Winchester voters turn down contracts for school staff

WINCHESTER — Voters here agreed to a slight budget increase but put their foot down when it came to giving raises to teachers and support staff.
The $11.2 million 2014-15 budget passed with 75 percent support Tuesday. Yet two contracts, one with the Winchester Teachers Association and one with the Winchester Support Staff Association, received only 46 percent and 48 percent approval, respectively.

The budget is up less than 1 percent from this year’s $11,086,540, but the amount to be raised from local taxes is up $413,298.

The two-year teachers contract would have cost $118,498 next school year and $63,285 in 2015-16, and the support staff contract would have cost $21,552.

Not only did voters turn down the collective bargaining agreements, but they also declined to allow the school board to call a special meeting to address those articles if they failed.

Winchester voters have been tough to sell on collective bargaining agreements in recent years. In 2012, a support staff contract failed, and last year, a one-year contract with the group received only 54 percent support.

Superintendent James M. Lewis said previously that the school board and budget committee members tried to get creative with job responsibilities to keep the budget from climbing even higher. For example, Lewis will take on the principal duties for the older students at the kindergarten-through-8th-grade Winchester School, and the district will advertise for an elementary school principal to replace Pamela Bigelow, who’s retiring at the end of this year.

The budget covers the expenses of Winchester School, and tuition to send older students to Keene High School.

An article to raise $25,000 for the Building Improvements Capital Reserve Fund passed with 56 percent, and an article to put up to $50,000 of any surplus money into a special education trust fund barely squeaked by once again, with 51 percent.

Of the town’s 2,482 registered voters, 677, or 27 percent, cast ballots Tuesday.

Elections

Trevor S. Croteau was re-elected to the school board with 460 votes. Also elected was Kevin Bazan, with 307 votes. Steven Thompson received 184.

Kaitlin Mulhere can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1439, or kmulhere@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @KMulhereKS.

HDC stays

Winchester's historic districts won't become history, at least for now.

Residents voted against a petition warrant article to abolish Winchester's historic district ordinance, 350-296.

Proponents of the petition warrant article said the commission regularly overstepped its bounds and that the district’s restrictions were a financial hardship on property owners.

Just say no, by Susan M. Newell

For two years, Winchester has contended with a former selectman, Gus Ruth, who just won’t accept that he can’t have his own way.
He has been one of the strongest activists for introducing government authority over private property rights (Aquifer Protection District, Forest Lake Overlay District, Steep Slopes Ordinance regarding subdivisions, the Conte Wildlife Refuge, and building the Conservation Commission’s treasure chest with land use change taxes, etc.).

Two years ago, Gus Ruth, Ken Harvey and spouses, bought at tax auction, 50 Rabbit Hollow Road, in a Rural Residential District. Against zoning, they used it as commercial property, renting it to a group that was loud and intrusive in the pastoral neighborhood. When challenged by the code enforcement officer, they had two lame excuses as to why they should be allowed to continue.

They claimed that the person who owned the property, before the town took it, had been illegally using it commercially (evidence seems otherwise) so they were grandfathered for illegal use. That didn’t hold water. They also claimed that because the digital property record card (accessible by many) mentioned commercial use, that misinformation (disinformation?) negated the law. Again that didn’t hold water. Then they went before the zoning board seeking a variance, but didn’t come close to meeting specific legal requirements.

So, they shut down the commercial operation.

But the story doesn’t end. Ruth and cohorts managed to get at least 25 signatures on a petitioned warrant article (Article 24) to change the zoning of 50 Rabbit Hollow Road (Map 9, Lot 23-3) to Commercial.

That constitutes “spot zoning” which was ruled illegal multiple times in New Hampshire Courts. According to New Hampshire Practice, Vol. 15, Land Use Planning and Zoning, Third Edition, Atty. Peter J. Loughlin (the handbook provided to local officials): “a court will find that a change has resulted in ‘spot zoning’ when the area is singled out for treatment from that of similar surrounding land which cannot be justified on the basis of health, safety, morals, or the general welfare of the community and is not in accordance with a comprehensive plan.”

