Petitioned article suggests moving Gilford Town Meeting to May

GILFORD — A petitioned warrant article that would move the date of the Gilford Town Meeting to the second Tuesday in May will be discussed at a public hearing on Wednesday, Jan. 23.

A similar article was proposed in 2005 but ultimately was rejected by the voters.

Several other communities, including Sanbornton, have discussed moving the meeting to a later date due to the unpredictable March weather, and to allow those who spend the winter in warmer climates to vote on town matters.

The Gilford petition, initiated by Norm Silber, would change the date of the deliberative (“first”) session to a date “between the first and second Saturdays after the last Monday in March,” according to the provisions of the enabling legislation outlined in RSA 40:14, IX(b). That provides the time necessary get the results on the ballot for the “second session” in May.

In reviewing the article, Gilford selectmen voted 2-0 to not recommend its passage. Selectman Gus Benavites was not present for the discussion.

Silber said his motivation in creating the petition was simply, “We want to have everyone come out.” He said a later meeting date would give more people the ability to vote.

Silber noted that the weather in March has been a problem for the last three elections and especially the last two, when it was really bad. “There were complaints from people who live here who said they didn’t want to take a chance in that kind of weather. Senior citizens are especially concerned about the risk of falling.”

A secondary motivation, he said, is to accommodate “snowbirds” who leave town in November or December to avoid the cold weather. “They can get an absentee ballot to vote, but they generally don’t do it,” Silber said. “There were 100 or less absentee ballots turned in last year.”

Sanbornton selectmen used much the same argument when seeking consideration at that town’s 2006 Town Meeting. In the 2015 Town Report, they explained tandem articles they were proposing, the first to change the town’s fiscal year to July 1-June 30, and the second to move Town Meeting to May. They noted that their recommendation on changing the date of Town Meeting would be contingent upon the voters agreeing to change the fiscal year as well.

“The goal that many citizens are aiming for is greater participation in the Town Meeting process,” they wrote. “By changing it to May, we would take away the unpredictable winter weather concerns and many of our folks who go south in winter would return for the May meeting and thus add to the participation.”

The article passed in 2006, but, according to Sanbornton Town Administrator Katie Ambrose, selectmen placed articles on the warrant in 2008 and 2009 to return to a March Town Meeting. Those attempts failed, but, in 2014, a petitioned warrant article did switch Town Meeting back to March.

Minutes of that discussion showed that School Board member Nina Gardner complained that, since the town’s move to May, attendance at the School District Meeting — which still took place in March — had dropped substantially. Gardner argued for having both meetings on the same day, and voters agreed to return to the traditional Town Meeting date.

For the Gilford selectmen, opposition centered on the impact to town operations.

Town Administrator Scott Dunn pointed out that the town currently operates for three months without a budget, until voters approved it in March. Passage of the petitioned article would extend the uncertainty for two additional months.

In moving to not recommend the article, Selectman Dale Channing Eddy said, "Because of the way our fiscal year runs, we would have to delay at lot of things we do by several months."

During the discussion, Eddy said, "If the fiscal year were changed, I could see that happening."

Richard Grenier agreed, and addressed weather concerns by saying, "We had some bad storms, but the turnout was as good as it's ever been."

This article has been updated to indicate that it was not the first time that Gilford has considered moving the Town Meeting date.