20:41] town in in 2025. It it's going to go
down as one of the most historic years
[20:46] in the history of our town. It started
with the the vote last year for the fire
[20:51] station. After almost 10 years, we
finally got it passed. It's on time.
[20:56] It's under budget. And it will be a a
tribute to all the work that and the
[21:01] support that you all gave us. So, thank
you very much. This is long, long
[21:05] overdue.
[applause]
[21:12] 2025 also marked a significant change in
town. Uh Michael Branley had been our
[21:17] town administrator for almost 10 years.
Uh he came in on the heels of Shane
[21:21] O'Keefe who came in on the heels of of
Beth Fox and and Michael did an
[21:26] incredible job. I think you all know
department heads certainly know the
[21:30] effort that he made and and we wished
him well as he went off to greener
[21:35] pastures in Windham. But as one door
closes, another one opens. And we were
[21:39] so blessed to have the opportunity to
bring in Lori Radiola.
[21:44] [applause]
[21:49] [applause]
[21:54] » Oh, come on up there. I didn't I didn't
know.
[21:57] » Give a little shake or hug or something?
>> Come on. Come on.
[22:03] » You don't want to You want to say a few
words? Lori's just just done an amazing
[22:07] job. She she's brought a a tenor to the
position that we haven't haven't had
[22:12] before. A level of experience I mean I'm
sorry a level of enthusiasm that goes
[22:16] well beyond uh anything that most of us
could have expected. Her experience and
[22:21] her growth and her knowledge is going to
be a tremendous asset for the town of
[22:24] Swansea. Lori, come on up. We'll do
we'll do a redo. [applause]
[22:36] » [applause]
[22:38] » So I and the during the course of 2025,
we had several other projects that came
[22:44] to fruition, not the least of which is
the Great Wall over, for those of you
[22:48] that know it, on South Road at the
intersection of Flat Roof Milroad. It
[22:52] was a long, long overdue project. It was
one that brought in some experimental
[22:56] technology and it seems like it's
working well. Uh we're pretty much done.
[23:02] Uh through the leadership of Joe Duso
and the work of Gordon Services, uh we
[23:06] brought that project in on time and
under budget. The last item that we have
[23:11] is to put in some additional guard rails
that the state had not originally
[23:15] required. It was a suggestion by Joe and
Gordon Services that we put them in and
[23:19] now that they're there, the state would
like us to extend them. So that was a a
[23:23] tremendously uh tremendous project. As
we go through the departments, one of
[23:28] the ones that has been under the most
level of stress is the police
[23:32] department. And we all, including the
the members of the department, owe a
[23:35] debt of gratitude to Chief Gonza. I'm
sorry, Chief Gonzalez. His ability to
[23:40] hold his team together and provide the
level of service that we have in Swansea
[23:44] is truly incredible. I appreciate an
opportunity to give him a round of
[23:49] applause. [applause]
[23:53] Good job, Chief.
[23:57] Not to be outdone was our fire
department. We had uh under the
[24:01] direction I'm sorry under the suggestion
of Sai Kerazinski two three years ago.
[24:06] I'm sorry it was two years ago. It was
Jim's first meeting uh we brought
[24:09] together a team of leadership with Eric
Matson as our fire chief uh Norm Scansy,
[24:16] Michael Burke as assist deputy chiefs
and Mick Sanchez as assistant chief.
[24:21] That team worked very well. and and then
this year uh Norm Scants decided to
[24:26] leave Swansea and and take a chief's
position elsewhere. So the team I'm
[24:31] sorry so the chief reassembled his
committee uh re reassigned duties and
[24:36] they continue to provide tremendous
service to the town. They've almost
[24:40] doubled the participation uh and
volunteers that we have which is a
[24:44] tremendous accomplishment. Uh, as you
all know, bringing in firefighters and
[24:49] police is a is a very challenging
opportunity for communities, not just
[24:53] Swansea, not just Keen, not just Chester
County, but the state and the country.
[24:57] So, Chief, congratulations.
[applause]
[25:04] » [applause]
>> Josh Whipple, who unfortunately is not
[25:06] able to be here, but is watching us uh
this year with his team, completed the
[25:11] project that you all supported for the
renovation of the recycling center. Uh
[25:16] they've added additional recycling
opportunities. He's always looking for
[25:20] new opportunities. this year. He's
looking for uh an a shed to house waste
[25:28] oil and use as a as a protective measure
[clears throat] in order to be able to
[25:33] utilize the oil on their inside heaters.
He's also interested in putting a cover
[25:38] over the glass bins that we have, which
will allow us to collect more glass.
[25:43] It'll be cleaner and we'll we'll gain a
better return from that. So, I know Josh
[25:47] isn't here, but he deserves he and his
team deserve a round of applause.
[25:52] [applause]
[25:58] Yes. Our recreation director, Ashley
Crosby, uh she and her cohort, Ashley
[26:04] Nash, have continued to grow the
programs that many of our children have
[26:08] had the opportunity to participate in,
and through their efforts, those
[26:12] programs are growing and expanding. In
addition, she and her team have added uh
[26:17] special events. We have a Valentine's
dance coming up
[26:21] » next Friday night.
>> Next Friday. And we have a a winter fest
[26:25] » on March 1st
>> at at the Lane Fields
[26:27] » February 22nd.
>> Right. And we will have an ice fishing
[26:30] derby this year.
>> Yeah. So again, she's she's done
[26:35] tremendous work and and deserves our
recognition. [applause]
[26:41] Another
[applause]
[26:47] area of recreation that is often
underutilized and unrecognized, but for
[26:52] those people who take advantage of it,
it's greatly appreciated. And that's our
[26:56] rail trail. And the under the leadership
of Mike Kowals and Bruce Bohannan,
[27:00] they've done a fabulous job, as you
know, if you've used them, and they
[27:04] continue to do a great job and making us
the pride of Cheshire County for our
[27:08] rail trails. Congratulation, boys.
>> [applause]
[27:15] [applause]
[27:18] » Oh, code enforcement. We had Mike
Jasmine as our code enforcement officer
[27:23] for almost 10 years. uh Mike decided to
leave us at the end of 2024 and we were
[27:29] fortunate to bring in Chris Levy who
came with a wealth of experience from
[27:34] Texas and from all I've heard and all
the board has heard and our town
[27:37] administrator he's been wellreceived by
residents and and well received by
[27:41] developers and builders. We're very
fortunate to have him and I don't think
[27:45] Chris is here but like to recognize
Chris
[27:48] [applause]
[27:53] and then we'll we'll yield the floor to
the moderator. One of the events that
[27:57] we're very excited about tonight is the
opportunity for everyone to review and
[28:02] discuss the zoning amendments. Uh all
too often as planning board members and
[28:07] and zoning board members, we've heard
the term you people. In other words, you
[28:11] people have made this decision and
realistically, we all have made the
[28:15] decision because we all vote on the
amendments. And so tonight, you'll have
[28:19] the opportunity to discuss those
amendments with with Scott and other
[28:23] members of of the different committees,
the conservation committee, uh, as well
[28:28] as his own I'm sorry, the planner, Adam
Pocket. So, with that, we turn it over
[28:33] to you, Mr. Moderator. Thank you.
>> Now, does this count as your time?
[28:40] » [laughter]
>> I did have one other thing.
[28:44] » This is a good This is a good one,
George. This is a good one. Bruce
[28:48] mentioned at the at the beginning that
he's been a longtime moderator for the
[28:52] town. Bruce has been our moderator. He
took over from Pat Hazelton 12 years
[28:57] ago, and Bruce has decided that this
would be his last year. He's been a
[29:01] tremendous guide for us, a wonderful
moderator, brings a good a good sense of
[29:06] humor and and a calm demeanor to the
meetings. So, Bruce, we wish you well in
[29:11] your last meeting. But before that,
there was a typo in in the handout that
[29:16] you received. Uh the handout that you
received received had a list of
[29:20] candidates for all of the positions, and
one of the positions is a three-year
[29:24] seat for selectman. Bruce's name was
left off inadvertently. He is on the
[29:29] ballot and he is on everything else
official, but we wanted to make you
[29:32] aware that Bruce is running for
selectman for a three-year term. So
[29:36] again, 12 years. Great job, Bruce. Thank
[applause] you.
[29:43] [applause]
>> This doesn't this doesn't count the time
[29:48] for shortest.
[29:53] » There you go.
[29:57] All right.
So, we
[30:01] call the the
deliberative session to order
[30:06] and uh article
[30:12] article two of the zoning amendments.
[30:19] Does anybody have any questions on the
zoning amendments?
[30:37] Seeing no uh discussion on the zoning
amendments
[30:42] that we will be voting as they're
written on the ballot in March.
[30:50] Um,
okay.
[30:56] Which one's this one? Four,
six. Try four.
[31:05] » We'll get there.
[31:08] Three.
>> Ah,
[31:14] what's up?
[31:22] Okay. Three is uh going to be
moved by
[31:30] Lori.
>> I can start with that one. Y
[31:34] » make a motion that we move the article.
Second.
[31:38] » Motion made and seconded.
Uh discussion on article three.
[31:45] So, if we could just uh say a few things
about that and then Yeah. Okay. Um, so
[31:50] article three uh proposes raising an
appropriating a total of $1.2 million to
[31:56] design and construct, equip, and furnish
a new public works facility on town
[32:01] owned property uh located at 98 Pine
Street. Uh, of this amount 150 would
[32:07] come from the public works facility
expendable trust fund and the remaining
[32:12] uh 1,50,000
would be funded through uh bond issue.
[32:17] The article authorizes the selectman to
manage the financing, seek federal and
[32:22] state aid and all actions necessary to
complete the project. A three-fifths
[32:28] ballot vote is required and the
selectmen do recommend this warrant
[32:32] article. We have a few um slides up
here. If we can just kind of go through
[32:37] them, I think that would be we could be
able to explain it a little bit. Um
[32:43] so this, let's see here.
This is a fastmill of the proposed
[32:49] public works facility. It's a
manufactured steel building and is
[32:53] approximately 12,000 square feet. Um
we'll discuss more details in the
[32:58] following slides.
[33:03] This is a site plan of the location of
the proposed
[33:08] uh public works facility in proximity to
the current location.
[33:13] You can see it up there. The building uh
would be built on the same property as
[33:17] the current public works building at 98
Pine Street and the site plan was done
[33:22] by Fieldstone Land Consultants.
[33:28] Um, so some of the challenges with the
current facility, um, the plow trucks do
[33:33] not fit inside the current building with
the plows on, um, requiring our DPW DPW
[33:39] crew to install the plows oftentimes,
um, in the middle of a snowstorm, which
[33:44] can take up to an hour, delaying the
response time to the roads. Um, as you
[33:49] can see, equipment is stored outside in
the elements. Um so it's exposure to um
[33:56] snow, ice and moisture and it reduces
the equipment lifespan and increases the
[34:03] maintenance needs for the department. Um
as I mentioned the increased staff time
[34:08] clearing the snow and ice. Um crews must
spend time clearing off vehicles before
[34:12] they can even begin plowing and and or
responding to storms. Um weather related
[34:19] delays slow down the department's
ability to clear the roads quickly and
[34:22] safely. The current works uh the current
public works facility is aging and
[34:27] deteriorating and no longer meets the
department's operational needs. The
[34:32] department has outgrown the building
resulting in equipment being stored
[34:36] outdoors and exposed to the elements of
weather which again increased staff time
[34:42] clearing snow and and most importantly
responding to um the road conditions.
[34:48] Portions of the facility including the
restroom are non-compliant. Um and the
[34:53] board of selectman capital improvement
committee do recommend addressing this
[34:57] critical infrastructure need now um to
improve the efficiency, safety and
[35:02] compliance while um helping to stabilize
the tax rate by avoiding more costly
[35:08] emergency solutions in the future.
[35:16] So here um so this image highlights the
ongoing safety concerns our public works
[35:22] staff face when working in a building
that is no longer adequate for the size
[35:26] of today's equipment or the demands of
modern operations. Uh limited space and
[35:33] aging infrastructure increase the risk
of accidents and injuries. The current
[35:38] facility is inefficient and outdated,
creating daily challenges for staff who
[35:43] must maneuver large vehicles and
equipment in an environment not designed
[35:48] for them. Th this slows operations and
reduces our ability to respond again to
[35:54] those um to the roads and emergencies.
Um I think we mentioned prior the um
[36:00] exposure you know to the temperature
swings um and the structural limitations
[36:04] which results in increased maintenance
costs and accelerated wear and tear. A
[36:09] modern facility would protect the town's
investment and extend
[36:14] um extend the equipment lifespan.
So, upgrading a new public works
[36:20] building addresses the long-term
operational needs. Um, helping the
[36:24] department work more efficiently and
maintain vehicles properly and provide
[36:29] re reliable services to our residents.
[36:40] Okay. So, here we have the um the some
non-compliance issues. The current uh
[36:45] public works facility has several
non-compliance issues that need to be
[36:49] addressed. The building no longer meets
uh modern standards for workplace safety
[36:54] uh equipment storage, operational
requirements areas such as ventilation.
[37:00] Um you can see in the picture here that
break room is basically the door to that
[37:07] break room. Right on the other side were
the um equipment that you see here. So
[37:12] that's right on the other side of of
that.
[37:17] Um
so we have ADA um accessibility and
[37:22] proper separation of staff and equipment
that are inadequate and or outdated. In
[37:27] addition, the facility does not comply
with the recommended best practices for
[37:32] maintaining large municipal municipal
vehicles which increases the risk both
[37:37] to staff and our equipment. These
deficiencies highlight why replacement,
[37:42] not repair, is the most long-term
um is the most responsible long-term
[37:48] solution.
[37:52] We have maybe one more and then I'm
going to turn it over to Joe and and
[37:56] Jimmy here. But I think that the key
takeaways here on this article, um the
[38:02] the current facility is unsafe and
non-compliant. the aging infrastructure,
[38:08] inadequate space, outdated systems
create safety risks for our staff and
[38:13] equipment.
Uh the equipment stored outdoors leads
[38:17] to delays and higher costs. Exposure to
weather reduc reduces equipment lifespan
[38:23] and increases prep time during storms.
Um the operational in inefficiencies
[38:30] limit our response times. the layout and
structural um constraints, slow down
[38:35] maintenance, repairs and treatment for
uh road road treatment operations.
[38:42] A new facility addresses long-term
infrastructure needs, uh modern design,
[38:47] improved safety, efficiency, and proper
equipment care. The total project cost
[38:54] is 1.2 2 million with 150 would be
proposed to come out of the existing
[39:00] expendable trust fund and 1
million50,000
[39:06] through bond and notes. And again, the
selectman um
[39:11] uh would be authorized to issue
financing and seek other um areas of
[39:16] funding through grants um whether that
be federal or state. Um, and this does
[39:21] require a three-fifths ballot and it is
recommended by the board and the capital
[39:26] improvements committee as well. And I
would just like to turn it over to Jimmy
[39:31] if you have anything or or Joe or
anybody wants to start asking questions.
[39:35] Joe,
>> I just need to say a few words about it.
[39:37] » Yes. I um I've been selectman for two
years now and we all know we all know
[39:44] all these departments are very important
to our town and sometimes I'm looking
[39:49] now at how our town is growing. Our
town's growing it feels like strength
[39:54] over here and weakness over here.
Meaning we're having a lot of
[39:57] population, a lot of people coming to
our town, but I I feel that we're
[40:01] getting weaker on the other side. We
need to strengthen the foundation of our
[40:05] town and I think these are steps to f to
strengthen the foundation of our town.
[40:10] We did the fire station and you know
I've never thought I've seen that there
[40:17] was so much to this public works till
I've hung around with Joe and I spent
[40:22] quite a bit of time with Joe going to
this and meeting these guys and these
[40:27] guys this crew that we have we are so
fortunate. I can't praise them enough
[40:33] what they do in this town. They just
don't plow the roads. They just don't
[40:36] mold on anything that we need in this
town. They come to our rescue. They go
[40:41] over and above. And I feel that they're
a great group of guys like a great
[40:46] carpenter but with a small toolbox. If
we don't allow Joe and his crew to have
[40:52] the right equipment and the right tools
to do his job, that's on us. And I
[40:56] really feel strongly that everybody
should think about this and the growth
[41:00] of our town, how important this
building's going to be. We have
[41:04] equipment, like Lori said, that we
bought brand new. We're going to get
[41:08] more years out of it. Safety is the
hugest thing. This last storm, I could
[41:13] not believe that the guys are out there
in the wind and the darkness hooking on
[41:17] plows outside in the wind and they had
to connect these plows cuz we can't put
[41:22] them. Joe can't put them on the night
before. that they done outside. I mean,
[41:27] somebody could lose a finger. It's cold.
They're hooking up cold hoses. You have
[41:31] a building like this. The storm is
coming. Joe can be ready for it. He can
[41:35] have all his trucks lined up. Safety is
huge. But we just got to I I feel this
[41:41] town, we have to pull back the reinss
and we have to look at the foundation.
[41:45] These departments where we're weak, we
have a a police department that we need
[41:50] strength. We have every department we
need strength in. I really think we got
[41:54] to concentrate on the town. Even the
town hall, all you town hall people in
[41:58] the town, they're they're straight out.
But I'm not going to get into all that
[42:02] because I want to stay in the building.
But this building vote is really really
[42:07] important. I put this in the category of
of the water system that we passed up
[42:12] last year because that to me was a
disaster. We needed that and we didn't
[42:16] do it. And I think because people
weren't educated enough on that and I
[42:21] don't want to let this slip through. So
I'm going to push it strongly. I feel
[42:24] strongly about this is money that's
going to come back to us. It's going to
[42:28] come back to us in a strong way. It's
going to give the crew the right tools
[42:34] to work with. And I just hope you guys
leave here tonight. And if you believe
[42:38] what I just said, spread the word and
let's see if we can get this pass for
[42:42] the for the future of our town because
the roads and all this is so important
[42:48] to this town, the strength. So I want
you to all to understand what these guys
[42:52] do and they need a new toolbox. So thank
you for that.
[42:57] » Thank you, Jory.
[43:02] » Any further discussion?
>> I'd like to speak to it. I'd like to
[43:05] speak to it a little bit too, moderator.
uh just educate the people a little bit.