If the warrant article fails, the subject is closed.

However, if it passes, Winchester taxpayers will face hefty legal bills. If the select board fails to implement illegal zoning that has been approved by the voters, Ruth and crew will likely bring a frivolous lawsuit against the town to force the change, and selectmen will have to defend against them. If selectmen implement the zoning change, despite its illegality, they will be sued by abutters, who will win. The only losers will be Ruth, et al., and the taxpayers.

It is odd, that while Ruth and the others are demanding exception from land use laws, for their exclusive benefit, it was stated at town meeting that Ruth submitted the petition for Article 22 to designate part of the Old Westport Road as a Scenic Road, in accordance with New Hampshire statutes. This is another one of those designations that requires landowners to jump through hoops with hearings, permits and approvals, and all the delays those entail, to receive a ruling on whether and how they may make minor landscaping changes to their own properties; and that also burdens the highway department with similar machinations just to remove overhanging limbs and maintain the road.

Winchester taxpayers, protect yourself from government overreach and unknown legal expenses by voting no on Articles 22 and 24, and in the process tell Ruth and his co-owners for one last time that no means no.

Susan M. Newell

3 Old Chesterfield Road

Winchester

Why the obstruction?, by Jennifer Marie Bellan

How Winchester treats its volunteers is disgraceful.

If you volunteer to serve on a town board, you had better be ready to support the agenda pushed by special interests in the town or your service will be deemed lesser-than, or worse, you will be seen as an impediment to their plans. I found this out when I sat as an alternate on the planning board. I even had to fight to be allowed to volunteer for this position because the then-chairman tried to block me!

Instead of fixing the historic districts ordinance so that it can work for the town, a warrant article has been inserted by a special interest group’s petition to eliminate the historic districts. Judging by the non-verbal communication exhibited between a couple of historic district commission board members and the land use officer and the now chairman of the planning board during the public hearings, the due diligence attempted by the commission board will be rendered a waste of time, because there are already two members who’ll vote the way the special interest group desires.

The Winchester Historical Society is not the historic district commission and has nothing to do with the management of the historic districts. The society runs entirely on volunteers and what money is raised through membership dues. The board of selectmen and the budget committee voted to not recommend the society’s warrant article asking the town for $5,000. That’s shameful as the society is the caretaker of the town’s history, plus, it houses the town’s antique fire equipment at no charge to the town.

During the past year, there was a group of dedicated volunteers who worked hard to fulfill their charge to investigate the consolidation of the town’s two libraries. Judging by the remarks made by certain selectmen, the commission’s report was not what they wanted to hear. Actually, it isn’t clear what the selectmen wanted this commission to do, because they now claim it was never their intention to close the Thayer Library — even though that’s what “consolidation” would mean in probate court.

And, why would a Thayer Library trustee run again for a trustee spot when he didn’t fulfill his obligations as a current trustee? Not only has he not attended a trustee meeting for the last two years (since March 2012), or ever once volunteered at the library, but he sat on the budget committee and voted against funding the library. The Thayer Library is another entity that runs entirely on unpaid volunteers. None of us receives the rent-free house plus half of our oil bill paid for by the town as this trustee’s nephew did as the prior librarian.

Of course, you can say that nobody is forcing me to volunteer and that I am foolish for doing so. But, are you saying then that all of those other wonderful Winchester volunteers, often the same people time and time again because no one else volunteers, are also foolish for trying to make Winchester a better place to live?

If you are, then that is the biggest disgrace of all.

Jennifer Marie Bellan
 P.O. Box 3

Ashuelot

Winchester zoning change on town meeting ballot is protested

Have to be real proud of a town that is always featured in the news for all the wrong reasons !

WINCHESTER — The owners of a local property are seeking support from voters at town meeting next week with a zoning issue, but opponents of the proposal say it violates their rights and state law.
Gustave “Gus” Ruth, his wife, Irene, and Kenneth Harvey, owners of 50 Rabbit Hollow Road, are backers of a petition warrant article that would allow their rural residential property to be rezoned commercial.

