This story was originally produced by the Concord Monitor. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
At this year’s town me eting, Bow residents found themselves wrestling with whether it’s worth spending money now on a project that isn’t guaranteed down the road.
Whether the issue was funding a potential fix for the town’s water contamination—one that could unlock new business growth—or setting aside money for a new community building with no concrete plans in place, voters debated the balance between making financial sacrifices now versus investing in an uncertain future.
Brian Beech wasn’t convinced the town would see “real value” from the investment to address water contamination near Bow Junction, the commercial area where Hall Street, Interstate 89 and Interstate 93 converge.
“It doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of room for growth and expansion in that district, as far as new buildings and developable land,” he said at Wednesday night’s town meeting.
Related: NH News Recap: Voters weigh in on local issues during busy town meeting season
The warrant article asked residents to accept $2 million in forgivable state bonds to address water contaminated with MTBE (Methyl tert-butyl ether), along with using $2.1 million from the town’s infrastructure reserves.
But the entire plan depends on one piece: Concord needs to agree to connect its water system to Bow, which it has been reluctant to do.
Without that agreement, the state funding would not be available and the project would fall apart.
Chris Nicolopoulos, select board member, said discussions with Concord have stretched on for years with not much promise, but he believes it’s still worth pursuing while the state funding is available.
‘There’s a real benefit for all of us to get together and be each other’s backup, because these systems are increasingly expensive,” Nicolopoulos said. “I think we need to continue to have a regional, community solution to infrastructure like this.”
Nicolopoulos also said he wasn’t sure whether the lack of clean water has actually held back business development in the area. Most businesses and residents currently rely on bottled water.
Residents ultimately voted in favor of the possible connection 273 to 44 in the first of five secret ballot votes that stretched the meeting to four and a half hours.
Community building’s future
The aging community building, described as an “eyesore” by some, has no clear future yet, with the town still undecided on whether to repair, renovate, replace, or demolish it altogether.
Even the demolition of the building is estimated to cost around $3 million
For some residents, that uncertainty made it hard to justify pulling $50,000 from taxpayers and another $150,000 from the recreation fund, particularly as the cost of living continues to climb.
“I think that everybody needs to remember that there’s a difference between wants versus needs,” said Michael Habif. “While we all are going to go home and eat dinner tonight, we might not all be having caviar. This is a very caviar ask.”
Others weren’t ready to write the building off, arguing it still serves a real purpose for a variety of community programs.
Sandy Crystall said the building’s current use shouldn’t be taken at face value. She takes a Tai Chi class there.
“It’s really not a good place for people coming in and out,” said Crystall. “It’s not really a very welcoming space and I think that if it was improved, it would really be used a lot more.”
Residents ultimately voted in favor of setting aside money for the building’s future.
Secret ballots
For a town like Bow, that many secret ballots in a single meeting is unusual, select board members said.
The town’s $12.4 million operating budget, a 5.4% increase, passed without a secret ballot. The municipal tax rate remains unchanged at $4.62, the same as last year.
Even contributing to the capital reserve funds went to a ballot vote.
Halfway through the meeting, with ballot results coming back lopsided, select board members appealed to residents to reconsider their request for secret votes, since the night was running long and patience was wearing thin in the room.
The mood turned testy when Angela Brennan, vice chair of the select board, addressed the room directly about the unusual number of secret ballots.
“I just want to make everybody aware that the issue that we’re facing with having to vote via ballot for several of these articles is an unusual thing,” she said. “It just does not happen in our town meetings very often. It is commonly used as a tactic from small groups who like to encourage people to leave because it’s something that makes town meetings go longer.”
A few voices heckled her from the crowd.
Every warrant article that was decided by secret ballot that night passed by a comfortable margin.