[43:08] So when Mike Branley was here, we
started looking at this. It was brought
[43:11] to my attention that CIP wanted to do
something with the facility. Uh we've
[43:15] done we did research and worked with a
contractor that actually did the
[43:18] recycling center and it just wasn't
going to be cost effective to put an
[43:21] addition on and make upgrades to this
building. And uh what I learned from
[43:25] talking with other contractors and then
a local Swansea contractor that just
[43:29] built the steel building that this was
the most cost-effective way to go. It's
[43:33] not an elaborate building. It's a large
It's a large uh steel building. It's
[43:37] going to we have um adequate office
space. And then the big thing like Jimmy
[43:42] was talking about with the crew. This
last snowstorm, guys worked extensive
[43:46] hours with minimal breaks. And there's
really there's there's not even adequate
[43:50] room in there for everybody to eat lunch
at the same time in the break room. The
[43:53] bathroom is deplorable. We put a new
toilet bowl on recently trying to make
[43:57] it a little more livable, but there's
just no space. Uh and then the big thing
[44:01] is keeping the equipment inside. Uh
we're very thankful with support of the
[44:05] select board and the CIP committee and
the residents that we we have some
[44:08] state-of-the-art equipment. We have
great equipment at the highway
[44:11] department. We recently just took
delivery of a new plow truck with a with
[44:14] a spreader. That's approximately
$250,000.
[44:18] Uh two years before and this year as
well, we we uh we took delivery of a new
[44:22] grater which has to stay parked outside
and it's re they really wear in the
[44:26] environment, the rubber, the hydraulic
hoses. So unfortunately that machine has
[44:31] to stay parked outside with this new
building. Everything would be inside. Uh
[44:35] and then the big takeaway too is is the
plow trucks. They need to we when we
[44:40] have a storm, we can't be dealing with
trying to get them started or frozen up
[44:43] airlines. The trucks need to stay inside
and unfortunately they cannot fit inside
[44:47] with the plows on them. So it's it's an
approximate hour prep from the start of
[44:52] the storm which often takes place in the
snow. And then the example of this last
[44:56] storm we ran into, we're plowing where
it was so cold, windows on trucks are
[45:01] freezing up, airlines are freezing up.
So in order for us to get the trucks
[45:05] inside, we have to take the plows back
off again and put these these trucks
[45:09] back in. And you can see in the picture
um all the plows lined up out back and
[45:14] often times you're dealing with them
being frozen in the ground. Um so there
[45:19] there's a lot of thought going into
this. And one of the other things we're
[45:22] going to be doing is going to be holding
an open house. So, if anybody has any
[45:25] questions or questions the need for
this, they can see firsthand what we're
[45:28] dealing with. Uh, and and like I said, I
just want to be clear, this is not an
[45:32] elaborate building. It it's pretty
basic. It's basically to get all the
[45:36] equipment inside, give the crew a clean
place to have a break room, adequate
[45:40] bathrooms, adequate office that are
temperature controlled, and are not
[45:44] relying on the heating for the garage.
the the current heating system there's
[45:49] whatever temperature the garage is at is
what you're getting in the office, what
[45:52] you're getting in the bathroom, and what
you're getting in the break room. And
[45:55] I'd be glad to answer any other
questions that anybody has about it.
[46:05] » That's okay. I'll forgive you this time.
>> I think it comes out too, Dan, if you
[46:08] need.
>> Okay. I'm usually pretty loud, so
[46:11] » I don't think people are going to have a
hard time hearing me. Uh ju just a few
[46:15] uh um question statements.
>> Excuse me.
[46:17] » Yes.
>> Can you state your name for the group?
[46:20] And
>> I suppose that
[46:22] » uh Danlair I live over on Warmarmac Road
if anybody want to come over and visit.
[46:27] Um
so um $1.2 million uh just passing the
[46:32] fire station is a lot of money. And as
Jimmy stated, Yep. Uh there's a lot of
[46:38] um
um
[46:43] what's the word I'm looking for?
>> Yeah. Well, yeah, there's a lot there
[46:46] there's a lot of needs in Swansea and
you know, a lot of the people that work
[46:50] for Swansea, you know, are the
foundation, but unfortunately the
[46:53] foundation of uh the money Swansea gets
comes from the property owners. Um we've
[46:59] all seen our taxes go up quite a bit in
the last year. Uh we've seen house
[47:03] assessments go up with currently and
Bill can probably attest to this, the
[47:07] housing prices are starting to come
down. Um so uh my first question is um
[47:14] with these vehicles that you're plowing
with that get covered in snow and salt
[47:18] when you put them in a warm building,
won't the water melting the salt cause
[47:24] the vehicles to corrode faster?
No, because we wash them on a regular
[47:30] basis when the weather's weather allows.
We have a current wash bay right now
[47:35] that is not functional because it's
being used as storage, but it's not like
[47:39] we just put a plow truck covered with
salt and leave it there. After almost
[47:43] every storm when the weather allows, for
example, today we were doing
[47:46] maintenance. All the spreaders were
being pulled out of the plow trucks and
[47:49] they were all being washed away with a
saw.
[47:52] » Um, and with this $1.2 $2 million
facility. Uh h have you put this out to
[47:58] bid yet? Have you looked at different
costs associated where you could you can
[48:02] bring it down?
>> Yeah, it did not go out to bid. Um we've
[48:06] looked at a lot of different resources
and the cost of it not using a general
[48:10] contractor using a manufactured steel
building that comes with a uh engineered
[48:16] design for snow loads, an engineered
design for the foundation. If this
[48:21] project was to move forward, there'd be
a bidding process for the concrete work.
[48:25] There'd be a bidding process for the
installation of the building. Uh myself
[48:29] and DPW would do the majority of the
site work. So, that stuff would go
[48:32] through a bidding process, but it was
too premature to put that out. We got
[48:36] some ear marks from different
contractors to have an idea what certain
[48:40] segments were going to cost, and that's
how we came up with the budget.
[48:43] » Okay. Um,
[48:49] now I know you said you've looked into
um upgrades to the current building. Is
[48:56] that something and I know usually
upgrades I I I don't know how much you
[49:00] can upgrade the current building you
have is basically what I'm saying. But
[49:03] is this something where there's some
equipment that can be stored, what I
[49:06] call a pole barn, but you know, you put
up a building that has no walls that you
[49:10] can store equipment under that's out of
the elements and try to save cost. I'm
[49:15] just looking ways to save to save money
because unfortunately looking at a lot
[49:20] of the stuff in here, I haven't seen
anywhere where the town has tried to cut
[49:25] costs after our increase in taxes last
year. Um, and pre previously being on
[49:30] the school board, we had an issue last
year where they tried to cut $3 million
[49:35] out of the budget. Luckily, that didn't
happen, but the school board was smart
[49:38] enough to know this year that their
operating budget is below the default
[49:41] budget. And unfortunately, I just don't
see that with the town um seeing the
[49:47] rate of our taxes going up. So,
>> can we I'm I'm just I'm just wondering
[49:52] if this is something I know we need it,
but is this something we need right now
[49:56] or is this something we can need in a
year or two uh so we can level out our
[50:00] tax base and try to bring in more
businesses?
[50:04] » Well, I I say we need it. We're going to
be able to if it's not passed, we'll
[50:08] still be able to operate, but I still
think that leaves us in the current
[50:11] position the building it is. And we,
like I said, we have looked at cost cuts
[50:14] because the steel building's a lot less
money than paying for an addition and an
[50:18] add-on to it. And like I said, I I just
need to stress this is a barebone heated
[50:23] steel building for storage and the and
the big focus on on getting the break
[50:27] room and the in the offices. And like I
said, I invite anybody to stop by to
[50:30] take a look at it for themselves.
>> All right. Thank you,
[50:35] » Steve.
[50:39] Steve Russell U. Katie Lane. Some of you
may know my background and that is I
[50:46] spent 12 years running the city of Keen
fleet
[50:50] maintained all Bruce's equipment for 12
years. And if you know anything about
[50:55] diesel engines, they don't like cold
weather at all and they're very
[51:00] difficult to start and they get a lot of
no starts and it just goes on and on. So
[51:06] getting that equipment indoors where it
belongs, we've got probably
[51:12] probably a couple of million dollars
worth of equipment in the public works
[51:16] department. And I think it's very
important that we build a building that
[51:19] adequately houses that equipment.
Changing the cutting edges, doing all
[51:24] that maintenance really needs to happen
indoors. We were very fortunate and keen
[51:30] where we moved from South Main Street
and put all our equipment in the
[51:34] building at the Wetall building. It was
wonderful. We had everything there. The
[51:39] plows went on easily. They were able to
change the cutting edges indoors. If
[51:44] you've ever tried to change a cutting
edge, it's a lot of work. It's a lot of
[51:47] bolts and when they're cold, they don't
do very well to get off the the plows.
[51:52] So, I strongly urge the town to support
this building. I think it's very
[51:57] important to protect our equipment here
in the public works department.
[52:02] » I agree.
>> Thank you.
[52:06] » George, Swansea Lake Road. Hey Joe, I
was just curious um what would happen
[52:11] with the if this went through, what
would happen with the old building? Are
[52:17] are we going to maintain that and
utilize that or are we going to
[52:20] dismantle that?
>> Yeah. No, that would be part of the
[52:23] still would store vehicles. There would
still be a workshop. The new building
[52:27] would be just grim space to put
everything in.
[52:30] » And
I'm almost worried, you know, it's like
[52:34] initially, you know, I don't think the
cost, you know, in today's is but the
[52:38] operation, the ongoing operational cost.
Uh how are we going to heat this? Are we
[52:43] insulating it? Um and and how are we
going to heat this? Are we using oil or
[52:49] » It'll be oil. Then one of the things
we're looking at, not with this, but in
[52:53] the future, it's going to be set up for
a solar array. So there's potential that
[52:56] that some of the energy is going to come
from solar, but as it stands right now,
[53:00] it'll be heated with oil like we are
like we have right now. Uh but this
[53:04] building will allow us to keep the
temperature in the current building a
[53:07] lot lower than we do now. Um but it
still would be a cost to operate.
[53:12] » Do we have a projection of what it would
cost to heat that that size building? I
[53:16] mean, it's it's going to
>> I don't off hand. It' be much it'd be
[53:19] much more modern and part of this would
be a uh a significant insulation
[53:24] package, not just a standard one for a
steel building. That's one of the things
[53:27] we opted with because it'll pay for
itself in the future with the with the
[53:32] building.
>> Thank you. Yakman,
[53:36] » I just I I just want to say one thing,
you know, Danny did come up with some I
[53:41] understand about the tax. I understand
we're all hurting with the tax thing and
[53:45] we're going to get five selectmen on
this board next year and we're going to
[53:49] put together a team on how we can do
this. But my idea is like you said, you
[53:53] mentioned it slightly that we need to
bring some business to this town. Okay.
[53:57] But what I don't want to see happen,
Danny, is what happened with the fire
[54:00] station. I don't want to see us four or
five years from now trying to get a
[54:05] public works department a building and
it's going to cost us more and more and
[54:09] more and the building's going to get
smaller smaller smaller. We know that
[54:13] this is inevitable that we have to get a
building for all our equipment. Now
[54:17] whether we do it now or we cost more in
four years or we hold off somebody gets
[54:23] hurt the the trucks don't last longer
all I'm saying is I get what you're
[54:28] saying. You you have a great point. We
got to try to figure out how we're going
[54:32] to lower the taxes and have a strong
town. And I'm thinking next year with
[54:36] five select on this board, if we put
together a good solid team, Danny, we're
[54:40] going to figure out how to get
everybody's taxes down and have some big
[54:44] businesses come in, low impact on our
town. I get it. This is a tough time to
[54:49] try to pull this off. But I'm looking at
the future, Danny. I'm looking at trying
[54:54] to get this behind us. This is behind us
now. Now we have that strength. We have
[54:59] a good public works. We have a fire
station. You know, all of this. So, I
[55:04] did listen to what you have say. You
have some fantastic ideas. And it is
[55:07] tough for me to sit here as a selectman
and say, "Let's spend a million, too."
[55:12] But I'm not thinking of tomorrow. I'm
thinking of years down the line. I just
[55:17] don't want to see us bringing this up
every year like we did the fire station
[55:20] and costing us more just like we had.
And this could be the same scenario.
[55:25] Let's stop that. Let's just get it done.
And that's how I feel. Thank you.
[55:32] » Go ahead.
>> I've had occasion to be down that public
[55:34] works department several times
throughout the years. Oh, sorry if I did
[55:38] see you back there. And uh anytime I'm
down there, those trucks are packed in
[55:42] there like sardines. They're bumper to
bumper. I was just down there a couple
[55:46] of weeks ago and they're trying to do a
break job down there and you're walking
[55:49] like this between the plow and the other
truck there. It's got the brake parts
[55:52] sat on one of the plows there. There's
not enough room down that department and
[55:56] they definitely could use this building.
It's good investment.
[56:02] » Alan Gross, 209 South Road. And I hear
those trucks going by uh in the morning
[56:07] on a snowy day and I said to myself,
"Thank heavens you're doing that because
[56:11] if I have to travel in knowing I'm on a
safe, well plowed road is going to make
[56:15] a is invaluable to me." So I just want
to say if this is going to help you be
[56:19] more efficient, more effective, and more
safe, I'm all for it. Thank you.
[56:23] Anything
further?
[56:28] Yes sir.
[56:31] » Good evening everybody. My name is uh
Rick Donovan. I moved to town in 2021. I
[56:38] am recently retired from a neighboring
town here in Southwest New Hampshire. Um
[56:45] we've had our struggles with our DPW,
our fire, our police, and I'm here to
[56:51] stand up. These guys do an awesome job
and trust me, we've all worked together
[56:58] trying to get through the storms,
pulling DBW trucks back, police
[57:04] cruisers, fire trucks, trying to get
through when we all need them in an
[57:10] emergency. I support all three of these
departments as well as other public
[57:15] safety departments. And I feel that we
keep pushing things off as the town I
[57:22] come from did. And right now they are
feeling the struggles right now of
[57:27] trying to put these facilities in place
and give our guys a place to work. And
[57:35] the town I'm from, I watched the DBW
guys putting plows on trying to fix
[57:40] these trucks in inadequate places of
storage to do it. So Joe, I support you
[57:47] and your crew, Chief Matson. And I'm
sorry, I don't know the last name of the
[57:53] police chief, but I'll be here to
support these guys. I come from 25 years
[57:58] of experience as a director of publican
life safety. So it's I'm not just up
[58:04] here just trying to fill you with a
bunch of stuff. Yes, we're all concerned
[58:08] with taxes, but we keep pushing this off
in a fast growing area that we all are
[58:15] in southwest New Hampshire, it's just
going to escalate the cost.
[58:20] » Thank you.
I think further
[58:29] we should uh I guess we're ready for
a vote. No amendments to this that I've
[58:38] seen hasn't been presented.
So
[58:43] all those in favor of having this
article go forward,
[58:48] please say I.
>> I.
[58:50] » Those opposed.
[58:54] Thank you. Moderator, I make a motion to
not reconsider the article.
[59:01] Make a use your mic.
make a motion to not to
[59:07] restrict non-consideration.
>> We have a motion to um restrict
[59:16] further discussion or moderation of of
this article which is
[59:21] in line. Um
>> I have a second to the motion.
[59:25] » You have a second.
>> Okay. Motion's been made and seconded to
[59:31] eliminate any further discussion
um on this article.
[59:38] Anybody object to that? All those in
favor?
[59:43] » I All right. Opposed.
[59:48] Um thank you.
Okay.
[59:53] Let's see. We can go
article four slman halter would make a
[1:00:01] motion to move the article 4
second.
[1:00:08] » Thank you Mr. moderator.
This article would give the board of
[1:00:14] sele or the town the opportunity to
terminate the the revenue district that
[1:00:21] we have on Safford Drive in 1999.
Back in the days when Bill Omera was
[1:00:26] around uh there was a committee formed
and they brought to then town meeting
[1:00:32] the opportunity for a tax increment
finance district. We were one of the
[1:00:36] first towns in the state of New
Hampshire to utilize that tool. And the
[1:00:40] way that tool worked was that at the
time of the inception of the district
[1:00:46] the property values were listed at that
point in the district as it was current
[1:00:52] currently configured. any increase in
value for those properties, the tax
[1:00:57] revenues went into the tax revenues for
the increased value went into pay off a
[1:01:04] bond which had been taken out at the
same time. It was a $3.3 million bond.
[1:01:10] So those revenues uh from the excess
valuation did not come into the general
[1:01:14] fund. Those those funds stayed within
the district.
[1:01:19] Over the years, you've seen Saffford
Drive come to fruition. We have water,
[1:01:24] sewer, and three-phase power in in our
industrial park district. The bond, the
[1:01:30] $3.3 million bond is due to be paid off
in September of this year. When that
[1:01:36] bond is paid off, there's no reason for
the TIFF district to continue to exist.
[1:01:41] So what that means is that that excess
revenue that was going to pay off the
[1:01:46] bond will now be made available to the
general fund in December. So Dan, it may
[1:01:52] help us just a little bit
>> as long as you send it back to the
[1:01:55] taxpayers.
>> It's it would it would be a part of the
[1:01:57] general fund which would would be a
benefit to the taxpayers
[1:02:02] » without without the opportunity to
terminate the district. then the
[1:02:06] district would continue to compile those
excess revenues until such time as the
[1:02:12] district was terminated. So the board
felt that it was important to terminate
[1:02:16] the district uh the tiff district as
soon as possible which would be at the
[1:02:22] completion of all debts or payment of
all debts which would be in September of
[1:02:26] this year.
>> Thank you. Any discussion?
[1:02:35] Seeing none, all those in favor of
article 4 signify by saying I.
[1:02:40] » I.
>> Opposed?
[1:02:44] Article four will move as written onto
the ballot.
[1:02:48] » Moderator, I make a motion to restrict
reconsideration on artic four. Article
[1:02:54] four.
>> You can't restrict on articles we
[1:02:59] haven't had yet.
Um, the motion has been made to restrict
[1:03:04] again the further amending or discussion
on article 4. Do I have a second for
[1:03:11] that?
>> Second.
[1:03:13] » Thank you. All those in favor?
>> Opposed?
[1:03:19] Good.
Okay. Article five.
[1:03:24] » Make a motion to move article five.
>> Second. moved and seconded to article
[1:03:31] five. Uh any discussion on this,
>> Mr. Moderator?
[1:03:36] » Yes.
>> Uh the original bond that was taken uh
[1:03:40] of that 3.3 million 2.4 million were
expended leaving a balance of 900,000
[1:03:47] that's available to be spent in the
district. the the district committee uh
[1:03:52] informed the board that there were no
further improvements contemplated for
[1:03:57] the district uh as the bond is is
currently configured to be paid off in
[1:04:02] September.
What the board is asking is that the
[1:04:06] town authorized the board to resend the
bond authority that we have. So this is
[1:04:13] giving money back to the taxpayers. It
does require a three-fifths vote just as
[1:04:18] the original bond required a
three-fifths vote.
[1:04:25] » Further discussion.