The petition was filed in December, and Ruth spoke in support of it during the town’s deliberative session last month.

The Ruths, Harvey, and his wife, Claudia, purchased the roughly 1-acre parcel, which includes a small building, for $25,000 at auction in April 2012. The couples put the property up for sale in December, with an asking price of $92,000.

The auction was held after the town took the property, which had been owned by Terrance P. Qualters, for unpaid taxes in November 2011. At the time of the sale, Ruth was a selectman. Harvey was, and still is, the town moderator. Both men serve on the planning board.

The petition warrant article says the property has been assessed as commercial for at least eight years, and was advertised as commercial property for the auction.

After the Ruths and Harveys bought the property, they leased it to an auto mechanic in November 2012. The town then issued a cease-and-desist order for the operation. The couples have been fighting for the commercial designation ever since.

Gus Ruth and Kenneth Harvey tried to appeal the cease-and-desist order, but the zoning board unanimously voted down their request in June. The board then voted 3-2 in July to deny a variance for the property, which would have allowed the commercial operation.

Soon after the petition warrant article was presented at the deliberative session in February, neighbors of 50 Rabbit Hollow Road filed a petition protesting the warrant article.

Christine B. Hadley, who was one of the residents to sign the protest petition, said the warrant article is an attempt to get a commercial property zoned in an area where it doesn’t belong.

“This isn’t a commercial property. It was used by someone who had a business to store equipment,” she said, referring to the previous owner.

Without the protest petition, the warrant article could pass with a simple majority. However, with such a petition in place, it needs a two-thirds majority vote, according to state law.

However, there is a chance the protest petition might not even be necessary.

According to N.H. case law, so-called “spot zoning” isn’t allowed in situations where changing the zoning of a property would go against not only the rest of the zoning district, but also a community’s master plan and the spirit of the ordinance governing the zoning district. A property would need to receive a variance to host a function different than the properties around it. And Winchester’s zoning board denied such a variance for 50 Rabbit Hollow Road last year.

Winchester resident Susan Newell wrote a letter to The Sentinel protesting the proposed zoning change.

If it passes, she wrote, “Winchester taxpayers will face hefty legal bills. If the select board fails to implement illegal zoning that has been approved by the voters, Ruth and crew will likely bring a frivolous lawsuit against the town to force the change, and selectmen will have to defend against them. If selectmen implement the zoning change, despite its illegality, they will be sued by abutters, who will win. The only losers will be Ruth, et al., and the taxpayers.”

Hadley said she knows the protest petition might be overkill, but she and other neighbors, are determined not to see the Rabbit Hollow Road property zoned as commercial.

“It just doesn’t fit the neighborhood,” she said. “The closest businesses are 1.5 to 2 miles away.”

Neither Ruth nor Harvey could be reached for comment.

Meghan Foley can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1436, or mfoley@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @MFoleyKS.

Historical Society and the Sheridan House Museum.

     A reminder that the Winchester town voting for officers and warrant articles takes place on Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 at the town hall from  8:00am to 7:00 pm.   There are 32 warrant articles for the town and 10 for  the school.

Please see attached flyer re: our town Historical Society and the Sheridan House Museum. 

Please help preserve the history of Winchester and Ashuelot…… by

Voting YES for Article # 17…To see if the Town will raise and appropriate the sum of $5,000 to be given to the Winchester Historical Society for the purpose of operating and maintaining The Sheridan House,……etc…                        (furnace is failing and needs replacement, among other needs)

Voting NO for Article # 25….”Are you in favor of abolishing the Historic District Ordinance?” 

Voting NO for Article # 24 … to rezone Map 9, Lot 23-3 (on Rabbit Hollow Rd) from Rural Residential to Commercial.  (“Spot-Zoning” is illegal)

Please vote, and thank you for your consideration of these articles.   

EmH

When Does It Ever Stop ?

