Boscawen voters approved a 1.1% increase to the town operating budget, a plan to join the Community Power Coalition, the creation of a town forest along Walker Pond and the sale of two historic town buildings at their town meeting Tuesday night. 

With about 100 people in attendance, the $4.9 million town budget passed in a unanimous voice vote without any public comment or proposed amendments. The budget’s slight increase of just over a percentage point, or $54,000, is largely made up of slight increases across departments and a compensation increase for town employees. Voters also signed off on $585,000 in regular deposits to various capital improvement funds, including those going towards a new firetruck and public works building in the coming years. 

Last year, voters gave the town permission to sell two historic buildings, the 1892 Torrent Station and 1913 Library, on the condition that any proposed sale go before residents this year. Both got a thumbs up.

Voters endorsed the selectboard’s plan to sell the Torrent Station to a private buyer who will have the Penacook Rescue Squad, in need of room to expand, as “a permanent, rent-free tenant.” 

Selectperson Lorrie Carey framed the arrangement as a win-win.

“This proposal is a way to both preserve the building and provide better stewardship than the town has provided,” Carey said. “We feel we have an opportunity to return the building to the tax rolls so it is being taxed again, and we have a steward of the building who is willing to do the renovations we cannot afford to do as a town — which are significant.”

The future of the 1913 Library, vacant since 2006, is less defined, but elicited similar measured optimism from town leaders.

The building was designed by Boston architect Guy Lowell, also the vision behind his city’s Museum of Fine Arts, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. About a decade ago, a town committee looked into new uses to preserve the building, of which Carey was a member.

“Although we all agreed the building should be preserved, none of us could come to a conclusion on what the building could be used for,” she said.

Now, a buyer has stepped forward who is willing to put in the more than $200,000 of needed renovation and is considering transforming the interior into residences or a cafe, according to Carey.

The head of Boscawen’s Historical Society, Elaine Clow, emphasized the building’s significance.

Lowell “regarded it as his little gem. It was the smallest building he ever made,” Clow said. “So I really hope that there is a good outcome to this.”

Firm sale agreements have not been set, as the select board was awaiting the green light from voters before proceeding, according to Carey.

Boscawen voters also approved the creation of a town forest with public access to Walker Pond and signed off on a plan to join dozens of other municipalities in entering the New Hampshire Community Power Coalition, now the second-largest vendor of electricity in the state.

At the ballot box, voters re-elected selectboard Chair Matthew Burdick, who ran without a balloted opponent, to another three-year term. In one of few contested races on the ballot, incumbent Polly Dawson was reelected a trustee of the trust funds over Planning Board Chair Loren Martin.

Boscawen also decided, in a narrow 75-66 ballot vote, to split future town meetings into two sessions, one to elect town officers and a second to vote on warrant articles.