Cornish
About 70 residents at the Cornish Elementary School approved a total spending plan of roughly $1.4 million, a $199,000 decrease from last year’s, mostly because voters at last year’s Town Meeting OK’d two large capital expenses.
One article was tabled — it would have financed about $120,000 in turnout gear for the fire department, but was not considered at the meeting because an anticipated $114,000 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency didn’t come through.
Town leaders estimated before the meeting that if all spending were approved the tax levy would decrease by $69,000. That would cause roughly a 39 cent decrease in the town tax rate per $1,000 of property value, a $97 decrease on a $250,000 home.
Although they ended up passing, three articles generated some discussion among residents: a $13,500 request for a propane emergency generator at the highway garage; a $3,000 appropriation for body cameras for officers of the Cornish Police Department; and a non-monetary article seeking TransCanada, the operator of the Wilder Dam, to be held liable for its role in riverbank erosion.
The generator request passed by overwhelming voice vote after an attempt to amend the article failed. The amendment would have allowed the backup power system to use fuel sources other than propane, if necessary.
Police Chief Doug Hackett said the cameras were meant to protect his officers and himself.
He said he recently had been accused of using excessive force by someone he arrested, and wished he had had a body-worn camera on him to prove his innocence.
“I came out of that feeling a little violated that someone made that accusation when in fact I didn’t (use excessive force),” he said. The camera, Hackett said, “would have shown exactly what happened.”
Hackett recommended that residents approve the request, but added that he planned not to spend the money unless the New Hampshire Legislature modified a law that requires officers, if they have cameras, to wear them whenever on duty.
The police chief said he feared being woken up in the night for a call and later being liable for having groggily forgotten to wear his body camera.
Cornish resident Judith Kaufman spoke against the article, arguing that the body cameras could represent a persistent cost over time.
“Every time we buy a new piece of equipment, that equipment needs to be replaced and maintained,” she said, noting that other town departments are struggling to get by with antiquated equipment. “They just make do, make do, make do.”
Bill Wall, a resident who said he had gone through law enforcement training, backed up Hackett’s assertion that the cameras would protect officers from liability.
“The camera is always your friend when you’re trying to eliminate a threat,” he said.
After handling all of the monetary articles, residents approved a non-monetary resolution that the town of Cornish request the establishment of a riverbank erosion mitigation fund by TransCanada, the multinational corporation that operates the Wilder and Bellows Falls dams on the Connecticut River. The non-binding measure also would apply to successor owners of the dams.
“This is a once-in-30 years opportunity to influence the way that the dams are potentially operated on the river,” Planning Board Chairman Bill Lipfert said of the article.
Studies of TransCanada’s management of the dam, which involves holding and then releasing water to generate more electricity at the times when it will turn the greatest profit, show that this “peaking” model of dam operations causes significant erosion, Lipfert said.
“What this article says is that if the way that they operate the dam — in terms of a cheap discharge strategy to maximize their profit — causes erosion, then they should mitigate that erosion,” he said.
Similar articles were on the warrants or Vermont warnings for about 10 Connecticut River towns.
Wall spoke passionately against the resolution, arguing that it would jeopardize jobs, and called for a show of hands after the article drew some audible “nays” during the voice vote.
The article passed, 37-7.
In ballot voting, Ginny Wood, a former health officer in town, defeated Jeff Katchen, the current health officer, in the race for an open Selectboard seat, 66-44.
Rob Wolfe can be reached at rwolfe@vnews.com or 603-727-3242.