Fire truck backers have another 5 days to ask for a recount of Gilford vote

GILFORD — Town Clerk Denise Gonyer said yesterday that the procedure for a recount of Tuesday's vote to reject the purchase of a new fire truck requires a petition for a recount with 10 signatures within seven days of the counting.

The fee is $10 and the recount committee would consist of the three selectmen, the town clerk and the town moderator.

She said that as of close of business yesterday, she has received no petition.

The lease/purchase of a $441,820 fire truck in Tuesday special, emergency vote needed to pass by 60-percent of those voting. The yes votes on the article totaled 59.4-percent.

Board of Fire Engineers Chair Bill Akerley said Tuesday night that if five people had voted differently the town would be ordering a new fire truck and he felt he owed it to the people who voted for it — 1,089 of the 1,832 people who voted in Tuesday election — to ask for a recount.

N.H. RSA 669 states that if Gonyer gets a petition, she has no less than five days and no more than 10 days to determine the time and place of the recount. The recount, if one is petitioned, must be done manually.