Committee: Let the Briggs question return
Selectmen must consider the possibility of another special election
By Caitlyn Kelleher JOURNAL REPORTER

Ashburnham's Briggs Building Committee is hoping they will see their request for funding before they vote one more time, and soon.

The committee members started their meeting on Wednesday, June 17, less than 24 hours after a vote to fund a feasibility study for the elementary school failed by seven votes.

The group, which met in a meeting scheduled before the vote, wanted to figure out why the vote failed and what to do next.

"I just know of a lot of people that didn't go vote," said Joe Powers, a member of the committee.

The lack of turnout, and the fact that four questions were on the ballot, led to the defeat of the question, committee members said. Voters defeated a debt exclusion, 479-486, that would have funded the town's portion of the feasibility

"Of the four questions it was the most positive of the question," said David Christianson, the chairman of the building committee and Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School Committee.

Selectman Christopher Gagnon, a member of the building committee, said he would support holding a special election with only this issue on the ballot.

"It stands the most to lose," Gagnon said. "It has the longest piece of research."

The Massachusetts School Building Authority has placed Briggs in the 12 percent of schools eligible for feasibility funding. The MSBA guaranteed 53.53 percent reimbursement for the feasibility study that they estimate will cost about $400,000.

The town was required to appropriate the entire amount.

Gagnon said he would try to call a special selectmen's meeting to see what the other two members thought, and if they could schedule a special election.

The meeting was posted on Monday afternoon for Wednesday evening, after press time.

A question that has been approved at town meeting has until Sept. 15 to be approved at the ballot, according to state law.

"I think part of the problem is the amount we are asking for," Christianson said, of the fact the town only would spend about $185,000. "The state could go a long way by allowing us to just ask for the money we need."

Zapantis said he would ask the MSBA officials again if the town could only approve their share, but he was not hopeful. The MSBA, if the project is approved, reimburses the town on a monthly basis for their share of the expenses.

Near the beginning of the meeting, committee members ruled out the possibility of doing a re-count of the ballot, especially after committee member Charles Packard said the cost ranged around $2,500. A recount, according to state law, is called by a petition submitted to the Town Clerk's Office within 10 days of the election.

The members of the building committee seemed to agree with Superintendent of Schools Michael Zapantis' statement, "We don't want to cost the town a lot of money."

Packard, who has experienced a recall election, said the town's counsel must be present and the petitioners should have a lawyer present.

"It's hand-counted, not by machine," Packard said.

Any 10 registered voters can petition for a recount election and the deadline for submitting petitions was Thursday after press time.