Town officials in Epsom want a new home.
Officials in Pittsfield want a new dump truck.
Both towns held Deliberative Sessions last weekend, which solidified what’s before voters at the ballot box on election day, March 8.
Epsom’s historic buildings are caught in a maze of uncertainties. Voters on Saturday kept alive the dream of many in town – to spend $1.2 million to renovate the Old Town Hall into new town offices. None of the money will come directly from taxes as $687,690 would be spent from unassigned funds and $400,000 would come from federal COVID relief funds in the American Rescue Plan Act.
If the article passes, the current town offices would then move from a strip mall at the town’s traffic circle into the historic-rich building that has remained dormant for decades.
First, however, a key question lingers: Can town workers move directly from their drab strip-mall office into the Old Town Hall later this year? Or, will they need to find a new place to work before the charming 19th-century structure returns to life?
“It’s a disruption when you have to move into a newly renovated building, but that is just a one-time move,” said Select Board Chairwoman Virginia Drew. “The hope is that voters in town approve this and we begin as soon as soon as possible and alleviate the need to move twice.”
Drew and her allies have tried for years to add a nostalgic flavor to downtown by utilizing the town’s official historic buildings – the Old Town Hall, the Old Meetinghouse and the library.
Epsom has been renting office space for its town employees since 1982, and has spent more than $500,000 in rental fees over the past 10 years.
“People in town over the years have invested by putting money away into a trust to maintain historic buildings,” Drew said.
In recent years, a number of warrant articles seeking to own property rather than rent it have failed. Drew said some of those items involved bonds and higher taxes.
“We never had enough for three-fifths majority needed for bonds,” Drew said, “but we are in a good spot to invest in our own building with no tax impact.”
That would include moving the food pantry and welfare office, as well as records and archives, into the Old Meetinghouse’s lower level.
Drew said the renovation project, if passed, will take 16 weeks to complete, which is just about the time Epsom’s town offices will have to choose where to move, the temporary home or the new, old home.
Drew gave credit to the recently-formed Town Hall Renovation Committee, saying, “they were able to bring forward this wonderful option for using town-owned buildings to eliminate the need to rent.”
Meanwhile, Pittsfield’s Election Day ballot will include, for the second year in a row, a request for an already banked $208,000 withdrawal from the Public Works Dump Truck Capital Reserve Fund.
And while purchasing a new dump truck seems reasonable to Select Board Chair Jim Allard, he’s cautious after last year’s disappointment.
“It’s hard to say what will happen (on Election Day),” Allard said. “Last year I was confident it would pass and it did not, so it remains to be seen.”
He described the logic behind the purchase, saying, “We assumed it was right, and the idea of the Capital Reserve Fund is take a major project and take one bite at a time to fund it, and when it’s time to buy, you do not have to do something that will affect taxes.”
Both Drew and Allard said their deliberative sessions were smooth and easy. Pittsfield’s lasted less than 30 minutes.
Voters left Epsom’s operating budget ($3.7 million) and Pittsfield operating budgets ($5.18 million) unchanged.
Over on the school side, Epsom School Board Chairman Mike Wiggett said Saturday’s deliberative was, “Smooth, no issues,” as voters moved the operating budget of $12.7 million onto the ballot.
Pittsfield’s school deliberative session will be held on Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Pittsfield Middle High School gym.