Voters approve PSB money, send school override to ballot
By Caitlyn Kelleher JOURNAL REPORTER

With no debate, voters at Saturday's Annual Town Meeting approved additional borrowing for the public safety building project.

The measure that allows town officials to borrow an additional $870,000, which will be paid for through a donation from Cushing Academy and from money raised within the town's tax levy limit.

"We need to get this done," said Police Chief Loring Barrett. "We need these spaces to be completed now."

The additional money would fund the completion of a series of unfinished spaces in the building, on which construction is set to begin at the end of the month. The additional funding will allow the locker rooms, the detention cells and the training room to be completed.

C u s h - ing Academy's Board of Directors voted to donate an additional $270,000 in April to offset the cost of the project.

No one spoke against the additional funding, which passed unanimously.

Voters also approved by a large majority the school override of about $498,603, sending it to the ballot box for final approval.

School Committee members and Selectman Jonathan Dennehy both spoke about the need to get more school funding from the state as a longterm solution to the tight school budgets. But they agreed that this year as a shortterm solution the override was necessary.

"We are still a long way from an equitable solution," School Committee Chairman David Christianson said.

Voters will get the chance to determine if they want to override Proposition 2 ½ on Tuesday, June 12, at John R. Briggs. Voters in Westminster will also vote on that day.

If the override passes, it will translate to a 76-cent increase per $1,000 on the tax bill.

"We certainly understand the impact," said Keith Glenny, a School Committee member. "We have no other alternative."

Resident James Dean expressed concern that the school was looking for more money than other town departments receive.

"They are looking for a bigger slice of the pie," he said.

Advisory Board Chairman Bill Johnson said the members voted 2-4 against supporting the override not because of the leadership of the schools.

"It's growing at rate that we can't sustainable," he said.

A number of residents spoke in favor of the article.

In other business:

+ The one article that received a lot of debate was a question over whether to rezone a portion of land at the end of Whitney Drive as industrial instead of residential.

The Planning Board requested that property be rezoned so that the land that Flo-Chem sits on has a single zone instead of split zoning. Residents questioned the safety of the plant and the location of the zoning in downtown Ashburnham.

Wayne Adams, of Fitchburg Road, questioned the voice vote that moderator David Umniski called in favor of the rezoning. He requested a standing vote - 50 yes, 10 no - then he questioned the fact that there wasn't a quorum - 75 voters - at the meeting.

"It's not a legal vote, it's not a quorum," Adams said.

Town Counsel Deb Philips said a quorum count could not be requested once a vote had been taken on an article unless he wanted to apply it to the upcoming questions. Once the meeting has started, a quorum count is only taken if it is requested.

No one requested a quorum count in regards to the next votes.

+ Voters approved the annual budget of $12,999,047 with little discussion.

+ Voters approved two one-year capital exclusions, which will also appear on the June 12 ballot election. One question would be to raise $170,000 from outside the levy limit to repair the town roads and the other question would raise $150,000 for building maintenance on the schools.

+ Voters failed to pass a citizen's petition that would have allowed the use of all non-motorized boats on Upper Naukeag Reservoir.