No changes to Meredith town government structure anytime soon

MEREDITH — The government format for the town won't change anytime soon, after the chair and vice chair of the selectboard opposed a petition calling for the change, and declined to send it to the Town Warrant, during Monday’s meeting.

Article 23 is asking voters to change the town government from a manager system to administrator. The petitioned article was brought forward by Mike Faller, who retired in December after 28 years as public works director. The article — advisory only — was previously labeled Article 24, but changed after the board voted to remove one article from the warrant during the Feb. 9 public hearing.

Faller did not attend Monday’s meeting, and nobody from the audience spoke about the article. Chair Mike Pelczar and Vice Chair Steve Aiken spoke out against changing the top staff position.

Pelczar said the change would be “quite a difference for me,” and it would add a lot more work to the board. He feels that Meredith has become large enough, with “a lot going on” that the current town manager is appropriate. He said this is a form of government where things get done when the right people are in place and everyone works together.

“I personally don’t support the change.”

Aiken said he was also not in favor of the change, and said he was frustrated that something not previously discussed by the board “comes out of the blue.”

“I always find it interesting, this time of year, when petition warrant articles show up from individuals that have not shown their face in any meeting that I’ve been in,” Aiken said. “And I’ve been in a lot of meetings.”

Aiken said it's frustrating when the board gets blindsided, and “certainly Article 23 is a blindside from where I sit.”

He wishes more townspeople would be part of the process, and noted there are a few residents who have been to the past “dozen meetings or so,” and is grateful for their involvement.

“If they had a question, I know they can stand behind the question they have, because they have been involved with our process,” Aiken said.

Selectboard member Jeanie Forrester said from her experience of being a former town administrator, there is a difference between the two roles.

The significant difference, she said, is the town manager is a statutory position with complete hiring and firing authority, not the selectboard.

“That can cause issues in some communities,” Forrester said. “On the other side of it, if you have a town administrator form, you can find yourself in a challenge, if you have board members who are too involved in the day-to-day operations of a community, which can cause problems. I’ve had personal experience with that, myself, with board members.”

Pelczar expressed his gratitude for having Forrester on the selectboard, as she has held numerous roles in local and state government, and described her as a “wealth of knowledge for all of us.”

Selectboard member Jim Gregoire attended the meeting remotely, and said he had nothing to add. Member Lynn Leighton was absent, with notice.

Town Manager Judie Milner did not speak about the article during the meeting. Reached by email before the meeting, she wrote, “I’m not going to comment on that one.”

Due to issues with technical wording, the petition became an advisory article, meaning a vote on the Town Warrant would indicate the community's preference, but not effect change.

Faller said he hoped the selectboard would use its power to adjust the wording so voters would decide its fate, but that did not happen during the meeting.

Faller watched the meeting from home, and said he called Aiken on Tuesday morning.

“I called Steve this morning and spoke with him, and said I’m good with his decision, but I do feel like he was stopping short, because there were 31 petitioners who signed it,” Faller said on Tuesday. “I still feel the board should be sending it to legal counsel for a rewrite.”

Faller maintained as a department head, he didn’t have much say at times, and ideas he had for the public works building that would have saved millions of dollars were ignored.

“I respect their decision, and I told Steve, 'No hard feelings,'” Faller said. “I will do my homework and get it out there for people.”

Faller said following Saturday’s story in The Daily Sun, he received calls from residents who were educated on the difference between the two forms of government.

Faller plans to be at Town Meeting to speak about the article he proposed, and will likely call for a ballot vote, so people “can vote the way they want, vote their conscience, and not feel singled out.”

“Some people don’t want to vote with a card, but I’ve talked to petitioners and they are willing to do a ballot vote on that,” Faller said.

Faller said if the town votes in favor of changing the government, even in an advisory role, it will give the selectboard direction on where taxpayers stand.

“I respect the board’s decision,” Faller said. “I may not agree with it, but I respect it. I hope that the taxpayers out there understand what this means, and that a 'yes' vote will send a message to the board that we want a change.”

Faller said if the vote is in the affirmative, it will give the selectboard a chance to “get their ducks in a row” to put it on the 2027 warrant.

Town Meeting takes place at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 11, at Inter-Lakes Middle High School.