After dozens of Warner residents signed petitions to hold a special town meeting, the town’s select board has rejected their requests.
“Having reviewed each article, all five would be prohibited by law or limited due to an applicable statute,” Chair Harry Seidel said at the board’s Tuesday meeting.
Five petitions raised a variety of issues residents believed would require a special town meeting to resolve. At least 50 signatures are required for any petitioned warrant article calling a special town meeting in municipalities with fewer than 10,000 residents; all of the petitions Warner residents put forward obtained 60 signatures or more.
Residents who signed the petitions insisted on the resignations of certain town officials and sought to compel the town to publish its financial audit online, outsource its payroll, bar the select board from meeting with town counsel without a public quorum and prohibit the board from accepting money outside of highway, fire, police or transfer station operations without a majority vote.
During the select board’s regular Oct. 28 meeting, members voted to schedule the special town meeting for Jan. 7. On Tuesday, the select board revisited the articles and listed statutes or rules that go against each of the petitions.
The petition that called for the resignations of Selectmen Seidel and Alfred Hanson, Finance Director Clyde Carson and Town Administrator Judy Newman-Rogers faced objections from Seidel himself, who cited that personnel cannot be removed by a citizen vote.
“The selectmen are duly elected and they’re protected in New Hampshire,” he said. “The authority to replace or remove a select board member lies with the select board itself.”
Seidel and Hanson voted not to warrant a special town meeting. Selectman Michael Smith, the board’s third and final member and a signatory of each of the five petitions, was not at the meeting.
“The five initiatives all intend to strip the power of decision-making away from your elected board members and give it to names on a sheet of paper,” Seidel said. “I respect that these residents have expressed their dissatisfaction, but I just want you to know that the select board only wants to do what’s best for Warner and they deserve your support.”
