Candidates running for office at Town Meeting

Selectman for a term of (3) three years: Wendy Warcholik

Trustee of Trust Funds for a term of (3) three years: Write In

Supervisor of the Checklist for a term of (1) one year: Robert Roudebush

Supervisor of the Checklist for a term of (3) three years: Carol Norcross, Leslie Ramsay

Feb. 8 - Budget passes Selectboard

The Selectboard passed the budget despite the public's concerns.
After the public hearing concluded there was a deliberative session still open to the public where the Selectboard voted to pass the budget.  Before the unanimous vote there was some discussion about what had transpired at the meeting.

Selectman David Joslin was not glad to be cutting the money from the fire departments, but felt it was necessary for this year and only for this year.  “I don’t feel great about cutting money out of the fire department, but we had to make some cuts somewhere,” said Joslin.  “My understanding and my feeling is that this was a one shot deal.”

Selectboard Chair Wayne Fortier expressed that if the town does not like the budget then they can vote it down during town meeting. “They need to come out and defend (the fire department),” said Fortier.  “They have (until March 8) to do it.”

Selectman Roderick Ladd voiced his concern about maintaining three fire departments and keeping up with all the equipment costs.  “We need to get a handle on the cost of the fire equipment that we have as a community,” said Ladd.  “When they say it’s getting expensive to run these fire departments, it is.  We are going to have to do something about that down the road here.  It’s getting out of hand.”

Town Manager Glenn English addressed his thoughts about the precincts and the financial dilemma the town faces.  “(The townspeople) are basically giving the money to the precincts and the precincts are deciding (what to do with it),” said English.  “All the taxpayers in the town are footing the bill and the ones that go to the precinct meetings are the ones who decide how that money is spent, I don’t know if that’s fair.”

Feb. 8 - Budget Hearing gets contentious

A passionate debate erupted when the issue of cutting $15,000 from the fire departments was addressed at a budget hearing on Feb 8.

The Selectboard met with the public to discuss its newest and final version of the town budget to be voted on during town meeting this year.  The meeting went smoothly, with only a question or two along the way, until the fire department was discussed.

The Selectboard suggested in their version of the budget, to be voted on March 8, to cut $5,000 each from the town’s three fire departments equipment fund.  The equipment part of the funding goes solely to pay for the fire trucks.

“The Selectboard is acting a lot like the state of New Hampshire,” said Larry Corey, Woodsville Fire District Commissioner.  “I vehemently object to this reduction.  We’ve made our budgets, we have loans outstanding.  You’re just pushing (the cost) down.  You’ve saved it at the town level and sent it down to the precinct level.”

There are three precincts within the town of Haverhill, those being Woodsville, North Haverhill, and Haverhill Corner.  These precincts run the fire departments for the town and all three precincts were represented at the hearing either by commissioner or fire chief.

The fire departments argued that they are currently paying off fire trucks purchased in the past and this money was going to help pay those trucks off.  There was some discussion about how long a fire truck lasts and the consensus was that a truck should last 20 years.  After that it is considered obsolete and needs to be replaced.

The fire departments also discussed that areas outside the precincts do not have fire protection so these three precincts have to put out fires in those outside areas and the cost adds up.  They feel that the cost of putting out the fires in the area under the current Mutual Aid agreement exceeds what they are getting in funding now and certainly cannot afford a cut in funding.  Mutual Aid is an agreement for fire protection across jurisdictional boundaries.

Grafton County Sheriff Doug Dutile saw it as a possible confidence issue between the firemen and the town.  “This is a huge morale problem,” said Sheriff Dutile.  In referring to the job they do: “These firemen in these three precincts aren’t doing this for the money.  They are doing this for the community.”  The possibility of the firemen quitting if the budget is passed on town meeting was also brought up.