>> I just question. What happens if it's
[1:04:30] not rescended?
>> I'm sorry. What was that?
[1:04:33] » What happens if it's not rescended? What
happens if that fails? That might be a
[1:04:37] Cordell question because our our
understanding is that the the TIF
[1:04:41] district would be terminated if
>> if the first one passed. Yeah. If the
[1:04:46] article 4 passed and this one did not
pass, what would happen?
[1:04:50] » Well, the bond would be paid off in in
September.
[1:04:53] » Yeah.
>> Just go ongoing authorization without
[1:04:56] utilizing it. I guess
>> I could I could speak to that if that's
[1:04:59] okay. Um if we don't resend the bond
authority, it stays on the book as we
[1:05:05] could borrow this money in the future.
Um
[1:05:09] » but only to be used for the tiff.
Correct. At that at whatever rate.
[1:05:16] » Further discussion.
[1:05:20] Seeing none, all those in favor of
article five signify by saying I. I.
[1:05:27] Those opposed.
Unanimous for those voting.
[1:05:32] » Mr. moderator.
>> Sir,
[1:05:34] » I make a motion to restrict
reconsideration on article five.
[1:05:37] » Really?
>> Second.
[1:05:42] » Motion made to res restrict further
action on article 5
[1:05:49] has been seconded. All those in favor?
>> Opposed.
[1:05:55] Okay. Thank you.
>> Okay. Article six. Lori,
[1:06:02] » I make a motion to move article six.
>> Second.
[1:06:06] » Motion's made and seconded to move
article six. Any discussion on it? Lori,
[1:06:13] did you have something?
>> All right. Yep. I can speak to that. So,
[1:06:17] um, I just wanted to put a slide up
here, uh, before we move to the actual
[1:06:21] article, uh, just so you have an
understanding of where, um, your
[1:06:25] property taxes are going. So, the blue
portion there up on the screen, um,
[1:06:30] every time you're making your tax
payments, uh, that's the portion that is
[1:06:34] going to the town for um, all of the
essential uh, town services. So, it's
[1:06:39] important to remember um that portion of
the tax rate uh supports everything from
[1:06:44] public safety to public works um
administration, parks, facilities,
[1:06:49] community services. Um and that
encompasses about 28% of your tax bill.
[1:06:54] Um I think understanding the breakdown
helps explain why the operating budget
[1:06:59] matters. uh because even small changes
in the service needs um staffing
[1:07:05] infrastructure can affect how we
allocate these funds. So our goal is
[1:07:09] always to balance maintaining
highquality services with being
[1:07:13] responsible stewards of taxpayer
dollars.
[1:07:17] Um and again the blue portion is
representing the budget that we're going
[1:07:21] to speak to right now.
[1:07:26] » Further discussion. Oh, I I have a
little bit more to go through. So,
[1:07:32] um, so this article covers the town's
proposed operating budget for 2026. The
[1:07:38] amount shown here is 8,939,36,
[1:07:44] represents the funding needed to
maintain all dayto-day municipal
[1:07:48] services, excluding any warrant articles
that we'll be speaking to tonight. If
[1:07:53] the proposed budget is not approved, the
town would fall back uh to the default
[1:07:58] budget, which is 8,891
and $785, which is slightly lower, but
[1:08:06] still reflects legally required
adjustments based on prior commitments.
[1:08:10] The operating budget supports every
essential function of local government,
[1:08:15] um public safety, public works,
administration, um all of the services.
[1:08:20] Uh this article ensures that we can
continue providing that level of service
[1:08:24] to the residents um that they expect
from us while staying within responsible
[1:08:29] financial parameters. Uh the selectmen
and department heads have worked
[1:08:34] diligently and collaboratively
and recommend this budget recognizing it
[1:08:39] is a balanced approach that meets
service needs while minimizing impact on
[1:08:43] the taxpayers.
I'm just going to go through here. Um,
[1:08:48] so in comparing the proposed 2026
budget to last year and the default
[1:08:55] budget for 2026, the narrow gap between
the proposed and default budgets
[1:09:00] highlights that more increases were
driven by fixed or unavoidable costs.
[1:09:06] Um, the fiscal year 2026 budget is
8,939,36
[1:09:12] which is about 47,000 over the default.
Um the 2026 proposed budget is or the
[1:09:20] that total amount is $569,36
over 2025 which is a 6.8% increase. Um
[1:09:29] however it is important to note that the
default is already at a 6.23 increase.
[1:09:35] So in order to mitigate the impact on
taxpayers, the proposed budget
[1:09:39] intentionally includes partial year
funding or halfyear appropriations for
[1:09:45] certain vacant positions. This approach
reflects the realistic expectation that
[1:09:50] these positions cannot be filled midyear
while still preserving the necessary
[1:09:55] salary and benefit required by law or
contract.
[1:10:03] So, some of the key factors influencing
the um 2026 operating budget.
[1:10:11] Um whoops, hold on a sec.
Um the budget reflects several cost
[1:10:17] increases driven by economic conditions,
contractual obligations, service
[1:10:23] demands. Uh major drivers include
personnel costs. Adjustments to wages
[1:10:28] and staffing levels continue to be a
significant component for the overall
[1:10:33] budget. The rising um employee benefit
costs. Health care increased by 6.7%.
[1:10:41] Dental is up by four. Um reflecting
statewide upward trends. It's that seems
[1:10:47] to be the trend for the whole state. um
insurance premiums, property and
[1:10:52] liabilities up 26.32%
impacting general operating costs as
[1:10:58] well. Um and the ambulance service
contract, the town's ambulance service
[1:11:05] uh contract um increased $89,600
over last year uh due to a dramatic cost
[1:11:13] increase at the county level. Um the
cost went from 75,000 in the 2025 budget
[1:11:21] um to 211618
[1:11:25] in 2026. So to offset this um the town
is applying 47,000 from the ambulance
[1:11:34] expendable trust fund. Um I believe the
voters put money in there last year. So
[1:11:39] the 47,000 will come from the ambulance
expendable trust fund reducing the
[1:11:45] direct um budget impact there. Um so
that is pretty much what the key drivers
[1:11:52] are
[1:11:56] on. So
>> um one more slide. Sorry, Rose. Um, so
[1:12:02] from a uh fiscal management perspective,
the 2026 proposed budget reflects a
[1:12:07] disciplined and deliberate approach to
balancing service delivery delivery with
[1:12:11] taxpayer impact. Um, some of the key
observations are meaningful reductions
[1:12:16] from initial initial requests. Um, the
reduction so at the beginning of um the
[1:12:22] budget season, you know, the department
heads put their budgets together and
[1:12:27] everything comes in. um it came in at an
11% increase over last year. Um so
[1:12:33] again, collaboratively and diligently,
the board and department heads worked
[1:12:36] together to bring that down. Um and
brought us to, you know, 47,000 over the
[1:12:44] default. Uh which reflects prudent
planning and a clear intent to minimize
[1:12:48] the tax burden while remaining compliant
with all of our statutory and
[1:12:52] contractual um requirements. Um and the
use of strategic staffing assumptions.
[1:12:58] Um this is where I was mentioning you
know half your funding on some of the
[1:13:02] vacant positions. Um it's a reasonable
and transparent budgeting strategy
[1:13:07] strategy that acknowledges the current
labor market um constraints while
[1:13:12] preserving the long-term staffing
capacity.
[1:13:17] Um, and re the remaining increases are
largely driven by costs outside of the
[1:13:22] board's direct control, including wages,
benefits, and other mandated expenses.
[1:13:28] Um, so overall, the fiscical year 26
budget represents a responsible
[1:13:32] compromise. Um, maintaining essential
municipal operations, meeting our legal
[1:13:38] and contractual obligations, and
reducing the overall increase to
[1:13:41] taxpayers as much as practical under the
current conditions.
[1:13:50] Thank you.
Um, any further discussion? Yes,
[1:13:55] » I've got a question, a couple questions,
Danlair. Um, just because out of some of
[1:14:01] it might be ignorance of me just not
knowing. Um, so our county rate of 11%,
[1:14:06] none of the EMT services from Cheshire
Ambulance, our taxes don't go to any of
[1:14:12] that. The town pays for all of the EMT
services from Cheshire Ambulance.
[1:14:17] » No, no. We're contracted with Cheshire
Ambulance to provide service, but but
[1:14:22] individuals who are using the service,
they have charge as well. This gives us
[1:14:27] service with Cheshure EMS,
>> right? Yeah. They charge us the
[1:14:30] $211,618.
>> Actually, it's it's a little more
[1:14:34] complicated than that. We work on a
fiscal year January through December
[1:14:39] budget. the the contract with Cheshire
EMS is a July through June.
[1:14:45] » All right.
>> So the the full impact is 300 going from
[1:14:48] 70 75,000 to 340,000.
>> Okay.
[1:14:52] » On an annual basis, but for 2026 it's
211,000.
[1:14:57] Two, three years ago, uh, Sly Kerazinski
made a recommendation that the board
[1:15:02] followed and we put, we knew that this
increase was coming based on the
[1:15:06] experience we had when we first engaged
EMS
[1:15:10] » because Cheshire EMS kept us at a rate
very similar to Delusio for the first
[1:15:14] year and then the second year went from
roughly 38,000 to 54ish,000 and then the
[1:15:21] last year was 75. But we knew from the
the the process their competitors were
[1:15:27] coming in at 350 or better. So we knew
that this year was going to come in at
[1:15:31] at 340 350.
>> So what his recommendation was was that
[1:15:36] we create this expendable trust and put
money in there which we've done for the
[1:15:40] last few years and use some of that
money to offset the cost so it's not a
[1:15:44] direct as impactful as it might
otherwise be.
[1:15:47] » And now is this uh we renegotiate this
contract every year. or or every fiscal
[1:15:53] year or however whatever year you're on.
>> We don't really get to negotiate.
[1:15:56] » They just tell you what it is
>> pretty much. Um so there would be a
[1:16:00] competitive process. So there would be
other opportunities there would be
[1:16:04] opportunities for other vendors.
>> So I I I guess my next question would be
[1:16:08] since we're building a brand new fire
station, what is the cost to have EMT
[1:16:12] services where we can actually charge
insuranceances and stuff and actually
[1:16:16] get money back? So, we're keeping people
in Swansea employed, having our own
[1:16:21] services, but also providing a service
that might uh create revenue. Well, the
[1:16:27] quote I was given uh by the county
administrator u in a conversation was
[1:16:32] that for every ambulance you can
consider it being a million dollars. So,
[1:16:37] I said, "Oh, that's keen." So, Swansea's
probably 500 to 600,000, right? we would
[1:16:42] need at least two ambulances and
potentially a third uh as backup in case
[1:16:47] one of the ambulances went down. So,
we'd be looking at substantially more
[1:16:51] money. So, the big question is how much
do you collect, right?
[1:16:54] » And and those numbers when you look at
them, you you need only look at other
[1:16:59] communities, Troy, Fitz, William,
Winchester, which which are struggling
[1:17:03] to maintain their services because being
reimbursed is a is a challenge, whether
[1:17:07] it be from insurance or directly from
the the patient themselves.
[1:17:11] » Yeah. And my next question, because I
was unfortunately I was part of had to
[1:17:15] call an ambulance for a friend of mine a
number of months back and it seems like
[1:17:19] the Swansea Fire Department showed up
first. Is that normal that a firefighter
[1:17:24] EMT shows up first?
>> Yes, we first respond.
[1:17:27] » Okay.
>> So, so we're going to the we're going
[1:17:29] there anyway, right? So, that's still
costing us money regard. I'm just trying
[1:17:33] to put this all together and think of
ways to
[1:17:37] » cut costs. That's all
>> dilemas that we faced in 2020 was the
[1:17:42] prospect of of actually purchasing an
ambulance for the town because prior to
[1:17:46] that we didn't have one and and I
remember Sly and I discussing it and th
[1:17:51] those were the days when the governor
was bringing CS into uh the the
[1:17:55] gymnasium at Keen State College and Keen
Keen the city of Keen told Duzio they
[1:18:00] wouldn't back up Delusio and Delusio
told Keen they wouldn't back up Keen.
[1:18:05] Everybody was in just a state of of of
emergency.
[1:18:08] » We had the opportunity to purchase an
ambulance for 54,000 at that point. Uh
[1:18:14] Michael Branley, the then administrator,
indicated that he would be uh be
[1:18:18] applying for COVID funds with the
expectation that that money would be
[1:18:22] reimbured, which it was in September of
that year. So that that ambulance
[1:18:27] essentially came to us at no cost, but
it did provide a service should there be
[1:18:31] an opportunity for Duzio to be be
somewhere else.
[1:18:35] » Over the years, there's been discussion
of whether we should keep that ambulance
[1:18:39] or or sell it and there has been uh
opportunities where previous fire chiefs
[1:18:45] have recommended the purchase of an
additional ambulance with the which the
[1:18:49] board has denied because we have service
with Cheshire EMS. So that is something
[1:18:55] that That concept is is being discussed
with the fire fire department leadership
[1:19:00] team whether we stay with that ambulance
or not. One ambulance can't service all
[1:19:04] of
>> Yeah. Yeah. Understand. I I was just
[1:19:06] hoping I didn't know if this is
something that you guys thought of
[1:19:09] putting together some type of um um
study team or another committee um to to
[1:19:16] to to study the year over year off.
>> Oh, it's not topic. It's right on here.
[1:19:23] It's part of the budget
>> back in 2015 2016 when when Chief Scance
[1:19:28] was the the fire chief he was sounding
the alarm then and I remember a
[1:19:33] conversation with the chief Mark Howard
from Keen saying that Swansea really
[1:19:37] needed to pay attention to the chief.
>> So since then the the board has asked
[1:19:42] subsequent chiefs to put that type of a
study together. uh we we haven't had a
[1:19:47] fully complete study and I I think in
many ways it's because it's not it's not
[1:19:52] doesn't show a cost-effective approach
for the town to take that on. It would
[1:19:56] be a substantial budget hit the first
year you'd be looking at full-time
[1:20:00] employees as well as the the vehicles
themselves and the supplies that go with
[1:20:03] it. So it would be a
>> but if I would just hate year over year
[1:20:07] I mean eventually I'd hate to be held
hostage by someone where they come in
[1:20:11] and say well now we're going to charge
you 600,000 and then next year or
[1:20:14] whatever it may be and it's just like
okay over the course of 10 years if
[1:20:18] we're spending you know whatever that
adds up to be 3.5 million or $4 million.
[1:20:25] Okay, what what is the cost going to be
if if we enacted that ourselves
[1:20:29] year-over-year, which the initial impact
kind of like the school bond uh was
[1:20:35] high, but over the course of 10 years,
it actually saved the taxpayers money.
[1:20:38] That's all I'm looking for. That's
>> some of that's evolving with regard to
[1:20:41] the expansion of Cheshire EMS to to
other communities. But it but the
[1:20:45] approach that they take is that we we
pay a a a value or a total based on our
[1:20:52] population and the factor. This year I
believe it's 46 thou $46 per person that
[1:20:58] we're paying trees EMS just as other
communities are. So uh and there is
[1:21:02] competition KE has its own u there there
are other companies that we we had three
[1:21:08] companies that competed in in the last
round. So there are other opportunities
[1:21:12] for companies to come in to offer
services.
[1:21:15] » Okay. All right. Thank you.
>> You're welcome.
[1:21:22] Jay Ward 16 H Hotton Point. Um Dan makes
some good points and I think that the
[1:21:27] select board will want to u look at the
ambulance situation in great detail over
[1:21:32] the next few years and we do need to do
that. But I wanted to point out of
[1:21:36] course that we need to prove this part
of the budget because there is no
[1:21:40] alternative for this year. So u there
may be something we do in the future but
[1:21:45] we can't do anything now. We have to pay
for ambulance for the coming year.
[1:21:54] George from Swansea Lake Road. Uh, you
know, with that said, you know, my
[1:22:00] concerns is Cheshure is not going to
adequately be able to supply service to
[1:22:06] they're providing a lot of services to a
lot of towns and they're going to, you
[1:22:12] know, they're going to have um
staffing issues as well and our safety
[1:22:17] is based on what they can provide.
I would suggest maybe have a have a an
[1:22:25] ambulance service away from the fire
department and come up with a committee
[1:22:30] and uh we already have one ambulance. I
don't think it'd be advisable to get rid
[1:22:34] of that because I think that was a great
deal and maybe look at uh a committee
[1:22:40] and uh let the chief deal with the fire
and what he does. I know EMS is part of
[1:22:45] that, but maybe if we can put concerted
effort into uh don't have to have a big
[1:22:52] ambulance. There's other ambulances out
there that would uh suffice. Uh but that
[1:22:58] is a concern of mine. Are can we talk
about other parts of the budget or is
[1:23:02] this just
>> Okay, copy that. So, I I just had a u a
[1:23:07] question about um the 200,000
uh for the town hall repair and
[1:23:13] maintenance improvement.
>> That isn't a separate that's a separate
[1:23:17] Sorry.
[1:23:23] » Anyone else?
>> Just Just in closing, Mr. Moderator, we
[1:23:28] haven't signed a contract. So, this is
based on a contract proposal that we
[1:23:33] were given. the the town will go through
an RFP process as it moves forward. So,
[1:23:38] we know that at base if we go with
Cheshire EMS, this is what we'll be
[1:23:42] paying. If someone comes in with with a
better service and lower cost, then they
[1:23:48] they would have the opportunity to uh to
present to the town and that would be a
[1:23:52] decision for the board to make at that
point.
[1:23:56] Okay,
[1:23:59] » this sounds article six. Still,
>> if I could make one comment on the
[1:24:06] ambulance part, uh the town I just
retired from, as you know, was uh in the
[1:24:12] media pretty strong about the ambulance
service. Um for the town to take it over
[1:24:18] themselves, there's a lot of expenses.
One of my biggest recommendations was to
[1:24:24] have a feasibility study just to look at
the different options of the town based
[1:24:30] ambulance service as well as a
contracted service. Um there's a lot
[1:24:36] that we all need to understand as far as
the town budget, as far as the service
[1:24:44] itself, as you bring up, sir. And the
thing is is how much Chief Matson would
[1:24:50] need to have personnel on staff, the
places to house these people as well as
[1:24:55] the ambulance, the second ambulance and
things like that. So I would always
[1:24:59] recommend that we have some type of
committee or some oversight on what how
[1:25:05] the service is being provided, but as we
all know, we're all elderly. We're
[1:25:10] getting there and we do need the
service. However, the bottom line comes
[1:25:15] down to, can we afford to do it in town
or do we reach out to another agency
[1:25:22] that can provide that service? And you
all know what I'm talking about. The
[1:25:26] town of Rin just went through this
struggle and they we're not in any
[1:25:32] position to provide that service
ourselves. So, it would it would take
[1:25:36] Chief Matson a lot of work and a good
year to even establish to even come
[1:25:42] close to what a proposal would look like
for an ambulance service. Again,
[1:25:47] speaking from experience, not just
shooting from the heaven. Okay. So,
[1:25:51] » are you volunteering for the feasibility
study committ if that's what it would
[1:25:55] take, sir? Yes. Yes.
