By Rod Hansen
Staff Writer

The price of asphalt could put a strain on the department of Public Works budget, and all consideration of a town safety department is now officially off the table.

Those were the two clearest messages to emerge from the selectmen’s meeting on Monday, April 10.

Reviewing the town warrant, which citizens weighed in on at the voting portion of Town Meeting on March 14, selectmen paid particular attention to articles involving the fire and police departments.

A string of articles on the town warrant, from Article 24 through Article 29, concerned the consolidation of the fire, police, EMS and code enforcement departments into a single public safety department.

Voters soundly rejected that concept at the polls, with Article 24, requesting that selectmen cease all efforts in that direction, passing 2,346 to 898.

“I think this board needs to come together on how we address this,” said Selectman Nick Campasano.

Because voters decide how they want the town to be run at Town Meeting, Campasano said, “I believe any statement we make should be along those lines.”

Selectman John Caprio said board members could put the issue to rest simply by negating previous votes the board had taken last fall to consolidate the town’s safety departments.

To that effect, selectmen voted 4-0 to negate previous votes on the public safety consolidation.

The fifth selectman, Bruce Hunter, left the meeting early without giving a reason.

Public Works overview

The rising price of asphalt will probably affect the road paving budget far into the future, Public Works director Carl Quiram told selectmen.

“Asphalt is a petroleum-based product,” Quiram said, noting that prices on such products are rising across the board. Asphalt has been particularly hard hit by the increases, with the costs of the paving material rising by as much as 50 percent.

The town’s costs for asphalt currently sit at $36 per ton, but the coming season could see the cost go up to $48 a ton, he said.

This will force public works to consider switching asphalt providers in the coming season, Quiram said.

“The pricing’s been somewhat stable in the past, and we’ve been able to negotiate fairly reasonable agreements with our vendor, but this year they wouldn’t even entertain that discussion,” Quiram said.

“They’re not expecting this to be a one-year spike in prices; they’re expecting this to be a new plateau,” Quiram said.

The department overview included information about street projects, waste management and the cemetery division.

On the topic of cemeteries, Quiram said Public Works is responsible for maintaining three municipal cemeteries, including the Westlawn Cemetery on North Mast Road, the Hillside Cemetery across from the Grasmere Town Hall on Goffstown Back Road and the Shirley Hill Cemetery on Back Mountain Road.

Westlawn Cemetery is set for several upcoming maintenance projects, including replanting the grass, grub control and possibly having prison labor paint the cemetery’s fence, Quiram said.

Ongoing cemetery projects include burials, setting foundations for headstones and performing about 20 mowings at the cemeteries annually. These are all responsibilities of the Department of Public Works, Quiram said.