In the wake of uncertainty over the validity of some towns’ postponed ballot voting, Boscawen moderator Charlie Niebling said he’s glad he stuck to the original voting schedule despite the inclement weather.
“Had we not,” he said, “we’d be in the eye of the storm, so to speak, of the controversy over whether the vote is legal or not.”
At Boscawen’s rescheduled town meeting Thursday, Niebling thanked those who made the ballot voting last week a success: the 190 “hearty souls” who braved last Tuesday’s snowstorm and the select board members, town staff and police who helped out.
“The public works department … deserve special commendation, I think, for keeping the parking lot open and the stairs shoveled out,” he said.
Absent the excitement of Winter Storm Stella, the chairs were about half-full at Thursday’s town meeting. Aside from the storm-day election, the most discussed topic was the police department.
Resident Justin Malcolm asked during discussion on the town’s proposed $3.59 million budget why the police department, with seven officers, wasn’t a 24/7 operation.
Police Chief Kevin Wyman explained that he has dedicated one of his officers to investigations.
“We have so much right now,” Wyman said. “I hate to sacrifice our investigator to have 24-hour coverage.”
When asked why the next article included a $32,000 appropriation to a capital reserve fund for a police cruiser, Wyman took up the microphone again to explain that two of the department’s cruisers would not pass inspection.
Voters approved this article and the rest of the warrant without much more discussion. They also elected incumbent town officers: the official weighers, fence viewers and wood and lumber surveyors.
At the end of the meeting, Niebling noted that while he was happy to comply with the secretary of state’s advice on the voting day scheduling issue, he didn’t like their recommendation of conducting town meeting with voting cards.
“I miss the voice vote,” he said. With the agreement of the residents there Thursday, Niebling decided to go back to the traditional way.
“Let people say ‘yea’ or ‘nay,” he said.