Tuesday March 9th Town Elections
The election of Selectman (2), School Board Members (2), Budget Committee Members (2), Library Trustees and other elected positions. I am up for reelection to the Select Board and would appreciate your vote.
The one election that has controversy is for School Board. Mr. Coe is a candidate for a three year term on the School Board. Mr. Coe’s wife is the Dean of Humanities at Bow High School. I have heard from several people in town who believe this is an obvious conflict of interest.
Voting will take place from 7AM to 7PM on at the fire station
Wednesday March 10th – Town Meeting
At this meeting registered voters decide the town budget and every other warrant article, one article at a time.
There is likely to be an extended discussion over the warrant to rescind any unused funds from the $12 million dollar Water and Sewer Bond.
The town budget itself calls for less spending then this year and both the Select Board and the Budget Committee are in complete agreement.
There are more then two dozen warrant articles dealing with issues like new trucks and putting additional money into the town’s multimillion dollar Capital Reserve Fund.
I suspect voters will hear impassioned discussions on the need to reduce spending given the economy, loss of jobs and home foreclosures.
Voting will take place at the High School
The meeting begins at 7PM
Friday March 12 – Annual School District Town Meeting
This is the meeting where voters decide the size of the Bow School District’s annual budget.
This is likely to be the most divisive meeting this year.
Issue 1: Will there be a secret ballot? The answer is yes. Last year both registered and non registered/non-resident people were allowed to sit together throughout the audience. The problem occurred on both voice votes and show of hand votes. There was no way of verifying only legal voters were voting. The process produce many angry residents.
Issue 2: Both the School Board and the Budget Committee voted to adopt a budget that holds the line on increased spending.
The School Board looked at current and projected declines in school enrollment and determined that a teacher reduction was prudent. The board decided to increase core class sizes from around 17 to 22. The Budget Committee agreed with the School Board and defeated several motions by committee members Dee Treybig and Kally Abrams to avoid lay offs by increasing the budget more then a quarter million dollars. This issue will be decided by those registered voter who attend this year School District Annual Meeting.
Voting will take place at the High School
The meeting begins at 7PM