Gilford voters voice support for new public works garage

GILFORD — Voters in this town seem to agree with rationale for spending $11.2 million on a new public works building, but those who agreed to answer a reporter’s questions at the polls revealed much less support for a proposal to spend a half-million dollars on improvements to the town’s baseball infrastructure.

Results from town voting on Tuesday weren’t available by press time.

There was but one contested race on the ballot. There were three seats available for budget committee and four contestants: Diane Muller, Robert Binda, Johnna Davis and Gaye Fedorchak.

Denise Cunningham said she was motivated to vote on Tuesday to support Muller, Davis and Fedorchak. She said she also voted in favor of the proposal to build a new Department of Public Works building, which was supported by both the selectboard and budget committee, but wasn’t swayed by the petitioned article asking the town to spend $500,000 on improvements to town-owned baseball fields.

“They need to put more time in on planning and getting quotes,” Cunningham said. “I’ll probably vote for it next time.”

Gladys Clausen also supported the public works building. “I think it’s important to have a home for people who work so hard for our community.”

Clausen said she appreciated the opportunity to fill out a ballot.

“There were a lot of opportunities to support the community. I was grateful to put in my two cents.” Clausen said she was also glad to show support for Nicole Hogan and Jess Jacques, running unopposed for school board. “They have made a huge difference for our schools.”

Addison Harris and her father Chris Harris voted similarly, both were in favor of the new public works building and against spending taxpayer dollars on the ballfields.

“I did some research on both issues,” Chris said. He was initially opposed to the garage, but was swayed after interviewing a contractor involved in the building’s design.

“I felt better about it and I voted yes,” Chris said of the public works question. He wasn’t able to get his questions answered about the baseball fields, so he withheld his support for that question.

“For me, it’s important for people to do due diligence,” Chris said. “I think it’s important that we look at the effect on our taxes, period,” he continued. “It’s important that we don’t have our buildings crumble around us,” and he said he was satisfied that the public works building will stand several decades of New England winters.

Andrea Stanislaw said she never misses a chance to vote.

“I like to vote at Town Meeting because you’re passing the budget. It’s important for the school and the town to pass the budget,” Stanislaw said. She voted to pass both the town’s budget of $20.92 million, and the school’s requested operating budget of $31.32 million. She also cast her support for both the public works building and ball fields.

“DPW does so much for the town and they very much need a new building, and the kids should have a great place to play,” Stanislaw said.

“They need to have that,” Everett McLaughlin said of the proposed public works building, “but I voted no on other stuff to control spending,” he added. The new baseball fields might need to wait for another year, he said, but he was convinced it was time to act on a new public works structure. “They do a hell of a lot of work, I want to support them.”

“I hope the DPW building passes,” said Peter Ellis. He said he supported pretty much every question on the ballot, and added “it’s a shame that no one’s running for offices.”

Ralph Scribner said he voted, “All yes for all the right stuff, and there were some things that I didn’t think the town needs.”

Scribner noted he and his children were all products of the town’s schools, and he continues to support the district’s budget requests.

About voting, Charlene Linscomb said, “This is something I can do to help the community. My vote counts.” She voted in favor of the public works building, but felt the baseball field improvements weren’t necessary.

Carlo Russo felt similarly about the baseball fields — he would like to see local companies sponsor the project — but voted to support the town and school district budgets.

“I vote every time there’s an election,” Russo said.