Pocketbook and social issues on Tuesday's ballots
Mar. 11—Pocketbook issues typically dominate the ballot as voters head to the polls for their annual town meetings.
But this year, in addition to the traditional articles for operating budgets, road projects, capital reserve funds and collective bargaining agreements, some communities are considering measures to address the high costs of housing and electricity.
And in some New Hampshire towns, the nation's so-called "culture wars" have spilled onto the ballot.
Residents of Wolfeboro and Raymond will vote Tuesday on petition warrant articles that take opposite approaches to the topic of book-banning.
In Raymond, Article 42 would declare "that the downstairs children's library room in the Dudley-Tucker Library will be free of any books with content containing nudity, gender identity, sex or sexual references in writing or illustrations." Article 43 would bar the library from accepting money from the American Library Association or using taxpayer dollars to fund any materials or training from the ALA, which opposes book bans.
Fifty miles away in the Lakes Region, Wolfeboro's Article 39 would prohibit spending town funds for "the banning of books or any other content from our Wolfeboro Public Library, thereby guaranteeing our citizens their First Amendment Rights and their rights under the New Hampshire Constitution."
Recommended unanimously by the town's board of selectmen, the article also would direct selectmen to urge the Legislature "to stop all actions ... infringing upon First Amendment Rights..."
At the Raymond deliberative session on Feb. 11, several residents expressed concern about the sexual content in some of the books at the library.
Donald Leduc spoke in favor of Article 42, saying it's not about banning books. "It's just keeping our children free from this material and protecting their innocence," he said.
Kirsten Rundquist Corbett, the library director, pointed out that removing all books with nudity from the downstairs children's room would mean getting rid of books about potty training and baths. Removing books containing references to sex would mean getting rid of "My Body is Private" and "Where do Babies Come From," she said.
The town counsel has advised that these articles would be "advisory" only, since by state law, library trustees have oversight of public libraries, she said.
"Let children be children"
The two library articles were put forward by Julie Laughner, chair of the town's budget committee. She could not be reached for comment last week.
But at the deliberative session, Laughner said she objected to a Pride display last year at the library that featured children's books.
No one wants to get rid of potty-training books, Laughner said. However, she said, "The world is so toxic right now and the rates of mental health and suicide have escalated. I just feel we should do our part to let children be children without forcing adult themes on them."
In an interview, Rundquist Corbett said it's up to parents to decide what their children should read.
"I love that people care about the library," she said. "I love that they're concerned about their children. I'm concerned about their children."
But the truth is that LGBTQ teens are struggling with mental health and suicide because they're bullied and isolated, she said. "If they can't find refuge in the library, I don't know where they're going to find it."
When town residents vote on these articles on Tuesday, Rundquist Corbett said, "I would like them to think about the fact that they have a choice in what they read, and everyone should be offered that choice."
Moved by lawmakers' votes
Bobbi Boudman, who is behind the petition article in Wolfeboro and a similar ballot article for the Gov. Wentworth Regional School District, said she was moved to act after seeing her elected representatives vote to ban certain materials and "divisive concepts" in schools.
State law already permits parents to protect their children from course material they find objectionable, Boudman said.
"All politics are local politics," she said. "So if the state isn't doing their job, take it back a level and put it at the town level."
This fight isn't personal for her; she has no family members who are LGBTQ, Boudman said. So what made her take this on?
"1933 Germany made me act," she said.
Wolfeboro is home to the Wright Museum of World War II, Boudman said. "Our town understands World War II. Our town understands what we did as a country to stop the book-banners," she said. "So I can't imagine that the voters in this town will look kindly at people who want to ban books."
Power to communities
Voters in Raymond also will decide whether to pursue community power as a way to reduce electricity costs.
The high cost of energy is on the minds of many town meeting voters, after electric rates skyrocketed last year.
Clifton Below, who chairs the Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire, said nine of its member towns are voting on community power warrant articles this year. That's in addition to a dozen towns and two cities — Portsmouth and Dover — that have already adopted plans approved by the Public Utilities Commission.
Community power, Below said, "creates a new and important new choice for customers."
The coalition organized in October 2021 with 13 members. Today, it has 28 members, and two more have signed agreements, said Below, Lebanon's assistant mayor.
"I think we're at a point where people in local communities are frustrated with what they have gotten from the utilities or the Legislature in terms of policy, and they're seeing that this is a new alternative," he said.
And, he said, "This is all being done without any cost to the taxpayers."
