Whitefield residents will gather Saturday, March 21 to elect municipal officials and decide how much in taxpayer funds will be appropriated for municipal activities.
Voters will also decide whether to authorize a change in the development ordinance, give selectmen the authority to dispose of Whitefield Fire and Rescue’s Tanker 1, build a new municipal parking lot, accept Moosehead Lane as a town road, and increase spending on town roads.
The polls will be open for the municipal election at Whitefield Elementary School from 8 a.m. to noon. There are no contested elections.
Lester Sheaffer is running for re-election for a three-year term on the board of selectmen.
Glenn Angell, Carl Ribeiro, and Marianne Marple are running for re-election to the planning board. There are three seats open, each for a two-year term.
David Boynton is running for re-election for a one-year term as road commissioner.
Malinda Caron’s seat on the RSU 12 Board of Directors is up for election for a three-year term. No one returned nomination papers to appear on the ballot for the position.
The ballot will be blank and open for write-in candidates, Town Clerk Aaron Miller said.
The remaining 30 warrant articles will be decided in open forum at the town meeting, which will begin at 2 p.m.
Selectmen are recommending a total of $997,453 be raised in taxpayer funds for municipal activities. The requested amount is a $103,876 increase from the previous year’s appropriation of $893,577.
The single largest increase in Whitefield’s municipal budget is for town roads. The Whitefield Roads Committee conducted a comprehensive study of town roads and found over 50 percent were in need of major repair.
The roads committee recommended a budget of $393,850 for the 2015-2016 fiscal year. Of the budgeted amount, selectmen are requesting $334,700 from taxpayers in article 13.
It is an increase of $69,250 from the $265,450 raised in the previous year.
The amount requested for snowplowing and salt and sand also increased. Selectmen are requesting $251,200 for snowplowing, sanding, and salt shed maintenance in article 15. It is an increase of $16,000 from the $235,200 raised in the previous year.
Voters will once again decide whether to accept Moosehead Lane as a town road and raise $1,500 for plowing and sanding in article 16. The article was voted down in last year’s town meeting. This year it carries the recommendation of the selectmen.
Voters will also decide whether to build a new municipal parking lot adjacent to the fire station on Townhouse Road. The lack of parking at the fire station, which is commonly used for public meetings and elections, has been commonly cited as a safety concern by selectmen. Warrant article 25 will ask voters to raise $9,500 to support the project.
Whitefield Fire and Rescue’s Tanker 1 will soon be placed out of service due to the recent arrival of Engine 1, approved at last year’s town meeting. Once Engine 1 is placed in service, Tanker 1 will need to be disposed of.
Article 21 will ask voters to authorize selectmen to determine how to dispose of it.
Voters will also decide whether to change the development ordinance to allow selectmen to determine the fee schedule for development applications. The fee schedule has not been changed since the 1970s, planning board members previously said. The planning board requested the warrant article to allow selectmen to determine an appropriate fee for developments.