>> Sounds like there are people that would
[1:25:58] like to have that happen.
>> And and I always think it's important to
[1:26:03] look at your options. However, I do feel
that the at the end of the day,
[1:26:09] depending on what the new station has in
it, what Chief Matson's capabilities are
[1:26:13] with his staff and what you have as
staff because we're all struggling for
[1:26:18] personnel. There's no I don't have I
didn't have a line in range and I'm sure
[1:26:24] I'm not sure he did very well bringing
up his staff now but there's not a whole
[1:26:30] lot of people out there volunteering or
jumping up to to provide that service.
[1:26:35] So I caution that we move into it slowly
but u we looked at Cheshire EMS over
[1:26:43] there as well. Uh we luckily saved the
contract that we had with the Jaffrey
[1:26:49] Ring Ambblelet Service which was a a
huge bargain. They're not going to come
[1:26:54] over here of course. However, you look
around and you see what the prices of
[1:27:00] some of the services, it's it's up
there. It's very astronomical. So, thank
[1:27:06] you.
>> I'd like to make a comment if I may. Um,
[1:27:11] Bill mentioned that we
>> Bill mentioned that Norm Scansy put
[1:27:18] together a proposal for an ambulance
service. I worked with him on that
[1:27:22] proposal. We looked solely at personnel
costs for a three member ambulance crew
[1:27:30] 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Their
wages alone were over 1.2 million. And
[1:27:37] that was over 10 years ago.
[1:27:46] I just want to make sure everybody
understands this that we the select
[1:27:50] board we we we really looked at this
hard. I mean we sat with every
[1:27:56] department head countless times and they
all can see that we looked for every cut
[1:28:02] that we possibly could do.
Unfortunately, when you really look at
[1:28:06] this, there is no room. And I might
sound kind of funny because I'm pushing
[1:28:10] a million to building and on the other
hand I'm saying we're trying to cut but
[1:28:15] again Lori showed you as an example some
of these big expenses and unfortunately
[1:28:20] our budget is just going to keep
increasing with inflation and everything
[1:28:24] that's going on. I don't think there's
no way to stop this. How we got to stop
[1:28:29] it is we got to look at the other end of
it. We got to bring more revenue in. We
[1:28:33] got to bring more money so we don't have
to so we have a strong budget. That's
[1:28:37] how I'm looking at it. I understand the
frustration out here on cutting the
[1:28:41] budget and we're spending money, but I
don't see anywhere where we can steal
[1:28:46] any money from or cut any money. We
looked at this very deeply. Am I right,
[1:28:51] Bill and Mark? I mean, we spent
countless hours and it's just there's
[1:28:56] reasons behind it. Li put it right out
there. There's the the health insurance,
[1:29:01] everything got us, right?
>> And we have to look at this differently.
[1:29:06] When we get five people on this select
board, we have to try to go from the
[1:29:10] other direction. We need to bring more
revenue in this to cover this because
[1:29:14] the way this going two years, we could
be well over two 10 million on a budget
[1:29:19] with the population that we got growing
in this town. We we got to grow this
[1:29:24] town evenly. We got to build on this
side to even out the boat or we're going
[1:29:28] to flip over because it feels like the
population's growing, but we're not
[1:29:32] growing with it on this side. And I know
it sounds crazy about getting a
[1:29:36] building, but we have to level this boat
somehow. And the way we got to do it, we
[1:29:41] got to attract businesses to this town.
And that's how we're going to try to
[1:29:44] solve this budget. That's how I feel.
That's just my personal thing. But I'm
[1:29:48] just letting you know, we tried every
avenue to cut. We just didn't sit here
[1:29:53] and say this and that. It's this is
happening to every town, not just
[1:29:58] Swansea. So, we have to buckle down. We
have to put a good team together this
[1:30:03] year. and we have to go after it to keep
our taxes down and I'm going to try to
[1:30:07] do that. Go ahead,
>> Mr. Can we call a question?
[1:30:12] » Motion has been made to call the
question. Is there a second to that?
[1:30:17] » He's already been up once on this.
[1:30:23] Is there a second to the motion to call
a question?
[1:30:31] » Who who seconded that? Just so
>> who called the question?
[1:30:41] » Okay.
>> And who seconded?
[1:30:43] » What's your name?
>> Bob.
[1:30:46] » Bob.
>> Last name.
[1:30:49] » Wait.
>> Heather just needs it for the minutes.
[1:30:52] That's all. Thank you.
>> He said Bob New.
[1:30:56] » Okay.
[1:31:00] So we've got it the to move the
question. All those in favor?
[1:31:05] » Opposed?
Thank you.
[1:31:09] » All right. So now we got a vote on the
>> article make a motion to not yet.
[1:31:21] » So we're back to article six.
Um
[1:31:28] the call the questions been called. So
uh all those in favor of article six
[1:31:36] signify by saying I.
>> I.
[1:31:39] » Those opposed.
Thank you.
[1:31:44] » Mr. moderator, I make a motion to
restrict reconsideration on article six.
[1:31:53] » Second. Thank you.
Article six, it's the same uh article is
[1:32:01] to limit the further discussion or
changes
[1:32:06] to that article.
[1:32:14] » All those in favor
>> opposed.
[1:32:20] Okay, you can vote before the
Where are we? Article seven.
[1:32:26] » Make a motion to move article seven.
>> Lori, you're doing seven.
[1:32:31] » Sure. Yep.
>> Second.
[1:32:37] » All right. So, the um article seven is
the capital reserve and expendable trust
[1:32:43] funds article. Uh the town's capital
improvement committee met extensively
[1:32:47] throughout uh the fall and winter and
unanimously recommended the proposed uh
[1:32:52] funding levels ex for the expendable
trust and capital reserve accounts to be
[1:32:56] placed on the 2026 ballot. These
accounts allow the town to plan ahead
[1:33:00] and set aside funds for known and
anticipated capital needs, reducing the
[1:33:06] risk of large unexpected expenses and
helping to stabilize the tax rate over
[1:33:10] time. Historically, Swansea voters have
supported this proactive approach to
[1:33:15] long-term financial planning. Um, key
items including funding for uh property
[1:33:21] revaluations, which are required by the
state every 5 years to ensure fair and
[1:33:25] equitable assessments. The next reval is
projected to cost um about 120,000 or
[1:33:32] more in 2029.
This appropriation continues to build
[1:33:37] towards that obligation. Uh funding also
is requested for town hall repairs and
[1:33:42] maintenance with a $200,000 allocation
there representing phase one of a
[1:33:49] planned improvements to town hall. These
improvements include um upgrades to the
[1:33:55] town hall building and the former fire
station below town hall once the fire
[1:33:59] trucks are moved to their new facility.
Um, and with the goal of expanding the
[1:34:06] office space and constructing an
interior staircase uh to allow safe
[1:34:10] access um to the lower level without
having to go outside of the building.
[1:34:19] » Thank you. Any further discussion?
>> Mr. Moderator, I'd like to make a motion
[1:34:24] for an amendment to this article.
>> Yes.
[1:34:39] This is simply a housekeeping issue. We
realized after the warrant was posted
[1:34:43] that the Mount Caesar Union Library is
an expendable trust fund and not a
[1:34:48] capital reserve fund. So my motion to
make the amendment is to move Mount
[1:34:52] Caesar to the correct
>> column.
[1:34:57] Sure.
[1:35:03] » The uh
>> we we realize that Mount Caesar got put
[1:35:06] into the wrong column. It's an
expendable trust fund. So I made a
[1:35:10] motion for it to move to the correct
column.
[1:35:15] » We're just moving
Mount Caesar Library
[1:35:19] to the expendable trust side instead of
the capital reserve side.
[1:35:23] » Correct. Any further discussion on this?
[1:35:31] » Uh Danlair. Um I'm just warning this
$200,000 for the town hall. Uh we've
[1:35:37] done extensive work to the town hall.
>> Dan, this is on the amendment.
[1:35:42] » Oh, is it? Oh, sorry.
[1:35:48] Okay. Further discussion.
[1:35:54] Is it on your hands?
>> Seeing none,
[1:36:00] all all those in favor of the amendment
to
[1:36:05] just move Mount Caesar Union Library to
expendable trust from Capital Reserve. U
[1:36:12] I
>> any opposed?
[1:36:17] No. Okay, back to the original article.
[1:36:29] You haven't run out of words yet.
[1:36:34] » Let's see. Where am I?
[1:36:41] » Sue is just going to make the change
real quick to the um to the to the
[1:36:46] warrant that will go on the ballot.
>> Yeah.
[1:36:56] Are
>> we any
[1:37:00] talk again?
>> Sorry, I tend to talk a lot. Um,
[1:37:06] so the repairs to the town hall. Uh, I
know there's been extensive repairs. We
[1:37:11] just redid the roof, the walkways, we
put that wall inside. Um, I don't know
[1:37:17] what else. Once again, I'm asking, is
this $200,000 necessary? I mean, is this
[1:37:23] something that we need right away
considering the fire department hasn't
[1:37:28] moved yet? I mean, is this something
that
[1:37:43] would
>> I can speak to the the project itself,
[1:37:47] but As far as the plan for town hall in
the future, I think that should come
[1:37:51] from either the flood board or the town
administrator. I can speak to what this
[1:37:55] money was proposed to get access
downstairs and start phase one of making
[1:38:01] offices down there, but as far as I
don't have the full vision of what the
[1:38:04] plan is down there for the future.
I I I honestly think that came up and
[1:38:11] came about because I did sit in there
and and I think it came on the CP just
[1:38:15] so we can we don't even I don't think
we're even planning to attack this right
[1:38:20] away, but we didn't want to get hit with
a big cost at the end when we do it. So
[1:38:25] I think it was we wanted to start
somewhere and put some money in there
[1:38:28] for the future of our town hall. I mean
we are running out of space upstairs
[1:38:33] where Am I right on that? I I think um
when I came over there was a plan
[1:38:38] floating around um I believe it was from
2017
[1:38:43] and 20 2015 there was a plan floating
around um for a redesign of the um just
[1:38:50] the upstairs of town hall. Um so nothing
has been decided there as far as a
[1:38:55] layout goes. What we looked into um over
the summer was, you know, planning ahead
[1:39:01] and once the fire department is out of
the building, um how can we utilize that
[1:39:06] space down below? There are some issues
that we need to take care of um with,
[1:39:11] you know, some there can be water that
can come into the building. So, we
[1:39:15] would, you know, need some money to ex,
you know, get in there and find out what
[1:39:20] the issue is there. Uh but the the
200,000 came from a quote um just a
[1:39:25] proposal that we had to um put in a
staircase on the inside of the building.
[1:39:31] The plan from 2015, I believe, called
for the staircase on the outside of the
[1:39:36] building, but that would cost us
substantially a lot more money. Um, so
[1:39:41] we we, you know, wanted to put in and
the CIP committee again wanted to, you
[1:39:46] know, put that money there so that we
can have it for we know we're going to
[1:39:50] need to make improvements to the
building. Um, and this has been planned
[1:39:54] for since 2015 anyway. So, it's it's
more of a a a placeholder, but the quote
[1:40:00] came from that amount of putting the
staircase in and getting it um cleaned
[1:40:05] up downstairs and ready for some
offices. I was hoping for some temporary
[1:40:11] offices for the recck department um who
doesn't have an office right now. Um
[1:40:16] that was my goal, but um I don't know if
there would be enough money to even do
[1:40:20] that.
>> All right. And and sorry if this comes
[1:40:22] off as rude. I'm not trying to be
sometimes just the way I say things. Um
[1:40:27] so basically you're just throwing a
$200,000 placeholder just in case.
[1:40:31] » No, it was for a quote to put stairs in.
Well, yeah, but it was said that this
[1:40:35] might not even happen this year.
>> If we don't get the funding, it's not
[1:40:40] going to happen.
>> Okay.
[1:40:43] » I think what I was trying to relay to
you is we're a long way away from that.
[1:40:47] I I feel that, you know, there's a lot
of planning to go involved in that, a
[1:40:50] lot of research to go involved in that,
and we just didn't want the year to pass
[1:40:54] up or we had no funding in case we
wanted to do something. You you are
[1:40:58] right in what you're saying. To me,
that's how I felt. I'm not I'm not
[1:41:01] speaking for everybody, but yeah, I just
thought this might take some time.
[1:41:05] There's a lot going into where we're
going to go with time.
[1:41:08] » Okay. And that 200,000 is just from
>> it would it was a quote
[1:41:11] » a quote from a contractor to use that
number as a base.
[1:41:15] » I believe it was for the staircase, but
there was something with the roof out
[1:41:18] back as well.
>> I can speak to that as far as my
[1:41:22] involvement. So there was
>> there was a full plan that's been worked
[1:41:27] on for years through CIP and through
Mike Branley and and the ultimate goal
[1:41:31] is once the fire station is gone to have
office space down there and there was an
[1:41:36] architectural plan that was actually had
an estimate with an elevator that was
[1:41:40] substantially more than the $200,000. So
we had contractors look at it just for a
[1:41:44] placeholder. This would be a stairwell
that would be outside
[1:41:50] the building conc basically a concrete
chamber. There would not be an elevator
[1:41:54] at this point in time. Alola is
approximately $100,000 for Alola in
[1:41:59] discussed it with town staff and they
really don't know if there's a need for
[1:42:02] it. This stair would be designed and in
the future it could be added if it was
[1:42:06] needed. But it's my understanding that
this would be the first phase of
[1:42:10] creating office space downstairs,
potential co conference room. But the
[1:42:14] $200,000 would cover putting in uh those
stairs and have they being closed
[1:42:20] outside and making it match up with the
existing roof line out back.
[1:42:24] » Okay. All right. Thank you.
>> Yeah, it would provide um access to
[1:42:28] there's a lot of our property files are
kind of located everywhere throughout
[1:42:33] the building instead of one area. So, we
got assessing files in the building
[1:42:38] office and the in the tax collector's
office. are kind of located everywhere
[1:42:42] and we would like to just at least if we
got the staircase in, we'd be able to
[1:42:46] access those files, you know, on our
day-to-day jobs um without having to go
[1:42:50] outside and it would create space um
upstairs as well for um a new floor plan
[1:42:57] um for the office.
>> Thank you.
[1:43:02] Further discussion?
[1:43:09] Seeing none, all those in favor of
article 7 as amended.
[1:43:15] » Oh, what
>> may I jump in?
[1:43:20] » Someone over here said yes. So, I guess
you can.
[1:43:24] » Thank you. Uh, Jennifer Carol, Summer
Street. Um, I would like to suggest that
[1:43:30] we consider um amending the Graange Hall
amount um increasing it at 2500 which
[1:43:37] would make it $10,000.
Um I say that because uh it is a
[1:43:43] historic structure that is has deferred
maintenance in need. Um but also um the
[1:43:49] Graangeaw was recently
um recognized by the New Hampshire
[1:43:53] Preservation Alliance as one of the
seven most important historic structures
[1:43:58] in our state to save. Um and I think
while we have that recognition and while
[1:44:03] the preservation society and the town
may be looking at grants to get that
[1:44:07] work done, bumping it to $10,000 will
make those grant applications
[1:44:12] um a little more advantageous. we we
have an advantage over other towns that
[1:44:17] are trying to do historic preservation
work as well. Um, and most of the time
[1:44:21] those grants are going to require a
match from the community. So,
[1:44:26] » can I can I ask you a question, please?
>> Yes.
[1:44:29] » Are you recommending an amendment to
this?
[1:44:32] » Yes. Yes. I'd like to see that.
>> Four signatures in writing and to me.
[1:44:37] » Okay. All right. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[1:44:42] Anything
[1:44:50] else on this amendment for this article?
[1:45:01] » Are we voting on the
[1:45:09] » We already voted on that.
[1:45:14] Oh,
[1:45:27] » Mr. Moderator.
Mr. Moderator.
[1:45:30] » Sir,
>> Mr. Moderator, just with regard to the
[1:45:34] proposed amendment, uh people should
know that we currently have 21,000,
[1:45:39] » I'm sorry, 41,000 in the Graange Capital
Reserve. So, this 2500 would increase
[1:45:46] the 41,000.
[1:45:50] » Yeah, I haven't seen the any amendment
yet. So,
[1:45:53] » okay.
>> I just had a question. I saw the chief
[1:45:57] had to leave, but uh in regards to the
new cruiser, uh can anyone speak to
[1:46:02] that? Uh you know, it seems like we're
having personnel issues. It seems like
[1:46:07] we I I just don't know uh what the need
is for a cruise right now. If anyone
[1:46:12] could just help me understand that
[1:46:18] » the the money allocated in here is going
towards the purchase for future
[1:46:23] cruisers.
It's it's basically a savings, you know,
[1:46:27] so when they need the cruiser, they can
um have the money available. I can Is
[1:46:33] Chief Gone? He left. Okay, shoot. Yeah.
Um I know he does have a a schedule, a
[1:46:38] rotation schedule for all the cruisers
um going through that. Um
[1:46:46] Mark, do you want to add anything to
that? I know
[1:46:48] » because it's a a yearly thing that they
raise the money to appropriate the fund
[1:46:53] and it's usually it's probably a pretty
close accurate price for the cruiser to
[1:46:57] outfit it and everything with the
lettering and cages and stuff depending
[1:47:01] on the new model of cruisers depending
on whether the current cage will be able
[1:47:04] to fit into it or not. So if that's not
the case then they have to to do and
[1:47:08] they're switching all from Fords to
Chevys now. So they have to buy new
[1:47:12] because there's usually not ones to
replace it. I guess
[1:47:17] » correct.
>> It It is.
[1:47:19] » Yep. It is. There's 20 There's about
28,000 in that account right now. Um and
[1:47:25] I
>> Excuse me. What's
[1:47:29] Oh, you want to change?
I just want to be clear what you're
[1:47:34] amending.
[1:47:44] So, I have an amendment
to article 7
[1:47:51] that um the Golden Rod Grainh Hall
funding
[1:47:58] or expendable trust
uh capital reserve fund actually
[1:48:05] to go from 7,500 $100
to $19,000.
[1:48:17] » What's that?
[1:48:22] » 9 to zero.
>> Oh, it's 19.
[1:48:28] » I can't read some writing sometimes.
So, 7 to 195.
