By Christine Heiser
Staff Writer

The Goffstown News/Christine Heiser Nick Campasano was instrumental in changing the wording of Article 24, through which the selectmen planned to create a combined fire and police department.

After heated debate at an almost eight-hour meeting spread over two nights, the board of selectmen’s controversial warrant article designed to combine the Goffstown police and fire departments will be sent to the ballot in an amended form.

Essentially changing Warrant Article 24 to the opposite of its original intention, voters approved new wording which would ask selectmen to cease seeking a merger of the two entities into a public safety department.

About 300 attended the first night of the deliberative session of Town Meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 8. Because discussions on other warrants ran long, Article 24 was the last item dealt with until the meeting was adjourned at midnight, to be reconvened the following night.

Resident Nick Campasano, who is running for a seat on the board of selectmen, proposed the amendment, saying the merger is not in the best interests of the town.

“We are being told, ‘Trust us,’ and ‘We don’t have the plans yet, it’s a work in progress,’” Campasano said. “As far as I’m concerned, a work in progress is fine for a sculpture or a painting, but when it comes to the safety of my family, ‘a work in progress’ just doesn’t cut it.”

The plan to merge the departments was developed after last year’s election, at which voters passed a warrant asking selectmen to come up with a plan for 24/7 safety coverage. Selectmen voted to combine the departments under a public safety director, and chose current Police Chief Michael French to act as interim public safety director.

Fire Chief Frank Carpentino was relieved of his duties Jan. 1, but a court order allowed him to resume his position. A Hillsborough County Superior Court judge ruled that selectmen could not combine the departments until voters gave their approval. Carpentino has been asking the selectmen to add additional staff to the department to increase coverage.

Two petitioned warrant articles will also move to the ballot in connection with the controversy – one calling for a guarantee that Carpentino would be reinstated and one asking for adoption of provisions in state law which would prevent a fire chief from being dismissed except for cause.

Selectman Robert Wheeler, who is not running for re-election this year, spoke against the article for reinstatement, saying state statute allows the board of selectmen to hire and fire the chief, and that they could not be compelled to hire anyone specifically.

Those at the meeting were upset to find out that the warrants they amended would only be advisory in nature, and not necessarily legally binding. Resident Tricia Wynn said the selectmen were missing the point.

“We voted you in to represent us, and if people tell you to do something , we expect you to do it,” she said. “Legally binding or not, we want you to listen to us, and we want you to do it.”

At the Thursday night meeting, a visibly frustrated Selectman Barbara Griffin told the crowd she’d never seen such behavior from the community.

Some of the crowd jeered and called out criticisms of the board.

“Last night, I just had this desire to say, ‘Beam me up, Scotty – goodbye,’” she said. “A lot of people are standing up and giving legal opinions, but they are not lawyers.”

She told those attending that their amendments were not legally binding and were denying voters a chance to make up their own minds.

“People at this meeting are taking away choices,” she said.

Resident Collis Adams said the whole controversy could have been avoided if selectmen had held public hearings about the change.

“We’re turning the deliberative session into a public hearing,” he said. “We didn’t have an opportunity to be heard before you came up with this plan. A hearing should have been held before the process was set in motion.”

Easements and a feeder road

More discussion concentrated on warrants proposing to give easements to a developer of a condominium complex on Factory Street.

Opposition to the complex centers on the size of the project and anticipated traffic woes in the area of Factory and East Union streets.

Resident Cathy Ball proposed an amendment to Article 21, to change it to the same wording as petitioned Warrant Article 23, both of which ask voters to allow selectmen to transfer the easements. Wording in the warrant submitted by selectmen, Ball said, was too complex and included an offer of $10,000 from the developer for the easements, which she said would entice voters to approve the transfer.

“It’s a carrot, isn’t it?” she said.

Also sent to the ballot were warrant articles 13 through 15, which call for the establishment of a Mast Road Tax Increment Financing District. Selectmen explained this would allow the town to collect money from Mast Road developers to build a feeder road running parallel to Mast Road from Henry Bridge Road to the Shell station toward the village. The road is needed, selectmen said, to alleviate traffic on Mast Road.

Other warrants

Also going forward to the ballot are requests for $100,000 toward Grasmere Town Hall improvements, one for $100,000 to purchase an excavator and $94, 427 to reimburse the town’s general fund after money was used to buy an ambulance to replace one damaged in an accident last year.

The fire department is looking for $221,258 to help add 18 firefighters to the department to bring 24/7 coverage to the town.

Also sought is $1,821,000 for the current phase of the road improvement plan.

Operating budget

The town’s proposed operating budget going forward to the ballot is $16,315,220. If the budget and all other recommended articles pass, the property tax rate for the town side will be $8.29 per $1,000 assessed valuation, an increase of 18 cents, or 2.2 percent, over last year.