Story Archives of 'Town Meeting'

As town meeting season reaches its peak, we’ll see what major topics voters will chew on along with homemade casseroles and cookies. There are the perennial subjects of money for fire trucks and road repair, but we’ll also find out how much the housing crisis and the near-record snowfall is putting pressure on this year’s budgets, and check in on a wide range of concerns, including a proposal to change New Hampshire’s tax structure.

Guests

• Jon Greenberg, NHPR's Executive Editor. Jon has worked with the New Hampshire Local Government Center to develop NHPR's interactive Town Meeting map
• Laura Scott, town planner for Henniker
• Steve Norton, director of the New Hampshire Center for Public Policy

We'll also hear from

• Paul Sanderson, a selectman from Greenland

Local Energy committees across the state have been hard at work trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in their towns.
Last year, 164 towns passed non-binding global warming resolutions asking town selectmen to consider appointing the volunteer groups.
One year later, more than half the towns have formed them or are in the process.
New Hampshire Public Radio’s Amy Quinton reports on what they’re doing to save energy and combat climate change.

Residents in 60-percent of New Hampshire towns have voted in favor of a resolution that calls for a national program to reduce greenhouse gases.

Supporters are hoping the results will grab the attention of presidential hopefuls taking part in the state’s first in the nation primary.

New Hampshire Public Radio’s Amy Quinton reports from Concord.

The traditional town meeting in New Hampshire may slowly be on its way out as more and more towns adopt SB2, a form of local government that has been around since 1996 and allows residents to vote on town and school district warrants at the polls instead of in town and school district meetings. Sixty of New Hampshire's 221 towns have adopted SB2 and only a handful have reverted back. We'll look at town meeting, its place in New England and what the future may hold as it competes with the new guy in town- Senate Bill 2. Laura's guests are Harriet Cady, a Deerfield resident who was instrumental in helping her town to adopt SB2 and Wes Moore, a selectman from Newfields, a town with SB2. He prefers town meeting and is hoping to get Newfields to rescind SB2. We'll also hear from Ted Leach, Co-Chair of the Carbon Coalition , which is pushing to get global warming initiatives onto many ballots and into town meetings across New Hampshire this March.

This year during town meeting dozens of towns are expected to vote on local land conservation efforts .

Chris Wells at the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests has been keeping track of the various measures.

He tells NHPR's Mark Bevis that residents of more than 30 towns are expected to vote on
articles that total nearly 13 million dollars.

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Wells adds that usually these measures have a high bar to get over, so that when they do pass they enjoy a great deal of support.

Typically, a vote for bonding authority needs two-thirds or a three-fifths majority.