[1:48:38] No, no, no. That isn't what this says.
Let's go from 7500
[1:48:50] » I have a
>> a 1 n0000
[1:48:55] figure that's on this
[1:49:08] So, ma'am, do you just want to come up
and read it? So, on your paper it Well,
[1:49:11] no, it does look like a nine on your
paper. So,
[1:49:16] » that's why I asked
[1:49:20] » you don't want $190,000.
[1:49:24] » Oh, that's a
[1:49:28] [laughter]
>> So, that's supposed to be 10,000.
[1:49:34] » So,
All right. The clarification
[1:49:38] is that they're looking to amend the
Golden Rod Grange capital reserve fund
[1:49:46] from 7500 to $10,000.
Is that right?
[1:49:55] » Any discussion on this?
[1:50:00] Seeing none, all those in favor of this
amendment
[1:50:04] signify by saying I.
>> I.
[1:50:08] » Those opposed.
[1:50:12] » The
show.
[1:50:15] » No, I don't think we need a show of
hands.
[1:50:19] Um, that's only when the when the
moderator has a question whether it
[1:50:25] passed or not. And it did not pass.
[1:50:31] Show hands.
[1:50:36] » Oh, come on.
[1:50:51] Okay, get out your cards.
[1:51:02] » We'll do this again.
[1:51:06] So, all those in favor
of changing the capital reserve fund
[1:51:14] number from $7500 to $10,000.
Raise your cards.
[1:51:23] » Who doesn't have a card?
[1:51:31] » If you don't have a card, you didn't
register to vote.
[1:51:36] Did you check?
>> Well, I know, but you have to check in
[1:51:39] in order to get a card.
[1:51:44] » No, no, no.
[1:51:48] » Your card is your card. Don't shift them
around because that would negate the
[1:51:54] whole purpose.
[1:52:03] » Thank you. I'm glad I won't have to do
it again
[1:52:10] » from people from anyway Francis.
[1:52:15] » These are people that are in favor.
[1:52:46] If you got your hand up, please leave it
up. Don't
[1:52:50] up and down.
[1:53:16] What's that?
[1:53:21] » All right. Those those who are opposed
to this amendment, raise your cards.
[1:53:48] Did
[1:54:05] » you get you get?
[1:54:13] » Okay. So the card count
um was 31 in favor, 37 against. So I'd
[1:54:21] say the article fails or the amendment
fails.
[1:54:29] » So we're back to the
main article 7.
[1:54:36] Have we talked that one enough? So all
those in favor of article 7 as written
[1:54:44] please signify by saying I
>> amended.
[1:54:48] » Those opposed
>> as amended.
[1:54:53] » It's not amended.
>> No the part was
[1:54:58] over the other side. That was an
amendment.
[1:55:02] » Yes. I thought we voted on
>> we did but now we're voting on the new.
[1:55:07] Let's just vote and not decide.
Okay. So, I stand corrected.
[1:55:17] So, I guess as amended
to move whatever it was the [laughter]
[1:55:26] mount is the union of library from one
side of the chart to the other.
[1:55:32] Uh let's see. go from the capital
reserve funds to the expendable trust
[1:55:37] funds. That is included and passed as an
amendment and it's included in article
[1:55:44] 7. So any further questions on that? I
didn't think so. All those in favor
[1:55:52] signify by saying I.
>> I.
[1:55:55] » Opposed?
Thank you.
[1:56:00] Make a motion.
>> Yeah. to restrict reconsideration on
[1:56:04] article 7.
[1:56:08] » Motion has been made to restrict.
>> Second
[1:56:13] and seconded.
Uh
[1:56:18] any discussion on restricting it? I
don't think so. All those in favor of
[1:56:22] restriction say I.
>> Oppose. No.
[1:56:29] » Okay.
[1:56:33] Article
>> 8
[1:56:46] make a motion to move article 8.
>> Second.
[1:56:52] » All right. So this is our other um
capital reserve and expendable trust
[1:56:57] funds for the public works department.
So [clears throat] again, the the town's
[1:57:01] capital improvement committee um
evaluated the public works capital needs
[1:57:05] as part of the long range planning
process and recommended the following
[1:57:09] levels uh for the expendable trust and
capital reserve accounts. The largest
[1:57:14] portion of this request is for the road
rehabilitation and reconstruction which
[1:57:19] which supports ongoing maintenance and
improvements of the town's road network.
[1:57:24] Regular investment in roadways helps
extend pavement life, improves safety,
[1:57:29] and reduces the need for more costly
reconstruction in the future.
[1:57:33] Funding is also proposed for the highway
and cemetery equipment, allowing the
[1:57:39] town to plan for the replacement of
public works equipment that is critical
[1:57:43] for the road maintenance, winter
operations, and cemetery services.
[1:57:48] Additional requests support public works
facilities, sidewalk improvements, town
[1:57:53] bridges, covered bridges, and town dams,
all of which require periodic
[1:57:58] maintenance and long-term planning to
ensure public safety and preserve
[1:58:02] important infrastructure assets. Funding
for rail trails and the cemetery
[1:58:07] expansion fund uh supports continued
access, recreation, and future burial
[1:58:12] capacity. By setting aside funds
incremental incrementally through these
[1:58:17] trust and reserve accounts, the town can
proactively manage public works
[1:58:21] infrastructure needs and reduce the risk
of emergency repairs and help stabilize
[1:58:27] the tax rate by avoiding large
unexpected capital expenditures.
[1:58:34] Any further discussion on article 8?
[1:58:42] Seeing none, we'll call a question. Uh,
all those in favor of article 8 signify
[1:58:49] by saying I.
>> I.
[1:58:51] » Those opposed.
[1:58:56] » Moving on to article nine.
>> Mr. Mo, I make a motion to restrict
[1:59:01] reconsideration.
>> Oh jeez. Okay.
[1:59:06] All those in favor of
>> second.
[1:59:09] » Thank you.
In favor of restricted restricting
[1:59:14] further amendments or discussion on
article 8
[1:59:21] opposed
I think so. Okay. Bill article nine.
[1:59:28] » Take a motion to move article nine.
>> Second.
[1:59:34] Article 9 has been moved and seconded.
Discussion. Bill.
[1:59:43] » This this has come about as as we've
come to recognize that we have
[1:59:48] significant infrastructure challenges
throughout the town. Uh not the least of
[1:59:52] which are water and sewer in the West
Swansea village. uh our intent is to
[1:59:57] have the opportunity to create this fund
should any any needs come about that are
[2:00:03] not available uh that we don't have
recourse for in the general budget.
[2:00:10] Further discussion
[2:00:15] seeing none those in favor of article 9
respond by saying I
[2:00:21] » opposed.
Okay. Article 9 passes.
[2:00:26] » Mr. Moderator, I make a motion to
restrict reconsideration on article 9.
[2:00:31] » Motion's been made and seconded.
>> Second.
[2:00:34] » Thank you. To restrict further
amendments to article 9. All those in
[2:00:40] favor? I
>> those opposed.
[2:00:44] Thank you.
Okay, moving on. Where are we? Article
[2:00:52] 10.
[2:00:55] Um
>> make a motion
[2:00:57] » to move the article 10.
>> Second. Articles been moved and
[2:01:03] seconded. Uh discussion.
>> So article 10 has to do with uh moving
[2:01:09] SB2 from SB2 to the traditional town
meeting. Uh after the last election, we
[2:01:15] were concerned because we didn't think
that town people had enough information
[2:01:18] based on
being the the fault of the town as far
[2:01:22] as like the water because we we felt
that if we could have discussed it in a
[2:01:26] setting like this, it would have more
likely than passed. I mean, the article
[2:01:31] was for $6 something million, but I
don't think people realize that 40% of
[2:01:35] that would have been forgiven. So, it
would have been like a $4 something
[2:01:39] million that we passed up on that we
can't go back for for another two years.
[2:01:43] So, the feeling was how do we get the
town's people more informed? So we came
[2:01:48] up with a governance committee and after
discussion uh it was the best proposal
[2:01:53] that we could come up with as a town
meeting so that people are more informed
[2:01:57] of what's going on along with having
meetings throughout the year just to
[2:02:01] discuss what's going on without
throughout the town. So I I certainly
[2:02:05] urge that we uh pass this. It's going to
take a three-fifth vote to do so.
[2:02:10] » Further discussion on article 10.
>> Seeing none of this
[2:02:16] » Oh.
Sorry, I didn't see you.
[2:02:18] » That's all right. Scott Self and I was
on that committee, that governance
[2:02:23] committee discussing all of this and uh
it was a lot of discussion about it and
[2:02:30] it pretty much boils down to what we're
doing right now. We're we're listening
[2:02:35] to the articles. We're debating them and
we're amending them sometimes and then
[2:02:39] we're voting on them and we know exactly
what we're voting on just what we
[2:02:42] amended or didn't amend. And there'll
probably be more people than this at the
[2:02:47] town meeting to do it. Some of you may
have never been to a town meeting, but
[2:02:50] that was the the whole idea behind it
was really it' be done once and for all
[2:02:55] by people who actually knew exactly what
it was rather than hearsay.
[2:03:05] » I'll just make one point. Um, and we did
discuss every type.
[2:03:08] » Who are you?
>> I'm sorry. My name is Annne Hfernon.
[2:03:12] And please, please get closer to the
mic. We can't hear.
[2:03:17] » Okay.
>> Thank Thank you.
[2:03:20] » We discussed every form of governance
that we could possibly apply to the town
[2:03:26] and the town meeting seems to be the
most pure form of governance that we
[2:03:30] could come up with or that was available
to us. And just to give you an example,
[2:03:37] last year 80 pe 70 people came to this
meeting and probably 15 of them were
[2:03:43] town employees or committee chairs. So
60 people, 55 people made all the
[2:03:51] decisions on all the warrants for
everything that the town is voting for.
[2:03:56] And we need to have more people involved
and engaged. and by having a town
[2:04:01] meeting and we would have it on a
Saturday so that more people could come,
[2:04:05] people with child care needs could
participate.
[2:04:10] And hopefully by doing that, we would
have more than the less than 2% of our
[2:04:16] town people
voting on what affects all of us.
[2:04:26] » Mr. Chairman,
>> sir, Bruce, I'm sure you can hear me.
[2:04:35] » Now, Bruce, excuse me,
[2:04:43] » come up to the mic, please. You're not
recording for the
[2:04:48] » the tape and stuff.
[2:04:55] » Over. You hear me now?
>> Yep.
[2:04:57] » All right. What do we got? How many?
>> 89.
[2:05:01] » So you want 89 people basically to do
your decision. What was our vote count
[2:05:07] last year in our election for the
ballot?
[2:05:12] » There's a lot more people voting that
way for RS2B, I think it's called
[2:05:18] » SP2.
>> SP2
[2:05:20] » than there is right here now. And you
want I've been through town meetings
[2:05:25] before and we've been here like midnight
discussing this stuff. So you guys are a
[2:05:33] lot of you are pretty aged here. I don't
believe you're going to be wanting to
[2:05:37] stay up until midnight. Even though you
think you want to do it on a Saturday, I
[2:05:41] don't think that's going to happen.
Thank you.
[2:05:49] » Wait.
[2:05:53] Uh, I'm Ashley Crosby. I live over on
Fox Run Road. I would like to just speak
[2:05:57] as a resident for this. As a parent who
has small children, I could probably
[2:06:01] easily say I think I'm the youngest
person in the room tonight. And I'm here
[2:06:05] because I have to be here as a
department head. If I didn't be, I
[2:06:08] wouldn't be. I'd be at home tucking
children into bed and things like that.
[2:06:12] My concern with moving away from SB2 is
how are we accommodating those families?
[2:06:16] Who's providing child care? Is that now
going to be something you're going to
[2:06:19] look for the recreation? How do me and
my staff then get to be able to
[2:06:22] participate and vote in that as well?
Because there are a lot of families who
[2:06:26] really are active in town but have very
very small time frames. They're able to
[2:06:31] get in and out of things. So a longer
period of time could really condense the
[2:06:35] availability of a lot of these other
people that are going to be here and are
[2:06:38] going to be building us for the next 30
years.
[2:06:47] So, we would we hopefully would be able
to have a form of child care. It's one
[2:06:52] of the things that is in our notes that
we would do that, but Saturday seemed
[2:06:57] far better just because you wouldn't
have to be here late at night. And if it
[2:07:02] were on a Saturday, we wouldn't be here
late at night presumably. But to address
[2:07:05] one other question that came up, in
March of 2025, there were a total of,
[2:07:10] and you can correct me back there if I'm
wrong, 2,978
[2:07:15] ballots. And of that, of the questions,
the warrants, only 1,53
[2:07:22] were all voted on, which means that
people didn't understand a lot of what
[2:07:26] the warrant amendments were. So in this
kind of format we can discuss it until
[2:07:33] everyone is comfortable with the right
or the wrong.
[2:07:45] » State your name please.
>> Hi [clears throat] Kristen Reynolds. Um,
[2:07:52] last year
we had an opportunity to get our own
[2:07:58] water department to make it public
instead of private.
[2:08:04] Everybody in the room here who heard
that argument
[2:08:10] voted for that water. We we all saw the
need and we've just been told over and
[2:08:15] over again by Jimmy here how much we
need to get businesses in here to help
[2:08:20] us pay for what's happening.
And water is paramount. We must have it.
[2:08:28] But when we went in March to vote, most
of the people voted against it. And why?
[2:08:34] Because they didn't understand it.
>> They didn't read it well. They saw the
[2:08:40] amount of money that it was and they
didn't understand about the loan and how
[2:08:44] that worked. They didn't know what we
knew here. It really bummed me out.
[2:08:50] The people here, we learn what needs to
we need to know
[2:08:56] and then we vote on it. That makes sense
to me.
[2:09:01] » Thank you, Dan.
Um I I'll just be real quick because I
[2:09:06] was on the Swansea governance committee
also. Um and the biggest point of uh
[2:09:11] going back to town meeting is just to
make sure that people are informed. Uh
[2:09:16] like everybody else that just came up
here said, the majority of voters are
[2:09:19] not informed. Uh the people that are
here tonight, you guys are you're you're
[2:09:23] active. You're engaged in our town.
Unfortunately, there are restrictions
[2:09:26] where pe there's young families and some
people can't get out and do this. That's
[2:09:31] why we want to do it on a Saturday. Uh,
but we want to see our town moving in
[2:09:34] the right direction. I mean, I know I
was up here, you know, kind of
[2:09:37] criticizing the town tonight just I want
to hold them accountable to where our
[2:09:41] taxpayers money is going. And I think uh
the town meeting format uh not only
[2:09:47] holds them more accountable, but also
helps keep our taxes a lot lower. Um,
[2:09:53] so, uh, for the gentleman that argued
that there's only 89 people that would
[2:09:57] be making the decisions on our town, I
would rather have 89 informed people
[2:10:01] that know exactly what's going on in our
town to make that decision than,400
[2:10:05] people that don't have an idea and only
vote on things that they think they
[2:10:08] understand. Thank you.
[2:10:13] Uh, I want to take my my moderator hat
off for a minute and address my feelings
[2:10:21] on this or question that I have.
Has there been any
[2:10:28] uh I haven't seen any estimate as to
what extra this is going to cost. We've
[2:10:36] had a lot of talk about our our budget.
Um,
[2:10:41] and I don't believe there's been any any
proposal as to how much this is going to
[2:10:48] cost.
[2:10:53] » Ann, you want to answer?
[2:10:57] » We don't we don't have that estimate
because we don't know if we can move
[2:11:01] forward with it, but it would be
basically what's happened in the past.
[2:11:05] And hopefully we can do this at the high
school. Hopefully, we can do this at the
[2:11:08] high school. So, it shouldn't be an
enormous expense to the town. And for
[2:11:15] things like child care, we would hope to
engage some of some of the youth like
[2:11:20] interact or we don't know. I mean,
there's a lot of unknowns that are
[2:11:24] involved in it, but it's a step in the
right direction to engage more people
[2:11:28] and have more people involved in the
town that they live in.
[2:11:39] I just want to say that Danny made the
most important point of it all. You I
[2:11:44] first think we're going to get a lot
more people than this and also I would
[2:11:48] rather have the result come out in the
favor of Swansea and that's how the
[2:11:53] result will come out because everybody
is informed. So the results of the vote
[2:11:59] will will benefit the town of Swansea.
That's how I feel and I think Danny
[2:12:04] Danny made a fantastic point here. You
versus 2000 I've watched people go to
[2:12:09] those voting booths and it was very
confusing to the majority of the people
[2:12:14] and they were just people were just
putting down what they want. I I I agree
[2:12:19] 100% with what Danny said and I think
it's we really need to do this.
[2:12:28] » Kyle Croto Eaten Road. Um, I think being
judged that you're not in this room,
[2:12:34] that you don't understand what's going
on is unfair. Um, personally, I can't be
[2:12:39] at all these meetings, but I do take
advantage of YouTube and I watch them
[2:12:43] all. I think the town does a great job
providing that information. If people
[2:12:48] want to be informed, they're going to
be. If they don't, they're not going to
[2:12:50] be. But I think to make one group of
people in a room one day make all the
[2:12:56] decisions isn't the proper way to do it.
[2:13:06] » Dave Jones Causeway Road. If you want
participation, you want information, why
[2:13:13] don't you hold these meetings on
Saturday?
[2:13:23] Could I just have some clarification?
Are are the town meetings going to be a
[2:13:28] vote at that time or are they just open
for discussion?
[2:13:34] So the people at home would not have the
benefit of a vote. I mean these meetings
[2:13:38] are great because of the questions. If
we could have questions like this, open
[2:13:43] debate and discussion and be polite
about it and then people come and vote
[2:13:48] that that would move us. But we we do
need to have these discussions. Good.
[2:13:52] There is no bad question. So um that's
unfortunate because of the media. I
[2:13:59] thought maybe you know people could hear
the questions at home and get
[2:14:02] clarification.
>> Thank you.
[2:14:10] There are other things that we would
like to do moving forward. One of them
[2:14:16] which was mentioned earlier was to have
possibly quarterly meetings throughout
[2:14:20] the different villages within the town
to cover specific topics like the water
[2:14:26] issue. Um which would also help engage
more people to have more information
[2:14:34] getting out to the town more process in
a better way. like
[2:14:39] Scott got lots of hits on the videos he
did for us. Um, so having more
[2:14:44] information that's readily available so
that people some people just aren't
[2:14:47] engaged because they don't have the time
or the wherewithal or even know how to
[2:14:51] do it. So if we can at least supply that
kind of information to people and just
[2:14:55] disseminate more information,
people would be more engaged, which is
[2:15:00] really the bottom line.