How did this illegal warrant ever get approved and put on the ballot for a vote? Spot zoning by state law is illegal. Why did the town's attorney and our own elected officials allow voters at deliberative to vote to put this warrant on the ballot knowing full well that if approved a lawsuit would follow. It doesn't seem if any of them care what it cost the town as long as their friends get their own way.

SCHOOL ( UNOFFICIAL ) BALLOT 2014

ANNUAL TOWN BALLOT for MARCH 11th, 2014

SAMPLE ( UNOFFICIAL ) TOWN BALLOT .. 

Explain the Ballot with Brain Moser

Brian will be hosting the following meetings to inform and explain this year's Annual Town Ballot for those who may be interested and have questions before casting a vote.


Monday, March 3rd @ 7:00pm at the Winchester VFW

Sunday, March 9th @ 7:00pm at the Thayer Library in Asheulot


"Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights."

 Thomas Jefferson

Winchester voters debate spending for school district

File this under no one gives a crap ..

By Melanie Plenda Contributing Writer/Keene Sentinel

WINCHESTER — Despite efforts by some to trim the proposed school budget by $240,000, the voting body decided not to make any more cuts at Saturday’s school district deliberative session.
In all, roughly 38 voters attended the 90-minute session at Winchester School to discuss the warrant articles that will appear on the town’s ballot March 11.

The school district’s $11,182,226 budget and two collective bargaining agreements were on the agenda at Saturday’s session. The budget is up $95,686, or just under 1 percent, from the current $11,086,540 budget. The default budget is $11,296,355. Though the budget increase is slight, the amount of money to be raised by local taxes is up $413,298, or 7.8 percent, because of a drop in revenue from state sources.

Selectman Sherman Thetford Saturday proposed amending the budget to $10,942,225, saying that the town was able to cut a large amount of money from its budget and the school board was able to cut something on the order of $700,000 a few years ago.

“I believe if you sharpen your pencils a bit, you could find places to cut ... without affecting services,” Thetford said.

He said his proposed cuts would save taxpayers 75 to 80 cents on the dollar whereas the proposed school district budget could raise the tax rate $1.67 to $1.92 depending on the revenues the district takes in.

School board member Richard Horton said comparing the town budget to the school budget is not an apples-to-apples comparison. He said the district has contractual obligations that the town doesn’t have that it must meet and more personnel to contend with.

The school district’s proposed budget does reflect some savings through reassigning of job responsibilities among other changes, Lewis said in a previous interview with The Sentinel.

School Board member Elisha Jackson added members were able to cut more money in prior years because they were dealing with a larger budget at the time. But between previous local cuts and federal funding cuts, that is no longer the case.

District Superintendent James M. Lewis was asked how enrollment was looking since it’s been widely reported that other school districts in the region are seeing a drop. Lewis said Winchester is actually seeing a leveling off and a slight increase in enrollments, particularly in kindergarten. He said by way of example, two years ago they were expecting 50 students in kindergarten and ended up with 70 and last year they expected 50 and had 60.

He added that Winchester typically also has a higher special education population.

“Whatever the reason, we attract more SPED students than other districts,” he said. “And we legally have to provide services to those students.”

Jackson pointed out that costs per special education student went up this year from $26,599 per student to $29,000. She added that tuition for the district’s 177 Keene High School students also went up from $12,521 to $13,081.

School board member Bill McGrath sided with those who wanted to see more cuts. He said that last year the district made some positions full time that he wasn’t convinced needed to be. He said he has a friend who is a principal in Massachusetts at a school with 435 students and a staff of 100; whereas, he said, Winchester has 435 students and has a staff of 120.

“How can they do it in their school and we can’t do it in ours?” he asked rhetorically.

He also said he wasn’t entirely convinced that smaller class sizes were beneficial to students or necessary, saying that the state allows a maximum of 30 students per class, while some Winchester classes only have 16 or 17 students.

Voter Kenneth Whippie pointed out that 30 students per classroom is a maximum under state law, not a recommendation.
 “A small number of students doesn’t inhibit a good education, but a large number does,” Whippie said.

In the end, the amendment to cut the budget was defeated in a vote of 23 to 13. The proposed $11,182,226 budget will be on the ballot in March.

