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SPENCER – At the January 22 meeting, the Board of Selectmen agreed they must to learn from mistakes of the past and design a well-executed plan to get voters on board with any Proposition 2 ½ override request.
Vice chair Jared Grigg said, “No one likes the situation,” before asking whether the board should assign a grading scale to town department requests, form a subcommittee like they did to distribute ARPA funds or meet with the town administrator to create a proposal.
“We’re running short on time,” Grigg said.
But member Gary Woodbury said it is the selectmen’s responsibility, not a subcommittee’s, to make such a request to the public.
Noting that the school project “comes online,” and financially affects taxpayers, he urged his colleagues on the board to “jump all in and be all in,” as well as take a “very methodical” approach.
He said there are still several unknowns such as the amount of state aid.
Selectman Tony Pepe said they should learn lessons from a previous Proposition 2 ½ override attempt “that went down in flames,” and consider giving taxpayers flexibility by spreading out items over a period of several years.
“A lump sum override will fail,” Pepe said.
Selectman Ralph Hicks suggested they ask for “a reasonable figure…one that is a dollar or less on the tax rate.”
Hicks said he would like to see citizens “who truly care about the future of the town,” reach out to friends and neighbors to advocate for passage of an override.
Town Administrator Jeff Bridges noted it is important to identify the consequences or “what’s the `or else’,” if the request fails. This information should be shared “in a non-threatening way,” Bridges said, to identify programs or other items that would be impacted.
Hicks said they needed to be realistic about cuts. “We can’t be the boy who cried wolf.”
He added they should be prepared for things to “get nasty” in town.
Grigg said that by focusing on operating costs in the budget, a large portion of the list, comprised of capital items, can be eliminated.
During the meeting, members spoke about giving high priority to public safety.
Bridges said to maintain the Spencer Rescue Squad services, it would cost $100,000 more, followed by additions of $25,000 in each of the following two years.
To take over paying for firefighters currently on grants it will cost $360,000. However, the grant expires in February of 2027, so it will cost $180,000 for half of that year and then an additional $180,000 in 2028, he said.
Bridges said the board should decide whether it wants to ask the public “a question or series of questions,” in terms of a Proposition 2 ½ override.
The town administrator reminded that town employees cannot “advocate,” for passage of an override.
Hicks lamented that selectmen had not been able to successfully air some of their workshops with department heads because of technical problems with Spencer Cable Access TV. He said the situation had put them months behind in the process.
Additionally, a couple of residents complained there was no audio or black screens preventing them from watching the meetings.
SCATV general manager Aaron Keyes came into the meeting remotely and said the residents should not wait until meetings to announce the problems or have the board publicly speculate what may be causing them.
Rather than “share information you do not know to be true…feel free to confirm with me and speak in an informed way,” Keyes said.
Keyes said he would get back in contact with Spectrum/Charter about what they had previously identified as signal strength issues.
On Thursday, Keyes asked viewers to please report any technical issues they notice by emailing info@scatv.org or calling/texting 774-371-4214. He said meetings will be simulcast on both channels 192 and 194 as audio on 192 has not had any issues.
Viewers can also watch meetings on Facebook.com/spencercableaccess, SCATV.org or they can join the GoTo meeting link posted on each meeting agenda.