In Raymond, resident Daniel Roy submitted the petition article to explore community power. "The long-term vision is to make the town energy-independent," Roy said.
The first step toward that goal is Article 41 on the town meeting warrant, which would establish a committee of local residents, town officials, business owners, educators, landowners and developers to develop an "electric aggregation plan."
Down the road, Roy envisions installing a solar farm on Raymond High School property that would provide power for schools and municipal buildings.
As part of his research for town meeting, Roy spoke with numerous business owners in town who are also interested in installing solar on their rooftops. The revenue produced could be used to offset electricity costs for low-income residents in town, he said.
Roy, who worked as a program planner at BAE Systems before he retired, said he was encouraged by how many town residents came forward after the Feb. 11 deliberative session to volunteer to serve on the community power committee if the article passes.
In Bedford, voters will decide whether to spend $4.4 million to construct a solar array at the capped landfill on Chubbuck Road and convert the town's current solid waste collection system to electrical compactors. Article 5, which needs a three-fifths majority to pass, also would authorize the town council to apply for federal funds and issue bonds to pay for the project.
Need for homes rules
Some New Hampshire communities are tweaking their zoning amendments to comply with a new state law meant to boost workforce housing.
Stephen Buckley, legal services counsel at the New Hampshire Municipal Association, said many towns adopted ordinances in the 1980s and 1990s to "incentivize" construction of elderly and 55-plus housing. Those incentives typically meant allowing more units per acre than in typical residential developments.
Under the new law, as of July 1, "If you're treating housing for the elderly with some kind of incentive to make sure that housing gets built, you're required to give that same incentive to workforce housing," Buckley said.
A study by New Hampshire Housing found the state has a deficit of about 23,000 housing units, according to Ben Frost, the agency's deputy executive director and chief legal officer. "And that's just to meet current needs," he said.
"Our population continues to grow, and to accommodate this growth, which frankly our employers desperately need, we're going to need something on the order of 80,000 units over the next 20 years," Frost said. "That's a lot."
That's why creating incentives to build workforce housing is "vitally important," he said.
In Candia, town meeting voters will be asked to approve new zoning rules for workforce housing. Rudy Cartier, chairman of the Candia Planning Board, said the provisions mirror the conditional-use permit for senior housing.
Cartier said many people are confused about just what workforce housing is. Distinct from low-income housing, it's meant to be affordable to a family making the median annual income, he said.
For Candia, that's $126,400 for a family of four, he said.
Frost from NH Housing said you can think of workforce housing as homes that teachers, police officers and health care workers can afford. "It's the middle class," he said.
And right now, he said, "Anything that's on the market is priced way out of reach for them."
Referendum on the future
In Barrington, town meeting voters will decide whether to create a "tax increment financing district" in the town center. The idea is to use new tax dollars generated by a development project to reinvest in future economic development in that area, explained Conner MacIver, the town administrator.
It's an economic development tool that has proven successful in neighboring Dover and Rochester, fueling projects without raising taxes, he said.
But perhaps the most important votes cast in Barrington on Tuesday won't even be on the town meeting ballot.
Barrington is also holding its first Kids Vote. Youngsters will have have their own ballot with three articles to vote on: what color dog tags the town will have in 2024 and what to name two new town vehicles.
The historical society is loaning the town's historic wooden ballot box for the occasion.
MacIver said it's about creating a civics experience for kids. "We tried really hard to make sure that they were actually going to make decisions," he said. "They'll be able to see the impact of their decisions."
MacIver said he hopes some of the kids' enthusiasm will rub off on their parents and inspire a higher voter turnout.
Last year, just 24% of the town's 6,508 registered voters came out for town meeting, MacIver said. The year before that it was 13%, and in 2020, with a library bond on the warrant, 32%.
"There's a great saying in recycling: If you want parents to recycle, get the kids to recycle," he said.
"If the kids are excited enough, maybe they'll drag some parents who weren't otherwise excited to vote," he said.
MacIver, the father of two preschoolers, said he asked town departments to weigh in on the names submitted for the two new vehicles, and they whittled them down to five choices.
The kids will decide whether the new recreation van will be called Bugsy, Curling Club Cruiser, Dan the Van, "Rec" It Ralph or Roaming Rec. For the new dump truck, the choices are: Bulldog, Road Warrior, Sandy, Scoop Dogg or Truck Norris.
Write-ins will be allowed.
The town employee who'll be driving the new dump truck did nix one choice, MacIver said.
"The only one he vetoed was Princess Unicorn," he said. "For some reason he didn't want that. I don't know why."