Voters Saturday also placed a two-year collective bargaining agreement with the Winchester Teachers’ Association on the ballot that would cost an additional $118,498 for the 2014-15 school year and $63,285 for the 2015-16 school year if approved. Voters would be approving both figures with a ‘yes’ vote, but only the first would go into effect this year.

School board members explained that the larger amount this year reflects pay raises in part for teachers who went out and got their master’s degrees. The higher education earned deserves more pay, they explained. They also wanted to do the raises the first year because as part of the collective bargaining agreement many teachers will see their health insurance costs go from paying 7 to 15 percent of coverage to 15 percent across the board.
 So, how many of you got a raise this year to help pay for your insurance increases?

Voters also placed on the ballot an article asking for $21,552 for salary and benefit increases for the Winchester Support Staff Association as part of another collective bargaining agreement. A similar one-year contract for the support staff barely passed at district meeting last year, with 54 percent support.

The official voting on the warrant and election of school board members will be Tuesday, March 11. The polls are open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Slight spending increase, teachers contract on tap in Winchester School District deliberative session

WINCHESTER — School board and budget committee members tried to be creative in assigning job responsibilities for staff next year to keep Winchester School’s budget from climbing too much.
The school district’s $11,182,226 budget and two collective bargaining agreements will be up for discussion at Saturday’s deliberative session, where voters can amend articles before the March election.

The budget is up $95,686, or just under 1 percent, from the current $11,086,540 budget. The default budget is $11,296,355.

District officials are trying to delegate more responsibilities to current staff to keep costs down, Superintendent James M. Lewis said.

“We know the town just doesn’t have the money for big increases, there’s no secret about that,” he said.

One of the best examples is restructuring the principal and superintendent positions.

Pamela Bigelow, principal of the kindergarten through 8th-grade Winchester School, has announced her plans to retire at the end of this year. Prior to taking over the superintendent role in fall 2012, Lewis was principal of Winchester School for about three years.

Now, the school board is advertising for a principal for the kindergarten through 5th-grade part of the school for next year, while Lewis will take on the principal duties of the middle school-age students.

They haven’t nailed down the savings associated with that change, and it will partly depend on who the district hires for the elementary principal position, but it will save money, Lewis said.

The district likely also will have to reorganize its teaching staff, because there are two 3rd-grade teachers this year, but the incoming 3rd-grade next year requires three classes. The district can’t afford to hire a new teacher, so adminstrators will probably move one from another grade level.

Lewis said the size of the incoming 3rd-grade class isn’t unusual. Enrollment in Winchester has been strong in recent years, and a couple of years ago, the school had to add a fourth kindergarten class at the last minute when there were 75 kindergartners.

Though the budget increase is slight, the amount of money to be raised by local taxes is up $413,298, or 7.8 percent, because of a drop in revenue from state sources, Lewis said.

Voters will also see a two-year collective bargaining agreement with the Winchester Teachers’ Association that would cost an additional $118,498 for the 2014-15 school year and $63,285 for the 2015-16 school year.

The previous teachers contract was a three-year agreement, but Lewis said the groups negotiated a two-year agreement because of the unpredictability of costs, especially for health insurance and retirement.

Another collective bargaining agreement would cost the town about $21,552 for salary and benefit increases for the Winchester Support Staff Association. A similar one-year contract for the support staff barely passed at district meeting last year, with 54 percent support.

Lewis said he thinks both contracts reflect responsible spending and that school employees gave a number of concessions to keep the increase manageable.

The budget committee and school board, groups that sparred over school spending a couple years ago, support all the articles on the ballot.

The deliberative session is scheduled for Saturday at 9 a.m. at Winchester School.

Kaitlin Mulhere can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1439​, or kmulhere@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @KMulhereKS.

Winchester voters back police pay raise

By Meghan Foley Sentinel Staff

WINCHESTER — A warrant article to raise the pay of Winchester police officers to be more competitive with other communities received support from the majority of voters at deliberative session Saturday.
The article, if passed at a town meeting on March 11, would give officers and other employees of the Winchester Police Department an 8 percent raise effective July 1. The raises, which include payroll expenses, would add $35,756 to the town’s operating budget, Selectman Sherman Tedford said.