[2:15:08] And a clear example of probably the not
so well informed would be tonight's
[2:15:14] meeting here with the beginning of it
with the zoning proposals. I don't know
[2:15:17] how many out here actually understand
those zoning proposals.
[2:15:22] Sometimes we don't understand them here.
I'm on planning board, but we have a lot
[2:15:25] of discussion and a lot of back and
forth on it to understand those
[2:15:28] proposals before we vote on them. and
everyone here and everyone who votes in
[2:15:34] March, they're just going to look
underneath there and say, "Oh, planning
[2:15:38] board recommends it. Guess that's okay
for me." Without even knowing what
[2:15:41] you're voting on. And that's the same
thing with town meeting. We got to know
[2:15:44] what we're voting on.
[2:15:53] Seeing no other people lined up to
speak,
[2:15:58] um we'll call the question.
[2:16:03] All those in favor of
article 10
[2:16:09] as written, signify by saying I.
>> I.
[2:16:13] » Opposed. I
>> I
[2:16:21] » I'd say that the
eyes had it.
[2:16:28] » Okay.
>> I make a motion to restrict
[2:16:30] reconsideration on article 10.
[2:16:35] » Second
motion to restrict reconstruction.
[2:16:42] Reconstruction. Whatever.
um amending of the article
[2:16:49] nine which I
>> 10
[2:16:51] » 10 I'm sorry it's been a long night
um
[2:17:03] » it'll it'll go on the ballot as written
>> so
[2:17:11] » I think that
>> the wording pass.
[2:17:15] No money was represented. So, uh, we'll
move on. Article 11.
[2:17:23] Bill.
>> Make a motion to move article 11.
[2:17:26] » Second.
>> Thank you, Bruce.
[2:17:31] One of the first items
[2:17:36] that new town administrator Lori Radiota
Radiola brought to our attention was
[2:17:41] that we we as a town had not considered
the elderly tax exemption since 2009.
[2:17:48] And I think we can all recognize that
that home values and inflation have
[2:17:53] significantly increased the cost of
living since 2009. So what we're Could
[2:17:59] you bring up the next slide, please?
>> Oh,
[2:18:03] » the the one with the Okay. On this
slide, you can see [clears throat] the
[2:18:08] the changes that we're recommending uh
for people 65 and older, 75, 65, 74, 75,
[2:18:17] 79, and 80 and over increases from the
the current uh income exempt, I'm sorry,
[2:18:24] property value valuation to what we're
proposing in assessed value moving
[2:18:29] forward. Uh we've also increased or
recommending an increase in income
[2:18:34] limits u and then their total asset the
total asset limits that that they have.
[2:18:40] We we all recognize that there are many
of us who are less fortunate and have
[2:18:45] challenges paying the property taxes. It
is our form of I mean it is our form of
[2:18:49] taxation and revenue generation. Um,
depending upon what your view is, uh,
[2:18:55] back in the day when I chaired the vice
chaired and chaired the Republican
[2:18:59] committee in in Cheshire County and
along with my cohorts on the the
[2:19:04] Democrat Democratic party, we we all
almost in mass supported a more
[2:19:09] diversified tax structure,
but that was in Cheshire County. Once we
[2:19:15] get to the middle part of the state and
the eastern part of the state, it
[2:19:17] doesn't matter what party you're in, it
uh it doesn't go away. So, property
[2:19:22] taxes are the way that we generate
revenue. And we feel that it's important
[2:19:26] to consider those who are less fortunate
and give them an opportunity, more of an
[2:19:31] opportunity to stay in their homes.
[2:19:39] » What's up?
and Kerosinski, Park Street, Swazi. Um,
[2:19:46] this slide is much better at this slide,
the second one is much better at
[2:19:51] expressing where you're going from and
where you're going to. So, I don't know
[2:19:57] if we need an amendment about the way
this is written, but I found this
[2:20:01] confusing. And if we are going to
educate people in the voting booth, so
[2:20:07] that's the first time they're seeing
this. I would if there's a way to
[2:20:11] recommend that these numbers have not
been updated since 2009 to reflect
[2:20:17] current economic conditions. And I would
almost I would consider doing a chart
[2:20:22] similar to what you have on that slide
to explain what we're going from and
[2:20:28] what we're going to because having done
some research and seen now that the
[2:20:33] different towns and cities in New
Hampshire have an opportunity to to have
[2:20:39] this um in their own town that I think
that we it it would get us an
[2:20:46] opportunity and particularly if you were
recommending ing this when you go to the
[2:20:50] ballot and you're trying to understand
what this actually means. I I just think
[2:20:55] we could express it better.
So, for your consideration,
[2:21:07] [clears throat]
>> um, I'd like to
[2:21:11] take a moment and
put our our town council on the spot
[2:21:18] here.
We There's no money involved. What what
[2:21:25] can we change in wooding wording and
what can't we change in wording if it
[2:21:30] changes their
>> Well, she's
[2:21:34] » she's suggesting
>> doing some kind of a something like
[2:21:39] that. Um
that
[2:21:45] that's not going to work unfortunately.
There's there's statutory
[2:21:47] [clears throat] language that needs to
be in there,
[2:21:50] » right?
>> Um I mean you could add that to it. Uh,
[2:21:55] but someone would need to make a motion
for a specific amendment and I suppose
[2:22:01] if the if the amendment is to add that
to it, you could do that.
[2:22:09] » Okay.
>> If that's
[2:22:10] » if somebody wants to make that motion.
[2:22:16] » A clear example of town meeting and the
benefit that it would bring.
[2:22:23] Jessica Sanchez. Um, do you need my
address? Okay. Um, so it's almost like I
[2:22:30] honestly when I first looked at it, it
was a little confusing to me. I
[2:22:34] understand you're probably trying to
keep the wording down, but if you said
[2:22:38] exemption increase from 25 to 50,
exemption increase from 35 to 75,
[2:22:45] because it you see exemption at the top,
but then you see increase. Is that what
[2:22:50] you were saying?
Yeah,
[2:22:52] » the exemption is increasing.
>> So, it's
[2:22:56] the title says exemption amounts and
then it says you're increasing, but when
[2:23:00] you just look at it at first glance,
it's almost like people might see
[2:23:05] increasing taxes, not increasing the
exemption. Do you see what I'm saying?
[2:23:11] So, it might just need increase the
exemption from increase the exemption
[2:23:16] from just to make it more clear.
I think that might have been what Ann
[2:23:21] was trying to say.
[2:23:28] » Scott self again. Uh it it says that in
the article. It states that exactly in
[2:23:33] the article 11 about the increase. Y
>> not on not on that but in the article
[2:23:43] » most of you have received and everyone
that has a post box will receive the
[2:23:47] voter guide that that will come out
shortly after this meeting and we can
[2:23:52] explain it there but I think as Cordell
mentioned someone would need to craft an
[2:23:57] amendment so that we could we could
amend this article and whether it's
[2:24:02] language or adding a graph or both would
need to come from the body.
[2:24:11] » Is anyone interested in constructing an
amendment to this?
[2:24:35] Does anyone have written and signatures
for an amendment on this article?
[2:24:50] Seeing none,
[2:24:55] » call the question on article.
>> Mr. Moderator,
[2:24:59] » I'd like to make a motion that we table
this article 11
[2:25:06] and move on to article 12 and then come
back to article 11
[2:25:12] as there seems to be interest.
There seems to be interest from the body
[2:25:20] » if we come back to it at the end of the
>> Okay,
[2:25:30] » Mr. Moderator,
>> we have we do have a motion. Did we get
[2:25:35] a second?
>> Second.
[2:25:37] » Okay,
>> I just have a question.
[2:25:38] » Sorry. Okay, we have a motion to
[2:25:44] We we'd like the motion is to table
article 11.
[2:25:48] » table article 11 and
>> and come back to our
[2:25:51] » come back to it at the end of the
>> correct
[2:25:54] » end of tonight.
>> So move it from article 11.
[2:25:59] » It will remain as article 11. It would
just be tabled for now.
[2:26:10] I just have a quick question about
article 11.
[2:26:14] » Is the Linda Falner, sorry,
>> we've already we've got another motion
[2:26:19] on the floor.
>> It's not a motion.
[2:26:20] » You can bring it up at the end
because this this isn't going away.
[2:26:25] We're going to have discussion on it,
but he's postponing discussion so that
[2:26:30] people would have chance to write an
amendment or
[2:26:35] until
[2:26:44] Okay, we got a vote on tableabling
article 11 and
[2:26:54] it will be discussed at the after the
last article
[2:26:59] is handled.
[2:27:03] Anything further?
All those in favor say I. I
[2:27:09] » oppose. No.
Thank you. So, article 11 will move to
[2:27:15] the end end of the meeting.
>> Article 12.
[2:27:21] Make a motion to move article 12.
>> Second.
[2:27:28] Discussion
[2:27:37] » 12. You muted
[2:27:49] » Bruce Bohannan. Is that uh can you
explain service connection? Is that
[2:27:54] military service?
>> Yep. So I can
[2:27:57] » only or
>> um that one's the um it's called the
[2:28:01] optional tax credit for service
connected total disability.
[2:28:05] » But is it military service
>> um
[2:28:09] » or how are they how do they get this
>> service connected?
[2:28:12] » Service connected to what? Yes,
military.
[2:28:14] » All right. Can we add service military
in there so it's
[2:28:20] » clearer?
>> Yeah.
[2:28:23] » Cordell saying we
[2:28:28] We would need an amendment. [laughter]
[2:28:33] » I I can I can speak to
>> further discussion.
[2:28:39] » There's a motion. There's a question
with regard to adding the word military.
[2:28:46] » Do Do you want that in writing or could
we make it we make a motion? We make an
[2:28:50] amendment.
>> In order to be an amendment, you have to
[2:28:52] be in writing.
[2:28:56] Bruce, you want to write it?
[2:29:04] » We can't interject.
[2:29:08] » We've taken care of it up here.
[2:29:13] » Oh, now. Do you have a conflict of
interest on this one?
[2:29:19] » Yes, sir.
[2:29:22] You get any signatures on that?
>> No, there's no for I don't have
[2:29:26] signatures.
>> Bruce,
[2:29:28] » bring it here.
>> Bruce.
[2:29:29] » Bruce.
>> Bruce.
[2:29:32] » Bruce, you
>> Bruce, you don't need four signatures.
[2:29:38] It's just a motion to amend. Anyone can
make that motion.
[2:29:41] » Thank you.
>> Bruce,
[2:29:43] » if someone just
>> What's that?
[2:29:48] uh the state book
>> you have to have four minimum of four.
[2:29:55] » No, any anyone can make a motion to
amend as long as
[2:29:58] » we can make the motion but you can't
>> you have to have four person
[2:30:03] » if that's the way you want to do it.
Okay.
[2:30:06] » All right.
>> I would rather go with a lawyer than the
[2:30:10] moderator.
>> The moderator is in charge. So,
[2:30:14] » well, we can take a 15minute and I'll
look it up. [sighs]
[2:30:19] » Either way, we have the signatures.
[2:30:24] [snorts]
So, the amendment is
[2:30:28] to
[2:30:32] add the word military service connected.
[2:30:41] » Any discussion on that?
Yeah,
[2:30:47] » Barbara Scully, my question is if the
title of the optional tax credit for
[2:30:54] service connected total disability is
related to the RSA and if we change it,
[2:31:00] does that alter
the
[2:31:04] the meaning of that fund or that tax
credit? That's a good point and that's
[2:31:11] why I'm looking to Cordell to make sure
we can do that.
[2:31:15] » It's it's not a problem as long as you
are you are referring to the correct
[2:31:20] statute here. I don't see a problem with
inserting the word military in there.
[2:31:25] It's just a matter of clarification. So,
I don't see any problem with that.
[2:31:30] » Yes, I can explain how it came about,
Bruce, if that's okay.
[2:31:36] Um, I'm curious if someone has the uh
the RSA
[2:31:43] to refer so we could refer to it.
>> Yep. I I could just give a little
[2:31:46] background on it if that will be
helpful. Um, so this warrant article
[2:31:50] proposes increasing the existing
optional property tax credit for the for
[2:31:54] veterans with a service connected
disability. If approved, the credit
[2:31:59] would increase from 4,000 to 4500
um effective for the 2026 tax year. The
[2:32:05] credit is authorized under RSA 72 colon
35 and is intended to provide additional
[2:32:11] property tax relief to qualifying
residents. And just a little background
[2:32:16] on this. Um, prior to this year, a
municipality could stack they could
[2:32:22] stack the optional, it's called service
connected disability credit on top of
[2:32:27] the general non-disability veterans tax
credit. So before you could stack them,
[2:32:32] now do due to the change in the law, you
can no longer stack those two credits.
[2:32:38] Um so Swansea has adopted the optional
veterans credit under um RSA72 col28 and
[2:32:47] that amount is $500. So before the
change in law you you could have a town
[2:32:53] could have done it and Swansea does do
this. you could have granted the
[2:32:57] optional credit of 500 and in addition
granted the service connected disability
[2:33:04] credit of $4,000 for a total of $4,500.
Uh the town of Swansea did allow this um
[2:33:10] to stack the credits. So So those folks
would would be PE folks out there now
[2:33:16] would be receiving a total of $4,500.
So, this this warrant article basically
[2:33:23] um if approved, the veterans who would
who qualify for the service connected
[2:33:28] disability would still be able to see
would still be able to receive that $500
[2:33:33] that they would be getting for the
veterans credit. Um but prior to that
[2:33:38] change in statute, um and Cordell, do
you have anything to add to that? I know
[2:33:43] we we talked a little bit about this
this one, but I think that covers most
[2:33:48] of it.
>> That That's exactly right. I mean,
[2:33:51] basically, if I'm a right now, if I'm a
veteran with a service connected
[2:33:55] disability, I get the 4,000
plus the 500.
[2:34:01] » The law now says you can't stack them.
So, what you're voting to do is give me
[2:34:06] 4500. No stacking.
>> So, the the result is the same. there's
[2:34:11] no no change in what in in what the
person can get. It's just making sure
[2:34:16] that they're not getting less.
[2:34:20] Can
>> I just have a clarification? Uh will
[2:34:23] that affect the uh US vets that are
already it's not going to affect us that
[2:34:27] is already getting
uh the the $500 rebate, right? This is
[2:34:34] not going to affect us.
>> The veterans tax credit will remain the
[2:34:37] same. Yep. If this passes,
if this passes,
[2:34:43] » and and if it doesn't, it would still
the veterans would still nothing is
[2:34:48] changing with the veterans.
>> I guess it' be my question. It's pretty
[2:34:54] much to Cordell.
Um,
[2:34:59] do we have the right to change the
wording of a state approved RSA?
[2:35:07] the uh
there's a there is a section in in the
[2:35:12] RSAs that tells you how to how to change
the amount of credit the amount of the
[2:35:18] credit. It doesn't prescribe the
specific language. So you're not you're
[2:35:24] not changing uh statemandated language
here.
[2:35:30] The the short answer is yes, you can do
this.
[2:35:35] Okay.
[2:35:39] So,
have we voted on the amendment?
[2:35:43] » No.
All those in favor of the adding the
[2:35:47] word military in front of service
connected on article 12
[2:35:53] uh signify by saying I.
>> I.
[2:35:57] » Opposed.
[2:36:00] Okay. The eyes have it now.
We're back to the modified
[2:36:07] article 12 which includes
the track they adding the word military.
[2:36:14] Any further discussion?
Seeing none.
[2:36:21] » All those in favor say I.
>> Opposed.
[2:36:27] » Okay. Done.
>> Mr. Mr. Moderator, make a motion to
[2:36:31] restrict reconsideration on article 12.
>> Second.
[2:36:37] » Okay, we have a motion on the floor to
restrict
[2:36:41] further discussion on article
one.
[2:36:46] » Article 12.
Um, all those in favor of restricting
[2:36:53] discussion further on this article
signify by saying I. I
[2:36:58] » opposed.
Okay. Restricted.
[2:37:19] That's that's proper form. But article
11, we voted
[2:37:35] Thank you.
[2:37:41] » Okay,
[2:37:44] where are we?
[2:37:54] » 13.
Make a motion to move article 13.
[2:37:59] » I move article 13 has moved.
>> Second.
[2:38:03] » Second.
>> Okay. Article 13 is moved and seconded.
[2:38:09] Uh discussion or
>> Okay. So I can speak to this one. Um the
[2:38:14] town has updated the project timeline
and costs for the Ashwal lot rail trail
[2:38:19] transportation alternatives program. Um,
this project was originate was
[2:38:24] originally approved on the 2020 warrant
article number nine. The town received
[2:38:30] notification in December that the
Federal Highway Administration has
[2:38:33] obligated additional funding for fiscal
year 2026 preliminary engineering
[2:38:39] efforts. Um, and just to offer a little
bit of background on this article, this
[2:38:45] project was added to the 10-year plan
through the town's transportation
[2:38:48] alternatives program application in um
2018. Original documents um are
[2:38:56] available at town hall. The project
scoped was then updated in 2023 to focus
[2:39:02] on a portion of the Ashwal lot rail
trail with multiple washouts um which
[2:39:07] are documented in the engineering study.
This article if passed gives the town um
[2:39:13] more money and more funding to finish um
a muchneeded project.
[2:39:18] Um, and just I just wanted to include in
here um an important note because it
[2:39:22] came up at our budget hearing several
times, but this project is not related
[2:39:26] to the Christian Hill um road bridge
project. I just wanted to put that out
[2:39:30] there now before we get to anything um
further in the warrant, but it's not
[2:39:34] related to that um project
>> and further discussion on it.
[2:39:47] » Mike. Hello, my name is Mike Kowalsik.
Um I chair the Swansea Rail Trail
[2:39:52] Advisory Committee and the committee is
in favor of article 13. Uh the passing
[2:39:57] of this article covers the tap grant
which Lori talked about and the matching
[2:40:01] costs therefore allowing the four wash
outs along the Ashwa rail trail which
[2:40:06] are located between the two Ashbook
Avenue crossings uh to be fixed. The
[2:40:12] current plan is uh I understand it is
construction is to start in 2027.
[2:40:17] If the article does not pass, the
funding could be lost and there's no
[2:40:21] timeline to getting the wash outs fixed
and the trail in this section would not
[2:40:25] be reopened.
The trail has been closed since July of
[2:40:29] 23 when the washouts occurred. The
Ashlet Rail Trail is a main corridor in
[2:40:34] Swansea and Southwest New Hampshire. It
is heavily used by snowmoilers, bikers,
[2:40:38] hikers, etc. The trail actually starts
at Emerald Street in Keen and it ends at
[2:40:43] the Connecticut River in Hinsdale. And
finally, I just want to mention that the
[2:40:47] railroad advisor railroad advisory
committee through the work work of Bruce
[2:40:52] Bohannan did raise $25,000 to help cover
the match. Thank you.
