By Rod Hansen
Staff Writer

A footbridge over the Piscataquog River and a motion to add a fire and police facility onto a proposed community center both sparked lengthy discussions at the deliberative session of Town Meeting on Monday, Feb. 6.

Some amendments made it onto the warrant and others did not. For the 70 voters who attended the meeting in the Tom Mansfield Gymnasium of New Boston Central School, town officials joked the 2006 deliberative session offered free-ranging lessons in civics, parliamentary procedure and why there is no road called New Boston Road in the town of New Boston.

“They say a trial lawyer knows very little about a lot of subjects,” Town Moderator Lee Nyquist said during one discussion, noting that he gets a similar “benefit” being town moderator.

Some items that appeared early on the warrant garnered residents’ approval with no discussion other than an explanation from selectmen.

The town operating budget of $3,129,263, $60,000 to be placed in a capital reserve fund for renovations to town hall, $37,000 for replacement of the library roof, and $20,000 of taxpayer money to add to $171,000 in federal grant money for the purchase of a forestry/pumper fire truck, were among the articles sent to the warrant with voice votes.

Deliberations did heat up when resident Jay Marden proposed that an article requesting $75,000 for a capital reserve fund for a community center be amended to say, “and/or a new central fire station and police headquarter facility.”

Nyquist ruled the amendment out of order, because rules established by the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration dictate that any special warrant article can only appropriate money for a single purpose. Requesting funds for a community center “and/or” another building in one warrant article would violate that requirement, Nyquist said.

An adjusted amendment submitted by Marden, this time requesting that the $75,000 be put in the capital reserve fund for a community center “or multi-purpose town facility” was ruled out of order for the same reason.

Following the deliberative session, Marden said he proposed the public safety facility primarily as a way to get people thinking about such a concept. “I really didn’t think it would fly. The real thrust of it was to get people talking about it,” Marden said.

Although the idea of a community center/public safety facility will not appear on the town warrant in March, town officials said the community center itself will meet a growing public demand.

Selectmen Chairman Gordon Carlstrom said the popularity of the town’s recreation activities warrants a new community center.

“As our recreation programming is expanding and growing, the demands we have on our facilities is outstripping what we have available,” Carlstrom said.

Lee Brown, chairman of the recreation commission, said the core constituencies of a community center would be the schools and the recreation department.

He said a completed community center was expected to cost $1 million. If the community center includes classrooms, some of that funding could come from the schools, Brown said.

Residents also expressed support for expanded recreation space in town.

“This community center is long overdue,” said resident Mike Ethier. “If we get a community center ... it would be important because teenage kids need support from adults who can put them in the right direction.”

An article on a footbridge crossing the Piscataquog River, connecting the Mill Pond Conservation Property with the property owned by New Boston Tavern, found similar public support.

Dona Fairbairn, a member of the road traffic and safety committee, began the discussion by requesting that an article requesting $30,000 in taxpayer dollars for the footbridge be reduced to a single dollar.

The initial $30,000 was to add to $120,000 funded through a federal traffic enhancement grant for the purpose of building the footbridge. However, Fairbairn said she received an e-mail from the Southern New Hampshire Planning Commission on Friday stating this year’s round of grants would be postponed, most likely to make repairs to Granite State roads damaged by last October’s flooding.

Fairbairn said she did not expect the footbridge money to become available until 2011.

However, several members of the community said the warrant article should not be abandoned. After several revisions, the article was ultimately amended to read that the $120,000 could come from “federal, state or private funding,” and that the $30,000 appropriated through taxation would be “non-lapsing for five years or until (the bridge project is) completed.”

If the federal funding does not come through, the $30,000 could be placed in the town’s general fund, Fairbairn said. Residents learned an interesting fact about the naming of local roads during the session.

The information came up when selectmen discussed a $75,000 article to upgrade a portion of Bedford Road toward the intersection with New Boston Road.

Resident John Bunting said the wording of the article was inaccurate, because the road in question is called Chestnut Hill Road once it’s inside the New Boston town line.

“Because all towns connected with New Boston have a New Boston Road, no road in (New Boston) is called New Boston Road,” Bunting said, requesting that the article be changed to read “Chestnut Hill Road.” Bunting’s motion passed.

Voting on the warrant articles is scheduled for Tuesday, March 14.