After speeches that praised the town’s legacy of direct democracy, Webster citizens voted on Saturday to put money toward preserving the town’s Old Meeting House and acknowledged that the town is facing new challenges, including the rising costs of fuel and basic goods.
Moderator Mike Jette began the annual town meeting by expressing pride in the town of just over 1,900 people. “Most people don’t even know where Webster is, but we do and that’s what matters,” Jette said on Saturday morning.
The 2021 town report was dedicated to three Webster residents that the community has lost in the last year: Faith Anderson, Cyndel Sue Roberts Conoghue and Robert “Bob” Drown, Sr.
Anderson was a supervisor of the checklist and Trustee of the Webster Historical Society. Donoghue was a former captain with the Webster Fire Department and worked for the State Fire Marshal’s Office. Drown, who owned Drown Farm and Drown Transportation, served on the town’s select board for 13 years.
Voters approved a $1,651,900 budget, an increase of less than 1% over last year’s operating budget. Select Board Chair David Hemenway said raising employee salaries to bring them near market rate and adding dental coverage increased the town’s costs, along with higher payments for shared services like dispatch. Prior budgets had neglected to include all the costs associated with assessing, Hemenway said.
“For the past two years, the town has spent the unassigned fund to artificially lower your taxes during the pandemic. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to do that this year,” Hemenway said.
Two amendments were made to the proposed budget. The town voted to forgo a donation of $500 to the Penacook Community Center, since the center recently merged with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central New Hampshire.
Roy Fanjoy successfully proposed an amendment to add $15,000 to the budget to account for higher fuel costs. Fanjoy noted that the budget had been developed before the recent surges in gas prices. “I know when I call 911, I want Police or Fire to be there, and I want my potholes filled,” he said.
Voters also approved the purchase of a new police cruiser for $37,000, which was paid for out of capital reserve funds.
Police Chief Stephen Adams said the new cruiser would replace one of the department’s three cruisers, a car from 2016 with more than 115,818 miles on it, or more than 236,682 miles when counting the impact of the cruiser’s idle hours. “We’ve had engine problems, the lights are on. It’s time to replace it,” Adams said. “If we buy a car this year, we’ll skip a year from buying a car next year.”
Warrant articles to appropriate $364,500 to capital service funds and $226,00 to expendable trust funds also passed.
On Tuesday, 289 voters chose a select board member, moderator, supervisor of the checklist, treasurer, library trustee, cemetery trustee and trustee of trust funds. The town voted down a zoning ordinance that would have created buffers around wetlands and watersheds.
The most passionate discussion at the town meeting was for a petition warrant from the Webster Historical Society, requesting $5,000 toward the painting and restoration of the Old Meeting House.
The extensive restoration process, which involved window conservation in 2020 and clapboard repairs in 2021, will be complete by the summer, according to a report from Webster Historical Society member James Garvin. After the preparation of the historic clapboards and painting is completed, the building will open again to visitors.
Mark Kimball spoke up first in favor of the preservation funds. “I think the Old Meeting House is a hidden gem in Webster and the state of New Hampshire. There’s a lot of history there. It’s where Town Meeting started in the town. It’s democracy in its purest form,” Kimball said.
“Sometimes we forget, but when you walk in that building, and you see those artifacts, and you walk up the stairs and sit in the pews, you really get a good feeling of what the town was back then and what it is now,” he said.
Barbara Corliss, trustee and treasurer of the Historical Society, added that the historic building is unusual for the area. “It’s the only surviving meeting house in the upper Merrimack Valley that retains its original form and function,” Corliss said.
Carol Young, the curator of the Old Meeting House, also spoke in favor of the appropriation.
“We’re heading for tough times now in this country. We’ve been in tough times before and there’s lessons from the past that I think we can apply to our future,” Young said. She said $5,000 would help support the ongoing work to preserve that history and teach future generations those lessons.
“It’s important not just that we save the Meeting House, it’s important that we save our stories. Because things without stories are nothing,” Young said. Webster voted unanimously to approve the funding.