[2:40:59] » Nothing further on article 13.
>> Bruce, if I can just expand on that a
[2:41:06] little bit more, Bruce. Um um so up here
is just a snippet of the December 4th
[2:41:12] letter to the town from New Hampshire
DOT showing the updated budget. Um and
[2:41:16] it's broken down as follows with the
total cost of1 1,822,712.
[2:41:23] Uh the town's match totals 364,542.
[2:41:32] » Anything else?
[2:41:36] Seeing nothing.
All those in favor of article 13 signify
[2:41:42] by saying I.
>> Oppose. Nay.
[2:41:48] » Thank you.
>> Mr. Make a motion to restrict
[2:41:52] reconsideration on an article 13.
Second.
[2:42:00] Motions have been made and seconded to
restrict
[2:42:04] changes to article 13.
Um, all those in favor?
[2:42:11] » All those opposed.
[2:42:16] Okay.
Article 14.
[2:42:19] » Make a motion to move article 14.
>> Second.
[2:42:25] » Okay. Article 14 has been moved and
seconded.
[2:42:32] We move to discussion with lowering.
>> Okay. Um so article 14 this is regarding
[2:42:38] the lower Winchester street route 10
improvements. Um Swansea's share of this
[2:42:44] project cost. Uh
it requires a total um local
[2:42:49] contribution of 145,000.
This entire amount will come from the
[2:42:54] town's um fund unassigned fund balance.
Um meaning no new no new taxes are
[2:43:01] required to fund this project. Um the
145 represents 100% of Swansea's portion
[2:43:08] of the project costs. The funding is a
one-time appropriation and this article
[2:43:13] is non-lap is a non-lapsing
appropriation remaining available until
[2:43:17] the project is completed or until
December 31st, 2031, whichever comes
[2:43:23] first. Um, this investment supports
needed transportation and infrastructure
[2:43:27] approvement infr infrastructure
improvements while minimizing the impact
[2:43:32] on the tax rate.
[2:43:39] Um the improvement on uh Route 10,
are they taking out the turn lane that's
[2:43:47] in the middle of that road because
people use it as a passing lane? I've
[2:43:51] almost been crushed like three times.
>> So, it's my understanding that that
[2:43:56] section of of Lower Winchester Route 10
is all going to be divided with an
[2:43:59] island.
>> Okay. Um, so for example, if you had to
[2:44:02] go to Service Credit Union, you'd go up
to the Rotary, um, use Service Credit
[2:44:07] Union, when you come out, you wouldn't
be able to turn to Keen. You'd come back
[2:44:09] down. There'll be another Rotary. I
think it's Road, the one that
[2:44:14] goes in by the college.
>> Okay.
[2:44:16] » And there will be a center
[clears throat] divider and uh, and a
[2:44:19] sidewalk.
>> Am I on the wrong end of Route 10 now?
[2:44:21] I'm talking. Okay.
>> Yeah.
[2:44:23] » All right. So, there's no plan on
getting rid of that middle turn lane.
[2:44:26] » There should be a plan. It it No,
that'll be part of what Joe just
[2:44:30] mentioned.
The medium will go right down the
[2:44:32] middle.
>> All right. All the way down because like
[2:44:34] my my store, Captain Brady's right
there. All that.
[2:44:38] » No, not down that far. This This is up
by Market Basket.
[2:44:41] » Oh, okay. All right. All right. That's
too bad. All right. No, that's my
[2:44:44] » You talking about the turning lane by
California Street?
[2:44:47] » Yeah, it goes for like a half a mile or
whatever. Yeah, it's very dangerous.
[2:44:51] » That would be something to bring up the
District 4 DOT.
[2:44:54] » Okay. because there is a planning study
going on but there's definitely nothing
[2:44:58] been done there yet.
>> Okay. All right. Thank you.
[2:45:02] » Scott, you might remember that might
have been brought in by
[2:45:06] » California Owens Drive was approved. The
turn lanes.
[2:45:11] » Any further discussion on article
>> turn lanes on route 10 we're talking
[2:45:15] about, right? Yeah. The the slip lanes
there.
[2:45:16] » Yeah, those were those were town
>> really.
[2:45:19] » Yeah, they were. The town wanted those
in there and I think they helped. I I
[2:45:24] haven't been I don't Maybe you have been
partially uh smashed maybe there but I
[2:45:29] like the route the slip lanes there.
They work quite well.
[2:45:35] » Yeah. Mike York. Uh we had through the
planning board we had a um program where
[2:45:42] they're going to do safety all the way
down through from uh forest all the way
[2:45:47] down through the uh the park by Jimmy's
Park. But that funding has from my
[2:45:53] knowledge has fallen through. So there's
nothing going to be done through that
[2:45:57] section unless we can uh get another
committee together and petition the uh
[2:46:02] state to do it. But they've diverted
those funds over to the coast.
[2:46:15] Seeing no more discussion,
we'll call for a vote. All those in
[2:46:21] favor for article 14 as written, please
signify by saying I.
[2:46:28] » Those opposed.
[2:46:32] Now
>> Mr. M, I make a motion to restrict
[2:46:35] reconsideration on article 14.
Second.
[2:46:39] » Really?
>> Really?
[2:46:43] » Okay.
Motion's been made to restrict
[2:46:47] discussion or changing article 14. All
those in favor?
[2:46:53] » Opposed?
[2:46:58] Now, at the end of this, I know we're
going back to 11, but
[2:47:04] my page says says Lori, article 15,
Lori, to offer background on this before
[2:47:12] turning over the to petitioner. I don't
understand that. And why is it an
[2:47:18] article?
>> Nope. It's
[2:47:20] » motion to move article 15.
>> Second,
[2:47:24] » what is it? If I could just give a
little background now that they had the
[2:47:28] motion in the second
before we opened it to the floor. That's
[2:47:34] all right. So, uh, in I just want to
give a little bit of background. There
[2:47:37] was quite a few questions at the budget
hearing um and we just didn't have the
[2:47:41] answers to provide for everybody. So,
um, we had some time to do a little bit
[2:47:45] u more digging on this and um, just
wanted to share um, what I found with
[2:47:49] you. So in 2022, the federal bridge
funds were added to this project for the
[2:47:55] Christian Hill Bridge. Um the this slide
gives a summary of a March 18 um 2022
[2:48:02] letter detailing the project change. Um,
as part of the federal environmental
[2:48:08] process, the town um proposed a a
proposed adaptive reuse of timber and
[2:48:16] stone from the existing bridge to span
the wash out portion of the Ashwal lot
[2:48:21] rail trail. Um, so as part of the
historic mitigation for the removal of
[2:48:27] this historic bridge, um, but I just
wanted everybody to be clear that that
[2:48:31] was not part of the TAP funding. um that
this this was part of the historical um
[2:48:37] process. So this proposal was accepted
by the New Hampshire Division of
[2:48:41] Historical Resources and by the Federal
Highway Administration through an
[2:48:46] exhaustive um national environmental
policy act or the NEPA process uh which
[2:48:52] is currently nearing conclusion. The
Christian Hill Road Bridge over New
[2:48:57] Hampshire Railroad project is 100% f
federally funded um for construction. Um
[2:49:05] while federal bridge um funding is
welcome and is a welcome source of
[2:49:11] additional bridge funding uh for the
state and municipalities, it does um
[2:49:15] come with additional compliance and
oversight requirements on the project.
[2:49:20] Um
and I think that was all I wanted to
[2:49:23] share. I just wanted to make it clear
that they're they're two separate
[2:49:26] projects. The TAP and this project, two
two completely different
[2:49:33] funding sources.
>> But is it appropriate to call them
[2:49:36] article 15 and 16 without any
data to go with it and no description
[2:49:45] other than what you're telling us?
I just that's just background
[2:49:49] information before we open it to the
floor for for comment.
[2:49:55] » I I guess I'm unclear of what we're
discussing. If it's just something that
[2:50:00] turning over to the petitioner, I don't
I don't I don't understand.
[2:50:04] » We can just discuss um article 15, that
would be great.
[2:50:17] Why wasn't this?
[2:50:24] Is there any of one of the petitioners?
>> Would you like to speak to it?
[2:50:32] » Thank you.
[2:50:36] » Hi, I'm John Trainer from uh Railroad
Street.
[2:50:42] Um,
[2:50:46] I moved to Swansea about 40 years ago
because of the character of the town,
[2:50:52] the historic aspects, the beauty, and
um, I've been loving it ever since. Um,
[2:51:00] and I I believe we should keep our
historic landmarks here in town and not
[2:51:07] destroy them. In 2014,
the Christian Hill Road bridge was
[2:51:14] closed
uh by the state.
[2:51:18] It wasn't
required to tear it down. They just
[2:51:22] needed to be fixed. There's not a lot
wrong with the bridge that it needs to
[2:51:27] be destroyed and and replaced with a
concrete cover. there in 2016 a
[2:51:33] committee was put together
um by the town and the committee made a
[2:51:39] suggestion to the selectman
um but the committee didn't have all the
[2:51:45] facts. The facts weren't available until
2018.
[2:51:51] A very important fact is that the bridge
became in 2018
[2:51:57] eligible for listing in the U. National
Registry of Historic Places.
[2:52:05] So
I don't think that the committee if they
[2:52:09] knew that would have recommended to the
selectmen to tear it down and replace it
[2:52:14] with a concrete covert. Um, one of the
people on that committee was Lee Dunham
[2:52:20] who's here tonight. And I spoke with Lee
about a month and a half ago at the
[2:52:25] Swansea Christmas. And a month and a
half ago, he was not aware that the
[2:52:32] Christian Hill Bridge
and its historic as it historic aspects.
[2:52:38] I wasn't aware until this fall when I
started digging into this whole thing.
[2:52:45] Um
in 2000 um
[2:52:50] 2020 there was a vote by the town to
accept money from the state to rebuild
[2:52:57] the bridge with a concrete covert. Um in
this article in 2020 there was no
[2:53:04] mention of the historic aspects of the
bridge. The voters did not know anything
[2:53:10] about the bridge. All they were required
to do in the voting was to accept the
[2:53:16] money from the state. So, a lot of
people were like, "Yay, money from the
[2:53:19] state." And they accepted the money and
won. Um
[2:53:24] the the biggest secret I've ever heard
kept is the fact the historic aspects of
[2:53:31] that bridge. There's no mention of it in
the u election in the um the vote in
[2:53:38] 2020. In um [clears throat] 2024,
u federal funds became available
[2:53:47] and in order to receive those federal
funds,
[2:53:52] they couldn't tear down the bridge. So,
Michael Branley from the town and the
[2:54:00] representative from the engineering
company came up with a plan and the plan
[2:54:05] was to
take part of the bridge and move it down
[2:54:09] to the washed out part of the rail trail
and that way they can say they were
[2:54:13] saving a historic landmark in town.
Um this meeting was done where the where
[2:54:21] this idea was formed and then presented
to the state was done in private. There
[2:54:27] was no town voters involved.
Um there were no elected officials
[2:54:32] involved. This was all done behind
closed doors. So I feel that with this
[2:54:40] knowledge of the historic aspects I
believe we can save the bridge. I don't
[2:54:45] think we have to tear it down just to
take money from the state or the federal
[2:54:50] government. There are other um funds
available that would have been available
[2:54:55] in 2016
if they had could s have seen into the
[2:55:00] future and saw two years down the low
road that there was um there will be
[2:55:06] historic. Um so I think in 2016
if they had known this they wouldn't
[2:55:14] have recommended it to the selectman. Um
I think we can save the bridge and I
[2:55:19] hope that this the selectman will will
support the uh petition. Thank you.
[2:55:30] » [applause]
[2:55:34] » This whole district here is a historical
district. Not a zoning historical
[2:55:39] district for Swansea, but it is a
historical district. This building is in
[2:55:43] it. Lots of these old houses on Main
Street here are in it. And that bridge
[2:55:47] up there we're talking about is is in
it. That bridge,
[2:55:51] it's it'll in four years it'll be a
hundred years old. That's pretty old
[2:55:55] bridge built by the railroad. And they
built things to last. They didn't build
[2:55:58] things to fall down. They didn't want
anything falling across their tracks. We
[2:56:02] support all our other bridges in town,
which are historic bridges. If we take
[2:56:06] that down, we're never getting it back
again. Never going to be able to replace
[2:56:09] it again. There might be a cement
culvert in there, but it's nothing like
[2:56:13] that historic bridge over there. Lots of
people haven't seen it. I've seen it.
[2:56:16] I've looked at that bridge. I've looked
underneath the bridge. And when this
[2:56:21] whole thing started several years ago, I
pretty much took the engineers report
[2:56:25] and face value as to it was falling down
and had to be torn down. Uh, in my
[2:56:30] opinion, that's not the case. Underneath
it there, you can see they've got
[2:56:34] stringers on that bridge. They're built
by they're 14 by 8 in stringers about 30
[2:56:39] inches in and spaced out. And the part
of the bridge that is rotten are what's
[2:56:45] called the bedding timbers. And those
timbers are the same thing as the sill
[2:56:49] in your house. So, you know, if the sill
rots out in your house, you don't tear
[2:56:52] it down and put a cement one up. You
just replace a sill. And those bending
[2:56:56] timbers were made to be replaced
anyways. It's how it works. So, I would
[2:57:00] be in favor of just studying it at least
for another year just to see if it's
[2:57:04] worthwhile saving it. We don't have a
train station down there anymore. Other
[2:57:07] towns do, but we don't have one burnt
down. That and that small little brick
[2:57:13] way station behind the cemetery are the
only things we have left for for the
[2:57:17] train station here or for what the train
was in town. So I think we ought to
[2:57:21] really look into it before we do
something that we can't you know can't
[2:57:25] replace.
[2:57:33] Hello, Michael Walls again, uh, chair of
the, uh, Swansea Railrotor Advisory
[2:57:37] Committee and the committee is in
opposition of article 15. And before I
[2:57:43] give reasons why, I'd like to provide a
little bit of background information so
[2:57:46] that the residents are well informed,
which is one of the purposes of this.
[2:57:51] So, the Ashwillot rail trail, like most
of the rail corridors in Manadnok
[2:57:54] region, is owned by the New Hampshire
DOT rail and transit. Since the
[2:57:59] conversion to rail trail, the New
Hampshire Bureau of Trails has been
[2:58:02] responsible for the regular maintenance.
The Bureau of Trails has little
[2:58:06] resource. Therefore, they rely heavily
on counties, snowmobile clubs,
[2:58:11] conservation groups, and local
municipalities like the town of Swansea
[2:58:15] to define projects, raise the funding,
and perform the work all over all
[2:58:19] overseen by the Bureau of Trails. Severe
washouts like those experienced on the
[2:58:25] Ashwa trail in 23
are not considered regular means.
[2:58:30] Therefore, they're sent to the DOT to be
fixed. The DOT 10-year plan is the
[2:58:35] typical means to get such projects
funded and worked on via the
[2:58:39] transportation alternative program
grant, which is the one we have fixing
[2:58:43] the other ones.
In 2018, as we talked about, uh, the
[2:58:48] rail trail advisory committee along with
Matthew Bachler, the town planner at the
[2:58:52] time, uh, began the effort to submit a
TAP grant to fix both the Cheshire Trail
[2:58:57] and the southern portion portion of the
Ashriat Rail Trail. In 2019, the town
[2:59:03] was awarded the grant, which effectively
put the project at the bottom of the new
[2:59:07] H of the bottom of the DOT 10-year plan.
When the washouts occurred in 23 causing
[2:59:13] five wash outs in two rail bed
compromised areas with very significant
[2:59:18] cost repair, the railroad advisory
committee proposed to redirect the TAP
[2:59:23] grant funds to fix the washouts.
Because of the high repair costs,
[2:59:29] the state the TAP grant could not cover
the cost of all the repairs. The two
[2:59:34] compromised areas which are farther
north were fixed by the state funded GIA
[2:59:40] grant grant aid with the keen snow
riders snowmobile club securing the
[2:59:45] funding and managing the project.
The TAP grant would fix the four wash
[2:59:51] outs that we talked about earlier
located between the two Hullbrook Avenue
[2:59:55] crossings, leaving no plan for the wash
out near the Eversource substation.
[3:00:00] Because the Christian Hill Bridge
project was also happening, managed by
[3:00:04] the DOT, the current bridge being deemed
unsuitable for Christian Hill Road, uh
[3:00:11] it was suggested to move it to fix the
rail trail
[3:00:16] um wash out with the work being included
as part of the installation of new
[3:00:20] Christian Hill Bridge.
It was the rail trail advisory
[3:00:23] committee's understanding that DOT
division of historical resources the
[3:00:28] bureau trail the town of Swansea and Hoy
and Tanner the construction engineering
[3:00:32] company were all agreement with this
plan with all proper procedures
[3:00:37] followed.
Therefore, it's the rail trail advisory
[3:00:40] committee's understand the Christian
Hill Bridge replacement project,
[3:00:43] including the moving of the current
bridge to the Ashria rail trail is to
[3:00:47] plan to begin in this year 2026.
And for the remaining four wash outs
[3:00:53] funded by the tap grant we talked about
earlier, that's supposed to start next
[3:00:56] year. So, if all goes as planned, the
trail will be reopened in 2027.
[3:01:02] Okay, that's the background information.
Now why for the opposition
[3:01:07] is the rail trail advisory committee's
understanding that delaying the
[3:01:10] Christian Hill Bridge project by one
year could mean the loss of the current
[3:01:13] funding which is $2.5 million no match
required by the town. If article 15 does
[3:01:19] pass there is no funding for the
historical study as requested in the
[3:01:24] article. There's no plan or funding for
the restoration of the current bridge.
[3:01:28] It has been suggested in the past that
one of the funding sources could be the
[3:01:32] Northern Border's Regional Planning
Commission timber for transit grant to
[3:01:36] fund the bridge study and restoration.
This grant requires a 20% match. So if
[3:01:41] Swansea is the grantee, Swansea would be
responsible for that 20% match. And also
[3:01:46] keep in mind there's no funding to fix
the Ashwa rail trail wash out at the
[3:01:50] Eversource substation. And this means
for walkers, bikers, equestrians, and
[3:01:55] all the other users, they will need to
continue use the detour around the wash
[3:02:00] out. That current detour puts people on
Eaton Road, which is a potential safety
[3:02:04] safety issue. A more significant impact
is the snowmobile community will
[3:02:10] continue to not be able to use the Aweot
rail trail. Not only is this a form of
[3:02:15] recreational loss, but also economic
loss. I have learned recently working
[3:02:20] with snowmobile clubs that they provide
a significant economic value to the
[3:02:25] state and our local community.