They would also be on top of an up to 3 percent merit raise all town employees would receive if the town’s 2014-15 budget passes.

As an SB2 town, Winchester residents are allowed to discuss and amend town meeting warrant articles during a deliberative session. The meeting is then adjourned until March when residents vote by ballot on the warrant articles.

Originally, the warrant article about the police department raises had listed an amount of $28,576. Tedford said the amount didn’t include the payroll expenses, and he made a motion Saturday to amend the article, which was seconded by Selectman Theresa G. Sepe before being approved by voters.

Police Chief Gary A. Phillips passionately explained to approximately 70 voters attending the meeting at the town hall why they should back the warrant article, which the selectmen unanimously recommended.

“We have a problem being competitive with these other towns,” he said, as his wife handed out copies of a two-page packet to voters. “We have a problem maintaining our quality people.”

The packet included information from the Local Government Center showing Winchester’s police department employee salaries for 2013 being from 11 to 28 percent below the 2012 state average — depending on the position — for towns with a population of 2,000-4,999.

For example, the state average salary for a patrolman in communities of this size in 2012 was $41,923. In Winchester, patrolmen are paid either $36,956 or $37,127.

Winchester has a population of 4,341, according to the 2010 U.S. Census. Had is the key word ..

The packet also included information from the N.H. Occupational Employment and Wages 2012 survey, which further showed Winchester police officers are being paid less than their counterparts in the area.

Besides providing incentive for officers to stay with the Winchester Police Department, increasing the salaries will help the town better protect its investment of having to train and outfit the officers when they’re hired, Phillips said.

Often times, Winchester officers go to work for other area police departments after two to three years, which is the time it takes to be fully trained and have proven themselves, he said.

It costs roughly $18,000-$20,000 to train and outfit an officer, and for that upfront expense, it’s good if they hang around for a while, he said.

Voters extensively scrutinized a warrant article Saturday to appropriate $5,000 for the operation and maintenance of the Sheridan House by the Winchester Historical Society.

Neither the Winchester Board of Selectmen nor the budget committee recommended the petition warrant article, which prompted several questions and statements from voters.

“In the situation we are in right now, we might not exist next year,” historical society Treasurer Elena M. Heiden said.

The Sheridan House, which is on Back Ashuelot Road, is a museum of the town’s history. Besides housing several artifacts, a barn on the property shelters some of Winchester’s historic fire equipment.

The organization relies on membership fees, donations and fundraisers to generate revenue, but it’s having trouble making ends meet as of late, she said.

“We had a major situation with our furnace where it was leaking water, and we have a $632 bill we still haven’t paid yet,” she said.

In addition, heating oil was recently delivered to the house, which has to be kept at a certain temperature so the historical items inside don’t get damaged, she said.

Sepe said she supports the Sheridan House, but she voted against recommending the article because no one who submitted it came to the selectmen to explain what the $5,000 would be used for.

Erin G. Robb, who submitted the petition warrant article, then apologized to the board for not getting that information to them.

“I truly didn’t give it a thought after I got the signatures (for the petition),” she said.

Robb is president of the historical society board of trustees.

In the future, that information will be provided to the selectmen, she said.

Voters approved the warrant article for the ballot.

Voters also approved amending a petition warrant article that sought to require the town clerk and tax collector’s office to remain open twice a month on Wednesday nights until 8 p.m.

The amended version seeks to have the town clerk and tax collector’s office continue to operate under the hours currently in place, from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

Resident Kenneth Cole said he submitted the warrant article because he wanted people to have better access to the town clerk and tax collector’s office.

His proposal was immediately met with opposition from selectmen, other residents and James M. Tetreault, Winchester town clerk and tax collector.

The town clerk and tax collector’s office is open at the same time as other town offices in the town hall.

“As a selectman, I’m not putting one person in this building at night,” Tedford said. “It’s a security issue.”

