ORFORD — Just as the floor meeting on Tuesday evening was getting underway, former Selectboard Chairman John Adams rose from his seat among voters to make a motion.
“This process we’re going through is a combination of a lot of effort by a lot of people,” he said. “The department heads come forward and their product is reviewed; Selectboard looks at these articles and works hard to get the cost down; and there is a budget advisory review, a public hearing review, all of which have come out favorably and … therefore, I move to accept as written article two through article 18.”
Adams’ motion was not seconded. Town Meeting carried on.
Article one of 18 called for ballot voting for town officers. Of the 902 registered voters in Orford, about 14% cast ballots on Tuesday.
In an uncontested race, Kevin Follensbee received 124 votes for another three-year term on the Selectboard.
All articles passed, including the appropriation of $1.52 million for the general municipal operations budget, up from the $1.47 million approved last year.
Voters unanimously approved the removal of the High Bridge Road bridge and replacement by a pedestrian bridge crossing Archertown Brook Gorge, with reclassification of a portion of High Bridge Road from a Class VI road to a Class A trail.
The cost to replace the High Bridge Road is approximately $1.5 million. The work will be completed without taxes and instead rely on funding from the Orford Conservation Fund, foundation grants and private donations.
In a ballot vote, voters approved the appropriation of $1.71 million for the Archertown Road over Jacobs Brook Bridge project, a town and state bridge project with 100% reimbursement by the State of New Hampshire Department of Transportation for the cost of construction.
Voters amended an article seeking $503,000 for capital reserve funds and approved it at $408,000, reducing funds originally proposed to go to road improvements as the state Department of Transportation will be fully paying for the construction of the Archertown Road bridge project.