Because funding will be lost for the
[3:02:30] fixing of the wash out, funding will
need to be found. The most likely
[3:02:34] solution is the TAP grant. And if it's
awarded, which is not guaranteed, the
[3:02:39] project will be put at the bottom of the
New Hampshire DOT 10-year plan, meaning
[3:02:43] it is highly likely the wash out will
not be fixed until 2036, with the town
[3:02:47] being responsible 20% of the 2036 cost.
Historically, there the DOT has $5.5
[3:02:55] million per round of available TAP
funding and $25 million in projects are
[3:03:00] submitted. So, the pro the probability
of getting funded is low.
[3:03:07] In my opinion, with the work I've done
on rail trails over the last seven,
[3:03:10] eight years,
uh, with other culverts and things like
[3:03:13] that, and the fact that it cost 1.8
million to fix the four wash outs here
[3:03:17] in Swansea, I would estimate it's going
to cost probably a million dollars to
[3:03:20] fix that wash out in 2026.
20% had to be covered by Swansea, and it
[3:03:26] would be even higher in 2036.
[3:03:30] So, the next reason for opposing article
15 is more broad scope. So, as I said, I
[3:03:35] I chair the Swansea Railroad Advisory
Committee. I'm also president of the
[3:03:40] Manandan Region Rail Trail
Collaborative. The collaborator's
[3:03:43] mission is to rehabilitate the region's
100 miles of rail trails so they are
[3:03:47] available for all users year round.
These trails run through 15 local towns
[3:03:53] from Walpole to Fitz William, Kane to
Hinsdale, Ren to Hillsboro and also have
[3:03:58] means to connect the rail trails to
Bellisols, Bradboro and Winon vastly
[3:04:03] expanding the network. The collaborative
is working with Cheshire County, many of
[3:04:07] the local towns, snowmobile clubs, DOT,
Bureau Trails, Rails to Tra, Rails to
[3:04:13] Trails Conservancy, Manadano
Conservancy, Southwest Regional Planning
[3:04:17] Commission, the Greater Mano
Collaborative, and others to make this a
[3:04:20] reality. When complete, not only will
local citizens have access to a vast
[3:04:25] rail trail network for their enjoyment,
they can help the local economy by
[3:04:28] providing week-long bike tours.
[3:04:34] Sorry about that.
[3:04:39] So, I have started such a discussion
with the owner of the Greater American
[3:04:42] Bike Tours headquartered in Raymond, New
Hampshire, with plans for me to do a
[3:04:46] test tour this summer across New
Hampshire, including two days in the
[3:04:49] Mananak region. The current watch outs
on the Ashwa rail trail severs the
[3:04:53] network, making it less attractive for
these bike tours enthusiasts, therefore
[3:04:57] losing this recreational economic
income. And as all of you know here,
[3:05:01] with no state income tax and no sales
tax, we all rely heavily on recreational
[3:05:06] income um to come in from out of state.
Finally, it's our understanding, as was
[3:05:14] mentioned here, that the replacement
bridge would be a concrete clamshell
[3:05:18] design, including decorative stone
facade to have it appear like a stone
[3:05:24] bridge and decorative railings, which is
a nice touch to make it even more
[3:05:27] appealing. Thank you.
[3:05:31] I I didn't have a lot of planning to do
with this project, but one thing the
[3:05:35] voters need to be aware of, this project
is almost complete as far as all the
[3:05:39] engineering and the design. And if this
goes away, there is a strong possibility
[3:05:45] that the town is going to be responsible
for all the engineering and the planning
[3:05:49] that's been done up until this point,
which is being funded right now
[3:05:52] currently by the grant. Uh there is a
strong likelihood if this project goes
[3:05:57] away that the town is going to be
responsible for that.
[3:06:07] » Bruce Bohannan. Uh my understanding is
that's not the original bridge. That
[3:06:13] bridge was rebuilt uh several years ago
to accom
[3:06:20] uh rebuilt to accommodate the higher
railroad cars that were going through
[3:06:25] there. So that's not the original
bridge. So I I would dare say that's not
[3:06:30] 100 years old.
[3:06:38] Uh one more thing is that uh bridge had
to go through the cultural natural
[3:06:44] resources up in conquered for approval.
And so uh the historical part of that
[3:06:52] would have been included in that study
for that committee up there too.
[3:07:01] Barbara Scully. Um, I have a question as
to whether or not the rebuilding of that
[3:07:06] bridge will have any implication for the
fire department in terms of response
[3:07:11] time or is this simply going to restore,
you know, regular car traffic?
[3:07:23] » That would it would have no impact while
it was being constructed. The fire
[3:07:26] department would be able to access it.
uh after it was constructed, a wall was
[3:07:30] constructed, have no impact.
>> So, right now, they can't use that
[3:07:34] access to get up, but once that new
bridge is put in, the fire trucks will
[3:07:39] have a straight shot up Christian Hill
rather than having to turn the trucks
[3:07:42] around at either end.
>> Okay.
[3:07:51] » The rebuild that Mr. Bohannan was
referring to I believe is the red
[3:07:56] decking that that bridge got in the
1960s. The rest of the undertone the
[3:08:01] unstructure of it is the same. They
redecked it then and it also has
[3:08:06] probably I'm guessing about two inches
of asphalt on top of it. It's paved and
[3:08:11] I did a quick calculation of what that
is and that weighs about 25 tons. So
[3:08:16] that's been carrying 25 tons for the
last 14 years just sitting there
[3:08:19] perfectly straight. And we're just
considering putting three more tons over
[3:08:23] it if you post it as a three-tonon
bridge and leave it as it used to be.
[3:08:31] » Yeah. I I timed how long it takes to go
around John Trainer. I timed how long it
[3:08:39] takes to drive around and it's about 30
seconds. So there would be a 30 second
[3:08:43] delay in fire engine.
[3:08:51] Kristen Reynolds, Christian Hill.
Um,
[3:08:57] I was at the meeting that showed me what
the new bridge is going to look like.
[3:09:04] And just so you know, it's not pretty.
It's not a pretty bridge. The new one
[3:09:10] that they have planned.
seems reasonable to delay for a little
[3:09:16] while and look into this.
Just my thought
[3:09:33] Jeremy Evans, uh, CL Lane. So, I'm the
president of the Keen Snow Riders. I've
[3:09:37] been working on these rail trails now
for a little over 20 years. Um, and I
[3:09:41] can tell you this is a primary corridor.
Traffic comes through Pisga Park,
[3:09:45] Hinsdale, Winchester, and and we're
getting a lot of questions, a lot of
[3:09:50] issues with people no longer being able
to access um Keen or to go uh through
[3:09:56] this corridor. It's it is one of the
major corridor trails in the state of
[3:10:00] New Hampshire. Um to me, this is a
pretty easy issue beyond just
[3:10:04] snowmoiling. You know, we're looking at,
and I just took a couple of notes here,
[3:10:08] a loss of about $2.5 million in funding
that's already been approved. Um, there
[3:10:13] is no money to repair the existing
bridge. There's no plan to ex to repair
[3:10:17] the existing bridge. Um, it's been
called into question whether or not, in
[3:10:20] fact, this is a historic bridge. There
is uh at least $200,000 that Swansea
[3:10:26] will be responsible for coming up with
if um this bridge is going to have to be
[3:10:32] repaired. and there will be no use of
this trail for uh users until 2036.
[3:10:40] That's what we're talking about today.
So, I I'm obviously opposed to it.
[3:10:52] » I'll say my piece. I don't care about
the bicyclist. They're annoying. I don't
[3:10:57] care about the snowmoilers. I do care
about the historic value. So, I'd like
[3:11:02] to use a little patience on this. That's
my personal feeling.
[3:11:16] » Hello. Uh, I'm Dan Lane. I was on the
committee with Lee and, uh, Mike and
[3:11:21] Norm.
Um, I'd like to say that the uh the
[3:11:26] abutments for the bridge are made out of
concrete blocks uh similar to Jersey
[3:11:30] barriers, but just a big square blocks.
The uh posts are telephone posts.
[3:11:37] They're either pressuret treated or
coated with creassote.
[3:11:41] Um, you know, you can make your own
determination if if that's a historic uh
[3:11:47] structure.
Um, all our meetings were open. I think
[3:11:52] you attended one one or more I believe
John. So and I think yeah and I think
[3:11:58] the all the me meeting minutes were uh
published in the sent in the uh town's
[3:12:04] uh site.
Um,
[3:12:08] this apparently now there's 100% state
funding for the bridge replacement and I
[3:12:14] think it would be a mistake to pass that
up.
[3:12:21] Anyone else?
[3:12:29] » Is this just automatic?
[3:12:33] So this just as written we're on that we
go on.
[3:12:38] » Okay. So we we don't have to vote on
this at all.
[3:12:45] » You don't you don't didn't actually have
to vote on any of the articles.
[3:12:50] I I didn't say anything about it, but
every article automatically goes on the
[3:12:54] ballot,
>> right? So, I mean, you can ask people to
[3:12:58] vote on whether they support this or
oppose it, but whether it whether they
[3:13:01] support it or oppose it, it still goes
on the ballot.
[3:13:05] » Yeah. So,
[3:13:09] » what's that?
[3:13:12] » So, this this petition article will
automatically appear on the on the
[3:13:18] ballot
>> for your
[3:13:22] see what you want to do with it.
Okay,
[3:13:27] we got to come back to number 11.
[3:13:31] » Um,
[3:13:37] hold on. We still got to come back to
article 11.
[3:14:00] 16
[3:14:18] I guess we actually have another
petition article
[3:14:23] » that stated, "Sall the town vote to
preserve the historic town-owned
[3:14:30] Christian Hill Road Bridge over the
Ashullet
[3:14:35] Rail Trail.
uh in its current location.
[3:14:43] I think this is probably similar to
what we've what we did on
[3:14:50] 15. Is there any discussion on that one
>> briefly?
[3:15:01] John Trainer, Railroad Street. Um
couple years ago we had a a big storm
[3:15:10] and there were wash outs along the rail
trail and um that was a few years ago
[3:15:14] and we didn't know where the money was
going to come from for any of it. And a
[3:15:18] couple years later all of a sudden
there's money from here and there and
[3:15:22] everywhere to fix those wash outs. And
um sounds like there's a lot of
[3:15:28] snowmoilers who use use the trail and
they're still using it now. I noticed I
[3:15:33] I use it for jogging and the the
snowmobiles are still still on it and
[3:15:38] still going. Um, but what I'd like to
say is I don't think it's a good reason
[3:15:45] for fixing the wash out that could be
fixed in other ways and money come from
[3:15:51] other ways. It's not a good reason to
tear down part of our history of Swansea
[3:15:57] to do that. They're two separate issues.
We want to save our history. We don't
[3:16:05] want a concrete covert
with a steel guard rail going down the
[3:16:14] street in the middle of an historic
area. It's going to look really ugly.
[3:16:18] Engineers, they don't care about that.
They don't really care how things look.
[3:16:23] They care about function. So, that's
what's important to them. There's uh we
[3:16:29] have a bunch of other bridges in town
here that um you know uh fire engines
[3:16:34] can't go over
and we're not ripping them down because
[3:16:38] they're covered and they uh bring in
tourism and money and uh they're part of
[3:16:44] our the heart of Swansea are our bridges
and the Christian Hill Bridge is just as
[3:16:52] much of uh our of the heart of town as
the covered bridges.
[3:16:57] And um I I'm
still in think that we should we should
[3:17:04] save it. Um
I as an artist I've done about a
[3:17:09] thousand paintings in Swansea that have
gone all over the world and I paint
[3:17:15] Swansea because it's beautiful.
If there's a concrete culvert bridge
[3:17:20] with a steel guard rail, it's it's it is
uh affecting our town and the way it
[3:17:27] feels and you might not have as easy a
time selling houses if our historic
[3:17:36] landmarks go away. The uh West Swansea
Community Church is hanging on by a
[3:17:42] thread.
That's the center of this village. So,
[3:17:46] what's going to happen when that's gone?
Are we going to just tear it down and
[3:17:50] replace it with, you know, some sort of
a dot building? No. We We want to keep
[3:17:55] our history. We want to We want to
preserve it.
[3:18:09] My Kowals again. Should I read my
three-page testimony? No. Right. So we
[3:18:14] oppose article 16 for the same reasons.
[3:18:22] » Okay. Being in petition article Oh, I'm
sorry.
[3:18:29] » Jeremy Evans again. Just a couple other
thoughts. Um first of all, snowmobile
[3:18:32] traffic you're seeing out here is local.
There is no way people are going through
[3:18:36] the wash outs that are south of here. So
that traffic is not coming from south of
[3:18:40] here. Um
there was a discussion about money. So a
[3:18:44] couple things you money is very limited.
What this money that's allocated these
[3:18:48] projects goes away. It doesn't
necessarily come back and it's not going
[3:18:52] to be available. Also it takes a lot of
time and effort to get that money that
[3:18:57] you're seeing. That wasn't the result of
oh it just appeared. That was years of
[3:19:02] work by a number of people sitting
behind me and around the state and
[3:19:05] including FEMA. A lot of work went into
that. That does not come easily. you
[3:19:10] don't snap your fingers and oh, we got
$2 million.
[3:19:13] Um,
the other thing I'd say is I don't think
[3:19:18] that existing bridge is an attractive
bridge at all. Some people may disagree
[3:19:22] with me, but I've sought for years that
thing is an eyesore. If you like it,
[3:19:26] that's great. That's your opinion. But
if you want to make that bridge an
[3:19:30] attractive bridge, it's going to take an
awful lot of work.
[3:19:40] So, I I saw a movie I saw a movie on
Turner Movie Classics about 10 years
[3:19:47] ago. and I didn't watch the whole movie
and I don't know what the name of it is,
[3:19:50] but the opening shot is that exact same
bridge, but it's all painted white and
[3:19:56] it's got a beautiful railing on it and
it has lights and it was so you see you
[3:20:02] see in the opening shot of the movie
that bridge and the train goes
[3:20:06] underneath the bridge and then the movie
starts
[3:20:10] that town wherever that bridge is is u
that's important to that town and This
[3:20:17] bridge is important to our town.
[3:20:23] » I'm just going to appeal to the town. We
invested a lot in this building. People
[3:20:29] fought over this. This is a beautiful
building. It represents this community.
[3:20:34] And I don't think we should just take
that lightly.
[3:20:37] I think um John makes a very good point.
This is a historical area and we should
[3:20:43] take pride in it.
I'm not a snowmoiler. I guess it's a
[3:20:48] great sport. People come and they just
fly by these things. We live here. We're
[3:20:52] invested in this. So, I just I'm
appealing to everyone to please
[3:20:58] uh consider that and
let's make this a historic bridge and
[3:21:02] hold on to what we have.
[3:21:21] It's
>> been moved to call call the vote on
[3:21:24] this, but again, it's a it's a petition
article, so we can't we can't change the
[3:21:31] petition article anyway, but we can we
can take a vote on it if you wish.
[3:21:37] All those in favor of doing petition
article 16
[3:21:44] signify by saying I.
>> Opposed.
[3:21:52] » Okay.
[3:21:55] » So this would just say that not
[3:22:02] » Yeah. Yeah. still go on the ballot, but
do we add the note on the bottom about
[3:22:08] the vote? Okay, thank you.
[3:22:15] » Now, we're going back to article 11.
[3:22:33] and Kerosinski, Park Street, Swansea.
Um, just wanted to we're not going to
[3:22:39] amend article 11. It's going to stay as
it as it's stated because that can't be
[3:22:44] changed. But below it, I'd like to add
um a little chart to explain u easier to
[3:22:52] the voter that what the current
exemption is and what the proposed ex
[3:22:57] exemption is. Uh just to get provide
clarity when someone's reading that um
[3:23:03] that article and they're intending to
vote on it, it's a little difficult to
[3:23:07] keep track of what's going on in that
long paragraph. So, I thought this might
[3:23:12] add some clarity and um since the
selectmen have recommended this and and
[3:23:18] I also support it, I thought it might
assist the voter in understanding it.
[3:23:22] So,
[3:23:32] » um Heather Estrella, so I would like to
just briefly talk about putting a chart
[3:23:37] on the ballot. So, there's a lot that
goes into making the ballots and adding
[3:23:41] a graph or chart is also going to add
cost to the town's ballots just because
[3:23:47] of we make them and they have to we
roughly chart cost $5,000 right now for
[3:23:52] town ballots. Um, but we also send out
voter guides for that same reason that
[3:23:58] it has articles. People can read them
prior to coming to the polls, mark their
[3:24:02] yes or no. We could put your chart
suggestion in that
[3:24:08] the um thank you that gets mailed out
and people could have the information
[3:24:13] there and be educated prior to coming to
vote
[3:24:17] » it suggestion I mean it's
>> not many ballots charts on that
[3:24:23] » space what
[3:24:30] » well we just we'll just disregard it all
>> she
[3:24:38] disregard.
[3:24:43] » All right. So, we didn't have a proposal
to amend this even though we've got the
[3:24:50] signatures.
No, thank you. Go like this.
[3:24:59] » Okay.
[3:25:02] Yeah, we we can put it in the voter
guide or
[3:25:08] » Okay, we'll we'll add that chart to the
the voter guide that goes out to help
[3:25:13] people understand it.
[3:25:17] » Okay. Did we have any vote?
>> You're you're back to the main You're
[3:25:23] back to the main article 11.
>> You didn't didn't vote on article 11.
[3:25:28] » No.
[3:25:32] Hi, we're back to the vote on article
11.
[3:25:39] » All those in favor of article 11 signify
by saying I
[3:25:44] » opposed.
[3:25:48] Who said who said that?
>> Mr. moderator.
[3:25:52] » All right. Thank you.
>> We have a bookkeeping.
[3:25:55] » What's that? Hold on a minute. Please,
please
[3:25:59] keep it down.
The selectman had something to say.
[3:26:04] » We We have a We have a bookkeeping item.
We have a bookkeeping item pertaining to
[3:26:11] article one, which was not on the within
the deliberative, but it's an
[3:26:16] opportunity for us to correct an error.
[3:26:22] » It doesn't require a vote.
>> No. Um, Cordell, this was about the um
[3:26:26] the trustees of the trust fund that got
put on the warrant that needs to come
[3:26:30] off.
We need to take it off. So, do we need a
[3:26:34] motion to do that?
[3:26:39] » Okay.
>> Okay.
[3:26:50] » Do we have a motion to adjourn?
[3:26:55] seconded.
[3:26:58] » Any discussion?
[3:27:02] » Okay.
[3:27:14] » All those in favor say I.
>> Opposed.
[3:27:19] I I better not hear