Tetreault said it makes no sense for his office to be open at night because state support for motor vehicle transactions shuts down for the day at 6 p.m.

For residents who can’t make it to town hall during business hours, he can make arrangements with them to register their vehicles, he said.

“We’ll work with you,” he said.

During the roughly four-hour deliberative session, voters approved an amended warrant article about appropriating $3,298,617 for the town’s 2014-15 proposed operating budget.

The number is a decrease of $15,644 from the $3,314,261 in the original warrant article. The proposed $3,298,617 budget represents a decrease of $119,044 from the 2013-14 budget of $3,417,661. It’s also less than the default budget of $3,314,261.

The Winchester Board of Selectmen recommended the change because it’s important for three or four other spending articles on the warrant to pass, Tedford said.

Those warrant articles, which were approved, included a seven-year lease and purchase agreement for a new custom pumper fire truck, and a five-year lease and purchase agreement for a new dump truck with plow and sander equipment.

“We found some areas where we can reduce the budget and hopefully not reduce services,” Tedford said. “I believe with these changes, we’ll be able to hold the line with the tax rate.”

The 32-article warrant will now go before residents to vote on by ballot on March 11.

Meghan Foley can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1436, or mfoley@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @MFoleyKS.

DELIBERATIVE SESSION

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2014

AT THE TOWN HALL,

WINCHESTER, NH AT 9:00 AM –

UNTIL DISCUSSIONS OF ARTICLES END.

 and

February  8, 2014 9:00 AM

in the School Gym

for the School Budget

Committee recommends against combining Winchester libraries

By Meghan Foley Sentinel Staff

WINCHESTER — A town committee recommends Winchester’s two public libraries remain open and independent of each other for the foreseeable future.
But the Conant and Thayer public libraries should seek to cooperate and collaborate more, committee members told the Winchester selectmen Wednesday night.

The seven-member committee, which was tasked with studying consolidation of the two libraries, was formed after a warrant article passed by voters in March 2013. The selectmen appointed the members.

In its report, the group said consolidation would be “premature and imprudent,” especially with the Thayer Public Library still growing.

“Attempting to consolidate, or otherwise change the governance of the libraries, would be disruptive and inhibit the revitalization of the Thayer Public Library,” the report states.

In addition, any plan to close the Conant Public Library, which is the larger of the two buildings, would be “foolhardy and likely to be very unpopular with the public,” according to the report.

The Conant library is in a multiple-story building on Main Street in Winchester, while the Thayer library is in what was once a private house in the village of Ashuelot. The property was donated to the town by Julia B. Thayer roughly 100 years ago to be used forever as a public library. In recent years, efforts have been underway to revitalize it.

“We’re trying to bring it up to be something for the community,” Harriet Charland, a member of the Thayer Public Library Board of Trustees and the library consolidation committee, said Wednesday.

Acting librarian Jennifer Bellan said as the library slowly comes back, its value to the community is increasing, and it’s becoming a safe place for children in the community.

Besides effecting the growth of the Thayer Public Library, the report outlined the legal, logistical and political challenges of combining the two libraries.

It’s not clear if Conant and Thayer officials share the same vision and goals, or whether one library’s mission would be compatible with the other, according to the report.

“Any change in the structure of the governance of the libraries would require support of both Boards of Trustees,” the report states. “There is very little support on either board for consolidation or reconsideration of governance.”

Charland and committee chairman Barry Montgomery both told selectmen that as much as some might view it as a financial burden having two libraries in a town of roughly 4,000 people, from an education and growth perspective, it’s an asset.

“A library is an attractive thing for residential development in the area,” Montgomery said.

The area that could handle the most real estate growth in town is Ashuelot, he said.

Charland said literacy is extremely important, and in a community that U.S. Census statistics say is struggling, having two libraries is valuable in making sure children know how to read.

Selectmen in attendance Wednesday spoke in favor of keeping both libraries open. A final vote on the issue will come later.

Meghan Foley can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1436, or mfoley@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @MFoleyKS.